Friday, November 23, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
3.9
yesterday afternoon I drove a dozen or so cub scouts down to the limestone quarry behind the temple in Manti. we were working on the Geologist activity badge and wanted to get a look at where oolite comes from. after a few of them piled out from the cab, and then like another ten from the back of the pickup, we all walked past the no trespassing signs, climbed over the entry gate and looked around a little.
on Monday afternoons they're pretty bored of listening all day in school. so I let them run around for a while, climb on rocks, wander off to pee on things, chase rabbits around and throw stuff at each other. then eventually I rounded everyone back up so we could start checking the boxes.
requirement 1: collect 5 geological specimens that have important uses.
"OK, OK. who can tell me what some of these rocks could be used for?"
"RUBBING TOGETHER TO MAKE FIRE!" "FIRING IN SLINGSHOTS!" "SMASHING!"
requirement 5: explain how mountains are formed.
"OK.OK. good. now, see those mountains over there? how do you think they got there?"
"VOLCANOOOOOS!" "erosion!" "EARTHQUAKES!"
and that's about when the big corrugated steel warehouse to our north shook itself like a wet dog. weird.*
requirement 7: describe what a fossil is.
"hey, alright. now, what's a fossil?" and before I can even finish the question…
"A DINOSAUR!" "TRILOBITES!" "SHELLS!" "METEORS!" "BONES AND SKULLS AND FISH BONES" "I FOUND A FOSSIL BY MY DRIVEWAY!"
of course they're really into fossils. it's their favorite. this is especially the case with Ricky C. Ricky C names his rocks. once, when making a pile of rocks, he asked whether he was to pile the boy rocks or the girl rocks. it was decided that he make two piles.
requirement 2: rocks and minerals are used in metals, glass jewelry, road-building products and fertilizer. give example of minerals used in these products.
well, one example is lead, which turned up in over a million of these things.
there was a recall last month on the plastic totem badges from China. in other news, the marquee outside the elementary school tells us that it’s time again for picture retakes.
* just this morning I heard that it was an earthquake that hit yesterday afternoon.
on Monday afternoons they're pretty bored of listening all day in school. so I let them run around for a while, climb on rocks, wander off to pee on things, chase rabbits around and throw stuff at each other. then eventually I rounded everyone back up so we could start checking the boxes.
requirement 1: collect 5 geological specimens that have important uses.
"OK, OK. who can tell me what some of these rocks could be used for?"
"RUBBING TOGETHER TO MAKE FIRE!" "FIRING IN SLINGSHOTS!" "SMASHING!"
requirement 5: explain how mountains are formed.
"OK.OK. good. now, see those mountains over there? how do you think they got there?"
"VOLCANOOOOOS!" "erosion!" "EARTHQUAKES!"
and that's about when the big corrugated steel warehouse to our north shook itself like a wet dog. weird.*
requirement 7: describe what a fossil is.
"hey, alright. now, what's a fossil?" and before I can even finish the question…
"A DINOSAUR!" "TRILOBITES!" "SHELLS!" "METEORS!" "BONES AND SKULLS AND FISH BONES" "I FOUND A FOSSIL BY MY DRIVEWAY!"
of course they're really into fossils. it's their favorite. this is especially the case with Ricky C. Ricky C names his rocks. once, when making a pile of rocks, he asked whether he was to pile the boy rocks or the girl rocks. it was decided that he make two piles.
requirement 2: rocks and minerals are used in metals, glass jewelry, road-building products and fertilizer. give example of minerals used in these products.
well, one example is lead, which turned up in over a million of these things.
there was a recall last month on the plastic totem badges from China. in other news, the marquee outside the elementary school tells us that it’s time again for picture retakes.* just this morning I heard that it was an earthquake that hit yesterday afternoon.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
all saints story problem
there's an old man in my neighborhood,
who cashed it all out this Halloween.
$1,000 in $5 bills
on his dining room table, stacked, waiting.
all evening he waited, marking the time
with the hiss and tick of his oxygen.
“hey, so are you guys out trick-or-treating?”
he yelled to mother and son from his porch.
I heard that like 3 or 4 people came by.
who cashed it all out this Halloween.
$1,000 in $5 bills
on his dining room table, stacked, waiting.
all evening he waited, marking the time
with the hiss and tick of his oxygen.
“hey, so are you guys out trick-or-treating?”
he yelled to mother and son from his porch.
I heard that like 3 or 4 people came by.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
3 fall haiku, looking up
a mourning dove hung
on the wire line one evening
like a long soft blade
we two lay supine
and looking up, the branches
burned? were not consumed?
then sleep under the
smoke detector’s speck light, to
wake in giant moonlight.
on the wire line one evening
like a long soft blade
we two lay supine
and looking up, the branches
burned? were not consumed?
then sleep under the
smoke detector’s speck light, to
wake in giant moonlight.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
teenwolf exodus blues
when an overfriendly recent divorcée of middle-age pulls up in her maroon Camaro and decides to buy the home you’re renting, this is when you begin to notice other “for rent” signs around town.
when one Sunday afternoon she backs a truck up the lawn to her door and moves in, you close the blinds for a while. but when you see her swinging brooms and hand-trowels at the swallows nesting in your eaves, you begin writing down the phone numbers you read on those signs.
and when she repeatedly mentions to you her plans to “leather the walls”(?), rip out this and that, pour cement and spray the poppies, you make some of those calls, evacuate your trees and start collecting boxes.
when she, with arms and painted nails already outstretched, asks to hold the baby, be sure you can think of something quick. anything will do, really; “terribly sorry, we um, just vacuumed” or “that’s ok, she’s still pretty light. see?”
when daily you hear her fussing and barking around back with her grandkids and several gentlemen callers you turn on some music and start shuttling your furniture across town by the pickup-load.
now in the mean time, as she plants a graveyard of withering Memorial Day mums out on the corner, brews a tea of dead willows in a trashcan on the lawn, leaves a big cardboard box of storebought carrots to rot on your porch for weeks and begins erecting chainlink around the perimeter, this is when you make it clear to visiting friends and neighbors that these “projects” are not your own.
later, after digging your potatoes like a starving Dutchman, when she then tells you about how lucrative her new work-from-home weed pulling business is becoming, this is when you gather your last hoses and pick any remaining pumpkins.
when finally she goes out and buys a new toilet seat with your security deposit, you dust off your feet and cut your losses.
when one Sunday afternoon she backs a truck up the lawn to her door and moves in, you close the blinds for a while. but when you see her swinging brooms and hand-trowels at the swallows nesting in your eaves, you begin writing down the phone numbers you read on those signs.
and when she repeatedly mentions to you her plans to “leather the walls”(?), rip out this and that, pour cement and spray the poppies, you make some of those calls, evacuate your trees and start collecting boxes.
when she, with arms and painted nails already outstretched, asks to hold the baby, be sure you can think of something quick. anything will do, really; “terribly sorry, we um, just vacuumed” or “that’s ok, she’s still pretty light. see?”
when daily you hear her fussing and barking around back with her grandkids and several gentlemen callers you turn on some music and start shuttling your furniture across town by the pickup-load.
now in the mean time, as she plants a graveyard of withering Memorial Day mums out on the corner, brews a tea of dead willows in a trashcan on the lawn, leaves a big cardboard box of storebought carrots to rot on your porch for weeks and begins erecting chainlink around the perimeter, this is when you make it clear to visiting friends and neighbors that these “projects” are not your own.
later, after digging your potatoes like a starving Dutchman, when she then tells you about how lucrative her new work-from-home weed pulling business is becoming, this is when you gather your last hoses and pick any remaining pumpkins.
when finally she goes out and buys a new toilet seat with your security deposit, you dust off your feet and cut your losses.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
last of September
last night we drove down to Salina to meet some people for dinner. on the way we saw a familiar face hitchhiking on highway 89 in front of the central Utah correctional facility. he was going north and we were going south so we wished him luck and he laughed like a joyful maniac as we drove away.
driving down the whole sky was brilliant and pretty crisp with the last of September. aspens and gamble oak were just starting to turn and, above all that, Molly’s Nipple was dusted pallid with last weekend’s first snow.
after dinner we were driving home around sunset and Ash needed to nurse. so I pulled us off on a farm road just before Centerfield. it was around sunset and we parked next to some big stacks of one-ton hay bales. while Kelly nursed Ash, I wandered around through the 2-3 story alleyways and looked out east to where the moon had come up. now with the last sun reflecting off it, Molly’s Nipple was shining pink.
then, back in the car, we played with Ash until it was time to put her back in her carseat and head home. that’s when somebody farted and I looked around to see just what. Kelly was laughing hysterically, and then Ash was, and then I was. Ash’s laughter is getting to where it can be pretty maniacal too now.
real sorry I’ve got no pictures of any of this. nor will there be any documentation of Hayley Mills strolling through the whole thing with a parasol. also, I can say that grading 50 mediocre essays until 4 am hardly sucks at all when you’ve got flames in the fireplace for the first time this season.
driving down the whole sky was brilliant and pretty crisp with the last of September. aspens and gamble oak were just starting to turn and, above all that, Molly’s Nipple was dusted pallid with last weekend’s first snow.
after dinner we were driving home around sunset and Ash needed to nurse. so I pulled us off on a farm road just before Centerfield. it was around sunset and we parked next to some big stacks of one-ton hay bales. while Kelly nursed Ash, I wandered around through the 2-3 story alleyways and looked out east to where the moon had come up. now with the last sun reflecting off it, Molly’s Nipple was shining pink.
then, back in the car, we played with Ash until it was time to put her back in her carseat and head home. that’s when somebody farted and I looked around to see just what. Kelly was laughing hysterically, and then Ash was, and then I was. Ash’s laughter is getting to where it can be pretty maniacal too now.
real sorry I’ve got no pictures of any of this. nor will there be any documentation of Hayley Mills strolling through the whole thing with a parasol. also, I can say that grading 50 mediocre essays until 4 am hardly sucks at all when you’ve got flames in the fireplace for the first time this season.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
untitled
what could have thrown this lakebed two miles into the air?
to where the weather and clouds roll on their bellies,
scuffing their cheeks and hair over the tousled grasses.
what else but the years. what else but the centuries.
coarse alpine prairie, sheep-eaten. dark dusty soils, mole-guttered.
when the glaciers and snowfields recede there are kneecaps,
kneecaps everywhere, all kinds, strewn about, piled into drifts.
like from an antediluvian battle, like from the hosts of Atlantis,
from whales, from angels who flew too low or too high and later washed ashore.
all kneecaps. each one marbled and laced with its own tiny bones and shells.
for so long the whales held onto their kneecaps;
kept them around for millions of years, just in case, so patient.
when the waters come again, we’ll stand on the shore
and skip them back in like the stones they are.
to where the weather and clouds roll on their bellies,
scuffing their cheeks and hair over the tousled grasses.
what else but the years. what else but the centuries.
coarse alpine prairie, sheep-eaten. dark dusty soils, mole-guttered.
when the glaciers and snowfields recede there are kneecaps,
kneecaps everywhere, all kinds, strewn about, piled into drifts.
like from an antediluvian battle, like from the hosts of Atlantis,
from whales, from angels who flew too low or too high and later washed ashore.
all kneecaps. each one marbled and laced with its own tiny bones and shells.
for so long the whales held onto their kneecaps;
kept them around for millions of years, just in case, so patient.
when the waters come again, we’ll stand on the shore
and skip them back in like the stones they are.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
John Doe
Last night the neighborhood watch reported a raggedy, sandy-haired hobo.
His willowy silhouette passed over lawns and through front and back yards,
in and out of lamplight, under a clear half moon.
That was a Saturday in August, when I slept soundly, windows open, miles upstream from the city of sprinklers. That was when I dreamt and forgot anonymous dreams.
On Sunday morning a keeper of public works arrived with his mower and rakes to the scene: the fresh wreck of a deer, little gore and no horns, flung up on the clean grass between tennis courts and boulevard, in the sun.
His willowy silhouette passed over lawns and through front and back yards,
in and out of lamplight, under a clear half moon.
That was a Saturday in August, when I slept soundly, windows open, miles upstream from the city of sprinklers. That was when I dreamt and forgot anonymous dreams.
On Sunday morning a keeper of public works arrived with his mower and rakes to the scene: the fresh wreck of a deer, little gore and no horns, flung up on the clean grass between tennis courts and boulevard, in the sun.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
proposals for meat lessons
one time I saw this movie about a guy in Italy who found a special book sitting in a dustbin. it was missing its cover and he spent the rest of the movie trying to find out what book it was.
here we have a cover but must ourselves stitch together the content; retro-engineer it if you will, like an impoverished eastern bloc regime. are you with me comrades? we need at least 10 lessons for the rising generation. I know you know about this stuff. what have experience and precept taught you about meat over the years?
here we have a cover but must ourselves stitch together the content; retro-engineer it if you will, like an impoverished eastern bloc regime. are you with me comrades? we need at least 10 lessons for the rising generation. I know you know about this stuff. what have experience and precept taught you about meat over the years?
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
cuckoos & roadside explosives
my friend Paul is working as a security guard in Hawaii these days. his company sends him out to protect state parks and private schools and things, and he gets to use the CB radio a lot. I could begin a completely separate blog about Paul and it would be way better than this one. we’ll see.anyway, he’s come back again for a few weeks to sell fireworks in Roy, UT and he’s got his stand set up in a scorching parking lot between Beto’s Mexican restaurant and Dr. John’s adult novelties. for the last couple years this is where we have gone for all our firework needs. this time Kelly and Ash got to hold down the fort for a bit while Paul and I jaywalked through 4 lanes of traffic to get a Wendy’s burger. during the short while we were gone they did about $30 in business! when I was like 14 this would have been my dream job: selling fireworks from a chipboard shed up by the air force base.
there was a time when Paul threw several routes of newspapers for NAC. and for a while we all entertained the idea of painting a flaming newspaper on the side of his golf cart. but now that he’s hustling little exploding papers, people come to him. so if you still have any fireworks you need to buy, hurry go get them from Paul. I’ve got a suspicion that he might actually be America.
“We Americans are all cuckoos. We make our homes in the nests of other birds.”Oliver Wendell Holmes
1872
Friday, June 15, 2007
a wide open invitation: Wasatch Plateau Marathon +
I’ve never done anything like this before. I want you to try it with me. and I'm letting you know now so you can save the date and begin training if you're interested. this is not a race; it is a run (or, if you prefer, a ride). here are the details.
When: Saturday, September 1, 2007, AM
Cost: free! - this is all pretty informal and out of the way.
Distance: 28 miles. come do as much or little of it as you like. you can relay with someone or bring your bike if you want, whatever. if you plan to run the distance, train as you would for a marathon.
Where: along the Skyline Drive, across the top of the Wasatch Plateau. The Skyline Drive is a mostly unimproved road that traverses the summit of the plateau for about 100 miles. We will be doing a 28 mile stretch of that between Fairview Canyon and Ephraim Canyon. the elevation of the course varies but stays around 10,000 feet.
How: the summits of both Ephraim and Fairview canyons are accessible by car. you don’t need high clearance or 4WD or anything. but you need something with high clearance to get around on the Skyline Drive and we’ll have our truck and can arrange for that and so on.
the green patch is the Wasatch Plateau and the dotted line that runs down it is the Skyline Drive. hope that helps a little.
we’ll also have the course charted, with a few water and food caches along the way. a couple days ago we went up to look around and begin surveying.
baby Ash included to show scale; she’s about 23 inches long so reckon your measurements from there. Kelly, modeling the signage below, will be there too for autographs and polaroids. afterwards let’s all have a picnic or something."bring the wife and family. bring the whole kids--yippee."
here are a couple links to information about the area-
go Utah
Utah forests
this, by the way, is for anyone interested - friends, family or strangers. let me know if you’re in or have questions. and, to address any FAQ’s this is a very legal event disclaimer (a la Gil Scott-Heron) for you to sign off on.
When: Saturday, September 1, 2007, AM
Cost: free! - this is all pretty informal and out of the way.
Distance: 28 miles. come do as much or little of it as you like. you can relay with someone or bring your bike if you want, whatever. if you plan to run the distance, train as you would for a marathon.
Where: along the Skyline Drive, across the top of the Wasatch Plateau. The Skyline Drive is a mostly unimproved road that traverses the summit of the plateau for about 100 miles. We will be doing a 28 mile stretch of that between Fairview Canyon and Ephraim Canyon. the elevation of the course varies but stays around 10,000 feet.
How: the summits of both Ephraim and Fairview canyons are accessible by car. you don’t need high clearance or 4WD or anything. but you need something with high clearance to get around on the Skyline Drive and we’ll have our truck and can arrange for that and so on.
the green patch is the Wasatch Plateau and the dotted line that runs down it is the Skyline Drive. hope that helps a little.we’ll also have the course charted, with a few water and food caches along the way. a couple days ago we went up to look around and begin surveying.
baby Ash included to show scale; she’s about 23 inches long so reckon your measurements from there. Kelly, modeling the signage below, will be there too for autographs and polaroids. afterwards let’s all have a picnic or something."bring the wife and family. bring the whole kids--yippee."here are a couple links to information about the area-go Utah
Utah forests
this, by the way, is for anyone interested - friends, family or strangers. let me know if you’re in or have questions. and, to address any FAQ’s this is a very legal event disclaimer (a la Gil Scott-Heron) for you to sign off on.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
shucks, lolookes illiken I'm Finnished
Blog Archive
▼ 2007 (30)
▼ kesäkuu (5)
an æsthesia
this summer: blue planet run!
high school reunion
Rat Fink Reunion
cocoa krispies with eyes, potatoes without
► toukokuu (5)
► huhtikuu (3)
► maaliskuu (5)
► helmikuu (4)
► tammikuu (8)
► 2006 (89)
▼ 2007 (30)
▼ kesäkuu (5)
an æsthesia
this summer: blue planet run!
high school reunion
Rat Fink Reunion
cocoa krispies with eyes, potatoes without
► toukokuu (5)
► huhtikuu (3)
► maaliskuu (5)
► helmikuu (4)
► tammikuu (8)
► 2006 (89)
Friday, June 08, 2007
this summer: blue planet run!
last week these guys began a 15,000 mile relay across the northern hemisphere through 16 countries. it’s all about helping a billion people get access to clean drinking water. 20 runners are going around the clock in 10-15 mile increments to cover 150 miles a day through early September. and they’ll be coming through southern Utah in August.
(August 9-11, Boulder, Lake Powell, Blanding, Moab)
check out their website
(August 9-11, Boulder, Lake Powell, Blanding, Moab)
check out their website
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
high school reunion
all this talk about reunions got me thinking about how I graduated from high school 10 years ago and that there was probably some kind of reunion coming up. so I looked into it a little and sure enough, this weekend.
June 9, 2007
6:00 p.m.
Little America Hotel
500 S Main St
Salt Lake City, UT
whether through improved self confidence or just an eroding memory I’ve mostly shed the humbug attitude I once held about my high school. so I’d actually been kinda planning on going to the 10 year reunion. I even got a new haircut. :)
I mean 5 years? -whatever. but after 10 years, people’s courses have really had time to careen off in interesting directions; rhinoplasties, alcoholics, petty millionaires and local celebrities. a brother-in-law even tells the story of the high school reunion where Super Dell rolled up in leather on a motorcycle with a couple of escorts and started throwing around $100 bills, like Jack Nicholson in the parade scene on Batman!
here’s the thing though: it’s $50/person and no kids! so yeah, screw it. I don’t know, I guess I’d just assumed it would be a different, less formal kind of occasion. and I thought that half the fun would be in meeting everyone’s offspring.
to me this seems to send two tacit messages to alumni. the first regards the presumed economic demographic of those who are actually invited. and the second has more to do with the eminent role ones former high school “should” still play in ones life. actually, the whole thing has helped bring back a lot of things I’d forgotten about high school.
but maybe I’m just being cheap, or sentimental. your thoughts?
June 9, 2007
6:00 p.m.
Little America Hotel
500 S Main St
Salt Lake City, UT
whether through improved self confidence or just an eroding memory I’ve mostly shed the humbug attitude I once held about my high school. so I’d actually been kinda planning on going to the 10 year reunion. I even got a new haircut. :)
I mean 5 years? -whatever. but after 10 years, people’s courses have really had time to careen off in interesting directions; rhinoplasties, alcoholics, petty millionaires and local celebrities. a brother-in-law even tells the story of the high school reunion where Super Dell rolled up in leather on a motorcycle with a couple of escorts and started throwing around $100 bills, like Jack Nicholson in the parade scene on Batman!
here’s the thing though: it’s $50/person and no kids! so yeah, screw it. I don’t know, I guess I’d just assumed it would be a different, less formal kind of occasion. and I thought that half the fun would be in meeting everyone’s offspring.
to me this seems to send two tacit messages to alumni. the first regards the presumed economic demographic of those who are actually invited. and the second has more to do with the eminent role ones former high school “should” still play in ones life. actually, the whole thing has helped bring back a lot of things I’d forgotten about high school.
but maybe I’m just being cheap, or sentimental. your thoughts?
Monday, June 04, 2007
Rat Fink Reunion
I’m not a car* guy. but I have always been pretty intrigued by the Rat Fink scene. so imagine my excitement when I learned that the Rat Fink Reunion was an annual event in Manti. in years past we’ve always been out of town or something, but this time we got to go so I have a little report.
first of all, you can learn more about Ed “Big Daddy” Roth at one of these places. how he scavenged junkyards to make building hot rods an aesthetic art, was the first to start using fiberglass to mold auto-bodies, and went on to create a bunch of monsters to ride around in the things – including the anti-mickey mouse Rat Fink that’s become such an icon. eventually Big Daddy Roth settled down in Manti, married a local girl and died in 2001. now his widow, Ilene Roth, has been putting this on for the last 5 years. she’s also the county auditor or something.
the Roth home is on the east end of town, last house on the street, and they open it up for you to look over the collection. then in the garage/hangar out back they’ve got a big carpeted shrine of a museum, with the best stuff even glassed off. dozens of vehicles, t-shirts and even pinstripers. whatever you want to bring, they’ll pinstripe it for you: cameras, wedding rings, strollers, palm pilot (you square!). I bet they’ll even pinstripe your ipod.
but I think this is the crown jewel of the collection: some fan mail to which Ed responds, talking about his boss old lady, being sidetracked by the devil, and how kids should NEVER COPY!
people come out to Sanpete for all kinds of stuff: weddings, snowmobile rallies, the Mormon Miracle Pageant, and to look at old pioneer homes. but if you get the chance, you really should come out to this sometime - I’m giving it a bunch of stars and thumbs. it’s a 3 day affair and there’s also tons of souvies, pompadours, tattoos, a car show, awards, parade, music, and bbq.
* by the way, I realize there are few things less pedestrian than a car show. but as far as cars and paintings go, hot rods and Rat Fink are about as pedestrian as it gets.
first of all, you can learn more about Ed “Big Daddy” Roth at one of these places. how he scavenged junkyards to make building hot rods an aesthetic art, was the first to start using fiberglass to mold auto-bodies, and went on to create a bunch of monsters to ride around in the things – including the anti-mickey mouse Rat Fink that’s become such an icon. eventually Big Daddy Roth settled down in Manti, married a local girl and died in 2001. now his widow, Ilene Roth, has been putting this on for the last 5 years. she’s also the county auditor or something.
the Roth home is on the east end of town, last house on the street, and they open it up for you to look over the collection. then in the garage/hangar out back they’ve got a big carpeted shrine of a museum, with the best stuff even glassed off. dozens of vehicles, t-shirts and even pinstripers. whatever you want to bring, they’ll pinstripe it for you: cameras, wedding rings, strollers, palm pilot (you square!). I bet they’ll even pinstripe your ipod.
but I think this is the crown jewel of the collection: some fan mail to which Ed responds, talking about his boss old lady, being sidetracked by the devil, and how kids should NEVER COPY!
people come out to Sanpete for all kinds of stuff: weddings, snowmobile rallies, the Mormon Miracle Pageant, and to look at old pioneer homes. but if you get the chance, you really should come out to this sometime - I’m giving it a bunch of stars and thumbs. it’s a 3 day affair and there’s also tons of souvies, pompadours, tattoos, a car show, awards, parade, music, and bbq.
* by the way, I realize there are few things less pedestrian than a car show. but as far as cars and paintings go, hot rods and Rat Fink are about as pedestrian as it gets.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
all your fishbase are belong to EOL
E.O. Wilson has been trying to get this kind of deal going for a while. now that it's coming together I have to admit I'm sort of ambivalent about the whole thing. but at the same time I’m surprised something like this doesn't already exist. when I was six or seven I started making something similar with national geographic photos and notecards. but then I gave up when my system quickly outgrew the confines of its recipe box.
I’m talking about a species of wiki, er, um I mean a species wiki: a wiki for species. The Encyclopedia of Life is what they’re calling it. presumptuous title maybe, but it goes along well with the whole ethos of the project; the introductory page and filmstrip have a nice Age of Aquarius optimism about them. it’s not really going yet, they just have some sample pages and stuff but it should be pretty rockin’ by the middle of next year.
the idea is to get a wiki going for the 1.8 million species we know of. lots of reasons for this, which you can surely imagine, so overall I think it's pretty exciting. and it looks like you’ll be able to search data at different levels of expertise too. from say 4th grade desert biome diorama assignment to Rachel Carson thrice decorated.
this way, to put it in Tyndale’s terms; ere too many years, the lowly talking head on the local news will be able to scrape together his human interest story about walking sticks, killer Africanized bees or the chipmunks at Yellowstone with the same wealth of data as the high priests of biology.
there are other precedents for this besides Brittanica and recipe boxes. for example there’s the complicated fishbase, where a guy can get lost pretty easily. before long you’re backstroking the green arrow just to keep your head above water.
then there’s the White House subcommittee-commissioned ITIS (integrated taxonomic information system) who sullenly explain basically, “look, we’re only doing this because we have to.” and his new, more global sister is the catalogue of life, where I even found they keep viruses! actually, both sites are pretty neat, but duh! no pictures.
wikispecies is pretty good taxonavigation in its 3rd year, but still lots of gaps. no English vernacular name (American Goldfinch) for Carduelis tristis, for example, which is kind of a big deal to me.
here, why don’t you compare the yeti crab pages from each site and see what you think.
wiki yeti crab
EOL yeti crab (still just a demonstration page)
ITIS/catalogue yeti crab
say, you know what would really be nice? a mashup of all of these and other databases with color images, smells, howling, chirps, and things you can chase through the woods with your own feet. actually I think I heard about something like that the other day. I’m going outside now.
I’m talking about a species of wiki, er, um I mean a species wiki: a wiki for species. The Encyclopedia of Life is what they’re calling it. presumptuous title maybe, but it goes along well with the whole ethos of the project; the introductory page and filmstrip have a nice Age of Aquarius optimism about them. it’s not really going yet, they just have some sample pages and stuff but it should be pretty rockin’ by the middle of next year.
the idea is to get a wiki going for the 1.8 million species we know of. lots of reasons for this, which you can surely imagine, so overall I think it's pretty exciting. and it looks like you’ll be able to search data at different levels of expertise too. from say 4th grade desert biome diorama assignment to Rachel Carson thrice decorated.
this way, to put it in Tyndale’s terms; ere too many years, the lowly talking head on the local news will be able to scrape together his human interest story about walking sticks, killer Africanized bees or the chipmunks at Yellowstone with the same wealth of data as the high priests of biology.
there are other precedents for this besides Brittanica and recipe boxes. for example there’s the complicated fishbase, where a guy can get lost pretty easily. before long you’re backstroking the green arrow just to keep your head above water.
then there’s the White House subcommittee-commissioned ITIS (integrated taxonomic information system) who sullenly explain basically, “look, we’re only doing this because we have to.” and his new, more global sister is the catalogue of life, where I even found they keep viruses! actually, both sites are pretty neat, but duh! no pictures.
wikispecies is pretty good taxonavigation in its 3rd year, but still lots of gaps. no English vernacular name (American Goldfinch) for Carduelis tristis, for example, which is kind of a big deal to me.
here, why don’t you compare the yeti crab pages from each site and see what you think.
wiki yeti crabEOL yeti crab (still just a demonstration page)
ITIS/catalogue yeti crab
say, you know what would really be nice? a mashup of all of these and other databases with color images, smells, howling, chirps, and things you can chase through the woods with your own feet. actually I think I heard about something like that the other day. I’m going outside now.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Radio West in Sanpete
for the next few days radio west is in town (Spring City to be precise) doing some shows about local stuff: history, housing, the art scene, economics, dialects, authenticity, heritage (or heriteeege, as they say it around here) and so on. yes, it's on the air right now.
you can get it at 90.1fm along the Wasatch Front, 88.3 in Sanpete or from their webcast. they're having some fun minor technical difficulties but fortunately the power hasn't gone out on them yet. this happens sorta routinely around here-blackouts I mean, not radio shows.
you can get it at 90.1fm along the Wasatch Front, 88.3 in Sanpete or from their webcast. they're having some fun minor technical difficulties but fortunately the power hasn't gone out on them yet. this happens sorta routinely around here-blackouts I mean, not radio shows.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Brad Wheeler's harmonica army
yesterday I drove 4 hours for a 2 hour meeting. now I’m all driven out, sheesh. but if it were at all possible I would make the trip up to Ogden to be a part of this thing here.
Brad Wheeler has a dream, a calling. his centenarian grandmother told him so and he’s doing it for her too. basically it’s this: round up 2,000+ people with their harmonicas (key of A) to play When the Saints Go Marching In and sustain it for 5 minutes.
it’s this Saturday and, like I said, I would totally go if I could. but you need to be a part of this. no, leave me, it’s ok, I’ll be fine. call me when you get there, let me know how it goes. you can even keep me on the line and I’ll phone in my harmonica song too. oh how I’d love to be in that number…
Brad Wheeler has a dream, a calling. his centenarian grandmother told him so and he’s doing it for her too. basically it’s this: round up 2,000+ people with their harmonicas (key of A) to play When the Saints Go Marching In and sustain it for 5 minutes.
it’s this Saturday and, like I said, I would totally go if I could. but you need to be a part of this. no, leave me, it’s ok, I’ll be fine. call me when you get there, let me know how it goes. you can even keep me on the line and I’ll phone in my harmonica song too. oh how I’d love to be in that number…Thursday, April 26, 2007
somebody should get Satan some tinfoil
a few years ago my friend Oliver threw one of the best Halloween parties I’ve ever been to. good food, some friends I hadn’t seen in a long time and some great costumes. as I remember, I came in a lucha mask and the hosts were Julius Caesar and the conspirators. another friend was a terrific Mr. T, with “gold” chains he’d bought by the foot at a hardware store. there was even a cowardly lion and some other people who I think dressed up as drunk revelers. and, for any humbugs who came in just their street clothes, there was a giant roll of aluminum foil on hand for them to fashion their own costumes at the door. you have to at least make an effort, right?
I’d been there an hour or so when a 7 foot smoldering figure darkened the door. he came alone, had blood red skin and some pretty big horns. even more impressive were his incredibly credible goat legs; hairy, with hooves and the bandy hocks of the ungulate superorder. I heard a few conversations trail off and heads turned toward the doorway.
clip clop clip clop clip clop clip...
as the new arrival ducked through the entry and began making his way to the kitchen my friend Oliver leaned over to me and said, “somebody should get Satan some tinfoil.” in the end it turned out that everyone was pretty OK with this. some settings are more appropriate places for Satan than others. and if he’s not welcome to have a couple drinks at a Halloween party then, well, he’s just going to wander off and cause trouble somewhere else.
today Dick Cheney is flying in to talk to a stadium full of graduating college students about, oh I don’t know, probably making a difference in the world: something nobody could deny that he has done, and continues to do. not only did BYU invite him out but they’re giving him an honorary degree of public service or something.
here are some details from democracy now and npr.
it’s one thing to give an international war criminal such a platform and still another to go on to kiss his butt, piling on honor, laud and glory. we don’t seem to know where to quit. I say we although I’m not an alumnus. but my wife, sister and other family and friends have gone there so I feel like part of the community.
since security’s supposed to be pretty tight and nobody will be able to get Mr. Cheney’s tinfoil through all the metal detectors, there’s an alternative commencement that some of us are planning to attend. should be really good.
I’d been there an hour or so when a 7 foot smoldering figure darkened the door. he came alone, had blood red skin and some pretty big horns. even more impressive were his incredibly credible goat legs; hairy, with hooves and the bandy hocks of the ungulate superorder. I heard a few conversations trail off and heads turned toward the doorway.
clip clop clip clop clip clop clip...
as the new arrival ducked through the entry and began making his way to the kitchen my friend Oliver leaned over to me and said, “somebody should get Satan some tinfoil.” in the end it turned out that everyone was pretty OK with this. some settings are more appropriate places for Satan than others. and if he’s not welcome to have a couple drinks at a Halloween party then, well, he’s just going to wander off and cause trouble somewhere else.
today Dick Cheney is flying in to talk to a stadium full of graduating college students about, oh I don’t know, probably making a difference in the world: something nobody could deny that he has done, and continues to do. not only did BYU invite him out but they’re giving him an honorary degree of public service or something.
here are some details from democracy now and npr.
it’s one thing to give an international war criminal such a platform and still another to go on to kiss his butt, piling on honor, laud and glory. we don’t seem to know where to quit. I say we although I’m not an alumnus. but my wife, sister and other family and friends have gone there so I feel like part of the community.
since security’s supposed to be pretty tight and nobody will be able to get Mr. Cheney’s tinfoil through all the metal detectors, there’s an alternative commencement that some of us are planning to attend. should be really good.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
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