posted on 25.12.11 Shepards, why this jubilee?


 

Immensity, cloister’d in thy dear womb, 
Now leaves His well-beloved imprisonment.  
There he hath made himself to his intent  
Weak enough, now into our world to come.  
But O !  for thee, for Him, hath th’ inn no room ? 
Yet lay Him in this stall, and from th’ orient,  
Stars, and wise men will travel to prevent  
The effects of Herod’s jealous general doom.  
See’st thou, my soul, with thy faith’s eye, how He  
Which fills all place, yet none holds Him, doth lie ?  
Was not His pity towards thee wondrous high,  
That would have need to be pitied by thee ?  
Kiss Him, and with Him into Egypt go,  
With His kind mother, who partakes thy woe. 

-John Donne

_________________________

The Savior must have been

A docile Gentleman—

To come so far so cold a Day

For little Fellowmen—

The Road to Bethlehem

Since He and I were Boys

Was leveled, but for that ‘twould be

A rugged Billion Miles—

-Emily Dickinson

______________________

posted on 01.12.11 (Not) All Who Wander Are Lost

ayjay:

“I really enjoyed doing this interview with Sarah Green at Harvard Business Review for their podcasting series. The title “The Myth of Monotasking” is based on the idea that the brain doesn’t know how to monotask, in fact the term “multitasking” doesn’t really mean much of anything when you think about it carefully since virtually everything we do as humans involves coordinating multiple cognitive tasks all happening at once. This interview helps straighten out some of the confusions around that mushy term and, I hope, helps lower anxiety about how well we are or are not doing against some mythical standard of sustained, focused attention. Bottom line: the mind wanders a lot because the mind’s task is to wander.”

Cathy Davidson.

It doesn’t help to replace one mushy term with other mushy terms, and mushy thinking. No, it’s not true that “the mind wanders a lot because the mind’s task is to wander.” Sometimes the mind is free to wander; sometimes the mind benefits greatly from wandering; sometimes — say, when a surgeon is removing a brain tumor — the mind had damned well better *not* wander. If you’re going to be serious about these matters, you need to start by admitting what thoughtful people have acknowledged at least since the Buddha: that concentration is highly valuable but difficult to achieve, and that the focused mind has a multitude of enemies. It’s fine to argue that we don’t suffer from this problem any more today than people in the past did, though I’m not sure quite how to do a serious comparative study of these matters. (What was it exactly that distracted the medieval farmer?) But just think about this: Have you ever, even once in your life, thought, “Gee, I wish I could concentrate less”?

posted on 23.11.11 Lincoln Inaugurates Thanksgiving

It was President Lincoln who inaugurated Thanksgiving Day, in 1863, during the Civil War:

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln
Yes, it is exactly what it looks like. Three-way chess. The pieces move in essentially the same manner.  Things gets a little  crazy when you cross that tricky snowflake in the middle, but its  actually not as hard to figure out as it looks.  What I can’t figure out is why people seem to enjoy taking a game that most people are afraid to even play, that requires a lifetime to even begin to master, a game of near infinite difficulty (there are far more possible chess positions than there are atoms in universe) and twisting it further into cosmic pretzel of unending anxiety.
I thought three-way chess looked daunting, then I realized it was just the Bed and Breakfast that begins the trail out into the neverending desert of chess variants.  There are altered starting positions, different boards, multiple boards, unorthodox or even constantly changing rules, unusual pieces, several multi-player variants, some with playing cards, and even some that introduce incomplete information, randomness and the element of chance.  There is no resource as extensive as the wikipedia page, but I am just going to list a few here:
Gliński’s hexagonal chess.        


Alice Chess: There are two boards, and every time a piece is moved, it gets transported to the same square on the other board.  Can be played with three boards, or with white and black starting on different boards. 
3-D chess: Just what it sounds like, only way, way worse.
Fischer random chess: The placement of the pieces on the 1st rank is randomized, and the pieces on the 8th rank mirror it.
 Fairy chess: Chess played with pieces of special powers.  Some are simple and intuitive like the Amazon (Queen + Knight), and the Knightmare (unlimited Knight moves in one direction). But, then, why not a Queen that can jump pieces (the Lion) and a Bishop that can change directions mid move (the Boyscout)? Things quickly get out of hand.  You have the Pterodactyl (triple-range amphibious knight), the Kraken (can leap to any square on the board — what?) and my favorite, Odysseus (changes moves depending where it is located: It moves as a rook on files a and h, as a knight on files b and g, as a bishop on files c and f, as a queen on file d and as a king on file e). Damn. 
Anti-chess:  There is no check and the object is to lose all your pieces first.  You must capture a piece if the move is available to you.
Schrödinger’s Chess, Einstein Chess, Benedict Chess, Yoko Ono Feel-Good Chess, and many, many more. 
The computers have crunched the numbers and the staggering results are in.  There are, unfortunately, as  many chess variant possibilities than people bored or sick enough to invent them; also a number comparable to the amount of atoms in the universe.
posted on 16.10.11

Yes, it is exactly what it looks like. Three-way chess. The pieces move in essentially the same manner.  Things gets a little crazy when you cross that tricky snowflake in the middle, but its actually not as hard to figure out as it looks.  What I can’t figure out is why people seem to enjoy taking a game that most people are afraid to even play, that requires a lifetime to even begin to master, a game of near infinite difficulty (there are far more possible chess positions than there are atoms in universe) and twisting it further into cosmic pretzel of unending anxiety.

I thought three-way chess looked daunting, then I realized it was just the Bed and Breakfast that begins the trail out into the neverending desert of chess variants.  There are altered starting positions, different boards, multiple boards, unorthodox or even constantly changing rules, unusual pieces, several multi-player variants, some with playing cards, and even some that introduce incomplete information, randomness and the element of chance.  There is no resource as extensive as the wikipedia page, but I am just going to list a few here:

  • Gliński’s hexagonal chess.
    • Hexagonal Chess
  • Alice Chess: There are two boards, and every time a piece is moved, it gets transported to the same square on the other board.  Can be played with three boards, or with white and black starting on different boards.
  • 3-D chess: Just what it sounds like, only way, way worse.
  • Fischer random chess: The placement of the pieces on the 1st rank is randomized, and the pieces on the 8th rank mirror it.
  • Fairy chess: Chess played with pieces of special powers.  Some are simple and intuitive like the Amazon (Queen + Knight), and the Knightmare (unlimited Knight moves in one direction). But, then, why not a Queen that can jump pieces (the Lion) and a Bishop that can change directions mid move (the Boyscout)? Things quickly get out of hand.  You have the Pterodactyl (triple-range amphibious knight), the Kraken (can leap to any square on the board — what?) and my favorite, Odysseus (changes moves depending where it is located: It moves as a rook on files a and h, as a knight on files b and g, as a bishop on files c and f, as a queen on file d and as a king on file e). Damn.
  • Anti-chess:  There is no check and the object is to lose all your pieces first.  You must capture a piece if the move is available to you.
  • Schrödinger’s Chess, Einstein Chess, Benedict Chess, Yoko Ono Feel-Good Chess, and many, many more.

The computers have crunched the numbers and the staggering results are in.  There are, unfortunately, as many chess variant possibilities than people bored or sick enough to invent them; also a number comparable to the amount of atoms in the universe.

3-D Relief Chess

posted on 02.09.11
“I don’t really think it’s possible for humans to be at the same time conscious and comfortable. Though we may be moved by nature to thoughts of grace, though art can tease our minds toward eternity and love’s abundance make us dream a love that does not end, these intuitions come only through the earth, and the earth we know only in passing, and only by passing. I would qualify Weil’s statement somewhat, then, by saying that reality, be it of this world or another, is not something one finds and then retains for good. It must be newly discovered daily, and newly lost.”

— Christian Wiman, Gazing into the Abyss

The simple things, the true things, the silent men who do things. 
Priest, Valamo Monastery, Karelia, Russia by Swedish National Heritage Board. posted on 28.08.11

The simple things, the true things, the silent men who do things.

Priest, Valamo Monastery, Karelia, Russia by Swedish National Heritage Board.

posted on 14.08.11 Yet Always Rejoicing

Lykee Li - Sadness is a Blessing

Warning: this is chalk full of awkward tension. To say nothing of the videography itself (Lykke Li’s dancing, Stellan’s facial expressions, or the overall rampant Swedishness) this is piece leaves a strange indent.

Sadness is a blessing
Sadness is a pearl
Sadness is my boyfriend
Oh sadness I’m your girl.

Pretty good chorus there Lykke Li.  For someone born in 1986 you are wise beyond your years.  This has been said over and over again, by many far more acquainted with grief then we. But why is sadness a blessing? why can it be beautiful?   Being a drowned man myself, I may have something to say, but for now I will pass it off to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry:

“What makes the desert beautiful,” said the little prince, “is that somewhere it hides a well…”

On a volcano on the Fimmvörðuháls trail.  If the photo is blurry click on it to link through to the flickr page. posted on 30.07.11

On a volcano on the Fimmvörðuháls trail.  If the photo is blurry click on it to link through to the flickr page.

posted on 30.07.11

Sigur Rós improvise a song on a stone marimba in the Surtshellir caves in western Iceland.  They made the marimba themselves from stones collected there.  From Heima.

It just so happens that we (fellow ahogados and I) were hiking through those caves not a month ago.  It all seems warm and cozy in there from this video.  Sweaters and smiles by the fireside. However, we had the opposite sensation — that it was haunted.  Pitch, pitch black, three lanterns could barely light our immediate surroundings, and the cave floor was a deadly combination of slippery ice and jagged rocks.  Full of strange noises and uneasy silences, and even cliffs overhead, it was definitely ruled by either unfriendly trolls or a clan of ice-loving ghouls.  This video for me is a testament to how a bit of beautiful music (ok, and some torches) sends the darkness running, and can transform even a ghoul lair into a cheerful, welcoming refuge.

posted on 17.07.11
“Great is this force of memory, exceedingly great, O my God; a large and boundless chamber! Who ever sounded the bottom thereof? Yet is this a power of mine, and belongs unto my nature; nor do I myself comprehend all that I am. Therefore is the mind too limited to contain itself. And where should that be, which it containeth not of itself? Is it outside it, and not within? How then doth it not comprehend itself? A wonderful admiration surprises me. Amazement seizes me. And men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty billows of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, and pass themselves by.”

— St. Augustine

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