A Late Fall
Fall came to our house a bit late this year. The Great Old Ones in our yard finally decided to change color.
One must imagine Sisyphus happy
"One always finds one’s burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy." — Albert Camus
Third Axonometric Composition
Composition of sixteen hand-drawn axonometrics (each based on a 2" x 2" cube); composed on a gradient background generated by blending pure colors with photographs I took and then blurred.
The Distinction Between Future And Past
The past and future are the same in that they both exist only in our minds. Is the difference really that great? Future memories. Past anticipations. We experience only the present.
You can relive past experiences in the same detail as you pre-live future experiences in your imagination.
One might argue that the past is more clearly defined and the future is unknown. But they can both be ambiguous or precise depending on how you treat them in your mind.
The past and the future both have many branching paths. The only difference is that past contains the path taken, and the future contains the path to be taken. But all the branches are still in both places.
In our minds, we can choose to walk down different branches in the past (memories of what could have been), and in the future (playing-out of various choices).
All past time is in the same place. All future time is in the same place.
You can relive past experiences in the same detail as you pre-live future experiences in your imagination.
One might argue that the past is more clearly defined and the future is unknown. But they can both be ambiguous or precise depending on how you treat them in your mind.
The past and the future both have many branching paths. The only difference is that past contains the path taken, and the future contains the path to be taken. But all the branches are still in both places.
In our minds, we can choose to walk down different branches in the past (memories of what could have been), and in the future (playing-out of various choices).
All past time is in the same place. All future time is in the same place.
Axonometric Composition
Mini Watercolor Axonometrics
Drafted these in pencil, then rendered in ink, followed by a splash of watercolor.
Inconvenience Vs. Problem
"One of life's best coping mechanisms is to know the difference between an inconvenience and a problem. If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you've got a problem. Everything else is an inconvenience." — Robert Fulghum
On Working, and Not Working
"If you accomplish something good with hard work, the labor passes quickly, but the good endures." — Gaius Musonius Rufus
"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." — Marthe Troly-Curtin
"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." — Marthe Troly-Curtin
Thursday
"One Thursday, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change, a girl sitting on her own in a small café in Rickmansworth suddenly realized what it was that had been going wrong all this time, and she finally knew how the world could be made a good and happy place. This time it was right, it would work, and no one would have to get nailed to anything.
"Sadly, however, before she could get to a phone to tell anyone about it, the Earth was unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass, and so the idea was lost, seemingly for ever."
— Douglas Adams, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
"Sadly, however, before she could get to a phone to tell anyone about it, the Earth was unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass, and so the idea was lost, seemingly for ever."
— Douglas Adams, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Reel-To-Reel
Further down the vintage hi-fi rabbit hole…(don't tell my wife). It's a 1971 Akai 1720W reel-to-reel tape deck. I bought it from the original owner, who himself bought it in Vietnam during the war (subsequently bringing it home to the U.S.). I love the "Made in Tokyo" stamped on the back. What can you find that's made in Tokyo anymore? The exterior of the case is fully trimmed in wood, and it comes with a wood latch-on transport face cover. The build quality and the satisfying 'clunks' of the interface just can't be matched by most things made today.
New-Old Cassette Deck
Just acquired: A beautiful Akai GX-M30 cassette deck. Manufactured in 1979, purchased from the original owner for $30. Functions perfectly, sounds fantastic—time to pull out the old mix tapes!
Time
Time past and time future
Allow but a little consciousness.
To be conscious is not to be in time
But only in time can the moment in the rose-garden,
The moment in the arbour where the rain beat,
The moment in the draughty church at smokefall
Be remembered; involved with past and future.
Only through time time is conquered.
From "The Four Quartets" by T. S. Eliot
Allow but a little consciousness.
To be conscious is not to be in time
But only in time can the moment in the rose-garden,
The moment in the arbour where the rain beat,
The moment in the draughty church at smokefall
Be remembered; involved with past and future.
Only through time time is conquered.
From "The Four Quartets" by T. S. Eliot
Problems of Scale
Last night, while flying home at fairly low altitude, the Midwest rural landscape appeared as a beautiful painting, lit by the low-hanging sun. One particular moment, I looked down to see a solitary tree casting a long shadow across a curving dirt road and onto a plowed field. The colors, the shadow, the location of the tree, the exact composition of lines—altogether it was beautiful.
Though this spot couldn't be more than 80 miles from where I lived, in all likelihood I would finish my life without ever visiting this particular point on Earth. How would I ever find it? There was nothing particularly notable about the location. Once again, the profound huge-ness of our world had struck me.
Though this spot couldn't be more than 80 miles from where I lived, in all likelihood I would finish my life without ever visiting this particular point on Earth. How would I ever find it? There was nothing particularly notable about the location. Once again, the profound huge-ness of our world had struck me.
Staring Out The Window
Yesterday I spent the day on a field trip with my daughter's fourth grade class. It was a great day. On the bus ride home, my daughter decided to sit one row behind me (piling in with her friends), so I had a few minutes of free time. Taking advantage of this, I—of course—decided to spend the next half-hour staring out the window.
What I learned was this: I quite enjoy staring out the window. In our family, I'm usually the driver, so I'm looking ahead. But I enjoy staring out the window so much, I could do it all day. Have you ever *really* focused on the stuff you see as a passenger? Every car, every house, every person—they all have a story. Every object, every thing—designed by someone.
There are so many fascinating details and so many stories out there, no one ever has an excuse to be bored. I think that's why I'm a real estate developer. I'm fascinated by how people live and work, and enjoy creating spaces for them to do so.
Links: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
What I learned was this: I quite enjoy staring out the window. In our family, I'm usually the driver, so I'm looking ahead. But I enjoy staring out the window so much, I could do it all day. Have you ever *really* focused on the stuff you see as a passenger? Every car, every house, every person—they all have a story. Every object, every thing—designed by someone.
There are so many fascinating details and so many stories out there, no one ever has an excuse to be bored. I think that's why I'm a real estate developer. I'm fascinated by how people live and work, and enjoy creating spaces for them to do so.
Links: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
The Complex Task of Directing One's Life
"Socrates compared living without thinking systematically to practising an activity like pottery or shoemaking without following or even knowing of technical procedures. One would never imagine that a good pot or shoe could result from intuition alone; why then assume that the more complex task of directing one's life could be undertaken without any sustained reflection on premises or goals?"
On The Dangers of Over-Valuing Rare Events
"You know, the most amazing thing happened to me tonight... I saw a car with the license plate ARW 357. Can you imagine? Of all the millions of license plates in the state, what was the chance that I would see that particular one tonight? Amazing!"
― Richard P. Feynman
― Richard P. Feynman
Edison Wax Cylinder Phonograph
This weekend we took a little road trip, and happened upon a beautiful Edison wax cylinder phonograph in an antique shop. (It was the earliest sound recording medium.)
Letter 62. On good company
We are deceived by those who would have us believe that a multitude of affairs blocks their pursuit of liberal studies; they make a pretence of their engagements, and multiply them, when their engagements are merely with themselves. As for me, Lucilius, my time is free; it is indeed free, and wherever I am, I am master of myself. For I do not surrender myself to my affairs, but loan myself to them, and I do not hunt out excuses for wasting my time. And wherever I am situated, I carry on my own meditations and ponder in my mind some wholesome thought.
When I give myself to my friends, I do not withdraw from my own company, nor do I linger with those who are associated with me through some special occasion or some case which arises from my official position. But I spend my time in the company of all the best; no matter in what lands they may have lived, or in what age, I let my thoughts fly to them.
Demetrius, for instance, the best of men, I take about with me, and, leaving the wearers of purple and fine linen, I talk with him, half-naked as he is, and hold him in high esteem. Why should I not hold him in high esteem? I have found that he lacks nothing. It is in the power of any man to despise all things, but of no man to possess all things. The shortest cut to riches is to despise riches. Our friend Demetrius, however, lives not merely as if he has learned to despise all things, but as if he has handed them over for others to possess. Farewell.
— Seneca the Younger
When I give myself to my friends, I do not withdraw from my own company, nor do I linger with those who are associated with me through some special occasion or some case which arises from my official position. But I spend my time in the company of all the best; no matter in what lands they may have lived, or in what age, I let my thoughts fly to them.
Demetrius, for instance, the best of men, I take about with me, and, leaving the wearers of purple and fine linen, I talk with him, half-naked as he is, and hold him in high esteem. Why should I not hold him in high esteem? I have found that he lacks nothing. It is in the power of any man to despise all things, but of no man to possess all things. The shortest cut to riches is to despise riches. Our friend Demetrius, however, lives not merely as if he has learned to despise all things, but as if he has handed them over for others to possess. Farewell.
— Seneca the Younger
Old Pipe Organ
Detail of a pipe organ that was built into a mill in Zoar, Ohio.
The motion of the mill powered the airflow for the organ. How strange and beautiful to have music at the mill.
Archiving the Ephemeral: Twitter 12/1/13 - 3/31/14
My favorite Twitter conversations from earlier this year…
Religion:
Religion:
- "I'm agnostic about god, but I may start telling people I'll 'pray' for them again. Saying 'you'll be in my thoughts' doesn't have weight. …" — "…'Praying' doesn't require a deity. It only requires an earnest, strong hope for something to happen. Praying is good without god." (2/14: @judetx, @allovus, @Linda_Atkins1, @rissy328, @CriminySTFU, @PumaBare, @johnpocalypse, @rundusty, @caracabe, @tillytoogood, @Linda_Atkins1, @NomdeB, @cantata21, @LC_Sun, @DickeyFuller, @MizMelly, @_timskinner, @AntRyanET)
- "Absolutely beautiful: Spend a few peaceful minutes in the Sistine Chapel" (1/12: @billraia, @ArtByAlida)
- "Classic: A frighteningly ignorant sign from the Creation Museum on how to date a fossil" (12/15: @marlenan21, @NomdeB, @picklestfc, @BMahadoBitch, @HeatherHastie)
Philosophy:
- "We must live without certainty, yet not be paralyzed by hesitation." (3/30: @MizMelly, @nishamohsin1)
- "We have scrubbed the world clean of magic." (3/18: @willentrekin, @mmdoty, @allovus)
- "What is evil? On one hand, you could say that there's no such thing. On the other, you could say that evil is all around us." (2/25: @TheGistOf, @Bdreamer7, @jaglister, @cantata21)
- "'Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.' — Laozi" (1/5: @JustBeer_NoBull)
- "I have come to realize that there *is* such a thing as magic, and it comes from the effect that art can have on the soul." (1/3: @NomdeB, @nay731, @aliceinthewater, @Teresa623)
- "'If you love a flower, don't pick it up. Because if you pick it up it dies and it ceases to be what you love.' ― Osho" (1/1: @mariarfin, @allovus)
- "Interesting read; left me as confused as ever — The Gen X/Gen Y Generation Gap" (3/30: @Clevecarole, @nishamohsin1, @thestile1972)
- "Drug dealers aren't to blame for the heroin boom—doctors are." (3/23: @Resoguitar)
- "America is tired of the microwave." (3/20: @Stanmatthias)
- "The nut-jobs crawl out of the woodwork: Coca Cola Super Bowl Ad Inspires Racist Twitter Backlash" (2/3: @allovus, @pfontes95, @beebearninja, @RandyAW)
- "Detroit, followed closely by New Orleans, had the highest #murder rate in 2013." (1/2: @fleurdelivres, @Stanmatthias)
- "#Abandoned steel mill control room, #Detroit (by Jonathan Haeber)" (12/28: @ArtByAlida)
- "Unbelievably offensive advertisements from the past." (12/21: @tinacapalbo, @DianeLMajor, @joshuabigger, @deck449, @newfuneze)
- "Capitalism vs. Democracy: Is worsening inequality an inevitable outcome of free market capitalism?" (2/4: @PostRacialMyAss, @RobynDesBois1, @jaglister, @novelsareborn)
- "What we're missing in politics is the great middle. Hanging out at the edges is doing us no good." (1/28: @dparkinson45, @RedwoodGirl, @RoxProgressive, @smokey_herring)
- "I have never, nor will I ever, do drugs. It would be a point of no return for me. I have a hard enough time staying grounded as it is." (3/22: @Stanmatthias, @jaredjanes, @Resoguitar)
- "There is no 'I' in team. Well, there's no 'we' or 'us' in there either, dummy." (2/28: @CriminySTFU, @joeman42, @smeaters, @PirateWench, @MonasLists)
- "Friday morning confession: I'm a nice person…but sometimes, in person, I can come across quite harsh. I'm working on it." (1/17: @JustBeer_NoBull, @thomasatmyporch, @allovus)
- "When someone says they 'rock' any particular item of clothing…yes, I want to punch them in the face." (12/27: @DeputyDriscoll, @BoomerPJ, @Retacof, @Astorix23)
- "Teaching our Japanese guest the meaning of "redneck" is the most fun I've had in a while." (12/8: @jencutler1, @allovus, @fleurdelivres, @ArtByAlida)
- "I just do not understand why people "like" some of my more mundane #FourSquare check-ins, such as my office." (12/5: @debexpert, @AlphaNano, @fleurdelivres, @swirlOsquirrel, @Bdreamer7)
- "What drives success? A superiority complex, combined with insecurity and impulse control." (1/30: @MGBazemoreJr, @jaglister)
- "…Hard things you must do to be successful." (1/17: @Bdreamer7)
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