  | ||||||||||
|
|
| ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||
|
November 30, 2001; Friday Humor: Matrimonio
I'm working on catching up with my email at the expense of catching up with thank-you notes. I continue to receive a good bit of Argentine spam, and was deleting them one after another - until I came across "Humor: Matrimonio." Return-Path: borrame@uol.com.arI had to know. Babel Fish translation, in English: A Joke x dayI had to know. Responses - 0 (Commenting has been disabled.) ...dingg...dingg...blatt...
1. "From now on, I will make soups and you will visit and eat soups. Okay?" 2. "Mike Nesmith wasn't into a reunion tour; he'd moved on to other things." 3. "I hear chickens clucking somewhere nearby." Responses - 4 (Commenting has been disabled.) That wasn't really chickens. heard it Dec 2, '01 - 10:41 PM What was it? Monkees? Caliente sopa? thought it was chickens Dec 3, '01 - 10:00 AM Probably some wild bird able to survive in suburbia by wearing a bunny costume. it wasn't Dec 3, '01 - 6:31 PM And shouldn't that be sopa caliente? Not that I should be speaking on THAT subject... I remember one night at the ecovillage when everyone waiting for dinner seemed slightly excited. When I finally got someone explain to me in English, I became even more confused. Maybe it was because I was so tired, but "We're going to drink soap for dinner" just made no sense to me at all. Mrs. Duck
Dec 3, '01 - 6:53 PM From the dirt-floored cellar
Journal entry, Joyce Carol Oates - January 7, 1973: "To think that we inhabit the greatest, most ingenious work in the universe... that is, the human brain... and we inhabit it gracelessly, casually, rarely aware of the phenomenon we've inherited. Like people living in a few squalid rooms, in a great mansion. We don't even know what might await us on the highest floor; we're stuck contemplating the patterns in the floorboards before us."Excised from a quotation in Invisible Writer, a biography of Joyce Carol Oates by Greg Johnson. I hear chickens clucking somewhere nearby. Responses - 0 (Commenting has been disabled.) November 28, 2001; Wednesday Never been to Spain (or England, or, most particularly at the moment, Japan)
Everyone glistens miserably, slippery in the oozing heat as we suffer the unrelenting road like ten thousand miniature Tohokus. The smells of exhaust, durian, and urine hang heavy in the liquid air of the bus. An abrupt stop: slimy riders lurch forward from momentum, rub up against one another like oily fish, then settle back again. I hear chickens clucking somewhere nearby. For a moment, nobody speaks... but now a murmer, now a cry, now a panic sweeps through the passengers. Voices rise in pitch and emotion, words I don't understand. The bus rocks as people push into the seat stalls, squeezing into each other: parting, opening the aisle. A boy in front of me contorts through one of the small windows, drops to the ground and scrambles away. A large man in a wide-brimmed yellow hat, holding a simple boquet and looking distracted, steps onto the bus. The passengers hold their breath. Absently touching one end of his snow-white scarf, he mumbles, "I am like a red tin bus, made in Taiwan. People's faces are painted on - but they're painted on in alarm." A man on an old Guzzi sputters slowly by. "You wouldn't be laughing if you ever met 'Karu' on a cramped bus in small town Japan." - Jeff Anderson Responses - 0 (Commenting has been disabled.) November 26, 2001; Monday Where them dang elves at?
I owe emails to almost everybody I know, and also to a good percentage of the people I don't. I haven't answered anything in a good coupla weeks or more - probably a bit on the "more" side. More. Further. Keep going. I haven't finished the thank-you notes yet, though I've talked about it plenty. I was off to a good (but belated) start, then got sidetracked. There's also a bunch of wedding pics to scan now, but my scanner didn't survive the move. I'm thinking that I want to migrate to Moveable Type for some of its features, which - especially once we're finally on the road - seem like they'll be important (to me) or appreciated (by me). But if I do decide to do that, I'd first like to figure out how to set up the laptop to run PERL so I can do all my configuring offline. To those who might know: Are these instructions good/accurate/appropriate? The laptop needs to go to a repair shop - it stopped charging the battery. Months ago. I got a new battery to confirm that it's not the battery: and it's not the battery. Maybe what I need is a battery charger, and skip the repair. I need to find out what's going on in Minnesota for the holidays. Then I need to figure out how to get to Minnesota for the holidays. I want to make a change or two in the meta headers of my templates to prevent Google from cataloging my images. In a sudden upswell, entirely too many hits to this domain this month have come from Google's image-search function. Meaning not that people are coming to the site, but that they're looking at the images from the site as shown by Google... and using server resources that I pay for to do it. Thanks, Google. (I added the MSSmartTagsPreventParsing tag some time ago.) Do nothing to opt in. Support your favorite corporate monopolies by implied consent. It's easy! Our stuff is stuffed into the in-law's basement. I lost the stuff-volume contest by a good margin, but would probably have won if it had been judged by weight. Books. Anyway, I need to make something that looks like "order" happen downstairs. (Did I mention that we've been staying at the in-law's house since leaving the apartment? This is something neither of us wants to see go on for too long... which means absolutely nothing against the in-laws, who are good and upstanding and funny people.) From out of the blue, a misplaced bit that finds its way here because I read it last night in the book Invisible Writer: "I don't think most people comprehend how onerous 'religion' can become when it's shoved down a child or a young person's throat week after week; what resentment builds up. The more imaginative you are, the more rebellious - the more restless and miserable." Joyce Carol Oates wrote those words in a journal, recollecting her teenage religious experience. I don't think what she said is necessarily true in every case, though it was in mine. I need to get the truck cleaned up, especially behind the seat. A '92 Dodge one-ton flatbed, it was a federal-government truck in New Mexico used by a paint crew, and the accumulated years of desert dust and paint-crew goo still lurk behind every door (and seat). I also need to replace the 9v lighter plug, and make the dome light work when the passenger door opens. And it needs new radio speakers, if not a whole new something that will play tapes too. Urgh (not Urgh). This entry is dedicated to the memory of Rusty's lyrics for the song "The Sound Of My Voice" which went something like, "I love the sound of my voice / I love the sound of my voice / I love the sound of my voice / I love the sound of my voice / I love the sound of my voice / I love the sound of my voice." Responses - 0 (Commenting has been disabled.) November 25, 2001; Sunday Schifferstadt Architectural Museum
The Schifferstadt Architectural Museum is a 1756 German farm house in Frederick, Maryland, with two-and-a-half-foot-thick stone walls on a bedrock foundation, and a later brick addition. From the museum's literature: "The inclination [of German colonials] was to overbuild to reduce the expectations of the materials and prolong their endurance. It is difficult to find fault with an approach that produced a structure now entering its third century."  Posted photos include a clever & simple stone window-sill/sink in the kitchen which drains to the outside... a large vaulted root cellar/basement (made of plastered stone) under the kitchen... a quick look at "paling" (which I've also seen described as "Dutch biscuits", which is basically straw-clay wrapped around sticks or boards and placed in a wall or between ceiling joists)... a surprising arched hallway on the second floor formed by fireplace chimneys on either side merging into one flue... and a "squirrel-tail" brick oven - the likes of which I've never seen - set in the back of a large open hearth.  Responses - 0 (Commenting has been disabled.) November 24, 2001; Saturday Is you is or is you ain't?
Responses - 0 (Commenting has been disabled.) November 19, 2001; Monday I am suddenly smelling mothballs, he says
Over at Strenturgent, Jeremy says: After months of vaguely smelling cheap cigars everywhere (for no obvious reason), I am suddenly smelling mothballs (for no obvious reason). Why? Responses - 1 (Commenting has been disabled.) It is indeed. strenty
Nov 20, '01 - 10:25 AM The monkey house
 Responses - 3 (Commenting has been disabled.) read that to karah once kurt Nov 19, '01 - 2:17 PM past tense kv Nov 19, '01 - 2:18 PM Dang. So you don't want me to read it to Karah. I guess that's probably a smart decision, though. Should I read it to Jeremy? (I'm not sure why that thought occurs. Or any of 'em.) November 18, 2001; Sunday A strawbale & cob addition in Takoma Park, Maryland
Stopped by a project the wife did some work on a couple years ago or so. Took some pics, here they are. (Update: find these and other pictures in the Natural Building Photos index.) Responses - 1 (Commenting has been disabled.) your website is a work of art Yf
 Responses - 3 (Commenting has been disabled.) I've shown, in awe, this art to my family. Nothing more be said. Damn. kurt Nov 23, '01 - 3:01 PM Note: Jealousy. kurt Nov 23, '01 - 3:04 PM Scary thing is that this photo of that painting doesn't do reality justice. It's better in person. Apparently one of the things her grandfather did to support himself when he was younger was to illustrate books. None of Sarah's family has any of these books... so I tracked one down - the only one I could find - and ordered it from a bookstore in Boston. I'm still waiting for it to arrive. France, Anatole. AT THE SIGN OF THE QUEEN PEDAUQUE. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, [1932]. Reprint. Illustrations by Nathan Machtey. A monk, a youth and an evil cabalist pursue a salamander who turns out to be a beautiful maiden. Erotic fantasy by a Nobel Prize winner. Very good in a very good illustrated dust jacket. $12.50Kilgore Trout? November 15, 2001; Thursday It wouldn't work in Lynx, probably
November 13, 2001; Tuesday The Happy Moog
 I'm realizing as I sit here trying to remember the music that I actually don't. I just remember that I thought it was the best thing ever. Responses - 2 (Commenting has been disabled.) 'Switched On Bach': http://www.cdconnection.com/bin/nph-query/f9A0LZu8WAfa.ve?part=594160 chunks of 'The Happy Moog' (and some other interesting stuff) purport to be here: http://www.jackdiamond.com/ Also, try going to http://www.forcedexposure.com and searching on 'moog'. strenty Nov 14, '01 - 8:18 PM Thanks for the leads! I was drooling over the old studio/synth shots at the Wendy Carlos site yesterday, having been led there from the East Side Digital/NorthSide/Omnium trio of sites (where I also learned about Kevin Kling's motorcycle accident.) I must go see, and thoroughly, about these jackdiamond and forcedexposure things now. November 12, 2001; Monday Perhaps they's happy, he says
King Velour 11/08/2001: Nothing saddens me more than looking in my rearview mirror to see an individual (in the vehicle behind me) filled, brimming, with self-loathing. Responses - 0 (Commenting has been disabled.) As many bumps on my head as there are stars in the sky
  Cover and inside page of the book Brain and Mind, 1879. (Apologies for the images' too-big filesizes. I'll fix 'em soon's I have access to my own computer again.) (Oh, we're moved out of the apartment, by the way, so if you go looking for us there you're wasting your time. Go feel up somebody's head or something instead.) Responses - 0 (Commenting has been disabled.) November 7, 2001; Wednesday The next while will be stretched thin, and I might disappear for a bit from time to time
Last night I rode the metro to the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, VA, to hear "An Evening Of Music For Saxophone" presented by the USAF Band Chamber Players on the occasion of the anniversary of the birthday of Adolphe Sax. I'll tell youse mugs what: it was good. Particularly Ulla in Africa, a funky thing by somebody named Heiner Wiberny. The Air Force, funky. Who'd have guessed? Tomorrow is, with luck, the last day in this apartment... though it might drag out for another day or two. On the tenth, we're supposed to go out for a few hours as oarsmen on a recreated Viking longship, the Fyrdraca. Looking forward to that. On the sixteenth, tickets to a stage production of The Sound Of Music. Sometime in the middle of all that, my birthday is shared with Neil Young and Charles Manson (whose birthdate is often misreported). Astrologists, go figger that. I think I'm forgetting something. Responses - 3 (Commenting has been disabled.) Astrology is an inexact science. I share the date (if not year) of my birth with John Belushi, Neil Diamond, Ernest Borgnine and Wally Cox. Hmmm. I guess you could say I'm like some sort of freakish amalgamation of all four, couldn't you? Maybe it's NOT that inexact... I think I'll disappear now, slip out sideways Just for awhile - but until then I'll stay in and sleep late, excuse me --Crash Test Dummies kurt Nov 13, '01 - 11:34 AM "I think I'm forgetting something," I said. I remember now the other thing I was going to say: Happy birthday, Lois! Marketing is everything
 Responses - 0 (Commenting has been disabled.) November 6, 2001; Tuesday Ich bin heir, ich bin da drüben
Je suis ici, Je suis là Sono qui, Sono là Eu estou aqui, Eu estou lá Estoy aquí, Estoy allí November 5, 2001; Monday Some Natural Building Photos
I came across about a dozen undeveloped rolls of film in a box of stuff. As it turned out, they're some of the last photos I took before I moved away from New Mexico. I've scanned some, and here they are. (Update: Find these photos and others via the Natural Building Photos index.)As I write the captions (which are undoubtedly going to end up quick and sketchy), I'm going to assume that you have a certain level of knowledge about things like strawbale construction, or at least a certain level of interest; if not, do what you will. If you're seriously interested, and something you see is new or doesn't make sense to you, it's probably a good idea to go find out about it. Similarly, if you see a name you don't recognize, it's probably going to be worth your while to find out who they are. They're probably pioneers or have books out or something. I'll make links to outside pages where I can think of any. Canelo Project: strawbale workshops (Update: Find these photos and others via the Natural Building Photos index.) Responses - 5 (Commenting has been disabled.) Very much enjoyed your pics. Sometimes I am still amazed that we did our little sb. strawboss Nov 6, '01 - 6:26 PM Really enjoyed the photos Mark, thanks for posting and sharing them with us. Very informative, and the images were nice and big, and loaded quickly! Was nice to see the photos of Mary's artist compound. Haven't seen her since assisting Carolyn (Peterson) Roberts on her SB house in Tucson. And, you're right it is a true jewel in the desert!! I hope you get the chance to post more. Regards, -"Spuds" Carolyn's book, as you probably already know but others may not, is slated to come out in April (published by Chelsea, of course). It's about her experience as a working single mom building herself a house with her two teenage sons... but will have much broader appeal than to single moms or women only, with lots of what not to do info. She's good people. I've been looking forward to this book for ages. G 'day Duck Great photos and I would love it if you could use some of our earthen render shots. I will try to get used to this technology but I find it hard. Keep up the great photos and I will send your email to my list of Aussie Balers. On ya Mate. Mark, Nice to have some pictures about the cob fireplace fire. I am amazed by the fact that once freed the straw didn't burst into flame as there is quite a stack of loose straw laying about on the ground. BTW I like your site. I hope you are heading where you want to go. Greetings, Rene November 3, 2001; Saturday Eating... something
 Responses - 3 (Commenting has been disabled.) Does that man only have one arm? Oh, he's just holding his neck... Yeah, that's mostly what made me think that he's confused: He's crouched down with one hand on his knee, and the other rubbing his neck. Or maybe he has nausea and whiplash. At least he's not morphing into Michael Jackson like... well, Michael Jackson. That's "Karu" that stuff. Cheese flavored as well. With Cambert cheese in it too! That's what the package says anyhoo. Now if you've ever stuck that fluff in your mouth... November 2, 2001; Friday Eating Pocky
 This sticker was in my Pocky box. Responses - 1 (Commenting has been disabled.) WOW! What a blast from the past! I was vacationing in Makati, Manila while on a two week hiatus in the Philippines when I happened into an area known only as Little Toyko. I bought several Pocky's and although most melted (the chocolate ones) I loved them! I brought some back home (New Hampshire, USA) with me and the local yokels thought they were pretty unique. Thanks for jogging my memory! Eating Death (or, Kurt Vonnegut Threatens My Life)
You're nobody 'til somebody wishes you dead anonymously. Yesterday somebody commented on the totally innocuous entry "Exclamations" from October 2. They wrote, "eat death, you dink" and signed it "jack ass." Given the level of idiocy behind the words and the nom de plume, I have to think it's either somebody I know trying to be funny, or that it's somebody I don't know trying to be funny, or it's an actual idiot. Paranoid as I am, I think it's probably the latter; and if it is, it probably has almost everything to do with the entry previous to the one that was commented - the one titled "Friggin' Peaceniks", which launches a series of photos I took at a DC antiwar rally at the end of September. It's the most linked-to page on this site from outside sources, making it the top entry page for potkettleblack - as well as the top exit page. Unless I miss my guess, it seems likely to me that somebody with a strong patriotic streak (which is fine) and not so much brains (which I can't do anything about) was out surfing for people to beat up on the internet, and found their way to the Friggin' Peaceniks photos... and followed the link at the bottom backward to the 9/30 entry... and clicked on the link there for the 10/2 entry... and saw something that had some (nonsense) German words in it... and given those scant clues, concluded that I'm some kind of unAmerican pinko neo-nazi they'd like to see dead. Well, with the latest anthrax reports coming from right down the road, they might get their wish. Of course, a lot of other innocent people besides me would probably also die, but I'm guessing that probably wasn't a consideration. That person, too chickenshit to sign their name and too stupid to avoid jumping to reckless uninformed conclusions (spoken as if I don't do that myself) would just like to see me stop breathing. That's all. Simple. It's curious how a person like that doesn't see that they're a terrorist. What was it I wrote the day after 9/11? "Embrace your inner smart person. Don't be what you hate." ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
So, come with me into the dark recesses of the logfile and let's see how my suppositions bear out.Because Greymatter tells me so, I know that the IP the comment came from was 4.36.210.10, which a quick lookup tells me belongs to Ziff Davis. The log files show that particular IP number (and no other Ziff Davis numbers) sniffing around that page (and that page only), arriving by doing a Google search on the word "exclamations." (Why the hell would anybody want to do a search on the word "exclamations"? Well, maybe to find Polyglot Exclamations at Maledicta, I guess.) They were at the page for just over 30 seconds before hitting the commenting script, and then landed back at the entry page about 15 seconds later. I'm sure that zippy connection speed is mighty nice, but it apparently doesn't offer any extra time to be even halfway intelligent. About 15 minutes after T-zero-bonehead, somebody linked to peaceniks.html from a Yahoo email inbox for about 30 seconds using IP 199.170.68.60, which belongs to UUNET. They didn't download the entire page before backing up to the index of the parent file and leaving. Didn't care for what they saw coming onto their screen, apparently, so they moved on - how novel. ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
In the final analysis, what do I think?It may have been a hit-and-run idiot doing a teenage-loner version of a prank phone call, in which case I've given their few seconds' marginal handiwork more than ample attention. But the most glaringly obvious answer is that this is the work of Kurt Vonnegut. "eat death, you dink. - jack ass," he wrote.
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted. This story wastes no time getting right to the guts of things.2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for. This story provides the reader with a choice of two potentially rootworthy characters: either me, or the terrorist. 3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water. The antagonist wants something: The antagonist wants me to eat death. I'm not sure what I want as the other character, but I'd probably rather not eat death. Unless it's some kind of Morissey meat-is-murder thing, in which case I'm OK with having a hamburger. 4. Every sentence must do one of two things - reveal character or advance the action. The four-word sentence which comprises the entire story packs a good half-dozen suggestive revelations about the terrorist's character. 5. Start as close to the end as possible. It not only starts close to the end, but right at the end. And then it stops there. I guess it's starting to seem like it's really not much of a story after all. 6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them - in order that the reader may see what they are made of. I am as sweet and innocent as sweet innocents come. Woe, o woe, for the terrible thing that has befallen me! (Does that work even a little bit?) 7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia. This one's tough. The writer's motives are obscure. And it seems that the word "love" as used here is inappropriate - "rape" is closer to accurate. Similarly, replacing "pneumonia" with "anthrax" would probably make a better analogy for this situation. 8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages. Need I say more? Po-tee-weet. Responses - 1 (Commenting has been disabled.) 4.36.210.10 apparently wasn't interested in following the link obviously associated with the German words, in order to root out and wish death on King Velour, who must be of royal Middle Eastern descent. November 1, 2001; Thursday Kurt Vonnegut's rules for writing
From the author's introduction to Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction by Kurt Vonnegut (Putnam, 1999). Now lend me your ears. Here is Creative Writing 101:Then he continues:1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted. The greatest American short story writer of my generation was Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964). She broke practically every one of my rules but the first. Great writers tend to do that. Some haunts of writers and musicians, half of them dead now, in San Francisco
I wasn't looking for the walking tour of San Francisco that I put together for myself, but I found it anyway. (Timely, considering yesterday's entry.) These are excerpts from it; shows what was on my mind. ... left on Baker, left on Fulton (Broderick, Divisadero, Scott) - 1198 Fulton - Kesey lived here, & it's featured in Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test... Responses - 6 (Commenting has been disabled.) Weighs heavy on the dead side, I think. No; if counting all the G.D. members, I guess we need to celebrate victory for the living. I just haven't been following the obituaries lately. Yeah, I wasn't sure how to do the tally either. Better if I'd flung it all into the nebulous place and let it float there, but I didn't and there it is. (Them what ain't dead may be half-dead, though... which is a long stretch for a minimal salvation through revisionist semantics.) another one down (sadly) kv Nov 12, '01 - 4:25 PM Yeah. RIP, Ken. You touched my life. |
|
|
  
 
 
 |
| |||||
|
| |||||||||
|
| |||||||||
|
| |||||||||
