If you like to go on the internet to keep yourself up to the second on the latest treatment for sexual dysfunction, the “tragic events” (terrorist attacks) of 911, global warming, a new weight loss drug that finally works, the movie stars of today and their glamorous divorces, and heart-healthy substitutes for real food, then you have definitely come to the wrong place. But if you are one of those pensive thinkers with a lot of time on your hands who has named every rose in your neighborhood, and find yourself pondering things such as the beauty of a mercury vapor light, music that has disappeared even from the “oldies” list, video games where the most violent weapon is a mushroom, why grownups go to fitness gyms instead of a playground, why there is a swimming pool next to every renowned beach, the orchestration of elevator music, why even on a beach most people have shoes on, why America is a don’t-touch-me society with in a give-me-a-big-hug world, the fragrance of a fine cigar - then this site is for you. Join me in those topics that have not created a movement, those which people, if they think about them at all, keep to themselves since their buddies just “wouldn’t understand.”
4/10/04 I saw a sign on a cemetery in North Seattle saying "Space Available." And to think it was right before a day where we celebrate the "Space Available" sign that went up on a tomb 2000 years ago. Two Surfs for the Price of One I was swimming at West Point light house today. If you enter the water right off the point where the north and south beaches intersect, the waves from both sides run together - two surfs meeting head to head. As I went further out, I discovered another well-kept secret, a stiff current flowing north. It felt like stepping into a river. And I knew right away why this was so. The tide was coming in, and I was swimming off an exposed head land where the waters flowed unhindered from the Straight of Juan de Fuca. Now I've felt some current in Shilshole Bay before. But nothing as dramatic as this. 8/17/03 Dignity and Water Don’t Mix At Seattle’s Westlake center is a waterfall. If you get there when it is on, you are in for a treat. A plaque mounted in the ground next to it says you’re supposed to run through the fall yelling “I’m a Seattle superhero!”. The spray is so directed as to get you soaked when you go through it. Wear what you want through it, but one thing you cannot take with you is your dignity. You may try to go in with it, but you sure won’t be coming out with it. If you can’t get wet, you can’t be a superhero. 4/01/03 Birds of Different Feathers In a Wendy’s parking lot, I saw a group of birds collecting around a paper bag. Especially cute was that half of them were crows and half of them were seagulls. And both got their turn picking up the bag. 3/29/03 The Play Instinct Spotted at Sea At West Seattle’s Lincoln Park beach I saw what impacted me at the time as the perfect hypostatic union of innocence, playfulness, and love. Rocking back and forth on the waves was a piece of driftwood, a twig, and a small triangular piece of material, assembled into a little sailboat. I can only say that this work could be expressing a more perfect whimsical spirit than its creator could express even in person. I find I cannot look up at the clouds and the Milky Way without thinking that it was in this very spirit that God created us and the universe in which we dwell. |
They left me in the air about whether the
new millenium starts in 2000 or in 2001,
so I celebrated for a whole year.
Do you itch to be a twitch? Why
is everybody so touchy? Why do we protect ourselves from the
rain, the wind, the ground, the sun, and from each other. Its
time to shrink our “personal space”, to shed our armor,
to stop being a touchy prig and learn to be a touchable twitch.
Making
Sense of Rubic’s Cube. See my explainable
solution. See how, by using conjugates and commutators
to construct complex strings out of single moves, you can solve
the entire cube. Also see some additional puzzles that are based
on Rubik’s Cube.
Billowing clouds of smoke.
Cigarettes are everywhere, but there’s just nothing like the
fragrance of a fine, premium cigar. Why cigars are politically
incorrect, why a cigar is not a cigarette, why you don’t see
cigar smokers standing outside airports, and why cigars are a
good refuge for the shuddering ex-smoker.
Cheer up; it feels good.
It’s so easy, and it’s such great fun. So how
ould it have slipped into such obscurity? It’s time to bring
back the smile, the good mood, the perky, cheerful, positive and
upbeat look. If you forgot how, and if you dare, here’s a
refresher course.
Set
your toes free. How often do you get a chance to go
barefoot, maybe for a whole day or more? Would you really wear
shoes all day if there were no place where you had to?
Have you done any honest number crunching on the actual
protection provided by shoes? Or have the podiatrists and shoe
companies saved you the trouble? Do you really believe that bare
feet are disgusting and unhealthy, or do you realise it is
pleasant and healthful but are just so inured by rules against
nice things that you just snapped and joined the fight against
all things bright and beautiful? Let’s ignore the collective
wisdom that places “shoes on our feet” alongside
“food in our tummies” and investigate the superior
state of going barefoot. Doing it more will change your
personality.
Grownups, get out and play!
If it’s really true that adults need to get more
exercise, and if it’s really true that play is the
perfect exercise, then why is mentioning both ideas in the same
breath unthinkable? Do you suppose this is because the highly
flammable combination this presents is well understood and that
there is fear of blowing adult “dignity” out of the
water? It’s time for grownups to run outside and do the
unthinkable. Can Mr. William come out to play?
Face
the Muzak. Whatever happened to “elevator
music”? Where did it go so fast? Did you know real record
artists wrote such music, and not just a studio orchestra hired
by Muzak? Here’s to all you utterly disinfranchized fans of
the real thing, who have had it with the “light top-40”
that has taken its place.
Mama
mia, it’s Mario! Especially for you accomplished
players of Super Mario 64. Some secrets and musings
about this fantastic game, and even those unanswered questions
that keep the game interesting even after you can beat the whole
thing. What will you find if you go to those places Mario just
ain’t supposed to go, like the backside of the front castle
door? What about those objects in the game that look like they
are there for some purpose, but don’t do anything? And what
about this new Luigi craze? Let’s discuss these things.
The Blue Mystique.
Red is fierce. Yellow is funny. Green is friendly. But what can I
say about blue? This color seems to demand a more pensive look
than the others. And why is it suddenly fashionable to make
“soft-white” versions of lamp types that have always
been a cooler white or even bluish? And why the outrage over
lights that make a similar shift in the opposite direction, such
as the new bluish-white HID headlights?
You know you’re getting old when: Your
children complain about senior moments.
But you know you’re still young when: Your mother goes boogy
boarding.
After much deliberation by the trial lawyers on
behalf of Apple, Linux, Widgetbytes, and other victims of big
software (Microsoft),
the court has finally arrived at a verdict concerning the fate of
this great multitasking giant.
Click Here for
Details
Try one of these for a whole day
| Walk all around town | Don’t use electricity | |
| Go barefoot | Don’t smoke | |
| Turn off your phone ringers | Don’t read the news | |
| Fast | Don’t drive | |
| Teetotal | Turn the TV off | |
| Act cheerful | Speak another language | |
| Don’t look at the time | Be celebate | |
| Wear a costume | Turn the computer off (Ouch!) |
Wild things to try
Continue singing or humming when you come upon
a stranger
Jump over a fire hydrant
Sing making up the words and notes as you go - no prep allowed
Run through a downpour in a bathing suit
Skip across a whole playfield
Go swimming with your clothes on
Talk to a stranger very smilingly and cheerfuly
********************
“I like a man who grins when he
fights.”
- Winston Churchill
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