The ’70s
Posted: March 1, 2013 Filed under: America, photography Leave a comment
Do not miss these rad photos from the 1970s, from an EPA project to document “America’s Environmental Problems and Achievements,” found at the consistently terrific Big Picture.
Tule Fog
Posted: February 27, 2013 Filed under: the California Condition 24 Comments
Tule fog is a thick ground fog that settles in the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento Valley areas of California’s Great Central Valley. Tule fog forms during the winter and early spring (California’s rainy season) after the first significant rainfall. The official time frame for tule fog to form is from November 1 to March 31. This phenomenon is named after the tule grass wetlands (tulares) of the Central Valley.
Tule fog near Bakersfield, from wiki, which reports:
Motor vehicle accidents caused by the tule fog are the leading cause of weather-related casualties in California.
The word, by the way, is pronounced “tooly,” not “tool” as I long believed.
First observed by this author while he searched for the site of the Mussel Slough gunfight.
photo source: Wikipedia? Gone now.
Hanagami Danjo fights a giant salamander
Posted: February 25, 2013 Filed under: painting, pictures 1 Comment
Musashi
Posted: February 22, 2013 Filed under: heroes, painting, religion 4 Comments
Musashi having his fortune told
All Helytimes readers are familiar with Miyamoto Musashi’s work on strategy in Book Of Five Rings, but some may need to brush up on the Dokkodo, “The Path of Aloneness.”
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Accept everything just the way it is.
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Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.
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Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.
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Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
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Be detached from desire your whole life long.
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Do not regret what you have done.
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Never be jealous.
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Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.
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Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself nor others.
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Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.
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In all things have no preferences.
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Be indifferent to where you live.
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Do not pursue the taste of good food.
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Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need.
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Do not act following customary beliefs.
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Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.
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Do not fear death.
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Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.
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Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.
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You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.
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Never stray from the way.
self-portrait
Cats Suggested as the fifty-three stations of the Tokaido, by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1862)
Posted: February 20, 2013 Filed under: painting Leave a comment
Obama
Posted: February 18, 2013 Filed under: America, Boston, Chicago, heroes, New England, politics, the California Condition, writing Leave a comment
James Fallows calls my attention to this article, from Chicago Magazine in 2007, about then-Senatorial candidate Obama’s Democratic convention speech.
The best bits, for the busy executive:
Obama composed the first draft in longhand on a yellow legal pad, mostly in Springfield, where the state senate was in overtime over a budget impasse. Wary of missing important votes, Obama stayed close to the Capitol, which wasn’t exactly conducive to writing. “There were times that he would go into the men’s room at the Capitol because he wanted some quiet,” says Axelrod. Once, state senator Jeff Schoenberg walked into the men’s lounge and found Obama sitting on a stool along the marble countertop near the sinks, reworking the speech. “It was a classic Lifemagazine moment,” says Schoenberg, who snapped a picture of Obama with his cell-phone camera.
(Photo not included, regrettably.) Kerry’s folks made Obama take out a line:
After the rehearsal ended, Obama was furious. “That fucker is trying to steal a line from my speech,” he griped to Axelrod in the car on the way back to their hotel, according to another campaign aide who was there but asked to remain anonymous. Axelrod says he does not recollect exactly what Obama said to him. “He was unhappy about it, yeah,” he says, but adds that Obama soon cooled down. “Ultimately, his feeling was: They had given him this great opportunity; who was he to quibble over one line?”
And:
On Tuesday, the day of his speech, Obama was up before 6 a.m. He gobbled down a vegetable omelet en route to the FleetCenter for back-to-back-to-back live interviews with the network morning shows. Next, he rushed off to speak at the Illinois delegation breakfast and then to a rally sponsored by the League of Conservation Voters. Afterwards, he returned to the arena for another hour of TV interviews. There was barely time for lunch, a turkey sandwich that he ate in the SUV while being interviewed by a group of reporters.
Always, always tell me what everyone ate.
(both photos from Chicago Magazine, uncredited. Michelle’s skeptical face in that first photo!)
Dick Cheney Road Trip
Posted: February 15, 2013 Filed under: America Leave a comment
[David Petraeus’] real mistake, I think, was going directly from four-star command to the directorship of the CIA. Rather, he should have taken some time out and reoriented himself. So the real lesson, I think, is that the time of retirement from high position is a vulnerable moment.
I didn’t think much of Dick Cheney as a vice president, but I think he was a good defense secretary. I remember being told that when he left that job, he got in a car and drove across the country alone.
“A picture of Musashi engaged in fantastic combat”
Posted: February 13, 2013 Filed under: adventures, animals, heroes, painting, pictures Leave a comment
That’s wikipedia’s caption for this picture by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861)
Hemingway
Posted: February 11, 2013 Filed under: Hemingway, writing Leave a comment
Dinner with James and Nora Joyce:
A troubled fourth marriage:
Pannonica de Koenigswarter
Posted: February 6, 2013 Filed under: music Leave a comment
was a British-born jazz patroness and writer. She was a leading patron of bebop music. She was a scion of the prominent Rothschild international financial dynasty.
Her friend Thelonious Monk reported that she was named after a species of butterfly her father had discovered, although her great-niece has found that the source of the name is a rare kind of moth.
The name “Pannonica” (nicknamed “Nica”) derives from Eastern Europe’s Pannonian plain.
The Tomb of Askia
Posted: February 4, 2013 Filed under: UNESCO Leave a commentIn Gao, Mali, there’s a UNESCO World Heritage site.
[Askia Muhammed] brought back with him [from his pilgrimage] the materials to make his tomb; all of the mud and wood came from Mecca. The caravan is said to have consisted of “thousands of camels.” It was structured as a house, with several rooms and passageways and was sealed when Askia Mohammed died.
For now watching the video of bewildered tourists at the Tomb of Askia here will be instead of visiting it.
Orange Butter
Posted: February 2, 2013 Filed under: food, New York Leave a comment
from Edward Robb Ellis’ The Epic Of New York City
A delicacy of the day was orange butter, made according to this recipe: “Take new cream two gallons, beat it up to a thicknesse, then add half a pint of orange-flower-water, and as much red wine, and so being become the thicknesse of butter it has both the colour and smell of butter.” Drunkenness was common.
Johnny
Posted: January 31, 2013 Filed under: America, music 1 Comment
In June 1965, his truck caught fire due to an overheated wheel bearing, triggering a forest fire that burnt several hundred acres in Los Padres National Forest in California. When the judge asked Cash why he did it, Cash said, “I didn’t do it, my truck did, and it’s dead, so you can’t question it.” The fire destroyed 508 acres (206 ha), burning the foliage off three mountains and killing 49 of the refuge’s 53 endangered condors. Cash was unrepentant: “I don’t care about your damn yellow buzzards.” The federal government sued him and was awarded $125,172 ($923127 in 2013 dollars). Cash eventually settled the case and paid $82,001. He said he was the only person ever sued by the government for starting a forest fire.
Cat
Posted: January 28, 2013 Filed under: cats, UNESCO Leave a comment
The other day I got mad at my cat for doing something undesirable. Then later I was like, “what am I doing being mad at a cat? She has no idea what human rules are. She is a less than one year old furry mushball. She is completely alone in the universe, with a brain incapable of processing even the simplest language. How would she possibly know what’s good or bad in a house? To her a flushing toilet is a marvel as wondrous as the Tomb Of Jahangir at Shahdara Bagh.”
Farming
Posted: January 25, 2013 Filed under: the California Condition Leave a commentSometimes I romanticize farming in my mind. Important to remember what a farm is really like.
(SCH)
Countryman
Posted: January 21, 2013 Filed under: Jamaica, music Leave a commentCountryman is an album by Willie Nelson. Ten years in the making, Nelson’s first ever reggae album merges the gospel and spirit found in bothcountry and reggae. It was released on CD format on August 2, 2005 by the Lost Highway label. Nelson made two videos for this album “The Harder They Come” and “I’m a Worried Man” both videos were filmed in Jamaica.
I can’t say this is one of my favorite Willie albums, but I suspect Willie had fun making it.
Countryman is also the title of a 1982 Jamaican film:
Countryman (1982) is an independentaction/adventure film directed by Dickie Jobson. It tells the story of a Jamaican fisherman whose solitude is shattered when he rescues two Americans from the wreckage of a plane crash. The fisherman, called Countryman, is hurled into a political plot by the dangerous Colonel Sinclair. Countryman uses his knowledge of the terrain and his innate combat skills to survive.
The film was shot in Jamaica and featured a reggae soundtrack performed by Bob Marley & the Wailers. It has become a cult classic.
It’s also the name of a newspaper in Perth, Australia that appears to have gone out of business.
Theory
Posted: January 18, 2013 Filed under: photography, the California Condition Leave a comment
If you take a picture of anything in California, then put it in black & white, you can pass it off as being by Ansel Adams.
Surf Beach, California
Posted: January 15, 2013 Filed under: adventures, the California Condition Leave a comment
When I took this picture I was listening to Dave Brubeck’s version of “The Trolley Song.”
Real life super spies
Posted: January 14, 2013 Filed under: adventures, heroes Leave a comment
I love this picture so much. It is from the NY Times obituary of Jeanne Vertefeuille (center), who helped catch CIA mole Aldrich Ames. It is credited to Central Intelligence Agency.
This woman was station chief in Gabon.
Helytimes 