Baby elephants cavorting in a pool

The news is so horrific these days that I have contemplated cutting myself off completely from all of it, cold turkey, no internet, no twitter, nothing. But that wouldn't stop bad things from happening, and I also wouldn't get to see this:

Squeee! *head explodes*
Baylor and Tupelo are two African elephant babies at the Houston Zoo, each born last year.

New earworm! Explore Minnesota

Joe Mauer is endearingly off-key.

my family is coming back to Minnesota today! *throws hat in the air*

Data, context, knowledge: mapping conflicts in the Middle East

"Global Protests & Uprisings Maps Time-Lapse video" is a series of maps showing where protests and uprisings have occurred in the last few months, as documented in open source media. It was posted by the international blog portal Global Voices, but it was created by musician activist John Caelan at his website The Swamp Post. He explains that he documents each report on an excel spreadsheet, creates the images of maps and then puts them together in a video to give the effect of time-lapse. A very labor intensive effort, but with a mesmerizing, thought-provoking result.

It's important to also look at the key to the map where you can click on each flag to pull up the stories, and see the color key (red: violence resulting in death) and number of flags key (Five: Over 100,000) to understand where protests have been peaceful (green) or have been sites of conflict.

Having just spent five days of involuntary exposure to CNN, I can say that the effect is frightening, mind-numbing and singularly uninformative when not outright distorted. I don't know how people endure it.

Reliable, trustworthy historical context for me comes from Juan Cole: Top Ten Ways that Libya 2011 is not like Iraq 2003

Cats with thumbs!

I know it's an ad, but think about it.

Fleetwood Mac

I took a nostalgic tour through Fleetwood Mac's earlier incarnations. I don't have my records any more, so thank goodness for YouTube.

From Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, the song"Albatross," with both Peter Green and Danny Kirwan playing guitars:

Did you know that British guitarist Peter Green wrote the song "Black Magic Woman"--that the Santana version is a cover? Here is Green playing "Supernatural" with his previous band John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers.

Green left Fleetwood Mac, under the influence of LSD and also in the throes of what would later be diagnosed as schizophrenia. Although he lived through some very rough times, friends have helped him come back to playing music. Unfortunately, the same has not been true of bandmate Danny Kirwan, whose time with the band I remember fondly. I love the album "Bare Trees," and the voice of Christine McVie will always mean Fleetwood Mac to me. I didn't hate the Nicks/Buckingham incarnation, but the band was never as interesting to me after they joined.

Edited to add: Leee! turned me on to this amazing live performance of "Rhiannon" by the band with Stevie Nicks in which every single member of the band is right in time. Wow, thanks!

Mallorca's wild life

My daughter has now been to Mallorca two times. That is two times more than I have. *Sigh* She is there with her dads, and I hope they are able to get out of Palma to see something of the natural part of the island. Since I am stuck here in snowy Minneapolis, I must travel via YouTube! This BBC program on Mallorca is quite lovely. "El buitre negro" (the black vulture) has been an the brink of extinction, but people have been trying to keep their population going.

Monday morning "get up" music: Janelle Monae

"Many Moons" official video by Janelle Monae. We love.

Lyrics to Many Moons :

Verse 1:
We're dancing free but we're stuck here underground
And everybody trying to figure they way out
Hey Hey Hey, all we ever wanted to say
Was chased erased and then thrown away
And day to day we live in a daze

Refrain:
We march all around til' the sun goes down night children
Broken dreams, no sunshine, endless crimes, we long for freedom (for freedom)
You're free but in your mind, your freedom's in a bind

Chorus:
Oh make it rain, ain't a thang and the sky to fall
(The silver bullet's in your hand and the war's heating up)
And when the truth goes BANG the shouts splatter out
(Revolutionize your lives and find a way out)
And when you're growing down instead of growing up
(You gotta ooo ah ah like a panther)
Tell me are you bold enough to reach for love?
(Na na na...)

2nd Verse:
So strong for so long
All i wanna do is sing my simple song
Square or round, rich or poor
At the end of day and night all we want is more
I keep my feet on solid ground and use my wings when storms come around
I keep my feet on solid ground for freedom
You're free but in your mind, your freedom's in a bind

Chorus

Cybernetic Chantdown:
Civil rights, civil war
Hood rat, crack whore
Carefree, nightclub
Closet drunk, bathtub
Outcast, weirdo
Stepchild, freak show
Black girl, bad hair
Broad nose, cold stare
Tap shoes, Broadway
Tuxedo, holiday
Creative black, Love song
Stupid words, erased song
Gun shots, orange house
Dead man walking with a dirty mouth
Spoiled milk, stale bread
Welfare, bubonic plague
Record deal, light bulb
Keep back kid not corporate thug
Breast cancer, common cold
HIV, lost hope
Overweight, self esteem
Misfit, broken dream
Fish tank, small bowl
Closed mind, dark hold
Cybergirl, droid control
Get away now they trying to steal your soul
Microphone, one stage
Tomboy, outrage
Street fight, bloody war
Instigators, third floor
Promiscuous child, broken dream
STD, quarentine
Heroin user, coke head
Final chapter, death bed
Plastic sweat, metal skin
Metallic tears, mannequin
Carefree, night club
Closet drunk, bathtub
White house, Jim Crow
Dirty lies, my regards

Closing Lullaby:
And when the world just treats you wrong
just come with me and I'll take you home
No need to pack a bag
Who put your life in the danger zone?
You running dropping like a rolling stone
No need to pack a bag
You just can't stop your hurt from hanging on
The old man dies and then a baby's born
Chan, chan, chan, change your life
And when the world just treats you wrong
just come with me and i'll take you home
Shan, shan shan shan-gri la
Na na na na na na na na na na na

Kuroneko (1968) dir. Kaneto Shindo

Kuroneko means Black Cat, but the Japanese title is Yabu no naka no kuroneko (The Black Cat from the Grove) I saw this film with my mother shortly after it came out in 1968, probably in 1971 when it had a short run in the U.S. We had returned from living in Japan, with the Army, and in San Francisco we could see Japanese films at the movie theater in Japantown. My mother and I would often have dinner at a little restaurant next to the theater, and we saw lots of great Kurosawa films. This movie was different, very grotesque and stylized. I wasn't old enough to understand it, either emotionally or visually.
I just saw it again in the theater, on a new 35 mm print, and it is amazing. The opening of the film is wordless and harrowing.

Kuroneko is one of many Japanese films based on ghost stories (kaidan), or more specifically folk tales about ghost-cats (bakeneko-mono).

Kinetic Wave Sculptures

Rueben Margolin makes moving things with an elegantly simple combination of re-use and math.

As we think, so we become

via Harvest Heart's marvelous Tumblr.