momo

Doggy joy

2012-01-27T17:41:00.001-06:00

Beautiful Day at the Dog Park from Kelsey Wynns on Vimeo.

Glad there are other folks watching the GOP Clown Car circus so I don't have to

2012-01-24T13:04:00.000-06:00

I have a little crush on Jay Smooth, host of illdoctrine.

Exploring the downtown skyways: next fitness project

2012-01-22T10:38:00.000-06:00

The Star Tribune did a story this morning about how the skyway system in downtown Minneapolis figures into long-range urban planning. Many people see the skyways as an obstacle to a vibrant street life, but they form their own eco-system. Travel blogger Leif Pettersen, who has been around the world in rugged conditions and who deliberately lives a frugalista lifestyle (no car!), has made an adventure out of getting to know the secrets of the skyway. This video shows some highlights of his excursions:
Videotect: Leif in the Skyway from Architecture Minnesota on Vimeo.

confused about SOPA? PIPA? Clay Shirky explains it to us

2012-01-20T12:46:00.001-06:00

From the TED site: "What does a bill like PIPA/SOPA mean to our shareable world? At the TED offices, Clay Shirky delivers a proper manifesto — a call to defend our freedom to create, discuss, link and share, rather than passively consume. (Recorded at the TED offices, January 2012, in New York. Duration: 13:59"

Fitness progress!

2012-01-18T16:28:00.002-06:00

When I got back from Spain, I felt saturated, bloated, tired. I had decided it was time to lower the dosage of my antidepressants because I suspected that some of my fog and appetite issues might be related. i did it slowly, without skipping, and, although I did feel a little light-headed for a few days, I didn't get any brain zaps or mood swings, so I'm holding steady. After making sure I wasn't experiencing and major mood swings, it felt safe to start making diet changes.

After a couple of weeks with my fitness plan, I'm seeing measurable changes, and I have not been feeling tired, weak, or dizzy--no blood sugar fluctuations. By keeping a food log with the MyFitnessPal app (which makes my home site accessible from both my iPod and my phone), I've been tracking my calories and nutrients, keeping within the 1200/day range. I'm only 5'3", and my weight range for many years was 118-125, but I still felt healthy if I was a little heavier. Since I didn't have a scale, I entered my starting weight as what I was told at my my last doctor's visit: 150 llbs. I might have been a little under or over that, but that was close enough. My goal has been to lose slowly and steadily over the next three months.

Changes I made: no more beer at home; no pastries for breakfast in cafes, in fact, no cafes; no ice cream or chocolate; brown carbs instead of white; at least 3 pieces of fruit and 2 vegetables a day; portion control (keep a serving to a cup or fist size, and don't take seconds); a good breakfast; some kind of protein at every meal; non-fat yoghurt and 2% milk; beans, legumes, greens, all the good stuff; count servings of liquids and water intake. It's not rocket science, but I have found that entering the foods I eat in my log with this tool makes it really easy to see how I'm doing during the day, and I don't have to work at it. I also started adding up my minutes of cardio (mostly brisk walking), not for the calories, but just to observe what I was doing.
After a week, I could feel a shift, and I could tell I was shedding some water weight. The new scale I bought says I am down to 144--the quick initial loss being typical of resetting one's metabolism. I treated myself to a Surly Bender at a bar the other day (200 calories!) and still stayed in my daily range without being hungry or deprived.

I feel good! Now I need to see if I can make a dent in the menopot! I'm doing lots of brisk walking, and I have good energy. One day at a time.

Rice Pudding/arroz con leche

2012-01-15T11:58:00.001-06:00

"What is the matter with Mary Jane?.... And it's lovely
english rice pudding for dinner again!

Before we left Spain, Rosemary's tío Florencio gave us his recipe for rice pudding. It involves eggs and cream (and is rich and delicious). But there are many different versions, and the one I made this morning just involved reheating 2 cups of leftover rice from our Chinese takeout with 2 cups of of milk, adding a little sugar, cinnamon, orange peel, and stirring until the milk was absorbed. It was delicious, and nowhere near as fattening as the other versions I've seen served in various Spanish-speaking countries.

Here are some variation on preparing arroz con leche: two mom-style, two cooking show style.

Here's someone's mother making arroz con leche Mexican style, very creamy, with condensed milk and butter!

Recipe:
Wash two cups of rice, then cook it in water to cover.
1/2 can of condensed milk (to taste for sweetness)
a can of evaporated milk,
a cup of whole milk,
cinammon stick,
zest of two limes (or other citrus), o a strip of peel
4 T. butter
vanilla
can decorate with raisins and cinammon

Cook the rice until it's not quite totally soft, add the cinammon stick.Add first half of the cup of milk, and stir in all the other ingredients, finishing with the second half of the cup of milk. stirring. Bring to a boil, stirring, and cook until the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Can be served warm or cold (will thicken even more when cooled. It makes soupier rice pudding.
Top with slivered almonds, or raisins.

Here's a Spanish version, made by someone's dear mother, very traditional.

Add to 1/2 liter of whole milk:
2 cinnamon sticks,
lemon peel
3 T sugar and bring to a boil.
Cool the rice. If you want it to be creamier, leave it, but if she rinses off the starch.
Add rice to milk when it comes to a boil, cook it for about 19 minutes. Remove the cinnamon sticks and lemon peel. You can use the cinnamon sticks to decorate the rice pudding when you serve it and sprinkle it with cinnamon if you desire. Serve it cold

Adorable Peruvian style, with music and flirting:

From southern Spain, (arroz=arró), this time with two egg yolks!

Easy meal with farro

2012-01-12T17:19:00.002-06:00

I bought a package of farro with mushrooms at The Wedge (my co-op) from an organic farm in Siena, Italy. This was the first time I had seen farro packaged like a lot of other grains, as a meal base, instead of solo. Fattoria Pieve a Salti is the name of the farm, which is part of an operation that also involves a restaurant and country hotel ("agriturismo"). I cooked the farro mix (which had a recipe for cooking it like a risotto) in my rice cooker (so I didn't need to stir in the broth for 20 minutes), with some tomato sauce left over from cooking chicken, so it had a rich flavor. It was delicious!

I had always been told that farro was the same as spelt, but it turns out that farro in English is "emmer wheat"--another ancient grain.

Changing eating habits, or, remembering what I know

2012-01-10T19:28:00.001-06:00

The temptation of turrón

One of my favorite Wellness resources starts off with the step "Remember what you know." So much of making positive changes is not about learning something new, but remembering and applying knowledge you already have, often by overcoming the inertia or other obstacles that have arisen around patterns of behavior. Until I had a child, I never had to diet to keep to a sensible weight, nor did I own a car until I was 34 so I was in reasonable shape just form walking and biking, even after I stopped playing sports like volleyball or softball in college.

After last two weeks of truly heroic holiday feasting (Spanish food is so good!) I was--am-- more than ready to make some changes. I crave salads, greens, vegetables, and feel no appetite for sweets. My new year's resolve to try new recipes and start dancing again are a good start to getting back into my previous good eating habits. From experience, I know that I have to find a new set of habits to latch on to so I don't drift back into bad habits.

The U is on a big Wellness campaign, and has provided some serious incentives this year: if you accumulate 300 points by carrying out a set of wellness activities from their offerings, you can get $300 of your health care plan costs next year.
Comparing my responses to the annual Wellness survey, from over the past few years, I see I have done better at managing the symptoms of my depression AND my back pain. But I have gained weight and become more sedentary, and I don't like having a menopot. I'm also having a recurrence of the frozen shoulder on the left side, so I need to do some active pain management: this was an incentive to sign up for the phone health coach, and I know that exercise (the right kind) will be key.

My two downfalls, ever since I started taking anti-depressants, have been nervous impulse eating, especially right before bed, and portion control. I also eat too fast. So, remember what I know: don't skip breakfast; protein with every meal; no refined carbs or empty sugar (no pastries or alcohol); five small meals a day works better for me than three big ones. In fact, I know that if I plan my food buying, prepare food on Sunday, pack my Mr. Bento, and record my eating for a month or two, I'll be back on track. I also know that returning to my former level of physical activity is possible, but I'll have to take is slowly to not go into a fibro flare.

The "MyFitnessPal" app gives me a way to record what I'm eating and get fairly quick calorie/nutritional information because it draws on a huge database of both commercial products and home-made recipes entered by users. I set a weight goal, get a calorie threshold that will allow me to lose weight slowly and steadily, and then record what I eat and my exercise; it shows me the calorie readouts combining calories eaten and calories burned, and makes predictions as to what I will weigh if keep up with a given day's pattern. So far, it has not been hard to use, either on my phone or on my laptop, and it was free. I want to see how well I can do with this for the Spring semester.

It also warned me on the first day that I was eating too few calories, which might prompt my body to go into "starvation"mode and defeat the slow weight loss purpose. I want to become more fit, not lose weight fast. So I could have had that second piece of 12-grain toast with peanut butter for breakfast, and still kept to my calorie goal.

Paying attention to health eating goes very well with saving money (don't eat out or sit around in coffee shops), so I get to pat myself on the back.

Leo welcomes us home

2012-01-08T08:33:00.002-06:00

Epic trip back from Spain. First, the plane in Madrid was delayed for two hours, while they check out why that pesky systems alert light was on. After revising all the moving parts, they had to turn the whole airplane off and then on, to reboot the system. It reminded me of this sketch from The IT Crowd: "Hello, IT, have you tried turning it off and on again?"
Then we could go. Atlanta was the usual transition hell, until we emerged and found we'd been rebooked to the next flight out, just one hour later. Then we could relax. Taxi to where I left the car, in my work parking ramp, to discover a dead battery. But, as the Gopher hockey game was letting out, all I had to do was pop the hood, get out the jumper cables and stand next to my car for 30 whole seconds before a wonderful Minnesota handy guy with wife in tow leaped forward with an offer to help. Before he could even pull his car around, another such offer had been made. I love MN winter car help!

So we are home again, with our beloved pal, Leo. You know him as Mr. Kitty.

Near Canfranc in the Pyrenees.

2012-01-04T16:24:00.001-06:00

We drove from Zaragoza up to Jaca in the foothills of the Pyrenees so Blas could have a work meeting. We strolled around town, enjoying the unusually mild weather. For lunch, we drove to the Hotel Santa Cristina, near Canfranc, close to the ski resorts near the French border. The building itself used to be a customs house. They have an excellent restaurant, El Boj, where we had an amazing meal.
Here are some of the views from the terrace behind the hotel.
Looking north toward France and the puerto de Somport:

Southeast, across the deep gorge to the peaks, the only place where there is snow right now:

South, toward Jaca, and the Camino de Santiago:

Looking down into the gorge at the river (el río Aragón).

Castillo de Peracense 3/3

2012-01-03T05:27:00.000-06:00

Rosemary on the battlements, next to the little holes you shoot the arrows through.

Near the top.

You can see for ages.

The sun was setting, casting our shadows across the top of the castle, looking out over Aragón.

Castillo de Peracense 2/3

2012-01-03T05:22:00.000-06:00

Back in the olden days, there WAS a drawbridge!

Inside the first ring of fortifications you can see the walls of the second ring.

It's hard to realize just how far you can see in all four directions from this photo, but if you click on it to enlarge it, you can see that these rounded outcroppings are actually very tall rock formations rising from a deep valley below.

The red sandstone is covered with a soft green lichen.

This is the entry into the next level of fortifications, overlooking the valley. The wind was so strong, I was mildly terrified the whole time.

Castillo de Peracense, in Teruel 1/3

2012-01-03T05:15:00.000-06:00

View from the foot of the castle of Peracense in Teruel.

Click on the images to enlarge.

The red sandstone battlements.

THIS is what a castle should look like!

Although the site has been in use since the Late Bronze Age, the castle we visited yesterday was built in the 12th century, on the border between Aragón and Castilla. Enlarged in the 19th century, and restored in 1988, it takes advantage of the natural sandstone formation and is built from the same red stone. The afternoon we climbed through all three of its concentric rings, it was windy and cold. Life there must have been brutal. There are aljibes, or water cisterns, so the defenders could hold out for months if under siege, with their horses.

TV and me

2012-01-02T22:16:00.000-06:00

This was a good year for TV. Since I don't get cable, I end up watching shows on Netflix. A good show will provoke a marathon, so I have to time it around work and time availabitity.
Some shows I enjoyed this past year, or plan to watch eventually this year:

Mad Men was postponed this year, but that gave me time to marathon all the previous seaons. It lives up to all the hype. I watched all four seasons on Netflix, WITH all the commentary! and just loved it. It brings up all kinds of memories of when I was under ten years old, which is when the show is set, and I know that my parents lived through many of the types of situations that the show portrays. Watching the show with my daughter has lead to many interesting conversations

I really, really liked Homeland. Claire Danes, Morena Baccarin, Damian Lewis, Mandy Patinkin: what an amazing cast! SO suspenseful, so well-written and directed. I was wary of anything that might have been like the disgusting 24, but I'm completely hooked. Claire Danes is utterly gripping in her complete surrender to this complex role.

The first year of Treme was outstanding, and I need to watch the next season, but I want to set aside enough time to do it justice. The music is so wonderful, the food world, the characters. I think I'll re-watch season 1; the music, the portrait of New Orleans, the loving attention to the magnitude of the events that were the aftermath of Katrina: all are equal to the quality of The Wire.

BBC's show The Hour, about a group of news reporters who want to make a new kind of TV news show. The actors--Dominic West (from the Wire) Romola Garai and Ben Wishaw--are terrific, especially Wishaw. It was only a six-episode first season, but apparently a second will be forthcoming.. Marvelous costumes and set design, intelligent dialogue, and attractive men, yay! Another entertaining BBC show was Downton Abbey ("literary soap-opera fantasy") which made me re-watch Gosford Park. Such fun! I'm looking forward to the second season, which will start while I"m away, but should be easy to catch up on. I LOVE Kate Atkinson's novels, so the news that there is a BBC show, called Case Histories, based on them was great. I was able to watch a few episodes, and it makes me want to go back and reread all her books.

Another period piece I watched was about half of Boardwalk Empire (HBO) because it was on just before True Blood, and I'd often find a streaming channel on Tumblr where I could watch both shows. Coming in midway, I wasn't up on all the characters, but it was compelling and a great period piece.This one will have to wait until the summer for a marathon.

Dexter was very good for the first few seasons, a real exploration on a character, but this fifth year it has not been so great.I hated the season ending.

In comedies: we still love The Big Bang Theory AND Community, and I hate that they are on at the same time! Community still has some episodes in the can, but is on hiatus for a few months, which has the fans in an uproar. I have not yet watched any episodes of Louie, but I'm really intrigued by how he produces it, how many risks he is willing to take. I am not as big a fan of Parks and Rec as some, but only because I've just seen a smattering of episodes; I have to go back to the beginning and watch the whole thing. Same for Modern Family.

United States of Tara was good in its first year but I wasn't able to follow it the following season and now it has been cancelled after its third season. But I adore Toni Colette, so I'll put it in my queue.

Shows I have not seen yet, but want to watch:
Justified on FX gets a lot of love from the critics, and since it's based on Elmore Leonard stories, I'm sure it's good. My mother loves The Good Wife; that's another one I'll have to make time for. Apparently Breaking Bad is everyone's FAVORITE show, but I haven't wanted to watch a show about meth, and it's already had four seasons.

I only saw the pilot of Game of Thrones, but I'll catch up with it next. One show a lot of people like that I haven't seen yet is The Vampire Diaries, but I'm not sure about that one. I have never had any interest in Friday Night Lights (Texas, football, ugh).

That's a lot of TV! But the quality of some of these shows has been better than so much TV in the past. I'll probably watch SYTYCD again, but the show has lost its charm for me, alas.

Our day trip to La Laguna de Cañizar in Teruel

2012-01-02T16:38:00.001-06:00

Between the villages of Villarquemado and Cella is an area that was a shallow lake until it was drained 300 years ago, for agriculture. A geologist, working with the mayors of the two towns, managed to get community support for a project to return some of this land to its natural state, despite the fears of some farmers. As of last year, the Laguna de Cañizar is now once again a "humedal" or marshy fresh-water lake. Thousands of cranes have arrived to overwinter, and dozens of other species of wildlife have returned or become more visible, including wading birds, ducks, swallows, raptors, frogs and toads, snakes, fish, otters, badgers, and other creatures. Because the canes can grow so quickly, an experiment with a few water buffalo is being conducted to see if they do well through the winter, and if their grazing will help keep the growth under control.

We had a wonderful walk, windy and cold, but with gorgeous clouds. Our lunch in Villarquemado was excellent. We went on to other adventures (a castle!) later in the day, but that's for another post.

This place is a birder's paradise. The most impressive sight for us were the clouds of cranes. My photos hardly give an idea of how many there were, or how loud they were!

Here's one TV clip that shows the water buffalo (which we didn't see) and some of the many bird species that have returned to the area.

This video gives more of an idea of the cranes we saw.

For me, 2012 is going to be a year of creativity.

2011-12-31T09:22:00.000-06:00

When we get back from Spain, here are some things I will do.

learn to contradance at Tapestry Folkdance Center! they have weekly dances, and it will not require much use of my bad arm (still dealing with shoulder pain), but will require lots of smiling.

try new vegetarian recipes, like the stuffed mushroom caps I just learned to make from Loren (pecorino cheese mmm!). We also had a great quinoa salad, and he makes a delicious soup with butternut squash and other veggies. I made them with him the other day, and they are banoodles. I have plenty of cookbooks.

take up beading again, and use those beading supplies I have lying around.I've been getting lots of inspiration from Spanish accessories stores.

knit a scarf with the lovely Malabrigo wool from Argentina that I bought two years ago! It's sitting there, right by the sofa.

Use my Mr. Bento to bring my lunch on the days I teach: here is a Flickr pool for inspiration. This one just involves remembering. I won't go as far as making it a daily thing, but three times a week is a good start. Saves money, more healthy, but also aesthetically pleasing.

Just a few New Year's resolutions that don't involve grim decisions about weight loss, a gym, or work. I want 2012 to be the Year of Creativity. After January, I have some other projects in mind, but these will do for a start.

Urban art in Zaragoza: 3/3

2011-12-26T10:39:00.002-06:00

Urban art in Zaragoza: 2/3

2011-12-26T10:36:00.003-06:00

Urban art in Zaragoza: 1/3

2011-12-26T10:25:00.003-06:00

Just a few blocks from the apartment is an old neighborhood where demolished buildings have left walls exposed. This is the sixth year that the city and graffiti artists have collaborated in an "Asalto" (assault) of urban mural art, with guest artists and local artists leading workshops, creating new murals, and making us look in new ways at urban spaces otherwise seen as "vacant" or "unused."

Nochebuena

2011-12-25T04:08:00.001-06:00

The table set, waiting for the family to arrive:

Mr. Lobster.

Quique was the chef for the evening.

Los tíos: Florencio, Blas, Carmen and Quique.

Los primos: Alba, Rosemary, Rubén

Rubén y el yayo Daniel.

Holidays in Zaragoza

2011-12-20T20:59:00.001-06:00

We are going to spend the holidays with family in Zaragoza, Spain. One of my favorite CDs is by the Orquestina del Fabirol, called "Albada al Nacimiento"--a collection of solstice/Christmas music from Aragón, sung in aragonés. In this video, they play a tango! but they use traditional instruments and arrangements. They are going to be doing a series of concerts this season while we are in town, so I'm hoping to see them perform!

A recipe for the season is "Cardo con almendras"(cardoons with almond sauce).

Cardo (Cynara cardunculus) is a member of the aster family, thistly like the artichoke. In English, it's called the cardoon. Originally from North Africa, it's grown in Sicily, Italy, France and Spain. It's especially prized in Aragón. The plant has elements that can be used to in cheese-making (as a coagulating agent), and some medicinal properties.

Here in the U.S., I have no idea if cardoons can ever be found in Minnesota farmers' markets because it's a very Mediterranean plant, but they are used as a decorative garden plant here, and requires covering and protecting in the winter. You can get them in the San Francisco organic market at the Ferry Building, according to this NPR story with a recipe. In Spain, it's easy to buy the cleaned and cooked stems already prepared in jars or frozen in grocery stores, but in this video you see how you have to peel the prickly part off the fresh stems; the little spines can be very painful. If you're willing to do the prep, though, they are delicious.

For the sauce, you sauté in olive oil onion, garlic, parsley, jamón (like prosciutto). Thicken with a little flour, and some pine nuts and almonds that have been ground. Add broth, salt, and cook it to the desired consistency.

Bgirl stars!

2011-12-15T10:15:00.000-06:00

11 years old!!!

Bgirls MOVIE ONE v. NADIA battle.

A reel of bgirl stars that highlights powermoves. It's not longer true that only the bboys can do spins and flares, but it's not all about power either.

UPDATED: Leee! suggested I check out Narumi and Shie Chan. They are part of the crew Queen of Queenz from Japan.

vertical gardens

2011-12-14T09:36:00.000-06:00

*cracks knuckles*
I have to grade the last set of papers before the students turn in their finals next week. So, one last round of procrastination, and then it's ALL WORK!
Procrastination activity the first:
While walking in the Mission in SF, we came across this cool store that was growing succulent plants using a vertical garden arrangement. I dearly would like to put one of these on my back porch, which gets Western sun exposure, to grow herbs and veggies in the summer. The store was using Wooly Pocket planters, but there are other kinds around.

Back to Minnepolis

2011-12-04T11:45:00.001-06:00

Mark Mallman has a new song called "Minneapolis" that has been trotting through my head, it's so catchy. I am reconnecting with the winter after our five dreamy days in San Francisco.

Yesterday was relatively mild, and the squirrels were out, going crazy. They knew we were in for our first real snowfall, and I'll bet they are curled up in their little nests this morning. I had my first real shoveling-of-the-walk experience. It'd the fluffy kind you can push away where it hasn't been stepped on, but the tramped-down stuff needed a foot on the shovel to scrape up the plaques. No ice, though, so there's that. There is fluffy snow on the branches, the scrape-scrape sound of the neighbors shoveling their walks, and we are about to clean off the car to go out and about.

Thanksgiving in San Francisco

2011-12-01T12:11:00.001-06:00

We spent five days in San Francisco for the holiday. The ocean air and the view of the bridge from China Beach are a refresher for my soul, before returning to face the next five months of Minnesota winter.

Coyotes have been spotted near the Museum of the Legion of Honor, not surprisingly.

The cousins have both grown so much!

Yes, there is a hill. Thanks for the reminder!

Bjork, Cosmogony from Biophilia

2011-11-21T22:46:00.001-06:00

Bjork | Cosmogony | Biophilia from Edeenarys Bjarkason on Vimeo.

Nov 17, the 99% "Bat Signal": Do Not Be Afraid

2011-11-19T09:05:00.001-06:00

In the Batman stories, the people project a distress signal, the "Bat Signal," when they want their hero to rescue them On Nov. 17, these signals were projected on the facade of the Verizon Building, not to call for a hero, but as a "mic check" of the kinds of things that people have been chanting in their occupations across the nation. Do Not Be Afraid.
via Boing Boing, this footage of the "bat signal", the projections on the Verizon Building as thousands of people in New York peacefully demonstrated on the Brooklyn Bridge on November 17. The interview tells how the idea came about, how they found a place for their projector, how they created the projections.

Here is a remix with music by Hans Zimmer from the Batman movie. Note the hashtags in the title #N17 #Occupy, and the Anonymous iconography!

UC Davis: the crowd responds peacefully to police assault

2011-11-19T08:40:00.001-06:00

All over the UC system, students and faculty have been organizing over the past few years in opposition to tuition hikes but also to the ways that the administration has been making decisions about its priorities in running this educational institution. So the most recent events on UC campuses, in the context of the Occupy movement, should be understood not as something new but as the next stage in this movement. But the acts of police brutality--a cliche, but there are no other words--against non-violent students and faculty, have resulted in serious injuries and shown clearly that the administration thinks that violence is an appropriate response to a non-violent display of opposition.

As could have been expected, these events have galvanized people--workers, teachers, and students--in the entire UC system. This web site, Reclaim UC, provides a useful round-up of news and responses.

As an alumna of the University of California at Berkeley (BA, MA, and PhD) who attended from 1974-1988, I am entirely unsurprised by this thuggery, as I knew of or witnessed similar incidents around other issues, but it is important to remember that not everyone has these memories, and it is still essential that indignation and repulsion be expressed at these illegal, unconstitutional and inhumane uses of force to coerce people into shutting up and going away. University of California campuses are "public" but, as I learned during jury duty on a trespassing case on the UC Berkeley campus, they legally are the "property" of the Regents of the UC system, a legal fiction that is used to justify removal of anyone (including an old man eating his lunch in Evans Hall on a Sunday) that a bored cop wants to push around.

This event, at UC Davis, shows both an act of gratuitous violence on the part of police, and an angry but peaceful and sane response by the crowd, which refuses the provocation and accomplishes their goal of taking back their space.
Students sitting in the quad at UC Davis are pepper-sprayed like bugs by a cop. Watch all the way to the end to see what the crowd does.

This open letter to UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katebi by an untenured professor Nathan Brown explains what the event was about in the first place--protesting tuition hikes and previous examples of police brutality on UC campuses--and describes in more detail what was done to the students who were assaulted with chemical weapons:

What happened next?
Police used batons to try to push the students apart. Those they could separate, they arrested, kneeling on their bodies and pushing their heads into the ground. Those they could not separate, they pepper-sprayed directly in the face, holding these students as they did so. When students covered their eyes with their clothing, police forced open their mouths and pepper-sprayed down their throats. Several of these students were hospitalized. Others are seriously injured. One of them, forty-five minutes after being pepper-sprayed down his throat, was still coughing up blood.

New York City Councilman arrested, beaten, detained without medical care

2011-11-17T06:42:00.001-06:00

Ydanis Rodríguez is a New York City Council member who was violently assaulted by police, detained for 17 hours, bleeding from the head, without access to his lawyer. He was one of 200 arrested, along with 9 members of the media.

Dorli Raiiney interviewed about being pepper-sprayed in Seattle

2011-11-17T06:20:00.001-06:00

.
Keith Olbermann interviews the 84-year old woman who was pepper-sprayed yesterday. Dorli Rainey from Seattle, originally from Austria. She is a long-time activist, who stopped off to see what was happening. Listen to this smart, brave woman, who grew up under the Nazis, talking about her work of consciousness-raising.

Harry Potter and the Remix of Death

2011-11-15T18:52:00.000-06:00

Watch them grow up before our eyes. I still haven't seen the last movie.

Kabocha

2011-11-14T18:41:00.001-06:00

Kabocha squash is a favorite food of the Japanese. It's the kind of squash that turns up in your tempura. We have decided that it is best eaten plain: no need for salt, butter, sweet stuff, anything--it's so good! Of course, it would be great in any dish that calls for pumpkins, squash, or sweet potatoes. You could puree it with broth for a soup, roast slices with salt, pepper and olive oil, but the texture is light and fluffy, with a flavor that is reminiscent of chestnuts. I LOVE love love Kabocha.
Here is a recipe for a very simple Japanese dish with Kabocha.Here
Martha Stewart is all over it with Tadashi Ono's recipe for a hot pot (shabu shabu) with Kabocha, from his book Japanese Hot Pots. You can cook it at the table with an electric skillet.

Tay Zonday breaks it down: "Mama Economy"

2011-11-14T08:46:00.001-06:00

"And the stocks go up, but the jobs disappear..." Why is that?
-- MAMA ECONOMY SONG LYRICS -----

Are you confused about the economy? Well have no fear --

I'm going to explain the American economy right now

The dollar just think of it like
a promise from the government
But the value of the dollar
has to be there to be relevant

The value of the dollar comes from
China and Iran
When they put their cash reserves
in a U.S. dollar plan -

They buy treasury bonds from
The Federal Reserve
We say "we owe you extra money
cause you gave us some of yours"

That's a big part
of the National Debt
All the interest that we
haven't paid to China quite yet -

And a hundred other countries
Cause we're such a good investment
The whole world gives us money
We say "Hey we'll pay you interest!"

This is how money is created from air
Bank bailouts, federal budgets
Money isn't really there -

It's an I.O.U., remember dollars are a promise
When you borrow from a bank
It's not from other depositors

The money for your loan
Gets created on the spot
Then they put it in your name
Gamble on your life and body -

But if you lose your job
Then you were a bad bet
If a million lose their jobs
Then we have a recession

Here's the dirty secret
Your labor's too expensive
Wall Street wants you spending money
But they never want to pay you -

In your life cash and credit
They are very different things
But your credit's someone else's cash
Once it leaves your name

This is why money is debt
And your debt is good for
Wall Street prosperity -

And economic growth since the 1970s
Is consumers getting credit
Without wages increasing

So when they talk about the housing crisis
They never say we need to lower housing prices -

We need better devices
To afford high prices
Meaning higher debt lower interest
Cause you're underpaid to begin with

That's the cycle we're in
We don't understand so
All we can do is question

[Chorus]
Mama economy make me understand
All the numbers why Daddy's on a welfare plan
'Turnin thirty forty fifty gotta move in with my parents
And the stocks go up but the jobs disappear

Because wages barely grew for 40 years
When you buy stuff
They delay the cost of ownership

You can't afford it
so they make it to depend
On endless small transactions
Which is more like renting

You pay more for printer ink
Than you do for gold and
More for bottled water
Than you do for oil

Razor blades are made to
Oxidate
So you're forever in debt to them
Just to shave

It's a type of socialism
called market socialism
The best designed product
Meets a need and doesn't last

We subsidize waste
With landfills and holidays like
Earth Day teachin' kids:
Recycle please

Kids won't learn in school
we live one worldview
neoliberal economics
In all of our politics

They don't ask why corporations
are human citizens
Or why grandma pays more taxes
Cause she lacks stock dividends

Or why private bankers
Print the public money
Or why democracy is broken
Cause their leaders won't be cutting

Loopholes or subsidies
For constituent industries
Putting legislative bodies
In a deep freeze

So the Ph.Ds and the G.E.D.s
Cry with Ayn Rand down at the temp agency

Sayin' "we believed in
Meri-tocracy
But there's more to the story--
Someone answer me!

These go to 11, or, crank it up!

2011-11-09T22:09:00.000-06:00

NPR posted a list of "songs best heard extra-loud" ("these go to 11" in honor of Spinal Tap). A lot of the comments on the post were all about heavy metal or guitar rock. I made my own little list, by no means complete, of songs that always make me turn up the radio.

I totally agree with their first choice song, "Roadrunner" by The Modern Lovers, but I much prefer this version to the one they posted; it's the one I had:

The first cut on the Los Angeles album by X also must be cranked:
Which Eno-era Roxy Music song to include? "Love is the Drug", with that great bass line? "Virginia Plain"? or "Do the Strand"? or go directly to Eno's "Baby's On Fire" with the Robert Fripp solo? NPR included Eno's "His Third Uncle" which is more percussive, but I always turned this one way up: "Here Come the Warm Jets" (1974):

How about Glady Knight and the Pips doing this kick-ass live version of Imagination? especially when those horns kick in at the end.

Home-town band Sly and the Family Stone, "Dance to the Music"

and the funk of my youth: "Atomic Dog" (why must I feel like that? why must I chase the cat?)

"Party Up"

Culture jamming

2011-10-31T08:07:00.000-06:00

This looks like fun! I'm going to do it.

Maybe a project is going to be to compile a set of culture jamming activities.

A dancer's life

2011-10-30T10:26:00.000-06:00

In this video, you see an excerpt of a much longer dance-performance "Cédric Andrieux by Jérome Bel", an event I attended last night. During an hour and a half, the dancer himself, Andrieux, narrates and performs the history of his relationship to dance, including his years as a member of Merce Cunningham's company. He joined when Cunningham was already 80 years old, but was still pushing the boundaries of dance, as he had throughout his long life as a creator.

What this video shows are Andrieux's performance of two Cunningham solos he shared with us, one that he performed over 110 times (Biped), the other a role danced decades earlier by Cunningham himself. What you don't see in this video is everything else the audience for the Bel-Andrieux piece learned about the dancer himself, how he came to dance with Cunningham, what the daily routine of Cunningham exercises was like, the intensely hard work of learning the choreography, how a rehearsal worked, what it felt like to perfom, the emotional ups and downs of relationships over the years. Our experiencing of watching him perform pieces was transformed by the dancer's knowledge he had shared withus with us, and it was an amazing gift.

Choreographer Jérome Bel explains the process of collaboration that created this particular piece, which is one of a series of such dancer-biographies he has created, in this fascinating "Talk Dance" podcast from The Walker Art (27 minutes).
This excerpt from the piece he created with Véronique Doisneaux gives an idea of what we experienced with Cédric Andrieux.

And in this second excerpt, she dances a Cunningham piece as well as something from Giselle.

For my daughter on her seventeenth birthday

2011-10-28T09:47:00.000-06:00

Carole King, "Child of Mine"

Dar Williams, "The One Who Knows"

Sweet Honey in the Rock, "On Children"

"This is Halloween"

2011-10-27T09:37:00.002-06:00

The opening sequence to Tim Burton's movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. We are big fans of this movie.

2011-10-24T08:31:00.001-06:00

I love maps. When I was in fifth grade, our teacher told us all we would get to spend time on a hobby. I had no hobbies (all I did was read, and reading was not going to count as a hobby) so I decided that mine would be maps. This was related to my desire to travel everywhere in the world some day. I didn't quite know what to do with this hobby, so I made a copy of a map of Australia. I think my teacher was disappointed, but I enjoyed it.

This Social Network map (2010) below, by Ethan Block is a tribute and is an updated version of the hilarious xkcd map of Online Communities, , which in turn is a modification of the highly entertaining xkcd a 2007 map

A visual representation of the actual nodes and flows of the Internet can be seen here.

For updates on explorations of our changing digital mindscapes, check out this new blog Ethnography Matters from whence I took the above links.

The three-card monte analogy

2011-10-23T10:12:00.000-06:00

Jay Smooth breaks it down, and as usual, he is right on. ( via zunguzungu's invaluable Sunday Reading round-up).

"The Divided Brain"--Iain McGhilchrist

2011-10-21T10:12:00.001-06:00

Iain McGilchrist's argument about the relationship between brain physiology and culture, given visual form in the RSA's Animations.

feeling good

2011-10-19T23:18:00.001-06:00

Queen," Don't Stop Me"
CCR, "doot doot doot"

Brian Eno, "St Elmo's Fire"

Sigur Ros, "Ara Batur"

Leonora Carrington

2011-10-16T11:22:00.001-06:00

I discovered this fascinating interview-portrait of the artist Leonora Carrington while preparing my classes on Frida Kahlo in film for the week. It is an excerpt from the film Gifted Beauty
LEONORA CARRINGTON by Pamela Robertson-Pearce from Neil Astley on Vimeo.

You can find more about the work of Pamela Robertson-Pearce at her website. Here's the description of the film project from the Vimeo site:

LEONORA CARRINGTON (born 1917) is an English-born surrealist artist and writer who has lived in Mexico since the Second World War. She is the last surviving original member of the celebrated group of 20th-century women Surrealist artists who came together in Paris which included Leonor Fini, Frida Kahlo (co-opted by André Breton), Lee Miller, Meret Oppenheim and Remedios Varo. This video is an excerpt from the film GIFTED BEAUTY (Ragg Film, 2000) which examines the work of all six artists along with that of the contemporary Norwegian artist Vilde von Krogh. It features the interviews with Leonora Carrington (in Mexico City and New York City) used in the film made by filmmaker and assistant director Pamela Robertson-Pearce, along with her footage of Mexico (the Day of the Dead and Leonora Carrington's sculptures in the boulevard on Paseo Reforma, Mexico City). GIFTED BEAUTY was directed by Anne Kjersti Bjørn, with music by Maia Urstad and animations by Gustav Kvall.

Gotta stand up, be proud, and hold each other near

2011-10-15T10:23:00.000-06:00

Barbara Ehrenreich brings the class analysis, as usualThis song brings the hope:
Ari Herstand: http://ariherstand.com • http://youtube.com/ariherstand •

Lyrics:

Dear Washington and Wall Street,
We are the 99% and we're here to stop the machine.
Why is that we only come through in times of crisis
Can't recognize the need while we stare at our devices
See, I got the graph and I got the stats
And I got the need to keep people from the rats
More than simply a game of motivation
The idea that together we're better then evolution
Not me against you
But really an us
See, The world is our oyster
Only we can destruct
Democracy seems really cool
The idea that we give voice, even to the fool
But see that's the problem
With our system of learning
The fantastic drips down
And infects the yearning
Are we meant to play the game on even ground
Or is that the fairytale that makes the merry-go-round
Used to be tribes
Then the nation state drew borders
Every revolution comes from disrespecting orders
But I got hope
And I believe in peaceIn Korea, South Asia and the Middle East

Cause the youth, yeah, we're finally here
Got a future full of loveLove without fear
Cause the youth, yeah, we're finally here
Got stand up, be proud, hold each other near

He said good morning could you raise your right hand
Step into the jurors box and take a stand
On trial are the quiet dreams of our fathers
See those dreams draw lines between us and others
Built our corporate present on them dotted lines
It's those strange shapes that seem to plague the mind
Mine and yours
An equation outdated
The prosecution suggests it be recalibrated
My patriotic dream is recast as struggle
We the people be building out of this rubble
How many more rotations about the sun
Before my brothers in arms will lay down their guns
"We the people" is beyond a battle cry
A Formula for peace and progress in our time
The current manifesto manifests too small
Promise of living is dwarfed by the wallMy aim is not guilt nor material goods
My sights on inspiration cross all latitudes
My declaration declares one thing
Creation exists in each human being

Cause the youth, yeah, we're finally here
Got a future full of love
Love without fear
Cause the youth, yeah, we're finally here
Got stand up, be proud, hold each other near
Whispers of the revolution are getting louderon the
Wall Streets and Main Streetsfrom New Yorkto Los Angelesand around the world
See, we need the corruption and greed to end
And we need to learns respect for all of our brothers and sisters

See youth, it's a state of mindand we preach a future full of
LoveHopeand progress

Cause the youth, yeah, we're finally here
Got a future full of loveLove without fear
Cause the youth, yeah, we're finally here
Got stand up, be proud, hold each other near

Enough hypocrisy

2011-10-14T17:35:00.001-06:00

Our busy, busy cells

2011-10-07T20:02:00.000-06:00

Have you had a flu shot yet? This NPR visualization of the flu virus comes via Open Culture. I"m endlessly fascinated by the intricate dynamics of every cell, acting in concert with every other cell.

soothing cephalopods on Science Friday blog

2011-10-03T12:03:00.001-06:00

Argh, grading can be so tedious! even though my students are doing very well. Here's a cephalopod break for my brain. Science Friday is one of my favorite radio shows, and their web page is full of goodies for when you need to take a break from work.

St Vincent show

2011-10-02T21:30:00.001-06:00

We saw St Vincent (Annie Clark) at the Walker's McGuire Theater, the first stop on her tour for her third album Strange Mercy.

The voice of Werner Herzog

2011-09-28T16:46:00.000-06:00

Some voices are instantly recognizable, whether you hear them on commercials, in animated films, or as voice-over narration for nature documentaries. We were watching an episode of The Simpsons (as usual) when I heard a voice I recognized as Werner Herzog's. I remember vividly first hearing his voice when I saw Les Blank's documentary Burden of Dreams, about the making of Herzog's film Fitzcarraldo (1982). Blank screened the rough cut in the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, and because I didn't own a TV, and the amazing student price made the PFA was like my second home. I was absolutely fascinated and enthralled by this bit toward the end of the film, in which Herzog says Nature is "not erotical." Gracias a YouTube, I can relive that moment.

Which one do I love more, JGL doing Axl Rose? or Jimmy Fallon doing Bowie?

2011-09-28T15:58:00.001-06:00

Coincidence: Jimmy Fallon does a masterful Bowie impression singing "Pumped up Kicks," while Joseph Gordon-Levitt continues to be utterly adorable.

Misheard lyrics: "Faster than my puppy"

2011-09-26T15:53:00.004-06:00

The band Foster the People has had a huge hit with the incredibly catchy song "Pumped up Kicks.' We've been listening to it on the car radio and singing along, even though we couldn't really decide what they were singing in the chorus. We got the first part:

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,they'd better run, better run, faster than....

but then what were they singing? faster than my brother? faster than my puppy? faster than my puppet? What does it sound like to you?

Turns out that the song is really a dark little psychodrama. Ann Powers has a brilliant take on it posted in her NPR blog The Record, where she compares it to The Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer." (but Talking Heads made paranoia a musical style while this is shiny).
I looked up the lyrics, and it's "faster than my bullet."
Note the discussion of the lyrics' meaning in the comments to the lyrics post.

This dubstep remix is great, the dancing is, too.

Goodbye to Facebook, once again.

2011-09-25T16:55:00.000-06:00

The first time I tried Facebook, I ended up deleting my account in disgust at the underhanded way the company changed its terms of service. I got back on again because a few dear people communicate that way more than with blogs or Twitter, and I wanted to keep in touch. But, once again, I have deleted ---or "deleted"-- my account because of the untrustworthiness of Facebook. As a Twitter buddy answered instantly when I tweeted that I'd deleted (heh heh), my Facebook account will outlive me. Literally.
In my explorations before I made this decision, I found out about an add-on called Ghostery that can make visible most of the tracking mechanisms you don't even realize are harvesting data from you without your knowledge, and block them if you choose. This review on CNET gives more details, if you're interested. Without all the third-party tracker crap, I wonder if my browser will run faster?

re: plans

2011-09-20T15:42:00.000-06:00

Amanda Palmer and her ukelele: "In My Mind." Read the story of the making of the video here.
(via The Bloggess)

Diana y Sandy--CIUDAD DE LA NIEBLA

2011-09-15T19:30:00.000-06:00

Ciudad de la Niebla, Episode 1: Diana y Sandy from BAMM.tv on Vimeo.

Two musicians who now live in my lovely San Francisco tell their stories, in their lovely, lovely voices, via Bamm.TV

Danny Hart rides his bike down a mountain

2011-09-09T11:59:00.000-06:00

I don't know what it better, the ride or the commentators' hysterical joy. Danny Hart won a world championship in Champéry, Swizterland with this amazing ride.

2011-09-08T11:46:00.001-06:00

[Whoa, Blogger has a new interface, checking it out.]
I have now met my students for the first week, and I'm happy. I'm learning their names, and getting an idea of what the groups will be like. The novelty this semester is teaching at 8AM for the first time in ages, and having classes meet back to back in the same room. I have to flog myself to get up early enough to be lucid by the time I start, and I have to make sure I have something to eat in between so I don't feel faint, but so far, so good.
This semester, it will be Fridamania.

I am also teaching freshman for the first time in a while, and brings its own challenges. But I also know others are teaching five/four/three loads. I would never be up to the physical challenge--my sleep has been poor for the last two weeks, and my pain levels when I wake are daunting; my shoulder problems with rotator cuff impingement are back. I will get into the rhythm.
Tonight, Ms R. begins a drawing class that will meet once a week. Exciting! I have a new notebook from moleskine that folds out Japanese-style, and I have done exactly two sketches in it: one of Ms. R's face, and another of a chair. It has been ages since I tried to draw anything. I'm so used to thinking of everyone else as the artist, and of myself as the critic.

"Canción del pirata"

2011-08-31T21:02:00.000-06:00

I learned from my daughter (who has spent time in school in Spain) and also from colleaguesm, that Spanish schoolkids are required to memorize the poem "Canción del pirata" by José de Espronceda. I was treated to impromptu recitations, and told that a heavy metal band called Tierra Nueva had turned the poem into a song.

Of course, the mash-up with Pirates of the Caribbean was absolutely necessary.

"Didn't it rain?"

2011-08-29T19:31:00.000-06:00

Sister Rosetta Tharpe sings "Didn't it Rain." I'm thinking today of all the folks who have lived through hurricanes and floods and high water.

Relief printmaking, or, "Blood Vengeance!"

2011-08-24T22:33:00.000-06:00

UMN Art students in a printmaking class bust out of two dimensions with their project "Blood Vengeance 2011."
How did they make these masks? Check out the illustrated step-by-step photo explanation of "relief printmaking" here.

Look at their little tummies!

2011-08-23T13:56:00.000-06:00

Snow Leopard cubs via ZooBorns

Victoria de los Angeles sings Lorca arrangements.

2011-08-17T18:30:00.000-06:00

The death of Federico García Lorca was 75 years ago, on August 19. I met him first not as poet but as a musician.

Federico García Lorca did the musical arrangements to a series of popular songs. There is a recording in which he plays the piano with a singer called La Argentinita. But my earliest contact with Lorca, before I read his poetry and plays in high school, was through a record my mother had, of Victoria de los Angeles singing Spanish songs. Among them were these four:

-Anda jaleo.
-Los cuatro muleros.
-Las tres hojas.
Los mozos de moleón.
Victoria de los Angeles, soprano. Miguel Zanetti, piano. Many others have sung these songs, some of them arguably with better technique, but Victoria de los Angeles will always be the voice of the first words in Spanish I think of the first Spanish words I ever heard.

Estrella Morente sings "Los cuatro muleros"

Spellbound

2011-08-16T08:05:00.000-06:00

Guitar player John McGeoch, Siouxsie and the Banshees, with "Spellbound,"live.

Brown bear, brown bear

2011-08-13T11:54:00.000-06:00

These are a couple of clips I took at the Minnesota Zoo, watching two of the three Brown bears (also called grizzly bears) playing in the water. Earlier, we had seen the three of them napping.

All three were rescued as orphaned cubs in 2006. The two males are named Haines and Kenai, and the female is called Sadie. They all just turned five years old this year. They will reach their full growth in another year, perhaps. Haines, the largest, will probably reach a weight of 1200 lbs and stand 9 feet tall when upright. Because of human encroachment on their habitat, the impact of global warming, and other threats, conservation efforts in zoos are important for increasing knowledge about endangered animals as well as reproduction programs. These bears at the MN Zoo are given lots of new things to react to in their habitat. To see them just hanging out from so close is incredible. Having seen the Herzog documentary film Grizzly Man, based on the life and death of Timothy Treadwell, I don't see the bears as just "cute," but they are fascinatingly attractive.

They have lots more great videos at MN Zoo YouTube Channel. I have lots of questions about what will happen when the bears are old enough to mate (very soon). Will they have to separate them? Will the males compete for Sadie? Of course, they will have a plan for this, but I'd love to learn more.

In a video on the zoo's website, the Zoo's Director and keepers explain some of the "enrichment and training" activities that they use to keep the animals from getting bored, help them engage in their natural behaviors, and also provide opportunities for research. There's a great segment on the bears.

Declutter campaign: photos!

2011-08-13T08:59:00.002-06:00

I'm learning how to use the new Picssa for Mac program so I can share and upload photos more easily.
I have way too many photos on the hard drives of my computers, and even though they are backed up to an external hard drive (most of them), I'm reluctant to delete them. This is a holdover from the days when we paid to print every lousy shot--I am a photo hoarder. This lack of organization also means it's hard to find specific images when I want them without spending lots of time since they are mostly unlabeled. I'm going to try to get a handle on this, and especially work on sharing batches with friends and family online.
Question: can I purge my photo files AND my shoe collection this weekend? or is that too much discipline at once? Maybe I should try one or the other first!

Moving back into Folwell Hall!

2011-08-12T12:19:00.000-06:00

Eighteen months ago we packed up our department offices and moved into temporary space while Folwell Hall was being gutted and reconfigured. My department has moved from the grotty, filthy, vermin-infested basement to a clean, quiet second floor. My new office faces south and for the first time in 22 years, I will have an office with natural light, decent climate control, no noise from crowds students sitting on the floor in the halls waiting for class, no noise from chairs being rearranged overhead, no grit and dirt tracked in all winter, a bathroom that is not used by hundreds of other people during that day. It's sinking in that I'll have an office I actually will be able to enjoy working in! What a concept. It feels as if I have received a promotion or a raise. The foundation and exterior had already been redone some years ago. Check out this cool slideshow to see the exterior of the building with some fun architectural details that were preserved or restored.

The quality of my work life has been incredibly improved. The moving process itself, the packing and unpacking, is time-consuming, but stimulating. Once again I am confronted by the sheer volume of STUFF I am dragging around and that is cluttering up my space, and my brain.This time, the purge must be complete and merciless!

One unexpected consequence has hit me this week. I feel, for the first time in ages, excited about writing again. I feel as if I can contemplate making a commitment to writing without dread and panic. Writing on this blog is one step. Writing in my work life, which I have avoided in unhealthy ways for too long, is the next.

There's nothing like moving 22 years worth of papers and books twice in 18 months to make one confront the gap between intentions and action. As I shelved my books, I got excited about the projects some of them represent. More to the point, there is no room in my new, lovely office for more than four drawers of paper files, and no files are allowed to live at home. My goal in the next few weeks is to sort through the contents of all these boxes (15! 15!!!) and recycle what I will never use again or SCAN those I want to keep.

Which pile will include papers I wrote in graduate school? those articles I painstakingly tracked down using the enormous card catalogue, running up and down nine flights of stairs in the UC Berkeley library, paying to photocopy them and carefully placing each page so nothing was cut off? the sheer amount of labor devoted to collecting this material over the years is an obstacle to blithely tossing it in the recycle bin. And I HAVE used a lot of this material, for writing or classes. So now, in this brief interlude before classes begin, it's a good time to open each box, sort things into piles, and work up a righteous buzz of recycling anything that I have not touched in ten years, and will not read or use for a writing project. That will force me to decide which of the many abandoned writing projects are still viable, and which ones need to be released into the wild.

Amazing octopus camoflauge

2011-08-11T21:35:00.000-06:00

(via Science Friday)

Some SYTYCD season 8 favorites

2011-08-11T17:06:00.001-06:00

from the last performance episode of So You Think You Can Dance (season 8), my favorite dancer from this year, Sasha, with my favorite dancer of the show, Mark.
Choreography: Sonyah Tayeh
Dancers: Mark Kanemura and Sasha
Music: Deadmaus, "Raise Your Weapon"

Here's Sasha dancing with Twitch to a classic song, "Misty Blue"--gives me goosebumps! Choreography by LXD's Christopher Scott.

I also liked Travis Wall's "vulture stalks boy" piece for Tadd and Jordan. Tadd may be primarily a b-boy, but he brings incredible charisma and musicality to his dances, and this was a number that got him to the finale.

Not as technically challenging, but there are only so many angry angtsy dances one can take. This was Broadway Jazz fun, with Melanie and Tadd. She probably will win tonight, but you never know!

Finally, I also liked Melanie and Sasha together in a Stacey Tookie piece that was billed as "Mad Men"-era frustrated housewives, but that I read as two women who don't realize they should run away together.

I wish I were...

2011-07-31T18:57:00.000-06:00

Liam Clancy leads the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem in "Carrickfergus."

Longing for the fog

2011-07-29T19:15:00.000-06:00

That thing the fog does from William Couch on Vimeo.

It is the end of July, and all month we have lived with suffocating heat and humidity. From time to time, I long for the San Francisco fog. I'd rather wear a sweater than swelter any day.

More baby animals from ZooBorns

2011-07-26T12:48:00.000-06:00

My Tiger on the Road came home from China after a splendid time, but now she is away again, in Switzerland with her dads, while Blas is at a conference. I wish I could be there with them! Since I can't, I'm watching videos of mother animals with their young. The tigers here are at the Zurich Zoo.

I am absolutely enamored of the site ZooBorns which brings news of new babies in zoos around the world. Inevitably, the joy of their arrival is tinged with the sadness that they should be in zoos because their species are threatened in their natural habitat. It takes a lot for one of these babies to survive:

The gestation period for Indian rhino pregnancies is approximately 16 months. When born, calves normally weigh in the range of 75-100 pounds and will nurse throughout their first two years. They are normally able to stand just hours after being born.

Arrival Cities, book by Douglas Saunders

2011-07-24T15:11:00.000-06:00

From the YouTube description:
"Journalist and author Doug Saunders, talks to Allan Gregg about his new book "Arrival City", which examines the global trend of urban migration and argues that immigration will be critical to the success of economics in Canada and around the world."

One of the huge changes in human life in the last few hundred years is the shift from rural to urban life. This is occurring everywhere, sometimes at an enormously accelerated pace (as in China today).I'm eager to read this book.

Journalist Nick Davies of The Guardian: interview and podcast about his role in breaking the "phone-hacking" story in London.

2011-07-22T18:35:00.000-06:00

Murdoch Empire "Pummeled" by Phone-Hacking Scandal Exposed by Guardian Journalist Nick Davies

Follow the link above to see a video of Amy Goodman from Democracy Now! interviewing Nick Davies, the journalist whose years of investigative reporting broke open the "phone hacking" situation in London: he explains clearly the characters, the chronology, the motivations. He (and reporters for the New York Times) pursued this story for years, in spite of major intimidation by the Murdoch empire. It really helps give the context for what is going on.
If you have an hour, it's even more fascinating to listen to this podcast of a round-table discussion, led by the Guardian's Media reporter, about the Murdoch hearings, complete with eye-witness accounts of the hearings themselves, and the infamous pie incident.

To read some of the more than 74 articles Davies has published in this series, click here: The Guardian's profile of Nick Davie.

Or you can watch Jon Stewart:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Accountability in the U.K.

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

Parody of Rupert Murdoch from Fry and Laurie: still relevant

2011-07-21T19:07:00.002-06:00

Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie took on Rupert Murdoch as a target of satire on their show A Bit of Fry and Laurie. From Wikipedia:

"The show did not shy away from commenting on issues of the day. A sketch in the second series, in which a Conservative government minister is strangled while Stephen Fry screams at him "What are you doing to the television system? What are you doing to the country?", is an attack on the Broadcasting Act of 1990 and the perceived motivations of those who supported it. The pair would later attack what they saw as the Act's malign aftereffects in the sketch "It's A Soaraway Life", a parody of It's a Wonderful Life evoking a world in which Rupert Murdoch had not existed."

Your "whoa, dude, this is gnarly" for the day

2011-07-21T09:35:00.002-06:00

Two guys suit up to ride their longboards down the Claremont Canyon road. I used to live not far from where this road ends at the Oakland/Berkeley border, and I know that road well; it's one of the few ways to get through the Oakland hills from the valley inland if you're going toward the Bay.
Back when I lived there (over 20 years ago now) I'd heard about people doing this ride at night (!) so as not to get caught (and I'll bet they weren't wearing helments!). They must have some seriously pro equipment to get that smooth a ride going that fast. Dang, I say, dang!

Summertime

2011-07-18T13:39:00.000-06:00

Here in Minneapolis we are experiencing a record heat wave combined with unusually high dew points, levels that have made it necessary to issue a heat warning until Wed. I am thankful to have a window A/C unit and a fan to keep things livable in my place for my kitty.

My favorite version of the song "Summertime" by George Gershwin, from Porgy and Bess, sung by Billy Stewart in 1966.

Billy Stewart's songs were popular in the Bay Area when I was growing up,I remember slow-dancing to this song in high school.

Talent, kid has it.

2011-07-17T21:25:00.003-06:00

"Kid in the guitar store" (Brandon McFarlane, from Perth, Scotland) a raw talent, oh my freakin' god.

inspired by the immortal Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers sing "Just Another Day"

Secular music called Sam, and his big hit "You Send Me"

And bringing it back around: "A Long Time Coming"

Buck, the movie

2011-07-16T22:02:00.000-06:00

We saw the documentary movie "Buck" this weekend. If you can see it, you should. It's amazing. It's about one of the leading practitioners of "Natural Horsemanship" (as it has come to be called), which avoids punishment in favor of communication, or "firm and fair" communication.

Here's an interview with horseman Buck Brannaman and the filmmaker, Cindy Meehl.

At the end of the film, there is this song by Pearl Jam that gives me goosebumps:

Surprise in Shanghai

2011-07-10T09:09:00.000-06:00

My daughter has been on the road in China with her Mandarin teacher, another parent chaperone, and 18 other students for the last three weeks. I've been recording their adventures on the blog Tigers on the Road for our families and friends, posting the pictures and reports sent back by Mr Yu using his iPad. In just a few days they will return with countless stories, pictures, souvenirs and life-changing memories.

A surprise was waiting in their hotel: Blas and a colleague were awarded a grant to do field work in Mongolia, so he had to travel to China for a week for the planning. He secretly arranged with Mr. Yu to surprise Miss R. by taking a room in the same hotel. Apparently there is film of their reunion, which I hope to see on their return.

They have been able to spend a day together wandering the streets of Shanghai with a friend. Priceless!

Baby hippo at play in the water

2011-07-04T11:39:00.000-06:00

Baby hippo at the San Diego Zoo, playing with his mom (via ZooBorns)

Chengdu report

2011-07-02T06:14:00.001-06:00

From Mr. Yu (crossposted at Tigers on the Road)

We left Lijiang for Chengdu on a late afternoon flight. While we waited in the airport, a bunch of high school kids from the city of Chongqing became curious about our kids. They soon approached them to start a cordial conversation and of course a photo session. They even wrote down Mr. Yu's phone number with which they would contact our kids again once we get to Chongqing on July 4.
The flight took only 1 hour and 10 minutes. We were greeted by the local guide whose name is Lily. Half an hour later we checked into the Minhang Hotel which is located right in the busy business area of Chengdu where Chinese department stores, restaurants and fast-food eateries like McDonald, KFC, and Pizza Hut are plentiful. I think there are at least three McDonalds within 5 blocks of the hotel.
On June 30, we first visited the International Studies Office of Sichuan University which has a student enrollment of more than 70000. They have about 450 international students from over 40 countries including USA and Canada. The monthly expenses including tuition, room and board would be about $400.00. Next our students sat in a level 2 Chinese class held for some college students from New York. Some of our kids became very encouraged because they could understand much of the contents.
Then we were taken to meet with some Chinese airplane engineers who were studying English at the university. They were engaged in a heated discussion for about an hour until it was time for us to go for lunch. In the afternoon we visited the Jinsha Museam which helps pushing Chengdu's history back to 3000 years ago. Other than the new technology used in this museum, the tour was boring. Then we were taken to tour the replica of Old Town Chengdu called the Broad & Narrow Back Alleys which are like any other reconstructed old towns in China we have visited. For dinner we had the famous Sichuan Hot Pot.
Over the course of this night, some kids spent their accumulated energy (there had been much physical activity as of late) running around in the hallway. A gymnastics meet was believed to have been held in one of the guest rooms. Complaints from other innocent travelers were delivered to the hotel management. So a curfew had to be declared to request all kids be in their rooms by 10:45 each night.
On July 1, we visited Chengdu Panda Breeding Center in the morning. Our kids were excited to finally meet with cute pandas face to face. Four students spent 1000 yuan each to hold a baby panda when posing for pictures. The price used to be 100 yuan but since the 2008 earthquake destroyed another panda facility 100 miles away. Of course this charge is categorized as a donation so each of the paying kids received a certificate commending their goodwill and generosity.
For lunch we went to a Buddhist Temple to feast on a Buddhist vegetarian banquet. It was very delicious. In the afternoon we toured the Wuhou Shrine dedicated to the Chief Counsul to Liu Bei in the Three Kingdoms Era. Around this temple there is another ancient street or a newly remodeled street in ancient styles called Jingling Avenue. It was said to be very crowded. In the evening we watched a live show featuring rapid face masks changing, acrobatics, dances, and other performances. They kids all enjoyed the show. This was evident in their elevated level of excitement when checking back into the hotel.
The weather in Chengdu has been nice. It was a bit humid occasionally. Other than that it has been tolerable.
The next two days will be free days. Some kids have made up their mind to sleep in late. They have been advised not to spend all their time and money in the western style eateries.

Dongba valley phtos

2011-07-02T06:01:00.000-06:00

MPR's show Wits with Neil Gaiman, Adam Savage, and Gollum: "I Will Survive"

2011-06-30T08:12:00.000-06:00

I listened with great delight to the latest show in the MPR series "Wits" (check out the archives!) with John Moe as host and John Munson as musical director. Neil Gaiman was one of the guests, and he made possible this wonderful rendition of "I Will Survive" by Gollum (courtesy of a Adam Savage)

Thanks to Bob Collins at MPR's NewsCut for this.
Another guest that evening was singer/songwriter Josh Ritter.

Want more Adam Savage? Here's a Ted Talk he did on his obsessions and the creative process.

Giant pandas

2011-06-29T15:25:00.001-06:00

When I asked my daughter what she was most excited about seeing in China, she replied immediately, "Pandas."

First, baby panda cuteness.

Giant panda males are filmed in the wild by David Attenborough for the BBC, as they mark their territory. Pandas live solitary lives in the wild:

This great National Geographic documentary "Young Explorers: Secrets of the Wild Panda" gives a lot of detail about how pandas live in the wild, (see the whole thing here).
Watch more free documentaries

It has proven very difficult for pandas in captivity to breed or for their babies to survive their first year. Their wild habitat has been so degraded by human expansion that one in ten pandas now lives in captivity, as various places attempt to breed pandas in captivity in ways that might ensure their survival. All pandas on loan from China, and any of their offspring, must be returned to China eventually.

The biologist Professor Pan Wenshi has dedicated himself to studying pandas in the wild, and his research has been very important for improving the care of pandas in captivity with the hopes of releasing more pandas into the wild.

The baby panda is born about the size of a stick of butter, naked and blind. Within three weeks its eyes will open and it gains weight rapidly. One discovery from studying baby pandas in the wild is that the mother will leave the cub for hours to feed on bamboo; this was mistakenly interpreted as abandonment, and cubs were taken from the mothers, but did not thrive. Now, zoos have better understanding of how mothers care for cubs, and some zoos that have more successfully raised cubs recently include the Smithsonian, Atlanta, San Diego, Madrid, and zoos in Thailand and Japan.

Pan Wenshi's work has shown that habitat conservation is crucial to panda survival. His own imprisonment during the Cultural Revolution has shaped his drive to study pandas in the wild. He also showed how species conservation is directly linked to alleviating human poverty in a region to relieve pressure on habitat. In addition to pandas, Prof. Pan has contributed to the conservation of other species such as langurs and dolphins.

On to Chendgu 成都

2011-06-29T07:18:00.001-06:00

(Crossposted at Tigers on the Road)
The flight from Lijiang to Chengdu is only 360 miles: just a hop compared to the other plane rides they have had!

Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province, in the heart of China, and has been inhabited for over 4000 years. In the summer the climate is humid but relatively mild (temps in the high 70s). People speak the Chengdu dialect of Sichuanese, and the food is delicious and some of it is very spicy. Although it is a large and bustling city, it also is home to many historical attractions, and, of course, Pandas!

Film director Zhang Yimou made this short promotional film for the city:

Another film director visited Chengdu for inspiration:

Some of the places the group will visit on their first day include the Sichuan University and the Jinsha Museum. This museum is actually an archeological park, with excavations as well as displays of relics. The site was only discovered very recently, but the site shows layers of history going back 3000 years.

In the afternoon, they will have the chance to see a part of the city that has been preserved called "The Wide and Narrow Lanes," combining architectural preservation with shops and restaurants. Maybe they will see one of the sugar candy blowers make a dragon, as in this video:

New York, New York!

2011-06-24T23:56:00.001-06:00

Today the Senate of New York voted to pass a bill making same-sex marriage legal. Gov. Cuomo signed it, and it will take effect in 30 days. New York joins Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermoont and Washington D.C.
Twitter and Tumblr were bursting with celebratory messages. This song kept running through my head. Liza Minelli performed it in Martin Scorcese's amazing film New York, New York (1977). This performance from "Liberty Weekend" in 1986 (the centenary of the Statue of Liberty). I love her incredible stage presence.

This wonderful picture of the rainbow-lit Empire State building is making the rounds on Twitter.

When I was six, I was a horse for a whole year.

2011-06-24T14:48:00.014-06:00

Iker Casillas is riding a horse, backwards.

New technologies! I'm overwhelmed!

2011-06-17T17:46:00.002-06:00

Tigers on the Road

2011-06-15T10:47:00.000-06:00

These tiger pictures are from a May Day parade.

My daughter has been studying Mandarin in high school for 3 years. Now, she will be traveling around China with her teacher, another chaperone and seventeen other students for about a month.

They have a great itinerary, and Mr. Yu has led many such trips in the past. Since I can't go myself, I made a blog so those of us who have to stay home can follow along, virtually. Their school mascot is the tiger ("the Gallant Tigers") so I called it Tigers on the Road. This gives me an excuse to post lots of tiger pictures to my Tumblr.

Tony Awards: duelling hosts duet

2011-06-12T21:24:00.000-06:00

The Tony Awards Show was so much fun this year, and not just because Neil Patrick Harris was the host. One of my favorite bits was his duet with Hugh Jackman:

Rachel Maddow's "consequence-o-meter"

2011-06-06T20:26:00.000-06:00

Rachel Maddow adds Anthony Weiner to the "Consequence-o-meter" which charts politicians' sex scandals by "more creepy/less creepy" axis and the "prosecutable" axis. As they say, smh (shake my head).

Dan Sinker aka "@MayorEmanuel"

2011-06-06T16:34:00.000-06:00

pdf2011 on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Dan Sinker, the author/creator of @MayorEmanuel (the fake Twitter account of then-mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel), talks about his experience, which started as a way to entertain friends and later became a Twitter novella.
He was one of the speakers at the Personal Democracy Forum, where many other fascinating talks were delivered. I appreciate their availability online to those of us who can't attend.

Vitamin D deficiency: do you have it?

2011-06-03T10:41:00.000-06:00

About 3 month agos, I discovered that I was severely deficient in Vitamin D. I had gone in to see my back doctor because my chronic pain and fatigue symptoms of fibromyalgia had gotten worse, and I had new pain associated with back problems. The doctor ordered some blood work to rule out rheumatoid arthritis (which a family member has) and a few other things. The results were surprising.

One of the blood tests they did is called VITAMIN D, 25-OH. What one hopes to see is a blood level within the standard range: 30 - 80 ng/mL (Over 80 can be toxic).

The Optimum Level: 30-80 ng/mL
Insufficiency: 20-29 ng/mL
Deficiency: <20 ng/mL

My results? 19 ng/mL, or "severe deficiency." No wonder I felt like crap! I have no idea how long I have been this way.

My primary care doctor put me on a regimen of megadoses, once a week for 12 weeks, to replenish the supply in my body. Since Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, it is not enough to just take a daily dose in order to recover; one has to build up the stores in the body. This is why you should get your blood tested to find out what your levels are, rather than just popping supplements. In addition, you can get too much Vitamin D, and this can cause significant problems.

After the 12 weekly doses, I was retested, and my level is now up to 40 (yay!) but I'll need to continue to take daily supplements, because even sun exposure and drinking milk are not enough at these northern latitudes.

One thing I noticed after four weeks of treatment was that I started to remember my dreams, to the point where I wondered if I was metabolizing my anti-depressants differently (they suppress my dream memory). I also noticed a huge improvement in my digestion and regularity (ahem), a major life improvement. Most significant is a noticeable improvement in levels of daily pain, fatigue and inability to focus. The more I read about recent research on Vitamin D's role in metabolism, the more I believe that everyone can benefit from finding out what their levels are, just as we do for cholesterol, iron, or other important metabolic factors. Research is showing links between adequate Vitamin D levels and protection against skin cancer, Crohn's disease, colon cancer, autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, and other conditions.

My mother, who is recovering from chemotherapy, has been having excellent results from her treatment, but also was tested and discovered she was Vitamin D deficient. I'm hoping her treatment will also mean less fatigue and pain for her.

Rhubarb!

2011-05-28T22:05:00.000-06:00

Via Forkful of News, courtesy of Heavy Table
I actually have all the ingredients to make this tomorrow:

Rhubarb Apple Crunch
Makes 1 14-inch oval dish.

3 cups rhubarb, diced (about 12 ounces)
1 Gala apple, cored and diced
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons flour, divided
1 tablespoon wheat germ (optional)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (8 tablespoons), melted
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup rolled oats

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Toss the rhubarb and apple with the white sugar and 3 tablespoons of flour. Pour into a small baking dish (9″ cake pan would work).

Combine 1 cup flour, wheat germ, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and oats in a separate bowl and mix until crumbly. Top the rhubarb mixture with this crumbly stuff and bake for 40 minutes.

Serve hot or cold, with or without generous scoops of ice cream.

Gil Scott-Heron

2011-05-27T20:26:00.004-06:00

I'm so sad! Gil Scott-Heron has left us so many amazing songs, so many true words. Another soul stolen from us by his demons, our demons.

"The Bottle"

"Home is where the hatred is"

"Winter in America"

"Rivers of our Fathers"

"And I Think I'll Call it Morning"

Now, more than ever
All the family must be together

Peace go with you brother
Don’t make no sense for us to be arguing now
Time is right up on us now brother
Don’t make no sense for us to be arguing now
All of your children and all of my children are gonna have to pay for our mistakes someday
Yes - and until then may peace guide your way
Peace go with you brother; wherever you go
Peace go with you brother

"Perform this way": Weird Al does Gaga

2011-05-25T11:28:00.001-06:00

The parody

The original (which works just fine as a self-parody, if you ask me).
Yes, the lyrics are laughable in some spots, but have you listened to Beyoncé's new song "Rock the World (Girl)"? It's grotesque, but not it a good way.

How to tie your shoes so they stay tied.

2011-05-25T10:57:00.001-06:00

DIY is big these days, but a lot of things that would require me to take a class are things my mother learned to do when she was young or taught herself to do when she was older. She can do anything Martha Stewart can do, but without a staff.
I learned enough about knitting to be able to make a scarf, but my attempts to make a sweater were pretty much a failure. I can cook fine, but unlike my mother and sister, I can't bake a pie from scratch without looking at a recipe. This is what the internet is for: all the wiki-how and YouTube videos that helpful people have shared so that we can learn just about anything. Like how to tie your shoes "correctly":

Thinking about things I "should" know how to do, but don't, the first that came to mind:

I should know how to thread the sewing machine a friend gave me before she moved away, but I can't figure it out without a manual. You would be surprised at how many videos there are on YouTube that "show" you how to do this, but don't actually SHOW or explain the important bits. I have tried for hours to figure it out on my own, but I would make a lousy engineer; I just can't figure out a machine by dinking around with it, so I may have to take it to the store where they reconditioned it to have someone show me how to do it right.

I should know how to make a good pie-crust. My mother and sister are the pie queens (and my sister was a professional baker) but I never learned from them while we were living in the same state. I suppose I could have my mother explain it to me on the phone.

I DO know how to file my own taxes, balance a check-book, and live within my means, but don't ask me to explain how to invest in the stock market. But do I really want to know? it's so depressing, seeing how much of it is a big con, even though I have a pension plan.
I DO know how to drive a car with manual transmission, and I should know how to change a tire or change my oil, but frankly, I'm glad I can afford to pay someone else to do it, and I love AAA.

I DO know how to use a drill and a screwdriver, but the thought of painting a room just makes me tired, and my fibromyalgia goes crazy when I have to do the kind of repetitive motions involved in painting something above my head.

What are some things you think you should know how to do, but don't?

Tornado strikes North Minneapolis

2011-05-22T16:48:00.002-06:00

Dear friends and readers, we are safe and fine!

A big tornado touched down in North Minneapolis this afternoon. They are saying that it's the worst tornado to strike the city in 30 years. Yesterday, I saw some cloud rotation as we left the Art-A-Whirl event in Northeast Minneapolis (across the Mississippi from North) so we knew that there was a chance of severe weather this weekend.
My daughter and I live in South Minneapolis, and we are safe and sound. We had to take cover during the storm while we were out shopping and the tornado sirens sounded, but nothing bad happened in our neighborhood. I was able to follow the news on Twitter in the moment, but the full extent of the damage is just beginning to become apparent.

I am heartsick for our neighbors in northern Minneapolis and the suburbs, whose homes or businesses have been affected. Huge trees have fallen on almost every block, on cars and powerlines; houses and buildings are damaged, cars crushed, windows blown out. As is often the case, the damage skips around and one house might be leveled while another is untouched right next door. On TV, I can see pictures of homes with missing roofs (they are estimating one in five) and others with substantial damage. The trees did not snap and fall straight down, but were uprooted completely and fell over causing greater damage.
This video compiles some of the immediate TV coverage:

The City of Minneapolis is asking people to stay away to emergency services can get in and go door to door to check on people. There are a few gas leaks and evacuations. The police, the firefighters, Park and Rec employees, inspectors, traffic control agents, are have been deployed to the area.

A Family Assistance Center has been set up at the Armory on Broadway and Central. A shuttle will take people from 1926 Plymouth Ave. N. to take people to the shelter.

So far, one person is dead, but mostly minor injuries are being reported. It will take time to clear away the fallen trees, and many homes are without power. People are already out with their chainsaws, cutting up fallen limbs and trees.

Light rail coming to the UMN campus

2011-05-16T09:03:00.000-06:00

Because I grew up in San Franciso riding buses and streetcars, I'm really excited that light rail is being extended in the Twin Cities with the Central Corridor line, under construction now, to connect downtown Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The current existing Hiawatha line that runs from downtown Minneapolis to the Mall of America and the airport, with stops along the way, has been a resounding success, especially for working people with no cars, folks coming to the new Twins Stadium, and commuters who don't want to deal with the high parking rates and horrible traffic of working downtown.
This animation shows what the reconfigured University of Minnesota campus route will look like. I can't wait for the busy, dangerous street that currently cuts the campus in two to be replaced with a more pedestrian and bike-friendly zone. Students will be well-served by having public transportation options increased.

Some people are concerned about how the LRT will fit on University avenue, where there are currently four lanes of traffic. In fact, there used to be streetcars there, and their right-of-way corridor still exists. The LRT will be routed along that existing slot, and not displace current traffic.

The history of steam and then electric streetcars in the Twin Cities, and how the system was dismantled and plundered by embezzlers after WWII is an instructive one.

David Byrne's birthday today

2011-05-14T17:08:00.001-06:00

Today is David Byrne's birthday. He is 59.

This is a film set to a recent collaboration between Byrne and Brian Eno "Strange Overtones."
I was an ardent fan of Talking Heads. I saw them in concert first in 1978 at the club The Boarding House in San Francisco, whose name I forget but that was a very famous venue. They were very young, hardly talked to the audience at all, but ripped through their set with complete intensity. I would see them again in their various incarnations: still a foursome on Lower Sproul Plaza the day Moscone and Milk were murdered; as a grooving expanded ensemble (Adrian Belew! Nona Hendryx!) during their "Burning down the House" phase at the Greek Theater; in Jonathan Demme's documentary movie Stop Making Sense when it debuted at the Castro Theater.
Brian Eno and David Byrne's 1981 collaboration My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, with its analog sampling, was formative for me, shaping my aural palate. The music he produced and shared through his label Luaka Bop, especially the earlier Cuban and Brazilian compilations are also etched in my cranial music library. His curiosity, sense of exploration and collaboration inspire me still.
Here's an interview with George Stroumboulopolous that highlights many of his accomplishments and captures that combination of complete freedom and social awkwardness that infuses his work.

Here is the band talking about their early days on the road:

I'm know the band broke up and there was bad blood between Byrne and the other members, but I prefer to remember seeing them do this:

Goshawk flying in slow motion

2011-05-11T05:00:00.000-06:00

From a BBC show about animals, this amazing footage showing how a goshawk can fly through narrow spaces, as it does when it flies through dense woods.