All posts by keith

Monday Musings

Monday Musings — 6MAY24

We all, probably, have heard the term “spang”. Here’s the definiton”

spang [ spang ]

adverb, Informal.

  1. directly; exactly:The bullet landed spang on target.

This next word is not actually in any dictionary. I made it up while half way between sleep, and wakefulness Sunday morning.

spangular [ spang-gyuh-ler ]

adjective

  1. Acting in a direct manner.
  2. Precisely

In a sentence: He spoke in a spangular way.

I don’t know, just some fun with words, I guess. LOL

WikiArt

Found out that there is a Wiki project solely for art. Spent some time perusing it, and it’s pretty useful.

Aim of the project

Our primary goal is to make world’s art accessible to anyone and anywhere. WikiArt already features some 250.000 artworks by 3.000 artists, localized on 8 languages. These artworks are in museums, universities, town halls, and other civic buildings of more than 100 countries. Most of this art is not on public view. With your active involvement, we are planning to cover the entire art history of the Earth, from cave artworks to modern private collections. We also provide you with tools for translation on as many languages as needed.

Has artist biographies, and a selection of their work, and a link to the Wikipedia article. It explains art movements/styles and has links (with portraits) of practitioners of the style.

What a great resource.

What about that box grater

18 uses for a box grater. Number 2 was the best in my estimate.

2. Brown Sugar

Even though I know that putting a citrus peel in the brown sugar keeps it soft, I inevitably end up with brown-sugar boulders that I attack with a knife, a scenario sure to one day end in heartbreak. And then I thought: box grater. It works.

Scott Nearing

A nice biography and remembrance of Scott Nearing, who along with his wife Helen, basically, started the back to the land movement. Read their books assiduously back when I was younger, still have my original copies of the “Good Life” books.

While I’m not able to garden like they did this spring, the wife and I have figured out how I can grow some herbs and veggies. Couldn’t do this life without her.

Thanks for reading. Love you all.

General, History, Politics

Happy May Day

Did you know the May Day is actually two different holidays in one? Well it is.

The tradition of May baskets and May poles come from the celebration of Beltane and Walpurgis, ancient “pagan” holidays to celebrate the beginning of summer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Day

It is, also, International Workers Day (ie. Labor Day). The US and other countries don’t celebrate it as such an that stems “from a resistance to emboldening worldwide working-class unity”.

Read more here : https://www.npr.org/2022/04/30/1095729592/what-is-may-day-history

So whether you’re a pagan, or a Wobblie; Happy May Day!

Art

BEN VENOM

Source: Past — BEN VENOM

Ben Venom graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2007 with a Master of Fine Arts degree. His work has been shown both nationally and internationally including the Levi Strauss Museum (Germany), National Folk Museum of Korea, HPGRP Gallery (Tokyo), Fort Wayne Museum, Charlotte Fogh Gallery (Denmark), Taubman Museum of Art, Gregg Museum of Art and Design, and the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles. He has been interviewed by NPR: All Things Considered, Playboy, Juxtapoz Magazine, KQED, Maxim, and CBS Sunday Morning. Venom has lectured at the California College of Arts, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Midlands Art Centre, Humboldt State University, Oregon College of Art and Craft, and Adidas. Recently, he was the artist in residence at MASS MoCA and the de Young Museum. Ben Venom is currently Visiting Faculty at the San Francisco Art Institute.

 

Also:

https://www.redbull.com/us-en/ben-venom-king-of-heavy-metal-quilting

Art, Monday Musings, Tech

Monday Musings — 29APR24

Well, it’s been a couple of weeks. Been sick. I was actually in the hospital last Monday. I fainted due to some med changes, and all my blood work numbers were BAD on Friday the 19th. Been home a couple of days, with more med changes and feeling okay so far. Let’s say that having Multiple Myeloma, and a heart condition sucks ass.

The Body

Here’s an artist I never heard of before. Love his work, go explore his site.

https://jesscollins.org/paintings-romantic

Here’s another cool artist: https://yinkashonibare.com/

So to change the subject for a second; electric vehicles. Talking about rickshaws or 3 wheel electric bikes, and how in some places they are leaving EVs in the dust. https://restofworld.org/2024/e-rickshaw-yc-electric-india

I think a city (this doesn’t work quite as well for rural areas)that has a mix of electric bikes, trikes, rickshaws, and EVs, plus public transportation that’s reliable, sounds like a great place to be. If I had an electric trike (not a bike for me, my balance isn’t that great) I could be a bit more independent. I could get a little exercise without over stressing my body, and go to stores and restaurants and be outside a bit more (except in winter, here). This would help a lot of seniors also.

Well that’s it for today, back next Monday for more stuff. Keep your powder dry, and remember solutions are everywhere. Just got to turn over the right rocks.

Art, books

A challenge to herself

Even her novels are, in a sense, commen­tary on her novels. The books of Earthsea grow in subtlety and wisdom, one to the next: The Tombs of Atuan a correction to A Wizard of Earthsea, Tehanu a correc­tion to the whole fantasy genre. (Tehanu also boasts, I have to add, the best climax I have ever read in any novel, of any genre. In every climax, we should encounter the protagonist’s best efforts, and something extra: the breath of the gods. In Tehanu’s climax, the breath is STRONG.)

Source: A challenge to herself