Bye

H-Hour is 0700 Saturday 25 June 2005.

Tomorrow morning we leave on our big long summer trip. Georgia for the Hoyt reunion, Indiana for a Baker get-together. This will be so much fun. :)

Auf Wiedersehen, Adiós, Au revoir!

Several thousand words

One day, when most everybody is outside....

Nolan proudly shows the cameragirl a worm from his worm collection.

Derek instructs Trevor in the fine art of dirt-clod chopping.

Carolyn happily weeds her radishes.

Kendra and Carolyn marshal their radish ranks for a French Breakfast vs. German Giant war.

Jason mows in fine form.

Ethan pauses as the crafty cameragirl asks him a question so she can snap him.

Someone's missing. It must be Melinda!

Your Spanish for today

Can't promise when the next "today" will be, but don't worry... one will pop up somewhere. I have two months till returning to school and taking the Spanish and German finals, so I'm back to regular language study. Which means that you, my beloved reader, will get more of those much-missed language posts!

It's always a good idea to try translating that phrase literally - you know they're hiding something if they lump a bunch of words together under one English meaning.

ponerse boca abajo (arriba) - to be face up (down)

Literally, the Spanish reads "to put one's mouth up (or down)".

Now, I find that very interesting. Don't you? Should we draw any politically incorrect and linguistically discriminating conclusions, or just laugh?

Since I will be studying abroad for Spanish in Argentina, I was hunting around for some good (and interesting) information on the country. This looks like it may keep me busy for a while.
Todo lo que quiera saber sobre Argentina, proclaims the site - Everything you wanted to know about Argentina. Even if you want to listen to all of Argentina's historically significant state speeches!

Senses

Watching Master and Commander last Friday made me think about sound, because it was full of sound... waves slapping, canvas snapping, men's voices shouting, but also more subtle sounds, especially the inflections of voices.

I realized that I wasn't just hearing the sound, but feeling it. On thinking about it, two kinds of feeling: one, hearing the sounds of something being done 'on screen' made me feel that same thing being done where I was; two, sounds skipping directly to my nervous system or something inside that could feel.

Have you ever been lying on a couch and listening to other people talk, and as you get sleepier and sleepier, the voices are different, almost as if they've changed pitch, or as if the sound waves reaching your ears are slowing down?

I wonder if we can 'feel' sound because of its nature - soundwaves produced by vibrations, reaching our ears and passing the vibrations on to our eardrums and eventually to the brain. Those vibrations must be going down the spinal cord as well as up it, because I can feel them inside, almost as if the sound bypasses skin and physical touch to pluck some internal strings.

If hearing is like a multiple sense, it isn't unique that way... smell and taste aren't just related, they actually affect each other. It makes me wonder what those lightwaves are up to.

Maybe all this is extremely obvious to everyone else. Or just extremely stupid. Anyway, it intrigues me.

Check off that one

There, I finally finished The Case for Democracy. Only 279 pages, but when my reading gets limited to about fifteen minutes a night, I fall back on weekends for catch-up.

This was a fairly easy and interesting read. Sharansky makes his case not from abstract theoretical arguments but rather from his experiences as a Soviet Jewish dissident in the USSR and as a statesman in Israeli politics.

I could quote a few sentences that very nicely sum up the book's thesis, which is just why I won't do it. Go read it yourself. However, the following caught my attention:

When some questioned why Israel was not using information [Peace Watch papers keeping tabs on Palestinian compliance] that could be very helpful in exerting diplomatic pressure on the Palestinian Authority to comply with its agreements, Israeli officials scoffed that it was the government's role to determine whether the Palestinians were fulfilling their commitments. (pg. 158)

So where does the informed citizenry of a democracy come in? Where government bureaucracy leaves off, I suppose... which would seem to be wherever the informed citizenry doesn't come in.

I do not believe in an end of history. The diversity of the world ensures that there will always be argument and conflict. (pg. 278)

Not sure that I would define history as "argument and conflict." And I do believe in an end to history; at least, an end to recorded time. Then again, who really knows?

But as "the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is [definitely] wearying to the body" (Ecclesiastes 12:12), I am off to bed. Goodnight.

To whom it may interest

I added a few sidebar links a while back.

People who are serious about chocolate don't just love eating good chocolate (read: good-quality dark chocolate) - they love reading scientific studies of chocolate (read: studies revealing the health benefits of eating moderate amounts of good-quality dark chocolate). So here's what I like to call The Chocolate List, for the serious chocolate lovers out there. Please notice that I didn't say "chocoholics".

Online dictionaries seem to lack etymologies, which is too bad, since the story behind the word is the most interesting part. So I added Etymonline.

Oh, let's see, I think I also added U. S. News & World Report at the same time. And Al-Jazeera.

It's Friday again

This is so unfair. My right arm is getting all the hammer exercise, which means my left arm and the right side of my brain must be suffering.

Maybe I'll start using my left hand for less important things, like eating and writing.

This is so annoying. Ardith's AIM away message won't get off my screen.

... never mind, there it goes...

This is so inexplicable. Why does it take me all morning and afternoon to get past tiredness and starvation, only to really feel like working at about 5 o'clock?

I think I'll blame it on the heat.

That was so delicious - chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream for Nolan's 6th birthday.

Happy birthday, dear little brother Nolan!

This is so great... being lazy on Friday night.

Jason and I are going to watch Master and Commander, for only the second time.

Have a wonderful weekend!

sigh

Satisfaction is a well-driven nail.

How to answer the question. . .

"Why ten kids?"

Give 'em a sonnet!


Sonnet VI.

Then let not winter's ragged hand deface
In thee thy summer, ere thou be distill'd:
Make sweet some vial; treasure thou some place
With beauty's treasure, ere it be self-kill'd.
That use is not forbidden usury
Which happies those that pay the willing loan;
That 's for thyself to breed another thee,
Or ten times happier, be it ten for one;
Ten times thyself were happier than thou art,
If ten of thine ten times refigured thee:
Then what could death do, if thou shouldst depart,
Leaving thee living in posterity?
Be not self-will'd, for thou art much too fair
To be death's conquest and make worms thine heir.

--William Shakespeare


"Because we were so beautiful, we just couldn't bear to leave the world without us when we die. And because we didn't want worms in the will."

I couldn't resist. :)

Oh, this doesn't apply to my parents (I don't think). But really, if Shakespeare can construct an argument entirely from vanity!. . .

Lovely

This evening was a beautiful rainbow in the east, low enough to walk over!

Irish hymn

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art-
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son,
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always;
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, bright heaven's Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.


Traditional Irish hymn, translated by Mary E. Byrne, versified by Eleanor H. Hull

Help.

Anybody want to contribute to the "Get-Sharon-A-New-English-Dictionary Fund"?

Click here for visual stimulation.

Look out, here comes the Weed Commissioner

Wow... I'm glad we don't live in Franklin County. I know the following refers to the Code of Iowa, but the Hardin County advertising edition didn't mention this. Not, of course, that I would care if it did. We live in Butler County.


Notice is hereby given this 6th day of June, 2005 pursuant to the Code of Iowa, Chapter 317, Weed Law. All owners, occupants, agents and public officials in charge of lands in Franklin County Shall destroy or eradicate noxious weeds standing, being or growing on such lands by effective cutting, tillage, cropping or otherwise destroying, as often as may be required to prevent the weeds from blooming and maturing seeds and on or before the dates according to the following tables:

. . .

Group 3 - By July 15

. . . Velvetleaf. . . Sunflowers. . .

--from the Hampton Reminder


How can velvetleaf possibly be a noxious weed? Those leaves are soft enough to make a pillowcase. Not to mention, the drafter of this law has obviously never sat on his lawn and carefully stripped fuzzy velvetleaf skin off the long, smooth, woody stem inside.

And sunflowers?

So I looked up the Iowa Weed Law and discovered a few discrepancies: no mention of velvetleaf and sunflowers - unless they're masquerading under more scientific names - but it does bring up bindweed / European morning glory, which I suppose would be "binderweed". Good luck with that. You can't get rid of it if you try. Besides, how is this fair to children's imaginative play in the great outdoors? Carolyn and Ethan and I made ourselves some beautiful crowns with the stuff.

The New Man?

You might want to read this. Really interesting how fashions reflect sociological trends.

"The masculine ideal is being completely modified. All the traditional male values of authority, infallibility, virility and strength are being completely overturned". . . [i]nstead, today's males are turning more towards creativity, sensitivity, and multiplicity.

"All those labels which have adapted to this freedom of expression are on the up..." Le Louet said, pointing to the growing success of sports and casual wear manufacturers.

This brings to mind my sad nostalgia over the dying style of suits and the gentlemen who wore them.

The emergence of this new male beast who wants to look and feel good, and who will also have an impact on the role of women...

No kidding. But then, women have already tried changing their role, haven't they?

"There is an increasing desire for people to be in charge of their own lives, and an intolerance for any lack of autonomy..."

Maybe it's just me, but social autonomy sounds like a lonely way to live.

Roofing

My darling mother, a prolific and esteemed blogger in her own right, has encouraged me to blog about my work on the roof. I think I will. That's really all I'm doing right now, and I don't have spare brain cells for anything more creative, as most of them are on emergency duty to counteract an extreme attack of vitamin D.

Has anybody ever laid down shingles? Lots of fun, isn't it? Daddy gave us all a crash course in shingling four years ago... I think it was Memorial Day. We had over a family from church, supposedly to celebrate the holiday, but actually to work on the garage roof. By the time they left, the east side was ready to shingle. Time to start making some memories for future Memorial Days! Up went Daddy and his crew of willing, albeit naive, slaves - Ardith, Sharon, Jason, Kendra, Derek, Melinda, Carolyn. Daddy cut and fit the edge shingles, and we laid down the rows. Two kids laid the shingle, two kids hammered in four nails, on to the next. It only took us till 9:00 or 9:30 P.M., when we were finally allowed to eat supper, many with severe cases of hammer wrist but - between yawns - immense pride in our accomplishment.

Later that summer a work crew from church did the other side.

Well, four years and many gusts of Iowa wind later, some shingles haven't sealed down and several have blown up. So I've been patching. Patching shingles is great fun, as you have to take out nails two shingles up in order to get the problem out. Put that one in and re-hammer everything back in. Patching shingles is almost more satisfying than laying them down fresh, because nobody can see where you patched (as long as you did it right...).

Now, do you know how to TOP patching asphalt shingles on a sunny 90-degree day? Gluing them down with asphalt roof cement, of course. Big caulk-style tubes of extremely black sticky asphalt that only gets softer and stickier under the sun. In one day you can turn those plain-old pants into a uniquely black-smeared design. Forget washing this stuff off your skin. Your best bet is to let it dry a little and then scrape it off with your fingernails (which had better be long so you can cut them afterwards). Pray that you don't get asphalt smeared onto sunburnt skin. You can avoid some of the wash-and-scrape ritual if you wear rubber latex gloves that make your hands incredibly sweaty.

Figure out a way to increase the rate and distance these guns can project asphalt, and you needn't bother learning karate.

Disclaimer: I decided to go ahead and get burnt so I can relax the rest of the summer. Don't blame my parents. They warned me.

It was on Friday, June 5th, 1981

Today our parents have been married twenty-four years!

Happy anniversary, Daddy and Mommy.

well...

I put myself on sick leave yesterday. After five days, my sore throat finally decided to upgrade to full cold status Wednesday. Thursday night I was in bed by 11 and up by 7:30, and two hours of sleep were in there.... somewhere... last night at nine hours was a great improvement.

Anyway, I needed a book to pull me out of myself, and settled on Michael Crichton's Andromeda Strain (hey - somebody else who comes up with the title before the book). Keyword for me was sterilization, more interesting since we've become a very germ-conscious family. Just like Congo, this one was full of impersonal computers and technology, and of course, that annoying ubiquitous "data". Kind of funny to read about computers in the pre-digital age. Anyway, the book became palatable once I realized that the psychological element would once again kick in. Hall in Andromeda Strain as Ross in Congo, two people chosen for their respective teams due to a computer's analyzing their personality and psychology. Ridiculous, but as long as humans triumph over technology, I don't really care. When I got to the end, I thought, "I've been duped." What was the point of the book again? Great authors can do that to you. Just so you know that it was my idea first.

Haven't yet read Jurassic Park. Its powers over me will be weaker after the movie. Still can't believe I wanted to watch that... although, I'd almost do it again, just out of sheer fascination over being that terrified.

Anyway, I was very proud of reading an entire book (269 pages) in almost 24 hours.

And if you think this post is poorly written, you win. But I ain't taking more time. Sleep is extremely precious.

Psalm 90

Psalm 90

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.

Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

You turn man back into dust
And say, "Return, O children of men."
For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or as a watch in the night.
You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep;
In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.
In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;
Toward evening it fades and withers away.

For we have been consumed by Your anger
And by Your wrath we have been dismayed.
You have placed our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
For all our days have declined in Your fury;
We have finished our years like a sigh.
As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.
Who understands the power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

Do return, O Lord; how long will it be?
And be sorry for Your servants.
O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,
That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us,
And the years we have seen evil.
Let Your work appear to Your servants
And Your majesty to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

Ganz verblüffender!

Suddenly the Andromeda Galaxy has tripled its size! Bet you didn't think the galaxy was expanding that fast, right?

Actually, it's just a halo of 3000 extra stars that French scientists (aided by an Hawaiian telescope) have determined to be moving with the Andromeda Galaxy. But we could see a lot more expansion if other spiral galaxies work the same way.

So eine verblüffendere Entdeckung, nicht wahr?
Such an amazing discovery, isn't it?

Isn't that a lovely word... verblüffender! Means amazing or puzzling.