Over Silver Glance and the Long Sky Cold

Posted on January 19th, 2012

by Tony Smith

snowy view of sun on the mountains

Tony's snowy view of winter sun on the distant mountains.

This was written by Tony Smith while he was living next door to me in a one-room picker’s cabin in the Eastern Washington Cascades near Winthrop. It describes how 5-year old Tony first came to realize that winter can be long and hard. Yacolt is in SE Washington, and Bonneville is southeast of there. Silver Glance is a remote wilderness area a long way further east and south, in Utah. Tony passed away in about 2010. He was a fire lookout and philosopher. Perhaps reminding him of the Long Sky Cold, here is a picture of the view outside Tony’s window.

Over Silver Glance and the Long Sky Cold

by Tony Smith

Grampa said they’d better kill that hog
And take the heifer to Yacolt.
My grandmother said, “hum”, but she was looking south -
waiting for the light from Bonneville.

Read on →

Posted in Arts, Civilization, Prosaic, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Swift, Quiet

Posted on April 9th, 2011

Swift as a raindrop darkness fell,
Cold as a frog’s tongue the stream slid ‘round a stone.
The northern lights were excited.
Two deer quietly kissed the water.

Cooney headwaters

Cooney headwaters

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On the edge

Posted on February 27th, 2011

Along the rim rock,
The crickets,
Sing from the mud cracks.

Wandering footsteps,
At night,
Follow the music.

Close by,
At night,
The edge lies silent.

rimrock

On the edge.

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To impress the sky

Posted on February 27th, 2011

I have breathed the clear air of the mountains.
Where mosses creep among the roots,
Where willows guard the pebbly rivulets,
Where each tiny grain is set with care.
Glistening tiaras to impress the sky.

I went on past many cirques,
Their walls of snow and spacious murals,
Shining down on azure lakes.
Sparkles dancing off their sides.
The blue sky amused with clouds of cotton.

I went on past jutting spires and melting tongues of ice.
Where the world lay below me distant and weary.
I sat by the shore of a tiny lake and dropped in a hook,
And pulled out one funny fish from the bottomless deep,
Would you believe – its flesh was the color of blood.

bottomless lake

Bottomless.

Posted in Arts, Prosaic, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Tristan and Isolde

Posted on February 27th, 2011

Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland

Song Of Isolde – Lyrics by Eliza Gilkyson

Wake up, wake up Tristan,
Our bed of leaves and sand is cold,
I fell asleep here in your arms,
More than a thousand years ago.
———————–

The tragic love story of Tristan and Isolde has been told and retold many different ways. In my version of the story, the love potion and the poisoned wine remind us that love and fate are two faces of the same universal force.

This story began in England during the reign of King Arthur, when a prince by the name of Drust was born in Ireland. During his birth, his mother died, and so Drust became known as Tristan, from the word tristesse, meaning sorrow.

Read on →

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Poor fen

Posted on February 26th, 2011

Since the Okanogan country is so big, our botany class could usually plan alternative field trips to avoid unpredictable bad weather, road detours or just head for the best displays of flowers on that particular day. But one day the entire region was blanketed in wildfire smoke that had blown in from the next county.

smoky okanogan

No alternatives to the smoke.

There were no alternates to our planned hike to a wetland. And so the class went to a bog in a deep valley near the Pasayten Wilderness.

Well, it really wasn’t a bog.  It was a poor fen, which is a bit of minutiae that nobody but a wetland scientist would care squat about. Read on →

Posted in Natural, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

If hurricanes were fun

Posted on February 26th, 2011

If hurricanes were lots of fun,
And snow was dew and moon was sun,
I’d wish you happy gales today,
We’d shovel mist then sleep away.

If sun was moon and dew was snow,
We’d wake to find the world we know,
Where winter lingers for a while,
And you can thrill me with your smile.

Posted in Arts, Prosaic, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Fuzzy Muse

Posted on February 26th, 2011

Of all the ways to show sincere
Lending of an open ear,
None compare with quiet noises,
Shared with spirits of the toyses. Read on →

Posted in Arts, Prosaic, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Quest for the Golden Hare

Posted on February 20th, 2011

In 1979 Kit Williams created a jewel encrusted 18-carat golden hare, as the prize for whoever followed a riddle to its hidden location.

Read on →

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Affordable Transportation

Posted on February 18th, 2011

Cars. They’re cheap, efficient transportation, but damn the insurance is a pain and those flim-flam safety inspections make buying one a major ordeal.

A better idea for owning cars is this: Just buy a car every two weeks and use it 14 days temporary tags. No inspection, no insurance, no safety. Just drive it fourteen days and then throw it away and buy another. A disposo-mobile can be had in any major city for 100 bucks. So you can drive for $2600 a year. Just thought you ought to know about that.

Posted in Civilization, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

a moonwort by any how cow

Posted on February 16th, 2011

A botany student heard that some sensitive plants growing in a headwater seep were holding up a timber sale, and wished that he might see them. Another botanist told him where these plants, called Victorin’s grape-ferns, could be found. He visited the spot where the plants were growing on an isolated lens of serpentine soil, and wanted to know what their scientific name was.

Fortunately, he had a botanical flora in which to match the name to the appearance of the plant. Unfortunately, no names matched the pictures in the flora. Read on →

Posted in Natural, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

The Incandescent Man

Posted on February 14th, 2011

It is always important to make a good first impression.

In the mid-1990s, I met my best friend and partner while living on a ramshackle old farm that the locals called the “ruins”. This farm needed all manner of chores to keep it from falling down, from daily irrigation to constant fixing.

I was careful when I first got to know my new friend not to display my typical hurry up and relax attitude. She was a person of refinement and grace, which I did my best to respect in all matters. She had been dropped into a homespun life where spring and fall were compressed into frenetic weeks of planting and harvest. Life was a race against the onslaught of nature, who was bent on freezing our crops and pelting us with hell and high water.  Read on →

Posted in Family Picnic, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Blinded by milk science

Posted on February 6th, 2011

When I was a kid living in Tokyo, I almost started an international incident by asking for a glass of milk at a traditional Japanese dinner. Several of my hosts quickly left the table and were gone for a long time. You would have thought I asked for a glass of blood. Now I understand that most Japanese think cows milk is revolting. Read on →

Posted in Health, Disease, Medicine, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Throwing Darwin Under the Bus

Posted on February 6th, 2011

Now there is Evolution by Accident?

This is a great concept that may open a few people’s minds a bit. Particularly scientists. It is a sign that scientists are finally getting beyond Darwinian dogma in their publications.

The F-pilus (or sex pilus) is a stellar example of this process from the microbial world.

There are these two bacteria, see, one “male” (F+) and one “female” (F-). You can tell them apart because one has a pilus (a microbial penis). The pilus is basically a stick of DNA with some genes. I know you don’t believe me, so here is a picture from a microscope:

Two bacteria exchanging sexual favors

F+ microbes have a special purpose in life that F- do not.

Read on →

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What-the-font

Posted on March 27th, 2009

What do you do when someone whines to you that your documents look like music sheets?

When communicating over the internet, your fonts may not appear the same at the other end. The best solution is not to use a font at all. Better than best, you can choose to selectively piss off a section of the receiving public. Here are six communication workarounds for sending content over the internet: Read on →

Posted in Uncategorized, Web Works | 1 Comment

Where have all the soldiers gone?

Posted on June 8th, 2008

Let’s start thinking ahead about post-war reconstruction. What will we do with our returning vets? My first answer is that, in America, we don’t “do” returning vets. But even if we did, we wouldn’t know what to do.

I say, let’s build a society that Americans can live in. Donate your old Winnebago to a homeless person and skip the European vacation this year. Stop being so selfish, all you yuppies, and take a break from counting your money for a change.

Here is a wandering account of a vet who almost waited too long to open his heart to the people who finally heard him. Read on →

Posted in Liberty, Equality, Sorority, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

What the Blogosphere Wants – David Pollard

Posted on May 24th, 2008

David Pollard figured this out and put it on his blog. You might want to keep a copy of this list.

WHAT THE BLOGOSPHERE WANTS MORE OF

Blog readers want to see more:

1. original research, surveys etc.
2. original, well-crafted fiction
3. great finds: resources, blogs, essays, artistic works
4. news not found anywhere else
5. category killers: aggregators that capture the best of many blogs/feeds, so they need not be read individually
6. clever, concise political opinion (most readers prefer these consistent with their own views)
7. benchmarks, quantitative analysis
8. personal stories, experiences, lessons learned
9. first-hand accounts
10. live reports from events
11. insight: leading-edge thinking & novel perspectives
12. short educational pieces
13. relevant “aha” graphics
14. great photos
15. useful tools and checklists
16. précis (summaries), reviews and other time-savers
17. fun stuff: quizzes, self-evaluations, other interactive content

Blog writers want to see more:

1. constructive criticism, reaction, feedback
2. ‘thank you’ comments, and why readers liked their post
3. requests for future posts on specific subjects
4. foundation articles: posts that writers can build on, on their own blogs
5. reading lists/aggregations of material on specific, leading-edge subjects that writers can use as resource material
6. wonderful examples of writing of a particular genre, that they can learn from
7. comments that engender lively discussion
8. guidance on how to write in the strange world of weblogs

Posted in Uncategorized, Web Works | Leave a comment

Drupal versus everybody. A CMS Software review

Posted on May 24th, 2008

Blogs and Content management Systems

The year 2008 is the year of roll-your-own blogs. A year ago there were a couple dozen software packages for creating your own blog or content management system (CMS). Today there are hundreds of them. This review was written to help winnow down the choices.

Factors driving this revolution are competition between the open source and the pay-to-play community, adoption of open source CMS solutions by business and industry, and development of programs and CMS alternatives in other countries besides the one owned by Mr. Big in Redmond, Washington.

The climate of this software explosion resembles the way computer brands proliferated before the big shakedown. Once upon a time there were dozens of different computer manufacturers, but then came the big shakedown and they all died except Apple/Mac and maybe Compaq. Eventually Dell and Gateway rose from the ashes, at least until the death of Gateway. I predict a similar shakedown for CMS programs. Read on →

Posted in Uncategorized, Web Works | 10 Comments

CMS explosion: Killer apps

Posted on May 21st, 2008

(But we just don’t call them killer apps any more).

As the clock rolled around 2008, the web exploded with new internet software offerings in the Content Management System (CMS) category. These packages create a platform for web designers, developers and authors to collaborate in the creation of a web site. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call CMS applications the killer app of the moment, driving the cyber world toward new uncharted territory. Everyone has discovered that they simply cannot live without one. Read on →

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Let them drink holy water

Posted on August 10th, 2005

Peak Water?

With a Push From the U.N., Water Reveals Its Secrets – New York Times:

Using the tools of isotope hydrology, scientists can discover the age, origins, size, flow and fate of a water source. And that information, in turn, can guide sound water-use policy, letting water engineers better map underground aquifers, conserve supplies and control pollution. Read on →

Posted in Civilization, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Republicans should thank the Democrats

Posted on August 4th, 2005

The Middle Class Republican

By John Gray. Originally on the web around 2004, this is an excent refresher that explains how Republicans don’t acknowledge the good things done by Democrats.

Gray describes a middle-class Republican who goes through his life benefiting from legislation passed by Democrats but then curses “big government” at the end of the day. The article lists the following protections enacted by Democrats, which every voter should consider before going to the dark side.

  • Water quality standards
  • Employer paid medical benefits
  • Food safety
  • Pollution controls
  • Public transportation subsidies
  • Unemployment insurance
  • Federally insured bank deposits
  • Car safety
  • Social Security
    and others

    These achievements were opposed by Republicans at the time.

    • Posted in Liberty, Equality, Sorority, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

    Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

    Posted on July 28th, 2005

    Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. What is it?

    • MCS – What is it? Who has it? This 1999 paper gives a definition of MCS. It was compiled by a large number of physicians, and published in a peer-reviewed journal (Archives of Environmental Health v.54, n.3 May/June, 99). Based on Health Department studies, MCS affects 16% of the general population, or put another way, 84% of the general population is clueless about those affected with MCS. Read on →
    Posted in Health, Disease, Medicine, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

    Karl Rove Judgement Day

    Posted on July 21st, 2005

    Some may question the motives of Rove or call for his termination, but a better question is whether Rove should be tried for high treason, which has the death penalty. I say no, because the enemy of darkness is light.

    Evil has reared its head in the White House, and now the world can see the role of Rove in helping the idiot orchestrate war. The Prince of Darkness has apparently had control over Karl for some time. The war on terrorism has been successful at increasing the level of hatred in the world. Satan is cashing in. But why the calls to fire Karl? Karl belongs to Satan and the president is only his puppet (see White House maintains confidence).

    We all know the truth is bad, we just don’t want to hear the details. So what should we do? It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. (Psalm 118:8,9).

    “It’s like a pair of blinders has been removed and I’m suddenly seeing for myself what I’ve long known to be the case: just how sanitized a version of the war the American mainstream media are delivering, and how little of even this cleaned-up coverage we get.” – Arianna Huffington: Iraq: The War We Are Not Being Shown

    Satan will “go out to deceive the nations which are in the earth,” (Rev 20:8), and many will follow him.”

    How does Bush confront the truth? “If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration.” – George W. Bush, Remarks to Reporters, July 18, 2005.

    Posted in Liberty, Equality, Sorority, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

    Madrid Agenda

    Posted on July 8th, 2005

    From Club de Madrid Series on Democracy and Terrorism. This group of dignitaries met during winter and spring of 2005, as guests of the King of Spain. The website has a place to download pdf files on the causes of Terrorism, and confronting Terrorism.

    The agenda of the Club de Madrid meetings was to remember and honour the victims of the terrorist attacks of March 11, 2004, the strength and courage of the citizens of Madrid, and through them, all victims of terrorism and those who confront its threat.

    Read on →

    Posted in Liberty, Equality, Sorority, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

    What does “Syndicate this site” mean?

    Posted on July 7th, 2005

    What does "Syndicate this site" mean?, by Elise Bauer. This blog site does a good job of explaining the details, starting with answering the question:

    Syndicate this site means that the headlines, a link, and an entry description for each new weblog entry are made available for others to use on their websites or to access through a newsfeed reader program.

    Elise also has lots of good information including a second tutorial on how to display live news feeds on your website. Cool. Way to go.

    Posted in Uncategorized, Web Works | Leave a comment

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