June 28, 2008
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Intake or Output
I find it horribly difficult to read and write at the same time. That is part of my hangup today. First, when I got to the computer early this morning, I saw that The Kid (big grown-up bearded slacker kid) had left me this Wondermark web comic:
You can click on the thumbnail to read it; it will open in a new page, and wouldn’t be readable at the width of a column here anyhow. He left it for me, I know, because it reminded him of a game we three used to play when we lived off the grid, and have played a few times during power outages here when stuck for entertainment without electronics.We call the game “Where did THAT come from?” We just take turns saying whatever comes to mind associated with the last thing the person ahead of us said, until one of us says something so off the wall that the next person doesn’t get the connection and challenges, “Where did THAT come from?” If it sounds dull to you, that’s because you don’t know the way the minds in my family work. It’s one laugh after another for us.
From there, I got onto Xanga, read comments, responded to some personal messages, checked my email….
Before I knew what was up, my mind wandered and I was at our public library system’s online catalog, trying to find some books I wanted. I was amazed and appalled to learn that none of the libraries in this huge and literate valley has any books by Professor Paul Davies, director of the BEYOND Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University. Nor do they have the book I (wishfully) entered in my “currently reading,” to which Davies was a contributor. Inter-Library Loan, here I come.
When I complained about the library’s lack to Greyfox (my Old Fart, husband, soulmate and partner in crime — just threw that in because several people lately have gotten the impression that Doug, The Kid, my son, hero, and personal caregiver, was my “partner”), Greyfox said he had recently purchased a copy of one of Davies’s older books at a library discard sale. This is even better, owning the book instead of having to return it in a few weeks, but I would think that when they pitched out his old book they would have replaced it with 3 or 4 of his newer works. He’s as awesome as Richard Wolfson, as physicists go. I have added a different quote from him, and another picture, to my “favorites” module today.
The last few days, some memories from past lives have come up, and then today one of the messages I received had asked me to blog about my past lives. I pointed the person to the “karmic history” thing in my memoirs, but that involves some lives other than the ones that have been surfacing in my memory this week. I posted something about them at KaiOaty today.
Comments (7)
Five’ll get you ten they pitched his older book because nobody was checking it out, in which case they wouldn’t replace it on the ground that nobody would want the newer ones either.
I may be wrong; your region may be more literate than mine, and the library had some other reason. But I’ve become kind of cynical about the public library’s role in life-long learning, because I work in one. We’re officially discouraged from buying anything that won’t circulate fifty times, which means we mostly stock up on best sellers and DVDs. Theoretical physics is not a subject area we’re strong in.
The game sounds perfect for my family. I’ll keep it in my hat til the time shows itself. My library looks all over the California system if we need a book. Maybe budget cuts will take that away, but for now I use them all I can.
@Scriveling - You are probably right. That library was in Wasilla, the biggest community in the Valley. When I go looking for physics, I find most of what’s available at the library in the little town of Talkeetna. I would bet that some of the patrons there have an interest in science. The librarian at the Willow library has ordered a few books on my recommendation, but often I resort to ILL and get books from the Lower 48. I don’t know why it is, but the librarians here seem to love me when I ask them to reach out and find some big thing like the Teotihuacan Mapping Project or a thin, obscure volume like Cognitive Enhancing Drugs.
from a distance, i thought it may be zippy the pinhead,,, must have been the hat,,,,,
i didnt get it,,,,
hahahahahahaha,,, i guess i need one of those hats,,,,, hahahahahaha
and nevermind,,, it would probably take all nite,,, hahahahahaha
Don’t know Davies, but I would probably like theoretical pyshics… if it doesn’t use math, it’s right up my alley! Anything associated with math? I don’t get it. At all. Metaphors and anaologies sound much better to me.
I love the orange kittens. And the name Sephiroth. And I like scientific analogies. I feel I’m in a consumption mode right now, thinking about dipping back to create some output. Tough to say.