Darjeeling, Bergamot and Walnuts

20.1.16

Vanquish the thesis

And may the force be with you on your quest to vanquish
The Thesis in the Swamp of Gradskull.

3.1.16

Followed these notes:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/story/66/

Preheat to 165 deg (without fan)
5.4kg bird
- Washed
- Patted dry with paper towel
- Coated with olive oil mixture inside and out:
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1.5-2 tsp oregano
- 1.5-2 tsp marjoram
- did I put also sage??
- 2-3 tsp salt?
- pepper

Stuffed with this recipe:
http://www.thedomesticfront.com/old-school-sage-stuffing/
(excluded broth for stuffing used to stuff)

Cooked uncovered
At 2hrs increased to 170deg with fan

Target temp 75 deg C
At 3hrs checked temp
Cooked another 10 mins.
Turkey sat covered for 20-30mins until carved.

-- (c) 2015 DBW, all rights reserved.

19.12.15

Asparagus and the absence of knowledge

The loss of knowledge
Wild asparagus
Starving in abundance
Can't put 2 and 2 together to save your life
In time
Up against nothing
But time
And comfort zone

9.12.15

I've dreamed the mark of a master

I've had a lucid dream

an interpretation

of a real experience

but the dream was more lucid than the real

a posthoc realization

the gentle progression of the day

eclipsed by an afterthought

Like looking in the mirror

and finding you're the reflection

It was this.

In my dream, my mind replayed a guitar player,

mirroring an impromptu gig in an Erice Marsala cellar.

It was not the song I remembered.

Now I cannot play even a Ramones song,

but here replaying in my mind

was a song I've never heard.

I was conscious it was a dream,

a manufactured total experience,

and yet I could recognize a skill in the player

far exceeding my own.

So effortlessly forthcoming,

precision without tension,

speed without hesitation.

An extension of the body,

the song an old friend,

yet entirely new to me.

I was conscious it was a dream,

a manufactured total experience,

and yet I could recognize a skill in the player

far exceeding my own.

I can imagine an expert,

without being one myself

So effortlessly forthcoming,

precision without tension,

speed without hesitation.

An extension of the body,

the song an old friend,

beauty from imperfection

and apparent happenstance.

The mark of a master.

To play music,

we have to choose an instrument.

It's all around you

at the doors of perception

A leap of conciousness

in an instant

the mystery falls away

... a what if scenario

It happens every day

in an analogous way

The secrets are right before us

... in plain view

Just looking isn't enough

I see a pristine coastal lake

I hear the haunting call of a loon

My brother is near me

beholding the spectacle

A vibrant ecosystem

spared of motors

Like Columbus' "India"

the significance evades us

... in plain view

the secrets are right before us

the mystery falls away

in an instant

a leap of conciousness

at the doors of perception

It's all around us

awaiting our faculties of mind

to awaken

2.12.15

Ceci n'est pas un poem

just words and sentences
that suited my fancy
a me(a)ssage for my sub- and consciousness
for the future since 2010

Darjeeling, bergamot and walnuts they say
up and lifted the Lorax away.
Although contrarywise, the opposite is true
Those who did the lifting away, those are you
who bang your who trinkets and bang your who trumpets
Going on without noticing what we must do.

Now I am no poet, I just speak for the trees
without whom you can return to the ocean if you please
To hang with the curious oysters and fishes
If all you want for the world is to grant your three wishes.

Too many a lichen have struggled on rocks
than justify a collection of pink cashmere socks
The power of life has been granted to you
Now go hurry up and figure out what to do.

1.12.15

By any other name?

Tai Chi
Chai Tea

A dalinprome?

Chai darjeeling
Thai bergamot

Why walnuts?

29.11.15

Explorers

Explorers venture out to discover what is unknown to them. The world is getting smaller, but more complex. There is more to learn and know than ever. The modern explorer is a bridge builder between pockets of knowledge... A work in progress. Perpetual.

- Airline pilots
- Gene sequencers
- Healers of ailments of the heart, by surgery
- Antarctic navigators
- Caribou hunters, for livelihood
- Natives of the Amazon

28.11.15

Perfection and kingfishers ...

Perfection is achievable ...

Listening skills

A good listener is alert,
searching for those chance flashes of the world,
moving mountains in their mind.
If you blink, you'll miss it.

Broadly speaking, listening styles exhibit two extremes:
A) Find the truth in what is being said
B) Find the falsehood in what is being said

In A), one works with the conversation partner, saying "yes and", refining the shared viewpoint with active listening approaches. It recognizes the short comings of language do not imply shortcomings of organization of thoughts, and poorly formulated positions. In general, language is a severe straight-jacket for developed thought frameworks. It recognizes semantics are defined by connections to other thoughts and terms.

In B), one confronts the conversation partner with holes and flaws in the language, sometimes finding flaws in the argument. Often debate becomes semantic in nature, as short comings of language are inherent in its serial, unmathematical and improvised nature. Often this distracts from convergence to jointly formulated positions, and conceptual and thought frameworks.

Other extremes likely exist.

For example, a third extreme, C), is team free association. Governed less by logic, and more by first impressions, conversations evolve rapidly and richly.

-- (c) 2015 DBW, all rights reserved.

20.11.15

Made with Real SUGAR

Consumer advisory: Lowering of customer expectations, and then raising them again doesn't make the final product any more meritorious than the original.

13.11.15

Its not size that counts, but how you use it

I have never taken an IQ test,
and I think I never will.

To me intelligence is the capacity
to see things from many points of view

and we all have our unique points of view,
so we are all unique intelligences

To compare intellects on a number line is
as vastly inadequate
as climbing a tree to reach the stars.
Simultaneously the right direction and a dead-end
- close but no cigar
- a monkey's invention

-- (c) 2015 DBW, all rights reserved.

29.10.15

Brecht on life

In Praise of the Fighters Those who are weak don't fight. Those who are stronger might fight for an hour. Those who are stronger still might fight for many years. The strongest fight their whole life. They are the indispensable ones.

-- from the version of The Mother that Brecht did with composer Hans Eisler in 1931.

Mental note: Find the original German version.