Banned in the Bible...and Ultrarunning

If you are the sort of person who takes the Bible literally, and also an Ultrarunner, you might be in trouble.

Via Boing Boing we get pointed to the Tumbler site here, where is found a pretty comprehensive list of some 76 things banned in the Old Testament book of Leviticus.  The site observes:

Here’s chapter and verse on a more-or-less comprehensive list of things banned in the Leviticus book of the bible. A decent number of them are punishable by death.  Unless you’ve never done any of them (and 54 to 56 are particularly tricky), perhaps it’s time to lay off quoting 18:22 for a while?

Rather than list all 76 here, the items that may be problematical for Ultrarunners are these:

8. Carelessly making an oath (5:4) (&%$# I just fell down!)

12. Letting your hair become unkempt (10:6)  (better carry a comb or brush)

13. Tearing your clothes (10:6)  (watch out for those falls)

54. Mixing fabrics in clothing (19:19)  (technical shirts using both lycra and nylon are verboten)

72. Working on the Sabbath (23:3)  (is what we do work...or how about those volunteers?)

Again, the whole list is here.

Rules for 21st Century War...and Ultrarunning

Ran across and saved this gem at Brilliant at Breakfast, here (you'll need to scroll to 11 Nov 2013).

My fav--in a sad, despairing way--is # 4.

Rules for 21st Century War  

1. Prevent a free press from learning the truth and it won't need to be censored for trying to report the truth.  
2. Never reveal who is getting rich from a war. 
3. The true costs of a war are so mind-boggling high that hardly anyone finds them believable. Don't worry about it. 
4. When stirring up the populace for a war, in no case predict and include the costs of the aftermath of a war, which are paid for by citizens for 100 years after the war in the form of medical care and survivor's benefits. As of March 2013, two children of Civil War veterans are still receiving very modest amounts.  
5. Ship bodies of fallen soldiers home quietly and quickly disperse them across the country. Hide the most grievously injured.  
6. Call veterans "heroes" and keep them so patriotically stirred up by slights both real and imagined that they'll cheer cuts to social service programs without noticing the V.A. is getting screwed too. The vets of WWI and WWII didn't fall for this scam. Know your history.

The link to Ultrarunning?  Time and history have long memories (see # 4 above in case you forgot), kinda like the long distances we run.  People ask us, "How can you run that far?  How long does it take? Do you get bored?"  And I just smile, try to answer, and know something they don't.

(It's time for an actual Ultrarunning post, I know).

Cats in Art: Still Life With Cats (Beckmann)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art. I'm using some ideas from the coffee table book, The Cat in Art, by Stefano Zuffi.

By the way, the Internet is a strange and incomplete place. At least 2 sites (here and here) purport to show the complete works of Max Beckmann...yet this great image is NOT among them:

Image credit here.  Still Life With Cats, Max Beckmann, 1917, oil on canvas, 25" x 39", held by Gallery Pels-Leuden, Berlin, Germany.

Zuffi's comment:

...unlike the 17th century paintings, which chiefly focus on the cat as a "petty thief" of the pantry, this still life provides an opportunity to observe the placid calm of felines in a tranquil domestic environment, letting them pose for the artist amid the fruits and flowers.  The two cats--one black with white paws and neck, and the other dark gray--have lost their mysterious symbolic meaning.  The ordinaryness of the scene is converyed through a clear-cut composition with its curvilinear forms and strong outlines, revealing a broad and sophisticated range of colors.

I agree with the whole theme of oridinary catness.  Kittys just doing kitty stuff, and by the way, an artist just happens to be on hand to capture the moment.  And I love the composition of cats, flowers and colors that Beckmann assembles here, especially the iris in the tall white vase.  And don't you  just love the yellow-eyed cat on the right which appears to have a green vase on its head?

Last, an aside about the artist.  The art site Totally History offers this perspective on Beckmann's work:

When World War 2 broke out, Max Beckmann’s as well as other Expressionists’ paintings were declared to be degenerate by Hitler. In fact his paintings were removed from the galleries by the Nazis and some were displayed as examples of degenerate art in Munich. The Nazi Government referred to Beckmann as a “cultural Bolshevik.”

Thus if Hitler called someone "degenerate" then I gotta go with the theory that this someone was actually, well, NOT degenerate.

Mandela: Many Tributes, but Nothing Will Change

Today the world is mourning the death, and celebrating the life, of Nelson Mandela.  Tributes are flowing freely, but what I am hoping for are words that will be backed up by action.

This morning (Friday 6 Dec) as I was watching The Today Show, I was struck by the remarks of Colin Powell.  I have bolded a couple key passages:

[Powell]: Well, he started out as a peacemaker. he believed in nonviolence. he was a lawyer. he believed in the law. but then he realized that wasn't going to work against the regime of apartheid so he took up violence and became on a terrorist list for a long period of life. but then he realized that this was not the answer. and as you noted in your reports and a lot of people have noted, he went for love. he said let's reach out and show love and reconciliation. he kind of reminds me in the experience of the united states, he is our washington and our lincoln and our martin luther king all rolled in one. the founder of his country. somebody that kept the country together and in the spirit of martin luther king and madiba together, why we have to reach out to one another even though we have strong differences. we have to reach out and find compromise in order to get the consensus to move forward. that's what he did. that's the inspiration he has left for the people of south africa and the rest of the world.

 

[host Savannah Guthrie]: i have to smile when you use the word love. we hear the word forgiveness and inspiration and integrity because these are qualities that are so vanishingly rare in our modern public politics. 

[Powell]: That's true and we need more of it. we shouldn't be afraid to reach out to other people even though we strongly disagree with them. if we don't do that -- particularly here in the united states-- if we don't start listening to one another. if we don't start sharing with one another and sharing our anxieties and dreams and greatest ambitions with one another and try to find ways to move forward we're going to be in trouble. i hope americans will get renewed inspiration from the life and successes of nelson mandela.

 

 

It'd be great if words such as Powell's--that we should emulate Mandela--would not simply stop at the personal and individual level.  What if we would use Mandela's words and example as the basis for our foreign policy?

 

Think Iran.  Think Afghanistan.  Think the Taliban.  What if we said, "You know, our foreign policy regarding what we perceive as these threats has been pretty much the same for decades...what if ditched the weapons and threats and just talked, really talked about peaceful co-existence?"

 

But I am not optimistic.  Mandela's death and legacy will be paid a great deal of lip service, then the bullying and bombs and bullets will resume.  Because that's what we do best.

 

Sadly, this is when the change I hope for will occur.

 

 

[image credit Dribbleglass, here]

 

 

A Short Tale About Love, and Compassion

Via Wonkette, a short tale about love, and compassion.

Let’s have a round of applause for U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Durkin, and a congratulatory toast, plus a few buckets of tears, for Vernita Gray and Patricia Ewert, who thanks to Judge Durkin became the first couple to wed under Illinois’ new law allowing same-sex marriage. The law doesn’t officially go into effect until June 1, 2014, but Durkin ordered the Cook County Clerk’s office to issue a marriage license immediately, since Gray has terminal cancer and may not live that long. She wanted to ensure that Ewert will have all of the spousal rights she’s entitled to.

 

 

Again, tell me why the marriage of these two ladies is anyone's business but their own, and how official, legal recognition of their union poses any conceivable threat to "traditional marriage"?

 

Back to Wonkette:

As we have noted before, the wedding did not cause the city of Chicago to be leveled by earthquakes, tornadoes, flash floods, or rains of frogs. The Chicago Cubs remain cursed; however, this is believed to have less to do with the Lord God Almighty’s displeasure with gay marriage than with man-on-goat relationships.

A (Late) Thanksgiving Post

I know, I know, I am a couple days--well, the better part of a week--late.  But consider this your Thanksgiving message from Mister Tristan (the blog, not the 5-year-old human being).

The message: peaceful co-existence.

See, this image (credit to Wonkette) was just to good to hold for a whole year, till Thanksgiving 2014:

National Radio Quiet Zone...and Ultrarunning

Via AP News this day:

Seemingly off the beaten path, this community of fewer than two hundred residents is the heart of the National Radio Quiet Zone, a 13,000-square-mile area where state and federal laws discourage the use of everyday devices that emit electromagnetic waves. The quiet zone aims to protect sensitive radio telescopes at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, as well as a nearby Naval research facility, from man-made interference. This silence enables the observatory to detect energy in outer space that is equivalent to the energy emitted by a single snowflake hitting the ground.

 

 

This area is largely in a mountainous area of east central West Virginia.  The fact that residents voluntarily consent to a semi-vow of electronic silence is kinda cool.  And here is the radio telescope that requires all that electromagnetic quiet:

 

[Image credit here]

 

 

This area of WV has always been a fav of mine since my high school and early adult years days as a caver and climber (see here for a stunning cave shot of a memorable place I've been).  It's lovely and wild, and, well, just had and still has a mystique that comes from being a special place in my formative years.  All of us--I hope--have places like that.

 

Anyway, for the railfans, Cass Scenic Railroad is here.  I've been there but it's been years.  More recently this fall the bride and I and two other couples took a tourist rail trip from nearby Elkins on the New Tygart Flyer, where there were waterfalls and wine (image credits Gary).  What's not to like?:

 

 

 

And so, at long last, we get to the Ultrarunning part.  Getting back to the initial premise of the story about radio silence that triggered all this happy reminiscing, the curmudgeon in me feels obliged to point out again his personal opposition to music devices while running.  Many--perhaps most--long distance runners do listen to music while on the trails, but I always take special pleasure from just listening to Nature.

 

Yeah, I'm a purist, being judgemental, your mileage may vary, and all that, but if you are habituated to music on the trails, try a run music-free.  Just try it.

 

 

Cats in Art: Still Life With Putto and Rabbit (Kokoschka)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art. I'm using some ideas from the coffee table book, The Cat in Art, by Stefano Zuffi.

This is the second post on Oskar Kokoschka, who last week and this showed us some disturbing cats:

 

 

Image credit ALMA, here.  Still Life With Putto and Rabbit, Oskar Kokoschka, 1914, oil on canvas, size and owner unspecified.

 

The ALMA site offers the following analysis of this painting, at a time when the artist was reeling from his lover Alma's recent abortion.

 

In encoded form, Kokoschka attempted to get close to this event: in a mysterious, gloomy landscape, there sits in the foreground a cat, poised ready to pounce. Its head is turned back towards a rabbit sitting behind it, and with its gaze it has the little animal completely under its spell. Aside from this scene, a tiny male child cowers. The similarity between the portrait of the cat and Alma has repeatedly been raised. The identification with the child not carried to term makes the gestures which stress suffering and the oppressive power of the tree trunk become emblems of death. Alma has turned away from him, and her admonishing glance is intended solely for the rabbit. Thus, Still Life with Putto and Rabbit, bathed in an apocalyptic mood, already heralds the imminent end of the relationship.

 

So, is the aborted boy referred to as "Putto," or is that the name of the cat, or is it an endearing name for Alma?

 

Regardless, if the kitty is that of Oskar and Alma rather than just an allegorical symbol, I'd be questioning the wisdom of cat ownership.  To me, the cat looks almost malignant, with an evil smile of control and domination, like "I can take you out any time I feel like it." 

 

All in all, quite a disturbing image.