S I L E N C E: YOU GOT TO BURN TO SHINE

There are some truths we do not think about often ... The sun still warms the aging Tribugoff windows on Platitude East 

The Hero Who Saved His Hero

 "....the only way this will go away is when he xxxxx dies. Hopefully, soon.’”


Everyone Should Own One Nightmare

I stare at my daughter’s bullet

proof vest and feel the thinness

I wonder how this can stop a

bullet, it’s dangerous to be a co

 .

Every night you worry if your

baby is safe, and wonder what

can you do to protect her, I would

step in front of a bullet in a heartbeat.

Before the Beginning
by Christina Rossetti

Before the beginning Thou hast foreknown the end,
Before the birthday the death-bed was seen of Thee:
Cleanse what I cannot cleanse, mend what I cannot mend.
O Lord All-Merciful, be merciful to me.

While the end is drawing near I know not mine end:
Birth I recall not, my death I cannot foresee:
O God, arise to defend, arise to befriend,
O Lord All-Merciful, be merciful to me.

Personal Postscript — I was present, of course, at my beginning, about which I remember nothing but know too much (a paradox worth future commentary), and I will be present, of course, at my ending, which I hope will be shrouded in unconsciousness because I am a fearful coward. Neither beginning nor end matter very much. The stuff in between is all that matters. Oh, I have done much that was either good, bad, or ugly. Damn, I wish I could have done better. 

Giorno Poetry Systems, The Dial-A-Poem Poets: Totally Corrupt GPS 008-009, 1976.

.

The Sky is a Gun Barrel of Loneliness

.

Death eats

you like a

soggy

cookie

in coffee

how long

will

I pretend

to care

I never

expected

or wanted

to live this

f*******

long.

This morning, instead of crawling straight from bed to desk and diving into the internet cesspool, I went for a walk. I went because I needed the exercise, because it was a nice sunny day out, because the changing leaves are super lovely right now. (Check out my Instagram story for some of what I saw along the way.) But I also wanted to listen to this episode of On Being with Gordon Hempton called Silence and the Presence of Everything. Hempton is an acoustic ecologist who has a lot of interesting things to say about silence and natural sounds.

Oh, grass wind. Oh, that is absolutely gorgeous, grass wind and pine wind. We can go back to the writings of John Muir, which — he turned me on to the fact that the tone, the pitch, of the wind is a function of the length of the needle or the blade of grass. So the shorter the needle on the pine, the higher the pitch; the longer, the lower the pitch. There are all kinds of things like that, but the two folders where I collected, I have, oh, over 100 different recordings which are actually silent from places, and you cannot discern a sense of space, but you can discern a sense of tonal quality, that there is a fundamental frequency for each habitat.

It sounds paradoxical, but I wanted to listen to this podcast in a setting with natural sounds, rather than in my car or on a plane. I had my AirPods in because they don’t block all outside sound, so I could hear the crunch of the road beneath my shoes as I walked and listened. The nature and animal sounds in the episode sounded like they were actually coming from all around me. I paused the episode for a minute or two to listen to a burbling brook I passed along the way. The whole experience was super relaxing and informative.

You can read more about Hempton and his efforts in preserving the world’s silence places on his website The Sound Tracker or in his book, One Square Inch of Silence. Outside magazine recently profiled Hempton, who, in cruel twist of fate, has suffered dramatic hearing loss in recent years.

The problem Hempton hopes to take on is gargantuan. To understand it, try a little experiment: when you reach the period at the end of this sentence, stop reading for a moment, close your eyes, and listen.

What did you hear? The churn of the refrigerator? The racing hiss of passing traffic? Even if you’re sitting outside, chances are you heard the low hum of a plane passing overhead or an 18-wheeler’s air horn shrieking down a not-so-distant highway.

If you heard only the sounds of birds and the wind in the trees, you’re one of a lucky few. But it’s likely that quiet won’t last.

I think what I like most about listening is that I disappear.

If you’d like to disappear for awhile but don’t have access to a quiet place, you should check out some of Hempton’s recordings on Spotify — I’m listening toForest Rain right now.

Or try out the Sound Escapes podcast to check out some of his best natural soundscapes. (thx Meg, who sent along a link to the On Being episode after reading yesterday’s post on noise pollution)

The World’s Quiet Places Are Disappearing In a Technological Cloud of Noise

For The Atlantic, Bianca Bosker writes about the growing problem of noise pollution (because of our love of technology and hands-off governments) and why so few people take it seriously (because of our love of technology and hands-off governments).

This short documentary, Sanctuaries of Silence, follows Hempton to some of the quietest places on Earth, including the Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park.

.

Sub – Zero Visibility

.

The city with masks

Buy one

Get one free

Works for PM2.5

It screams

.

And you put it on

You pass the sewages

You don’t notice the smell

.

The urchins

Long since removed

From your lexicon

The ghettos you cross

Such trepidation

.

Caught in parking lots

Can’t reverse

Can’t move ahead

And 4am extremities for the insomniac

Either porn

Or religious discourse

.

The districts in old town

Offer you flesh

Come hither looks

Or boast such purity

You think

She never ever touched herself

.

‘Smoke gets in your eyes’

The city and its mask

Works well for PM2.5

It taught you how to shed tears

But muffled the cries

Flashback: Bloggers, beer, bouncers & berets — Grogblogging in Sydney

Posted on January 29, 2006 by Don Arthur

[photopress:Grogblogging.jpg,full,pp_empty]
In case you missed it, bloggers from around Australia met up on Saturday night for Grogblogging III. And yes, they’re just as opinionated in person as they are on screen.
Flashman from Electron Soup was chatting with Jozef Imrich of Media Dragon when I arrived. Pretty soon we were joined by Antony Carr — guest blogger at Evil Pundit, Club Troppo‘s Nicholas Gruen and Stephen Hill, Agent FareEvader, Glen Fuller (Disambiguation Blog), Suki of Suki has an Opinion, and Tim Blair’s nemesis, Tim Lambert of Deltoid.
Catallaxy‘s Jason Soon arrived early but was turned away by the RSL’s bouncer — no photo ID, no entry. I’m told that Jason’s response was the highlight of the evening and I’m sorry I missed it. Fortunately Jason doesn’t live far away and was able to go home for his passport.
LP‘s Mark Bahnisch was there, along with Naomi. Liam Hogan from Stouch.net arrived complete with his trademark beret (but RSL rules prevented him from wearing it). Andrew Bartlett also came along and was as engaging in person as he is online.
As you’d expect there was plenty of spirited discussion. Nicholas denounced Jason’s attempt to evade metaphysics, Antony copped a half hour long pasting for his evil neoliberal opinions, C8to explained how car seat belts are a violation of personal liberty, and Mark’s cunning Socratic diatribe exposed the fact that I’m dangerously right wing.
I’ve missed a few people, so feel free to fill in the blanks in the comment box.
See over the fold for some photos.