San Francisco columnist Mark Morford now on his 6th trip to Burning Man, is “… hereby reminded of a few hundred truths, half-truths, outright lies and astonishing epiphanies offered up by the world-famous, Christian-feared, beautifully debauched, sensory overloaded, impossible-to-describe art-survivalist-camping-rave megaspectacle now underway in the remote Nevada desert.”
And that Burning Man “…reminds you that you are far from alone in your understanding that this is one hugely painful, incredibly difficult, unbearably gorgeous, terrifying, excruciatingly short life experience…”
Photo of 2006 Burning man by Rod Fairbairn-Smith
Homemade Real Cook/Real Kitchen Tips #1
A one-inch strip of wood, a bunch of nails, a hammer and—voila!—dozens of frequently-used kitchen tools hanging within easy reach. How come you never see things like this in Dwell or Fine Homebuilding?
Watch for future do-it-your self household tips.
I’m just starting to use my new Panasonic Lumix G1 camera. I have these (35 mm terminology) lenses: a 28-90mm, and a 90-400 mm (more or less). It’s a sensational new camera, half the size of my trusty Canon 20D. The long lens opens up new possibilities. For one thing I can unobtrusively photograph people. Going to take it on our trip to Europe.
My favorite flyers in these parts, the birds I most like to watch, are the turkey buzzards. They don’t have the noble heads or curved beaks of hawks, but they are unsurpassed in the air. Yesterday I went for a run to a swimming hole. As I got out of the water, a lone turkey buzzard was sailing in circles over me; riding updrafts effortlessly, no wing action at all. For some reason, he kept circling, and I kept watching. After a while I could almost feel myself flying, surfing the air currents. It was a magic 5-or-so minutes. Then another buzzard floated into the horizon, then another, until there were five of them circling. In this photo, look at the pattern of the “shoulders” and body to pure flight feathers.
-photo from https://sfcitizen.com/blog/tag/vulture/
What a beauty!
-Photo by Bill Steen. Posted August 29, 2009 on: https://www.caneloproject.blogspot.com/
The Steens, authors of The Strawbale House and the more recent—and excellent—Small Strawbale: Natural Homes, Projects & Designs, have a photo and fact-filled blog on natural building: https://www.caneloproject.blogspot.com/
-Photo of country mill in France by Bill Steen. July, 2009
“One of the oldest space-saving tricks in the interior design handbook involves making use of that leftover area underneath the stairs, the awkward extra space that does not always lend itself to cheap or easy storage solutions. These designs, however, show just how creative one can be with what seems like the hardest space to deal with in a house.”
Having a carpal tunnel wrist operation three weeks ago prompted me to get MacSpeech Dictate, as well as a good quality microphone (Sennheiser M/3 with Andrea pod from emicrophones.com) in order to type using voice instead of fingers. It works amazingly well. I’m sitting here, keyboarding this with my voice, and stretching my arms and wrists while so doing. DragonNaturallySpeaking seems to be the program of choice for windows; MacSpeech Dictate apparently uses their engine for its program. Voice recognition software has come a long ways.
A unique thing about the Purple Skunk Skate shop in San Francisco is that they have maybe 15 longboards that you can take out and test ride. If you’re into hills and carving—and in the San Francisco area—check it out. At 5820 Geary Blvd. (23d Ave or so).
San Francisco columnist Mark Morford now on his 6th trip to Burning Man, is “… hereby reminded of a few hundred truths, half-truths, outright lies and astonishing epiphanies offered up by the world-famous, Christian-feared, beautifully debauched, sensory overloaded, impossible-to-describe art-survivalist-camping-rave megaspectacle now underway in the remote Nevada desert.”
