Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Codex Alera, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jim Butcher, measurements, random facts on April 25, 2021| Leave a Comment »
On the off-chance that you find yourself reading a book (like Tolkien) and are stumped by some of the more archaic measurements, this list may be of some use:
Bonus marginally-related factoid, for Jim Butcher fans:
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, advice, Motivation, quotes on April 24, 2021| 1 Comment »
I ran across this bit of text and don’t remember its origins. I *think* I wrote it as a summary after watching one of Carol Dweck’s TED talks on learning and the growth mindset, but I can’t be sure (apologies if I missed the author). Still seems like good advice.
A motivation problem is solved by thinking (convincing yourself that something is important). A follow-through problem is solved by not thinking (don’t deliberate, just act).
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Posted in Food and..., Likes, Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Affinity Photo, home, learning@lunch, unexpected visitors on April 23, 2021| Leave a Comment »
This morning, we discovered an army of teeny tiny ants making a foray under the mudroom door, and thus commenced a battle for the ages!
/ahem
They are winning.*
I took a break from the fun that is that to learn another way to make a painted sketch in Affinity Photo. It’s a good technique but my mouse-based brushwork could use a bit of practice:)
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* No worries, I am consoling myself with brownies.
Posted in Favorites, Holidays, Likes, Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, #EarthDay, Ann Druyan, because what are the options?, carl sagan, climate change, hope, innovation, optimism, we are legion on April 22, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Today is Earth Day. Happy 4.543 billionth birthday, Earth! Here’s hoping for many more.
Much of my day job is based in current news and events, which means I spend a good part of most days knee-deep in the internet. Yeah, it can be exactly as fun as it sounds. That said, I’m not looking for the bad stuff, or not only the bad stuff.
I’m looking for the uplifting, the hopeful, the rays of light. For a path to something better. So for every article I read telling me that in recent years, there are more Starbucks locations in California than overwintering monarch butterflies, there are pieces on what’s good, like these:
Let These Stunning Photos of a Year of Virtual Youth Climate Activism Inspire You
Halifax-based developer of CO2-injected concrete wins multimillion-dollar prize
It’s hard to miss the evidence of change, but the good news is that we’re not just discussing it, we’re beginning to take concrete action.
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You already know that doing big things is hard. Like ”saving the planet.” Human beings are small, and I suspect that at the root, most of us are plagued by the niggling feeling that we are just bit players on an unimaginably vast stage. That at some fundamental level our actions don’t matter much at all in the bigger picture. Not really.
But we’re wrong. And the world is made up of smaller pictures.
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It’s the question every hero is asked: The future is uncertain. The path is unknown. What are you going to do about it?
What you can, wherever you can. As a minor example, I spent time today researching ways to turn our absolutely useless lawn space into a pollinator garden.
Of course, a lot of what needs to happen on climate change isn’t just about individual action. Deciding not to eat meat on Tuesdays matters, but standards and infrastructure for energy, transportation, agriculture and construction, to name a few sectors, will need to modernize too.
It means working together on new ideas, new innovations, and new legislation. More and better targets, the kind that make a positive difference in people’s lives.*
Because humans are a social species. There is never just one, and when it comes to saving our home that’s a challenge but also a benefit. Sea shanties swept the globe in a matter of weeks. Why not this?
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It sounds big, and it is, but we do big things all the time, often by accident.** It’s just time to do this particular big thing on purpose. Here’s the mantra I try to stick with: Pick a goal. Break it down. Start today.
We are never just one. None of us are. We are legion. And we got ourselves into this mess. We can get ourselves out.
Starting today.
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* Like clean air and water. And I really enjoy the fact that one day, for example, I’ll be able to put my seat belt on, drive an electric car down well-maintained roads, sit in a non-smoking section at a restaurant, and eat food that won’t kill me. And that my nephews don’t spend their summers swimming in a creek laced with PCBs (like we did). Crazy, I know!
** I mean, who sets out to upend civilization? They just want to see what happens if they burn that dirty rock or invent the light bulb or the assembly line or freaking Facebook. There is no button a curious monkey will not poke. Wouldn’t it be nice if we can make it work for us for a change?
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“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it, everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives… The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand… To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”
— Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, busy, cat on April 21, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, quotes, Walt Whitman on April 20, 2021| Leave a Comment »
“Those who love each other shall become invincible.”
— Walt Whitman
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, embeds, goofy fun, technical issues, The Nekomonger Rules All! on April 19, 2021| Leave a Comment »
I want to test an embedded table, so I thought I would give you all a peek at the sign-in sheet from our latest Home Owner’s Association meeting.
What’s that, you say I am not actually in an HOA and these people can’t exist anyway?
Au contraire, mes amis!
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, books, Fiction, magic, reading on April 18, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Does this happen to you? Sometimes I read a book and it’s bad. Maybe I learn a few things about what not to do, but the characters are too stupid to live or the author wants me to root for an ass, the story ends too early or too late, or some essential plot point is broken. This drives me a little bit nuts.
I finish the book and am left not with the happy satisfying end of story feeling, but with bad book juju. Is that a thing? It should be.
I’m left a little cranky, and nothing is as it should be.
My drink is too hot or too cold. Lunch tastes weird. My clothes fit funny. Even cookies don’t have their usual delicious snap.
Until I find a new book, a good book, and all is right again:)
Just me?*
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* Of course it’s not just me:) This is why authors work so hard to provide a satisfying reader experience. This is also why I reread books I know I love.
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, history, hope, music on April 17, 2021| Leave a Comment »
My father started a friends and family email chain about An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, a window on a history that is both important and difficult. For a bit of balance, here are indigenous students doing something that is both important and uplifting.
Here’s to survival, and to hope.
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, backwards, dragons, epiphany, mostly work, still fun, upside-down on April 16, 2021| 1 Comment »
You know how one day you can look up and something that made sense yesterday no longer does? Or a collection of disparate facts coalesces into a unitary whole? Or perhaps you walk into a room that has looked essentially the same for years and suddenly, something pops out at you?
That happened to me this morning.
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This is my dragon:
He is wood and paint and gilt animated by magic. I found him years ago, on Bali, brought him home in a shipping container via the Port of Boston, and we have been together ever since.
He has yet to tell me his given name.
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Originally designed to hang from a ceiling hook, for years he has made a comfortable aerie at the top of my largest bookcase. He presides over a stack of treasure that includes copies of The Expanse, Butcher’s Codex Alera, a first edition of Following the Equator by Mark Twain, a set of Lord of the Rings letter openers, one of many copies of Lord of the Rings, a hand-woven coin purse from Peru, a black cat carved in peat, a sand dollar that reminds me of my grandfather, a set of magnetic train cars, and other treasures.
He looked like this:
I walked into the room and looked up, seeing the usual painted wood and wings. The epiphany occurred when I realized that I’d spent the past who knows how many years staring at the blank underside of the dragon’s wings.
Why not flip them around?
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It only took two minutes to rearrange my view on dragons.
Today, I took that idea and upended a work-related problem I’m tackling. What, I wondered, if I flipped the question on its axis and came at it from another angle?
And suddenly a whole new path appeared.
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Next time I’m stuck on a problem in work or writing, I’ll try turning it upside down and/or backwards.*
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* Have I mentioned that I used to write that way? I began my academic career (a.k.a. kindergarten) an ambidextrous upside-down and backwards adventurer. No longer, but it’s still fun to remember.
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