Musings

Stomates.

I wondered if I could see them when I took this photo.

Then I wondered if I had the name right.

Turns out: probably not; and, yes.

Stomates are stoma/stomata, the wee pores that open/close and allow the plant to intake carbon dioxide (breathing, essentially, to a plant); the downside is that by opening, this facilitates transpiration (loss of water vapor analogous to sweating in critters).

In general, a plant has more stomata on the bottom-sides of leaves than the tops.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Look on the underside

My life is so boring all I can think of to discuss is my garden produce.

Mostly. So….

Dju know…that Italy’s wolf populations are s-l-o-w-l-y bouncing back? See, this has to be important to Italians because a mama wolf (no grizzly, she) was a leading player in the legend of Rome’s founding…. Turns out there are several founding legends, but the twins and the she-wolf was always the story I heard….

Posted at 10:22 PM | 1 Comment »

Or is it tomato art?

I’m not sure what’s going on. Two of my tomato plants are ho-hum. Dotty-yellowy leaves, not a tragedy just not quite right. Not sure why. I think they’re purchase-mates.

The rest are plenty green. Just taking a production break. Or the rodents are getting any of the product that’s getting the rosy tint we all hope for.

This one’s a yellow tomato. Not to be confused with the orange tomato (we ate one tonight).

Okay, it’s a green yellow tomato. But it’s still a yellow tomato.

And not a pear tomato.

I’ll stop now.

Posted at 8:34 PM | 2 Comments »

Back in the 1930s, New York separated trains from the streets along its west side by building thirteen miles of elevated tracks to reduce the accident count and improve delivery efficiency. The tracks opened in 1934, and especially moved foodstuffs.

By the 1950s, long-distance trucking was reducing the flow carried by the elevated trains. In 1980, the last train rolled; it carried frozen turkeys.

Today, the remaining elevated route is a park called High Line; the first section opened last summer.

Gotta mention the water tanks. Survey the New York skyline and you will see them, and many will look like ancient wooden technology made like huge barrels. Are they still commonly made? Installed?

Two websites: official and WikiPee.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Look up

Nothing heavy on this Satt-ah-dee night, but here’s a castle I found while perusing the landscape in Google Earth. I love that you can see the terracing below the lower castle wall. Note the defensive shape of the main wall. As always, where are the storage rooms for food, water, ammunition? That’s the problem with holing up; you need supplies….

Posted at 5:59 PM | Comments Off on Skinny terraces, and more

These are the oddest little peppers. Tasty (yet small). Good producers (but small).

I don’t live in a volcanic zone, and I’ve never spent much time near any active volcanoes, other, I think, than a week or so in Puebla in another lifetime.

I’ve been reading about western Italy’s own volcanic rim, the result of plates smashing into the southern peninsula’s Tyrrhenian coast. I can’t quite conceive of what it’s like to live in the shadow of a Big Boy (not PC. But.) like Vesuvius.

Rumble. Burp. Exhale.

Do you ignore it? Is it just a background thought like getting thirsty? Dunno.

Posted at 5:53 PM | 3 Comments »

Yeah, at least in my book, the milkweed (Asclepias spp.) is a humble plant.

Have you ever tasted milkweed milk aka sap? Don’t. Trust me.

Posted at 5:44 PM | 1 Comment »

I got such good material last week in NYC, I just had to use one more New York Snap. This is from the famous boat house in Central Park. Actually, it’s not the “boathouse” where you rent—I kid you not—”excursion crafts (row boats),” but the building where you can keep and refurbish your model sailboat—just sign up on the list on the bulletin board inside. Then, take your boat-treasure right out across the apron and set it afloat on the “Conservatory Water“—don’t get me started on that name! Anyway, this is the building’s carefully framed Certificate of Occupancy. Can you see the date in the upper right? 1954. The other thing I found interesting: down at the bottom of this clip: occupancy is limited to 5 male and 5 female. Just how do they figure that?

Some definitions:

Profane means non-sacred or outside the temple—thus, irreverent or blasphemous. The term is also used for general verbal expressions that sound or are intended to sound insulting, rude, or disrespectful.

To blaspheme is to speak irreverently about sacred or holy things (apologies for the circularity). Blasphemy has a religious component. Some countries ban blaspheming.

Obscene means outside the standards of decency and morality, and often is applied to sexual matters. What is obscene is contextual. And good luck with a universal distinction between obscenity and indecency.

Curses, strictly speaking (haha), invoke supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something. Cuss is an informal version of the word, in this context.

Swearing is to make a solemn statement; it’s also to use offensive language, often in anger.

Vulgarity is an indecorous expression specifically chosen for its unrefined character; it generally has a social and moral component, even if casually chosen.

Okay. Now, don’t confuse or blur these!

And note that they don’t all overlap. Remember this when listening to the current hubub about the Supremes’ latest decision on language and broadcasting. And remember that profanity, obscenity, etc. are contextual, both in the moment (who are the speaker and audience? what is conventional for them?) and within the social experiences of the user of the language.

So, “swear words” may be profane, obscene, vulgar, or curses, but rarely are all of them. Most common swear words in the US of A these days are obscene and vulgar. A few are profane and curses; to some, that makes them also vulgar. But, the overwhelming majority users of these words do not think of any of the common swear words as blasphemy—and may not be able to come up with any words they think of as blasphemy. See how complicated it is?

Posted at 10:22 PM | 1 Comment »

Stibnite is the mineral that contains antimony and sulfur. Usually it’s found in large masses with few free-standing crystals (so says the AMNH‘s label). This half-ton specimen is truly exceptional.

I suspect the museum paid or traded for this, which came from China. Or maybe it’s on loan. The label doesn’t say.

Posted at 7:07 PM | Comments Off on Ogle the free-standing crystals, man!

I have now read a book on TD (aka Teddy, stands for That Device, known in commercial circles as an iPad). And watched a full-length movie. I have to say, it worked well for both. I can see why Kindle fans find the surface glare distracting under some conditions. However, the clarity of the movie, wow!

Speaking of Teddy, can you read the quote? The title is Youth. This is from the Teddy Roosevelt salon, now the east-facing main entry to the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. The façade is under construction, so you enter beneath cleverly disguised scaffolding. Outside is a monumental sculpture of Teddy on a horse, with a compliant Indian standing next to them. The composition is just plain weird if you have twenty-first century values in your brain when you look at it. I realized, however, that if you’re interested in horse tack, the sculpture offers tremendous detail, with rosettes, saddle decorations, and the like. Anyway, the Teddy quote*:

I WANT TO SEE YOU GAME BOYS

I WANT TO SEE YOU BRAVE AND MANLY

AND I ALSO WANT TO SEE YOU GENTLE

AND TENDER

BE PRACTICAL AS WELL AS GENEROUS

IN YOUR IDEALS KEEP YOUR EYES

ON THE STARS AND KEEP YOUR FEET

ON THE GROUND

COURAGE HARD WORK SELF MASTERY

AND INTELLIGENT EFFORT ARE ALL

ESSENTIAL TO A SUCCESSFUL LIFE

CHARACTER IN THE LONG RUN

IS THE DECISIVE FACTOR IN THE LIFE

OF AN INDIVIDUAL AND OF NATIONS

ALIKE

Is this the first example of the phrase “game boy”? Yeah, I know I’m supposed to have a loftier take-away, but my feet were hurting when I read this the first time….

* Apparently punctuation was beyond precious. Or anti-style. Sorry, I couldn’t get the technology to display the proper indents—which are inconsistent anyway.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Game boy Teddy