The day got off to a bumpy start in that Carol, my mom, world class activist, was supposed to join a national call. Instead she was confronted with a disaster of sorts: our arthritic dog, unable to exit the house without assistance, had done her best to give warning.
Carol can't lift a forty pound dog down the front steps. If the dog tries it herself, she tumbles, though she will come in on her own steam OK.
I put the picture together in the rear view mirror. I'd been there the whole time, but upstairs snoozing. I finished the cleanup but Carol was unable to join her call, a system notorious for not being friendly to cell phones. Frustrating.
The second occurrence, less intense, reminded me I should work from the Chair of Computer Science (where I am now), not from the red office upstairs (it had been aquamarine). When I'm a floor away, I'm not alert to the dog's cues. She's not happy alone anyway.
The better solution was to have the dog join me outside on the patio.
"The patio" is a primary Place in the Pattern Language of middle class lifestyles. One engages in ritual BBQ, especially on Labor Day, and that's exactly what I did, buying some choice meats from the supermarket, open on this flag flying Monday.
Glenn came by, bringing potato salad. Life seemed less grim by late afternoon.
The radio and TV are full of stories of refugees and their battle with the prison-state system. Nations have the right to bomb, or assume they do, or civil wars break out and nations bomb themselves.
People leave their nations, their homelands, and become part of a diaspora.
How friendly is the rest of the world, to wanderers?
This continual re-shifting of populations is not about to "settle down".
People on the move is the norm. We're not livestock in feed lots. I'm not saying humans bombing themselves is normal (I see it as pathological), however fleeing from disasters not Made By Man [tm] will remain a priority and human right. If your place to live floods or burns, gets hit by a hurricane, you get to move somewhere else, perhaps to an "Old Man River" city (ala OMR).
There's some chatter on the Thirsters list. I'm looking into New York City's recent history from the point of view of a Village Voice journalist, digging into it. This was some time ago, before the 2015 electoral vista in the US.
The meeting room was quite packed at our Thirsters last meeting, with the facilitator kindly making more room at the table for me. I'd arrived rather late, coming from a Python User Group organizers' meeting at Rentrak on Alder.
NPR is previewing a large number of upcoming films. Some perked my interest. All of this before Thanksgiving. Then another Star Wars.
Carol can't lift a forty pound dog down the front steps. If the dog tries it herself, she tumbles, though she will come in on her own steam OK.
I put the picture together in the rear view mirror. I'd been there the whole time, but upstairs snoozing. I finished the cleanup but Carol was unable to join her call, a system notorious for not being friendly to cell phones. Frustrating.
The second occurrence, less intense, reminded me I should work from the Chair of Computer Science (where I am now), not from the red office upstairs (it had been aquamarine). When I'm a floor away, I'm not alert to the dog's cues. She's not happy alone anyway.
The better solution was to have the dog join me outside on the patio.
"The patio" is a primary Place in the Pattern Language of middle class lifestyles. One engages in ritual BBQ, especially on Labor Day, and that's exactly what I did, buying some choice meats from the supermarket, open on this flag flying Monday.
Glenn came by, bringing potato salad. Life seemed less grim by late afternoon.
The radio and TV are full of stories of refugees and their battle with the prison-state system. Nations have the right to bomb, or assume they do, or civil wars break out and nations bomb themselves.
People leave their nations, their homelands, and become part of a diaspora.
How friendly is the rest of the world, to wanderers?
This continual re-shifting of populations is not about to "settle down".
People on the move is the norm. We're not livestock in feed lots. I'm not saying humans bombing themselves is normal (I see it as pathological), however fleeing from disasters not Made By Man [tm] will remain a priority and human right. If your place to live floods or burns, gets hit by a hurricane, you get to move somewhere else, perhaps to an "Old Man River" city (ala OMR).
There's some chatter on the Thirsters list. I'm looking into New York City's recent history from the point of view of a Village Voice journalist, digging into it. This was some time ago, before the 2015 electoral vista in the US.
The meeting room was quite packed at our Thirsters last meeting, with the facilitator kindly making more room at the table for me. I'd arrived rather late, coming from a Python User Group organizers' meeting at Rentrak on Alder.
NPR is previewing a large number of upcoming films. Some perked my interest. All of this before Thanksgiving. Then another Star Wars.
