6.20.2025 – summer world bright fresh

summer world bright fresh
just far enough away seem
dreamy, reposeful

Sun on the back parking lot on Hilton Head Island – Longest day of the year at 7AM

Saturday morning was come, and all the summer world was bright and fresh, and brimming with life. There was a song in every heart; and if the heart was young the music issued at the lips. There was cheer in every face and a spring in every step. The locust trees were in bloom and the fragrance of the blossoms filled the air. Cardiff Hill, beyond the village and above it, was green with vegetation, and it lay just far enough away to seem a Delectable Land, dreamy, reposeful, and inviting.

From Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.

The prelude to Tom Sawyer whitewashing the back fence.

After painting this word picture and opening the door to an early summer day, which I have used for the first day of summer, the longest day of the year, Mr. Twain slams the door shut with the words, “Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden.“

I have to take my hat off to Mr. Twain and stand in awe of the simple combination of simple words that takes us to a mountain top.

All the summer world was bright and fresh, and brimming with life.

There was a song in every heart; and if the heart was young the music issued at the lips.

There was cheer in every face and a spring in every step.

… just far enough away to seem a Delectable Land, dreamy, reposeful, and inviting.

Then with the same use of simple words, Mr. Twain shoves us off the mountain.

… all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit.

Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high.

Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden.

I can see it.

I can feel it.

I can hear it in my soul.

Screen shot of my iPhone Compass – at 7am – Sun was at 61 degrees ENE – notice its already 79 and I am 21 feet above sea level … which was off by 15 feet.

6.19.2025 – one of those which sells

one of those which sells
you the disease in order
to sell you the cure

Adapted from the book review, The Genius Myth by Helen Lewis review – bright wrong things by Houman Barekat where Mr. Barekat writes:

The Genius Myth is one of those popular nonfiction books in which an author sells you the disease in order to sell you the cure. As is customary in this genre, it comes with its own bespoke jargon: Lewis has coined a term – “the deficit model of genius” – to denote the prevalence of certain handicaps or character flaws among extremely talented scientists and artists. A banal truism is thus passed off as sociological insight.

My wife and I still watch the network evening news.

We go back and forth between networks but at 6:30 p.m. our kids know we will have the TV on to learn about the day.

If you watch these programs, you must have noticed that almost everyday there is a new commercial for a new drug with some goofy name like Latuda, Xeljanz, Humira or Abilify.

These commercials have a lot in common.

One, the name is outrageous.

Tofacitinib?

I often say I would have enjoyed being in the board room where that name was picked out and that I would hate to see what names were that got rejected.

Two, most likely you have never heard of the disease these drugs treat.

Tofacitinib is for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, polyarticular course juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and ulcerative colitis.

Three, the side effects sound worse than the disease.

The side effects are so bad that they are read a quiet voice and double the speed of the normal speech.

When I read the phrase sells you the disease in order to sell you the cure I knew just what Mr. Barekat meant.

Until you heard about the possible symptoms, you didn’t have the symptoms.

Once you had the symptoms, the idea of the drug seemed to be a good idea, regardless of the side effects.

These thoughts stayed with me through my morning drive to work.

And it hit me.

It came to me that this explains the talking points of the current administration.

Did we need DOGE layoffs?

Did we need ICE raids?

Did we need to nuke Iran?

This current administration had to sell the disease.

Maybe a disease we didn’t even know about.

To sell us the cure.

And they found a lot of buyers.

Regardless of the side effects.

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6.18.2025 – burning with a hard

burning with a hard,
gemlike flame – it’s something they
learn in school, I think

First published on June 18th, 1938, in the New Yorker Magazine.

The drawing was republished in one of the editions of Thurber’s book, Men Women and Dogs with the caption:

It’s a strange mood she’s in, kind of a cross between Baby Doll and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

No explanation for the change but it would be difficult to get into a haiku.

According to Wikipedia: Baby Doll is a 1956 American black comedy film directed by Elia Kazan and starring Carroll Baker, Karl Malden and Eli Wallach. It was produced by Kazan and Tennessee Williams, and adapted by Williams from two of his own one-act plays: 27 Wagons Full of Cotton and The Unsatisfactory Supper. The plot focuses on a feud between two rival cotton gin owners in rural Mississippi.

Filmed in Mississippi in late 1955, Baby Doll was released in December 1956. It provoked significant controversy, mostly because of its implied sexual themes, and the National Legion of Decency condemned the film.

WOW!

Kind of a cross between Baby Doll and Elizabeth Barrett Browning or burning with a hard, gemlike flame that might be something learned in school.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

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6.17.2025 – manipulating

manipulating
parameters fine-tuning
the algorithm

Based on the passage:

Needlework and computer coding might seem to be incongruous pursuits, but for the Dutch artist Anna Lucia Goense, the combination has provided infinite creative possibilities.

“If you look at cross-stitching or working with a loom or even knitting patterns, they are always binary systems on grids,” said Ms. Goense, 33, who is known professionally as Anna Lucia. Her focus is generative art, a process that involves designing systems, manipulating parameters and fine-tuning algorithms to create artworks that can range from browser-based animations to textiles such as quilts and embroidered fabrics.

In the article: What Do Computer Code and Needlework Have in Common? By Libby Banks (Reporting from Berlin!).

Along with the concept itself of art from computer code, I had to admire the role of syllables in that sentence:

… generative art, a process that involves designing systems, manipulating parameters and fine-tuning algorithms to create artworks that can range from browser-based animations to textiles such as quilts and embroidered fabrics.

6.16.2025 – facing too much or …

facing too much or …
facing too little water
or … or … facing both

Based on the passage:

The Nasa researchers produced the updated statistics at the request of the Oxford-based research organisation Global Water Intelligence, whose head, Christopher Gasson, said water companies were in the firing line of climate change – facing too much water or too little water – or both.

He said most water companies were completely unprepared to cope with the changes under way. “This is extremely scary,” he said.

In the article, Nasa data reveals dramatic rise in intensity of weather events by Roger Harrabin