2011.07.17 19:00 - Where Angels Fear to Tread

The Guardian for this meeting was Calvino Rabeni. The lack of comments is by Calvino Rabeni.

Calvino Rabeni waves
iwandertoo Resident: waves
Calvino Rabeni: Hello MaryM
MaryMagdeleine Shilling waves at Susan
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: hi Cal
iwandertoo Resident: waves
Calvino Rabeni: Hi, what's up ?
iwandertoo Resident: exhausted
iwandertoo Resident: happy to be here...little bit of peace
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Taking a break from work. In between lesson plans
Calvino Rabeni: Greetings Zaldaan
iwandertoo Resident: what do you teach?
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Writing and math; I've finished grading diagnostic tests for the writing and a lesson plan, need a break to switch gears to the math
iwandertoo Resident: "switching gears"
iwandertoo Resident: how different are they for you?
Calvino Rabeni: Transitions can help the mind switch
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Not very, as I'm both a humanities and a math type, but yeah, need the trasition
--BELL--

Zaldaan Sirnah: cALVINO :)
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Hi Zal
Zaldaan Sirnah: HI
Zaldaan Sirnah: hi
Calvino Rabeni: What flavor math will it be?
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: oh, it's pre-algebra, with an emphasis on getting people to be able to use math practically. We spent the first week on number sense and rounding.
iwandertoo Resident: that's about my level
Calvino Rabeni: I think estimating is an interesting informal topic
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: We need to do it
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: In order to know if we're right when using a calculator, when we go grocery shopping, just to understand measurementns and orders of magnitudes
Calvino Rabeni: Does that include things like 50% more and 33% less?
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Yes, definitely, Cal
Zaldaan Sirnah: or the physicist who held up torn fragments of paper in his hand as thr group of physicists watched the nuclear bomb detonate, and from the distance at which the paper landed he estimated the strength of the blast
Calvino Rabeni: Don't try that one at home
Zaldaan Sirnah: or when you estimate the number of seats in an area and then estimate the amount in an entire auditorium
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Nice example, Zal
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Cal, lol
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, estimating the size of a crowd is a good one
Zaldaan Sirnah: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwmHoWfwHiw
Calvino Rabeni: What a boon to DIY
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: DIY?
Calvino Rabeni: Do It Yourself
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: oh, of course
Calvino Rabeni: I guess that includes the makers and the hackers
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: heh, reminds me of the tenager who built a nuclear reactor for his science project.
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Using ordinary stuff found around the house or in landfills
Calvino Rabeni: There was a book on that guy
Calvino Rabeni: I think I read it some time I was traveling ... don't own it .. or maybe it was a long magazine article
Calvino Rabeni: He collected LOTS of those radioactive parts of smoke detectors, I think
Calvino Rabeni: And became pretty unpopular with the feds
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: yeah, he realized he had a problem when radiation levels were skyroceting
Calvino Rabeni: yeah
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: well, he put the reactor in the trunk of his car, the light was out and he was stopped by the cops who asked him what was in the truck
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: He said, 'a nuclear reactor.' They heard 'bomb,' and freaked
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: So the feds weere all over him
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Hi Paradise
Calvino Rabeni: Sounds like you read it too
--BELL--

Calvino Rabeni: Hello Para :)
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: But he broke no laws; it isn't illegal to have your own nuclear reactor.
iwandertoo Resident: waves
Paradise Tennant: smiles hiya cal susan mary zaldaan :)
Calvino Rabeni: Some things are hard to search for on the web ... famous names in DIY (hall of fame) for example
Calvino Rabeni: But that guy ought to have been included
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Well, it's all in the keywords. Yeah, he should have been. lol
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: One way to get off the grid, I suppose. lol
Calvino Rabeni: There was a Gurdjieff story about how he opened a shop that would repair ANYTHING.
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Even a broken heart?
Calvino Rabeni: Well .. that wasn't in the list of examples
Calvino Rabeni: :)
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: heh, I'm always doing that
Calvino Rabeni: I knew a guy who decided to emulate that story
Calvino Rabeni: he had a universal repair service
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: I was standing in line one time in the Bay Area, and a street performer said he'd act out any topic. So I shouted out "the dialectical manifestation of the Absolute Spirit in History". He decided on the midget on a car instead. lol
Calvino Rabeni: :)
Calvino Rabeni: That's somewhat pythonesque
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: He said it was easier. lol
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Yes, I guess it was; but I hadn't watched Monty Python when I did that.
Calvino Rabeni: I wonder what you'd have gotten if you requested "Argument"
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Well, he could emulate two people arguing, I would guess
Calvino Rabeni: I think you're right
Calvino Rabeni: A universal dramatist
Calvino Rabeni: There are a lot of subspecialties .. I came across a guy who specialized in Insults
Calvino Rabeni: I think his name was Cedric the Insulter
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Yo sure it wasn't Don Rickles?
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, he was member of a British line or guild or something
--BELL--

MaryMagdeleine Shilling: The actors there are in guilds that date back to at least Shakespeare's time. And they're very clannish
Calvino Rabeni: Yes quite ... a lot of tradecraft to protect
Calvino Rabeni: Another interesting past subculture would be the Fools Guilds in Europe
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: That's the one that all the Heads of State belong to, right?
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: No, wait, that's the Idiot's Guild.
Calvino Rabeni: No
Calvino Rabeni: They give real Idiots a bad name
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: yes, they do
Calvino Rabeni: "Accordingly, every fools' guild has carnival masks which are handed down from generation to generation. The masks, also known as "larven" or "schemmen", are usually intricately carved from wood.The roots of the Swabian-Alemannic carnival go as far back as the Middle Ages."
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Interesting. So are they the heirs to the Court Jesters?
Calvino Rabeni: Yes
Calvino Rabeni: They are the ones who were allowed to speak Truth
Calvino Rabeni: (and keep their heads)
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: yes, something that we need today too.
Calvino Rabeni: They could challenge any orthodoxy
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: I suppose we have it with the Colman Report.
Calvino Rabeni: Run down the street denying the existence of God
Calvino Rabeni: Hm, yes perhaps Colbert (I think you mean?) is an equivalent
Paradise Tennant: truth is essential to the well being of the whole and ultimately .. we feel it on every level I think there is a reasonance ..
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: yeah, Colbert
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: I think I need to make dinner soon. lol
Paradise Tennant: smiles
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: In fact, I better do that
Calvino Rabeni: Bon Apetit, MaryMag
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Thanks for helping me relax between tasks
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: ty, Cal
Calvino Rabeni: YW :)
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: tc Susan, Paradise, Zal
Paradise Tennant: smiels enjoy your evening mary :)
iwandertoo Resident: waves
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: oh, I will; i enjoy eating, doing lesson plans and watching movies; and that's my evening in a nutshell
MaryMagdeleine Shilling waves at Susan
iwandertoo Resident: waves
Calvino Rabeni: Hmm Paradise .. an interesting thought
Paradise Tennant: maybe truth was never designed to be spoken of in words ..maybe it is more .. readily expressed in notes :)
Paradise Tennant: pr pictures
Calvino Rabeni: Art
Paradise Tennant: yes art as truth :)
Calvino Rabeni: Good evening, Cinda :)
Lucinda Lavender: good evening every one:)
Lucinda Lavender: nice to see you all:)
--BELL--

Zaldaan Sirnah: nice to breathe you
Lucinda Lavender: sorry to arrive so late but I have been learning how to post and ad on craigslist:)
Paradise Tennant: smiles hiya lucinda gtsy :)) as always :)
iwandertoo Resident: waves
Lucinda Lavender: thanks yes!!
Lucinda Lavender: so sorry to be late:)
Calvino Rabeni: How is craigslist? I heard it was looking good compared to EBay
Lucinda Lavender: ah...not sure really but my 50's GE double oven is up there now:)
Lucinda Lavender: for free:)
Paradise Tennant: smiles they made great appliances in the 50s and the 40s :)
Calvino Rabeni: I had one from that era ... it had rows of pushbuttons with colored lights inside and rounded shoulders
Paradise Tennant: yes liked the rounded ness of them more friendly somehow :)
Lucinda Lavender: yes...quite something...
Calvino Rabeni: It was high modernism
Calvino Rabeni: they were streamlined like jets
iwandertoo Resident: waves quietly
Calvino Rabeni: TC Susan
Lucinda Lavender: what sorts of topics have you had tonight?
Calvino Rabeni: Fools Guilds, and their function in the truth ecology
Calvino Rabeni: Mathematics lessons
Lucinda Lavender: never heard of a fools guild...
Lucinda Lavender: or truth ecology
Calvino Rabeni: I haven't found a good reference yet .. here's one with hints
Calvino Rabeni: http://www.canberra.diplo.de/Vertretung/canberra/en/06/Feste__Traditionen__Lebenstil/seite__crazy__days__witches__demons.html
Calvino Rabeni: I was in a cafe and there was a Poet I got talking to about it ..
Calvino Rabeni: We started a little speculation, maybe the Colbert Report is a current equivalent
Calvino Rabeni: Actor's guilds often specialized and were quite clannish
Calvino Rabeni: The interesting thing is the dream-like social function they have
Lucinda Lavender: yes..very!
Calvino Rabeni: bringing things to the public awareness, from somewhere over the edge
Calvino Rabeni: Sometimes standup comics do that
Lucinda Lavender: have heard of such
Calvino Rabeni: I know of a theater company that acts out stories provided by the audience ... actually I think they called it "confessions"
Calvino Rabeni: that is, stories from the edge
Calvino Rabeni: Good evening Roger
Paradise Tennant: hiya roger :)
Roger Ormenthal: Hi everyone. I'm just a little late today.
Calvino Rabeni: Oh and another topic from earlier was Do-It-Yourself
Lucinda Lavender: hi roger
Calvino Rabeni: The "out there" example was some kid who built a nuciear reactor
Calvino Rabeni: but I think, for city people, making soap, wine, cheese, raising chickens qualifies as useful but unpopular skills
--BELL--

Lucinda Lavender: :)
Paradise Tennant: hmm only the chickens :)
Paradise Tennant: soap wine and cheese are all good :)
Calvino Rabeni: Distilling has never had a good climate in the USA, but I guess it does in other places
Calvino Rabeni: There are 35 or so edible vegetable species growing nearby in an urban pocket farm
Lucinda Lavender: yes...
Calvino Rabeni: I liked other countries where there were carts that came down the streets, bringing the stores to you
Calvino Rabeni: vegetables, hardware, specialty food, etc.
Calvino Rabeni: it may come to that if people give up their automobiles as we move out of a cheap-oil technology period
Calvino Rabeni: Ah yes today I did see something unusual
Lucinda Lavender: what was that?
Calvino Rabeni: http://www.google.com/search?q=pileated+woodpecker
Calvino Rabeni: It was on the utility pole in the front of the house
Lucinda Lavender: nice
Calvino Rabeni: those are pretty big, about a 30 inch wingspan
Calvino Rabeni: there were two of them
Lucinda Lavender: wow!
Lucinda Lavender: good question Zaldaan
Zaldaan Sirnah wonders about Lucinda
Lucinda Lavender: Luci wonders about what what you are wondering...
Calvino Rabeni wonders about Zaldan wondering about Lucinda
Zaldaan Sirnah stops wondering and wonders what happens to the chain
Lucinda Lavender: think it is just floating somewhere
Zaldaan Sirnah: what isn't?
Lucinda Lavender: I think I am trying to do more than one thing at once...view craigslist discuss a dream and ponder the conversation here
Lucinda Lavender: I may be stretched methinks
Calvino Rabeni: http://www.buckeyeappliance.com/photos/stoves/inShowroom/1046.jpg
Lucinda Lavender: now that is a beautiful stove
Paradise Tennant: that is beautiful :)
Calvino Rabeni: :)
Calvino Rabeni: Here's another cutie
Calvino Rabeni: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3495/3262678630_116c2b01c1.jpg
Zaldaan Sirnah: our current stove doesn't go low enough to just keep water right below/at boiling
Lucinda Lavender: wow..that was cute too Cal...too hot hthen Zaldaan?
Zaldaan Sirnah: yeah.. boils out after not too long
Paradise Tennant: lol
Zaldaan Sirnah: Plated woodpecker
Calvino Rabeni wonders if you ever dream of a haunted storeroom, Cinda
Lucinda Lavender: no...not that I know of...
Lucinda Lavender: keep losing tract of the recent dreams...
Zaldaan Sirnah: woodpeckers eat the parasite worms in the trees don't they?
Lucinda Lavender: but dreaming for sure
Calvino Rabeni: Yes they are good for the bug control
Zaldaan Sirnah: invasive surgery
--BELL--

Lucinda Lavender: I feel the richness of birds and stoves and dreams...
Calvino Rabeni: Nice of you to point that out :)
Lucinda Lavender: animal, mineral but no vegetable...
Lucinda Lavender: unless dreams are vegetable
Calvino Rabeni: The stove was too hot; the woodpecker ate but was not eaten;
Calvino Rabeni: O we did have the vegetable garden too
Lucinda Lavender: ah good
Paradise Tennant: can smell the rosemary cooking in the dog's soup :) that is vegetable
Calvino Rabeni: Hmm, to live a Dog's Life
Lucinda Lavender: the gog's soup?
Lucinda Lavender: dog's?
Paradise Tennant: he had a nice day we went to the beach .. and he swam .. surfed big waves dug .. barked at stone plopping fetched a stick out of the water a gazillion times
Lucinda Lavender: nice
Paradise Tennant: it was doggie paradise :)
Lucinda Lavender: have not heard of dog soup...but it sounds interesting especially with rosemary
Calvino Rabeni: Sort of like I fetched a web page out of the waters of the internet a gazllion times.. didn't seem to get tired of it .. but a more intelligent being observing it might find it sort of clever
Paradise Tennant: rosemary makes everything good :)
Lucinda Lavender: yes...
Calvino Rabeni: I need to row my boat gently down the stream
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Calvino Rabeni: good to see you all
Paradise Tennant: good nite cal :)
Paradise Tennant: thank you :)
Calvino Rabeni: take care
Lucinda Lavender: nite cal
Lucinda Lavender: Hi Santoshima
Paradise Tennant: hmm I should do the same thing :) I am afraid .. late here :)
Santoshima Resident: sorry, ithought the meeting was over already
Santoshima Resident: came to sit
Lucinda Lavender: bye Paradise
Lucinda Lavender: we are still here some of us
Lucinda Lavender: always nice to sit
Paradise Tennant: smiles waves good nite all ;)
Santoshima Resident: yes, but not ok to bump in like this
Santoshima Resident: good night
Lucinda Lavender: it is ok:)
Lucinda Lavender: things are transitioning I think
Santoshima Resident: thanks
--BELL--

Roger Ormenthal: By all - must go. Goodnight.
Lucinda Lavender: Bye Roger...
Lucinda Lavender: hope the evening is nice for you too
Santoshima Resident: good night lucinda
Lucinda Lavender: I have to sort through the many people interested in the stove!
Lucinda Lavender: craigslist:)
Lucinda Lavender: what a surprise...
Lucinda Lavender: may you all have sweet dreams...
Santoshima Resident: & you