mermaidcamp

mermaidcamp

Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water

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Red Rover with Big Brother

June 12, 2013 — 1 Comment

post industrial reflection

post industrial reflection

We are pretending that the data analysts of the world are geeks and, therefore, benign. How silly can we be? My own father jumped from slide rule to mainframe computer just to get bigger data. The rest of his life was consumed by the opportunity to get more and bigger data. He taught petroleum engineering students how to analyze big data to manage oil fields. He was recruited by IBM in the late 1950’s to be a believer.  Data was the future and the future was bigger data.

My parents and all their petroleum friends around the world distinguished themselves by the mass quantities of alcohol they consumed. They liked Ike, war, cars, and cocktails. I never saw them as particularly in touch with reality. They were, in their day, the big science data mangers trusted to produce energy for the planet. They were distinctly reckless, especially my father.  He adored fracking and exploding stuff of all kinds.  In his 60’s he became a reckless hot air balloonist, risking the lives of many to get his kicks.  I am not saying they were evil..not at all. They were lots of fun, and popular for their party antics.  What I am saying is that humans handle the data, and I suspect each person attracted to this kind of power (of geekiness and arcane knowledge) of wanting to pervert the universe.  I see the greatest generation as having used science to do much damage.  I think the Boomers will not be remembered so well in data history either.  Control of politics and data has turned into a giant Red Rover dare.  Protecting all the various digital borders is now impossible, so cyberinfo is a volatile hacking paradise.

Now there is so much data nobody has any idea how to manage it, let alone isolate the people ethical enough to handle it.  This whole idea and verbiage of leak is indicative of the problem.  We now have such a complex web of data moving non stop that leaks of all kinds are inevitable.  People will now devote their lives and fortunes to creating and finding leaks of important data.  The data came from Pandora’s box, but it is much too big to be contained now.  We let it all out, then we dare Big Brother to come over.  I witnessed first hand the people who conquered the oil fields with data and science.  They suffered from intense ignorance.  We do too.  It is not the tool, but the user,who makes the decisions, who has the power to change the outcome. I am not so worried about NSA wasting time analyzing my data as I am about all misdirected data studies everywhere. This data smuggling and whistle blowing has only just begun, gentle reader.  We have a tangled web of growing data to interpret, store and hide.

What is a Milagro?

June 10, 2013 — 2 Comments

Milagro means miracle, and it also means a specific symbol used to make an offering.  Offerings have meaning in the context in which they were made.  Churches around the world have tokens left in hope, remembrance, or gratitude.  In Ted DeGrazia’s Virgin of Guadalupe chapel people have left these symbols for many years.  The oldest chapel I have seen like this has many offerings from sailors that include hats.  It is in Cap D’Antibes, France.  The chapel of Notre Dame de Garoupe is enchanting as well as historic. In Tucson we also have shrines known as El Tiradito and the Virgin shrine at San Javier del Bac Mission:

An offering can be made in nature, in a chapel, or in a garden.  Altars exist in every form.  The meaning is in the heart of the person making the offering. Milagros express hope, faith, and dedication. They tell the history of people’s aspirations, tragedies, and triumphs. The spirit of the place is reflected in the objects left on the altar.  The altar assumes a collective consciousness by making space for all the offerings and their symbolic powers.  It becomes an archive of religion.

Coniunctio Oppositorum

June 7, 2013 — 3 Comments

The reunification of opposites in alchemy is called Coniunctio Oppositorum. The material is separated in the distillation process.  In the collective consciousness imagery and music exist as powerful actors.  The opposites can be soul and spirit, Republican and Democrat, or just black and white.  Our individual dreams and psyches are influenced by all the opposites in the universe.  It is an act of magic to distill your thoughts and ethical boundaries. It is an act of wisdom to recognize that we are each as magical as the other.

Esther Williams, Feminist

June 7, 2013 — 5 Comments

This woman not only put the roof over the swimming pool, she branded swimming as a sport.  She stood for healthy, powerful female business ethics.  She had some deep understanding of the flow of commerce.  She is my idol.  Thanks, Esther, for all that you did.

Ladders in Dreams

June 6, 2013 — 7 Comments

I have had dreams lately in which ladders and levels have been featured heavily. I have climbed them, but I watch others doing it and taking big risks in most cases.  There is an MC Escher kind of set with stairs/ladders/ split levels leading in all directions.  There is a need to escape the mesh of levels in order to find daylight or reality or some better circumstance.  The dreams have a matter of fact nature, nothing scary or odd. There are different sets and casts of characters, all featuring ladder and or stair climbing.  In the dreams ladders become stairs and vice versa.

Once I noticed the dreams with steps leading up as a theme I brought this into my daytime reality to see where and when I use proverbial ladders.  I do not and did not climb any corporate ladder.  I just had no interest. I own a home with a second floor, where my yoga room and bedroom are private from the rest of the world.  Only two people regularly go upstairs. We need very big ladders to paint or repair our ceiling because of an atrium entry/living room.  I have had repairs done lately and have been contemplating other upgrades to my home that all require ladders.  I went to study soul and spirit and found that spirit is basically always upwardly mobile.  Soul lives in this horizontal earthy plane, while spirit soars or climbs the stairway to heaven. With all this in mind I believe the ladders are an emblem of both care of my path, and a Jack in the Beanstalk style note to self.  Knowing when where and why to go up a ladder is important information.

Climbing for climbing sake has not been my style in this life.  Serving as I go along is my modus operandi.  There are many paths to nowhere and stairways to nothing.  This is only part of the risk one takes when deciding to climb or not to climb.  Often I notice in these dream characters, who do not remind me of real people, the mindless will to climb is related to envy and pity.  They solicit pity for working so hard, taking abuse along the way, then alternately solicit envy for the position they have won.  I know folks who do this in real life without noticing that the ladder is two dimensional. I have unlocked no big secret here, gentle reader.  Working with dreams is a technique anyone can use.  Keeping a diary and writing the details will lead to more insight.  There is no need to analyze deeply or search for big meaning.  Dreams speak softly in very faint language.  They sink into the consciousness over time.

Triberr Makes a Difference

June 6, 2013 — 6 Comments

reflection

reflection

There are few glitches in the Triberr system that bother me. I sometimes fail to notice a problem until after it has been solved. That is why I joined Triber prime. I think the platform that synchronizes posting of blogs for tribal members is the best format/platform/literary soirée for me. Last week something went wrong with my own feed to the system, which was remedied when I noticed my posts had not arrived into he feed process. Members have the option of ignoring the posts, or even of muting all posts if there is no compatibility with the author.  I have become aware of many  bloggers through Triberr.  The fun of international sharing of blogs is a blast for me on a social, intellectual, and experimental basis.  I enjoy sharing what my tribe members have to say.  I learn new things daily from my tribe.

When Triberr is down I  have a much smaller response to my posts.  The random tweeting by my tribal brothers and sisters takes my work to readers I would not otherwise reach.  I think the $10  a month I pay to use all the Prime services is one of the best investments I can make.  It opens doors and shows me new corners of the world. I do feel the difference that the syndication through Triberr has made to my blogging and I am grateful to have the use of such a fine technology. I study my ancestors and wonder how they might have used a system like Triberr to teach and or convince.

Slow Food in Tucson

June 5, 2013 — 6 Comments

The Slow Food movement is a worldwide pushback to fast food.  We all know, more or less, what is intended by the phrase fast food, but only after some examination does the core meaning of Slow Food emerge.  As a food hippie from the 1960’s when health food and coops and gardening were a reaction to the available sources and quality of nutrition, I do not need coaching in this matter.  In fact, I eat more convenience foods now than ever because I purchase a bit of fake meat from time to time. I am sometimes now a lazy food hippie at Trader Joe’s frozen food aisle.  My core belief is that we need no packaged or processed foods in our lives unless we do that processing ourselves.  Slow Food is out to change the conditions of farming, eating, and distributing food.  I applaud the whole thing.  They (we) are making strides.

This movement started in Turin, Italy and has fortunately spread as a philosophy and an organization.  I joined this year and my first impression is really good.  We attended tasting held by the Slow Food Southern AZ chapter at Lodge on the Desert.  The event was inspirational and very reasonably priced.  I, for one, loved having the posole deconstructed so I could have it without the pork.  Ryan Clark was one of many chefs showing off their talents for a happy crowd.

Charts and Maps

June 4, 2013 — 1 Comment

I love maps and charts.  I am wild about pedigrees and anatomical models.  The visual imagery path is my natural way to learn.  I read, but to really get into a subject, I read charts, mind maps, and even word derivation.  I am curious about where things arise and where they go.  I like charts because they show momentum and details that we would not be able to hold in our heads without a picture. Here are words about the time I was born:

Zodiac in degrees 0.00 Placidus Orb:0
Sun Aquarius 9.58 Ascendant Aries 5.44
Moon Scorpio 10.22 II Taurus 14.09
Mercury Capricorn 16.19 III Gemini 10.55
Venus Aquarius 28.33 IV Cancer 3.18
Mars Pisces 6.24 V Cancer 26.12
Jupiter Pisces 10.52 VI Leo 24.41
Saturn Libra 2.03 R VII Libra 5.44
Uranus Cancer 6.10 R VIII Scorpio 14.09
Neptune Libra 19.30 R IX Sagittarius 10.55
Pluto Leo 18.50 R Midheaven Capricorn 3.18
Lilith Gemini 12.49 XI Capricorn 26.12
Asc node Pisces 19.42 XII Aquarius 24.41

Now here is the chart:

Birth Chart

Birth Chart

I like the visuals.  One part of our intelligence is keyed into these pictures and symbols.  We take in the information in a different way when we see it in a circle.  The practice of drawing mandalas, or any circular design has been a hobby of mine since I was a child.  I had a toy called the Magic Designer that held round paper discs and created geometric designs.  This technology would later become Spirograph.

I think my love for charts makes me a good navigator.  I have done a fair amount of it in planes and cars with accuracy.  I enjoy knowing exactly where I am. The same can be said of my family tree.  I stay the same, but as the tree grows and I learn more about my pedigree I have a much fuller picture of my karmic situation.  If you read charts, now you do too, gentle reader.

All Souls Tradition in Tucson

June 1, 2013 — 3 Comments


The All Souls Procession each year in Tucson is a community event that takes mass coordination and will now cost more.  Our new trolley system will complicate the planning and add to the expense.  The volunteer organizers work all year to make it better all the time.  In November another new and amazing, creative expression of this tradition will take place downtown.

Tucson’s Iron Chef Goes Hog Wild

June 1, 2013

Tucson’s own Iron Chef, Ryan Clark of the Lodge on the Desert ,is committed to sustainability and creativity.  He butchers and cures the meat served at his restaurant.  This very special Berkshire pig has been served recently to guests.  This attention to detail is one reason his cuisine reigns supreme in Tucson.  July 7 he will face a challenger in the cook off competition.  If the secret ingredient is a whole pig, this chef is ready.