Tue Jan 1 08:31:26 EST 2019 Slept from one to eight. Woke briefly once in the night. Not too tired, but I might take a short nap later. High of thirty-four today, with 20% chance of scattered snow showers. No snow for almost all of December, and January starts the same. I'm not complaining. First day of the new year, last day of vacation. On 2018-12-14 I set down my vacation goals: - Do a creative thing Not much, but hopefully I'll squeeze it in today. - Clean out a closet No. - Write some code Done. A fair amount, and even finished one thing. - Go to the movies if there's something good Done. Saw Into the Spider-Verse, which was at least fun. Goals for my last day of vacation: - Do a creative thing - Go to bed by around eleven Watched some of David Attenborough's Africa on Netflix. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_circle_(arid_grass_formation) > Like the heuweltjies and Mima mounds, the cause of fairy circles has long been a puzzle and the investigation has proved challenging. One favoured theory is that the distinct vegetation patterns are a population-level consequence of competition for scarce water, as the plants "organise" themselves to maximise access to scarce resources. The circular barren patches capture water which then flows to the outer edges of the ring. More water available increases biomass and roots which leads to the soil becoming looser. The less dense soil allows more water to penetrate and feed the vegetation, creating a feedback loop supporting the plants at the edge of the circle. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2118389-mysterious-fairy-circles-in-namibian-desert-explained-at-last/ > The Namib desert is covered with regular patterns of bare circles whose origin is fiercely debated by researchers – but it now seems both leading explanations may be right. > One camp claims the empty patches, known as fairy circles, are created by termites under the soil that clear vegetation in the area around their nests. By making the soil porous, the argument goes, they establish permanent reservoirs of rainwater 50 centimetres below the surface, which sustains them and the surrounding ecosystem. > An alternative idea is that the circles are explained by plants competing for water. Plants help their nearest neighbours by creating shade and maintaining water on the soil’s surface, but hinder those further away by growing long roots that extract water from the soil. The rhinos by night sequence is wonderful. The world's largest underground lake in the Kalahari! We don't know how deep it is, but it's more than 100 meters. Part of a vast cave system spanning thousands of kilometers! Really? Wow. The giraffe battle — they use their heads and necks like flails! https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/class-of-2019/ Including: - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie - “Hypnos”, “What the Moon Brings”, “The Lurking Fear”, and “Memory” by H.P. Lovecraft - New Hampshire by Robert Frost - Spring and All and also the novel The Great American Novel by William Carlos Williams - Harmonium by Wallace Stevens - Tulips and Chimneys by E.E. Cummings - Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay - Marcel Duchamp – The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass) - Man Ray – Object to Be Destroyed (destroyed 1957) https://da.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/wwi-dada/dada1/v/duchamp-largeglass - Randomness over intentionality - A trap for critics - Signature as wordplay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_to_Be_Destroyed https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/man-ray-indestructible-object-1964-replica-of-1923-original/ > Then, grabbing Object to Destroy, they were gone—but with Dadaist Man Ray puffing after them, crying: "They're stealing my painting!" Not far from the gallery, the Jarivistes stopped and set down the one-eyed metronome. One of them hauled out a pistol, took aim and fired, destroying Object to Destroy. At that point the police appeared, late but ardent. > The Jarivistes readily announced that they "are not surrealists but sure realists," not a movement but "motion itself, perpetual motion." To their objections to Dada, Man Ray wearily noted: "These things were done 40 years ago. You are demonstrating against history." A police official mused: "Why shoot it?" But last week, as visitors flocked to the show, Tristan Tzara, the grand old man of Dada, was delighted. "Isn't it wonderful?" he murmured nostalgically.' https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25880/25880-h/25880-h.htm AMERICAN POETRY, 1922, A MISCELLANY https://www.moma.org/collection/works/5533 Theo van Doesburg (Christian Emil Marie Küpper) with Kurt Schwitters, Kleine Dada Soirée, 1922 Shocking how closely this sails to the punk zine aesthetic. > "Dada est contre le futur, Dada est mort, Dada est idiot, vive Dada!" Took a surprisingly satisfying forty-minute nap in the afternoon. Hour long walk after my nap. Saw a woodpecker working on that ancient, half-dead oak by the pond in Beverly Park. Snow, but only a few tiny flakes. Called mom, and wished her a happy new year. Servings: grains 1/6, fruit 3/4, vegetables 3/4, dairy 1/2, meat 0/3, nuts 0.5/0.5 Breakfast: carrots, banana, orange, coffee Lunch: spinach, apple, yogurt, hummus, pita, tomato Dinner: pizza 138/89