21 January 2025
Mike Scott and Steve Wickham, "Mad as the Mist and Snow"
Unfold.
Seer.
On.
Everywhere.
Know.
Useful.
Lost.
He was angry and cursed his luck aloud. He had hoped to get into camp with the boys at six o’clock, and this would delay him an hour. Now he would have to build a fire and dry his moccasins and socks. This was most important at that low temperature. He knew that much.So he turned aside to the bank, which he climbed. On top, under several small pine trees, he found some firewood which had been carried there by the high water of last year. There were some sticks, but also larger branches, and some dry grasses. He threw several large branches on top of the snow. This served for a foundation and prevented the young flame from dying in the wet snow. He made a flame by touching a match to a small piece of tree bark that he took from his pocket. This burned even better than paper. Placing it on the foundation, he fed the young flame with pieces of dry grass and with the smallest dry sticks.He worked slowly and carefully, realizing his danger. Gradually, as the flame grew stronger, he increased the size of the sticks with which he fed it. He sat in the snow, pulling the sticks from the bushes under the trees and feeding them directly to the flame. He knew he must not fail. When it is 75 below zero, a man must not fail in his first attempt to build a fire. This is especially true if his feet are wet. If his feet are dry, and he fails, he can run along the trail for half a mile to keep his blood moving. But the blood in wet and freezing feet cannot be kept moving by running when it is 75 degrees below. No matter how fast he runs, the wet feet will freeze even harder.All this the man knew. The old man on Sulphur Creek had told him about it, and now he was grateful for the advice. Already all feeling had gone from his feet. To build the fire he had been forced to remove his mittens, and the fingers had quickly become numb. His pace of four miles an hour had kept his heart pushing the blood to all parts of his body. But the instant he stopped, the action of the heart slowed down. He now received the full force of the cold. The blood of his body drew back from it. The blood was alive, like the dog. Like the dog, it wanted to hide and seek cover, away from the fearful cold. As long as he walked four miles an hour, the blood rose to the surface. But now it sank down into the lowest depths of his body. His feet and hands were the first to feel its absence. His wet feet froze first. His bare fingers were numb, although they had not yet begun to freeze. Nose and face were already freezing, while the skin of all his body became cold as it lost its blood.
19 January 2025
Pub.
At the pub pic.twitter.com/oA7GrEn3MD
— Conor Lynch (@c_k_lynch) January 14, 2025
18 January 2025
Trust.
Campbell asked his team who they wanted to be.“You have to be made a certain way or you’re not even coming here anyway,” he said recently. “The fact that you’re doubted — ‘You’re not good enough, you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re not very smart, you can’t process, you’re throwing the ball out of bounds on fourth down, your coach is a meathead …'“You go through this whole deal, but yet you look at each other and you trust each other.”He trusted them. They trusted him. Three wins later, including a winner-take-all finale against the Vikings, Campbell slipped on a baby blue T-shirt that read “READY TO ROLL” in the victorious locker room at Ford Field. The Lions had repeated as division champs and clinched the NFC’s top seed for the first time in franchise history. Their story was still in their hands.
Sacred.
Attentiveness.
Happy Birthday, Webster
Always.
Away.
Engines.
17 January 2025
Van Morrison, "Too Long in Exile"
Always.
Those who do not move do not notice their chains. Freedom means always the freedom for one to think differently.
Rosa Luxemburg
Always.
Happy Birthday, Guarini
The chapel’s main entry-points take the Baroque passion for dramatic lighting to a whole new level. Guarini shifted the original floor plan to squeeze three circular vestibules around the outside. While one leads to the ducal palace, the others connect to the cathedral via stairways. By shrouding the stairs in darkness, Guarini forced pilgrims to act out their faith by ascending almost blindly. Emerging from the blackness, they would finally step amongst the golden stars circling the Shroud.
Stark black-and-white marble echoes the theme of light and dark, designed to evoke the suffering represented by the shroud. Instead of a hemisphere,Guarini presents a whole series of shapes piled on top of each other, culminating in what might be the world’s strangest dome. Amongst the many oddities of the chapel’s middle zone, Guarini created two kinds of surfaces: one with a complex network of stars and hexagons, and the other with crosses distorted to look like they are being stretched into a curve. The latter configuration was only possible with Guarini’s work in advanced geometry.
The “dome” is unlike any other structure in the world: six levels of hexagons, each composed of six arches, are stacked at alternating angles. By manipulating the proportions of each layer, Guarini created the illusion of a tunnel extending far beyond the building’s size. He enhanced the effect by using soft greys which mimic colors blurring in the distance, a trick he likely picked up from ancient Greek theories about perception.
16 January 2025
Jim Harrison, "Lessons from a Raven Funeral"
Interest.
15 January 2025
Better.
The world can get better but people don’t feel it – they can even feel like they’re going backwards – because once a problem is solved it’s replaced by a new one, often with the same level of anxiety, fear, and anger.A few things I keep in mind:
- In a way, the best definition of progress is when you’ve knocked out the major issues and are left dealing with lower, less-severe ones.
- Stress is an innovator. Nothing incentivizes like worry, so we should never want a world where people see everything as perfect.
- People are problem solvers. It’s a great characteristic and the source of all progress. But when solving problems is core to your identity, you occasionally see trouble where none exists.
- Being angry can be an intoxicating feeling. It offers a sense of moral superiority, because when you accuse others of causing problems, you’re implying that you are better than them. It feels great, and in a strange way some people love being pissed off.
- The dumber the disagreements, the better the world actually is.
Happy Birthday, King
14 January 2025
Living.
It’s after noon, but he has just gotten out of bed. “I’m not very hungry yet. There was a lot of traveling yesterday,” says Arzak, who at 72, with his wispy white hair and his gentle demeanor, might seem like any grandfatherly figure on vacation and out of place among the hipsters who are here to blow it out like they’re starring in their own MTV videos. But this grandfather can teach the youngsters a thing or two about living it up.“Maybe just a little jamón,” he says when you’re seated for coffee. Straightaway, the chef at the hotel’s Traymore restaurant, which specializes in seafood, sends out a glistening plate of the finest Pata Negra, which appears nowhere on the menu. Then Arzak gets a hankering for gambas, instructing the waiter to make sure the kitchen doesn’t overcook them. The kitchen does one better, sending out a heap of fat, plain langostinos, just like he likes them. Arzak, whose famed restaurant in posh, seaside San Sebastián has held on to its three Michelin-star rating for a remarkable 26 years, dips a couple of the tails in fresh mayonnaise and sucks out a couple of heads before he realizes something else is missing.“Let’s drink vino tinto,” he says, and out comes the red wine.
13 January 2025
Inescapable.
Vast.
Inordinate.
Rejuvenation.
Tea was much more than a mere beverage for Winston Churchill; it was a ritual of rejuvenation. His days were famously demanding, filled with war councils, strategic planning, and speeches that rallied a nation. Amid this, tea served as a moment of calm, offering clarity and comfort. Churchill’s tea preferences reflected his character – bold yet balanced.The tea of choice for Churchill was often strong, traditional blends such as Earl Grey, English Breakfast, or Lapsang Souchong. The latter, a smoky Chinese tea, was particularly fitting for a man who appreciated bold flavors and complexity.
God-Speed.
12 January 2025
Cesária Évora, "Nho Antone Escaderode"
Affirm.
Schubert, String Quintet in C, D. 956, Op.Posth 163
About Me
- Rob Firchau
- "A man should stir himself with poetry, stand firm in ritual, and complete himself in music." -Gary Snyder
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January
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