Open Thread WE 6 JAN 21
![](https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1493/26212496565_b2b949e0a3.jpg)
![todaiji_temple.jpg](/sites/default/files/user_images_3/todaiji_temple.jpg)
The timeless art of joinery - mortise and tenon, pegged - no nails or screws. Structures standing for thousands of years. A patient understanding of the wood element. Tree of Life.
![me-kyeoung-2-550x550@2x.jpg](/sites/default/files/resize/user_images_3/me-kyeoung-2-550x550%402x-300x300.jpg)
“The sawdust flew. A slightly sweet fragrance floated in the immediate area. It was a sweet but subtle aroma, neither the scent of pine nor willow, but one from the past that had been forgotten, only to reappear now after all these years, fresher than ever. The workmen occasionally scooped up a handful of sawdust, which they put into their mouths and swallowed. Before that they had chewed on pieces of green bark that they had stripped from the cut wood. It had the same fragrance and it freshened their mouths, so at first that was what they had used. Now even though they were no longer chewing the bark with which they felt such a bond, the stack of corded wood was a very appealing sight. From time to time they gave the logs a friendly slap or kick. Each time they sawed off a section, which rolled to the ground from the sawhorse, they would say:\
'Off with you - go over there and lie down where you belong.'
What they were thinking was that big pieces of lumber like this should be used to make tables or chairs or to repair a house or make window frames; wood like this was hard to find.
But now they were cutting it into kindling to be burned in stoves, a sad ending for good wood like this. They could see a comparison with their own lives, and this was a saddening thought. ("North China")”
― Xiao Hong, Selected Stories Of Xiao Hong
“Age, that brings a dwindling to most forms of life, is at its most majestic in the trees. I have seen living olives that were planted when Caesar was in Gaul. I remember, in Illinois woods, a burr oak which was bent over as a sapling a hundred years ago, to mark an Indian portage trail, and the thews in that flexed bough were still in the prime of life. Compared to that, the strongest human sinew is feeble and quick to decay. Yet structure in both cases is cellular; life in both is protoplasmic. A tree drinks water as I do, and breathes oxygen. There is the difference that it exhales more oxygen than it consumes, so that it sweetens the air where it grows. It lays the dust and tempers the wind. Even when it is felled, it but enters on a new kind of life. Sawn and seasoned and finished, it lays bare the hidden beauty of its heart, in figures and grains more lovely than the most premeditated design. It is stronger, now, than it was in the living tree, and may bear great strains and take many shapes.”
― Donald Culross Peattie, American Heartwood
“This fusion of wood and water is an entrancing thing. Without the wood the stream would be nothing: a mere thin watercourse winding through its flat meadows. Without the water the wood, on its slope and with its air of quietness and mystery and of being a world within itself, could not help being a constantly delightful thing. But water and wood, together, shading and watering and bounding each other, each give to the other something which the other does not possess, the wood giving to the stream something solid and shadowy and immemorial, the stream giving to the wood all the incomparable movement and twinkling transcience of moving water, the tree shadows standing deep in the stream, the reflection of sunlight flickering a kind of waterlight up into the shadowy branches of pine and alder. The wood and the water are here, in fact, one, for each other and with each other. It is a fusion that is almost perfect.”
― H.E. Bates, Through the Woods
Images: Todaiji Temple Nara, Japan 東大寺, 728 CE
Peach Blossom Store, Lee Me Kyeoung, South Korea
Open thread so share whatever moves you!
![harmony.jpeg](/sites/default/files/resize/user_images_3/harmony-250x322.jpeg)
![Share](/sites/all/modules/addtoany/images/share_save_171_16.png)
Comments
We three Kings of Orient are… ’tis Epiphany in Christendom…
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=epiphany+hymn+three+kings&iar=videos&iax=video...
And maybe it’s easier to understand “the Squad” if we apprehend the clear distinction, in politics as in STEM fields, between “theoretical” and “applied”:
https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/fire
Aside from anti-Trump revenge fantasies, actually changing anything would be applied firefighting.
And:
The Tolkien letters that changed C.S. Lewis’s life
Theoretically
voters apply their democratic power to shape their government. Ha!
Thanks for the Tolkien letters.
question everything
Hey there. Well it's the last day of the twelve days of
Christmas; the feast of the Epiphany; the visit of the three kings; in France the Gallette des Rois (cake of kings - where everybody wears a paper crown, takes a piece of cake and looks for the little baby baked into the cake.)
So here is one of my favorite songs of all time. This key is hard for my voice range, but mr. meta and I have sung this for a UCC service years ago.
I have access to many versions of this, but younger Steve was so strung out that it is too hard to watch. This has back up vocals with Mariah McKee. I really like the Dobro. Emmy Lou has done this with Steve too.
It was written for a Christmas album by the Oakridge Boys but not used. So he released it on 'Copperhead Road'.
This one of the best songs written and sung by Steve Earle. I like the long 'A' sound in this which others have imitated like the Trail Band from Oregon when they had their Texas guitar player.
Sorry in advance for the religious nature of the visuals, but it was nicely put together by a contributor. Lots of famous western European painters in this plus cheesy art.
[video:https://youtu.be/f0CAIx1cmUg]
The lyrics:
Once upon a time, in a far off land
Wise men saw a sign and set out across the sand
Songs of praise to sing, they travelled day and night
Precious gifts to bring, guided by the light
They chased a brand new star, ever towards the west
Across the mountains far, but when it came to rest
They scarce believed their eyes, they'd come so many miles
And this miracle they prized was nothing but a child
Nothing but a child could wash those tears away
Or guide a weary world into the light of day
And nothing but a child could help erase those miles
So once again we all can be children for awhile
Now all around the world, in every little town
Everyday is heard a precious little sound
And every mother kind and every father proud
Looks down in awe to find another chance allowed
Nothing but a child could wash those tears away
Or guide a weary world into the light of day
And nothing but a child could help erase those miles
So once again we all can be children for awhile
Nothing but a child
Older Steve explaining the history and singing live:
[video:https://youtu.be/14QBZNq7d6A]
Original recording group: Sam Bush (we saw in Charlotte, NC), Edgar Meyer (Bass) (we saw many times at the Chamber Music NW summer series), Mark O'Connor (Ashville, NC), Jerry Douglas (Champeogh Park, Oregon), Mariah McKee. Released on Copperhead Road.
[video:https://youtu.be/NvCGMN1s2es]
Happy New Year Caucus 99!
Edited to fix video links.
Edit to thank you QMS for the lovely open thread. Here in France a lot of the second story of stone houses has 'charpente apparente' or open carpentry. Large A-frame style branches, or hewn trunks, pinned or pegged with no nails. Visible in an open beam fashion. They are fabulous to see and as far as we have seen, throughout the country.
![](https://www.lamaisonsaintgobain.fr/guides-travaux/toiture-charpente/charpente-en-bois)
charpente apparente
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.
Wow, Steve Earle
New to me, where have I been? Good stuff.
Your 'charpente apparente' reminds me of the old barn
where I grew up in Michigan. Post and beam, white oak.
hope you find a baby in your cake![Wink](https://caucus99percent.com/sites/all/modules/smiley/packs/kolobok/wink.gif)
question everything
Until mr. meta came along, I was all classical and a bit of
Steve was one of those musicians who was going to leave early due to drug abuse or get past it. Sadly, he just lost his son.
I now love the singer/songwriter stuff for lyrics and music.
When we were able to sing with our French community choir, this week would be all the Sopranos and Altos providing Gallettes, and after Friday practice handing out pieces of cake. Then the lucky few who found the figure were clapped for. Simple pleasures.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.
Ode to trees and wood working
...two of my favorite things. The Easterners have had several more centuries to learn than us. I love the Eric Sloane books on early American woodworking. Here's some of his drawings.
I'm more a wood butcher...make it work approach. A finish carpenter I am not. My skill is in design and ease of construction.
I hate to cut down trees, but I need to do some thinning. The forests grows quicker than you think over 30 years. I've got some large pines shading my winter garden I would like to harvest. I'm playing with the idea of building a caretaker house with our trees. I recognize the day is coming (sooner rather than later) when getting on the roof and other such tasks need to be done by younger folks.
Looking likely the GA senate races were won by the dims. They ain't no great guns, but I'm glad to see the two rethug billionaires get it handed to them. None the less, still betting on gridlock myself.
Thanks for the OT and the Epiphany provided by loti and D. Meta too. Have a good day y'all!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Love the old drawings
by Eric Sloan, especially the old tools and their applications.
Kind of a wood butcher myself, but have delved into hand joinery
in the past. A very satisfying medium to work in.
The powerful winds around here are thinning out the older trees,
a steady supply of firewood. Hate to see them fall, but growing more
maples to replenish the canopy. Have some bamboo too.
So the dems got a leg up in GA? Wonder if the pubs will fight that as well.
Cheers!
Path to Zen by Jamie Pham
question everything
Good morning, QMS ~
Thanks for the OT. Asian culture is so very interesting - they've had thousands of years to get it right. American culture, on the other hand, is a toddler. It seems we are now having terrible two tantrums. I thought we were way past that, but we've been shown that we are in the middle of it.
Enjoy the day!![Pleasantry](https://caucus99percent.com/sites/all/modules/smiley/packs/kolobok/pleasantry.gif)
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
So once again we all can be children for awhile
The concept of epiphany is an attractive one.
So few realized during a lifetime.
Good luck!
question everything
I think we are "still" in it.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Good morning QMS. Looks like a ton of wonderful
heree today, but I've got to get fetting, so will return for a deep dive later. Just dropped by now to say good joinery, like good music, poetry and other art is great and thank you very much
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
The materials of the earth
yield astonishing things. Wood can be so beautiful, just the visible grain, the feel of the wood, and the inherent variation in color is a work of art.
I love the respect the Japanese woodworkers in your essay have for the wood. They convey a sense of gratitude and a realization of the enormous value of the trees.
Thanks for a beautiful OT.
wood grain, life rings
there is a sensual pleasure in polishing the grains to make a fair surface
"piano finish"
showing grain
and the rough stuff
cheers
question everything
do you remember the wood works of Knucklehead?
It is so sad that one doesn't know what has become of the many who were favorites of mine on TOP.
https://www.euronews.com/live
morning q
hmmm...
Overcast and cool. DC Kabuki continues.
This is way south of here but, just wow.
New precautions urged for L.A. County residents because COVID-19 is ‘everywhere’
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-05/la-county-residents-...
Take good care and be safe everyone...
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
Hey magi
sounds scary.
--the equivalent of someone dying of COVID-19 every eight minutes
just in one county. How is the
bestmost expensivehealth care in the world working out now?
good luck
question everything
Can someone explain to me what Kamala Harris is up to?
I fear that lady's power. No trust in her. I have heard some remarks 'en passant', which I didn"t quite understand, but they left me scared. I don't want to be impolite, but I have something non-flattering in my head. Can someone summarize what she could do in what kind of scenario?
https://www.euronews.com/live
Good question mimi
Best guess she is up to anything the PTB wants of her.
Replace slow Joe, institute martial law, name it.
A political prosecutor in power is potentially a pissy affair.
question everything
She will take over Pence's job
Which has a little more meaning than usual because she will be the deciding vote in the 50-50 senate.
I have no faith in 'wave in the wind' Kopmala.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
yes, thank you, that was what made me scared.
holes in the cheese of my brain ... thanks for helping me out.
https://www.euronews.com/live
♫ You say you want a revolution, we-e-ell, you know…
Live stream of protestors storming the Capitol, a woman has reportedly been shot in the head…
https://entropystream.live/app/leofong
There was a clip of protestors in the House chambers. Storming of the Winter Palace, like a Sergei Eisenshtein film but for real, ten days that shook the world?
Does anyone have access to a non-partisan, objective view of what’s happening at this moment on the ground?
UPDATE: Whoops, looks like the Big Switch was thrown and on-the-spot Internet feeds from Washington DC have been cut off…?
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BigElectricSwitchk
UPDATE: Found another live stream
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYzslt4HxT0
Try this
https://www.fox5dc.com/live
question everything
I'd like this also
The coverage I'm watching on NBC is vomitous.
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
Someone will make a documentary about this
https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1346911179042484230
Ted Cruz (still think you picked the right side, Ted?):
https://www.rawstory.com/wheres-the-national-guard/
Pelosi requests National Guard protection -- but awaits Trump's DOD approval
https://www.rawstory.com/guns-drawn-inside-house-chamber-theres-an-armed...
Guns drawn inside House chamber as Trump mob provokes an armed standoff
https://twitter.com/igorbobic/status/1346906369232920576
This is the DAWNing of the Age of Aquarius...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suLz6HUOqiM]
How can you have a successful revolution if everyone is busy taking selfies?
https://www.rawstory.com/mike-pence-2649770497/
Pence evacuated from Senate floor as angry Trump mob breaks into the Capitol building
Someone will have to piece together the time line, but this seems like the flash point...
Boom.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9nZT6vqqp0]
https://www.rawstory.com/joe-biden-tells-trump-stop-siege/
Joe Biden calls on Trump to end 'siege' on Capitol 'under unprecedented assault'
Yeah, good luck with that one, Joe.
https://twitter.com/nytmike
But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8AmU6D3my0]
Not sure that's really going to help...
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone
What a time for my
goddamned popcorn popper to pack it in.
It's amazing: if this had been an OWS or BLM action, they'd long since be stacking bodies up out on the lawn and bringing out the bulldozers to dig the mass grave.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
the cops are moving in
from Maryland
plus the fibbeis
plus the mayor has called in the national guard
plus secret service.
trying to clear the capital by dark
fox sucks, but it is live
question everything
I’m watching this random MAGA guy’s feed—he seems to be just
outside one of the Capitol building’s doors, part of a big crowd milling around.
There are Epoch Times live news feeds too, but I’m avoiding them — AFAIK, that’s a Falun Gong setup = CIA front.
@QMS I watch AlJazeera TV
Oh, well, all the reactions from Biden, Axelrod and Trump are 'polite'. I came to this late. The National Guard is inside the building.
https://www.euronews.com/live
how many trillions are spent on "homeland security" again?
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Lenin said Germans were too compliant to have a revolution
He said they were the kind of people who would buy a platform access ticket.before storming a train station.
My asst. has it livestreaming, CBS channel.
No arrests, police are talking to them to calm them down.
Police are showing which side they are on.
One source says a woman got shot in the chest, is in critical condition.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
she is dead by now /nt
https://www.euronews.com/live
Yep. I just heard
Man, who is responsible for indoctrinating that young woman to die for some idiotic cause?
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
seeing the tear gas fly
and Biden is jabbering
question everything
confrontations are getting escalated
starting to swing batons and grabbing people
question everything
There will be FUD.
Don't believe every tweet in the moment.
Don't pass on every tweet you read.
Value truth and accuracy.
What you are watching at the US Capitol is the result of pure FUD poured out into the memespace for years, and more recently sprayed wildly with high-pressure FUD pumps. Every one of those idiots has chosen to believe something (in most cases, many things) stupid and false that happened to suit their emotional outlook on reality.
The wages of FUD are hatred, chaos, violence, injury, and maybe death.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Guy with bullhorn demanding Pence, Pelosi, McConnell resign…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYzslt4HxT0
seems the senate
failed in their attempt
to ratify the votes of electoral college
got stopped at AZ (alphabetical listing)
once the shooting started
several cops are bloodied
question everything
Here’s a different random citizen feed with multiple cameras
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMCoxdTRCag
hear about a hundred protester have gotten inside
the capital building
trouble for the authorities
no doubt
question everything
yes, a lot of fist fights between the police and the protestors
inside the building. Wow. That's beyond FUBAR.
https://www.euronews.com/live
It has been calmed down in the last hours, AlJazeera says,
the capitol police has been pretty calm, I guess some might sympathisize with the protestors.
Trump supporters attacking the media and destroying their equipment right now. Live AJ TV.
https://www.euronews.com/live
confrontations are escalating
tear gas and rubber bullets
authorities are trying to remove the mob
before dark
6 pm curfew then the stoic get smashed
question everything
It was a German TV's equipment (ZDF) that was
lustfully destroyed. I follow real TV channels and not You Tube videos. Whatever it was dangerous to report live from the Capitol shuffle.
https://www.euronews.com/live
I wonder, did they have to remove their shoes first?
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
step softly on old shoes
the government beast would rather you be barefoot
and pregnant too!
question everything
Back to this “JeffMAC” guy’s feed — people at the Capitol are
expressing doubt about a supposed Trump message to “go home” — speculating that it’s a deepfake or a pre-recorded thing and that Trump isn’t really behind the decision to send it out, not voluntarily.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYzslt4HxT0
It’s actually kind of a glorious moment when everyone briefly appears to be in control of their own personal narrative, with no one in control of “the” narrative anymore, much as the system would like to re-impose its desired, exclusively “correct” framing on everyone.
Yah, loved the f*ck CNN segment
where they burned up all of the 'news' cameras and stuff
people are angry about fake broadcasting
with good reason
can't trust the media any more
except for live cams
question everything
no, German ZDF is not a fake news reporting TV channel,
this was live streaming equipment of the German ZDF TV channel. It was destroyed because it streamed live. It had nothing to do with CNN TV equipment and their reporting. The sister German TV channel ARD reported about it in detail and that was nothing but factually correct reporting.
I am grateful for my Tech Guy, who helped me to be able all the German and international TV chnnels, around 50. So, I have the fortunate situation that I can compare their coverage.
https://www.euronews.com/live
A pro-Trump Tiananmen Square type mass protest — so weird.
UPDATE: Now the cops have started firing tear gas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYzslt4HxT0
Chant: “Traitors, traitors.”
Inside the Capitol Building smoke and flashes come out of
the building.
https://www.euronews.com/live
flash bangs, rubber bullets
and pepper spray
DC cops are getting serious
question everything
this is still working
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYzslt4HxT0
thanks loti
sounds like the congress is pretending they certified the
electoral college vote
oops
question everything
Resilient design in old cultures to violent force using wood
absorb and disperse the violence, Do not take it head on and try to match strength with strength.
Resilient design in old cultures to violent force include both buildings and cultural traditions. There must be some lessons we can learn and use.
China Forbidden City
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w78Yb_aotH0]
Japan Pagoda
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-3lHX-2fG0]
It could be sometime before we know the full truth of today's events, the puppet masters involved and pre-planned tactics. At the moment all sides to a conflict have been aggressively agitated.
Is it Karma from the COVID relief bill passed just last month at the capital or were funds also included for the USA?
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.