Archive for February, 2009

February 28th 2009

the sawmill

the sawmill

missoula-sawmill-district

the sawmill

the wind smelled like matches and the sawmill’s glow
played like a campfire on the clouds, like a warmth
above the city. the porch door opened
and my father’s shadow strode across the lawn.

my father worked at the sawmill in missoula.
he would cross the clark fork on the old trestle bridge
to start the night shift with men who’d lost fingers
in the huge saws, eyes to flying chips of wood.

his shadow dreams of turning on the bridge
the sawmill in flames like a technicolor scene
in a film at the fox. silhouetted before an orange rage
and the collapsing of quonset buildings to slag
amid the sparks and screams of wood and steel, and the cries of men
my father’s dark bulk, returning.

missoula-map-crop

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February 27th 2009

Make a Thaumatrope

Make a Thaumatrope

How to make a Thaumatrope.  Complete with video.

Take care not to cut your fingers.

Related:  Make a Zoetrope

Unrelated:  How to be a Misanthrope

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February 26th 2009

Sword Swallowers Awareness Day

Sword Swallowers Awareness Day

Saturday is Sword Swallowers Awareness Day, says Dan Meyer, sword-swallower.

“When I put the sword in my mouth, I will repress the gag reflex in the back of the throat. Then I have to go behind my Adam’s apple, my prominentia laryngea, behind the voicebox, the larynx, down about through the crichopharyngeal sphincter, up in the upper part of the mouth here. Then down into the esophagus, repress the peristalysis reflex, which is 22 pairs of muscles that swallows your food. From there relax the esophageal muscles, relax the lower esophageal sphincter, and slip the blade down into my stomach, repress the wretch reflex in my stomach.”

Read more at ScientificAmerican.com and listen to the podcast.

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February 26th 2009

Waiting for Opportunity

Waiting for Opportunity

I’m almost certain those book publishers will be showing up at my door tomorrow or the next day.

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February 24th 2009

Unending Rooms

Unending Rooms

This collection of Daniel Chacon’s recent short fiction kept me spellbound.  My favorite moment:  the end of “Regalito” when the entire story, book, setting, planet recedes into the distance as the reader becomes the eye of the universe.  Check out Daniel’s blog at http://soychacon.blogspot.com/.

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February 23rd 2009

The Wayback Machine

The Wayback Machine

Heard Stevie Wonder’s “Living for the City” this morning.  Worth sharing.

Living for the City

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