Three Bleahs and a Yeah!
Bleah!
Veterinary specialists are killers to ones bank account! At least the R-Dawg is holding steady. :)
Double Bleah.
Gawddamn Ticket Master!
Triple Bleah.
Race at Michigan. Glad to see Tony Stewart out there, was really cheering for him to win. If just to see someone other than a Roush or Hendricks (the 5 car teams) win. Glad to see Mark Martin in contention *Yea!* TS and MM would make for one hell of a race. Elliott did well too, but they are right through, what’s with the fade when the race starts?
And one hell of a save by Sterling Marlin: turning his car sideways at 100+ mph to put his own car fire out. Dayum. I can’t even imagine to kind of knowledge and car control take to do something like that instinctively. I don’t think he’ll have any trouble finding a ride next year.
Dale was *herm* well.
I don’t know what kind of karmic lessons he needs to learn that all this is happening, but I hope he can come out of this year with some positive growth, understanding and true strength. I’m not saying that he still can’t make the Chase, but for my own sanity, I’m just backing off on my fandom and “giving Dale and DEI space”, if you will, to figure it all out.
Hell’s Kitchen? They’re All Hell
Having worked in a 4-Star called St. Estephe as a Pantry Chef out of High School, I watched this show last night out of curiosity.
As far as Master Chefs go, Ramsey isn’t *that* bad. He’s just loud. At least he actually gives encouragement, which is pretty rare in that world. It’s not like he’s the Genghis Khan of the Kitchen. All Master Chefs are perfectionist assholes. That’s just the job. That’s just the business. When those contestants leave, most of the places they go in the upper echelons of the “Food World” will be that kind of environment. It’s not like it’s going to get better.
P.S. People wonder why I swear so much, it’s because I spent 14 months in that kind of environment at an impressionable age. ;) I think about the only groups more foul mouthed than food people are military and merchant marines.
Reading
I finished the Flying Cloud over the weekend and enjoyed it quite a bit. Given that none of the personages involved were considered “worthy of note”, the author did not devote too much time to them and what he did you can tell he stretched what little information was to be had for all he could get out of it. But it is very instructional as to how sailing, especially navigating, was done during what many consider to be Sail’s zenith as well as being illustrative of the many deadly hazards faced at sea.
It’s now winging it’s way to AZ as part of the family book club.
Now I’m reading George Fletcher Bass’ Archeology Beneath the Sea, which is an out of print book published in 1975 about well, the dawn of true underwater archeology.
Before this time, most attempts at shipwrecks, whether from hard hat or SCUBA divers, were less excavation and more salvage. Bass was part of the group, if not spearheading it, leading the way on actually trying to conduct a true archeological excavation of a wreck site, rather than just digging stuff out willy-nilly.
Shipwrecks are near perfect time capsules, capturing not only the culture of a particular people, but what other cultures those people were in contact with and the influences they may have had on each other. If excavated properly, archeologist can tell what goods were being carried from where, what time of year the ship sailed, country (hopefully port) of origin, the route taken, the culture of the crew and even, if lucky, some personal details. Not to mention the construction of the ship, which not only reveals a culture technological development, but by the type of vessel and quality of construction, we can determine the culture’s potential range for contact and influence.
But that’s if they are excavated properly, their contents mapped out, the artifacts studied in situ before removal and then made available to the academic community, and care taken to preserve the delicate timbers of the ship on which the artifacts lie. In previous year, wreckers have had no compunction about going in and just ripping artifacts out. The rotting timber and surrounding material complete destroyed by a propeller backwash in order to shift out a few gold coins or necklaces or statuary. But thing have gotten better, pressure from the diving community has made wrecker/Search and Salvage go much more high class and as evidenced by excavations such as the Titanic and the Republic. Most of the non-academic sanctioned archeological expeditions do make an effort now to be scientific in the removal of artifacts, cataloguing where they were found in the site. The larger ones, the good ones, even include and archeologist or two. The photographic and video evidence they usually collect is invaluable to an under funded community of archeologists who will never be able to visit the sites themselves.
Not that there isn’t a great deal of animosity between the two groups even still. The two teams racing for the Endurance are particularly demonstrative of the rift. The Academic community views the Salvage groups as no better than prop washing wreckers. Profit driven hacks that will destroy archeological information in order to gain valuable artifacts. The Salvage groups resent the judgment. The rift is further exacerbated by the large amount of money Salvage groups are able to tap into as opposed to the academic community. Let face it, truly philanthropic dollars are hard to come by and people are much more ready to invest in an operation that will net artifacts that will be sold on the antiquities market, thereby netting then a return, as opposed to just given to a museum or academic institution for study.
Quite frankly, I don’t know what to think. The Salvage operation get the money, hence they get the dives the academic community can’t afford, yet corners are cut and valuable informaiton is ignored or lost. The academic community has got to find a way to get off their high horse and nurse these people into actually making a serous go of excavating and studying wrecks rather than saying they have to right to.
Anyway, the book (yeah, remember the book?) really good, a narrative of his earliest excavations and experiences developing techniques for underwater archeology, including the Yassi Ada wreck, for which I also have the monograph. (Thanks Mom!)
But a *YEAH!*
I got my grades back from one of the community colleges I was attending:
History of Religion – A
History of the Middle East – A
YES!
I’m just awaiting the Final Grade at my principal college for History of Modern Civilization. That one is a nail biter.
Veterinary specialists are killers to ones bank account! At least the R-Dawg is holding steady. :)
Double Bleah.
Gawddamn Ticket Master!
Triple Bleah.
Race at Michigan. Glad to see Tony Stewart out there, was really cheering for him to win. If just to see someone other than a Roush or Hendricks (the 5 car teams) win. Glad to see Mark Martin in contention *Yea!* TS and MM would make for one hell of a race. Elliott did well too, but they are right through, what’s with the fade when the race starts?
And one hell of a save by Sterling Marlin: turning his car sideways at 100+ mph to put his own car fire out. Dayum. I can’t even imagine to kind of knowledge and car control take to do something like that instinctively. I don’t think he’ll have any trouble finding a ride next year.
Dale was *herm* well.
I don’t know what kind of karmic lessons he needs to learn that all this is happening, but I hope he can come out of this year with some positive growth, understanding and true strength. I’m not saying that he still can’t make the Chase, but for my own sanity, I’m just backing off on my fandom and “giving Dale and DEI space”, if you will, to figure it all out.
Hell’s Kitchen? They’re All Hell
Having worked in a 4-Star called St. Estephe as a Pantry Chef out of High School, I watched this show last night out of curiosity.
As far as Master Chefs go, Ramsey isn’t *that* bad. He’s just loud. At least he actually gives encouragement, which is pretty rare in that world. It’s not like he’s the Genghis Khan of the Kitchen. All Master Chefs are perfectionist assholes. That’s just the job. That’s just the business. When those contestants leave, most of the places they go in the upper echelons of the “Food World” will be that kind of environment. It’s not like it’s going to get better.
P.S. People wonder why I swear so much, it’s because I spent 14 months in that kind of environment at an impressionable age. ;) I think about the only groups more foul mouthed than food people are military and merchant marines.
Reading
I finished the Flying Cloud over the weekend and enjoyed it quite a bit. Given that none of the personages involved were considered “worthy of note”, the author did not devote too much time to them and what he did you can tell he stretched what little information was to be had for all he could get out of it. But it is very instructional as to how sailing, especially navigating, was done during what many consider to be Sail’s zenith as well as being illustrative of the many deadly hazards faced at sea.
It’s now winging it’s way to AZ as part of the family book club.
Now I’m reading George Fletcher Bass’ Archeology Beneath the Sea, which is an out of print book published in 1975 about well, the dawn of true underwater archeology.
Before this time, most attempts at shipwrecks, whether from hard hat or SCUBA divers, were less excavation and more salvage. Bass was part of the group, if not spearheading it, leading the way on actually trying to conduct a true archeological excavation of a wreck site, rather than just digging stuff out willy-nilly.
Shipwrecks are near perfect time capsules, capturing not only the culture of a particular people, but what other cultures those people were in contact with and the influences they may have had on each other. If excavated properly, archeologist can tell what goods were being carried from where, what time of year the ship sailed, country (hopefully port) of origin, the route taken, the culture of the crew and even, if lucky, some personal details. Not to mention the construction of the ship, which not only reveals a culture technological development, but by the type of vessel and quality of construction, we can determine the culture’s potential range for contact and influence.
But that’s if they are excavated properly, their contents mapped out, the artifacts studied in situ before removal and then made available to the academic community, and care taken to preserve the delicate timbers of the ship on which the artifacts lie. In previous year, wreckers have had no compunction about going in and just ripping artifacts out. The rotting timber and surrounding material complete destroyed by a propeller backwash in order to shift out a few gold coins or necklaces or statuary. But thing have gotten better, pressure from the diving community has made wrecker/Search and Salvage go much more high class and as evidenced by excavations such as the Titanic and the Republic. Most of the non-academic sanctioned archeological expeditions do make an effort now to be scientific in the removal of artifacts, cataloguing where they were found in the site. The larger ones, the good ones, even include and archeologist or two. The photographic and video evidence they usually collect is invaluable to an under funded community of archeologists who will never be able to visit the sites themselves.
Not that there isn’t a great deal of animosity between the two groups even still. The two teams racing for the Endurance are particularly demonstrative of the rift. The Academic community views the Salvage groups as no better than prop washing wreckers. Profit driven hacks that will destroy archeological information in order to gain valuable artifacts. The Salvage groups resent the judgment. The rift is further exacerbated by the large amount of money Salvage groups are able to tap into as opposed to the academic community. Let face it, truly philanthropic dollars are hard to come by and people are much more ready to invest in an operation that will net artifacts that will be sold on the antiquities market, thereby netting then a return, as opposed to just given to a museum or academic institution for study.
Quite frankly, I don’t know what to think. The Salvage operation get the money, hence they get the dives the academic community can’t afford, yet corners are cut and valuable informaiton is ignored or lost. The academic community has got to find a way to get off their high horse and nurse these people into actually making a serous go of excavating and studying wrecks rather than saying they have to right to.
Anyway, the book (yeah, remember the book?) really good, a narrative of his earliest excavations and experiences developing techniques for underwater archeology, including the Yassi Ada wreck, for which I also have the monograph. (Thanks Mom!)
But a *YEAH!*
I got my grades back from one of the community colleges I was attending:
History of Religion – A
History of the Middle East – A
YES!
I’m just awaiting the Final Grade at my principal college for History of Modern Civilization. That one is a nail biter.
posted by KiplingKat | 3:21 PM
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