in shade of tall green grasses,
duck laughs from corner.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Thursday, October 24, 2019
One evening I was walking
out on a hilly path
near Kristiania—
with two comrades. It
was a time when life
had ripped my
soul open.
The sun was going down—had
dipped in flames
below the horizon.
It was like
a flaming sword
of blood slicing through
the concave of heaven.
The sky was like
blood—sliced with
strips of fire
—the hills turned
deep blue
the fjord—cut in
cold blue, yellow, and
red colors—
The exploding
bloody red—on
the path and hand railing
—my friends turned
glaring yellow white—
—I felt
a great scream
out on a hilly path
near Kristiania—
with two comrades. It
was a time when life
had ripped my
soul open.
The sun was going down—haddipped in flames
below the horizon.
It was like
a flaming sword
of blood slicing through
the concave of heaven.
The sky was like
blood—sliced with
strips of fire
—the hills turned
deep blue
the fjord—cut in
cold blue, yellow, and
red colors—
The exploding
bloody red—on
the path and hand railing
—my friends turned
glaring yellow white—
—I felt
a great scream
These are two of the several versions of The Scream painted by Munch
—and I heard, yes, a great
scream—
the colors in
nature—broke
the lines of nature
—the lines and colors
vibrated with motion
—these oscillations of life
brought not only
my eye into oscillations,
it brought also my
ear into oscillations—
so I actually heard
a scream—
I painted
the picture Scream then.
scream—
the colors in
nature—broke
the lines of nature
—the lines and colors
vibrated with motion
—these oscillations of life
brought not only
my eye into oscillations,
it brought also my
ear into oscillations—
so I actually heard
a scream—
I painted
the picture Scream then.
Monday, October 21, 2019
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
A Day In The Life Of A Mummified Tree
Feel the wind burn through my skin
The pain, the air is killing me
For years my limbs stretched to the sky
A nest for birds to sit and sing
But now my branches suffer
And my leaves don't bear the glow
They did so long ago
One day I was full of life
My sap was rich and I was strong
From seed to tree I grew so tall
Through wind and rain I could not fall
But now my branches suffer
And my leaves don't offer
Poetry to men of song
Trees like me weren't meant to live
If all this world can give
Pollution and slow death
Oh Lord I lay me down
No life's left to be found
There's nothing left for me
Trees like me weren't meant to live
If all this earth can give
Is pollution
Trees like me weren't meant to live
(Oh Lord I lay me down)
If all this earth can give
(My branches to the ground)
Is pollution and slow death
(There's nothing left for me)
Oh Lord I lay me down
My branches to the ground
There's nothing left for me
Tree
by anonymouse
blanket of soft pine
velvet arrows pointed, sway
earths green metronome in space
earths green metronome in space
Monday, October 14, 2019
Saturday, October 12, 2019
Thursday, October 10, 2019
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
Magic of Making Microworlds
noun
- a community, place, or situation regarded as encapsulating in miniature the characteristics of something much larger."the city is a microcosm of modern Malaysia"
- humankind regarded as the representation in miniature of the universe."the belief in correspondences between the Universe and Man—between microcosm and macrocosm"
Goldfish were originally kept for meat
: The goldfish didn't start out as a pet. It was dinner.
Modern goldfish (Carassius auratus auratus) are a domesticated version of a wild carp from east Asia. Their wild ancestor was silver-grey. Known as "chi", it was at one time the most common fish eaten in China.
Every so often, a genetic mishap would produce a fish that was a brilliant red, yellow, or orange. In the wild, such fish stood out and were gobbled up quickly by predators. But in the ninth century Chinese people – mainly Buddhist monks – began to keep chi in ponds, where they were safe from predators.According to legend, Governor Ting Yen-tsan discovered both golden and yellow chi in a pond outside the city of Jiaxing. The pond then became a "pond of mercy".
In the Buddhist tradition, it is a good deed to set an animal free, especially if the animal is rare. So it became common practice throughout China for the rare coloured chi to be spared the stewpot and released into ponds. Official records document an accumulation of colourful chi in ponds around 975 CE.
But for at least 100 years, they were no different from wild chi. Unlike domesticated animals, the proto-goldfish hid from humans and did not eat the food that was given to them. "They were captives exploited for religious purposes," according to E. K. Balon of the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.
The goldfish bowl was a disruptive technology
By around 1240 CE, goldfish were domesticated and distinct from their chi ancestors. They were tame and would readily eat the food they were given. In public ponds of mercy, goldfish lived alongside chi, turtles, and other fish. But those who could afford to build their own ponds on private land tended to stock them only with the beautiful, colourful goldfish.
With plenty of goldfish on hand, it became easier for their keepers to crossbreed individual fish, to make individuals with desired appearances. According to Balon, this began in earnest in 1163 in the goldfish pond at Te Shou Palace in Hangchow city.
Like all technologies, fishbowls had some teething trouble (Credit: Blend Images / Alamy)
Between then and the 1500s, it became popular to keep goldfish in bowls. That made the keeping of goldfish far more affordable, as nearly everyone had earthen vessels.
The ensuing frenzy of artificial breeding produced the 250-ish varieties of goldfish we see today, described as "freaks" and "monstrosities" by the 1969 Purnell's Encyclopedia of Animal Life. "To recite their names is enough to make this point: veiltail, eggfish, telescope, calico, celestial, lionhead, tumbler, comet or meteor and pearl scale. There are also the water bubble eye, blue fish, brown fish, brocade, pompon and fantail and many others."
On that note, meet the Chinese moor telescope goldfish (Credit: blickwinkel / Alamy)
Certainly these modifications don't help them survive in the wild. While the different goldfish breeds have features that "satisfied human preference and curiosity", their ornate tail fins are "fancy but uncontrollable" and their bodies are "unfittingly fat", according to a 2009 paper by Tomoyoshi Komiyama of the Tokai University School of Medicine in Isehara, Japan and colleagues.
Goldfish are an invasive species
That being said, some goldfish breeds are hardier than others, and they can be real pests. One study in the UK found at least five invasive varieties doing quite well in ponds: golden, fairground, brown, shubunkin, and lionhead.
While chi are native to the rivers and lakes of eastern and central Asia, goldfish are now found throughout Europe, South Africa, Madagascar, and the Americas, as well as islands in Oceania and the Caribbean. Most populations began either with deliberate releases of unwanted pets or escapes from breeding or distribution facilities.
In Europe, they pose a threat by interbreeding with the native Crucian carp, and in Nevada, they outcompete the Pahrump poolfish. They can wipe out aquatic plants by over-foraging. One study also suggests they kick up so much mud that other species struggle to find food.
Goldfish pose a major threat to long-toed salamanders (Credit: All Canada Photos / Alamy)
A 2001 study found that introduced goldfish eat the eggs and larvae of the long-toed salamander. While they don't normally eat eggs, goldfish are fast learners. If they see other fish feeding on them, they're liable to start, and if one goldfish figures it out, it could rapidly spread through a population thanks to social learning. The goldfish ate the salamander eggs and larvae with such fervour that they "alone are capable of eliminating northern Idaho amphibians from inhabiting suitable breeding sites," say the researchers.
They help us understand our eyesight, and booze
Goldfish have become commonplace in laboratories, perhaps because they're simple to train and easily obtainable.They are one of the most studied animals in the field of visual perception and cognition. They can perceive the same colours we do, which not even all primates can do, making them an ideal study animal. Juvenile goldfish are even bad at seeing the colour blue, but improve as they age, a pattern repeated in human infants. In one respect they are unlike us: whereas humans have three types of colour-sensing cells in our eyes, goldfish also have a fourth type of colour receptor that allows them to perceive ultraviolet light. But despite this, their other three colour sensors are an excellent analogue for our own.
Goldfish are also particularly useful for understanding the effects of alcohol on the brain and body. That's because "the concentration of alcohol in their blood rapidly approximates the concentration of alcohol in the water in which they swim", according to Donald Goodwin of Washington University in St Louis, Missouri and his colleagues in 1971. That means you can gauge the inebriation of a goldfish non-invasively, just by knowing how much alcohol is in their fishbowl.
In 1969 Ralph Ryback of Boston City Hospital in Massachusetts used that fact to see how different kinds of alcohol affected goldfishes’ ability to learn. It turns out fish swimming in a bourbon solution are more impaired than those splashing around in vodka. So now you know.
: The goldfish didn't start out as a pet. It was dinner.
Modern goldfish (Carassius auratus auratus) are a domesticated version of a wild carp from east Asia. Their wild ancestor was silver-grey. Known as "chi", it was at one time the most common fish eaten in China.
Every so often, a genetic mishap would produce a fish that was a brilliant red, yellow, or orange. In the wild, such fish stood out and were gobbled up quickly by predators. But in the ninth century Chinese people – mainly Buddhist monks – began to keep chi in ponds, where they were safe from predators.According to legend, Governor Ting Yen-tsan discovered both golden and yellow chi in a pond outside the city of Jiaxing. The pond then became a "pond of mercy".
In the Buddhist tradition, it is a good deed to set an animal free, especially if the animal is rare. So it became common practice throughout China for the rare coloured chi to be spared the stewpot and released into ponds. Official records document an accumulation of colourful chi in ponds around 975 CE.
But for at least 100 years, they were no different from wild chi. Unlike domesticated animals, the proto-goldfish hid from humans and did not eat the food that was given to them. "They were captives exploited for religious purposes," according to E. K. Balon of the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.
The goldfish bowl was a disruptive technology
By around 1240 CE, goldfish were domesticated and distinct from their chi ancestors. They were tame and would readily eat the food they were given. In public ponds of mercy, goldfish lived alongside chi, turtles, and other fish. But those who could afford to build their own ponds on private land tended to stock them only with the beautiful, colourful goldfish.
With plenty of goldfish on hand, it became easier for their keepers to crossbreed individual fish, to make individuals with desired appearances. According to Balon, this began in earnest in 1163 in the goldfish pond at Te Shou Palace in Hangchow city.
Like all technologies, fishbowls had some teething trouble (Credit: Blend Images / Alamy)
Between then and the 1500s, it became popular to keep goldfish in bowls. That made the keeping of goldfish far more affordable, as nearly everyone had earthen vessels.
The ensuing frenzy of artificial breeding produced the 250-ish varieties of goldfish we see today, described as "freaks" and "monstrosities" by the 1969 Purnell's Encyclopedia of Animal Life. "To recite their names is enough to make this point: veiltail, eggfish, telescope, calico, celestial, lionhead, tumbler, comet or meteor and pearl scale. There are also the water bubble eye, blue fish, brown fish, brocade, pompon and fantail and many others."
On that note, meet the Chinese moor telescope goldfish (Credit: blickwinkel / Alamy)
Certainly these modifications don't help them survive in the wild. While the different goldfish breeds have features that "satisfied human preference and curiosity", their ornate tail fins are "fancy but uncontrollable" and their bodies are "unfittingly fat", according to a 2009 paper by Tomoyoshi Komiyama of the Tokai University School of Medicine in Isehara, Japan and colleagues.
Goldfish are an invasive species
That being said, some goldfish breeds are hardier than others, and they can be real pests. One study in the UK found at least five invasive varieties doing quite well in ponds: golden, fairground, brown, shubunkin, and lionhead.
While chi are native to the rivers and lakes of eastern and central Asia, goldfish are now found throughout Europe, South Africa, Madagascar, and the Americas, as well as islands in Oceania and the Caribbean. Most populations began either with deliberate releases of unwanted pets or escapes from breeding or distribution facilities.
In Europe, they pose a threat by interbreeding with the native Crucian carp, and in Nevada, they outcompete the Pahrump poolfish. They can wipe out aquatic plants by over-foraging. One study also suggests they kick up so much mud that other species struggle to find food.
Goldfish pose a major threat to long-toed salamanders (Credit: All Canada Photos / Alamy)
A 2001 study found that introduced goldfish eat the eggs and larvae of the long-toed salamander. While they don't normally eat eggs, goldfish are fast learners. If they see other fish feeding on them, they're liable to start, and if one goldfish figures it out, it could rapidly spread through a population thanks to social learning. The goldfish ate the salamander eggs and larvae with such fervour that they "alone are capable of eliminating northern Idaho amphibians from inhabiting suitable breeding sites," say the researchers.
They help us understand our eyesight, and booze
Goldfish have become commonplace in laboratories, perhaps because they're simple to train and easily obtainable.They are one of the most studied animals in the field of visual perception and cognition. They can perceive the same colours we do, which not even all primates can do, making them an ideal study animal. Juvenile goldfish are even bad at seeing the colour blue, but improve as they age, a pattern repeated in human infants. In one respect they are unlike us: whereas humans have three types of colour-sensing cells in our eyes, goldfish also have a fourth type of colour receptor that allows them to perceive ultraviolet light. But despite this, their other three colour sensors are an excellent analogue for our own.
Goldfish are also particularly useful for understanding the effects of alcohol on the brain and body. That's because "the concentration of alcohol in their blood rapidly approximates the concentration of alcohol in the water in which they swim", according to Donald Goodwin of Washington University in St Louis, Missouri and his colleagues in 1971. That means you can gauge the inebriation of a goldfish non-invasively, just by knowing how much alcohol is in their fishbowl.
In 1969 Ralph Ryback of Boston City Hospital in Massachusetts used that fact to see how different kinds of alcohol affected goldfishes’ ability to learn. It turns out fish swimming in a bourbon solution are more impaired than those splashing around in vodka. So now you know.
A baby medusa
| This is a baby medusa. The diameter is about 1mm. Because of the long distance from Miyakawa's home (over 250km), this baby medusa was not alive when received. The tentacles were missing and no movements were observed. Next morning this tiny medusa had disappeared in the bottle.Miyakawa feeds them brine shrimps (the salt must be removed), but he thinks some rotifers are better food for babies. |  |
How polyps feed
 | As you know, the medusa is only one stage of the life cycle of jellyfish. They stick on substrates and live as polyps before they become medusae. The lefthand picture shows the ceramic tips on which the polyps were attached. I can't find the polyps with the naked eye. |
I think the word "polyps" remind you of Hydra. But these polyps don't look like them. The size is much smaller and no clear tentacles exist.However, like the Hydra they are also a carnivorous animal. They catch prey by nematocysts and swallow them. The next three pictures show this process.
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