My grandchildren see the pedantic glint
and squirm as I explain
how floating cities
like Rio, Shanghai, Alexandria
still follow the contours
of ancient mule-paths
far beneath the waves.
The kids say, “We know,”
and go back to their games.
I threw up a Google Doc of my draft “Basic Introduction to Topological Manifolds” lesson plan, intended to be accessible to 4th graders and up. It should be viewable by anybody, and I’m happy to give edit permissions to anyone with constructive ideas. Hit me up.
Image CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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Surveillance: “watching from above” Ubiquitous CCTV cameras yield ubiquitous surveillance. Residents of London live in a ghost world imposed by the state. The shadows and murmurs of un-augmented reality are barely perceptible under thick layers of surmontrance. Conscientious objectors blind and deafen themselves, only trusting their unsurmontred senses. 1/4 c old starter Mix in blender on high for one minute, to grind some of the coarseness out of the teff flour. 1 c all-purpose flour Stir together dry ingredients. Pour about Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, 1989. Image CC-BY-NC-ND by marymactavish The cities of São Cosme and São Damião They are separated by mutual ignorance, Children occasionally make the crossing, The blind, the mad and the extremely old The rest live as silent neighbors, I ate a green mango, Now I can’t stop seeing all of you, What would motivate the crows? Image CC-BY-NC-ND by Frank Kehren “Somnial boats” are models of boats placed in a bed at or near the time of sleep in order to be available to the dreamer in case he or she needs to cross a body of water in the course of a dream. Image CC-BY-NC-ND by Matt Stratton On the way back from Awash National Park, Matthew, Zerihun and I ran out of gas. We coasted to a stop behind a ten-ton truck. Zerihun got out an negotiated for the driver to tow us with a cable tied around the frame of our jeep. We banged along like that toward the next town, which was supposed to be what, nine, fifteen kilometers away? After about twenty kilometers, Zerihun said, “Well, he’s either towing us all the way to Addis, or else maybe he’s towing is to Maljacha Ferenjecha.” We spent this morning at the Laguna Negra octopus sanctuary, hacking through the jungle behind our local guide. The Laguna Negra villagers looked toward octopus tourism in the late 1960’s when the market for chicle gum was drying out. The central Yucatan jungle is home to twelve subspecies of octopus arboris, all of them now endangered or threatened. Four of the subspecies have been found within the sanctuary itself, and all village adults take shifts on armed patrol, discouraging poachers seeking meat and leather. Our guide told us a (wonderful, possibly apocryphal) story of a school of octopodes imitating a sleeping adult spider monkey and then swarming and devouring the hapless ocelot who tried to prey on the monkey. We had just about given up hope of seeing the elusive creatures when our guide motioned for us to stop. We stood breathless and listened to the cracking of branches and then caught a fleeting glimpse of something before whatever it was disappeared in a blurry cloud of diffracting ink. Photo: Me, uneasily trying on black-market octopus-leather cap at one of the ubiquitous folkloric-craft stands on the road to Valladolid.
Surmontrance
Surmontrance: “showing from above”
Ubiquitous CCTV projectors yield ubiquitous surmontrance.
Injera
Sourdough PancakesInjeraSourdoughInjera Starter
3/4 c all-purposeteff flour
3/4 c water
Let stand until bubbly.Sourdough PancakesInjera
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/41 tsp salt
1 beaten egg
1 1/4 c bubbly sourdoughinjera starter (Put the remaining starter into the fridge for next time.)
2 tbsp oil
Mix in wet ingredients. Thin with water to the consistency of heavy cream: thinner than pancake batter, but thicker than crepe batter. Do not overmix.1/41/2 c batter into a medium-hot non-stick skillet.
Cover tightly
Cook until surface is bubbly and edges are slightly dryjust beginning to turn brown.
Flip and cook other side until golden brown.Cook on one side only.
Remove to cooling rack. Texture will be slightly gummy until cooled a bit. First one in the batch will be awful, just like pancakes.
Mangas Verdes
have twenty million souls between them.
spanned by a single narrow bridge.
and return full of unfamiliar sweets.
maintain friendships across the divide.
often dying unaware.
given to me by a stranger.
here in my own hometown.
What would motivate the crows?
Somnial Boats
Out of Gas
Octopus Sanctuary Trip Report
