Now Available for iPhone

1) “Is this art?” is usually the wrong question.

A-r-t is a word whose meaning we control, and all we have to concern ourselves with is keeping it a useful word.  Most arguments over whether something is art are really about how valuable that thing is. Good question.

2) By most worthwhile definitions of art, this qualifies.

Bonus: Jason Fagone’s exceptional profile of the author.

So, I am driving back home today…I am so happy to be going home today. But this more less implies it’s a quick post today. Without further delay guys, here is some more Epic Passages for you all!

The Cave

A black cavern

Stone fangs just from the floor and ceiling

Like a maw of a beast

Small gleaming eyes spark in the darkness

A noise is mad when a pebble bounces

Jarred by a unwary boot

Soon things wake

And rush out

Consuming the intruder that disturbed

Silence follows

The Storm

Tall dark clouds

Scattering the last rays of light

Painting them in depictions of fire

Lighting breaks the scene

Flashing away to strike the ground

Thunder trails with a resounding crash

Wind howls in the sky

Thrashing in concert with the sky’s fire

Rain grays the land as it drenches

Falling heavily to only sit

The Lake

Empty calm

The water ripples lightly

A shape is seen a figure crouches on the shore

Hands are moved intricately

It begins to swirl

Soon white comes up

It rises above the waves

With skin gleaming in the soft light

The figure warps it in enchantments

It is then its eyes open

Les dialogues s’enchaînent, se nouent de telle manière qu’il n’est pas permis d’exprimer ici. C’est un alcool indigeste qui s’insinue dans leurs gorges. La complétude comme forme dernière de la satiété. Ils s’achètent mutuellement pour s’échanger à nouveau. Troquent leurs défroques pour une nouvelle mue. Et, sans bouger, accomplissent le chemin du retour, par les couloirs et les boyaux, les artères dépeuplées, les cages, toute l’aménorrhée mentale de Chrome mêlée des sacerdoces de Messie, sa danse, le flot des acteurs comme boucles noires dans ses cheveux.

Ils remontent la pente, Messaline ouvrant la marche sans un regard en arrière, les paupières closes d’ailleurs, et s’efforçant, l’air de rien, de mettre bas un second fragment de son miroir brisé reflétant Chrome sur ses talons.

Le cône de lumière apparaît enfin, ce tunnel de gaz carbonique où flottent les papillons éthérés. Messie a percé l’enveloppe qui lui ressemble pour repasser sur un Plan inconnu. Au pied d’une haute tour dominant l’océan.

Not really, but that is the best way to describe a stricture. Strictures, abnormal narrowing, are common in people with Crohn’s Disease. Think of an hourglass, the part that gets narrow in the center would be the stricture. Resulting in the slow passage of food, which is the top of the hourglass and bloating in the bottom half of the hourglass.

www.diet-blog.com/archives/bodyshape.gif

Flare out,
No Whey Crohnnie

So, this is another quick post from my epic passages. These are all radically different posts, which take place quite different places as well. I hope you all enjoy them. Thanks for reading you guys!

The Ice

Frigid and hard

Shining under the thin frost

The slight click of a foot step

A creak is heard

Something slinks out

Staying low smooth surface

The glass fractures suddenly

Water floods through eating away

Soon the white is replaced by grey

The Road

Dust shifts slightly

The tread of a lone wagon

Still worn into the lane

The sun up high bakes the dirt

It beats upon a rider

Dark cloak hung raggedly on his shoulders

It waves with each horse hoof

Eyes are set on the horizon

To a far place

The Ascending

White light

Feet upon warm steps

The sense of breaking

A being grasps the gate

Bars of gold shimmer beneath

There’s the thump of a heart

A quick breath

Followed by ultimate immersion

Joshua 1

The LORD Commands Joshua

¹ After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: ² “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. ³ I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. ⁴ Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea ^[a] on the west. ⁵ No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

⁶ “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. ⁷ Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸ Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. ⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

¹⁰ So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: ¹¹ “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own.’ “

¹² But to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, ¹³ “Remember the command that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: ‘The LORD your God is giving you rest and has granted you this land.’ ¹⁴ Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, fully armed, must cross over ahead of your brothers. You are to help your brothers ¹⁵ until the LORD gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

¹⁶ Then they answered Joshua, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. ¹⁷ Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses. ¹⁸ Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey your words, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!”

Last month I visited Okayama to see Korakuen garden on a trip that also included Inujima in the Seto Inland Sea, Kurashiki, Awaji-shima and Kobe. Okayama is a modern city with wide boulevards and tons of automobile traffic. Still, I was struck by two improbable plant and fountain installations.

Above is a double pygmy date palm growing under lights in an underground passageway. This barren space is at a major intersection and is the only way to get from the tram to the sidewalk (en route to Korakuen garden). Grow lights are environmentally questionable, but adding exotic plant life in a dramatic and futuristic setting certainly brightens this subterranean space.

Maybe it is because of my unfamiliarity with 1970s Japan, but I was struck by this flower-shaped fountain outside of Okayama’s main rail and Shinkansen station. Friends told me that it is a common civic adornment. Still, I like the theatrical and exaggerated floral shape.

So, I wanted to take a break from the intensity of what has been going on lately and just post up some more Epic Passages for you all. I hope you enjoy these few bits. I personally enjoy the first and second.

Anyway, I hope you all have a blessed day, and enjoy and comment if you wish!

The Tomb

Dark and dank

Full of dust and shadows

Arcane runes are carved into the hard granite walls

Age old kings rot in their crypts

Nothing stirs, save things of the black

Then steps are heard

Mutterings of archaic meaning

Eyes open on a dark world

The remnants of realms long gone are awakened

The Hill

Old and forgotten

Where a King once stood

Looking over hordes of dark spawn

Never quivering

Here that Lord fell

Taking every last evil

And there his sword struck the ground

It is in the dirt even now

A last reminder of the valiant who fell

The Shore

Empty and cold

Grey waves crash on the rock strewn beach

The wind whistles through

The lone call of a seabird echoes across the way

It circles above a wooden spar

A body beaten and bruised is slumped

A rope is still grasped tightly in its grip

The sun peeks out briefly before hiding again

Causing dim light to shine on it again

Several months ago Marui opened up another department store in Shinjuku san chome, along with at least three other existing ones and retail competition that includes Isetan’s flagship across the street. It is interesting that one of its defining design themes is green space. If you arrive by Tokyo Metro, you can see strips of living plant walls in the underground passageway.

At the street level, Marui created large gardens more than a meter wide along the sidewalk with trees, bushes and grasses. This provides an unexpected burst of plant life in an area otherwise paved and overflowing with signage and people.

Marui even uses low light plants in indoor merchandising. It feels like a coherent and unique brand identity extending from outside to inside the retail space. Unfortunately some of the indoor “plants” are plastic, including faux vines above the first floor selling area, but not everyone notices.

In the photo above you can see how the subway level green wall is a modular system, allowing easy replacement of plants. It’s great to see a retail company standing out by providing plants and gardens to passer-bys as well as shoppers.

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Romans 13:8-10

It’s all about love.  Live it, share it, BE it.

The United States has taken a big step into the future.Our representatives in the House, have finally decided that healthcare for all, is a good idea, and is the key to the future stability of the United States of America.

I commend the efforts of our president, along with the courageous statesmen that chose to stand with him on the right side of history.

The House of Representatives passed the health care bill with a vote of 220-215 on Saturday.  The lone Republican to vote for the Democratic bill was Anh “Joseph” Cao from New Orleans, and nearly 40 Democrats voted against it.  For a complete list of names of Democrats who voted against it, click here for the New York Times chart.

Democrats were forced to make major concessions on insurance coverage for abortions to attract the final votes to secure passage, hopefully those can be reversed at a later date, a wrenching compromise for the numerous abortion-rights advocates in their ranks.

Health insurance coverage is estimated to cost 894 billion dollars according to Democrats, but will most likely cost over 1 trillion dollars once all provisions are included.  The public option will be available in 2013, and illegal immigrants will not be covered.  

The Senate is now become the main battleground in the health care fight as the  Democrats that are  there, ready their own bill for what is likely to be an extensive floor debate.

Democrats say the House measure passed Saturday will extend insurance coverage to 36 million Americans who currently do not have coverage. A limit will be placed on annual out-of-pocket expenses, and insurance companies will be prevented from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.

In a quote given to the New York Times…Republicans condemned the vote and said they would oppose the measure as it proceeds on its legislative route. “This government takeover has got a long way to go before it gets to the president’s desk, and I’ll continue to fight it tooth and nail at every turn,” said Representative Kevin Brady, Republican of Texas. “Health care is too important to get it wrong.”

I agree.

It is also too important for the future of our nation to allow any citizen within our borders to go without it, or to go broke over it.

I have always felt that the Republicans oppose this bill because they want the impoverished to die quickly, and their actions against this bill has proven that suspicion to be correct.

Any Republican in the House or Senate that for reasons of moral conscience that chooses to support providing healthcare for all, no matter what one’s financial state may be, will be vilified, and ostracized from your party, because they do not support an individual among their ranks, deciding what is best for those that voted them into office.

The Republicans that vote in support of Health care reform are our true patriots, are should be welcome into the Republican party, ass they are the one’s that will prevent your failed party from slipping into the insignificance of past history.

I endorse all in the government who are moving forward with this sweeping change, which is long over due.

Recently I had to pay an exorbitant amount of money to get a mammogram because I had discovered a lump in my breast that was painful. For some unknown reason the exam was not covered under my policy, which cost me well over a thousand dollars a month for me and my son.

I often wondered, what would happen if I did not have the finances to see if I had breast cancer, which does occur in men. Would I proceed to get the test, or would I wait until it became an emergency?

I wish I would have known that my medical insurance conducts itself as a death panel currently, then I could have saved myself thousands of dollars by not paying these premiums.

I mean,…what have I been paying for all these years.If I get sick, I expect them to cover what ever procedure the doctor orders.

I endorse this Health care reform, because what we have now, is deadly for all that are not wealthy,and those of us in the middle that pay out-of-pocket, we still are in jeopardy.

Look at the list of those who voted for this measure, and send them a message of your support.

Familiarize yourself with the names of those that are fighting to keep this deadly status quo, which  favors the Insurance monopolies as they prey upon the good citizens of the United States, and vote them out of office, into insignificance.

This is the only way to preserve our freedom that our boys are dying for on the field of battle, in a foreign war.

Do not let our soldiers die in vain.They are fighting for our right to elect to provide healthcare for all.

HELP IS ON THE WAY…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/health/policy/08health.html?_r=1

http://www.examiner.com/x-19632-Salt-Lake-City-Headlines-Examiner~y2009m11d8-House-of-Representatives-who-voted-for-the-Health-Care-bill

No particular comment here. I was just waiting for a friend and took a couple of shots on the overpass. Didn’t get the cars though

Rumors abound. They, like perfect circles in flatlands rise above the rest of the world and comment on things.

Rising perfect circles.

Gossiping perfect circles.

We are bound by the world around us to live within the confines of the reality we have. Time laughs at us, for it will be there long after we are gone. We are the children of a temporal moment, the short life span of change.

Anyway, rumors are so hard to deal with. If people don’t communicate clearly what they need the rumors will in fact create a greater problem.

Here’s to a world where Rumors are gone forever.

.Doc

Yeah, October makes way for November.

The passage of time. Just another day in life. Or a sense of aniticipation of winter coming in.

Or an anxiety that there is a lot to do, and more time has gone by, and we have not achieved enough?

All a matter of choice.

Stress is the way of life today. And if one was stressed, say about this passage of time, one would be “normal”, at least in the sense of being in the average mould.

But one does not have to be ‘average’. One can be different. One can choose to not carry that stress.

Take this time factor, for example.

Lets acknowledge first that each day must count. That we put in our best effort each day. With whatever it is that is our karma for the moment.

Once that is done and acknowledged, fretting about one date crossed out or the calendar flipping a page over, is not necessary. Does not help any.

So does this conflict with timebound targets and ambition and all that? Hope not. I don’ t think so. What about you?

Unfortunately of course, some things are calendar driven. Like expenses. And due to which reason, the calendar needs to be watched.

I know these are ramblings. As blogs are supposed to be. So I am not apologetic about this one.

I make the simple, humble point. More to myself, than to others.

That October turning to November, is not something to worry about. What is more important is to ensure that every day is made to count and the day ends with a satisfaction of having done one’s best that day!

Would love to hear other opinions on this?