More strings: This time, the harp

Perhaps I'm the last person in the world
to catch on to Joanna Newsom,
but anyway: "The Sprout and The Bean"

Them lowdown, dirty, desert plain blues(and other pieces for the guzheng)

Chun dao xiang jiang hezou


Zhao jun yuan


Overcoming the hurricane
(Zhan tai feng)


Rising Sun on Jing Gang Mountain
(Jing gang shan shang tai yang hong)


Qin sang qu


Shan dan dan

Guqin times two

Two pieces performed by Liu Zhengchun on the Qin zither:

Autumn river night anchorage
(Qiujiang yebo - 秋江夜波)


Amidst mountains, thinking of an old friend
(Shanzhong si youren - 山中思友人)


For more on the Qin zither, please refer to John Thompson's guqin site.

A controversy over cosmic time in Korea

"Whether the zodiacal New Year starts on Tongji (Dec. 22) or Ipchun, (Feb. 4) is now a hot potato among fortunetellers after a fortunetellers association from Taejon raised the issue. Lee Sang-yup, a member of the association, regards Tongji, or the winter solstice, as the starting point.

Lee said that according to Oriental philosophers and the Zhouyi [more commonly known as the I Ching -- Ed.], considered the bible of fortunetelling, Tongji is the starting point of a new year.

"On Tongji, one of 24 seasonal divisions [in the Sino-Korean calendar], the Sun is resurrected and days start to become longer than nights. Because the days get longer again, many people consider this the start of the new year.

"To tell a fortune, a teller gets one's birthday and birth time, then consults a special calendar written in Chinese sexagenary cycles based on the movements of the Sun, Moon and five other planets. By reading the cycles, a person's happiness, luck, bad fortune and sadness can be [said to be] predicted.

"The issue becomes serious for people born between Tongji and Ipchun. Depending on a fortuneteller’s interpretation of the start of the new year, they can be labeled with different Chinese zodiac signs. Because many Koreans use their zodiac signs for naming, setting marriage dates or predicting marital harmony, confusion about them can have long-lasting effects."

With the solstice past,it's time to revisit the topicof Santa as a shaman.

This post was updated with new info + images in 2007.


"Although most people see Christmas as a Christian holiday, most of the symbols and icons we associate with Christmas celebrations are actually derived from the shamanistic traditions of the tribal peoples of pre-Christian Northern Europe.

"The sacred mushroom of these people was the red and white Amanita muscaria mushroom, also known as 'fly agaric.' These mushrooms are now commonly seen in books of fairy tales, and they are usually associated with magic and fairies. This is because they contain potent hallucinogenic compounds and they were used by ancient peoples for insight and transcendental experiences.

"Most of the major elements of the modern Christmas celebration, such as Santa Claus, Christmas trees, magical reindeer and the giving of gifts, are originally based upon the traditions surrounding the harvest and consumption of these most sacred mushrooms.

"Shaman of Siberia and the Russian icon, St. Nicholas, both play parts in the tale of Christmas, providing clues as to where Christmas came from and why there are certain symbols associated with the holiday. It is these types of clues that will help in the deciphering of the symbols. Siberian Shaman used/use (despite governmental oppression) Amanita muscaria as a religious sacrament. It is used for spiritual vision, out-of-body travel into the realms of the spirits, and as a plant-spirit guide in teaching and healing.

"Interesting to note: If you aren't quick enough in the hunt, you will find only the mushroom stubs, the rest greedily gobbled up by the hungry reindeer."

The poetic depths of the universe

"Below lay stretched the boundless universe!
There, far as the remotest line
That limits swift imagination's flight.
Unending orbs mingled in mazy motion,
Immutably fulfilling
Eternal Nature's law.
Above, below, around,
The circling systems formed
A wilderness of harmony.
Each with undeviating aim
In eloquent silence through the depths of space
Pursued its wondrous way."

Percy Bysshe Shelley,
"The Daemon of the World,"
which appears on the first page
of George Ellery Hale's
"Depths of the Universe,"
published in 1924.

Planetary gearshifting, part seven:America vs. The Orbiting Lordof the Underworld

What follows is an excerpt from a compelling piece in Vanity Fair, but the astronomical placements are all off. Pluto, for example, has just entered Sagittarius -- it won't be leaving that constellation and transiting through Capricorn for several years, which is one of the central aspects of Lutin's article.

My New Moon/New Year wish is that Western astrologers will become more familiar with astronomy and precession of the equinoxes. Then, forecasts like Lutin's might offer more insight and relevance.


"Pluto in Capricorn is going to change America from the inside out, threaten our very existence, challenge our economy, and divide the country politically. The government is going to be so paranoid during those years that it doesn't really matter who gets in in 2008.

"Pluto in Capricorn means the ascendance into overt power of corporations in relation to the government. But that situation will change when Pluto enters Aquarius, at the end of the 2020s.

"Uranus in Aries is going to be the 1960s all over again. The greatest time of upheaval will be between 2015 and 2019, when the square of Uranus in Aries to Pluto in Capricorn will create the seeds of revolution everywhere. Forces of repression are going to clamp down even harder on those who want to speak their minds.

"Then, in the years 2023–25, the final stages of the Pluto return and the Capricorn effect will reach a climax. Some astrologers believe that an empire lasts no longer than one Pluto cycle, and by 2025 this cycle will be played out. And no matter how you look at it, the U.S.A. is an empire.

"Just as the British Empire began enduring sunsets after the fledgling colonies won their independence, our turn may be coming. The Pluto return of 2025 will demand a redefinition of the United States and create the ultimate identity crisis. We will have to put ourselves on the line, as we did in the 1770s."

This was the sixth gearshift.

A New Moon and a newly ascending Sun

"The December Solstice occurs on Dec 21-22 just after the New Moon and just after the a wonderful Moon-Venus conjunction in sidereal Sagittarius.

"The December solstice is the point in Earth's orbit at which the north pole is tilted directly away from the Sun. Thus, the Sun arrives at its most southern latitude on Earth, creating the longest day in the southern hemisphere and the shortest day in the northern hemisphere.

"The December solstice has a quality similar to a New Moon in the lunar cycle, independent of the hemisphere in which we live. It marks the beginning of the new annual cycle for the entire Earth.

"The December solstice marks the new birth of Sun (Son) or Sol (Soul) expression in our daily lives. It marks the true astronomical new year. As Earth continues in her orbit, the Sun's 'eye' (by line of sight to Earth) begins to move northward, awakening Earth life anew.

"The solar fire continues to move upward (from south to north) and then crosses Earth's spatial equator on the March equinox. The March equinox is much like the First Quarter Moon in the lunar cycle, a time that provides stimulus to action.

"The Sun's eye arrives at its most northern latitude on the June solstice. This is like the Full Moon in the lunar cycle, a time of fulfillment, vision and realization. Later, the Sun's eye crosses back over the equator (from north to south) on the September equinox, which is much like the Last Quarter Moon in the lunar cycle, a time that signals a need to change.

"The movement of the Eye of the Sun across Earth's latitudes occurs because of the 23.5° tilt in Earth's orbit. The movement of the Sun and the Earth's tilt are, of course, responsible for the seasons. Thie Sun's apparent motion also creates the analemma, which is a figure-eight pattern traced by the Sun when it is observed from the same location at the same time each day for an entire year."

All text from Nick Anthony Fiorenza's Lunar Planner

A hack for a lack of winter sunlight

"A village in the Italian Alps is finally basking in winter sunlight thanks to a giant mirror installed on a mountain top to reflect the sun's rays into the main square.

Viganella, with a population of less than 200, lies in a valley so steep that each year from November 11 to February 2 it hardly receives any sunshine.

"That was until Mayor Pierfranco Midali decided to do something about it.

"Now a five-metre-high, eight-metre-wide mirror tracks the sun's movement and reflects its rays into Viganella's historic piazza, a 250-square-metre area, for at least six hours a day.

"The mirror, which cost around 100,000 euros (67,000 pounds), was unveiled on Sunday to the delight of the inhabitants."

Pierfranco Midali, the mayor of the small town of Viganella, in the Antrona Valley, north of Turin, Italy, holds the remote control computer as the giant mirror positioned on the hill behind starts reflecting the sun down into the town

Two alternate takes on totality

[1947px version]


[1080px version]

Planets and stars to scale

via Wohba!

Ayahuasca in the Amazon

Shamans of the Amazon is "an excellent documentary about Amazonian shamans and their use of the sacred ayahuasca vine to communicate with the spirits of the forest."

See the Erowid pages on ayahuasca and my "plants as power tools" post for more about traditional uses of hallucinogenic plants.

Egyptian artifacts follow-up

Seven months ago, I posted a bit about Egyptian statues and other relics that have been retrieved from the waters near Alexandria. Many of those objects have since gone on display in Europe. This story came from the wire yesterday:

"Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his French counterpart Jacques Chirac unveiled an exhibition of sunken treasures recovered by French underwater explorers and spanning 1,500 years of Egyptian history.

"The artefacts, dating from 700 BC to 800 AD, were recovered by a team of archaeologists led by the Frenchman Franck Goddio, who have been working on the sea floor off Egypt's coast for the past 10 years.

"They include the largest known statue of Hapy, the Egyptian god of the Nile, a five-metre (11-foot) colossus dating from 2,000 years ago, which forms the centrepiece of the display along with statuettes of deities, coins and everyday objects.

"A total of 8,000 artefacts have been excavated from the Mediterranean depths near the ancient harbour of Alexandria, the nearby site of Canopus, and the lost city of Heraklion some seven kilometres (four miles) offshore."

Daehanminguk digicam:Weekend geek-out

So, as I mentioned previously, I was at COEX Mall in Seoul. I'd gone there with my Lady Friend because she'd wanted to stop by a bookstore... and COEX was on the way to the Techno Mart.

Never got there, though, because a few minutes after we arrived, I saw a banner for the Star Wars: Science & Art exhibit that had opened to the public that very day. We made our way to the convention center that's attached to the mall, scoped out the ticket prices ($13), and then I got batteries for the camera...












[1138px version]


One gentleman and I had the same reaction to this prop: 와~!




[1138px version]






[1138px version]


[1138px version]




A simple video, also.

All of the objects on display were used in the production of the films. The matte paintings were the most fascinating. They were used as backdrops upon which spacecraft and other elements were overlaid in the first series. The detail is so rich and the perspective so tight that I swear it moved with me as I shifted. The next two photos are of the same painting.

[1138px version]


[1138px version] and video





This was the previous "daehan digi" post.

Nebulae on the brain

Here's Orion again...

The Converse Nebula

I was taking photos of the floor inside of COEX Mall in Seoul when this young man walked by. I'd already been captivated by how the flecked, dark green floor and the overhead reflections resembled an astrophoto... so this just sealed it for me.

Egypt Extra II

These are some revised
and rediscovered shots
from our time in Cairo.

















This was the first 'extra' post.

La Guadalupana

It's December 12th again, so excuse me while I use last year's post.
And check out this Guadalupana creation that I found via Google.


"On December 12th, 1531, the Virgin of Guadalupe is said to have appeared to Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill, bridging two worlds, that of the Aztec who saw her and that of the Spanish conquerors who now ruled his land. She has since become the patron and symbol of Mexico, a country born of this fusion of cultures... The place [at which the apparition was seen], called Guadalupe Hidalgo since 1822, is three miles northeast of Mexico City. Pilgrimages have been made to this shrine almost without interruption since 1531-1532."

See BBC photo essay, "Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe"


"The Virgin of Guadalupe is the most loved and revered of all santos (saints) in Mexico. She is the one who reached out to and claimed the native people of Mexico as her own.

"Millions of the faithful will gather on December 12 for processions, prayers, songs, dances, and fireworks to honor 'La Reina de México.'"

Tiny people at the pyramids

Click on the images to see just how small...



This is the southwestern corner of the Great Pyramid, which is considered the "best" route for climbing... which is expressly forbidden and quite dangerous.

Here are a few more from Giza:

Finding one's center,in the galactic sense(part two)

This was part one.


"This dazzling infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows hundreds of thousands of stars crowded into the swirling core of our Milky Way galaxy. In visible-light pictures, this region cannot be seen at all because dust lying between Earth and the galactic center blocks our view.

"In this false-color picture, old and cool stars are blue, while dust features lit up by blazing hot, massive stars are shown in a reddish hue. Both bright and dark filamentary clouds can be seen, many of which harbor stellar nurseries. The plane of the Milky Way's flat disk is apparent as the main, horizontal band of clouds. The brightest white spot in the middle is the very center of the galaxy, which also marks the site of a super-massive black hole.

"The region pictured here is immense, with a horizontal span of 890 light-years and a vertical span of 640 light-years. Earth is located 26,000 light-years away, out in one of the Milky Way's spiral arms. Though most of the objects seen in this image are located at the galactic center, the features above and below the galactic plane tend to lie closer to Earth."

An Introduction to Indian Classical Music

And now, more of the music...
this time by Pandit Sanjoy Bandopadhyay
performing Raag Puriya Kalyan

Seven doses of the sitar and the sarod(with a touch of tabla for good measure)

Pandit Ravi Shankar and company
The Concert for Bangladesh
Madison Square Garden, 1971 (part 1)


Pandit Ravi Shankar and company
The Concert for Bangladesh
Madison Square Garden, 1971 (part 2)


Anoushka Shankar
The Concert for George, 2003


Ustad Ali Akbar Khan on sarod
Raga Zila Kafi


Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Alla Rakha
Raga Charukeshi


Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Alla Rakha
Tabla solo in jhaptal


Ustad Shahid Parvez on sitar
Raga Puriya Kalyan


Subway station sitar jam in Japan

Egypt to East Asia:Another rewindthrough time

Did I mention that the Minolta scanner arrived? Perhaps not: the night that I brought it back to the apartment turned into an early morning, and then the week became interesting.

Many of the negatives from Egypt are scuffed and scratched. The Tokyo negatives were either damaged by X-rays or they weren't properly fixed: There's a fog and a green cast of underexposure in most of those images. Many of the negatives from Korea are scuffed as a result of being scanned to CD, as well.

But, as luck would have it, the negatives from the Giza Plateau were left uncut and tightly coiled for the last year. So they look great. I'll get to those soon, but right now here are some reworked images from Cairo, Sinai, Tokyo and lil' ol' Yeoju.

This was the earlier rewind.

Ogling Orion

와~!

Now that's what I'm talkin' about...

Antikythera update!

"As an ancient artefact, the importance of the Antikythera Mechanism cannot be overstated. Xenophon Moussas, professor of space physics and director of the astronomy laboratory at Athens University, alluded to the fact that new findings regarding the Mechanism will require the history of astronomy to be rewritten."


"A new analysis of the Antikythera Mechanism, a clock-like machine consisting of more than 30 precise, hand-cut bronze gears, show it to be more advanced than previously thought -- so much so that nothing comparable was built for another thousand years...

"Pieces of the ancient calculating machine were discovered by sponge divers exploring the remains of an ancient shipwreck off the tiny island of Antikythera in 1900. For decades, scientists have been trying to figure out how the device's 80 fragmented pieces fit together and unlock its workings.



"A new analysis reveals that the Antikythera Mechanism's front dials had pointers for the Sun and Moon -- called the "golden little sphere" and "little sphere," respectively -- and markings which coincided with the zodiac and solar calendars. The back dials, meanwhile, appear to have been used for predicting solar and lunar eclipses.

"The researchers also show that the device could mechanically replicate the irregular motions of the Moon, caused by its elliptical orbit around the Earth, using a clever design involving two superimposed gear-wheels, one slightly off-center, that are connected by a pin-and-slot device.


"The team was also able to pin down the device's construction date more precisely. Radiocarbon dating suggested it was built around 65 BC, but newly revealed lettering on the machine indicate a slightly older construction date of 150 to 100 BC. The team's reconstruction also involves 37 gear wheels, seven of which are hypothetical."

"Previous reconstructions suggested the Antikythera Mechanism was about the size of a shoebox, with dials on the outside and a complex assembly of bronze gear wheels within. By winding a knob on its side, the positions of the sun, Moon, Mercury and Venus could be determined for any chosen date. Newly revealed inscriptions also appear to confirm previous speculations that the device could also calculate the positions of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn—the other planets known at the time."

See "The 10 Most Puzzling Ancient Artifacts" for more about ancient technology. And be sure to check Antikythera update 2 and Antikythera update 3.

Antikythera update 2

This was update 1(!)


"This is the Antikythera Mechanism. These fragments contain at least 30 interlocking gear-wheels, along with copious astronomical inscriptions. Before its sojourn on the sea bed, it computed and displayed the movement of the Sun, the Moon and possibly the planets around Earth, and predicted the dates of future eclipses. It's one of the most stunning artefacts we have from classical antiquity.

"No earlier geared mechanism of any sort has ever been found. Nothing close to its technological sophistication appears again for well over a millennium, when astronomical clocks appear in medieval Europe. It stands as a strange exception, stripped of context, of ancestry, of descendants.

"Considering how remarkable it is, the Antikythera Mechanism has received comparatively scant attention from archaeologists or historians of science and technology, and is largely unappreciated in the wider world. A virtual reconstruction of the device, published by Mike Edmunds and his colleagues in this week's Nature (see 'Decoding the ancient Greek astronomical calculator known as the Antikythera Mechanism'), may help to change that. With the help of pioneering three-dimensional images of the fragments' innards, the authors present something close to a complete picture of how the device worked, which in turn hints at who might have been responsible for building it.

"But I'm also interested in finding the answer to a more perplexing question — once the technology arose, where did it go to? The fact that such a sophisticated technology appears seemingly out of the blue is perhaps not that surprising — records and artefacts from 2,000 years ago are, after all, scarce. More surprising, to an observer from the progress-obsessed twenty-first century, is the apparent lack of a subsequent tradition based on the same technology — of ever better clockworks spreading out round the world. How can the capacity to build a machine so magnificent have passed through history with no obvious effects?"