22 over 7 = [aspects and concepts of matter and energy / form, flame, light, space, image and imagination]

A few more moments on video

More videos from around town (plus one from Seoul):

The Harmonious Journey
wound its way through
Seoul on Sunday.

Updated 28 April:

"Thousands of young Chinese assembled to defend their country's troubled Olympic torch relay pushed through police lines in Seoul on Sunday, some of them hurling rocks, bottled water and plastic and steel pipes at protesters demanding better treatment for North Korean refugees in China.

"Two North Korean defectors living in South Korea poured paint thinner on themselves and tried to set themselves on fire in an attempt to protest what they condemned as Beijing's inhumane crackdown of North Korean refugees, but the police stopped them, according to witnesses and the police.

"The South Korean police and Chinese students also overpowered at least two other protesters who tried to impede the run along a 25-kilometer, or 15-mile, route through Seoul. The route was kept secret until the last minute and guarded by more than 8,300 police officers.

"In other cities, the globe-trotting relay of the torch leading up to the Beijing Games in August has triggered protests against China's crackdown on violent protests for independence in Tibet. In South Korea, one of the torch's final stops before entering the safety of China, demonstrators focused on human rights for North Koreans who live in hiding in China after fleeing hunger in their homeland."

From Thursday:
"The Korean Olympic Committee announced yesterday that the torch will be carried on a 24-kilometer (15-mile) course from Peace Square in Olympic Park, Songpa District in southeastern Seoul to City Hall downtown. The relay is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. and end at 7 p.m.

"However, the specific route has not been announced and is subject to last-minute changes because of security concerns, the committee said.

"The Tibet Peace United, an umbrella organization of 63 civic groups, said yesterday that it will start protests at 4 p.m. Sunday at Pagoda Park. Additionally, human rights organizations, Christian groups and North Korean refugees will demonstrate from 11 a.m. at the relay’s starting point.

"With the planned protests posing potential risks to spectators' safety as well as to the torch itself [some of the groups have declared their intention to disrupt the relay --Ed.], the National Police Agency said it will dispatch 100 elite officers to stand guard. The officers, who will wear marathon uniforms, are expected to run together with torch bearers.

"Two torch runners selected to take part in the event, environmentalist Choi Seung-kuk and civic leader Park Won-soon, have already said they will boycott the event to protest China's Tibet policies."

On to another bit of business
(namely, Brugmansia)

My Lady Friend laughed and said "I can just see it" when I told her about walking home yesterday, spying a four-foot-tall, yellow-flowered Brugmansia at a shop across the street, and then turning in midstride to cross four lanes (no traffic) in order to see it up close.

It was about seven months ago that she and I were out together and my mouth fell open when I saw a double-flowered Datura at a different flower stand. Then, like now (especially now, since I'll be leaving in four months), it's all about the seeds.

Expect to read more about my best floral friend's cousin in the coming weeks.

Oh, and here's the 2008 garden in all its splendor:

One does what one can in the space available. I could show you a lot about how and where people plant in Korea.

Meanwhile, rising in the east...

After dealing with so many photos from Saturday afternoon (331, was that what it said?), on Monday I did not want to add to the backlog. So I left the camera on the sofa when I left for school. Then I walked to the corner and saw this, which I had to use the cellphone cam to capture:

This is a 22-degree diffraction halo around the Sun, which you can just make out (look to the left of the utility pole). The bright arc above the clouds was created by either water vapor or ice crystals in a thin cloud layer. If there'd been less dense cloud cover, then there would've been a complete ring around the Sun at a distance of 22 degrees from the centerpoint... like this:

Blossom blowout, part 15
(After arigato)

OK, this is the sculpted explosion of azaleas
that I referred to in the previous post.

And because I like the photo so much,
I'll lead with the Arigato girls again.

As I told friends by email:
"No, I don't know those girls.
Yes, that's how they posed."

Part 14 and Part 16

Let's take a video break...

...although the content will still be local flora.

First, here's another view of those quince blossoms I went nutty about two weeks ago.

Next, the sculpted explosion of azaleas in front of which the "Yes! More Arigato!" girls posed.

Finally, from Saturday, some busy bees among late-blooming blossoms. When I get the corresponding photos online, the blossom blowout will be over.

Blossom blowout, part 14
(In the pink, part three)

Part 13 and part 15

Blossom blowout, part 13

Just thought I'd mention that 95 percent of the tree blossoms (and half of the azaleas) around Gimhae have blown away or begun to fade since these shots were taken. There are so many of these Blowout posts because I was reveling in the emergence of color (and I knew that it would all soon be be gone).

Part 12 and part 14

Blossom blowout, part 12
(Whiteout)

Part 11 and part 13

Blossom blowout, part 11
(In the pink, part two)

And now, a splash of red:

Part 10 and part 12

I got them lowdown
(really low to the ground)
Imho Mountain blues.

Seen on a recent walk. Reasonably certain that the first set are Hackelia (versus Myosotis).

Now, these last three: I called the first something like a wild iris, but it's actually something like (if not actually) wild pansy. The next is sweet violet. And the last one... I have no idea. The closest thing I can reference is five-finger grass.

A white version of the wild pansy:

Other flowers and forms

Let's take a break from the blossom blowout, shall we?

Blossom blowout, part eight
(Some magnolias from March)

Part seven and part nine

Blossom blowout, part seven

Part six and part eight

Blossom blowout, part six

Part five and part seven

Blossom blowout, part five

The same tree, two weeks later:

Part four and part six

Blossom blowout, part four

Part three and part five

Blossom blowout, part three
(Captivated by quince)

These photos were taken four days
after the quince pics in this post.

Part two and part four

Blossom blowout, part two

Part one and part three

Blossom blowout, part one

Picking up where I left off...

Part two

Islands and lifeforms at risk:
GMO crops in Hawai'i

"When the biotech industry decides to use the lands and people of Hawai'i as its test guinea pigs, local farmers, activists, researchers and others speak out. This excellent documentary was made in 2006 by Na Maka o ka Aina for Earthjustice, a non-profit public interest law firm."

via The Pinky Show

It's my birthday and I'll stare at the sky if I want to.

Alas, it became overcast...

"April 12, 2008, will be the second International Sidewalk Astronomy Night and we [the Sidewalk Astronomers] invite all amateur astronomers to join us! We'll have telescopes out on the street corners, in front of movie theaters, in state and national parks, in city-centre parks... anywhere there are crowds of people!

"Our goal is to take scopes to the public on the same night worldwide, reaching hundreds of thousands of people and uniting amateur astronomers on different continents. We also hope many amateurs will try and like this different approach to astronomy outreach and will continue to hold sidewalk observing sessions throughout the year."

Got other plans, or it's overcast where you are? Don't worry: National Astronomy Day is on May 10 this year.

Here's a post about some public outreach that I did on National Astronomy Day in 2005, when I had my 'scope out on the corner of Republican and Broadway in Seattle.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco...

Update, 4.12: The New York Times has a follow-up on Carter's action. And there was no problem with the video below: NoScript was blocking it in my browsers.

Majora Carter, executive director of Sustainable South Bronx and a 2005 MacArthur Genius Award winner, was one of the torchbearers in yesterday's roundabout torch relay.

But when she took out a Tibetan flag tucked in her sleeve (similar to a move by another torchbearer in London, I read), the People's Armed Police flame attendants and the SFPD just about literally threw her out.

Which was unfortunate (and heavy-handed)... but I don't know that I would've learned more about Carter's work of late otherwise. I first heard of and posted about Majora Carter three years ago, in regard to an article she wrote about recent environmental initiatives in Chicago.

Majora Carter's "Greening the ghetto"
presentation at the TED conference in 2006:

Speaking of Tibetan lamas in Seattle...

Update, 4.12: The Herald Tribune sets the spiritual scene in the city.

"Organizers of the five-day Seeds of Compassion conference in Seattle say the Dalai Lama's visit is expected to draw more than 150,000 people.

"Despite political pressure from China, the Dalai Lama was determined to attend the conference because of his commitment to global peace, organizers said.

"'He wants compassion for both sides, for the Tibetans, for the Chinese brothers,' said Lama Tenzin Dhonden, a Tibetan monk who spearheaded the development of the conference.

"Seeds of Compassion will feature dozens of workshops on various subjects, beginning with a panel discussion Friday with the Dalai Lama on 'The Scientific Basis for Compassion: What We Know Now.' Early childhood development is one of the main focuses of the conference.

"Tickets for events involving the Dalai Lama have already sold out, according to the conference Web site."

Refer to the previous post to learn about the Karmapa Lama's visit to Seattle and other US cities next month.

Hold the phone: The Karmapa
will visit America in May

The 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, the head of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, will make appearances in New York City, Woodstock NY (location of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra monastery), Boulder CO, and Seattle. The Karmapa's tour will run from May 15 until June 2.

This visit has anticipated for years, and I hope it will bring a flowering of awareness and education for many, many people. Some will recall that we visited Bodhgaya, India, during the Kagyu prayer festival in January. I had the closely held hope that I might see the Karmapa at that event, but I don't know if he was even in attendance when we arrived.

Anyhow, to explain why I consider this news to be so compelling, allow me to transmit something from the original source:

"In mid-May, a serious young man of 22 who is revered as the 17th Karmapa -- now the second-most-important figure in Tibetan Buddhism -- will make his first visit to the United States. The trip comes eight years after his dramatic flight to India from a monastery near Lhasa at the end of 1999, when he was just 14 years old. This is the first time that a skittish India has allowed him permission to travel abroad. His flight from Tibet was a considerable embarrassment to China.

"In a thriller that is already a legend among Buddhists, the Karmapa and two fellow monks drove in secret from Tsurphu Monastery, north of Lhasa, to the remote and rugged border of Mustang, a former Buddhist kingdom now part of Nepal. From there he and his companions made a dash by horseback to the nearest Nepali airport, from which they were able to fly unnoticed via Katmandu to Delhi. The Karmapa, born Ogyen Trinley Dorji, arrived unannounced in Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama's base, in January 2000, and has remained under the watchful eye of the Tibetan leader since.

"This is a significant milestone for Tibetan Buddhists and a momentous one for Western practitioners. The young lama's predecessor, the 16th Karmapa, visited the United States on numerous occasions and had established in the 1980s a part-time American seat in Woodstock, New York, at the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra center. After the young Karmapa's flight from Tibet, the Woodstock monastery immediately geared up to welcome him, even designing furniture to match his sturdy frame. Then they waited, and waited and waited. He will now finally get to see their work. The Karmapa's American followers would like to have him establish his base in the United States, making him the first Asian religious leader of that magnitude to live in the West."

Assorted images
before another barrage
of blossoms

Scenes from the Korean streets

Gimhae traditional market

Campaign dancers in Jinyeong

Campaigning on the corner in Gimhae

Chasing petals

Bees and blossoms

After school on April 1

Backlit blossoms

More GImhae videos are here.

A quince quintet
(not counting the video)

As promised in an earlier post... more of the flowering quince. That name's a bit mislplaced, by the way, because all varieties of Chaenomeles spp. produce flowers.

Still in the (re)mix, this time
with the plum/cherry flowers

The original set is here.

Apricot blossoms (the remix)

Initially, I thought these were cherry blossoms. Then I called them plums, but now I know that they're maehwa (Korean: 매화), the blossom of "a kind of apricot tree."