Janet wrote about her confusion re how computers work.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey, so far as I know the transistor acts as a tiny switch, either on or off, either 0 or 1. This allows binary arithmetic and Boolean algebra. Each such binary switch is called a bit, and it is convenient to group eight bits into a byte. With eight bits, then, or one byte, one can represent all the numbers from 0 to 255. For instance, in 24-bit (3-byte) color, typically, red and green and blue each are allowed one byte of data--eight bits. Each of these three colors can assume any value between 0 and 255. This gives over sixteen million combinations, from {0,0,0} to {255,255,255}.In order for all this to work with decent speed and low power consumption, we need transistors, which are very very fast switches. The number of transistors in a computer's CPU is, what, up into the billions? Millions for sure.

Didn't Crystal advise you to actually tackle the pretty boys? I'm sure that's how it's done. Meeting people.
OK Dude 'bye for now.
Te amo.
October 1, 2007 8:58 AM

Janet wrote about misguided efforts to make new friends at college.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Dude! You have been at Davis for not two days and you are worrying about making new friends! Relax, don't worry, be happy! Like your brother says, you are AWESOME!

Did you get that 8X10 photo OK?
What's the problem with the Inreach account?

Love, Dad
Sept. 25, 2007

Janet wrote about her social life.

Miss Adventurous,
This reminds me of the form that word takes in Portuguese, "desventura," a disadventure, as in the great song by Vinícius, Eu Sei Que Vou Te Amar, quote, "eu sei que vou sofrer, a eterna desventura de viver." Translation: "I know that I am going to suffer the eternal misadventure of living.

"The Latin "ego" became Portuguese "eu," Spanish "yo."

Your Latin classmate sounds nice. By the way, it is interesting to consider the etymology of the word "obscene," a compound of the Latin preposition "ob" and the noun "scaenus," which seems to mean, off-the-stage, implicitly, what should not be shown.

Adeus (Portuguese), Adiós (Spanish), Adieu (French).
Love,
Dad
October 5, 2007 4:35 AM

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey, Dude, you discovered The Office! It's hilarious! In fact, it really stands out from the crowd!

I saw one a week or two ago where the head guy decides they have to all do a 5K Run to Defeat Rabies: Find a Cure! No one can convince him that there already *is* a cure!

So far as Heroes, I think Hiro is going to bring that pretty princess of the cherry blossoms forward into our present time!

Hmmm, I think the iTunes thing, Strategy #140, may be good!

Good thing you're coming up this weekend, we've got major firewood chores! Heh heh! Heh!

Love,
Dad
October 9, 2007 6:02 PM

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey,OK OK I was just kidding, Gus can do the firewood chores! Heh heh.

Prospectus: literally, forward-looking.Initiation: preposition "in" plus noun "iter" (?), hence, en-journeying (?).I checked, we have both Szechuan sauce and popcorn.

See ya,
Dad
October 10, 2007 7:01 AM

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey, Bear-Charger,

Speaking of the number of transistors in modern CPUs, I find that a new Intel quad-core processor demonstrated recently has 847 million transistors.

Also, you seem to have thoroughly scared the bear. It has not returned.

Also, I saw on TV last night that the dread Grizzly Bears, up by Yellowstone, go up into the high country in the summer, above timberline, and tear into big talus slides, ripping the boulders up to get at the Pine Tussock Moth, which shelters beneath the boulders during the day, feeding on flower nectar at night. And the bears lap up these moths pretty much one by one. And these moths help the bears fatten for the coming winter.

That is pretty amazing. Well, not out of keeping with standard bear behavior: tearing up logs to get at grubs, tearing up yellowjacket nests to eat the grubs. But the video of these bears just ripping up two-hundred-pound boulders on vast steep slopes of talus ... amazing ... and then they would go glissade down some snowfield.

Love,

Dad
October 15, 2007 2:46 PM

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey Dude,

That bear was back today, and would not be chased away. It is in bad shape, the poor thing. Someone shot it, and its lower jaw is hanging by a thread. That's what it "had in its mouth" when we saw it the other day. It is somewhat dangerous, being sick and starving. I tried to call Fish and Game but their line was busy every time for a half hour. I guess if I was a real man I would have a gun and I would put it out of its misery.

Anyway, that's the latest news from here. Except, I am making some more short music videos for YouTube, today, comparing two related songs by De Moraes and Jobim.

Adieu, Adios, Adeus,

Dad
October 16, 2007 3:24 PM

North_Fork_Trails said...
OK Dude after using my miraculous Google skills I think that your mystery movie is "Rainbow War," as discussed here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_WarSo now maybe you can find it on YouTube etc.

Love,Dad
October 19, 2007 1:52 PM

Janet had received a long comment - written in Portuguese by unknown person

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey Dude, Brazilian spam! Who would have thought!

At least he tells you that your blog is "bem interessante," well-interesting. "Gostaria de falar" means "I would like to speak." In Spanish this would be "Gustaría de hablar," believe. It is interesting that the "ar" verb "hablar" of Spanish is the "ar" verb "falar" of Portuguese. I am not sure which "are" Latin verb these both derive from. Google would sort that out pretty quickly.

OK, love you, 'bye for now,

Dad
October 23, 2007 7:15 AM


North_Fork_Trails said...
OK I find that (Wikipedia)

"Thus, Spanish hijo and hablar correspond to Portuguese filho and falar (from Latin filium and fabulare, respectively).

"So. Both from "fabulare." This is a verb I much doubt I have encountered in Caesar or Cicero. There is an additional etymology at work here.

Ad deus (L.), adeus (P.), adiós (Sp.),

Dad
October 23, 2007 7:21 AM

Janet wrote about coloring her hair.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Blue? Hmmm, could be nice. A light metallic blue. But then maybe the rest of your hair would have to go to a light blonde.

October 25, 2007 8:17 AM

Janet wrote about an online writers magazine

North_Fork_Trails said...
Cool, I like the sound of that magazine.

Here, Greg and I "Hold Down The Fort." I am making animations of fractals, morphing. There is a high thin overcast this morning, it is dim and peaceful. Leaves fell, for a while, now they hold down their tiny forts, in peace, in peace, and even the blue jays have stilled their tiny tongues, and closed their powerful beaks.

October 27, 2007 8:06 AM

North_Fork_Trails said...
Ah, the good old Death Star!

I took a look at Nameless Magazine, and I like it. I read parts of some few stories, and one closely mirrored WildMouse's own stories about his violin training, as an infant, in a distant galaxy, where the violin tutors are cruel, and the young mice are, well, as meek as the very nicest of mice. Long, long before WildMouse grew to be six-foot-three in his socks, broad of shoulder, narrow of hip, and steely of glinting eye, he was a virtuoso violinist. Later, he would earn many hundreds of thousands of units of that far-flung currency, per second, as a violin teacher. Ah, those were the days ...

October 28, 2007 8:29 AM

Janet had posted her picture in her Halloween costume.



North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey PumpkinDude, awesome costume!

have been discovering all kinds of new connections between English, Latin, Portuguese, etc.

For instance, in Portuguese, to say "thank you," one says "muito obrigado." Port. "muito" = Sp. "mucho" = Latin "multo"= English "much.

"But "obrigado" is just a slurring of "obligado."

Hence we have the direct equivalent in English: "muito obrigado" = "much obliged."

Cool, huh?

Love,

Dad
November 1, 2007 12:16 PM

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey Janet,So I hear there is a reason you may be somewhat distracted. Sounds good to me.

Your midterms will go well enough.

By all means write, but not to the exclusion of joy.

Love,
Dad

November 2, 2007

Janet got a test score of 111% ( thus WildMouse strikes again!)

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey, wow, 111%, that reminds of when WildMouse, etc. ect., 1,111%, etc. etc.!

But very good, very good, nonetheless!

It's been 80 degrees each afternoon for three days now ... awesome ...

Adeus,

Dad
November 6, 2007 6:51 AM

Janet was going to vote for the first time.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey Dude, Rwanda? Clinton? Is a president all-powerful? Should the U.S. be the World's Policeman? That last question is one which is very tough and to argue one side or another usually will mean that all kinds of implications and poorly-expressed agendas are in attendance.

For instance, one person might say, "yes, be world policeman, save the innocent people in Rwanda, immediately."But that same person might be offended by Bush's invasion of Iraq. Then it would be "hey, what do you think our country is, world policeman?"

Of course there is the so-called Lesson of World War II. That lesson is usually interpreted to mean that our isolationism was a failure and cost us dearly. We should have acted, we should have shouldered the burden of being World Policeman. Also the Lesson is often interpreted to mean that the appeasement of Hitler by Chamberlain not only failed, but if anything it led to war, yes, to war, but at a time not of our own choosing, at a time not to our own advantage, militarily.

No, the question of whether or not, and if so, in what way, the U.S. should be World Policeman, is not only difficult but severely muddied by, well, muddy thinking.Love, Dadp.s. have a great road trip!

Love,

Dad
November 9, 2007 8:31 AM

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey congratulations on your 100th clog post! I really like your clog.Good that Rich and Chris visited and took you shopping. Good that your tree has a skirt.

All is well here.

Love, Dad.
November 29, 2007 6:24 AM

Janet had discovered that her vitamins contained caffeine.

North_Fork_Trails said...
What kind of pill has caffeine? NoDoz?

Maybe you should try coffee. After all, you are a writer.

Interesting clouds this morning. I am working on a new polar zonohedron algorithm for POV-Ray. I have got two versions of POV, one is UNIX and runs under X11, the other is Mac. I've got the UNIX version rendering 1200 640X480 frames for an animation, each frame takes about 15 or 20 minutes. It will take many days. Two and a half days so far, frame 216 is rendering right now.

But that leaves my Mac version of POV free for other work.

I had a funny programming experience. I decided to make a polar zonohedron as a "solid of translation" in POV. I would take the n vectors v[n], and first translate a sphere along 0*v[1], 1*v[1], ..., 9*v[1]. So, a line of ten spheres.

Then I would translate this line of spheres along 0*v[2], 1*v[2], etc.

Then I would translate this rhomb of 100 spheres along 0*v[3], etc. etc.

And so on.

But I neglected one thing: the number of spheres grows large very quickly.

I got the basic procedure up and running and said, OK, time for n=8.POV crashed almost immediately. I re-opened and examined my code. Tried again. Crash. Again. Crash. Again. Crash.

Then it finally occurred to me: I was asking POV to render 10*10*10*10*10*10*10*10 spheres! Or one hundred million. And that was too much.

However it works fine for n=4. I will send you an animation of a rhombic dodecahedron made from 1000 spheres.

Love,

Dad
November 30, 2007 10:26 AM

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey Jan, you should know that geometers have senses of humor. My hero Professor Coxeter used the quotation below to introduce one of his chapters, in his book "Geometry Revisited."

"Since you are now studying geometry and trigonometry, I will give you a problem. A ship sails the ocean. It left Boston with a cargo of wool. It grosses 200 tons. It is bound for Le Havre ... . There are 12 passengers aboard. The wind is blowing East-North-East. The clock points to a quarter past three in the afternoon. It is the month of May. How old is the captain?"
--Gustave Flaubert.

I had to share it with you.

Adieu,Dad
December 3, 2007 10:46 AM

Janet had a computer problem

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey,

I much doubt that it was changing to "Endure" that allowed Google to find your Parkour page. I tried Googling "davis parkour" and only three pages were returned. Your blog post was from October. Before any change to "Endure."

It is possible that you can set your blog to *not* be indexed by Google but I don't know. Some sites are that way. For instance, Google searches do not link to content within certain history sites. It's some kind of agreement Google makes with various web sites. These sites prefer that people can only access site content by passing through the site portal itself as it were ...Beautiful sunny day here. Just finished a new (to me) Terry Pratchett, "Interesting Times." Ah it should be made into a movie.

Luvya,

Dad
December 10, 2007 1:05 PM

Janet wrote re hopes for getting a good grade in Latin

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey Dude the Latin sounds great!

Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus!

See you soon,

Dad
December 11, 2007 10:26 PM

Janet was considering taking a course on spiders

North_Fork_Trails said...
The thing of it is, with spiders, it goes beyond mere cultural importance: they are culturally self-important, too! So there is an added layer of complexity.

We finally have electricity again as of this (Wednesday) morning.

The Tempest by Shakespeare one presumes? One of my favorites.

Hope the cell phone arrives soon,

Love,Dad
January 9, 2008 9:15 AM

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey Dude is the iPod under warranty? It's not that old. Dreadful it's broken.

Betcha it' foggy there. For once in a long while it is sunny here.

Your classes sound good. Ah the Tempest. What could be better. And you have the luck to make a presentation.

Luvya,Dad
January 11, 2008 8:43 AM

Janet got a new cell phone

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey Dude great news, you have one of those new-fangled telephones I've been hearing about! What, there's no cord at all? C'est impossible!

I understand they make great stepping-stones, too, like during a party, if someone needs to cross the room, and people are stretched out on the floor, profligately, in every direction, you just step from cell phone to cell phone.

Hmm, a beautiful sunny morning here. If we were out at Lovers Leap we'd be looking down on a vast ocean of white, to the west. The Sierra and the Coast Range would be seen rising in long islands above that ruffled white sea, rising, I say, sunny, benevolent, even warm. But down within that argent ocean ... it is grey upon grey and cold upon cold and damp upon damp.

Luvya,Dad
January 15, 2008 7:53 AM

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey Dude, MouseBrute,

I had no idea Clinton was at Davis. Sorry you missed him.

Good news about your apartment! We all love you very much and miss you, thank goodness we have your blog! Glad your iPod is back up and running!

Luvya,Dad
January 16, 2008 8:59 AM

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey Dude,Cool rugs!

Great you found the elusive iPod!

Hi Crystal!

It's been cloudy and cold and stormy forever up here. We're not buried in snow anyway. Just a few inches, maybe a foot up in the meadow.

So anyway, in Latin, ad deus, in French adieu, in Spanish adiós, in Portuguese adeus,

Dad
January 25, 2008 1:50 PM

Janet wrote about a party her roommates were having that disrupted her sleep.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey Dude,

I've got your absentee ballot right here! I should have sent it down to you with Gay the other day but it was in a pile of mail and I didn't even think of it.

Today is breezy, sometimes a little sunny. I made hot water for the first time in a week or whatever.

Fooling around in your dorm room! The teenagers these days! Why, when I was young, we were all well-behaved, endowed with manners rather than mannerisms, and, such pointless hijinks as running around dorm rooms without a shirt--why, we were too busy walking to school in the snow for any of that, let me tell you!

Dad
January 26, 2008 3:16 PM

Janet was looking forward to the new season of "Lost".

North_Fork_Trails said...
Dudeling,I hear tell NBC will air an "enhanced" final-episode-of-last-season Wednesday night. Or whatever the night is before the night of the season premiere.

Be Forewarned,and,Avoid Facebook At All Costs,

Dad
January 29, 2008 11:45 AM

Janet had died her hair.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey I hoped it would be a nice light powder blue!

Luvya, Dad

p.s. you can drop off your absentee ballot at any polling place, you don't have to mail it.

February 4, 2008 7:00 AM

Naet wrote about a Lost episode and had posted pictures that showed the results of the strangest hair styles.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey Dude,Great hairstyles!

Shall I just tell you what happened in Lost? How WildMouse found, to his surprise, that he was scarcely more than a tool of the Evil Empire, and then the Wicked Witch of the West by Southwest raised her Instrument of Destruction, and she pointed that Instrument directly at the honest mouse, and she ...

But, no, I should not give it away.

Luvya,Dad
February 15, 2008 12:59 PM

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey Dude,You'd be lost without Lost! Heh heh heh.

Good job on the Chinese! That'll teach'em to go and have civilizations and dynasties and things!

Did you know the gangster tongs of old Dutch Flat were also to some extent patriotic, anti-Manchu organizations? "Down with the Manchu, restore the Ming!" Like the Chee Kong Tong for instance? Which sheltered Sun Yat Sen himself from the Imperial assassins, in San Francisco, in the 1880s? But Dutch Flat had its own branch of the Chee Kong Tong. One of the nicest buildings in Chinatown. Not far form the McClungs', other side of the dirt road going down Squires Canyon and down the hill a few yards.

Maybe if you went for platinum blonde, it would average out to a nice light blue?

We've still got a ton of snow here. Slowly it melts. Not a speck of bare ground by the cabins and the road is a mess.

OK luvya and way to go on the midterm, except, by all means don't neglect your Latin! When Caesar said, "Et tu, Brute," the 'Brute' is in the vocative!

I'm still puzzled by how Portuguese works. You know, in Spanish the masculine for 'the' is 'el." Clearly from Latin illo etc. In Portuguese it's shortened to merely 'o'. What's confusing is to add the article all the time where I think it doesn't belong: "my love" becomes "o meu amor." It seems to me that in Spanish we'd never say "el mio amor" but I may be all wrong.

Dad
February 7, 2008 3:32 PM

Janet had been climbing trees with Eli.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey Janet,Sounds like a great weekend! But I'm worried about your tree-climbing. Eli may be a master climber but you are not. Of course practice makes perfect but caution, extreme caution, is called for! Just yesterday Greg was up in a little tree here by the cabins, a little Douglas Fir maybe thirty feet tall. I sent him up there to see if we coudl throw a rope around another tree nearby; it turned out we couldn't; so from a height of fiteen feet he began to descend. He thinks of himself as an expert climber--and maybe that was the problem; for he trusted his weight to the wrong branch, it broke, and in an instasnt he was falling, breaking other branches on his way down, and he landed neatly in the snow, after a fall of ten feet. And if it had not been for that foot or so of soft snow--we don't even want to think about it. That fall was over before either of us really knew it had begun.

So please be very very cautious!

I love you so much and admire you, keep up the great blog and the good work at college!--

Dad
February 11, 2008 7:51 AM

Janet wrote that her Muse had inspired her to do some writing.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey Janet,

Your Muse is very amusing, good thing she escaped the Museum, under the influence of Music, har de har har,

bemusedly yours,Dad
February 20, 2008 7:44 AM

Janet wrote about wanting to find yogurt that did not have high fructose corn syrup in it.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey how about natural food stores? gotta be a great one in Davis! Or ... buy plain yogurt, add real strawberries, mash it around, voila!

They say, you know, that WildMouse's Muse lived in a museum, and played the cithara very well ... while eating strawberry yogurt! So it's a small universe, I guess.

Hey, fantastic job on the Latin! I am so pleased! As WildMouse's Muse was wont to say, or sing, to tell the absolute truth, "concrescunt subitae currenti in flumine crustae, undaque iam tergo ferratos sustinet orbis," etc. etc.

Sed fugit interea, fugit inreparabile tempus, hinc illae lacrimae,

Dad
February 20, 2008 4:46 PM

Janet wrote about her skill having improved with the game Rockband.

North_Fork_Trails said...
I really liked your description of the bike ride in the rain. And good job, on mastering the guitar and drums! Here we anxiously awaited the Giant Storm and, as they say, parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.

February 24, 2008 6:48 AM

Janet was looking forward to two TV shows.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey, I can understand "Lost," but "America's Next Top Model"? Unless, of course, it were models of polyhedra, or of tessellations. Yes, that must be it. Now I understand.

What is better, on the other hand, than flowering cherry trees?

Answer: nothing is better. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, some obscure passage of the Bible reveals that God Himself made a mistake; for He intended the flowering cherry tree to be Heavenly, alone; yet, in an odd moment of confusion, He put it here on Earth.

Hence the phrase, "Heaven on Earth."

Just a little scholarship.

Luvya,Dad
March 1, 2008 1:07 PM

North_Fork_Trails said...
Is "alright" really a word?

Janet wrote about her assorted classes for the third quarter

Whatever happened to using Caesar's "War Commentaries" as a first-year Latin text? "Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur.

"Why, Shakespeare himself mentions the Belgae, for whom modern Belgium is named.

The Styles class sounds interesting. Clothing is much about tribal membership. Have you ever wondered about the "tie" which professional men are supposed to wear? What does it tie? It is some kind of ritualized scarf, but it has lost all purpose, except ornament, and most of all, above all, it expresses membership in the tribe of "professionals." A tie is all about class. It screams out, "I am one of those lucky ones who never dirties his hands, never shoulders a load, never pounds, never digs, never saws."
April 2, 2008 7:03 AM

Janet was ailing and also upset re ruining a hat by putting it in the dryer.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Eek it sounds like the dread influenza ...

Maybe if your hat is soaked thoroughly you can stretch it back and make it dry in the stretched position?

Hope you are feeling better today and have a nice musical experience ... all is well here, it feels like Spring, primavera.

Dad
March 4, 2008 6:23 AM

Janet was working out at the gym - and concerned that she was running out of blog titles


North_Fork_Trails said...
Seriously, you are that out of shape! But running is too hard on the joints. What you need is hiking in and out of deep canyons to become lithe and svelte. Toss in some lopping to keep the good old trails open and voila, you are fit! Then you can have two lunches in one day, every day!

I found a little piece of a 100-year-old-plus glass plate right on the trail by the Second Spring yesterday! Must be from the miners who made the tunnels. Or perhaps from the railroad-wood-cutters.

BTW you have by no means run out of clever titles!

I've found even more errors in Le Vaisseau Magique. I begin to wonder if the translator took as a point of beginning a machine translation, and then edited it. Mais non, c'est impossible!

Adieu,

Dad
April 3, 2008 7:01 AM

Termites had invaded Janet's dorm

North_Fork_Trails said...
Termites! I wonder if Jackie even recognizes a termite when she sees one. Termites would thrive on wet wood, so if there were a leak in the plumbing in the bathroom, that could do it. But they would have to either fumigate massively or else tear everything out and keep on tearing out until no more infested wood was found and *then* fumigate for good measure ...What a nuisance!

Maybe you should request a spot in the Honors dorm.

April 4, 2008 7:08 AM

Janet had reached a state of "inner zen" about the termites

North_Fork_Trails said...
Wow, how exciting, how beyond exciting, meta-exciting! It is Saturday, hence, it will soon be Saturday night, and you will have the pleasure of doing your homework!

Zen. Zen. I love Zen. "What is the sound of one hand, clapping?" And thus, by this seemingly simple koan, was satori achieved. But ... wait ... what is the sound of one termite, clapping?"

Before satori I chopped wood and carried water. After satori, I did my homework and refused to worry about termites." [a paraphrase of the famous old Zen saying, as reported by Daisetz Suzuki]

April 5, 2008 2:12 PM

Janet was still dealing with termites

North_Fork_Trails said...
Great job on the naps!

Ah the mid-numbing routine of daily life: wash the termites down the drain, ...

Laserhawk sounds great! Wish I could watch it with you!

Yes the only actor to come out of Star Wars alive, more or less, was Harrison Ford. Oh yeah, I guess the guy who did Darth's voice (good old Darth!), didn't crash and burn either.

April 8, 2008 4:40 PM

Janet had a problem re writing a paper because the locks to her dorm had been changed

North_Fork_Trails said...
Good job on watching the long boring movie!

Wow what a hassle with the lock! And yet you managed to write the essay anyway! Cool!

I'm writing an article about the Generalized Dual Method (you know, my "arrangements of lines" which lead to tilings) and I'm getting bogged down, a couple thousand words into the thing. On the one hand I want brevity, on the other hand, I want to develop the proper context, the proper introduction to the subject. But I am two thousand words in and the GDM has scarcely raised its head. So I am thinking, maybe I should just launch the reader into the thick of things right at the start, and then retreat to the context, and then return to the GDM. Anyway, you know what I mean. It's part of what makes writing well difficult.


April 11, 2008 7:34 AM

Janet wrote about ridiculous textbooks

North_Fork_Trails said...
This reminds me strongly of some remarks I made to a friend, recently:

"Uh, well, the Sphere: the Sphere is influenced, deeply influenced, by the Tao. In consequence, and of course, from all its time in the Hidden Caves of Tibet, the Sphere can levitate, rather freely ... its principal concern is to follow, and, if at all possible, overtake the Cone.

Unfortunately, absolutely everything to do with the Cone is a secret."

April 13, 2008 2:53 PM

Eli gave Janet a cactus for their 5 Mo. anniversary

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey that cactus sounds really great! Maybe it will Invade the World, though. Genetically engineered, ahem, well, when I was a kid we listened to real music, not this punky rock or whatever they call it with their teenage slang ... and we had no genetically engineered cacti whatsoever. Except those cacti honestly engineered, through millenia of millenia of millenia of evolution.

So far as jobs, look for something really good, in writing, or something which excites and inspires you yourself. Please?

Today I am having trouble with programming and geometry, and I leave one comma out f some code, and then nothing works, and I could just scream! In fact, I do scream. Today nothing comes easy.

Luvya,

Dad
April 15, 2008 3:52 PM

Janet had accidently spilled a huge glass of water onto her laptop.

North_Fork_Trails said...
OMG! OMG OMG OMG!Please be very very cautious about your laptop! Water kills electronics! I am thinking, how can you be sure there isn't a drop or two in there, still? I would suggest setting it in the sun with the battery taken out and if possible the optical drive bay open ... I just don't know what to say ... it is almost enough to force you to take it in to the UCD bookstore, which as I understand it has a computer repair facility of some kind.OMG OMG OMG!If you can turn the thing in such a way that one single drop of water escapes ...OMG OMG!

luvya,Dad

April 18, 2008 6:47 AM

Janet was anticipating dinner at a Mongolian Barbeque.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Great news about the MacBook!

You know, WildMouse, he preferred Transylvanian Barbecue. The Wicked Witch of the East by Northeast (what a hottie!) would round up a bunch of sturdy yet songful elves, grab her Magic Sword, and go chop vampires into not-so-tiny, bloody pieces. Then, call WildMouse over, and barbecue those vampire pieces. The taste -- out of this world! Such a stirring, multi-faceted experience! In after years, when some random, quixotic event triggered recollection of those halcyon days, WildMouse would isolate himself in some darkened room of the vast and ancient palace, with scraps of filtered sunshine ghosting across the dim and distant walls, and listen to Schumann. A tiny tear would roll down his muscular cheek. His broad shoulders would shiver, slightly, as intense emotions threatened to overwhelm that powerful mouse. No one ever saw him in those rare moments.

April 21, 2008 10:47 AM

The professor in Janet's Latin class had them celebrate Rome"s birthday.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Ah yes, good old Rome, founded in 753 B.C. as tradition has it. Which is almost exactly when Greek colonies began to proliferate on the Italian peninsula and in Sicily. It is no accident that the Latin alphabet is derived from the Greek alpha, beta, ... .

In Plutarch we find interesting tales of the founding of Rome, in his Life of Romulus.

In Virgil's Aeneid, we find what traditionally happened just before the time of Romulus, immediately following the Trojan War. By this tradition, Rome arose from Trojan refugees. Perhaps, blurring our focus, we find the Romans wishing only to specify that they were *not* Greek, and, if anything, opposed to the Greeks.

Later, of course, by the time of Divus Julius, the Romans felt themselves much in the business of preserving and promulgating Greek culture. Sort of, "We Romans may not have the creative genius of the Greeks, but we know how to rule, and we will keep the Greek flame alive, through the centuries."

And they did ...
April 22, 2008 8:36 AM

When Janet ate at Chevy's her friends said it was Janet's birthday. Thus, she had to wear a sombrero during the meal.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey what's all this stress floating around?

Spanish sombra = shade, sombrero = shade-maker, compare English "somber.

"With great verve and flair, she wore her somber sombrero? Why isn't that a famous phrase?

April 22, 2008 3:13 PM

Janet wrote that all her classes are boring and that her Style class was overly philosophical.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Ah, the Philosophy of Style, and the Philosophy of the Philosophy of English Literature. Two of WildMouse's least favorite subjects, and I for one agree with the mighty mouse.

But -- how does one measure Insight or Understanding?

Do Insight and Undertanding become merely a matter of speaking loudly, with lots of self-assurance? I know, because, I loudly say I know?

Clamo, ergo cogito? What is the Latin for "I shout"?

April 24, 2008 9:34 PM

Janet's English prof had praised her essay topic - in front of the whole class.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hmm ... great topic ... but essay does not exist ...

I would caution not to overreach yourself. If a comparison is apt but not perfect, don't hide the imperfections, don't ask too much from the analogies, where they do exist ...

April 30, 2008 7:58 AM

Janet got sunburned due to an unplanned nap. She was not sure she could get to Greg's play that night.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Asleep in the sun oh no!

The play begins at 7:00 p.m.

We saw it last night, it was great although Greg was thrust unexpectedly into a second role and had some trouble with a few lines that he was given like two hours to memorize. So he thinks he was terrible but he was great. It was quite a nice production, really, with quite a slew of witches writhing all over the stage in clouds of fake fog ...

May 3, 2008 6:58 AM

Janet had slept all day and felt better.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Good job on the sleeping!

If Greg hadn't recited Duncan's lines by mistake, it might have gone a little smoother ... and then he was always hamming it up, playing to the audience, as you can easily see on the

FRONT PAGE OF THE COLFAX RECORD!!!!

Heh heh ...

May 4, 2008 9:50 AM

Janet could wear bracelets again as she was not wearing long sleeved shirts.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hey Dude like I said forward that photo to Gramcie.

Good job on the bracelets!

Good grade on the essay! Writing well is really tough.

May 6, 2008 5:57 PM

Janet wrote that her English essay had wavered a bit at the end - she thinks she disproved her point.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Managed to disprove your point? Yeek!

"Random jobs." What about something in writing possibly involving UC Davis in-house pubs or internet portal?

Your clothes sound great, a picture would be cool.

Greg will be home late, one hopes in time for Lost. If his adoring fans will let him leave his mini-mountain of roses ...

Oh yeah, good job, Janet and Eli, on the bike! Especially good if it does not fall off again!

May 8, 2008 2:38 PM

Janet wrote about the hot weather.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Hang in there, you're doing great!

Windy, but not hot, here. Gardens flourishing, in the most literal sense of the word. If you catch my drift.

Just finished a most bizarre book you probably purchased once at Heathrow, "Perdido Station." Not great, not terrible, but fairly original. Very very wordy. Everything is always dirty, diseased, degenerate, dreadful, and doubtful, but in a thousand different combinations which all have the same sum.

May 15, 2008 9:54 AM

Eli took Janet to Hooters for their six month anniversary.

North_Fork_Trails said...
What a hoot!

That swimming pool is a godsend!

Speaking of Latin, I was just reflecting, today, that Latin utrum -> Spanish otro == Portuguese outro == English other. In the English the original Latin word is pretty badly distorted, but the connection seems clear. Probably via French something-or-other.

Love you, et cetera,

Dad
May 18, 2008 3:32 AM

North_Fork_Trails said...
Yeah, well, hang in there, and, as a student of the language of the Angles (and what is the etymology of the English word-ending, "ish"?), isn't "argh" usually spelled with two r's?

Perdido Station. Of course, "perdido" means "lost" in Spanish. And Portuguese. Related to English "perdition." One imagines a Latin verb, perdere. Well, after way way too many words, the story finally gets going, with the arrival of the slake-moths. And there is no happy ending. One thinks there will be. But no.

Oh yeah! Because you gave "Iron Man" an A-, Greg and I went and saw it in Colfax last night! We figured, an A- from Janet is equal to anybody else's A+++, so it was worth a look. And we liked it!

Luvya,

D
May 20, 2008 7:04 AM

Janet was looking for a summer job.

North_Fork_Trails said...

Hey Dudeling,I see that UC Davis has its own television station. Why don't you become a writer-producer for them?

Luvya,

D
May 26, 2008 3:47 PM

Janet wrote about being bored, hungry and tired.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Very good! Hang in there, you're doing great!

It is actually trying to rain this morning!

Gay is gardening despite the Intrepid Ground Squirrels of Doom, who chomp every seedling not surrounded by chicken wire, squirrel wire, whatever it's called ...

Luvya,

D
May 23, 2008 9:20 AM

Janet wrote about the last episode for the season of "Lost".

North_Fork_Trails said...
Dude, I told Greg, "I need Janet to explain that to me." And the ship explodes ... but because Time is somehow malleable maybe the ship can still not-explode ... I don't know what is going on!
May 30, 2008 9:10 PM

Janet wrote about the need to suffer pain so that she could write about pain - thus she was the target for her friends with paintballs.

North_Fork_Trails said...
While bruises are good, welts are better.

They say WildMouse devised the language, "Weltic," during his paintball phases ...

June 1, 2008 8:25 PM

Janet posted a very colorful picture of her worst paintball wound.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Wow, good one! The Every-Which-Color Badge-of-Courage! Well, badge of something.

Yes.Your first year of college almost over! C'est impossible!

June 2, 2008

4:43 PM

Janet was very happy that she had had her last lecture for the quarter.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Wahoo! Yay! Or is it "yea"?

I liked the little animations. Not all of them had backgrounds. I also looked at the photo of Dubai. Wow.
Hang in there, you're doing great! I hope we'll have you here this summer, you can write your next novel!

Luvya,

D
June 6, 2008 7:08 AM

Janet wrote about feeling anxious.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Wow that's weird, like a panic attack or something. I am worried.

For a good panic attach scenario, consider what just happened to Greg, ten minutes ago; he drove to Auburn to go bowling with friends, parked at the bowling alley, looked into the back seat, and there it was: a three-foot-long snake!

With a strongly patterned back, like a rattlesnake.

But it had no rattles.

Hence, what species was it, Janet?

I told him to drive to a wild area to release it, but it apparently slithered gracefully inside the back seat and out of view.

Luvya,

D
June 8, 2008 6:19 PM

Janet wrote that most all her things were up at Moody Ridge except the bare necessities.

North_Fork_Trails said...

Wildmouse patiently taught Davy Crockett never to leave his log cabin without the "bar necessities."

June 11, 2008 8:32 AM

Janet had expected a "B" in her "Style" class - she got an "A". The first comment was mine.

Anonymous said... (that's me)
Fantastic - my ultra stylish grand daughter did it! Who cares what your other grades are? But keep up the good work - love you lots, G
June 12, 2008 7:47 AM
North_Fork_Trails said...
Yeah, listen to your grandmother, nothing counts except style, crooking your little finger just so while holding your cup of tea, etc. etc.

Good job tho,

D
June 12, 2008 10:40 AM

Janet happily got a "B" in Latin.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Wow! Way to go on the grades!

We need to read the Loeb Library edition of the Gallic Wars together so you can cement your understanding of Latin.

The Pentagon is planted!

June 17, 2008 12:10 PM

Janet was frustrated that she had not received a promised call re a summer job.

North_Fork_Trails said...
Maybe they've been trying to call here and getting busy signals?

Two rattlesnakes visited today. One got stuck in the chicken wire around Gay's new plot near the hot water tank. I had to cut the wire or it would have died right there. But it is tough to decide whether to kill them off or not. One can kill one and know that that snake at least will never bite you; but what about the rest? You'd never get them all.

June 21, 2008 4:19 PM

Janet and her boyfriend, Eli, had been reading cookbooks and then shopping and cooking.

North_Fork_Trails said...

This is incredible! Next you will be making your own popcorn and adding Lemon Zest to it! Who is this "Eli" anyway?

June 30, 2008 7:40 AM

Janet was not having success in her job hunt.

North Fork Trails said...

Well I must say I am not disappointed you will not be working at Ross. You should know you would be a great addition to almost any company, and a newspaper or magazine would be lucky to snag you.

I saw Jess M at Smarts Crossing today, he will be working on a degree in journalism at San Jose State. But right now he is taking a year off from school. To bum around Europe, you ask? No, to work.

Weird.

Luvya,

D
July 14, 2008 4:41 PM

North_Fork_Trails said...


Hey Dude that's not enough to eat!

Well, starvation aside, it sounds like a nice day.

I saw a great garter snake at the New Pool today. But it appeared to have scared away four of five frogs, and the only one remaining was at the bottom of the pool holding its breath.

Luvya,D
July 15, 2008 9:54 PM

Janet listed everything she had eaten that day.

North_Fork_Trails said...

Hey Dude that's not enough to eat!

Well, starvation aside, it sounds like a nice day.

I saw a great garter snake at the New Pool today. But it appeared to have scared away four of five frogs, and the only one remaining was at the bottom of the pool holding its breath.

Luvya,

D
July 15, 2008 9:54 PM

Janet was brainstorming ideas for her writing and rereading "Pride and Prejudice".

North_Fork_Trails said...
Oi amiga,

You could rewrite "Pride and Prejudice" and set it in the 37th century, in outer space, with all kinds of outlandish advanced slang, and realistic details of the flying cars and dome-shaped mansions on the Moons of Terraboudicea!

D
July 27, 2008 10:47 AM

Janet had been searching for inspirations for her writing. She was reading 'Pride and Prejudice".

North_Fork_Trails said...
Oi amiga,

You could rewrite "Pride and Prejudice" and set it in the 37th century, in outer space, with all kinds of outlandish advanced slang, and realistic details of the flying cars and dome-shaped mansions on the Moons of Terraboudicea!

D
July 27, 2008 10:47 AM

Janet was rereading "To Kill a Mockingbird"

I had entered a comment about the mockingbirds where we used to live and the beautiful singing at night.

The following was Russ's last comment.

north_fork_trails said...


It seems to me that once Karen, or maybe it was Shellie, (both sisters) had a persistent cough, and for a while those mockingbirds imitated her cough!

D
August 4, 2008 8:19 PM