Virtual Brush Box

Awareness of the outside world. The six official languages of the UN are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, & Spanish. “A delegate may speak in any official UN language. The speech is interpreted simultaneously into the other official languages of the UN. At times, a delegate may choose to make a statement using a non-official language. In such cases, the delegation must provide either an interpretation or a written text of the statement in one of the official languages. Most UN documents are issued in all six official languages, requiring translation from the original document.” UN: Official Languages

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Skipping State of The Blog this month. Nothing of note to say on the subject. [Archives]

Writing about other writing instead.

In Language Writer: Let me mnow your mnemonics!, Gaston Dorren talks about the “mnemonic device known as ‘bridge for donkeys’ in German and Dutch: an artificial and often tenuous, but helpful connexion between the hard word and something familiar.” LW: mnemonics

I don’t know another language well enough – despite years of study – that I need such a device. The essay caused me to recall other ways I get around the short circuits in my own brain.

Merriam-Webster defines mnemonic as “assisting or intended to assist memory.” MW: mnemonic

When I was a kid – maybe 2nd grade? – I had trouble with lower case b and lower case d. On their own in space, they were indistinguishable to me. Fortunately, I had a friend name Robin. (Waves hi, wherever you are.) Let’s say I was going for a B. If I put it in her name and it came out Rodin, I knew it was wrong. No other letters, just those two, for long enough that I can still recall doing the mental exercise.

That was then. This is now.

On the blog, I wrote Coach Courtney as Couch Courtney so often that one reader (waves hi) thought it was an inside joke. Nope. Just me not having a clue. Couch? Coach? Shrug. All I know is that when I refer to the lady who teaches me saddle seat, the vowels should not match. C*OA*ch C*OU*rtney.

I mistype were & where. I have no idea why. I don’t even see it. This one I have to rely on my beta reader (waves hi) catching once the post is published. Oops.

Do you use any mnemonics?

Non-fiction 4U

Donkey dude’s website, Gaston Dorren, Language Writer. Article by, Aeon: Talking gibberish, The study of languages has long been prone to nonsense. Why is linguistics such a magnet for dilettantes and crackpots? Book mentioned previously. [Danish Horses Say Vrinsk]

Gretchen McCulloch, Internet Linguist. “I’m the Resident Linguist at WIRED, where I write a column about internet language.” & “Assorted other bylines” GM: Writing

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. CNN: Canada will start putting health warnings on individual cigarettes, Hassan, Newton and Maxouris, May 31, 2023. CNN: US cigarette smoking rate falls to historic low, but e-cigarette use keeps climbing, Christensen, April 27, 2023.

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Daily Walks

Bicenntennial Minipark, The University of Alabama at Birmingham. I will neither confirm nor deny that I walked in a new place so that I would have something to post. {Virtual Mississippi River 1 May]

The rest of my daily walks were in the pasture with Rodney for Virtual Tevis.

Monthly 5K

In pasture, handwalk Rodney for Virtual Tevis miles. [VT Archive]

Other

Bike a few times on weekends.

Last month [Sunny Days, State of the Fitness]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. 15 states have more than one time zone: Florida, Oregon, Kentucky, Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, North Dakota, Michigan, Alaska, South Dakota, Nevada, Kansas, Nebraska, Idaho, and Indiana. “Before the establishment of time zones in 1883, there were over 144 local times in North America.” DOT: History of Time Zones 2021. Hat tip to M.

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Updated Now page.

+++

June 2023

More walking.

More mileage.

Finishing Virtual Tevis.

🐎🐎

The dog training is going well.

As in, the dogs have us well-trained.

🐶🐶

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Last Month [Walking Into The Future]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Medium: Why was Marijuana Made Illegal in the First Place? -part I, Dodge, 2018.

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Rodney has been getting Smart & Simple CBD Pellets from Smartpak for about a month.

The theory is that CBD gives the herbal benefits of hemp extract without the drug component.

The claim is that it reduces the tension level just enough to enable conversation.

He seems calmer. But then, the temperature is going up. The warmer he is, the better mood he is in.

So … shrug?

Will stay with it for a while. See what happens.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. ArcGIS Online: Alberta Wildfire Status. ArcGIS Online: BLM California Wildfire Dashboard (Public).

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Virtual Tevis Cup 2023
100 Miles in 100 Days
19 April to 30 July

Rodney – 12 miles this week, 79 miles total
Milton – 13 miles this week, 70 miles total
Tues 16 May to Mon 29 May

As last week, mileage was handwalks in the morning, short rides & drives in the afternoon/evening. Mornings walks are done together. Work sessions are done individually. Hence the different mileage.

Sartorial Requirements

Rodney’s dress for a morning handwalk.

Long leadrope. Lets him swing his head – swat flies, look at cows – without jerking my arm.
Ear bonnet. Protect ears from flies.
Sweatshirt. Protect against morning chill.

Me: It’s a simple walk!
Rodney: Do I look like a simple horse?

Virtual Tevis Posts [Pack Train Practice, Strolling Through The 60s & Flourishing in the 50s, Virtual Tevis 2023] & [Archives]

Posts on Rodney and his fuzzy sheet. [The Old Man Card] & [Life Choices]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Vox: How African-Americans in South Carolina invented Memorial Day, Yglesias, 2014. Have not watched video. Plan to. Speaker cited here, Vox: How a group of African Americans was almost erased from the history of Memorial Day, Massie, 2016.

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Milton, you have a big, nasty bug on your belly. Lemme get that for you.

No touchie! No touchie!

Boing! Boing! Boing!

Remember the little dangly bits he had from his zipper? We think they were old stitches. [Milton’s Stubborn Zipper] & [Milton’s Belly 30 March 2023, photos, unsightly but not overly gory]

Looks like a new one popped out.

Little dangly bits are sensitive. Apparently.

Been a long time since he has run all the way back to the barn.

Fortunately, he is not the type to deliver a flying kick on the way by and when he’s done, he heads to his people. After he ran to the barn, he came out to meet me coming in.

Dangly bit gone by the next morning.

Sorry, Dude.

Photo behind the jump, not unsightly but I figured I’d stay consistent with above. [Milton’s Belly 29 May 2023].

Onwards!
Katherine

Art of the outside world. “Donald Jackson’s illustration of “Creation” shows seven vertical slices representing the days of creation, beginning with fractals and the Hebrew word for chaos.” Library of Congress: Illuminating The Word, IRL exhibition. Also, LOC: Illuminating the Word: The St. John’s Bible, Online Exhibition. Same image, without fractal in the description. The Saint John’s Bible.

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My first fractal, a Sierpinski triangle. Draw triangle. Draw second triangle from the midpoints of the sides. Center stays open. Repeat.

I figured I’d “cheat” and use Inkscape instead of drawing by hand. Didn’t help as much as I thought it would.

1) I couldn’t get the math right to reduce compound figures. Had to draw each new size & then copy to the required locations.

2) Still confused the crap out of me.

Started with outer shape. Moved in. Five iterations.

About halfway thru, I filled in the center triangles with yellow as a clarification aide.

Hat tip to Gement for introducing me to drawing fractals.

Onwards!
Katherine