Virtual Brush Box

Awareness of the outside world. In local news, School House Rock: Shot Heard Round the World.

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Cairo IRL, Things I Would Do

The Greatest Hits. Pyramids, a cruise on the Nile, and so on. The really, really big tourist attractions are attractions for a reason.

The Cairo sites, the Citadel, famous mosques, and so on.

Take the Cairo of Naguib Mahfouz Walking Tour. Would be cool to see places that I read about.

Visit Diwan book store. Book by one of the founders, Shelf Life: Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller, Nadia Wassef (Farrar 2021). Bought book? Are you kidding, of course I bought it. It is dwelling at the top of my TBR pile. Have not started. Needed to switch subjects for class. Will read.

Visit a nilometer. “An ancient instrument used to measure the waters of the Nile so Egyptian farmers would know whether to expect famine or flood.” Atlas Obscura: Nilometer, Netsky

Overnight in the desert. At an oasis. With a guide. Carrying lots of water. Experience true dark. Feel the extent of the desert. Stare at stars.

Hang with the horse folks. Find out about the horse culture in the area. Who rides? What disciplines? Shows? How is the horsekeeping? And so on. Maybe take a lesson or go on a ride? Because I have such a good record of hopping on strange horses. (Ha!)

US State Dept: Egypt Travel Advisory – Level 3: Reconsider Travel. dated October 15, 2024, cited April 18, 2025.

Cairo Virtual

Pyramids. When I searched on virtual pyramids, anything of interest was swamped by tour guide sites wanting to sell me things. As I understand it, this is pretty much on point for visiting the pyramids IRL.

Watch. The walking tour dude lists six more Cairo walks on his channel, YouTube: Luio Lui. [Taking A Break On A Porch]

Walk. “The Giza Pyramids Virtual Challenge will take you 46mi (75km) through the city of Cairo right to the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.” Conquer Challenge: Giza Pyramids Would sign up if I still did virtual medals. Screenshots are fun. [5Ks]

Watch. Rick Steves Cairo. Video of TV show. Blog posts. Video rewatch with commentary. The show is well-shot & hits the high notes, including the mosque mentioned in Palace Walk. More below.

Read. Cairo: The City Victorious by Max Rodenbeck (Knopf 1999). Finished. Excellent, although the date makes the contents more history and less current events.

Fiction. Finding books set in & around the pyramids was easy peasy, even across a variety of genres. Cairo itself, less so.

Coming soon. AUC Press: Virtual Book Talk: “Visualizing Egypt” with Paulina Banas, April 29, 2025. Free.

Coming soon-ish, Road Scholar. Online Lecture: King Tut’s Secrets — Uncovering New Clues Through Technology, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. Free. Reminds me of the Arthurian discovery, BBC: Lost manuscript. [Your Name In Hieroglyphics]

Nota bene. Virtual Cairo is travel advisory level 0. An advantage of virtual over IRL.

Confession

I had dismissed Rick Steves. I saw him as a squeaky little elf who says nice things about places he visits. I was wrong. Or, I was right, but he is more than that as well. I was impressed with the Cairo coverage. In the video, he gently mentions politics. In the blog, he is even more direct. Without ever being less than kind.

He was honest about his safety & those of his listeners/readers. In Cairo, he chose to stay in a fancy hotel, for the fancy security and as a respite from the intensity of the city.

“I sleep at in an international-class hotel. It comes with first-class security. I hope the future will be more relaxed, but for now, I splurge for the peace of mind.” Steves: Egypt’s Cairo > Script

“While I like to think I’m a rugged traveler, to be honest, I’m able to thoroughly enjoy Cairo only because I have the refuge of a towering international-class hotel.” Steves: Party Poolside Back at the Hotel

“I often call Europe ‘the wading pool of world exploration.’ A city like Cairo isn’t the wading pool. It’s the deep end — and someone turned on the jets. If you can swim, the water’s great. But if you’re not quite ready to dive in, follow me here on my blog for some armchair Egyptian adventures.” Steves: Egypt — Something Different for a Change.

He referred to his high-end hotel as “rich-world.” As in, “If you want rich-world comfort, you’ll pay rich-world prices.” I love that phrasing. It is more accurate, less colonial, and less pejorative than First/Third world. Steves: Egypt’s Cairo > Script

I will be watching more Rick Steves videos.

No links to the company. No deals. Simply excited about this & wanted to tell you.

Coda

Current online class, UC Graham: From Istanbul to Cairo: The City in the Historical Novels of the Middle East.

Onwards!
Katherine

Architecture of the outside world. Arch Daily: Cairo Architecture City Guide, Fakharany 2023. Photos of 24 buildings with an excellent Cairo old & new photo as the header.

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Rooftop detail
Concord Center
Birmingham AL USA
April 2025

The reason for the pyramids? Building owner says church. Architect says courthouse.

“The glass pyramids at the top of the building reflect the nearby Cathedral’s spires.” BL Harbert: The Concord Center. Cathedral visible on left in the photo below.

“These 37-foot tall towers play homage to similar structures that sat atop the original courthouse.” Williams Blackstock Architects: Concord Center.

Technical Details

Big camera. Check. Went somewhere, did something. Check.

As with food photography last week, architectural photography is a thing. I almost took a class in it. [Bean Can, Food Photography & Architectural Photography Linkfest]

One challenge is sight lines. Big buildings tend to herd together with other big buildings.

Another challenge is busy streets. I make point of standing near something solid, such as a light pole or a building, in order to be out of the way, and to make sure I don’t tip over into traffic.

Definitely need a dedicated wide angle lens, rather than one end of a zoom.

Access. Had I been doing this professionally, I would have inquired about access, either their roof or neighboring roofs, or both.

Speaking of sight lines, People where good about either waiting for me or ducking down, which was nice of them.

Current online class, UC Graham: From Istanbul to Cairo: The City in the Historical Novels of the Middle East.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. News flash. I’m old. The cashier at Dunkin’ Donuts gave me the senior discount unasked. I did see “Senior” pop up on the register. I figured she was a senior employee? Anyway, surfing says that the discount varies by locations and may kick in at 55, 60, or 65. Two out of three chances that it was legit. In other news, I am ignoring the name change. If you have an iconic brand, such as D-squared, why do you mess with it?!

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In town for the day. Needed a lunch box. Et voilà, an insulated bag care of the Saddlebred folks.

Blog search and foggy memory says I did not ride at this show. I think the bags were given out as barn favors from show leftovers.

I’ve said it before, saddle seat knows how to give out awards.

“When ever we win cool stuff, I think of you.”
I love me some useful loot.
[What Makes You, You?]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. The Guardian: Lego drops diversity terms from its annual sustainability report, Wood, 11 Apr 2025. That’s disappointing. Although, later, ” ‘The 2024 sustainability statement does not represent a change in our ongoing approach to diversity and inclusion.’ ” ibid. One disgruntlement with the article. The LEGO Group is privately held. LEGO: About Us, The LEGO Group. The change could not have “sent a ‘concerning signal to investors’.” There are no investors to signal. The Guardian usually does better than that. Hat tip to The Brothers Brick, TBB Weekly Brick Report: LEGO news roundup for April 12, 2025.

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Everything’s perfectly all right now. We’re fine. We’re all fine here now, thank you. How are you?

Wookiepedia: Han Solo

The last time I said things were low drama around here … [Psychological Placeholder]

… Rodney stomped on my foot. [Foot Fashion]

Literally.

Just hours after the post went up.

So.

Things are still low drama. Horses still living their best life. Still low on storytelling material. But now I’m also hobbling around the house.

If I were less stubborn, I would put the blog on pause until I could report adventures pertinent to a horse blog.

Allow me to rephrase that.

I would put the blog on pause until I could report fun! wonderful! amusing! adventures pertinent to a horse blog.

However.

I am that stubborn. I shall continue.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. The Guardian: ‘Spreadsheets of empire’: red tape goes back 4,000 years, say scientists after Iraq finds, Alberge, 15 Mar 2025.

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Thoughts while filing out tax forms.

Tax Form: Any dependents?
Us: Not that you will let us count.

Tax Form: Gain or loss from farm?
Us: It’s all outgo around here.

BSF, as far as the tax forms are concerned, we could live in a condo inside the loop in Chicago.

I remember a time when I could deduct horse shows expenses, such as travel, meals, hotels. It was to cover them, not to show in them.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Confession. I backslid. After deleting Kindle from my phone, I reloaded it, read a book, and redeleted it. Details below. [Playing Footsie]

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Horses were shod last Thursday at 9 weeks and 3 days. Given their response to 10 weeks, I was aiming for 9 weeks. Schedules intervened. I’m still impressed that they can go so long between shoeings. But that is not my point, or not quite my point. [Yet Another Shoeing Record]

They got new shoes this time. Last time was a reset. Very normal to get new shoes every other, and to have the shoes reset once.

What is not normal is the time between new shoes. My records say they got their previous shoes on 25 November. The new sets were put on 10 April. That’s 4 & 1/2 months for a set of shoes. That’s good value.

That also means they are doing jack squat and putting absolutely no wear on their shoes. But, to paraphrase the Pirate King, I waive that point. I do not press it. I look over it.

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Kindle Confession Continued.

When I took Kindle off my phone, I canceled all pre-orders. Or so I thought. Got an email that my order of When the Moon Hits Your Eye by Scalzi had shipped. Hmm. I guess I pre-ordered a dead tree version that I forgot about, although it is unlike me to buy a fiction book in hardback. That is where I draw the line in my book buying. Yes, even I have lines. But I digress. Waited for book to arrive. Waited for book to arrive. When I looked for tracking data, turns out the ebook had arrived, although I definitely remember canceling it. The other one I canceled at the same time seems to have stayed canceled. Or not. Perhaps I got confused between deadtree, electronic, and audio.

Anyway, the point is by then I’d had the book for several days. Returning seemed both difficult and suspect. Maybe they could have told that I never downloaded it? Also, knowing that it was coming, I had starting looking forward to reading it. Did I want to wait a year for the paperback, or six months for a library copy? Anyway. I chose to, as I said above, read it as an ebook. I have rechecked cancellations in all book formats: solid, liquid, & gas. To compensate for my backsliding, my latest haul from Bookshop.org includes a hardback copy that I will donate to my local library.

Onwards!
Katherine

Pavement of the outside world. The Guardian: The unexpected beauty of manhole covers around the world – in pictures, 2015.

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Cairo tiling is a mathematical tesseract based on paving stones in Cairo. (I think, see below.)

The Internet abounds with graphic examples of Cairo tiling. Photos of the source pavement were harder to find.

Research Gate: My Undercover Mission to Find Cairo Tilings, Frank Morgan 2019. Restricted. I could see photo previews on my desktop, and in the search hits on my phone. Was able to open the PDF.

Facebook: Williams College 2019. Photos of Morgan with pavings. I was able to see the entry without logging in to FB. YMMV

Frank Morgan: Pentagons Everywhere 2011. Open. Photos interesting but not as directly relevant.

Note from the rabbit hole. Wiki: Cairo pentagonal tiling, cited by all of the Cairo tiling sites I read.

Process Notes

My goal was to understand Cairo tiling and draw a pattern. Got one; didn’t get the other. Tiling discussions get esoteric quickly. I still cannot grok how to generate a correct shape. The above was produced by closely following a set of steps. Medium: Cairo Tiling with no math, Ebbs 2020.

My one victory was to figure out how to draw this on the computer without having to use layers. I should figure out layers on Inkscape. I use them all the time in GIMP for photos. Meanwhile, my computer work for this was a festival of color variation. selecting, copying, grouping, ungrouping, and so on.

Onwards!
Katherine