Archive for August, 2006
Monthly Archive
Monday, August 14th, 2006
The Games Kids Play: Picking who is “IT”
Okay, so I may be giving away a few hints as to my mental age when I spot these things, but I have found kids’ games and kids’ culture to be one of the most fascinating aspects of cultural continuity. That is to say, from nursery rhymes to games of tag, the things kids do vary by country and language, yet the same region/language will often pass these games onto children without direct instruction from their parents. Before the internet, how were these items kept in our cultural memory? Check this Picking Who is It out for a peek into the past from a website dedicated to the Games Kids Play.
No Comments » - Posted in Society and Culture, Travel by Damon
Monday, August 14th, 2006
Internet in Rural Montana: Watch out for the Ditch Monster
I’m sitting on a park bench in the fading sun, a breeze blowing gently from the river across town, a few seeds scattering from the maples. In my early elementary school years, I attended a public school less than half a block from this little pubic park beside the public library. At that time, though small for its purpose as a library, the original brick building imposed itself onto my psyche as the the steps both to higher knowledge and also purgatory. I loved books even then, and I often stood before the library looking up the twelve stone steps to the wooden doors. I ran my fingers along the stone railing and up into the building, pausing in the overheated vestibule to glance at the posted billboards, and then up with my fingers now trailing on the brass bannister.
But however much I loved books, coveted them, pored through them, my love was unfortunately balanced and tempered by my fear of the Librarian,
2 Comments » - Posted in Technology, Travel by Damon
Thursday, August 10th, 2006
Japanese Thin-Sliced Barbecue Beef Tongue
“That guy is like a wizard,” my Dad said. “He’s about five-five, and dances around with his razor sharp knives with such precision. He could just about do it with his eyes closed.” My Dad raises organic beef cattle, and “whats his name” drove his mobile slaughterhouse into our field yesterday morning to butcher two bulls. See post from 8/9.
The steer was our own, entirely organic free range and grass fed from our property. The bull was a breeder brought to our farm a few months ago from Lifeline Farm, a dairy bull used here just for breeding. Of course, the bull had his few weeks of sexual exertion, kept up his end of the bargain by impregnating three of our cows, and headed to his next appointment on our dinner plates as steak. The dairy bulls tend to be tougher and the meat tastes a bit thicker.
