It’s a good example of the affect of mediation on socially-generated practices of any sort [this came into mind when I saw a poster advertising a IEEE conference here in Sydney. The posted contained all the recognized and standardized functions of conferences anywhere on any subject. The cocktail evening cruises on the ________ (fill in the blank) river/harbor/lake. The hospitality suites in the _________ (fill in the blank) hotel. The keynotes by famous personages. The plenaries, the break-outs, the posters, workshops, and seminars. yadda, yadda. Don't people get tired of this endless repetition of heavily coded social protocols?]

The following was downloaded from the UM (University of Minnesota) original Gopher online text retrieval system sometime in the winter of 1991-92. I think it’s the first document (extant) that I downloaded via that new networked document system — the direct precursor of the WWW. Coming around in a very long, very wide circle, from the roots of the digital coming-to-being in the last millennium, breathe deeply:

1. Sit on the forward third of a chair or cushion.

2. Arrange your legs in a position you can maintain comfortably. In the half-lotus position, place your left leg on your right thigh (or vice versa). In the full-lotus position , put your feet on opposite thighs. You may also sit simply with your legs tucked in close to your body, but be sure that your weight is distributed evenly on three points: Both of your knees on the ground and your buttocks on the round cushion. On a chair, keep your knees apart about the width of your shoulders, feet firmly planted on the floor.

3. Straighten and extend your spine, keeping it naturally upright, centering your balance in the lower abdomen. Push your lower back a little forward, open your chest, and tuck your chin in slightly, keeping the head upright, not leaning forward, or backward, or to the side. Sway your body gently from left to right, until you naturally come to a point of stillness on your cushion.

4. Keep your eyes cast on the floor about 3 to 4 feet in front of your body, eyes neither fully opened nor closed. If the eyes are closed, you might start to daydream or visualize things.

5. Keep your lips and teeth together with your tongue resting against the roof of your mouth.

6. Place your hands on your lap with the right palm up and your left hand (pal up) resting on your right hand, thumb-tips lightly touching, forming a horizontal oval. This is the mudra of zazen, in which all things are unified. Place the sides of the little fingers against your abdomen, a few inches below the navel, harmonizing your center of gravity with the mudra.

7. Take a few breaths, exhaling fully. Let your breath settle into its natural rhythm. With proper physical posture, your breathing will flow naturally into your lower abdomen.

8. Sit still and keep your attention on your breath. When your attention wanders, bring it back to the breath again and again — as many times as necessary!

9. Be fully, vitally present. Simply do your very best. At the end of your sitting period, gently sway your body from right to left. Stretch out your legs; be sure they have feeling before standing.

10. Practice every day for ten to fifteen minutes (or more) and you will discover the treasures of your life.

Got that one hurdle out of the way, though there is still the matter of the accompanying paper. I saw very clearly the interface between the institution and the wider world, where the protocol of the (semi-)ordered system imposes its particular form on the flow.

But, in the end, I may not be able to over-come the imposition of a protocol so polariz(ing)(able). The one person who coordinates the checking of unsatisfactory/satisfactory at this juncture did not seem to engage with my presentation at all. Except to point out that I satisfied precisely none of the assessment criteria. Were it a response that was nuanced, I could understand missing the mark, but with a complete rejection of the presentation, I find it a little over the top, and, well, disingenuous if the term intellectual engagement is being bandied about at the same time. If I didn’t have 20+ years of teaching with fifteen of it moving through this exact space of inquiry across tens of universities with hundreds of graduate students, I might be open to the idea that what I am articulating is not graspable or open to engagement, but in this case, I suspect some other mechanism was operating, what else can I do?

And so, encroaching on the last major procedural hurdle before the doctorate goes to the external examiners (next year sometime). The panel assessment seems to be routine and bureaucratic. Public speaking in compressed time frames is no fun. When there’s always too much to get across in the extremely limited time frame, and the highly institutionalized context allows for negligible true dialogue. In some ways, the process is a deeply laughable (chortle?) imitation of what it claims to be, or what it once perhaps was. That is, learning as a process of open and sustained dialogue between two or more humans. Facing the unknown that each other presents, or both facing the unknown of what is, or what is out there. Contemporary ‘education’ is a thin and watery drool coming from somewhere up above — meagre remains of what’s left of a blasting monsoon of shared life that brings one to a deeply profound awareness of that-which-is. Instead we squelch around in evaporating puddles of shared encounter, wishing for more rain, and complaining about the weather.

Tomorrow, it happens. We shall see. No brolly, no Wellies…

So, over this hurdle, and maybe the final work commences, perhaps finishing earlier than scheduled, or at least that inspiring outcome is a concept on the radar.

Meanwhile, surviving week-to-week, in part through the acupuncture and massage treatments from Heiji Cho and some of the Chinese Traditional Medicine (CTM) students here at UTS. The gall bladder channel is the one being worked — to release rising yang from the liver. hmmm. The treatments work, they seems to diffuse the migraines that do show up and eventually, as is common, with any lock, the migraines will vanish. I am confident of this, and only wish I had come to this conclusion last year, or even earlier as these episodes interrupted life from time to time. The stress of movement came on such a regular basis, but there was no thought to find a source, find a working solution, a cure. It was only the process of gritting the teeth until a dark and quiet room could be found for the duration. Western meds never really worked, they only covered the symptoms at best, and in some cases a single pill cost as much as a full 90-minute acupuncture treatment session.

But choosing to undertake a treatment of what is known as ‘alternative’ medicine was always a difficult stretch. Despite input from trusted others who had benefited. There was the hardship of paying cash from the pocket to the practitioner when cash was never so abundant.

Es mag ein Gott auch, Sterblichen gleich
Erwählen ein Tagewerk und teilen alles das Schicksal
Daß alle sich einander erfahren,
Und wenn die Stille wiederkehret, eine Sprache unter Lebenden sei.
Wie der Meister tritt er dann, aus der Werkstatt
Geringer und größer,
Und ander Gewand nicht denn ein festliches ziehet er an.
Und andere sind noch bei ihm,
Und der Vater thront nimmer oben allein.
Viel hat erfahren der Mensch,
Der Himmlischen viele genannt,
Seit ein Gespräch wir sind
Und hören können voneinander.
Die Gesetze aber,
Die unter den Liebenden gelten,
Die schönausgleichenden sie sind dann allgeltend
Von der Erde bis hoch in den Himmel.

– Friedrich Hölderlin, excerpt from “Versöhnender, der du nimmergeglaubt”

over to Serial Space to meet Ian and see a screening of early works of his — tape-to-tape media collage works which work remarkably well, especially given their age. very interesting conversation ensues afterward with folks. a good sign of pro-vocative work.

History: National Military Establishment (NME), headed by Secretary of Defense, created by the National Security Act of 1947 (61 Stat. 495), July 26, 1947, which divided the War Department into separate Department of the Air Force and Department of the Army and reduced the status of the three military departments (Army, Navy, Air Force) to that of constituent units. NME redesignated DOD by the National Security Act Amendments of 1949 (63 Stat. 578), August 10, 1949.

Navy Predecessors

DCI established in the Department of the Navy under the Board of Navy Commissioners by order of the Secretary of the Navy, December 6, 1830. Initially responsible only for maintaining the navy’s stock of nautical charts and navigational instruments, DCI began chart production in 1835 and astronomical observations and other original hydrographic work by 1838. Upon the abolishment of the Board of Navy Commissioners and the establishment of the bureau system by an act of August 31, 1842 (5 Stat. 579), DCI was transferred to BuO&H. Known variously and informally, 1844-54, as the United States Naval Observatory, the Hydrographical Office, the Depot of Charts, the National Observatory, and the Washington Observatory. Formally designated the USNOHO by order of the Secretary of the Navy, December 1854. Transferred, effective August 31, 1862, to BuNav, established as successor (in part) to BuO&H by an act of July 5, 1862 (12 Stat. 510). Separate HO established in BuNav by an act of June 21, 1866 (14 Stat. 69), with responsibility for preparing and publishing maps, charts, and nautical books required in navigation. Transferred to the newly established BuE, June 30, 1889, as part of an exchange of functions between that bureau’s predecessor (Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting) and BuNav mandated by the departmental reorganization under General Order 372, Navy Department, June 25, 1889. HO restored to BuNav, 1892; transferred to BuE, 1898; and returned to BuNav, 1910. Transferred to OCNO by EO 9126, April 8, 1942. Transfer made permanent by Reorganization Plan No. III of 1946, effective July 16, 1946. Renamed USNOO by an act of July 10, 1962 (76 Stat. 154). USNOO mapping, charting, and geodetic production and distribution resources consolidated into DMA, July 1, 1972. See 456.1.

Army Predecessors

(1) War Department Map Collection

A division for the collection and compilation of military intelligence, the Military Information Division, was established in the Adjutant General’s Office (AGO) by order of the Secretary of War, April 12, 1889, and confirmed by General Order 23, War Department, March 18, 1892. Responsibility for collecting and maintaining the War Department’s strategic map collection was vested in the Section of the Northern Frontier, created in the divisional reorganization ordered by the Secretary of War, November 10, 1893. This unit was variously known as the Northern Frontier Section and Map Section by October 1895 and as the Frontiers and Maps Section by September 1897, with organizational references to a Map Section by April 1894. The Military Information Division was transferred by unnumbered memorandum of the Secretary of War, August 8, 1903, to the newly created WDGS, effective August 18, 1903, where it became the Second Division. Map Section established in Second Division by memorandum of Division Chief, October 20, 1903, pursuant to authority contained in General Order 120, War Department, August 14, 1903. WDGS reorganized pursuant to a memorandum of the Chief of Staff (COS), June 27, 1908. First Division redesignated First Section, and Second and Third Divisions consolidated as Second Section. Functions of old Second Division assigned to MIC by memorandum, Chief, Second Section, June 27, 1908, confirmed by General Order 128, War Department, August 12, 1908, and revisions to paragraph 762, Army Regulations (1908). Map Section established in MIC by order contained in memorandum from the Chief of Staff to the Chief, Second Section, September 28, 1908. First and Second Sections abolished and WDGS reorganized, with functions of MIC assigned to new WCD, pursuant to memorandum, Chief of Staff, September 26, 1910. Old MIC functions delegated to Committee on Military Information by memorandum, Chief, WCD, September 26, 1910, with Military Maps Sub-Committee in place by November 1, 1910. Committee on Military Information abolished and functions assigned to MIS, established by Changes No. 7, WCD Manual, May 3, 1917, implementing COS memorandum, April 28, 1917. WDGS Map Room and Photographic Gallery placed under immediate supervision of Chief, MIS. MIS transferred as the MIB to the new Executive Division in the WDGS reorganization under General Order 14, War Department, February 9, 1918. MIB separated from Executive Division by General Order 80, War Department, August 26, 1918, and designated the MID, with responsibility, assigned to Graphic Section, in Positive Branch (organized August 28, 1918), to “obtain, issue, and reproduce maps.” Graphic Section redesignated Maps and Photographs Section with numerical designator MI-7, October 1, 1918. MI-7, Map Section, separated from Positive Branch, April 24, 1919, and assigned, with Monograph Section, MI- 9, to newly created Geographic Branch. MID reorganized, effective December 1, 1922, into eight independent sections, including Map Section, MI-7. In reorganization announced in Memorandum 21, MID, August 21, 1926, Map Section assigned to Intelligence Branch, and numerical designators for MID units dropped. Redesignated as Geographic Section, December 15, 1928. Separated from Intelligence Branch and designated as Geographic Branch by Memorandum 4, MID, April 4, 1929. Redesignated Geographic Section and subordinated to Operations Branch by Memorandum 18, MID, June 6, 1938. WDGS map collection redesignated as War Department Map Collection and it and mapping functions of Geographic Section, Operations Branch, MID, transferred, effective April 1, 1939, to the Office of the Chief of Engineers, by order of the Secretary of War, transmitted by memorandum, Adjutant General to Chief of Engineers, February 9, 1939. Operated, under the supervision of the Engineer Reproduction Plant, as an OCE central office activity, 1939-42. Consolidated with the Engineer Reproduction Plant, 1942, to form Army Map Service. See (2)(a) below.

(2) Engineers

In a major reorganization of the War Department, effective March 9, 1942, under Circular 59, War Department, March 2, 1942, implementing EO 9082, February 28, 1942, the OCE was placed under the newly established SOS. Redesignated ASF by General Order 14, March 12, 1943. ASF abolished, effective June 11, 1946, by Circular 138, War Department, May 14, 1946, implementing EO 9722, May 13, 1946.

(2)(a) Army Map Service

A map reproduction unit and lithographic school, designated informally as the Map Printing Plant, was established at Washington Barracks as a component of the Engineer School, 1910. Redesignated the Central Map Reproduction Plant by General Order 58, War Department, October 31, 1916, and began operations in 1917. Consolidated with the Central Photographic Laboratory and the Engineer School Press, 1919, to form the Engineer Reproduction Plant, a designated field activity of OCE. ERP made responsible for supervision and maintenance of War Department Map Collection, 1939, with which it merged to form AMS, May 1942. AMS designated as an Engineer field activity, effective July 1, 1942, by General Order 22, OCE, June 19, 1942. AMS redesignated U.S. Army Topographic Command, September 1, 1968. Consolidated into DMA, July 1, 1972. See 456.1.

(2)(b) Engineer Intelligence Division

OCE central office administration of mapping, map production, and map supply initially vested in Intelligence Section, Military Division, OCE. Intelligence Branch established in the newly created Troops Division, OCE, as part of a reorganization under General Order 8, OCE, November 10, 1941, with staff and functions of predecessor IS transferred to Troops Division, effective December 1, 1941, by General Order 9, OCE, November 29, 1941. By December 1, 1942, mapping functions vested in IB Mapping Section. In a reorganization effective December 1, 1943, pursuant to General Order 23, OCE, November 22, 1943, Troops Division abolished, and former IB became MID under OACE (War Planning), with Geodetic Section redesignated Geodetic Branch, and functions of former Mapping Section divided between Topographic Branch and MPB, which had responsibility for administrative oversight of AMS. Geodetic Branch, MID, assigned to AMS by General Order 1, OCE, January 1, 1945. OACE (War Planning) redesignated Directorate of Military Operations, April 30, 1945. MID redesignated EID, and Directorate of Military Operations redesignated OACE (Military Operations), October 15, 1947, by Circular Letter 4389, OCE, October 16, 1947. MPB redesignated Mapping Branch. OACE (Military Operations) redesignated OACE (Troop Operations).

(2)(c) Engineer Strategic Intelligence Division, AMS

Engineer Research Office, North Atlantic Division, Corps of Engineers, transferred to the Technical Services Branch, Operations and Planning Staff, AMS, September 24, 1945, and redesignated Engineer Research Section, with responsibility for collection, collation, and compilation of engineer strategic intelligence data, and their subsequent dissemination in engineer intelligence publications. Redesignated Engineer Research Branch, Technical Services Division, AMS, in reorganization under General Order 13, AMS, May 4, 1948. Upgraded to division status as Engineer Research Division, March 7, 1949. Redesignated Engineer Strategic Intelligence Division, AMS, February 1950. Became Department of Engineer Intelligence, AMS, 1960. Consolidated, effective July 27, 1962, with Engineer area analysis intelligence components in the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors and the Beach Erosion Board, by General Order 15, OCE, July 25, 1962, to form the U.S. Army Area Analysis Intelligence Agency, an Engineer field activity. Transferred, effective March 5, 1963, to Defense Intelligence Agency, DOD, by General Order 4, OCE, March 1, 1963, where it became the Directorate for Mapping, Charting, and Geodesy. Transferred to Directorate of Plans as the Mapping, Charting, and Geodesy Division, April 1971. Consolidated into DMA, January 1, 1972. See 456.1.

(3) Inter-American Geodetic Survey

IAGS established within the CDC, War Department, April 20, 1946, by CDC directive, April 15, 1946, to meet army responsibilities under the Inter-American Mapping and Charting Program. Unified Caribbean Command established, effective November 1, 1947, by Department of the Army (DA) classified message WARX 89419, October 30, 1947, pursuant to Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) implementation, by JCS 1259/48, October 30, 1947, of relevant portions of Unified Command Plan, JCS 1259/27, approved by President Harry S. Truman, December 14, 1946. CDC redesignated USARCARIB, effective November 15, 1947, as the army component of the Caribbean Command, by DA unclassified message WCL 37942, November 14, 1947. IAGS attached directly to Caribbean Command by General Order 4, Caribbean Command, March 11, 1948. Returned to USARCARIB, effective July 21, 1948, by General Order 25, Caribbean Command, July 20, 1948. Caribbean Command redesignated U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), by General Order 1, Headquarters USSOUTHCOM, June 6, 1963, confirmed by JCS 1259/645, November 20, 1963. USARCARIB redesignated U.S. Army Forces Southern Command (USAFSC), by General Order 2, Headquarters, USSOUTHCOM, June 6, 1963. IAGS consolidated into DMA, July 1, 1972. See 456.1.

Air Force Predecessors

Air Service established in the War Department by EO 3066, March 19, 1919, and confirmed as a combat arm by the Army Reorganization Act (41 Stat. 759), June 4, 1920. Redesignated Air Corps by the Air Corps Act (44 Stat. 780), July 2, 1926. Air Corps placed under newly established Army Air Forces (AAF) by Army Regulation 95-5 (revised), June 20, 1941. Office of the Chief of the Air Corps (OCAC) abolished in AAF reorganization, effective March 9, 1942, under Circular 59, War Department, March 2, 1942, implementing provisions of EO 9082, February 28, 1942. Air Corps and AAF superseded by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) in the Department of the Air Force pursuant to Transfer Order 1, Office of the Secretary of Defense, September 26, 1947, implementing reorganization provisions of the National Security Act of 1947. (For an administrative history of AAF and its predecessors, see RG 18.)

Airways Section established under Training and War Plans Division, 1921, to acquire and produce air route maps suitable for military use. Abolished in reorganization of Air Corps pursuant to Air Corps Act, 1926. Information Division established by Office Memorandum 19, OCAC, December 14, 1926. Responsibility for procurement and distribution of maps assigned to subordinate Publications Section, effective December 4, 1926, by undated ID internal memorandum, and later to Library Section. Function vested in ID Map Unit, late 1928. Map procurement, preparation of tactical maps, and printing of aeronautical charts assigned to Section for Dissemination of Information, ID, by Office Memorandum 10-10, OCAC, January 2, 1937. Information Division redesignated Intelligence Division by Office Memorandum 10-10, OCAC, November 23, 1940. Map procurement and preparation assigned to newly established Map Section, 1941. Mapping and charting functions transferred to Office of the Assistant for Army Air Traffic Services, by Office Memorandum 10-10D, OCAC, December 24, 1941. Army Air Traffic Services abolished pursuant to reorganization of Army Air Forces, effective March 9, 1942. Map- Chart Division, functional successor to mapping unit in OAAATS, established in the Office of the Director of Photography, Maps, and Charts, Directorate of Technical Services, by Regulation 95- 1, HQAAF, May 19, 1942. M-CD redesignated Aeronautical Chart Division, effective January 30, 1943, by Regulation 95-4, HQAAF, February 15, 1943. ACD subordinated to Technical Services Operations Branch, Movement and Operations Division, OACAS/OC&R, pursuant to AAF reorganization of March 29, 1943. Technical Services Operations Branch redesignated Technical Services Division, OACAS/OC&R, by Headquarters Office Instruction 20-7, HQAAF, May 8, 1943, and ACD redesignated Aeronautical Chart Service Branch (ACSB), Technical Services Division. ACSB transferred from Technical Services Division to Reconnaissance Branch, Requirements Division, OACAS/OC&R, by Headquarters Office Instruction 20-30, HQAAF, January 8, 1944. ACSB redesignated Aeronautical Chart Service Section (ACSS) by Headquarters Office Instruction 20-30, January 24, 1944. Reconnaissance Branch redesignated Reconnaissance and Photo Branch, 1944. Reconnaissance and Photo Branch redesignated Photographic Aviation Branch by Headquarters Office Instruction 20-35, HQAAF, March 31, 1944. ACSS redesignated Aeronautical Service Branch (ASB). ASB redesignated as Aeronautical Chart Service (ACS) and made a field activity of HQAAF, under immediate supervision of Photographic Aviation Branch, Requirements Division, OACAS/OC&R, by Headquarters Office Instruction 20-30A, HQAAF, May 4, 1944. Photographic Aviation Branch redesignated Reconnaissance Branch by Headquarters Office Instruction 20-35, HQAAF, June 27, 1944.

Aeronautical Chart Service organized as 36th AAF Base Unit (ACS), effective January 1, 1945, by AAF Letter 20-62, HQAAF, December 16, 1944. Headquarters, Aeronautical Chart Service established with 36 AAFBU (ACS) as a component, effective March 13, 1946, by War Department Letter AG 322 (8 Mar 46) OB-I-AFCOR-(926(d))-M, March 13, 1946. Redesignated 36 AAFBU (HQACS) and transferred to ATC, effective April 1, 1946, by War Department Letter AG 322 (AFCOR 98l(d)), April 2, 1946. Transferred to Strategic Air Command (SAC), effective May 21, 1947, by General Order 21, ATC, May 26, 1947, with assignment to HQ, 311th Reconnaissance Wing, confirmed by General Order 55, SAC, May 26, 1947. Redesignated 36 AFBU (HQACS), effective September 26, 1947, by Circular 45, Department of the Army, November 14, 1947. 311th Reconnaissance Wing redesignated 311th Air Division (Reconnaissance), effective April 16, 1948, by AGAO-I 322 (31 Mar 48) (AFCOR 705e)-M, April 7, 1948. 36 AFBU (HQACS) redesignated HQACS, effective August 1, 1948, by General Order 37, SAC, July 21, 1948, confirmed by letter, SAC, August 26, 1948, and General Order 8, 311 AD (Reconnaissance), August 3, 1948. Transferred to Second Air Force, SAC, effective November 1, 1949, by General Order 64, SAC, October 19, 1949. Transferred to Air Materiel Command, effective March 1, 1950, by General Order 8, SAC, February 20, 1950. Redesignated Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron, USAF ACIS, effective February 1, 1951, by General Orders 11 and 12, AMC, February 14 and 23, 1951. Redesignated HQ, USAF ACIS, effective May 21, 1951, by General Order 34, AMC, May 11, 1951. Transferred to Military Air Transport Service (MATS), effective May 11, 1952, by AFOMO-A59183, Air Force Directorate of Manpower and Organization, May 9, 1952, confirmed by AFOMO 843g, June 10, 1952; and assigned to Air Photographic and Charting Service, MATS, by General Order 61, MATS, May 10, 1952. Redesignated USAF Aeronautical Chart and Information Center, MATS, effective August 1, 1952, by General Order 111, MATS, August 7, 1952. Redesignated Aeronautical Chart and Information Center (ACIC), effective September 20, 1954, by General Order 158, MATS, September 10, 1954. Redesignated Headquarters, ACIC, and assigned to Air Photographic and Charting Service, effective September 8, 1958, by General Order 130, MATS, September 2, 1958. Relieved from assignment to MATS and accorded separate operating agency status, effective July 1, 1960, by General Order 74, MATS, June 9, 1960. Inactivated, effective June 30, 1972, with mission and functions transferred to DMA, by Special Order G-9, HQ ACIC, June 27, 1972.

Aside from a fraction of a kilo-ton of human-re-configured matter that has been more-or-less permanently jettisoned from the immediate gravitational field of the Terran system, all human activities are and always have been fully immersed in what, for the purposes of modeling, may be seen as a limited (eco-)system with limited energy resources. L-I-M-I-T-E-D. Followers of the develop-and-consume-at-any-cost economic philosophy appear to think that there is an un- at the beginning of limited. But are these limits germane regarding the scalar possibilities of alteration that 6.9 billion humans applies to the ‘closed’ system? Can this plague-species actually cause significant change? It’s maybe only a question of where on a sliding scale the alteration sits, and what range on that scale indicates ‘significant’ change.

It is not difficult to observe that all expressions of life have an affect on the immediate vicinity. The bed of dead leaves beneath the cottonwood, layered by age: age showing as a returning dissolution, collenchyma structures in the veins remain longer, the epidermis stripped away by insects, solar radiation, weather, and time. The altered rhizosphere full of exudates nourishing symbiotic microbial life which, in turn, alter the chemistry of the surrounding soil. The altered atmosphere, being distantly distributed by the wind, the absorption of Light. Animals consuming leaves, wandering away. Reverberatory. What does a tree do to the rest of the cosmos? It does. Clearly any form of life has this effect. It’s just a question of how much. Quantitative, with the qualitative in the affirmative, but still open to how.

back in the CMAI office a few weeks ago thanks to Meghan — UTS Ultimo, the place hadn’t been touched (not even the white board) since I was here last December. the organization is in deep hibernation or simply decline. such organizational configurations are generally, here as elsewhere, armatures for funding projects.

the sense of departmental decline extends to the plants on the window sill: somebody’s plants, were dead or almost dead. so, begin triage by re-potting the living ones and continue watering them daily. they flourish with the attention.

After a long hiatus, the need to get back to work on this space surfaces. A continent away. A fiscal quarter later. And feeling like the speed of days is such that a chin-strap is necessary on the Tilley hat, though it’s not worn here yet, the sun is still in winter distance, and there’s not been enough of it (indoors too much) to warrant head-coverings.

Doctoral assessment time, in a couple weeks, though it would seem that the hoop to leap through is spacious. Or maybe specious — where casuists squabble over the use of meaning to construct be-ing.

But at least have joined the food coop, inspired by Ann-Marie’s dedication.

More soon. eh?

Understanding this from being aware of my own movements (and instances of compromised balance), and watching locals, I noticed several major differences between their gait and mine. The primary feature of the local walk was that both feet never really left the ground and contact was flat-footed and somewhat stiff-legged. There was a substantial time when the full sole of the shoe was flat on the ice, and it was during that time when forward acceleration was made.

If you try this yourself, you will immediately see that the glutes are not the site of any muscular effort for locomotion as opposed to when accelerating off the big toe and Achilles tendon. Could this be the source of the predominance of flat arses in Iceland?

Aside from the glare-ice technique, there was another endearing and embodied gait by farmers when walking their fields. A thousand years of overgrazing sheep has seriously compromised most of Iceland’s grasslands. As the land was overgrazed, this exposed the underlying volcanic soil directly to powerful aeolian erosion which could strip meters away down to a gravelly bedrock surface in no time. When life again attempts to establish itself on that surface, after sheep are removed from the picture, it first starts as miniscule moss colonies which grow in the shelter of a small cobble or so. The moss begins to capture wind-borne soil which gradually increases the colony size which increases the turbulent capture of airborne sediment. Over a period of decades these moss colonies form a hummocky surface with a relief of perhaps 50 cm (18 inches) and a horizontal frequency of a meter or so. To walk across such a surface is absolutely exhausting unless you conform your body in a particular way. The Icelandic farmers gait consists of the following: hands clasped behind the back, an exaggerated forward hunch of the upper body, and the knees bent dramatically. Leaning forward, and using the bend in the knees to essentially level out the distance between the upper body and the average ground height of the bottom of the hummocks, one takes long strides where the torso never goes up and down, but rather the level changes of the hummocks are compensated by different extensions of the knees. It’s humorous to watch, but is highly effective and a very rapid gait. If one tries ‘normal’ walking, climbing up and down the hummocks, it is slow and absolutely exhausting.