I just heard a couple of tidbits that I found interesting on a Food Channel show called : "The Secret Life Of... Christmas foods.
My family has always followed some of the English Christmas traditions that my mother remembered from her childhood. One of those is the traditional desert of Plum Pudding with a silver coin in it. The year we were in England when I was 9 (and I think a few years after that) we had a silver sixpence. Most other years we have had a dime, the American coin that is most similar to that.
In this show they mentioned that it is traditional to have not only a coin, but also a button, a ring and a thimble. The person who found the coin would have wealth, the person who found the ring would get married, the man who found the button would remain a bachelor, the woman who found the thimble would be a spinster.
They also talked about German lebkuchen, ginger cookies made with honey and pressed into wooden molds that have been made since at least the 13th century. Most of them have christian themes but some of them have pagan symbols. I was curious to see which pagan symbols they have but could not find any images on the web that looked likely.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
collegewikis.com?
Hmm,
Just got an email/spam from collegewikis.com claiming to have a wiki for UCSC which would be cool. But, you have to create an account and log in to see any of their content. This just seems to me to be directly opposite to the wiki concept of open information. So I didn't log in. But I do think it would be good for someone to create a open UCSC wiki.
Just got an email/spam from collegewikis.com claiming to have a wiki for UCSC which would be cool. But, you have to create an account and log in to see any of their content. This just seems to me to be directly opposite to the wiki concept of open information. So I didn't log in. But I do think it would be good for someone to create a open UCSC wiki.
Friday, December 07, 2007
LolBananaSlug
Wen i wuz a UCSC stewdint a cow once got a bukkit stuk on his foot an wokked around famly howsing at 3am...
moar funny pictures
moar funny pictures
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Digital SLR selection
I have been wanting to buy a digital SLR for a long time now and finally broke down and bought one to take on our last vacation. I had been debating what brand and model to buy for several years and ended up with the Pentax d100Super .
If I were actually making money from my photography it might have been better to go with a Nikon or Canon, but since I currently have no plans to do that, the Pentax seemed a better choice. The choice of the Pentax seemed to be the one that would allow me to grow a small system for the lowest total cost possible.
The fact that the image stabilization is built into the body rather than the lenses allows me to use it with any lens, not just the expensive dedicated IS lenses that Nikon and Canon make. I know that each company is starting to come out with lower priced IS lenses and Sigma now has one but those are still at least $4-600. A lot of money for a gadget to support a hobby.
With the Pentax (as with the Sony/Minolta system) I can buy used lenses dirt cheap and use them with the built-in IS.
There are a few limitations to this that I discovered however. The main one is that the focus screen in the d100 does not make manual focusing very easy. This makes buying manual focus lenses an iffy proposition at this point since I can't be sure that I can keep them in focus all the time. Old manual focus lenses are often vastly cheaper than the new auto-focus versions of the same lenses. There are a few 3rd party focus screen manufacturers that make screens that should make manual focusing easier but they may affect auto-exposure a little and it is unclear whether they might interfere with auto-focus or IS.
Also, the older auto-focus lenses seem much noisier than new ones and some of them may be quite a bit heavier and larger than current lenses. Their coatings may not be as good with digital cameras either.
Still though, I think this will allow me to get the lenses that I want for a few hundred dollars rather than the few thousand that it would take with a Nikon or Canon.
Also, apparently the camera based IS systems should work better with the short to medium lenses that I favor as opposed to the lens based systems that work best with longer lenses. A 28mm f2 should allow me to take handheld photos in very low light. Just the sort of setup that I typically need on vacation for taking pictures inside of dimly lit museums, churches, etc. theoretically the limit should be 1/28th of a second for the lens by itself with the IS system adding about 2 stops for a minimum shutter speed of 1/7th of a second. At 800-3200 ISO this should allow me to shoot handheld in very dim places.
If I were actually making money from my photography it might have been better to go with a Nikon or Canon, but since I currently have no plans to do that, the Pentax seemed a better choice. The choice of the Pentax seemed to be the one that would allow me to grow a small system for the lowest total cost possible.
The fact that the image stabilization is built into the body rather than the lenses allows me to use it with any lens, not just the expensive dedicated IS lenses that Nikon and Canon make. I know that each company is starting to come out with lower priced IS lenses and Sigma now has one but those are still at least $4-600. A lot of money for a gadget to support a hobby.
With the Pentax (as with the Sony/Minolta system) I can buy used lenses dirt cheap and use them with the built-in IS.
There are a few limitations to this that I discovered however. The main one is that the focus screen in the d100 does not make manual focusing very easy. This makes buying manual focus lenses an iffy proposition at this point since I can't be sure that I can keep them in focus all the time. Old manual focus lenses are often vastly cheaper than the new auto-focus versions of the same lenses. There are a few 3rd party focus screen manufacturers that make screens that should make manual focusing easier but they may affect auto-exposure a little and it is unclear whether they might interfere with auto-focus or IS.
Also, the older auto-focus lenses seem much noisier than new ones and some of them may be quite a bit heavier and larger than current lenses. Their coatings may not be as good with digital cameras either.
Still though, I think this will allow me to get the lenses that I want for a few hundred dollars rather than the few thousand that it would take with a Nikon or Canon.
Also, apparently the camera based IS systems should work better with the short to medium lenses that I favor as opposed to the lens based systems that work best with longer lenses. A 28mm f2 should allow me to take handheld photos in very low light. Just the sort of setup that I typically need on vacation for taking pictures inside of dimly lit museums, churches, etc. theoretically the limit should be 1/28th of a second for the lens by itself with the IS system adding about 2 stops for a minimum shutter speed of 1/7th of a second. At 800-3200 ISO this should allow me to shoot handheld in very dim places.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
UCBotanicalGardenBH
A few weekends ago we went to the UC Botanical Garden up at UC Berkeley for a talk and tour of the cycads in the garden. I was amazed at what a spectacular garden it is and would highly recommend a visit. We saw many other wonderful plants as well as cycads such as this one. What wild and wonderful prehistoric plants these are. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycad
This I believe
Although I would prefer to have national leaders who are the most intelligent people that nyone can find for their jobs, even more important is that our leaders should be people who bring out the very best, the most noble ideals in all of us.
They should help us to feel that we should do what is right for all of the people of the world.
They should help us to trust people who are different from us rather than making us fearful and suspicious of them.
They should help us to get along better with each other and see that we have common ground with all people now matter how different they be from us.
Yes I know that it is a dangerous world out there and there are some people in the world who do not have the best intentions for their fellow beings, but I still believe that the vast majority of people in the world want the best for their fellow beings and will act to promote that if they are not put in untenable situations that make it difficult to do so.
They should help us to feel that we should do what is right for all of the people of the world.
They should help us to trust people who are different from us rather than making us fearful and suspicious of them.
They should help us to get along better with each other and see that we have common ground with all people now matter how different they be from us.
Yes I know that it is a dangerous world out there and there are some people in the world who do not have the best intentions for their fellow beings, but I still believe that the vast majority of people in the world want the best for their fellow beings and will act to promote that if they are not put in untenable situations that make it difficult to do so.
Writings From My Mother's Notebook
My father died about two months ago and since then several of my co-workers have died untimely deaths.
Many things have been roaming around in my the past few months and one of them is this passage that my father printed out for me a few years ago that he had found in my mother's notebook. It was dated 5/8/97, about 7 months before my mother passed away.
I still miss my mother and I definitely miss my father very much now. And I miss all of those friends and relatives who have gone before me. I am still very much in the midst of that but this does help at least a tiny bit and I think that it will help more as time goes on and the good times return.
"I used to think that you could never become/grow to be good at handling death. Each death gets harder to bear, not easier, and the pain and grief begins to extend to partings as well. But it now seems to me that that's precisely what being good at handling death is.
When my father died I was eleven, no one close to me had died. I cried and I knew that my life was changed forever. I had no knowledge of forever, or the rest of my life. Now, when someone I love dies, I feel the whole layer cake of grief, the heavy strata of emotions, and I know how long I will feel that loss. I also know that I don't need to be afraid that I will forget them, even though I may think of them less often. What this does is to --?--What does it do, huh? The pain is more exquisite now but I feel freer to grieve- less guilty about enjoying my life in between times of grief. "
Many things have been roaming around in my the past few months and one of them is this passage that my father printed out for me a few years ago that he had found in my mother's notebook. It was dated 5/8/97, about 7 months before my mother passed away.
I still miss my mother and I definitely miss my father very much now. And I miss all of those friends and relatives who have gone before me. I am still very much in the midst of that but this does help at least a tiny bit and I think that it will help more as time goes on and the good times return.
"I used to think that you could never become/grow to be good at handling death. Each death gets harder to bear, not easier, and the pain and grief begins to extend to partings as well. But it now seems to me that that's precisely what being good at handling death is.
When my father died I was eleven, no one close to me had died. I cried and I knew that my life was changed forever. I had no knowledge of forever, or the rest of my life. Now, when someone I love dies, I feel the whole layer cake of grief, the heavy strata of emotions, and I know how long I will feel that loss. I also know that I don't need to be afraid that I will forget them, even though I may think of them less often. What this does is to --?--What does it do, huh? The pain is more exquisite now but I feel freer to grieve- less guilty about enjoying my life in between times of grief. "
Monday, June 04, 2007
PersimmonBlossoms
These are persimmon blossoms from our tree. I probably wont make it out there to get a shot of them on the tree this year though.
Core Beliefs
In order to understand my viewpoint on current national politics I think it is useful to know a few of my core beliefs.
1. From a moral standpoint, I believe that killing another human being is wrong whether the killing is state sanctioned or not. If I were in a situation where I had to kill another person or be killed myself would I have the courage not to kill? Maybe not. Hopefully I will never need to find out. However, most state sanctioned killing is premeditated and avoidable so I will never sanction or support it.
2. To quote Desmond Tutu: "Anything war can do, peace can do better". So there is also no reason to kill from a practical standpoint. Although we may achieve the money, land or power that we desire through war, the unintended consequences are always worse than the gains. All war and violence is avoidable. Whatever we need to accomplish we can always do through peaceful means.
3. I also believe that non-lethal violence against other humans is unnecessary. Other than defending yourself against someone who jumps out at you from a dark alley, most violence can be avoided. And I assume that if I knew more about aikido I could probably avoid that as well.
1. From a moral standpoint, I believe that killing another human being is wrong whether the killing is state sanctioned or not. If I were in a situation where I had to kill another person or be killed myself would I have the courage not to kill? Maybe not. Hopefully I will never need to find out. However, most state sanctioned killing is premeditated and avoidable so I will never sanction or support it.
2. To quote Desmond Tutu: "Anything war can do, peace can do better". So there is also no reason to kill from a practical standpoint. Although we may achieve the money, land or power that we desire through war, the unintended consequences are always worse than the gains. All war and violence is avoidable. Whatever we need to accomplish we can always do through peaceful means.
3. I also believe that non-lethal violence against other humans is unnecessary. Other than defending yourself against someone who jumps out at you from a dark alley, most violence can be avoided. And I assume that if I knew more about aikido I could probably avoid that as well.
Sad News
My father passed away a few weeks ago and I have not really been able to think about much else since then. He is a wonderful person and a very big part of my life and I miss him very much.
My mother passed away about ten years ago and although the pain has become less as the years have gone by I still miss her. When I see something particularly special I sometimes catch myself thinking: "oh, that is something Mom would like" and then feeling sad because I cannot share it with her. I have had a few moments like that with Dad in the last few weeks.
I really hope there is a life after death and that they are enjoying each other's company there. I look forward to seeing them again there 60 or 70 years from now.
XXB
My mother passed away about ten years ago and although the pain has become less as the years have gone by I still miss her. When I see something particularly special I sometimes catch myself thinking: "oh, that is something Mom would like" and then feeling sad because I cannot share it with her. I have had a few moments like that with Dad in the last few weeks.
I really hope there is a life after death and that they are enjoying each other's company there. I look forward to seeing them again there 60 or 70 years from now.
XXB
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Disney now allows gay weddings and commitment ceremonies
Is it just market forces or social pressure that finally got Disney to do what is right and allow all people to participate in their "fairytale weddings" if they want to?
If what their spokesperson says is true: "This is consistent with our policy of creating a welcoming, respectful and inclusive environment for all of our guests.", I guess it is at least partially because they just want to do the right thing. Not the most important leap forward in equality but I guess even small steps are beneficial in moving us towards a world where all people are treated equally.
If what their spokesperson says is true: "This is consistent with our policy of creating a welcoming, respectful and inclusive environment for all of our guests.", I guess it is at least partially because they just want to do the right thing. Not the most important leap forward in equality but I guess even small steps are beneficial in moving us towards a world where all people are treated equally.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
To Save The Planet, Parent Only Once
This quote is from Terrence McKenna.
The idea is that if every person in the first world countries only had one child, their population would halve every twenty years. Since every person in first world uses many times the resources of people in the third world, reducing the number of children we have would drastically reduce our impact on the planet.
--BH
The idea is that if every person in the first world countries only had one child, their population would halve every twenty years. Since every person in first world uses many times the resources of people in the third world, reducing the number of children we have would drastically reduce our impact on the planet.
--BH
Saturday, March 31, 2007
The Mystery Machine
I've seen this van around town before. Apparently the owner has a video store in Felton called Scoob's.
This is of course a reproduction of the van from Scooby Doo.
I was nuts about comics and cartoons when I was a kid and a teenager and many of my cultural references are from cartoons. There were some cartoons that were masterpieces and some that were just so-so. Some of them started out as masterpieces and years later degenerated into pap. The early Popeye cartoons for instance were much better than what came after for instance.
Scooby doo was rather odd in that it started out with some pretty good stuff the first season (I wouldn't necessarily say masterpiece level but fun and decent quality entertainment) but everything after that first season seemed like they just had one basic plot that they used over and over. What was amazing to me was that it went downhill so quickly (maybe it was the first two seasons that were good, I didn't follow it that closely).
I have not been able to get myself to watch all the way through either of the new Scooby Doo movies which is disappointing to me. I had high hopes that they would be an innovative kitsch fest like the Brady Bunch movies but something about the digital animation disturbs me and the whole feel of the movies just turns me off.
Oh Well.
This is of course a reproduction of the van from Scooby Doo.
I was nuts about comics and cartoons when I was a kid and a teenager and many of my cultural references are from cartoons. There were some cartoons that were masterpieces and some that were just so-so. Some of them started out as masterpieces and years later degenerated into pap. The early Popeye cartoons for instance were much better than what came after for instance.
Scooby doo was rather odd in that it started out with some pretty good stuff the first season (I wouldn't necessarily say masterpiece level but fun and decent quality entertainment) but everything after that first season seemed like they just had one basic plot that they used over and over. What was amazing to me was that it went downhill so quickly (maybe it was the first two seasons that were good, I didn't follow it that closely).
I have not been able to get myself to watch all the way through either of the new Scooby Doo movies which is disappointing to me. I had high hopes that they would be an innovative kitsch fest like the Brady Bunch movies but something about the digital animation disturbs me and the whole feel of the movies just turns me off.
Oh Well.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Indian Paintbrush
The Big Basin Skyline to the Sea trail that ends (or starts depending on your point of view) at highway 1 at Waddell Creek was marvelous today. It should be even better on April 22 when they have their wildflower festival. Hopefully they get good flowers this year although with the low rainfall they will probably not be as prolific as some years. Click here for the full flickr set.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Santa Cruz Public Art
This is the start of a Flickr set I am starting of public art in Santa Cruz, starting with a tour of Pacific Avenue and the streets immediately off of it. I'll add more locations as I get the chance. Here is a link to the set
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Mission Inn
The Mission Inn in Riverside is a magical place. It was built over the course of decades in five or six different architectural styles (faux mission, orientale, etc.) It has hundreds of odd little corners and works of art from all over the world hidden in and around it.
I found this postcard of it, from the thirties I would guess, at the Santa Cruz antiques sale that happens downtown every so often.
I found this postcard of it, from the thirties I would guess, at the Santa Cruz antiques sale that happens downtown every so often.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
The History of UCSC Chapter 19477, In All Its Naked Glory.
A few years ago I had the privilege to work with, among other wonderful people, an awsome artist/technologist, Timothy Jordan on a dance telematica project called Lubricious Transfer.
Some months ago I discovered that Timothy has an excellent program on KZSC, the UCSC radio station. I usually only get to hear the last 10-15 minutes of it after I get off work. But Timothy mentioned to me a few weeks ago that, as I should have guessed, there is a podcast of it.
So I have been catching up on the rest of his shows during the past week or so and I just recently heard one episode called "the naked/transparent show". On it he had an interview with "the naked guy" who apparently used to ride around campus naked and once went to class that way (I thought there was also a "naked guy" at Berkeley at one point too).
Back when M.R.C. Greenwood was chancellor someone in my office said that she had made a statement that UCSC was no longer a clothing optional university. I had always assumed she made this statement as part of the never-ending campaign by UCSC administration to make UCSC seem a safe, boring conventional place that parents will feel comfortable sending their kids. But in the interview "the naked guy" said that he had asked Marcie specifically why she had made that decision and she said it was because she herself was too old to go naked anymore to which he replied that you are never too old to be naked.
I found that a fascinating thing for her to say even though I still believe that the main reason she did this was for PR, I think it is a fascinating comment on our society in general and on UCSC in particular that the people in charge feel that because they are uncomfortable with something for themselves, they should prohibit it for everyone else.
In the interview they also touched on various other instances of spontaneous nakeditity on the UCSC campus and I thought it would be amusing to recount my own personal memories of UCSC as a clothing optional university. I am sure that other alumni from my era (77 off and on through 83) or before can tell much more outrageous stories than I can but here is what I remember.
Of course most people at UCSC nowadays knows about the Porter run: the first rainy day of the season scores of students run naked from Porter across campus through other colleges and places. Sadly, I have read that the last few years the number of spectators has been greater than the actual participants. What a wonderful liberating thing that must have been the first few years it happened to be able to run free through all outdoors without clothing.
A few years running when we first moved to Kerr Hall we would see them running past the loading dock, usually near the end of the afternoon. A great joyous crowd of kids rambling up the street. I think they must have had drums or some other musical instruments with them. Someone working by the windows would usually pipe up with something like "oh, here come the naked people" and everyone would stop work for a moment to watch them go by. it was fun but not really any big deal. Just another quirky thing that made UCSC a great and wonderful place unlike any other in the world.
Now here I feel I must pause to say that, although I understand that UCSC was more wild and crazy in the few years before I was a student there, other than a few things like the Porter run, it has really become quite socially conventional and staid in the past few years. It is not much different socially than any other university now albeit with a progressive bent.
I would also like to say that even when it was at its wildest, there was an incredible amount of truly high quality scholarship and learning that went on at UCSC. I remember in 1977, the wildest of the years that I attended UCSC, someone told me that 85% of the psychology majors at UCSC got into grad schools. Apparently that is a very high percentage compared to most schools.
And the students at UCSC have always predominantly been more interested in real learning rather than just getting a degree. There are always a few students who don't feel that way but the majority have always been here to learn.
So, back to the narrative:
When came back to UCSC as a staff member a year or two before MRC came on board, there were students, mostly involved in the campus AIDS awareness group, who would ride bikes around campus nude. I believe they gave out free condoms and I imagine AIDS prevention literature. Unfortunately the shot of a group of them saying goodby to a favored former chancellor ended up on the cutting room floor.
Working backwards in time, I know that the College V/Kresge meadow was still used then for nude sunbathing as it had been in my day. Again, it was never any big deal, just a comfortable place to lie out on a sunny day. I don't know if this still goes on but I assume not.
Jumping back to the beginning of my years at UCSC and working forward now, I remember the first day or two that I was at UCSC one of my housemates showed me a photo of his old housemates from the year before when he lived in the sextets (I was rather dissappointed when I found out they were named that because they housed six people). The had gotten together a few days before for a reunion dinner and had taken a group naked photo under the naked guy statue on the front of the Kresge Town Hall. I think He said it was taken about 2 in the morning.
Not too much later in the year, before halloween in any case, I walked up to the Idler Cafe, the student co-op cafe that was then next to the Town Hall. Just inside of the front door there was a counter with a clothes check girl and boy. They explained that it was "nude night at the Idler" that night. They took each person's clothes as they came in the door and gave them a claim ticket of some sort I guess (where would we have put a claim ticket though?).
Throughout the night there were a variety of games and activities. The only one I can remember was a game where one person passed an orange held under their chin to the person next to them.
As I was standing by the front counter a couple came in from one of the other colleges (Stevenson I think). Even at that time, most of the other colleges were relatively more conservative than Kresge. I remember having a conversation with the girl in the couple and finding it amusing that she was very careful not to look anywhere other than the eyes of the person she was talking to.
There was someone filming the evening who I think was working on a history of Kresge project. I remember he said that a copy of it would go in the Kresge College archives. I would love to see a copy of that film someday and see if I was really as skinny as I remember myself being.
Halloween of that year, the girlfriend of a friend of mine (who I think had been the clothes check girl and boy) dressed as a male flasher. Her costume was incredibly believable. Part of it was made of a bunch of stockings stuck into another stocking.
Unfortunately I was not aware that there was a hot tub at Kresge until they shut it down. I believe 1977-78 was the last year that it was open. It was upstairs in the building by the volleyball court, upstairs over what at that time was a weight room. I think I was told it was closed down because people splashed too much water on the floor and it leaked down into the room below but I think it was also because the preceptors whose apartments were next to it couldn't sleep with all the noise and naked revelers.
Other than the casual clothing optional attitude in many of the apartments at Kresge, most of the rest of the stories I have relate as well to the sexual climate at Kresge at that time which is a much larger topic and will have to wait for another time.
--Peace
An Occasional Santa Cruzan
Some months ago I discovered that Timothy has an excellent program on KZSC, the UCSC radio station. I usually only get to hear the last 10-15 minutes of it after I get off work. But Timothy mentioned to me a few weeks ago that, as I should have guessed, there is a podcast of it.
So I have been catching up on the rest of his shows during the past week or so and I just recently heard one episode called "the naked/transparent show". On it he had an interview with "the naked guy" who apparently used to ride around campus naked and once went to class that way (I thought there was also a "naked guy" at Berkeley at one point too).
Back when M.R.C. Greenwood was chancellor someone in my office said that she had made a statement that UCSC was no longer a clothing optional university. I had always assumed she made this statement as part of the never-ending campaign by UCSC administration to make UCSC seem a safe, boring conventional place that parents will feel comfortable sending their kids. But in the interview "the naked guy" said that he had asked Marcie specifically why she had made that decision and she said it was because she herself was too old to go naked anymore to which he replied that you are never too old to be naked.
I found that a fascinating thing for her to say even though I still believe that the main reason she did this was for PR, I think it is a fascinating comment on our society in general and on UCSC in particular that the people in charge feel that because they are uncomfortable with something for themselves, they should prohibit it for everyone else.
In the interview they also touched on various other instances of spontaneous nakeditity on the UCSC campus and I thought it would be amusing to recount my own personal memories of UCSC as a clothing optional university. I am sure that other alumni from my era (77 off and on through 83) or before can tell much more outrageous stories than I can but here is what I remember.
Of course most people at UCSC nowadays knows about the Porter run: the first rainy day of the season scores of students run naked from Porter across campus through other colleges and places. Sadly, I have read that the last few years the number of spectators has been greater than the actual participants. What a wonderful liberating thing that must have been the first few years it happened to be able to run free through all outdoors without clothing.
A few years running when we first moved to Kerr Hall we would see them running past the loading dock, usually near the end of the afternoon. A great joyous crowd of kids rambling up the street. I think they must have had drums or some other musical instruments with them. Someone working by the windows would usually pipe up with something like "oh, here come the naked people" and everyone would stop work for a moment to watch them go by. it was fun but not really any big deal. Just another quirky thing that made UCSC a great and wonderful place unlike any other in the world.
Now here I feel I must pause to say that, although I understand that UCSC was more wild and crazy in the few years before I was a student there, other than a few things like the Porter run, it has really become quite socially conventional and staid in the past few years. It is not much different socially than any other university now albeit with a progressive bent.
I would also like to say that even when it was at its wildest, there was an incredible amount of truly high quality scholarship and learning that went on at UCSC. I remember in 1977, the wildest of the years that I attended UCSC, someone told me that 85% of the psychology majors at UCSC got into grad schools. Apparently that is a very high percentage compared to most schools.
And the students at UCSC have always predominantly been more interested in real learning rather than just getting a degree. There are always a few students who don't feel that way but the majority have always been here to learn.
So, back to the narrative:
When came back to UCSC as a staff member a year or two before MRC came on board, there were students, mostly involved in the campus AIDS awareness group, who would ride bikes around campus nude. I believe they gave out free condoms and I imagine AIDS prevention literature. Unfortunately the shot of a group of them saying goodby to a favored former chancellor ended up on the cutting room floor.
Working backwards in time, I know that the College V/Kresge meadow was still used then for nude sunbathing as it had been in my day. Again, it was never any big deal, just a comfortable place to lie out on a sunny day. I don't know if this still goes on but I assume not.
Jumping back to the beginning of my years at UCSC and working forward now, I remember the first day or two that I was at UCSC one of my housemates showed me a photo of his old housemates from the year before when he lived in the sextets (I was rather dissappointed when I found out they were named that because they housed six people). The had gotten together a few days before for a reunion dinner and had taken a group naked photo under the naked guy statue on the front of the Kresge Town Hall. I think He said it was taken about 2 in the morning.
Not too much later in the year, before halloween in any case, I walked up to the Idler Cafe, the student co-op cafe that was then next to the Town Hall. Just inside of the front door there was a counter with a clothes check girl and boy. They explained that it was "nude night at the Idler" that night. They took each person's clothes as they came in the door and gave them a claim ticket of some sort I guess (where would we have put a claim ticket though?).
Throughout the night there were a variety of games and activities. The only one I can remember was a game where one person passed an orange held under their chin to the person next to them.
As I was standing by the front counter a couple came in from one of the other colleges (Stevenson I think). Even at that time, most of the other colleges were relatively more conservative than Kresge. I remember having a conversation with the girl in the couple and finding it amusing that she was very careful not to look anywhere other than the eyes of the person she was talking to.
There was someone filming the evening who I think was working on a history of Kresge project. I remember he said that a copy of it would go in the Kresge College archives. I would love to see a copy of that film someday and see if I was really as skinny as I remember myself being.
Halloween of that year, the girlfriend of a friend of mine (who I think had been the clothes check girl and boy) dressed as a male flasher. Her costume was incredibly believable. Part of it was made of a bunch of stockings stuck into another stocking.
Unfortunately I was not aware that there was a hot tub at Kresge until they shut it down. I believe 1977-78 was the last year that it was open. It was upstairs in the building by the volleyball court, upstairs over what at that time was a weight room. I think I was told it was closed down because people splashed too much water on the floor and it leaked down into the room below but I think it was also because the preceptors whose apartments were next to it couldn't sleep with all the noise and naked revelers.
Other than the casual clothing optional attitude in many of the apartments at Kresge, most of the rest of the stories I have relate as well to the sexual climate at Kresge at that time which is a much larger topic and will have to wait for another time.
--Peace
An Occasional Santa Cruzan
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
What Am I Doing Up Here
DeCinzo, the cartoonist all Santa Cruz loves to hate, had a field day with this one. He is obviously not a true Santa Cruzan, at least in spirit.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Swami Beyondananda and Fondle the Fear
Just saw a great comedy show with Swami Beyondananda, Richard Stockton and Ralph Anybody at that great Santa Cruz institution, the Kuumbwa Jazz Center.
This is the third time I have seen the Swami and he is fantastic. Outrageously funny and quite enlightening and inspiring. One of my favorite lines from tonght was something to the effect of "God is watching the comedy channel and we are what is on it" . Hearing the Swami channeling Bullwinkle impersonating Frank Sinatra was hilarious.
Opening this evening was Ralph Anybody from Kpig, followed by Richard Stockton, author of the book: "fondle The Fear".
I thought all three were very funny.
This is the third time I have seen the Swami and he is fantastic. Outrageously funny and quite enlightening and inspiring. One of my favorite lines from tonght was something to the effect of "God is watching the comedy channel and we are what is on it" . Hearing the Swami channeling Bullwinkle impersonating Frank Sinatra was hilarious.
Opening this evening was Ralph Anybody from Kpig, followed by Richard Stockton, author of the book: "fondle The Fear".
I thought all three were very funny.
Friday, March 09, 2007
digital vs film test
Taken with a Pentax s5z digital compact. Lets see how this look online compared to the sunflower scanned from a 4x5" transparency.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Sunflower
A sunflower from our garden a few years ago. Original, 4x5" view camera, velvia transparency, 90mm lens. I am interested to see how it looks different from pictures from my digital compact camera once it has been optimized for the web.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Sea Lions With Party Hats
These sea lions are on the UCSC campus at the upper end of Thimann Lecture halls. I like this version much better than a few years ago when someone covered them in yellow paint (I suppose to make them look like banana slugs). I do think that we should have some statues of banana slugs on campus though.
Flickr Set
Flickr Set
Quarry Cactus Garden
Here are the steps up to the garden. Most of the time when I am backstage at the quarry I am either focused on getting equipment up on stage or I am on my way to the back part of the quarry to go for a walk. But this time I happened to glance to the right just where the path to the back quarry starts and noticed these stone steps.
Flickr Set
Flickr Set
Monday, January 08, 2007
UCSC expansion
UCSC is proposing to increase its enrollment by about 25% in the next 10 years. I think the university should make a commitment to improve water conservation to the point where they can house that increased number of students without using any more water than we use now.
How much water do we really use on campus now? How much of it is used for landscaping? How much for food? Showers,dishwashing, research?
They should also commit to keep the number of vehicle trips the same. More buses, car share, innovative ways of connecting people to share rides.
And they should work with the town to house all of those people without impacting the existing housing market. I think high density mixed use housing, classroom and retail in the far west side by the old Lipton's and Wrigley's factories with very frequent shuttles from there to campus.
But do we really need to expand?
My understanding is that the increase in enrollment is caused by baby boom 2. By the time this constructin is done BB2 will be about over. Will we ever see that sort of increase in enrollment again or will the demand drop back down to where it is now?
How much water do we really use on campus now? How much of it is used for landscaping? How much for food? Showers,dishwashing, research?
They should also commit to keep the number of vehicle trips the same. More buses, car share, innovative ways of connecting people to share rides.
And they should work with the town to house all of those people without impacting the existing housing market. I think high density mixed use housing, classroom and retail in the far west side by the old Lipton's and Wrigley's factories with very frequent shuttles from there to campus.
But do we really need to expand?
My understanding is that the increase in enrollment is caused by baby boom 2. By the time this constructin is done BB2 will be about over. Will we ever see that sort of increase in enrollment again or will the demand drop back down to where it is now?
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