Minute Tech 018: Halloween 2007

A Minute Tech podcast, reading from Ruth Edna Kelley's "The Book of Hallowe'en".

THE BOOK OF HALLOWE'EN

CHAPTER I

SUN-WORSHIP. THE SOURCES OF HALLOWE'EN

"IF we could ask one of the old-world pagans whom he revered as his greatest gods, he would be sure to name among them the sun-god; calling him Apollo if he were a Greek; if an Egyptian, Horus or Osiris; if of Norway, Sol; if of Peru, Bochica. As the sun in the center of the physical universe, so all primitive peoples made it the hub about which their religion revolved, nearly always believing it a living person to whom they could say prayers and offer sacrifices, who directed their lives and destinies, and could even snatch men from earthly existence to dwell for a time with him, as it draws the water from lakes and seas.

In believing this they followed an instinct of all early peoples, a desire to make persons of the great powers of nature, such as the world of growing things, mountains and water, the sun, moon, and stars; and a wish for these gods they had made to take an interest in and be part of their daily life. The next step was making stories about them to account for what was seen; so arose myths and legends.

The sun has always marked out work-time and rest, divided the year into winter idleness, seed-time, growth, and harvest; it has always been responsible for all the beauty and goodness of the earth; it is itself splendid to look upon. It goes away and stays longer and longer, leaving the land in cold and gloom; it returns bringing the long fair days and resurrection of spring. A Japanese legend tells how the hidden sun was lured out by an image made of a copper plate with saplings radiating from it like sunbeams, and a fire kindled, dancing, and prayers; and round the earth in North America the Cherokees believed they brought the sun back upon its northward path by the same means of rousing its curiosity, so that it would come out to see its counterpart and find out what was going on.

All the more important church festivals are survivals of old rites to the sun. "How many times the Church has decanted the new wine of Christianity into the old bottles of heathendom." Yule-tide, the pagan Christmas, celebrated the sun's turning north, and the old midsummer holiday is still kept in Ireland and on the Continent as St. John's Day by the lighting of bonfires and a dance about them from east to west as the sun appears to move. The pagan Hallowe'en at the end of summer was a time of grief for the decline of the sun's glory, as well as a harvest festival of thanksgiving to him for having ripened the grain and fruit, as we formerly had husking-bees when the ears had been garnered, and now keep our own Thanksgiving by eating of our winter store in praise of God who gives us our increase.

Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit, lends us the harvest element of Hallowe'en; the Celtic day of "summer's end" was a time when spirits, mostly evil, were abroad; the gods whom Christ dethroned joined the ill-omened throng; the Church festivals of All Saints' and All Souls' coming at the same time of year--the first of November--contributed the idea of the return of the dead; and the Teutonic May Eve assemblage of witches brought its hags and their attendant beasts to help celebrate the night of October 31st."

Happy Halloween!

Go to my iWeb page to subscribe or listen to this podcast: Minute Tech.

..alex.

Minute Tech 017: What do you shoot video with?

What do you shoot video with? A professional level cinema camera, or a webcam? Do you have a nice DV camcorder, or a basic level digital snap-shot camera? Whatever you have available to you, you can make video, a.k.a. moving pictures.

Today we just touch on the camera possibilities, as well as some news items from the world of blogging and Space, the other final frontier.

- The X-prize and light sabers on the Space Shuttle;
- What do you shoot video with?
- Pghbloggers.org and Podcamp rules.

Go to my iWeb page to subscribe or listen to this podcast: Minute Tech.

..Alex.

Minute Tech 016: What is a vlog?

Apple has released OS X 10.5, Oil is pushing up to new heights and Halloween blossoms at Phipps Conservatory. This week we'll be talking about video, starting off with a brief discussion of vlog's, suggesting that you check out Justine Ezarik's recent vlog about Apple's Leopard, and I've found another tech podcast...which faded last fall.

- Apple’s Leopard out; Oil at $93 bbl; Halloween upcoming;
- What is a vlog?
- Investopedia.com

Go to my iWeb page to subscribe or listen to this podcast: Minute Tech.

..Alex.

Sunday Morning Tai Chi - reverse breathing

One of my favorite technological activities is Tai Chi. I've been studying with my current teacher in Pittsburgh for about 20 years. It's interesting to see both how people change and how attitudes/styles of teaching change over that period. But more importantly, what things remain the same. The Tai Chi.

One of the more interesting aspects of Tai Chi is reverse breathing. Studying this assumes that you've studied breathing at all, and have internalized it into your practice in a big way. This is generally referred to as abdominal breathing, focusing on the abdomen as the principal breathing muscle, and on the abdomen (or, lower, the dan tien) as the target for inhales, pooling of chi. Yang Style tai chi emphasizes breathing with movements: yin movements are associated with inhales, yang movements are associated with exhales - always breathing, always moving.

In beginning to learn Wu style from Larry, my teacher, he says that breathing is less emphasized than in Yang. But, interestingly, in the warm-up exercises (which I'll list later for you), one set of four exercises emphasize reverse breathing: inhale on a yin movement (turning inward), exhale on a yang movement (turning outward). Okay, now I've confused myself. Which is the reversal? Time to admit this to my teacher later today! :-)

Some of my Tai Chi links for your perusal:

My Geocities RainForest page.
My teacher's current blog.
A nascent blog started earlier this year in prep for a related (but unstarted) podcast.

..alex.

how about a little Technorati?

Just posting to "stake my claim" to this blog for technorati.

Click this link, Technorati Profile, to see my Technorati profile.

One thing (of billions) I'm missing from my portfolio of new media skills are all the technorati & digg style link sites. I'll be working to correct that. ;-)

..alex.

Minute Tech Submitted to iTunes this a.m...

FYI: Minute Tech has been posted to the iTunes site catalogue this morning. Let's see how that boosts stats in Google Analytics. :-)

Minute Tech 015: What is a Help Menu?

Where have all the podcasts gone?

No, seriously, there are some excellent podcasts out there, some of which I listen to and some of which I hear about newly each week, variously from Twitter posts, other podcasts or the blog/websites related to those podcasts. Today, I talk about two extant podcasts, MacCast and This Week in Media, but also lament the potential fade of VentureCast, an excellent random walk down Sandhill Road.

The outline for this Sat/Sun podcast:

- GIMP 2.4 loosed on the world;
- What is a Help menu?
- MacCast; TWiM’s Ninja; VentureCast?

Go to my iWeb page to subscribe or listen to this podcast: Minute Tech.

..alex.