Posted by Jerry on August 15th, 2004 — Posted in Journal, Travel, Writing
Consider shoes – the interface of the body with the ground. We wear/abraid the shoes from the inside while the ground wears away the sole. Shoes mark our travels (and travails) as we mark the ground with our slight footprints.
How well do we care for those neglected extremities – our feet? Yet they are the focus of our connectedness with the ground and our primary means to take us to new experiences.
And our shoes shield us from the roughest and sharpest surfaces, and insulate us from stones and cold and summer heat.
So our shoes at once connect us and insulate us whether humble thongs (flip-flops) or the highest technology running shoes or shoes of highest fashion through which we express our personality. What a wonderful invention is the shoe!
Cheers
Jerry
Comments Off on Shoes – the body’s interface with the ground
Posted by Jerry on August 14th, 2004 — Posted in Technology, Travel, Writing
I was recently reading a book on Ancient Egypt by Lorna Oakes and Lucia Gahlin. It is richly illustrated and covers a lot of cultural and belief system issues not covered in such breadth elsewhere. One of the cultural issues referenced in passing is the production of textiles – ancient Egypt was big in cotton and linen production.
About 60km south-west of Cairo lies a large depression in the Libyan desert – a fertile area around a large lake, called the Faiyum. It seems that in Phaironic times, the kings used to time out visiting the Faiyum area for a spot of fishing. Interestingly, in the reign of Ramses II (1279-1213BC some of the ladies of the harem were employed in the production of textiles there. There are references to Maathorneferura, the daughter of the Hittite king Hattusilis being one of these women. She lived in a palace at nearby Miwer, which appears to have been a textile production centre.
Several sources state that large estates and palaces in Ancient Egypt usually contained various workshops, including spinning and weaving studios, to provide the household with necessary items. The evidence would suggest that within such studios, tens of people, usually women, were involved in the production of cloth.
In royal palaces, these women were often the numerous wives of the pharaoh. Along with their children and servants, they were housed in harem palaces in remote areas, such as that at Abu Ghurab.
The linen from the towns of Tennis, Damietta, and Shata in the Northern Delta and in Faiyum and El Bahnasa in Middle Egypt, were particularly famous. Tennis, one of the most famous linen manufacturing centers, was known for a fabric called Al-Qasab Al-Molawwan, or the Brocade of Tennis. Historical sources state that Tennis had around 5,000 weaving workshops with 10,000 weavers and that there was no house in the world that did not have Tennis fabrics or clothes.
Linen, woven from the flax plant that grew prolifically in Egypt’s fertile delta region was first spun and then woven. There is a bit more information abut the actual spinning and weaving processes here.
Anyhow, Oakes and Gahlin’s book Ancient Egypt: An illustrated reference to the myths, religions, pyramids and temples of the land of the Pharaohs is a great read, lavishly illustrated and well worth buying!
Cheers
Jerry
Comments Off on Ancient Egypt – the Faiyum
Posted by Jerry on August 10th, 2004 — Posted in Journal, Travel, Writing
I have just finished reading William Gibson’s book Pattern Recognition – this has to be one of his best books (yes Neuromancer was and remains stunning) – once again demonstrating how great writer Gibson is. i love his use of language, and the description of jet lag as having to wait for the soul to catch the body is an enduring image. His opening line:
“Five hours’ New York jet lag and Cayce Pollard wakes in Camden Town to the dire and ever-circling wolves of disrupted circadian rhythm.”
This is a must-read book!
must go
cheers
Jerry
Comments Off on Pattern recognition – Gibson
Posted by Jerry on August 5th, 2004 — Posted in Journal, Travel
Winter in Canberra
The hills behind Parliament house were coated in a beautiful light sprinkling of snow, so I had to take a quick photo this morning as I pulled in to work – and I thought I’d share it with you
Canberra – Parliament House with now on the Brindabella hills
Cheers
Jerry
Comments Off on Winter in Canberra
Posted by Jerry on July 18th, 2004 — Posted in History, Technology, Travel, Writing
I have been reading Carlo Pedretti’s recent book on Leonardo da Vinci – it seems that Leonardo took a great interest in the emerging information technology explostion of his time – printing. And he designed a printing press with an automatic sheet feeder. But despite arranging and paginating some of his work to facilitate printing, none of his works were printed in his lifetime. In about 1505 Leonardo designed a basic system for the simaltaneous printing of text and images – a method eventually used by William Blake some two centuries later. It is fascinating work.
He also revisits the notion of an automobile, to be driven by springs which was also designed by Leonardo – And now the Italians are working on a full scale working model. It is as yet incomplete, but the site is well worth visiting!
Cheers
Jerry
Comments Off on Leonardo and Printing
