[NetBehaviour] Ecosia

[Edward Picot]

Max,

I thought the same thing about Haddam, until, like you, I discovered it 
was a place in Connecticut.

'The Emperor of Ice Cream' is one of Michael Szpakowski's favourite 
poems - mine too, for that matter.

Do I think 'Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird' is about networks? 
Not really, if I'm honest. You can find lots of things in it, of course...

Incidentally I told my son Ray about Ecosia, and his response was 'I 
know! I use it all the time! I told you about it a year ago! You never 
listen to what I say!'

Edward

On 05/12/2019 21:20, Max Herman via NetBehaviour wrote:
> Hi Edward,
>
> It's always encouraging to hear of products that incorporate an 
> element of philanthropy, social responsibility, or environmental 
> sustainability in their raison d'etre.  It seems that a hybrid of 
> individual economic choices combined with the best legislation 
> possible would be the most hopeful path forward.
>
> Perhaps because of reading something else recently about Wallace 
> Stevens, I was reminded of hearing about your "Thirteen Ways of 
> Looking at a Blackbird" project and re-read the poem (which I had read 
> but not studied closely in the past).  Bird poems have a very rich and 
> ancient history so it was good to read it again.
>
> I thought Haddam would mean some ancient city when he asked why its 
> "thin men" "imagine golden birds," somewhat like "Sailing to 
> Byzantium," but it's actually a town in Connecticut.  The poem is 
> truly marvelous, which makes me wish I'd read it better sooner.  Oh well!
>
> I'm also reminded of seeing some red-winged blackbirds at Lands End 
> national park last October.  The drought had dried everything to a 
> brown tinder, fires were raging very close to the city, and there were 
> three birds with piercing eyes in the shrubs next to the parking spot 
> we were in.  I think one even hopped onto the hood of our car, or 
> almost landed on our windshield -- it was one of those startling 
> moments one sometimes has with nature.  After watching them a bit I 
> saw the red wings of one when it jumped to a new shrub, and got very 
> excited: "they're red-winged blackbirds!"
>
> At a conference in late 2018 I spoke briefly to neurologist and author 
> Dr. James Austin about his latest book, written in his early 90's.  He 
> noted that the term for mindfulness in zen is actually more like 
> re-mindfulness, as in the title of his book, not quite the same as 
> remembering but similar.  I asked him if he thought mindfulness 
> related to literature, and he said his new book (which I bought but 
> haven't read) includes a lot about haiku, which he likes to write.  He 
> said that the book included a lot about birds, and that early zen 
> considered bird songs as a reminder of our true consciousness, "a 
> reminder to look upward."
>
> Which brings me circuitously to my question -- do you consider 
> Stevens' poem to contain any treatment of networks or a "network 
> perspective" in it?  I most definitely do, but I see networks 
> everywhere I look these days -- in apples, crackers, glasses of water, 
> paper, carvings of bison, you name it.  I see elements of network 
> reality in each stanza of the poem, copied below, in very grand 
> variety; the more grand in that they are not networks about wires, 
> chips, monitors, computers, TVs, radios, etc. etc. ad infinitum.  
> Incidentally, the Stevens poem I know best and have had memorized 
> since the early nineties is "The Emperor of Ice Cream."  I think I 
> shall try to add one more.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Max
>
> +++++
>
> *I*
> Among twenty snowy mountains,
> The only moving thing
> Was the eye of the blackbird.
>
> *II*
> I was of three minds,
> Like a tree
> In which there are three blackbirds.
>
> *III*
> The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
> It was a small part of the pantomime.
>
> *IV*
> A man and a woman
> Are one.
> A man and a woman and a blackbird
> Are one.
>
> *V*
> I do not know which to prefer,
> The beauty of inflections
> Or the beauty of innuendoes,
> The blackbird whistling
> Or just after.
>
> *VI*
> Icicles filled the long window
> With barbaric glass.
> The shadow of the blackbird
> Crossed it, to and fro.
> The mood
> Traced in the shadow
> An indecipherable cause.
>
> *VII*
> O thin men of Haddam,
> Why do you imagine golden birds?
> Do you not see how the blackbird
> Walks around the feet
> Of the women about you?
>
> *VIII*
> I know noble accents
> And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
> But I know, too,
> That the blackbird is involved
> In what I know.
>
> *IX*
> When the blackbird flew out of sight,
> It marked the edge
> Of one of many circles.
>
> *X*
> At the sight of blackbirds
> Flying in a green light,
> Even the bawds of euphony
> Would cry out sharply.
>
> *XI*
> He rode over Connecticut
> In a glass coach.
> Once, a fear pierced him,
> In that he mistook
> The shadow of his equipage
> For blackbirds.
>
> *XII*
> The river is moving.
> The blackbird must be flying.
>
> *XIII*
> It was evening all afternoon.
> It was snowing
> And it was going to snow.
> The blackbird sat
> In the cedar-limbs.
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* NetBehaviour <netbehaviour-bounces at lists.netbehaviour.org> on 
> behalf of Edward Picot via NetBehaviour 
> <netbehaviour at lists.netbehaviour.org>
> *Sent:* Thursday, December 5, 2019 2:00 PM
> *To:* NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity 
> <netbehaviour at lists.netbehaviour.org>
> *Cc:* Edward Picot <julian.lesaux at gmail.com>
> *Subject:* [NetBehaviour] Ecosia
> Dear all,
>
> Via an RCGP (Royal College of General Physicians) toolkit on how to make
> medicine more environmentally friendly, I just came across a search
> engine called Ecosia. The RCGP recommends that we (meaning everyone in
> primary care, ie. all doctors' surgeries in the UK) should set Ecosia
> instead of Google as the default search engine on whatever browser we
> happen to use, because the money Ecosia makes from advertising is all
> put towards reforestation schemes.
>
> I've spent part of the day changing the browsers in our surgery so
> they've now all got Ecosia as the default search engine. You've probably
> all heard about this initiative already, but I'd never come across it
> before. I've been browsing their website and they do seem to be doing
> genuine good work. So, I thought I'd pass on the information.
>
> Edward
>
> PS - very interesting debate about AI in music, sparked by Simon Mclennan!
>
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