Category Archives: Seattle

Live Long And Prosper

Posted on by
3
Star Trek Insigna

Star Trek Insigna

This is e-week or in the vernacular, Engineering Week. The purpose of this week is to celebrate engineers and all that they do for us. Being an engineer myself, this celebration is more than a little self-congratulatory. Still, it is a relatively arcane discipline, practiced by many of the most eccentric folks that I know. To non-engineers, my colleagues must appear as the very embodiment of geek-dom. The Fashionista would be appalled with our dress code. Our body images tend to segregate themselves into either pencil neck geeks or overweight fatties, with few of us in the happy middle. As a group, we are not even the most personable of people. If we were still in high school, we would all be trying on locker overcoats for size. So we are not much to look at or be around, but then we are not being paid for are good looks or personality anyway. We do things. We create things. We make our modern life possible. When you buy some new techno-bauble it is me you should thank. When your car starts it is me you should thank. When your toilet flushes it is me you should thank. You’re welcome!

This celebratory week was tinged with sadness with news of Leonard Nimoy’s death today. An actor that has been ambivalent about his role as Mr. Spock on Star Trek, he served as a lightning rod for my kind. I heard him speak once at a Star Trek convention in Dallas. My brother Chris and I went there together. Jewish, he spoke at length about his then upcoming series of Hanukkah stories that I later listened to on NPR. His talk was an interesting departure from the rest of that convention’s program, still he held the audience. I still hear his voice daily. I play a video game, Civilization that tracks humankind’s progress from the Stone Age to tomorrow. Every time a new technology is invented, Nimoy’s voice recites an appropriately famous quote. His spirit will be missed.

Jour de la Marmotte

Posted on by
2
Interesting Light Fixture in Seattle's Pikes Market

Interesting Light Fixture in Seattle’s Pikes Market

Today is Groundhog Day and Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, predicting six more months of torture for Pete Carroll, the Seattle Seahawks head coach. Why did he have to call for that pass play that got intercepted in the final minute of the game? Did he really believe that Marshawn Lynch couldn’t have punched the ball in from the one yard line? After all, he would have had three tries available to him to do just that and win the game. In addition to Groundhog Day, today is also the Monday after the Super bowl and just so happens to be the day that more Americans call in sick on, than on any other day of the year. This absenteeism wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that Super bowl Sunday is the worst day of the year for healthy eating in America, or that it is the day with the second highest consumption of beer in America, would it? Unlike some of my colleagues, I made it into work today, through a dusting of oobleck. Now that the Super bowl is behind us, can’t we dispense with the rest of winter? How many more weeks are there until spring training?

Nick Cave

Posted on by
2
Speak Louder, Nick Cave, 2011

Speak Louder, Nick Cave, 2011

Nick Cave is best known for his imaginative and theatrical Soundsuits, wearable sculptures composed of fibers as varied as raffia, hair, yarn, and twigs, and items such as buttons, sequins, and an array of found objects that Cave finds in flea markets and thrift stores. Soundsuits are named for the audible rustling and rattling that these wildly mixed materials create when the sculptures are worn and performed. Once referred to by the artist as “body armor,” Soundsuits transcend preconceptions with their ambiguous identities. While accumulated matter of discarded toys and kitsch suggests a critique on consumerism, the kaleidoscopic and tactile qualities of Cave’s meticulously crafted works convey a dazzling vibrancy that both implicates and invites. A Missouri native, Mr. Cave is now showing at the Saint Louis Art Museum. I first saw his work last year at the Seattle Art Museum.

Not in My House

Posted on by
1
Rams Versus Seahawks

Rams Versus Seahawks

Not in my house
You might catch me on the road
But not in my house
It won’t happen, oh no
Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no

– Nelly

The main reason for Rey’s coming to Saint Louis, other than to see us was to see today’s football game. The Rams hosted the Seahawks and Rey is from Seattle. Free football tickets were also the reason that David came to Saint Louis. Dave had been in Chicago on Saturday, watching the US Women’s Soccer team beat up on the lowly Guatemalans. I mean they were short; every US player had a full head of height over the visitors. I think that the final score was 5-0, but the worst of it was that the Guatemalan team never even got a shot on goal. I think that many of the pundit class were expecting a similar route in today’s game. I certainly was. Here you had last year’s Super bowl winning Seahawks versus the lowly Rams, with a record this year of only 1-4 going into this game, but Saint Louis pulled a fast one.

Rey drove us downtown this morning, so that he could get a jump on his long drive back to Tennessee tonight. We had brunch at Rooster, the same place that Anne treated me at for Father’s Day earlier this year. We figured if we got downtown early enough, we would beat the football rush there. What we didn’t figure on was the additional hubbub from this morning’s Rock ‘n’ Roll marathon. Downtown Saint Louis was hopping this Sunday morning. Rooster is a crepes place and is part of the Bailey family of restaurants, which is sort of a local ‘chain’ except that almost every restaurant is different.

The Rams were passing out Robert Quinn (#94) bobble-head dolls at the gate. The game started surprisingly well for Saint Louis, who was up 21-6 at the half. Seattle kept coming back and the final score was very close, 28-26. The Rams pulled a couple of trick plays, both of which worked well. A fake punt gave Saint Louis the first down that it needed to run out the clock and put the game away. Even more unusual though was the first half’s fake punt return. Seattle kicked the punt and the Rams punt returner and his blockers moved to the left-hand side of the field to catch it. Almost of the Seahawks moved to that side too, to block the return. The only problem was that the ball had been kicked to the right-hand side of the field. A Rams receiver dropped back from the line to catch the punt and then ran it back for the touchdown. The only Seahawks player that wasn’t fooled was the kicker, because he was watching to see where the ball was going. It was a good game. Not quite a Cardinal’s pennant winning game six, but a suitable substitute under the circumstances.

Electra

Posted on by
Reply
Lockheed Electra

Lockheed Electra

Pictured is a portion of the Lockheed Electra Model 10-E that resides in the Seattle Museum of Flight. This is the same model of this aircraft the Emilia Earhart used in her ill-fated attempt to fly around the world. A similar, but slightly smaller version of this aircraft, the Electra Model 12, was used in the climatic scene of the movie “Casablanca”.

In Greek mythology, Electra was the daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra. Electra was immortalized in plays by Sophocles and Euripides. She and her brother Orestes plotted revenge against their mother Clytemnestra and stepfather for the murder of their father, Agamemnon. As Greek tragedies go, her story is pretty tragic.

Another mythical Greek character was also called Electra. This Electra is also one of the seven sisters in the Pleiades. She was one of the seven daughters of Atlas. She was raped by Zeus and gave birth to Dardanus, for whom the Dardanelles was named. According to one legend, she was the lost Pleiad, disappearing in grief after the destruction of Troy. The word Electra means “shining” and “bright”.

Electra also appears in psychology as the Electra complex. This is the female equivalent to the male Oedipus complex. In both complexes the child competes with their same-sex parent for the affection of the opposite sex parent. The Electra complex is often associated with the idea of Daddy’s little girl. A classic song by that title is a favorite at white weddings, for when the bride dances with her father. It is amazing what rabbit-holes one can go down with a little Internet research. The lyrics to “Daddy’s Little Girl” are below:

You’re the end of the rainbow, my pot of gold.
You’re daddy’s little girl, to have and hold.
A precious gem is what you are;
You’re mommy’s bright and shining star.

You’re the spirit of Christmas, the star on our tree.
You’re the Easter Bunny to Mommy and me.
You’re sugar, you’re spice, and you’re everything nice
And You’re Daddy’s Little Girl