Velvet Verbosity

It’s true. I’m a science nerd at heart. Given a choice between, oh what’s the name of that thick woman’s magazine, and a science rag, there’s just no competition. I’ll go for the science every time. Read this recently. Some pretty interesting stuff going on in the bedrooms…er nests, of ducks.

Working in the tech industry, you might think I had heard about Second Life before a month ago. Well, you would have been wrong. I had no idea that over two million people are creating “second lives” and living for several hours a day in a virtual world. Dude…these people have even created a virutal economy and somehow, that virtual money is translating into real money. What? How does that work and not completely tip the universe over due to what has to be multiple infractions on the laws of physics.

Is anyone paying attention? If you think this is only for certain “freakish” people, I will have you know that Harvard conducts classes in this virtual world. On a virtual island. At a Tiki Bar.

Then again, I know some pretty freakish Harvard people. (No L, I’m not talking about you. You are not freakish at all. Except for that thing with the thing last year.)

I’ve seen and encountered many interesting things and people over the last couple of weeks, and now that I am finally here in front of my computer, I can’t recall any of them.

Currently reading: Paradise Lost, Possession (for the 56th time), and Prioritizing Web Usability.

Found this photographer.

From The Pillowbook:

“We two remake our world by naming it together, knowing what words mean for us and for the others for whom current coin is cold speech - but we say, the tree, the pool, and see the fire in air, the sun, our sun, anybody’s sun, the world’s sun, but here, now, particularly our sun…”

Driving through Connecticut with my Dad and brother this weekend, someone in the car asked, “why do you think barns are mostly red?”.

Now, given that the three of us are genetically predisposed to strong opinions (presented as fact) and liking to hear ourselves talk about theory on just about any topic, the silence that followed was highly unusual. I was sufficiently moved enough to google this question as soon as the next free moment arrived.

I found some interesting theories and myths about the origins of the red barn craze. The most interesting (i.e. coherent and short) and perhaps plausible (i.e. it doesn’t cause my skeptic alarm to sound) explanation was found here, and copied for you here:

Centuries ago, European farmers would seal the wood on their barns with an oil, often linseed oil — a tawny-colored oil derived from the seed of the flax plant. They would paint their barns with a linseed-oil mixture, often consisting of additions such as milk and lime. The combination produced a long-lasting paint that dried and hardened quickly. (Today, linseed oil is sold in most home-improvement stores as a wood sealant.) Now, where does the red come from?

In historically accurate terms, “barn red” is not the bright, fire-engine red that we often see today, but more of a burnt-orange red. As to how the oil mixture became traditionally red, there are two predominant theories:

• Wealthy farmers added blood from a recent slaughter to the oil mixture. As the paint dried, it turned from a bright red to a darker, burnt red.
• Farmers added ferrous oxide, otherwise known as rust, to the oil mixture. Rust was plentiful on farms and is a poison to many fungi, including mold and moss, which were known to grown on barns. These fungi would trap moisture in the wood, increasing decay.

Regardless of how the farmer tinted his paint, having a red barn became a fashionable thing. They were a sharp contrast to the traditional white farmhouse.

As European settlers crossed over to America, they brought with them the tradition of red barns. In the mid to late 1800s, as paints began to be produced with chemical pigments, red paint was the most inexpensive to buy. Red was the color of favor until whitewash became cheaper, at which point white barns began to spring up.

Huh, tinted with blood eh? Well, that’s kind of, er, disturbing. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at a quaint country barn in a field somewhere and feel that sweet nostalgic wave again. (Shudder)

The sun has been shining for days now…the nights are cool and quiet, and the smell of Autumn is just around the next corner. Perfect days for folk, swing, jazz, and joyful oddities. Here are my recommendations for today:

“Shine” by Monsterbuck…Tugs my heartstrings every time. Since this is a friend of mine, I heard it for the first time around a campfire.

“Send Me a Man” by Alberta Hunter …a wonderful accompaniment to sun and wind in your hair while cruising down country roads.

“Mountain Trip to Japan” by The Trachtenburg Family SlideShow Players…who I saw at the Iron Horse in NoHo. Up close and personal like. I think the mother is the most talented. I mean, got to keep that slide projector in working order you know!

“Neighborhood” by Space…oh c’mon, you know you want to sing along, even though it is a little, er…dark.

When my daughter was younger, her favorite movie was Little Women with Katherine Hepburn. She loved Jo. Now she loves “13 Going on 30″ with Jennifer Garner. How do these things happen?

Four years at Smith…as an adult woman, a single mother…bringing with me my provincial upbringing, my children, and my dreams. It’s been a long haul and graduation will be a quiet agonizing triumph.