HAIKUS: December 2013
By Peter Y. Chou |
These haikus were written as exercises in mindfulness an attempt to catch the fleeting moment in my daily walks, while reading, listening to music, and pondering about life. (Underlined words are not for emphasis but to web links.) This web page best viewed with Times font size 14. |
Sunday, December 1, 2013, 4:07-5:45 pm Los Altos Library: Steve Gould's Nov. 29 email on seeing Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" at Frick (my poem), and on Japanese professor using toys to probe nature's phenomena "As complex as a toy" (By Alvin Powell, Harvard Gazette, 10-25-2013); Dave Pfeiffer sees me & gives me ride to Stanford Tadashi Tokieda creates and uses simple mechanisms to explain complex science. |
Sunday, December 1, 2013, 8:00-9:20 pm Stanford Flicks, Cubberley Auditorium; Ryan Coogler directs "Fruitvale Station" (2013) with Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Kevin Durand, Octavia Spencer, Ahna O'Reilly, Chad Michael Murray, Caroline Lesley, Ariana Neal, Jonez Cain; (YouTube: 1, 2, 3, 4); (Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4) Last day of Oscar Grant on New Year's Eve before being killed by BART police. |
Monday, December 2, 2013, 12:48-6:00 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab Surprise Dec. 1 email from Sally Guo addressed to Dr. Peter Paradiso inviting me to present a talk at 7th Annual Protein and Peptide Conference in Dalian, China during April 25-28, 2014 Is there a link between Proteins and Paradiso? mystery that's good to know. |
Monday, December 2, 2013, 3:04-3:29 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab Locust Tree at Foothill College Middlefield Campus Locust Tree Leaves (1, 2); Locust Tree Branch Rings; Neighboring Eucalyptus Tree (Eucalyptus Tree Top); "Locust Tree Hand" Reaching for the Sun (1, 2) Locust Tree with five-fingered hand reaching for the Sun. |
Monday, December 2, 2013, 12:48-6:00 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab Phone call from Colleen at Hidden Villa telling me they found my hiking stick by the stuffed black bear; Web page of Hidden Villa Hike (Nov. 22, 2013) Some favorite photos of Hidden Villa Hike Sheep Looking in Barn, X Marks the Spot, Branch Singing in Air. |
Monday, December 2, 2013, 7:30-9:00 pm Stanford University: Cubberley Auditorium "Fire and Ice: Robert Frost's Dark Woods" Hilton Obenzinger, Kay Kostopoulos, James Carpenter (California Shakespeare Theater) followed by discussion with Prof. Albert Gelpi Frost's poems performed as dramatic readings to honor 50th anniversary of his death. |
Tuesday, December 3, 2013, 12:30-9:30 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab Web page of 158 photos on Hidden Villa Hike (Nov. 22, 2013); 8th hike of Day Hike Class; Some favorite photos of Hidden Villa Hike Heart-Shape Redbud Leaves, Bird Beak Stump Closeup, Neptune's Trident Tree. |
Tuesday, December 3, 2013, 12:30-9:30 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab Platonic Lambda Fern on Hidden Villa hike linked to Sonnet; Google Platonic Lambda: 1 of 38,100 hits, Pinterest Link; Pinterest Source: Wisdomportal.com Fern is earth's oldest plant with Platonic Lambda shape "Soul of the Universe". |
Wednesday, December 4, 2013, 1:30 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab Freezing temperature tonight at 27oF in Palo Alto; Can't zip up my jacket because zipper is stuck; Tried candle wax on zipper; Rudy used his WD-40 White Lithium Spray and it worked! Finally got zipper in my jacket to work to ward off cold winter. |
Wednesday, December 4, 2013, 1:50-9:30 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab BOOK REVIEW: Non-Art for Non-Art's Sake "The Madonna of the Future" by Arthur C. Danto (Warhol's Brillo boxes are art & real Brillo boxes are not); (By Sarah Boxer, NY Times, Aug. 6, 2000) Henry James's Madonna of the Future on Theobald painting a Madonna and dies leaving a blank canvas. |
Wednesday, December 4, 2013, 1:50-9:30 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab Golden State Warriors' furious rally beats Raptors (With 9:20 to go in the third quarter against Toronto Raptors, Warriors trailed by 27 points and were still behind by 18 entering the fourth quarter; In final 12 minutes, Warriors outscored Raptors 42-15 to win 112-103 for 7th-largest comeback in NBA history.) (By Carl Steward, SJ Mercury News, Dec. 4, 2013) At half-time, Jermaine O'Neal gave a fire-and-brimstone speech about not giving up. |
Wednesday, December 4, 2013, 1:50-9:30 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab The 10 greatest comebacks in sports history (By Mike Foss, USA Today, 9-25-2013); KNBR; (By Michael Short, Sfgate, 9-29-2013); Down 35-7 at halftime, Joe Montana beats Saints 38-35 on 12-7-80; Houston Rockets Tracy McGrady 13 points in 35 seconds to beat Spurs 81-80 on 12-9-2004; Down 24 points, Celtics beat Lakers 97-91 in 2008 NBA Finals. Boston Red Sox: ALCS 2004, San Francisco Giants: NLCS 2012, Buffalo Bills: NFL 1993 Playoff. |
Thursday, December 5, 2013, 12:40-9:30 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab Richard's 12/5 email "Wish I were there" features amazing photos from Picture of the Day with "Barn Conversion" designed by Roderick James (1987) has 10 Platonic Lambda Λ beams; My favorite photos That's What Friends Are For, The Eye of the Moon, Coolest Duck Ever. |
Thursday, December 5, 2013, 12:40-9:30 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab New Hubble image of star cluster Messier 15 Messier 15 is located some 35 000 light-years away in the Pegasus constellation (Winged Horse). It is one of the oldest globular clusters, 12 billion years old. 33,600 light-years from Earth, 360,000 times brighter than our Sun, in the constellation of winged Pegasus. |
Friday, December 6, 2013, 1:10-5:05 pm Los Altos: Friend gives me ride to Rancho San Antonio (22500 Cristo Rey Dr.); Wikipedia: Yelp; Foothill Day Hike class; Instructor Tom McCarthy Saw chickens, ducks, goat, sheeps, cow, and pigs, before going to pond on Rogue Valley Trail. |
Friday, December 6, 2013, 7:37 pm-8:50 pm Palo Alto: Friends' House, 957 Colorado Ave, Waverley Writers Poetry Reading: Tom Digby reads "Christmas Cat"; David Cummings "Gift of Memory" Read two poems tonight "Deja Vu at Shoreline Park" and "Sufi Spin". |
Saturday, December 7, 2013, 1:31-3:45 pm Los Altos Hills: Foothill College Krause Center Plate valued less than $1K sells for over $1M (By Charles Sakoda, Yahoo! News, 12-6-201) (By Robert Bostelaar, Ottawa Citizen, 12-6-2013) Three-clawed dragon plate estimated at $700-$900 sold for $1.2 million. |
Saturday, December 7, 2013, 1:31-3:45 pm Los Altos Hills: Foothill College Krause Center Nelson Mandela, South Africa's Liberator as Prisoner and President, Dies at 95; Life & Legacy Timeline (By Bill Keller, NY Times, 12-6-2013) Nelson Mandela's death leaves South Africa without its moral center. |
Sunday, December 8, 2013, 7:30-9:05 pm Stanford Theatre: Preston Sturges directs "Sullivan's Travels" (1941), starring Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick, Franklin Pangborn, William Demarest, Eric Blore, Robert Greig, Porter Hall; (YouTube: 1, 2, 3, 4); (Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) Film director dressed as hobo slept in homeless shelters to live life of poverty. |
Sunday, December 8, 2013, 9:15-10:25 pm Stanford Theatre: Norman Z. McLeod directs "Horse Feathers" (1932), Groucho, Harpo, Chico, & Zeppo Marx, Thelma Todd, Reginald Barlow, David Landau, Robert Greig, E. H. Calvert, Theresa Harris; (YouTube: 1, 2, 3); (Film Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) Harpo & Chico wins football game for Huxley College where Groucho is President. |
Monday, December 9, 2013, 12:34-9:30 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab Malcolm Gladwell: The Power of the Underdog (David had an advantage over Goliath? On link between adversity and innovation); (Interview with Anderson Cooper, CBS 60 Minutes, 11-24-2013) Malcolm Gladwell cites CEO Vivek Ranadivé coaching underdog basketball team to victory. |
Monday, December 9, 2013, 12:34-9:30 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab Inside the secret world of the Freemasons (Square & Compasses are tools of stonemasons. Group misunderstood & even maligned for many centuries); (By Mo Rocca, CBS News, 12-8-2013) Washington was Freemason, so was Monroe and Jackson, but Adams & Jefferson were not. |
Monday, December 9, 2013, 12:34-9:30 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab Maya Angelou reflects on Nelson Mandela's legacy (State Dept told her not to read poem until he died); (Bob Schieffer, CBS Face the Nation, 12-8-2013) The news came on the wings of a wind reluctant to carry its burden, Nelson Mandela's day is done. |
Monday, December 9, 2013, 12:34-9:30 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab Format 57 photos to Rancho San Antonio Hike; Foothill Day Hike class; Instructor Tom McCarthy; Some favorite photos from Rancho San Antonio Twisted "8" MapleTree, Hollowed California Live Oak, Diagonal Bay Tree Over Trail. |
Tuesday, December 10, 2013, 10:40-11:06 pm Mountain View: Went grocery shopping at 99 Ranch Market (1350 Grant Road) Water chestnuts, tofu, bean curd, spinach, eggs, green onion, bean sprouts, vinegar beans, seaweed cookies. |
Tuesday, December 10, 2013, 12:34-9:30 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab Format 85 photos to Rancho San Antonio Hike; Favorite photos from Deer Hollow Farm Luna the Cow Closeup, "Tightrope Walking" Rooster, Rooster & Duck "Each in its Space". |
Wednesday, December 11, 2013, 12:36-9:30 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab Is the Universe a Hologram? (Nature) (By Tara MacIssac, Epoch Times, 12-11-2013) Yoshifumi Hyakutake verifies Juan Maldacena's proposal that our Universe is one big projection. |
Wednesday, December 11, 2013, 12:36-9:30 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab Eight webpages of Rancho San Antonio Hike; Some favorite photos from Rancho San Antonio Pretty Speckled Hen, Beautiful Bay Tree, Dry Pond with "Sunny-Side Up Eggs". |
Wednesday, December 11, 2013, 10:00 pm-2:00 am KKSF 910 AM: Coast-to-CoastAM, George Noory interviews Sandra Champlain (Bio, Web) "Spiritual Quest"; BOOK: "We Don't Die: A Skeptic's Discovery of Life After Death" (Video) Heaven is invisble dimension co-existing with earth like vibrating energy in atoms. |
Thursday, December 12, 2013, 12:02-9:30 pm Palo Alto: Foothill Middlefield Computer Lab "Celestial Snow Angel: Poems of 2013: Cover; Table of Contents; Preface; Typed up three poems written earlier "Worriers Versus Warriors", "I Love to Waltz", and "Beauty". |
Friday, December 13, 2013, 2:30-6:30 pm Los Altos Hills: 3300 Page Mill Road; Friend gives me ride to Foothills Park (photos); Came here on Nov. 8 (Foothill Day Hike class) but didn't notice plants on Toyon Trail back then. Took photos at posts #1-25 while friend sketched at Borondo Lake; got back in the dark by moonlight. |
Friday, December 13, 2013, 2:30-6:30 pm Los Altos Hills: 3300 Page Mill Road; Foothill Park Hike: Friend was sketching and upset not joining me on the Toyon Trail; Ranger was about to call the Calvary to search for me before I returned. Dad passed on today a sonnet of years ago but he's still alive in my heart. |
Saturday, December 14, 2013, 1:22-5:22 pm Los Altos Library: Erica Brown, "Happier Endings: A Meditation on Life and Death" (Elegant portrait of the most powerful part of being human) (2013) 128.5Brown The final years of life are among the most critical and the most meaningful. |
Saturday, December 14, 2013, 1:22-5:22 pm Los Altos Library: David B. Goldstein & Otto Kroeger, "Creative You: Using Your Personality Type to Thrive" (Your creativity is more valuable than oil or gold) (2013) 155.264Goldstein Creativity is the key to finding and living your passion at work and home. |
Sunday, December 15, 2013, 2:00-2:20 pm Mountain View: Friend takes me shopping at Safeway (1750 Miramonte Ave.) & ride to Los Altos Library Snack Art potato chips, CoffeeMate creamers, Totino combo pizzas.. |
Sunday, December 15, 2013, 3:57-5:45 pm Los Altos Library: Surprise 12/15 email from Gabriel Spinel "Clouds from an amateur" thanking my cloud photos bringing memories of his childhood. Surprise sharing of spectacular Swiss clouds from a total stranger. |
Sunday, December 15, 2013, 7:30-9:10 pm Palo Alto, Stanford Theatre: Preston Sturges directs "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" (1944) with Eddie Bracken, Betty Hutton, Diana Lynn, William Demarest, Porter Hall, Emory Parnell, Brian Donlevy, Akim Tamiroff; (YouTube: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5); (Film Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4) Betty Hutton went to wild all-night party for departing soldiers but can't remember whom she married. |
Sunday, December 15, 2013, 9:20-10:29 pm Palo Alto, Stanford Theatre: Leo McCarey directs "Duck Soup" (1933) starring Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, Margaret Dumont, Louis Calhern, Raquel Torres, Edgar Kennedy; (YouTube: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5); (Film Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4) "Good Night Sweetheart" played as Harpo rode horse around town: "The war is coming!". |
Sunday, December 15, 2013, 11:32 am Mountain View: Pamela Drive Outside my bedroom window: Hummingbird drinking nectar Hummingbird hovers over the flower bush outside of my window. |
Sunday, December 15, 2013, 11:32 pm Mountain View: Pamela Drive Right over my apartment: Halo Around the Moon High above towering palm trees a giant lunar halo welcomes me home. |
Monday, December 16, 2013, 5:17-8:45 pm Mountain View Senior Center Technology Room "Goodnight Sweetheart" (1931 song) ("Goodnight sweetheart, 'til we meet tomorrow. Goodnight sweetheart, parting is such sorrow".) Bill Taylor played this on the Wurlitzer last night. "Goodnight Sweetheart" tune reminds me of last dance when "My Fair Lady" melted in my arms. |
Monday, December 16, 2013, 5:17-8:45 pm Mountain View Senior Center Technology Room Checked out from Los Altos Library "A Maze Me: Poems for Girls" (2005) by Naomi Shihab Nye; Last Poem: "Thoughts That Came in Floating" "My mind / is always / open. / I don't think / there's even / a door." |
Monday, December 16, 2013, 5:17-8:45 pm Mountain View Senior Center Technology Room "Lion sent flying by buffalo in extraordinary video" (By David Strege, GrindTV.com, 12-16-2013) Bull buffalo comes to rescue friend brought down by young lion in South Africa's Kruger National Park. |
Monday, December 16, 2013, 5:17-8:45 pm Mountain View Senior Center Technology Room "19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East" (2005) by Naomi Shihab Nye; Poem: Arab poets used "gazelle" to signify grace, but when faced with a meadow of leaping gazelle there were no words. |
Tuesday, December 17, 2013, 12:17-8:30 pm Mountain View Senior Center Technology Room Opinionator: DRAFT Secrets and Contradictions (Giving a character something to hide we create illusion of depth: interior & exterior, seen & unseen.) (By David Corbett, NY Times, 12-16-2013) Few drives are as strong as the one to find out ask Pandora, or Psyche. |
Tuesday, December 17, 2013, 12:17-8:30 pm Mountain View Senior Center Technology Room Opinionator: THE STONE In Praise of Failure (Failure, is what philosophy feeds on, what keeps it alive. Philosophy succeeds only in so far as it fails.) (By Costica Bradatan, NY Times, 12-15-2013) In The Seventh Seal film, Knight challenges Death to chess game and learns how to fail. |
Wednesday, December 18, 2013, 3:30-5:06 pm Mountain View Senior Center: Multipurpose Room Rob Reiner directs "When Harry Met Sally" (1989) written by Nora Ephron with Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby, Steven Ford, Lisa Jane Persky, Michelle Nicastro, Harley Jane Kozak, Franc Luz; (YouTube: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5); (Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4) Platonic friendship between Harry & Sally slowly blossoms into love. |
Wednesday, December 18, 2013, 5:10-8:30 pm Mountain View Senior Center: Technology Room "OBITUARY: Nora Ephron Dies at 71; Writer and Filmmaker With a Genius for Humor" (By Charles McGrath, NY Times, 6-27-2012) Slides; Wikipedia; Appraisal; Queen of Quips; Essays; Dining; Films; Food; Guardian Files When Harry Met Sally is such a good film because Nora Ephron wrote it. |
Thursday, December 19, 2013, 10:56-5:45 pm Mountain View Senior Center: Technology Room Season's greeting photo card & family 2013 newsletter from college friend Richard Hanauer & wife on their trips to Provence, France, China, & Eastern Europe; They mailed me a DVD of China trip still to be seen. Prague: Alt-Neu Shul, Prague: Astronomical Clock, Warsaw: |