Missives from the Edge

I found it interesting to read my reasoning from 14 years ago about what an online computerized plant database I started making (and got distracted from and didn’t finish). I felt I had to justify it and tell how computerizing it and making it accessible on the newfangled World Wide Web made sense. Also fun to read is the equipment and software I used back in the dinosaur days.

ABOUT NATIVE PLANTS ON-LINE PROJECT
“The Advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.” -James Madison

Yeah, James! Way to go, dude!!

ORIGINS OF NPOP
I initially got the idea for this project while camping in the Anza Borrego desert (in the Sonorran desert East of San Diego). One of the things I do when I when I go out there is to study the plant life. I have been interested in plants most of my life - growing them, identifying, them learning about them, photographing and drawing them - and there are many very interesting forms of life in the desert. It is fascinating to see how organisms adapt to a desert environment. But anyway, besides photography and drawing and writing, I also work with computers as a Macintosh consultant and repair wizard, problem solver, etc. I’m always trying to think of creative and useful ways to use the damn machines. I started taking a Powerbook with me on camping trips and running it off the solar power system of my Trooper (another story in itself - adventures of the photovoltaic-run refrigerator kind), using it mainly for writing. One of the tricky things about identifying plants is that if you only get to go out to where they live once a year or so, you forget what they are called - especially scientific names. Using books to identify plants can be tedious, especially if they are technical tomes like Munz’s “A California Flora”. Even the books with drawings, like the wonderful and classic Desert Wildflowers by Edmund Jaeger, can be quite difficult to use unless one already has a good idea what one is looking for. So it occurred to me that a visual database on the computer, where one could look through plant species, or search by various categories, would be very useful.

So I had this idea rolling around in the back of my mind for months. The clincher, the final motivator that got me rolling was when I found myself helping people when I was out in the desert, or here at home down in some of our locals canyons. I would see someone trying to identify plants and go over and try and help them out. Sometimes I would know what something was and could tell them some interesting things, but often as not I couldn’t. So working on this project is an extension of that wanting to teach, inform, and help, and also a great learning experience for me. I do not know all of the plants before I put them in the database, In fact I’ve started with ones I’m more familiar with, and the more outstanding and obvious plants, then go to ones I do not know. Even the ones I do know, I see with fresh eyes in the process, and learn more about when entering the information from research on the species.

A visual, searchable database of plants species on the computer has many advantages (and a few disadvantages). Having color pictures of every plants is one - though a book could have these, I have yet to see a book that has pictures - especially good photos - of every plant. So part of the function, and the contribution of this project, is that of a visual record. Another advantage will be in making it easier to identify a species based on many different criteria, depending on what one as at hand. Of course, there will always be effort required by the person wanting to identify a plant - the computer (or book) can’t do it for you.

Many times I have found myself simply thumbing through Jaeger’s book, or other wildflower books, trying to find a plant by visual cues, rather than trying to use a botanical key (quite difficult or nearly impossible for some people, if you have no experience or training in botany).
One possibility is to create an automated key, where the computer runs through the binary tree of possibilities according to the responses of the user. Botanical keys are already in the form of a decision tree, so it would be a matter of implementing this form in a computerized format.

The database also serves as a depository of interesting and useful information on plants - I want to include, for example, ethnobotanical information - how the species has been used by human beings. In this sense it can be a unifying project for various sources and kinds of information.

Obviously this is a on-going project, and one that can never be completed in any sort of absolute sense - there is always more to learn. One could also start to include more ecological information, since that is an indivisible part of the whole picture. For example, why does this species favor this habitat, or why and how has it adapted to take advantage of this particular niche? What are the soil characteristics that determine it’s growth? What animal species, insect, mammal, birds, are it associated with? How does it interact with other species? What does it’s growing here say about this particular place? There are an infinite number of questions to ask and explore.

WHO IS IT FOR?
Anyone interested in wild plants, wild flowers, wildlife, ecology, environmental issues, ethnobotany, etc. This could include students, teachers, naturalists, horticulturists, gardeners, botanists, campers, survivalists, ecologists, plant lovers, herbalists…you name it. Even you, Mr. or Mrs. Random Web Browser. (It would be really great if I could get someone interested in plants and nature that was not really aware of their wonderfulness before). And of course there will be people interested or using it for reasons I never thought of.

Basically, I am taking an inspiration, an idea I had of something fun, useful, interesting, worthwhile, that I was going to do for myself, and making it public, for anyone to benefit from. Which leads me to the next topic.

THE FUTURE
Initially, I was going to do this (multimedia) database in HyperCard. However, since starting to use HTML in the course of business, and seeing the potentials of publishing on the internet, I decided to make it public and sacrifice the advantages of HyperCard (good Find function, easy authoring, flexibility, etc.), to the cause of communication. However, a CD-ROM version may make sense in the future, becuase of the speed of access and portability.

I will continue to add to the database, hopefully at least one plant per day, as time and money permit. I of course have to spend the vast majority of my time making a living, and can only work on this for short periods in the evening or on weekends. The equipment is expensive - I do not make that much money as a Mac repair person/consultant (I’m self-employed so that I have freedom, not out of money-seeking) and this project is done purely out of love for the subject. Anyone with ideas on how to get funding for this project so I could devote more time to it, or is able and willing to contribute in some way please send e-mail.

One of the goals is also to take a video digitizer with me into the field, on my trips to the desert.
Eventually this database could expand beyond San Diego. For now I have my hands (and eyes) full.

THE EQUIPMENT
OK, for you tech-heads: I use a Sony Handycam CCD-TR400 video camera to get most of the pictures. Sometimes I have used a 35mm SLR, and scanned in the photos using a color flatbed scanner (HP ScanJet). A video clip is then captured using the on-board video-in “AV” capabilities of a Power Macintosh 8500/120 (32MB of RAM), using Adobe Premiere. I carefully go back and forth through the video clip of the plant in question and select the frame I want. This is exported as a PICT file and saved to disk. The PICT is then opened in Photoshop 3.0. The contrast and brightness are sometimes adjusted, and the image is often sharpened to bring out detail. The Image Mode is changed from RGB format to Indexed color (which means indexed to a pallette rather than (8-bit) RGB numbers), selecting the minimum bit depth that still looks good (usually 6 or 7 bits). The picture is then ready to save as a gif file. I use a shareware Photoshop plug-in called PhotoGIF. This plug-in allows one to save the GIF as transparent, interlaced GIF. For this project, I select the button for non-transparent. It then gives you a read-out of the size of the file, which is useful to know - let’s you anticipate how much users will have to suffer waiting for pictures to download. Once the image is saved as a GIF by this or a similar program or plug-in, it is then ready to incorporate into a web page document.
Most of the HTML development up to now has been done on a Powerbook 5300c, using BBEdit Lite. I keep Netscape running in the background and switch over to it, Reloading the page after making and saving changes in BBEdit.

REFERENCES
A California Flora, Philip A. Munz and David D. Keck
California Desert Wildflowers
A Natural History of California, Allan Schoenherr
Desert Wildflowers, Edmund C. Jaeger

When Banzan was walking through a market he overheard a conversation between a butcher and his customer.

“Give me the best piece of meat you have,” said the customer.

“Everything in my shop is the best,” replied the butcher. “You cannot find here any piece of meat that is not the best.”

At these words Banzan became enlightened.

All my systems are “tuning up”: mind/body, social, love & sexuality, understanding of food, health, the earth and nature and it’s flows, the movement of energy, water, sun, sky, soil, plants, animals, birds, how it all works, and the ecosystems we are a part of, the planet, this unbelievably beautiful Earth and it’s non-separation from everything else (and my non-separation), the atmosphere, on out into space, the star we orbit, our Sun (divine)…at at a yet higher level cosmic quantum mind, timelessness of reality – insight after insight – all my knowledge and skills falling into place. I’m not only a new man, but a new kind of man. This is really remarkable.

All the junk that was not in tune, was from hiding-ignorance/love-God playing a game with itself in the universal Mind, is being cleaned out. This process is beginning very quickly, but I have foresight about where it’s going (the completion of the human race, to join a cosmic community of beings in multiple dimensions/alternate realities, if I’m not mistaken). Sounds pretty far out, but realty is so much more unbelievably vast and beautiful, and full, bursting forth infinitely full, of infinite love, knowledge, and peace, that we can’t even imagine it.

It’s perfectly understandable that people (wonderful humans: every one a shining unique gem) have fear and hide from reality. But there really is nothing to fear. Quire the opposite. “God”, if you want to use that word (I like the native American way of putting form to understanding better: spirit (in Nature) and Big Spirit) wants to give you everything, or actually is already, if you can only know it. You already have it.

However, right now I feel very “dry” overall. I’m sure that will work itself out. It’s not bad, it just is. (“It is what is is” as the fellows in a pub in Wales said). Maybe I’m just a “dry” kind of human, I don’t know. Perhaps it’s because I spent so many decades being an intellectual (studying & researching philosophy, psychology, spirituality), and then as a technical professional.

I have a feeling the yoga, and the women I meet, will help with this unwinding and flowing process (releasing what’s inside). Diet makes a difference too. Massage will help. None of this has to be forced or analyzed or worried about or “decided” on in the usual sense (people try to use their thinking minds to make themselves physically healthy – they think they know what’s wrong and go buy some products or start practices and they are off-base - it has limited usefulness and can even be harmful) : the mind-body knows what it needs, and you just intuit, in a process of action/movement, quiet attention, and everything you need is right there, like a wonderful artistic process.

The most profound lesson to learn from being with animals (and in nature, acting as an organically intelligent and sensorially alert beings), is how to be a better human. If we humans had stayed in touch with our animals natures, without losing sight of the ability of self-consciousness and our brain skills, as naturally social beings, we would live sane lives. But (our strange) religions have turned things upside down, and by dictating what “good” and “bad” are has created perverted, neurotic, destructive civilizations. We’ve made a mess of things by trying to change things instead of Being and Living. But we can still get back on course. There is always the ever-present wonderful biological present to be present in.

We are socialized away from ourselves, our “true” selves. This is not an intentional process, but one that happens automatically, by the mechanistic movement of thinking. We clone a misguided notion of what it means to be men. And that sick process takes on a momentum of it’s own.

We may have a live and let live for others, but even then, we ruin our own bodies with our minds. We think we know. We don’t know. We do a lot of doing based on fear and ignorance. Our minds are too small compared to the tiniest cell, which has an abundance of intelligence, far more powerful than any of us will ever fully grasp. We can only catch glimpses, in wonderment and awe.

We try and run our bodies and our lives with our minds, but it can’t be done. All you can do is provide opportunities for individuals to reach more of their innate potential. It cannot be forced.

Open, let the chips fall as they may. Learn. See more. Relax.

How do you lead people here? I wonder if it’s possible - in my opinion, it just happens, “when it’s ready”, who knows. Who knows!
Reflecting on the training by Robert Kausen, et al. No one can take credit for this, anymore than they can for the moon and sky and the plants and the soil and rocks. So here they are, really acting as reporters, and here some people looking for the moon, and only seeing the proverbial finger of the the Zen Master pointing. It’s funny, really.
You go sit in a room in order to pay for the air you breathe, that is actually fresher outside!
So what are you, “channels”? I have my doubts… tuning forks? Do you (the audience member) “hear” something (Syd Banks coming back to me again…)?
But we each have skills, in our brains, learned in the past and present, and those skills are activated within the frame of this perspective. Whatever it is. Not a thing. This flux, this flow, whatever you want to try and name it. “Consciousness” – just words. Syd said don’t listen to the words, which sounds absurd on the face of it, but makes sense, and only makes sense, from this vantage point. Otherwise it’s self-contradictory gibberish. Don’t follow nonsense - that way leads superstition (beliefs without foundation) - one of the hobgoblins of the human race, tearing it apart.

There’s nothing spiritual about this, unless you are using the word in a way that 99.9% of the human race are using the word. it’s simply nature doing it’s thing. But oh boy, what nature, what a cosmos! None of the human ideas apply (religious that is).

I live in a neighborhood (Golden Hill / South Park border) with a significant Hispanic population. It’s fun to hear the language, see the kids and families, and eat the food. I found this on the lawn in the park behind my house. I like the artwork, and the fascinating exaggerated anatomy of the sexy woman. I’d like to get it translated:

A friend asked me how the elfin forest brigade was on Sunday, so here it is for all to read and see:

Well, it was interesting because only four people showed up, and there were supposed to be something like 18. So time passed and the leader didn’t show up. Someone managed to go up and get cell reception. Turns out the hike had been cancelled because of the weather (which didn’t look threatening to me, only overcast, and the previous day had been sunny after morning clouds) and an email had been sent out. I never got the email because, living in San Diego rather than near Escondido, I got up at 5am and left at 7 or so. And I just didn’t check my email (ironic, being an email and internet addict). 

Lake Hodges Reservoir Panorama 1

Another view of the beautiful body of water we walked around

A view from where we ended up, looking towards the South, and some nice contrasty clouds beyond the dam view.

Another panorama of the “lake”.

Our intrepid group of explorers.

Rock and water. Poetic.

The stream near the entrance / exit to the trail.

 

All photos were taken with the tiny Sony L1 pocket camera. 

 

 

If you’ve used a film SLR (Single Lens Reflex Camera), you know that the main difference over the old “range finder” film cameras is that you can see through the lens.  This SLR trick is achieved via a set of mirrors or a prism that focuses onto a focusing screen, and a mirror that flips out of the way of the film when it’s time to snap the photo. This mechanism allows you to see what the camera “sees” in a fairly direct way, through the lens. It allows for very precise focusing, and on some cameras, previewing what the depth of field will be. A DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera) builds on this tradition, and replaces the film with a digital sensor at the film plane, and electronic processing of the image information.

An electronic viewfinder is one advantage of a “point-and-shoot” or of a “prosumer” digital camera. You get a readout of what the CCD (the electronic sensor that replaces film) is “seeing”, and you can see in lower light too, and get things like histograms and other on-screen information. (A “live view” like this is pretty essential for doing infrared digital photography).  “However, SLR is still popular in high-end and professional cameras, because the pixel resolution, contrast ratio, and color gamut of an LCD preview screen cannot compete with the clarity and shadow detail of a direct-viewed optical SLR viewfinder” (Wikipedia).

Notice how on B & H (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/category/989/Digital_Photography.html) they have these three categories:
# Point & Shoot Digital Cameras
# Advanced Point & Shoot Digital Cameras
# SLR Digital Cameras

The “Advanced Point & Shoot Digital Cameras” categories is what some others call “prosumer” cameras, which is a combination of the words “professional” with “consumer”. They have larger lenses, more features, some manual settings. They have do not have interchangeable lenses like a DSLR (which can be an advantage in terms of no getting dust on the sensor, and weight).

If your concern with with making beautiful photos, the most important thing though is not the equipment. I’ve had photos in shows that I made with a “point and shoot”. There is too much focus on equipment. Too many people I’ve noticed, seem to believe they should start with a “good” camera (they even list their camera model in their postings to the meetup.com photography group, which is silly). Just the opposite is true in fact. The best way to become a good photographer is to find the simplest, cheapest camera that you can enjoy, and go out and have fun with it. I started my digital adventures with a tiny “point-and-shoot” Canon Elph in 2001. Practice making thousands of photos. That’s how you get good. And study really good photographers that inspire you. Then when you realize the limitations of that camera, it’s time to move up a step. When you outgrow that camera, move up another step. If you jump into a camera that’s too good, that is too sophisticated, you will never know how to take advantage of it’s power, nor appreciate what it can do. A simple camera forces you to get creative. The focus should not be on the camera.

The three main things that go into making a great photo are:
1. Perceptual:  A good eye (which you can develop by drawing and learning “how to see”, and taking lots of photos, and looking at art and photographs).
2. Emotional-Spiritual: Vision/imagination/creativity/ideas/feeling/risk-taking.
3. Cognitive: Technical skills and knowledge + problem solving.

With these abilities, you can take good photos with any camera. However there is a catch: you can’t take good photos under all circumstances. For instance, if you want to take a photo under moonlight, you probably can’t do it with a point-and-shoot, because its lens is not fast enough (can’t gather enough light), and the exposure times are too short. And even if it had long exposure times, there would be a lot of noise in the image.

This actually applies to all art-making. If you have the above psychological prerequisites (and everyone has them or the ability to grow them), you’ll be able to figure out and find what tools you need.

Well, enough for now.

Over what exotic South Pacific village ceremony does this fearsome Tiki god tower? Are there tropical flowers, swaying grass skirts on white sand and palm leaves in the ocean breeze? Or perhaps it’s one of those fun Tiki-styled 60’s cafe’s, motels or liquor stores from the golden age of Southern California. Getting closer - maybe it was a liquor store at one time. But now this great island god holds court over gas fumes, revving engines, grease puddles, asphalt and wrenches: Mission Bay Auto Repair. View from the road (click on the photo to enlarge):

Mission Bay Auto Repair

Don’t miss the tiki design fascia too (click to enlarge):

Tiki Garage Fascia

There is an area East of Mission Bay in San Diego, along and behind Morena Blvd, that’s the home of various low-rent commercial enterprises such as furniture outlet stores, cabinet shops, cheap Chinese take-out restaurants, auto supply stores, office supply chains – you get the picture. I went down there to pick up a bag of kibbles at Petco, and swung by a Taco stand I like there - Nico’s - to nab a carnitas plate with guacamole (a rib-sticking brunch for this Working Boy). On the way out, I spot this place. Here’s another view (click to enlarge):

Mission Bay Auto Repair

Spying this sets off a chain of intense speculation in my mind: if this were once, say, a Tiki-styled liquor store, and is now an auto repair shop, what might such a building potentially become? What are the possibilities for Tikiness? All sorts of wonderful businesses and offices might replace it. The imagination spins wildly:

Tiki Dentistry: the dentist comes out in full colorful Pacific Islander costume, complete with a necklace of wild pig’s tusks around his neck, and with Island cheer he regales you and begins a Tahitian prayer chant to speed your healthful procedure. And he has you drink some strong Kava Kava from a coconut bowl, to relax you.

Tiki French Pastry Shop, with pastries that look like tiki totem poles in chocolate.

Tiki Funeral Parlor - your loved one (or their ashes) gets taken out to sea in an authentic dugout outrigger, paddled by a strong and spiritual Hawaiian dude, about 300 pounds with immense arms and a dark rich tan glistening in the Pacific sunlight as he sweats, a string of green tropical medicine leaves around his neck, singing powerfully as he rows.

Tiki Private Investigators

Tiki Civil Engineering

Tiki Betty’s Bed and Bedding

Tiki Cheese Shop

Tiki TV

Tiki Drapery and Fabric

Tiki Corporate Law Center

Tiki Gun & Ammo Outlet and Firing Range

Tiki Catholic School Oufits & Nurses Uniforms

Tiki Eye Surgical Medical Group

Tiki Nuclear Disposal Systems

I’ll just leave the rest up to you - fill in the details, or go open your own business in a Tiki building.

Have you seen this woman?

Kristine, organizer of "Cocktails in Historic Places"

Going by the name “The Cocktail Maven”, this infamous wench, this scrofulous minx, lured upwards of 30 victims into a small, dark lounge in the seamy “Stingaree” district of downtown San Diego – within the former opium den and house of prostitution named “The Quong Building” at 416 3rd Ave. – where they were subjected to hours of interesting historical stories, delicious drinks, fun conversation and camaraderie with a lively group of characters from the underworld of San Diego’s business and cultural scene.

Cornered by the Maven woman, who claimed her name was “Kristine”, I was subjected to massive warmth and personal attention I felt was undeserved. This attractive and charming red-headed female was dressed in a beautiful orange Chinese dress, and cleverly seduced me into having fun and being social. She is a wanted woman.

I was personally forced to drink two powerful margaritas, which caused me to smile, laugh, and talk uninhibitedly, engaging in pleasant conversation with total strangers, finding much common ground in our lives in San Diego (well, once I finally managed to get the barman’s attention in the din and crush of the crowd).

Next time I’ll be more alert, and arrive early for the punishment (I was late this time, and the talk about the history of the Quong Building was related only by hearsay).

According to inside sources, August’s meetup is cancelled because the Cocktail Maven has to go out of town, but no doubt more crimes will be committed in September.

A plaque on the outside of the Quong Building details the structure’s sordid past:
“The Quong Building (1913) is not only an historical structure, it has also been the site of archaeological digs. The business gets its name from Mon Yueh Quong, a businessman who operated the structure from 1889 to 1928. The building has been listed in city directories as being used as an opium den, a restaurant, and an oriental merchandise store, all during Quong’s operation. Later years saw the building used as a house of prostitution run by the infamous Mary Smith.”

A paragraph detailing the meetup group’s purpose was obtained by reading these words scratched into the walls of a prison cell: “This group is for anyone interested in the architecture and history of San Diego. The goal is to provide a comfortable social happy hour in historically significant surroundings, and perhaps increase awareness of some of the triumphs of preservationists in the San Diego area.”

Hope to see you there next time!