A Tale of Two Computers

This was written and photographed 12 Jan 2012 as part of a 365 project:

Dueling Laptops

In reality there's about a dozen stories that could originate from this pic. First and foremost...Day 12/365. second, It's a day of heavy rain for my corner of the world. Not really a problem, as we haven't had a lot rain of late. Just means it's a play inside day. Next would have to be the old drop front desk that i recently converted to my computer workstation. My brother runs a landscaping business and along with that does other side jobs such as cleaning out people's junk/treasure when the need arises. He's always coming up with some artifact that somebody didn't want. (One man gathers what another man spills. ~ Grateful Dead) He called me the other day and said "Hey brother, you should take a ride with me over to my shop and see what I got."... i did. Amoungst a bunch of old tools and miscellaneous other things was this Danner desk. I fell in love instantly. I sort of lean towards old antiquey things, especially if they can sort of be converted to some modern day use. My home is filled with odd, old pieces of furniture and what not. so he knew i would fall for this. Anyway, it's nothing spectacular but so quaint. The craftsmanship is run of the mill, but it has a few warming style points about it. And another point on the agenda, which is probably the main point, is the side-by-side laptops. I bought the one on the right several years back and she has performed pretty much flawlessly for me all this time. She is starting to get a tad bit slow, with all these heavily loaded website pages on the ever burgeoning internet. But as of the moment she's a keeper. On the left is her almost identical twin. It's a model older but nearly the same exact package. Slightly slower but still clicking. A friend of mine had her and was getting ready to upgrade to a new computer. She asked if i wanted it. Supposedly there was some issues with it. I did a factory restore of the software, and found it to be quite functional. Only problem is the pc card slot seems to be non-functional which renders the wireless capability useless. So to keep true to the course of not spending money on it, i just run a lan cable to her and she surfs alongside her younger sister. I have a couple of web based thingies that i do, so it makes for a very fuctional set-up. And for the final point in this tale...on the right screen is the greatest modern day funny car pilot, John 'Brute' Force. Always been a big fan. Long, long time ago he used to drive a car called the Skoal Bandit. Once, while they were racing in Epping New Hampshire, my friends and i watched him beat the top speed record for funny cars. I bought a t-shirt that day. He has since broken many records and won about 15 NHRA championships. He has always done autograph signings at local Ford dealerships around the nation. One year myself and my daughter went and stood in line to see him. He and his other team driver Tony Pedregon were to be there. I wore my t-shirt from what was his younger days. I remember he came walking into the car showroom making his way up the long line of fans, on his way to the desk where he and Tony were to sit and sign for the next several hours. As he walked by us he gave a friendly 'hey, how's it going?' and then reached out and rustled the hair on top of my daughter's head. We both smiled. We made our way up to the podium and he commented on my t-shirt and smiled warmly in rememberence of his younger days. I then asked if he would sign it to which he of course agreed. I turned my back and leaned over to allow him access to my shoulder. He wrote his signature onto the shirt whilst i wore it -- too cool. Then we get to Tony's side of the table and engaged in a bit of light chatter. He asked my daughter, "Are you a fan?" to which she replied, "I like your brother better." He laughed loudly and said "At least your a fan of the sport." On the left is Tony Pedregon. Son of racing icon Flamin' Frank Pedregon and brother to Cruz, my daughter's favorite.

Oh Henry

The Pipes Are Calling

Yes indeed Henry, the pipes are calling. The 2" chromed tubular steel kind, that is. Ya know, the ones that hang out from the bottom of say a 428 big block powered V8 Mustang...

If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs

If A Bird's Nest 

“If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: / But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.”

Our Star Rises Over Our Foggy Planet

Foggy Star Rise

Fog or no, the star will rise.

Easter Goodness

Ten and a Half Pounds of Fresh Baked Happiness

So much could be said of the representation of this picture. To most viewers it will be ho hum just another shot of a ham. To certain specific viewers it goes far beyond. Almost like the days of pleasure this ten and a half pound pan full of happiness will bring...

Hope everybody had a Happy Easter.

Lying In Wait

Foo Dogs - the Fighters of Foo

Guardian

Chinese guardian lions or Imperial guardian lion, traditionally known in Chinese simply as Shi (Chinese: 獅; pinyin: shī; literally "lion"), and often called "Foo Dogs" in the West, are a common representation of thelion in pre-modern China. Statues of guardian lions have traditionally stood in front of Chinese Imperial palaces, Imperial tombs, government offices, temples, and the homes of government officials and the wealthy, from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), and were believed to have powerful mythic protective benefits. They are also used in other artistic contexts, for example on door-knockers, and in pottery. Pairs of guardian lion statues are still common decorative and symbolic elements at the entrances to restaurants, hotels, supermarkets and other structures, with one sitting on each side of the entrance, in China and in other places around the world where the Chinese people have immigrated and settled, especially in local Chinatowns.

The lions are usually depicted in pairs. When used as statuory, the pair would consist of a male resting his paw upon an embroidered ball (in imperial contexts, representing supremacy over the world) and a female restraining a playful cub that is on its back (representing nurture).

Etymology

Guardian lions are referred to numerous manner depending on language and context. In Chinese they are traditionally called simply shi (獅, Pinyin: shī) meaning lion, and the word shi itself is thought to be derived from the Persian word šer.^[2] Lions were first presented to the Han court by emissaries from Central Asia and Persia, and by the sixth century AD they were already popularly depicted as guardian figures.^[3] Today the guardian lions are more usually specified by reference to the medium or material, for example:

• Stone lion (石獅, Pinyin: Shíshī): for a stone sculpture; or
• Bronze lion (銅獅, Pinyin: Tóngshī): for a bronze sculpture

and less commonly:

• Auspicious lion (瑞獅, Pinyin: Ruìshī): respecting reference to the Tibetan Snow Lion or with context to good fortune
• Fortuitous lion (福獅, Pinyin: fúshī)^{[citation needed]}: reference in context to good fortune
• Buddha's or Buddhist lion (佛獅, Pinyin: fóshī)^{[citation needed]}: reference in a religious context to the lion as protector of Buddha

In Asian cultures:

• In Japan: the lion figures are known as Komainu (狛犬・高麗犬, lit Korea dogs)^{[citation needed]} possibly due to their introduction to Japan through Korea.
• In Myanmar: called Chinthe and gave their name to the World War IIChindit soldiers.
• In Okinawa: similar lion formed statuettes are known as Shisa.
• In Tibet: known as a Snow Lion

Western names

In English and several Western languages, the guardian lions are often referred in a multitude of name such as: "Fu Dogs", "Foo Dogs", "Fu Lions", "Fo Lions", and "Lion Dogs". The term "Fo" or "Fu" may betransliterations to the words 佛 (pinyin: fó) or 福 (pinyin: fú), which means "buddha" or "prosperity" in Chinese, respectively. However, Chinese reference to the guardians lion are seldom prefixed with 佛 or 福, and more importantly never referred to as "dogs".

Reference to guardian lions as dogs in Western cultures may be due to the Japanese reference to them as "Korean dogs" (狛犬・高麗犬) due to their transmission from China through Korea into Japan. It may also be due to the misidentification of the guardian lion figures as representing certain Chinese dog breeds such as the Chow Chow (鬆獅犬, Pinyin: sōngshī quǎn, lit. "puffy-lion dog") or Shih Tzu (獅子狗; Pinyin: Shīzi Gǒu, lit. "lion dog").

Appearance

The lions are traditionally carved from decorative stone, such as marble and granite or cast in bronze or iron. Because of the high cost of these materials and the labor required to produce them, private use of guardian lions was traditionally reserved for wealthy or elite families. Indeed, a traditional symbol of a family's wealth or social status was the placement of guardian lions in front of the family home. However, in modern times less expensive lions, mass-produced in concrete and resin, have become available and their use is therefore no longer restricted to the elite.

The lions are always presented in pairs, a manifestation of yin and yang, the female representing yin and the male yang. The male lion has its right front paw on an embroidered ball called a "xiù qiú" (绣球), which is sometimes carved with a geometric pattern resembling the figure called "Flower of Life" in the New Age movement. The female is essentially identical, but has a cub under the closer (left) paw to the male, representing the cycle of life. Symbolically, the female fu lion protects those dwelling inside, while the male guards the structure. Sometimes the female has her mouth closed, and the male open. This symbolizes the enunciation of the sacred word "om". However, Japanese adaptions state that the male is inhaling, representing life, while the female exhales, representing death. Other styles have both lions with a single large pearl in each of their partially opened mouths. The pearl is carved so that it can roll about in the lion's mouth but sized just large enough so that it can never be removed.

According to feng shui, correct placement of the lions is important to ensure their beneficial effect. When looking out of a building through the entrance to be guarded, looking in the same direction as the lions, the male is placed on the left and the female on the right. So when looking at the entrance from outside the building, facing the lions, the male lion with the ball is on the right, and the female with the cub is on the left.

Chinese lions are intended to reflect the emotion of the animal as opposed to the reality of the lion. This is in distinct opposition to the traditional English lion which is a lifelike dipection of the animal. The claws, teeth and eyes of the Chinese lion represent power. Few if any muscles are visible in the Chinese lion whereas the English lion shows its power through its life like characteristics rather than through stylized representation.

History

The Asiatic lions were once quite common throughout its historic range inSouthwest and Central Asia and are believed to be the ones depicted by the guardian lions in Chinese culture. With increased trade during the Han dynasty and cultural exchanges through the Silk road, lions were introduced into China from the ancient states of Central Asia by peoples of Sogdiana,Samarkand, and the Yuezhi (月氏) in the form of pelts and live tribute, along with stories about them from Buddhist priests and travelers of the time. This exchange can be seen in that the Chinese word for lion is "Shi" (師, later 獅/狮), which shares the same etymological roots as "Shiar" (شیر), the Persian language name for the animal.

Several instances of lions as imperial tributes from Central Asia was recorded in the document Book of the Later Han (後漢書) written from 25-220 CE. On one particular event, on the eleventh lunar month of 87 CE, "... an envoy from Parthia offered as tribute a lion and an ostrich" to the Han court. Indeed the lion was associated by the Han Chinese to earlier venerated creatures of the ancient Chinese, most notably by the monk Huilin (慧琳) who stated that "the mythic suanni (狻猊) is actually the lion, coming from the Western Regions" (狻猊即狮子也，出西域).

The Buddhist version of the Lion was originally introduced to Han China as the protector of dharma and these lions have been found in religious art as early as 208 BC. Gradually they were incorporated as guardians of the Chinese Imperial dharm. Lions seemed appropriately regal beasts to guard the emperor's gates and have been used as such since. There are various styles of guardian lions reflecting influences from different time periods, imperial dynasties, and regions of China. These styles vary in their artistic detail and adornment as well as in the depiction of the lions from fierce to serene.

Although the form of the Chinese guardian lion was quite varied during its early history in China, the appearance, pose, and accessories of the lions eventually became standardized and formalized during the Ming and Qing dynasties into more or less its present form.

Currently, there are about 800 African lions in captive in china.

Text and below images from Wikipedia

Right side Chinese lion statue representYin force, female,negative, take, carry a cub.Sanggar AgungTemple,Surabaya,Indonesia.

Left side Chinese lion statue representYang force, male,positive, bring, carry a ball.Sanggar AgungTemple,Surabaya,Indonesia.