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As a new acquaintance recently put it, the Sunset District could be San Francisco’s best-kept secret. It is a great community of cost-cutters, students, professionals, and sedate seniors. As part of my grand tour of San Francisco neighborhoods, I jumped into a fantastic sublet arrangement just a few blocks south of Golden Gate Park. It’s very quiet, as Sunset has few retail districts. The tranquil quality of the Sunset is a big draw for people like me. Having a view of the ocean and all incoming weather is awesome. I never gave this setting much thought until now, and these San Francisco neighborhoods just keep getting more and more interesting. It’s one thing to zip past a SF neighborhood in a car, saying, “That looked like a fun little place.” But it’s much more of a treat to spend some time in each one, indulging in all the goodness. Of the cozy communities I’ve called home, my favorite is still Edgehill Mountain.
 | | Never Too Cold Here |
This little knob right next to Mt. Davidson was a perfect form of an urban oasis. English tudor houses dot the mountain top, a wildlife preserve sits on the west side, and the old scars of terrific landslides mar the south slope of the mountain - which is now pretty much a cliff. Although a few of these houses tumbled to the bottom of the hill – and on to a church in one case – the mountain is as serene and heartwarming as California can get.
My least favorite? That’s a tough one, as I have enjoyed all of them so far. Let’s refer to it as the “least exhilarating” of my experiences. It would have to be Nob Hill – often referred to by locals as Snob Hill. It wasn’t the snobs that diluted the quality, it was ALL THE NOISE! Honnnk, beeeep, ding-ding-ding, whirrrr whirrrr, kaboooom! “NO WAR!” “Hey hey, ho ho, George Bush has got to GOOOO!!” Vrrrrrroarrr, vrrrrooosh (beep!) honk… “Fock you!” beep, NO FOCK YOU ASSHOLE! Bam, screeeechhh, smash! I don’t remember ever getting a full eight hours of sleep in any given night while on Snob Hill. But to offset the decibels, the food is incredible, and so are the tourists!
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(By Daniel Culveyhouse | See the 1 comment | comment here)
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In reflection of current events (and San Francisco's recent weather), this site is temporarily stuck in a dark gothic mood. America reelects Bush the Oppressor as our lovely wartime president. Yasser Arafat dies and sends the Middle East into a crisis state. New battles and uprisings flare up in Iraq, wounding many U.S. soldiers. Lastly, our Bay Area weather SUCKS!
Nevertheless, I made a great achievement this week to offset even the worst U.S. and world news; I landed a contract-to-hire position at a Silicon Valley company! This great news has finally validated all of my previous advice in my blogs for job-hunters and self-starters in California. In brief, the message is to stand your ground and do not submit to defeat. Hold your ground against whatever odds and you will reward yourself in the long run.
I begin my position on Monday, and it is precisely the type of work that I've been seeking since I moved to San Francisco. I felt warmth and uniqueness among the employees, and I noticed immediately the diversity I've been looking for in a workplace for a long time. The view from the 8th floor office is stunning, and it overlooks the San Mateo bridge, East Bay, and the entire Silicon Valley.
Always trust your own instincts, wherever you are and whatever you do. I never listened to all the bozos who suggested that I move away from the area and find better work in Chicago, and now it's obvious that I made the right choice all along. Every part of my being was determined to punch bricks out here until I succeeded in finding work and income. I offer encomium to all my fellow IT pros who weathered it out and are still trying to find work. You’re next!
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(By Daniel Culveyhouse | No comments yet | comment here)
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Veteran's Day (formerly Armistice Day)
Take some time today, if only for a moment, to offer accolades to veterans, active servicemen, reserves, and guardsmen of the U.S. Military. Without their sacrifices over the years, we would not enjoy the comfort of American life that we enjoy today. Our veterans and troops generally do not receive the recognition that they deserve, so do your part to get involved in Veteran's Day activities. So put those damned cigarettes out, pull your head away from that boob tube, and drag your ass off that golf course! Pay a little tribute to our soldiers. If you are too busy this year, here are a few ideas for next year:
- Find out about local Veteran's Day parades and volunteer your time as a staff member.
- Volunteer your time towards the Library of Congress Veteran's History Project.
- If you run a business, consider cutting back hours on Veteran's Day as a tribute to those men and women.
- Contact your local Veterans of Foreign Wars post to find about community service opportunities. Look in the Yellow Pages, if their website is sometimes on the fritz.
- Volunteer your time with DAV (Disabled American Veterans) to help a few disabled veterans in your local area. Contact the DAV here. You may also have to click the "Office Directories" link to the left to get the closest DAV office. You can offer transportation services, work with patients, and offer in-home support.
One last consideration, something I shouldn't even have to mention: Whatever your views toward U.S. operations in Iraq, support and honor our servicemen regardless, as each one faces death on a daily basis, with family/friends within the safety of U.S. borders praying for their safe return.
P.S.: The Veteran's Day banner (posted above) is the ugliest piece of crap I've seen all year. So another great volunteer project would be to submit banner design ideas to replace this for next year.
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(By Daniel Culveyhouse | No comments yet | comment here)
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I just finished a categorical and cross-referencing tool for information, called the Culvey Databank. I only began populating it with information yesterday, so there's not much to see yet. The goal is a resalable information engine that publishers, webmasters, etc. can use to easily organize hordes of information on their individual websites, putting an end to clutter and disrepair.
I thought I'd dump my first research project here. This page shows up in the databank, and you can see how it works by Clicking Here.
Introduction
Ants have been living on the Earth for more than 100 million years and can be found almost anywhere on the planet. It is estimated that there are about 20,000 different species of ants, and at any one time, approximately one thousand trillion ants are scurrying all over the Earth.2 For this reason ants have been called Earth's most successful species.
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|  | | Ants, the Most Populous Order of Insects | |
Ants build many different types of homes. Many ants build simple little mounds out of dirt or sand. Other ants use small sticks mixed with dirt and sand to make a stronger mound that offers protection from rain. Western Harvester ants make a small mound on top, but then tunnel up to 15 feet straight down to hibernate during winter. Ant mounds consist of many chambers connected by tunnels. Different chambers are used for nurseries, food storage, and resting places for the worker ants. Some ants live in wood like termites. Army ants don't make a home at all but travel in large groups searching for food.
Sociology
Ants are social insects, which means they live in large colonies or groups. Some colonies consist of millions of ants. There are three types of ants in each species, the queen, the sterile female workers, and males. The male ants only serve one purpose, to mate with future queen ants and do not live very long. The queen grows to adulthood, mates, and then spends the rest of her life laying eggs. A colony may have only one queen, or there may be many queens depending on the species. Ants go through four stages of development: egg, larva, pupa, and adult.
Anatomy
Ants have three main parts The head, the trunk (middle section), and the rear or metasoma. All six legs are attached to the trunk. The head consists of the jaws, eyes, and antennae. The eyes of ants are made up of many lenses enabling them to see movement very well. The antennae are special organs of smell, touch, taste, and hearing. The metasoma contains the stomach and rectum. Many species of ants have poison sacks and/or stingers in the end of the metasoma for defense against their many predators. To see a diagram and learn more about ant anatomy visit our ant anatomy page.
Organs
Ants do not have lungs. Oxygen enters through tiny holes all over the body and Carbon Dioxide leaves through the same holes. There are no blood vessels. The heart is a long tube that pumps colorless blood from the head back to the rear and then back up to the head again. The blood kind of coats the insides of the ants and is then sucked into the tube and pumped up to the head again. The nervous system of ants consists of a long nerve cord that also runs from head to rear with branches leading to the parts of the body, kind of like a human spinal cord.
Communication
If you watch ants for any length of time you will see that they really do communicate with each other and very effectively too. Ants communicate by touching each other with their antennae. Ants also use chemicals called pheromones to leave scent trails for other ants to follow.1
Sources
1All About Ants. (6 paragraphs) 20 Nov. 2003. . Reprinted with permission.
2About Antweb. 20 Nov. 2003. .
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(By Daniel Culveyhouse | No comments yet | comment here)
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Sir Arnold Edward Bax (1883-1953)
In general I gather that nearly all Americans are oblivious to the works of my favorite British composer, Sir Arnold Bax. Of his day, he was one of the most prominent figures in British classical music but didn't receive his knighthood until having composed six symphonies. He pumped out a variety of what are called tone poems, such as my favorite, "The Garden of Fand." These tone poems are simply punctuated versions of his approach to symphonic form, but this tone poem stigma often left critics to discredit his music (especially his symphonies) and sometimes neglect his works entirely. It's a shame that he was largely forgotten, and I mention below how I think this happened and why Bax's exposure is starting to change.
Bax was truly a genius of theory and form, and I quickly became a student of all his seven symphonies. They are largely episodal in nature, much like many tiny poems in one symphonic "wrapper," but very complex and stunning. Bax is the type of composer that can almost transport the audience to a high fantasy in all of its color and splendor by using clever orchestration. In addition to the imagery, each symphony also reflects a very personal story about Bax, who often prospered but also suffered, just like the rest of us. Much of his music conjures up images of Celtic lands, Gaelic forests, Northern seas, peaceful coastlines, and the like. So why would his music not enter the mainstream, even during his glory days?
 | | Bax: Master of
the King’s Musick |
It's easy to generalize on this; Baxian music was largely in the hands of critics. If they bastardized his symphonies and labeled them as crimes against humanity, they would not be widely performed. Music critics weren't that harsh, but they did scorch his name as a legitimate composer, claiming that his works lacked discipline and attention. Composers — as well as any other artist — trying to make a name for themselves know of this struggle for critical acclaim. Bax appealed to a decent European audience, but this criticism undermined his popularity, both in Britain and abroad.
At the time of his death, music labels were mass marketing classical recordings, but there was an explosion of twelve-tone music, and listeners were focusing on these and other new movements in the classical scene. Bax's music was nearly buried beneath these trends. Luckily, there was a revival of interest in Bax's orchestral works, and many were performed and recorded by several labels in the seventies and eighties.
In regards to recent years, the CD and digital revolution has made Bax's works easily accessible to everyone globally, as can be said about most any composer's hidden gems. I can personally attest to this; only through the Internet was I finally met with all of Bax's piano sonatas and chamber works. I have decided to learn Piano Sonata #3 to do my part in promoting Bax's music in the Bay Area.
We have a great British composer, truly stylish and unique, whose music captured a sizable audience in his time, then lost this audience almost completely, but then found a well-deserved modern revival. It breaks the heart how often composers go unpopularized until after death, but then most artists know and accept this strife, hoping someday to impress and inspire the world as an audience.
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(By Daniel Culveyhouse | No comments yet | comment here)
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