Category: nature

Balancing act: homeostasis and words I live by

Isy / / critical thinking, nature, perspective, tasty words, what works

A balance has two ends: when one goes up, the other goes down. As a metaphor for living, it lacks dimension.

Homeostasis is better. It has no end, but it does count every factor. With a balance, it’s possible to find a point where everything holds perfectly still – until the wind changes. With homeostasis, there is no still-point, because even the thing that pushes the wind is part of it. It’s always shifting.

Homeostasis is a puzzle to which there is no lasting solution, only a series of adjustments. There’s always something new to learn, something different happening.

I find that intriguing.

After living on the water, in the forest, by the desert, and in cities of all sizes, it also makes perfect sense to me. No change sets off only one corresponding change. All real things are clusters of changes, and in the end we can either adjust or be adjusted – and only one of those alternatives accounts for our own wishes.

Living, like homeostasis, is not about flattening the ocean. It’s about riding the waves.

File-sharing ~= sex, fecal transplants, and bacterial cognition

Isy / / brainiac, humor, nature, science, studies

This is the richest, most fascinating article I’ve read about life, the biosphere and everything:

http://www.miller-mccune.com/science-environment/bacteria-r-us-23628/

Now that’s a writer with ADD, putting all that into one contiguous piece — but also she’s got one hell of a gift, to make it so coherent and approachable. I want to be like Valerie when I grow up!

I’m completely blown away. I’m going to go for a bus ride so I can explain to the air how thrilling bacteria are. After all, I have to take the bus ride anyway, so I might as well scare people off.

I am in paroxysms of bio-geek delight!

Nacre

Isy / / nature, poetry, tasty words

“Nacre” sounds like an erotic euphemism. A leisurely beachcombing near ancient oyster beds led me to realize that. In fact, it went further, and prompted a poem.

The meter, for those who care, is represented visually as follows:


_._._._
._._.

Oh the shine! My fingers ache
To touch that sweet thing:

Silken colors, slippery,
As soft as me there;

Curves that arc in gentle swoons
Around the body

Once awash in holy calm
Within that temple,

Wrapping scarves of pearl
Around its softness:

Breathing water, eating sand,
Sweating heaven.

Casing empty, body gone,
It fills my eyes now:

Oyster shell, long empty, laps
The flowing water.

Fabulous dress sense!

Isy / / humor, nature, travelogue

Coming up to Castro & Market, I noticed half a dozen middle-aged men, most in wonderful shape, some with jackets draped over their chairs and some with jeans in puddles around their feet. Wearing nothing but hats. … And a few tattoos, possibly as punctuation, but it’s not like they cover anything.

I perked up and went over; said, “Gentlemen, I _love_ your outfits!”

A circle of shit-eating grins glowed back at me. The cutest-and-he-knew-it said, “Thanks; we worked real hard on ’em!”

Had it been an enclosed space (like a bar), I’d have had a comeback, but aware as I was of the very mixed crowd, I just gave a little laugh and passed on –with a big grin.

I love this town.