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Random thoughts equal a post
Sep. 17th, 2010 12:47 amThis year's Black Rock City map includes these measurements: the Man to Esplanade was 2120 ft, Esplanade to Athens was 400 ft, and all the other radius blocks (A to B, B to C, etc.) were 200 ft.
Given that, I calculated the lettered blocks out to Hanoi, ( so there are numbers back here. )
A thought I keep coming back to is what Shabbat would be like had the halachic decision about electricity had gone another way, not analogizing it to fire. There would still be the other prohibitions (cooking, carrying, writing, and other creative activities come to mind first), but not having to set timers would be a change. And if electricity is not fire, perhaps one could read a Kindle. Or use a computer? Though that might have other issues, ranging from typing being writing to listening to music files. Though if one were merely listening to recorded music, one would not be tempted to fix the musical instrument if it broke, so perhaps that would have been considered acceptable? And even if typing weren't acceptable, but mousing were, I could see a setup with special Shabbat-friendly sites that only used mouse-clicks, perhaps including some sort of Skyped Shabbat services (from the Kotel? Kotel-cam?). It fascinates me to think how utterly different today's Shabbat observance would be based on one decision, not so long ago. It's not like most of us are likely to be harvesting, or threshing, or sowing, or something; urban life is far from majorly agricultural. But we are incredibly electricity dependent, and that vulnerability shows on Shabbat, when the biggest workarounds have to do with leaving things on, or setting timers.
I'm slowly starting to unearth my apartment again; too much travel + ongoing construction had my place feeling un-home-like for a while, and that was not good. On the construction front, it seems likely that the not-large fix that should keep the roof from flooding (who builds a flat roof in New England?!) will be done in the next few weeks, so the rest of what's going on in my apartment can then happen without fear of flood damage. In the meantime, I've managed to get supplies and tools down to one room invaded, and I'm reclaiming the living room. It's not done yet (and I have a genetic predisposition to piles of stuff in corners), but it's noticeably better (at least to me, since I saw it so much worse). Now if I could just get myself out on the bike more regularly....
( current food musings )
Given that, I calculated the lettered blocks out to Hanoi, ( so there are numbers back here. )
A thought I keep coming back to is what Shabbat would be like had the halachic decision about electricity had gone another way, not analogizing it to fire. There would still be the other prohibitions (cooking, carrying, writing, and other creative activities come to mind first), but not having to set timers would be a change. And if electricity is not fire, perhaps one could read a Kindle. Or use a computer? Though that might have other issues, ranging from typing being writing to listening to music files. Though if one were merely listening to recorded music, one would not be tempted to fix the musical instrument if it broke, so perhaps that would have been considered acceptable? And even if typing weren't acceptable, but mousing were, I could see a setup with special Shabbat-friendly sites that only used mouse-clicks, perhaps including some sort of Skyped Shabbat services (from the Kotel? Kotel-cam?). It fascinates me to think how utterly different today's Shabbat observance would be based on one decision, not so long ago. It's not like most of us are likely to be harvesting, or threshing, or sowing, or something; urban life is far from majorly agricultural. But we are incredibly electricity dependent, and that vulnerability shows on Shabbat, when the biggest workarounds have to do with leaving things on, or setting timers.
I'm slowly starting to unearth my apartment again; too much travel + ongoing construction had my place feeling un-home-like for a while, and that was not good. On the construction front, it seems likely that the not-large fix that should keep the roof from flooding (who builds a flat roof in New England?!) will be done in the next few weeks, so the rest of what's going on in my apartment can then happen without fear of flood damage. In the meantime, I've managed to get supplies and tools down to one room invaded, and I'm reclaiming the living room. It's not done yet (and I have a genetic predisposition to piles of stuff in corners), but it's noticeably better (at least to me, since I saw it so much worse). Now if I could just get myself out on the bike more regularly....
( current food musings )