14 April 2013

Notes - a relaxing Sunday / Oracle at Delphi /


Mid-morning. You had breakfast and everyone is relaxed. Craig reserved another motel in the White Mountains for next Friday and you have decided to visit places east of the Grand Canyon as well as Meteor Crater once again on this trip.

You awoke yesterday to see the live destruction of the town's old tall smokestacks, which sets off the view to south El Paso before the river.

What was even more exciting than the fall of the stacks (they had to close down I-10 and our motel was about two miles beyond them) was the enthusiasm of the local broadcasters and interviewed citizens. This is because that since 2007 the city has really grown on the east side of town and the old, run-down places taken out. You can feel the city is on the move to better times in the much displayed, positive energy of body and voice on the ABC affiliate television channel.

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"Iconic smelter stacks are toppled in El Paso"
[Today, City Hall will be razed for a baseball stadium]

El Paso - It took less than 30 seconds for the two massive smokestacks that have dominated the El Paso skyline for the past half century to topple Saturday, taken down by two dynamite blasts.
            . . . residents gathered before sunrise on the banks of the Rio Grande that overlook the former Asarco copper and lead smelting site, ready to document the 600 - and 829 - foot-tall chimneys' slow downward slide."

From: Arizona Daily Star, Nation A13, Sunday, April 14, 2013

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Yesterday you left El Paso, Texas mid-morning and drove  the New Mexico desert. Once in Arizona you stopped at Texas Canyon, also a rest stop on I-10 between the two Dragoon Mountains.

         0933 hours. There are lots of giant granite boulders in very unique settings. Here is one of our photos. (The only other place I have seen boulders like this was on I-8 entering the Rocky Mountains while crossing over to San Diego (on another adventure with the Beresford’s).


Texas Canyon, AZ Rest Stop on I-10

         Also, along the way in New Mexico you saw the plant clumping of wind erosion along the desert floor, Google image example below: - Amorella


Plant Clumping via Erosion

         Craig and Alta are skyping with Jack, Matt, Mary Kay and Eric while the Masters is on television. Carol talked to Kim shortly before. Later, dude. - Amorella

         1348 hours. I woke up this morning thinking about the wind created furrows between the hilly clumps of bushy desert plants. This broad spread phenomenon gives whole area a clean but lumpy appearance. I was thinking about the lumpiness and how it seems relative to something in the books but it disappeared, perhaps because I could come up with nothing, but it struck, at the time, as an 'obvious observation unthought'.

         Carol and Alta took a walk while you napped and Craig mostly watched the Masters. Grilled cheese sandwiches are coming up for lunch on the porch. Later, Amorella

         1632 hours. The Masters is over. I have never watched this much golf in my life. It was a good game though and I liked the way the Argentine and the Australian handled the immediate victory and defeat. I like that very much. I don't even remember their names. I feel bad about that.

         No need for names here, orndorff. Post. - Amorella


        2002 hours. We are packed and relaxing.


         Let's go back to the 'lumpiness in the desert'. - Amorella

         I thought it was an 'obvious observation unthought'. Lots of 'things' are unthought.

         Lumpiness under a bushy top holds the dust to the ground while the wind made furrows follow free. - Amorella

         2015 hours. I do not see anything here, Amorella. This (your) statement on lumpiness reminds me of an Oracle at Delphi.

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Oracle

Delphi is perhaps best known for the oracle at the sanctuary that was dedicated to Apollo during the classical period. According to Aeschylus in the prologue of the Eumenides, it had origins in prehistoric times and the worship of Gaia. In the last quarter of the 8th century BC there is a steady increase in artifacts found at the settlement site in Delphi, which was a new, post-Mycenaean settlement of the late 9th century. Pottery and bronze work as well as tripod dedications continue in a steady stream, in comparison to Olympia. Neither the range of objects nor the presence of prestigious dedications proves that Delphi was a focus of attention for a wide range of worshippers, but the large quantity of high value goods, found in no other mainland sanctuary, certainly encourages that view.
Apollo spoke through his oracle: the sibyl or priestess of the oracle at Delphi was known as the Pythia; she had to be an older woman of blameless life chosen from among the peasants of the area. She sat on a tripod seat over an opening in the earth. When Apollo slew Python, its body fell into this fissure, according to legend, and fumes arose from its decomposing body. Intoxicated by the vapors, the sibyl would fall into a trance, allowing Apollo to possess her spirit. In this state she prophesied. It has been speculated that a gas high in ethylene, known to produce violent trances, came out of this opening, though this theory remains debatable.
While in a trance the Pythia "raved" – probably a form of ecstatic speech – and her ravings were "translated" by the priests of the temple into elegant hexameters. People consulted the Delphic oracle on everything from important matters of public policy to personal affairs. The oracle could not be consulted during the winter months, for this was traditionally the time when Apollo would live among the Hyperborans. Dionysus would inhabit the temple during his absence.
H.W. Parke writes that the foundation of Delphi and its oracle took place before recorded history and its origins are obscure, but dating to the worship of the Titan, Gaia.
The Oracle exerted considerable influence throughout the Greek world, and she was consulted before all major undertakings: wars, the founding of colonies, and so forth. She also was respected by the semi-Hellenic countries around the Greek world, such as Lydia, Caria, and even Egypt. The oracle was also known to the early Romans.

Edited from: Wikipedia: Delphi
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         You have a selected an additional well-known list of oracular statements from Delphi courtesy of Wikipedia. Let's go through these and find one that fits my statement (for the imagination of it). Post. - Amorella


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