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the various and sundry creations of sylvus tarn
2apr2020
Well, I needed something and figured after sitting nearly 8 years, this page is as good as it's gonna get. Besides, I want to close some more links, such as this discussion about how viral load affects severity of infection Teal deer: surprise, surprise, more or repeated exposures to infectious agents probably lead to nastier infections, which is why even relatively young health care workers, such as the Chinese doctor who initially sounded the alarm, are getting sick & dying.
(And that our medical personnel don't have enough protective gear just adds insult to injury.) So those of you who can, are self-isolating, hm, to make their job easier?
Anyway. A sample strand from a better time.
1apr2020
Evidently we're not doing April Fool this year...?
Via boingboing, a webcomic explaining how the census protects privacy, even with people submitting info online. I must be out of it, cuz I just didn't get how it worked, though I surely appreciated the effort. So I checked out an article explaining the same thing, and (for me at least) made more sense.
Honestly, I s'pose I ought to care more about census questions, but I'm far more worried about my medical, cell-phone and credit card histories, and I'm pretty much resigned to those being public knowledge to anyone who really wants to know. —Which is no joke.
31mar2020
I've mentioned Moebius before on the site, and I have no idea how apocryphal this story is, but it's pretty charming. (I've always wanted to have such a command of anatomy that I didn't need models either, which I thought the norm amongst ‘real’ artists; it was years before I realized most artists usually use models, which seemed kind of like cheating, but also explained why I was so bad at this.)
Nowadays I usually use models/reference of some sort, and not only that, but look at older pieces to get ideas for new ones, especially when I don't have any (ideas, that is, which is far more often than I'd like). Not at all certain what I was thinking when I made up today's piece, which just isn't that great. But it does the job.
30mar2020
This week is kind of a mishmash, but I'm hoping to have some week long series ready soon. I have read a lot of articles—my go-to displacement activity in this time of coronavirus concerns (while sensible people watch netflix, and actually get mildly entertained...) but ended up not saving many the links, which means a relatively uncluttered start to the week.
I did really like learning about the Crystal Bishet, which appears to be a relatively (as of the 1950s) update of the glass harp and glass armonica.
Denmark figures they might just as well freeze their economy. It sounds good to me, but that sort of thing takes a) real leadership and b) faith in one's gov't. (Things are so bad here I've got acquaintances in Japan instagramming to see if we poor pitiful americans are okay...)
27mar2020
Our local Chinese grocery store has boarded up some of its glass—I would like to hope this is prophylactic, but I'm guessing some assholes busted the glass because covid-19 fears. Fortunately they're still open for business, and doing pretty well. But I'm getting so tired of the endless, ugly usian bigotries.
So is this woman, who wrote a web comic to introduce people to Wuhan. I've never been to China, though I've wanted to visit that country for as long as I can remember. Some day...
Oh, and I have another mouse.
26mar2020
Yale's most popular course, on developing greater well-being, is currently available for free, and it appeared to be a good displacement activity in lieu of doing something useful, like, going to bed, so I signed up. Still in the first section, but I'm getting strongly the sense that engagement is important to a sense of well-being.
Grass fed cows are better for the environment. (Also for the cows, and even for the people who eat them—they taste better.) Of course, eating fewer cows is even better for the environment...
