To the dim-lit shore of the mind
Strange things come drifting
When the tide is high.
—Emmy Veronica Sanders, "Driftwood"

Right next to the pond were patches of dark green succulent leaves, dark red at their edges. Where the green shaded into red was a color he couldn’t name, a dark lustrous brown stuffed somehow with both its constituent colors. He would have to call up a color chart soon, it seemed: lately when looking around outdoors he found that a color chart came in handy about once a minute. Waxy almost- white flowers were tucked under some these bicolored leaves. Farther on lay some tangles, red- stalked, green- needled, like beached seaweed in miniature. Again that intermixture of red and green, right there in nature staring at him.
—Kim Stanley Robinson, Blue Mars, 1993.

By Adam Koford:

Piecing together the secret of the seven pagodas . . .


 

by pootj

The Search for Silent Colors

We all know garishly loud colors when we see them. Typically in the range of red, orange, and yellow, loud colors are unwelcome in business attire, unless one's business happens to be the circus. And we all know quiet colors by their instant calming effect. The quiet range of blue, green, and violet is beloved by home designers. But what of silent colors? If they exist, would we find them in cloistered monasteries, or hushed libraries, or ruined castles?

The American ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson found a "sea of silent colors" when he tearfully witnessed the grandeur of the Grand Canyon for the first time. He reported a vivid array of silent reds, yellows, grays, and lavenders (Wild America, 1997).


by davidanthonyporter

The poet A. F. Moritz found silent colors within the curves of a white seashell. He described a "diminished spectrum" of "shades of milk" ("You, Whoever You Are," Early Poems, 1983). The naturalist Timothy Duane found "the silent colors of winter" blanketing the Sierra mountain chain (Shaping the Sierra, 2000).

When feminist activist Ginny Foat found herself incarcerated, she discovered silent grays, blacks, and greens in the steel and cinder blocks of her cell (Never Guilty, Never Free, 1985).

[Read the entire article in my guest blog at ColourLovers.com.]

"He was a many-faceted man who combined the unlikely qualities of both daring adventurer and scholar."
—Mary Lovell, A Rage to Live

-----

Jonathan responds:

Her evening gown was of an ivory- colored taffeta. The billowing skirt did justice to the effect of the stiff, cold, voluminous taffeta, on which the grain of shifting light flowed and opened up its quiet, silver, dead, long, slender eyes. Color was provided by a cattleya pinned to her bodice. The faint yellow, pink, and purple velum, surrounded by violet petals, imparted the coquetry and shyness peculiar to members of the orchid family. From her necklace of little Indian nuts strung on a yellow gold chain, from her loose lavender elbow- length gloves, from the orchid on her bodice, the fresh odor of perfume like the air after a rain wafted its charms.
—Yukio Mishima, Forbidden Colors, 1953. Translated from the Japanese by Alfred H. Marks, 1968.

The "Spirit of the Game"

(an Abecedarian guest blog for DeepFun.com)


Arabian folklore tells of a wish-granting genie imprisoned in an oil lamp or bottle. Might players innocently conjure such a spirit in a game of spin-the-bottle? Indeed, every game has a motivating force at the heart of it -- its own sort of soul. Whatever we might call it -- essence, atmosphere, intention, or ethos -- it's that special spark that distinguishes the game from all others. Like a genie of folklore, the Spirit of the Game grants good sports a wish -- the ultimate wish. (We'll get to that in a moment.)

The Spirit of the Game is not necessarily spelled out in the rules. Indeed, "There are situations in which adherence to the so-called letter of the rules can be taken to violate the spirit of the game."[1] The Spirit of the Game is a distillation of the intent of the rules. It has been called "a self-regulating set of norms without which some games would degenerate into anarchy."[2] It is a frame of mind, not a commandment carved in stone. It's a point of view, a sense of humor, a strength of character. Novelist Richard Le Gallienne summed it up perfectly: "To be whimsical, therefore, in pursuit of a whim, fanciful in the chase of a fancy, is surely but to maintain the spirit of the game."[3]

Because it is typically undefined, the Spirit of the Game can be abused. Unsportsmanlike conduct (like taunting and intimidation) is one indication of abuse; bringing the game into disrepute is another.[4] When honored across the board, the Spirit of the Game turns opponents into equals. Most importantly, it engenders fun. While camaraderie is jolly and competition is stimulating, "the real spirit of the game is all about having fun."[5]

Though each game has its own unique Spirit, there are some universal characteristics. The Spirit of the Game is:

• even-tempered
• self-possessed, yet unselfish
• levelheaded
• well-balanced
• untroubled
• either easygoing or animated
• motivated
• spontaneous
• committed
• earnest
• disciplined
• wholehearted
• courteous
• honorable
• responsible
• idealistic

Ultimately, the Spirit of the Game "is the only thing in the game which is lasting."[6]

Corporate trainer Julius E. Eitington makes an interesting observation: when players become caught up in the Spirit of the Game, they "become themselves."[7] What is one's true self, but that of a player on the grand game board of life? Edward Clark Marsh once described being enlivened by the Spirit of the Game: "If it was not for a moment real life, it at least made you wish it were."[8]

Other signs that the Spirit of the Game is present include:

• both sides wish each other good luck
• both sides cheer one another (winning or losing is secondary; the game itself is a victory for all [9])
• everyone plays fair (no cheating, no bending of the rules)
• players celebrate the game's tradition, safeguard its precedent, and carry on its legacy
• players supervise themselves. Game scientist Andrew Thornton notes that "There is no agreed upon definition of the Spirit of the Game, but there is a pervasive sense that one should play by it. The Spirit of the Game is the Police" inside each player's head.[10]

But we've neglected the quintessential sign that the Spirit of the Game is present. And that's when the ultimate wish is granted: the firing shot that sets play into motion. When the game is afoot, all else is inconsequential!

Fun Facts about the Spirit of the Game:

• In Ultimate Frisbee, where there are no referees and no penalties, the Spirit of the Game is the underlying philosophy. "The Ultimate player will always praise and support successful actions on both teams. It is a normal thing to introduce yourself to the opponent at the beginning of every point and to wish him a good game. And after the game both teams stand in a circle talking about the game and singing a song for the opponent team. So it is a lot more than just a short handshake after a game."[11]
• The Spirit of the Game comes into play "before the game has even begun."[12]
• "Soccer is unique among sports in that the official's job is first and foremost to maintain the spirit of the game as well as the safety of all concerned; this concern outweighs all other laws of the game."[13]
• The Spirit of the Game of soccer has been traced back to the early to mid nineteenth century, when the game developed from its folk roots into its modern form.[14]
• The Spirit of the Game of curling "demands good sportsmanship, kindly feeling, and honourable conduct."[15]
• The Fighting Spirit of the Game of American football is persistently aggressive in nature: "Throughout the history of football, the violent spirit of the game has endured, even as other elements of the game have changed."[16]
• The Spirit of the Game of lacrosse "is a feeling of honor and dignity."[17]
• The Spirit of the Game reminds players that not everything is a matter of life and death, that consequences are temporary, and that results are not critical.[6]
• The Spirit of the Game teaches players to "accept success with grace and failure with restraint."[18]
• The Spirit of the Game of golf is characterized by disciplined conduct, courtesy, and sportsmanship at all times.[19]

[1] Allan C. Hutchinson, It's All in the Game, 2000, p. 195.
[2] Lincoln Allison, Amateurism in Sport, 2001, p. 161.
[3] The Quest of the Golden Girl, 1897, p. 35.
[4] William John Morgan, Ethics in Sport, 2007, p. 126.
[5] Richard Carlson, The Don't Sweat Guide to Golf, 2002, p. 205.
[6] Division for Girls' and Women's Sports, Sports Programs for College Women, June 21-27, 1969, p. 23.
[7] The Winning Trainer, 2001, p. 142.
[8] "Anthony Hope's 'Sophy of Kravonia,'" The Bookman, 1907, p. 381.
[9] Modris Eksteins, Rites of Spring, 2000, p. 124.
[10] Belinda Wheaton, ed., Understanding Lifestyle Sport, 2004, p. 187.
[11] Jorg Bahl, Ultimate Frisbee, 2007, p. 4.
[12] John Byl, Co-Ed Recreational Games, 2002, p. 205.
[13] Andy Caruso, Soccer Coaching, 1996, p. 29.
[14] Sharon Colwell, "The 'Letter' and the 'Spirit': Football Laws and Refereeing in the Twenty-First Century," The Future of Football, 2000, p. 201.
[15] Gary Belsky & Neil Fine, 23 Ways to Get to First Base, 2007, p. 209.
[16] William D. Dean, The American Spiritual Culture, 2002, p. 148.
[17] Steve Bristol, quoted in Our Game: The Character and Culture of Lacrosse by John M. Yeager, 2005, p. 79.
[18] Hubert Vogelsinger, The Challenge of Soccer, 1973, p. 274.
[19] United States Golf Association, Golf Rules Illustrated, 2004, p. 4.

Piecing together the secret of serenity . . .


 

James Altucher, author of Trade Like a Hedge Fund, honored my "10 Little-Known Facts" guest blog for Grow-a-Brain as one of "the Web's most timely, topical posts."

From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:

"Once more I wondered, as I had the first time I saw him, why these handsome features didn't add up to a handsome face."
—Zeruya Shalev, Love Life (2001)

Mr. Wonka was standing all alone just inside the open gates of the factory. / And what an exraordinary little man he was! / He had a black top hat on his head. / He wore a tail coat made of a beautiful plum- colored velvet. / His trousers were bottle green. / His gloves were pearly gray. / And in one hand he carried a fine gold- topped walking cane. / Covering his chin, there was a small neat pointed black beard — a goatee. And his eyes — his eyes were most marvelously bright. They seemed to be sparkling and twinkling at you all the time.
—Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 1964.

A newspaper headline:

The best place to learn long division is at a multiplication table.

Information Prose :: A Manifesto in 47 Points :: Version 1.0

by Jeremy P. Bushnell, jeremy@invisible-city.com

26. Our daily thoughts appear whole only within contexts which run deep and often go unthought: were anyone to inspect the running ticker of our mental dialogue, much of it would seem to be fragments. Writing which purports to be interested in the complexity of other human beings must reflect this.

27. Incorporating uncited or decontextualized fragments and samples into a creative work brings a certain level of noise into the signal. This admittedly runs the risk of creating confusion in the mind of the audience.

28. The initial communication of new information always creates some confusion. But that confusion indicates promise to certain recipients.

29. There is no evidence that what audiences want most from a creative work is the clear transmission of simple information. Audiences will accept high levels of noise in a creative work if the creative work is achieving other effects or satisfying other needs.

30. "[We take] the text, with its unreliable transmission of information, to be a component of a larger system, that of cultural circulation, in which what seemed like a dysfunction at a first level of communication would turn out to be a positive element contributing to the complexity of the larger system." —William Paulson, The Noise of Culture

31. To remove it from a creative context for a moment, consider: one reason meeting new people is appealing is because they may know things that you don’t know, or they may understand things in a different way from you. The process of communicating with someone who thinks differently from you (because their thoughts are defined by different contexts) carries with it a necessary degree of noise, but the process of translating that noise into new meaning can be immensely rewarding, intellectually, emotionally, and creatively.

32. "[Disorder and noise] can become information to us, can bring us to more subtle forms of understanding, because it is the unexpected, the radically different to which we can respond only because we are already complex beings capable of yet more complexity." —William Paulson, The Noise of Culture

33. Experiencing characters in a work of fiction should be rewarding in that same fashion. Reducing the noise in the signal simplifies out human difference for the sake of accessibility and creates work that is pleasant but does not bring us to new understanding.

34. Information prose writers must write for an audience that finds noise and its attendant uncertainty stimulating. Much contemporary writing neglects them.

35. "[Young people] are more tolerant of being out of control, more tolerant of that exploratory phase where the rules don’t all make sense and few goals have been clearly defined. The hard work of tomorrow’s interactive design will be to explore that tolerance — that suspension of control — in ways that enlighten us." —Steven Johnson

36. Currently, the writers doing the most work towards some of information prose’s goals are hypertext writers.

37. Hypertext writers are not necessarily information prose writers, and not all information prose writers will seek to be hypertext writers, but hypertext has merits that should be considered by writers of information prose.

38. Some hypertexts consist solely of navigable webs of interlinked fragments. Some information prose writers may find this approach fruitful. But hypertextuality need not be incompatible with more traditional narrative. Utilizing hypertext does not mean that writers need to relinquish the many obvious merits of a linear story; the comfort of a prescribed order, of a beginning, middle, and end.

(to be continued)

Piecing together the secret of self-recognition . . .