Batavia

Atlas of Ingenious Rocks and Their Textures

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:43:03 -0500

Taoism is in part a philosophy of noncommittal refusal, committed indecision and conscious inaction....

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:57:05 -0500

Taoism is in part a philosophy of noncommittal refusal, committed indecision and conscious inaction.

Lao Tzu left his lucrative position in the imperial court and went into (voluntary?) exile. Before crossing into China’s vast interior, Lao Tzu dictated his philosophy to a border guard stationed at the frontier. The guard abandoned his sentry and left with Lao Tzu, both vanishing into the desert.

By the time hard imperial labor and resources had built the Great Wall across this western border, Taoism would be a state sanctioned religion with Lao Tzu deified. How an exile and anonymous deserter authored and disseminated an antimanifesto before leaving their civilization remains mysterious.

MEANWHILE

The popular belief that the Great Wall of China can be seen from Space is in fact urban legend, originating perhaps from Ripley’s Belive It or Not.

HOWEVER

Skylab astronaut William Pogue thought he had seen the Great Wall of China from the space station, but discovered he was actually looking at the Grand Canal of China near Beijing. He spotted the Great Wall with binoculars, but said that “it wasn’t visible to the unaided eye.”

Costume and Change

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:03:45 -0500

Costume and Change

Customary

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:03:24 -0500

Customary

Custom and Care

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:57:06 -0500

Custom and Care

Custom and Conscious

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:56:54 -0500

Custom and Conscious

Custom and Cannibalism

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:56:14 -0500

Custom and Cannibalism

Custom and Colonialism

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:55:52 -0500

Custom and Colonialism

Switch Garden

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 11:29:42 -0500

Closely Observed Infants

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:02:25 -0400

Closely Observed Infants

Crater curation.

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:33:57 -0400

Crater curation.

"International Stability Testing (Hardcover)"

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:58:05 -0400

“International Stability Testing (Hardcover)”

Photo

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:07:37 -0400

Photo

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:30:23 -0400

1000 Tin Toys (Klotz) [Hardcover] by Kitahara, Teruhisa

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:29:55 -0400

Late modernist public art in wartime.

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:10:00 -0400

Late modernist public art in wartime.

“I received the Zohar today. Good product at an...

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:24:40 -0400

“I received the Zohar today. Good product at an affordable price, quick and impeccable service. Very good. “

Lightly foxed.

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:53:56 -0400

Lightly foxed.

Photo

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:20:03 -0400

The cassettes are like audiobooks, he explained — tutorials on how to get into the storage industry...

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The cassettes are like audiobooks, he explained — tutorials on how to get into the storage industry and succeed. He made them before the storage-facility building boom ended a couple of years ago. “They didn’t sell,” Litton said, “so they’re all in storage now.”