Sandstone Violin
@sandstoneviolin.bsky.social
linguist | medical editor | co-parenting father x3 | musician | poetry lover | eclectic in all things | ☸️ 🐀 | ex-ex-Slavist, ex-ex-academic Berkeley CA
A little bit of Goethe today, reflecting on how our entire built landscape is a sort of fossilization of human stories and passion. #poetry
July 8, 2025 at 10:40 PM
A little bit of Goethe today, reflecting on how our entire built landscape is a sort of fossilization of human stories and passion. #poetry
"Competitive authoritarianism" is a great phrase. Also an excellent point re: people's assumptions about transition states — there's never going to be a day where we wake up to the announcement, "NOW HEAR THIS, IT'S AUTHORITARIANISM TIME," and waiting for such an announcement is a fool's errand.
July 8, 2025 at 5:30 PM
"Competitive authoritarianism" is a great phrase. Also an excellent point re: people's assumptions about transition states — there's never going to be a day where we wake up to the announcement, "NOW HEAR THIS, IT'S AUTHORITARIANISM TIME," and waiting for such an announcement is a fool's errand.
Documenting my entry into the World Championship of Parallel Parking here.
(Don't worry, I did move forward to avoid being a complete jabroni).
(Don't worry, I did move forward to avoid being a complete jabroni).
May 31, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Documenting my entry into the World Championship of Parallel Parking here.
(Don't worry, I did move forward to avoid being a complete jabroni).
(Don't worry, I did move forward to avoid being a complete jabroni).
I was reading some Mandel'shtam today while the kids got ready for school (as one does?), and this poem (published in the poet's early 20s) struck me—powerfully evocative of the joy/piti (in the Buddhist sense) of youth, with an echo of some hard-won wisdom to come.
Re: the translation…(1/2)
Re: the translation…(1/2)
May 27, 2025 at 9:00 PM
I was reading some Mandel'shtam today while the kids got ready for school (as one does?), and this poem (published in the poet's early 20s) struck me—powerfully evocative of the joy/piti (in the Buddhist sense) of youth, with an echo of some hard-won wisdom to come.
Re: the translation…(1/2)
Re: the translation…(1/2)
This 1964 poem by Andrei Voznesensky, from a paradigm of Cold War technical innovation that now seems downright old-fashioned, is often in my mind in our days of AI. A "mechanical nightingale" (механический соловейчик) indeed. Also, "горло саднит от техсловес" has a certain ring. #poetry
April 14, 2025 at 11:15 PM
This 1964 poem by Andrei Voznesensky, from a paradigm of Cold War technical innovation that now seems downright old-fashioned, is often in my mind in our days of AI. A "mechanical nightingale" (механический соловейчик) indeed. Also, "горло саднит от техсловес" has a certain ring. #poetry
Also worth ruminating on — whether man is indeed a tyrant, betrayer, or prisoner in all elements of nature. Prescient re: our age of the Anthropocene.
April 4, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Also worth ruminating on — whether man is indeed a tyrant, betrayer, or prisoner in all elements of nature. Prescient re: our age of the Anthropocene.
In Nabokov's "Verses and Versions" (translations and comments on Russian poetry), I was struck by the phrase "incredible and unnecessary age of 90" as relates to the Baron d'Anthès — who, per Wikipedia, lived to the age of 83.
Also, "moi aussi, I am something" - 🤌. #poetry
Also, "moi aussi, I am something" - 🤌. #poetry
April 4, 2025 at 5:55 PM
In Nabokov's "Verses and Versions" (translations and comments on Russian poetry), I was struck by the phrase "incredible and unnecessary age of 90" as relates to the Baron d'Anthès — who, per Wikipedia, lived to the age of 83.
Also, "moi aussi, I am something" - 🤌. #poetry
Also, "moi aussi, I am something" - 🤌. #poetry
Last night, I took the two younger kids to "Songs from a Sinking Ship" at ZSpace in SF — an absolutely wonderful, mesmerizing show. Also, apparently, it's work in progress for an eventual full premiere in Mar 2026? Not to be missed.
www.zspace.org/songs-from-a...
www.zspace.org/songs-from-a...
March 30, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Last night, I took the two younger kids to "Songs from a Sinking Ship" at ZSpace in SF — an absolutely wonderful, mesmerizing show. Also, apparently, it's work in progress for an eventual full premiere in Mar 2026? Not to be missed.
www.zspace.org/songs-from-a...
www.zspace.org/songs-from-a...
"Your mind isn't creating thoughts—your thoughts are creating your mind. Every time you revisit a particular thought loop, you're voting for it to become your default operating system."
One of the most urgent & memorable essays I've read in a while.
tinyurl.com/39w9jx6v
One of the most urgent & memorable essays I've read in a while.
tinyurl.com/39w9jx6v
March 28, 2025 at 6:37 PM
"Your mind isn't creating thoughts—your thoughts are creating your mind. Every time you revisit a particular thought loop, you're voting for it to become your default operating system."
One of the most urgent & memorable essays I've read in a while.
tinyurl.com/39w9jx6v
One of the most urgent & memorable essays I've read in a while.
tinyurl.com/39w9jx6v
Wow. Makes me wonder how much of recent gov't decision-making (in the last 10-15 years) is just lost to future historians. This kind of mistake only makes sense if Signal group chats about sensitive info are completely unremarkable.
And ugh, the emoji reactions to the strikes!
And ugh, the emoji reactions to the strikes!
March 24, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Wow. Makes me wonder how much of recent gov't decision-making (in the last 10-15 years) is just lost to future historians. This kind of mistake only makes sense if Signal group chats about sensitive info are completely unremarkable.
And ugh, the emoji reactions to the strikes!
And ugh, the emoji reactions to the strikes!
Next time I fuck up embarassingly, I'll have to remember "accidentally adding a famous journalist to a Signal chat about classified info" as an example of a fuck-up orders of magnitude beyond what's available to a regular person like me.
...but also ...
...but also ...
March 24, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Next time I fuck up embarassingly, I'll have to remember "accidentally adding a famous journalist to a Signal chat about classified info" as an example of a fuck-up orders of magnitude beyond what's available to a regular person like me.
...but also ...
...but also ...
Spent some time today perusing an art history textbook I absconded with from high school over 20 years ago. My 9 y/o tells me that a strong desire to steal books from school must run in the family, because he's very tempted to do that too 🤣.
March 4, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Spent some time today perusing an art history textbook I absconded with from high school over 20 years ago. My 9 y/o tells me that a strong desire to steal books from school must run in the family, because he's very tempted to do that too 🤣.
Amb. Brink joined the State Dept 29 years ago and took office in May 2022, just after the invasion of Ukraine.
Wonder what the impacts of her actions will be, and what she'll be remembered for. I'm reminded of April Glaspie, who was also placed in a very difficult situation (w/ different details).
Wonder what the impacts of her actions will be, and what she'll be remembered for. I'm reminded of April Glaspie, who was also placed in a very difficult situation (w/ different details).
February 28, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Amb. Brink joined the State Dept 29 years ago and took office in May 2022, just after the invasion of Ukraine.
Wonder what the impacts of her actions will be, and what she'll be remembered for. I'm reminded of April Glaspie, who was also placed in a very difficult situation (w/ different details).
Wonder what the impacts of her actions will be, and what she'll be remembered for. I'm reminded of April Glaspie, who was also placed in a very difficult situation (w/ different details).
"Sv'jet je ovaj tiran tiraninu" (Petar II Petrović-Njegoš) — This world is a tyrant to tyrants.
IMO one of the most beautiful portrayals of conflict, clashes, and dualism in poetry.
My students, however, were not fans.
IMO one of the most beautiful portrayals of conflict, clashes, and dualism in poetry.
My students, however, were not fans.
February 21, 2025 at 1:57 AM
"Sv'jet je ovaj tiran tiraninu" (Petar II Petrović-Njegoš) — This world is a tyrant to tyrants.
IMO one of the most beautiful portrayals of conflict, clashes, and dualism in poetry.
My students, however, were not fans.
IMO one of the most beautiful portrayals of conflict, clashes, and dualism in poetry.
My students, however, were not fans.
A lovely surprise keepsake on a beautiful February day in Berkeley ❤️🌲🌻. This was the product of drawing in the backseat yesterday on a four-hour drive down from the snow.
February 17, 2025 at 11:17 PM
A lovely surprise keepsake on a beautiful February day in Berkeley ❤️🌲🌻. This was the product of drawing in the backseat yesterday on a four-hour drive down from the snow.
Beautiful entry from a journal written by a Buddhist dying from ALS. "Yet perhaps the real betrayal lies in our endless attempt to impose tidy maps on a world that flows like water, finding its own wild way through stone."
twilightjournal.com/spring-journ...
twilightjournal.com/spring-journ...
January 31, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Beautiful entry from a journal written by a Buddhist dying from ALS. "Yet perhaps the real betrayal lies in our endless attempt to impose tidy maps on a world that flows like water, finding its own wild way through stone."
twilightjournal.com/spring-journ...
twilightjournal.com/spring-journ...
Reminds me of yet another Russian poem that enchanted me as a teenager for unclear reasons, by Бахыт Кенжеев: "Everything in this world goes out of fashion my dear, and we too turn into an anachronism, a relic from a far-off epoch, when ice shone on the eve of winter like nails on horses' hooves"
January 23, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Reminds me of yet another Russian poem that enchanted me as a teenager for unclear reasons, by Бахыт Кенжеев: "Everything in this world goes out of fashion my dear, and we too turn into an anachronism, a relic from a far-off epoch, when ice shone on the eve of winter like nails on horses' hooves"
Semi-random striking poem for Friday, by Józef Bartłomiej Zimorowic (August 20, 1597 – October 14, 1677). Whose mind, indeed, chopped up the centuries into fine morsels of minutes? Such a vivid and fresh evocation of a thought process that seems deeply foreign in (post)modernity.
January 17, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Semi-random striking poem for Friday, by Józef Bartłomiej Zimorowic (August 20, 1597 – October 14, 1677). Whose mind, indeed, chopped up the centuries into fine morsels of minutes? Such a vivid and fresh evocation of a thought process that seems deeply foreign in (post)modernity.
I did divination w/ Hafez at a solstice event in SF a week and a half ago. I asked "will I bring brightness?" (melodramatic, perhaps, but 2024 was that kind of year)—and I was drawn to this page, esp. verse 3. 🤔 Maybe there's something to it? Big goals for 2025, regardless.
December 31, 2024 at 10:18 PM
I did divination w/ Hafez at a solstice event in SF a week and a half ago. I asked "will I bring brightness?" (melodramatic, perhaps, but 2024 was that kind of year)—and I was drawn to this page, esp. verse 3. 🤔 Maybe there's something to it? Big goals for 2025, regardless.
Between the desert ghosties, the 20+ foot tall, fairly explicit monument to the working ladies of the Old West, and the actual ghost town, I always forget just how trippy a trip to Rhyolite NV is.
November 30, 2024 at 4:45 AM
Between the desert ghosties, the 20+ foot tall, fairly explicit monument to the working ladies of the Old West, and the actual ghost town, I always forget just how trippy a trip to Rhyolite NV is.
Randomly opened an edition of Camões's sonnets and 🎯. Maybe opening to a random page in a poetry book has promise as a divination tool, like random Bible-opening in the past.
Translation Q though, isn't "Que não se muda já como soía" more like "Nothing changes anymore like it used to"?
Translation Q though, isn't "Que não se muda já como soía" more like "Nothing changes anymore like it used to"?
November 23, 2024 at 8:37 PM
Randomly opened an edition of Camões's sonnets and 🎯. Maybe opening to a random page in a poetry book has promise as a divination tool, like random Bible-opening in the past.
Translation Q though, isn't "Que não se muda já como soía" more like "Nothing changes anymore like it used to"?
Translation Q though, isn't "Que não se muda já como soía" more like "Nothing changes anymore like it used to"?
I memorized this poem as a teenager learning Russian and then more or less forgot about it for many years. Looking at it with fresh eyes, what on earth could have I (or maybe any teenager) understood in it? Also an interesting translation challenge (more below). #poetry
November 20, 2024 at 10:52 PM
I memorized this poem as a teenager learning Russian and then more or less forgot about it for many years. Looking at it with fresh eyes, what on earth could have I (or maybe any teenager) understood in it? Also an interesting translation challenge (more below). #poetry
New book on mathematical reasoning reviewed in Quanta. Idk what to make of it. Math as a procedural skill makes a ton of sense to me, but the reason vs. instinct & language vs. abstraction dichotomies seem less obvious. Maybe worth reading the whole book.
November 20, 2024 at 10:19 PM
New book on mathematical reasoning reviewed in Quanta. Idk what to make of it. Math as a procedural skill makes a ton of sense to me, but the reason vs. instinct & language vs. abstraction dichotomies seem less obvious. Maybe worth reading the whole book.
I've been watching "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" from the 1950s while working.
Some real zingers. Unimaginable on modern TV.
"It seems to me that television is exactly like a gun: your enjoyment of it is determined by which end of it you’re on.”
Some real zingers. Unimaginable on modern TV.
"It seems to me that television is exactly like a gun: your enjoyment of it is determined by which end of it you’re on.”
June 17, 2024 at 4:31 PM
I've been watching "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" from the 1950s while working.
Some real zingers. Unimaginable on modern TV.
"It seems to me that television is exactly like a gun: your enjoyment of it is determined by which end of it you’re on.”
Some real zingers. Unimaginable on modern TV.
"It seems to me that television is exactly like a gun: your enjoyment of it is determined by which end of it you’re on.”
Honestly, I love it. I don't know what they were intending, but it's aesthetically striking, memorable, and would seem to capture (or at least imply) some uncomfortable but true things.
May 14, 2024 at 8:27 PM
Honestly, I love it. I don't know what they were intending, but it's aesthetically striking, memorable, and would seem to capture (or at least imply) some uncomfortable but true things.