Saturday Tweets: Mostly Bikes

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Saturday Linkages
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The All New Ball Book Of Canning And Preserving: Over 200 of the Best Canned, Jammed, Pickled, and Preserved Recipes. From the experts at Jarden Home Brands, makers of Ball canning products, comes the first truly comprehensive canning guide created for today’s home cooks. This modern handbook boasts more than 200 brand new recipes ranging from jams and jellies to jerkies, pickles, salsas, and more.

3 Mules Update

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Events
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We’ve posted before about filmmaker John McDonald’s ongoing effort to tell the remarkable story of the “3 Mules” man. John called me last week to tell me that he’s found an editor for his film and that he’s fundraising to complete the project. Contributions are tax deductible and can be made through 3mulesmovie.com.

Here’s what John had to say in a recent newsletter:

On December 23, 2012, I meet a one-of-kind human being traveling with three animal companions and take this photo.

My first photo of “The Mules” taken a block from our home.

A neighbor friend calls and tells me to run out of the house, down to the corner and look east. He won’t tell me what to look for, but just says, “It’s right up your alley, John!” Like so many other people, my first reaction is “Wow! I’ve never seen this before!” And then I’m thinking who is he and what is he doing? Is he lost in the wrong century? Is he homeless? Is he on a mission?

I’m intrigued and want to learn more, so I chase him down. We exchange a few words, but he is in a hurry to move on. He asks me if he is heading in the right direction to intersect the Arroyo Seco (south of the Rose Bowl), and that is enough to give me a clue as to where he might be spending the night.

The next morning is Christmas Eve. My whole family is together for the holidays and I’m reluctant to go off on a wild goose (or mule) chase. But I’m a documentary filmmaker. I sense a good story. The dog needs a walk anyway, so I head for the Arroyo in search of the guy with the mules. No luck at first, but then I finally discover him, already packing up to start on the next leg of his trip to who knows where. He accepts a cup of coffee that I have brought with me. He talks a bit, very softly.

With some reluctance he allows me to retrieve the video camera from my car. Surprisingly, with the camera running, he talks more. I learn that this 65-year-old man calls himself Mule, considering himself “just another one of the mules.” They have traveled for nearly three decades, through sixteen states and into Mexico. For the last ten years, they have lived outdoors every single day.

Mule tells me that throughout his travels he has noticed an ever-increasing urban sprawl. Much of the open land that once allowed them to move freely and spend the night in secluded spots is disappearing. More and more cars are filling up the roadways, and the expanding urban infrastructure seems to serve only one purpose: accommodate more automobiles.

His words resonate with me, and I realize then and there that I am about to embark on a filmmaking journey like none I have ever experienced.

Now, five years later, my journey is far from over.  In 200 days of filming over a 27-month period, I shot 300 hours of footage. A ten-minute short film called MULE: Living on the Outside was edited and has screened at a number of film festivals and fundraising events as I work to raise the money to complete the full-length feature documentary.

If you would like to help, tax-deductible donations can be made on my website 3MulesMovie.com.  Your support is greatly appreciated, and I look forward to sharing the completed film.

I sent a donation this morning because I think this is an important story about public space, the problems of modernity and environmental degradation. John is a talented filmmaker and I’m looking forward to seeing the finished film.

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A New History of Western Philosophy. The individual volumes of Sir Anthony Kenny’s acclaimed History of Western Philosophy have been hailed as “wonderfulauthoritativehugely rewarding” (Times Higher Education Supplement) and “genial and highly accessible” (London Review of Books). Now these four splendid books have been combined into one magnificent volume, providing a continuous sweeping account of the great thought of the Western world.

May Morris: Embroidery as Art

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Design
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Before the great uglification that was the 20th century there was a brief period of aesthetic hope led by the prophetic John Ruskin and his followers, most notably William Morris. A 2017 exhibition and catalog brings some much needed recognition to his daughter May Morris.

May was probably the best embroiderer the world has ever known. Her work is more like painting than stitching and she raised the craft to levels not seen since the late medieval period.

May was a gifted designer and artist and worked in many mediums including fashion and jewelry.

You can read her embroidery manual Decorative Needlework online.

Are Root Simple readers also avid embroiderers? Leave a comment!

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How Not to Kill Your Houseplant: Survival Tips for the Horticulturally Challenged. Can’t keep a houseplant alive, no matter how hard you try and how good your intentions are? This is the book for you. You need this book. Give plants a chance.

Whacked the President with a Single Stick

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Fitness
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A forgotten and dangerous cousin to modern day fencing, single stick fighting involves a short and inflexible piece of wood. Ouch. Early 20th century notions of physical therapy were obviously different than today as evidenced by President Theodore Roosevelt using single stick fighting as a way to recover from a carriage accident. Here’s how the New York Times covered his unusual PT sessions:

WHACKED THE PRESIDENT WITH A SINGLE STICK

Gen. Wood Raised a Lump on Mr. Roosevelt’s Forehead

Special to the New York Times.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29–President Roosevelt has not been wounded in the forehead with a rapier wielded by Gen. Wood, nor has he been swinging a broad sword at that officer, as reported in New York today; but he has been whacking his military friend over the head with a single-stick, and Gen. Wood has been returning the compliment. As a result the President is wearing a bruise on his forehead just over the left eye.

For the last month the President and Gen. Wood have been accustomed to repair daily, or almost daily, to a room in the White House where they are free from interruption and have a bout at single-stick. This ancient English exercise used to have as its point the drawing of blood. Neither the ex-Colonel nor the ex-Lieutenant Colonel of the Rough Riders has aimed a making this point, but both havve confined themselves to developing their skill with the weapon and getting as much exercise and fun out of the game as possible.

Notwithstanding this, it is impossible to play with single-sticks without occasionally getting hurt, and both the President and his ex-superior officer have daily given and received some pretty severe raps. Lumps have appeared at frequent intervals on the head of each. The one which the President received the other day, however, was worse than usual and more visible to the casual observer. As a result the wildest kind of rumors were started, finally culminating in the broadsword and rapier story. This led to the discovery of the secret which the President and his friend have guarded so successfully for a month or more.

The PT must of worked since, ten years later, not letting an assassination attempt get in the way, Roosevelt was able to deliver a 90 minute speech after being shot in the chest.

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HOCK Plane Kit. This precision made kit provides a quick, sure way to realize the satisfaction of using a handmade wooden plane. Complete with a Hock plane-iron assembly all you need is a drill, some clamps, glue, a knife to adjust the throat, sandpaper (or plane) to true the sole, and a means of sharpening the iron.

There’s No Such Thing as a Free Watch

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Thoughtstylings
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I have a love/hate relationship with computers and the internet. On the one hand I’m thankful for the platform of this blog and podcast as well as instant access to a whole world of useful how-to information and videos. But, the other day while doing an image search for William Blake’s Urizen, I landed on a hateful anti-Semitic website. Grossed out, I retreated to the computer-free early twentieth century technology of my garage workshop where the Butlerian Jihad backstory of Frank Herbert’s novel Dune remains in effect.

Jihad, Butlerian: (see also Great Revolt) — the crusade against computers, thinking machines, and conscious robots begun in 201 B.G. and concluded in 108 B.G. Its chief commandment remains in the O.C. Bible as “Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.”

Alas, I often cheat with my liberal use of Sketchup.

Along the lines of “we need to rethink this internet thing,” artist Jenny Odell has written a fascinating piece about a phenomenon wherein poorly made objects incarnate via Instagram and other social media platforms. Her essay,  There’s No Such Thing as a Free Watch (pdf) traces the origin of watches pimped by social media “influencers.” These watches begin not as a practical way to tell time but, rather, as a physical manifestation of social media interactions.

Amidst the shifting winds of Alibaba sites, dropshipping networks, Shopify templates, Instagram accounts and someone somewhere concocting the details of “Our Story,” a watch was formed, like a sudden precipitate in an unstable cloud. And almost immediately after being produced, it is reviled, doomed to live out its stainless steel life, less a teller of time than an incarnation of petty deception. In that sense, it may be the best artifact of capitalism one could ask for.

You almost need to go back to Thomas Aquinas’ complex Aristotelian thoughtstylings about transubstantiation to wrap your head around the story Odell tells.

While we’re on the topic of transubstantiating things, the Church of England hopes to encourage folks to give up single use plastics for lent via a plastic-free lenten discipline (pdf). It’s a great list of suggestions to which we may need to add social media.

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May Morris: Arts & Crafts Designer. May Morris, youngest daughter of influential designer William Morris, was one of the leading female contributors to the Arts and Crafts Movement. May’s approach to embroidery was innovative and widely influential in the UK and abroad, yet her important contribution to embroidery is often overshadowed by the accomplishments of her more famous father.