12:45 pm: following a delicious brunch while reading images of the mind: selections from the edward l. elliott family and john b. elliott collections of chinese calligraphy and painting at the art museum, princeton university, i am inspired and ready for the next part of my day. a few quotes from what i read:
"in their quest for objective truth northern sung thinkers had proposed that, while the highest reality is li (the metaphysical principles that underlie the physical universe) objective principles and the subjective mind are neither discrete nor mutually exclusive. while in theory principles constitute a world of their own, in reality they can be found only within concrete objects, and then apprehended only through the mind of the experiencing self.........ch'en hsien-chang (1428-1500).....was convinced that learning depended on personal insights, or "self acquired" (tzu-te) knowledge." (bold type mine)
wen c. fong
so far i've corrected 6 of 25 pages in the chapter titled observe. kids and teachers will love this. when i can reveal more, i will. right now it's confidential, but trust me, this product will infuse our educational system with the creativity combined with common sense it's been lacking. big statement, eh? just wait.
below in the center, the current state of my healing. (the stitches in my finger are from a wort removal and the removal of a piece of metal resulting from a fall from a step ladder in my studio. the stitches in my palm are from the trigger finger correction.) my hand by the way, reveals a sensual nature, in case you hadn't noticed.
10:47 am: we didn't take our 5:45 am walk this morning. mikela slept in and i had intestinal tsurus. normally, when i'm working on a painting every day, that is the focus of the images on my blog posts. until i begin painting again (which may be today) i'm focusing more on eye candy images i've shot in the last 24 hours, BELOW. if you click on one to make it full screen, then mouse over, some have explanations. some are obvious details from paintings in my parade series, and i haven't bothered to identify them. if you scroll through the paintings in that ongoing series (parade series under the works menu, on the upper right of this page) you can pick them out, in what could develop into a kind of game....a national craze!
today marks day 1 of my corrections to the chapters mikela has written for our educational startup: action lab, which we'll be piloting this fall in 2-3 schools. i love doing corrections, and i'll be working that into my schedule for the day, which remains unclear. i'm inclined to begin painting. at this point, the pain from my surgery is minimal and wouldn't prevent me from painting, but i'm afraid of getting oil paint or medium on the bandages or the wound itself....a highly unlikely possibility. i'll update in a bit.
GREECE: AN UPDATE THIS IS AN ARTICLE IN THE CURRENT ATLANTIC MAGAZINE, with a reader comment below that says it all, as far as i'm concerned.
A New Beginning for Greece?
by Adam Chandler
In just a few weeks, Greece’s prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, went from being a staunchly anti-austerity, defiant would-be euro zone jilter to a bailout-embracing, leftist-purging premier. And, on Saturday, after he formally replaced some disloyal members of his Syriza own party in the Greek cabinet, Tsipras ordered the country’s banks to open for business on Monday.
“The move had been widely expected after the European Central Bank agreed to re-open the emergency credit lines which the tottering Greek banking sector needs to survive,” Reuters noted. While limits remain—foreign transfers are still banned and Greeks can still only withdraw €420 per week—the development shows Greece is starting the process of getting back to business with new bailout talks beginning this week.
More surprisingly, the Greek government also pledged to raise €50 billion in a privatization push. To achieve this mark (or at least attempt to), the AP reported, the government will “sell government assets and allow for private development of state-owned property.” Given where Tsipras started in January, this change of tune is something akin to Dylan not only going electric, but also endorsing the Vietnam War, all while under duress.
Among those saying that the reforms will never work are Tsipras’s erstwhile allies. On Saturday, former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told the BBC that the European demands on Greece will “go down in history as the greatest disaster of macroeconomic management ever.”
For now though, the re-opening of the banks carry a symbolic weight, even if the act only makes a small difference. “This will improve the image of the economy for Greeks inside the country,” one University of Athens professor told Bloomberg. “It’s just the beginning and a more ambitious option wasn’t possible.”
A READER COMMENT:
This will "work" to the extent that when you stop beating yourself over the head with a stick you will feel better. But economically, as long as Greece stays shackeled to the Euro, they are going to struggle. The Euro was designed for Germany's benefit, not those south of the Alps. They need a weaker currency to complete.