Five Bullets 1.6.23
This week: Elizabeth Cotten, Shakers & Timothy the Tortoise
Hello and welcome back to Circles In Space for Five Bullet Friday, where each Friday I share some interesting stuff I collected during the week.
Happy New Year everyone! Welcome to 2023 - a brand new year filled with lots of promise. I haven’t drafted any resolutions for the new year but I’ve been trying to be better at managing my time. I’ve created ‘micro-schedules’ for myself - scheduling even just 20 or 30 minutes to make sure I get in some extra writing and reading. The idea of breaking things down into manageable chunks is helpful - I know that I will complete my goals if I just trust the process!
Do you have any resolutions for the new year? What are you reading, hearing and seeing lately? Let me know in the comments.
On to this week’s bullets:
Folk and blues musician Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten was born on January 5th, 1893. Cotten did not perform publicly until her 60s when she was discovered by the Seeger family while working as their housekeeper. Mike Seeger recorded Cotten for the Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar album, influencing a generation of musicians including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Jerry Garcia. Check out Cotten playing Freight Train, one of her most well-known songs.
I just finished reading Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. The book is a masterpiece - it was Hemingway’s first bestseller and put him on the map as one of the great American writers. I’ve also been watching Ken Burns’s series Hemingway which offers insight into the man, myth and legend. [Check out my list of books I read last year].
Raspberry Shake, a small seismograph connected to a Raspberry Pi computer, is allowing amateurs to monitor and record seismic events such as earthquakes but also other vibrations caused by human activities such as cars and construction. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic reduced seismic noise by 50%. The community of ‘Shakers’ share their info online, allowing professional geologists and other scientists see how earthquake waves travel around the earth.
Governor Hochul recently passed a law which will allow New Yorkers to compost their remains when they die. Cemetaries certified as ‘natural organic reduction facilities’ will compost the remains. The compost can then be incorporated into a traditional burial plot or returned to the deceased’s family to be used as fertilizer for trees and memorial gardens. Composting of human remains offers a ‘green’ alternative to the traditional process which involves embalming fluids or cremation which uses as much fossil fuels as a 500 mile car ride.
While reading about the Crimean War (1853-1856), I was surprised to learn that it’s last veteran lived until 2004 - a tortoise named Timothy! Estimated to be about 160 years old at the time of it’s death, Timothy (actually a female) served as a mascot aboard the British Navy ship HMS Queen during the bombardment of Sevastopol in 1854.
Got something to share? Leave me a comment! I’m always on the lookout for something new to dive into.
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That's all for this week! As always, thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
Until next time,
KW