[python] Re: AW: Google Earth (OT)

On 11/29/06, Rhisiart Gwilym <Rhisiart@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


  Siwmae pawb!

I'm even older, and I second everything that Mark says below. Except
that that wonderful 'astral travelling' satellite camera can just as
easily be used to check up on everyone and everything, with a
thoroughness previously thought to be possible only for God (whatever
you take that word to mean). And having seen where we are, and what
we're doing, it then becomes possible for 'them' (whoever, other
naked apes anyway) to throw exploding things at us, or gasses, or
lethal microorganisms; or to send goons to get us. Just a paranoid
thought.



This is all true, but at the base of it, even something as innocent as  a
match can be used to light a home, or set it on fire!  I am not a
militarist, nor am I particularly paranoid, but yes, "they" whoever they are
could probably find you pretty easily I suppose.  It has been that way for
many years.  Technology available to US, as in basic simple people is a good
many years behind what is really available.  so I simply live my life and
forget about it.  no benefit in going crazy over it.

Still, it is - for our generation - wonderful to the point

of laughing out loud with delight.



And yes, I was saying something about this last night, and my daughter and
son in law looked at me and said, "Dad....that is OLD stuff!"  ::::sigh:::

One other thought for Mark: aren't there First Americans nearer than

1200 miles to you? And don't some of them still preserve their
ancient languages?



Yes, there are, believe it or not, there is a town, or settlement of
Mesquaki (Sac and Fox) about 100 miles west of me.  But on a daily basis it
is most difficult to actually deal with anyone who normally uses a different
language.  I DO know a few Mesquakis, but all are english speakers.

a funny story here.  a friend was at Pipestone Minn where the native peoples
used to get stone to make  pipes.  A younger native man was doing carving on
some demonstration pipes and my friend, also Mark, was fascinated.  He
watched for a while and asked how he cut the hole in the bowl of the stone.
the young native man looked up with a smile and replied....." Oh, I usually
use a 3/8 drill to start dude!"  is perfect surfer slang!   Ah well...

by the way, as a small boy I lived on one of the islands off the southern
coast of Alaska in a fishing village of the Tshimshians.  My father was
assigned to a church there and we were there for a couple of years.  Even
then it was rare for anyone but a few older people to speak the language and
I was far too young to have thought of anything but playing with my friends.

I'm one of the aboriginals of the island of

Britain, and we have a language like you wouldn't believe. Not so
bafflingly-unique as Euskal ('Basque') perhaps; it +is+ one of the
Indo-Europeans. But full - I mean really brimming - with literature
and poetry completely unknown to our absent-minded English
neighbours. In a recent Papur y Bro, (local community newspaper
produced by volunteers) I read a brief obituary by a very
unobtrusive, ordinary woman for her lifelong friend, just dead. She
finished her piece with the heartfelt remark: "Mawr yw y bwlch yn yr
Aber o golli Miriam." Even in translation it still rings in your mind
- and wrings your heart: "Great is the gap in Aber from the loss of
Miriam." And when you hear it with the actual Cymraeg sound, it's
even more heart-stopping. This from an ordinary working woman in the
little hill village of Abergynolwyn. Aren't there some Indigens
nearby, Mark, whom you can bike over to visit, and get them to show
you some of the spell-like power of their language? And yeah: bikers
of the world unite for peace and amity!!!



I have found that cyclists all over the world tend to be more friendly and
"normal" than most others.  Or maybe that is a characteristic of any group
who share an interest.   Read Dervela Murphy's "Full Tilt" about riding a
bicycle through Iran and PAkistan!  she met nothing BUT hospitality and
friendliness.
a further note.  My family came from Scotland, most having immigrated
around 1745-6 (gee, I wonder WHY that might have been?) but others, most
notably the Wallace side (yes, THAT Wallace) came earlier.  Evidently their
popularity with the British Crown was somewhat limited after 1200 or so,
which made them somewhat willing to relocate to find better opportunities
somewhere else.  Even after a few hundred years some names stayed firmly in
the "not good people" lists!

As soon as I can bring myself to tip-toe into the necessary

computer-magic, I'll send y'all both my sets of coords., in England
and in Cymry, and you can see - I suppose - my boats, and the forest
where I keep my cabin. Iesu Mawr! I can hardly believe this.......




I am looking forward to seeing it!  I am constantly AMAZED!  you young guys
ignore us old geezers!

mark (officially a grandfather!   twice now!)

Cofion gorau i bawb (Best remembrances to all),    Rhisiart Gwilym

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