Bugle Boy, Bugling Badly

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Ed Medley

At last a story to break the drought…

I have moved to a new office -there is a story to tell there, too – on 13th Street in Oakland, opposite the Oakland Tribune building. At street level is a wonderful coffee shop, Modern: Coffee, which serves pleasing green teas, too. I popped over for a refill a few minutes ago, and was served by a pretty young lady wearing  a Boy Scouts of America shirt. Which shirt and prettiness (or Satan) prompted  me: “You are the loveliest Boy Scout I have ever seen”. Modest blush from her, which pleased me, and I volunteered that the Boy Scouts were started by Lord Baden-Powell after the Boer War. He was a Brit. And then I confessed that I was never a Boy Scout. But I had once been Sea Scout. Continue reading →

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Meares Island – Moist Misery

Posted on September 9, 2010 by Ed Medley

In the late summer of  1972 I started a job prospecting in the rain at Meares Island, British Columbia.   Continue reading →

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Hanging on the Wall: The Naive Art of John Danger and Friends

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Ed Medley

I have visited Papua New Guinea (PNG) several times, entering and departing through  the noisy, disorderly airport at Port Moresby, the capital. I generally do not care much for Port Moresby – it is a grimly depressed and somewhat menacing town. But, my visits in 2003 and 2004 were brightened when I met some local artists who displayed their work by hanging it on the fence wall surrounding the Holiday Inn. The paintings are generally colorful; I suppose art experts call them primitive and naive, many of the artists being self-taught.

Continue reading →
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Form 1D

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Ed Medley

I heard a jolting, funny answering machine message today. Do listen to it. It was prepared by frustrated schoold teachers at a school in Australia. I have a lot of admiration for school teachers – I was a part-time teacher for a while. And for 13 years I was a pupil,; perhaps as you were, too? But, were you mischievous, like the Little Horrors of Form 1D? Continue reading →

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Random Leaf

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Ed Medley

random leaf and I

histories intersected

in  mindful present

During quiet time, some may whisper into the ears of dried grass; or listen to the wafted murmers of zephyrs passing by. During quiet time this morning, I shared a few moments with fallen leaves –  thinking about the momentary intersection of their histories and mine: a random connection, prompting a snapshot and poesy. Yes: I must have way too much quiet time…

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Traveling with Barbara

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Ed Medley

Barbara and I courted  in 1972 under painful circumstances – my body was healing from a fall down a mountain. Bone knitting and affection were helped by us being kindred spirits and we became close quickly. She wanted adventure, and I was an adventurer. So, in early 1973  we set off for a several-month wander in Europe and North Africa. Continue reading →

Posted in Family/Friends, Olde History, Vagabond | 1 Comment

Senior Moment

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Ed Medley

I had my first official Senior Moment today. I went by train to Davis, California to see an old friend at the university there. Buying the tickets at a kiosk I had the choice of Adult, Child or Senior tickets. I am the first generally, the second too often. But the third- a Senior? Continue reading →

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Soul-Soaring (Fract)Elation

Posted on August 11, 2010 by Ed Medley

A young man in a faraway dominion of my life told me the other day that this website was full of my “self-elations”. Although puzzled at his choice of words, I did not correct him, since I think I knew what he was trying to say. Because the tang of his words was bitter, I assumed that he did not mean my scribbles are a measure of my light-heartedness or happiness; by “self-elation” he criticised me for writing “self-adulations” –  self-serving, self-inflating pieces. Anyway: with “self-elation” fresh in my mind, I had an Aha! while trawling this afternoon through my draft posts.  I came across this title, the provenance being from the Q&A session after one of my Jahns Lectures at California State University at Fresno last year.  Continue reading →

Posted in Bimrocks/Melanges, Education, Lectures | 1 Comment

Upon Meeting Miss Maggie

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Ed Medley

Miss Maggie is Maggie Antoinette Suzanne Grau Medley (Gredley); our dog. Maggie is almost 14 now; a puppy disguised as an elderly dog. But nowadays she wears her disguise more and more. Right now she appears very elderly, very asleep, with her nose very inches from the rollers of my office chair. She loves to be close to the action. 

We met Maggie in a manner most curious. Continue reading →

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The Motley View: On Geonudity and Some Benefits of Your GeoEngineering Education

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Ed Medley

“I’m OK, I know what I am doing. I picked up enough geology to get by…” (Kipahulu lava flow, Hawaii, 1987; photo: A. Klein)

About the time that this issue of the Motley View will be published [April 2008]  the 2008 class of UC Berkeley GeoEngineers will be finishing the Spring Term, soon to graduate. They will work through the night to complete the CE270L report for Prof. Seed, attend the Distinguished Lectures, party at the Banquet, listen to the speeches, and then get a Rock. Having been there, done that, I warmly congratulate this year’s GeoEngineering Graduates on completing their grueling adventures. But having got this far, what have you learned? What are the benefits you won from the considerable cost of spending between 1 and 5 years or so in the GeoEnginering Graduate program? What prompted you to put up with the pain anyway? Continue reading →

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