And the like.
It's all predictable, you could easily write all that stuff yourself without exercising your imagination one single bit. Except strangely they do leave out all things that Obama has done, and his work does show. The work of his party, anyway, the work of his cabinet, the work of his government, and his aids and his advisors and his many new czars of this and that.
I don't care.
I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care.
But!
I do find the design of the musician's sweatshirt interesting. Very interesting. I find Drake's fascination with the Egyptian owl fascinating. Presently if you search [egyptian hieroglyphic owl] the top result will show, "Don't Challenge Drake on Ancient Egypt."
But the article doesn't deliver.
Disappointingly, the search result article is nymag, the Cut, that in turn refers to a TMZ article about a jeweler who fashioned a diamond owl for Drake then sued Drake for later creating unsanctioned replicas. Drake responded with, no, the design is Egyptian hieroglyph from 5,000 years ago and cannot be copyrighted. Drake used the owl for the cover of 2011 mix-tape and for the his collaboration group OVOXO.
Well yeah, but not with diamonds sparkling all over just so.
Man, I'm having the most incredible déjà vu thing happening. Did I say this already?
It looks great on clothes. It's a great symbol. This is cropped and lightened screen grab from Drake's music video that Obama and Usher were dancing to.
Doesn't that look great? It's subtle and yet it sticks out like BLAM the same way a giant M would stick out. It very clearly reads M. Loud and clear like M! The exact same way as if you would notice a Christmas tree printed on a sweatshirt you'd immediately think "Christmas."
Now, if you go online and query what does the Egyptian owl mean then you will get quite a lot of strange answers along with the letter M. Right off reference.com says:
Owls are associated with death in Egypt. Specifically, ancient Egyptians believed that owls protected spirits as they passed from one world to another. Although some see this relationship as negative, the ancient Egyptians honored the owl.
Owls have symbolic meanings related to death in many other cultures as well. The fact that the owl is a nocturnal creature and that it can turn its head completely around contributes to its lore. In ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, the owl represents the sound of the letter M. Owls hold an unusual place in ancient Egyptian art. Unlike other animals, owls were shown facing frontward instead of in profile.They do not, you dopes. You can follow the entire book of Going Forth by Day and the owl does not figure in any of vignettes, the owl is nowhere in any of the spells.
Except linguistically, then the owl is all over the place. And it is discouraging searching online for the meaning of the Egyptian owl linguistically. Every page that I've read acknowledges that the owl means the letter M but that's it. Apparently there aren't any linguists answering. They may be smart but they're certainly not cunning. <--Joke!
Come on.
This is beginner material. The depth of the meaning of the Egyptian owl is found in any beginner Egyptian textbook. Here's one by the spectacular Egyptologist James P. Allen. Chapter 8 in his introduction to the language and culture of hieroglyphs, Middle Egyptian. The Owl M is insanely useful. Hang onto your hat, the early chapter goes like this:
8.1 Preposition definitions
8.2 Primary prepositions. Ew, ew, ew, we see the owl right away. Let's see what it says.
Egyptian also has prepositions, and it uses them in much the same ways that English does. Unlike English, however, Egyptian can have as many as three different forms of its prepositions, depending on how they are used. The following list shows the primary prepositions of Middle Egyptian (in alphabetical order), the different forms they can have , and the English prepositions or prepositional phrases that correspond to them.He meant in Egyptian alphabetical order. So then, the owl M can serve in forms of prepositions. I have to open JShesh to show you. (Because you don't have the font on your computers. )
with 3 more variant examples.
This preposition means "between" when it is used with a dual (transliteration) "between two bushes"
There's a lot more in the paragraph, but it's technical and the point here is already made. However, in slightly different circumstances such as plurals the owl will mean, "among, amidst, in the midst of."
Okay? So far, besides the letter M, which is all you'll have from the internet search, the owl also means
* between
* among
* amidst
* in the midst of
2.
3.
with personal pronouns or adverbially
"in"; adverbially "therein," "there," or "in it," "of them," etc.
This is the most common of all Egyptian prepositions. Basically, M means "in," but English often requires other translations, depending on how M is used:
* "in" or "into" space: "in the house"; "enter into the house"
* "in," "by," "for," or "during" time; "in the night"; "for three years, during three years"
* "in" a state; "in peace"
* "in" or "of" a material or contents; "in stone, of stone," "a period of years," "one thereof, one of them"
* "from" or "of" a place or state (i.e. starting from "in") "emerge from (in) the town," "free from boasting, free of boasting"
* "as" something or someone "("in" the capacity of) "appears as king"
* "with," "through," or "by" something (i.e. "in" the use of ) "anoint with oil" ; "get through prayer, by prayer" ; "cal by name"
Wow, that's a lot of English prepositions that the Egyptian owl M is used for. There's more.
4.
5.
"among," adverbially "among them"
This preposition is used with a plural noun or a noun with a plural sense "among the living," "among the waters." The difference between [this ligature and the one with the plant frond] is that [the fond ligature] indicates a specific physical position while MM is used in a more general sense, without specifying an actual position.
Man, owls all over the place. More on Egyptian prepositions, but no more owls. The remaining sections of chapter 8 are owl-less. As merely a matter of interest the rest of the chapter elaborates on the following.
6. water sign, indicate the goal of something
7. human mouth, at the beginning of a sentence, "with respect to"
8. cluster of plants and Egyptian eagle, and human head profile "behold, around," "behind and around"
9. twisted wick, water, human forearm ligature, indicates one thing accompanies another, "together with my siblings."
10. human head (forward), "on" not used adverbially
11. placenta, horned asp, something is opposed to something else.
12. group of jugs and water, something is in front of something else
13. placenta, human mouth (forward), proximity of one thing to another
14. wood, placenta, human legs, "throughout" as "happen throughout the land" "all over the place" <-- I made that up.
15. seat, human mouth, "under" be under something, also to carry or have it.
16. human head (profile), relating to the head, the position above something, contact with the surface
17. basket of grapes, mouth, "over," "finished."
8.3 Compound prepositions
8.4 Object of prepositions
8.5 Preposition n (water) with adjectival predicates
8.6 Prepositional nisbes (that's Egyptian making adjectives from nouns by adding an ending)
8.7 Use of prepositional nisbes
8.8 Special uses of the nisbe (seat over the mouth)
8.9 "Reverse" nisbes
8.10 Prepositional phrases as modifiers
Nisbe: (grammar) A derived adjective, formed from a noun, principally used when describing the Egyptian and Arabic languages.
8 comments:
He isn't a very good golfer, they say, can't shoot hoops, no rhythm.
He's a failure white or black.
The weightlifting video at the gym in Germany(?) was hilarious. Little 10 lb weight arm curls. Delicate! And the singing? He was so proud of that. What a douche.
I imagine (because I don't want to watch) that the dancing is pretty much head-bobbing and rhythmic clapping/shuffling on the beat? Makes The Safety Dance look wild by comparison?
Owls can't turn their heads all the way around.
But they can hoot - hardly a day or night goes by when I don't hear them. We have barred owls living in our neighborhood, and sometimes they roost in my next door neighbor's trees - that drives my dogs crazy - they really want to see that all that hootin' is about.
Now I am playing YouTube videos of owl calls and my cats are going crazy - owls, is there anything they can't do?
Well, other than turn their heads all the way around.
Cool!
All that owl activity means they're catching varmints. But then all that hooting gives them away. They swoop silently then wreck it by hooting. Or maybe it's all part of their plan. Maybe that's why they're characterized as wise. Hoot, hoot, hoot, I'm way up here, no probs, it's safe, swoop, gotchya stupid mouse.
The hooting becomes caterwauling during mating season, this time of year they are probably migrating through, and call just to let each other know where they are roosting and hunting. Their calls are very different than the calls I hear in the spring.
The hawks seem to have mostly moved through - have not seen one in a couple of days. I did watch a two pairs of crows mob a pair of hawks the other day, that was aerial warfare at its best.
Did I mention seeing crows mobbing a raven? I saw that in early summer - that was the first raven I have ever seen in the east, and man, what an impressive bird with a marvelous call. But the crows were having none of it - git, move along, this is our area!
And lately I have been seeing tons of mockingbirds. At least two thousand. You know, like the book - 2 kilo mockingbird.
The owl has a big round flat face. Very scary but also very wise. Or seeming wise. Thus the fascination the owl holds for humans. Picasso didn't do his usual avant grade act when it came to the owl. He took the owl serious (which I prefer to seriously, grammar be damned) and it shows in his owl sculpture. Go look. You'll see.
Wow! Sixty, that's amazing!
I've watching dozens of crow videos. Just lately. From Europe mostly. One came in a woman's kitchen window and laughed like a child. Then went all over the house. It's unclear the relationship.
Another came into the park and demanded the people open a bottle of water. When the people finally figured out what the crow wanted, (the cameraman told them, it want some water) then they poured some into the lid. It drank the water and flew off.
Other videos show a crow setting up a situation with a cat to fight with another cat. They interfere until one cat attacks the other. It's awesome watching their mischief and all they things they get up to.
But it sounds like you're located at exceedingly heavy bird traffic area. I never see stuff like that.
Except one time I noticed a very large black bird take up sentinel duty at the top corner of our building. When I looked out there were actually six of them evenly spaced up there perfectly as if set there by a designer. They didn't do anything that I could see as I observed for quite some time. But if it happens again I'll offer them a sandwich or something. They're very weird birds.
I haven't even seen any or heard any geese flying south. We're nearly birdless around here except for few random pigeons.
Years ago I lived near a small pond and there was a crow that hung around there and it would say "Hello". At first it's kind of disconcerting - did I really hear that? But I asked around and others had heard it, too. Phew - that was close - I mean we were right down the road from Baltimore and you would kind of expect to hear a black bird say "Nevermore" if it were to speak at all. Nope, "Hello". What a nice bird that was.
The other day on a walk we came upon a wake of vultures finishing their noon repast. My Border Collie is always interested in such things, for example, she watches birds in flight, especially geese, and she is the only dog I have ever had that even notices birds, so we decided to see how close we could get to them. We walked at a slow, steady pace up the dirt road towards them, and they really don't want their meal interrupted, so they sat there, eating and eyeballing us, until we got about 12 feet from them. At that point my dog could not stand it "Pappy, there are giant birds - right there, can't you see them?", and she started pulling on the leash and yipping. That was enough to make the vultures take flight, and what can I tell ya - those are some large dad gummed birds. Huge, I'm tellin' ya. And being that close we could hear the wind rushing over their wings as they took flight. Very impressive.
This was in the very same spot where as recently as 5 years ago we used to see a flock of 20 or so wild turkeys. They are all gone now - coyotes moved into the area and wiped out the turkeys. Coyotes are not native to this area and as an invasive species they have done great damage.
So, yeah, we have birds. We don't have pigeons, per se, but we are thick with Mourning Doves. They are cool. Woodpeckers, lots of flickers, it has been a good year for gold finches and bluebirds and songbirds of all sorts. I hate to see that wind down, but the crows overwinter here so we will always have someone we can caw.
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