A science program, complete with beakers, giant sock balloons and DRY ICE.  I went with the C’s and the RN’s kids, but this picture of the kids sitting in front of us is my favorite.

In the octal numeral system, 10,000 is 23420.

In binary it is 10011100010000.

In base 36 it is 7PS.

If you’re confused (like me) it’s because you’re so used to the decimal system that you don’t even think of it as a system, you think of it as what numbers intrinsically do.  But we count the way we do because someone (the ancient Egyptians, to be precise) decided that they would count up to ten and then start again at one, making a note in the left hand column that they were on their second set of ten.

But in other systems you count up to…other numbers, and then start over.  So in the octal, or eight based system, you count up to EIGHT, then start over at one:  1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,21, and so on.  Don’t say the numbers past eight as “eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen…” or you will be using decimal language to describe octal numbers.  “Teen” means ten, after all, and there is no ten in octal.  So unless you speak the language of the Yuki tribe of California (which used an octal system) you’d better call 11 “one one,” and 47 “four seven.”

I think I’ve mentioned my housemates Mark and Joel before.  This is the kind of conversational topic that is likely to spring up in our kitchen without warning.  Daniela (Joel’s wife) usually leaves to go do something else, but I am like a little kid wanting to be included in the grownups’ conversation, so I pay as much attention as I can, then go up to my room and start googling.

Then I get really excited about learning something new, and I want to share!  So I draw a picture and hang it on the refrigerator.  Wait, no, that’s what I did when I was a kid.  Now, I blog.

So, if Hopkins was living in a society that used the octal system, he would have written,

Í say móre: the just man justices;

Kéeps gráce: thát keeps all his goings graces;

Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is—

Chríst—for Christ plays in two three four two zero places…

…which really messes up the iambic pentameter…

…and my blog would be called the same.

But he wasn’t, so he didn’t, and it’s not.

The name of this website comes from a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem, untitled:

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies dráw fláme;

As tumbled over rim in roundy wells

Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s

Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;

Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:

Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;

Selves—goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,

Crying Whát I do is me: for that I came.

Í say móre: the just man justices;

Kéeps gráce: thát keeps all his goings graces;

Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is—

Chríst—for Christ plays in ten thousand places,

Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his

To the Father through the features of men’s faces.

I love several things about this poem. The first is Hopkins incredibly thought-out writing style, which he called “sprung rhythm.” It is sort of an advanced alliteration, along with the desire that not one word be superfluous, that every word express the feel and sense of the poem.

Another thing I love is the incredibly evocative images: a kingfisher catching the glint of the sun as he dives, a dragonfly as it darts, the ring of a stone as it tumbles down a well. It is the epitome of the stock writing advice, “show it, don’t say it.”

A common kingfisher::The kind found in Europe

What I love most about this poem, though, is the idea that the world is God’s creation, and therefore everything in it is glorifying him just by being itself: The kingfishers and dragonflies catching the glint of the sun, (I saw a kingfisher in Morocco; they’re beautiful) are calling out, “I am me! This is who I am and what I do!”

Then in the second paragraph he declares that the same principle applies to the “just” man — a man (or woman) who is seeking God and living for him, i.e. acting “in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is.” As a kingfisher is created to dive for fish and a dragonfly to hover and dart after bugs, so each of us is created with a sense of purpose and seeks to fulfill that purpose. That purpose is the “restlessness” that Augustine talks about. For the Christian (literally “little Christ”) that purpose is to reflect Christ. And, Hopkins says, we do! Each of us, through our unique personalities, our gifts, our compassions, even our weaknesses and griefs glorify God. As Iraneaus said, “The glory of God is man fully alive.”

So this website/blog is dedicated to the ten thousand places that Christ “plays” (think the way light plays on the water rather than a child playing with toys); In nature, in art, in my beautiful friends, in YOU. Be! Be who you are, what you are, what you were created to be.

Yours in the journey,

Jessica

~

An incredible site about kingfishers

I am learning HTML and CSS and playing with them, so there are some changes happening at Ten Thousand Places.  Don’t be scared.

First, I am now the proud owner (leaser?) of a domain name.  Translation: Ten Thousand Places is now http://www.tenthousandplaces.org.  Don’t worry, you can still get here through http://www.tenthousandplaces.wordpress.com, but think of all the time you could be saving now that you don’t have to type “wordpress.”  Nine little letters, but if you visit my site ten times a day (say) that’s ninety taps on the keyboard.  It adds up!

If you accidentally type tenthousandplaces.com, you will be linked to this nice church in Georgia with which I have no affiliation except a minor annoyance that they took the domain name I wanted.  They seem cool, though.

And I will be putting all the links in tomorrow, it’s href=something but I’m too tired to remember.

J