So I'm stealing this enviro-report thing
from Xiled. It seems like a good way to
set the tone. Pardon my blatant
plagiarism! Imitation, as they say, is
the sincerest form of flattery.
Location: Living Room
Input Device: Lenovo ThinkPad R500
Software: Debian + LXDE + LXTerminal + nano
Audio: Miss R's movie noise
Visual: Laptop screen, movie
Energy: What?
Mental: Off
Emotional: Tired, very tired.
I'm currently reading John Rodgers
Jewitt's account of his captivity. He
was one of the two survivors of the crew
of the American ship Boston when it was
attacked by the Nuu-Chah-Nulth in the
early 1800s.
It's a fascinating read so far and very
illuminating. He's a bit biased towards
his own civilization (which could be
said for all of us, I'm sure), but he's
attempting to provide a balanced
account, which must have been difficult,
given the killings of his fellow crewmen
and his subsequent enslavement.
Possibly the most interesting fact of
which I was unaware is that the roof
planks of Nuu-Chah-Nulth longhouses were
not fastened to the frames. This allowed
the people to push aside a board with a
stick when lighting a fire (to create an
instant smokehole), but also meant that
they had to scramble to the roofs to
weigh down the planks with rocks during
Vancouver Island's frequent rain/wind
storms.
You can find the book at Project
Gutenberg if you're interested [1].
My plan this summer is to continue
reading first-hand accounts of life in
early British Columbia.
There's also a major home renovation
project on the horizon, so I'll probably
phlog about that too.
[1]
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38010
