INTERESTING TIMES

Went to see this group dance last night in Portland. Impressive, for sure. The dancers are ethnically exotic to me---Maori and Samoan people, dark skinned and beautiful. The dances were athletic in the extreme, parts of it reminding me of a crossfit workout, on steroids. One of the dance moves they did was to fall to the ground, and then bound back up to standing, nay leaping up into the air, and back to the ground and back up again, so fast that one could scarcely comprehend that once person could do that. The leaps and lifts were smooth and controlled. There was play around failing, around falling, but no one was ever at risk. In fact I think the play around falling and failing was part of what made them so good---because they had no fear of falling, they had practiced it so many times. Anyway, last night was their debut in Portland but they will be back. The choreographer is Neil Ieremia, and I believe he is also one of the indigenous people of New Zealand. The themes of the dances were modern--child abuse and such---and there was a fair bit of social commentary. Basically Neil is trying to induce us to communicate in an honest and respectful way across racial and national boundaries, by way of his dancers. I appreciated his message. When you fall down, get right back up again.

There were four women in the mostly male troupe. They were likewise swift and strong.

I didn't until just now but I have a feeling this info may come up again. There are two different kinds of casein found in milk. Type A1 is associated with disease. Type A2 is not. France has mostly A2 cows and New Zealand is transitioning to A2. I wonder why? How long have people known about this distinction? "Old fashioned" Jersey and Guernsey cows as well as goats and sheep produce A2 milk. Why is the new school milk dangerous? Is genetic engineering for maximum production at the root of this? Bottom line: We want A2 milk, especially for children. I just didn't know about it until today, but my friend Mary is always good for teaching me something new. I was already switched over to goat dairy (feta and kefir), which is easy to do here in Portland. Not so easy some places.
( the info paragraph from Mary's email to me )

Geology is a slow subject, until something like this happens.

( assorted slow-loading photos behind cut )