From Round to Square (and back)

For The Emperor's Teacher, scroll down (↓) to "Topics." It's the management book that will rock the world (and break the vase, as you will see). Click or paste the following link for a recent profile of the project: http://magazine.beloit.edu/?story_id=240813&issue_id=240610

A new post appears every day at 12:05* (CDT). There's more, though. Take a look at the right-hand side of the page for over four years of material (2,000 posts and growing) from Seinfeld and country music to every single day of the Chinese lunar calendar...translated. Look here ↓ and explore a little. It will take you all the way down the page...from round to square (and back again).
*Occasionally I will leave a long post up for thirty-six hours, and post a shorter entry at noon the next day.

Friday, February 28, 2014

Newsprint Nonpareil—Kleinen Eisbären

Click here for the "Newsprint Nonpareil" Resource Center—(all posts available) 
Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Newsprint Nonpareil"
This is a "small" (小) post—click here for an explanation of Round and Square post lengths.
***  *** 
One year ago on Round and Square (26 March 2013)—China's Lunar Calendar 2013 03-26
One year ago on Round and Square (26 March 2013)—Calendars and Almanacs (c)
Two years ago on Round and Square (26 March 2012)—La Pensée Cyclique: Real Ideals
Three years ago on Round and Square (26 March 2011)—Breaking the Vessel (6)
[a] Kleine Eisbären SZ
Even one of the world's truly great newspapers cannot resist pictures of baby animals in springtime. Spring is the season for birth, growth, and muddy little Eisbärbabys (as the online article at the venerable Süddeutsche Zeitung calls them). Not muddy, you say? Just click the link. I am not a big fan of zoos, but I am an absolute sucker for baby polar bears.
My "study" of the little ones goes further. There is a very popular, and now several decades-old, set of books that detail the adventures of a wee polar bear cub called Lars. I have read the books since they first came out, and even have a few of them on my German Kindle. 
And it's hard to beat the video, even though I am (mostly) a "print" guy.

China's Lunar Calendar 2014 02-28

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
LEFT February 28...........................................................................................February 21 RIGHT
This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar calendar, along with basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying lunar calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar.
Section One
Solar Calendar Date
(top to bottom; right to left
廿

五期星
 Second Month, Twenty-eighth Day
Astral Period Five
Friday, February 28
———————————————— 

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
臨天民時
日馬日德
Temporal Virtue
People's Days
Heavenly Horse
Entered Days
—————————————————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰子
酉己丑
吉中吉 
戌午寅
吉吉
亥未卯
中吉中
23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 In-Between
09:00-11:00 In-Between
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
21:00-23:00 In-Between

The hours above are for Hong Kong. It is up to you if you want to recalibrate or to assume that the cyclicality of the calendar "covers" the rest of the world. This is a greater interpretive challenge than you might think.
————————————————— 

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

除動塔結
服土厠綱
Binding Nets
Building Toilets
Moving Sails
Discarding Clothing
—————————————————  

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
廿






Twenty-ninth Day (First Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: gengwu (7/60)
Phase (element): Soil
Constellation: Ox (9/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)
————————————————— 
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
(and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)

安裁出祭
門衣行祀
開開訂祈
倉市婚福
納交納入
畜易采學
安上嫁會
葬樑娶友
囊地
陽死白復
將氣虎喪

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Inquiring-into Fortune
Entering Study
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Marriage Alliances
Cutting-out Clothing
Opening Markets
Trade and Commerce
Putting-up Beams
Positioning Doors
Opening Granaries
Livestock Payments
Positioning Graves

Earth Bag

Miscellaneous Information
 Repeat Mourning
White Tiger
Death Vapor
Yang General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)
白 火
White, Fire
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information 
(Top to bottom; right to left)
磨 碓 占
Mortar, Pestle, Divination

Thursday, February 27, 2014

China's Lunar Calendar 2014 02-27

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
LEFT February 28...........................................................................................February 21 RIGHT
This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar calendar, along with basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying lunar calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar.
Section One
Solar Calendar Date
(top to bottom; right to left
廿

四期星
 Second Month, Twenty-seventh Day
Astral Period Four
Thursday, February 27
———————————————— 

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
合歲
日德
Generational Virtue
Linked Days
—————————————————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰子
酉己丑
中中
戌午寅
中吉吉
亥未卯
吉中
23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
03:00-05:00 Auspicious
05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 In-Between
09:00-11:00 In-Between
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Inauspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

The hours above are for Hong Kong. It is up to you if you want to recalibrate or to assume that the cyclicality of the calendar "covers" the rest of the world. This is a greater interpretive challenge than you might think.
————————————————— 

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

除遠
服行
Distant Journeys
Discarding Clothing
—————————————————  

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
廿






Twenty-eighth Day (First Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: jisi(6/60)
Phase (element): Wood
Constellation: Ladle (8/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Level (4/12)
————————————————— 
Section Six
Appropriate Activities
(and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)









月上
刑兀
陰重
將日
Appropriate Activities
Leveling and Painting Roads
Repairing and Adorning Embankments and Walls

Miscellaneous Information
 Upper Amputee
Repeated Days
Lunar Punishment
Yin General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)
白 神
White, Spirit
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information 
(Top to bottom; right to left)
牀 門 
Divination
Bed, Gate

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

French Bulldog Puppy—Michel Foucault

Click here for the "Celebrity Commentary" Resource Center—(all posts available)
Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Celebrity Commentary" (coming soon)
This is a "small" (小) post—click here for an explanation of Round and Square post lengths.
***  *** 
One year ago on Round and Square (26 February 2012)—Just Do It Over: Oui, Oui, Mademoiselle

[a] French Musings PD
I don't know who you are, 
but I will find you...[1]

...and tell you that no month of French pondering can be complete without a philosophy-meets-history-meets-obscurantism shout-out to my countryman Michel Foucault.
[b] Sustained RF

His books are dizzying, strange, terrifying, and yet vaguely satisfying. What I like best, however, are the volumes of lectures. There, he expostulates, mulls, culls, and blends in ways that show a fine (though peculiar) mind at work.

Michel Foucault—he's not just for sustained narrative...anymore.

           [1] I like Liam's opening, and he gave me a year's supply of biscuits to use it for the rest of the month.
[c] Searching RF
[Originally posted on May 26, 2014]