In this episode of The Oxbow the suggestion from a postcard was “rocks.” After a joking chastisement of the submitter for giving too specific a suggestion (The Lessons that rocks can teach us) some considerations of how rocks inspire the phrase “rock ‘n roll” which brings in a discussion of oral and literate culture. Other reflections emerge on the elder function of ground-up ceramics used as temper for new clay and of course the Central American goddess Chalchiuhtlicue.
And the nature word of the day comes back!
Things mentioned in this episode:
Orality and Literacy by Walter Ong
Chalchiuhtlicue – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Nature Word of the Day:
Laminar flow – laminar is a term used by hydrologists, river scientists, rafters, and other experienced river watchers to describe the smooth and even flow of a river unimpeded by rocks, trees or other obstructions. This condition is as close as a river can come to the laminar flow used by physicists in their descriptions of all fluids: a state in which all particles move in the same direction, perfectly in parallel. Some textbooks liken the flow to layers of playing cards sliding over each other. In a rive, a rock, hole, or sudden narrowing of channel width can cause more complicated flow structures, such as vortices and eddies, to form. Particles begin to move in different directions. When this occurs, laminar flow is no longer present, and the flow begins to be described as turbulent.
