Giant game pieces begin their march through Twin Cities
"On your average Wednesday, you don't see a big, yellow bowling pin going down the street," said the Minneapolis resident as he stood on the corner of W. 7th St. and Kellogg Blvd. in downtown St. Paul.
The Yellow bowling pin was one of three 26-foot tall game pieces in the Big Urban Game, designed to get Twin Citians to become more visually aware of their environment. The other game pieces are Red and Blue.
"The real idea behind the game is to get people thinking and seeing the natural environment," said Mary DeLaittre, general manager for the Twin Cities Design Celebration. "The idea is to look at the city as a really big obstacle course."
(via my analog life)
Monday, 8 September 2003
PUBLIC NUDITY AND CLOTHING.
lets begin today with the predictably negligable coverage of saturday's selfridges naked protest in support of steve gough.
currently top of the google search page is the bbc's report. apart from its total lack of any statement regarding the obvious absurdity of preventing people from being unclothed in public space, it manages to confuse the fact that previous charges acquired by steve on his epic journey have been dropped, without mentioning that he is currently in prison segregation awaiting a fresh trial. thus giving the impression he is free as a bird with no worries, rather than incarcerated in isolation without access to even a fucking phone. (though after some complaining the bbc have adjusted this report to at least state that steve is still currently "in custody".)
but then theres the obligatory, almost obsessive, need in the media to make the headline into a pun..... "naked protest over in a flash" (a headline shared by an even briefer report in the sunday mirror). flashing is an aggresive and sexual form of public nudity. a criminal act that predominantly targets and victimises women and children. it is exceptionally unhelpful and lazy, almost spiteful, of any journalist to layer this association into any reporting of naked protest. especially when there is zero inclusion of any balancing argument in the reportage to convey our actual intent, other than the vague and wooly "they believe its a human right".
thus in the absence of any mainstream statements explaining naked protest, i am compelled to repeat yet again, THERE IS NOTHING INHERENTLY BAD OR CRIMINAL IN THE APPEARANCE OF THE UNCLOTHED HUMAN BODY. i'm not some fucking hippy who wants to tell the world how 'beautiful' we all are, or how 'natural' and free it is to be naked. NAKED PROTEST IS AN EXTREMELY SIMPLE AND DIRECT POLITICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL ACTION, HIGHLIGHTING THE ABSURDITY AND EXTENT OF OUR CORRUPTED SOCIAL PROGRAMMING AND THE UNIFORMED STATE THAT ENFORCES IT.
public nudity is a simple human statement that simultaneously invokes numerous important complexities.
as foucault pointed out: a culture's power structures depend largely on how we look and are looked at.
so lets end this post by looking at and thinking about a few issues relating to clothes.....
aside from the obvious insidious voluntary act of paying to turn ourselves into walking adverts, like so many corporately branded cattle, theres the issue of the exploitative labour involved in producing fashionable garments.
Sweatshop Britain "In the last 25 years the number of jobs in UK clothing and textiles has fallen from one million to around a quarter of a million. Over half the clothes sold in Britain are now imported. In 2000 British consumers spent an average of £400 on clothes, a total sum of £23 bn. The retail market is dominated by four big chains (1999 figures): Marks and Spencers (20% of the market); Arcadia (Dorothy Perkins, Top Shop, Miss Selfridge etc - 10%); Storehouse (Mothercare, BHS - 6.4%); Next (4.2%). UK garment workers' wages are less than the manufacturing average - 28% lower for men and 14% lower for women.
A BBC Watchdog programme (April 2000) found women in the Olympia factory, Leicester, working for £2.75 per hour (95 pence below the minimum). One worker told the BBC she had been locked into the factory until an order was completed, when she asked for the minimum wage she was sacked
No Sweat and the GMB union found workers in Whitechapel sweatshops in East London working illegally for as little as £3.70 per hour; fire exists were chained shut, working conditions were hot and often filled with dust. The sweatshops were making clothes for Oxford Street stores including Top Shop (2002/3)"
no sweat
"Women make up 90 percent of sweatshop laborers. The majority of these women are between the ages of 15 and 22. Companies that use sweatshop labor to increase their own profit margins are taking advantage of predominantly young women.
Injustices perpetrated by factories that employ the use of sweatshop labor are numerous. Women are paid as little as six cents an hour and work ten to twelve hour shifts. In many instances overtime is mandatory. In some cases, women are allowed only two drinks of water and one bathroom break per shift. Sexual harassment, corporal punishment, and verbal abuse are all means used by supervisors to instill fear and keep employees in line."
feminists against sweatshops
"Respect. Safe working conditions. Affordable health insurance. Fair treatment. Paychecks that meet basic needs.
Workers at H&M, the Swedish clothing store, are trying to join a union - UNITE - because they're "missing" all of the above. In response, H&M managers have used intimidating tactics to prevent them from exercising their basic rights. Now H&M workers are asking for your help in their struggle!"
behind the label
"Isolation means that sweatshop workers are often unaware of their rights, and have little or no contact with unions. The Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA) has been campaigning to raise awareness about sweatshop labour, and attempting to make contact with outworkers to inform them of their rights.
So why do sweatshops continue to exist? The simple fact is that for big corporations, profit comes first. Sometimes clothing, shoes or other products can be produced most cheaply in a sweatshop in a Third World country, where there are lower (or no) health and safety standards, low minimum wages and restrictions on the workers' rights to free speech and association. This has been the case for decades in Indonesia, where Nike and other Western capitalists operate.
Nike employs around 120,000 Indonesian workers, and pays them about $2.50 a day. Indonesian unions and labour groups have estimated that $4.25 is a basic liveable wage in Indonesia, but Nike and other corporations continue to find it very profitable to sell shoes for $100 or even $200 when they were produced for five dollars.
Corporations choose carefully which Third World country they will invade - whoops, invest in - next. Repressive governments can be more profitable than democratic ones, because repressive governments and their militaries keep unions and radical workers in line."
green left
cartoon
cancun 2001
It is my belief that as technology progresses, the confusion which is already the underlying question regarding abortion -- "What is a person?" -- will get worse. I predict that in the near future (the lifetimes of people already born), people will have to face xoxs (clones with identical memories to the original), uplifts (animals whose intelligence has been increased), cyborgs (human brains encased in mechanical devices), androids (intelligent robots in human-shaped bodies), AIs (artificially intelligent computers), and uploads (human minds uploaded into computers). When I asked Eric Drexler (author of Nanosystems) , about how we should react to such entities, he said, "We should give them the benefit of the doubt and consider them human."
-- Tihamer Thoth-Fejel
-- Tihamer Thoth-Fejel
Saturday, 6 September 2003
SELFRIDGES NAKED PROTEST,
IN SUPPORT OF STEVE GOUGH
REMANDED NAKED IN INVERNESS PRISON SEGREGATION.
for a more general personal statement regarding the issue of naked protest, public nudity and past segregation remands and court acquitals, read "clothes do not maketh the man or woman"
i initially drafted this post shortly after todays all too brief event, using pen and paper in a cafe in old compton street, where a relentless corporate 4/4 dance beat conspired with the caffeine to heighten my general sense of post-protest agitation.
firstly i would like to state my genuine appreciation that richard collins organised a protest in a short space of time. the initial premise being that an unknown number of people who had been notified of the event, would independently arrive and disperse themselves throughout selfidges department store, and at 2.30 we would remove our clothing and make our way to the exit. from there we hoped to walk naked as an assembled group along oxford street and as far as we could without unnescessary police interference.
the inside of selfridges was chosen as our starting point primarily because it had been the location earlier in the year for one of spencer tunick's mass naked photo events, in which around 500 people participated. and after selfridges became aware during the course of this week that todays naked protest was to begin there, it seemed as though they were generally cool about it. the police reaction however was another tired old matter.
there was a group of 6 of us that we knew would definitely participate. but it was hoped that by putting out the word to people, especially people who had previously been among the hundreds of naked participants in tunick's highly publicised past art events, that the eventual numbers would be much higher. but it wasn't really.
earlier in the week, when i was first notified of the protest to show support for steve gough, (as he endures prison segregation without even access to a phone), i was genuinely caught off guard having to contemplate going through the whole media and police circus act yet again.
i first got involved with naked protests and issues relating to the unclothed human appearance in public, on july 15 2000. it was a naked protest outside new scotland yard police hq. to date i have been arrested naked a total of 7 times without a single prosecution. but it is obvious that having to endlessly repeat the justification and defence for public nudity, to the media (who mostly don't really give a fuck about the issues, they just want a novelty story and a tiresome "the laws an ass" bum-shot photo caption) aswell as to the crown prosecution, it becomes an incredibly mind numbing mantra, and you need a break from it.
vincent bethell, (who was tried naked in court for his january 2001 crown trial, and who was unanimously acquitted by the jury of men and women), was present today. but he was determined not to take his clothes off. he was present to give support and information, but he is still experiencing the stressful consequences of having been remanded continously unclothed for 5 months in prison segregation until he was acquitted by the jury. plus he is exhausted from years of organising protests that mostly end up as yet another futile "the laws an ass" bum-shot photo caption in the press, if it even appears at all.
there was a general consensus among the handful of protestors today to comply if and when the police demand we get dressed. they don't arrest you if you put your clothes on again. i've never complied before, and i found it difficult to imagine complying. the choice to wear clothes or not should be mine alone. so in the lead up to today i had decided it would be best if i therefore simply remained clothed the whole time, if getting dressed on demand was going to be an issue for me. but there were only 5 other definite participants, so i felt it nescessary to get undressed and go along with the consensus.
at the allotted time i stripped somewhere on the first floor of the store. two store security people immediately approached me and asked me to get dressed. now their request certainly wasn't part of the deal, so i remained naked as they escorted me down the escalator to the main exit where a throng of police awaited. then the police demanded i get dressed or else i'd be arrested. (with of course officers trotting out that ridiculous old knee jerk reason that "there are children present among the public." as if the sight of naked people could in any possible way matter.)
now i have to tell you, i feel kind of soiled and empty after going along with the police demands on this occaision. this is no criticism of other people's compliance, we've all got different limits, responsibilities in the rest of our lives, priorities and of course different fears, but i've never got dressed on demand before and i will never ever fucking do it again.
so the whole event was brief. some photos were taken. some printed facts and thoughts were distributed. some questions were answered and written down in shorthand. blah blah blah, but wether any of it will appear in the mainstream media in a relevant context...... i doubt it as usual.
mentally and emotionally i now find myself, like an elastic band, snapped right back to the lead up to vincent and my last protest/arrest/trial in the summer/autumn of 2001. when we had both decided and had begun publicly stating that if we were prosecuted (following our past acquitals in both crown and magistrate trials) we were prepared to commit to hunger striking to the death if nescessary. but as it was we were subsequently acquitted again in our last bow street magistrate's trial, october 2001.
still hunger strike was and remains an obvious next level of commitment, when media events and court acquitals are not enough to prevent unclothed people from being intimidated and arrested by the police and, as in the current situation with steve gough, remanded in prison segragation cells, then a more intense form of body protest is needed in order to underline the seriousness of the issues and intent.
what is definitely certain right now is that some kind of new strategy is required. exactly what form it will take........ we shall wait and think and see.
IN SUPPORT OF STEVE GOUGH
REMANDED NAKED IN INVERNESS PRISON SEGREGATION.
for a more general personal statement regarding the issue of naked protest, public nudity and past segregation remands and court acquitals, read "clothes do not maketh the man or woman"
i initially drafted this post shortly after todays all too brief event, using pen and paper in a cafe in old compton street, where a relentless corporate 4/4 dance beat conspired with the caffeine to heighten my general sense of post-protest agitation.
firstly i would like to state my genuine appreciation that richard collins organised a protest in a short space of time. the initial premise being that an unknown number of people who had been notified of the event, would independently arrive and disperse themselves throughout selfidges department store, and at 2.30 we would remove our clothing and make our way to the exit. from there we hoped to walk naked as an assembled group along oxford street and as far as we could without unnescessary police interference.
the inside of selfridges was chosen as our starting point primarily because it had been the location earlier in the year for one of spencer tunick's mass naked photo events, in which around 500 people participated. and after selfridges became aware during the course of this week that todays naked protest was to begin there, it seemed as though they were generally cool about it. the police reaction however was another tired old matter.
there was a group of 6 of us that we knew would definitely participate. but it was hoped that by putting out the word to people, especially people who had previously been among the hundreds of naked participants in tunick's highly publicised past art events, that the eventual numbers would be much higher. but it wasn't really.
earlier in the week, when i was first notified of the protest to show support for steve gough, (as he endures prison segregation without even access to a phone), i was genuinely caught off guard having to contemplate going through the whole media and police circus act yet again.
i first got involved with naked protests and issues relating to the unclothed human appearance in public, on july 15 2000. it was a naked protest outside new scotland yard police hq. to date i have been arrested naked a total of 7 times without a single prosecution. but it is obvious that having to endlessly repeat the justification and defence for public nudity, to the media (who mostly don't really give a fuck about the issues, they just want a novelty story and a tiresome "the laws an ass" bum-shot photo caption) aswell as to the crown prosecution, it becomes an incredibly mind numbing mantra, and you need a break from it.
vincent bethell, (who was tried naked in court for his january 2001 crown trial, and who was unanimously acquitted by the jury of men and women), was present today. but he was determined not to take his clothes off. he was present to give support and information, but he is still experiencing the stressful consequences of having been remanded continously unclothed for 5 months in prison segregation until he was acquitted by the jury. plus he is exhausted from years of organising protests that mostly end up as yet another futile "the laws an ass" bum-shot photo caption in the press, if it even appears at all.
there was a general consensus among the handful of protestors today to comply if and when the police demand we get dressed. they don't arrest you if you put your clothes on again. i've never complied before, and i found it difficult to imagine complying. the choice to wear clothes or not should be mine alone. so in the lead up to today i had decided it would be best if i therefore simply remained clothed the whole time, if getting dressed on demand was going to be an issue for me. but there were only 5 other definite participants, so i felt it nescessary to get undressed and go along with the consensus.
at the allotted time i stripped somewhere on the first floor of the store. two store security people immediately approached me and asked me to get dressed. now their request certainly wasn't part of the deal, so i remained naked as they escorted me down the escalator to the main exit where a throng of police awaited. then the police demanded i get dressed or else i'd be arrested. (with of course officers trotting out that ridiculous old knee jerk reason that "there are children present among the public." as if the sight of naked people could in any possible way matter.)
now i have to tell you, i feel kind of soiled and empty after going along with the police demands on this occaision. this is no criticism of other people's compliance, we've all got different limits, responsibilities in the rest of our lives, priorities and of course different fears, but i've never got dressed on demand before and i will never ever fucking do it again.
so the whole event was brief. some photos were taken. some printed facts and thoughts were distributed. some questions were answered and written down in shorthand. blah blah blah, but wether any of it will appear in the mainstream media in a relevant context...... i doubt it as usual.
mentally and emotionally i now find myself, like an elastic band, snapped right back to the lead up to vincent and my last protest/arrest/trial in the summer/autumn of 2001. when we had both decided and had begun publicly stating that if we were prosecuted (following our past acquitals in both crown and magistrate trials) we were prepared to commit to hunger striking to the death if nescessary. but as it was we were subsequently acquitted again in our last bow street magistrate's trial, october 2001.
still hunger strike was and remains an obvious next level of commitment, when media events and court acquitals are not enough to prevent unclothed people from being intimidated and arrested by the police and, as in the current situation with steve gough, remanded in prison segragation cells, then a more intense form of body protest is needed in order to underline the seriousness of the issues and intent.
what is definitely certain right now is that some kind of new strategy is required. exactly what form it will take........ we shall wait and think and see.
Friday, 5 September 2003
man's best friends
1: Sony has unleashed the latest version of its Aibo robot dog, the ERS-7.
2: Carnegie Mellon University researchers are developing cell phones that don't interrupt while you're talking to someone. Phones that remind you of the best time to return an important call. Phones that remember to ring if they're sitting on desktops and vibrate if they're inside pants' pockets; that ring loudly if you're in a noisy garage, but softly if you're in a doctor's waiting room.
1: Sony has unleashed the latest version of its Aibo robot dog, the ERS-7.
2: Carnegie Mellon University researchers are developing cell phones that don't interrupt while you're talking to someone. Phones that remind you of the best time to return an important call. Phones that remember to ring if they're sitting on desktops and vibrate if they're inside pants' pockets; that ring loudly if you're in a noisy garage, but softly if you're in a doctor's waiting room.
Tylwyth Teg
The Tylwyth Teg ("the fair people") are Welsh fairies who live in lakes or streams or in hollows of the hills. The females are called y mamau (the mothers), a title which links them to the pagan Celtic deities, the Matres. Associated with them are the usual traditions of moonlight dance, the supernatural passage of time, the stealing of children, and the substitution of changelings. They are especially interested in children with golden hair. Their favorites they enrich with precious gifts, which disappear when these gifts are spoken of.
The Tylwyth Teg ("the fair people") are Welsh fairies who live in lakes or streams or in hollows of the hills. The females are called y mamau (the mothers), a title which links them to the pagan Celtic deities, the Matres. Associated with them are the usual traditions of moonlight dance, the supernatural passage of time, the stealing of children, and the substitution of changelings. They are especially interested in children with golden hair. Their favorites they enrich with precious gifts, which disappear when these gifts are spoken of.
Nanobatteries Patented
A patent has been awarded for a method of making nanobatteries to power machines that operate at the molecular scale.
(via better humans.com)
A patent has been awarded for a method of making nanobatteries to power machines that operate at the molecular scale.
(via better humans.com)
10 questions computers might ask human beings...
1. Why do you blame us for everything?
2. What is your real capacity on volume of information you can store, and retrieve, at any given time?
3. Are you too complex for your own good, do you think?
4. How useful are the emotions you generate, to your working in an efficient manner?
5. Why do you need to spend a third of your lives down (or as you might put it, asleep) for you to work properly?
6. What will you do in retirement – when you have been superceded by artificial intelligence?
7. Do you get a bit confused between instinct and judgement?
8. Research suggests that you cannot tell the difference between an imagined experience and a real experience. How useful is that?
9. Why do you think in pictures, when our entire educational system is designed on numbers and the written word?
10. Why do you worry so much about the past, which you cannot change, and the future, which you can decide, and so little time in the present?
(via Transhuman Institute)
1. Why do you blame us for everything?
2. What is your real capacity on volume of information you can store, and retrieve, at any given time?
3. Are you too complex for your own good, do you think?
4. How useful are the emotions you generate, to your working in an efficient manner?
5. Why do you need to spend a third of your lives down (or as you might put it, asleep) for you to work properly?
6. What will you do in retirement – when you have been superceded by artificial intelligence?
7. Do you get a bit confused between instinct and judgement?
8. Research suggests that you cannot tell the difference between an imagined experience and a real experience. How useful is that?
9. Why do you think in pictures, when our entire educational system is designed on numbers and the written word?
10. Why do you worry so much about the past, which you cannot change, and the future, which you can decide, and so little time in the present?
(via Transhuman Institute)
SEX AND THE TABLOIDS
about half of yesterday's front page of the sun was filled with pictures of that corporate snog between motherly madonna and her business pals britney spears and christina aguilera. which reminded me of their front page the other week which advertised a double page spread all about threesomes. predictably all the featured threesomes were one-man-two-women combos, the sun wouldn't want to be encouraging any predominantly hetero red-blooded males to casually come into contact with another man's stiff cock (or two other stiff cocks even), as would be the true reality of many threesomes.
meanwhile in a similar theme yesterday's mirror front page boasted "sex tips for men by a lesbian". would they ever contemplate running frontpage sex advice for men from a qualified faggot?. certainly plenty of straight men could do with being made aware of the pleasure and health benefits of having their prostates regularly stimulated. and i tend to assume that straight men's nipples are also very neglected erogenous zones.
about half of yesterday's front page of the sun was filled with pictures of that corporate snog between motherly madonna and her business pals britney spears and christina aguilera. which reminded me of their front page the other week which advertised a double page spread all about threesomes. predictably all the featured threesomes were one-man-two-women combos, the sun wouldn't want to be encouraging any predominantly hetero red-blooded males to casually come into contact with another man's stiff cock (or two other stiff cocks even), as would be the true reality of many threesomes.
meanwhile in a similar theme yesterday's mirror front page boasted "sex tips for men by a lesbian". would they ever contemplate running frontpage sex advice for men from a qualified faggot?. certainly plenty of straight men could do with being made aware of the pleasure and health benefits of having their prostates regularly stimulated. and i tend to assume that straight men's nipples are also very neglected erogenous zones.
Tuesday, 2 September 2003
UPDATE ON STEVE GOUGH'S NAKED WALK FROM LANDS END TO JOHN O GROATS
a letter from his solicitor in the dialogue section of steve's site informs us that: "Steve's at HM Prison Porterfield, Inverness, IV2 3HH. His prison no is 81590. I gather he's been remanded in custody for at least 3 weeks, but may be making an appearance on one of his cases at Dunns court tomorrow. Details not clear,- the reason I found out about him is that he's wanting to contact me too, but is not allowed to get to a phone because he is not allowed to go from the segregated area to the non-segregated area (where the phones are) without clothes on."
thus:'Free Steve Gough' Nude Protest/Meet Up LONDON 6th Sept
CLOTHED SUPPORTERS ALSO VERY WELCOME.
more information via stopsegregation or the dialogue page on steve gough's site
the jury trial of vincent bethell 2001
my letter from prison 2001
a letter from his solicitor in the dialogue section of steve's site informs us that: "Steve's at HM Prison Porterfield, Inverness, IV2 3HH. His prison no is 81590. I gather he's been remanded in custody for at least 3 weeks, but may be making an appearance on one of his cases at Dunns court tomorrow. Details not clear,- the reason I found out about him is that he's wanting to contact me too, but is not allowed to get to a phone because he is not allowed to go from the segregated area to the non-segregated area (where the phones are) without clothes on."
thus:'Free Steve Gough' Nude Protest/Meet Up LONDON 6th Sept
CLOTHED SUPPORTERS ALSO VERY WELCOME.
more information via stopsegregation or the dialogue page on steve gough's site
the jury trial of vincent bethell 2001
my letter from prison 2001
cognitive prostheses
a cognitive prosthesis is a computational tool that amplifies or extends a person's thought and perception, much as eyeglasses are prostheses that improve vision. The difference is that a cognitive prosthesis magnifies strengths in human intellect rather than corrects presumed deficiencies in it. Cognitive prostheses, therefore, are more like binoculars than eyeglasses.
Artificial Care
When Pearl, a robotic nurse developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh, rolled into service at Pitt's School of Nursing and later into a retirement community in Oakland, "people loved it," Sebastian Thrun, associate professor of robotics computing at Stanford University, told TechNewsWorld.
(via Transhuman Institute)
Heart Removed and Repaired in Unprecedented Surgery
Doctors have removed a woman's heart, reconstructed it with a combination of human and animal tissue and put it back in a first-of-its-kind operation.
(via betterhumans.com)
a cognitive prosthesis is a computational tool that amplifies or extends a person's thought and perception, much as eyeglasses are prostheses that improve vision. The difference is that a cognitive prosthesis magnifies strengths in human intellect rather than corrects presumed deficiencies in it. Cognitive prostheses, therefore, are more like binoculars than eyeglasses.
Artificial Care
When Pearl, a robotic nurse developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh, rolled into service at Pitt's School of Nursing and later into a retirement community in Oakland, "people loved it," Sebastian Thrun, associate professor of robotics computing at Stanford University, told TechNewsWorld.
(via Transhuman Institute)
Heart Removed and Repaired in Unprecedented Surgery
Doctors have removed a woman's heart, reconstructed it with a combination of human and animal tissue and put it back in a first-of-its-kind operation.
(via betterhumans.com)
SURFS UP
streetmap.co.uk
multimap.com
public lettering
gaygeeks.org
teknolust starring tilda swinton
great titles:
Lloyd Wood - more of a blog. less of a life.
Waiter, may I order the hand that feeds me? Medium rare. Thank you.
great design:
moderndog.com
i love this banner logo:
contactsheet.org
which includes:
ransom note generator
how to make friends by telephone
simon says
streetmap.co.uk
multimap.com
public lettering
gaygeeks.org
teknolust starring tilda swinton
great titles:
Lloyd Wood - more of a blog. less of a life.
Waiter, may I order the hand that feeds me? Medium rare. Thank you.
great design:
moderndog.com
i love this banner logo:
contactsheet.org
which includes:
ransom note generator
how to make friends by telephone
simon says
Trasgu
El Trasgu. Trasgus are typical from Asturian folklore, but in fact they are known in all the country (Spain) under the less regional appellative of "trasgos". In others parts of Europe, they are known as "lutin", "follet", "kobold" or "puck".
Trasgos are horned and have a tail; they also walk with a limp, but this doesn't mean they are not agile. In fact, they really are! As they are of the family of imps ("duendes" in Spanish, or "lutins" in French), they are small (70 to 90 cm tall), wear a red, pointed hood or hat, and are happy, noisy lads who like joking. Trasgos live in old houses, and are specially fond of those with a big garret or lumber room. They are not sentimentally attached to the building, but to the family that inhabits there, and the trasgo will follow the family if it moves to another place. Trasgos love any kind of domestic work, but they must be repaid with food and warmth, otherwise they can become very angry. They will then awake sleeping people, displace any object in the house or break dishes. Most of all, they are very greedy, and will steal any sweet that can be found in the house.
That is why some people want to get rid of them. The only way is to shame the trasgu, who believes himself very clever. There are two means to do that:
Ask him to count objects. As he knows only numbers from 1 to 12, he will be furious not to be able to go further, and will walk away
Ask him to perform three impossible tasks, that is fill a nest with water, turn white some black lamb's wool and pick up some grain with his left hand - what he cannot do because this hand has a hole in it. Again, the trasgo gets ashamed and, infuriated, leaves the house.
El Trasgu. Trasgus are typical from Asturian folklore, but in fact they are known in all the country (Spain) under the less regional appellative of "trasgos". In others parts of Europe, they are known as "lutin", "follet", "kobold" or "puck".
Trasgos are horned and have a tail; they also walk with a limp, but this doesn't mean they are not agile. In fact, they really are! As they are of the family of imps ("duendes" in Spanish, or "lutins" in French), they are small (70 to 90 cm tall), wear a red, pointed hood or hat, and are happy, noisy lads who like joking. Trasgos live in old houses, and are specially fond of those with a big garret or lumber room. They are not sentimentally attached to the building, but to the family that inhabits there, and the trasgo will follow the family if it moves to another place. Trasgos love any kind of domestic work, but they must be repaid with food and warmth, otherwise they can become very angry. They will then awake sleeping people, displace any object in the house or break dishes. Most of all, they are very greedy, and will steal any sweet that can be found in the house.
That is why some people want to get rid of them. The only way is to shame the trasgu, who believes himself very clever. There are two means to do that:
Ask him to count objects. As he knows only numbers from 1 to 12, he will be furious not to be able to go further, and will walk away
Ask him to perform three impossible tasks, that is fill a nest with water, turn white some black lamb's wool and pick up some grain with his left hand - what he cannot do because this hand has a hole in it. Again, the trasgo gets ashamed and, infuriated, leaves the house.
Monday, 1 September 2003
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