Dedicated to Being Water Tight. This site explores the condition of Water Tightness, the Theory of Water Tightness. It explores the Water Tight in all aspects. Contributions are welcome.
4.18.2007
Looking up Molly O'Day stuff I came across this video of the 78 playing, always worth a listen
Talk about water tight. All comes back, directly and without errancy, to you. Coincidence? Hardly. Forethought is the cornerstone of the properly, perfectly closed system. And who is more forethoughtful than D.S., King of the Bees?
Brett
Bees Learning Smell of Bombs With Backing From Pentagon
May 13, 2002
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Scientists working for the Pentagon have trained ordinary
honeybees to ignore flowers and home in on minute traces of
explosives.
Never having heard of Water Tightness, and no doubt a bit dismayed by the turn to the subject, this evening Todd noted that he had no idea just what it might mean. However, pressed on the subject of what "Be Water Tight" brought to mind, his answer was, simply: "skin." posted by D.S. Monoclonius 12:35 AM
3.26.2002
"They make them perfectly watertight."
* Near each ranch is generally a village of Indians.* --These are for the most part perfectly naked at all seasons of the year, the women having only a small tuft of grass before them, though those employed about the house are dressed " a la Americain ," but I have seen scores of men lounging around a ranch as naked as they were born, where were several women of the household. A more filthy and disgusting class of human beings you cannot well conceive. They are dark-skinned, nearly as dark as a negro, covered with dust, living upon acorns, wild fruit and fish. They have nothing of the noble bearing of the Indians east of the Rocky Mountains, and they seem to be only a few degrees removed from brutes. Their dwellings resemble almost exactly large coal pits where wood is charred; a hole is dug in the ground, a circular framework is built, and this is covered with dirt six or eight feet high, with a small hole at the base to creep in and out of, and another at the top to let out the smoke. You will always see numbers of men sitting on the tops of their hives sunning themselves, while the squaws are generally engaged in preparing their acorn flour or in weaving baskets and pans, in which they are very ingenious. They make them perfectly watertight. Their acorns are dried, then pounded fine and mixed with some kind of berries, making a kind of bread which is by no means unpalatable, but it requires a man who has the courage to eat a rattlesnake to taste it. In fact, a man must cross the plains before he can summon resolution to eat it, especially after seeing them prepare it. The men are very expert in spearing salmon, of which there is the finest here I ever saw, and very abundant. They are now frequently employed in the mines for a mere trifle, and such generally contrive to get a shirt, and a few get rich enough to buy a coat and pantaloons, but since the rains have set in I have seen hundreds of them wading the streams for fish or traveling on the plain naked, and paying no more regard to the wet chilly storm than dumb beasts. In the Valley they are now inoffensive, as the number of whites overawe them, but in the mountains they sometimes give the miners trouble and some collisions have taken place.
Alonzo Delano's California correspondence: being letters hitherto uncollected from the Ottawa (Illinois) Free Trader and the New Orleans True Delta, 1849-1952.
What of R.W. Emerson? Was R.W. Emerson Water Tight?
(First in a series).
Emerson advises us that, to turn to his words, "He that watereth shall be watered himself." Functionally, it is now clear, this is one of the earliest American appearances of the Water Tight conception of life, if not actually of the Water Tight life itself. Exploring the earlier Antebellum conception of the Water Tight is clearly a lifelong project. Let us commence now, at this moment.
I do not find it surprising -- and nor should you, friend-- that Emerson focused his wide and unblinking gaze on this quandary of the Water Tightness in changeable societies and as a central factor in the human condition. It was, indeed, exactly the sort of existential dilemma that others seemed unburdened by, if not precisely unconnected from. As he would have it: "As certainly as water falls in rain on the tops of mountains and runs down into valleys, plains and pits, so does thought fall first on the best minds, and run down." Elusive beast, the Water Tight. I am happy at this moment just to let these thoughts of Water Tightness descend. {Another line (and this, alas, not from Emerson): "I am a cesspool/For all the shit/to run down in."}
Emerson then did not seem to exercise a notion of Water Tightness, but this could be the very evidence of his own internal intellectual and spiritual Water Tightness. I fear even to point this out verges on a tone of looseness. I forge on, undaunted and Water Tight.
I ask you (and most especially AP Farm), as part of this project, to consider the following striking Emersonian notion: "We cannot eat the granite nor drink hydrogen. They must be decompounded and recompounded into corn and water before they can enter our flesh." I am sure that Farm will fondly recall many hours discussing these concepts, and he will most assuredly be struck if not momentarily paralyzed by the Water Tight connection of these concepts, the Water Tight loop linking Corn, Flesh, and of course Water itself. Again: "Immortal water, alive even to the superficies."
So we agree then, Emerson and myself. It is in this meeting of our shared Vision that we become Water Tight across these centuries. As he would have it, "Whilst I stand in simple relations to my fellow-man, I have no displeasure in meeting him. We meet as water meets water..." This is perhaps the clearest statement of the Philosophy that I have come across. Certainly the purest of heart, of intent, and of effect.
May we all meet again, as water meets water, Water Tight. posted by D.S. Monoclonius 12:47 AM
3.03.2002
Si, yes, this site is Water Tight. It is the very Tightness of this site which makes it the perfect venue to explore Being Water Tight. posted by D.S. Monoclonius 11:02 PM
BE WATER TIGHT
Friends,
This site is dedicated to an understanding of Being Water Tight and is driven forward by the desire to Be Water Tight.
Many of you know, and some may be interested to learn, that over the past several months I have been developing a General Theory of Water Tightness, a philosophy of the Water Tight. I have had several breakthroughs and no little insight into the intricate issues involved with Water Tightness, but no final determination. It is in a spirit of hope then, of anticipation, and of desire to understand, that I turn to you for assistance. Let us together understand Being Water Tight. Let us strive toward Water Tightness. Let us Be Water Tight.
There was a period of time in the fall when I fell far short of Water Tightness. Woefully short in fact. Frustrating and diverting as this time was, I would wish that sort of ongoing, low simmering crisis on no one. However, it has given me an appreciation of how important it is to Be Water Tight. This realization, which might seem immediately evident to you, came to my notice only piecemeal and after much struggle. Since that time I have been creating and recreating Water Tight networks in most every aspect of my life. This can, I believe strongly, be accomplished on an individual as well as a more comprehensive level. We can and should seek to achieve Water Tightness domestically, in conversation, at leisure, rest, and work, and no doubt in all of our respective and multivariate pursuits. But understanding Being Water Tight, and learning to recognize moments of Water Tightness, is the task to which I dedicate this site.
I encourage you to contribute to this site frequently and at great length. Please share your understanding of Being Water Tight. Are you currently or have you been Water Tight? Was it fleeting or sustainable? What is it like? Share your Water Tight moments with us, no matter how insignificant they might seem at the time. It is only from the cumulative weight of these moments, these Water Tight networks, that a General Theory will emerge.
If you would like to create new, alternative Water Tight networks with others, in order to strengthen our collective understanding of the Water Tight, please let me know who should be included (with email address) and I will add the person onto the list. We should and must expand and yet we must maintain Water Tight integrity of the project at all times.
[This site itself, incidentally, is the result of a Water Tight moment that stretched over several days and involved The Eziest of Ds, AP Farm, and myself. To detail the precision of this Water Tight moment might equate to piercing it, so I will leave it at that.]
Some questions to consider, perhaps: What does it mean to Be Water Tight? Is this a condition, a stricture, a requirement, a promise, a salutation, or a goal? Is it individual, interpersonal, systemic, national, psychic, emotional? Is it a mindset, an attitude, a stance, or an ideology? Can one be Water Tight, or only strive toward it? Are there gradations of Water Tightness, or is it a solitary state? What is Water Tightness and how does it relate to Being Water Tight? What are the means of getting Water Tight? What is the result? What are the advantages of Being Water Tight, and the consequences of falling short of Being Water Tight?
Be Water Tight 
4.18.2007