There is a fascinating in fishing circles with the texture and materiality of fishing. Here, strangely is a poetic piece from The Technique of Freshwater Fishing Lines On a summer evening in the year 2600 B.C. the young and beautiful Empress of China, Si Ling-Chi was about to bathe when she discovered what she thought were piece of twigs in her bath, apparently they had fallen from a nearby mulberry tree. On picking on out of the warm water she was amazed to find that a gold coloured filament came away. One examining the trees she discovered that hundreds of the strange things were fastened to the branches. Summoning her maids she had them collected and placed in her bath. Later, after the gold threads from the silkworm cocoons (for that is what they were) had been wound on to a reel, Si Lin-Chi, wife of Huang-ti, conceived the idea of weaving the threads into garments and for this she earned the name of "Goddess of the Silkworms". Little did she think that centuries later her silkworms would create a world industry and later be the means of providing anglers with a line with which to catch the night salmon. Further it was through scientists studying the spinnerettes of the silkworms that we now have nylon. (p. 23) I find this an intriguing passage, as the book is a technical handbook and yet the author clearly thinks this story is relevant for now. My favourite line is 'little did she think that centuries later her silkworms would create a world industry' - in this case the author means angling but I suspect in other contexts fashion and clothing would be the world industry under discussion.
This morning I have been trying to write an argument for my thesis/a paper. It exists as a particularly difficult/confusing argument in my mind and so after a few hours writing I feel that I have done it justice. I still feel a bit like that shark in the video. I am left holding a slimy mucus when I should be holding a hagfish.
There is a fascinating in fishing circles with the texture and materiality of fishing. Here, strangely is a poetic piece from The Technique of Freshwater Fishing
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On a summer evening in the year 2600 B.C. the young and beautiful Empress of China, Si Ling-Chi was about to bathe when she discovered what she thought were piece of twigs in her bath, apparently they had fallen from a nearby mulberry tree. On picking on out of the warm water she was amazed to find that a gold coloured filament came away. One examining the trees she discovered that hundreds of the strange things were fastened to the branches. Summoning her maids she had them collected and placed in her bath. Later, after the gold threads from the silkworm cocoons (for that is what they were) had been wound on to a reel, Si Lin-Chi, wife of Huang-ti, conceived the idea of weaving the threads into garments and for this she earned the name of "Goddess of the Silkworms". Little did she think that centuries later her silkworms would create a world industry and later be the means of providing anglers with a line with which to catch the night salmon. Further it was through scientists studying the spinnerettes of the silkworms that we now have nylon. (p. 23)
I find this an intriguing passage, as the book is a technical handbook and yet the author clearly thinks this story is relevant for now. My favourite line is 'little did she think that centuries later her silkworms would create a world industry' - in this case the author means angling but I suspect in other contexts fashion and clothing would be the world industry under discussion.
This morning I have been trying to write an argument for my thesis/a paper. It exists as a particularly difficult/confusing argument in my mind and so after a few hours writing I feel that I have done it justice. I still feel a bit like that shark in the video. I am left holding a slimy mucus when I should be holding a hagfish.
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