Great idea: This project consists of an aerial view of the Sacramento River that is woven into a carpet for the floor of a pedestrian bridge connecting the terminal to the parking garage. This image represents approximately 50 miles of the Sacramento River starting just outside of Colusa, California and ending about 6 miles south […]
May 5, 2006
Glory Be
It is really springtime here in New England. Last night the bard owls, the peepers, the moon, the stars. Slept with the windows open. This morning, streaming sunshine, activity in the woods, birds galore, happy cat. I sat on the deck for over an hour entraining. It would be a fantastico day to take off […]
May 3, 2006
Who Knew? [episode MMMDCLLXXXVIII]
Yesterday the mailpeople delivered a random new item to my box: The Produce News, “National News Weekly for the Produce Industry Since 1897.” Headlines include “Industry groups release lettuce safety guidelines,” “At Gourmet Garage, the centerpiece is produce” (here’s a photo I took there in December 2000), and “Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Committee unveils new logo, […]
April 17, 2006
Once in a while you get shown the light…
…in the strangest of places if you look at it right. The earth is not handed down to you from your parents, it is on loan to you from your children. —Message printed on Ruth’s check.
April 12, 2006
Let’s Just Dwell On It
Here’s a good analysis from Bill Arkin at the Washington Post: A war with Iran started purposefully or by accident, will be a mess. What is happening now though is not just an administration prudently preparing for the unfortunate against an aggressive and crazed state, it is also aggressive and crazed, driven by groupthink and […]
April 11, 2006
Speculative Is Not a Synonym For Untrue
Billmon conducts a thought experiment. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve been at least a little bit surprised by the relatively muted reaction to the news that the Cheney Administration and its Pentagon underlings are racing to put the finishing touches on plans for attacking Iran – plans which may include the first wartime use […]
April 9, 2006
Nuclear Weaponeers
Hopefully this article is disinformation for state negotiations. If it’s not, then we’re in for a game-changer: The lack of reliable intelligence leaves military planners, given the goal of totally destroying the sites, little choice but to consider the use of tactical nuclear weapons. “Every other option, in the view of the nuclear weaponeers, would […]
April 6, 2006
Flu Simulation
Real modeling, from rocket scientist guys: Simulation of a pandemic flu outbreak in the continental United States, initially introduced by the arrival of 10 infected individuals in Los Angeles…. Without vaccination, antiviral drugs, or other mitigation strategies, the entire nation becomes infected within a few months. Depending on the reproductive number R0, effective intervention strategies […]
April 5, 2006
N-Dimensional Web 2.0
Many people are trying to define “Web 2.0” – what it is, what it means, how to build Web 2.0 apps, what makes a company a Web 2.0 company, etc. All of those efforts fall short, because Web 2.0 is n-dimensional. Web 2.0 is “reflecting more complex multivariable situations.1” Today I learned of a new […]
April 5, 2006
April Snow
Looking northeast out the kitchen door this morning. A beautiful tangle. Wet snow on shadowy branches. Blue sky, but cloudy. Moving shards of sunlight dart around the view. Looking into the woods, but can’t see that far. Trees at odd angles, falling over but not yet dead. They’ll never stand straight again – should we […]
March 17, 2006
Not So Much To Release The Sorrow As To Embrace It
Dave Pollard posts a letter from organizational development consultant Roger Harrison, “A Time For Letting Go” – parting thoughts on the occasion of his retirement. Via Jon Husband.
March 16, 2006
Oil Barrels Price Translation
This is freakin’ awesome! A web browser plug-in that converts all prices from U.S. dollars into the equivalent value in barrels of crude oil. When a user loads a webpage, the script inserts converted prices into the page. as the cost of oil fluctuates on the commodities exchange, prices rise & fall in real-time. ‘OilStandard’ […]
February 15, 2006
Crashing in Bolivia
My college buddy Allan Karl has a hair-raising tale of his motorcycle accident in Bolivia, and getting his sorry butt back to the States. In a state somewhere between awake and sleep three hours had passed. The rain, thunder and lightning added dramatic effect to my sprawled body with my left leg in a cardboard […]
February 9, 2006
Interview with Christopher Alexander
Christopher Alexander’s recent work, The Nature of Order, is a 2,000 page, four-volume masterpiece that lays out a holistic view of how space, and especially built space, impacts our humanity. I summarize, as Vice President Dick Cheney once said, Big Time. The Phenomenon of Life: The Nature of Order, Book 1 The Process of Creating […]
February 6, 2006
Making Oil Consumption Tangible
I heard a story the other night – unconfirmed, so this is just hearsay really – that during the winter months, each morning at 6 AM three oil tanker trucks pull into our local institution of higher learning and unload their contents into the the steam heating plant holding tanks. Every day! Three of those […]
November 21, 2005
Or Perhaps Implied Comment
My local paper had an interesting collection of stories on their “Close-Up: Science” page today. I pass them along without comment. * __Oral histories show another side of leading scientists__ Reviews the Caltech Archives Oral History Project. A storehouse of interviews with giants of American science and engineering, started in 1978, now encompassing 227 bound […]
August 31, 2005
The City of New Orleans
Lynne and I had a lot fun in New orleans in October 2000 for the DMA convention. Lots of memories. It also marked my switch to digital cameras, a huge paradigm shift that improved my creative abilities. Now, here’s the very sad reality in that once-great city: * New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper has switched to […]
August 30, 2005
Good Planets Are Hard to Find
Fantastic movie of Earth from the Mercury-bound Messenger spacecraft. Comprising 358 frames taken over 24 hours, the movie follows Earth through one complete rotation. The spacecraft was 40,761 miles (65,598 kilometers) above South America when the camera started rolling on Aug. 2. It was 270,847 miles (435,885 kilometers) away from Earth – farther than the […]
August 23, 2005
Summer of Rainbows
Last night we sat down to supper and Lynne suddenly said, “Oh my God! Where’s the camera!?” My view out the two windows showed only a gray sky, but from her angle it was a different story. Running to the deck we saw an amazing double rainbow, easily the brightest, clearest, and most complete we’ve […]