09.30.2003/21:01
Tea time
Drink tea.

09.30.2003/19:29
Thank God for Texas
Fried Oreos in Texas.

09.30.2003/19:20
The Zen of the dishpan
Anti-stress aromatherapy dish detergent. We bought some. We'll let you know if anything blissful happens.

09.30.2003/19:14
Down to Earth
"I will certainly go to church this Sunday, because the Lord was certainly sending me a message."

09.30.2003/08:03
Senior Salon
Has anyone already done this? A tonsorial shop specializing in men my age and older, called Into Thin Hair.

09.29.2003/07:58
Gone ape
Escaped zoo gorilla in the news.

09.29.2003/07:53
Dressed to the Nines
A timeline of the the baseball uniform.

09.29.2003/07:50
Heads up!
Meteorite hits India.

09.28.2003/19:15
Down to Earth
Sites That Are What Their URLs Say They Are Dept.:
meteorites.com

09.27.2003/17:09

Two Heads, Each Moving Forward
At the bird show, Lafayette, LA.

09.27.2003/08:13
Bear wounds
Yet another reason to always carry plenty of duct tape while out on the trail.

09.26.2003/20:57
Stimulating simulation
Really, really serious flight simulator hobbyists.

09.25.2003/08:54
Animals!
Animal rights, human wrongs?

09.25.2003/08:40
Something fishy
My friend David, otherwise known as the Internet's most conspicuously missing weblogger, sends this:
Planet Catfish

09.24.2003/06:58
Immunize thyself
Get your flu shot!

09.24.2003/06:19
In the dark
The press of work caused us to return a bit earlier than planned from our Colorado/New Mexico vacation days; a shame, because there was a friend in Pueblo and another one in Denver I was hoping to call and visit.

In any case, we enjoyed being away, seeing different things, doing a bit of hiking, etc.

One impression that remains with me is that during the night we spent at Lightning Field in the remote New Mexico high desert, we so much enjoyed watching the moonless sky and hiking around by the light of the Milky Way (brighter than you might think!). Even when we go camping around these parts, we're often too near cities to get that really dark sky effect, or else we ruin the whole thing by making a camp fire, which, though it has its own charms, can tend to remove you from looking into the ink above. And of course, in Louisiana, there are always trees closing in above you, and as wonderful as they are, it is quite a different sky than the open clarity of the desert night. I imagine the difference in humidity has something to do with it, too.

Seeing the details of the night sky so clearly, and taking the time to lie on the ground to watch passing satellites and shooting stars, is the one experience of this recent vacation that we are most anxious to repeat.

09.24.2003/06:17
Dracula
"Is your spiritual home a cobwebby, half-ruined castle somewhere in eastern Europe?"

09.23.2003/21:45
Smile!
Sites That Are What Their URLs Say They Are Dept.:
mugshots.com

09.23.2003/21:40
Shhhh!
Woman bites librarian, that's not news. Woman bites two librarians, now that's news!

09.22.2003/22:08
Cat house
Just think, I was in Milwaukee just days ago, and I missed this.

09.21.2003/20:24

Mountains and Range
Gunnison National Forest, Colorado.

09.21.2003/12:20
Lunar power
Harvesting the benefit of the moon, via the sea.

09.20.2003/19:22
Last meals
Not for the faint of heart (or stomach): final meals of prisoners on death row. What would you ask for?

09.20.2003/19:16
Sportsmanship
Because this happened, you may have missed this.

09.20.2003/11:45
Fumble!
I had a dream that our friend Jon had come over, with a new kitten. This was a spunky, playful kitten and Jon and I pretended to be passing it back and forth as a football, adding to the merriment by "dropping" it now and then and grabbing for it, yelling "Fumble!" while it scrambled around at our fingertips. Then, in the dream, Jon said, "You know, Fumble would make a pretty good name for a cat." Now, awake and out of the dream, I agree with him.

09.20.2003/11:43
Big one
Big rodent.

09.19.2003/10:52

Devil’s highway
For reasons detailed here, U.S Hwy. 666 in northwestern New Mexico was renumberd, and the road no longer has the devil's number 666. Do you feel better?

09.19.2003/10:51

Three Dumpsters
Mesilla, NM.

09.19.2003/10:28
Ancient cities
" The findings show the Amazon was not, as was once thought, all an untouched wilderness before Columbus came to the Americas."

09.19.2003/10:22
Bite me
Lots of info on venonmous critters.

09.18.2003/11:37

Very Large Array
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Large Array in the high desert of New Mexico.

09.18.2003/11:35

Bird tracks
Bird tracks at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near Socoroos, NM.

09.18.2003/11:34

American Avocet
American Avocet at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, NM.

09.18.2003/11:32

Roadrunner
Greater roadrunner sunbathes at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.

09.18.2003/11:11
Lightning Field
We spent Tuesday night at Lightning Field in the New Mexican high desert. Much information of the organization's web site, so I won't detail it here.

We did not see any lightning strike the poles (few visitors actually do), but the experience was so fulfilling that I would almost suggest that they change the name so that the more literal-minded will not be disappointed if there aren't lightning strikes as they watch.

The land art medium has so few extant pieces of work, it is necessarily the case that any one piece is as much about the medium as the particular work, i.e., you are filled with a sense of wonder that anyone could execute such a project at all, aside from the question of how this particular work expresses its artist's intentions.

My favorite moment was wandering around in the field in the pre-moonrise darkness, lit by the Milky Way, and being able to see a pole only when closing to within 10 feet or so of it.

Being in a tiny cabin with a few other people in an isolated place with no city lights around is in itself a nice experience (we made friends with a delightful couple on their way back to live in Thailand), and the artwork only adds to it.

One of the more interesting facts for me about Lightning Field is that in the 20th century, such a work might be constructed without a strong drive for astronomical references in the citing of the pieces. I'm not sure this has been done in previous centuries. But we lay out and watched shooting stars, the Milky Way, and passing satellites... so we did get plenty of astronomy in the mix!

09.17.2003/21:33
Red classics
Old Russian radios.

09.17.2003/21:27
Get out of town
Reasonably fresh take on hurricane evacuation photo.

09.16.2003/09:49
Wide open spaces
On Sunday, Susan and I toured the artworks of Donald Judd and others at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, TX. The installations themselves are interesting, of course, but it is difficult to not move on to pondering the way that the open spaces of west Texas are not merely a setting but in fact an essential point of the exercise. The sculptures and inatallations are often found in huge buildings abandoned by the military or agricultural industry, and it's difficult to not muse over the difference in real estate values in, say, the Soho that Judd was fleeing when he turned his interest to Marfa, and the west Texas where he bought up building after building and eventually an old military base.

In west Texas, there's not much money, not much bustle, and even, despite the delicious new bookstore that sits incongruently in downtown Marfa, not much in the way of culture; but there's plenty of space.

09.16.2003/08:58
Indiana casino
"LJB Gaming Associates uses Bird's initials in its name, but an attorney for the group says the basketball Hall of Famer does not plan to accept profits if the casino effort is successful."

09.16.2003/08:55
Devilish proposition
Sell your soul online!

09.15.2003/11:21

Salt Basin
Salt basin east of El Paso, TX.

09.15.2003/11:16

Artistic Dishwashers
Three dish washers in the large kitchen at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, TX. The foundation was formed by sculptor Donald Judd and has many of his works, which seemingly inspire even the arrangement of the appliances.

09.15.2003/11:11

Donald Judd
Donald Judd's 100 untitled works in milled aluminum, at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, TX.

09.15.2003/11:00

Guadalupe Lizard
Guadalupe National Park, west Texas.

09.15.2003/10:56

Milwaukee Rain
Downtown Milwaukee, WI.

09.15.2003/10:52

Ars Longa
Broadway Theatre Center, Milwaukee, WI.

09.15.2003/10:46

Trompe L’Oeil
Composer Julie Brandenburg shares music with a seminar group using her iBook, at the Broadway Theatre Center in Milwaukee, WI.

09.15.2003/10:41

Moon over Milwaukee
Downtown Milwaukee, WI.

09.15.2003/09:13
Talk like a pirate
International Talk Like A Pirate Day.

09.15.2003/09:03
Saved by the arts?
"Almost all involved in the planning to rebuild at ground zero have agreed on at least one thing: whatever comes next should include cultural institutions."

09.14.2003/20:58
Wipe out
Sites That Are What Their URLs Say They Are Dept.:
toiletpaperworld.com

09.14.2003/20:54
Spamelot
I'm ready to order my ticket now to go and see this.

09.12.2003/14:45
Ancient man
A look at the old days. The really, really old days.

09.12.2003/14:42
Ringed planet
Saturn.

09.12.2003/14:33
Nice collection!
I went to a party last night that held at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The museum has a cool new architecturally interesting wing, but what was really a delight to me was that we were allowed to stroll about the museum's excellent and well-focused collection. A great illustration of how you don't have to go to a super-large city to experience a terrific museum art collection. There have been very astute acquisitions made here, and made for a long time.

09.10.2003/07:18
Vintage spookiness
Sites That Are What Their URLs Say They Are Dept.:
victorianhalloween.com

09.10.2003/07:12
Double booking
Two powerful south Louisiana forces: sports and Mardi Gras. I'm putting my money on Mardi Gras.

09.9.2003/20:31
Elusive happiness
This article from the New York Times is one of the most interesting things I have read in this decade. I am not kidding.

09.9.2003/18:25
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday, Susan!

09.9.2003/08:31
Same place, new name
What became of Upper Volta, Ceylon the Friendly Islands, and other places sporting new names.

09.9.2003/08:27
One grain at a time
The Salt Monument.

09.9.2003/08:21
Opening soon, we hope
Around where I live, we're all hoping that this works out.

09.9.2003/08:19
I'm here!
When thinking out of the box involves getting inside the box.

09.8.2003/20:38
After Life
This is maginficently executed and deliciously moody.

09.7.2003/21:08
Action figure
Wow! I definitely want one of these!

09.7.2003/10:48
Little Peculiarities I Put Up With
I have a desktop computer running Windows XP that sometimes doesn't show the F: drive, a CD-R drive, causing me to sometimes have to reboot once or twice to even have it show up, so that I can copy something to it. Sometimes it also boots up without finding the network and I have to use the network wizard to re-make the connection.

These are bothersome quirks, but I put up with them. They may even be repairable if I took the time to sniff out the problem, but it always seems that it's just less trouble to put up with it than spend days searching the internet for answers, or worse (far, far worse), time on hold waiting for some support person to finally speak to me.

It seems that there are often little peculiarities like that which we will put up with, certainly with computers and high tech devices, but also with cars, TVs, refrigerators, combination locks, etc., all of which lead us to personify these insensate objects with character traits or label them as "tempermental." When someone sits at your desk, you just accept it that you might have to do a little explaining about what it takes to make things work on your system.

I am tempted to think that in some cases we may tolerate these imperfections of our technology because it does, after all, give us a slight bit of an upper hand to know that these machines are imperfect enough that they need to be stroked in certain ways to perform their tasks as required. And there seems a strange bond between you and your computer if only you can make it, say, recognize the F: drive.

Are there any little peculiarities of your machines that you just plain put up with?

09.7.2003/10:18
What Bagwell makes
Track baseball player salaries. Example: Jeff Bagwell, who deserves every penny.

09.7.2003/10:14
All look same
To a machine, maybe us folks all look alike.

09.7.2003/10:10
Google me!
If you're going to Google me, try adding New Iberia to the search!

09.7.2003/10:07
Make mine Google
"Instead of looking for the pages that every search engine returns when searching, Professor Jansen and his co-author recommend that users become as familiar as possible with one search engine and stick to it."

09.7.2003/10:00

Catenary
Catenary for St. Charles streetcar line in New Orleans, at Upperline St.

09.7.2003/09:59

Aspidistra trimming
Upperline St., New Orleans.

09.7.2003/09:57

Guy Wires
Guy wires for St. Charles streetcar line catenary in New Orleans, on Upperline St.

09.6.2003/04:39
Swine art
Love the illustrative drawings for this page.

09.6.2003/04:02
How dry I am
A look at the US Drought Monitor gives a vivid picture of how dry it is currently in the Rocky Mountain states.

09.5.2003/20:13
Double trouble
Nice view from space of two big storms at once.

09.5.2003/08:54
Take the bait
Bait cars.

09.4.2003/17:05
Dreamy Dreamweaver
Last night, I went to the monthly meeting of the Acadiana Macromedia Multimedia User Group, where, like similar groups all over the world, we watched an internet presentation on the new Macromedia Studio MX 2004, the package that draws together ColdFusion, Flash, Dreamweaver and a few other odd bits. The most interesting thing to me was that the new Dreamweaver component is centered around the use of CSS rather than HTML. This is both astute and a good reflection of how web designers are working these days: tables only for tabular display, CSS for design. The Flash component looks like it has an easier-than-ever learning curve and has more visual tools than before, and I suspect will result in our seeing more horrible animations than ever in the coming months and years. But we'll also see the occasional nice thing or two also, I suppose. I hope.

09.4.2003/15:09
Dead Letters
"Once you find a letter you want to keep, bookmark it. You may never find it again."

09.4.2003/15:05
Storks!
Indian painted storks.

09.4.2003/15:03
Big screw
Nice photo of an aircraft carrier's immense propeller.

09.3.2003/16:31
Zoo loss
Dead orangutan in the news.

09.3.2003/08:55
Meteor shower
The Quadrantids.

09.2.2003/08:51
Rodin of Godzilla?
Art snit!

09.1.2003/19:18
Austen City Limits
Heavenly haven for Jane Austen fans: The Republic of Pemberley.

09.1.2003/19:15
Snake thief
Burgled pythons in the news.

09.1.2003/19:11
Good forests, clean water
Interesting look at how forest areas are important to urban water supplies. "A recent evaluation showed it would cost $7 billion to build a water treatment plant against a $1 billion bill for actively managing the forest catchment area by raising water taxes and paying farmers to use less fertilizer and reduce grazing."