new york new york

i went to new york city for the first time for a business trip last week & i'm excited to go back. not necessarily because it was everything i could ever want & more (though it was cool) but because i know there's so much more to see. i posted & mapped some pictures for your enjoyment. my snap judgments about the city will come later.

those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
- benjamin franklin

a day on the farm

amy & i were invited to a weekend in southwestern kansas with rachel, dana & her boyfriend mark. mark is a crop consultant down there & one of his clients let us tag along on their corn harvest. we rode the grain cart, the combine & the truck that took the corn to the co-op for unloading. we were amazed at the efficiency & technology that goes into the process & the knowledge required for the good crops we city folk take for granted. being far removed from the sources of the objects of our consumption - food, clothes, computers, cars, etc. - allows us to lose sight of the fact that these things only get here because people are there to provide it. there is no longer a human element to the produce we buy. there is no longer a natural element because surrounded by the feats of man - buildings, infrastructure, machines - everything is seen as either a means or a hindrance to our own ends.

those are the thoughts, these are the pics.

kc air show

ames & i spent saturday at the kansas city air show strolling 'tween the planes & choppers, taking pictures & videos of everything i could. vml was great to us as they provided lunch & beer saving us over $50 so we didn't have to get the goods outside. i'll post more pics & vids as i can, but here's a little something to whet your appetite.

UPDATE: some pics from the weekend on my flickr site

jill long racing kent shockley's 3-jet engine equipped semi truck.



b-2 stealth bomber



harrier jump jet


a list of the planes i saw friday at work (and others) is here.

my sky is bluer than your sky

akin to highway cleanup sponsorships, adopt the sky has done the same for our friendly skies.

1984

when i first read george orwell's 1984 a couple years ago, it was more to understand (and partake in) the dystopian cultural references & themes than anything. [vain, i know. sue me.] one of the most fascinating parts throughout the novel was the telescreen, the tv that watches you, too. how did people let these things into their homes? and then, almost as if to answer that very question, comes this. it's an application designed by a handful of microsoft inventors that uses "cameras, remote controls and biometric sensors to detect the identity of the person viewing a TV, cellphone, or computer monitor display" in order to provide the most relevant advertising.

for example, amy's watching some gardening show on hgtv. this application will serve her ads promoting home depot's sale on plants & flowers. then i come home & turn on the history channel for some hoover dam/modern marvels action only to receive an vacation offer to the hoover dam. don't get me wrong, i'm all for contextual & relevant advertising. but there's gotta be a limit. seriously.

people: "wow, that's just like google does on the interwebs! that would be great! i'll take three, no, ten, and give them as christmas gifts!"

me: "oh, that's how the telescreens got in..."

i miss oregon

weirdos ftw.

thanks, wapo

quote

fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.
- g.k. chesterton

thriller

michael jackson's early work (anything produced by quincy jones) is some of the best. music. ever. ever. thriller is not only the pinnacle of this portfolio, it's also the greatest selling album of all time. even as a kid i remember the novelty of this longer than usual song that was also a kind of short story. i even played the king of pop for halloween one year.

then i stumble on this. i've been to the philippines but i've never heard about life in a filipino prison so i can't actually vouch that this is the norm. i can, however, vouch that it's awesome and almost makes me want to serve a life sentence.

 
thank you thought bucket

bringing down the house

we finally got our house yesterday and we celebrated by dining on chipotle on the kitchen floor. and today, we followed up with tearing down the cabinet doors & related hardware. eventually we'll get around to painting over the original glaze circa 1962. that's 45 years of kitchen-nasty built up around hinges & hiding in cabinet nether-nooks.