How bad is it, Number One?

Read Full Post »

Pity

Read Full Post »

Modern Times

Read Full Post »

Me and a Gun

I have, of late, given thought to purchasing a gun.

There are many reasons for this.

Protection.

Food.

Drawing lines in the sand.

Preparing for the inevitable apocalypse.

A quick exit.

In the end, the reason I don’t remains the most important: I have never owned a gun because, in a society such as ours, if we are as enlightened and exceptional as we believe ourselves to be, we should never need to.

Read Full Post »

1939

Next year is the 75th anniversary of the invasion of Poland.

75 years.

Damn.

The Fall of Berlin, 1945

It seems we were just talking about the 50th Anniversary.

And then the thought comes that the guns of August echoed across the European Continent 25 years prior to Poland.

Damn.

Time passes.

 

Read Full Post »

Finally …

Different things hit us different ways. Today has been a biggie. I’ve been reading sci-fi for … well … probably longer than most of you have been alive. I watched the space race from its inception, watched primitive probes live on TV as they were intentionally crashed into the moon, paid attention as we flew by the inner planets and out to Mars, was listening and watching as we first orbited the earth, performed the space walks,  and then orbited the moon. And then we landed people on the moon – and brought them back! I gathered with friends to watch the Jupiter flybys in color, and then the swings past Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, followed the Viking landing on Mars … all the while reading sci-fi and dreaming galactic empires and interstellar adventures.

Today it’s official: Voyager 1 entered interstellar space.

We’re so jaded, I think, spoiled by technologies that are universally beholden to the science that made the moon landings and robot explorers possible. It seems quaint, old school … a by-our-standards hopelessly obsolete spacecraft that is doing things no one dreamed.

I dunno if we’ll ever get a second act, given the way we are treating our planet and environment, but it remains amazing that we went from a time when chiseling an axe-head with stone was considered high-tech, to reaching the realm of deep space, leaving there an artifact that will wander the ink black night between stars far past even the memory of our species.

As long as Voyager survives, something of us will, too.

I think that is pretty amazing. Haunting, maybe a little sad, but amazing nonetheless.

Read Full Post »

If You …

Read Full Post »

Our Discussion

A brilliantly helpful guide to discussing things. Don’t know where this started, but it is genius.

Read Full Post »

Let There Be Blood

One morning, stepping out of the shower, looking at my image in the mirror.

Blood

On my forehead.

Dude.

There’s this thing there. An innocuous thing, really. A growth. Something I would notice from time to time, think about, then forget. I’ve had pre-cancerous stuff cut out of me before, one such about four months ago, so I’ve developed something of a laid back attitude about things.

But it bleeds.

Doc does his job, cuts the sucker out, sends it off. Lab comes back with bad news/good news … it’s cancer, but it looks like my guy got all of it.

But if it hadn’t bled …

Complacency is so yesterday – moving forward, we’re in heightened self-aware mode.

I love getting old …

Read Full Post »

Palace of Fine Arts Reopens

Some pictures to look at. Pretty pics …

A few weeks back, after years of restoration, the Palace of Fine Arts was fully opened to the public. Bicycled by there for a look. Took a few pics.

San Francisco had its first “World’s” Fair in 1894, the California Midwinter International Exposition.

The California Midwinter International Exposition, 1894

The area eventually morphed into the its current incarnation, the Band Concourse, ringed by the new Academy of Sciences and de Young Museum.

The Band Concourse in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, looking south to the Bandshell.

The North Tower of the rebuilt M.H. de Young Memorial Museum

The recently rebuilt California Academy of Sciences & Steinhart Aquarium

The Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915 was San Francisco’s second go-round at a World’s Fair, this time to show off the reconstructed city nine years after the big quake.

Nighttime at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, 1915

A panoramic illustration of the 1915 Exposition, from the hills above Cow Hollow.

By far, the exhibit that garnered the most love was the Palace of Fine Arts:

The Palace of Fine Arts, 1919

So, as I said, I swung by the Palace of Fine Arts. Looking good …

Coming out of the Presidio ... doesn't look all that great from this angle.

Much better view from across the lagoon ...

The Palace of Fine Arts was designed in the Beaux Arts style that evolved out of NeoClassic architecture.

Beaux Arts in all its glory ...

The area beneath the central dome is a popular spot for wedding ceremonies.

Miscellany:

Festival Hall - 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition

1894 California Midwinter International Exposition at night ...

1915

Read Full Post »