a Review from the Top

Golden Gate Jumpers

398 – Bridge to Nowhere: a Map of Golden Gate Jumpers « Strange Maps

Brother Chas lived in San Francisco a while back. He always said that more people jump off the bay side than the ocean side because "They all want to catch a glimpse of heaven before they die"

42nd Street

Doreen mentioned this morning that she would sure like to see 42nd Street, a musical that was playing at Miller Theatre in Hermann Park.

I told her I would love to as well, and it was too bad that the tickets were sold out.

But is is a free outdoor show, so of course the tickets weren't sold out. So sad to be me.

Doreen works with the guy who runs the guy who runs the facility at Miller, and they do each other favors. So she called him up, and we had covered seat tickets (All tickets to Miller Theatre are free. Sometimes they are easy to get, sometimes not so easy) waiting for us when we showed up.

I saw two people that I knew at the show, amazingly enough, Doreen saw nobody!

It was really a lot of fun. You have not lived until you have seen 20 people tap dancing to We're in the Money on stage!

Oh, and Loretta Swit played the lead! She looks good, but she is 71 years old! Holy Mackerel!

Quikrete

Everywhere you go, there it is.

This is at a Winterstreet artist gallery

The Choice of Cities

Why cities?

The Technium: The Choice of Cities

Matt and Ducks

As I mention below, my old Geocities website is being shut down. I am moving some files to my Harold Stanford domain.

Harold Standford was a Texan famous during the Texas War of Independence. I will write more about him later.

In the meantime, I submit this for your entertainment.

The Grand Tour

IN 2000, Doreen and I ran away from home for almost four months.

We blogged about it before we knew what blogging was.

The website I used (Geocities) is shutting down, so I have to move all the stories and photos. I will be using Blogger to link to the new site. You can click here and I will eventually have everything there.

You can also click here to see the original site, until it shuts down in September sometime.

The sign says it all

Wanting It Badly Enough

We all make our own choices:

Wanting It Badly Enough | No Map. No Guide. No Limits.

Swan Lake

Last night Doreen and I were invited to attend the Houston Ballet's most recent production of Swan Lake. It got really good reviews, so when Eddie invited us to go with him and Charles, Doreen eagerly accepted.

I, on the other hand, was not so impressed.

But the whole thing got me thinking about time, cultural literacy, and opportunity costs.

We live in a shared world, and within your cohort there is an expectation of common experiences. For example, if someone says "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle" you would be expected to reply "than a rich man to get into heaven"

Or with some of my friends, if you say "It was inevitable:" you will hear back "the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love"

The point being, that we use this common heritage, this cultural literacy as a sort of shorthand in our communications.

So where do you acquire such commonality, and what should it all include? Many people say that Swan Lake is the best ballet for dancers. It is certainly not a ballet where the dancers just stand around. But what importance is it to have attended the ballet? To see the four little signets dancing with hands clasped together? To see the evil Rothbart trick the good prince Siegfried with the beautiful Odelle?

Or is it more important to know that in Russia, when the communists were in charge that the ending was changed so that the swan (Odette) did NOT die and she and the prince lived happily ever after? Does that tell us more about communism or about the way the ballet was originally written?

In spite of my reluctance to attend this ballet, I enjoyed it tremendously. I have always enjoyed the music. Tchaikovsky is one of my favorites, and the theme you think of when you think of Swan Lake is really beautiful.

I am not one to cry at Operas (though I have teared up while watching movies on airplanes) but I must admit that I got chills the first time the Prince saw Odette, and then the evil Rothbart and his evil Black Swans come flying by.

(A brief aside about the music, which is related to the whole cultural literacy thing. I cannot listen to the theme from Swan Lake (click and then listen at about 33 second) without thinking of West Side Story (click and listen at about 42 seconds. Did Leo life from Pyotr? I think so)

SO the question is, do we go to things like this to have gone to them and to gain the shared experience, or do we go to them to enjoy the three hours there?

And that can't be answered unless you think about the opportunity cost. In this case I must admit the opportunity case was very low. We had no other plans, as I have been traveling for quite some time. (I have not had a full weekend at home for over a month) So I was giving up a quiet evening with a nice home cooked meal and a bottle of wine for this ballet.

In this case, I believe it was worth it.

And I will never trust anyone named Rothbart again.

The Trouble with Urban Design « Keep Houston Houston.

Does the US gain or lose jobs to outsourcing?

In-Sourcing - Richard Florida

A surprising answer.

Summertime

It is almost 9:00 PM. The temperature is 86 degrees, and the relative humidity is 63%. (from our Mighty Weather Station)

This is the best time of year in Houston. The air is so thick that you can almost see it. The sun has set, but you can still see the light from tomorrow's sun in the sky. It is cool enough (only 86!) to sit on the porch until the mosquitoes drive you in. And since we have had no rain in weeks there are few mosquitoes.

The airconditioners hum and the neighbors all say "hi" when they walk by.

Summer in Houston. Summer on the Gulf Coast.

What a great time.

Another view of co59

Co 59

Amsterdam to Houston.777

Homeward bound!

Data integration

It would probably be more fun selling weapon systems than data integration frameworks.

Periodic table gets a new element

Periodic table gets a new element

Isn't that something!

Amsterdam

Cold, wet, crowded. And expensive.

At IAH

Waiting to go to Amsterdam

Conor Clark on Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin's Economics Lesson - Conor Clarke

Everybody wants to be a Texan!

Houston Strategies: Job seekers heading to Texas

Trapped in a cave in Cappidocia

Is this Socialism?

Link

A package from Turkey

Yesterday (Monday) was my first day in the office for three weeks. It is always good to be back home, but it was sort of sad not being on vacation anymore.

So when I received this package from Turkey:

I was pleased.

While it may LOOK like a package of something that would ordinarily not be sent via DHL, we all know that you have to hid those sorts of things inside of table legs or ceramic Buddhas. So I knew that this was nothing more exciting than antique rugs.

This makes it look even more suspicious:

But once I opened them up, the great rugs that we bought came tumbling out:

It is fun buying rugs. It is amazing that there are so many rugs to buy in the world. I would guess that in some places, all people ever do is weave rugs:

That little one with the diamond patterns was really interesting. It is more like needlepoint than anything else. I will try and find a way to get a better photo of it online.

Expats at work | The Economist

Travel and creativity: Expats at work | The Economist

Having lived overseas for four years, I can support those conclusions.

What Makes Us Happy? - The Atlantic (June 2009)

This is a great article about a horizontal study that followed a cohort of Harvard men ('42, '43, '44) throughout their lives.

Well worth the time it takes to read it:

What Makes Us Happy? - The Atlantic (June 2009)

Exercise - Does it help?

Exercise - Reporter's File - Does Exercise Really Keep Us Healthy? - NY Times Health

To Oslo! To Turkey!

I will be taking off in the morning for Oslo. Then to Turkey. I will be blogging at a new address for this trip - you can find it here. (It also has an RSS feed)

I am uncertain of the Internet access on the Anatolian Plains. But I will do my best.

Alt Text: The Craigslist Free-Couch Blues | Underwire

I met this man in 1996

And I quit when he bought the company I was working for:

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Passing a subway station

Passing a subway station from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo.

That is the station where I get out in Oslo to go to my hotel.

I did not, of course, make that video, but I recognized the station when I saw it.

Oh God, what am I doing here?

Tonight Doreen was off discussing Out Stealing Horses with some old friends. I was left alone with some old friends as well.

After Doreen was whisked away by her friend in a Mini-Cooper, I sat on the front porch reading my Kindle about Turkey. When it started to get dark, I went in. I don't yet have a light for the Kindle.

Then I made supper. 1/2 of a cold bratwurst (you can see the rest of it here) with some home made sauerkraut. I had a couple of bottles of Rio Blanco Pale Ale with the wurst and kraut.

While eating, I read in the New York Times Magazine how horrible it is to live in a socialist country like The Netherlands.

Then I came upstairs and put on some music.

No videos, no reading, just alone listening to some tunes.

I started with the Holy Modal Rounder's disc "Last Round"

My baby don't bother to wear,
none of that pink underwear.
She's so slick and sleazy,
She just don't care.

There is plenty more that would not be appropriate for a family blog.

Then I moved onto Graham Parsons' disc "The Grievous Angel"

I remember something you once told me
I'll be damned if it did not come true
20,000 roads I've been down, down, down.
They all bring me straight back home to you.

What is it about artists and Heroin?

Then I turned on Tom Waits and "A Foreign Affair"

Trains and planes and boats and buses
Characteristically
Evoke a common attitude of Blue
Unless you have a suitcase, a ticket and a passport
and the cargo that their carrying is You.

and David Bromberg's dual disc that included "Bandit in a Bathing Suit". I think he is the only heroin free artist this evening

As you read this letter that I write to you
Sweetheart, I hope you understand.
You're the only love I've even known
So please forgive me if you can.

and rounding the evening out with Warren Zevon's first (self titled) disk.

Don't the sun look angry through the trees
Don't the trees look like crucified leaves
Don't you feel like desperados under the eves
Heaven help the one who weeps.

All the lyrics are from memory.

Which is the best, don't you think?

So long Norman.

She said: "So long, Norman"

The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

Lose Weight: Spend More Time Eating - The Atlantic Business Channel

Dylan Thomas

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

New hat

Jung Center Gala

Doreen was invited to the Jung Center's gala (ie, big fund-raiser) this evening.

I had to go, too.

They had Cokie Roberts as the main attraction.

The speakers started off painfully. Did you know that Jungian psychology consists of new age platitudes and pretensions? Well, according to what the director of the Jung center here said, that is exactly what it consists of.

But it got better once we got past the tributes and self aggrandizement.

Cokie Roberts, to no surprise, is an excellent speaker.

She talked about her books, and her mother (who lives on Bourbon Street! Across from Pat O'Brien's!) and her great aunts (4 women, 9 husbands between them)

Her theme was “Untold Stories” (which I guess is a Jungian thing. I certainly wish that the director of the center had left his stories untold) and she was focusing on the stories of women in the course of the development of the country. All very good.

For you Brownies, she spoke of the current president of Brown, Ruth Simmons. A Texan, who lived for some time here in Houston. Also the first African American president of an Ivy League school.

Her comments, when she was invested in the position, resonate true:

“...a job is a job is a job. But, a life is something that is just too short. Live a life that you can be happy with.”

Jung center gala

Could not be more pretentious.

Can people tell pate from dog food?

AAWE_WP36.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Money quote:

Conclusions

Subjects significantly disliked the taste of dog food compared to a range of comestible meat products with similar ingredients. Subjects were not better than random at identifying dog food among five unlabeled samples. These two results would seem to be paradoxical. Why did the 72% of subjects who ranked sample C as worst in terms of taste not guess that sample C was dog food?