Watch and Learn, Kid.

Weekend Recap

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:48:22 -0500

“We almost got run over by a bike.”

- The almost last words of a punk teenager as I cruised by on Thorondor (my bike) Friday night. He and his posse were dilly-dallying in the not-cross-walk.

In other news, Daisy has learned that we come over to her when she poops (to clean it up) and has begun to use this strategically to get our attention. Clever girl.

And, Mitzi and I really enjoyed our Valentine’s Day time together (always do weekend - never do day of.)

That is all.

Lunchtime Links

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:06:11 -0500

Marketing

Zaaz Interactive Agency

W5 Insight

Automotive Shopping Behavior Study

Bad reviews improve conversion rates by 67%

Zeus Jones

You Can Motivate People, Or You Can Just Make It Easier

A Simple Approach to Account Planning

Culture

The Chrysanthemum and The Sword

You Never Marry The Right Person

Or, as Tolkien put it:

Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes: in the sense that almost certainly (in a more perfect world, or even with a little more care in this very imperfect one) both partners might be found more suitable mates. But the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to.

Tech

Google favors Google+ in search results over Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Learn to Code with Codecademy

Food / Beverage

The entirely defensible fad for limited edition, barrel-aged gin

Meatpaper

Malts.com

Current Events

Atlanta is redistricting and a bunch of the neighborhood parents are in an uproar about how it might impact schools and where their kids end up.

Does God Care Whether Tim Tebow Wins?

Why Liberals Shouldn’t Dis Tim Tebow (or Jesus)

Rules for Myself Concerning Poetry

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:18:49 -0500

When breaking the rules of grammar, a poem should never force the reader to reinterpret the rules of the language in use.

Broken rules should serve a purpose and not cause the reader to stumble in the slightest.

Poetry is not a linguistic puzzle for the academic, but a medium for clear and powerful expression.

"If they act too hip, you know they can’t play sh*t."

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:10:21 -0500

“If they act too hip, you know they can’t play sh*t.”

- Miles Davis

Welcome Daisy

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 22:11:29 -0500

Daisy is the newest member of the family. She’s a Brown-necked African Cape Parrot.

Her previous owner is going through a divorce and can no longer afford to take care of her (financially and socially.)

Besides being cute, Capes are a good fit for us for a number of reasons. They are generally (compared to other parrots):

Laid back
Independent
Playful
Known for not biting

We hope Daisy can make the transition smoothly. Logically, rehoming her makes sense - she needs a home, and what we’re paying for her and her current cage, toys etc. is about half of what it would be from a breeder.

The Great Shift in Japanese Pop Culture

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 15:42:11 -0500

How marginal subcultures have become the plurality in cultural taste and production in Japan, and how this bodes for the Japanese economy.

Can Technology Help You Slow Down?

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:29:47 -0500

Something to consider. I think the answer is yes. It usually happens when you run across a new world, which is completely possible online, but unfortunately due to people’s social instincts and the reinforcing nature of circles on the web, doesn’t happen as often as it should.

His Name Wasn't Jesus

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:05:44 -0500

Fun lingual facts

http://www.jesuspolice.com/common_error.php?id=1

http://seeingwhatyoubelieve.blogspot.com/2008/09/jesus-iesous-and-yahshua.html

Photo

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:25:30 -0500

Think Before You Speak - 4 Times

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:33:00 -0500

Ask yourself, does this need to be said? Does what I’m thinking about saying really need to be said? Then ask yourself does it really need to be said right now? And then, does it really need to be said right now, by me?

Rick Anwyl, Atlanta Creative Mornings

A Business About Business

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:29:00 -0500

It’s not about graphics. What we do – it’s a business about business, alright. That’s really important. What we – the way that we survive – is by understanding businesses. Understanding their goals and objectives, and helping them communicate. Ok. So, the more we understand about businesses, the more successful we are going to be.

Rick Anwyl, Atlanta Creative Mornings

Birds of North America

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 07:47:00 -0500

Birds of North America:

I get excited about things like this.

Still life - breakfast at Nebo 2.

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:48:50 -0500

Still life - breakfast at Nebo 2.

Still life - breakfast at Nebo.

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:38:29 -0500

Still life - breakfast at Nebo.

Still life - working late.

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:32:35 -0500

Still life - working late.

Shoppin Around

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:24:35 -0500

What People Don't Get About My Job

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:27:00 -0500

Great piece by The Atlantic. People voice the misconceptions about their job roles.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/09/what-people-dont-get-about-my-job-from-a-rmy-soldier-to-z-ookeeper/244231/3/?single_page=true

My top 3 are:

The Bass Player
The Construction Worker
The IRS guy

Google Reader

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:57:50 -0500

I’m pretty much done with Google Reader without the share functionality. I don’t want to use Google Buzz.

The word Buzz in and of itself irks me, like it’s a bee in my ear distracting me from what I should be focusing on while in my inbox.

That being said, and correct me if I’m wrong, but Google Reader wasn’t making Google any money. RSS adoption is abysmal. Sometimes we get so absorbed into our tech-heavy circles that we think everyone uses this stuff. The mainstream doesn’t use RSS, and there’s no reason for Google to cater to the minority of ad-averse, tech-heavy early adopters.

We aren’t making them billions.

Photo

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:20:42 -0500

bestmadeco: The Search for Five Cancelled Nuclear Reactor...

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 22:03:45 -0500

bestmadeco:

The Search for Five Cancelled Nuclear Reactor Cores in the Southern United States, by Jeremy Blakeslee, Best Made Guide to Urban Archaeology

I set out on a journey with fellow photographer and urban archaeologist Michael Cook, who has an inspiring academic understanding of infrastructure. We both have a keen interest in power plants, and, most recently, those of the nuclear variety. We’re not foolish enough to venture into anything that’s actually gone nuclear. These never-completed plants were cancelled in the 1980s, and no fuel ever made it into their reactor cores. In the interest of full (Freudian) disclosure, my father ran a nuclear plant for much of the time that I was growing up.

The 1979 core meltdown in Unit Two at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania is still a cultural moment that many Americans remember, mostly for what could have happened rather than what did; the accident was contained, and no one was hurt. But along with with a lower than expected demand for electricity and expensive construction mistakes in the years that followed, the incident sent the industry to its knees. Billions of dollars of infrastructure was left for dead, and only the carcasses of these sites remain, including the partially constructed reactor cores, containment vessels, turbine halls, cooling structures and condenser chambers that we found.

Being inside a partially constructed nuclear reactor is nothing short of astounding, an experience made sweeter for us by first tackling a many mile hike through tick-infested woods, carrying all of our gear in the blistering heat. Thankfully, we were rewarded by a significant drop in temperature as we went beyond the thick concrete walls of the site. We were also greeted with extremely dangerous conditions that included massive openings in the flooring that delivered a 50 foot drop, stairs that simply stop in mid air, metal studs protruding from the concrete flooring everywhere and thousands of pieces rebar sticking out of the unfinished walls.

Seeing places like this gives you a very different relationship to the built environment than most people have. What you start to learn after seeing a handful of power plants, especially partially built ones, is the incredible engineering and interconectedness of each individual system in the plant. You’re standing where the nuclear fuel was intended to be stored, sitting inside a reactor looking up at the massive steel core or looking straight up through the middle of a 400 foot cooling tower.

I’ll leave you with a short quote from Michael about this experience.

“1500+ miles driven. Miles hiked unknown. 5 unfinished cores visited. Vultures, frogs, turtles, bats, turkeys, deer. Lots of deer. Only people seen were looking for their horse. Now to go home.”

Site: Two cancelled nuclear power plants (southern U.S.)

Gestation and Permission Status: 2 years, you can’t get permission. Landscape: Rural

Gear: Hasselblad 903 Superwide Camera, fixed 38mm lens Toyo 4×5 Large Format Camera Incident Meter Tripod Polaroid film 120mm color film 120mm b&w film First Aid Kit