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I-80 Closed (Storm #1)
Mile 367. Between Rock Springs and Evanston the weather gets snowy. There are a few signs warning that the road is closed at Fort Bridger. I keep driving until an endless line of motionless trucks appears. A few people bail, driving the wrong way down the shoulder until it’s possible to cross to other side.…
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A Road Trip Begins
Mile 0. Pete arrives, having traveled by train from Chicago, in a rented Chevy Malibu. We have ambitious plans to drive to Oregon to commemorate our 1996 Pacific Crest Trail hike, and the pacts associated with it. We really have no idea if the amount of driving we plan is even possible, but we figure…
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Movie: Inside Man (2006)
Following in the footsteps of Dog Day Afternoon is a tall order, and this film steps up to the plate. I didn’t mind the inevitable social commentary added by Spike Lee – after all, Dog Day is all about social commentary. There are the obligatory references and homages, and a reasonably fresh plot. Pretty good…
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Geo Mashup 0.5.2 Release
More minor updates to the WordPress plugin. Get it on the download page. Added a setting for whether to automatically open the center marker info window. Removed logging that caused errors in IE. Added a hook for custom map operations in custom-marker.js, example in custom-marker-sample.js. Fixed an error when no page slugs are found. Changed…
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The psychology of risk
I occasionally research risk statistics for outdoor activities. What I haven’t looked into nearly as much is why our individual and collective reaction to risks is so disproportionate to the statistics. Tonight I found some interesting thoughts on the subject from a security blogger. While statistics about risk are interesting, they are a relatively new…
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Movie: Napolean Dynamite
Eerily accurate skewering of indiscriminate rural white 80’s culture (with a Mormon slant) as it’s “rescued” by urban & hispanic influences. I enjoyed it, but remain somewhat mystified by the popularity that originally made me wary of the film. Maybe it’s attributable to the absolutely bizarre presentation, or the apparent idiocy of the characters. Somehow…
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Live Music: CSO & Todd Palmer
Before the music begins we’re intrigued by the sight of four different clarinets waiting at center stage. We’re not sure what they all are, but after some wikipedia digging I’d guess we saw soprano, alto, bass, and conta-alto clarinets there. These mysterious instruments do nothing to prepare us for the music that will come from…