From The New York Times:
OP-ED COLUMNIST: A Serious Proposal The American Federation of Teachers should follow its president’sA depressing but enlightening article about the woes of San Francisco.
Yes, you've probably seen it before but every time I see it it brings me to tears of laughter.
"Well I'm confident that it will work. The only thing is we're not exactly sure how much.. uh... explosives it will take to disintegrate this thing." http://www.asylum.com/2009/11/25/exploding-whale-video-reporter-looks-back-4-decades-later/I've always been envious of the awe that kids felt during the days of the Apollo missions. I think the LHC provides us with a taste of what it must have been like to see technology on such a scale. This thing is simply beautiful.
Great pictures here:We met Owen today.
Pictures here: http://towhead.smugmug.com/Family/Meeting-Owen-1/10095644_RnCRk#692954755_jBPsB
Pigeon in airport terminal.
You can take the island out of its agrarian past but you can't take the agrarian past out of the island.
Rupert visited for a couple of weeks and we documented it here.
http://towhead.smugmug.com/Pets/Ruperts-vacation/9982539_FXJtS#682349467_mFHtC The photos were taken with Aki's 50mm lens. Its the first time she seriously used it and I think they are some of the cleanest shot's she's taken with her camera. My goat shots were on a bright day and I suspect the lens simply let in too much light (or I just suck at photography). If you're wondering, Rupert was far too mature to chase the silly goats.-Travis
Here are some great photograps of Burning Man. Its very hard to find great
photographs because the conditions are so harsh on the equipment. In this
case the photographer felt the value of the photographs were worth far more
then his equipment. I'm so glad he feels this way.
After we closed escrow on our house in 2006 Aki and I explored our house for the first time. We spent several hours looking around, planning where we would put furniture, and getting our heads straight on how we would make it happen. A few weeks later after lots of work the house eventually turned into our home. The psychological shift was significant, particularly for me since I'd been living in Aki's apartment for a year and it never felt like home. I remember one day getting home from work and being able to finally relax in a way I hadn't for a very long time.
2009 was my second year at Burning Man. Last year was orientation, culture shock, and a lot of fun. This year... it was home. This last week has largely been about processing what happened and I've spent the last week trying to articulate the experience in a way that does it justice. If I were to pick one word, I'd say it was...Magical. This year held no shock value. I'd seen it all before, but in some way I was able to enjoy it more. I spent less time analyzing and more time participating. I also managed to find an inner contentment I haven't felt since I spent a week exploring the Northern Territory in Australia in 1992. It was a cooler year and the wind was a constant companion. With wind comes dust and it was everywhere. It also creates an eerie atmosphere that simply accentuated the beauty of the place. After I set up camp on Monday I filled an empty water bottle with a strong drink and set out alone to visit the Man during the sunset. Once I left camp the wind picked up and we had a mild dust storm. I donned my dust goggles and mask, took a big gulp of my drink, and walked in what I figured was my best guess of the direction of the man. After a few minutes I could barely make out the outline of the sun and I stumbled upon this piece of Art:
This piece is called Portal of Evolution by Bryan Tedrick. The wings catch the air and it rotates gracefully back and forth giving you a constantly changing perspective. If you look at this picture you can see there is a place to sit on top.
You know those moments when you take a deep breath and you feel the tension fall out of your shoulders and you can actually feel yourself relaxing? At that moment, breathing in my mask, feeling my drink take its affect, and being "done" with camp setup, it all mixed together and I swear 5 hours after arriving it was like I'd been on vacation for a week. What a wonderful way to start my burn, and it would only get better from there. I caught every sunset that week and a couple of sunrises, a tradition that I'll be carrying forward. Below are some pictures and video that can give you a taste of Burning Man. However, the imagery, music, and spectacle of Burning Man are not what its about. No amount of studying can replace a day of participation. Burning man via a rickshaw. I like this because it shows the tent city pretty well and gives you an idea how it all fits together:
Here is a picture of the Temple from afar:
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