About my weekend

This weekend was a whirlwind tour of New England, precipitateed by my brother's graduation. I left Nashville on Thursday afternoon and flew to Washington, then on to Boston. Then I rented a car at Hertz and wandered across the city to my friends' apartment in Cambridge. (And I do mean wandered -- apparently Hertz's NeverLost system hasn't yet figured out the Big Dig.) Finally arrived, and stayed up talking for several hours. The next morning, I left and picked my brother up. (He had flown in a few hours before me and spent the night with a friend from his college.)

We headed north into Maine, and arrived in Brunswick. My parents and three of my grandparents were already there, and had been killing time on campus. (The school has a museum dedicated to arctic explorers Robert E. Peary (Class of 1877) and Donald B. MacMillan (Class of 1898), and also an art museum.

The first big item on the agenda was the Baccalaureate ceremony. Afterward, we stopped by the president's reception, and then walked through the rain to get to the massive tents on the athletic fields for a the traditional lobster dinner. . After dinner we stopped by my brother's house, then headed back toward the Maine coast, where we had comamandeered a vacation house belinging to friends of my parents

Saturday morning dawned grey and wet, just like Friday. We drove back to campus and ate breakfast in the main dining hall. Then we headed over to the Quad, which was practically underwater. But Bowdoin has been having commencement exercises outdoors on the quad since 1806, and they weren't going to let a little rain stop them. (They had a backup plan to have it in the field house, but apparently there had to actually be a foot of standing water for that to happen.) The school was handing out ponchos and hot coffee. (See below for another picture.)

After getting drenched, we posed for the obligatory group photos. Then we headed back to the house and goofed off for most of the afternoon. (There are worse places to be stuck in a rainstorm than a house with a view of the sea. In the evening, we all piled into two cars and used the NeverLost gizmo to almost find our way to a restaurant in Portland, about 40 minutes to the south.

Singing in the rain: That's my brother singing the national anthem behind a sea of umbrellas at his graduation, Maine. May 24, 2003.

The next morning, I departed Maine and drove about 5.5 hours to get to Albany, where I met up with a bunch of my northern friends. Everyone had gone to Albany for the weekend for a party to celebrate Aaron's graduation from medical school. So I joined up with them just in time to play trivial pursuit, gorge on party leftovers, look at Italy slides, and stay up late playing cards and, err, taking care of the surplus alcohol problem.

The next morning, I got up very early, shook off a slight hangover, and drove three hours back through the pouring rain to catch my plane in Boston. And then back to Nashville. All-in-all, a very action-packed weekend, at least by my standards.

I'm back from up north. My brother is 100% graduated, and there is much to say about the weekend. But for the moment I'll just leave you to ponder this: it appears that Exxon is being remarkably upfront about its environmental record! :-)

Exxon Sign, Brunswick, Maine. May 25, 2003.

Sorry I've been slacking a bit on the posting lately -- things have been busy. Right now I'm in New England to attend my "baby" brother's graduation from Bowdoin College. Then I'm probably going to try to escape Sunday to visit friends in Albany, then back to Nashville on Monday.

Things they don't tell you at the tourist information office

I just watched a fascinating show on PBS about the sinking of Venice. The most startling revelation (to me) was that the city has no public sewer system. So most of the sewage just gets dumped directly into the canals!

But the show was also gave a really interesting explanation of why the city is sinking, what they are talking about doing about it, the potential effects of climate change, etc. The city is sinking more slowly now that nearby cities have stopped pumping water out of the aquifier underneath it, but it is still heading down as the sediments are compacted. In the old days, when the water got too high, Venetians would just lay down more stone and raise the height of the streets and building floors. Or they would demolish buildings and rebuild them slightly higher. But for the last 200 years or so, no one has wanted to destroy or change the beautiful archictecture of the city. So things have stayed at the same level despite the fact that the city is now something like 8 inches lower than it was 100 years ago. The result is lots of flooding -- in 1900, St. Mark's square flooded 7 times, and in 1996 it flooded 99 times.

The TV show discussed a plan to build giant gates that would rise across the entrances to the lagoon when high water is expected. That's what the sign we saw in a square in Venice was talking about. After watching the show, though, I think that whover put it up was a bit of a crackpot.

That said, there are some interesting issues associated with the gates. For one thing, if global warming causes significant changes in weather patterns or sea level, they could be entirely ineffective well before the end of their projected 100-year life. And there is concern that if the water level continues to get higher, they might end up being closed so often that pollution in the lagoon would become intolerable. (Remember what I said about the lack of sewers!)

All of this relates to another problem -- the city of Venice is becoming a museum rather than a living city. Millions of tourists visit the city each year, and the number of permanent inhabitants has dwindled to 70,000, driven out by the high prices and flooding.

Definitely a beautiful and fascinating city, but one with its share of problems.

Some guy in the UK is auctioning off his Macintosh computer made of Legos. He notes that the system does not include "the Lego man or his plants (but he's available from any shop that sells Lego, and anyway, you'll want to populate that nice green space with your own Lego people and things. It will be exciting for your Lego people to live so close to such a wonderful technological marvel)".

Now that the semester is over, I'm partaking in a guilty pleasure and reading the John Grisham novel I picked up a few months ago. That and battling a massive infestation of itty-bitty ants.

The Last Page keeps finding great stuff. The latest is this story. Researchers in England decided to test out the theory that infinite monkeys with infinite typewriters will eventually produce the works of Shakespeare. But they only had six monkeys and one month. The results, unfortunately, failed to prove anything about the literary prowess of primates:

LONDON - Give an infinite number of monkeys an infinite number of typewriters, the theory goes, and they will eventually produce the works of Shakespeare.

Give six monkeys one computer for a month, and they will make a mess.

Researchers at Plymouth University in England reported this week that primates left alone with a computer attacked the machine and failed to produce a single word.

"They pressed a lot of S's," researcher Mike Phillips said Friday. "Obviously, English isn't their first language."

You can read the complete work of the monkeys (helpfully translated into four languages) right here

Random visit

Jay, my college roommate, was in town for his brother's med school graduation. He was last in Nashville when a bunch of my friends came down for New Years a few years ago -- and it was snowing then! So this was his opportunity to see that Nashville actually is actually a bit different from Boston!

We met up for breakfast this morning at Bongo Java. (They have catered breakfast on Sundays with yummy caramel apple french toast.) Then we drove around downtown a bit and headed over to Bicentennial Mall, which is one of my favorite places in Nashville. We hung out there for a while, walking around the fountains, farmers market, etc. We even got yelled at by the park ranger for climbing on the rocks. Then I took him to the airport, and now I'm back at Bongo supposedly working on my final exam that's due tonight. Although at the moment I guess I'm not technically working on it. But when I'm done with this blog entry I'm going to be crazy productive. Yeah, that's it!

The bathroom at Bongo Java -- there's actually a lot more you can't see in this picture. This really has nothing to do with the visit except that I happened to have my camera with me.
Jay being a tourist at Bicentennial Mall.	Nifty bouncy river fountains at Bicentennial Mall.

Sunday's New York Times contains a stunning article about how 27-year-old reporter Jayson Blair frequently fabricated articles during his five year career with the newspaper. Blair used reports from wire services, photos from the paper's internal archives, and telephone interviews to create the impression that he was traveling around the mid-Atlantic region reporting stories, while in reality he was camped out at his home in New York. Remarkably, despite a history of known accuracy problems and the fact that Blair's expense reports didn't match his supposed work assignments, no one at the Times caught on to the depth of the deception until another paper lodged a plagiarism complaint. Since then, a team assembled by the paper has found significant problems with 36 of the 73 articles the reporter wrote since last October, including major stories about the DC sniper and the rescue of Jessica Lynch.

I find this amazing from many angles. I have trouble understanding the thought process that would make someone behave this way. And it's hard to imagine how a young reporter could pull this off in such a way as to not arouse suspicion from his editors or others at the paper. I wonder if there is a cultural bias where editors assume that someone good enough to work at the Times must be an accurate reporter. Plus, I'm amazed that members of the public who were misquoted in the paper or who obviously knew that the reporter was lying failed to contact the newspaper and let it know about these problems.

Thanks to The Last Page for the link.

-----Original Message-----
From: Kumquat, Newton
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2003 3:43 PM
To: Coworker, A
Subject: italy pics



You can see my mind-numbing pile of pictures at http://www.clubphoto.com.  Put "DMD" in the album search box to find my stuff. (Note that you click to get into the actual albums, and that there are two pages of them.)

I'm planning to put together a "best of" album, but I haven't done it yet. My friend went in and started captioning a few of them, but most have not been captioned. I can fill in the blanks, though!

-NK

-----Original Message-----
From: Coworker, A.
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2003 4:43 PM
To: Kumquat, Newton
Subject: RE: italy pics


The naked tourists and don't ring the bell and double bra signs are a hoot

What's up with the bag of chips?




-----Original Message-----
From: Kumquat, Newton
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2003 8:37 PM
To: Coworker, A
Subject: Potato chips

Just being silly!  :-)

They are actually Worcester Sauce Potato Chips. When we left my friend's aunt's house in Monaco, she packed a bunch of food for us to take. We eventually ate everything else, but neither of us could quite stomach the idea of worcester chips. So instead we started taking pictures of them instead. They traveled to all sorts of interesting places, including:

Venice

Naples

Pompeii

Florence

The Vatican

When we got to the Vatican on the last day of the trip, we decided that time was up and we had to finally eat them. They weren't as bad as we expected!

Aaron thinks we should send the photos to the company.

Reasons not to have kids...

I was just reading the instructions that came with a Pelican case we purchased to transport computer equipment. At the bottom is the following warranty note:

Pelican Unconditional Lifetime Guarantee of Excellence

If for any reason you are not satisfied with the quality or performance of any PELICAN product, we will gladly replace the product or refund your money (at your option) within 30 days of purchase through the original retailer/dealer. PELICAN PRODUCTS will continue to guarantee the product directly for a lifetime against breakage or defects in workmanship. The case is guaranteed to be watertight when properly closed with O-ring in place and undamaged. (Replace O-ring annually or when damaged.) Any liability, either expressed or implied, is limited to the replacement of the case and not its contents. This guarantee is void only if the PELICAN product has been abused beyond normal and sensible wear and tear.

THE ABOVE GUARANTEE DOES NOT COVER SHARKBITE, BEAR ATTACK, OR CHILDREN UNDER 5.

Based on the behavior I've seen from some three-year-olds, I think the case might stand a better chance against the bear!

The weather service has determined that at least 10 tornados struck Tennessee in a 15 hour period on Sunday and Monday. This included the F-4 tornado in the Jackson area, and a number of smaller ones. (Tornados are rated on a scale of F0-F5) There was also major damage in Montgomery County, where 100 homes were damaged, and in Springfield, where about $5 million in damage was recorded.

And it's still raining. So flooding is becoming a big problem. Even the normally-tamed Cumberland River in Nashville has risen to the point where it's causing problems. Equipment from this weekend's "Riverstages" music festival is now underwater, including lights, generators, Porta-a-Potties, and a Budweiser beer truck loaded with 600 cases of beer was stranded beneath the water. A team tried to fish out some of the stuff yesterday afternoon, with partial success.

Images from Jackson

Road to Jackson, Monday, 2:21 PM: After driving through pouring rain, strong winds, and grape-sized hail, suddenly the sun broke through the clouds.

Downtown Jackson, Tuesday, 11:40 AM : Onlookers gaze at the remains of the Mother Liberty Church.

Downtown Jackson, Tuesday, 11:45 AM :Overturned postal trucks lay strewn about a parking lot near the post office.

Downtown Jackson, Tuesday, 12:57 PM: One of many demolished buildings in the city.

Tennessee got steamrolled by intense storms last night. Our company has a division in Jackson, TN, which was struck by at least one tornado. Most of the city is without power, including our office. So I got called in with a van-load of computer equipment to help set up temporary quarters.

I'm in a hotel room in Jackson right now. I happened to pick up a Sunday copy of The Jackson Sun. I was slightly amused to see most of a page devoted to the important civic issue of whether or not Hooter's should be able to open a reastaurant in as fine and upstanding a place as Jackson.

Here are two of the many letters printed on the page:

I think it's wrong for women to look "sexy" instead of settling down with a good husband and raising a family. They, and whoever brings that restaurant to Jackson, should be ashamed and will have to answer for their actions someday.

Cletus Barnes
Paris

Sounds plum wonderful! Them ladies are good people, just waitresses. I say we should let them work if they want to.

Shane Heart
Newberry

Hmm... It appears there is some disagreement about this issue. Will the good people of Jackson allow such a vile establishment in their midst? Will Hooters destroy the moral fiber of yet another city? Are people named "Cletus" for real? You'll just have to tune in next week for the exciting conclusion of this little drama!

New Hampshire mourns the loss of an old friend

The state's landmark stone face crashed to the valley floor sometime in the last day or two. (The mountain was obscured by fog, so no one knows exactly when it happened.) The Concord Monitor writes:

The Old Man of the Mountain, the stern granite profile that symbolized the state's independence and stubbornness, is gone, likely the victim of the same natural forces that created it thousands of years ago.

[...]

Daniel Webster, a 19th century New Hampshire statesman, once wrote, referring to the Old Man,

"Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades; shoemakers hang out a gigantic shoe; jewelers a monster watch, and the dentist hangs out a gold tooth; but in the mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that there He makes men."

Bling Bling added to the OED

It's official: the term "bling bling" is now part of the Queen's English, according to MTV.

The next time you and your pals coin a slang term to describe your latest bejeweled accessories, don't bet on keeping it exclusive. The linguistics "gangstas" over at the Oxford English Dictionary aren't "new jacks" to the latest "def" lingo.

The venerable definitions resource has already added other hip-hop-turned-mainstream terms like "jiggy," "breakbeat," "dope" and "phat" to the online updates of the 20-volume dictionary, and now it has started drafting an entry for the latest OED-approved term, "bling bling."

The term, which is used to describe diamonds, jewelry and all forms of showy style, was coined by New Orleans rap family Cash Money Millionaires back in the late '90s and started gaining national awareness with a song titled "Bling Bling" by Cash Money artist BG.

Thanks to Xeni over at BoingBoing for catching this.

What planet do these people live on?

From the AP: Georgians Plan Whites-Only Prom Party. My jaw was on the floor. What year is this, anyway?

Radio programming in the bible belt

From a Tennessean story about a month ago about how local radio stations deal with explicit lyrics:

Popular stations receive more than 100 songs a week and have to decide which to play. Program directors often rely on their experience and knowledge of their listening audience to make that call.

"I follow the 'hell-damn-ass' rule," said Kiki the First Lady, former program director and on-air personality of Clear Channel's The Beat. "Those are the only three you'll hear. All three of those words are in the Bible."

Goin' for some street cred...

My goddamn rock solid ghetto shiznit name is Fellatio D.
What's yours?
Powered by Rum and Monkey.

(I did this with my "real" name -- when I put in "Newton's Kumquat," I got "Tempestuous Kawfi!")

More pics posted yesterday. And Aaron got loose in Club Photo and started captioning some of the albums.