cape lookout

we're starting the planning for rehab of the lighthouse so they can open it to the public----built in 1859 to replace one built in 1812---169' tall and 216 steps to the top, which i climbed four times yesterday----the last time was a bit of a chore, but it wasn't like a couple of years ago when i could barely make it to the top of bodie island light one time-----of course great views of the atlantic, the cape itself---the shoals arc out to the left in these images, with the bight on the right----the shoals stretch out for 15 or 20 miles and were actually just as dangerous, if not more so, as diamond shoals at cape hatteras----

tormenta eléctrica en erupción del volcán chaitén.

let's go to chile

the park

it was a fine afternoon in the park yesterday, especially fine for treeing the squirrels, which guinness thinks is a great accomplishment----but there won't be any festivals in the park this year, which i still think is an over-reaction to the drought, which now seems to be abating----the place never looked as parched and brown as one might think it would be, given the city's decision to close it to some of the city's biggest festivals----there are plenty of people that would like to keep it that way, continuing the de facto privatization of our parks

curves

"life on the curve" is 1010's catchy little slogan, but the old firestone store, which it replaced, was a very much cooler building----

democrats

from a gen y human, as quoted on andrewsullivan:

I'll just put that out there. If Obama is done in by this whole Wright thing I am done with politics. I can't invest myself in something that is so sure to disappoint me time and time and time again. If the Democratic party decides that it can not risk nominating a great and decent African American man because his pastor is a scary African American man, it does not deserve power because it will have caved to what is worst about America. Racists on both sides of the divide will rejoice at having taking down the biggest threat to their belief system since Martin Luther King....and young people like myself will burrow deeper into to the holes we were in before Barack Obama dug us out.

tough times

NEW YORK - The for-sale listings on the online hub Craigslist come with plaintive notices, like the one from the teenager in Georgia who said her mother lost her job and pleaded, "Please buy anything you can to help out."

obama on "rev." wright

i don't know what else he can do----wright is clearly a total idiot

buildings

viewpoint appears to be finished, and i've even seen a few lights on at night, but no other signs of life---the store fronts are all dressed up with no place to go---

the palomar hotel, which dog is completely ignoring, is about halfway to the top---

mimus polyglottos

mockingbirds are the best and have great names in english and in latin----there was always one on sinclair avenue who would wake me up some spring mornings, since they like to sing at 4 in the morning--- when i moved, it was good to hear one over here my first spring---since then i've seen and heard him a lot---he and/or she even stopped on my balcony railing for a brief moment one day---now the bird is apparently nesting in the trees and shrubs at the back of the old bank lot----it was dive bombing guinness, and as i was watching him raising hell on top of the wall at the back of the property, this woman stopped and asked if it was the bird "that liked to touch people"---i said it might have a nest, just as a second guy stopped to say the bird had pecked him on the head---when i told robert he said it had rushed at him the other day, too---they are fierce defenders of their nests, as all the poor people schlepping back and forth to the marta station must be finding out---

evolving landmarks

peachtree place was laid out in 1895 with a one block landscaped median (north avenue had a similar feature at one time as well)---the margaret mitchell house was built in 1899 in what was then the middle of the block and was the first building on the block---in 1902, willis denny, architect of rhodes hall, among others, designed a great classical revival house that was built on the south end of the block---the margaret mitchell house is visible in the background, the only historic image of the house on its original location that has been found---

commercial development of the Peachtree Street frontage began in 1904 while houses were built on both sides of the Crescent Apartments in 1905----another apartment building and more stores were constructed on the peachtree side of the block in 1906, and in 1913, the margaret mitchell house was moved to the rear of its lot and reoriented with a crescent avenue address so that the peachtree street frontage could be developed commercially----in 1919 the house was converted into the ten-unit crescent apartments----five years later, the classical revival house at the south end of the block was knocked down for construction of a new a & p grocery store----by then the block was almost completely built up, with residences on crescent avenue and a theater and retail stores on peachtree and peachtree place---in 1954, the theater at the corner of Peachtree and Tenth and the two houses just north of the Crescent Apartments were demolished in order to widen Tenth Street to eliminate one of the dog-legs that impeded automobile traffic and low-rise office building replaced the two houses on crescent just south of the margaret mitchell house---in the mid-1980s, everything but the mitchell house and the 1924 commercial row that is now proposed for landmark status were demolished, which created a scene that mitchell herself would not recognize----

crescent avenue

Before the Federal Reserve Bank was constructed in 2001, Crescent Avenue, the street that bisects the Atlanta History Center’s property, actually formed a crescent and it was apparent how it had once been a portion of an earlier alignment of Peachtree Street when it was still a country wagon road. Older than the city itself, the road followed the topography and originally looped around a deep ravine where the bank now sits. In the wake of the Civil War, a shanty town evolved around the gulch, gaining notoriety 1867, when John Plaster and Jerome Cheshire, sons of two of the old pioneers in the area, were assaulted. Plaster’s death and Cheshire’s serious injury provoked a large public outcry, and there were vigilante efforts to clean up the area. It was noted that it could be "a mighty tight squeeze getting through there with your life," giving rise to the area’s nickname, Tight Squeeze. By 1872, there was a church at the intersection of Peachtree Road and Plaster Bridge Road (near present Eighth Street) along with a wagon yard, a blacksmith shop, several small wooden stores, and “the Tight Squeezers up and down the gulch.”

As the city grew in the 1880s, suburban development began to occur, especially after the city’s exposition grounds were opened at Piedmont Park in 1887. As part of the preparations for the first exposition, the gulch at Tight Squeeze was filled and Peachtree Road realigned between Eighth and Twelfth Streets. By 1900, the old portion of the road had become Crescent Avenue.

now ain't that inneresting?

the viewshed

Excellent news for the view: the Atlanta History Center, which now owns and operates the Margaret Mitchell House, has apparently finalized their plans for the property. They are reported to have sold the parking lot and c. 1960 bank building, where the Tara entranceway is on display, for $7 million, which will form an endowment for the Margaret Mitchell House. A condo or office building will go up on the site but is supposed to be limited to 12 stories. In addition, they are transferring, presumably for a good bit of money, development rights for the 1920s commercial row where the visitor center is now located. It will be designated a city landmark, giving it the same protection as the Margaret Mitchell House itself. On the south side of Peachtree Place, the Palmer Apartments (1907) and Phelan Court Apartments (1915), some of the city's earliest apartment buildings, are also protected as city landmarks. The landscaped median in the first block of Peachtree Place is historic, too, completing an excellent little historic district that I walk through almost every day. Hearings on the rezoning that will make all that happen are scheduled for May.

the american free-enterprise system at work

Pathetic. This is really supposed to be news...for the better? If you listened to Republicans talk you would think they actually liked the free market but if you believed them, you would be sadly mistaken.

Qwest Communications International Inc. on Thursday introduced DSL plans with faster download speeds, including one that is the fastest DSL service from a major U.S. phone company.

Qwest is charging $104.99 per month for a download speed of 20 megabits per second. For 12 mbps, it is charging $51.99 per month. The prices are $5 lower when combined with local phone service.

Compare this "great" offer to what I just signed in France, which we all know hates choice and hates the free market, according to the GOP. For €53 per month I receive a 100 mbps internet connection plus phone calls throughout Europe and North America plus TV channels. In local terms for local buyers one euro is one dollar but even with the terrible exchange rate this is a steal compared to the business friendly market in the US. The Republicans only care about giving business everything they want, always at the expense of consumers. It's hard to believe the GOP could do so much damage to the previously competitive US market.

the animals

dexter and guinness are the featured critters on AARF's "happy tails"---check it out

bumbot

ATLANTA - Cars passing O'Terrill's pub screech to a halt at the sight of a 300-pound, waist-high robot marked "SECURITY" rolling through downtown long after dark.The regulars hardly glance outside. They've seen bar owner Rufus Terrill's invention on patrol before — its bright red lights and even brighter spot light blazing, infrared video camera filming and water cannon at the ready in the spinning turret on top.

fox "news"

we no longer have a functioning free press, which you have to have in order to have a functioning democracy---foxs "news" is, and for most of its existence always has been, nothing but the mouthpiece for corporate/republican america---and for untold millions this is their only source of news---they are sharpening their knives for obama---watch this if you don't believe me:

the plutocracy

If Barack Obama or anyone else really cares to know what I think, I will simplify it all down to this. The landmark political fact of our time is the replacement of our middle-class republic by a plutocracy. If some candidate has a scheme to reverse this trend, they've got my vote, whether they prefer Courvoisier or beer bongs spiked with cough syrup. I don't care whether they enjoy my books, or would rather have every scrap of paper bearing my writing loaded into a C-47 and dumped into Lake Michigan. If it will help restore the land of relative equality I was born in, I'll fly the plane myself.

Thomas Frank,WSJ, today

he got it right before and he got it right today----his book what's the matter with kansas was excellent, i thought---it's just so messed up how people let themselves be manipulated over flag pins and queers or whatever-----

new politics

sharpton and robertson together for wecansolveit.org, a project of Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection----kinda leaves one speechless----

building and flowering

they're getting close with 1010----the lowe's hotel is just getting out of the ground---stuff is growing and blooming----

green things

the red oak across the street has been almost fluorescent the last few days

one more from the sixties

procol harum, 1967---back when, a lot of the rocknrollers didn't know what to do with their music---the beginning of art rock

leon russell redux

1964: pre-beard and top hat

mad dogs and englishmen

joe cocker and leon russell---cry me a river, 1970---

let's eat

Global food prices have risen because food grains are in short supply. Another strong reason given for this is the shift to biofuel, which are promoted as a green alternative to conventional fuels, like petrol and diesel.

and there are food riots all over the world----as close as mexico---

meanwhile, in haiti, they are eating "cookies" made of dirt, salt, and vegetable oil----

all of that is seriously fukd up---

ikea trains

ikea is decking out trains in kobe---

see, if martha would redecorate, maybe everybody would quit complaining---

quest

now exactly what sort of quest would he have been on in the bushes in central park at 3 oclock in the morning?

Richard Quest, the host of CNN's "Business Traveler" and "Quest" and an international correspondent for the network, is being arraigned today on a misdemeanor drug possession charge after an overnight arrest in New York's Central Park:

obamamania

holy crap! nephew-in-law daniel, whose chief political influence has been rush limbaugh, is now all for obama---or so he told me, although alexis was asking, "since when?" but he seemed to be serious---now i want to know why, which i didn't get to hear because we got sidetracked into a wierd rant from jeff about how none of it mattered and that all we needed was for people to work together "at the community level," or something---roads, national defense? oh, we'll have to work on that----jeez----

cell phones

"can the cell phone help end global poverty?" before you laugh, read this piece---reminders of the huge amount of stuff that we totally take for granted----

Those are just names, probably fake names, coupled with real cellphone numbers — lending to Chipchase’s theory that in an increasingly transitory world, the cellphone is becoming the one fixed piece of our identity.... Jan Chipchase and his user-research colleagues at Nokia can rattle off example upon example of the cellphone’s ability to increase people’s productivity and well-being, mostly because of the simple fact that they can be reached.... Over several years, his research team has spoken to rickshaw drivers, prostitutes, shopkeepers, day laborers and farmers, and all of them say more or less the same thing: their income gets a big boost when they have access to a cellphone.

fighting like cats and dogs

i think dexter and guinness are gonna do just fine together----

the dog bed

the deep freeze

which is where they found this 37,000-year-old carcass of a baby wooly mammoth----innards all intact---

dog redux

i worried too soon about the dex/guinness dynamic---it's all chasing each other and having a good time already----early this afternoon it was like something snapped and suddenly dexter doesn't think the dog is such a problem after all---they have been running around, playing little dog and cat games---now if we can just keep the pee outside, we'll be all set----

dog

so he's here--------and the name's guinness, thanks to robert------i had been thinking about henry but then decided tyrone would be better----then somebody said something about his being black and tan and robert piped up "guinness," so guinness it is---

a great little dog---kinda skinny, but he'll fatten up---

hasn't gone as smoothly with the dex as i had hoped---guinness hasn't gotten whacked yet, which needs to happen in order to establish proper boundaries, but he has figured out that the cat absolutely does not want to play with him----i'm taking a long weekend and maybe some more next week, hoping the transition will go quickly, he won't whine when i leave, and dexter won't be all freaked out----

animal minds

the march issue of natl geographic had a wonderful cover story "inside animal minds"---all sorts of animals and how researchers are documenting what all us animal lovers already knew: many of them (all of them?) most certainly have minds and consciousness---including that cow that is now a hamburger----

oh. my. god.

you have never seen anything to compare with this----it gave me chills---chills of awe---

hmmmmm

red state update

funny stuff here---unless maybe you are a hillary (an hillary?) fan----they have a web site----

bolero

this is fascinating---a type of dementia that destroys part of the function of the frontal lobe while opening up vast new worlds of creativity----trouble is it kills you in the end----

Some paintings are meant to be appreciated in silence – but not this one. It is called Unravelling Boléro, by Canadian artist Anne Adams, and is a bar-by-bar representation of the popular classical piece Boléro by Maurice Ravel.

The painting also provides a scientific window into the creative mind.

When Adams completed Unravelling Boléro in 1994, her brain was starting to be affected by a neurodegenerative condition called primary progressive aphasia. It later robbed Adams of speech, and eventually took her life.

In its early stages, however, the condition seemed to unleash a flowering of neural development in a brain area that integrated information from different senses. In part, Unravelling Boléro may be a beautiful symptom of a terrible disease.

color

this was the first color photograph, taken by James Clerk Maxwell, a Scotsman, in 1861!

Considered the first colour photograph. Maxwell had the photographer Thomas Sutton photograph a tartan ribbon three times, each time with a different colour filter over the lens. The three images were developed and then projected onto a screen with three different projectors, each equipped with the same colour filter used to take its image. When brought into focus, the three images formed a full colour image.

jardin de metropolis

i thought that we had lost a lot of our trees, hit hard by last year's easter freeze and then the drought and water restrictions in the fall---but they are all alive, some just slow to emerge---all this dampness has been great----

landmarks, continued

nearly all of the old bungalows and four-squares west of peachtree are gone----the house on w ptree at 12th (which was some trashy club the last time i went in it, sometime in the last century), along with the row of 1920s commercial buildings just to the north, will be gone as soon as the economy improves----likewise, some of the old trees are still there, for now---the red oak on 12th shaded a fine little bungalow, until a couple of years ago it burned---the tree now shelters the sales office for 1010, rising over it to the east----

the next slums

"For 60 years, Americans have pushed steadily into the suburbs, transforming the landscape and (until recently) leaving cities behind. But today the pendulum is swinging back toward urban living, and there are many reasons to believe this swing will continue. As it does, many low-density suburbs and McMansion subdivisions, including some that are lovely and affluent today, may become what inner cities became in the 1960s and ’70s—slums characterized by poverty, crime, and decay. . . .
American metropolitan residential patterns and cultural preferences are mirror opposites of those in the 1940s. Most Americans now live in single-family suburban houses that are segregated from work, shopping, and entertainment; but it is urban life, almost exclusively, that is culturally associated with excitement, freedom, and diverse daily life. And as in the 1940s, the real-estate market has begun to react."

landmarks in midtown

foggy morning

a fitting tribute

Looking to honor the forty-third President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, the recently formed Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is looking to change the name of the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Facility. It seems the group would like to rename the SF Zoo adjacent facility to the "George W Bush Sewage Plant."

i especially like the plungers----

poor zimbabwe

from today's nytimes----i can't even imagine what their lives must be like----georgia sux sometimes, but nothing like zimbabwe under mugabe----from the continent's richest country and its bread basket to a total wreck in only two decades----

dex

dexter has developed this thing for plastic bags----he's in the process of destroying a bag of bags that i had bagged up to recycle---i woke up this morning to find them in my bedroom and, just now, he shows up by my chair fighting with it----it's pretty funny watching him grab it in his mouth and move it from room to room----i think he needs a dog---

misc.

there was a fine view down peachtree this morning----1010 is topped out, i think----won't be long till you won't be able to see it like this----

poor craiggie house---was home to atlanta chapter of d.a.r., the second oldest chapter in the country---- massachussetts had given them the building that that state built for the 1895 cotton states exposition at piedmont park---it was a replica of longfellow's house in cambridge, but they never could afford to get it moved and it was finally knocked down around 1912---they built this chapter house on donated land in 1914, but a lot of corners were cut and/or the contractor ripped them off, and the builidng had serious structural issues by the 1990s---one wall was on the verge of collapse, but they got it rebuilt---now the building is all boarded up and looks really sad--

w hotel

the sheraton has been reborn as the w, all black and monolithic---at night, the big cube that is the porte cochere is lit with this strange flourescent glow providing all the light---wonderful green wall adjacent to porte cochere---

spring

the cherry trees along piedmont avenue are spectacular----i caught them before the rain, at their peak----with the holly that's blooming, the stench of spring fills the air----

storm damage

it is really kinda amazing the amount of broken glass downtown---more than was at first apparent----and both the flatiron building and the carnegie building lost parts of their decorative metal cornices, which will be hard to replace----peachtree street and several other streets are still closed and there's scaffolding up all over the place----there's so much glass and debris in the grass at centennial park, that they are having to dig it all up and replace the sod----

cuba and the gays

A lot of homosexual couples asked me to not risk delaying getting the law passed by insisting on the word marriage. In Cuba marriage is not as important as the family and at least this way we can guarantee the personal and inheritance rights of homosexuals and transsexuals. I've seen changes in my father since I was a child. I saw him as macho and homophobic. But as I have grown and changed as a person, so I have seen him change...In the early years of the revolution much of the world was homophobic. It was the same here in Cuba and led to acts which I consider unjust. What I see now is that both Cuban society and the government have realised that these were mistakes. There is also the desire to take initiatives which would prevent such things happening again.

mariela castro, raul castro's daughter

there may be hope for cuba and human rights after all

sound from 1860

For more than a century, since he captured the spoken words “Mary had a little lamb” on a sheet of tinfoil, Thomas Edison has been considered the father of recorded sound. But researchers say they have unearthed a recording of the human voice, made by a little-known Frenchman, that predates Edison’s invention of the phonograph by nearly two decades.

war rugs

i don't think "persian" rugs will ever be the same again-----

These variations of the “weaponscape: field of armaments” category first appeared on the internet about three years ago, and they can be seen in the markets of Kabul, Herat, and Mashhad. They arrived on the scene at about the same time as tanks began to be replaced by Corollas as borders and decorative infills. What struck us about these designs was the range of non-war motifs (the bus border, limousines, Corollas, luxury cruisers) alongside cruise missiles (?) and vestigial tanks.

obsolete

A fond farewell to 209 once-common things that are either obsolete or well on the way

and if, like me, you chuckle through that, assured that you know what's going on, check out what kids think has gone useless in their lifetimes:

I used to use Instant Messenger,but now I mostly use Facebook to communicate with people. I use e-mail for, like, reaching my coaches or uncles -- older people. Otherwise it's either my cellphone or Facebook.

bush's legacy

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Four U.S. soldiers died in a roadside bombing in Iraq on Sunday, military officials reported, bringing the American toll in the 5-year-old war to the grim milestone of 4,000 deaths.

city or suburb

bc is torn between living in a 1950s subdivision in clarkston or somewhere more close in, perhaps even an urban condominium, and he wonders why live in town? thirty years ago, as much as anything, i did it to be somewhere other gay guys would be----that’s still a good reason for me to be here, but not as critical as it was then, even if i were younger---since then, i’ve slowly realized a lot of other reasons to live in an urban environment----

part of it is just the feeling of being part of the hive, connected to the rest of mankind----doesn’t mean you are all up in everybody’s business, in fact the opposite is true---it’s a feeling that’s really been intensified living where I do now---I feel, see, and am a part of the rhythms of the city as soon as I open my eyes in the morning---when i lived on sinclair avenue I liked hearing henry going about his business, smelling his bacon frying every morning, hearing him muttering back at his mother under his breath----if the house caught fire, or some other emergency, he would be there to call or whatever---otherwise, and this is critical, he mostly left us alone---anyway i feel the same way here---right down to smelling the neighbors' bacon frying sometimes---howdies in the hall, small talk in the elevator, all that is kinda nice---and there was even more of it when dog was around---

i like living here because i can walk everywhere (i really hate driving)---besides walking to and from work (not always, but a lot) and having piedmont park, the high, and the botanical garden close at hand, all of my consumer needs are easily met: besides a gazillion restaurants, publix, cvs, office depot, barnes & noble, outwrite are all within four blocks, and atlantic station, which has dillards, target, and ikea, and ponce square, which has home depot and whole foods, are under two miles----lenox square is two stops away on marta, and even edgewood is martable, although changing trains at five points makes it a time-consuming strip---i can walk to my doctor---heck i walked down to the hospital to get my stent put in---so even if i do have to drive, it usually ain’t far---in just over 8 years, i’ve put 41,000 miles on my car---

i like the diversity of people, wherever i go---last night robert and i were at little azio, and there was quite an array of people, from dykes with a child to ma and pa come down to visit daughter and boyfriend in the big city--- two or three generations of a hispanic family out for some occasion--- college dewds getting it to go-- couples in all combinations of race, gender and sexual orientation, ---on and on ---the publix is like that, too, with a heavy dose of techies thrown in---and all of that goes for metropolis, too---gay, straight, interracial, mutli-ethnic, young and old, just in my elevator, i have heard, in addition to english (american, british, and australian), spanish, french, japanese, portuguese, hindi (i think) and german (or dutch, i can't tell them apart unless i hear a lot of it)---

a house and yard are great things, but so is not having to keep one painted and maintained ---and not having to worry about it when you go out of town---

the glass house part has only intensified my whole experience of the city----it ain’t new yawk, but it does what any good city does: it automatically draws me out, and makes it difficult (though not entirely impossible) to withdraw from the world and just concentrate on being depressed---however, not everyone has that experience of the city ---on the occasion of her first visit to the 13^th floor, cv noted that living here would probably just make her horny all the time---there are a lot of reasons to love a city---

the end of mcmansions?

In a ruling that could help bolster the enforcement of zoning ordinances that cap house size, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently upheld the authority of local communities to restrict overbuilding. Although the case is one of a handful around the nation to take up the issue so far, interest in smart growth and sustainability is increasingly focusing regulators’ attention on house size—and this could ultimately accrue to the benefit of architects.

tornado fatality?

Workers found a body Saturday while clearing rubble from a building damaged more than a week ago when a tornado slammed into downtown Atlanta, police said.

"We may have the first tornado victim in the city of Atlanta, but we won't know for sure until the medical examiner" returns with results, Officer James Polite said.

The man had no identification, but he was wearing a wedding band, he said.

The front of the damaged building had been a store, and the rear had been rented out to a local church. Workers using a Bobcat to scoop up bricks and debris saw a hand sticking out of the rubble and called police, Polite said.

Investigators brought in two cadaver dogs to search the rubble east of downtown, but no other bodies were found.

The tornado ripped through the city's downtown and through historic neighborhoods March 14, knocking out hundreds of windows, scattering debris across the city's core and sending trees crashing into homes. At least 27 people were injured in the storm.

Another tornado that hit northwest Georgia on March 15 killed two Polk County residents.

tornado map

somebody put together this map of the tornado's path----the little jogs across downtown may be deceptive since the true path was probably more of a steady arc from beginning to end---


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