so after several years of dormancy, i figured i should actually attempt to do something with this site again. blogging is pretty popular these days, but since i don't currently have much time for writing lengthy bits of prose, i figure i'll just type in a random paragraph every now and then... most likely just quick notes about interesting places that i find during my normal travels about the web. i'll try to keep them fairly well sorted into the (arbitrary and subject to change) categories listed on the right. the ever-popular photo gallery is also here, of course. if you have any comments, please contact me. enjoy!
~r
Sorry for being away for a while, it has been a rather busy summer. Some of it I took photos of: a visit to the site of the Freedman's Cemetery in Dallas, taking the interns to Industrial Light & Magic, wandering around Boston with the fellas, and randomly going to the coast. I hope that all has been well with you.
Over the years, I've taken to running the Ars Technica benchmark on nearly every machine I've gotten my hands on since around 2000 or so. While the applicability of this benchmark (or any benchmark, for that matter) to reality is questionable, it is interesting to see how a bunch of machines have fared on the same tests over the years. Here, for your entertainment, are the results.
Last weekend I visited the Colonel Allensworth State Historical Park in California's Central Valley. The park is on the site of Allensworth, a town founded 100 years ago by Colonel Allen Allensworth and four other African American pioneers. Their mission was to create a self-sustaining community where African Americans could build better lives for themselves. A dwindling water supply, diversion of railroad activity to a neighboring town, and the defeat in the State Legislature of a Tuskegee-inspired vocational school envisioned for Allensworth led to the town's decline, but fortunately its legacy lives on. Here are photos I took during my visit.
"Going On" and "Smiley Faces" by Gnarls Barkley.
Stephen Hawking is among a high-profile group of scientists and engineers supporting the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in Cape Town. The goal of the institute, founded by Cambridge Professor Neil Turok, is to encourage and train the next generation of African scientists and mathematicians. Hawking is among a group of distinguished researchers who assembled yesterday to launch a new AIMS initiative to create 15 new research centers for advanced math and science. If you're a researcher or postdoc looking for a work opportunity, they're hiring.
I finally finished reading Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams (author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, my favorite series of books when I was a kid) and zoologist Mark Carwardine. I first heard about the book from a hilarious and poignant lecture Adams gave years ago at a German university. It's about their travels around the world in search of endangered species. I'm not really a big animal person, but the way they bring the desperate situations of these animals to light (particularly with Adams' trademark curiosity, humor, and general sense of wonder about the world) makes it impossible not to feel for their collective plight -- which for the most part has been created by man.
We had a great trip to the Arctic. Happily, I didn't flip my snowmobile or get eaten by a bear, so I met my two criteria for a successful trip. By popular demand, the photos are now up.
The word of the day: polymath. Unfortunately, it seems that modern society has forgotten how to cope with people who can be described as such. Instead of receiving benevolence from a generous modern-day Medici to create beauty and truth, people generally have to go out and get a regular old myopic job/career (most often making money for someone else). However, if you're still trying to channel your inner da Vinci while still paying the rent, check out a book called Renaissance Soul. It has lots of tips on how maintain your breadth in today's depth-oriented world.