I used an electronic art treatment to stylize the header image, a photo I took at Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana. Oak Alley is a plantation home surrounded by an alley of Live Oak trees that are over 300 years old. The canopy of oaks frames the beautiful homes to form an iconic image.
I spent a day there with my brother Gary who works as a technology consultant for the plantation.
The full image is here.
The IBM Selectric typewriter is 50 years old.
My high school guidance counselor registered me to take typing so that I’d be prepared to type papers in college. I didn’t want to, but he made me. I thought it was for girls. I balked at the old manual machines that the Business department had, each one perched on a massive wooden desk. Those manual typewriters were ancient, clacking, bell-ringing monstrosities that made your hands hurt after class. But halfway through the semester, the department got all new electric typewriters. The IBM Selectrics were sleek, powerful, colorful, and creative with their interchangeable font balls. It was amazing to be able to type regular and italic from the same machine just by changing the typeball! Typing on the Selectric was like driving a Ferrari in comparison to the Model Ts I first learned on.
I wasn’t a speedy or particularly accurate typist, but I saw the potential in the new devices. My dad’s co-workers were always looking for someone to type a resume or letter, and he’d pimp me out for 30 cents a page. I could use the typewriter at school after class and make my weekend spending money.
When I went off to college, I carried with me a brand new electric Smith-Corona that I’d been given as a graduation gift. It didn’t have the same sexy appeal as the Selectric office machines, but it got the job done. The S-C got me through grad school too. Computers and printers took the place of typewriters after that, so I never again used an IBM Selectric. It was a graceful piece of engineering, though. And it proved to be a great learning tool for preparing all the letters, resumes, sermons, and even blog posts that have come along since.
This gallery contains 3 photos.
From the new Lorain County Metroparks Conservatory at Miller’s Nature Preserve in Avon, Ohio.
I started driving in the early 1970′s when gasoline was always “Full Serv”, a full tank often came with a piece of dishware, and complaints were heavy when prices reached the sky at 47 cents per gallon. There was talk that by the end of the century, prices might be as high as a dollar a gallon, but that mostly sounded like alarmist speculation. Today’s prices have people talking about the ups and downs of gas prices as we do every time there’s a significant spike, and I’ve seen variation from $3.55 to $4.17 within the past week.
Yes, it seems outrageous to pay over $4.00 for a gallon, but Greg Beato’s article puts things in perspective:
Indeed, while the gas that cost 36 cents per gallon in 1970 would only cost $2 per gallon today, the average fuel economy for cars in that era was approximately 13.5 miles per gallon. In contrast, a 2011 Ford Fiesta gets 28 miles per gallon in the city and 37 miles per gallon on the highway — so until gas prices top $4 per gallon, Fiesta drivers are actually paying less per mile for gas than the drivers of the 1970s did. And they’re not paying a premium to achieve such efficiencies — the Fiesta starts at $13,320 (that’s just $2312.72 in 1970 dollars).
Best of all would be to wean ourselves from oil dependency, but alas, the right balance of technology and market pricing is not there yet.
God’s art, the movement of the Milky Way galaxy, captured by a video artist.
The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.
Eric Whitacre offers a second virtual choir, selecting thousands of singers from online auditions, then blending them all together to produce a masterwork. His previous work is seen here.
The current piece, Sleep, is written by Whitacre.
It appalls me that in the name of Jesus, pastor Terry Jones and his congregation in Florida have burned the Islamic Koran, resulting in the direct retaliation of extremist Muslims in Afghanistan against American troops. This kind of action, which appears to be more about the need for attention, brings shame on our faith. As writer Cathleen Falsani points out, Jesus was all about peacemaking, that is, actively making peace. I guess it’s up to the rest of us to work harder at the peacemaking mission of our Lord and Teacher to mitigate the shame brought on by idiotic brothers and sisters.
From a pleasant day last fall, Elyria’s waterfalls in Cascade Park.
I’ve updated the look of this blog to be a little bolder, more contemporary, and easier to read. There’s also a new header image at the top of the page. It’s a cropped version of this photo, which I took in Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia, last summer.
Architecture and history fascinate me, and the details of these old homes in this part of the city caught my eye. I love the sliding slate roof and the bright rust color showing beneath the crumbling stucco on the abandoned home juxtaposed with the bright yellow and arched windows of the remodeled home. It’s a fresh look at an old neighborhood. Much like this redesigned blog.
I love the traditions of sparkly lights, holiday parties, and gift giving at this time of year. But I also know it’s far removed from that dark and lonely cave where Mary gave birth to the Son of God. The contemporary celebration of Christmas seems to have little to do with the theological significance of that event. But the season of Advent helps focus the spotlight on the waiting and watching, and helps people mark the passage of time with things like Advent calendars and wreaths. Andrew Sullivan explains why that’s important.
[via The Daily Dish]
The posts are pretty sporadic–almost nil–these days. I haven’t had the energy to write blog posts, since much of my daily work involves writing. The blog is simply not feeling like the outlet it was when I began it three-plus years ago. Meanwhile, technology continues to change, and I find myself more connected to others through newer forms of social media than a rather static blog allows. I have a Facebook page of my own, and do occasional posts there, along with developing the growing presence of the church’s Facebook “business page”. Facebook has some downside issues to it, but I’ve found a wider audience there, and it’s much more interactive.
I’m not abandoning the blog yet. I’ll probably continue to post occasional videos, photos and interesting tidbits that I run across, or at least cross-post them with Facebook. Thanks for checking in, reading and watching, and for your valued comments.
There are lots of things I don’t have to think about. And sometimes I forget to be aware of those privileges, at least just for today.
A thoughtful essay by John Scalzi.
…in this video. Looks like a lot of fun! And I understand they filmed it in one take.
