A Wandering Man

I’m a geek and a dork. I love technology. I love how advancing technology has brought about collisions of my varying interests. The latest one being my love of maps, my habit of noticing odd things most people just pass by and my recently rejuvenated (by virtue of a newly purchased camera) interest in photography. These have collided into taking photos as I wander, geocoding (embedding latitude & longitude and such data into the jpeg file) and then placing them onto a Google map, on the net, for everyone to ignore.

Rather than trying to explain here are three examples. These photos were all taken in one afternoon. I first “discovered” these sites one evening round about midnight while I was walking to a subway station and talking to friend on my phone about where and what I should eat. Several days later I returned to further explore these places in the light of day.

***Note about using these maps: Zoom all the way in using the controls in the upper left. This way my cluster of markers become easier to click on. Even so, some of them will still be too close to easily click. Use the “drop down” box in the upper left to more easily select individual photos. A “bubble” will pop-up when you select a photo by clicking the marker or using the drop-down box. This bubble will contain a short caption and a thumbnail of the photo. Clicking on the photo in the bubble will open, in a new tab or window, a larger, full-sized photo for a better view.***

The Cahuenga Branch Carnegie Library

While I was walking and talking on the phone my friend asked where I was. So, I looked up to spy a street sign when I saw this building. I exclaimed loudly into the phone. My friend was able to find the library on the net while we spoke. For a bit about the history and reasons of Carnegie Libraries click here. In short, it is the story of how an enormously wealthy man altered the course of America with his wealth. And I don’t mean, necessarily (though he was certainly guilty of it), though political means and corruption, but through idealism.

The Streelamp Yard

After going on a bit about the library, during the phone conversation, I spun around (still looking for street names) when I spotted this yard. It’s a very “me” thing to get excited about such mundane things as old streetlights. I just had to come back in the daylight to see what was here. While I was shooting these pics a small gaggle of neighborhood kids collected around me. They wondered and asked what I was doing. I did my best to explain that I was taking pictures for fun but I utterly failed. One little girl wrinkled her nose, pointed at a pile of rusty bits & parts with a flipped wrist, and asked “Of those??” Another boy, methinks in an effort to shoo away a weirdo, told me about a row of old streetlights, in working order, erected in the parking lot of a nearby shopping center. (These can actually be seen in the following Urban Goo map. Just to the right (east) of the Goo, oriented North South in the center of the parking lot.) He was right!! I’ve slated a return trip for myself to get snapshots of this array of historic lamps. Of Interest to note: The photo labeled “Streetlamp Yard 19″ shows three “pawn broker globe” lamps in front of the building. These three lamps can be seen as three small white dots in the Google Map satellite photo.

And finally, Urban Goo

This is a very “me” thing to notice. And I don’t just notice these things I ponder them at length and depth. In fact, this one is not all that great of an example of the phenomenon. I’ve come across ones that are much larger, blacker and that make noise as you walk across them. I guess I should warn you that some people may find these distasteful to view. Though, distasteful things abound in urban environments. If’n you are tryin’ to shut yourself off from these you be shutting yourself off from a lot in this world. In my humble opinion.

Feel free to ignore this post as it does contain a wee strain of gloating. Though there is a fun bit of a quiz (link to one actually) near the end.

Happy Bastille Day!!

For America France is like an irritating older sibling. Hard to love because of perceived arrogance, condescension, and a manner of speaking that leaves us feeling like we are coarse & feeble minded. It is easy to forget that much of that attitude, posture stems from the fact that this older sibling made her énormes fautes (huge mistakes) at an earlier time than we. A sixteen year old will learn the humiliating lessons of seduction before a twelve year old will. And even if the twelve year old observes the humiliation he will likely miss take the lessons for the lack of four years of experience. We dismiss France at our peril. Our histories are deeply rooted and inexorably entwined by blood as well as war, philosophy, commerce and politics.

I could go on for hours about the food, art and romance of France, but I’d rather focus here on a few of the lesser known, and my favored, “sports” of France.

Debate: It must take place in public. In private your entreaties are likely to be only greeted by a shrug. But in public a quip or offhand comment is an invitation to battle. Though it will often seem heated it is almost always warm hearted. It is common to see two combatants join forces to leap upon an interloper. Buses and the Metro seem to be popular as a forum. The most common topic I’ve witnessed is the “best” route to a particular destination on the Metro. These debates do not end, they simply pause for the rallying & gathering of evidence. They can last for decades.

Assembling the Meal: Shortly after breakfast as everyone in the family disperses on their daily activities the phone calls start. Mobile phones that is which are far more ubiquitous and utilized than they are here in America. The reason for the call? Invariably, “What shall we have for dinner?” This conversation requires at least ten calls throughout the day. Once the matter is settled, usually just an hour or two before the gathering, each member is dispatched to a particular part of the city to acquire a certain ingredient from a specific purveyor. I’ve often been stymied in my assignment for lack of certain knowledge. A dairyman once refused to sell me butter because I did not know how it was to be used. Baking, sautéing, or for spreading upon something to be eaten directly?? It took three phone calls to ascertain the purpose. Whereupon I was offered three choices. Actually, really only one choice as the other two would certainly only be used by a cretin. But ahhh, this one, this jewel of bovine production has been prized for millennium by the better courts of Europe for its delicate properties. So, of course, I would select the indicated one for which I be loudly and derisively maligned, upon arriving home, for being had because I did not know the price of butter in France. “Zut alors!”

In my perusing of the morning news I encountered a quiz to test one’s knowledge of France. Of course, any Frenchman would be dismissive of this quiz as it could be completed, without error, by any four year old. Which, in my humiliating experience, I found to be quite true. Yet, I still found it be fun and was quite shocked to find that I did well. Answering 14 of 15 correctly. My one error was caused by the dastardly tactic of the quiz compilateur using transposed numbers.

Enjoy!
Just in time for Bastille Day, try this quiz on what it means to be French

Avec beaucoup d’humeur et d’affection.

Do you want to improve the world?
I don’t think it can be done.

The world is sacred.
It can’t be improved.
If you tamper with it, you’ll ruin it.
If you treat it like an object, you’ll lose it.

There is a time for being ahead,
a time for being behind;
a time for being in motion,
a time for being at rest;
a time for being vigorous,
a time for being exhausted;
a time for being safe,
a time for being in danger.

The Master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle.

- Lao Tzu - Tao Te Ching - Chapter 29, translation by Stephen Mitchell

When I read this chapter it makes me conceive of life like dealing with an unseen wild animal throughout my day. That my every action will be an engagement with, and reaction to, this animal. That everything I am to encounter is a result of an active living force with purposeful intent upon my being.

How often do we think of the daily external world as a living thing? Not as a remote god or set of abstract circumstances, but as an immediate, intentional animal. Can you at first imagine and then respond to a situation that provokes visceral emotion with silence and inaction? Or detect when the absence of occurrence should be met with furious action?

These are appropriate responses. Sometimes.
The life you are to lead today is a living thing. External to you. Acting in response to and upon you.
Are you attentive to it?