From West to East: A Road Trip Journal (Part 3)

Taking a Quick Stop on the Pacific Coast Highway (Carl)

This is the third in a series of posts on a summer trip; see the second.

In Fort Bragg, the first thing we did was eat a substantial breakfast, since we had missed supper the night before. We ate at a curious Wizard of Oz themed restaurant called “Eggheads,” complete with a yellow-brick road (of linoleum tile) running through the center of the building. We asked the proprietor what had prompted the theme—had the young Judy Garland frequented the coastal town? Were the pots and pans castoffs of the Tin Man’s suit? As it turns out, the answer was rather more mundane: Eggheads’ bathroom is difficult to find. Those wanting to make the trip must go through the dining area and kitchen, exit into a lot behind the building, and hang a left around a corner before finding the small cottage hiding the commode nestled between a few sheds and next to some old gardening equipment. The circuitous route defeats expectations so soundly that, about thirty years ago, management decided to create a prominent trail for customers. When a dull saffron floor tile was chosen, the yellow brick road was born—and all of the many allusions to the Wizard of Oz which thereafter sprung up on the menu and storefront.

Continue reading

22 Minutes With Gerhard Richter

We said in a previous post that these matters are subjective.  There is no accounting for taste.  Still, Gerhard Richter is an artist  that can clearly be understood as an artist.  He is famous, yes, and also a wealth machine.  But he does not seem to be doing what he is doing for fame and/or fortune.  Writers should write.  Artists should make their art.

Hit Record

I like Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

“I feel like, Socrates, or something,” said actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt while looking out at the crowd framed by the round and columned architecture of Bailey Hall.

That’s why, several months ago, when I learned he was coming to do a show in Bailey Hall at Cornell, I committed to waking up early and facing the failing web servers to buy two of over a thousand tickets that were to sell out in less than half an hour, making the show the fastest to sell out at Cornell in a while. And I only bought two because that was the limit per student — by the time I got through to the webpage only balcony seats were left. Continue reading

Flavours Of Kerala – Sambar

Sambar is an example of a traditional South Indian spiced vegetable stew. It is a classic dish made with lentil and tamarind based broth, usually served with plain rice, Idli or Dosa, or an element in thali (banana leaf) meals. Each state of South India prepares it with a typical variation adapted to its culture and taste. Continue reading

Brand Bubble Bursting

crist

P.T. Barnum (perhaps apocryphally) is often quoted as having said that a sucker is born every minute.  Damien Hirst, who has parted many people with their money for things that have his “brand” attached, and now boasts an estimated $350 million personal fortune as a result, could be Exhibit A in Barnum’s argument.  This guy has sold some remarkable clothing to quite a few emperors.

Yes, these are highly subjective matters, and if you want to call Hirst an artist you have every right to do so.  But he makes his own case for being something other than an artist in any meaningful sense of that word, and he makes it difficult for the average person from “outside the art world” to take the “art world” seriously.  Is the market catching up with this slick marketer?  Click the image above for the graph and short blurb version, or for the long form journalistic pin prick in the big bubble click here:

For all his celebrity, Hirst’s stock in the art market has experienced a stunning deflation. According to data compiled by the firm Artnet, Hirst works acquired during his commercial peak, between 2005 and 2008, have since resold at an average loss of 30 percent. Continue reading

Marine Protected Areas As Collective Action

There are newer, larger marine protected areas. How and why do such areas come to be and how do they fare? According to this review the book to the left explains, and is even published as an authorial act of entrepreneurial conservation:

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) came into existence in 2006.  It was, at the time, the largest marine protected area in the world and was the result of a courageous step by the government of the Republic of Kiribati – a South Pacific nation consisting of what was once known Continue reading

Crowd-sourced Project Finance 101

Recently, I happened upon the pitch above and was at first thrilled to see yet one more alternative approach to raising awareness and appreciation for nature: good production values and the style is quirky and fun.  The Kickstarter pitch came midway through and then my thoughts started wandering. Continue reading

If You Happen To Be In New York

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Path of Nature:
French Paintings from the Wheelock Whitney Collection, 1785–1850

 January 22–April 21, 2013 At The Metropolitan Museum Of Art

In 2003 the Metropolitan Museum acquired a significant group of paintings spanning a key period in European history, beginning with the advent of the French Revolution and concluding with the reign of Louis Philippe. Assembled by the New York connoisseur Wheelock Whitney between 1972 and 2000, this collection reveals a rich tradition of painting out of doors nearly a century before Impressionism, thus amplifying the role of the natural world as a source of inspiration Continue reading

Kokam (Garcinia indica)

Kokam is endemic to the tropical evergreen forest of the Western Ghats and the Malabar coast. It is a slender tree with drooping branches and edible seeds. A member of the mangosteen family, the fruit ripens from green to orange-yellow, and when dried for use in cooking it assumes a near black colour. It has a sour taste with an underlying astringency.

Continue reading

Green Tech, Served With Petro Chemicals

When this great series started, it was not clear that it was being sponsored by an oil company, which seems a slippery a slope; or, perhaps the way things out to be (click the icon to the right to go to the series home page, and if you watch the “green tech” video featured at the top of the site at the time of this writing, hold your nose when ExxonMobil presents itself as the best hope for our educational future):

You could be forgiven for thinking that after the burst of attention given to clean technology in the wake of the oil price spike of 2007, innovation in energy has faded away as it has several other times in the last 40 years.

But you’d be wrong. Continue reading

Bottle Brush (Callistemon)

Bottle Brush is a small evergreen tree belonging to the family of Myrtaceae that grows widely in the high ranges of Kerala. This is an decorative plant famous for its cylindrical flowers and the lovely fragrance of its leaves. Continue reading

Algal Algorithm: SEE Sees Green Solution

SEE Algae. After its water is removed, this algae is destined to excrete biofuels.

Over at Green Blog, New York Times reporter Matthew Wald (click the image to the left to go to his report and the illustration below to go to the company’s website) writes about

…two companies that are racing to be first in commercial-scale production of motor fuel from nonfood sources. A large group of other companies is pursuing various other strategies, one or two steps behind. One of those companies is planning to use algae.

The company, SEE Algae Technology of Austria, is building a 2.5-acre factory on a sugar plantation near Recife, Brazil, that will use genetically modified algae that can eat carbon dioxide from the sugar. Adding urea and some nutrients, the algae excrete ethanol.

Continue reading

BBC Wildlife Camera-trap Photos

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Any time a journalistic enterprise makes the effort to publish images, stories, video or other media that helps us understand and appreciate wildlife and the habitats they depend on, we hope to catch it and link to it here.  Thanks to the BBC for these snapshots.