Tuesday, July 29, 2008

“Who are we ... but the stories we tell about ourselves, particularly if we accept them?”

I recently read Ordinary Heroes and was taken by the notion that we are a product of the stories we tell about ourselves as much as of the experiences which generate the stories. I got to thinking about experiences I’ve had. I remember the stories I tell about them better than I remember the experience itself.

For example, I was once on board a DC-10 that was struck by lightening. The lightning bolt blew up one of three engines. We made an emergency landing. No one was hurt. I have told the story so often I can remember the story verbatim. I always use the same words, the same rhythm and cadence when I tell it. I pause for effect in the same places. But I vividly remember very little of the event itself.

Another example, my wife and I once swam with a Mahi Mahi, two False Killer Whales, and a Dolphin off the coast of Hawaii. The Mahi sought protection between my wife and me. The whales gradually became aggressive. We pushed the Mahi away and the whales ate it. Again, I remember the story of the event better than aspects of the event itself.

A final example, I remember telling the story of someone being shot dead in front of me at a city bus stop in Detroit on my first day of work at Arthur Andersen in 1974.

So ... if we are the stories we tell about ourselves ... it seems important to tell the stories of our lives. They fix the events of our lives in our living memories. I think this may be why I publish a website full of travel photos. The act of editing the photos and writing the stories of our travels fix these events in my own memory. I am not so naive as to think I have much of a readership, but if my readership is only me ... maybe that’s enough.

Last weekend, I returned to the city of my birth for a high school reunion, and visited the houses I lived in until the age of five, and from age five to 17 when I left home. They are on quiet streets. They remain in good repair. But they seem so much smaller to me. The streets themselves seem shorter and narrower. Only the trees, which are now nearly 80 years old seem bigger.

These photos are clickable.

1950 - 1955

1955 - 1968

I just noticed the snow shovel on the porch in the first photo. It reminded me of a freak May snowstorm when I was four. I had a kid-sized shovel and helped my dad shovel snow that was a deep as I was tall. And I was reminded of climbing a high ladder to clean birds nests out of the gutters above the drive in the second photo. But, sadly, I haven’t told these stories often enough to remember very well.

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Quotable
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Saturday, July 19, 2008

Last Tuesday my son and I did some day-hiking at Mt Rainier. This was also a nostalgia trip for us. When the kids were young, we’d take them to Rainier and this short trip reminded us both of those good times.

These photos were taken on our climb to the summit of Mt Borroughs, one of Rainier’s minor sister peaks.

On the way down, we saw this neat lenticular cloud. These often form above and downwind of Mt. Rainier when winds aloft are fast and the air is moist.

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Out and About
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Thursday, July 17, 2008

I swore I would never forgive Al Gore for his claim to have invented the Internet. But today, I do forgive him completely. Not because he in fact invented the Internet, a ridiculous claim, but because of his speech today titled: A Generational Challenge to Repower America.

For the first time today, I heard an address that encapsulates my point of view on carbon-based energy. Briefly Al Gore calls for America to switch to an electricity based energy strategy where the electricity is generated from non-carbon-based sources. It recognises that demand for oil is rising much faster than supply. It recognises the political and economic risk of continued dependence on carbon-based fuel. And it calls for a NASA (or Manhattan Project if you prefer) style strategic investment to free ourselves from carbon fuel dependence within 10 years!.

It is bold. It is compellingly articulated. It’s profoundly simple to understand.

I’ve included his short, readable, articulate address in the “rest of the story” below. 

Click here for the rest of the story ...

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Politics
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Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Walt Mossberg - “Was Vista a mistake?”

Bill Gates - “Not at all. We have a culture that’s very much about ‘We need to do better.’ Vista’s given us more opportunities to exercise our culture.”

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Saturday, July 05, 2008

Click on any image to enlarge ...

A couple of weeks ago we took the boat over to some Lake Washington bays where there are some interesting floating houses. For the most part, these are minimalist houses, with efficient footprints, and due to small moorage, most have eclectic designs. Here are a few for your viewing pleasure.

On the way home we went by Gasworks Park and caught it with nice light on the gasworks themselves.

This 20 acre point on Lake Union was cleared in 1906 to construct a plant to manufacture gas from coal - later converted to crude oil. Import of natural gas in the 1950’s made the plant obsolete. The city acquired the site for a park in 1962. The park was opened to the public in 1975. The boiler house has been converted to a picnic shelter with tables, fire grills and an open area. The former exhauster-compressor building, now a children’s play barn, features a maze of brightly painted machinery.

Fun!

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Out and About
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