Dia de los Muertos: Remembering close friends and family who have died.

I know technically the Mexican holiday is on Nov 1st but in my house we celebrate it on the 31st (Halloween).

Bill Kozlowski. I chose this picture because it captures the times I loved the most with Bill, just strumming and singing along. If humans were planets, Bill would be a star in the craziest most inspiring solar system in the galaxy. Given the holiday, it’s also fitting this pic was taken in Mexico:

Betty Moore. My Mom’s mom. Homemaker extraordinaire and general great life example. Inspired me to learn music and still does. When I was a tone-def kid I remember dancing with her and hearing her say “That boy can’t sing worth a darn but he sure can dance”.

Dick Stanley. One summer, at a young age, I was introduced to proper work ethic by my Dad’s dad. Bucking bales of hay in jeans and 100˚ isn’t easy! I figured he’d pay me a little extra because we were kin and all, but: nope! Almost earned minimum wage but got a whole lot of great hay-lifting experience (not to mention getting to drive the tractor every now and then).

Jeffery Weitkamp. Jeff’s parents and my parents went to college together and are lifelong friends. Jeff and I grew up mostly on camping trips around the Northwest US. It is on one of those trips that I gave up the diaper, and later learned to tie my own shoes. Not sure when that happened for Jeff. Nevertheless, for many years of my youth he was the closest thing I had to a brother.

Finally, after 33 days of straight wind and rain we get some long-deserved sunshine. Too bad I have to work through it… hopefully it holds until the weekend!
 

I think Web 2.0 is cool and here is why.

I use SmugMug for photo hosting. With unlimited storage I have almost our entire photo collection backed-up online. It’s also what lets me do the nifty slideshows you see on this site, and now hosts HD-quality video. Their product is great, but even more impressive is their company. I like them so much that I’ve subscribed to Don MacAskill’s blog (he’s their CEO), and am following him on Twitter.

As you may know, Twitter allows you to “follow” people and see whatever status updates, questions, or expressions they decided to post (aka “tweet”). It’s really great for maintaining a wide network of relationships.

I also like Facebook, mainly for maintaining more private, particular relationships with current and long lost friends. Facebook has a great social Photo application, but since all my pics are in SmugMug, I often don’t double-post them. Facebook has many third-party applications, a few of which import your SmugMug galleries. But they don’t let you select specific galleries, amongst other “non-ideals”.

So, one day I receive a tweet from Don (he has over a thousand followers, so every time he tweets they all get it):

I tweet back at him, because this is something that’s bothered me with all Facebook/SmugMug apps. I don’t hear anything back directly, since I’m sure he’s a very busy guy.

Weeks pass, and I get a few more tweets about how SmugMug is hiring for a “social programmer” position, someone who can write Facebook apps amongst other things. That’s great I think to myself, I’ve been wanting a good SmugMug app for Facebook. Then the job post appears on Don’s blog.

As I read the job description, I notice how he says their development is always triggered by client requests, and like a good blogger he includes backlinks to the things he references:

When I see the “tweets” link I’m curious to see who else tweeted him about the need for a SmugMug/Facebook app, so I click and lo and behold it’s the message I sent him:

Only in the Web 2.0 world is this kind of “interaction” possible.

September 11th is a huge day in history. On that day, in 1822, the Catholic church finally admitted that Galileo was right. (Of course, he’d been dead for nearly 200 years.) The Earth wasn’t the center of the universe, and indeed there exists the actual possibility that other planets with ecosystems just like ours may exist, but more importantly, that it’s “OK” to teach scientific truth (ie: heliocentrism) in school.

As I’m pondering the state of our world today, I feel sad for all the history that has brought us to this point. Decisions made not because of facts, but for the pursuit and protection of a myth. I love myth, but not at the cost of human life. Had the church recognized the truth about human’s place in the universe earlier, would that have prevented them from crusading to the holy land, sacrificing millions of lives, and permanently dividing the Arab and European worlds? Without that divide would we be in this mess today? Would the attacks on the twin towers have occurred?

I know that faith is the source of solace for many people, but historic decisions made by organized religion, defining reality by committee vote, are causing horrible repercussions, which we, and our children, are having to deal with.

Whose holy land is it? Who is the bastard? Does it really matter any more?

And when will we be able, if ever, to get a clean slate?

The image above captures the scene of Galileo’s trial before the Inquisition in 1633. “Nearly two centuries later, however, the weight of scientific evidence was so overwhelming that the College of Cardinals finally reversed itself and allowed the teaching of heliocentrism. Still, it would take another 170 years, until 1992, for a pope — in this case, John Paul II — to officially concede that, yes, the Earth isn’t stationary in the heavens. Eight years after that, in 2000, John Paul apologized for the way the Catholic Church treated Galileo.” (source)

These two young ladies kept me company during my weekend onsite to Klukwan. I had to razz them about not wearing helmets but after some clever looks they put them on. Then I joked with them that they should bring me a popsicle. They came back with some salmon! Amongst a high-tech whirlwind, these two were the refreshing highlight.

After the rash of bear encounters this year in Alaska it’s a wonder signs like this aren’t more prevalent.

Terror Levels published by the Coast Guard. I’ve seen these at ferry terminals all over Southeast Alaska.

What does it say about the accuracy of our national security when even in “normal” times there is “significant” risk of attack? In Ketchikan?

Google Street View got me.

Google sent cars with 3D cameras mounted on the roof to select cities to drive every street and take pictures of everything so they can be composited into their “Street View” service. They did a good job here, and if you take a walk out our street you’ll see me!

I was depressed this morning, lying in bed thinking about death, for no apparent reason. And then I got up and logged-on (without coffee, a bad idea in general) and read that George Carlin had passed away. Perhaps I was channeling his wonderful cynicism in my dreams.

Now he’s hanging out with The Big Electron.

Here’s my favorite bit of his:

These “totally rad” pics have been making the rounds on the web today, so I thought I’d contribute to the over-saturation of something really cool! These are from the Chaitin volcano eruption in early May of this year.

Recently on Facebook I linked with some old friends. This got me digging up the photo album and scanning a few 10-year-old pictures. While I was at it I found a few more gems. Like this one. Lu, Myself and nephew Joe were at Thane beach during the summer: built a fire, roasting hot dogs, skipping stones. Joe was at that fantastic age where everything is a wonder and discovery. He couldn’t stop asking questions, including “Why did God make guitars?”, “Why are there flowers?” and my favorite: “Do rocks burn?”. (Those who know me should be able to guess the answer I gave him. )

Here’s a handy timeline of the universe, counting in milliseconds what happened during the Big Bang. It still doesn’t answer the question of how did all that matter get there in first place?