Son of Timatollah

"Al Gore Places Infant Son In Rocket To Escape Dying Planet," here.

Labels: al, gore, humor, superman, the onion

Garrett Lisi is a surfer, skier, snowboarder, mountainbiker who's lived for years in a quasi-nomadic fashion: Maui, Breckenridge, etc. with visits to Burning Man and the like.

He's also a Ph.D. in physics who's published, on the web at least, "An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything," a paper describing a theory that might account for the four forces (gravity, electromagnetic, strong nuclear, weak nuclear) in one fell swoop. Physics people, with few exceptions professional academics, have been looking for this for several generations now.

Outside did a story on him, here. It's a fun read.

Via Patrick Appel, Andrew Sullivan's assistant, who's subbing over at Sullivan's blog.

Labels: an exceptionally simple theory of everything, e8, garrett lisi, theory of everything

I finally got the pictures from our day in Barrow, Alaska, online. Barrow is the northernmost community on the continuous western hemisphere land mass. (I'm pretty sure there are Inupiat communities on islands that lie further north of Barrow in both Canada and Russia.) It was one of the most interesting places I've ever been.

We were there on 12 June 2008, just a little over a week until the solstice. The sun had been up since April, would stay up until August. Even though the solar azimuth was changing, the elevation stayed pretty constant, and there was hardly any change to the quality of light over the course of our day. We were actually very lucky from a weather point of view: Sunny and in the 40s.

The whole set is here. Here's a couple of examples:

The frozen Arctic Ocean as seen from the air:



Bicycle on the tundra at the coast with frozen ocean in the background:



Us at Point Barrow, northernmost point on the contiguous Americas:




It's hard for me to explain why this mattered so much to me, was so interesting to me. I think it has something to do with looking out from the edge, from a different edge than the one I'm used to.

There's also photos from the Inupiat Heritage Center. Below are some videos Mack shot there of Inupiat people's dances. Check out the drumming.

Young girls dance:




Young men dance:




Men dance:




I'm sorry that I can't tell you the stories that go with the dances.

Labels: alaska, arctic, barrow, inupiat, northernmost, ocean, point

Teri Garr gives an interview at The Onion's AV Club, here.

I <heart> Teri Garr.

Labels: av, club, garr, onion, teri

As noted here, Josh Fruhlinger, aka The Comics Curmudgeon, appears on Jeopardy! this coming Tuesday night, 22 July.

Labels: comics, curmudgeon, fruhlinger, Jeopardy, josh

Hi, all. Just got back tonight from a couple of nights in and around the District of Columbia, our nation's seat of government. Was up there representing NOGLSTP on the Engineers Week Diversity Council at a meeting with Obama's staffer for education (Senate, not presidential campaign).

The randomness:

• First time I was in one of the legislative office buildings. Got a good look at the Capitol, but didn't arrange time for a tour. Looking forward to going back.
  
• Backgrounding on matters of assessment in engineering education. How do we ensure that we turn out quality engineers from our degree programs? There's a sense that traditional methods need scruitiny, and the ABET accreditation processes we all go through is designed to make sure that the engineers we graduate are succeeding in the workplace, but what can we do different to assess in a very short term that students are learning what we want them to without starting over from scratch? Or am I over-estimating the downside to starting over from scratch?
  
• Still working on Alaska pics. Three or so more days to go: Barrow, Anchorage, and last day.
  
• Trying to figure out how to get more involved in the Vote No on Amendment 2 activities. The number of straight people who don't get it—that our (gay people's) lives are just as full of love, are just as valid, as theirs; that discrimination is not in their best interest; that one day they're negatively impacting their own children or grandchildren—is frustrating. May be going to "speaker training" this weekend. (SEND MONEY TO THESE PEOPLE, PLEASE!)
  
• The Washington trip is very interesting. I mean, it's fun to be involved in setting the direction—or at least being valued in what that direction is—for an enterprise. Imagine when that enterprise is the USA!
  
• Some say that civilization as we know it is headed down the tubes, but I present three examples that say those folks are wrong: (1) A young man waiting for a plane a few weeks ago was reading Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl, a book I can recommend without reservation; (2) young man on the plane next to me the other day was reading The True Believer by Eric Hoffer, an author I can recommend without reservation (even if he did turn into a crank in his dotterage); (3) young (Israeli—kid was no older than fourteen) man on the plane next to me today had a CD of King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King. Have confidence in the next generation. We are in good hands.
  
• I supposedly have a sabbatical coming up a year from now. What to do? What? To? Do?
  

Labels: abet, amendment 2, assessment, council, dc, district of columbia, diversity, education, engineering, eweek, fairness, families, noglstp, obama, randomness, washington

It's Bastille Day. Let's hear it for the French, our longest-standing allies.

Labels: allies, bastille, day, france, french

I've lost track of how many sets of Alaksa pics I've posted, but I know there are three days worth to go after these that I posted today. Samples from today's set from our full day in the Fairbanks area, where we went to The Museum of the North and Chena Hot Springs include...

Moose on the way to Chena Hot Springs:




Alaska-Siberia WWII Lend-Lease Airway Monument:

Labels: alaska, chena hot springs, fairbanks

My brother Ray, aka Bubba, aka Fiberglass, called today and invited me to lunch. He drives a semi, had dropped a load in Orlando, was headed to Jax to pick up another load, and had a little while.

It was great to see him, which I don't get to do often enough.

As you might expect, the price of fuel is kicking independent truckers' butts.

Labels: "mister glass", "mr. glass", bubba, fiberglass, ray, trucker, wilson

• Fleetwood Mac, "Silver Springs"
  
  
  
  


• Gordon Lightfoot, "If You Could Read My Mind"
  
  
  
  


• Beck, "Lost Cause"
  
  
  
  


• Pink Floyd, "Comfortably Numb"
  
  
  
  


• Golden Smog / Jeff Tweedy, "Please Tell My Brother"
  
  
  
  

Labels: music, sad, songs

Finally got through this set (of which there were over 500 originals). Yikes!

Example A, Moose in Denali:




Example Z, Mack and I in Fairbanks, a little past midnight the same day:




In between, more animals and more train.

What an incredible place!

Labels: alaska, fairbanks, kantishna, railroad

Sorry for the late posting about it being the Fourth of July. We're having a low-key day here. Worked on the photos earlier, and now we're just home from the dog park in Winter Park (where Ursa got to get in the water).

Fireworks? Maybe. Or maybe just what the neighbors do.

I finished the Zachary Taylor bio a week or so ago, and the Millard Fillmore one arrived yesterday. Does that satisfy the patriotism quota?

Okay, how about this?

STOP YER CRYBABY SOBBIN' AND GET BACK TO SUPPORTING, NOT BITCHIN' ABOUT, OBAMA.

Sorry to shout, but that was for the know-it-alls, the Daily Kos crowd, who are intent on being supremely dissatisfied. Look, he's a politician. A good one, and one whom I'm happy to support wholeheartedly. But I don't harbor some kind of delusion that he's going to agree with me about everything, or maybe even most things. He agrees with me on enough, and I'm comforatable enough with his temperament and judgment.

So, if you're in one of those "he didn't pass my litmus test" moods, SNAP OUTTA IT. GROW UP AND GET OVER YOURSELF.

I'm looking forward to next year at this time, anticipating the Obama will be President of these United States. That'll be a long way to come from the writer of "We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal" having been a slave owner.

Labels: fourth of july, Independence Day, obama, president, whiners

Got another day's worth of photos uploaded today. They're in this set.

By the way, there are many ways to look at the Flickr photos. You can click each one in the photostream, each one in the set (here's all my sets so far, can see a slideshow of the set (here's the slideshow for the set I just uploaded) or of the whole stream (that slideshow), etc. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. You can also search by tags.

Here's a pic of Mack and me from today's upload:


There's also this collection of all the sets from the Alaska trip.

Labels: alaska, Flickr, mack mckinley, pictures, tim wilson

(Spoken) This is where the DJ talks. Don't say anything, okay?
(Spoken) Okay, eh?

(Sung) Cooo, loo, coo, coo, coo, coo, coo, coooo!
(Sung) Cooo, loo, coo, coo, coo, coo, coo, coooo!

(Spoken) Okay. Good day. Welcome to our single. I'm Bob McKenzie and this is my brother Doug.
(Spoken) How's it going, eh?

(Spoken) Beauty, eh?
(Spoken) Yeah, I like that.

(Spoken) Okay. (Okay.)
(Spoken) Okay, everyone. This record was my idea.
(Spoken) Get out!
(Spoken) It was.
(Spoken) You're lying!
(Spoken) He... Hosehead here just sort of rides on my coattails.
(Spoken) Why are you doing this? It was our idea together, eh?
(Spoken) Yeah, okay.
(Spoken) (Yeah, okay.)
(Spoken) We agreed to... to say that, but...
(Spoken) Ah, take off!

CHORUS:

Take off! To the Great White North!
Take off! It's a beauty way to go.
Take off! To the Great White North!

(Spoken) Decent singing, eh?
(Spoken) Yeah.
(Spoken) Yeah, he's good.
(Spoken) Okay, so Good Day. Our topic today is music.
(spoken) That's right like, cause my brother and I are now experts in the field.
(Spoken) Yeah, right, cause we're a band now. (Yeah, yeah, so...)
(Spoken) And ummm... Well, except for him, I'm a band.
(Spoken) Aww. How can you do that? Making me look bad. You're such a hosehead.
(Spoken) Yea? Well, take off!

CHORUS

(Guitar solo)

(Spoken) Hey, hosehead.
(Spoken) Yeah, what?
(Spoken) Yeah, listen to this what's coming. You know what it is?
(Spoken) What?
(Spoken) It's a drum solo!
(Spoken) Okay, everyone, like this is me on the drums!
(Spoken) Oh, get out! It is not. You're not...
(Spoken) It is so!
(Spoken) Stop lying, will ya?
(Spoken) Take off, eh!
(Spoken) Aww...

CHORUS x2

Take off!

Ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooooo!
Ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooooo!

(Repeat to end of song)

(Spoken) Beauty, eh?
(Spoken) Like magic, eh? It's coming in.
(Spoken) Well, that's like...
(Spoken) It's like it was sung by angels.
(Spoken) Hey, hosehead.
(Spoken) Yeah, what?
(Spoken) Guess what?
(Spoken) What?
(Spoken) It's over!
(Spoken) Take off! That can't be it!
(Spoken) Well... It is, yeah. Yeah, it is.
(Spoken) Why?
(Spoken) Because, well, hit records are short. Like, they...
(Spoken) No way.
(Spoken) ...yeah, they're not that long.
(Spoken) Okay. So, that's our topic for today. So, Good Day!
(Spoken) Good day!

(Shouted) Ay, you guys!
(Spoken) What?
(Shouted) Take off!

(Spoken) Wait! No!
(Spoken) Hey! Don't go!
(Spoken) No! Come back, eh?
(Spoken) Aww. Look what you did! Everybody's gone because of you! You said...
(Spoken) Come back! I won't let him do it again!
(Spoken) My fault, eh?
(Spoken) Yeah, your fault.
(Spoken) You are such a hoser.
(Spoken) There's no way I'll ever do another record with you Hoser.
(Spoken) Okay, that's fine! I'll do a solo album.
(Spoken) Fine then, you'll be looking for me...
(Spoken) Yeah? I will not.
(Spoken) ...on another label.
(Spoken) Aww. Now everybody's gone.
(Spoken) So?
(Spoken) Good day!
(Spoken) Good day!

Take Off, by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, featuring Geddy Lee.

Happy Canada Day! Go have a Labatt's.

Labels: canada, day, great white north, labatts, take off