Wednesday, June 27, 2007

uber-nerd

I've officially crossed the line. I'm an internet nerd. Not only do I casually observe the happenings on the marvelous interwebs, I am now one who actually contributes to this massive chaotic giant of tubes, webs, and bits and bats.

I'm speaking of Wikipedia, my favorite website. I love it for it's random wealth of information on anything from
tube socks to the spiritual culture of the Siberian Yupiks. I'll spend hours just cruising away, jumping from one topic to the next, in this random and trivial form of pseudo-education. So fascinating.

I've been obsessed with Wikipedia for a couple years now, but as I said, I've now officially crossed the line. I'm now a Wikipedia Editor, complete with personal
profile (boring) and more importantly, my first article contribution. My first edit is kind of boring, but was the only thing I could think of off the top of my head that I had specific knowledge about that no one else had already written on.

So there ya go. A new hobby to fit into my already busy life... and why the heck not.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

worn and torn

Stephanie and I went to an artisan festival on Sunday - hundreds of painters, potters, photographers, etc. The highlight for me was a photographer named Jack Stoddart. This guy is as old school as they come. Serious about his art and his method. Jack's from the Plateau region of Tennessee, east of Nashville, about halfway to Knoxville. Together he and his wife moved to the area about 35 years ago with the intention of creating a "black and white silver gelatin historical documentation" of the area. The silver gelatin process, which I don't fully understand yet, is a dying art... so much so that the last remaining manufacturer who provided the developing paper needed to reproduce the images recently went out of business, effectively putting Jack out of business. But I won't pretend to speak with authority on things I know nothing about....

Jack's pictures speak for themselves. His vintage method of capturing and re-producing life is striking, and as a result of this developing process you are left with an image that reminds you of the worn oval pictures of your great-great-great-grandparents, hanging on your relatives hallway walls. The silver-gelatin and washing process leaves the picture with this aged and rugged feeling, as though you can feel years through the picture itself, yet the photograph jumps out at you with such a vibrancy and life that it just captivates your attention.

Recently Jack has been honored for his work by being accepted into several museums, not the least of which is the Museum Of American History at the Smithsonian. If you have an appreciation for film photography, check out Jack's online gallery. The resolution online isn't the best and doesn't do the film justice, but you may get the general impression:

Online Gallery:
jackstoddart.com

Saturday, June 16, 2007

so much to do, so little time

So I'm starting something new... at Jon's prompting, I've begun my list of "101 Things To Do in 1001 Days". You can check out the list as it takes shape at burnsheads101.blogspot.com.


Thursday, June 14, 2007

bear grylls today; a short bed tonight

Was happy to see Bear Grylls featured on the Today show this morning - got to catch a glimpse of the new season and him crossing an Icelandic river at 40 degrees below 0 or something ridiculous like that. They should have had Matt Lauer interview him though... should not have prissy Meredith conversing with Bear... "oh my gosh, is that a worm you're eating!?!? eww!!!!"

So Steph and I were laying in bed last night (don't worry, this is a graphic as it gets), and she says to me, "Of all the blogs and myspace pages out there, I can't believe no one has ranted about this yet... why are beds so short!?" And she has brought up a fine point. 1) We're poor, so we have a full size bed; 2) I'm tall and my feet hang off the end of it; 3) No one has ranted about this before on a blog, so I shall today.

So what the crap? What is it with full size beds and them being so short? It's not just a tall person problem - Steph doesn't like having her head scrunched up against the top of the bed, so she sleeps down a ways as well, and her feet dangle too. I think they're making a bad assumption if they think that tall people and non-head-scrunchers are the only ones that sleep in queen and king size beds. Respect the financially burdened and monetarily squeezed!! We need a bed just like the rest of America, and if we are to be productive in life and earn the money we need to make our eventual bed upgrade, we need to have a good night's rest!! We cannot go through our nights with our feet dangling off the end of the bed while every day the trials of the world dangle our very lives before us!! This is a call to rise up! This is a call to support those who are forced to sleep diagonally each night while their wive's are pushed closer and closer to that dangerous edge! This is a call to wake up for the sleep we all deserve!!!

Call your senator and voice your support for the "Longer Beds For Taller People (and shorter people who want longer beds too)" bill being brought before Congress this week.


Today you should listen to:
Travis "Under The Moonlight"