The TSA Blues

So you’re a bum. You’ve got some traveling to do. You’re coming back to the United States after your global arm wrestling tour doesn’t go too well. Or maybe you’ve been out photographing some of the worst things that have ever happened in the world. Or maybe you are merely heading back to your college [...]

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If you go: Athens

What: One of the world’s oldest cities, continuously inhabited for more then 4,500 years, Athens is a beautiful and vibrant place to get lost in, meet friends, share coffee and long wonderful meals, and walk where Socrates walked. This last part kind of floored me, the wandering through the ruins of the ancient Agora, considering [...]

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A taste of Athens

Had a little time to tour around Athens today, including climbing up to the top of the Acropolis area. Didn’t go into the Acropolis site – long story, but plan to before I leave. Here’s the view from there.

Some other pictures from the day, in no particular order, offering a little taste of what it’s [...]

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If you go: Dubai City

What: The largest of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, chiefly represented by Dubai City, a startling stretch of skyscrapers and shopping malls rising out of the sand. Evidently at some point the rulers of this place realized that they were fixing to run out of oil, so they made the [...]

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Roadtrip: The Baker Hotel

It turns out that Cuba is Alabama’s front door. This is like a wonderful little poem. We were in good spirits through Cuba, most of Mississippi, and Shreveport, on into Dallas, where we saw friends and had a really great breakfast at a place called Buzzbrews. Highly recommended. On to New Mexico! Except that we [...]

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If You Go: Alabama Department of Environmental Management

What: Regular performances by the Environmental Management Commission of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) of their original off-off-Broadway play “Regulatory Capture.”
Where: The Alabama Room at the ADEM Building, 1400 Coliseum Boulevard, Montgomery, AL. Seating will be limited (and a quarter will be reserved for ADEM staff), so get there early and be prepared [...]

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Happy Anniversary, Getty Gardens

One of the great places in Los Angeles is the Getty Center, a towering white facility way above the city in the hills. On a clear day you can see the ocean, and on just about any other day you can see (for free!) the collections and wander the oversize white buildings that manage to [...]

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If You Go: Cahaba River Historical Park

What: The Cahaba River Historical Park is a privately operated park (a donation box at the entrance helpfully informs a visitor of the lack of state funding and support), celebrating one of Alabama’s ten Natural Wonders. The Natural Wonder designation is, evidently, bestowed by the somewhat mysterious Alabama Environmental Council (not to be confused in [...]

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If you go: Brierfield Ironworks Park

What: The central attraction of the park is the old Brierfield Ironworks, which was a major source of iron for the Confederate army, along with the nearby Tannehill Ironworks. The old ironworks isn’t so much there any more, having been destroyed by the Union army, rebuilt, and then decommissioned (or whatever happens to old ironworks) [...]

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On the cutting edge of consumptive modernism in Yucca Valley, CA

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