North Carolina Pictures Posted

They're available here. Includes pictures of the Todd General Store, a historic place where folks like Doc Watson play from time to time, and hiking in the Blue Ridge mountains near Grandfather mountain.

Southern Smorgasbord: The Dan'l Boone Inn

Visiting the South has its perks. Summer lasts longer, for one. The people use creative expressions when speaking to you, for another. And the food, oh, the food. There's nothing like ordering tea at a restaurant and getting it iced and sweet by default, or ordering grits and ham biscuits and not have the waiter stare at you with a confused look on his face.

Enter The Dan'l Boone Inn, located in Boone, North Carolina. We had the pleasure of eating at this fine establishment a couple of nights ago. Walking into the restaurant feels like you're entering someone's home. Plates line a shelf near the ceiling, and simple wooden tables and chairs are arranged neatly in the main dining room. The story is simple: they bring out plates of food from a fixed menu. They refill all plates, save the ham biscuits, as many times as you want. And you can pack stuff home if you can't eat it all.

The food was quintessential southern: the biscuits and corn had plenty of butter, the fried chicken was drenched in a super-crispy, savory breading, the beans were well done and tangy (not steamed and green, as "Yankee beans" are referred to on occasion), and the mashed potatoes were topped with a thick, tan gravy. The waitresses bring food out and take your plates away on rolling carts. And, pitchers of sweet, sweet tea are everpresent.

You leave quite full from an evening at the Inn. It's hard not to; the food is just that good. This "reverse buffet, limited menu" system needs to catch on in other parts of the country. What better way to sample the best of a local cuisine?

Doing The Puyallup Fair

Last Sunday a group of us went to the Puyallup Fair. A quick run-down:

The Good
- It was certainly more fun than most of us expected. Quite a few food options, carnival games, and rides were to be had. Add to that barnyard animals, the RCMP, and a petting zoo and you make for a good day out of doors. We spent about eight hours there total.
- The food was great. BBQ, fresh Fisher Scones, fried corn fritters, sausages, lemonade. Mmm...
- The weather held up nicely. It wasn't hot, nor was it rainy or particularly cloudy for that matter.

The Not So Good
- Rides were more expensive that we expected. Tickets were $1 a piece or $14 for 20. Rides cost 3-6 tickets, with the good ones being 5-6. As for ride quality, we're talking typical carnival rides, a couple of small roller coasters, a quick water-splash ride, a Ferris wheel, and the like. Not bad, but not worth $4-6 a ride.
- Horses tend to poop. A lot. And it smells.

The Weird
- There was a large area devoted to infomercial-style commerce. Weird brooms, knives, sushi making kits, makeup, and window treatments were being offered. It was like walking through the Home Shopping Network. Weird. I think it worked: about half of the group ended up buying something.

Searching For Perfection: The PerfectManForMe.Com Mystery

We have a mystery woman on our hands, who through a web site complete with a survey, a blog, and 1" advertisements in the New Yorker, is looking for the perfect man. People aren't sure whether she's really using a web site to find a mate, whether it's a front for a dating service, whether there's really a "she" here, and so on.

Looks like the domain was registered on July 7, 2005, for one year. The web server seems to have an IP address out of Grove City, Ohio. The server runs two sites:
- www.perfectmanforme.com
- www.perfectman4me.com

The latter address was registered on May 20th, 2005, for two years.

Looks like a small operation, and I'd bet it's a real person here with few ulterior motives. Time will hopefully reveal more here. If this is truly a person on a mission to find the right man, then I'd say...wow, that's an expensive, time-consuming, voyeuristic way to do it.

We Don't Need Nostradamus. We Have National Geographic

Undoubtedly you've heard about the National Geographic article from last year describing in clairvoyant detail the events that took place last week in New Orleans and the surrounding areas, due to Hurricane Katrina. The description's accuracy is surprising every time I read it, however. An excerpt:

But the next day the storm gathered steam and drew a bead on the city. As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however...

A liquid brown wall washed over the brick ranch homes of Gentilly, over the clapboard houses of the Ninth Ward, over the white-columned porches of the Garden District, until it raced through the bars and strip joints on Bourbon Street like the pale rider of the Apocalypse. As it reached 25 feet (eight meters) over parts of the city, people climbed onto roofs to escape it...

Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.

Biking Is Cool

A few weeks ago we picked up some mountain bikes and joined the world of amateur bicycling. It's been years since I've ridden a bicycle, but I'd forgotten only one thing: how much fun it can be. It's efficient and fun to get around town on a bike, especially for local errands or just exploring a neighborhood.

Bikes can be crazy expensive. I went with a K2 Zed Sport. Decent, basic, gets me around.

I didn't realize how accessory-laden biking can be. I can see how one can go out of control on this stuff. I've focused on the essentials for now (front and rear visibility lights, bike lock, air pump, etc.). Sorry, no tight pants for me yet.

Next up: a better seat. I've been recommended to go with Serfas. Any other suggestions?

Hurricane Katrina Aerial Photography On Google

Google has posted a relatively small, but very recent, aerial photo of New Orleans post-Katrina. The images are from Wednesday, August 31 at 10AM, according to Google. If they have the data, it would be interesting (and probably very disheartening) to do a time-lapse from several points after the hurricane, as the city flooded.

Cars Of The Future Have It All Wrong

According to this article, cars of the future will vibrate, beep, and exude scents at you. Why? In the name of reducing accidents. The idea is that if you're not seeing that the car in front of you is slowing down, maybe a jostle via the steering wheel, pedals, or seat belt will grab your attention. And, if you're a stressed-out driver, wafting lavender or citrus scents may calm you down.

Fair ideas, I guess. But tell me: if the car already knows that the car ahead is slowing down, why not slow down with it? If most every car on the road had some look-ahead capability and could react to it using some basic heuristics, then one could argue we'd have fewer accidents that rely on the hand-eye coordination of the driver.

I think it's a significant hurdle for a driver to accept losing control of the vehicle at any time, even though the vehicle could be better at a specific task than the driver. Naturally, those drivers don't think anything of the planes they get in to travel, and how much of their trip is computer-controlled.

Waffle House, 50, Needs To Come To Seattle

I've spent admittedly too much time at Waffle House, which turns 50 this year, mostly during high school and college. In Dalton, where I grew up, it was the main meeting point with friends, where you planned what you would do next, or come back to after having done something.

Now, in Seattle, I miss the 24-hour appeal of WaHo. Even worse, other east-coast mainstays like Krispy Kreme have made it out to Seattle, with much fanfare. Why not Waffle House?

Checking their website, I see Colorado as the western-most border of WaHo-ness. I emailed them a note to request them to consider the Seattle area as a new store prospect. I haven't heard back from them.

If you're in the area, and you care to see them move out to the West, send them a note using this form, or call them at the phone number listed on that page.

Camping In The Olympics: Pictures Posted

Check them out here. Thanks to Michal for taking them.

Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts: Donate To Help

A friend of mine sent this around at work. It's a great list of organizations that you can donate to that will have an impact in the relief efforts underway due to Hurricane Katrina. The outpouring has been encouraging to date, but this disaster appears to be larger than anyone expected, so help is always needed and welcome.

• American Red Cross, 800-HELP NOW, 800-435-7669
• Operation Blessing, 800-436-6348
• America's Second Harvest, 800-344-8070
• Adventist Community Services, 800-381-7171
• Catholic Charities, 703-549-1390
• Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, 800-848-5818
• Church World Service, 800-297-1516
• Convoy of Hope, 417-823-8998
• Episcopal Relief & Development, 1-800-334-7626 or
• Lutheran Disaster Response, 800-638-3522
• Mennonite Disaster Service, 717-859-2210
• Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, 800-872-3283
• Salvation Army, 800-SAL-ARMY (725-2769)
• Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief, 800-462-8657, ext. 6440
• United Methodist Committee on Relief, 800-554-8583

Extremely Bad Canadian Rap

First Blood is proof that making good rap music is harder than it would first appear.

Hurricane Katrina Wikipedia Article: 16 pages in 4 days

I'm continually impressed by the amount of community reporting and fact-finding that goes on with people who post and edit content on the World Wide Web. Case in point: in 4 days, an article on Hurricane Katrina on Wikipedia has reached 16 printed pages. That's just awesome.

Is the article perfect? Not yet, since this is a developing story. That said, there's lots of factual information in there that I've yet to read in one place, be it a news story or another web site, including when and how the storm was first discovered, effects on different industries, and specifics on the response by military and National Guard.

Power to the commons.

Camping In The Olympics

We spent last weekend camping in the Olympic National Park, on the coast at Mora. Camping on the beach was a new experience, but a great one at that.

Saturday day was spent road-tripping from Seattle to Mora. On the way, we stopped in Olympia to have breakfast at their farmer's market. This one's much more small and quaint than Pike Place, but it has its charms. We also stopped for lunch at Forks, where Sully's Drive In offered up some great burgers, shakes, and slushies.

Arriving in Mora, we hiked in about a mile and half, close to hole-in-the-wall (see below). We found a great site to set up camp that was both close to the beach but secluded and shielded somewhat from the elements.

Saturday night was a bit rainier that we would have liked, but the overall natural beauty and peaceful surroundings made up for any wetness. A campfire, dinner, and s'mores, and fermented beverages wrapped up the evening.

The beach at Mora is pretty rugged. As this picture conveys, it's no Florida Gulf Coast beach. But there's tons of wildlife, especially in the tidepools, that you can explore.

Mora is a very photogenic area. We should get some pictures up here soon, courtesy of our friend's camera skills.

Iraq Is A Terrorist Training Ground

I quote from this article:

At the same time, some Pentagon officials now acknowledge that the
two-and-a-half-year insurgent war has turned Iraq into a terrorist training
camp.

U.S. intelligence indicates Islamic militants from several African
nations — Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan and Somalia — travel through
Syria into Iraq, where they get hands-on training in roadside and suicide
bombings, assassinations and kidnappings as well as counter-surveillance and
counter-intelligence against military targets, constantly changing their
tactics to counter American defenses...

And Pentagon officials now fear those freshly trained terrorists are taking the deadly lessons they learn in Iraq to other countries. U.S. intelligence indicates many of the
militants are returning home or slipping into Europe, where they may join
existing terrorist groups or create and train new cells of their own.

All that cost (of life and of money) only to see Iraq surpass Afghanistan as the top terrorist training ground makes me concurrently very sad, angry, and hopeless.

Lappert's Ice Cream May Be Diseased

We're big fans of Lappert's Ice Cream. They have great flavors, use good ingredients, and offer a nice variety of unconventional flavors.

Recently, while going to QFC to purchase some ice cream, we were surprised to see the shelves cleared of all Lappert's stock. We were a bit miffed at the possibility that QFC had decided to stop carrying our favorite frozen treat.

Today, over a week after the clear-out, Lappert's is back. OK, we thought, it's not QFC's fault. On one of the freezer doors, a sign was posted explaining the temporary disappearance of the ice cream. It seems a recall was in effect of Lappert's Ice Cream because of a Listeria scare. Sure enough, an article confirms the recall for all Lappert's Ice Cream produced through August 4th.

Listeria isn't a good thing. Gastrointestinal mischief is apparently just the start. Pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems are especially susceptible.

If you've got an old pint of the stuff, check the date.

Greek Air Tragedy Could Have Been Much Worse

The largest airplane disaster in Greece's history occurred last weekend, when Helios Airways Flight ZU522 crashed north of Athens last Sunday.

There's been plenty of speculation and mystery surrounding the circumstances of the crash. I don't want to speculate on the reasons for the crash, what the fighter pilots witnessed, or why the relative of one of the people on board lied about receiving a text message. I do want to talk about the disaster that didn't occur.

The crash occurred in a lightly populated area. The nearest house was 400m away. We have family friends who have a vacation home in Grammatiko, and who were there at the time of the crash (about 2-3km away). They drove over and witnessed the dozens of fire crews putting out the fire and dealing with the wreckage. But they also witnessed how the crash didn't affect other homes or people on the ground.

The tragedy is very awful and very mournful, to be sure. My thoughts go out to all of the families and friends affected by the crash. But I also stop and think how much worse things could have been if the plane crashed in a more heavily populated area.

And then I wonder how it came to be that the plane crashed in a remote area. And then I start speculating.

The Blue Angels Are Scary

Two weekends ago was the culmination of Seafair 2005, a celebration of airplanes, boats, and other mechanical widgets. Every year, the Blue Angels come and perform their air acrobatics for the crowds. The Angels practice during the end of the week, and perform on Saturday and Sunday. Their performance entails flying over the city when doing approaches, formations, and other tricks.

Now, if you've ever seen the Blue Angels, you know they are very skilled. You need to have quite a bit of skill to fly an F/A-18 Hornet mere inches from each other in a set formation, and to maneuver in sequence with the other planes.

That said, accidents happen. A crash happened as recently as 1999, killing two Angels as one plane was landing. The article references a prior accident in 1990, and a fatality in 1985. The total number of Blue Angel pilots killed in air shows or training is 23.

While these accidents are not common, they put at risk not only the pilots but those on the ground. If a pilot loses control while flying over an urban area, how many other lives will be lost as the plane hits the ground?

Air shows are not safe, in my opinion. Case in points are made here, here, here, and here. And, when you have an air show over a heavily populated area, the chance for accidents grows. I'm not against having air shows, but can't we have them in less populated areas?

Update (4/24/2007): I just learned of an accident in South Carolina. According to the details collected on a Wikipedia article on the crash, the Blue Angels were flying in a show in Beaufort, South Carolina, and during the show, Lieutenant Commander Kevin Davis's F/A-18 Hornet went down. Details as to the reason for the crash won't be released for a few weeks, but a local article on the crash does report that houses in the vicinity of the crash caught fire.

I'm truly sorry for the crash and for the loss of life. That said I do hope this incident causes air show organizers and the Blue Angels to re-evaluate some safety procedures and flight plans to ensure safety for both the pilots and those on the ground.

Ferrari Boat Car

Livio de Marchi is a man who's very good with wood. Very, very good. Livio's art includes necklaces, shirts, golf clubs, bags, hats, and socks made out of wood.

He's also taken to large-scale efforts. Livio has made a few life-size automobiles, including a Ferrari F50, a 1937 Jaguar, and a classic Volkswagen Beetle.



This stuff is amazing. Read on...

TransportTrends post, showing images of his wooden cars.
Livio de Marchi's virtual museum, with more details on his work.
A profile on MostlyGlass.com.
Ashland Hardwood Gallery's page, including some glass sculpture.
Another gallery page on Lievehemel.nl.

Roadside South

We recently traveled to Atlanta for two weddings spanning two weekends. In between, we travelled down to Destin, FL to see my sister and brother-in-law. On the way, I took some roadside pictures. Here's the gallery.