Sifting through an old journal, I came across one of my favorite Kurt Vonnegut quotes from Mother Night: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.” He was talking about Nazi’s. But I think it’s good advice regardless.
I’m en route to Cambodia to work on a technology dissemination project as part of MIT’s International Development Initiative. I’m anticipating that my access to the internet will be a bit patchy over the next few weeks, but am planning to keep blogging when I can, hopefully with a few new or interesting things to share. I can confirm that the TSA’s controversial new screening systems are up and running at Logan. Which brings me to this:
Part of the reason I started this blog was to write about beer, and to provide some “homebrewing crash courses” for those who are interested in making their own beer, but want to learn by brewing, rather than by reading some of the more extensive (but extremely useful) books out there. That’s still the plan. I’m hoping to write a new guide covering an aspect of the brewing process every couple weeks. Over time I’ll work towards building a comprehensive collection of these “crash courses” describing everything from all-grain brewing to the bottling process. I’ll include detailed pictures along with each step, so that the guides are easy to follow, and so it’s clear which equipment is used along the
From the comments of my previous post on vinyl, Gabe Francis adds some great recommendations: Here are a few vinyl records I can’t stop listening to: 1. The Best of Nina Simone 2. Remain in Light by Talking Heads 3. Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan by Bob Dylan 4. Post War by M Ward 5. Moon Pix by Cat Power Gabe and I met this past summer in Costa Rica while he was working there as a Kiva Fellow. For those who don’t know about Kiva, it’s a community-based micro finance organization that connects potential lenders around the world, such as you and me, to low income individuals and organizations that need small loans. Unlike donating to a charity, when you give money
This past weekend I went to the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge to see Girls, Guns, and Glory. But the highlight of the night turned out to be the opening band, The Sweet & Lowdown. Miss Tess, one of the band members who mostly sings and plays the guitar (but also plays the upright bass on occasion), used to have the Sunday night residency at Toad, one of my favorite venues in Cambridge. I’d seen her play there countless times before she moved out to Brooklyn a few years back. If you have the opportunity to see either Miss Tess or The Sweet & Lowdown in Boston or NYC, I highly recommend going. Here’s a clip I recorded from the show
I’ve been listening to a lot of vinyl lately. After years of procrastination, I finally put together a proper stereo system and picked up a new turntable. It’s been great. There’s something extremely satisfying about listening to records. It’s not just the warmer sound of vinyl (although that’s certainly part of it), but I think an even bigger draw is the routine. These days it’s just too easy to toss on Pandora or a playlist with a few hundred songs. And then you can go do something else. The music becomes background noise. Listening to records is different. The couple minutes it takes to pick out an album and put it onto the turntable is an investment. It’s small, but you’re not
I spent some time in NYC over the holidays, and had a chance to do some shooting in the West Village with my new wide angle lens. Here are a few of the highlights: Thanks to Adam Perlis for the help. Adam also put together a short video with some footage he shot the same day.
This is too funny. Via xkcd.com: I think my favorite one is using crystal energy to make a killing in “regular energy.”
A little cliché, but why not: 1. It’s going to be the year of homemade soda. People are raving about it: “You add the soda mix flavor you want, which you measure out in the cap. I use less than a full cap because I prefer my soda not so sweet- that is the best part- YOU control the amount of flavor and carbonation!” I couldn’t make this stuff up. Lots of people are eager to put one of these soda makers on their kitchen counter, right next to the coffee maker. And then eventually they’ll realize it’s just expensive soda that takes a long time to make and requires you to stock CO2 cartridges in your kitchen. 2. We’re going to find out how Ted