The Archer Pelican

iPhone on Verizon? My Wallet is Toast

Apple, the maker of the popular smartphone, is conducting high-level discussions with Verizon Wireless to sell a version of the iPhone that would work on Verizon’s network, according to a person briefed on the negotiations. The phone could be available as soon as next year.

-- Verizon Said to be in Talks with iPhone. NYTimes, 28 Apr 2009

I may be assimilated...  Friends and colleagues are all moving to the iPhone, and my top objection (they're only on AT&T) is looking to disappear.  My second objection (I'd probably break it) is also fading as I see more people using them, while hearing few (if any) stories about scratches and cracks.

I'm very happy with Verizon coverage (even though it costs a ton more than AT&T), and I'm very happy with my BlackBerry email access.  But the BlackBerry camera just sucks.  So...

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Image from iPhone Can Connect to Anything.  The key is my favorite.

The Omnivore Has Two Faces (and Two Lemmas)

"[H]owever we choose to feed ourselves, we eat by the grace of nature, not industry, and what we're eating is never anything more or less than the body of the world."

-- Michael Pollan, closing words from The Omnivore's Dilemma.

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Did you know there were two covers?

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Search for a Perfect Meal in a Fast-Food World

MUNIficence

This morning I took the J-Church MUNI from Noe Valley to the Financial District.  Along the route, this corner by Dolores Park is the highest point, with a clear view to downtown two miles away. 

I don't know why it feels so special to look across that distance and think, "hey... I'll be there soon."  Maybe it's because the whole trip is in the city, and with one glance I can almost see all the people and things I'll pass in the next fifteen minutes.  Maybe it's the high view.  Maybe I'm feeling the difference between the neighborhood where I am, and commercial district where I'm going.

All I know is that I don't get the same feeling when I see Washington as I cross the Potomac from Arlington, or when I see College Hill as I drive up I-95 into Providence.  Something is different in San Francisco.

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Note: astute readers will notice the electric lines and ask, "shouldn't he say 'I was just there a few minutes ago' instead of 'I'll be there soon'?"  They are right.  I didn't think to grab my Blackberry for a photo on the inbound ride.  Thus this pic from the outbound.

Sunshine and the Trikeasaurus at Dolores Park, SFO.

Dolores Park on a hot April 19.  Upper 80s with thousands of unfleeced San Franciscans in the Mission District.

Pictured here, my NCSSM schoolmate Amandeep Jawa astride the Trikeasaurus: a 110dB party on three wheels.  Deep has video and thoughtful commentary in this blog: Prop 8, Heartbreak & Trikeasaurus = Don't Stop Believin'.

It's always good for me to visit San Francisco which is full of old friends, new perspectives and a special kind of energy.  And of course the fresh fruits and vegetables.

West Village Parking -- And They're Not Even "Smart"

Above, four cars fit into three parking spaces on W. Morgan Street at West Village.

The 600/700 blocks of W. Morgan Street are some of downtown's "magic parking" -- pockets of good spots with no time limit.  I've been using them for several months and one of the first things I noticed is that they were sized for the big cars of my childhood.  I wonder how that happened?  In any case, it's a nice throwback.

Note that throwback sizing works well for parking spots, but not for, say, stadium seats which (I've read) used to be smaller, but have been resized over the years to accommodate the spreading American butt.

Chapel Hill Parkour

Check out this video from TK17, son of my friend Christian:

For those who don't already know but want to: parkour and freerunning are different. Per Wikipedia:

The term freerunning was coined during the filming of Jump London, as a way to present parkour to the English-speaking world. However, freerunning and parkour are separate, distinct concepts—a distinction which is often missed due to the aesthetic similarities. Parkour as a discipline comprises efficiency, whilst freerunning embodies complete freedom of movement—and often includes many acrobatic maneuvers. Although often the two are physically similar, the mindsets of each are vastly different. Foucan defines freerunning as a discipline to self-development, following your own way. While traceurs and traceuses practice parkour in order to improve their ability to overcome obstacles faster and in the most efficient manner, freerunners practice and employ a broader array of movements that are not always necessary in order to overcome obstacles.

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Update: RTParkour Meetup

"Very Well then I Contradict Myself" - Whitman

The last two stanzas of Song of Myself contain the oft-quoted lines that embrace Whitman's self-contradiction.  I appreciate them these days, even as I do not understand them:

51

The past and present wilt--I have fill'd them, emptied them.
And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.

Listener up there! what have you to confide to me?
Look in my face while I snuff the sidle of evening,
(Talk honestly, no one else hears you, and I stay only a minute longer.)

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

I concentrate toward them that are nigh, I wait on the door-slab.

Who has done his day's work? who will soonest be through with his supper?
Who wishes to walk with me?

Will you speak before I am gone? will you prove already too late?

52

The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains of my gab
and my loitering.

I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.

The last scud of day holds back for me,
It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the shadow'd wilds,
It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk.

I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.

I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood.

Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you.

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Bonus: Whitman & Quakers: Why Should You Care? by Su Penn

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Durham Performing Arts Center - Backstage Autographs

Above, one of the backstage walls at the Durham Performing Arts Center. 

A first few autographs are up on walls that will lose much of their white space as the years and performances accumulate.  At right, it looks like Bill Cosby signed once with a not-so-hot pen before trying again with another.  The legendary Topol signed somewhere at left, and Harry Connick, Jr. did his number in between.

On another wall, I was charmed to see a big set of Durham schoolkid signatures just a few feet from an autographed (and plexiglass-protected) poster from Rent.

I enjoyed tonight's backstage access courtesy of the folks at 30Threads who organized a great blogger's bash, and the Durham Performing Arts Center who graciously hosted (with a fantastic dinner on stage, no less).

On our tour, the DPAC marketing director shared a remarkable tidbit: ticket-holders are allowed to bring their drinks and snacks into the beautiful auditorium, which has remained unsullied due to the respectful nature of guests so far.  Like I said: remarkable.