Hermenautic Circle blog

With kids' art supplies, as with tools of all sorts, I've often heard the mantra, "Get the best you can afford." I always assumed that meant you should, say, buy the name-brand crayons instead of the dollar-store ones, the latter being so crappy that they're not even worth the buck you spend on them.

[Image: San Francisco, as seen from the cockpit of a 747; photo by Olivier Roux].

The last few days have been pretty awesome. We've been road-tripping up from Los Angeles to Reno for a dinner with author William Fox, Matthew Coolidge of the Center for Land Use Interpretation, landscape activist Lucy Lippard, Land Arts of the American West co-founder Bill Gilbert, cultural programmer Dorothy Dunn, Steve Wells of the Desert Research Institute (DRI), and the staff of the Nevada Museum of Art's Center for Art + Environment; we spent the day yesterday on a tour of the DRI's ice core research facilities, its micro-atmospheric testing rooms (like characters in a Borges story, they once used their equipment to test the metal content in the ink letters of a Gutenberg Bible in order to identify those letters' near-millennium-old liquid chemistry), and the DRI's full-scale virtual reality room.

I have some hilarious and amazing photos of Matthew Coolidge wearing black VR goggles, holding remote controls in each hand, while Bill Gilbert and Lucy Lippard look on, equally engoggled and optically stunned, flying helter-skelter over virtual terrains to chase simulated forest fires up canyon walls, the replicant ground dropping out from beneath them as we ran straight off a cliff, and I hope to post those here soon.

We had amazing conversations, as well: we're all gearing up for a big conference next year in Reno, hosted by the Center for Art + Environment at the end of September 2011. That will definitely be something to keep your eye on if you're at all interested in landscapes, the hydrosciences, water rights, mythology and the American West, archaeoastronomy, the contested history (and future) of weather modification, offworld exploration, the anthropology of mining, nature writing in its broadest possible sense, and much more. We're putting together something really fantastic, to be honest, and you have 18 months to make plans to be there.

Even better, Nicola Twilley from Edible Geography and Mark Smout of Smout Allen were also on hand, winning stuffed animals together in the Circus Circus casino (Mark quipped that the casinos were simply "giant, ugly buildings with jewelry stuck on them, like earrings"), and so the three of us are now down in San Francisco, where we'll be picking up Sarah Rich tomorrow to drive down to LA—and I can hardly imagine a better group of people to hit the Californian road with. The roads outside Reno were eight-foot canyons of plowed snow till we hit the Bay Bridge and drove past Alcatraz blinking in the darkness.

[Image: Photo by George Steinmetz/CORBIS for National Geographic; via @stevesilberman].

In any case, if you're near San Francisco tonight, Tuesday, March 16, I'll be giving a talk at the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) starting at 6pm. It costs $5, unfortunately, but it should be fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends and colleagues again; as all of those friends and colleagues know, I wasn't a huge fan of San Francisco when I lived here, but it's good to be back in this rolling city of fog lines, abandoned bunkers that look like hills, tectonic trembling, lost ships, ghost streets, buried dunes, vinicultural microclimates, chemical weapons, a suicide bridge, and its artificially shrunken bay. I'll be talking about quarantine, The BLDGBLOG Book (which I'm thrilled to say has just gone into a second printing), the "Glacier/Island/Storm" studio and its accompanying blog-week experiment, blackouts, and more.

I just posted this on the Bap site. Sorry I don't have a systematic approach, either always double posting or cross posting or whatever. Just felt like putting this here too.

Jennifer Michael Hecht's new post on exorcising gym guilt--"Gyms and Poets"--takes longer to get going than her (superb) anti-suicide manifesto, which Ideas adapted and published. But it is full of wisdom, and non-linearity is part of Hechts writerly charm.

Back in the early days of the EPA, the agency hired about 100 photographers to go take pictures of the nation’s environment. Now, those 15,000 photographs are finally making their way out of the National Archives’ wonky databases and onto the very-slick Flickr Commons.

I’ll have a lot more of these photos going up over the months, but I wrote up the basic story for Wired Science, including the excellent work done by archivist (and all-around good guy) C. Jerry Simmons.

The original director of the EPA project, Gifford Hampshire, hoped to recreate the success the Depression-era Farm Security Administration had in calling attention to the plight of the nation’s rural poor. The new target was the environment. The visual evidence of the nation’s various pollution problems would help justify the existence of the EPA.

But as it happened, the photographers interpreted their task in different ways. What they captured was not simply a portrait of “nature,” but the environment as people knew it and lived in it.

“Documerica’s official mission effectively focused on popular but valid environmental concerns of the early 1970s: water, air and noise pollution; unchecked urbanization; poverty; environmental impact on public health; and youth culture of the day,” wrote archivist C. Jerry Simmons, in a 2009 article on the collection. “But in reaction to the varied pollution, health and social crises, Documerica succeeded also in affirming America’s commitment to solving these problems by capturing positive images of human life and Americans’ reactions, responses and resourcefulness.”

Traffic jams, noise pollution from jackhammers and 747s, and graffiti appear alongside photos of caribou and western landscapes. Coal mining and mudslides mingle with swimming, movie theaters and greased-pig chases.

It’s a remarkable portrait of the early 1970s, when manufacturing still ruled the economy and environmental laws had just begun to regulate the air and water. The photographs show people, technology and biosphere colliding, producing both devastating consequences and innovative solutions.

Of especial interest here are Jack Corn’s photos of coal mining, Marc St. Gil’s oil field photos, Lyntha Scott Eiler’s pictures of Navajo mining, and Charles Steinhacker’s images of nasty industrial facilities. It’s good to remember that companies didn’t just magically stop polluting. Environmental protection took human work and dedication as well as the development of new technologies.

Images: 1. Lyntha Scott Eiler. 2. Jack Corn. 3. Jack Corn.

Check out this snippet of a Techcrunch story on The Orchard going private:

The Orchard has yet to file an annual report for last year, but for the first nine months of 2009,it has lost $17.5 million on revenues of $45.5 million.

The Orchard specializes in digital distribution. The fact that it cannot make any money is yet another nail in the coffin of the music industry. Perhaps under private ownership, it can transition to a different business model.

I like this because it encapsulates the journalistic narrative on the music industry perfectly: yet another nail in the coffin of the music industry. Pretty much any story on music is shaped around that narrative, regardless of what the story is and regardless of the truth of the narrative.

In many ways (instruments, publishing, licensing) the music industry is doing better than ever. It is only the record industry that’s dying, just like the wax cylinder industry before it and the mass market for sheet music. _Recordings_ as a whole continue to drive a lot of transactions for third party products like jeans, cars and liquor, so there will continue to be money made. Managing recordings continues to be a hassle for consumers, and the business of making their problems go away isn’t becoming obsolete.

Journalists write whatever attracts readers. Readers love the narrative that the music industry is dying. That doesn’t mean it’s a true story, it just means that it’s dramatic and entertaining.

That also doesn’t mean The Orchard’s valuation isn’t really weak. Licensed distribution products don’t yet do a high volume of transactions — $45 million dollars is pretty lame considering how much music they represent. But I don’t know why their costs are so high.

Any thoughts on why The Orchard needed to spend $63 million to earn $46 million in the first nine months of 2009? Why is their business so expensive to run?

[Bid on this Significant Object, with story by Dan Piepenbring, here. Proceeds from this auction go to Girls Write Now.]

—Step right up ladies and germs I said step right up fer yer chance to glance the World Famous All-Around Renowned Crowd-Pleasing Brain-Teasing Mind-Reading Dishware of Decatur! The Twenty-Seventh Wonder of the World folks a bargain at just twenty-five cents a view just twenty-five cents!

—Jeepers all the way from Decatur to Houston golly! Hey mister whudda them dishes like? I hear they’re all coppery some kinda holy trinity from ancient times got all kindsa bizarre fruits drawn on ’em what kindsa fruit mister?

—Step right up folks. Lookie emerging now it’s another bunch of sat-tees-fied customers tell me folks what’d the Mind-Reading Dishware of Decatur do fer ya?

—I can feel m’toes again! My teeth’re whiter!

—Reminded me to refill my windshield washer fluid.

—Brought me back t’behind the gymnasium bleachers Mayfield Senior Prom Spring of ’72 happiest I ever was.

—Gave me a hankerin’ for apples ’n’ oranges at’s fer sure.

—There y’have it people! More glowin’ reviews an’ high-flyin’ news courtesy of the All-Knowin’ Truth-Showin’ uh . . . Nose-Blowin’ Dishware of Decatur yessir! Now tell me who among ya dares to bare his soul? Who’ll swill the glorious Kool-Aid of Ages?

—Well I’m a man of God, probly shouldn’t—

—Sir never fear this here dishware’s God-fearing as Job himself now get right on in there that’s it I’ll just take those five bucks now ’n’ make some change when you come out enjoy.

—GRACIOUS ME!

—Everything kosher in there?

—Why, this dishware’s blessed!

—Uhm well yes sure—

—Saw the face of Christ starin’ right back at me from that illustrated melon slice! Praise Gawd! Gotta buy these for my parish!

—Let’s not get carried away nothin’s goin’ anywhere. I mean unless you’re Rich Uncle Pennybags.

—Rays of heav’nly light! Dunno I’m just a lowly preacher you mighta seen my church on yer way in, used to be a basketball stadium . . .

—Make an offer ain’t got all night.

—Well with the tithe and audiobook royalties minus baptismal font renovations, new hi-def TVs, let’s . . . how’s $40,000?

—SON OF MAN! You crazy?

—Fine, $45,000 then.

—Got yerself a deal shake on it you got a company checkbook I mean a church checkbook or I take PayPal—

—Who do I make it out—

—Cash thanks.

—Be honored if you’d stop by Lakewood on Sunday to explain—

—Sure if y’need me I’m fetchin’ Peep Show Petunia o’er there at the Hall of Succulent Venialities hightailin’ it t’Vegas see ya!

—W-wait! Where uh where did you discover such holy specimens?

—Some kinda . . . French boutique, yeah ‘Tar-jay.’ Toodles!

—‘Tar-jay’ huh well I’ll be . . . wait y’don’t mean . . . ! Get back here! Why I oughta!

The Angelic Upstarts’ cover of “We Gotta Get Outta This Place” came out March 16, 1980.

The Pop Group’s For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? album came out March 16, 1980. Here’s “Rob a Bank” from it.

Have you read this yet?



What about this one?



These are invisible books conceived and designed by Jules Montague—titles from "an imagined academic history concerned with the study of invertebrates and other animals as they relate to architecture and psychology." Amazing! Buffalonian Montague (best known for The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America) has an exhibit going up in Brooklyn this weekend.


(Via Jenny and Journey)

DOOR #2.  The exit.  You’re immediately out, locked out.  The street is empty, the lights are blown.  The winds howl, then dissipate: the ones that were tearing you apart but also holding you up.

"Jamestown colony, when it was first founded as a socialist venture, dang near failed with everybody dead and dying in the snow."

* Military on the streets in Reynosa, via Gringa-N-Mexico.

Narco-related violence in Mexico is dominating the news once more. Three people with ties to the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez were killed on Saturday. At least thirteen were killed over the weekend in Acapulco. And with scores dead in recent weeks, Reynosa is on fire due an apparent split between the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas. Things are so bad there, journalists are going missing, or just turning away from the story.

Getting a sense of what things like are like on the ground is becoming harder and harder. But there are some voices coming through.

If you can muster checking in on reality, the blog Ontobelli meticulously accounts for narco-related gun battles across the country, mostly via amateur YouTube clips. Many if not most of these battles go unreported in the mainstream press. The blog's author offers this narrated video explaining the background on the current outbreak of violence in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, and all of Mexico's northeast.

For an achingly frank ex-pat account of the situation in Reynosa, check out the blog Gringa-N-Mexico, by a young woman named Lindy -- "born and raised in southern Michigan, just a little country gal" -- who followed her husband to Mexico after he was deported. In a Feb. 24 post, Lindy writes about how completely the Gulf Cartel controls the streets of her adopted city:

I guess the cartel wanted to make the citizens of the city feel better so a few days ago they made a gigantic banner and hung it from an overpass near where we live. It read something along the lines of - Citizens of Reynosa, you are safe. We the cartel so-and-so are here to do our job and we do not wish to harm any people of your city, we only want to do what we have to do and not hurt any civilians. ... How nice of them?

The kicker is when she realizes the meaning behind the acronym "C.D.G." that she spots on some police-looking vehicles.

* UPDATE: Looks like the post has been taken down. Too bad, but not unexpected. Suerte, Lindy.

** INTERESTINGLY: In the case of the consular official in Juarez who was killed along with her husband near the border with El Paso, the local NBC affiliate across the border notes that whatever the victim Lesley (or Leslie) Enriquez did exactly at the consulate has not been specified.

Robert Cason, victim Arthur Redelfs's stepfather, also told KTSM he did not know what his step-daughter-in-law did at the consulate. Meanwhile, Diana Washington Valdez in the El Paso Times quotes a former DEA agent who says he knew Redelfs, a local Sheriff's Office detention officer, "since 1990."

Speaking to The Takeaway, expert narco reporter Ioan Grillo says the Enriquez-Redelfs slaying appeared to be a "very organized hit."

However, unnamed sources in the State Department led The Washington Post to conclude that it "did not appear that the slain consular employee was involved in counternarcotics work."

Officials are saying now that it looks like a case of mistaken identity.

On the momentous occasion of the return to service of Angels Flight, the historic and beloved Los Angeles funicular, a message of welcome from a couple of sweethearts just a few years younger than railcars Sinai and Olivet. In this episode, Barbara is saddened to be reminded of the demolition of old Bunker Hill, and Harry steals a kiss.

Preparing the couscous for steaming:

Kitsune Chat 2 from otolythe on Vimeo.

In Chatroulette, an “uncensored mess” of a site, visitors have the chance at a boundary-less experience where anything goes. There is a glaring lack of imagination that abounds via the hands of the majority of users – namely 22 year old boys and older men with hands on themselves. The perfect zone for a trickster figure to insert herself, in this case, in the form of a kitsune. “Who are you”, she cocks her head, sniffs, and silently confronts. “What are you doing here?” Technology plows forward, giving us hardly any time to reflect. Likewise, our social mores and rules have little time to catch up. Chatroulette is the ultimate reality show, exposing all of us as voyeurs. With the “next button” so close to the fingertips, it’s easy to make a quick scene and depart, before anyone finds out who you really are. Kitsune hopes to give you pause.

"Can it be a coincidence that J. D. Salinger died the same day the iPad was introduced?" --Megan McArdle, The Atlantic Yes.