In The Drink

Hi Crasstalkers!

1:33pm EST It’s ihatediamonds and I have a confession. Since 12/25/10 I have had exactly two glasses of champagne.
I know what you are thinking, I’m not about to reveal that I’m an alcoholic. I’ve just been training really hard in the gym and booze and 1000 calorie-burning workouts don’t really mix.

But today, all bets are off! I’m at the Extreme Beer Fest in Boston with a few of my nearest and dearest.

For your reading pleasure, I’m going to live blog this little adventure.

1:48 the only other black girl here and I just shared a knowing, hazy glance

1:41 beginning to sober up waiting in line. But there is carrot cake beer on the other end. I will not be deterred!

1:50 I’ve already fucked up my time line. Awesome. Also thank god for iPhone auto capitalization.

2:02 breaking the seal.

2:15 I love girl beers. Hatas to the left. There are a lot of bearded
dudes basically mainling Sierra Nevadas jelly bean beer. So
stout/porter snobs can fuck a duck.

2:25 just played a game of find the nipple with friends P and E while
in line. Classy

2:39 extreme beer Fest major pro amazing ladies room

3:06 so erd up a bit with header jalrpeno pretzel. Perfect drunk
food.

3:24 sigted pregnant person drinking, disturbed

3:28 drank gloden delicious. Pretty sure named for me

3:48 lost feinds in crowd. Drunk why are people wearing top hats?

4:15 favorite beer of the day Sam Adams Chocolate Cherry Bock

4:22 friend P, single male it’s slim pickings all round

4:34 Short break blogging will resume at Harpoon Brewey at 6pm

6:23 Tasty Burger in Fenway. It’s not In & Out and Burgerville but
om nom nom

9:01 at harpoon Brewey! Raspberry beer is pleasure. Trying to
upload photos. Failing.

9:43 drinking since 1pm solid 8 hour day of beer drinking. I’m ether
beyond drubbj of fucksing wasted.

10:40 waiting for the D line at park st. My feet are weeping. Soundtrack: Bishop Allen. Thanks for following today.

12:04am  I would give someone the blow job of their lives for a foot rub… if I didn’t end up passed out on their crotch from exhaustion. Waking up with balls imprinted on your face can’t be a good look.

Sidenote: (oh god…I’m a little drunk already) this place is full of penises. Lala I’m going in for the kill… Maybe.

Reality Used To Be A Friend Of Mine

When I was fifteen, my best friends were a couple: a 30-year-old electronic musician named Lorelei and her boyfriend Raj (not their real names). Raj was a 36-year-old carpenter who lived in his mother’s basement and crafted homemade cassette tapes of his moody, lyrically intense,  socially conscious rock music. Not surprisingly, I was a huge fan of both their creative endeavors. Despite the fact that they were both perennially stoned or high, they never once tried to contribute to my delinquency, and I was never interested in partaking of the drugs myself. Both Lorelei and Raj insisted that LSD contributed tremendously to their creative processes; I just thought they were fun to hang out with, regardless of whether or not they were under the influence.

Attending one of Lorelei’s concerts once at a small new-agey workshop space in the heart of Soho in the early 1980s, I had the lesson of a lifetime when someone passed out acid tabs to the band – and the entire audience. The only abstainers were myself and an elderly man in a wheelchair, who seemed to already be enjoying the ambiance anyways. It was obvious to me that these were all people experienced with LSD, as there were no wild manic nervous breakdowns on display, but as the spacey electronic music and coordinated subtly colored light show swelled, I felt that I was getting a psychological contact high.

Another friend of mine once regaled me of the time (in the late 1960s) when he hitchhiked across the country from East to West coasts, doing hits of acid the entire week-plus of his journey. Not only did he live to tell the tale, but to this day he is one of the most conscious and integrated people I’ve ever known. As some of you may know, one of my former blog screen names was “Lysergic Asset”, chosen in honor of this friend, who used LSD as an intellectual asset. It makes me wonder if the real reason that lysergic acid was banned by the U.S. government is because the powers that be had no desire to open minds before their time – or at all, really.

Living in San Francisco in the 1990s, I met many former hippies who shared with me their rich and varied drug experiences. (My favorite of the many I heard was doing peyote in the mineral spring rock pools on a cliff overlooking the ocean at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, during a full moon.) Several friends told me with candor that in their estimation, I really didn’t need psychedelic drugs. One explained it thusly: “You remind me of that AC/DC lyric: She told me to come, but I was already there. You are definitely already there.”  Basically, he was saying that I was a natural-born space cadet… which is admittedly quite true.

I have no regrets that my illegal drug use has been limited to a handful of marijuana contact highs (I inhaled, but I hated it); I feel that I have lived vicariously through the experiences of many people far more experimental than myself. Even straight up sober, reality is still a fascinating dance for me.

 

 

Daylight Saving Time Is Here

A reminder that tomorrow, or tonight depending on how late you’re up, is the time to spring forward an hour. Since the government won’t stay out of our lives and keeps messing with the date we can never predict when this will happen from year to year. Here is a list to help you get ready.

  • If you regularly apply updates to your computer then the electronic demons that live inside it will take care of this for you. If you don’t apply updates then you deserve the fate that is going to befall you.
  • Your iPhone may or may not wake you up at the correct time on Monday. History tells us that it won’t so you should plan accordingly.  I’m not joking on this one.
  • If you still have a VCR then it’s best to just unplug it and let it go back to flashing 12:00.
  • Your watch will require that you pull that little knob out half way and then spin it backwards for a bit.  Or if you still have that Casio then you have to hold down the left two buttons while pressing the right top button three times in a row, then release all the buttons and press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A.  Then you should be all set.
  • Your dog will be confused and will still want to eat at its regular time.  Dogs don’t care about daylight saving time.
  • If you are in Arizona, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, U.S. Virgin Islands or American Samoa you can ignore all of this.

Image Flickr.

The best $250 book you’ll ever buy

This is the first installment of what I hope will become a regular feature about obscure (yet fascinating and useful) books that most people don’t really know much about.

ARCHITECTURAL GRAPHICS STANDARDS (John Wiley & Sons)

Okay, if you’re an architect, you know all about AGS and have a copy of one of the ten earlier editions of this book within reach of your desk. But based on my admittedly anecdotal surveys hardly anyone else seems to know anything about it: maybe it’s that the title is so dry. Plus, the latest edition will set you back $250, which — I can hear you thinking – better buy a whole lot of book.
Well, it does.

More realistically, you can get a used copy for as little as $50 if you’re willing to settle for a slightly dog-eared older edition,  but since the volume’s heart essentially took final shape many decades ago it would be worth it at twice the price IMHO. Architects, architectural firms, and other professionals who need to stay up to date with the most recent edition will write it off as a business expense. The result for the rest of us is a steady supply of slightly outdated editions — but “outdated” is in the eye of the beholder.

Even if you’re completely broke, do yourself a favor and at least find it in the big library downtown (there are more than 20 in the New York Public Library collection, not to mention every architectural-school library anywhere). I guarantee you’ll still be there flipping from page to page an hour later; it really is that cool.

Have you ever wondered what the standard height of a tabletop should be – and how about the chairs? How steep is too steep for a staircase? AGS not only has the answers but quite literally draws you a picture. If you ever wondered how to build a stone fence using repurposed slate flooring tiles, AGS will show you; if you’re looking for door or window styles, AGS takes a systematic approach to the subject. It’s so comprehensive it blows your mind.

If you’re the sort of person who loved browsing the encyclopedia as a child, you’ll find this a book you’ll return to again and again. If you’re thinking about buying or building a home, this book can answer just about any question as to the pros and cons of different materials, designs, and construction considerations. And if you’re an armchair architect however casual, you’ll find that this book rewards its price many times over in sheer daydreaming bliss.

Architectural Graphic Standards

There’s a companion volume for landscape architecture:

Read Wikipedia’s page on Edward Tufte, this guy is a modern-day Marshall McLuhan if you ask me. Better yet, visit his website and make up your mind for yourself.

To swipe almost wholesale the words of Graphics Press’s own catalog description (both because I am lazy and because it is true):

The classic on statistical graphics, charts, tables.

Theory and practice in the design of data graphics

  • 250 illustrations of the best (and a few of the worst) statistical graphics
  • Detailed analysis of how to display data for precise, effective, quick assimilation.
  • Techniques for editing and improving graphics.
  • A fundamental yardstick: the data-ink ratio.
  • How to identify deceptive graphical representations
  • Spotting sources and tell-tale signs of deception
  • Design variation vs. data variation
  • Aesthetics and effective graphical displays.

This is the second edition of The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. and provides excellent color reproductions of the many graphics of William Playfair, adds color to other images, and includes all the emendations accumulated during 17 printings of the first edition.

Tufte self-published this amazing book about thirty years ago, and advertised it in The New Yorker; I used to see the blurbs and yearn for it. Eventually when I was feeling flush I bought it and it was everything I hoped it would be. Scientific American calls The Visual Display … “original, beautifully presented, sharp and learned, this book is a work of art. The art here is cognitive art, the graphic display of relations and empirical data.” They’re spot on.

Like the AGS also discussed here for architectural professionals, this book won’t be a revelation to quants and graph-makers – it’s a foundation text in its field. Tufte’s formulation of “the data-ink ratio” has entered the professional lexicon as an encapsulation of graphic elegance and efficiency, with the goal of conveying the maximum meaning using the simplest of possible designs (the “least ink”).

But for ordinary readers with a taste for bushwhacking the wilderness of books out there, this is a wonderful side trip that will inform you as well as fascinate you with the many ways we’ve developed to acquire new perspectives and visualizations of what we know already, what we propose, and what we predict.

Top image Flickr.

8.9 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Northern Japan- UPDATED 1:30pm EST SAT

An 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit  373 kilometers off the coast of Northern Japan at 2:46pm today. Quake triggered a 13 ft. tsunami, sweeping massive amounts of debri inland. As of 5:50am EST 32 are dead in Japan.

This quake was the fifth largest earthquake ever recorded. The strongest ever in Japan. Quake has been followed so far by 19 aftershocks, all at least a 6.0 magnitude.

Authorities in 20 countries haves issued a tsunami watch, including Hawaii and the entire west coast of North America, including Washington, Oregon, California and Mexico. Residents who live in coastal areas of these states should be alert and prepared to evacuate. For Alaska the watch has been downgraded to a warning.

The USGS has instructed residents of all coastal areas on the west coast of the United States to stay out of the ocean and away from the beaches. Residents of Hawaii are urged to seek higher ground for the entire duration tsunami, which will come in several waves.

Officials in the Philippines, where the tsunami is expected to hit first, have ordered evacuation of 19 coastal provinces.

This quake was the latest in a systemically active week in the region. Wednesday a 7.2 quake struck off the course of Honshu followed by a 6.3 quake Thursday in roughly the same area.

According to Japanese authorities, as of 6:00am EST, Japan’s nuclear power plants remain undamaged.

UPDATE 10:00am EST:

Death toll has been raised to between 200-300 bodies in and around Sendai, the epicenter of the quake.

Japanese authorities have ordered the precautionary evacuation of residents who live around the nuclear plant effected by the quake as technicians are having trouble cooling the reactor. Despite this the U.N. nuclear oversight agency has said that all plants have shut successfully shut down.

Thousands remain stranded in cities, especially Tokyo, as all trains have shut down. Tokyo has remained largely unscathed.

30 aftershocks have followed since the main quake, the strongest measuring 7.1.

Japan has reached out to the U.S. for assistance. The U.S. Navy is already positioning ships in the area to be of assistance to the Japanese people.

There are no reports of mass panic or lawlessness in the wake of the disaster. Way to be Japan.

UPDATE 2:30pm EST:

There has been no official update about the death toll. But the tsunami is probably responsible for more deaths and injuries than the quake itself. There are reportedly more than 500 injured and over 351 missing. Rescue workers are currently searching for 80 dock workers that were swept out sea.

An oil refinery that exploded continues to burn in Fukushima Prefecture. Also in Fukushima Prefecture, a small leak could occur in a nuclear plant and a dam failed and washed away about 1,800 homes.

U.S. Air Craft Carrier group Ronald Reagan is moving into position to provide aid and help with reconnaissance missions that are already underway to help the Japanese government map the disaster zone. The U.S. has also sent two search and rescue teams from the Agency on International Development to provide aid. Link

A nuclear emergency has been issued for the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant as it is not currently cooling.  The US is flying in additional coolant.  News.com CNN.

“A second nuclear power plant may be overheating.” CNN

California counties Del Norte, Humboldt, San Mateo and Santa Cruz are under a state of emergency.  CNN Damage was reportedin Santa Cruz county earlier today.  NBC Bay Area

“ Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa ordered the evacuation of the Galapagos Islands and of cities along the country’s coast Friday.” CNN

Update March 12:

From Kyodo News:

“Four people have been injured in an explosion that occurred at the No. 1 reactor of the quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Saturday.

The explosion was heard at 3:36 p.m. following large tremors and white smoke was seen at the facility in Fukushima Prefecture, the company said.

The four workers were working to deal with problems caused by a powerful earthquake that hit northeastern Japan on Friday.”

Update Saturday 1:30 PM EST

CNN is reporting that 900 people have been confirmed dead thus far, but that the number is expected to rise into the thousands. Over 9500 hundred people are unaccounted for in the town of Minamisanriku alone. Rescuers have pulled more that 3000 from the rubble since the quake.

The New York Times is reporting that evacuations continue in the communities affected by radiation releases from two malfunctioning nuclear power plants. In a chilling development, officials are distributing iodine (which is used to minimize thyroid damage in the event of radiation exposure) to people in the surrounding areas. The management of the evacuation is also severely overtaxing resources already needed for search and rescue efforts.

Source and Photo Credit: NPR

Found Footage Friday: V Trinadcatom Chasu Nochi

Today’s found footage post is about a film I stumbled upon accidentally (it’s in the public domain and has never been commercially released) and it may be one of my favorite movies because it’s just out-and-out bizarre. The whole thing is in Russian and even though I don’t speak Russian and there are no subtitles, it’s just so damn insane that I love every minute of it. The title in Russian is V Trinadcatom Chasu Nochi. In English, that translates as In The Thirteenth Hour of the Night, but more prosaically, it would be 13 p.m.

The pedigree of the director doesn’t seem to lend itself to such a crazy movie. Larisa Shepitko was an acclaimed female Soviet director noted for her heavy dramatic subjects. However, for some reason, she directed this film. The following is a totally fictional account of what happened and why, but I like to believe it’s true even though I made it up:

In 1969, a Commissar in charge of television discovered that there was a famous film director named Larisa Shepitko that he could force to make a film. So, he came to her and said, “you make TV movie for New Year’s Eve. Here are pop music acts. Do it in three days or we send you to gulag.” And so, this was the result.

It’s really a variety show with a thin veneer of outside storyline and while the pop acts are pretty odd themselves, the real action is the wrapper story involving a cross-dressing patriarch (matriarch?) of the Russian equivalent of a hillbilly family watching TV in their hut on fowl’s legs (a traditional Russian folk motif), joined by a mermaid and a dwarf. As I said, I speak no Russian, but from what I’ve been told, even if you do speak Russian, it doesn’t make much more sense.

As the movie is in the public domain, I uploaded the whole thing to YouTube, but for those of you who don’t want to sit through it, here are two of my favorite bits. First, a moment of cinematic insanity-

watch?v=jovmenwr7ug

And then a musical number (not one of the pop acts), a parody of Louis Armstrong singing Hello, Dolly… except the only lyrics are Hello, Dolly.

watch?v=yTpNNVnbRsw

And finally, the entire film.

watch?v=Oheg-LMFzGk

I’d say that this is best seen under the influence, but I think that would actually make it worse.

New Jersey, More Worldy Than MTV Would Have Us Believe

New Jersey tops the list of states with the most passport photos with 68% of Garden State residents in possession of a license to fist pump other countries.

Click the image to enlarge

Unsurprisingly, the state with the fewest passports is Mississippi.

After all, why would you ever want to see Paris when the Dixie National Rodeo and Livestock Show comes right to you?

Photo here.