HELIOLITH

My latest obsession? Linux. Class I’m taking this quarter (after 2 years away from school)? Intro to Unix/Linux. Online lessons I’m following? Linux.org/lessons Ok, so I’m a latecomer to the geeky realm of one of the world’s most efficient, powerful, customizable, and innovative operating systems. Until I downloaded […]

I went to see the Kehinde Wiley exhibit yesterday at the Brooklyn Museum during the blizzard. It was amazing, really. In “Passing/Posing” the artist paints these gorgeous vibrant portraits of young black men. They dress in their own clothes, basketball jerseys and jeans, gold chains and cellphones. They choose poses from art books, from older […]

It’s well-known that during wartime down-time, U.S. soldiers sometimes play first-person-shooter games like Halo on Xbox or PS2 consoles. It has even been said that these games help with in-the-field shooting accuracy (as well as helping surgeons’ accuracy during surgery). I’ve always hoped somehow we could get political leaders to challenge each other […]

It has been a rough week for the people of La Conchita, California and everyone connected to their community. Today was the funeral of our friend Vanessa Bryson, the one that I reported was missing in my last entry. The Ventura County Star has a good article called, “10 victims, 10 stories: La […]

If you sell technology that has the ability to serve a given function, it is a little weird to disable or ‘nerf’ that function.
For example, if I buy a dvd over the internet from Spain –which I did a few years back– I expected it to work out-of-the-box (it was one by Alejandro […]

More than fifteen houses were crushed or destroyed in nearby La Conchita today as a mudslide overtook a large section of the small town. Two Three people are confirmed dead, and at least 6 others are believed to be trapped in their homes beneath the mud. According to a just published AP […]

For the first time in I can’t remember how long, I was able to finish a novel. What a wonderful thing! Praises to time off from teaching. I would summarize it ever-so-briefly, but I am conditioned not to. The main character, Amir, explains that in America if […]

Two weeks of time spent with family in the NY area, reunion with my mom, dad, sister (Talula!), brother, and lots of other relations is ending. I’m grateful to have been able to fly back here & spend time with them during these shortest days of the year. I should have prefaced […]

Boing Boing posted a link to this cartoon which is to me a perfect visual counterpart to the writers in Geoff Dyer’s novels. Short and sweet post today. Happy New Year.