flew toward sunset.
landed in the capital of the lone star state..
too far west to follow lynyrd skynrd's decree about love of southern governors
..though i can't say i blame them.
am alarmed by
the work of their kin, intentionally crippling government offices and then attempting to drown them in the rhetoric of inefficiency.
saw jesus impersonators on the river.
wonder if dogs are god's best friend too. probably.
browsed old school innovations in the agricultural museum. a corn-shucker..
..and a pre-depression apple-peeler, both ripe for infomercialization.
visited the largest state capitol building..
with winding halls of power
..and a dome. always a dome.
want to clarify that austin, like many american metro areas, is not a city. notwithstanding the odd hypno-cow..
..and public service announcement sculpture, the place is near impossible to navigate without a car. in cities, people live together. suburban sprawl is where people intentionally live apart. austin qualifies as the latter. not a perfect measure, but population density is the best proxy to determine whether a city's a city. in 2000, austin sadly
ranked ninth just within the state.
admit the bumper sticker "don't dallas my austin" is worthwhile sentiment.
enjoyed the
texas state history museum, of course mostly about football. here's some school spirit..
..and there's the evolution of the helmet.
watched
friday night lights (the movie) and every amplified bone-crunch tackle.
drove to
buda.
partied at the
hill country conservancy fundraiser's
exotic game ranch. my first giraffe sighting in texan moonlight..
captured what marcel duchamp would've painted if
nude descending a staircase instead featured a carrot in your mouth and friendly zoo animals.
entered the lodge, a playground of taxidermy.
had always wondered what a two-dimensional zebra would look like.
joined the bbq buffet line.
scarfed down some ribs.
learned a pulse-pounding way to separate fools from money.
waited for the dance floor to fill up.
marvel at the drunk things people do when they're stupid.
will let lyle lovett
say the rest.
read some articles..
(
1) brave new google
even after page and brin flipped on the light switch, most companies continued to wear blindfolds
google makes more from advertising than all the nation's newspapers combined
plaintiffs' lawyers seeking clients would bid as much as fifty dollars for a single click on the keyword "mesothelioma" - the rare form of cancer caused by asbestos
google conquered the advertising world with nothing more than applied mathematics
(
2) the egyptian transition
half a revolution is not enough
(
3) turkish rise
politically turkey has changed more in the last ten years than it did in the previous eighty
the emerging conflict in turkey is not over religion, but styles of power
(
4) voter turnout in 2012
the fact is that current house republicans received 30,799,391 votes, compared with obama's 69,498,215 total
(
5) greece and the euro
middle-class greeks..want the government to default, and the banks to accept losses for loans they shouldn't have made in the first place
the currency had a bank but no government and no laws except for allegedly binding fiscal rules that were immediately and very publicly broken by participating governments, with no consequences or sanction
argentina defaulted in 2002, froze the banks, declared its foreign debts void, and cut itself off from imf funding- and since then, it's been the fastest-growing economy in fast-growing south america
10/6
