Monday, June 26, 2006

My flight home last week included a commuter shuttle leg down to LA, and my window was on the west side. For about half an hour, the ground was more or less mountainous (not Rocky Mountain High, but definite slopes and crests), and it was interesting to see how the vegetation refused to grow on the seaward side. I assume that's because of friction from ocean winds (although I would have thought the moisture would help), but it was a surprisingly stark difference between near-bare ground on one side, and unbroken leaf canopy on the other. I don't know why it struck me, but it seemed really cool. I can think of lots of "wisdomlet" one-liners I could tack onto this, but the metaphors didn't matter - it was just cool to look at.

Going to see Superman Returns Wednesday - it better be good enough to make up for Bryan Singer not directing X3. Anyone else want a combo sequel where Lex Luthor takes on Kayser Soze? Anything to keep Singer and Spacey working together.

It's been a while, but I finally got into a place last week where I was excited to code. I had real improvements to make to my own product, and I just wanted to crank on it and get it done. And I did. :-) Now I just wish our servers/networks hadn't been down all day so I coulda tested it. Alas, alas.

Taking a quick break from Rise of the West to catch up on Newsweeks, and my latest issue of Mental Floss. Can I recommend Mental Floss to you? It's a trivia magazine with 'tude that has me laughing far more than retaining what I read. If you're in Austin, I'd be happy to loan it to ya.

Speaking of my book, though, I find myself more frustrated with the gaps the writer had in knowledge of ancient civilizations. Does anyone have recommendations for more up-to-date surveys of what we know about Egypt/Mesopotamia/India/China in BC times?

That's about as deep as the thoughts have been getting recently. Thanks for wading with me!

(Update: Changed Brett to Bryan as Anonymous noted.)
posted by Unknown 5:26 PM | 1 comments