Posts from — May 2009

The topic of Skinner’s rural-urban continuum came up in a staff meeting today, where my colleague Sumeeta referred us to a recent column by Steven Strogatz in the NYTimes.   The idea is along the lines of Christaller’s central place theory, in which the demand for goods and services drives the spatial distribution of human settlements.   In the article, Strogatz draws a parallel between Zipf’s law as it has been used to show the relative size in cities, and the ways in which biological organisms develop into holistic systems.    There is a self-determining economy of scale that occurs, whether in the exfoliation of leaves on a tree, the distribution of tissues in a human body, or the amalgamated infrastructure of a modern metropolis.   It turns out that the efficiencies gained by hiving together are a natural driver which brings all us living beings – kicking and screaming in defiance, to be sure! — together into super-organisms.   So we are basically just cellular automata, after all, which is sure to make Rudy Rucker happy.

“Another drink…  I’m already sloshed!” While searching for old Rarotonga comics with Antonio Gutiérrez art, I happened across this strange gem from 1951, which apparently is the first appearance of Rarotonga.   I’m sure there must be other examples, but so far I can only find a single cover of Rarotonga from the early series.

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By far the most downloaded images from Yunchtime are the astronaut and cosmonaut photos from the 1960 edition of Das Bildbuch der Weltraum Fahrt that I picked up in Vienna.  So I thought I should scan a few more.   This series features the extreme temperature tests conducted on U.S. spacesuits during the 1950s, and an astronaut getting the feel for handling the controls from his rocket seat.   The rubber gloves don’t look especially good for handling those knobs and switches, and the fact that the astronaut is stretched out like Plastic Man just to reach the controls shows you the state of ergonomics in those days.   The greatest thing about the rocket seat photo are the pilot’s lace-up shiny leather shoes.  DOH!  Mission Control, do you read?  I left my space boots in the locker at Canaveral, over!

If you’re into this sort of thing, check out our friends at SpaceFacts.   And some miscellaneous galleries:  Appollo Mission Photos,  NASA images, Today in Space History.

The wonderful Muzafar Bhaid is riding his bicycle for peace across Pakistan!  From the highest mountains of the world in Hunza region, the intrepid Muzafar is taking annual stages on his way to Islamabad.  Is this fellow wonderfully awesome, or what?

As our government sends in a fascist whacko to launch commando raids, Muzafar is biking along the steepest grades and the dustiest highways of the world…   My hat is off to you, Muzafar, brother!   Ride on all peace-loving people, we will get there someday.

Check out the two stages of Mazafar’s route so far:   last year from Gojal (shown on map as Ghulmit) to Gilghit,  then this year from Gilgit to Abbotabad.   Amazing!

When I am able to blank out the last thirty five years, during which I have continuously despised and fought against the automobile (even when I owned one myself…yes, I’m talking about that rattling death-trap of a 1967 Ford Falcon!), when I can forget all that, it does my heart good to hear people talking about Ecocities.   Richard Register has a decent column in Foreign Policy in Focus this week, advocating for more sustainable cities built around better transit systems and less automobile traffic.  His points are well taken and straightforward, building upon his books on the subject (from 2001 and 2006):

• Switch to a pedestrian and transit-oriented infrastructure, built around compact centers designed for pedestrians and transit;
• Roll back sprawl development while vigorously restoring nature and agriculture;
• Integrate renewable energy systems while using non-toxic materials and technologies and promoting recycling.

Which he follows immediately by pointing out the major obstacles to achieving this dream:

A major difficulty in moving toward ecocities is that cars have influenced urban design for 100 years. Many of us caught in this infrastructure find it extremely difficult to get around in anything but the car. The distances are just too great for bicycles, the densities just too low to allow efficient, affordable transit.

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There is nothing like a platter of hot takoyaki octopus balls, one of the most beloved snack foods in Japan.  Something about the half-cooked, gooey, pancake-like sphere, slightly browned on the outside, with little rubbery bits of chewy octopus tentacles inside, that simply drives Japanese people crazy with delight!  These snacks are not always served in splendidly decked out shops like the Red Devil Takoyaki House of Namba, Osaka.  Typically they are vended from funky little hot dog carts found alongside bus stations, baseball stadiums, or tourist spots.  A little paper dish of those fresh grilled octopus balls, dribbled with sticky brown sauce (with a soya tang), is almost irresistible in the land of the Rising Sun…

How great to know that you can now enjoy this sensation anywhere — well almost anywhere — thanks to the Frito Lay corporation, who have packaged up a neat ersatz version.  The Frito Lay takoyaki tei (”grilled octopus stand”) boasts of a super thick, delicious “sauce,” depicted as flowing in an airborne swirl over the head of a prototypical uber-cute pink octopus cartoon.   For some reason that floating swirl of sauce — frozen in mid-air — recalls the image of the girl being launched into freeze time as she crashes her scooter in Kamikaze Girls.

The fact that the actual product is some kind of genetic half-breed of a Funyon and a Shrimp Chip, laced with sparkling flecks of MSG and aonori powder, and is completely dry seems not to bother the marketing folks one bit.  Indeed, they know perfectly well that anyone crunching a mouthful of these cheese-puff style octopus balls will succumb to an instant case of cottonmouth so intense that they will scramble wildly for the nearest bottle of beer or sparkling water.

Even so, it was a super special treat to try a pack of these, graciously given to us by our friend Kumi, who had them airlifted in all the way from Tokyo!   Thanks, Kumi, fun munchies!