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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Open Thread

by Tim F|  December 10, 200911:54 am| 37 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Photo Blogging

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On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions. From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.

This series was created by Alain Chamot (1971-2020).

Submit Your Photos

Photos are back! Apologies for the long delay. I was busy as hell, then sick, then sick and busy as hell, and yesterday I don’t even want to talk about.

fallsroad, The Machinery of Joy.

the-machinery-of-joy1

LT in Oregon, Lwater.

water

Email me a link to your one or two favorite pics on a photo site like Flickr (do not send the image itself please) and I will put up favorites in open threads. Send a short caption if you want one.

Click on the photos for a link to the photographer’s website. To see all photo threads, click on ‘photo blogging’ at the bottom of the post.

If your computer cannot read our email links at top right, my email is (remove the zeroes): portus0jackson0ii at yahoo dot com.

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Previous Post: « Another Reminder
Next Post: E & P Closing »

Reader Interactions

37Comments

  1. 1.

    MikeJ

    December 10, 2009 at 11:58 am

    Political Wire has 2012 polls:

    Obama 46%, Huckabee 45%
    Obama 47%, Romney 42%
    Obama 50%, Palin 44%
    Obama 48%, Pawlenty 35%

  2. 2.

    Shoe

    December 10, 2009 at 12:05 pm

    Tetrises

    This explains a lot about Tetris actually.

  3. 3.

    Elie

    December 10, 2009 at 12:05 pm

    I love these photos…
    Fallsroad’s photo is massive and dominant — scary like almost a photo of a dinosaur where you can see its teeth

    LT in Oregon’s photo is subtle — takes you to a mysterious place — love its soft feel

    Thanks again for this feature…

  4. 4.

    SGEW

    December 10, 2009 at 12:07 pm

    Ye gods, I love good photographs of machinery. It’s almost perverse.

    So, open thread: Has everyone seen Obama’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech?

    Personally, I think it’s his finest one yet, could be. Just . . . wow. I’ve heard that he wrote it in its’ entirety (besides editing, maybe? anyone have a link?); in any case, I think that this thing might have justified th’ prize itself, maybe, perhaps, kinda.

    But seriously; it’s an incredibly important statement, an historical one, methinks, of Obama’s political identity, multinational policy doctrine, and personal philosophy. Extraordinary, really, and deserves re-reading. Lot to parse, actually.

    [Fallows’ take here, in which he coins (for the first time I’ve seen it, anyway) the term “Obamism” as the philosophical successor to Niebuhrism. I think that this is spot on.]

  5. 5.

    SGEW

    December 10, 2009 at 12:08 pm

    [Text of speech here.]

  6. 6.

    asiangrrlMN

    December 10, 2009 at 12:09 pm

    Excellent pics as always, Tim F. Sorry that you were sick and busy as hell. Hope things are better now.

    Off to watch Obama’s NOBEL PRIZE acceptance speech. Bitchez.

  7. 7.

    darryl

    December 10, 2009 at 12:14 pm

    What’s the best place to expatriate oneself to? I’m sick and tired of Murkin diptards.

  8. 8.

    Morbo

    December 10, 2009 at 12:16 pm

    Ooh, somebody’s a fan of old school industrial?

  9. 9.

    Steph

    December 10, 2009 at 12:18 pm

    I had switched several lights in our house to those CFL bulbs, but now I’m reading that they may be bad for health? Not the mercury content, but the way they function. Anyone know anything about this?

    I’ve switched back to incandescent bulbs in the meantime. I want to be green, but I have two little kids here…

  10. 10.

    Tom Hilton

    December 10, 2009 at 12:22 pm

    Both very cool photos, and great together. Which, it occurs to me, I haven’t seen a lot of comment about in these photo threads (may well have missed it, as I haven’t read every comment). So I’ll say it: TimF does a tremendous job selecting shots that work well together.

  11. 11.

    SGEW

    December 10, 2009 at 12:24 pm

    TimF does a tremendous job selecting shots that work well together.

    Seconded. Heartily.

  12. 12.

    Bad Horse's Filly

    December 10, 2009 at 12:31 pm

    Cool pictures. Always a good break in my day. Sorry to hear you were sick.

    Hey, has anyone heard from Laura W lately? Am I just missing the threads she’s in? Seems like forever since I’ve read her snark.

  13. 13.

    Elizabelle

    December 10, 2009 at 12:40 pm

    @SGEW:

    Ditto from a non-dittohead. Great photos and Tim’s a great editor.

    What fresh hell is this? From USA Today:

    A coalition of electronics manufacturers, phone service providers and consumer groups is trying to rally airline passengers this week to stop Congress from banning air-to-ground phone service.

    ….. Most consumers “want the choice of being able to use this technology,” says leader Carl Biersack, head of the Inflight Passenger Communication Coalition that’s trying to rally passengers.”

    Uh,no, not really.

    Advocates of the ban, such as Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., say they want to protect fliers from the intrusion of phone calls in one of the last phone-free zones. … He points to a survey of 3,000 frequent fliers done by the International Airline Passengers Association that found that 88% said air-to-ground calls would be “a source of great irritation.”

    http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-12-10-airplanephones10_ST_N.htm

    PLEASE DON’T LET US GET BIERSACKED!! NO CELL PHONES ON PLANES DURING FLIGHT.

    Had to say that loudly enough to talk over the engine noise and the noisy person on her cell in seat 13 C.

    Or I could just type it, quietly and pleasantly, on my laptop with wireless aloft: Please don’t let us get Biersacked!

    Virgin America offers free wireless this month; it was fabulous. Not much you can’t email or text that needs saying — LOUDLY — to someone 35,000 below while 17″ from your neighbor.

    Yes to keyboarding and tapping. No to yapping.

    You are now free to move about the cabin.

  14. 14.

    Elie

    December 10, 2009 at 12:40 pm

    @SGEW:

    Just finished reading it. Thanks for the link..this is a great speech from a great speechifier. Lots of memorable lines but for me, the great part about the speech is that it is given in the context of a leader who was derided for receiving this prize so associated with humanitie’s deepest aspiration – peace. I think he addressed the contradictions but the essential necessity of finding meaning for the need for peace and that sometimes paradoxically, it cannot be provided without war — war controlled by rules but war nonetheless.

    I did not have time to hear it fully, but the read was excellent. Thank you for highlighting — I had forgotten this was happening..

  15. 15.

    Jay in Oregon

    December 10, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    I was just coming here to see if there was a photo blogging update!

    I love your selections, Tim.

  16. 16.

    asiangrrlMN

    December 10, 2009 at 12:43 pm

    @SGEW: Thirdeded!

    And, SGEW, I am listening to the last portion of Obama’s speech. You know, the problem is that he insists on being rounded and complex and in-depth rather than spouting platitudes and sound bites.

    Full disclosure: I am more to the left than many here, but not as far to the left as some. I have had my issues with Obama’s handling of certain issues, but overall, I have been impressed with the way he’s handled the presidency.

    Back to his speech. He refuses to pander by saying what would be popular. He is willing to risk the wrath of, well, everybody to say what he believes to be true. That doesn’t mean that I agree with everything he says, but I am confident that he has put in a great deal of thought to everything he says and believes. This speech was multi-layered, thoughtful, sobering, and will be completely misrepresented by our media and the right. Still, it makes me glad that the grownups are back in charge.

    @Bad Horse’s Filly: I saw her briefly in one of last night’s eleven billionty threads.

  17. 17.

    asiangrrlMN

    December 10, 2009 at 12:45 pm

    @Elizabelle: Fucking A, man. No fucking cell phone calls on a plane. What fresh hell this? Sigh.

  18. 18.

    Elizabelle

    December 10, 2009 at 12:59 pm

    I am going to push back on cell phone use in flight. Comments on USAToday story running strongly against allowing them.

    It would be taking away a last refuge for many who enjoy reading, napping, etc.

    You can get up and move, if you must, to escape a noisy “quiet” Amtrak neighbor. Not so on planes.

    No Biersacking!!

  19. 19.

    Elie

    December 10, 2009 at 1:08 pm

    @asiangrrlMN:

    Yeah, you know the media are reading it now trying to figure out what they can twist to make some weird interpretation…”little minds”

    I agree with your comment on his Presidency which is still very young. I am a lefty for the most part but less ideological than pragmatic..

  20. 20.

    SGEW

    December 10, 2009 at 1:08 pm

    [tldr, whatevs]
    Way too much to parse through in the Nobel speech (the specifics of the contradictions alone!), but I thought that this was, in a way, the thematic core of the address:

    We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth: We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations — acting individually or in concert — will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified. I make this statement mindful of what Martin Luther King Jr. said in this same ceremony years ago: “Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones.” As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. King’s life work, I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence. I know there’s nothing weak — nothing passive — nothing naïve — in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.
    […]
    But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world. […] To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism — it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.
    […]
    Adhering to this law of love [“we do unto others as we would have them do unto us”] has always been the core struggle of human nature. For we are fallible. We make mistakes, and fall victim to the temptations of pride, and power, and sometimes evil. Even those of us with the best of intentions will at times fail to right the wrongs before us.
    […]
    But we do not have to think that human nature is perfect for us to still believe that the human condition can be perfected. We do not have to live in an idealized world to still reach for those ideals that will make it a better place. The non-violence practiced by men like Gandhi and King may not have been practical or possible in every circumstance, but the love that they preached — their fundamental faith in human progress — that must always be the North Star that guides us on our journey.

    (emphasis added)

    I kind of think that this is sorta noteworthy.

    My favorite response? Victor Davis Hanson, trying to be snarky at the National Review: “In short, Obama, in a mere 4,000 words, was trying to explain that even Noble Laureates like himself have to use force, but that they will do so in a way unlike that of George [W.] Bush.”

    Um. Yes. That’s kind of the point.

  21. 21.

    LT

    December 10, 2009 at 1:10 pm

    Woo hoo! Thanks, TimF.

    And: Why are planes being considered some kind of “last refuge” from cell phones? So silly – what about wild rivers and woods and such? That said, seems like a safety issue. Flight attendants need control and attention in ways that train or bus or whatever staff don’t. Not to mention the fact that a whole lot of us would be tempted to kill someone jabbering on a phone. That’d be added danger in the confined time on a plane.

    Why not just allow texting and instant messaging?

  22. 22.

    LT

    December 10, 2009 at 1:11 pm

    P.S. Hell of a shot, fallsroad. Is that actually the inside of a clock? Too cool.

  23. 23.

    Max

    December 10, 2009 at 1:16 pm

    Read the speech and I think it’s one of his best. But, I like most of his speeches, especially Philly, Notre Dame and Grant Park. I’m adding this one to my favorites list.

    It will be sad to see the Obama haters in the media, the right and the left parse his words and use passages out of context in order to further their narrative and agenda, but in the end, it says more about them than it does about Obama.

    Yes, I’m an O-bot, loud and proud, but even if I step back and try to be objective, I come to the conclusion that Obama is exactly the man we need to lead us at this point in history.

  24. 24.

    Tom Hilton

    December 10, 2009 at 1:49 pm

    @LT:

    And: Why are planes being considered some kind of “last refuge” from cell phones? So silly – what about wild rivers and woods and such?

    Sadly, most of the backpackers I know now carry cellphones (edit: or satellite phones) into the wilderness; I’m one of the few who refuse to do that. To me, it isn’t wilderness if you aren’t out of touch.

  25. 25.

    Tom Hilton

    December 10, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    And while I haven’t watched the Nobel speech, I did read it, and thought it was just right–dealing head-on with the paradoxical situation he’s in (a wartime President getting the Peace Prize) and articulating a foreign policy based on both basic decency and realism.

  26. 26.

    Tim F.

    December 10, 2009 at 2:13 pm

    @Tom Hilton: I would do it. Turned off, of course. The GPS I bought my sister for her wedding has since saved her life.

  27. 27.

    LT

    December 10, 2009 at 2:20 pm

    @Tom Hilton: I agree with TimF. I take mine, turned off, and am glad to have it if something goes sideways. (Where I went this year they wouldn’t have worked anyway, but that’s another issue.)

  28. 28.

    Linkmeister

    December 10, 2009 at 2:51 pm

    My first thought on seeing these wonderful photos? Ooh, steampunk!

    Alas, no book recommendations to go with the pics.

    Ah well. Try the website devoted to the genre. Its authors claim to be “The New Speculative Fiction Clearing House.” Lotsa links to bibliographies, reviews, organizations, newsgroups.

  29. 29.

    asiangrrlMN

    December 10, 2009 at 3:11 pm

    @Elie: The first meme, as seen on Yahoo! is, “President Obama defends two wars as he accepts Peace Prize.” Goddamn it, he did more than ‘defend’ two wars! Shit. Just fucking shit. Really. And, I’m more ideological, but am slowly recognizing with old age that small steps are better than none.

  30. 30.

    Tom Hilton

    December 10, 2009 at 3:17 pm

    @LT and @Tim F.: my girlfriend would be on your side. I refuse to get a cellphone for any reason, though (and if I had my way, cellphones would be outlawed altogether)…so it’s no surprise that I don’t think they belong in the wilderness.

    I rely on exactly what I relied on before cellphones were around: proper preparation, navigational skills, contingency planning, risk avoidance, just generally knowing what the hell I’m doing. Beyond that, I accept that a certain amount of risk comes with the territory.

    The flip side is that cellphones encourage people to go hiking without adequate preparation (the Boston Globe had an article last December about a big jump in the number of hiker rescues on Mount Washington, due to unprepared cellphone users).

    I think we lost something profound when the last blank spaces on the map were filled in. I think we lose something analogous when the most remote places in the country are just a phone call away.

  31. 31.

    LT

    December 10, 2009 at 4:19 pm

    @Tom Hilton: Well, hard to argue with you. Perhaps I have to check myself. (I got a cell phone first in my late thirties, in 2002, when my sis was very sick and then dying and I was doing a lot of traveling and caring for her perfect self. That’s also the year I got married – in reference to your girlfriend comment. Sigh. I’m old, and different.)

  32. 32.

    Fallsroad

    December 10, 2009 at 4:22 pm

    @ LT #22:

    Yep. It is the mechanism for a medium sized table chiming clock my parents bought in Germany in the 1960’s, taken up close. Something about the angle gives the illusion of a much larger size than it has in reality.

    Thanks to Tim F. for making the photo selections and especially for the thoughtful, complementary pairings he has created.

  33. 33.

    Tom Hilton

    December 10, 2009 at 4:46 pm

    @LT: ugh–been there, a couple of years ago, with my parents. My mother’s cancer was the reason we finally got a car.

    btw, I always feel a little odd using the word ‘girlfriend’; we’ve been living together for 12 years.

  34. 34.

    Something Fabulous

    December 10, 2009 at 5:26 pm

    @Bad Horse’s Filly: I was just wondering the same thing! LauraW, if you are here, was it you who said yellow tail pinot noir was any good? Saw it for $3.50 yesterday at the grocery and thought it was likely too good to be true… or good.

  35. 35.

    Laura W

    December 10, 2009 at 5:47 pm

    @Something Fabulous: Yeow. I heard my name all the way over here in NC. Figures it was associated with wine.

    It might have been me with the Yellow Tail Pinot, but I can’t recall the last time I had that, so probably not. Maybe LilBrit or South of I-10? I don’t drink red unless it’s cold out. And while I think their wines are great values, there is so much variation in the many offerings year to year it’s nearly impossible to say that because last year’s Shiraz was great, this year’s will be the same. I remember one year (2003?) wherein their Cab was my fave. And I never drink straight Cab! I will say that I find the Shiraz/Grenache to be their most consistent wine, regardless of vintage. I note the 2008 is now out. Have not tried, but expect it to be “serviceable”.

    It’s way out of the price range you mention, but I tried this for the first time last week at the company Xmas party and loved it to death. Managed to get out of the door with the one intact back-up bottle. The perks of being best friends with your employers.

    And while I’m here, let me address something Mr. Cole said in an earlier post re. Black Box Wine. Based on his assertion that their Shiraz was “FTW”, I swallowed my pride and bought a box of wine for the first time in my entire life. It was OK on the first night, by night #2 it was tasting very foul. By night four, I threw it out. The NZ Sauvignon Blanc box was SO FREAKISHLY BAD I poured the first glass down the sink. (You need to know that’s a statement.) I took the entire box back to the market yesterday and demanded a refund, telling the manager: “There is no way that wine could be on purpose!”

    /wine chat

  36. 36.

    Elie

    December 10, 2009 at 7:17 pm

    @asiangrrlMN:

    Its some weird phenomena where I think they think if they credit his rationality, somehow it completely makes the last ten years or so completely insane… I feel at some level its a defense and a fear..

    I am so proud of that part of him…the courage he has to stick by reality and reason in the face of extreme weird illogicality. Not sure I could do it — KNOW I couldnt do it!
    I have a tendency to stew on things and hopefully he doesnt

  37. 37.

    Something Fabulous

    December 10, 2009 at 7:29 pm

    @Laura W: Neat! never heard of it before– I’ll look out for it. I am broke these days, but if ever am working again will let you know what I think of it. Yellow Tail is usually a bit more than that bargain price, I believe, so I was even MORE skeptical to try it. Thanks for the summary!

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