Ancient Logic

The stars aligned this year and allowed me a chance to visit my brother and his family in the Top End. Mostly this trip was my chance to see my two nephews and catch up with my brother and sister-in-law. However, another part of the trip was a sincere interest in the town in which they live: Darwin.  A beautiful sunset on one of my last days in Darwin. (2017) I'm going to venture a guess and say that you might not often spare a thought for this city. In the modern era I can think of only three reasons it may have come to your attention: 1) It is the capitol city of the Northern Territories and the largest city on the northern coast of that great continent (although largest is truly a relative term here) 2) It was in a few scenes of Australia, that historical epic a few years back starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman 3) It's the site of a small contingent of US Marines stationed in the Pacific Rim as part of the Asian Pivot initiated by President Obama. Darwin wa...

Last week, my wife and I visited Paris and Barcelona in one of those 'only-every-few-years' types of vacations. Neither of us had been to either city before and had a blast. The experiences in each of the cities were so different, I thought I would split my record of the visit into two (or three...) parts, starting with Paris. I have not exactly been pining to visit the City of Light my entire life. I knew that I would get there eventually but somehow it just never occupied as much of my imagination as say China, Japan, Australia, or any of the other places I've visited. I blame French class. However, once we set our sights on Paris, I start digging around, dusting off my wretched French, and generally growing very excited about the city and its possibilities. In particular, "Paris to the Moon," by Adam Gopnik, painted for me a compelling picture of modern Paris, an at-times overwhelming metropolis riddled with an almost anachronistic humanism and comp...

I got a great comment today from an artist creating visualizations of the technology and locations described in the Kim Stanley Robinson Mars Trilogy. Unwittingly, I borrowed a sketch of his from the Mangalawiki, the source of much of my background info on the novels. The sketch was plenty evocative, but his finished work is just amazing. Give the website a look!