October 10, 2004
Like a Rolling Stone
Adventures with SUOC continued this weekend as I travelled to Lake Lila in the Adirondacks (just on the southern tip of the High Peaks region).
My friend and sort-of-co-worker, Polar lead the trip. We arrived at Lila sometime late Friday night (around 10pm, I think), and hit the water after unloading the cars. Paddling by starlight until 2am, we decided to camp on Kenda Island (somewhat illegally) and drank and talked until the wee hours of the morning. Sunrise came all too quickly, and we had to tear down before the Ranger Chris would stumble upon our site. We breakfasted on our early-morning boat landing, a rock that looked out upon the lake and surrounding mountains.
We headed up a small river on the southwest corner of the lake, somewhat in awe of fall colors. The scenery was gorgeous, with surrounding mountains covered in fiery red, yellow, and aging green.
Making a rather futile portage, we set up camp mid-afternoon in a promising spot along the creek (camp 12), complete with Forest Spirit protection.
Polar managed to bust out a few tunes on his little folk music guitar. It was no Deliverance, just songs about old lovers being somewhat like pancakes. Afterwards, we went on a splendid llittle hike through the woods, up to the top of one of our nearby mountains. I even got to see a bald eagle fly below.
Splendid territory up there...for a while I believed I could be happy spending the rest of my life on that mountain side. I don't think it was an entirely incorrect supposition.
We slept early on Saturday night, and woke up late Sunday morning to light rain pattering on the storm shield, 7 people crammed in to 2 tents. It's a lifestyle that takes some getting used to, but I think I'll be doing some winter hiking and camping trips as well...
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Further back...
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Previous Trips...
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Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
Spring Break in West Virginia, 2005
New Year's in Paris, 2003-2004
Coming to America, 2003
Protesting in Berlin, 2003
Prague Bier-Tour, 2002
Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
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The Curve of Binding Energy
John McPhee follows famous physicist Ted Taylor in this piece that was -- and probably still -- ahead of its time.
Originally published in 1973, McPhee outlined the coming security and environmental issues surrounding the plutonium enrichment processes. For the most part, though, McPhee invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, although he does point out the ease with which any number of people could obtain the material (though not necessarily the manufacturing prowess) to make an atomic weapon.
The question still sits in my mind after reading -- are we being too paranoid, or not paranoid enough?
Rated 
by reid
on October 01, 2007
by reid
on October 01, 2007
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Zodiac
Zodiac touts itself as an 'eco-thriller,' and it is just that. Told from the first-person perspective of ST (or Sangamon Taylor), the book recounts a roughly six-month period of his life busting big corporations for violating environmental laws.
Not the tree-hugging political activist type, ST is equipped with chem labs, scuba divers, maps, and an organization (GEE International, the Group of Environmental Extremists) that masterfully brings the press into the fold to scare the public with the very real dangers posed by illegal dumping. It's sort of a Sierra Club member's wet dream -- a band of ecowarriors that actually get things done.
ST finds something odd happening in Boston Harbor during his tale: a new form of pollution that could poison everyone on the planet in a matter of weeks. His quest to uncover exactly who and what is causing the latest spike in toxins goes all the way up to the President of the United States, and could end up costing him his own life.
While a neat and fast-paced tale, the novel drags on a bit toward the end, begging disbelief from even the most forgiving sci-fi folk. While not as good as his latest offerings, it's still a great read for those that enjoy a good Stephenson novel (or even those who don't).
Rated 
by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005
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Cat's Cradle
A few years ago, I attempted to woo an online datee, and she immediately criticized me for my politics. I protested the war on Iraq, which was "a shame." She defended her position of complete noninvolvement by standing behind Vonnegut.
It may seem odd to open a review that way. My assumption is now not that she was an idiot, but that she had only read Cat's Cradle, and only with a rather odd viewpoint.
Cat's Cradle looks at a cold-war world where the personifications of religious, political, and scientific single-mindedness collide to destroy the world.
Vonnegut tells a masterful tale, but it makes me wonder what one person's indifference would do to prevent us from all dying? So for now I will continue to unblindly stop unjust wars, even while I'm only reading.
Rated by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005
just a quick question if you don't mind.
I have a 'fordummies.com' domain which I hope to post soon. Have you had any trademark grief and if so what have you done about it?
Thanks,
Roeland
Posted by: roeland on October 11, 2004 12:47 AM