Shallow Thoughts : : Jul

Recoding America: a Book Review

I don't write a lot of book reviews here, but I just finished a book I'm enthusiastic about: Recoding America: Why Government is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better, by Jennifer Pahlka.

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Clouds and Shadows from Anderson Overlook

While driving back down the hill after an appointment, I had to stop at Anderson Overlook to snap a few photos of the clouds and their shadows on the mesa.

In a Robert B. Parker novel I read many years ago, a character, musing on the view from a rich guy's house, comments, "I hear that after a while, it's just what you see out the window."

Dave and I make fun of that line all the time. Maybe it's true in Boston, but in New Mexico, I never get tired of the view and the endlessly changing light and shadow. I know people who have lived here fifty years or more and still aren't tired of it.

Beaver Ponds at Bandelier

A couple of years ago, while hiking up Frijoles Canyon in Bandelier we came across some hikers one of whom carried a huge boxy backpack with a sheet over it.

We asked about it, and it turned out they were carrying a pair of beavers for release.

Like many places in the western US, Frijoles Creek used to have quite a population of beavers, but they were all wiped out for one reason or another. Now, park officials are trying to repopulate them.

It looks like it's working. We had heard rumours of beaver dams and beaver ponds, and about a month ago we hiked up Frijoles Canyon to see what beaver evidence we could see.

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Marketing Impact

A neighbor has a huge RV emblazoned with the monicker:

FUZION
IMPACT EDITION

I guess FUZION is a somewhat appropriate name for Los Alamos ... even if the town is a lot better known for fission. And the town isn't particularly noted for spelling excellence, so that part's okay.

However, would you want a vehicle that's an "IMPACT EDITION"?

Maybe it's just me, but impact is something I generally try to avoid in vehicles.