I've decided to experiment with using Wordpress to blog, so please visit me over at Read It Or Not.

My dog, Nika, was featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal today. She and I were inseparable for about 7 years until Hansi was born, and although she was absolutely fine with Hansi, Nika's a needy pup, and she just wasn't getting the level of attention she needed to be truly happy. So we "lent" her to a friend of ours who lived nearby; this friend also had a dog, as well as a big yard with old trees, etc-- a perfect spot for Nika.

Cut to a couple years later: our neighbor across the street went with Suvi on a visit to Nika one day, and fell in love with her. She convinced us to let Nika live with her, which was a perfect situation, as it enabled us to see Nika just about any day we wanted. Anyway, the rest, as they say, is history.

Amazing animated short by Ryan Larkin: 'Walking.' The film possesses a kind of quality and feeling and sense of connectedness to the audience that seems so rare today.

Hat tip to Jack Shedd of Big Contrarian, one of my new favorite blogs. He links to a 2005 documentary about Ryan, who, after creating some extremely influential works of animation, slipped into alcohol and drug abuse and ended up homeless on the streets of Toronto.

Interesting conversation yesterday with a neighbor who works essentially as a visionary. He referenced a recent article in Wired (found via Kevin Kelly's Technium) related to the 'end of theory' (his position being that such articles are typical of a kind of technological exceptionalism that has been a fixture of all eras for at least 10,000 years). I remarked sort of half-heartedly that, as I get older, I begin to ponder whether I'll be around to see if any of the current "big ideas" pan out (I'm thinking AI, singularity, and all of the attendant speculation/desperation around the defeat of the void). He answered by remarking that he likes to read period writings in ancient languages (Greek, Hebrew) as way of grounding himself, and he suggested that our obsessions have changed very little over the millenia. Nothing and everything pans out.

Where did this come from? Always already embryonic meteor from the pastent? Surprising that the two principals are from Baltimore? I think not.