Buon Giorno!

Pompeii was alright, but very crowded. It's a check in the box- a mandatory destination in southern Italy. I also visited Cumae (Cuma nowadays). It was the major Roman city in the region, but now it's a small park that's hard to find on the road north of Pozzuoli (map). It's relatively uncrowded and has a "Indiana Jones" quality to its Cave of the Sybil. Really cool!

Also, on Saturday night an awesome lightning storm hit Naples. It looked like Zeus was angry!

On Sunday I walked around the Roman Forum and the The Monument to Victor Emanuel II. On Monday, I went to the Colosseum, the Pantheon, and the Vatican.

Tomorrow I head to Naples, Wednesday to London, and Thursday to Washington D.C.

Books on Vacation

I'm under the assumption that recreational reading will be out of the question during the Fall, so I have made an effort to read while on vacation. Here is what I have read so far:

Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail
by Matthys Levy and Mario Salvadori
This is an book on engineering for anyone with a cursory understanding of physics or structural engineering. It was very interesting and made me realize that anything structure can fail if it has a bad design, bad materials, or bad workmanship. Sometimes, time just takes its toll. This book can make one a little paranoid of buildings. Though fascinating, the book is more a collection of random chapters without much thematic structure... Good subject, good writing, but the book-engineering could be improved.

The Assassins
Bernard Lewis
This book is about part of the Ismaili sect of Islam in particular and the evolution of the different sects of Islam in general. Basically most of the legends of the Assassins (followers of Hasan-i-Sabbah) are exagerations and half-truths unsupported by academic research. An offshoot of Shi'a Islam, they have nothing directly theologically in common with Al Qaeda. However, their methods of infiltration and suicide-attack exhibits similarities. Ultimately, they fell into the dustbin of history.

The Algebraist
Iain M. Banks
From the UK, Mr. Banks is one of my favorite Science Fiction authors. For some reason, he's hard to find in the United States. Gas Giants, interstellar battle fleets, wormholes, etc.... this book is Space Opera at its best.

The True Believer
Eric Hoffer
Philosophical in nature, this is one of the best non-fiction books I've read in awhile. Right now I don't know much about the author or his background, but I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to understand or influence the dynamics of history. It is over fifty years old, yet still relevant to our world today.

Italia

OK, so Italy is a blast. My friend and I landed at the airport in Naples on Monday afternoon. We're staying at a friend's place neat Pouzulli, but she's out of town. Instead, we met Jay, the proverbial friend-of-a-friend. I thought he was going to drive us there, but instead he said, "You'll drive Jen's car, just follow me".

Now the first rule of travelling in far-off countries is NEVER DRIVE YOURSELF. It probably illegal, there are local customs and habits that are unfamiliar, and if you get in an accident, you might be arrested "until the dust settles".

Anyway, about twenty miles later, I lost Jay going through a toll booth, missed the exit, and ended up going around a traffic circle many, many times. Eventually we stopped at a gas station, where no one spoke English. My friend Anne was able to get some directions with the aid of a dictionary. I'm sure some day this story will morph into a version where I trade my friend for directions, but in this version she saved the day. We never regained our bearings, but we ended up at another traffic circle where Jay found us. Now the trip got interesting....

We followed Jay up a path into the hills. This road was paved, but the kind of crumbling pavement that's worse then a dirt road. In most places the route was only wide enough for one car, so there's a lot of honking, backing up, and folding of mirrors are vehicles scrape past each other. In short, driving in this country has probably taken a few years off my life, just from the stress and frission.

Today we went to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale. It is billed as one of the greatest museums in the world, and its collection is unique, but the building and presentation is unsatisfactory. Hopefully, visiting Pompeii directly will be better. Oh, the trains DO NOT run on time in Naples.

Basically, I'm beginning to wonder if Italy is part of the First World, especially when they start to burn the trash. On the other hand, adapting the local attitude seems ideal for a vaction. No worries, no hurries!

Two more days in London

Yesterday I visited St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. I must confess, towards the end, I was getting memorial-fatigued. Both locations, but especially Westminster Abbey, are crammed with statues, plaques, memorials, and tombs. Between the two destinations, I preferred St. Paul's. This is mostly due to its magnificent interior and amazing views from the top of the dome. The climb up 500 or so steps was well worth the effort.

Today I hiked from Canary Wharf to Greenwich. Along the way I cut through the Mudchute Park and Farm, which was the only time in London I've been concerned for my safety. You can see from the picture that it's overgrown, has heaps of rubbish, and a few burnt patches. I only saw three people, and they were all shirtless. I thought I might see a bit of the ol' ultraviolence, but I was probably overestimating the risk.

I could have taken a "DLR" (Docklands Light Railway) but the journey is always part of the destination, etc. Along the way I traversed an area south of Canary Wharf called the Isle of Dogs. Similarly to the Embarcadero in San Francisco, the area fell on hard times when containerization rendered the docks obsolete in the 1970's. I also saw an ASDA, which is what the British call Wal-Mart.

Greenwich itself was awesome! It feels similar to Charing Cross Road; except more vintage and less books. The shops were diverse, but in the middle of it all the Greenwich Market was a vibrant hybrid of a farmer's market, antique road show, and all-around bazaar. There were many tourists and plenty of opportunities to buy bric-a-brac, souvenirs, or keepsakes. Every visitor to London should take a day to visit Greenwich.

On the campus of the Royal Observatory, I visited the Prime Meridian. The accompanying museum was very interesting. In particular, it dealt with the solution to the "Longitude Problem".

Trip Report

So I have been in London for four days already. I arrived on Monday and proceeded to where I was staying. On the way I happened past Buckingham Palace, where a lot of pomp and circumstance takes place. In general the parks and buildings in the vicinity are very beautiful.

I used "the Tube" to rendezvous with friends and travel to Canary Wharf, where we are staying. This mass transit is very similar to "the Metro" in Washington D.C.

On Tuesday I took a bike ride around London. This was a nice way to move around quickly and see many sights. You have to get used to riding in traffic, but there are certainly more people commuting on bikes then any other city I have ever seen.

I also visited the Tate Modern, an art museum across the Thames from the part of London that houses the British government.

The next day was the British Museum. It is larger then the Harvard Museum and more concentrated then the Smithsonian. Everything inside was unique and marvelous, including the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon.

Later we walked to the National Gallery, a spectacular art museum for work prior to 1900. Between this museum and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., I have seen five of the definitive thirty-five paintings by Vermeer in the last week. (But who's counting?)

This day was also the hottest day on record for London. Luckily, I brought a pair of shorts along for the trip. I thought I would not need them and they might be considered inappropriate by the locals..... but the current circumstances are extraordinary. The average temperature for London in July is 73 F, but yesterday it was 97F. In general the museums were cool and some of the rooms were actually air-conditioned.

On Thursday I walked to the Monument, which commemorates the Great Fire of 1666 that destroyed most of London. The center of the Monument is a 311-step spiral staircase. There is a viewing platform at the top that offers a panorama of London.

Afterwards, I walked further to the Tower of London. This is a quintessential tourist experience for visitors to London and is a very historical location. It contains many curious items, such as the Crown Jewels. Admission to the Tower of London costs £15, but it is worth every quid.

Lost Postcard from the Sandbox

At the base in Iraq during my last deployment, it was common for some folks to use bicycles, scooters, golf-carts, or SUV's to travel inside the base.

I heard there were even a few military-grade Segways, but I never saw them.

In Iraq, military convoys must be very vigilant. For instance, insurgents always attack in civilian vehicles and never use a "fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance". A nearby civilian could be caught in the cross fire or mistaken for a malicious participant. Even worse, insurgents have no qualms using civilians as shields or turning our western sensibilities about "non-combatants" against multinational forces. Therefore, it is very dangerous for civilians to encounter military convoys.

In order to avoid these situations, military vehicles often have large signs proclaiming, "Danger Stay Back 100 Meters" and "Deadly Force Authorized" in Arabic.

Also pictured with the scooters is a nifty device called a Hesco Barrier by Marines. It is a giant sand bag, only better. They are made by a British company called Hesco Bastion (so proper!) and are actually called Hesco Concertainers®. You need to know all this for the inevitable Operation Iraqi Freedom version of Trivial Pursuit.

a moment to explain....

I didn't know what to name this blog orhow to describe it, which is demanded by the Bureaucracy of Blog Templates. In lieu of anything meaningful, I just put the cursed numbers from Lost. Will that be sufficient, invoke bad luck, or invite the unamused wrath of the blogosphere?

Mirror Motif

If I post enought pictures, you will notice I like taking pictures of reflective surfaces, especially car mirrors. Pictured here is the view of the building I worked in during my last deployment to Iraq. It was taken on the day I left, so it's sort of a visual joke. I suppose the writing is squiggly for "objects may be closer than they appear".

grösste Gipsdünenfeld in der Welt

Last week I started my migration to Virginia. Along the way I stopped at White Sands, which was a two or three hour detour from Las Cruces. Anyone travelling on I-10 should make this side trip. After all, who knows if I'll ever make it back to New Mexico?

White Sands was incredible. It's not normal silica-based sand, but residual gypsum. It erodes from the surrounding mountains when it rains, crystallizes when the water evaporates on the plains, and then turns into sand dunes as the wind blows through the valley. Even though it was 110 F, the sand reflects enough sunlight that it's cool to the touch. You can hike around barefoot and I saw some people with toboggans sliding down the dunes. There were a lot of Germans there too (das grösste Gipsdünenfeld in der Welt)! It was certainly a surreal scene.

ninja vs. pirates

Ask A Ninja Special Delivery 7: "Pirates of the Caribbean"

c'est l'vie

Finally, the last kid on the block to have a blog. Too bad the first permutations of my name that came to mind all seem to be abandoned blogs:

james.blogspot.com
4 December 2000
mitchell.blogspot.com
14 June 2001
jmitchell.blogspot.com
16 December 2002
jamer.blogspot.com
28 December 2002

Or were taken a mere two weeks ago:

james-mitchell.blogspot.com 29 June 2006

This makes me wonder... if "blog" is a shortened form of "web log", then what is the hip nomenclature for a forsaken blog, orphaned or abandoned by its creator?

In order to upload some graphics to the web, I'm posting some images I want to use for my template customization. The picture of the lady bug was taken in the Cullen Sculpture Garden at Houston's Museum of Fine Art and modified in Photoshop.