Posts by Jim Cota

Jim lives in Indianapolis with his wife and four kids and feels lucky to work with the fine folks at Rare Bird. An occasional writer, tweeter, and shooter. If you need to know anything else about me, this should do it...

I Feel Enlightened, Overwhelmed, Amazed

But ultimately, I feel fine. Came across this applet today that allows you to graphically peruse the “feelings” of bloggers everywhere, in a maddening rush of swirling dots. Search the data based on any number of criteria, and you can quickly narrow the range of possibilities to find out who’s feeling what. The display can alternate between dizzying or straightforward, but it’s always beautiful.

For kicks, choose just your own state and city and find out what the people around you are feeling right now…

Amazing.

Of plants, water, beauty and power

I’ve come across a blog today that purports to be about “landscape architecture and related fields,” a topic about which I have little interest. And yet, I still spent several minutes reading various posts while uttering brainy remarks like “wow” and “gosh” and “holy moley.”

Anyway, to truly appreciate the scope and depth of posts about things like wave generators that are currently being used to create letters in a washtub but could drown New York with a tsunami shaped like a classic Italian garden or the hydromechanical complex being built in the Florida Everglades to better supply them with water, you really have to just go read them. Regardless, Alex Trevi has a finger on the pulse of an odd and compelling topic and he writes in a manner that brings it all to light.

Be sure to see:

[Versailles in the Pacific]
[Theatrum Machinarum]
[Hawaii]

In many ways, the site reminds me of a book I recently read called “About Grace“, described by Publishers Weekly thusly: “The majesty of nature, the meaning of courage, the redemptive power of love and the pathos of isolation—all are gracefully explored in Doerr’s story of the price paid for a gift.”

They went on to say, “So why does so little seem to happen in this beautiful, ponderous and sometimes monotonous first novel?” Touché. I found myself at once bored with the story and marveling at how well it was written.

JonBenet Murder Suspect Arrested

Still trying to track down more details on this, but it appears that a suspect in the murder of JonBenet Ramsey has been arrested in Thailand, according to a Denver TV station. Better late than never, I suppose.

Turns out that John Karr, 41, was with JonBenet when she died, claims it was an accident, but that he’s definitely guilty of the crime. There’s a part of me that feels some measure of relief for the parents. Can you imagine, not only losing a child to a crime like this, but being subjected to the suspicion and doubt they’ve dealt with for the last ten years?

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