“…Who gives a fuck, you might ask? Actually, a lot of people. A few hundred thousands nationally, and countless more right here in New York - incidentally including me, a unlikely fan and passionate listener. Why do I care? Well in part because Jon is more animated and well-spoken on the topic of KU than just about anything. He can make a rundown of a memorable game from the early nineties sounds like the most compelling blow-by-blow of a Sopranos season finale - when Sopranos was still good. But beyond Jon’s gift for telling stories of KU legend and lore is a team that is actually worth knowing about. A team from a little town called Lawrence, with a fan base unlike any other in the world, with enough passion, and loyalty, and zest, and devotion to power the lights of Las Vegas. And for some fucking reason, most mainstream national media (and much of America, as it turns out) seems almost completely unaware. Do you have to be a Jayhawk, a Kansan, a Midwesterner to appreciate this team? Not at all, I’d say. Though if you are, you probably get it more than the rest of us ever will.”
My Little One Trick Pony
Rock Chalk
The Rock Chalk Chant is perhaps the most distinctive cheer in all of college sports. Some have likened it to a Gregorian chant, but anyone who has been in Allen Fieldhouse and heard the chant start low, then build and roll over the crowd knows that it is much, much more.
Teddy Roosevelt pronounced the Rock Chalk Chant the greatest college chant he’d ever heard. It was used by Kansas troops fighting in the Philippines in 1899, the Boxer Rebellion in China, and World War II. At the Olympic games in 1920, the King of Belgium asked for a typical American college yell. The assembled athletes agreed on KU’s Rock Chalk and rendered it for His Majesty.
Flight Patterns animation
Let it load all the way first.
I’ve mentioned the Design and the Elastic Mind exhibit at MOMA before, but I keep thinking about this project by Aaron Koblin. The animation was my favorite part. I loved watching the eastern seaboard light up around 6am, and the planes spreading out as the day the went on.
i will turn your pain into an academic project
- me: so i showed some footage of you
- everyone thought you looked nicer than expected with your tucked in button down
- i was like "oh yeah, he has a job and stuff"
- J: Next time I'll get some fake tattoos and wear leather pants.
- me: yeah i want some authenticity
- i would like to come back maybe and interview some others
- sometime
- J: you should really interview Ned.
- There's a dissertation's worth of dysfunction there.
- me: awesome
- thats what i like to hear
On the beach in Santa Barbara, this bird spoke to me.
Santa Monica washout
Ok, I’m ready to come back now.
Site Meter and Cyberstalking
This is one of those things that I knew was possible, but sort of decided to unknow, you know? Not a big deal for me in any practical sense, but it sure does fuel my privacy-sensitive paranoia.
I wanted to add something to your post about tracking who views your site. If her ex uses site meter (as I do) he can see exactly what words were googled (or used in another search engine) to get to the site, along with each individual users location, IP address, minutes spent on the site, pages viewed, and even the links she clicked on. It’s pretty easy for me to know exactly who viewed my page because I don’t have a lot of traffic. When the IP of my friend’s law firm shows up (it comes up with the full name, as in ‘IP: Dewey Cheat and Howe’) then I know she has visited. Last weekend I noticed that a viewer had found my site by googling my name, from an ip address in a very small town where I know only one person- my ex. So it’s pretty easy to know who it is with site meter. If her ex has a site with heavy traffic, however, then he probably wouldn’t bother to check each statistic for info.
Just an fyi.
So I found a cheap flight to LA. So I’m going on Friday. I booked it before I found out I’m $4200 in debt to the IRS. I have a little of that “oh, what’s a couple hundred more dollars?” whimsy about me that I image people with massive student loan debt must have. Living beyond their means because there’s just no chance of living within them.
Anyway.
I’m flying Virgin America for the first time, and I’m very excited for the mood lighting and the in-flight entertainment system. You can plug your laptop in, order food and movies from your screen, and instant message with other passengers. I’ll probably not do that last part.
(Photo: Jonathan Fickies/Bloomberg News)