Two Good Ideas in One in Wilmington

The City of Wilmington is starting a pilot program to reduce the number of cars in their "city car" inventory and to reduce the environmental impact of those cars that city employees do drive.

According to a story in the News Journal yesterday, the city will replace a number of the cars in its fleet with hybrid ride-share vehicles. They'll use cars from PhillyCarShare, one of a number of ride-sharing businesses that have popped up in cities in the last few years. My eye is always drawn to the ZipCar ads when I ride the Washington Metro.

It's not an approach to transportation that is likely to work where I live (small-town, long commute), but if I ever get myself settled in a city somewhere, I'll hope to take part in a ride-share program.

I think this makes great sense for government agencies in which staff don't have to have a car or truck available on-call at all times. Most of us government workers can plan any trips we must make far enough in advance that shared transportation works well.

The other part of this story, of course, touches close to home. For six years now I've been a proud Prius driver. And I take this opportunity to repeat that it is not to save money on gasoline that I drive a Prius; I want to reduce the emissions I cause. My Prius helps me do that.

Here's a Movie I'd Really Like to See

A new documentary about the life of Joe Strummer has opened over in England. I'm not sure if it is out yet here in the US. The film is called The Future is Unwritten, and it looks fascinating.

Joe Strummer was a guitarist and front man for one of my all-time favorite rock bands, the Clash, who helped me define my youth.

As I have written before, I remain a Strummer fan. He was at the heart of the great Punk Rock explosion of the 1970s, but he transcended that genre; he was a classic rock rebel and cultural revolutionary.

I think it is telling that one of his last recordings was a duet with Johnny Cash, singing Bob Marley's "Redemption Song."

I still carry Joe Strummer's voice in my head. It seems comfortable there with Jerry's guitar sound.

Will we see this film down at Movies at Midway? Or will there remain three screens of Spiderman 3?

Birds In Dover

Walking in downtown Dover today, I came upon a tiny bird sitting quite still and all alone on the brick sidewalk of Loockerman Street -- at the quiet end, where there is less foot traffic.

It looked like this bird had just taken its first flutter out of the nest and failed to take flight. It seemed stunned.

In the tree above, an adult bird was squawking away on a lower branch. I assume that that was a parent, trying to distract me away from the young bird.

I thought it best to give them space, so I cannot report to you what the outcome was.

On a more positive note, I found a pair of ducks a few days ago taking full advantage of human activity.

This pair was hanging out beneath the drive-though window of a Dover Dunkin' Donuts.

This isn't where I would have expected a lot of crumbs to fall, but they must know what they are about; the young woman selling coffee and donuts told me that they are often around.

Stupid Thoughts That I Feel (for Some Reason) That I Have to Share #77

The word "visibility" has a lot of eyes in it.

Views From an Observation Tower

Created with Paul's flickrSLiDR.

Yesterday I climbed the Observation Tower at Fort Miles in Cape Henlopen State Park and took a 360-degree set of views from the top.

The tower is one of a network that stood sentry along Delaware's Atlantic coastline during World War II. They were used to watch for enemy warships and direct coastal defense battery fire should an enemy appear. The system was never called into action, though I believe at least one German U-Boat surrendered at Lewes at the end of the war.

This is the only tower that is still open to the public.

I started facing more or less west and took a photo through an opening in the chain-link fencing that keeps people from going over the edge of the tower. I took a wide side-step to my right and took another. Took another step and another picture. And so on, around the tower.

I Doubt This Will Surprise Those Who Know Me...

...But it appears that I am an "Information Technology Omnivore," according to an on-line tech-use survey from the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

The survey is part of a Pew study, A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users, which attempts to describe the many different ways that we use our suite of information technology tools. According to the Pew study, "85% of American adults use the Internet or cell phones – and most use both." On the other hand, about half of Americans "have a more distant or non-existent relationship to modern information technology."

In other words, many have the tools and many use them, but only a small percentage are really comfortable in an on-line world.

It looks like I am one of this group, about 8% of the American public. The Omnivorous Tech Users are described as embracing the connectivity provided by technology to enhance their work lives and personal lives:

Members of this group use their extensive suite of technology tools to do an enormous range of things online, on the go, and with their cell phones. Omnivores are highly engaged with video online and digital content. Between blogging, maintaining their Web pages, remixing digital content, or posting their creations to their websites, they are creative participants in cyberspace.

I don't exhibit all of the characteristics of this group. I don't create video content very much and I don't IM or text message beyond what is required to keep tabs on a teen-age child. And I am well outside one of the key demographic characteristics: "The median age is 28; just more than half of them are under age 30."

I do feel old some days.

Ironically, two co-workers and I explored this same territory in a slightly different way yesterday. We had all heard keynote speaker Don Cooke talking about Second Life at the recent Delaware GIS Conference. That led to a discussion of on-line communities and some of the skills needed to maintain and grow them. I've been thinking about this a fair amount lately, in relation to my work with Delaware's GIS Community, and the National GIS Coordinators group (NSGIC) both of which are partly on-line.

Dave wondered aloud which world, the physical or the on-line, was, in fact, reality. We briefly considered the theory proposed in the film The Matrix (the first one), that what we perceive as reality is in fact a simulated, virtual reality dream world constructed and maintained to keep the entire human population in a state of subjugated sleep.

We skipped the obvious contemporary political implications of this thought and turned briefly to Plato's allegory of the cave in which what humans perceive as reality is in fact only the shadows of a puppet show cast on the wall of a cave in which they are prisoners (/oversimplification of complex philosophical thought).

At that point we realized that once you've pursued a thought back to Plato's cave, it's probably time to move on to something else.

As I write this blog entry, it occurs to me that one could rewrite Plato's allegory in modern terms with the Internet as the cave and blogs and web 2.0 things creating the shadows.

But there is a sunny Saturday morning outside and the grass needs to be cut. The library needs to be walked to. The state park is hosting a kayak expo.

I may be an Information Technology Omnivore, but I know when it is time to shut down the laptop and head outside.

More Bragging About My Niece(s and Nephews)

Back in January I did a little bragging about Jenna, my brother Jim's eldest. She's a swimmer, and a good one.

This week, she was exhibiting some of her art work at the Arts Festival at Walt Whitman High School. It looks like she's a pretty good artist too.

Jenna's Mom is an artist and Jim, who now makes his living as a writer, was also a pretty good graphics guy in high school. I have a memory of going to see his work at the same school some 25 years ago.

Most of my large family was able to attend the arts festival this week (I'm the only one who has moved out of state). My mother tells me that a friend of Jenna's asked her the other night if she had much family at the festival. Jenna reportedly just gestured at the large crowd that was gathered around.

Jenna is part of the latest generation of Mahaffies on the east coast. There are 17 of them, ranging in age from 4 to 32 years old. They are talented baseball players, lacrosse players and swimmers, musicians and singers, writers, horse riders, and dancers. The few that are already adults are a writer, an actor, an activist and a museum curator.

My brother-in-law Lou took this picture (I'd asked Jenna to send us a photo). I'm hoping Jenna will share some of her titles with us in the comments.

Examples of Grace #32

I saw a note on-line about a woman who has died and who wanted no funeral or memorial service. She asked only that her obituary should suggest that people "take a friend to lunch."

Millsboro's Quiet Place

I found a peaceful spot in downtown Millsboro this evening. St. Mark's Episcopal Church, at State and Ellis Streets, has a lovely labyrinth and garden.

It is a nice spot. Just off the main drag through town and quiet enough, but with a hint of the sound of kids playing a block or so away at the Little League park.

I've also walked the labyrinth at Old Christ Church, in Dover. I think that St. Peter's, here in Lewes, has a portable labyrinth that they put out from time to time. I'm sure there are others.

A labyrinth is a fine aid to meditation and prayer. It helps focus the mind. I was impressed by the surrounding garden at St Mark's, which added a touch of natural reverence to the experience.

For Karen, Mom, Baba, My Sisters, My Sisters-in-Law and Moms Everywhere