Function Words

I've been away for so long that I forgot how to access my blog. Much has happened since 2009! Now that I am retired I will try to post more regularly. We have just returned from a 7-country odyssey in southern Africa. In the coming weeks I will tell that story.

I've just viewed the William Gibson documentary where he talks about his writing process.
Most of the film is him riding around in a limousine in Los Angeles talking extemporaneously. I liked trying to figure out where the car was at the same time that I was digesting his ideas.
I really enjoyed hearing him talk about his background and about where his ideas came from. Gibson was the first person to use the term cyber-space in his 1984 novel Neuromancer.

I've read most of his novels but not his short stories. He is an impressive forward thinker.

Labels: movies

What a film! I loved it, loved it, loved it, in spite of the violence.
Generally, heavy violence in movies is a deal breaker for me. I avoid war movies like the plague. I haven’t seen Saving Private Ryan, Eastwood’s WWII oeuvre, or most of the well-known mafia movies.
In District 9 the violence and gore did not spoil my enjoyment of the movie at all.
District 9 is the story of aliens from a refugee ship that has been parked over Johannesburg for 20 years. The aliens look insectoid but walk upright and are much taller than humans. They have been banished to an interment camp in a neighborhood of Johannesburg called district 9. The movie is partially presented in documentary/news reporting format. There are reporters and “expert” narrations of the events.
The thing that won me over the most was how utterly real the portrayal of human nature seemed. The internment camp looked like a favela in Rio or a neighborhood the west bank or one of the many refugee camps of Africa. The comments by the locals about their distrust of the aliens could have referred to so many minority or displaced people. Then the bug-like appearance of the aliens was repellent to humans to justify their horrible treatment including the brutality and experimentation. The portrayal of the Nigerian gangs who moved into District 9 to exploit the plight of the aliens was dead on too. The main human character, Wikus van der Merwe, is self-serving and patronizing by turns. As his situation deteriorates and he finds that working with the aliens is his only salvation he sabotages his only means of escape. In the end he does realize that he must align with the aliens but by then it is mostly too late. I can’t wait for District 10!

Labels: movies

This group of zebras were resting their heads on each other. There is also a baby nursing.


Some interesting facts about hippos. They are quite dangerous. Even though they are herbivores they will attack humans (and they have huge teeth!). Hippos graze at night but spend most of the day in the water. Hippos can't swim so when you see them in the water their feet are touching bottom.


Everywhere we went there were women carrying things on their heads. These two women were great! They were working at a demolition site. They are carrying buckets of bricks on their heads.


We followed this young male chimp for more than an hour. At first he was in the treetops feeding on figs. Eventually he came down from his tree and then we tagged along behind him on the ground in the forest. It almost seemed like he was leading us. He would look back to see if we were there. At one point he stopped and sat for about 5-10 minutes. That's when I took this picture. Soon he took off again and it was clear that if he wanted to lose us he could do it easily.

This is the glacier on the top of Mt Kilimanjaro taken from Horombo Hut.



This male lion looks exactly like a lion should look. I couldn't believe we got so close.



In the Serengeti there were thousands of zebras. The guide said there are probably over a a quarter million. The patterm of their hides are mesmerizing.




I don't have many gorilla pictures. There were 2 problems. The majority were on my stolen camera and the low light in the forest meant that most of the ones I have are not clear. This one is the silverback eating bamboo.

We went to 6 countries in East Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo. Some of the places with magical names that we saw are Ngorongoro Crater, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti, Lake Tanganyika, Olduvai Gorge (the cradle of humankind), Bujumbura (the capital of Burundi).
Naturally, the animals were the highlight of the trip. We went on a 4-day safari in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. I climbed Kilimanjaro on the Marangu route. We went on a wildlife drive in Nairobi national park, Kenya. We went on the Kazinga Channel launch trip in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda. We went to Parc Nacional des Volcans in Rwanda to see the mountain gorillas and we went to Kibale Forest in Uganda to track the chimpanzees. Both primate experiences were astonishing.

When we were in Gisenyi, Rwanda we walked across the border at Lake Kivu to Goma, DR Congo. Gisenyi is a beautiful resort town on the shore of the lake. It's hard to believe that just across the border (also on the shore of the lake) is a different world. The DRC is currently a very dangerous country, including the possibility that the local armed forces are known to use rape as a weapon of war. The contrast when we crossed the border from Rwanda could not have been more stark. The place is filthy. The people look at each other suspiciously, there is a huge UN presence including an enormous compound with mounted guns in the corner turrets. To make matters worse for the people of Goma, the volcano Nyiragongo erupted in 2002 sending a stream of lava right through the center of the city. The lava covered 40% of the city. Large parts of the center are still lava fields 7 years later. It adds to the desolation of the place.

The most negative experience I had occurred in Kampala, Uganda. This was near the end of our trip. I was robbed by a pickpocket who reached in my purse and stole my small camera with over 1000 pictures from all of the wonderful places I had been. I am devastated to have lost them. How foolish I was to not have it secured when I walked on the streets! I keep thinking of all the "should'ves, could'ves" Second guessing myself about how I could have prevented the theft. I lost all interest in taking pictures after that. I HATE Kampala. It is a HORRIBLE place. I have never felt so negative about a city. I can usually find something redeeming about the places I visit but Kampala will forever be the worst city I have ever visited. Dirty, ugly, dangerous.

I had 2 cameras with me on the trip. The majority of my photos were taken with the stolen camera. I continue to mourn the loss of all those images. I do have a few that I took with my other old camera. I will post some of those pictures in the next couple posts.



There were thousands of wildebeasts (aka gnus) in Ngorongoro Crater.



It's hard to see giraffes just roaming around munching on the treetops without being astounded. This one is in the Serengeti.



We saw this female lion stalking a hartebeast in Nairobi NP.



Following the chimps around for 10 hours was true magic. I had the feeling that I was really in their world.



This elephant was at the water's edge in the Kazinga channel in Queen Elizabeth NP.

Labels: Kampala sucks

We're back from our winter vacation in Chile (and also Buenos Aires).
We spent a couple days in Santiago and then flew to Easter Island.
We visited family in Buenos Aires and then went to Patagonia to hike in the beautiful national park called Torres del Paine.
It was marvelous to be in the southern hemisphere during the longest days of the year.
Santiago and Buenos Aires were both quite hot. Patagonia was cold and windy but very beautiful. Easter Island is a tropical island that resembles Hawaii. It is very small (only 18 km across). Most of the coastline is lava. There are 2 small but beautiful white sand beaches and then there are the moai. I think there are over 700 of them sprinkled over the island. Nobody knows exactly what their purpose was. One unexpected fact is that nearly all of them were facing inland rather than looking out to sea. All of them were toppled by the 19th century due to interclan rivalries. The story of how the island was populated is amazing considering that it is over 2000 miles from the nearest land. The history of what happened to the polynesian people who lived there.

I've posted 2 pictures of the moai.

The first is one group of moai at the beach. A couple of them have the topknot which was quarried in another place and then placed on the top of the moai.
The second is of the moai that were left in the quarry. After they were carved from the rock in the quarry they would be transported to some other part of the island and then raised on a platform called an ahu. Many of the moai were just left partially carved in the quarry.

Labels: Chile vacation

This is an amazing picture of our neighborhood about 40 years ago. The photographer was standing on the beach at about Topsail facing northeast. The derrick on the right is where our building is. The two houses on the right are still here. The smaller white on is opposite our garage.

I still can't get used to the idea that we live on an oilfield.

Labels: the marina

Back on the summer solstice we decided to hike up to the Hollywood sign. It happened to be a very HOT day but it turned out okay because we started fairly early and the hike wasn't that difficult.
The Hollywood sign is not on Mt Hollywood. Instead it is on Mt Lee on the edge of Griffith Park. By that I mean that the trailhead to hike to the sign is not one of the usual entrances to the park. It wasn't hard to find the trail or the parking. The Gower exit off to 101 takes you there. The hike itself is mainly on a fire road. The uphill is a little strenuous but it isn't really very difficult. (The downhill is easy!)
The view from up there is wonderful because you can see both the ocean and the valley.
It's also quite neat to be standing behind the sign. You can't actually get to the letters (easily) because the is a fence. There are some holes in the fence where you 'could' get down to the letters but I didn't think it was worth the effort to try.

I took pictures all along the way. I think my best one is the accidental picture above.

I learned when I was reading about the hike afterwards that there is a point along the trail where the angle of the view and the topography make it look like the sign is misspelled as "ohllywodo"

As it turns out, I found that spot although I didn't realize it at the time so my shot is a little less than perfect but I think it is neat to see the "O" first and last due to the perspective.