Mean streets

Out here on the streets, man, you gotta stand up for yourself. If someone wants to fight, you gotta fight. The trick though is figuring out how to never be that bird.

Fighting's for losers.

Of Interest Perhaps Only To Me

Click for big! My discovery, simple minded as it is, was that the Sun moves all over the sky.

Having lived in cities for many years, I never saw the path of the Sun through the seasons. But now, high up in New Gondolin, I see the Sun go from Winter left to Summer Right, booking across the sky. Of course it is we - The Earth - that is moving, not the Sun, but hard to deny the illusion.

So you see above half my year. That is the Winter Sun, 2011. The dates above the other mountains cover the sunsets to come/gone. Spring/Fall is a magical spot there in the hollow of the closest mountain.

 Seeing the rhythms of our planet play out every night, every year, is awesome. Man.

Jogging through the ruins

Imagine Greece or Rome at the height of their splendor. Musta been pretty dope, especially considering the alternative - "barbarian lands", IE, anything outside the Polis proper. But all cities fall, eventually, and so I give you redshirt's Thanksgiving 2008 trip to Delphi:

Funny story. I missed the 8 AM bus cuz I went to the wrong subway terminal because apparently with Greek written in English you can spell things any way you want, and so the travel book sent me to the wrong station and even after sprinting, I missed the 8 AM. No problem, I thought, Delphi is open till 5, according to the same travel book. Plenty of time to explore. I catch the 10 AM bus and arrive at Delphi at 1. O hai! Winter hours, we're closing at 3. And so commences redshirt's quick jog through Delphi.

Some columns and tumble down stone and brick. Hop-hop!

Bitchin' amphitheater dudes. Also, vertigo. Hop-hop!

Whoop-Whoop! Top of the hill, home to the Delphi Rams. Fun fact! This stadium was a late addition to the most Holy sacred site of Delphi, a Roman construction. Leave it to the Romans to bring football into the Vatican plus Mecca and Jerusalem combined, figuratively speaking. Savages.

This is it - the Oracle at Delphi. Her temple, at least. Imagine those pillars extending all the way around that central stone structure, with a kick ass roof too. And then imagine standing within such a temple, overlooking that view, on some stormy night in 450BC and a General and entourage arrive in the dead of darkness, seeking prophecy. And some lady would give it to them, high on gas, and thus history unfolds.

Fun fact about Delphi you may not know! The site was not only the location of the famous Oracle, but also served as the bank of ancient Greece. Each major city-state had a building on site dedicated towards storing their wealth. Athens, Sparta, Corinth, you name it - if you were a city-state of any shake, you had gold stored at Delphi. Twas Holy, after all. And who better to protect your money than God?

Death of a City

Michigan Central Station, Detroit. Long abandoned, this beautiful building stands as a stark symbol of what has happened to Detroit over the last 3 decades, and to a lesser degree, much of the United States. There's lots of depressing photo series detailing the destruction of what was once America's 4th most populous city (population in the 2 millions in the 1950's - it stands at 700K now). Here's one. Why? What has happened? I posit two main reasons:

Race. The late 60's featured race related riots in many American cities, Detroit prime among them.

 "White Flight" was a phenomena across the urban North, and many cities were dealt severe blows. The ones that recovered - NYC, for example - did so based on transitioning to the new economy, the so called "Service" industries. Which covers investments, banks, and so on. The cities that have not done well relied on manufacturing. Which brings me to the second reason:

Outsourcing of America's manufacturing base. This has gutted many cities, regions, states. Abandoned factories fill our cold Northern lands. The jobs all went to Japan, then Taiwan, now China, with Vietnam climbing swiftly.

Suicide nets at a Foxconn dormitory. Foxconn made my Mac, and my iPhone, and your iPad, by the way.

In summary, the Conservative movement we live under today was forged in the 60's with the rise of Goldwater and the Birchers. This movement gained power in the states throughout the 70's on the wave of white fear of blacks, and urbanity in general. Also egghead, godless hippy elites. With Reagan came the revolution nationwide, and the scouring of our country. For the sake of profits, our manufacturing industries were shipped overseas and the Unions were busted and everyone (except the 1%) got poorer even though they were working more than ever, and lies became Truth on Fox News, and the Washington Village said it was good.

And thus cities like Detroit fall to ruin in the middle of what is supposedly the richest country in the world, and we all look the other way. But hey! Shit's cheap at Wal-Mart, right?

Too Late

Unless everything falls apart, we'll not be agrarian again. Urbanity is humanity's future, whether here on Earth or elsewhere. Get used to it, or get weeded out of of the gene pool. The future demands folks willing to be crowded.

You can't see the stars in the city. But that's OK - we have drones.