In the Smokies

They've grown to love Thomas Wolfe here, although it seems they were a little touchy about it at first.

I look down from room 321 on the Thomas Wolfe Memorial in Asheville. Not knowing anything other than that I should probably read one of his books, I Google him. It turns out his memoir-like novel "Look Homeward, Angel" was too frank and graphic for the locals in 1929, so the public library here originally banned it for seven years.




Learn more at the Thomas Wolfe site and the Thomas Wolfe Memorial site.

Character

When I was in eighth grade one of my new friends and I decided to work together on a project. It got to be the day before it was due and things weren't going as well as we had hoped. We were working in my friend's basement, and he was getting more and more cranky - and less and less helpful - as we got into the evening. As it got later and there was still work to be done, my friend threw a tantrum and went up to his room, leaving me to finish the project with his older sister and his mom, both of whom had been helping on and off. I don't remember what the project was, but I sure learned a lot about my friend that night.

Returning to this century, my travel plans again today did not go as planned. Joe and I were traveling together. A two-hour delay in the first leg of our flight meant that we missed the connection in Detroit. Throughout the next seven hours it was impossible to get an answer about whether or not the late flight would be a "go" or be cancelled. Finally we left sometime after 9 p.m. and arrived at the hotel in Asheville shortly before midnight.

Does it count as learning something if you previously strongly suspected it was true? I'll put it this way, then: What I now know is that Joe is a really good human being.

Knowledge and wisdom?

First, the knowledge: I learned a whole bunch about Douglas MacArthur today by visiting his memorial and museum for a little while this afternoon in Norfolk. I never realized how long he had been a soldier, how much he wanted to be remembered for things other than soldiering, and what precipitated his dismissal by Harry S. Truman in April 1951.





I also discovered that Norfolk is just loaded with wonderful masonry structures. It's everywhere you turn. So is the humidity, but like the breeze, that's just something to be expected in June along the coast.

And now about the wisdom (no photo to illustrate): When you're in a military town, it may not be prudent to tell the barber you think the time has come for a "summer" cut. (It'll grow back in time...)

Big tugs

Today for the first time I noticed that the big jets – the ones that dwarf the normal planes, like the Boeing 747s that have two levels of windows on the forward section that bubbles up, and that when you see them start to roll away from the gate you wonder how that building is going to take off – are being towed way down the taxiway.

I’m certain they used to just get pushed back, like normal planes, and then proceeded under their own power. But these days a big tug pulls the aircraft quite a ways down the taxiway. It’s larger but there also is no visible push bar; it appears to somehow wrap around the front landing gear. Definitely something for further investigation.

I was also reminded of a number of things today. For examples, 10 hours is a lot of time to kill at O’Hare. You see, the air passenger system doesn’t work the way it used to, at least not when you’re flying the skies of United. They’re flying full these days. So if you’re not there when they finish the first wave of boarding, watch out. Even though you have already checked in and are high-tailing it to the gate, if your seat is unclaimed 15 or 20 minutes before takeoff, you’re likely to lose it. That was a rough reminder.

I also was reminded that there is no shortcut from the far reaches of the parking lot to the tram. And there’s no such thing as a short security line. And, most importantly, there’s no express route from the switchbacks of security to the most remote gate on the outer concourse (C2 for those of you who know O’Hare). I thought it was a long walk when I helped build the "new" United terminal back in 1987. But then I was being paid by the hour rather than rushing to catch a plane.

Revisiting old friends

Edward Tufte knows how to make a point. And he knows how information can be obscured, as well, which he says is expedited through the use of PowerPoint. (I agree.) An expert in the visual presentation of information, Tufte provides myriad examples of both good and bad presentations on his Web site.

I revisited his site today in search of the link to a PowerPoint example showing how badly this tool can mangle words and thoughts - Lincoln's Gettysburg Address ala PowerPoint. Take a look - it makes the point (no pun intended) faster than you can say "Four score and seven years ago..."

But the thing I learned today, in revisiting these old friends, was that Peter Norvig, the author of the aforementioned PowerPoint version of Lincoln's thoughts, is the director of research at Google. Hmmm...

Bad timing or planning?

Today I learned without a doubt that the last 5 minutes of the working day is not the time to set aside for blogging. Nor is 5 minutes enough time, except in this case. What to do ... ? Perhaps setting aside the first 5 minutes of the following day would be better. It would allow some time for reflection on the previous day's highlights - which is a good thing - and I might be able to stick to it, too. We'll see. (Speaking of which ... other images are here.)

Write it on the board a hundred times

Today I learned there will be days when coming up with something notable to blog about will be very difficult. Today was evidence that some days are filled with nothing more than hard work, and that just because an ongoing project seems mundane doesn't diminish its importance. However, if you are starving for a look into my day-to-day concerns as a journalist, you might be interested in perusing the document at the end this link: http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/journalism/index.htm.

UPDATE (06 April 2012): The URL for the document is now www.america.gov/publications/books/handbook-of-independent-journalism.html. Still a good reference to be aware of.

UPDATE (27 October 2014): A working URL for this document
http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/publication/2011/05/20110503105056su0.5914205.html#axzz3HMEFsggk (sectionalized and in html)
Another online source: https://archive.org/details/HandbookOfIndependentJournalism
Use this one to download a PDF: http://www.ait.org.tw/infousa/zhtw/DOCS/journalism.pdf

Time's up

A brief Saturday entry. I couldn't help myself. The answer to the question (righthand column - who said this?): It's attributed to Dr. Edward Hallowell from one of those quote-a-day desk calendars for Tuesday, November 28, 1995. (It's been hanging on my bulletin board for a long time.) Hallowell specializes in ADD and at the time was on the Harvard medical school faculty. He has written several books, from which I suspect this was gleaned. Now, back to the weekend!

The kick-off meeting

My description of the project is still on its way to getting into print, but Colin Milberg's sexy research project got its official start today. The two of us who joined in on the kick-off meeting by phone had to imagine what the charts and photos looked like, but the research team and the sponsor's representative all seemed to be enthused about the preliminary work that has been done.

It's simple, but amazing: they're going to use a laser guided scanner to gather great gobs of as-built data on new concrete construction projects, compare that data to the designs, and find out how close we are actually coming to building what the plans call for. Only with this new application of scanner technology has collecting the necessary amounts of data become economically feasible. Dr. Milberg's research is a result of the fortunate alignment of technology, opportunity, funding, and somebody who has managed to get them all to work together.

The scanner itself looks like a very high-tech surveying instrument - it just sits on a tripod and does it perusal. But what really makes the data worth having is the software processes the raw data. Right now Trimble (left - to them it's spatial imaging) and Leica (right - they call it High Definition Surveying) offer commercial versions.

So the coolest thing in the meeting was when Colin floated the question about an appropriate grid. He said he was thinking of data points an inch apart, which brought a combination of gasps and tight little chuckles. One of the contractors present said he thought every six inches would be plenty, so Colin suggested he would probably go for either a three-inch grid, or maybe even every inch, if they had time. Apparently scanning a floor on a one-inch grid takes 5 or more hours, while a three-inch grid could be done in less than half the time. The reality of the project scope begins to sink in.

For more details on the project and the technology behind it, see the July 2007 issue of Concrete Construction when it comes out in a couple of weeks. Or, shortly thereafter, on the Concrete Construction Web site.

Does doing this on your day off count?

This blog is a little like a cross between a prototype and an exercise room. They say the capability is coming to our magazine Web sites before long, and when it does I want to hit the ground running. So, a pre-official launch test run is in order, I should think. (Actually, we did one long ago, too, but were at that point a little ahead of ourselves. Still might be interesting, though - a sneak peek of sorts.) (Even had Susan Clancy enthused about it, but, alas the timing was bad for her efforts, too.)

The idea behind what you are now reading is this: When we editors stumble across something really cool, and put together an informational package to share with our readers, there's a lag time before that actually happens. It's sort of like buying a Christmas present in the middle of the summer - you almost forget about it until somebody opens it, and then you're both surprised and delighted.

Well, that's the hope, anyway. But with this end-of-the-day communication, I hope to be able to share the neatest thing I've come across every day without having to wait for it to come out in a magazine 6 weeks later. Today, of course, it's the simplicity of starting a blog. Ta-da!

(Go ahead - click it and set yourself up as a blogger!)

Wish me luck, and the same to you! I'll see you tomorrow.