A plane crashed into an apartment building in Manhattan, about a mile from me, this afternoon (I was in Manhattan on 9/11/2001). Even though this ended up not being a dramatic and agressive violent attack, there were some weird common experiences.

First, how I heard the news. First the plane hit the west side, then it was a helicopter, then no, it was the east side. The 20th floor of an apartment building, no, more like the 40th floor, there's a guy dead on the ground, no, two guys.

Lamole: home sweet home away from home.

Lamole is the little village southwest and up in the hills from Greve-in-Chianti where we stayed during the visit to Tuscany. Lamole is "known" in the region for it's sweet dessert wines, but Lamole means "home" to me in Chianti, and for more reasons than this is where we statyed.

Think about what would be happening if the individuals who committed these murder-suicides in public schools this week had been of even vaguely arab/muslim descent. Or black? Or hispanic? Or asian?

Oh, there'd be all sort of noise from the news-pornography and info-tainment industries about the new terrorists, the deep and profound meaning this has for mankind, etc, etc, etc.

The XVI Rassegna del Chianti Classico –– the 16th annual *real* Chianti taste-off, Greve-in-Chianti, Tuscany, Italy

Ok, let's all get on the same page with the terminology. Chianti is a region in Italy of about 200,000 square acres (80000 hectares), It is the part of Tuscany that is bordered to the north by the suburbs of Florence, to the east by the Chianti Mountains, to the south by the city of Siena and to the west by the valleys of the Pesa and Elsa rivers.

Instead of racking through pictures tonight I thought I'd write a little bit (one draft, top to bottom, no editing, sorry about the spelling) about Tuscany, or rather Chianti, which is where I spent most of my time. Chianti is a tourist destination that has greatly benefited from being such. Rather than being over-run and ruined by tourists and transplants, the region is enjoying a renaissance and is being thoughtfully restored and preserved because of tourism dollars.

I decided that I would throw together a page of what I think are the best pictures from the the 450+ images I brought back from Tuscany. These aren't my favorites, or the most important, or the most meaningful. They are just the ones I think have the most stand-alone integrity as photographs, or that I find the most interesting. I reserve the right to revise this page.

The best pictures from Tuscany.

I keep making a liar out of myself predicting how I am going to post the photos from the trip. It is taking me longer than I thought to sort through and edit them and there's not a great way for me to transpose the resulting code to a JE.

Lenny Bruce said that everyone who lives in New York City is a little bit Jewish. That 's true.

Before I moved to NYC my experience with Jews was very limited, I'd met only a few, I had none as friends, and mostly what I knew of the culture was gleaned from offhand comments made by Mel Brooks and Larry King. Now most of my friends are Jewish and I am quite familiar and comfortable with Jewish culture and customs.

The first-posted in my upcoming series of essays about my visit to the Chianti region of Tuscany regards Florentine feminine charm. This page demonstrates what I learned in my serious (as in seriously wine-drenched) anthropological study of Florentine women.

Sorry to post the URL only, but this one is mostly pictures. Subsequent essays will be text with referenced photos.

Enjoy!

Have been on a bit of a news-fast for the last two weeks I just learned this morning that Ann RIchards died on Wednesday in Austin surrounded by her family, from esophageal cancer. I last saw Gov. Richards (she was talking to me as that picture was taken) at The Gates project in Central Park about 18 months ago. I reminded her that I worked on the 1994 campaign for Texas Governor, the one s

There will be JE's (and pictures) to follow, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I have returned from the Tuscan hills intact. I am happy to be back in the US, something of a surprise in itself. I have some 450 images to sort through and a number of essays to write. I have exactly figured out how to organize the web content, but when I do, the location of all that will be announced here first.

Getting here.

It is just as I anticipated. I may just be able to become accustomed enough to being in Europe to seriously consider a permanent move here. I'm not sure exactly where I belong in the EU, but both France and Italy are now candidates. I have much more to learn, including a language or two, but I don't feel alien or uncomfortable here.

Ever wonder what not watching television will do for you? Actually, it's not TV itself I have eschewed. It is television advertising. Also, it's not some extreme ban. I still watch at friend's houses and at bars. I just don't watch at home. I subscribe to The Daily Show, South Park and The Colbert Report from iTMS. I watch the replay at C-SPAN when something happens newsy.

I have not posted much lately. If you exempt geeky posts about OS experimentation I've been on the quieter side since Day 1 of the Napa trip. Hmm.

All I can gel as a concept is that I've been sort of the opposite of "full of myself." I have been emptying myself. Silence is the soundtrack for emptying.

For the last 18 months we've been giving these IBM X40 Thinkpads to our clinical staff for field documentaion. We are phasing them out in favor of these IBM x60's, because well, when your software is based on .NET, you need the juice.