Glacial Erratics

I spent last week in New York, attending the 13th Internation World Wide Web Conference. I had promised to blog the conference but I managed to not get around to it. I hope to soon, I learned some good webby stuff.    (7EV)

But I learned some other things, not webby stuff, I ought not forget. Full collection of pictures at NewYorkMayThumb.    (7EW)

+ ++ T    (7EX)

There's some fine bouldering in Central Park. It's late evening in this pic as I look up towards the buildings just south of the park. I'm underneath a boulder known as Rat Rock.    (7EY)

I went to the park the second day of the conference after a day of feeling socially retarded and unable to connect. Not only was I feeling shy, I was also feeling little sense of value in attempting to make a connection.    (7EZ)

At the park, I'm bouldering alone. It's rained earlier in the day so conditions are less than good. After a while a guy shows up. I ask him to show me a few problems, explaining this is not my turf. We engage in SharedJargon?. We have fun.    (7F0)

This represents a fundamental shift in my me. The meaning of which is as yet not fully sussed out. I'm not prepared to associate a value judgment with it quite yet.    (7F1)

+ ++ T    (7F2)

New York is big. In several locations throughout the place you find skylines that are adequate for reasonably sized standalone cities. This view is out the Southeast corner of the park. Here's downtown    (7F3)

+ ++ T    (7F4)

viewed from the Staten Island Ferry.    (7F5)

I don't consider myself a city dude, but I liked New York. I conclude that most cities just aren't worth the hassle: the benefits don't win when compared with the challenges. The challenges for me are compression, oppression, aggression and apprehension. New York has way more than enough of that stuff but makes up for it in several ways:    (7F6)

• The park. The cabbie took me through the park on the way to the hotel. I was thoroughly impressed and felt a relieved sense of "oh, this is here, I'll be okay." The park is a masterpiece.    (7F7)
• The subway. It works and is out of the way, at least on Manhattan (which is all I'm really talking about here, I neither saw nor have any immediate inclination to see the less vertical areas of New York). Big minus points to Chicago for putting theirs above ground. Boo.    (7F8)
• The food. There's lots to choose from it. Some of it even cheap.    (7F9)
• Pretty people that are not fat. This is a major contributing factor. Maybe it would wear off with time but the beauty and variety of the people make you feel like you are somewhere special rather than in a toilet (despite the smell).    (7FA)
• Other stuff I'm not remembering right now because this was supposed to be a short entry.    (7FB)

So, with all that I found myself thinking: I could deal with this. That's not an entirely new thought: I've often thought in the heart of a giant city was certainly a better option than some random place in a medium city. Grocery delivery would be key.    (7FC)

I prefer a slow entry to a place. Get somewhere and then wander in expanding circles, not doing much. I took this approach to my time in New York and liked it that way. As a result I didn't hit all the sites, but I got a pleasant feeling. That's my mode.    (7FD)

When I go back, I'd like to get inside the Chrysler Building.    (7FE)

+ ++ T    (7FF)

I couldn't get past the lobby, but even that was enough to renew my desire to do some Art Deco exploring.    (7FG)

When traveling, non stop flights on little jets are the way to go. Exit rows extra helpful. Bring own water.    (7FH)

Okay, one conference comment: Semantic Web confederates and cheerleaders are not as crazy as I once thought (the errors of AI are not being repeated, as it once seemed). They do, though, need to come back to earth, focus on today, and let things evolve and emerge concurrent with real-world activity. A great deal of the design activity associated with SemanticWeb? standards is intensely architected stuff. The w3c is turning into the IOETF: InternetOverEngineeringTaskForce.    (7FI)