MetalGeek : Code, Metal and Cleverness

Bisbee

Bisbee is a tiny and fascinating old mining town in the far southeastern corner of Arizona. We spent a couple of days there in April, wandering around and enjoyng the strangeness of it all.

It's is the most arty and liberal place I've seen in this stubbornly conservative state. The people there seemed almost bemused by the tourists, but not terribly motivated to take advantage of the situation. The vibe was extremely laid back and mellow, but it was a weekday. They say the weekends are a little more hectic, but it's hard to imagine that it's as awful as most of the rest of the state has become.

If you do visit, try and check out the Kartchner Caverns, near Benson (about an hour on the way to Tucson). They are incredible, but make reservations, or you'll be sorry. It's the closest you can get to seeing a cavern unspoiled by humans unless you find one yourself.







Main street



The Copper City Inn, a lovely three room hotel, run by the bartender at the best restaurant in town.



The Lavender Pit, just south of town.



These are my kind of people
(kinda-sorta-sometimes)
Refugees and refuse-to-bees
Dematerializing right in front of me
Down-loaning lives that don't work
Shirking at jobs that don't pay
Playing games they can't win
Chasing dreams on the wind
Time tunnelers traveling light
Leading their own invisible parade
These are mind kind of people
Psycho path finders, non-propheteers
Mickey-mouthoffs without funny ears
Up and coming down and outers
Closet clinging kings and queens
Alcoholistic fate heelers

   ONE WAY
   <--ST--
<-------------<
>DO NOT ENTER->

<--> THIS WAY - THAT WAY
My Way - Your Way
The easy way - hard way
UNA VIA - OTRA VIA
Nizhonni ??
THE ONLY WAY
Which Way? go A way
right way wrong way

John McCain is a Pathetic Panderer

In his own words:

Olbermann at his best

Coping Calculator Upgrade

I've added a couple of tweaks to my world famous coping calculator which helps you cut a round tube to fit another round tube. It now uses vectors in the pdf version of the pattern, which should print and scale a little better than before.

And there's also another version that attempts to make the page big enough to put a large pattern on it. It's here:
http://metalgeek.com/static/cope_custom.pcgi

The operation is a little flaky, but it may help somebody.

Big Shoulders

All this talk about Obama got me thinking of Chicago. All the work that's going to have to get done to clean up Bush's many messes is going to require some very big shoulders.

Chicago has always been a tough town. When my dad went off to fly bombers in the Army in World War 2 (there was no separate Air Force back then), he had to take a train packed with recruits across the country to training. When another future soldier asked where he was from, he answered "Chicago." The other kid responded excitedly: "Oh yeah? Let me see your gun!"

Carl Sandburg is more eloquent:

Chicago

Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:
They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people, Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

The Audacity of War