Here’re three amusing visions of the US from the blog Strange Maps: The United States of Florida, Ex Unum Pluribus: New American Nations, and (pictured above) The United Countries of Baseball.
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Category: Misc.
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Bangkok, Maine?
My cell phone rang at 2:41 a.m. today. I had been in a deep sleep and was more than a little confused when I answered.
Me: “Hello, this is Newley.”
Woman with an American accent: “Oh, Hi is this John in…?”
Me: “Sorry, no. I think you have the wrong number. This is Newley in Bangkok.”
Woman: “Oh, wow, sorry about that. You’re in Bangkok, Maine?”
Me: “No, no. Bangkok, Thailand.”
Woman [laughing]: “Oh, wow. That’s amazing! Sorry!”
Me: “That’s okay. It’s a small world.*”
Then I hung up.
Two notes and an asterisk:
1. I think she meant Bangor, Maine, although she clearly said “Bangkok, Maine.” I assume she was calling from somewhere in the mid-Atlantic, because…
2. I have a Washington, DC area code phone number that routes, via Skype, to my cell phone here in Thailand.
If I was confused that a strange woman was calling me from America in the middle of the night, imagine how bewildered she must have been to dial a DC-area code number and reach…an English-speaking stranger in Thailand.
*I’m not sure exactly what I meant by “it’s a small world.” I imagine I was trying to say something along the lines of:
“Hey, isn’t it nuts how in this crazy day and age you can be just, like, trying to call your buddy John to say come on over to our surprise party tonight for Martha, who’s turning 50, and be sure to bring some of those Lays chips that she likes, and also a card, and then next thing you know the streams are crossed because of a solar flare and you’re talking to somebody totally different on the other side of the world — can you believe cell phones these days?”
But it didn’t come out like that.
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A New-Look Newley.com
UPDATE (August 18): I’ve done some additional tweaking and settled upon a design. Finally. I invite RSS subscribers to click through and view the updated newley.com in all of its newfound graphical glory.
UPDATE (August 9): I’ve changed the design. Again. Sadly, not everyone shared my passion for the ultra-minimalist layout I was using a few days ago. And alas, dear readers, I ultimately strive to serve you. So I’ve adopted something a bit more exciting (yet still understated). Hope you like it.
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As you can see, I’ve tweaked the design of newley.com. It’s not a major overhaul; I’ve just made some minor changes here and there. Usability, clean lines, and white space still reign supreme.
I’m still fixing some bugs, so if anything seems amiss, please let me know. And if you’re viewing this from from an RSS reader, please do click through to the site and give me your thoughts. Comments for this post are turned on.
More soon…
Scrivener is a remarkably useful Mac-only project management and writing application. I started using it a few months ago, and it’s quickly become a must-have.
First off: if you mostly write memos or simple documents that require strict formatting, then you should stick with Word. But if you’re a Mac user looking for something to help you manage complex writing projects — a novel, a screenplay, a book, or simply a long article — then you should take a look at this application.
For me, Scrivener’s best features, as I go about assembling my writing projects, are: 1) the ability to import and reference multiple documents and Web pages from within the main window; and 2) the split screen feature that allows me to consult two documents at once within that window.
No more toggling between multiple drafts in separate Word documents. No more consulting various Web sites and PDFs and then returning to Word. Everything now lives in one place, and all of my drafts and other materials are organized by folder.
I also really like Scrivener’s look and feel. It’s an OS X application designed and developed by a writer. And the community of users is also lively and passionate.
Here’s a recent Macworld review. And here’s what Merlin at 43 Folders says about Scrivener.
It’s free to download and use for a trial period; 35 smackers and it’s yours for life.
(Cartoon via.)
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My Short Item in The Magazine
The current issue of The Magazine (pictured above), a bi-monthly glossy published by the Bangkok Post, contains a very brief item I wrote about Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. (You’ve heard me mention Wilco before, no doubt.) In each issue, various folks are asked to weigh in on their favorite album, book, or movie. The item isn’t online, sadly, but interested Bangkokians can find my thoughts on page eight.
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Quito Comes Alive
My latest globorati post is about the Ecuadorian capital’s rejuvenated historic center.
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Bolivia, FIFA, and Globalization
Simon Romero had an excellent story in the New York Times yesterday about Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, fighting to defeat the high-altitude soccer ban I mentioned recently. I particularly like the lede (as well as the delightful image, above):
Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, donned a green jersey the other day, watched a llama sacrifice for good luck and flew to a snowy spot nearly four miles above sea level, where he scored the winning goal in a brief match pitting him and his aides against a group of mountain climbers.
It was a textbook lesson in Andean political theater, and the perils a globalized sport can meet when it comes up against a small country’s nationalist passions.
On the surface, Bolivia’s president was simply staging an amusing stunt to fight a ban on international soccer games at altitudes above 2,500 meters, or 8,200 feet.
It’s well known that Mr. Morales will play soccer against virtually anyone, from the foreign press corps to local squads in the hinterlands, to let off steam, and recently broke his nose doing so. But in fact, the ban, enacted last month by soccer bureaucrats in Switzerland, played right to Mr. Morales’ trademark populism, and gave him an opportunity to act as a unifier of his otherwise fractious country.
“Bolivia’s dedication to soccer cuts across the deep dividing lines in the country, which are economic, racial, regional and ideological,” said Jim Shultz, a political analyst in Cochabamba, in central Bolivia. “Fighting the ban is great domestic politics.”
(Emphasis mine.)
A friend of mine who’s studied politics in neighboring Ecuador once told me that he felt the Ecuadorian national football team was the single greatest cohesive force that the nation has working in its favor. The game trumps race, class, politics — everything.
Two related books that I recommend highly: “How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization,” and, in the case of Bolivia and its “market dominant minority,” “World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability.”
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Me As a Little Guy
You may remember “Uncle” Joel, a long-time friend of the family whose remarkable photography I’ve mentioned here before. He snapped the image of me — here — as a three-year-old.
This morning I woke up to a surprise that has made my month: Joel unearthed this old image of me and my Dad back in 1975 or 1976, when I was a just a little guy. I’d never seen it before. And I really, really love the shot. It’s eerie for me to look at because my Dad was probably 28 at the time Joel snapped the pic, which is a few years younger than I am now, and I think we bear a strong resemblance.
Other observations: I’m not sure what, exactly, I’ve got coming out of my mouth (perhaps the drawstring from my hoodie?). Also, I love my Dad’s jaunty sartorial sense: the anorak jacket, the blue collared shirt, the dope shades, and best of all, the hat. Oh man, the hat. I love it.
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Wilco’s New Album
So have you been listening to Wilco’s new album, Sky Blue Sky? Well, why not? Get on it.
I think it’s a remarkably coherent — if staid — effort. Just like everything the band produces, the album grows on you. Slowly.
I agree with Rob Sheffield, who says this in his Rolling Stone review:
Sky Blue Sky (great title — Allman Brothers via Laurie Anderson) is understated, erratic, often beautiful, disarmingly simple music; it really sounds like six guys playing in a room, and no doubt that’s how they wanted it.
My favorite track so far is “Hate it Here” (number eight).
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World Hum: Acquired by the Travel Channel
I’m a little late in mentioning this, but I wanted extend my congratulations to Jim Benning and Mike Yessis, editors of World Hum — they recently announced that the site has been acquired by the Travel Channel. As Jim and Mike write:
Since we started World Hum in 2001, we’ve tried to explore travel in all its facets and publish compelling travel stories. It’s been enormously fun and gratifying, yet there’s so much more we’ve wanted to do with the site. Juggling day jobs, we just haven’t had the time or resources.
Now we will. We’re delighted to announce that World Hum has been acquired by the Travel Channel. The people behind the Travel Channel are building a lineup of shows and websites that celebrate travel and the journey. World Hum is now a part of that.
As for us, we’re not going anywhere. Thanks to the Travel Channel’s commitment, we’ll edit the site full-time, publishing the kinds of stories you’ve come to expect from World Hum. In fact, we’re going to publish more of them. You’ll see some changes to the site in the months to come. We’re going to experiment with audio, video and other ways to tell travel stories.
For more information, see this Budget Travel interview with Mike.
Long-time newley.com readers might remember that World Hum published a story of mine called “Soup to Nuts” way back in 2001. (I’m happy to report that, six years on, I’m now a proficient chopstick user.)