Merry Christmas
L, J, Big Toe, and the entire Inkstain staff which you the happiest of holidays.
Archive of entries posted by jfleck
Ruscha and Wittgenstein
We had a round of holiday Scrabble this afternoon after first feast. I got “emu,” which is a fine word. I never really got Ludwig Wittgenstein when I was studying philosophy in college. A lost opportunity. I’ve always been interested in words as objects, since I was a kid scribbling in notebooks, before my …
Lousy start to the Colorado/Rio Grande 2024-25 snowpack season
I was talking to Eric Kuhn Thursday (write a book together – bonded for life) who pointed out that the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center has started running its models for 2025 runoff. They don’t look good. It’s way too early to think of this as a “forecast.” But they provide a feel for where …
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Peter Kropotkin and the alley behind my neighborhood gas station
There’s a pedestrian alley in my neighborhood that provides an important link for the low-stress version of my bike commute. The neighborhood, built in the 1950s, has a few of them, but they don’t get much use. People don’t walk much any more. Which I guess is why someone thought it would be OK to …
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White Christmas somewhere but maybe not here
It’s that time of year when I’m looking for a storm a week to build a snowpack. More is better. Zero is not better.
North 54 Salvage
The guy seemed puzzled by my presence. I guess I looked lost – why else would an old guy on a bike be riding down a road that dead ends in a junk yard? He wasn’t fazed by my explanation: “I’m trying to ride on every road in Albuquerque, and I haven’t ridden on this …
“a vessel for meaning”
My kid, Nora Reed, penned an insightful thread yesterday about the nature of the their work – they run a jewelry shop, still not too late* for holiday gift giving! – and the nature of craft and art: a thing i think about a lot when figuring out both packaging for the business and the …
Do we linger less?
Research comparing pedestrian behavior in Bryant Park and outside the Met, 1979-1980 versus 2008-2010: The biggest change in behavior was that lingering fell dramatically. The amount of time spent just hanging out dropped by about half across the measured locations. I personally am a fan of “lingering” and “just hanging out.” Via Tyler Cowen
A sign of hope on the Colorado River
One of the hopeful notes coming out of the recent Colorado River discussions is the way the operation of Glen Canyon Dam in a more flexible way, to accommodate a broader range of values, is back on the table. The USBR alternatives released ahead of this week’s Colorado River Water Users Association, while requiring some …
Deficit Spending on the Colorado River
By Jack Schmidt | December 3, 2024 Drawdown of the Colorado River’s reservoirs now slightly exceeds the amount of gain that occurred during the 2024 snowmelt season. For the next four months until snowmelt begins again, the basin’s reservoirs will be drawing from the excess accumulated in 2023, demonstrating the immense challenge in balancing water …