virtualDavis

via veloflaneur

“Adept of the joys of watching, connoisseur of empathy, the flaneur finds the world ‘picturesque.’ ” ~ Susan Sontag

Cycling is a deeply aesthetic practice. Riding transverses the city and country; it bridges the mechanical and the organic. Here readers will find some thoughts on the intersection of cycling and modernity from the relatively dispassionate and fleeting, yet productive position of the pedestrian or cyclist. This is not about racing. Velo Flaneur focuses on everyday, utilitarian riding, randonneuring, jaunts through urban and natural terrain and watching, listening, and feeling.

The flaneur observed the unfolding metropolis of the nineteenth century in a disconnected manner. Today, from behind the handlebars of a bicycle, one can survey architecture, society, art, politics, interaction, production, consumption, and the natural environment as a flickering rush of images.

via veloflaneur

Welcome to vélo-flâneur, my most recent discovery in an ongoing quest to identify intriguing flaneurs meandering the information superhighway.

The following Mac Screenshot capturing commands are accomplished by pressing and holding the Command key followed by two or more keys in progression.

• Command Shift 3: Takes a screenshot of the entire screen, and saves the image to your desktop.
• Command Shift 4, and click an area. Takes a screenshot of an area and saves the image to your desktop.
• Command Shift 4, then press space, and click a window: Takes a screenshot of a window and saves the image to your desktop.

To capture a screenshot and save it to the clipboard, use the following keys.

• Command Control Shift 3: Takes a screenshot of the entire screen, and saves it to your clipboard.
• Command Control Shift 4, and click an area: Takes a screenshot of an area and saves it to your clipboard.
• Command Control Shift 4, then press space, and click a window: Takes a screenshot of a window and saves it to your clipboard.

With OS X 10.5 Leopard, the following keys can be pressed while selecting an area using Command Shift 4or Command Control Shift 4:

• Space: to lock the size of the selected region and instead move it when the mouse moves
• Shift: to resize only one edge of the selected region
• Option: to resize the selected region with its center as the anchor point

via Lancelhoff.com

Still learning the ropes on my new Mac. Good news is that the transition learning curve from PC-to-Mac hasn’t been bad at all! And when I get stumped I can usually find the help I need quickly and painlessly via Google. Case in point…

Main Street, Essex, New York (Photograph via ebay.com )

It never ceases to amaze me how many antique photos and postcards of Historic Essex make it onto eBay. This old photo of Main Street is the most recent example. I should have long ago set up a flickr gallery to collect them. This postcard appears to be looking north with the Essex Inn on the left hand side in the foreground. If you’re feeling like you just can’t live without it, you can find it for sale on eBay (item 260559292272 end time Mar-04-10 05:12:54 PST).

Photo via Non Compos Mentis Mama

This thought provoking article that originally appeared in the New Mexico Free Press examines the “fine line of will between responsible and deadly gun use.” The author touches on several of the complex issues underpinning the gun debate, but focuses more on her personal arc from gun wary (phobic?) to gun appreciation and understanding. She explains that “on some level, it changed me. I can’t say that I see the political issue of gun control in black and white (to be honest, I see very few issues that way) but it expanded the topic for me out of the theoretical and into reality.”

Le jeune flâneur’s self portrait inverts subject and background, inserting the photographer and the viewer into intimate voyeuristic contact with this contemplative lady in Paris.

An urban flaneur is a wanderer who travels around the city as a casual observer and gives an interpretation of what s/he sees. An urban flaneur disdains the idea that one can encapsulate a city into a list of landmarks or dissect it into parts as one would a corpse. In this light, I am launching this new blog about experiencing the city in its totality. I welcome any relevant comments.

via The Urban Flaneur Guidebook

A new face on the flaneurial block. Welcome to Michael McAdams! Keep to great posts coming…

Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART

[Click to play.]

This animation by Alan Becker was passed on to me by my mother who is an amazing cartoonist in her own right (despite her protestations to the contrary…)

via blindflaneur.com

“I was a penniless poet living in a dilapidated water mill on the Little Miami River. She was Princess Caroline of Monaco. I had more hair then, none of it gray. She was a notorious wild child on the international celebrity scene. I took a chance on a 22-cent aerogramme. She never replied…” (Blind Flaneur)

Ask people who have been there, and they’ll all tell you India is like no other place in the world, a land that stirs every one of the five senses and stays in your heart forever. It is this India that brought together three friends, Waris Ahluwalia, Mortimer Singer and Tina Bhojwani to raise funds, spirits, and awareness for the victims of the attacks in Mumbai in November, 2008.

The editors set out to create a scrapbook-collecting personal photos, stories, and memories from people who, like themselves, love India. The contributors include Wes Anderson, Adrien Brody, Francesco Clemente, Anthony Edwards, Jeanine Lobell, Natalie Portman, Yves Carcelle, Jean Touitou, Owen Wilson, Laura Wilson, Cynthia Rowley, James Ivory, Matthew Williamson, Rachel Roy, Tory Burch, Padma Lakshmi, Shobhaa De, Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani. This book declares to Mumbai and the whole country that we are all thinking of them and support them: hence To India, with Love: New York to Mumbai. Profits from the sales of the book will go to support families affected by the attacks. This book can truly make a difference, by opening eyes to the wonders of India and by once again letting the pen-or a camera-dominate the sword.

via mumbaiwegotyourback.com

Bravo, Tina Bhojwani! This is an exciting accomplishment and a creative twist on humanitarian philanthropy. I’ve ordered To India with Love, and I can’t wait for it to show up in the mail. I hope all you Indiaphiles will consider purchasing this dazzling publication and spreading the word to your friends. More once I’ve had a chance to meander through the colorful pages…