I’m old enough to remember the warning about social media, “if you’re not paying for the product, then you’re the product.” In any social club, somebody’s got to pay to keep the lights on. With online platforms there is a process of growing a customer base, locking people in to the platform by making it…
I have to say that “respect” isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Slab City, an informal community of faded snowbirds, desert rats, creatives, burnt-out meth heads, and a few others who simply want to drop off the grid. But there it is, emblazoned on the side of a concrete…
Here’s to the start of another year. My personal goal for the coming year is to spend a part of every day simply “writing to be writing.” Not writing for blog posts, not writing for publication, not writing to anyone in particular. Just putting my butt in the chair and putting words to paper…or whatever…
One way to bring life back to the internet is to make it weird again. According to software developer Jonas Hultenius, quirkiness is one of the things that made the early web feel alive. Today’s obsession with metrics and vitality are starving off everyday treasures, small wonders, and genuine oddities. If you were online in…
Maria Farrell and Robin Berjon use the word Waldsterben, meaning “forest death,” to describe the state of the internet today. Just like a forest that has been clear-cut and replanted with a single species, the internet is quickly depleting itself of life and vitality. The walled gardens of Facebook, Twitter, and Google each act to…
In the final act of Picasso at Lapin Agile, a mysterious visitor from the future, wearing blue suede shoes, enters the bar and makes a striking pronouncement. VISITOR: ‘Cause this century, the accomplishments of artists and scientists outshone the accomplishments of politicians and governments. The rest of ensemble, including Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, and a…
When a system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence have the capacity to shift the entire system. This quotation, attributed to the Belgian physical chemist Ilya Prigogine, gives me hope that small groups of people working together may be able to shift our chaotic politics into something better. But is it realistic, or…
Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who come alive.— Dr. Howard Thurman Also on Wild Rye This year’s theme: Awakening
After spending a peaceful evening among the spectacular sandstone structures of Red Rock Canyon State Park I set out to explore a couple of ghost towns that I saw listed on a clickbait travel site in a feature called 20 Ghost Towns in California. I left Red Rock Canyon with a comfortable 40% charge and…
For my first day I wanted to go from Long Beach to: • California City • Burro Schmidt’s Tunnel • Red Rock Canyon State Park I was starting with a nearly full battery charge. Apple CarPlay, linked to the computer in my Ford F-150 Lightning, inserted a charging stop at an Electrify America charger in Mojave.…
Range anxiety is the boogie man if you want to roadtrip in an electric vehicle. Finding fast chargers along your route can be a kind of Easter egg hunt. And when you do find them they’re often occupied or out-of-order. I took my Ford F-150 Lightning out to Pioneertown without too much effort. I found…
When I first learned about Desert Christ Park in Weird California, I put it on my bucket list because it seemed like good fodder for a snarky blog post. But instead, I found the experience strangely moving. Just about two hours outside of Los Angeles and half an hour before you reach Joshua Tree National…
This post is just to help anybody who might be having a tough time trying to figure out if a tent will fit in the bed of their truck when they have a folding tonneau installed. I did a fair amount of searching in truck forums and couldn’t find a clear answer to the tonneau…
About two hours outside of Los Angeles is a strange landscape that feels worlds away from anywhere you’ve ever been. The hills are populated with scraggly ocotillo and creosote bush…and massive piles of boulders. If you were going to film a movie like Of Dust and Bones, this would be your place. But when you…
This past week I took my blow-up kayak down to Newport Beach and went for a paddle in the Back Bay. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for over 40 years. It’s a large inland bay with a marshy wetlands and little rivulets snaking through it. The nice thing about this paddle is that right…
