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Three Good Things for Monday, March 4th

In some sense I have always been a dad, or at least always susceptible to "dad humor", so today is a special day for me: the day that is a command! Unfortunately my Monday has not been so proactive as I might wish, and I've spent it mostly dealing with a number of things that came up over the weekend. So it goes! In spite of feeling mired in the marshes rather than marching forth, here are some good things about the day:

1. Eclipse!

NASA's very good map of the path of totality for next month's solar eclipse;
source: https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/where-when/

We just made a hotel reservation for the weekend preceding the eclipse, and I am thrilled to finally have an excuse to explore Indianapolis. No, seriously! My contention is that any midwestern city above 100k or so in population is going to be cooler than one might think, and I've heard good things about the children's museum there (as well as Crown Hill Cemetery, and the Kurt Vonnegut Museum). We're not going to actually have a ton of time to spend there, but we'll have no problem entertaining ourselves Saturday afternoon, all day Sunday, and Monday morning. Fingers crossed for clear skies!


2. The Epson RD-1.



I've read about this camera before, but this review from Casual Photophile is just stellar: https://casualphotophile.com/2024/02/18/digital-film-camera-epson-r-d1-review/

Will I ever own one? Not unless someone drops one in my mailbox in an act of extreme generosity. There's no way to justify spending that kind of $$$ on a camera with a tiny and archaic sensor that uses a family of lenses of which I have none. But gosh would I love to try one out; every aspect of its operation just feels like catnip to me.


3. Jacob van Ruysdael's "Die kleine Brücke" (The little bridge), 1650

My friend and housemate Josh borrowed the Allen Memorial Art Museum's copy of this print for Art Rental the first year we lived together, and I think I borrowed it again a few semesters later. I've been thinking about Josh recently, as we just passed the second anniversary of his death, and thinking especially of how much my own tastes were influenced by his. He had a real sense of connoisseurship in just about every direction imagineable, and I think that perspective of discernment and enthusiasm rubbed off on me to a great extent. Life is too short for mediocre art, and in some cases like Josh's those words are devastatingly true. As I think of him and miss him, I do find some gladness in knowing that he never wasted attention on anything that wasn't worth his time. 


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