The Observation Deck

Why am I thinking of warrior chimps with "Also Sprach Zarathustra" ringing in my ears?

Charyn,
You're correct that the mess is from Sycamore trees. That photo is from Lincoln Avenue. Lincoln from Madison to Detroit and Marlowe (especially from Franklin to Detroit) have an abundance of Sycamores. Cohassett from Franklin to Detroit sticks in my head also as having a number of Sycamores. They are one of my favorite trees.
Most of the mess in the photo is actually the leaves - virtually every Sycamore around has had premature leaf drop this year. I don't know why, but there are a couple problems that are common to Sycamores (pests or fungus) that could have caused it. If anyone knows more about this, I would love to hear about it. I think the majority of the flaking bark occured over the past month or so.
Chris

Jim:

You are inventing with your photo provocations a new mode of gonzo citizen journalism.

I salute you. You are really going deep into the Project Lightspeed story to help us connect the dots in the only way makes sense for the holler.

Now if only we can connect the liberating fact that Lakewood is not a flower basket city to the southern roots of SBC’s Project Lightspeed, we will find the "dirt road internet" beautification/horticultural/media convergence strategy to build the Lakewood Brand in conjunction with AT&T.

What we need to do is deep six the flower baskets and bring on "vine that ate the South."

By cultivating Kudzu on trellis shields Lakewood could buffer and hide the hideous heat radiating boxes, while protecting the trees with a species that can hack the burn.

Keep up the great investigatory work.

Kenneth Warren

Ms. Roberts:

I am getting the picture, branded, of course with Lakewood Observer capes.

Caped warrior chimps.

Of course, one cannot reason with warrior chimps. That is the reason for your epiphany. Fortunately, warrior chimps are not as dangerous as human beings, as John Hawks, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsinâ€â€￾Madison, would remind us. Hawks often poses the question to his class “whether they would rather be hunted by a human or by a chimpanzee.â€Â￾ The majority prefer humans, records Hawks, “even though a chimpanzee would be enormously less dangerous as an enemy than a human. (For one thing, a chimpanzee is rather less likely to continue to track you after dark...)

http://johnhawks.net/weblog/topics/mind ... _2006.html

See also:
http://www.baronstudio.com/Assets/Hairy ... sPage.html



Kenneth Warren

Project Lightspeed is "Yesterday's Technology For The Future" (Firesign Theatre's "Forward Into the Past!").

Throw in some untested tech, a relatively backbone-fee structure and connections that don't come "to the porch" and you have an interesting marketing project to watch play out. ISP Edsels.

Hearkening back to "2001" mythology is apt.

Kubrick envisioned 33 years into the future: the Millennium (and in '68 avoided that popular marketing phrase). Apes, tools, giant boxes and spaced life with bad computers. As a metaphor, it worked, it didn't work and I'm thinking it works again because we're livin' it.

Someday we'll decipher the true meaning of those boxes left behind.

Meanwhile, I expect Monkey Islanders to raise their tools.

dl meckes wrote:Project Lightspeed is "Yesterday's Technology For The Future" (Firesign Theatre's "Forward Into the Past!").

Or, as Artie Choke might have said, "the future can't wait, no place to hide."

My HS bf was a huge Firesign disciple, can't believe I remembered that.

Joan

"But he's just a Holygram !" Back to the shadows again....Back where an Indian's your friend. Where the vegetables are green (and you can pee right into the stream) yes...we're back to the shadows again....

Jeff

Joan Roberts wrote:can't believe I remembered that.

It's never what we want to remember, is it? It's just the stuff that, in spite of ourselves, is just there.

Joan,

Did you and your best friend go to Commie Martyrs High School?

Rah, rah, rah!

Steve

Ken

Kudzu you do not even want to mess with. The weed you can't even make wine out of! Was also the name of one of the loudest race cars to hit the track.

Warrior monkeys are nothing to mess with. I prefer the peaceful kind.

http://obism.com/MonkeyRoom/FMRa.html

and or

http://obism.com/MonkeyRoom/MonkeyTalk.html

More of my kind of monkeys.

DL

Alas, Monkey Island has been renamed Sinagra Park. I thought the deserved Lakewood Park or Madison Park, but they are doing fine in downtown area of the 'wood.

Go ahead and put these on Wyandotte. The weeds planted on the tree-lawns by Terrace Construction will grow over them and hide them in no time.

I guess I shouldn't complain about our small tree lawns at least one of those monstrosities won't fit on it.

Growing up in southern California we had green square boxes all over our subdivision. They were the perfect height to sit on. They were where the preteens usually congregated. It amazes me that so many years later and so many technological advances later we need above ground boxes. There has got to be a better way.

I think the citizens of Lakewood really got the shaft from council they should have never allowed these thing to go in especially without a long process of community involvement.

Is there any plan or mapping that shows the proposed locations for all the boxes? I would assume that this information would be available from the building Dept., but it would be really nice to know, prior to being greeted by one as you come home from work.

Jeff

I just called the city about this. They have limited information on the locations of the new boxes (I was looking for info on my street). I talked to gentleman there and he indicated that only 3 had been installed at this point (which must the top three photos here), but there are plans for "close to FIFTY". He did say that a majority would be installed in locations where there are already existing AT&T boxes.

While it's good that many are going to existing locations, these things are so awful that any increase seems bad to me. As much as I like the idea of breaking the Cox cable monopoly, I can't get over how terrible looking these are.

I'll be writing city council and the mayor on this for sure.

Mike

Only one box is real. The top three photos. All the rest are retouched.

There is another box at Cook and Clifton and another at Brockley and Clifton I believe.

As long as you are writing letters you might want to ask EXACTLY how many boxes there will be. I had heard 37, then 42, you mention 50. Also is this set in stone or is it 50 to start?

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