Random Thoughts

[Scott5114]

If the content is not the material medium of paper, then why don't you say the same thing about the material medium of the human voice?

Because a lot of it is about intention and conscious choice. If I write something down on plain white copy paper, that is just a medium because it says nothing about my intentions at all; it was probably just a utilitarian choice. If I choose to write it on fancy certificate parchment paper, I am making an intentional artistic choice to do that. Same is true with handwriting; if I just write something in my normal instinctual handwriting that is a totally different matter than if I try to emulate FHWA Series or if I bust out the calligraphy pen.

I do think you're running yourself down a lot of edge-case rabbit holes with this that don't actually matter all that much to the core premise.

[1995hoo]

[Max Rockatansky]

The GMC Terrain we rented at SeaTac apparently lacks a feature to change from Miles Per Hour to Kilometers Per Hour.  I tried every option at the border checkpoint into British Columbia on I-5 and came up with nothing.  Kilometers aren't embedded into the background of the speedometer either.  I ended up changing the setting on my GPS instead.

[formulanone]

The rental car shuttle at SeaTac is only getting worse.  I just spent an hour in line waiting to get on the bus and to the rental car center. 

Totally agree.  Took me an hour to get from the gate to the rental car center during my last trip in June.  Intolerable. 

Driver pointed out the wonderful construction, but none of it seems to improve access between the airport and the rental car center.

Miserable.

Probably just a lack of shuttle drivers during the busier tourist season; Never waited very long for the bus at Sea-Tac in previous years.

I guess you can't beat Baltimore for the most convoluted shuttle ride to the rental car station.

[ZLoth]

I've only been to SeaTac once in 2017, and that was for a connecting flight. I have flown from Vancouver, BC (YVR) to SeaTac, used the underground train to get to the proper terminal, and then the flight to Sacramento (SMF). Thank goodness YVR is one of the foreign airports where you pass through US Customs prior to boarding your flight.

[Rothman]

The rental car shuttle at SeaTac is only getting worse.  I just spent an hour in line waiting to get on the bus and to the rental car center. 

Totally agree.  Took me an hour to get from the gate to the rental car center during my last trip in June.  Intolerable. 

Driver pointed out the wonderful construction, but none of it seems to improve access between the airport and the rental car center.

Miserable.

Probably just a lack of shuttle drivers during the busier tourist season; Never waited very long for the bus at Sea-Tac in previous years.

I guess you can't beat Baltimore for the most convoluted shuttle ride to the rental car station.

I don't think so.  The shuttles were running frequently, but just couldn't keep up with the overwhelming demand from the incoming flights.  It's almost like they need twice the shuttles and a larger pickup facility at the terminals to accommodate such.  It's a tough nut to crack for KSEA, but the current state of things is awful and, given my frequent trips out there due to family in the area, getting worse.

[JayhawkCO]

The rental car shuttle at SeaTac is only getting worse.  I just spent an hour in line waiting to get on the bus and to the rental car center. 

Totally agree.  Took me an hour to get from the gate to the rental car center during my last trip in June.  Intolerable. 

Driver pointed out the wonderful construction, but none of it seems to improve access between the airport and the rental car center.

Miserable.

Probably just a lack of shuttle drivers during the busier tourist season; Never waited very long for the bus at Sea-Tac in previous years.

I guess you can't beat Baltimore for the most convoluted shuttle ride to the rental car station.

I don't think so.  The shuttles were running frequently, but just couldn't keep up with the overwhelming demand from the incoming flights.  It's almost like they need twice the shuttles and a larger pickup facility at the terminals to accommodate such.  It's a tough nut to crack for KSEA, but the current state of things is awful and, given my frequent trips out there due to family in the area, getting worse.

Maybe fly into Paine Field instead, depending on what side of town your family is on.

[Max Rockatansky]

The rental car shuttle at SeaTac is only getting worse.  I just spent an hour in line waiting to get on the bus and to the rental car center. 

Totally agree.  Took me an hour to get from the gate to the rental car center during my last trip in June.  Intolerable. 

Driver pointed out the wonderful construction, but none of it seems to improve access between the airport and the rental car center.

Miserable.

Probably just a lack of shuttle drivers during the busier tourist season; Never waited very long for the bus at Sea-Tac in previous years.

I guess you can't beat Baltimore for the most convoluted shuttle ride to the rental car station.

I don't think so.  The shuttles were running frequently, but just couldn't keep up with the overwhelming demand from the incoming flights.  It's almost like they need twice the shuttles and a larger pickup facility at the terminals to accommodate such.  It's a tough nut to crack for KSEA, but the current state of things is awful and, given my frequent trips out there due to family in the area, getting worse.

In the case of our flight there was three shuttle buses running to the rental car facility. 

[1995hoo]

I thought just finding my way to the light rail station at Sea-Tac was convoluted when I went there in November 2023 (the only time I've been to Seattle).

[Max Rockatansky]

Vancouver was the last major city in Canada I haven't been to until this weekend.  If I were to describe it I would say it more or less is San Francisco without the intra-city hills.

[Molandfreak]

Vancouver was the last major city in Canada I haven't been to until this weekend.  If I were to describe it I would say it more or less is San Francisco without the intra-city hills.

And no streetcars. 

[Max Rockatansky]

Vancouver was the last major city in Canada I haven't been to until this weekend.  If I were to describe it I would say it more or less is San Francisco without the intra-city hills.

And no streetcars. 

Are they even really necessary?  Bus service seemed plentiful and even partially electrified.

[kphoger]

If I write something down on plain white copy paper, that is just a medium because it says nothing about my intentions at all; it was probably just a utilitarian choice. If I choose to write it on fancy certificate parchment paper, I am making an intentional artistic choice to do that. Same is true with handwriting; if I just write something in my normal instinctual handwriting that is a totally different matter than if I try to emulate FHWA Series or if I bust out the calligraphy pen.

Sounds like you've made a lot of subjective assumptions about my motivations that aren't necessarily true.

You might think all sorts of things about my choosing to write in black ink or red ink, completely unaware that I usually write in red ink.  And if I have multiple colors of paper to choose from, then choosing white is indeed an intentional choice—just one that's perhaps more boring, but doesn't that boringness itself say something about my intentions?

I do think you're running yourself down a lot of edge-case rabbit holes with this that don't actually matter all that much to the core premise.

I don't really have a premise of my own here.  I think it's fascinating to ask the question, What is art?  And, whenever a somewhat simple answer is presented, I enjoy poking holes in it to see if it really holds up to scrutiny.  And one issue to wrestle with is the notion that art can even be separated from its medium at all.

[SEWIGuy]

I don't really have a premise of my own here.  I think it's fascinating to ask the question, What is art?

I took a philosophy of art class in college, and I must admit it was pretty facinating.

Anyway, one of the highlights was that I had to write a five page paper on the philosophical differences between a simile and a metaphor.

[mgk920]

San Francisco, CA 'MUNI' loves their straight electric 'trackless' trolleybuses, mainly due to their hill climbing ability.  Fully loaded ones will walk right up hills that easily stall diesel buses.

Mike

[CoreySamson]

I don't really have a premise of my own here.  I think it's fascinating to ask the question, What is art?  And, whenever a somewhat simple answer is presented, I enjoy poking holes in it to see if it really holds up to scrutiny.  And one issue to wrestle with is the notion that art can even be separated from its medium at all.

Art is simply subjective.

[kphoger]

Art is simply subjective.

Objective beauty may or may not exist, which is an interesting philosophical question.  I'd argue that art by its very nature requires an observer in order to be called beautiful, but it does not require an observer to be called art.

An interesting thought experiment is this:  imagine that you sleep-walk one night, go into your home office, sketch a picture, crumple it up, throw it away, and then go back to bed again—all while in a state of somnabulism, and with no memory of the episode upon waking.  A few days later, the trash can is emptied into the fire pit and burned, with your sketch never to be seen by anyone.  Is it art?  Nobody ever observed it, not even you, in order to form a subjective opinion about it.

[1995hoo]

We went to the Inn at Little Washington this weekend for our anniversary (which is today, but the restaurant is not open on Mondays).

My wife observed that all the waitresses were wearing pearl necklaces. It was all I could do not to start howling with laughter. I have a feeling she is unaware of the double entendre, so it's just as well I didn't laugh and didn't have to explain it to her.

[CoreySamson]

Art is simply subjective.

Objective beauty may or may not exist, which is an interesting philosophical question.  I'd argue that art by its very nature requires an observer in order to be called beautiful, but it does not require an observer to be called art.

I think my statement is perhaps tainted by the postmodern worldview of our culture. I guess what I meant by "art" is "what our culture considers to be art." For all intents and purposes, art as we define it as a postmodern culture is all in the eye of the beholder. We see a banana stuck to a wall with duct tape, and we call it art. We see tire tread marks on a Pride crosswalk and call it vandalism. I think it is genuinely possible to view both of those things as art, vandalism, or meaninglessness.

Even stuff that is not intended to be art by its author can still be perceived by others as art. Just take the recent headline of Aaron Barry, who wrote meaningless gibberish poems under a pseudonym to expose what he thought was bias in the poetry industry, which ended up getting published. I'm not saying whether he was right or wrong, but the point is that his work was only published because others saw his work as art, not because he intended it as art. Is his work objectively art and objectively beautiful? Or is it only art because it fit what culture thought was art?

So art is not entirely defined by whether the author perceives it as art, but it also is not entirely defined by whether the observer perceives it as art. There is seemingly no concrete standard for what qualifies as art from a postmodern perspective. But we don't just let anyone put a random drawing in an art museum. So there must be standards, but no one can define them! To me that seems to be proof that there is some form (to borrow Plato) of "art-ness" (or objective beauty) that is at least partially ingrained in society and the human psyche. It might be corrupted and damaged nearly beyond repair for some, but it still informs our decisions about what we consider to be art. In that way art seems to function awfully similar to morality. So I'm not sure if I agree that something requires an observer to be beautiful or to be art, as objective beauty (or "art-ness") seems to exist independently of art.

Upon thinking about this further, perhaps a better definition for art would be "anything that conveys meaning, whether to the author or the observer."

[kphoger]

... Aaron Barry, who wrote meaningless gibberish poems under a pseudonym to expose what he thought was bias in the poetry industry, which ended up getting published. I'm not saying whether he was right or wrong, but the point is that his work was only published because others saw his work as art, not because he intended it as art. Is his work objectively art and objectively beautiful? Or is it only art because it fit what culture thought was art?

Sounds to me like an artistic use of randomness.  Which brings us back to the music of John Cage...