Julian's Humble Hubris

“Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work, driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to a job that you need so you can pay for the clothes, car and the house that you leave empty all day in order to afford to live in it.” -Ellen Goodman That’s why I have, to a decent extent, navigated AROUND “normal” most of my life... I’ve been blessed with a deep curiosity, a sense of wonder – and a nonconformist streak – that have helped me avoid getting completely trapped in the swamp of “mainstream normal.” That applies to my dual identity as an artist and as a scientist. In my identity as an artist – well, nonconformism is a hallmark of being an artist! In my identity as a scientist – Science is about disrupting default beliefs, in fact on a Grand and profound Scale!  Think about concepts such as evolution, the firmament, spacetime: “Humanity has believed something since time immemorial… but, hey, maybe let's change it!” ...

See the above region on Google Maps So, I'm planning to go around the world, starting in Miami - and I'm still in Cuba...  I'd better step on it!  In part 1 , we left off on a cluster of little islands off the north coast of Cuba, east of Havana. While heading south, halfway through crossing the narrow side of Cuba, someone in my household turned on her hair dryer, and overloaded the circuits: the computer rebooted and I lost the flight, grrr! But in the Grand Scheme of Things, it was perhaps a good thing: it motivated me to learn how to pilot a faster airplane, the slightly-larger Beechcraft Baron 58 .   I can now zip along at speeds around  200 knots (230.156 mph or 370 Km/h), instead of chugging along at a meager 130 knots (150 mph or 240 Km/h.) Crossing Cuba North-to-South Large topographic map of Cuba Approaching the north coast of mainland Cuba in the new airplane type Crossing mainland Cuba north-to-south in the roomier airplane...

Imagine there existed a way to get  pleasantly surprised , over and over and over again...  all day long...  every day of the year...  every year... Fantasy-land?  No, it's called my music collection on random play!  👀 My music collection, lovingly curated by me for over a decade, is now standing at 12,000 songs after an exciting series of additions over recent years, and continuous paring down. My musical tastes are hugely eclectic, and from many genres, countries, languages, and periods. I appreciate a broad variety - except country and rap (unless it's in Russian, which is absolutely hilarious!) Creating and Curating a Collection I think that to attain a (nearly) always-pleasing music collection, one needs 4 elements: Control over the collection  Streamed music services are a great way to get started and explore; nowadays, they are getting good at learning your taste.  Nonetheless, it's ultimately NOT your own collection. ...

See the above region on Google Maps I recently bought a very realistic flight simulator , and have been learning how to fly.  After my landings got halfway passable, haha, I naturally found myself drawn to coastlines and islands (I also love to sail)... and I took off from Miami International Airport , to explore the Florida Keys . Well, I just kept going from there - and decided to go around the world :) Of course, I'll also be taking "side tours" in all sorts of other locations...  Well, that's the beauty of virtual flying: just pause a journey and do a side-trip somewhere across the globe! The flight simulator, XPlane 11 , has unbelievable coverage of the entire world.  I periodically compare the views against Google Earth, and I've been impressed by the accuracy of the landscapes and coastlines.  Buildings and vegetation could use improvement - but not so bad as to ruin the amazing experience of traveling up-close to wherever it suits me, or my frien...