The weird place

by Jon Sullivan - 2020-07-20 - Travels

<<<<< previous blog         next blog >>>>>

Borrego Springs and the Salton Sea is like one giant post apocalyptic art installation.

The 130 giant Ricardo Breceda statues just sitting out in the desert. Bombay Beach, which is some weird intersection of legit ghost town, 1950s time warp, and Burning Man hand-me-downs. California's first International Dark-Sky Community, making it a huge draw for astrophotography in the dirtiest place imaginable. Salvation Mountain, whose message of "unconditional love to humankind" is made from 1000s of gallons of paint poured over hay bales and left to harden into a latex rainbow mountain. The International Banana Museum. The alien landscape that is the Salton Sea itself : A huge poisonous lake teaming with fish. Slab City : An enclave of anarchy where there are no utilities, no taxes, and no ties to modern life.

Visiting during a global pandemic was odd in itself. Everyone I saw was wearing a mask. Even the group of photographers out in the dark doing comet photos. That made me happy. It's also weird to have weekend traffic so light. Getting out of the city most Fridays is bumper to bumper, but no back up at all now. What I assume was the sanitizer the hotel used smelled strongly like a grapefruit shandy IPA. Not in a good way.

My main reason for going was to try and get some interesting comet photos. I didn't really get what I was hoping for, but I got a few keepers. I did get some very nice milky way photos though. This one was a quick edit. I still need to go through the others.

I spent a lot of time thinking about the idea we are really in a computer simulation. Things do seem oddly not real in 2020. The idea is that if there ever existed a civilization advanced enough to make such a simulation, it would not only be able to create unlimited different simulations, but also simulations inside simulations, thus basically creating infinite simulations. But with only one reality there is a much higher chance we're in a simulation than not.

Whatever alien being is running our simulation must be laughing their ass off.

Buy prints

<<<<< previous blog         next blog >>>>>
Sign-In With Google To Leave a Comment:
<<<<< previous blog         next blog >>>>>
News
Eugene weather
59.56 degrees F, Clouds (broken clouds)
Min: 55.35 ,Max: 62.35 ,Humidity: 56, Wind: 4.61
Eugene, OR - Best Restaurants
Eugene, OR - Things to do
Eugene, OR - Fish reports
Oregon road conditions
Recent Posts
- Jon is not crazy
    The crazy is gone. Now we tidy up after the mess two years of crazy has left behind. Or Not.
- New Jon vs
    I was caught off guard by the folks disappointed that I was moving on from "New Jon" posts.
- Thanksgiving menu plan
    Time passes fast in Oregon. Seems too early to start Thanksgiving planning. It's not.
- Are we there yet?
    Let's back it up a bit. The last couple years have been so odd that it often feels disconnected from reality.
- Jon is a hippie
    After 40 years of rejecting anything hippie, 60s culture, jam band, or related, I find myself getting back on the bus.
- Wake up dead
    My intention was to go to the GBB Fest VII concert with friends. Then reality dissolved, and I soared through strange new dimensions.
- Short takes
    Random thoughts since I'm feeling too lazy to make a long post, but too eager to hear the sound of my own voice.
Food I Cooked
Old School Blogroll
kottke.org
Home of fine hypertext products.
MetaFilter
A community weblog.
A Chicken Is Not Pillage
You forgot his exclamation point! It defines him. He put it there for a reason, to show how in! your! face! he is.
jessamyn.com
abada abada - twenty years of jessamyn
Matt Haughey
A Whole Lotta Nothing
dooce
Heater, Mother Of Lance
Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
Some Bits
Nelson's weblog
Everlasting Blort
proud member of the reality-based community
Whatever
This machine mocks fascists
Scripting News
It's even worse than it appears.
Flutterby
Short attention spans in a world full of flowers
mimi smartypants
Seriously, though: what's with the penguins?
Montreal City Weblog
Stupid Evil Bastard
What the fuck is wrong with you people?
Idle Words
brevity is for the weak
Making Light
Say what you mean. Bear witness. Iterate.
wilwheaton.net
50,000 Monkeys at 50,000 Typewriters Can't Be Wrong
Justin Hall
Growing & breaking down since 1994
Mike the Mad Biologist
Helping idiots who desperately need my assistance by calling them fucking morons since 2004
jwz
MSSV
AKMA’s Random Thoughts
Ruminations about hermeneutics, theology, theory, politics, ecclesiastical life… and exercise.
things magazine
An occasional weblog about objects, collections and discoveries
Miscellaneous Heathen
Hold to the now, the here, through which all future plunges to the past.
kimberussell.com
where it's always Virgo Season
Cockeyed
Recent Trips
Getting it ready for you.