Arkansas Bound – New York Trip Quick Summary With Photos

Well, our house sold, and it looks like my next journey is about to begin. I decided to leave town and let the realtor do his thing. On April Fool’s Day we had multiple offers. Who knew that vintage charm held such sway in a world where the incessant drum beat of emerging tech tries to drown out everything else? The process was about as quick and painless as putting one’s life on display with money attached can be. Please know how much I appreciate all of you who have been sending good thoughts and prayers my way. It’s not an easy transition, but the long goodbye is coming to a close. I’ll be taking many boxes of books down to Arkansas by U-Haul next week – priorities, right? Even though the house sale went faster than I ever expected, I continued my planned trip through Syracuse, Oneida, Palmyra, Rochester, Burlington, and Montpelier. It was cold and rainy interspersed with sleet and snow, which made the stretch through the Adirondacks even more picturesque. I’m going to imagine it as a prolonged cleanse of my soul in preparation for the road ahead.

I did a brief overview video tonight, because I was afraid of not having time to do a more polished presentation. For the next month my focus has to be on clearing out the house and moving everything into storage. I did forget to mention my first stop at SUNY Binghamton on the ride up, the stomping grounds for Jeffrey Yass where he started his gambling habit. I’m going to drop some photos in this post, so you can see highlights from the trip so far. These aren’t my best hearts, because materials were limited, the weather was challenging, and the wind wanted to blow everything all over the place. Still, my good intentions were there even if my cold fingers and water drops on my glasses made the presentation less than polished. I do plan to stop at Ben and Jerry’s tomorrow – one of the first benefit corporations.

 

 

SUNY Binghamton, where Jeffrey Yass of Susquehanna International Group refined his gambling technique.

Oneida Community Mansion, Bible Communism, free love, divination, and eugenics in the context of corporate morality, with some amazing trees!

 

Cumorah and Joseph Smith’s Sacred Grove in Palmyra, NY –

Strong Memorial Hospital was the first “Flexner” model hospital, underwritten George Eastman of Eastman Kodak. The hospital was used by the University of Rochester for nonconsensual radiation exposure experiments during the Manhattan Project. It also had one of the first integrated psychiatric units. The Terrence Building, now abandoned, was one of the largest state mental hospitals in the United states from the 1950s through the 1990s, and had over 1,000 beds.

Rochester Institute of Technology’s Magic Spell Lab instructing in immersive video game design, with sculpture installations outside.

Obelisk to the Fox Sisters, founders of the American spiritualist movement. Paid for by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (of Sherlock Holmes fame) who was a member of the Society for Psychical Research. When he came to Rochester he attended the Plymouth Street Spiritualist Church, which has since been relocated to the neighborhood of the Eastman mansion.

The relocated church.

The remains of the foundation of the cottage where the Fox sisters encountered the spirit of the murdered peddler.

The George Eastman, of Kodak, mansion, garden courtyard. These are wisteria pods.

Rainbow-themed Peace Park along Lake Ontario on land donated by George Eastman.

The very dark and threatening Xerox building in downtown Rochester.

Bausch and Lomb world headquarters located opposite the Xerox building.

Strong Museum of Play with International Video Game Hall of Fame and Digital Worlds “Level-Up” Experience

 

Portal?

Triskelion with water and sphere outside the entrance to the museum.

Time bending reference in the divination toy display.

 

 

MLK Park Opposite Strong Museum in Rochester

 

Derelict Kodak buiding with short dumping in the parking lot – boat and tires.

Seneca Park Zoo that had a partnership with IXO Foundation on conservation impact data. Naked mole rats are mammals that live in a colony like eusocial insects.

On the way to Vermont I drove through Rome, NY (archetypal field?) and spent some time driving around the former Griffiss Air Force Base, which specialized in electronic warfare. It is being redeveloped as a public-private partnership defense-tech mini-city with stack and pack housing, a private international airport, and huge airplane hangers that have been converted to incubator space for quantum computing and nano-tech R&D. Oh, and there’s a sculpture garden with disc golf featuring many mythological characters. I had to leave a few hearts there, too. Note the dramatic chrome Pegasus in the traffic circle. We are living in surreal times folks. Every day is like the Percy Jackson series…

Innovare, supported by the Griffiss Institute represented by an origami griffin.

Notice the vintage-vibe Alcoa sticker that was lying in the grass next to the statue. Freya is the Norse goddess of destiny. Her symbol is the distaff.

I made a wish.

 

Farrell Hall at the TRINITY campus of the University of Vermont in Burlington. The building houses the office of Joshua Bongard who assisted in the creation of Xenobots, “living” robots made from frog cells. The building is also home to the Gund Institute for the Environment. You can see the Gund Foundation’s involvement in early childhood impact finance, equity and justice finance, climate solutions, etc. etc. in the organization’s LittleSis entry.