Cahokia Mounds

I visited Cahokia Mounds today.  It is a very interesting site, and has a great museum or, as they call it, interpretive center.  Cahokia was the historically largest urban center in North America north of Mexico until the mid 1700's when Philadelphia surpassed it.  At its height more than 20,000 people lived in the six square miles centered around the complex of mounds there.

View of Downtown St. Louis from the top of Monks Mound

The largest structure there is Monks Mound, which rises more that 100 feet above the surrounding countryside and was ultimately a multi-level terraced temple complex.  Again, the largest one north of Mexico.

iPhone Photos between Salt Lake City and St. Louis.

I flew from Salt Lake to St. Louis today and it was great weather for taking photos out the window!  Check it out!  Taken with my iPhone 6; in airplane mode, of course.

Wasatch Front from the North

New York 2015

At the end of June I took a trip with Yeongmi and Joan to New York City for the Eastern Economics Association Meetings.  The meetings went well.  I gave a paper and one of my students from BYU presented another. Both on economic inequality, BTW.

But here is the travel report!

Taiwan 2014, Part 3

On June 25th through the 27th, we left Taipei and headed down the east coast of the island to Taroko Gorge.  This was a spectacular trip with some very stunning scenery.

Taiwan 2014, Part 2

The remainder of the report on Taiwan.  For the first half, see this post.

Friday - Sunday, June 20 - 22

 June 20th - 22nd was the Asia Meetings of the Econometric Society.  Since we were staying at an apartment in Ximending and the conference was at Academia Sincia, this involved a ride on the subway and then a cab ride to campus.  The conference was very good and I enjoyed the sessions.  I presented my paper on the last day, of course.

While I was busy advancing the frontiers of knowledge, Yeongmi and Joan were busy seeing the sights.

Photos from Ancestral Puebloan Ruins

Here are my favorite photos from Mesa Verde National Park and Aztec Ruins National Monument from last week.

Mesa Verde National Park

Politicians are the Worst Kind of Hypocrits

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I don't normally get overtly political, but this kind of hypocrisy (which happens routinely across the political spectrum, by the way) just demands a response.

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK/DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - "Hillary Clinton, under pressure from the left wing of her Democratic Party to aggressively campaign against income inequality, voiced concern about the hefty paychecks of some corporate executives in an email to supporters.

Striking a populist note, Clinton, who announced on Sunday she was running for president in 2016, said American families were still facing financial hardship at a time 'when the average CEO makes about 300 times what the average worker makes.' "

Favorite Photos from The Week's Four Corners Trip

Here are some of my favorite landscape photos from this last week's trip to the Four Corners Area.

Shiprock

I Like Uber... A Lot!

I've been reading a lot about Uber over the past long while, but living in Orem, Utah, have been unable to really try it out.

This past week on a 4-day business trip to Washington, DC I've used it a couple if times myself and numerous times with a group.  I really like it and here are a few reasons why:

Venetian Landscape Paintings

I spent a few hours yesterday (April 4, 2015) at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.  Most of that time was spent looking at early Italian painting and paintings by the Dutch masters in the west wing of the main floor.

The Fortress of Königstein

I fell in love with several landscape/architecture paintings by Venetian masters.  Mostly from this gallery.