Taxi Women

Two of the most interesting blogs I've started watching are written by female taxi drivers, one in New York City, one in the San Francisco area. They meet a variety of people, see a great deal of town, and write up the interesting bits for online readers.

M.P. (New York Hack) roams the streets of NYC, and presents a slice of street life -- at least the street life that opts for a taxi -- a lot of it young people on their way to or from city clubs. Inebriation is often involved.

Taxi Lady Joann (Joann Rides) is a bit more suburban. Based in San Jose, a lot of her trips seem to be shuttling passengers to/from the airport and their industrial park destinations in Silicon Valley. And trips to the city as well.

They each bring along digital cameras to illustrate their blogs. Joann posts what intrigues her on Flickr: public art, interesting architecture, and interesting people. M.P. sticks closer to the cab business and her passengers, but her pictures are equally interesting.

Check them out. Worth the ride.

NYC Taxi Photo courtesy of trec_lit -- Creative Commons license
SF Taxi Photo courtesy of Thomas Hawk -- Creative Commons license

Gigantic Flickr

Green Giant Welcomes You to Blue Earth
Originally uploaded by jimmywayne22.

I've been using and posting stuff on the web since 1994, but only recently has it become a compelling hobby for me. Part of the reason is RSS and RSS readers that make it easy to keep an eye on streams that interest me. But a big reason is the social photo-sharing site Flickr.

Flickr is not so much a "community" as a place to find and follow people whose photos you find interesting. A virtual club, not for music, but for imagery. And you can erect your own galleries (groups) for whatever special topics interest you, and invite others to join in. I've made a few. My first was Giant Fiberglass Statues. Through Flickr groups I'm able to reach out and find those photographs missing from my collection, like the Jolly Green Giant above.

I'll let you know when Flickr gets old, when I've seen enough of the world through the cameras of others, and lose interest. It might take a while.

(There are a lot of other things I like about Flickr worth mentioning. The favorites system, a way to let people know you like their stuff without being verbal about it. And the RSS feeds to follow many different kinds of activities: comments, contacts, favorites, etc..)