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Stealing a quote from somewhere else: Beefheart's music is better than it sounds.
Sick Saturday (Music Notes)
Well, that was fun. Our fundraiser print sale was a big success, and both Peter and I are pleased and grateful and convey our thanks to everyone. All three photographs sold well, "Havana" the best. I'm going to take the day off, for one reason because I say I always take Saturdays off, even thou...
Well I live in SC and I have a DeVere 45. So there.
Some of my dreams feature a "Greek chorus" that comments on the dream while its in progress. One I had a while back didn't get good reviews. "Who writes this stuff?" is one I remember.
Darkroom Dream
I have a surprising number of photography-related dreams, which are amusing as well as sometimes alarming. The lost-camera dream is popular with my dopey subconscious, for example. Last night I had a new one. I got a good night's sleep for the first time in several nights, which was welcome, but...
I've always been interested in astronomy and meteorology, so I'm always looking up. The stars have been my friends my whole life and they'll be around for others after I'm gone.
Most people don't know if its cloudy or sunny. Such a shame.
Look Up
On Sunday I posted all of your comments to Friday's Teaching in Real Time post, which contained many good "how-to" book recommendations. This morning I heard from the reader who sent me the original question, Peter F., who says "thank you all for these suggestions. The generosity of TOP's brain ...
I have several pairs of cardinals in and around my backyard. They're VERY territorial. One male in particular spends most of his time flying into his reflection in the porch door. He's no doubt thinking, "Look at that handsome virile hunk of bird-hood. I'd best protect my baby mama". THUNK!
Time to put up the plastic sheeting again.
Watch the Birdy (OT)
Before I write this morning's post I thought I'd mention that the robins' first brood has hatched back in the eaves under the covered patio, and I managed to get a few snaps of Mr. and Mrs. at home. They're getting used to me and the dogs, and no longer fly away every time we come outside—especi...
Just be sure you find some ethanol-free gas for your little green friend. Small engines hate running on moonshine. Just ask my lawnmower, chainsaw and weed-whacker.
Spring is Springing (OT)
I hate to aid and abet noisemaking, but we're heavily into Spring Cleanup here at Sprawling TOP World HQ, and Amazon has this Hitachi gas-powered leaf-blower on sale as today's Deal of the Day. I bought an electric one last year specifically because it's very quiet, but it also has a cord, and...
When I first saw the picture I thought "Bah, someone's applied a digital filter to make it look old". Then I saw it was an Autochrome and liked it better. It's really hard to look at things without assumed context and bias, isn't it?
Random Excellence: The Girl in Red
Photo by O.G. O'Gorman To this day, many photography enthusiasts find ready subjects in their own families. They're tolerant subjects, close at hand, and, of course, to each of us, highly worthy of recording! This picture comes from a set of early autochromes taken in 1913 by Mervyn O'Gorman, "...
The Kiev is my favorite strictly for her looks, not for her brains or ability (because she doesn’t have much of either). But what looks. The square, dignified styling, the gun-turret viewfinder and the classic silver and black tuxedo finish all say “beautifully quirky”. There’s even special handling required…you have to learn a funny right-hand grip so as not to block the rangefinder patch. And the film counter runs backwards. Did I mention the “we took the whole factory after the war” historical vibe?
OK, So Show Us Your Favorite
So let's see a picture of your favorite camera, if you have one. (I know not everyone does, and that's okay.) The TypePad Comments Section isn't set up to accept pictures easily, but here's how you can work around it: First, you need your picture, no more than 470 pixels wide, saved as sRGB and ...
These are the "flying rods" or "sky fish" the paranormal crowd has been talking about. Who knows, maybe "orbs" are just out of focus dust particles illuminated by flash?
Random Excellence: Xavi Bou
Photo by Xavi Bou Birds have been Xavi Bou's great passion beginning with long nature walks he took as a child with his grandfather. His project "Ornitographies," in which "art and science walk hand in hand," map the traces of birds in motion across the sky; think of them as the far opposite o...
The new Mac Minis have their RAM soldered to the motherboard, so you can't upgrade down the road. Also Apple has some Mac announcements coming up in a few weeks so you may want to wait and see what's up with that.
Apple Mac Man
The original 128k Mac, at the time simply called 'the Apple Macintosh' Guys like me must be getting a little more rare by now. I've been using Macs since the original 128k Mac of 1984—since it was brand spanking just-shipped new. We had to wait for them to arrive. (Gallerist David Adamson boug...
I'm often somewhat self-aware in dreams (not quite lucid dreaming) and my most common observation is: who writes this stuff? The writers need to be fired, seriously. If there's no limits to dreams, and you can do whatever you can imagine, why am I stuck in traffic running from zombies? Where's the Italian supermodels?
I don't mind that there's other people living in my head, I just wish they'd pull their weight.
Always Know Where Your Camera Is!
Dreams are one of the strangest things about being a human being. I had a girlfriend once, a lawyer, who claimed she never dreamed. Seemed suspicious. Me, I dream vividly and often and am frequently amazed at the intricate and involved plots of my dreams. I have no idea where my brain comes up w...
We did air raid drills when I was a kid in the 60s. I didn't feel any less innocent. But hey, everyone is different.
Remain Open to Your Ignorance
A picture that went viral recently. This was posted on Facebook by Stacy Wehrman Feeley of her three-year-old daughter. She wrote, "I took this picture because initially I thought it was funny. I was going to send it to my husband to show what our mischievous little three-year-old was up to. H...
I recently bought a new (used) car. It occurred to me to add up all the money I've spent on cars in my whole life. At age 57, I still haven't broken the $40K barrier. Maybe the next one I buy won't have a steering wheel.
Open Mike: Theory of Dogs
Dogs: I have a theory about dogs; see what you think. "Dogs make life better." That's all of it. Make sense to you? I seldom mind caring for my dogs—they give back to me more than I ever give them. Cars: I have a couple of money questions this week. A flyer from Road & Track landed in my inbo...
It's all about the annalemma, that figure eight thing in the Pacific Ocean on some globes.
http://www.sciquill.com/analemma/page2.html
A Word of Encouragement
...For those in the northern hemisphere. The days stop getting shorter from now on. Slowly at first, admittedly, but I'm just...(wait a minute, I'm not allowed to say that any more). Good light and happy solstice to you. Mike Original contents copyright 2014 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the byl...
Oh, now I have to get one of these things. Its your fault!
Have you tried stacking images in Registax or something similar?
Solar Photography with a Coronado PST
By Ctein Last column, I told you how much fun Paula and I were having with our new Coronado PST solar telescope and some of the tricks I've come up with to squeeze even more enjoyment out of it. Well, within a few days, I figured out that it was really easy to make solar photographs through the ...
Can someone clearly state Darwin's contribution in a few sentences? What did he do that hadn't been done before? I'm not being facetious. As far as I know, the notion of biological change over time had been around for a while, as well as natural selection. Was he just the first to wrap it all up in one package?
OT: On the Origin of Species
Darn, missed it—I meant to mention that yesterday (Tuesday) was the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species, surely the most important book of the 19th century. Although this is one of those important classics, like Smith's The Wealth of Nations, that is seldom read even...
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Posted Nov 18, 2009 at Bourquek's blog
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