March 08, 2007
October 29, 2006
So here's just about the weirdest thing I've seen recently
Dubya's new ranch of 98,000 acres in Paraguay. Okay, here is where it gets weird. Is that his little hiding spot to avoid prosecution for war crimes? Of does the 2.2 mile long runway (look on google earth) mean he's moving full-time into the cocaine exporting racket? Weirder still is the connection with the Moonies and their purchase of land in the same area. Okay, and then the Jenna connection? Too strange for words.
September 04, 2006
Steve Irwin!
Killed by a stingray? Just bizarre. In Fort Sumner, NM, during balloon campaigns, Animal Planet was one of the few useful channels available. Got a reasonable kick out of Mr. Irwin's antics, and his love of animals.
July 25, 2006
For some reason these two articles worked well together
Okay, maybe it seems weird, but here goes:
- How Jell-O(R) killed the dinosaurs.
- Body parts found in nude dancer's apartment.
- And I'm going to go ahead and add in one additional link. Hypoxic devices may be restricted in sports.
Google Earth Intel
I've been greatly enjoying finding the hotels and campsites that I've stayed at across Africa, South America, and Europe using Google Earth. (The Namibian coast is especially well imaged in my opinion.) After spotting some interesting military items I also found this amusing page from the Register from last year. Finding the B-1s, B-2s, and missile silos were interesting, but the earthen Bismarck in the desert? That's weird. In Minneapolis, I found my car parked at the old Tandem labs. I think we might put out month markers there to see when the next set of images are taken.
More Google Earth thoughts later...
July 24, 2006
June 09, 2006
April 07, 2006
March 02, 2006
Your photography rights
With a just a quick glance, I found two blogs online that document photographer problems with "the law" (typically actually with incorrect and paranoid interpretations of the law). Photo Permit and Freedom to Photograph.
What are your rights indeed? Well, they can be paraphrased as follows: you can almost always photograph anything in public unless there is a specific law otherwise (like attempts to ban photography in the New York subway system). Film or flash memory cannot be confiscated except with a court order. Take a look at Bert Krages, Attorney at Law's excellent summary and the pdf document of your photographer's rights. Put a copy in your camera bag!
Another, longer pdf is also available online which lays out the same points in a slightly different manner. And you can also look at the model release FAQ for information on commercial uses of photos with recognizable people or owned things. The National Press Photographer's Association has a memo on photographer rights up online.
There's an NPR piece from last June as well.
February 16, 2006
February 15, 2006
If you haven't looked at hotzone before...
...you should now.
They have an ongoing, excellent, series of articles offering vignettes from both sides of the Israel/Palestine war. Doctors, film-makers, innocent victims. It's good reporting in a blog format.
February 09, 2006
Thinking about William Gibson, Joseph Cornell, and Count Zero
There's this old article by Gibson in Wired magazine on re-mix culture. Makes an interesting case to connect Cornell and the boxes to mash-ups and remixes.
January 24, 2006
October 25, 2005
October 24, 2005
1980's Bar Mitzvahs
Just a few days ago, had been looking through yearbooks for a Minneapolis Catholic High School also. The hair!
October 17, 2005
October 11, 2005
September 15, 2005
Chernobyl revisited
This woman rides her motorcycle through the death zone around the Chernobyl reactor. She has a radiation meter and understands what she is doing.
She claims that about 3500 people have moved back into the death zone, but that only about 400 of those folks are still alive. (A much higher death toll, right there, than my earlier mention.) Other sources say that no more than 1200 people moved in, most of those people moved back out. (By the way, there are claims that Elena Filatova's story, the motorcycle in the death zone, is at least partly fake. Or even more than partially faked.)
A total death toll of tens of thousands are claimed by the motorcyclist and by the Chernobyl.info site. The cleanup workers, the liquidators, would have been the largest group of potentially harmed people. This group numbered about 650,000 in some estimates. Far fewer in others.
Body count? The UN says 56 as of 2005, 47 workers and 9 children who died due to thyroid cancer. (See wikipedia for example, or the previous link in my blog.) Greenpeace and others contest those numbers. The truth? No idea right now.
The White Giraffe
It is said to not be an albino, but rather a lighter color than the typical giraffe.
July 20, 2005
The Moon
Google moon is now available. It's a pretty impressive use of mapping software and a web front-end and a nice tribute to the 20th anniversary of the landing. Also check out this site which also allows you to explore the landing sites. Watch for the lunar rover trails... And don't forget Earth Google as well.
Also on a science subject...there's an attempt at a new version of the periodic table of the elements which looks cool, but isn't obviously useful for anything. Then, thinking about the elements, we also have the amazing flash animation of Tom Lehrer's The Elements and the periodic table of sexual positions.
July 07, 2005
Some London pictures
Okay, since I've left the BBC playing on my computer all day, I might as well put something up here.
Amazing that only two people died in that bus. The other photo is, presumably, a mobile phone picture from the Kings Cross evacuation. (BBC)
Personal photos of the explosions. Also from the BBC.
Burn victim being led away.
Emergency services.
The bus bombing took place right in front of the British Medical Association headquarters. Patient being treated and blood on the wall of the building. (BBC)
UK flag at half staff over Buckingham Palace.
Blitz pictures. But don't get me started on the fascism thread.
June 20, 2005
June 10, 2005
Zimbabwe's "cleanup" continues...
...with no real resistance. It looks like some sort of enforced ruralization to eliminate the urban poor pockets of opposition to Mugabe. Not quite Pol Pot, but we'll see how those people make up.
I keep being saddened by the Zimbabwe disasters. A country I didn't quite fall in love with when traveling there, but one that I appreciated and hoped the best for.
May 26, 2005
Too wild for Zurich
Here in the Twin Cities, we've had various Peanuts characters on display around St. Paul. Snoppy, Charlie Brown, Lucy, and did I miss one?
Anyhow, Zurich was going to do the same with a kinda generic bear (unless the bear is deep symbol for numbered bank accounts) with various paint jobs. But, one of the bears was a bit too much. Best part, the "first class service" label on it.
Did Linus have a year of statues as well? Darn it, my memory is fading.
April 30, 2005
April 27, 2005
February 17, 2005
CNN nuclear plant pictures...was that Iran or North Korea?
Turns out that the photos of the Iranian and North Korean reactors are the same picture. Seems the government sources of the pictures aren't sure where this reactor is. The replacement picture has snow, so that probably is from Idaho or North Korea.
February 14, 2005
The changing taste of American men, as revealed by Playboy
Centerfolds, averaged together by decade. 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Thanks to Ryan for bringing this to my attention.
January 31, 2005
Photoshopping away the war...
The propaganda poster used widely came from a decidedly less optimistic and euphemistic event. (Read all about its photoshopping.) US troops shot this boy's mother, father, and sister. The mother fatally. You can see the sister being worked on in the actual picture on the right. The caption with the original picture reads:
Photo by Hayne Palmour/North County Times
Navy Corpsman Richard Barnett of Camarilo, Calif. checks the heart of a young Iraqi boy as other Navy medics treat the boy's older sister, right, after the two children and their family were caught in a crossfire between US Marines and Iraqi soldiers just outside of a Marine encampment in central Iraq on Saturday, March 29, 2003. The boy was not injured. His sister, who received gunshot wounds, was expected to survive. The father was wounded and the mother was killed in the gun battle. "If anything good comes from this nonsense, I haven't seen it yet" said Barnett after the two children and their father were taken away for a medivac helicopter.
December 15, 2004
Nancy, Mr. T, Frogs, Nixon, and Elvis
Somehow it all fits together. Too well. Also check out the best 404 page I've seen in a while.
December 07, 2004
December 01, 2004
Yes, I am now including pictures in my blog
HTML makes sense. Tattoos make sense. Tattoos of HTML seem a little bit dodgy. I still remember when we thought it would be totally cool to tattoo a shell-sort routine in Modula-2 on our butts...
November 30, 2004
My grad student (Taylor Childers) in Antarctica...
The CREAM cosmic-ray balloon experiment in much of its glory.
November 19, 2004
The delicate art of the photoessay
Truly, this can transend language and cultural barriers with great ease. And it's from Belgium. Well, from a Belgian site, some chance this is in the UK actually. No Douglas Adams jokes here.
October 13, 2004
Amazing landscape
Also check out this photo winner from the same site. 80 layers in photoshop!
Thanks to CG for these links.