Sunday, February 28, 2010

Photo of the Day


Mindanao bleeding-heart dove
Miami Metrozoo

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Photo of the Day


More from the foggy morning (as posted yesterday). This one is on the jogging path along the beach in Surfside.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Simba

Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, and Carol Burnett in a parody of the 1966 movie Born Free.

(YouTube link)

(Via Miss Cellania)

Symphony of Science V: "The Poetry of Reality"

 

(YouTube link)

What Do You Really Know About Copyright Law?

As a photographer (a software developer), I am always aware of protecting my rights under copyright laws. Although not too difficult to understand, I know there are many misconceptions. Note that it is different for the software world, especially when you are working as an employee of a company. What I am concentrating about is for the photography side, which works as creative work, and where your original work of art is protected the moment it is created a “fixed in a tangible medium of expression” (be it printed on paper, or posted in the web). As for the web, there are conflicting ideas and comments on it being considered “published” when posted.

There are always some good questions you may ask

  • Does a message saying “copyright by XYZ” is enough? Do I have to use the little (©) symbol and the year the work was created?
  • Do I have to register the work with the “Federal Courts?
  • What if I post my copyright inside a digital image’s metadata such as the International Press Telecommunications Council Photo Metadata (IPTC) data or Exchangeable Image File format (EXIF)?

I am not a lawyer and will not be able to give you a long rundown of it, but want to point out a nice recent article by Digital Photo Pro magazine that answers all these questions and more.

 

Link

 

(Thanks Mark!)

Photo of the Day


It seldom, if ever, gets foggy in South Florida, but two days ago we had a rare foggy morning. This was the view around Bal Harbour. No wind at all, a serene environment.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Buckwheat Zydeco – Ya Ya

(YouTube link)

How Tides Work

Ethan Siegel from Starts with a Bang blog writes a very nice explanation of How Tides Work. If you ever wandered, there’s your answer.

Here’s an article about it in Wikipedia.

Bay_of_Fundy_Low_Tide

Bay of Fundy at low tide

(image credit Samuel Wantman)

Photo of the day


Lowland Gorilla
Miami Metrozoo

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Photo of the day


Lowland Gorilla
Miami Metrozoo

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Monday, February 22, 2010

William Shatner has some advice for Trekkies

From the SNL skit “Get a Life” from 1986.

At the Dentist Office

 

A classic from The Carol Burnett Show featuring Tim Conway and Harvey Korman.

(YouTube link)

 

(Via Miss Cellania)

Photo of the day


Great blue heron babies still in the nest

Sunday, February 21, 2010

The camp out

Photo of the day


Tri-color heron
Wakodahatchee wetlands

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Photo of the day


Anhinga mother being mobbed for food
Wakodahatchee Wetlands

Friday, February 19, 2010

Rocket launch blows away the sky

The Solar Dynamics Observatory launched into space last February 11th on top of an Atlas V rocket. About a minute after leaving the Earth, the rocket did two things: it passed the speed of sound, and screamed past a sundog, a rainbow-colored optical effect in the sky caused by ice crystals.

The Bad Astronomer has a video of it. A wonderful sight!

 

Run it at 720p.

(YouTube link)

Photo of the day


Juvenile Black-crowned night heron at Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Delray, Florida

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Photo of the day


Villa Vizcaya, Miami

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Photo of the day


Villa Vizcaya, Miami

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Photo of the day


Villa Vizcaya gardens on a cloudy day
Miami

Monday, February 15, 2010

One more theory

mammals_v_saurians 

© Dan Piraro – Bizarro.com

Teach the controversy

 

(YouTube link)

Photo of the day


Villa Vizcaya, Miami

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Photo of the day


Villa Vizcaya at night, Miami

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Photo of the day


Villa Vizcaya at night, Miami

Friday, February 12, 2010

Darwin Day

397px-Charles_Darwin_by_G._Richmond

(Water-color portrait of Charles Darwin painted by George Richmond in the late 1830s. from Origins, Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin)

It's Charles Darwin's birthday today, and we all have reason to celebrate. I’ll be at the Darwin’s Day festivities in South Florida tomorrow.

A brief history of everything in flipbook form

Art student Jamie Bell created this impressive flipbook animation depicting the history of the universe from the Big Bang to the present:

This is the final piece for my AS art course, a flipbook made entirely out of biro pens. It’s something like 2100 pages long, and about 50 jotter books. I’d say I worked on and off it for roughly 3 weeks.

 

(YouTube link)

(Via Neatorama)

Photo of the day


Villa Vizcaya at night, Miami

Thursday, February 11, 2010

FSX: Piper Cub - Caloundra airport flight

 

Here’s a nice video of the A2A Simulations Piper Cub in FSX Flight Simulator, using the Caloundra airport scenery by Orb’x (Caloundra is in Queensland, Australia) and ORBx’s FTX Gold region scenery. The guy is a little hard on the Cub’s tail wheel but the video is nice and shows how far flight sim technology has advanced in realism. FTX’s Caloundra area is one of my favorite place to fly in FSX.

(YouTube link)

Patrick Stewart on the Internet, games and technology

From PBS Frontline – Digital Nation

(YouTube Link)

Photo of the day


Villa Vizcaya at night, Miami

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Photo of the day


Villa Vizcaya at night, Miami

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Amateur with talent

Lasse Gjertsen did all of this by video editing.

An old one but I’ve never posted it before.

 

YouTube link (if you can’t see the embedded video)

 

(Via Miss Cellania)

Beaker tries Dust in the Wind

Beaker tries for You Tube fame but it’s harder than it looks

 

YouTube link (if you can’t see the embedded video)

 

(Via Neatorama)

Like father, like son?

from Atheist Cartoons

Stephen Fry speaks about Catholicism

This is a powerful speech about the Catholic Church.

I leave you with the words of Minesotastan:

A remarkable 20-minute lecture at The Intelligence² Debate.  After a few introductory disclaimers about having no objections to piety or religious belief in general, Fry proceeds to lambast the Catholic church for its historical (and current) dogmas and dictates, especially regarding their policies about sex (his analogy about food/sex aberrancies at about 16:00 is particularly striking). 
Fry does not mince his words.  It's a powerful presentation, and depending on your own beliefs, you will know whether you want to hear this talk or not.

YouTube link (if you can’t see the embedded video)

 

(Via TYWKIWDBI)

Photo of the day


Loews hotel, SoBe

Monday, February 08, 2010

Photo of the day


Royal tern - South Florida

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Night Photography tutorial

A colleague of mine, Alister Benn at Available Light posted a very good  - and rather long – tutorial on Night Photography. If you are serious about trying night photography and have a film or DSLR camera that can do long exposures, and a tripod, this tutorial will prove invaluable.

Photo of the day


Brown pelican - South Florida

Saturday, February 06, 2010

New Schwarzenegger film

 toyota-recall_bits

(Via Miss Cellania)

Incredible modeling and photography skill

Michael Paul Smith, a modeler and photographer in the US, has posted his skills on Flickr. Being an old modeler myself and a photographer I can only marvel at his talent, and patience.

Link

 

(thanks Navman!)

Photo of the day


MacArthur Causeway bridge - Miami

Friday, February 05, 2010

Out with the girls

from Atheist Cartoons

Photo of the day


A view of downtown Miami from Watson Island.

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Flight Simulation. What a difference a package makes!

One of my favorite places to fly in Microsoft Flight Simulator is Australia. Why? Because of a company named Orbx that puts out wonderful sceneries that make VFR flying a joy in the sim world.

Take for example the airfield at Cessnock, in New South Wales. A colleague of mine known as  “HercFan” had to reinstall FSX and did a wonderful comparison of the scenery at Cessnock, before and after adding Orbx’s FTX package.

1. FSX (Acceleration) default:

cnk1

 

2. After FTX 3.0 install:

cnk2

 

3. And finally, with the FTX/Cessnock add-on:

cnk3

 

cnk4

Now you see why I love to fly in Orbx’s world in Flight Simulator FSX.

(all images by HercFan – posted with permission)

Photo of the day


Miami Beach Holocaust Memorial

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Teach your children well

It’s always good advice.

YouTube link (if you can’t see the embedded video)

Photo of the day


From my recent visit to Miami Beach's Holocaust Memorial.

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

The prince’s piece

from Atheist Cartoons

YSTW Tamworth scenery in FSX

As many of you know I am a Microsoft Flight Simulator hobbyist. I use FSX exclusively which with the newest crop of commercial scenery packages, like Orbx’s Tamworth (one of my favorite airports) is very realistic and a joy to fly in.

Check this video out and see for yourself.

 

What do you think?

YouTube link (if you can’t see the embedded video)

Wonderful FSX flight

This is a wonderful flight recorded by my friend Patrick (aka "Jigsaw") in the new Carenado Cessna 185F, through some ruggedly beautiful terrain from Scar Creek to Tsuniah Lake in British Columbia, using a beta of the soon-to-be-released Pacific Northwest (PNW) scenery from Orbx. Enjoy!

 

YouTube link (if you can’t see the embedded video)

Photo of the day


The night before I went to downtown Miami on the photo club outing (see yesterday's post), I visited the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach. I have visited there many times but never before shot at night.

It is a very moving experience.

Monday, February 01, 2010

President Obama’s NASA budget unveiled

Phil Plait, PhD has written a scientist’s view of the new NASA budget just unveiled today. It has some good news and some bad news. As was already expected, Constellation and Ares I are cut, but there are some good points on new investment in science projects.

Read Phil’s whole analysis here.

Then there is also another astronomer I respect, Ethan Siegel, who blames NASA for most of their problems and he has a point.

Avatar Review

From the maker of the Phantom Menace review.

 

Part I

 

Part II

(Via Cynical-C)

Photo of the day


Downtown Miami, when the sun was going down, shot through a red filter.