Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Photo of the Day


Damselfly

This one is not a closeup. I was not equipped with a macro lens that day as I was out shooting birds with a telephoto lens. This beauty stopped by on the top of a wall by the sea and even though I was very close to the minimum focusing distance for the lens, I had to get a picture.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Photo of the Day


Royal Tern

Monday, June 28, 2010

Photo of the Day


Royal Tern

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Photo of the Day


Royal Tern

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Photo of the Day


Royal Tern

Friday, June 25, 2010

When pelicans dive

These are two pelicans doing this over and over. It is not easy to shoot as they dive so fast (under 3 seconds from top to bottom). They are certainly fun birds to watch.

Location: Bal Harbour jetty, Florida.
Nikon D300 w/300mm f/4 lens.

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Hope you like them!

What’s the perfect length for your man?

 

YouTube link

Photo of the Day


Royal Tern

My system is back on working order. Had a 3-year old GeForce GTX 8800 graphics board quit on me. Have coasted for a week with barely some low-res graphics, and the second monitor off. The new GeForce GTX 480 replacement is not cheap but a wonderful addition. Took longer to get because after overnight delivery, I found they had changed the pin configuration on the power cables from two 6-pin cables to one 6 and one 8-pin. I had not noticed this discrepancy in the specs, as I had only paid attention during my research to graphics compatibility (SLI and slot issues) and that the power supply I have was sufficient (these boards are power hogs). The current power supply only provides 6-pin cables so I had to find a cable converter, then wait a few days for the brown truck to arrive.

Back in working order. Now I can start processing my backlog of photos with this one today as the start.

One advantage to all this is that come winter I will not need a heater. This card comes with one for the same price!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

COLBERT REPORT: Father Guido Sarducci on Glenn Beck

Father Guido Sarducci comes on the Colbert Report to reveal that he was the one who told Glenn Beck his work is "wildly important."

guidosarducci

(Via Gotcha Media)

Photo of the Day


A view of downtown Philadelphia, from my short trip last month.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Photo of the Day


Great Blue Heron at Merritt Island NWR
From the archives

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Photo of the Day


Snowy Egret at Viera Wetlands, FL
From the archives

Monday, June 21, 2010

Mark Fiore on “Trust me, what can possibly go wrong?”

Mark Fiore is a great cartoonist. One of his latest is worth passing along:

Permalink at Mark Fiore’s site

Fellowship of the Vuvuzela

YouTube link

(Via Cynical-C)

I’m enjoying World Cup

Having a ball with Argentina, and watching as many games as I can. Happy with all the South American teams, doing well, from powerhouses like Argentina and Brazil to Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile.

Speaking of football, John Cleese wants to make a clarification:

YouTube link

Photo of the Day


Cormorant at Viera Wetlands, FL
From the archives

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Yeah, like that is going to work!

Who are these yokels that pass as elected politicians? It is time they get to work, tightening the requirements, regulations, and inspections, for oil production in State waters, and pushing the Federal Government to do the same in federal jurisdiction.

From CNN: Louisiana lawmakers propose prayer to stop oil disaster.

State senators designated Sunday as a day for citizens to ask for God's help dealing with the oil disaster.

"Thus far efforts made by mortals to try to solve the crisis have been to no avail," state Sen. Robert Adley said in a statement released after last week's unanimous vote for the day of prayer. "It is clearly time for a miracle for us."

As Prof. P.Z. Myers says in “Louisiana gives up on the Gulf”:

“Instead of wasting your effort in making pleas to the nonexistent, go down to the beach with an eyedropper and a thimble, and pluck up a little globule of oil — and you will have accomplished more.”

Enough said.

Father’s day gift

Photo of the Day


Portuguese Man-O-War
I have been having computer problems for the past few days. The video board died and while waiting for UPS to bring a replacement (not cheap!) I am unable to process new photos. This one is from the archives.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Robin Ince on Creationism

YouTube link

Flying as low as it gets!

YouTube link

Photo of the Day


Ft. Lauderdale from the air. Looking North at I-95 from I-595
Shot this one from a commercial aircraft with clean windows. A rarity, I know.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Le Café

Gotta have coffee

YouTube link

How many planets are in the galaxy? Turns out, lots!

Ethan Siegel,  a theoretical astrophysicist with one of the coolest science blogs, named “Starts with a Bang”, has posted a great article on the newly revealed information from NASA’s Kepler mission, which is on a search for habitable planets. They released their first results with more than 700 new planets found! They now estimate there are more than 1.4 Billion planets in the galaxy! (this is a low estimate). Surely a few of those could be our size and habitable. Some may even contain life.

(Picture: Artist conception of Bellerophon, by Debivort from Wikipedia)

Photo of the Day


This is my friend Charlie 35, as his foot-tag attests
He's always there at the jetty. I've known him for years.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Photo of the Day


Old town Philadelphia

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Save the Internet – now!

The savetheinternet.com coalition is more than a million everyday people who have banded together with thousands of non-profit organizations, businesses and bloggers to protect Internet freedom. Some internet stars come out to show you why it’s important. You may not know all of them, besides Whil and Adam but that’s not important. The freedom to allow us to create, post and say what we want is very important and has to be defended.

Watch the video then go to savetheinternet.com to learn more.

YouTube link

Photo of the Day


Lilly at the Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Miami

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Photo of the Day


Banana spider at the Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Miami

Monday, June 14, 2010

Photo of the Day


Colorful Agama at the Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Miami

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Photo of the Day


Tiny lizard displaying
This guy is very small. One of the common species in the Southern USA.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Photo of the Day


A quiet day in Central Park
From my visit to NYC last month.
This is known as "The Dairy", the visitor center of Central Park.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Clark and Dawe Explain the Gulf Oil Spill

These guys are always hilarious!

YouTube link

(Via Mis Cellania)

Photo of the Day


Bell 206B over the beach in Bal Harbour, FL

World Cup is here!



I'm all fired up. I hope my team - Argentina - wins, although we'll have to wait and see. I will also be very happy if the USA gets out of the group and they do have a good chance this time.

About the trophy: Yes, it is the real one. I shot this photo on a visit of the Cup to Miami last year.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

David Mitchell asks: Could You Care Any Less?

YouTube link

(Via Cynical-C)

BP Attempts to Clean Up a Coffee Spill

YouTube link

(Via Cynical-C)



Written and performed by the Upright Citizens Brigade.

Photo of the Day


Penn State graduation day 2010

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Photo of the Day


Skimmer at Miami's Fairchild Tropical Gardens

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Photo of the Day


Butterfly at Miami's Fairchild Tropical Gardens

Monday, June 07, 2010

Photo of the Day


Brown Pelican

Sunday, June 06, 2010

I always had trouble picturing the concepts of Heaven and Hell

It was always a nonsense proposition to me, but I could not picture what they really meant in all the different religions. What? The Christian view of fire and brimstone or a boring eternity? Or are the 70 virgins promised to Muslim martyrs that desirable? In Judaism, there is little to say about what happens after you die. It focuses more on your actions now than on what you’ll do afterwards.

In any case, my dilemma on understanding the different visions were solved by reading this post today from PZ Myers. Now I see an explanation that makes sense.

Photo of the Day


Southwest 737 landing in Ft. Lauderdale

Friday, June 04, 2010

Building a mosque near Ground Zero? Are we crazy?

I don’t understand the New Yorkers that want to build a mosque near Ground Zero. Isn’t there anything more insulting to the memory of the fallen they can think of? Mayor Bloomberg even defends it! Disgraceful!

 

Here’s Pat Condell’s opinion on this monstrosity.

Photo of the Day


Green Heron
Bal Harbour, FL

Thursday, June 03, 2010

Oxygen, the animation!

A very nice animation for chemistry. Oxygen meets his friends at the school yard.

YouTube link

 

(Via Bad Astronomer)

Photo of the Day


Green Heron
Bal Harbour, FL

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Photo of the Day


Least tern
Bal Harbour, FL

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

If Google stops trusting Windows, can Windows users trust Google?

Alun Jones, Security MVP, makes a good case that the news that Google is ditching MS Windows on security concerns has more to do with them adopting Google Chrome than with real Windows vulnerabilities.

For the details, I refer you to Alun’s article.

Build your own Mozzie - Ozzie style

Wooden Mosquito Airplane Manufacturing in Australia –1944

Photo of the Day


Memorial Day
(picture from Memorial Day 2009)