Monday, May 31, 2010

Rachel Maddow: That was then, this is then

(YouTube link)

She compares the response to the current crisis with the response 30 years ago to similar events. Have we learned anything?

I, like everybody else, am distressed and fed up with BP and their inability to prevent, and later fix this problem. I am not going to offer solutions on how to cap it, but I wonder.

When Boeing releases a new aircraft, they cannot fly it commercially until the FAA does a thorough inspection, including emergency systems. Has any regulatory agency ever tested these features in a new oil well? Has BP, or any other oil company?

Why hasn’t the government closed all the other wells (nearly 4,000 of them in the Gulf of Mexico alone) for inspection? What are they waiting for? BP and the oil rig operators have proven that they have the technology to search for oil, find it and drill for it. What they have also shown is that they are totally unprepared to deal with an emergency. What? Surely they thought to include and test a clamping system for an emergency well shutdown, hadn’t they? Doesn’t seem it worked, does it?

I feel for the people of the area whose livelihood is being destroyed. I feel for the wetlands and marshes and all the birds and other species that are being killed, when they have no clue what’s going on around them as they go on their everyday feeding and living routines. And I fear for Florida, where I am, when (unfortunately not if), the oil catches the Loop and the Gulf currents and merrily moves around the coast of Florida. Happy thoughts.

Photo of the Day


Museum of Natural History - NYC

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Photo of the Day


Museum of Natural History - NYC

Saturday, May 29, 2010

KOREA WINS 2010 World Amateur Go Championship

With a perfect 8-0 score, Hongsuk Song 7d of the Republic of Korea is the new World Amateur Go Champion (photos courtesy John Pinkerton and AGA)

Hongsuk Song 7D

The 2010 World Amateur Go Championship has just finished in Hangzhou, China. As many of you know I have been a Go player for a long time, playing regularly at the Miami Go Club and very often online where you can catch a game at any level 24x7 at KGS Go Server. I am not in the same league as these top amateur players but I do enjoy the game.

The American Go Association (AGA) newsletter has been following the proceeding with many commentaries on games by Michael Redmond 9P (an American top professional player).

The USA representative to the tournament (and International Go Federation Director), Thomas Hsiang 7D placed 12th.

My friend Fernando Aguilar 7d, represented Argentina as he often does and placed 15th.

IGFgeneralMtg-DSC_1167

Giant airplane-mounted telescope sees first light!

Very cool news: the flying infrared observatory, SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) — which has been in the works for many years — has seen first light. What’s remarkable about this observatory is that it’s mounted in a hole in the side of a 747!

sofia_plane

Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, shows us more detail and explanation.

Photo of the Day


Museum of Natural History - NYC

Friday, May 28, 2010

Puerto Rican Man Almost Deported To Mexico

YouTube link

Are we becoming a police state? This is from Berwyn, Illinois, but it’s probably happening as we speak in Arizona with its SB 1070 Law that could never work.

I speak with an accent, and do not look your typical blond and blue-eyed (are we becoming an aryan-uber-alles culture again as in the 1950s in the South?). I am glad I already saw the Grand Canyon because I will not visit Arizona in the foreseeable future; at least until they come to their senses and remember to respect the Constitution.

Photo of the Day


Museum of Natural History - NYC

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Atheists Don't Have No Songs

April 29, 2010 at the New Orleans Jazz Fest
By Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers

YouTube link

Photo of the Day


Museum of Natural History - NYC

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

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Chinatown - NYC

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Today is Towel Day

Do you know where your towel is? Don’t panic and go grab it!

Happy Towel Day!

Photo of the Day


Winterdale Arch
Central Park

Monday, May 24, 2010

Sunday, May 23, 2010

RIP Martin Gardner

gardner I just found out from James Randi, that one of my favorite writers, Martin Gardner, passed away peacefully yesterday, March 22, 2010. He was 95.

I have read many of his columns and have a few of his books, which I treasure, Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science and Aha! Gotcha: Paradoxes to Puzzle and Delight being the two I like the most.

As Randi puts it, the world is a little darker today, but I am glad he lived a long and productive life, having enriched us with his writings and his wit.

You made a mark in the world Mr. Gardner.

Photo of the Day


Chinatown - NYC

Saturday, May 22, 2010

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Chinatown - NYC

Friday, May 21, 2010

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Grand Central Station - NYC

Thursday, May 20, 2010

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Grand Central Station - NYC

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

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Seen in Central Park - NYC

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Special

 

(Via atheistcartoons.com)

Mount St. Helens eruption’s 30th Anniversary today

msh_1980

It is 30 years today since the eruption on May 18, 1980.

I visited the park years later and saw the devastation. I am sure the people who experienced it would never forget.

(Article)

BILL MAHER: 'I Want My Country Forward'

New Rules by Bill Maher from May 15th, 2010

Photo of the Day


Apple store on 5th Ave. - NYC

Monday, May 17, 2010

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Strawberry Fields - Central Park

Sunday, May 16, 2010

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Central Park - NYC

Saturday, May 15, 2010

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Metropolitan Museum of Art - NYC

Friday, May 14, 2010

19th century Japanese monster scrolls

Here is a look at the Kaikidan Ekotoba, a mysterious hand scroll that profiles 33 legendary monsters and human oddities, mostly from the Kyushu region of Japan. The cartoonish document, whose author is unknown, is believed to date from the mid-19th century. It is now in the possession of the Fukuoka City Museum.

 

monster_scroll_4

Link

Photo of the Day


At the Met - NYC

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Japanese steamship travel posters

This is a beautiful collection of Japanese advertising poster for early 20th century steamship travel.

(from the book Miwaku no Funatabi, published by the Museum of Maritime Science, 1993).

 

ship_poster_ad_14

 

Link

Photo of the Day


at the Met

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

What if Rupert Murdoch had never been born?

A bit of Fry and Laurie

 

YouTube link

 

(Via TYWKIWDBI )

Photo of the Day


at the Met

Monday, May 10, 2010

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at the Met

Sunday, May 09, 2010

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at the Met

Saturday, May 08, 2010

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Metropolitan Museum of Art - NYC

Friday, May 07, 2010

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NYC - At the Met.

Thursday, May 06, 2010

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Central Park

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

What Would Jesus Do?

by Axis of Awesome

He’s a zombie-wizard who also knows kung-fu, so next time you’re in trouble thinking “What Would Jesus Do?,” try not to forget, he’s a million billion trillion times better than you

(Via Atheist Media Blog)

Photo of the Day


View from Central Park

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

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NYC - View from Central Park

Monday, May 03, 2010

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Central Park South - New York

Sunday, May 02, 2010

Richard Dawkins - Absolute Morality

 

From a March 8, 2010 show on ABC (Australia)

The State of the Art in flight simming: Indian Summer at Stark's Twin Oaks

A video by Andreas Paschen, shows the beauty of the current state of Flisght Simulator X.



Scenery by Orbx
Airfield: Stark's Twin Oaks Airpark (7S3) by Bill Womack and Orbx
Clouds by Rex2
Planes by Aerosoft and A2A Simulations
Environment by Microsoft Flight Simulator X

Click here to see it in Vimeo directly. Hover over the Vimeo video and press the button on the bottom right to see it in full screen!

Photo of the Day


Lincoln Road - Miami Beach

Saturday, May 01, 2010

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Lincoln Road - Miami Beach