Clouds!

We had an awesome thunderstorm last night, and there was a 10 minute window where the clouds were extremely dynamic. I'm only sorry I didn't get more photos before it started to pour.

It was awesome!

Big version here.

Eewewewewwww!!

Spiders are gross.

But if I have a camera in my hand, you'd better believe I'm going in for the shot. I've got goose bumps now just thinking about him. He totally could have jumped at me- it would've been all over, and fast I bet.

One thing I can tell you however, if I'm to die by gigantic gross spider biteation- I will die with my camera in hand. Look at this suckers eyes... Yeeish.

I wish I had a yellow ass...

More Tilt Shift

Green Fridge Invention

http://www.homedesignfind.com/appliances/green-fridge-invention-uses-almost-no-electricity/

Wow. I want one.

A clever Australian inventor, Tom Chalko has converted a deep freeze into an incredibly efficient refrigerator that only has to run for a minute or two every hour to maintain normal fridge temperatures, using only about 100 watts of power a day.

His home-made fridge uses as much energy in 24 hours as a 100W light bulb gets through in just an hour.

Not only is it energy efficient; but it’s absolutely silent too. The thing is only running for a minute or two every hour. At all other times it is perfectly quiet and consumes no power whatsoever.

Suspended in a Sunbeam...

Looking at this image reminds me that my life isn't really that complicated.
(I should also mention that I'm not entirely sure that this image is what it says it is)

Horicon Marsh

Went hiking with a friend to the Horicon Marsh the other day and snapped a few pictures. I didn't realize how big the marsh was. We only covered half of what we'd wanted to see.

You can see the whole set of photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mariuccij/sets/72157622041012706/

Click here to see these as a slideshow:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mariuccij/sets/72157622041012706/show/

Great Online Geography Tool

Found this today, looks like its a great geography tool for all ages. It includes countries, capitals, and even major cities.

http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/usaquiz.html

Ultra Deep Field in 3D

Brilliant!!

Geography of Jobs

This is an interesting animation.

http://tipstrategies.com/archive/geography-of-jobs/

This animated map provides a striking visual of employment trends over the last business cycle using net change in jobs from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on a rolling 12-month basis.

State of the Future

Found this article today and wanted to dig to get some more information on it.

"A major report issued by the United Nations Millenium Project has just been released. It finds that half the world appears vulnerable to social instability and violence due to increasing and potentially prolonged unemployment from the recession as well as several longer-term issues: decreasing water, food, and energy supplies per person; the cumulative effects of climate change, and increasing migrations due to political, environmental, and economic conditions. It also finds some good in the global financial crisis, which may be helping humanity to move from its often selfish, self-centered adolescence to a more globally responsible adulthood."

Read More...

Here is a link to the 2009 State of the Future report itself:
http://www.millennium-project.org/millennium/sof2009.html

Interesting free PDF in there as well. At least they are thorough... 850+ pages.
http://www.millennium-project.org/SOF-2009/Chapter%209_1-ES-scanning.pdf

A quick snippet off page 10 is rather disturbing:

"The magnitude of the economic turmoil that focused world’s attention on financial deficits, coupled with increased environmental disasters, helped improve the understanding of potential long-term impacts of the increasing ecological deficit. Comparably, however, the environmental deficit is in most cases irreparable.

Earth Overshoot Day was September 23 in 2008—the day when humanity has used what nature can regenerate annually—and it is moving earlier each year, according to Global Footprint Network. The Living Planet Report 2008, which documents the extent of human pressure on the planet, reveals that 75% of the human population lives in countries that are “ecological debtors,” demanding more biocapacity than they have within their borders."

I've never heard of Earth Overshoot Day, it sure is heartbreaking seeing it quantified in that manner.

Aesops Fable is True- Crow Study

So last September I posted about Crows.

The original link is here. It was an excellent TED speech by Joshua Klein. Well today I found another link on the subject. Interesting stuff (if you're a geek like me). In addition to the link, I've posted the video again off of TED.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/5983953/Aesops-fable-is-true-shows-crow-study.html

"In a series of tests, the four rooks named Cook, Fry, Connelly and Monroe were offered a tempting treat - a juicy worm floating on the surface of water in a vertical tube.

To start with, the worm was out of reach. Videos of the experiments show the birds examining the tube from different angles, appearing to think the problem through.

Then the researchers provide a solution in the form of a handful of pebbles. The rooks can be seen picking up the stones and dropping them into the tube to raise the water level and bring the worm within reach.

Cook and Fry succeeded straight away, while Connelly and Monroe took two attempts.

The birds appeared to estimate how many pebbles were needed from the outset. Rather than try for the worm after each stone was dropped, they waited until the time seemed right.

They also selected larger stones over smaller ones, for greater effect.

In other experiments, the rooks quickly understood that sawdust cannot be displaced in the same way as water."

Galactic Center of Milky Way - Time Lapse

Found this today, absolutely brilliant!

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

Time lapse video of night sky as it passes over the 2009 Texas Star Party in Fort Davis, Texas. The galactic core of Milky Way is brightly displayed. Images taken with 15mm fisheye lens.

Horse hits Car

I caught this on the news the other day. Man oh man. It sounds like the people affected were okay. I hope the horse was okay too... What gets me is that everyone is still driving. The last horse probably didn't even see the car before it was too late, because the others were in front of it.

The video seems to be a good metaphor for man-kinds general lack of respect for the earth and its creatures. Stop freak'n driving next time, and who knows... maybe those horses could have taken a different lane. Hrrm. /ramble complete

TED: Paul Romers Radical Idea- Charter Cities

Interesting TED Talk here.

ZoOoOooo Trip!

We took the kids to the zoo in Green Bay yesterday and had a spectacular time. I think 80% of Isabella's enjoyment came from spending time in their play area. Haha, never mind all the exotic animals around! Here are a few pictures snapped:

By Jovian, I got it!

Jupiter as seen through my trusty Canon S5. Shot this yesterday around midnight. You can even see a few of Jupiter's moons. Most likely Io and Europa.

Experimenting with Tilt Shift

So I've been experimenting with a photography technique called miniature faking. Found this great article on it the other day and thought "what the hey, lets try it!"

The technique is fairly simple, whereby you select a portion of your photo to remain sharp, and blur the rest. By amping up the colors a little you can get the feel of the objects in frame looking smaller than they really are. It helps to have an image with perspective that is high off the ground, which helps to give the illusion that you're looking down on a miniature modeled world.

Here are a few of mine:

96 Months to Save World says Prince Charles

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/just-96-months-to-save-world-says-charles-1738049.html

I thought that this article tied in nicely with the first link I posted today. So 96 months... I wonder how he came up with that figure. To quote a bit from the article:

The Prince, who has spoken passionately about the environment before, said that if the world failed to heed his warnings then we all faced the "nightmare that for so many of us now looms on the horizon".

Charles's speech was described as his first attempt to present a coherent philosophy in which he placed the threat to the environment in the context of a failing economic system.

The Prince, who is advised by the leading environmentalists Jonathon Porritt and Tony Juniper, said that even the economist Adam Smith, father of modern capitalism, had been aware of the short-comings of unfettered materialism.

Delivering the annual Richard Dimbleby lecture, Charles said that without "coherent financial incentives and disincentives" we have just 96 months to avert "irretrievable climate and ecosystem collapse, and all that goes with it."

Capitalism - Sarah Palin Style

http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2009/07/capitalism-sarah-palin-style

An outstanding article. Here is a snippet:

This is not about Sarah Palin. It's about the meaning of that myth of constant "discovery," and what it tells us about the economic system that they're spending trillions of dollars to save. What it tells us is that capitalism, left to its own devices, will push us past the point from which the climate can recover. And capitalism will avoid a serious accounting—whether of its financial debts or its ecological debts—at all costs. Because there’s always more. A new quick fix. A new frontier.

That message was selling, as it always does. It was only when the stock market crashed that people said, "Maybe Sarah Palin isn't a great idea this time around. Let's go with the smart guy to ride out the crisis."

....

It's appropriate that we call this a "bailout." Financial markets are being bailed out to keep the ship of finance capitalism from sinking, but what is being scooped out is not water. It's people. It's people who are being thrown overboard in the name of "stabilization." The result will be a vessel that is leaner and meaner. Much meaner. Because great inequality—the super rich living side by side with the economically desperate—requires a hardening of the hearts. We need to believe ourselves superior to those who are excluded in order to get through the day. So this is the system that is being saved: the same old one, only meaner.

APOD: Milky Way over Devils Tower

Sweet APOD today, I've seriously gotta look up tutorials on how to achieve photography like this.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090729.html