Archive for the 'Photography' Category
(Chronologically Listed)
The nightmare before Christmas
No, I’m not talking about the current economic meltdown. It turns out that Bavaria has some interesting Christmas customs:
The gallery of Bavarian Christmas photos explains:
The troll-like Perchten or Krampus emerge when it gets dark. The gnarled and gruesome figures stomp through the Christmas markets of Bavaria, scaring children and sometimes even give women a spanking.
Cool! Here are two more comments from the gallery:
Viewed by light the Perchten don’t look all that scary, but some people still think their appearances may scar little children for life.
Is that the point?
The Perchten/Krampus tradition is growing more and more across the country and often is accompanied by a lot of alcohol these days.
Not a surprise, as Dave Barry would say (hat tip to his blog for the link). Be sure to look at the whole gallery; the Perchta above is one of the milder examples. ..bruce w..
Photos of distant worlds
[Thanks to Ace of Spades for the link!]
Over the past decade or so, astronomers have discovered over 300 extra-solar planets, that is, planets orbiting stars other than our Sun. However, these discoveries have largely been indirect, due to the planet transiting the star it orbits, or variations in the radial velocity of the star.
But now we have honest-to-goodness photographs of planets orbiting other stars.
The first here is the planet Fomalhaut b, orbiting the star Fomalhaut:
Fomalhaut itself has been blocked out in order for the telescope to take this photograph. The rays spreading out from the star are a processing artifact, but the planet is real, as is the dust ring.
Here’s the second planetary system, HR 8799:
The dots labeled ‘b’ and ‘c’ are two planets orbiting the star. Just too cool for words. Hat tip to Slashdot. ..bruce w..
Caithness The Beautiful
For the past two days I have been in the far north of Scotland, in a county called Caithness. It is as far north as you can go on the island of Britain without a boat.
Caithness is the land of my Henderson ancestors, and in particular the area around a village called Dunbeath.
First and foremost, I have to thank the Dunbeath Heritage Centre and Preservation Trust, who run a fantastic museum in the village of Dunbeath. They have a robust collection of genealogy information for the families of that area, but that is just the start.
Dunbeath has been a center of civilization for at least a thousand years, and probably quite a bit longer. The Museum preserves this history, and serves as a focal point for the research and discussion around the continuing archeological finds. It seems the history of this area is still be discovered, and there are significant digs durning the summers, and local researchers such as George Bethune and Meg Sinclair are helping lead the efforts.
On the the photos….
First off, this is the Heritage Centre, which is housed in the old school house.
Dunbeath Harbor
Also there is a walking trail along the Dunbeath river, which features prominently in several books, such as Highland River, by Neil M. Gunn (who it turns out is a cousin).
The path winds up towards the headwaters of the river, and past many historical sites.
Dunbeath sits on the rugged Caithness coast, which seems to be naturally photogenic
Dunbeath is also flanked by the northern most mountains in Scotland, and thanks to the recent cold snap they are wreathed in snow. This one is named Scaraben
Last but not least for me, is a view from the old graveyard in Berriedale, where several of my ancestors are buried
For more / somewhat larger versions of these pictures, I have uploaded them to another area of the site, just click on the name to view.
Another perspective on the continuing crisis
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white;
Robins will wear their feathery fire,
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn
Would scarcely know that we were gone.
– Sara Teasdale
McCain images of the day
As I noted earlier, I actually like the underlit photograph of John McCain that moonbat photographer Jill Greenberg secretly shot while taking his photograph for the cover of The Atlantic.
S. Weasel has now done her own photoshop of the underlit image:
It sort of says, “Vote for me or die.” Heh.
And here’s an earlier photoshop from S. Weasel:
Heh. ..bruce w..
The End Of The Rainbow
Sadly we now have photographic evidence what lies at the end of the rainbow…..
Yes, it’s a portal-pottie. You are invited to dig for the pot of gold within.
April is the cruelest month
UPDATE: 04/10/08 - 1255 MDT: We’re currently getting winds in the 35-42 MPH range, which has dropped the wind chill down below zero (it was at -2 deg F a minute or so ago). And yes, it’s still snowing.
==============
There was no snow on the ground at all when I went to bed late last night. Here’s what things look like right now:
The wind had been steadily blowing between 10 and 25 mph all day, pushing the wind chill down to single digits (6.7 deg F right now). I would guess that 4-6 inches of snow have fallen so far, and it’s supposed to keep snowing until late this evening.
Personally, I blame Bush. ..bruce w..
P.S. The good news is that it’s supposed to hit 70 by Monday.
What prepared/packaged food really looks like
One of the wonderful things about the internet is that if you wait long enough, someone somewhere will post just what you’ve always wanted.
In this case, someone over in Germany had made a comparison between how food looks in ads and on packages and what the food actually looks like:
Admittedly, it’s mostly German food, but hey, is your experience any different? Hat tip to The Consumerist. ..bruce w..