Friday Surprise!
FRIDAY SURPRISE: One more time.
Friday, September 03, 2010
Since this is a holiday weekend, the customary end of summer, I thought a little more music was in order. Why not celebrate with another Stan Kenton piece?
This one, recorded in 1977, features my favorite incarnation of the Kenton group - with a number of local (to me) connections.
Lead trombonist Dick Shearer, as I mentioned last time, retired to my hometown - where I'd gone to high school with the brother of Kenton's baritone sax player, Alan Yankee. Stan's drummer, Gary Hobbs, also settled in Oregon. The trombone soloist on this piece, Jeff Uusitalo, eventually made his home just across the river in the Vancouver (Washington) area - where the sax soloist, Terry Layne, grew up and went to high school.
Small world. But, as Steven Wright reminds us, “I wouldn’t want to have to paint it.”
Have a good weekend, and don’t be surprised if I take Monday off!
-=[ Grant ]=-
|
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Colored by a point of view.
Friday, August 20, 2010
In 1935, a fellow by the name of Roy Stryker went to work for the federal government. Specifically, he took over the job of managing the Historical Section of Roosevelt's Resettlement Administration. Almost immediately the organization morphed into the Farm Security Administration, and his section became the Information Division.
Without putting too fine a point on it, Stryker's job was propaganda - to give the Administration what they needed to justify spending money that they didn't have. To further this aim, he came up with an idea: he'd send out a bunch of photographers to make pictures that would both tug at America’s heartstrings and provide support for Roosevelt's policies. He gathered a bunch of talented people from varied backgrounds - writers, painters, and budding photographers - and sent them over the country to make pictures.
While we can certainly debate the means of the program, the ends were spectacular. Stryker's team shot over 164,000 pictures, producing hundreds of iconic images and launching the careers of many talented photographers. So good was the group that they would later be transferred to the Office of War Information to document the country’s entry into World War II, though their tenure would last only a year.
Of those hundreds of thousands of images they shot, only 644 were in color. Color film was quite expensive, even for the government's pockets, but more importantly couldn't be reproduced in the newspapers of the day. Its use was therefore quite limited, and the photos somewhat rare.
Here are 70 of those 644, including some from a couple of my favorite FSA photographers: Jack Delano and Alfred Palmer.
(What happened to Stryker? In 1943 he went to work for Standard Oil, who foresaw the need to polish their own public image. Several of the FSA photographers, now unemployed after the OWI cut them loose, went to work to make Standard look good. They succeeded, and the Standard Oil photographs of that period still stand as supreme examples of industrial photography. It’s too bad that Stryker died in 1975 - I’m sure BP could use his services right about now.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: It's fair to say.
Friday, August 13, 2010
I grew up a small-town farm kid, the son of parents who themselves had grown up on farms, and the major thrill of my summer vacation was always fair season.
Our county fair would come first, followed by the "big one" - the Oregon State Fair. (All the counties were pretty much the same, except Harney County. Their fair inexplicably occurred after the state fair. Always has, as far back as I can remember, and they're awfully proud of that.)
The county fair was a place where citizens could gather, interact, watch the local talent perform, and show off their produce and handiwork. It combined socialization and competition, along with some entertainment, and was a vital component of farm and ranch life in the 19th and well into the 20th century.
People from all corners of the county would bring their livestock, produce, and the things they made to display and compare to the same from others. Those items found superior would win their owners/creators a ribbon and a year's worth of bragging rights, while those that didn’t make the grade would cause a stern resolve to win next year. It was always friendly competition, but there was definitely an undercurrent of antagonism when it came time to judge the pies and preserves!
What I remember most from my childhood were the tractor displays. The various agricultural equipment dealers would bring a large selection of the newest tractors and implements, while the local farmers would bring in their oldest equipment for a taste of the "good ol' days." For me, if there aren't tractors it just ain't a fair.
Today county fairs have become caricatures of their former selves, many looking like a cross between Cirque de Soleil and a college dorm beer bust. Our modern State Fair? Well, the less said about that the better; the last time I went it was nearly unrecognizable, and I haven’t been back.
The rural county fairs, thankfully, have managed to hold on to their noble ancestry better than those closer to the metropolitan areas. In the outlying fairgrounds you can still get a taste of what a county fair should be.
I plan to do just that this weekend. While folks in the cities mock the "rednecks" of this country, I'll be celebrating the worth and dignity of those who produce the food that fills bigoted stomachs.
Another of life’s little ironies.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: The Leopolds have left the building.
Friday, August 06, 2010
Last year we learned that the last roll of Kodachrome film had been produced at Eastman Kodak. This month, the Wichita Eagle informs us that final roll has been processed.
The roll was shot by photojournalist Steve McCurry, and the images on it range from New York to India to Parsons, Kansas - where the last Kodachrome processing line is located. It, too, will be going the way of the dinosaur this December, when the equipment will be shut down for good.
Bonus points: can you decipher the meaning of my title? Extra bonus points if you can do so without a search engine; super extra bonus points if you can tell me how 'Rhapsody in Blue' is related to Kodachrome.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: "Your hand is staining my window."
Friday, July 30, 2010
Very busy this week, and I had a couple of articles I wanted to write but just didn't have the time. So today I'm just going to link to a site featuring images of abandoned hospitals and asylums across the country.
Creepy stuff.
(Bonus points for the person who can identify the quote in the title line without Googling it.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Hoe, Hoe, Hoe!
Friday, July 23, 2010
My Father was a child of the Great Depression, as well as being a farm boy. He learned early on how to make a penny squeak, which unfortunately meant that he was always looking for the cheapest way to do anything. This trait was passed down to me, but I've learned something: there is a big difference between being frugal and being cheap. Frugality means looking for the best value, not the lowest price.
Buying cheap tools, for instance, is actually the antithesis of being frugal. If it's something that will be used frequently, the lack of quality that almost always accompanies a small price tag is reflected in durability. A cheap tool will be replaced more often, and will also frequently produce poorer results with more frustration.
Spending some money up front to buy a good tool is almost always repaid in faster, easier, better work. It also costs less in the long run, as you don't have to replace it on a regular basis.
It took me a long time to acknowledge this reality of the universe, and though sometimes I veer from this truth I do my best to return. I also preach it to my wife, whose parents were also products of the Depression with the same habits as my Father.
Yes, there is a point to this story!
My wife was complaining about her garden hoe recently (we have a large garden and she makes extensive use of things like hoes.) It wouldn't hold an edge, and was starting to crack where it was spot-welded to the pathetically undersized neck that went into the handle. She needed a new one, and on a visit to the local home improvement store she did some shopping.
Most of the garden tools were made in China and were no better than the one she'd already tried. She looked at some made in USA examples from a well-known brand, but they weren't of significantly higher quality - certainly not enough to make up for their higher price. Maybe the local hardware store would have something better?
Nope. If anything, they were worse (if made in China tools could get worse!)
When we got home I did a little poking around, and found a company in Missouri called Rogue Hoe. They make a HUGE variety of hoes, all crafted from discarded disc blades. Discs are made of top quality tempered steel, and Rogue cuts them into the proper shapes, solidly attaches them to quality handles, then sharpens them to a knife-like edge. My wife was very excited about their product range, and ordered a few to try out.
Rogue hoes are in a different league than those we saw in the stores. They're built hell-for-stout, with blades that are three times the thickness of your average hardware store variety. The designs are obviously the work of people who actually use these things on a daily basis, because they function well. They come super sharp and stand up to abrasive and rocky soils like nothing we've ever used.
These are tools for hard work, not ornaments to hang in a shed and admire.
Amazingly, the prices aren't much more than the lesser "made in USA" stuff we found in the store. They ship promptly, and I doubt there's a hoe you can't find in their vast selection.
My wife is already planning her hoe purchases for next year!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: I want, I want, I want!
Friday, July 16, 2010
I mentioned that last weekend I was on the range for a defensive rifle class. The range is not too far from a small airport, and it's common to see all kinds of interesting aircraft fly overhead.
The students were preparing to shoot another drill when an autogyro passed overhead. I had to stop and watch it disappear behind the hills, because as a kid I was entranced by this movie:
Ever since then I've wanted an autogyro. It's not practical, but neither are 1911 pistols (that one's for you, Tommy.) I'm not sure what attracts me to the little machines, other than they're cheaper than a real aircraft and a lot more maneuverable than your average ultralight.
I also know that it wouldn't make me as debonaire as James Bond, but I could use all the help I can get!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Admit it - you've wondered about this too.
Friday, July 09, 2010
In 1791, the French Assembly decided that the purpose of capital punishment was to end a miscreant's life, not to cause him unbearable pain. A committee was formed for the purpose of devising a pain-free method of execution that was suitable for both upper and lower class undesirables. How egalitarian of them!
One of the committee members was a Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin. While he was opposed to the death penalty, he believed that making it more humane would lead to its abolition. (The logic behind this escapes me, but apparently doctors often have this failing: one Dr. Richard J. Gatling, inventor of the gun that bears his name, believed that the creation of a terrible weapon would inspire people to no longer entertain the idea of war. Didn't work for him, either.)
The French committee eventually came up with a beheading machine, and because of the good doctor's promotion of the new "humane" method his name was associated forever with the contraption.
But just how humane is the guillotine? This article at Damn Interesting raises all kinds of questions about just what happens at the instant one's head is separated from its support mechanisms. Personally, I hope to never find out!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: The lady in the lake.
Friday, July 02, 2010
Ronald Reagan was halfway through his first term as President when I took my first trip east of the Rockies. It was also my first trip via airliner, and though I'd flown quite a bit in small aircraft the view from 30,000+ feet was new to me. I was heading to Rochester, NY. Traveling from Portland to Rochester on Delta Airlines entailed a stop in Detroit, which also meant a trip over Lake Michigan.
If you've followed the story so far you'll deduce that I'd never seen any of the Great Lakes. Oh, I knew all about them; I'd studied geography in school. I knew that they were actually inland seas, that they had their own weather, that they were the largest group of freshwater bodies on earth. What I didn't know, or more correctly didn't fathom, was just how big they were.
As the plane crossed Lake Michigan I was struck by the fact that all I could see was water. I finally grasped the reality of the Great Lakes, and the stories I'd read about shipwrecks and lost souls suddenly became understandable. In that vast expanse of water, some of it nearly a thousand feet thick, it would be very easy to lose a vessel in one of the lake's infamous storms.
In 1898, that's what happened to the steamship L.R. Doty. She was carrying a load of corn destined for Ontario when a powerful storm armed with thirty-foot waves sent her to the lake floor. The 320 feet of cold, salt-free water that sat on top of her preserved her remains in almost perfect condition.
Those remains were just recently found, 112 years after her final trip. Great story from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; be sure to check out the photo gallery of the wreck.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Cameras I Have Known - the Pentax KX.
Friday, June 25, 2010
I'm fickle, in that my favorite things change frequently depending on what's in my hands at the moment. "This my favorite! No, THAT'S my favorite! Wait - that one is REALLY my favorite!" Fountain pens, .22 rifles, hats, revolvers (of course), and cameras.
Especially cameras. It's hard to pick just one.
What I do know is that I've shot more frames through one model than any other, by a wide margin: the Pentax KX. I'm not talking about the modern digital incarnation, but the original, all metal, mechanical, manually operated film camera. It was, to my mind, one of the best products ever to come from Asahi Optical and one of the best 35mm SLRs that I ever used.
Images courtesy of Turbof (http://adsl-065-013-121-247.sip.pfn.bellsouth.net/camera_collector/pentax/k/k.html)
The KX is one of those machines that turned out to be a lot more than the manufacturer probably intended. Introduced in the mid-70s, during a time when many other legendary cameras were being manufactured, the KX proved to be a worthy "semi professional" camera of great durability and superb image quality. It was competitive with and contemporary to the Canon FTb, the Nikon Nikkormats, and the upper portion of the Minolta SR-T series.
The KX was a medium sized camera, and its features were common for the day: depth-of-field preview, mirror lock-up, 1/1000 second shutter, aperture display in viewfinder. What set it apart were a couple of things that its competitors didn't have: shutter speeds displayed in the viewfinder and a new, sensitive but linear silicon blue meter cell.
The only camera that really compared to the KX was the Nikon FM, introduced at the end of the KX model run. It was as if Nikon had taken direct aim at the KX, for their new model had features to rival the Pentax veteran (except, surprisingly, the mirror lockup.) The only advantage the new Nikon had was the MD-11 (later MD-12) motor drive. Even with that they were behind the curve, as Pentax had made a special edition of the KX that took a drive as well: the rare KX-Motor body.
Images courtesy of Turbof (http://adsl-065-013-121-247.sip.pfn.bellsouth.net/camera_collector/pentax/k/k.html)
The KX-Motor was exactly like the plain versions, with the addition of the mechanics and circuitry necessary to run a slightly modified version of the attachable motor from the Spotmatic MD model dubbed the Motordrive II. There was no external indication, other than the baseplate, which indicated that this was a special-order-only camera. Since the entire KX model line was only made for three years, that makes KX-Motor one of the rarer Pentax products.
I owned a number of KX cameras, and was fortunate to count two KX-Motor bodies among them. At the time I knew they were uncommon but only now realize how rare they actually were!
KX bodies came in both chrome and black finishes. The black bodies were enamel over brass, which was the common construction method of the time. I once stripped the worn enamel off the brass pieces of one of the bodies, polished them until they were mirror bright, then applied clear lacquer to keep tarnish away. The result was stunning and I became known as "the guy with the gold camera." I later sold that body to a friend to fund my move to Olympus OM equipment...a story unto itself.
In use the KX proved to be a true photographer's tool. Controls fell perfectly to hand, everything worked smoothly, and the silicon blue meter was accurate down to ridiculously low light levels. Of course the quality of Pentax lenses was never in doubt, and the images produced by the combination of body and optics were always superb.
None of that would mean much if the camera didn't hold up. I admit to being rough on gear, to the point that the guy who repaired my cameras regaled his customers with stories about damage sustained by my cameras in various mishaps. Twenty years later he’s probably still telling them!
The KX was incredibly rugged even in my hands, and it's one of the very few cameras that I was never able to break to the point that it wouldn't function. I've broken many others, but despite the heavy use to which I put them never had a KX fail. (Wish I could say the same for Pentax's "pro" camera, the LX.)
KX bodies accompanied me on both personal and professional assignments, from standing in the middle of rivers to crawling around the dirty confines of a foundary and everything in between. I knew that I could always rely on them to bring back the images I needed. They weren't the flashiest or most impressive bodies (save for my special gold model), but they always delivered top notch pictures.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Is it possible to stamp out philately?
Friday, June 18, 2010
When I was a kid my older sister, through the act of renting an apartment, made the acquaintance of a nice elderly couple. Mr. and Mrs. D had no children of their own and quickly adopted my sister (and the rest of our family) as surrogate offspring. They were what was known as "old money", but were devoid of pretension despite their wealth. It was always a treat to drive into the city to visit them.
Mr. D was an avid stamp collector. I'd never even known a stamp collector, and Mr. D was quite persuasive in his belief that it was the perfect hobby for a young boy. He gave me a number of books about stamp collecting, several large stamp catalogues, a couple of albums and a smattering of stamps to get me started.
I dutifully pasted my stamps into their albums, and for a short while made an effort to search through the letters in our attic for hidden gems. Adolescence eventually put an end to my collecting activities, though I must confess a certain lack of interest in the whole affair to begin with.
Perhaps if I'd found really interesting stamps like these I wouldn't have given the hobby up!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: A tangled web we weave.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Listening to Steve Denney talk about this blog (commentary at the beginning of the ProArms interview) reminded me that the Friday Surprise! has become somewhat less surprising of late. These off-topic epistles have started to be a bit predictable, and I feel the need to bring something new to the table.
Steve, this is for you!
On many of my bags and packs I have zipper pulls that I've made from paracord - that strong, cheap material often referred to by the name '550 cord'. I've got several favorite patterns, but the square weave is a staple. It's easy to do, and once you have it mastered you can make variations with different colors, or even a spiral version that finishes with a rounder cross section.
These can also be used as lanyards for small flashlights, pocket knives and other such objects. I won't use the cliche "limited only by your imagination" (darn, I just did!), but that's literally true. Go find some paracord and have fun!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: A Poor SUBstitute for the real thing.
Friday, June 04, 2010
When I was a kid I dreamed of converting the fuel oil tank in our garage into a submarine. It was a 350 gallon flattened oval tank, no doubt familiar to millions of baby boomers whose furnaces ran on liquid fossil fuels, and I just waited for the day that I could get my hands on it.
I had big plans for my submarine: first I'd explore the depths of the pond on our 'back forty', then I'd take it down to the river and search the bottom for...I'm not sure what, but I just knew I'd find something. Little things like how I'd get air to breathe or how I'd see where I was going were mere trivialities. (After all, didn't Seaview have windows? I'd have them too!)
Naturally nothing ever came of my plans, but that didn't stop me from being fascinated with small submarines. The Japanese mini-subs of World War II were particularly interesting, and I read everything I could about them. It was known that five had attacked Pearl Harbor, but only four had ever been recovered. The fate of the fifth remained a mystery.
Perhaps not any more.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Cameras I Have Known - the Kodak Retina IIIS.
Friday, May 28, 2010
At one time I was a devoted fan of Leica rangefinder cameras. I owned many of them over the years, culminating with a beat-up example of the much maligned M5 (2-lug) model. Like many photographers I held a special place in my heart for the legendary Leica M3, though mine was the less desirable (and thus cheaper) double-stroke version. One could say that I was something of a Leica snob, and that wasn't too far from the truth.
This makes my favorite rangefinder seem somewhat odd, because it wasn't a Leica.
At one point I picked up a Kodak Retina IIIS rangefinder for next to nothing, largely because I thought it would be a nice decoration on my bookshelf. Along with it came a 50mm f2.8 Schneider Xenar, a superb 35mm f2.8 Schneider Curtagon, and a 135mm Schneider Tele-Xenar. The camera and lenses were in near-mint condition, having been traded in on a more modern 35mm SLR with zoom lens.
The Retina series of cameras were made in Germany by the Kodak-owned Nagel Camerawerk. Most of them were small folding cameras, but the IIIS was unique: it was a solid body rangefinder with interchangeable lenses. It was a large, heavy camera compared to the Leicas (or the rest of the Retina series), but it boasted a large, bright viewfinder with automatically changing framelines and parallax correction!
Courtesy of the superb Retina IIIS article at www.cameraquest.com/ret3s.htm
The viewfinder was terrific, but the really great thing from my perspective was the shutter. The IIIS had a between-the-lens leaf shutter sourced from Compur, which meant that it could flash synch at all shutter speeds. More importantly it meant that the shutter was quiet. Very, very quiet. Next to the IIIS, a Leica M3 sounded like a bomb going off. Those who know the Leica cameras and their reputation for stealth might be amazed, but it was true; even the photographer often couldn't hear or feel the Retina shutter fire.
This made it ideal for surreptitious shooting, but especially for such things as concerts and plays. While the lenses weren't terribly fast, thus limiting their indoor capabilities, it was possible to make very good available-light shots with the camera. I did so on many occasions.
I also loved the depth-of-field indicators. They were two red pointers on either side of the focus point mark, and as the aperture was changed they moved in or out (in sync, one moving left and one moving right) to indicate the zone of acceptable sharpness. This was similar to the way the lenses on the Hasselblad cameras worked, and to this day I miss that unambiguous display.
Over time I grew away from the rangefinder in general, finding the newer compact SLRs to easily take their place. Except for the noise, of course. Today I'd love to have a good digital rangefinder camera, but the only one currently being made is the insanely priced Leica M9. (A solid contender, the Epson RD-1, was recently discontinued and the prices have skyrocketed well past "reasonable." There are some others that boast add-on digital viewfinders, but they stink. The viewfinders, I mean!)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: The day the internet died.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Yesterday was a monumental day in the history of the 'net: Duke University, the birthplace of Usenet, shut down its Usenet server some thirty years after it first came to life.
Citing diminishing use and rising costs as the reason for the shutdown, this comes as sad news for those of us who cut their teeth on newsgroups. While there are other servers still hosting Usenet traffic, the closure of the Duke server is a sign that the end is near.
I spent far too much free time on Usenet in the '80s and '90s. Before the World Wide Web, Usenet was THE source of information and interaction on the 'net. If you know what DoD stands for, you spent a lot of time on rec.motorcycles; if you know who the KoTL is, you spent too much time there!
There are people I "met" on Usenet with whom I still correspond. I first encountered Ed Harris, whose name should not be unknown to readers of this blog, on rec.guns. That was more years ago than either of us care to recount, and despite never having been face-to-face we've exchanged ideas, shared projects and even collaborated a bit on a training manual for emergency communications. There are others whose names would mean nothing to you, but mean a great deal to me.
With so many ISPs dropping Usenet access, people for whom the WWW is the whole 'net don't see the loss. For those of us who remember FidoNet gateways and bang paths it's like losing an old friend.
Virtually, of course.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: I'd like a Meatball Marinara please. Oh, wait...
Friday, May 14, 2010
...wrong subway!
I found this some time ago, and thought it was an intriguing site in the growing "abandoned things" genre. It's not just about subways, either - photographer Shawn Dufour has lots of cool sites pictured: factories, hospitals, even a railroad yard.
Have a look at abandonedsubwaytunnels.com
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Water in the New World.
Friday, May 07, 2010
I found this on Digg a few days ago, and thought it was intriguing. There is much about the Mayan civilization's technology that we still don't know, and this is opens up another set of questions.
Makes the dream of time travel all the more tantalizing.
Maya plumbing, first pressurized water feature found.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Cameras I Have Known - the Minolta XE-7.
Friday, April 30, 2010
The XE-7 is one of the cameras I've admired from afar, but never actually owned. This wasn't because of any lack of the camera itself, or of the superb Minolta lenses, but simply because it had been discontinued several years before I got involved in photography. The XE-7's successors weren't nearly as interesting, and their lack of a reliable "pro" camera throughout their history meant that there was no upgrade path. That left the XE-7 sitting on its own little photographic island.
But what an island it was!
Photo courtesy of Stan C. Reade Photo, http://www.stancreade.com
The XE-7 was rumored to have been developed "in conjunction" with E. Leitz, the makers of the famous Leica line of cameras. I'm not sure that was the case, as a tear-down reveals significant similarities to the XK model, introduced in 1972, and both preceded the rebranded Leica R3 version by several years. That assertion does, however, give one a good feel for just how well the XE-7 was built.
The shutter, sourced from Copal, was quiet and accurate. Film advance was as smooth as anything ever made in the 35mm field. Metering was predictable and accurate (as long as the aperture follower, which coupled the meter to the lens, stayed clean - a common weakness of all Minolta MC/MD mount cameras.) The camera was just a joy to use, and those times I took to the field with borrowed XE-7s were magical. The camera was responsive and easy to adapt to; the images were clean, clear, and had wonderful contrast.
Part of the stellar performance was, of course, due to the Minolta Rokkor lenses. Minolta produced some of the very best optics to ever come out of Japan; to this day, knowledgeable photographers wax poetic about the color rendition of their designs. (They were good enough that Leica bought several Minolta lenses, with no change other than mounts, to round out the lens line for their SLR cameras.)
The camera proved to be fairly rugged, the aperture follower issue notwithstanding. One of my colleagues had a pair of them that he used extensively while working as a photojournalist, and they looked like they'd been through a war zone. They still worked perfectly despite the abuse.
Sadly, the XE-7 was discontinued in 1977 to make way for the more modern XD series of cameras. While the XDs were certainly smooth, nicely functioning machines, they weren't the photographer's tool that the XE-7 was. It was because of the lackluster XD that I generally ignored Minolta, despite their uncompromising optics.
-=[ Grant ]=-
P.S.: Regarding Minolta "pro" cameras - yes, I know all about the XK and the XK Motor. I also know, far too well, how unreliable those cameras were in actual use. The XK Motor, in particular, was perhaps the least reliable "pro" camera I've ever seen, with many examples making multiple trips to Minolta for repeated repairs. I liked the XK, and to this day feel the XK Motor to be one of the nicest-handling large SLRs ever made, but they just didn't have what it took in the durability department. More's the pity.
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Cameras I Have Known - the ICA Universal Palmos.
Friday, April 16, 2010
You may recall that I spent some time as a commercial photographer (and general photographic genius) back in the '80s. During that period I used a wide variety of cameras and lenses, and probably spent an amount exceeding the economies of several Caribbean nations on my vocation/avocation.
Over the next few Fridays, I'll be talking about some of the cameras I've used extensively, or have had close contact with, during my career. For those who lived through the end of the film era, this will be a trip down memory lane. For those who came of age after the digital revolution, here's your chance to hear what things used to be like. (For your benefit, I'll work in a solid rant at the end of the series.)
The camera I've chosen to start is one which even hard core photographers won't recognize: An obscure ICA 9x12cm folding field camera called the Universal Palmos. ICA was one of the four European photography/optics concerns which, in 1926, merged to form Zeiss-Ikon. (Zeiss also marketed a model called the Universal Palmos, but it paled in comparison to the ICA model.) The Palmos utilized 9x12cm sheet film, which was sometimes referred to as "the European 4x5."
The Universal Palmos was reminiscent of the company’s better known “Maximar” model, but had a longer double extension track. The track had two focus knobs, one for the back and one for the front. They could be used singly, but in combination would extend the bellows to the full length of 16”, allowing satisfying closeup shots. Once focused, the knobs could be pulled out to lock the track(s) in place. Even with the tracks fully extended, the camera was still rigid. A better large format field camera one could neither want, nor find. The terminally curious can download the 1925 ICA catalog and see a full description of the machine.
Courtesy of www.liveauctioneers.com
Like all ICA products, it was superbly built. The range of movements on the front standard were greater than any "press" camera, and it had sported a real rotating back. The focus and sliding/rising front controls were gear driven, and machined to incredibly close tolerances. There was no backlash or slop in any of the controls. The metal was finished in a deep, glossy black enamel and the controls were nickel plated.
The 9x12 film was a bit of a problem. While not unknown here in the U.S., it wasn't available in the wide variety of our own 4x5" format. Luckily the two formats are very close in size, and I was able to fabricate a clever adaptor that allowed me to attach a Graflok back while retaining the rotating feature of the camera. I was even able to use a Grafmatic film holder for the ultimate in rapid-fire large format photography!
A slightly larger problem was the lens mounting plate. It was a circular sheet metal affair, which sort of bayonetted into three pegs on the front standard. I was able to demount the old lens and mount a slightly more modern optic, and an acquaintance with a metal shop was kind enough to fabricate a second for me. The small lensboard was serious restriction on the size and maximum aperture of the lenses I could mount, but this was a field camera, not a studio tool - the slower optics weren't a hinderance in the great outdoors.
I shot more 4x5" film through the ICA than through all of my other large format cameras combined. It was handy, compact, superbly constructed of fine materials, and boasted capabilities that no contemporary field camera could match. The fact that I got it for less than $20 was just icing on the cake!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: A shell of former glory.
Friday, April 09, 2010
I usually eat my breakfast in front of the computer. I check my personal email, look in at Twitter and Facebook, read George Ure's blog, look at all the blog feeds to which I subscribe, and maybe even check what's for sale on Craigslist.
One of the Facebook updates this morning was from Rob Pincus, who is heading for Rochester (NY). That brought back memories, as in my former life I traveled to Rochester on an occasional basis, one time staying for the better part of two weeks. Astute readers will deduce that these trips had something to do with the Eastman Kodak Company (EKC, as it was known - Kodak was extremely fond of acronyms and abbreviations), and that deduction would be correct.
In the early- to mid-Eighties, which is when I visited, Kodak owned most of Rochester - and what they didn't, Xerox did. Kodak's facilities were huge even by Detroit standards, all based on sales of film and associated equipment and supplies. As digital photography eroded film's dominance, Kodak (which had been willfully dismissive of the digital threat throughout the period under discussion) saw their business decline precipitously.
Barely into the new century, Kodak was closing buildings at a rapid pace. They demolished a few, auctioned off some others, and sold what they felt they didn't need but which would still generate cash. One of the latter was a complex known as the Marketing Education Center, or - in EKC-speak - MEC.
MEC is where they held seminars, training sessions, and business meetings. Every time I went to Kodak, MEC is where I ended up. It was a gorgeous campus, looking more like a community college than a corporate office.
MEC sat next to the Genesee River, and featured a dining hall with floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the river and a placid meadow. The view from the tiered seating was so perfectly New England, regardless of the season, that visitors joked the windows were actually Duratrans - Kodak's trade name for large, backlit transparencies. The food was't bad, either!
This little trip down memory lane got me to wondering: whatever happened to MEC? As it turns out, pretty much nothing. Kodak cleared out and sold it for about $3.5 million to an investment concern in 2004, and it appears to be sitting vacant today. The campus, with 120 acres and four buildings, is currently for sale at an asking price of only $9.9 million.
(In researching this, I came across the blog of a Rochester ex-pat whose family worked for EKC. She chronicles the decline of George Eastman's once-great empire.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
P.S.: Speaking of acronyms...at one point Kodak decided to do some corporate reshuffling, and the technicians who serviced their large photofinishing and photocopying equipment were inexplicably transferred to the control of the newly renamed Consumer Equipment Service. At roughly the same time, those technicians were given the title of “Field Engineers.” The in-joke was that since they were now FEs, working for CES, that their corporate acronym was to be FECES. Upper management was not at all amused.
FRIDAY SURPRISE: It certainly was.
Friday, April 02, 2010
I woke up this morning, completely sure in my mind that it was Thursday. As everyone else knows, it's actually Friday, which means I owe you a blog post, late though it may be.
TIME recently ran this great slideshow of old computer hardware, photographed in a way you might not expect. Very nice work, and some detail of a rapidly disappearing past. Enjoy, and happy Friday!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Malt-O-Meal??
Friday, March 26, 2010
Well, not quite, but a single malt being billed as the "world's oldest whisky" is now for sale.
A full bottle of Mortlach 70-year-old Scotch will set you back more than ten grand, if you can find one; there are only 54 full-size (700ml) and 162 small size (200ml) bottles from the single cask avilable. That's for the entire world, mind you.
(Unlike wine, Scotch whisky doesn't continue to age once it's been bottled. There are older bottles of various brands offered from time to time, but this is currently the oldest vintage available.)
Mortlach is a distillery in the Speyside region of Scotland, home to a huge number of other distillers. Glenfiddich, a more recognized label, is a close neighbor. Most of Mortlach's production goes to blenders, who combine their single malt with others to make blended Scotch whisky. Very little Mortlach gets into the market as a single malt, making this a particularly unique occurrence.
Many people automatically assume that the older the Scotch, the "better" it is. This is not always the case. As whisky ages in oak barrels, it takes on the taste of the wood - and whatever was in the cask before. Most whisky is aged in used wine barrels, as the winemaking process tends to season or "mellow" the wood. This makes it preferable for the long whisky sleep, as it reduces the bitter tannins that will inevitably seep into the malt.
If you have a relatively mild whisky to start - such as those from the lowlands of Scotland - the barrels tend to impart a huge amount of that wood taste relative to the taste of the whisky itself. Such vintages taste more like the barrel than they do the whisky!
This is particularly true if the barrels once held a more flavorful wine, like sherry or port. When a whisky is exposed to an extended stay in such a barrel, it comes out tasting (in my opinion) more like candy than whisky. Such malts are quite popular in the marketplace, as they tend to mask the whisky taste for less experienced Scotch drinkers.
On the other hand, a very powerful whisky such as those from the island of Islay will usually benefit from an extended stay in the barrel. The same amount of time which might overpower the taste of a milder Scotch helps to mellow the stronger varieties. An 8-year-old lowland may be perfect for drinking, but an 8-year-old Bowmore is enough to remove nose hair! By the 16th year, that same whisky will have mellowed to the point that it's merely very strong, not disabling.
That's why I can't get too excited about tasting a Mortlach that's spent the better part of the last century in an oak cask. It's a somewhat bland whisky to start, and I can just imagine how much wood taste has infused itself into the liquid. Now, if there were a 70-year-old Lagavulin, that would be interesting!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Space - the final frontier. But only if you market it.
Friday, March 19, 2010
While you may not be familiar with her work, Megan Prelinger has been busy chronicling America’s space initiatives, focusing on how they were sold to the public. She’s put together a great book: "Another Science Fiction,” which is largely a collection of advertisements for space contractors during the Cold War.
SImultaneously recruiting employees while dangling the lure of space exploration to the masses, these ads ran in such magazines as LIFE and National Geographic. I remember many of them, but Prelinger's book is the first to collect them and show how vital they were in shaping a new vision of space.
In this must-read interview at WIRED, Prelinger talks about the impact of space advertising, what could have been bigger than Apollo, and how countercultural utopias figured into the space race. Fascinating.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: My dog has fleas.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Sadly, my dog's fleas aren't terribly talented, unlike the fleas chronicled in Dark Roasted Blend's entry on Victorian flea circuses.
That, however, isn't the end of the story. In the aforementioned article I learned of a blog devoted to flea circus research. No, I'm not kidding.
There are some really odd blogs out there. As I always say, though, “everyone needs a hobby!”
-=[ Grant ]=-
P.S.: It just occurred to me that there may be even odder blogs floating around the intertubes. Post your strangest blog finds in the comments. (No extremely profane sites or anything dealing with sexual fetishes. We want to see odd, not disgusting.)
FRIDAY SURPRISE: When in Rome...
Friday, March 05, 2010
My fascination with old and abandoned things often leads to dreams of great discoveries. Though I've been to a few abandoned places - all of which are pretty well known, at least locally - I'm handicapped by geography. Here in rural Oregon, there just aren't many such places.
There weren't enough people here to have produced a large urban/industrial base a century ago, our technological history doesn't go back much more than 175 years in any case, and we've never exactly been a hotbed of military activity. Thus my dreams of being the first (or, at least, one of the very few) to visit such a site remain elusive.
Other people are more fortunate. A British film crew just last year found the remains of the Aqua Traiana headwaters, the beginnings of a lost aqueduct that once supplied Rome with fresh water. It's beautiful and amazingly well preserved, and all lying below a pig pasture near the village of Manziana, just northwest of Rome.
What gets me is that they found it - in the best Indiana Jones style - by discovering a hidden door in an abandoned church.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Motor City throws a rod.
Friday, February 26, 2010
The decline of Detroit fascinates me.
For many years I've wandered the Northwest visiting ghost towns and abandoned settlements, and always in the back of my mind are the unanswered questions: why did people leave? What was is like to live in a dying town? When did people finally figure out that their town was destined for the dust bin of history? Did it happen suddenly, or was it a slow, agonizing extinction?
These questions come to the forefront as I watch the continuing downfall of one of America's proudest cities.
I'm not saying that Detroit is going to disappear like, oh, Bourne (Oregon) did. It might, it might not. But it's clear that the city's contraction leaves much doubt about its future, and the glorious past of the former powerhouse remains to confront and confound the present residents.
There are lots of great galleries of decaying Detroit around the 'net (I"ve linked to one or two of them), and Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre have produced some of the best.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Seedy characters.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Lots of folks, concerned with anything from global warming to economic collapse, are recommending that you have a garden. What's more, most of them say, you should be planting only non-hybrid varieties and saving the seed from those plants. Only by doing that can you hope to be self sufficient, or so the theory goes.
Whether you think such advice to be prescient or kooky, there are people who do this on a grand scale. Read The New Yorker's story about the global seed bank.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: I miss the Cold War.
Friday, February 12, 2010
I really do.
Today a rogue regime can acquire nuclear force simply by writing a check. A really big check, no doubt, but child's play compared to the old days.
If you wanted an atomic bomb back then, you had to work a lot harder.
You see, we were absolutely convinced that our sole opponent in the Cold War - the Soviet Union - wanted to bomb us out of existence. We had our plans, our bombs, our missiles - and so did they.
We were always trying to find out what they were up to, and they were doing likewise. That tug-of-war gave us a time of espionage, spies and high intrigue.
Somehow, The Underwear Bomber just isn't as, well, romantic.
To illustrate my point, one of those Cold War skirmishes was fought by an Iowa-boy-turned-Soviet agent named George Koval. It's an interesting story.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Money makes the world go 'round.
Friday, February 05, 2010
Ahh, who can forget that classic song from the film version of 'Cabaret'...
The physical appearance of money changes from place to place, reflecting both local aesthetic preference and historical events. Dark Roasted Blend has an interesting collection of unusual paper money from various countries and time periods.
It seems fitting that, since we started off with a musical number set in inter-war Germany, that we see some money from that general time. I'll leave you with the infamous 500 Million Mark note, which by mid-1923 wasn't enough to buy a load of bread:
Today, you can buy one of those notes for less than $10.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: I know where I'm going!
Friday, January 29, 2010
It's a Hollywood staple: man and woman driving down road. Obviously lost. Woman suggests man stop at gas station and ask directions. Man refuses, insisting he knows exactly where they are. Hilarity or tragedy ensues, depending on the theme of the movie/TV show.
As it happens, there are solid scientific reasons that humans can't navigate all that well. This article from NewScientist lays it out.
(For the record: as long as I have a map, I'm gold. If all I have are written directions, no matter how detailed, I'll get lost. Odd, huh?)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Angel wings.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Aircraft, as you may have heard, are vulnerable to missiles. Whether launched from the ground or another aircraft, even a small missile can easily down the largest plane. One of the few defenses to an incoming missile is the dispensing of chaff (small metallic particles/strips) and flares, both of which are intended to fool the navigation systems that guide missiles to their prey.
What's odd is how pretty those countermeasures can be.
Even odder, this pic - along with many others - can be found at a site called Environmental Graffiti.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: All aboard!
Friday, January 15, 2010
The site English Russia entices me to visit the former Soviet Union - the sheer number of abandoned installations makes my head spin. Today the site beckons me with two related stories about abandoned railways in the former superpower.
First, a look at a never-operational line in northern Siberia, apparently built at Stalin's personal request. The reason for a railroad from nowhere to nowhere remains a mystery, though in all fairness we do the same thing with highways in Alaska.
The second is of a locomotive depot in the same part of the country, but these were all operational - until the USSR broke apart. At some point, everyone just walked away...
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: The Final Frontier.
Friday, January 08, 2010
Recognize this?
Yes, that's the famous Apollo 8 picture titled "EarthRise." Shot in 1968, it became an icon of America's space program. There are others, however.
Air & Space magazine has put together a superb display of NASA's most famous photos. See how many you recognize.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: "Why no, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!"
Friday, December 18, 2009
A lot of controversy still swirls over President Reagan's space-based initiatives, collectively referred to as "Star Wars." While a lot of Americans didn't take him seriously, some very important Soviets did.
Air & Space Magazine published this terrific article on the race to put laser weapons into orbit, focusing on the Soviet Skif-DM project. Great read about a little known (and even less understood) time in our recent past.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Good Morning, Dave.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Once upon a time, two geeks met in college. They had some neat ideas about the world of computers, and were anxious to put their ideas into production. They started a little company.
Shortly after they incorporated, they introduced a new computer - one that was more accessible, more flexible, and under the control of a single person. They didn't make many of them, and very few exist today, but with it they changed the face of computing forever.
No, I'm not talking about Jobs & Wozniak. I'm thinking of Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson, and the company they founded - Digital Equipment Corporation. DEC, as it would come to be known, introduced what was really the earliest commercial incarnation of the personal computer: the PDP-1.
The PDP-1 certainly didn't look like what we've come to expect of the PC. Nevertheless, it started the downsizing of computing power, and introduced a concept critical to the modern PC: user interaction, as opposed to batch data processing. This shift was the necessary step to creating true personal computers, and DEC got there first.
Interactivity opened up huge new vistas for the computer. The PDP-1 has the distinction of initiating things we now take for granted: text editing, music programs, and even computer gaming. (The very first computer video game, 'Spacewar!', was written for the PDP-1. Yes, you have DEC to thank for your Wii.)
DEC only made 50 PDP-1 machines, of which only 3 are known to have survived. All of them are currently in the collection of the Computer History Museum. One is fully operational, and is demonstrated twice a month by running that historic computer game. They've got a terrific website that details the history and restoration of the PDP-1.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: I gotta call my bookie.
Friday, December 04, 2009
For the bibliophiles amongst us...
First, a regular reader sent me this link to a collection of beautiful libraries around the world. My college's library looked nothing like this, believe me!
Second, Dark Roasted Blend has this great article on bookplates. Very cool, and increasingly a symbol of times gone by. (Jack Dempsey?? Apparently boxers were smarter back then; I don't know about you, but I can't see Mike Tyson having one.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: I'll take "Stupid things I've done" for $100, Alex.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Back in the early '80s, I lead small groups of advanced amateur photographers around the Portland, Oregon metro area at night. The goal was to teach them the fundamentals of available-light photography in an environment that was simultaneously familiar, yet unexplored. We'd gather at about 10:pm at a local Denny's, then head out for a few hours of shooting, usually getting home about 3:am.
Let me paint you a picture: say, 5 people. Camera bags stuffed with multiple thousands of dollars (in Reagan-era money) of easily pawned high-end camera equipment. Major urban center. At night. Sparse police presence. Before cel phones. Before SureFire flashlights. Even before our concealed handgun law.
Now I know what you're thinking, and in retrospect I agree with you. But it seemed like a great idea at the time!
The exact itinerary varied a bit, but a typical evening might find us wandering around the downtown core area, through alleys, construction sites, industrial areas, and perhaps even along the east side of the Willamette River. (Today area residents know it as the "EastBank Esplanade": a tribute to a ditzy mayor who was convinced the way to help "poor homeless people" was to build a boulevard for over-indulged yuppies to ride their bicycles between latte stops. Back then, though, it was just a rough industrial riverbank where bums set up camp once the longshoremen had gone home to dinner.)
These events were very popular - we always filled our limit of attendees - because they were, after all, the only way to get shots like this:
While some of the participants used fine-grained films, tripods and long exposures (giving me a chance to share with them the mysteries of reciprocity failure), others handheld their shots using fast films (often pushed in development) and fast lenses. Both approaches had their uses and limitations, and the facilitator (that would be me) had to be well versed in all of it - while simultaneously maintaining some sense of aesthetics. I'll gladly claim the former, and from the shot above you can judge if I have any business talking about the latter.
Today I wouldn't attempt such craziness without an armored personnel carrier and close air support, if at all. Back then, though, it was just us, our "steal me" bags, and lots of film. And the bums.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: The Witch is Back.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Back in '51, the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Oxfordshire welcomed a new member to their staff: a computer. Today we don't even bat an eyelid when a new PC shows up in the office, but back then computers were a Big Deal. (After all, how many new staff members get their own office - the largest one in the building?)
The Harwell Computer, later to be known as "WITCH" (Wolverhampton Instrument for Teaching Computing from Harwell), now occupies a unique position in computing history. It holds the distinction of being the world's oldest surviving computer with electronically-stored data and programs. All the original parts are present and it is capable, in theory, of being operated.
Though it hasn't been switched on for over 35 years, it is now being restored to operational status at the Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park. They expect the restoration to be completed next summer, at which point the WITCH will be able to claim another title: oldest operational computer, beating out the Ferranti Pegasus whipper-snapper at London's Science Museum.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Pipe dreams.
Friday, November 13, 2009
My sister is an organist, and one of her ambitions is to someday build a custom house - around a pipe organ. If you aren't familiar with what that entails, let's just say it would need to be a big house.
Pipe organs, even modest examples, are large instruments. As they increase in complexity, though, they grow seemingly exponentially. A large organ can have thousands - even tens of thousands - of precisely tuned pipes that produce notes when fed with pressurized air. Just the valving to make one of these behemoths work is mind-boggling in complexity.
Even the part you can see - known as the console - can make a 747 look positively simple:
Main console, Atlantic City Convention Hall organ, from http://www.acchos.org
For more great pictures of pipe organs, check out this Dark Roasted Blend story.
(Oh, for those who are interested - the Atlantic City organ is perhaps the largest ever constructed, but has never been completely operational. The largest working pipe organ in the world is the Wanamaker organ shown in the article. The building in which it is housed is now a Macy's store. No kidding.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Morse code.
Friday, November 06, 2009
The LIFE website this week unveiled a photo retrospective of Project Mercury, America's first human spaceflight program. If you look at the picture captions, you'll notice one name on most of them: Ralph Morse. There's a good reason for that.
Ralph Morse was a staffer at LIFE (and later TIME) when he was assigned to cover a press conference in Washington in 1959. That event was the announcement of the Project Mercury astronauts. Sensing the long term importance of the announcement, Morse contacted his editor and told him that there would be a lot of public interest in these men. He suggested that the magazine assign someone permanently to NASA, which was then less than a year old. Morse got the job.
It was a good choice; Morse had already been with LIFE for over a decade, bringing back some of the most well known pictures in their archives. NASA was a fledgling agency, and Morse had gotten himself in on the ground floor of what would become the Space Race.
Over the next couple of decades, Morse would become an insider at NASA. He got exclusive access, and was even allowed to place his cameras in restricted areas his competition at NEWSWEEK couldn't even dream of. Along the way, he produced some of the most iconic images of the various NASA projects.
It all started at that press conference, where an idiot reporter (some things never change) asked the astronauts which of them expected "to come back alive." Morse grabbed this shot of the astronauts showing their mettle:
Some of his shots were very well known...
...while others weren't:
All of them, though, came from the camera of an inventive genius whose enthusiasm for his job knew no bounds. Were it not for his eye, his ingenuity, and his nose for news, we wouldn't have this great visual record of our nation's greatest achievements. George Hunt, at one time LIFE's Managing Editor, said “if LIFE could afford only one photographer, it would have to be Ralph Morse.”
Ralph is now 92, but unfortunately for us gave up photography some years ago.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Not my type.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Some years back I had a job that required me to interface on a daily basis with a local governmental body. There was a form they required us to fill out and mail to them; a form with an odd dimension. I've forgotten the exact measurements, but it wasn't a full 8.5x11, or a half-sheet, or even a quarter-sheet. It wasn't one of the common postcard sizes, either - it was a completely custom size on 3-part NCR paper.
At one point I was writing a piece of software to automate the process of gathering the information and filling out the form. I really wanted to submit the data electronically, but that wasn't an option. The second best choice would have been to simply print the information on an 8.5x11 sheet. No, they insisted, it had to be the same form factor as the handwritten form.
WTH??
Using all the diplomacy I could muster I tried for weeks to negotiate a compromise. I asked time and again why we needed to use THAT specific form size, and all I could get out of them was "that's what we use." Why, I wanted to know, couldn't they use something else, something more common and less costly?
I finally got one of their people to spill the beans: the reason for this odd form size was because, many years ago (decades, actually), the office now occupied by this agency acquired a little filing cabinet whose original purpose was unknown. The cabinet's drawers were permanently configured for this odd paper size.
At some point the office was vacated, but the strange cabinet remained behind. After several such occupant shuffles, this agency moved into the space and there was that cabinet! It was pressed into use for this form, and that was the end of the discussion.
Our company was being dictated to by an orphaned filing cabinet older than its users, and the situation was unlikely to change because "that's the way we've always done it."
I read this story about the NYPD and had a flashback.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Yes, we have no bananas. Or anything else.
Friday, October 23, 2009
I decided that I'd raked enough muck for one week, and that you deserved a day off. So, it's Friday Surprise time again! (Don't worry, I'll resume the Self Defense series on Monday.)
Today we're going to see what happens when a megalomaniac decides that he needs to export the American Way Of Life into a jungle. In Brazil. Let's just say things didn't go as planned.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: It's Saturday!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Yes, I know I didn't have a Surprise for you yesterday. I'd intended to present instead the latest installment of the Self Defense Thoughts, but fell asleep.
I write most of my blog articles in the evening, then finish them up and post them at breakfast. On Thursday evening I fell asleep, and Friday I had to get up very early (and miss my breakfast!) so that I could be somewhere first thing in the morning. The blog got ignored in the rush that ensued.
The latest installment of the series follows. Enjoy!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: A view to a thrill.
Friday, October 09, 2009
When I first started college, my ambition was to design optical systems for spy satellites. No, I'm not kidding, that's really what I wanted to do! That didn't work out, but I'm still fascinated with the idea of photographing the earth from space. I like seeing what familiar things look like from a very high vantage point, and you can't get higher than that!
Here's one, for example. Can you guess what/where this is?
The answer, along with a huge collection of other spectral composite Landsat 7 images.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Back to the future.
Friday, October 02, 2009
Well, at 110 baud, it's a slow trip!
This Teletype is identical to the one I used in high school to access a computer timeshare system. Back in the mid-'70s, practical personal computers were still a ways off, and even minicomputers (like the DEC PDP-11) were far too expensive for most high schools to purchase. The affordable way to computer power was to buy a subscription to time on a mainframe computer, and dial in on their telephone lines.
Our school was out in the boonies (no, seriously, we were) and we linked to a computer located in Portland (OR). We used the ASR-33 above to interact with the computer. The dial on the right was used to call one of the access numbers; if it was busy, we tried the next one.
As I recall, we had three numbers on which we had access, and if all three of them were busy (other users of the service), we had to wait until a line was free. For those who have grown up never having used a rotary phone, there was no such thing as speed dial or automatic redial!
We could use the paper tape reader on the left of the machine to feed in a program, or to save a program from the computer's memory. At the blazing speed of 10 characters per second, it took a LONG time to feed in a program - sometimes 30 minutes or more. We had a couple of large filing cabinets full of paper tape rolls, programs that other students had written or ones which the company supplied to us.
The computer output was printed on the typewriter in the center of the console. It used a roll of paper that was about 8" wide, and in our case was a dull yellow color.
Yes, I'm old, but your turn is coming, kids - someday your children will be laughing at the idea of your beloved iPod!
More pics of the ASR-33
Wikipedia entry on the TeleType ASR-33
What is a TeleType, anyhow?
The history of TeleType
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: High water mark.
Friday, September 25, 2009
In 1874, The Netherlands had been only a few years divorced from Belgium. They had a small, weak army, no real allies, and not a lot of money. They did, however, worry about invasion from German, and so decided to fortify Amsterdam.
Remember the "not a lot of money" thing? Their poverty lead them to observe that concrete was expensive, but water was cheap. Their logical conclusion was to build a wall of water to keep invading armies out. They'd do this by purposely flooding the farmland around their own city. Seriously. They thought it was a great idea.
Of course, during World War II the Stelling van Amsterdam (Defence Line of Amsterdam) was obsoleted very quickly by mechanized armies and air power. All that's left now are a few national monuments and some parks.
Take a gander at well organized Defense Line of Amsterdam website.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Book 'em, Danno.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Just because something's old, doesn't mean that it isn't useful. That's the apparent philosophy behind one of my favorite places to spend money: Lindsay's Technical Books.
Lindsay's primary business is reprinting out of print and public domain books on a wide range of technical topics. If you want to learn how to run a lathe, construct things out of sheet metal, do chemistry experiments, build a radio, embalm a body, repair a locomotive, make paint, or just about anything else from the last century, Lindsay probably has a book on the subject. That book, most likely, will only be available from them.
Some of the titles are obscure while some are better known, and occasionally you'll find one that was once considered the standard in its field. One of these is the classic "How To Run A Lathe", by the South Bend lathe company. Many older machinists started their careers with that book, and Lindsay's is the place to buy a fresh copy.
(When I was barely a teenager and apprenticing as a watch & clockmaker, one of my primary references was a book called "The Watchmaker's Lathe" by Ward Goodrich. At the time it was widely available, but went out of print a number of years back. Lindsay acquired it, and now reprints that classic title. It's a bit disconcerting to see a book from my personal past being sold by a purveyor of "antique" information!)
A small selection of their books are current, commercially available titles, while others are specialized works that would have no other sales venue were it not for Lindsay's odd clientele.
Of course they have a website (www.lindsaybks.com), but don't expect much. First, only a small fraction of their titles are on their site - you need to request a printed catalog to see what's available. Even then, you won't receive a comprehensive catalog, but after a few quarterly issues you'll have a pretty good idea of what they've got.
You can order online, but it's in the form of a secure email: you type in the catalog number and part of the title - no point & click or shopping cart at Lindsay's!
They're not convenient, can be downright cantankerous (spend some time rummaging through the site for a taste of their collective personality), but they're always fun and educational. When the latest Lindsay's catalog comes in the mail, I've been known to drop everything just to browse their latest offerings. If you have even a passing interest in technology gone by, I guarantee you'll find a way to spend money with them, too.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Just the stars.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Nothing witty or exploratory today, just a great picture of star trails from the Astronomy Picture Of The Day website. I post it because it's beautiful, intriguing - and shot right here in the state of Oregon.
Grant's Pass, to be precise. (I couldn't help indulging in just a bit of narcissism!)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: It's all geek to me.
Friday, September 04, 2009
One might think that this era in history is the most well documented that has ever existed. Why, we have photography and sound recording and movies (and their digital equivalents.) Everything, it seems, has been saved for posterity. How much better preserved we are than our forebears!
Yep, you'd think so. And you'd be dead wrong.
There are huge gaps in our archival record, and oddly enough they have to do with the very things that should be most easily chronicled: our technology. Obsolete technology is disappearing, and with it a vital understanding of what we as a species have accomplished in this world. Decorative arts seem to be deemed worthy of perpetuation, no matter their relative importance, while everything else is consigned to the scrap heap.
Take just the computer - there are surprisingly few organizations who have made an effort to preserve this recent technology. With programmable computers being no more than about 60 years old, we should have a very good record of all that has passed in their development. We don't. Old computers are rare, and the earliest (physically largest) machines are virtually all gone. Of those first pioneers we have nothing but a few bad photos and the occasional fragmentary drawing.
That's just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other gaps in our historical records through which technologies, people, organizations, and companies have fallen. There are a few places attempting to preserve bits and pieces of our technological past, and one of them is the Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation (SMECC).
SMECC maintains a fascinating site that gives a good feeling for the breadth of their collections. Particularly valuable are the first-person chronicles of the people who actually made the things in the museum's collection.
A warning: their site is perhaps the worst example of Microsoft FrontPage design. It's not nice to look at, not well laid out, and you'll have to poke around to find the gems. It feels like a throwback to the early '90s internet, which I suppose one could argue is appropriate for a museum. (With all that, it's still better than the average MySpace page.)
Any self-respecting geek could easily spend days there. Whether you're into computers, radios, or microscopes, SMECC has something for you.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: All Your Base Are Belong To Us.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Back in 1999 there was a Titan missile base for sale in California - Chico, if memory serves. If the salesman's information was to be believed, it was it great good condition, unlike most such abandoned facilities. I was fascinated by the possibilities of one of those huge complexes, but it was my brother who came up with the bright idea to buy the thing, convert it into a "Y2K Survival Community", and sell condos to rich people skittish about the coming millennium.
He figured that the three silos - each 150 deep and 55 feet in diameter - would net 45 condos of about 2,300 square feet each. Were there that many gullible millionaires who could be relieved of their money, if they could be assured that their families would survive the coming catastrophe? People in Hollywood are infamous for their susceptibility to even wilder schemes, so it seemed plausible.
Of course we never got beyond the talking stage, and as we all know nothing much happened on New Years Day 2000. It was fun to speculate and scheme, though!
That was as close as I ever got to one of those behemoth underground complexes. I've always wanted to visit one, but never have, and thus have settled for doing so vicariously.
Just as I did with this and this from www.terrastories.com
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: All Jazzed Up, Part Deux.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
If you ever get to attend a major shooting match, one thing that will impress you is how accessible the top competitors are. If you want to meet Rob Leatham or Jerry Miculek, no problem - they're usually happy to shake hands and talk.
The same is true for the top jazz musicians. Jazz is a personal music, and because of the smaller fan base getting to meet even the biggest names is relatively easy. Imagine being able to walk up to a well-known pop or rock artist and being able to do that. Unless you're a buxom groupie with a purse full of cocaine, their security staff isn't likely to let you get within a country mile of the star! Jazz musicians aren't like that, and I've had the experiences to prove it.
My interest in jazz matured in high school, which is also where my first brush with fame occurred. I went to school with the brother of Alan Yankee, who at the time was a saxophonist in the Stan Kenton Orchestra. Kenton was my idol, then and now, and meeting Alan was a highlight of my young musical life. Little did I know that it was only the beginning.
When I was attending college in Portland (Oregon) in the early '80s, there were a bunch of jazz clubs in the city. Portland was known as a jazz town, and major players would often make a stop on their way between San Francisco and Seattle. We had not one but two jazz radio stations (one commercial and one funded by a local college), as well as an internationally regarded jazz festival. Life was good for a jazz musician and lover of the genre.
By the turn of the century, the Festival had been reduced to a weekend in one of the city parks, one of the radio stations was gone and the other played more blues than jazz, and virtually all of the jazz clubs were no more. I was lucky enough to meet quite a few notable jazz musicians before jazz disappeared from Portland.
Freddy Hubbard played a single set at one of the local clubs, to a packed house. Despite the cramped surroundings, he made sure that he got around and shook people's hands before jetting off to who-knows-where.
One of the high schools managed to snag the great Clark Terry for a benefit concert. The school was in a bad part of town, and the concert was not well promoted. Still, I was surprised at the sparse crowd. For a city with a jazz reputation, it was embarrassing. That didn't stop Clark from putting on a great show, and I told him as much when we met afterwards. "I"ve played bigger crowds, but that's not important - I'm just happy that people appreciate my music." Clark is known as a consummate gentleman, and his reputation is well deserved.
One summer a local college held a small jazz festival, and the headliners were guitarists Herb Ellis and Barney Kessel. During a break between acts, I went to use the facilities. Standing at the next urinal was Herb himself, and we started talking. I normally wouldn't remember a conversation from almost 30 years ago, but the surreal setting burned this one into my mind: gardening. After finishing our respective business, we went outside and sat at a bench, still talking gardening. Nice guy, that Herb. (For those who think the sun rises and sets on rock guitarists like Van Halen, check out the link - Herb is the gray-haired gentleman. Perhaps you'll learn something.)
The Woody Herman Big Band, one of the most popular in the history of jazz, made a surprise visit to Portland one year. I don't remember the details, but for some reason they unexpectedly found themselves in town. Somehow they managed to find a venue at one of the colleges, which had an open auditorium that day. Word went out on the jazz radio stations that tickets were available for that evening - dirt cheap, with all proceeds going to some charity. The place was jammed, and the band was in top form. Later I got to thank Woody for the unexpected treat, and expressed my appreciation to number of the band members as well. One of them was Frank Tiberi, who would later take over the organization after Woody's death.
Trumpeters Pete and Conte Candoli appeared in Portland one year, and of course I saw their show. At the time the Candolis were at the top of their game; it was virtually impossible to find a big band that hadn't had one (or both) in their trumpet section at one time or another. I got to meet Conte, but Pete disappeared somewhere after their set was over. The next day The Oregonian newspaper had a review of the show. The writer, who apparently knew nothing of jazz, lamented that when they soloed together they often hit "clashing notes." I wrote a letter to the editor that said something along the lines of "yeah, that happens with simultaneous improvisation, you moron!" They didn't publish it, which wasn't a surprise.
I remember taking my buddy and roommate, Ed, to see a then-unknown Diane Schuur. Between sets I introduced myself and told her Ed was dying to meet her. She giggled and I motioned Ed over; he was quite taken with her. That was understandable, as she was a terrific singer and a wonderful person. I hope she hasn't changed in the intervening 25-odd years ; she certainly still sings well.
Of course, there has to be the exception that proves the rule, and in jazz that was Maynard Ferguson. I found him to be the single rudest person I'd ever met in music. That attitude had rubbed off on some of his band members, as the rest of his trumpet section was as obnoxious as he was. (His sax players, who apparently didn't get as much attention, were nicer. I almost felt sorry for them.) I originally chalked the snub up to his having a bad day, but have heard from many people since who tell me that it was SOP with him.
If memory serves it was the second Mount Hood Festival Of Jazz that featured an appearance by a young and highly touted Wynton Marsalis. I ended up (unintentionally) running into him around the venue, and though he was polite enough, I frankly didn't find much in his music to be impressed with. I haven't heard anything from him since which changes that impression. My contrarian opinion hasn't seemed to hurt his record sales, though, and I hope he doesn't hold it against me!
My favorite trumpet player is the late, great Red Rodney. In the early '80s he had a quintet with the phenomenal Ira Sullivan, a group which to this day gets my vote as the most overlooked in jazz. They showed up in Portland once, and my buddy Bob and I were there front row, center. Between sets Red ambled over and introduced himself, and asked if I was a trumpet player. Confused, I asked him how he knew; he said that I was the only one in the audience who "got" what he was playing. I never did quite understand what he meant, but he sat down at our table to chat and eat his dinner. It remains my favorite jazz experience, and on that note I'll leave you with this video of Red at his best.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: All jazzed up and no place to go.
Friday, August 14, 2009
I believe I've made mention of my musical background. In college I minored in music performance, and I spent my off time playing in quartets and quintets. Jazz quartets and quintets.
Jazz has been my passion as far back as I can remember. When the other kids were listening to Queen and America, I was devouring Stan Kenton and Sonny Rollins. I reveled in the complexity of the music, which fed both the left and right sides of my brain.
To this day, I can't abide jazz playing as background or mood music; it engages me and comes to the foreground. If one is to truly understand and appreciate jazz, one has to actively listen to it. It requires the participation of the listener, for jazz at its core is music that is custom made, fresh, for the audience. It is demanding music, constantly evolving yet always retaining the essence that separates it from the insipid pop of American Idol.
Unfortunately not everyone desires that kind of music (and the world would be boring if they did!) From the WSJ we learn that the jazz audience is shrinking rapidly.
Liking jazz may put me in the minority, but there are some wonderful aspects of the genre that go beyond the music itself. Next Friday I'll talk about one of the unique perks of being a jazz fan - one that some "gunnies" can identify with.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Motor City Mildew.
Friday, August 07, 2009
I've featured a number of decay-chronicling websites, but this one is unique. onlynDetroit.com doesn't just show the deterioration of a once-proud city, it gives the why and how of urban decay. In its many pages you'll learn the stories behind the landmarks, where they came from and how they happened to get where they are today. Along with the analysis is the occasional prescription for renewal, and a happy ending or two as some eyesores get refurbished and reopened.
The photography isn't of the same standards as some urban exploration sites, spelling errors abound, and the text sometimes describes scenes for which there are no pictures - but those are minor quibbles that only help prove that the whole is greater than the sum if its parts. onlynDetroit.com is obviously the work of people who have great affection for their city despite its flaws, and the same can be said of their site. A great place to kill some free time.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Honey, where'd I put the city?
Friday, July 31, 2009
The only area in which I feel inferior to Europeans is in the history of our respective lands. I once worked with a fellow who grew up in England, who told me the house in which his family lived was the newest on the block - and it was built in the mid-18th century. Here in the U.S., we just don't have century after century of defined habitation to study. Given my love of old and abandoned buildings, it's torture learning about the great ruins the Europeans get to explore!
The latest involves the high-tech rediscovery of the ancient Italian city of Altinum. I'll have to get the latest issue of Science and read up on it!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Flagged for inspection.
Friday, July 24, 2009
I'm no vexillologist, nor do I play one on TV. I am, however, fascinated by historical flags. The synthesis of design, color, and history make them irresistible (to me, at least.)
Take the flags of the American Revolution, for example. Everyone knows the Gadsen flag:
Far fewer are familiar with the Fort Moultrie flag:
Only serious history buffs, however, will recognize the flag of the First Continental Regiment:
See more flags of the American Revolution.
Flags of the world (don't click unless you have lots of spare time to burn!)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: If it quacks like a duck, it might not be a duck.
Friday, July 17, 2009
An acquaintance of mine once experienced a burglary of his house. They got away with some valuable items, but I wondered just how the thieves were planning to profit from them. They couldn't pawn them, and if they tried to sell them on the street they'd be laughed to the curb. I couldn't imagine a thief stupid enough to steal this guy's stuff.
You see, this acquaintance was an electrical engineer who collected weird pseudo-medical devices. He'd found a surprising number over the years, and apparently he's not alone - there are a lot of quackery collectors who have put their finds on the net.
One of my favorite items is the The Neu-Vita Oculizer:
From www.americanartifacts.com, it is supposed to fix your eyes so that you no longer need glasses. It has two sets of eye cups; the soft rubber ones use a crank and pulley system to rotate them against your eyes, while the other side carries hard rubber eyecups. They have a concave faced plunger to poke the eye when the rubber bulbs are squeezed, and vacuum can also be applied by covering the air intake hole and releasing the bulb.
Yeah, just what I want to do to my eyes! Anyhow, that's just one of the many places on the net that you can find the history of quackery. (Sadly, most of the sites have designs that seem stuck in the mid-1990s and a surprising lack of decent images.)
One of the best is the Museum of Quackery. Tons of links. (Quackery, as you'll learn, is alive and well in the 21st century!)
Museum of Quack Electrotherapy Instruments.
American Artifacts (neat site; medical quackery is only a part of their collection, and they have items for sale.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Smashing!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Heard of the Large Hadron Collider? It's the world's largest particle accelerator, located on the French/Swiss border. A particle accelerator, colloquially termed an 'atom smasher', is a device that uses electric fields to propel electrically-charged particles to high speeds. By colliding particles together - sort of a subatomic head-on crash - we can do all kinds of things. A low-energy accelerator forms the viewable image on a cathode-ray tube (CRT), medium-sized units are used to create isotopes for medical research, and the biggest, highest energy installations help scientists learn about the fundamental structure of the universe.
Long before the LHA was even conceived, the United States boasted the largest particle accelerator: the Bevatron at Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory. Built in the early 1950s, it had a nearly 50-year career before it was finally deemed too expensive to maintain. Mothballed in 1993, the decision was recently made to dismantle the gigantic machine to make room for new research facilities on the crowded campus.
Wired has a great article, with many pictures, on the continuing demolition.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: By George!
Friday, June 26, 2009
We learned this week that Kodak finally pulled the plug on what was their signature film, Kodachrome. Photographers will fondly recall the fine grain, superb resolution, and vibrant color of Kodak's iconic product, while everyone else will remember Paul Simon's hit song by the same name:
Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, Oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don't take my Kodachrome away
Kodachrome wasn't the first time the company had influenced musical history, however. It's true that Kodachrome was invented by a couple of amateur chemists who were also professional musicians, but the influence I'm thinking of goes far deeper.
As it happens George Eastman, the founder of Eastman Kodak, was an aspiring flutist and music fanatic. His love of making and listening to music led him to found the Eastman School of Music, cementing his place in American music history.
Now you're probably thinking "Eastman School of Music? Never heard of it!" Most people, when asked to name a prestigious music school, immediately think "Juilliard." While Juilliard is a fine school and better known to the general public, those with a deep knowledge of musical education will often quietly refer you to Eastman. Since 1921, Eastman graduates have enjoyed a solid reputation for being "musician's musicians", which persists to this day - it is often ranked as the top music school in the country in major media surveys.
George Eastman was a remarkable individual who also gave major grants to engineering and technical schools such as MIT, and involved himself in a range of social and business innovations. It could be argued, though, that giving the world both Kodachrome and Frederick Fennell would have been enough for any one person.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Cassini, but not Oleg.
Friday, June 19, 2009
In 1997, NASA launched the Cassini spacecraft to study the planet Saturn. It finally reached the ringed planet in 2004, and started sending back some positively amazing images. The craft continues to work perfectly, and as a result the mission has been extended to 2010.
See more of these incredible pictures.
A quick synopsis of the craft and mission.
The Official Cassini website.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Down periscope, comrade.
Friday, June 12, 2009
In January 1940, the Soviet Union was at war with Finland. Just a few months earlier, the Soviets had signed a non-agression pact with the German government, which besides promising to be Best Friends Forever, divided up the countries of Eastern Europe between the two powers. The two chums lost no time in invading and carving up Poland, and that success prompted Uncle Joe Stalin to go for the first country on his own shopping list: Finland.
While his generals mapped out invasion plans, Finland was issued a set of demands to adjust their borders and "lease" part of their territory to Moscow. They refused, and in late November of 1939 the Soviets attacked.
Though eventually negotiating a truce, Finland managed to inflict severe casualties on the Red forces. Nikita Khrushchev would later state that his country had lost a million soldiers, while the Finnish casualties amounted to 26,662.
Forty-six of that million were killed when their submarine, dubbed S-2, was sunk in the waters between Sweden and Finland on that cold January day.
The actual location of the wreck, and the precise cause of the sinking, remained a mystery until just a few months ago. After a decade of searching, a team of Swedish and Finnish divers located the S-2 and found out just what had happened.
Short CNN article on the find.
Absolutely terrific pictures at www.aftonbladet.se
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: A colorful conundrum.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Quick question: what color doesn't exist in the visible spectrum? And, if it doesn't exist, why do we see it?
Null Hypothesis has the answer.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: A line in the sand.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Or, more precisely, forest.
Many people have heard of the Maginot line, a series of fortifications designed to protect France from invasion by Germany. As you may have heard, it didn't work all that well - the Germans simply went around it, through Belgium and the Netherlands, and right into Paris for coffee and gloating.
You may not have heard of the Mannerheim line. It was Finland's fortification intended to protect it from Russian aggression. During the Winter War (where the Soviets sustained losses heavy enough to make them wish they'd never set their sights on Helsinki) the Mannerheim sustained heavy damage. Unlike the Maginot line, the Mannerheim was very lightly constructed and took the full force of the Russian advance. The majority of the installations were destroyed, leaving little behind but memories.
This is one of the better-preserved pieces:
The Mannerheim Line website. (Has the most complete list of sites and current condition.)
Detailed history of the Line at winterwar.com
Quick overview of the line and its purpose.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Look - up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...
Friday, May 22, 2009
I've looked at clouds from both sides now,
From up and down, and still somehow,
It's cloud illusions I recall,
I really don't know clouds, at all.
-- Joni Mitchell, "Both Sides Now"
I grew up on a farm in a very rural area when that Joni Mitchell song was popular. Life was simpler, both as a consequence of the times and of our location. Things that were very entertaining for us would bore today's youth to tears; such is the consequence of instant gratification and endemic narcissism. (I suspect our parents said the same about us!)
One particular pastime was cloud watching, and some of the best was just before or just after a storm passed through. To this day, I watch the skies for unusual cloud formations, particularly in the late afternoon when the lighting becomes more dramatic.
Dark Roasted Blend has a nice pictorial of the kinds of clouds I like to see.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Nuclear Weapons - they're not just for breakfast anymore!
Friday, May 08, 2009
You probably think nuclear bombs have limited application - destroying cities, that kind of thing. But you'd be wrong! You'd be surprised what you can do with an energy-liberating nuclear fission device!
Wired.com has a list of 7 things you didn't know you could do with an atom bomb.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: "Do you know what time it is, boys and girls?"
Friday, May 01, 2009
In case you weren't aware, my background includes a stint as a watch & clock maker. That's where I learned my precision machining skills, and honed my ability to deal with very complicated devices in which each part has to work perfectly.
I've always been fascinated with timekeepers. I'm not all that keen on the sway they hold over our lives, and I'm hardly obsessive about the flows and uses of time, but the mechanisms (and the way in which they transmit information to humans) intrigue me. Over the years I've owned some unusual clocks, but Dark Roasted Blend brings us a great article on some really "out there" watches and clocks.
(I'm a little surprised that they didn't include one of the iconic "mystery clocks" of the 1960s, and one of my all-time favorites, the Jefferson "Golden Hour" clock:
Somewhere in my pile of old clock parts I have one of these. Maybe I should dig it out and get it running again - it would look great on my desk!)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: A little bit of history.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Back in 1959, Peter Sellers made a film that, today, is sadly forgotten: "The Mouse That Roared."
The film relays the story of the tiny Duchy Of Grand Fenwick, which declares war on the United States. (There is a lesson in the clip that seems to have been lost in the intervening decades, but I'll leave that to your discovery.)
The mythical Duchy, though, has little on some of the tiniest 'countries' in the world, places whose origins and history are even more bizarre than Hollywood could concoct.
Cracked has the true stories of six of these mice.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: What's old is new again.
Friday, April 10, 2009
It may surprise you to learn that the vast majority of transatlantic data traffic - phone calls, email, internet connections - doesn't go through satellites. Instead, most of those bits and bytes goes under the water through long cables stretched between the continents. Sounds awfully low-tech, doesn't it?
When the first undersea cables were laid, traffic was in the form of the telegraph message. Later, as the telephone became prominent, voice channels were added. There were some attempts to use radio to carry communications across the sea, but cables on the seabed were still the way most Americans kept in touch with Europe. It was that way up until the mid-1960s, when the first communications satellites were launched.
The satellite was the darling of data travel, and for a time it looked like underwater cables would be relegated to the back of the communications bus. By the early '80s, over half of all overseas traffic was carried on satellites, with more space-based capacity planned. Then something interesting happened...
In 1988, the first fiber optic cable between North America and Europe went into service. Fiber optics held the promise of bandwidth that was orders of magnitude greater than the copper wires previously laid in the Atlantic, and the new technology didn't disappoint: that first cable itself offered half of the entire bandwidth available on all of the communications satellites. Another cable would exceed the space capability, and that was just a start. Fiber optic cables were cheaper to deploy and had a much longer service life than any satellite, with corresponding reductions in the cost of moving data from one side of the earth to the other.
It didn't take long for the commercial satellite business to experience a serious drop in popularity; today, it's estimated that satellites carry less than a half-percent of all traffic between the U.S. and the rest of the world. Fiber optics were a hit, and it doesn't look like they'll stop being a hit anytime soon.
Thanks to all this fiber optic bandwidth we have the world wide web, which allows us to go back and relive how it all started: with insulated wires dropped off a ship into the middle of the sea. Here is a great site devoted to chronicling that early technology, complete with maps of historic cable routes.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Creepy. Then again, maybe not.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Back in 1980 I was working behind the sales counter in a camera shop to help pay my way through college. Without being too immodest, I had a prodigious knowledge of the photographic process, to include everything from vintage cameras and films to the equipment, chemistry, and procedures used to bring the images out of them. (I would later put that storehouse of information to good use when I opened a unique photographic lab that specialized in obsolete and obscure processes.)
Because of my deep base of arcane knowledge, I was often called upon to authenticate or debunk (depending on one's point of view) various kinds of "UFO" and "ghost" images. Over several years I looked at perhaps a couple hundred such anomalous images and, save for one, was able to immediately identify the source or cause.
Oh, that one? It took me a little time and some research, but eventually I was able to show how the image was made. I'm told that the person who paid a tidy sum for that "proof" of extraterrestrial life wasn't at all happy, but remained unconvinced. True believers are usually like that.
With that in mind, check out this gallery of "authenticated" spirit images. Who, exactly, authenticated them is unclear, but I can guarantee it wasn't me!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Hubbleing.
Friday, March 27, 2009
I've written about the Hubble space telescope here and here, but I just could resist sharing this gallery of extraordinary Hubble images.
Take this one, for instance:
A nebula in the form of a hollow tube. What does it look like from inside? Sadly, we'll probably never know. In the meantime, Hubble can show us the outside, and generate wonder at what the rest of the universe holds. Not bad for a day's work, eh?
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Color me amazed.
Friday, March 20, 2009
During the 1930s and 1940s, the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the Office of War Information (OWI) shot tens of thousands of photographs. The vast majority - and the images we most associate with their work - were in black and white:
However, there were a number of assignments which were shot in color. That number was far smaller, likely because of budget constraints, but produced some stunning images:
This article from Photo District News shows some of the portraiture from the collection. You can view the whole collection at the Library of Congress site for FSA/OWI color images. (If you click on the Subject Index, you can browse by categories.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Our State Fair WAS a great State Fair!
Friday, March 13, 2009
The Friday Surprise, for anyone who's been paying attention, is often devoted to my love of the old and abandoned. (My arch nemesis, TomW, will no doubt be along soon to point out that revolvers fit into those categories. Thought I'd beat you to the punch, Tommy!)
Where was I? Oh, right...anyhow, many times I'll drive along a little-used road out on the middle of nowhere (Oregon has a lot of that) and see an abandoned homestead. They always get me to wondering: why did people walk away from that home? Why didn't someone else take it over? Was it a lack of something, or an overabundance of something else? Of course I never find the answers, but the questions come back with the next deserted abode.
With that in mind, It's not surprising that I found this article, Wrong Side Of The Tracks, more than a little interesting. It's an informed look at how neighborhoods become extinct, about how a single house may not always be the whole story, and how this kind of occurrence isn't confined to the hinterlands. A great read.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Generating some interest.
Friday, March 06, 2009
The combination of abandoned structures and obsolete technology is, to me, irresistible. Radio facilities, underground communications bunkers, and fortifications of all kinds fascinate me to no end.
As you might imagine, abandoned power stations would be near the top of my "can't get enough of that" list, and Dark Roasted Blend brings us a bunch.
One of them is here in Oregon - I know where the building is, but wasn't aware is was a power plant. I'm glad someone was:
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Desperation, the real Mother Of Invention.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Or, How I Stopped Worrying And Learned To Love The Cruise Missile!
It's late in World War II. You're Adolf Hitler. Things aren't going all that swimmingly: the Russians are using your troops as landfill, the British and Americans took out your vacation home (along with everything else) in Dresden, and your girlfriend is tired of the amount of time you spend at the office.
What's a despot to do?
That's right - you bring in whatever weapon designers you have left after your latest loyalty purge, and tell them you want to be able to precisely target those dastardly Brits - down to the very building in which Churchill buys his favorite cigars.
Lo and behold, one of those designers comes up with a human-guided bomb launched from a glider (because powerful digital computers and GPS systems are still a little ways off, and conscripts are cheaper anyway.)
That could work. Or not.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Gone fission.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Way back in the mid-70s I was a geeky high school student whose career dreams were split between playing trumpet in the Stan Kenton band, or designing optical systems for spy satellites. Kenton died in 1979, which quashed my first ambition, and a dismal showing in differential calculus (don't ask) convinced me that engineering wasn't my forte, either.
(What happened between then and now is a long story...)
Anyhow, back to high school. Our science teacher was an ex-JPL scientist who'd taken early retirement and ended up in our small Oregon town. This was a major score for a backward mountain community, and he was a wealth of information. I took every advanced physics and chemistry course our little school offered.
One day, he presented to the class what was then a very recent scientific find: the existence of a natural nuclear fission reactor. That's right, a nuclear reactor where atoms were split without human design or interference, and long before humans walked the earth. At the time, despite learning all the details, I found it hard to believe that such a thing had happened. I understood that it was theoretically possible, but it seemed fantastic that just the right physical conditions necessary to sustain natural fission had occurred anywhere.
But they had - more than once - in the tiny nation of Gabon in west Africa. Here's a great story about the reactors were discovered (warning: science content)
Here's a Wikipedia synopsis of what happened.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Glub. Glub-glub.
Friday, February 06, 2009
When I say "underwater photography", you probably think pictures of colorful fish or grotesque mollusks. Jacque Cousteau, that kind of thing. I know this, because that's what I think of.
Think again.
Many more of these unique images at this link.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Smoke gets in your eyes.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Great bird's-eye (satellite, actually, but who's counting?) view of the Chaitén Volcano in Chilé. Learn more at Satnews Daily.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: I do not recall.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Recognize this?
How about now?
Well, you're not alone. This blob of corroded bronze was discovered off the Greek isle of Antikythera in 1900. In the decades since, archaeologists have been baffled by (and no doubt argued about) just what the thing was - let alone what it did.
The Antikythera Mechanism, as it came to be known, remained an enigma until the 21st century - when advanced imaging techniques allowed researchers to see into the amorphous blob, identifying gears and inscriptions. As it turns out, the Mechanism is a mechanical computer to predict astronomical data - the solunar cycle, eclipses, and even Olympic years and the intersection of all of those.
From those images, a British gentleman - one Michael Wright - was able to build a working replica of the Mechanism. Here, for the first time in over 2,000 years, you can see what it actually did:
The Mechanism is exciting in two ways: first, and most obvious, is that is shows a level of mechanical design and workmanship that is a full millennia ahead of what we thought was possible. Scientists date the mechanism to about 100 B.C.E, and comparable clockwork mechanisms don't show up again until more than a thousand years later.
Second, it suggests that the people who constructed it had an understanding of the concepts of a heliocentric (sun-centered) universe, which would not become accepted for nearly 1,500 years after the Mechanism had been built.
What is interesting to me is the idea that knowledge - in this case, mechanical and astronomical - can be forgotten, at least in a cultural sense. In this age of abundant and ubiquitous information, it is hard to accept it as a perishable commodity. It makes one wonder: what else have we forgotten?
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Hey, buddy, gotta light?
Friday, December 12, 2008
Over 400 years ago, Tycho Brahe (great astronomer, bad swordsman) observed a bright light in the sky. He watched it for a fortnight, coined the term "nova", wrote his first book about it, and decided to go into astronomy full time.
It wasn't a good way to make a living in those days - telescopes not having been invented yet, which made it a little like deciding to become a rock star before the electric guitar and LSD were available - but luckily enough his family was rich and he could afford such silliness.
His observations, though, were far from fanciful. Modern technology gives us a peek at what he saw in 1572:
Read more about it.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Not much of a surprise. Sorry.
Friday, December 05, 2008
I just couldn't come up with anything that really tickled my fancy this week, so I'm going to leave you with this story about an ancient chariot recently unearthed in Bulgaria.
It's not much, but it's the thought that counts!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: LIFE is what happens while you're busy making other plans.
Friday, November 21, 2008
In 1936, an audacious Henry Luce changed the way we looked at the world. He took a staid publication, gave it a new, photojournalistic makeover, and created the legendary LIFE Magazine.
Luce hired the best photographers he could find, and sent them out to cover whatever was interesting - if not always the biggest story. LIFE became the must-read periodical for the next several decades, owing to a combination of superior illustration and good writing. People of my generation, and those of the previous one, can easily remember at least one great LIFE photo - if not a whole bunch. That's what LIFE was about, and it is not too great a stretch to say that LIFE defined American photojournalism.
Many of LIFE's photographers would become well-known, like Margaret Bourke-White...
Alfred Eisenstadt...
Gordon Parks...
Ralph Morse...
Robert Capa...
Joen Loengard...
Co Rentmeester...
...as well as many more whose names weren't as familiar, but were stupendous "shooters" in their own right. LIFE was THE gig to have, and it attracted (and got) the best talent.
Now, in the digital era, Google and TIME have teamed up to bring the entire LIFE photo archive to the web. The hundreds of thousands of images in the LIFE vault are being digitized and indexed by Google as fast as their scanners will scan. At this moment, only about 20% of the collection has been archived - but more photos are added every day, and they hope to be finished with the project in mere months.
The collection includes everything - photos that have been published, and those that haven't. You'll get to see images that didn't make the "cut", those that weren't good enough to be published, as well as those iconic images for which LIFE was so well known.
Visit the LIFE/Google archive at this link.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: The world's biggest Roman Candle.
Friday, November 14, 2008
I've written before of my appreciation for the mighty Saturn V rocket. It was, for my generation, perhaps the singular embodiment of American achievement. It showed the world what we were capable of doing when we set our mind to it, in a most spectacular fashion. (Quaint patriotism? Perhaps. I'm not normally prone to such things, but the launch of a Saturn V was always a huge event when I was a kid, and occasionally I miss the "old days." Somehow the Oprah Show isn't on the same level of accomplishment, but many people in this country apparently believe it to be!)
The Saturn V - the largest rocket ever made, and the crowning glory of Dr. Werner von Braun - celebrated its 41st birthday this week. It didn't need any candles, being able to provide fireworks all by itself!
Here it is, November 9, 1967, just before coming to life for the very first time. Happy (belated) Birthday, Saturn V!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: It's knot my job!
Friday, November 07, 2008
Growing up on a farm it was necessary to know how to tie a knot. One had to be able to secure a load in the back of a pickup, lash a load of hay to a trailer (we didn't have those ratcheting tie-downs back then), or tie a tent down to it's pegs. It's not as if I learned a whole passel of knots, just a few well-proven ones that were useful in our day-to-day endeavors.
Knots can be both functional and beautiful, though, and in the last year or so I've learned how to do some fancier braiding and knot-tying. A lot of my inspiration comes from Stormdrane's blog - he's always finding neat things to do with cordage!
Spend some time on his site; it's fascinating and somewhat addicting. (Now if you'll excuse me, I've gotta go order some more paracord...)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Stick in the mud.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Bet you thought I'd have some Halloween-themed article today, didn't you? Hah! That would be too predictable. Instead, let's talk automobiles!
I had an interesting conversation with our local Fire Chief a while back. We had the department out to do a practice burn on an old barn, and they brought out the whole inventory - including a Ford engine from the mid-60s. It's the oldest piece of equipment they have, the rest of the gear being less than 10 years old. They're planning to replace it, not because it doesn't work (the truck has very low hours), but because it's a stick shift (the rest of their vehicles are automatics.) According to the Chief, only a few of the department's members know how to drive a truck with a manual transmission!
To this old farm boy, who grew up with changing gears himself, that seems strange. It's also the way of the world - even my wife has driven a stick shift only once in her life, and that was a long time ago.
It should come as no surprise, I suppose, to learn that less than 8% of all vehicles sold have manual transmissions. Even some performance cars come equipped exclusively with automatics these days.
I guess I belong to an earlier time. Not even 50, and yet pining for the "old days." Sigh.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: It's mine! All mine!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Some of you may remember that I have a thing for old, abandoned places. You may also remember that this predilection most emphatically includes mines. I've been in a number of them with my buddy Dan, or my cousin Tim, or both of them. (In fact, they got me into mine exploring: "hey, Grant, if you like old buildings you'll LOVE old mines!" They were right.)
It was with great joy, then, that I found the Abandoned Mines of NY/NJ site. Nice layout, and the pics are beautifully detailed. Go, and prepare to be captivated.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Trustworthy? Well...
Friday, October 17, 2008
For some reason it's difficult to accept that people holding certain kinds of jobs would be tempted by something as fleeting as money and fame. Doctors, police officers, accountants, and clergy are supposed to be above such petty motives, yet a small percentage always fall to the lure of the "dark side."
It's when scientists go bad that it becomes...well, not funny, but certainly more amusing than having your accountant empty your bank account. It's the stuff of a South Park sketch:
1. Fake data.
2. ???
3. Profit!
Sometimes the fakes aren't even all that good, yet a trusting scientific community (and the public who trusts them) still falls for the ruses. Read about some of the most amazing examples over at Cracked.com.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: A place you just won't believe.
Friday, October 10, 2008
So, where was this picture taken?
Italy? Scotland? Switzerland, perhaps?
Nope. This is the Middle East. Yes, it is! It's the beautiful country of Lebanon.
Hard to believe? What's hard to believe is that people go to Dubai instead of Baalbeck!
I have good friends who are from Lebanon; from them I've learned a great deal about the country, the people, and the history. Lebanon is truly the jewel of the Middle East, with a beautiful coastline, verdant valleys, and ski resorts. (Yes. Skiing. In the Middle East. With real snow on real mountains, unlike the artificial stuff that attracts crowds in Dubai.)
Why, you may ask, is Lebanon known for war and strife instead of scenery and recreation? The answer would take pages upon pages of explanation; let's just say that when a healthy national pride is replaced with violent sectarianism you get hell instead of paradise. The Lebanon of the late 20th century (and, it appears, the 21st as well) was closer to the former than the latter, which tends to explain why the mention of the country brings to mind bombed-out Beirut instead of the gorgeous Bekaa Valley.
Rather than dwell on the negative, run over to Dark Roasted Blend and marvel at the pictures.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Well, this sucks.
Friday, October 03, 2008
I've been out the last couple of days - in the sense that I haven't gone into the shop, answered phones, or tended to email - due to a case of "intestinal flu", aka "food poisoning", aka Norovirus. Nausea, fever, the works. This is the second time I've picked it up this year, and I'm getting darned tired of it!
Since Wednesday I've not felt like doing anything. I thought I'd at least be able to knock out a blog article, but I discovered something that Marko could probably have told me: writing is work, and I was in no condition to work!
It's amazing that something as simple as connecting brain to fingertips would be so demanding.
Juts for the record: the only thing worse than vomiting is trying to find anything worthwhile on daytime television. I'm going back to sleep now.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Out, damned spot!
Friday, September 26, 2008
The only total solar eclipse I've ever seen was in 1979. I was a high school senior and a serious science buff (did that make me a geek or a nerd? I've never been totally sure.) The solar eclipse was a big deal, being the first visible in the Pacific Northwest since 1918.
It was fascinating to watch the solar shadow run across the landscape, plunging our high school into darkness for those few minutes - then just as quickly receding to leave us in daylight again. It was easy to see how primitive peoples could be scared out of their skins by such an event!
It left me wondering, though - what did it look like from space? Thanks to the Mir space station, we can see.
Read more about this picture at NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day site.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: There's something out there
Friday, September 19, 2008
Those of a certain age will remember when, with great fanfare, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was launched. If you remember the event, you'll also remember a few weeks later it was revealed that the main mirror had a fatal flaw, and speculation abounded that the $1.5 billion telescope (a lot of money back in 1990) would be nearly useless.
That was, however, until the Space Shuttle got up there and repairs were made. Today it's all ancient history, as the repaired Hubble continues to send us some of the most amazing images ever taken of space.
The HST also makes some interesting discoveries. Just recently it was looking deep into space and captured an image of something. I say "something" because scientists can't figure out what it is - it just suddenly appeared in the middle of nowhere, then a few months later just as mysteriously disappeared.
(Cue Twilight Zone theme.)
Read about it here.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: "You can change the name of a rose, but you can't do nothin' 'bout the smell!"
Friday, September 12, 2008
With credit to Andy Griffith for the title!
So, if you go to your local prepared food emporium and order a long sandwich, what do you ask for - a sub, a hoagy, a grinder, a hero, or something else? This is just one of the many cultural differences one finds traveling across the United States.
There are others, and none as surprisingly contentious as the word used to refer to a carbonated soft drink. "Pop", "soda", "coke" (used generically) all indicate strong regional preferences. Believe it or not, some people research this stuff and make maps of their findings.
Take a gander at the large version of the map, and look at my native state of Oregon. We're one of the more consistent areas in the whole country, showing a distinct preference for the term "pop." (We're 'blue' in more ways than one, sadly, but things around here are still far better than in our southern neighbor's backyard.)
Anyhow, as I was studying the map and gloating about our agreement on the word "pop", I noticed an anomaly. Not a small one; a significant one. Wheeler county, in the north-central portion of the state, is solidly in the dark green indicating "other."
Huh? How'd that happen? I think I can explain.
Wheeler county is on the dry side of the state. Not 'dry' as in alcohol consumption, but 'dry' in the sense that it doesn't get much precipitation. (For those who don't know, Oregon - despite having a reputation as a rainy state - is darn near two-thirds desert. Everything east of the Cascades, with only a few exceptions, gets very little rain.) It's also a rugged county, full of canyons and rimrock. It's beautiful country, really, but a scary kind of beauty. This combination makes for desolation; not many people live in Wheeler County.
(Oregon State Archives photo)
Now, Wheeler is one of our smaller counties. Still, it's 75% larger than the entire state of Rhode Island, and within spitting distance of the size of Delaware. In all that area, only 1,600 people live. That's right - less than two thousand people live in the entire county.
With such a small population, it's likely that only one of them responded to the soft drink survey. The map tells us the person in question cannot be a native - more likely, a transplant from a state where they refer to carbonated soft drinks by some other term. If this is allowed to spread, our whole state could turn green before our very eyes!
Then again, Oregon is known for being green, which attracts pink, which results in voting blue, which turns me purple. Clear?
-=[ Grant ]=-
P.S.: I found this over at the Strange Maps blog. It's a fun place to explore.
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Flipper's got nothing on these people
Friday, September 05, 2008
For the life of me, I don't know quite how to introduce today's post!
Imagine taking snapshots of typical 1930's life. Now, do it underwater. That's it in a nutshell!
These just have to be seen to be appreciated.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Dive! Dive! Dive!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Many years ago, I worked with a fellow who'd been raised on the east side of London. His stories about the Thames were romantic and intriguing: you could, he swore, walk along the banks of the river and pick up small items - clay pipes, etc. - that dated back four or five centuries. That wasn't surprising, he said, in a land where a 300-year-old house might be the new one on the block.
I never made it to England to find out if what he said could really be done, but there's no doubt of the history of the country. In our little land we get excited about something that is a mere century old, but in England that probably wouldn't rate a yawn.
Given that the Thames is so historically important, and that it flows through one of the most densely populated areas of the planet, its treasures should be well known. That, however, is not the case. A recent salvage expedition in the Thames Estuary - which is the area where the Thames runs into the North Sea - netted some seven forgotten shipwrecks, ranging from 1940 all the way back to 1665.
The interesting thing to me is that the operation was carried out in waters "up to" 16 meters deep - that's only about 50 feet. You'd think that some of those wrecks would have presented navigational hazards over the years, thus charted and hardly in need of discovery. It's when you combine the size of the Estuary (it's huge), the water visibility (roughly zero), and the extreme tides (up to 13 feet!), you begin to see how such things might get lost.
Check out the article in the UK Daily Mail.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: When General Motors Was Dreaming
Friday, August 22, 2008
Back in the 1950s, General Motors was at the top of their game. Their cars were selling well, and many consider 1957 the peak of their design and marketing prowess.
At lot of that was due to their concept or "show cars." Like today, those were vehicles built to show their prowess and to gauge consumer reaction. Some of their design details would make it to production, some wouldn't, but they were all interesting to see - even a half-century later.
Check out this slideshow from the New York Times.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: You think you know someone...
Friday, August 15, 2008
If you're over 40, you know the woman in this picture. Not in the sense of personally knowing her, of course, but you know who she is.
Don't recognize her? I'll give you a hint: 1976.
Montreal.
Romanian.
Perfect 10's.
Famous theme named after her.
If you haven't already guessed, that's little Nadia Comaneci - now 46 years old, and married with children.
Her rise to dominate Olympic gymnastics was stunning. I remember watching the broadcast (back then it was on ABC) and being amazed that this little girl could seemingly come from nowhere and beat our own American athletes. With perfect scores, no less!
The whole event was darned near unbelievable. It seemed that her life was charmed; that she was on top of the world.
How little we knew. Romania in the late '70s was far from a paradise; Nicolas Ceaucescu ruled the country with an iron fist, and that included Nadia and her career. I won't give away the rest of the story, but it's a tale I knew nothing about until I read this article in London's Daily Mail.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Up, up and away!
Thursday, August 07, 2008
I've previously mentioned my appreciation for the work that NASA has done over it's 50-year history. NASA grew up right along with me - or me with it - and NASA was always doing the exciting stuff boys of that era were smitten by: Astronauts. Fast planes. Rockets. The Moon.
(It wasn't just spectacle, though; NASA was the catalyst for technological progress that continues to be felt today. A surprising number of the things we now take for granted can be traced directly back to some NASA project.)
We learned about the exploits of the engineers, technicians and astronauts through NASA-supplied pictures in the magazines of the day. My early interest in science was kindled by those pictures, and some of them I still remember.
NASA documented everything, but not all of their photos were of general interest. A large percentage of their images were never seen by the general public because the media was understandably reluctant to publish anything of interest only to nerds. Through the magic of the internet, however, we now have ready access to some of those great pictures.
The agency has launched a new site just for NASA images. You can search or browse and download your selected pictures, drawings, and illustrations - some of them of quite high resolution. You'll find lots of astronomical images, of course, but you'll find all kinds of other things too.
Two of my favorites from the 1969 launch of Apollo 11, taking the first men to the moon:
Saturn V rocket FTW!
If you're a science buff like me, you can spend large amounts of time on their site. I recommend that you not try this a) at work, or b) when your significant other expects you to be paying attention to him/her/the kids/household chores/your dinner guests. You have been warned!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: The pitter-patter of little feet. LOTS of little feet.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Let's say you have a million dollars or so to spend, and want a home in an exclusive neighborhood. You'd expect a certain level of amenities in the house, with good restaurants and shopping close by.
Oh, and neighbors whose properties were as pristine and aseptic as yours.
Right?
Not in Pacific Palisades, California.
Yuck.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Fighting fire with fire
Friday, July 25, 2008
You hate telemarketers. I hate telemarketers. Everyone hates telemarketers. (If you're a telemarketer, I'm sorry - I just can't work up any sympathy for you. Yes, I realize you need that job to buy diapers - but life's tough enough without getting your phone calls in the middle of my dinner!)
The hapless victims of telemarketers are finally starting to fight back. Take a look at this collection of tips about turning the tables on those who interrupt your life to sell you cheaper long distance. (Courtesy of Dark Roasted Blend.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY DOUBLE FEATURE: An interesting thought about hunting
Friday, July 18, 2008
I don't know why, but today's other feature about the vegan strip club seemed the perfect lead-in for this!
As I've mentioned, I'm not a "hunter" in the sense that most people use the term. Trophies do not interest me; I've never had my picture taken with a kill, and don't foresee the day when I would. For me, hunting is about eating. (I subscribe to the school of thought that claims "vegetarian" to be an old Native American word for "lousy hunter.")
At the same time, I'm also a bit of a health nut. I eat organic food whenever possible, not because I believe in any leftist/communist causes but because I care about my health. I'm uncertain about the long-term effects of the processed chemicals that we put in our bodies, and do whatever I can to reduce or eliminate them. Thus, the organic food - including delicious meat - in my diet.
(As an aside, it's always interesting when my wife and I go shopping in the local healthy food emporiums. Everyone in those havens of collectivism dresses in the trendy eco-friendly fashions of the minute. My wife and I, to put it delicately, do not. I'll admit that we do tend to stick out a bit amongst that crowd, but we would no matter what we wore.
Just by looking one could tell that we're not like the sheeple that populate those places, and it's as much about attitude as anything. One time she whispered in my ear "do you realize there are only two guns anywhere near this place, and we've got both of them?" I replied "I wonder how many of these people would faint if they found out!" We then chuckled softly yet maniacally as we went about our shopping.)
Forgive the digression.
As it happens, one of the most organic sources of protein available is wild game. Meat which has been harvested from animals in the wild not only tastes great, but is great for you. I won't bore you with the numerous studies which show various kinds of game having more good things and less bad things than factory-raised protein, but the facts are clear: wild meat is good for you.
It is odd, therefore, that some of the most vocal anti-hunting shills in the world wear their organic diets as badges of honor while denouncing some of the cleanest, purest foods available. It seems to me that if one is truly concerned about eating a healthy diet, one must of necessity either grow, or hunt, one's own meat. Hunting is the proactive approach to maintaining a healthy lifestyle when one does not have the real estate on which to raise their own.
(Of course, I don't want to get a trend started, else there wouldn't be any of that delicious and nutritious game left for me!)
-=[ Grant ]=-
A proud member of PETA: People Eating Tasty Animals
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Is that a parsnip in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?
Friday, July 18, 2008
As the New York Times observes, there are two things you can find in Portland: vegans and strip clubs. That's pretty accurate.
Out state constitution has a very broad protection of freedom of expression, which the courts have consistently held to cover "exotic dancing." The result is that Oregon in general tends to have more strip clubs than other parts of the country. Portland, being the biggest city, naturally has the largest single selection of such establishments.
So, one Johnny Diablo (Carpetbagger-CA) decided to combine his love of vegetarianism and his love of...uhhh....flesh to create the first vegan strip club.
This is not his first attempt at an off-the-wall establishment: he tried a pirate-themed vegan restaurant last year, which despite intense media attention failed miserably. His new venture, Casa Diablo Gentlemen’s Club, has gotten even more media attention, which I cannot recall a strip club ever receiving. When it seems that every other corner has such an establishment, one would have to do something very unusual to warrant any media notice. After all, how many other strip clubs have been profiled on the Earth First website?
Here's a local story on the joint.
Here's the NYT take on the place.
(Disclaimer: I'm not a vegetarian, nor a patron of strip clubs. My omnivorous wife is thankful for both.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: "Ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille!"
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Portland, Oregon has for years had one of the highest numbers of movie theater seats per capita. Oregonians, it would appear, can't get enough of the silver screen. (Save for this Oregonian, who sees one theater movie every five years or so whether he needs to or not.)
It seems to have always been this way. Portland had a large number of neighborhood movie theaters up through the '60s, and many of those buildings are still standing. The theaters were converted to other uses, and some of them actually retained some of their former features. Finding and exploring those old locations is a hobby for some, an obsession for others.
Back in the early '80s, when I was doing some moonlighting as a commercial photographer, I was retained by an older gentleman to photograph the abandoned Egyptian Theater in northeast Portland. The theater, originally built as a vaudeville venue, had been converted to the newfangled "moving pitchers" in the early '30s. It operated until 1962, when it was closed and used as overflow warehousing space for the chemical company which had purchased the location.
The gentleman who hired me was a serious movie buff, and was writing a book on old Oregon theaters. He wanted me to shoot pictures of the interior of the Egyptian. (I got the job because i was the only photographer he found who could light an entire large interior without benefit of electrical outlets or a generator. The power in the building had been shut off for years, the wiring having been declared a fire hazard. I'll leave you to guess how I pulled it off.)
Once in the building we found many of the seats still in place; the entire balcony was intact, as were the Egyptian-motif decorations and appointments throughout. There were torn ticket stubs littering the floor and even remnants of coming attraction posters in the lobby.
When theater closed, the awning (shown in this 1933 photo) was removed, and the front of the building simply covered with a false wall. The ticket booth and original doors were still there!
It was a surreal experience, as if the building was simply waiting for the janitors to arrive to clean up for that evening's business.
The building was torn down in 1989; sadly, the book never materialized. I had a good time, though.
What brought this to mind was this article at WebUrbanist about abandoned movie theaters across the U.S. (Somewhere in storage I have my shots of the Egyptian, but exactly where is a mystery. Until I can find them, you'll have to make do with WebUrbanist's article!)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Rodents aren't just for felines any more
Friday, June 27, 2008
If you're under 40, the name Douglas Engelbart probably means nothing to you. It should, though, because a huge amount of the machine on which you're reading this sprang from his fertile mind.
Engelbart (yet another product of Oregon, having been born in Portland) worked at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) before the dawn of the personal computer revolution. Many of the things we now use without a second thought were developed by him, or made possible by his work: bitmapped screens, the graphical user interface (GUI), hypertext, and networking. The very birth of the internet occurred when his lab at SRI and it's counterpart at UCLA networked their computers to become the first two nodes of ARPANET.
His greatest moment would have to be his "Mother of All Demos" in 1968. In that presentation, he introduced to a stunned world the early working implementations of video conferencing, teleconferencing, interactive text, email and the aforementioned hypertext. It is, perhaps, the single most important event in the history of modern computing.
One of his inventions revealed for the first time at the Demo was a new invention: the computer mouse. It would take over a decade before his now-common pointing device finally reached the market (attached to the ill-fated Xerox 8010 Star Information System), and several years after that before it came to the notice of the general public (as an integral part of the original Macintosh.)
(John C. Dvorak, computer pundit, wrote in 1984 of the new Mac and Engelbart's invention : "The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a 'mouse'. There is no evidence that people want to use these things." Dvorak is not known for his prescience, which surprisingly fails to deter his continued employment.)
YouTube has the entire Demo available.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: "I want to win, but I don't want to see the b***tards go down, either"
Friday, June 20, 2008
That's a quote from one of my favorite photographers, Life magazine's fantastically great Ralph Morse, about his rivals at Newsweek. Ralph, it was said, was of the "old school" - a term once used to describe a code of behavior, before the "hip hop" generation co-opted it to describe MTV's previous seasons.
It's ironic that Ralph's words came on the eve of his coverage of the first Space Shuttle launch in 1981, because it was this article on Soviet cosmonaut deaths which brought them back to me. The combination caused me to think not only about the attitude of the gracious winner, but of the trials and tribulations of the losers in all high-stakes games.
While I'm proud of U.S. achievements in space (I am a child of the Sputnik Era, after all), I'm simultaneously saddened at the loss of life experienced by our (former) enemies. I'm not talking about the maudlin, paralyzing, "new age sensitive man who cries at the drop of a hat" kind of sadness, but rather a genuine empathy for those who attempt something great and leave the world poorer by their absence.
Like our astronauts, the cosmonauts were proud of their homeland. They were willing to put their lives on the line to advance not only their nationalistic pride, but something more. There was an altruistic component to their flights, which they seemed to know were advancing science and technology to benefit all those who were firmly anchored to terra firma. Even as we celebrate our own successes we need to be reminded that we are as much in their debt as they are in ours.
We see where we are today only because we stand on the shoulders of all those who came before us.
(Thanks to Tam, who found the article.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: No fun and games
Friday, June 13, 2008
I suspect, in this Age of Wii, that board games are solidly out of fashion. When I was a kid that was most assuredly not the case!
Growing up on the farm, there was no such thing as cable (or satellite) television; music was on vinyl records, not iPods; and personal computers, let alone the internet, weren't even on the horizon. Board games were therefore a significant portion of our recreational activities, and we looked forward to getting together with friends and playing our favorites.
The king of games, of course, was the all-time best seller: Monopoly - "by Parker Brothers", as the TV commercials reminded us. Kids liked it, adults liked it. Everyone, it seems, enjoyed passing the time by passing "GO" - and collecting $200.
It turns out that for some people, Monopoly wasn't a pastime - it was deadly serious.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Sand in my eyes!
Friday, June 06, 2008
When I was growing up we spent a lot of time at the beach. My older sister, during her off-time from college, worked and lived at the Oregon coast. Since gas was cheap back then, we often made the trip over the mountains from our valley farm to visit her. As a result, I spent a whole lot of time playing in the sand.
My efforts at sand castle building were poor at best. I didn't have a bucket and a miniature shovel, and my imagination was limited, so I contented myself instead with making driftwood fortifications and defending them from imaginary invading hordes. It never occurred to me that one needn't be limited to building just castles from sand!
Flash forward, and today sand sculpture is a hot activity. There are several competitions on the Oregon coast every year, as well as around the world. Dark Roasted Blend has a great bunch of pictures from competitions all over the globe - including right here in Oregon.
My favorite:
(Allow me to get a bit political and suggest that it is a parable for what happens when one believes that government programs are the solution to everything.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Boy, that sure would make a good movie!
Friday, May 30, 2008
I just came up with a hot idea for a film script. We take an archeaologist who is obsessed with the Holy Grail, and we set him out on a search for it...and we'll throw in some evil Nazis who are just waiting to get it for themselves! Wouldn't that make a great movie??
Drat. Turns out that not only is my idea not my own, it's also been done already.
Day late and a dollar short...
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Do you have the drive?
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Last Friday I linked to an article that described what I don't like about my home state of Oregon. Today, I'm linking to a terrific Dark Roasted Blend article on something I truly treasure about Oregon: our great scenic drives.
I must say that this article is a surprise. We're so used to reading about "great" drives along the California coast, when we know that our coastline is both more beautiful and more accessible. It's great to finally get some well deserved press, not to mention being ranked among the world's most beautiful roads!
(Did you know that the Oregon coast is open to everyone? That's right - the entire coastline is public property, and there are very few spots that are not easily accessed. Take that, California!)
Terrific article, great pictures. Thanks for the plug, Avi!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: It's not my fault!
Friday, May 16, 2008
I'd planned to introduce today's topic with a short essay on the state of Oregon, about its natural wonders and its recent societal changes. No matter how I approached the topic, I couldn't help sounding like a malcontent.
You see, I'm an Oregonian - a proud member of SNOB (Society of Native Oregon Born.) I was born here, lived my entire life here, and hope to die here (not right away, you understand.) I love this state, but even my love has its limits.
I will add only this: Portland is not like the rest of the state. More precisely, the rest of the state is not like Portland, for which I am eternally grateful!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Drat - what luck!
Friday, May 09, 2008
So, imagine you're a geologist searching for diamonds in Namibia. You haven't found any. You're disappointed; perhaps, you think, you should reconsider your chosen profession.
Then you trip over a shipwreck filled with gold, silver, and artifacts.
Think you'd feel better? I sure would!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: The Big Five-Oh
Friday, May 02, 2008
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently turned 50. What's DARPA, you ask? Well, it is the agency that invented the network upon which you are reading this missive.
DARPA was founded to do fundamental, high-risk research into science and technology that could be used for military purposes. Today that sounds ominous and vaguely sinister, but in the 1950s it was exciting and patriotic.
One of their projects was called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), intended as a way for DARPA staffers and researchers to disseminate information and share computing resources. It introduced email, file transfers, and even voice protocols into common use, all made possible through the magic of packet switching - another DARPA innovation. This groundbreaking computer network would, with their guidance, evolve into what we now call the internet.
(Funny, isn't it - the internet upon which you can read anti-military and anti-American rants until your eyes launch themselves from their sockets is the product of an American military project. Euro-weenies will no doubt point out that the World Wide Web was the invention of an Englishman working at a Swiss lab, but his contribution - important as it is - was simply a way of easing access to information on the already vast internet. His work would not even have been necessary had it not been for DARPA.)
The computer network wasn't DARPA's only development, of course - the magnificent Saturn V rocket and the computer mouse both came from the think tanks at the agency. How's that for a wide ranging legacy?
Happy Birthday, DARPA - keep up the good work!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: To boldly go...
Friday, April 18, 2008
When I was a wee lad, America was at the forefront of space exploration. By the time I was old enough to know what was going on, we'd recovered from the shock of the Soviets beating us into space, and had responded in a big way with Gemini and Apollo programs.
In those days, our grade school classes would literally come to a halt as we gathered around a television set to watch a liftoff or a splashdown. The mighty Saturn V rockets - spewing a fireball that remains unequalled for sheer excitement - would take our astronauts into space for yet another thrilling mission. Landing men on the moon was our crowning achievement, watched by just about everyone in the country.
Space flights were national events on a scale that I haven't seen since - and probably never will again. The SuperBowl and American Idol Finals may draw larger audiences, but in terms of captivating our collective conscious, of instilling pride in our country and what we were capable of doing, they will ever equal the NASA of the mid 20th century.
NASA has put together a little retrospective of their first 50 years, using photos that have rarely been seen publicly. If you are a child of the '50s or '60s, this will bring back stirring memories of what we briefly referred to as Cape Kennedy.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: How I build a Friday blog post
Friday, April 11, 2008
Let's take inventory: secret government projects - check. Eerie underground facilities - check. Mad-scientist-movie electrical equipment - check. Iron Curtain intrigue - check.
Yep, I have everything I need for another great entry: Russian Nuclear Research Facilities.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: More vintage logos
Friday, April 04, 2008
It pains me to think that the '70s - the decade of my young adulthood - are now considered "vintage"!
However, that is the case, and a look through this Flickr photo set of a logo book from that era brings back many memories. It's surprising how many of these logos I still recognize, even though some of the companies are no more. Others have had major makeovers since that time; some of them have been for the better, as bad design existed back then, as well.
Take a look, courtesy of 43 Folders.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: "Somewhere, WIllard Whyte is playing Monopoly with real buildings."
Friday, March 28, 2008
When I was a teenager, I took a trip to British Columbia, Canada. Aside from the fact that they couldn't pronouce the "ou" combination correctly ("Grouse Mountain", one of our stops, was pronounced "Groose Moontain"), what struck me about the country was the currency. Where our was the time-honored and respectable green and black combination, theirs was colorful - garish, to my young eyes.
I gave my good-natured hosts no end of ribbing about their "play money", and by the end of my trip I was happy to be back in the U.S., with our familiar greenbacks. This happened well before the adoption of their famous bird-themed coin, but to this American kid Canadian money has always been "loonie."
Today, of course, even the staid U.S. dollar is becoming more colorful in an attempt to thwart counterfeiting. Most of the other countries in the world have long since adopted colorful bills, and some of them are gorgeous.
Check out The Color of Money from Around the World.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: eCommerce Kudos
Friday, March 21, 2008
Today I thought I'd give you some feedback from my Adventures in Online Shopping.
When I factor in my diminishing free time, the price of gas, and the distance between everything in my locale, it becomes faster, easier and often cheaper to shop online. From clothes to chainsaw parts, before I do anything else I check the net - and very often, I choose the BBToJ* over my Suzuki.
Most of the time my virtual transactions occur without a hitch, but on occasion there are problems. Of course, at the other end of the bell curve are those companies that go out of their way to make the faceless exchange a surprisingly pleasant experience.
Size and reputation have no bearing on the shopping outcome, even online. I've had some of my worst purchases from some of the biggest web stores, and some of my best from little mom-and-pop sites. It's tempting to think, on encountering a small, amateurish site, that it is not a place you want to spend your money. Like those great yet undiscovered restaurants, what you see on the outside may not be a good indication of what ends up on your plate!
Take my favorite knife seller, Ragnar's Ragweed Forge. This has got to be the ultimate example of a minimalist site, put together on the cheap and devoid of the e-commerce niceties we've come to expect. No shopping cart here - just a (secure) online form you fill out by copying and pasting the catalog number of the items you want! (Back in the '70s, there was a local chain, a precursor to the Costcos of the world, called Prairie Market. Its claim to fame - remember, this is pre-UPC code times - was that you had to write the shelf price on every item with a grease pencil, so the checker could ring you up.) What you get for your work at Ragnar's is a superb selection of hard-to-get knives, terrific prices, reasonable shipping charges, and fast delivery. Ragweed Forge is almost a legend on the knife forums, and for good reason.
One little place I've come to like is Sage Creek Outfitters. Located in Idaho, it's a small outdoor and hunting supply company with a nice website that belies the personal service they deliver. Their prices are generally good, they actually have the items in stock, and they are FAST! I've never had such fast shipping from an online vendor; part of that is their proximity on our eastern border, but it's still surprising when their packages show up long before I expect them. Great folks, and their customer service is as good as anyone's.
I recently discovered Have A Life Outdoors, a small retailer that handles primarily Gransfors Bruks and associated products. (Gransfors needs their own blog post, but in the meantime - if you want the best axes and hatchets in the world, Gransfors Bruks is the choice.) Again, they're working hard to make a success of their little niche, with a good stock and rapid order turnaround.
We heat our house with a woodstove, and with 11 acres of woodlot I'm always buying some sort of logging equipment or chainsaw part. My two favorite stores are Bailey's and Amick's. I've never had a problem with either, they always ship promptly, and their pricing is better than I can get locally - if I can even find the item. (That's the reason I started doing business with them in the first place - my local outlets rarely have what I need in stock. I hate to hear the term "I can order that for you" - my response is "so can I!") Bailey's stock is aimed primarily at arborists and loggers, while Amick's is more of a general outdoor power equipment source. Both are great places to do business.
Then again, all of the companies I've mentioned have been terrific. Kudos to all!
-=[ Grant ]=-
* Big Brown Truck of Joy, aka UPS. A generic term for any delivery service.
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Cloak and dagger, circa 1860
Friday, March 14, 2008
There are very few things that can start a raging debate like politics, religion - or the Civil War. Get a few people together, perhaps with some adult beverages, ask them what started the war, and wait for the fireworks.
(Personally, this Yankee reserves his invective for President Lincoln. Regardless of the actual cause of the conflict, the fact remains that he was the first President to invalidate whole sections of the Constitution to further his schemes. That modern day leftists rail against President Bush's encroachments on civil liberties, but give the far more Machiavellian Lincoln a free pass, never fails to astonish me. But I digress...)
Anyhow, the actual conduct of the war itself is fascinating. In just a few short years, we leapt from smoothbore muzzleloaders to self-contained metallic cartridge rifles. (There were times when both would serve on the same field of battle, a clash of technologies that would be roughly analogous to having Sopwith Camels and F-15s serving in the same theater of operations.)
Espionage, sabotage, psychological warfare, and manipulation of public opinion as tools of war saw similar advancements. Not all of the operations would work out too well, though, and the story of Captain Thomas Henry Hines is a great example.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: All in all, I'd rather be in...
Friday, March 07, 2008
As a child of the West, I'm generally not one to get excited about the upper-right quadrant of our country. I've visited the northeast, and in general am not all that attracted to the region. However, one thing the inhabitants of the region have that I'm quite jealous of are layers of old infrastructure, just waiting to be explored.
In the distant past my job occasionally required me to travel to upstate New York. Even the things that residents of the area consider commonplace - say, the remnants of the Erie Canal - just fascinated me, because of the long and storied past of that engineering marvel. Thus I spent a large portion of my "off" time visiting local museums and historical attractions.
On one visit to the Rochester area, I took the time to follow the Canal's path from there to Tonawanda. Since I was in the "neighborhood" - literally just a few miles - I made the short hop up to see the fabled Niagara Falls. (It must be said that even I, somewhat jaded by close encounters with much higher waterfalls, was amazed at Niagara Falls. It's worth the trip.)
At the time I wasn't aware of the history of power generation at Niagara, let alone the extent of the abandoned facilities that were literally right under my feet. I am now, and boy would I like to go back and see some of it!
Courtesy of www.vanishingpoint.ca
Check them out at
vanishingpoint.ca, which
is a great site for urban explorers.
-=[
Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Whoosh!
Friday, February 29, 2008
One of my favorite
abandoned/unknonwn/old technology subjects is the fabled Beach
Pneumatic Transit System in Manhattan. Nothing exists of it today -
neither facilities nor artifacts - but this article
at Damn Interesting gives the best overview I've
seen of the ill-fated project.
-=[ Grant ]=-
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Changing times, changing tastes
Friday, February 22, 2008
As you may have guessed from
previous entries, history fascinates me. Not in the sense of
ancient history, or even battle locations and dates; the history
I'm interested in is the history of technology. I'm interested in
the history that was displayed in what used to be known as "science
and industry" museums, before those institutions got caught up in
showcasing meaningless "interactive" exhibits carefully crafted so
as not to "offend" anyone (while managing to avoid any real
education in the process.)
Anyhow, part of the history of technology is how products were represented to the buying public. The product logo, aside from showing the pride of the people who made it, served as a point of reference (and sometimes of reverence) for those who might decide to own the thing.
Vehicle logos are perhaps the perfect example of how logo design changes not only with fashion trends, but with regard to customer's expectations and aspirations. Check out this collection of auto logo evolution, courtesy of Neatorama.
-=[ Grant ]=-
Anyhow, part of the history of technology is how products were represented to the buying public. The product logo, aside from showing the pride of the people who made it, served as a point of reference (and sometimes of reverence) for those who might decide to own the thing.
Vehicle logos are perhaps the perfect example of how logo design changes not only with fashion trends, but with regard to customer's expectations and aspirations. Check out this collection of auto logo evolution, courtesy of Neatorama.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: A more serious time
Friday, February 15, 2008
Students of espionage and
surveillance (which every security-conscious person should be)
understand how intelligence is actually gathered, and it isn't the
way it happens in Hollywood.
Those who watch too much TV think that security breaches come fully formed - that damaging information is gleaned nearly whole, needing only a few minor details filled in to make it valuable. While that may occasionally be true for satellite imaging, when putting together information gathered "on the ground" it is more like doing a jigsaw puzzle.
In reality, it is the small bits of information, gleaned from many sources, that form the picture one's opponent seeks. Even seemingly innocuous minutiae, in the hands of a skilled intelligence analyst, can help to flesh out a growing body of actionable information. Such little things - usually gathered informally and from the unwitting - are amazing valuable to the right person.
Back in World War II, the military needed to impress this concept on the U.S. population. "Mass media" back then meant radio, newspapers, and - most graphically - posters. Lots and lots of posters. Eye catching, colorful posters - works of art in their own right.
Check out some of the urgent messages they conveyed.
Here's a bunch more.
-=[ Grant ]=-
Those who watch too much TV think that security breaches come fully formed - that damaging information is gleaned nearly whole, needing only a few minor details filled in to make it valuable. While that may occasionally be true for satellite imaging, when putting together information gathered "on the ground" it is more like doing a jigsaw puzzle.
In reality, it is the small bits of information, gleaned from many sources, that form the picture one's opponent seeks. Even seemingly innocuous minutiae, in the hands of a skilled intelligence analyst, can help to flesh out a growing body of actionable information. Such little things - usually gathered informally and from the unwitting - are amazing valuable to the right person.
Back in World War II, the military needed to impress this concept on the U.S. population. "Mass media" back then meant radio, newspapers, and - most graphically - posters. Lots and lots of posters. Eye catching, colorful posters - works of art in their own right.
Check out some of the urgent messages they conveyed.
Here's a bunch more.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Feeling a little blue?
Friday, February 01, 2008
I'm not a huge fan of modern
children's cartoons. I grew up watching Bugs Bunny, who was the
quintessential American cartoon character: brash, self-assured,
didn't take guff from anyone, and always won. He lost some of his
edge with the ascension of producer Chuck Jones, but compared to
what kids see today he was still a pugnacious little furball.
When I first saw the Smurfs, my reaction was something like "what kind of namby-pamby, touchy-feely, feel-good crap are they teaching kids these days? Heck, Bugs would've just dropped a rock on his antagonist and been halfway into his hole by now!" Of course, their Communist lifestyle sets my libertarian hair on end, and I've always wondered where the baby Smurfs came from, given the virtually all male Smurf demographic.
(It goes without saying that I have no children to explain these things to me, and I'm not sure I'd want to have them explained. Where oh where is my Acme Deluxe Bazooka Kit when I need it??)
Anyhow, this is a long-winded way of bringing you an interesting "news" item: Croatian Smurfs left blue-faced as world record attempt falls sadly short.
Anyhow, this is a long-winded way of bringing you an sadly interesting "news" item: Croatian Smurfs left blue-faced as world record attempt falls sadly short.
(Frankly, I would have thought this to be more of a Belgian thing, given where their creator hails from. Apparently, though, the Croatians are catching up in the emasculation race.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
When I first saw the Smurfs, my reaction was something like "what kind of namby-pamby, touchy-feely, feel-good crap are they teaching kids these days? Heck, Bugs would've just dropped a rock on his antagonist and been halfway into his hole by now!" Of course, their Communist lifestyle sets my libertarian hair on end, and I've always wondered where the baby Smurfs came from, given the virtually all male Smurf demographic.
(It goes without saying that I have no children to explain these things to me, and I'm not sure I'd want to have them explained. Where oh where is my Acme Deluxe Bazooka Kit when I need it??)
Anyhow, this is a long-winded way of bringing you an interesting "news" item: Croatian Smurfs left blue-faced as world record attempt falls sadly short.
Anyhow, this is a long-winded way of bringing you an sadly interesting "news" item: Croatian Smurfs left blue-faced as world record attempt falls sadly short.
(Frankly, I would have thought this to be more of a Belgian thing, given where their creator hails from. Apparently, though, the Croatians are catching up in the emasculation race.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: It's the little things that make life pleasant
Friday, January 25, 2008
One of the reasons I hate
the very concept of reading books online is because of the
typefaces involved. (In fact, that's one of the saddest parts of
the entire online experience.) There are only a handful that will
reproduce distinctively on a website, and if you're using a Windows
PC (as opposed to a Mac) that number is cut in half (due to the way
Microsoft renders type.) Even such niceties as italics and boldface
are substandard - or non-existent - when getting words through the
'net.
(A typeface, BTW, is a family of type; a "font" is a specific style within that typeface. For instance, Arial is a typeface consisting of the fonts Arial Regular, Arial Bold, Arial Italic, etc.)
Typestyles are tremendously important in their ability to bring emotion to print. One gets a profoundly different feeling reading a paragraph in, say, Caslon versus that same text in Optima. Subtle variances in typefaces can bring huge changes to how the words are perceived by the reader, and the skilled designer recognizes and exploits that.
The beauty of one specific typeface is the subject of a neat feature-length independent film called, simply, "Helvetica." Filmmaker Gary Hustwit looks at this ubiquitous type, where it came from and why it's important in the wider world of graphic design. I know, it sounds dry - but I found it to be engaging as it persuaded me to take a closer look at something that is, quite literally, everywhere. If you're a fan of good design, you should check it out.
It's currently available for online viewing at Google video.
-=[ Grant ]=-
(A typeface, BTW, is a family of type; a "font" is a specific style within that typeface. For instance, Arial is a typeface consisting of the fonts Arial Regular, Arial Bold, Arial Italic, etc.)
Typestyles are tremendously important in their ability to bring emotion to print. One gets a profoundly different feeling reading a paragraph in, say, Caslon versus that same text in Optima. Subtle variances in typefaces can bring huge changes to how the words are perceived by the reader, and the skilled designer recognizes and exploits that.
The beauty of one specific typeface is the subject of a neat feature-length independent film called, simply, "Helvetica." Filmmaker Gary Hustwit looks at this ubiquitous type, where it came from and why it's important in the wider world of graphic design. I know, it sounds dry - but I found it to be engaging as it persuaded me to take a closer look at something that is, quite literally, everywhere. If you're a fan of good design, you should check it out.
It's currently available for online viewing at Google video.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: How far we've come in just a few short years
Friday, January 18, 2008
For those that actually
remember the dawn of the computer age (my first computer experience
was on a time-shared GE 600-series mainframe), looking over old
computer advertisements brings a flood of reactions: amusement,
embarrassment, and the occasional "I wish I'd bought their stock
when it was first offered." (Of course, there is also the "I'm glad
I didn't buy any of their stock!")
Take a look at these vintage ads. I particularly like the one explaining what email is - not just for the content, but for the company promoting the concept. (Honeywell, once a player in mainframe computers, is perhaps best known these days for making thermostats - which is what they made before they bought their way into the computer business.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
Take a look at these vintage ads. I particularly like the one explaining what email is - not just for the content, but for the company promoting the concept. (Honeywell, once a player in mainframe computers, is perhaps best known these days for making thermostats - which is what they made before they bought their way into the computer business.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: An important, and serious, topic
Friday, January 11, 2008
When I was in college, I had
a keen interest in economics. This is a subject that most approach
with trepidation; it is seen as a "difficult" subject to grasp, let
alone master. Let me assure you: economics, in terms of
understanding the mechanisms involved, is pretty simple. Then
again, so is football. Predicting with any certainty the long range
outcome of economic activity, though, is far from simple. Gee,
again - a lot like football!
From my first freshman level course to my very last, the whole subject fascinated me. I had one prof who was an unrepentant Keynesian, while I - also unrepentantly - was a monetarist from the University of Chicago mold. ("Milton Friedman was right!") We had a mutual respect of each other's opinion, but our class time virtually always devolved to a debate between just the two of us, other students looking on with expressions of incomprehension.
(Most of the students in econ classes, at least at the lower levels, were business school students who were there because an MBA required a certain number of econ credits. I'll spare you the then-common jokes about how MBA students were people who couldn't hack the PhysEd curriculum, but they do tend to explain why B-school folks had no clue what we were talking about.)
For them, as well as a majority of Americans, economics has come to signify some sort of black art that few understand. Fortunately, today we have something other than dry textbooks to show you just how easy and approachable the subject really is.
One first needs a good understanding of what money is and how it is created - and believe me, it isn't done in the way you probably think it is! A few years ago, a Canadian graphic artist by the name of Paul Grignon made an absolutely masterful animated short that deftly explains money, both from a historical and a modern perspective, and will leave any viewer with a solid and comprehensive understanding of just what "money" is.
So important is this film that I recommend everyone see it, share it with friends and family, and talk about it at work. If you do nothing else in terms of economic education, watch this film!
The original is 47 minutes long, but to make it a little less daunting several people have posted it to YouYube in sections.
Money as Debt - Part One
Money as Debt - Part Two
Money as Debt - Part Three
Money as Debt - Part Four
Money as Debt - Part Five
(One caveat: Part Five contains Grignon's prescriptions for a solution to the problems inherent with our current monetary system. Being Canadian, he's obviously cut from a very socialist cloth and his solutions involve ever greater government intervention. I think he's completely mistaken in those conclusions, but they don't detract from what is otherwise a superb explanation of money for the average person.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
From my first freshman level course to my very last, the whole subject fascinated me. I had one prof who was an unrepentant Keynesian, while I - also unrepentantly - was a monetarist from the University of Chicago mold. ("Milton Friedman was right!") We had a mutual respect of each other's opinion, but our class time virtually always devolved to a debate between just the two of us, other students looking on with expressions of incomprehension.
(Most of the students in econ classes, at least at the lower levels, were business school students who were there because an MBA required a certain number of econ credits. I'll spare you the then-common jokes about how MBA students were people who couldn't hack the PhysEd curriculum, but they do tend to explain why B-school folks had no clue what we were talking about.)
For them, as well as a majority of Americans, economics has come to signify some sort of black art that few understand. Fortunately, today we have something other than dry textbooks to show you just how easy and approachable the subject really is.
One first needs a good understanding of what money is and how it is created - and believe me, it isn't done in the way you probably think it is! A few years ago, a Canadian graphic artist by the name of Paul Grignon made an absolutely masterful animated short that deftly explains money, both from a historical and a modern perspective, and will leave any viewer with a solid and comprehensive understanding of just what "money" is.
So important is this film that I recommend everyone see it, share it with friends and family, and talk about it at work. If you do nothing else in terms of economic education, watch this film!
The original is 47 minutes long, but to make it a little less daunting several people have posted it to YouYube in sections.
Money as Debt - Part One
Money as Debt - Part Two
Money as Debt - Part Three
Money as Debt - Part Four
Money as Debt - Part Five
(One caveat: Part Five contains Grignon's prescriptions for a solution to the problems inherent with our current monetary system. Being Canadian, he's obviously cut from a very socialist cloth and his solutions involve ever greater government intervention. I think he's completely mistaken in those conclusions, but they don't detract from what is otherwise a superb explanation of money for the average person.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Many Blasts From The Past
Friday, January 04, 2008
Many people, it seems, do
not know about archive.org. It is an online digital
library of old (public domain) photos, music, movies, books, and
much more. It is an absolute goldmine for anyone who likes to
peruse life from another era.
Let's say, for example, that you want to see Thomas Edison's 1910 film adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein." Not a problem - archive.org has it.
If it's old or obscure, I always look for it first at archive.org; it should come with a disclaimer, though: "Warning! This is a site that can literally eat up hours of otherwise productive time!"
Check it out.
-=[ Grant ]=-
Let's say, for example, that you want to see Thomas Edison's 1910 film adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein." Not a problem - archive.org has it.
If it's old or obscure, I always look for it first at archive.org; it should come with a disclaimer, though: "Warning! This is a site that can literally eat up hours of otherwise productive time!"
Check it out.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: With gleeful abandon
Friday, December 21, 2007
If you've been reading this
screed for any length of time, you know my fascination with old and
abandoned places. WebUrbanist, a site that deals with various
cultural scenes and artifacts from all over the world, has
sometimes fed this addiction of mine.
This time, they have a collection of great abandoned sites right here in the good ol' US of A.
Now, just to prove to you that I'm not "all hat and no cattle", here's a shot of an abandoned mine I ran across in southern Oregon:
Yes, it's full of water. You're looking at the roof supports, which are about six feet above the floor. No kidding.
(There was an old sign on the entrance that read "extreme danger - do not enter." Ya think??)
-=[ Grant ]=-
This time, they have a collection of great abandoned sites right here in the good ol' US of A.
Now, just to prove to you that I'm not "all hat and no cattle", here's a shot of an abandoned mine I ran across in southern Oregon:
Yes, it's full of water. You're looking at the roof supports, which are about six feet above the floor. No kidding.
(There was an old sign on the entrance that read "extreme danger - do not enter." Ya think??)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Perpetual music
Friday, December 07, 2007
I'll admit that today's
Friday Surprise is a bit "out there" - but it's also awfully
neat.
On the Croatian shore is a very unusual musical instrument: an organ powered and played by the sea. The engineers installed a rank (the organ term for a group or line) of pipes beneath some concrete stairs. As the waves lick the shoreline, the water pushes air out of individual pipes, and the size and duration of those waves controls the volume and sustain of each note.
Here's an MP3 clip of the organ playing. Yes, it's a bit abstract but also hauntingly compelling. While not directly comparable, the spare, open sound of the wave organ reminds me a bit of the wide sound that Aaron Copland was able to coax from the orchestra - particularly in his Symphony #3. I find myself waiting in rapt attention for the next note.
Should I ever find myself in Croatia, you can bet I'll visit!
Courtesy of the Oddmusic homepage. Be sure to check out some of their other unusual entries!
-=[ Grant ]=-
On the Croatian shore is a very unusual musical instrument: an organ powered and played by the sea. The engineers installed a rank (the organ term for a group or line) of pipes beneath some concrete stairs. As the waves lick the shoreline, the water pushes air out of individual pipes, and the size and duration of those waves controls the volume and sustain of each note.
Here's an MP3 clip of the organ playing. Yes, it's a bit abstract but also hauntingly compelling. While not directly comparable, the spare, open sound of the wave organ reminds me a bit of the wide sound that Aaron Copland was able to coax from the orchestra - particularly in his Symphony #3. I find myself waiting in rapt attention for the next note.
Should I ever find myself in Croatia, you can bet I'll visit!
Courtesy of the Oddmusic homepage. Be sure to check out some of their other unusual entries!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Drop in the bucket
Friday, November 30, 2007
Holy cow, it's Friday
already! I've been so busy, it didn't dawn on me until mid-morning
that I had a blog post due today!
Here's one that I really like - stop-action photography of water. Take a look - it's not what you think!
(I was going to write a clever introduction to the work of Harold Edgerton, but you'll just have to research him yourself.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
Here's one that I really like - stop-action photography of water. Take a look - it's not what you think!
(I was going to write a clever introduction to the work of Harold Edgerton, but you'll just have to research him yourself.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: When men were men, and computers filled a room
Friday, November 23, 2007
At least, some of them
did!
Here's a great little collection of pictures from the last few decades of computer technology. Ranging from mainframes to the first microcomputers, it's a neat glimpse of just how far things have come.
-=[ Grant ]=-
Here's a great little collection of pictures from the last few decades of computer technology. Ranging from mainframes to the first microcomputers, it's a neat glimpse of just how far things have come.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: It's metaphysics time!
Friday, November 16, 2007
When I was in college, it
was fashionable amongst a certain segment of the student population
to walk around carrying a copy of the New York Review Of Books. The
aim, of course, was to appear worldly and sophisticated to people
who recognized the title, but didn't themselves read it.
The great secret was that very few of the people carrying the NYROB around, treating it as an icon of sophistication, ever actually read the thing either!
Many people buy copies of Musashi and Sun-Tzu which they never read, but which certainly look good on their bookshelves and serve to create a certain image. It helps, of course, when people quote common passages from Art of War or Book of Five RIngs without ever having read them in their actual context.
So it is with Meditations on Hunting by Jose Ortega y Gasset. It has been called "the most quoted work in sporting literature", but it appears that no one has ever actually read the thing!
Allow me to digress for a moment. My own hunting experiences are relatively few compared to many who read this blog. Though my father hunted, and I accompanied him at times, it was always a subsistence kind of affair: he hunted because we needed the meat. He would go out, get his deer (or elk), and that would be the end of it. He never took pictures of his kills nor kept trophies; hunting was a means to an end (to eat) rather than an end in itself.
As an adult, I wrestle with this. I don't need to hunt, meat being readily available otherwise, and so have chosen not to (save for necessary agricultural activities, such as pest and predator control, which aren't really hunting.) Despite this self-defined comfort, there has always been a gnawing at the back of my mind: what am I missing? Did my father derive anything other than protein from his hunts; was there something more profound at work? (That my father always hunted solo, eschewing the elk camp and its beer-fueled antics, left me suspecting that there might be.)
I wanted clarity on the subject, and thought that Ortega might be able to provide it. Color me surprised when I could find no one, even seasoned and experienced hunters of my acquaintance, who owned a copy. Our library system, which spans the largest city in Oregon to the most backwood hamlet, did not list it in their holdings. How odd! Such an important work, well known and oft-mentioned, yet no one seemed to have actually encountered it.
So, when the Second Edition of the Wescott translation of Meditations recently came out, I availed myself of free shipping on Amazon and ordered it. Finally I would get to see what all the fuss was about!
The book springs from Ortega's contention that life comes to us (or we to it) essentially empty, and it derives whatever meaning it has from the choices that we make relative to each situation in which we find ourselves. To Ortega, life really exists at the boundary of man and his surroundings, those surroundings to include our own thoughts and feelings. Hunting is such an interaction, and creates meaning by virtue of what it requires of the hunter.
The chase, the stalk, and yes the kill, all have great importance to the experience; missing any one negates the hunt's meaning. Ortega contends that the tension created by the sequence is an essential part of the experience, and without the unease created by the death of the animal that sequence becomes a farce, devoid of any meaning. This is the genesis of his most famous quote: "one does not hunt in order to kill; on the contrary, one kills in order to have hunted." Do not, though, assume that quote to be a substitute for the book - there is far more contained in that simple statement than is readily apparent, for it only hints at Ortega's complete philosophy.
(Like the poseurs I mentioned at the top, walking around with the NYROB poking out of their pocket, the passage is often intoned by those who have never read it in context. Having now digested his whole treatment of the subject, the statement by itself seems a caricature.)
It's important to understand that Meditations isn't about hunting as much as it is about man's relationship to the hunt. Remember that Ortega was a philosopher by training and occupation, holding a doctorate in the subject and chairing departments at Spanish universities. Thus, he's not a hunter who waxes a bit philosophic, but a serious philosopher who looks at the act of the hunt and reconciles it with his overall point of view.
As philosophers go, Ortega is surprisingly readable. Make no mistake, though - if you hated studying philosophy in school, Meditations may not be your cup of tea. It isn't about shooting deer, but about allowing the mind to learn more about itself. It requires introspection, an ability to deal in concepts rather than kinesthetics, and thus may turn off some people. However, his work is illuminating enough - even for the average person - to make it worth the effort.
I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of Meditations on Hunting and take whatever length of time you need to digest what Ortega wrote. I think that you'll come away with a better understanding of yourself, and a clearer picture of why you choose - or not, as the case may be - to hunt.
-=[ Grant ]=-
The great secret was that very few of the people carrying the NYROB around, treating it as an icon of sophistication, ever actually read the thing either!
Many people buy copies of Musashi and Sun-Tzu which they never read, but which certainly look good on their bookshelves and serve to create a certain image. It helps, of course, when people quote common passages from Art of War or Book of Five RIngs without ever having read them in their actual context.
So it is with Meditations on Hunting by Jose Ortega y Gasset. It has been called "the most quoted work in sporting literature", but it appears that no one has ever actually read the thing!
Allow me to digress for a moment. My own hunting experiences are relatively few compared to many who read this blog. Though my father hunted, and I accompanied him at times, it was always a subsistence kind of affair: he hunted because we needed the meat. He would go out, get his deer (or elk), and that would be the end of it. He never took pictures of his kills nor kept trophies; hunting was a means to an end (to eat) rather than an end in itself.
As an adult, I wrestle with this. I don't need to hunt, meat being readily available otherwise, and so have chosen not to (save for necessary agricultural activities, such as pest and predator control, which aren't really hunting.) Despite this self-defined comfort, there has always been a gnawing at the back of my mind: what am I missing? Did my father derive anything other than protein from his hunts; was there something more profound at work? (That my father always hunted solo, eschewing the elk camp and its beer-fueled antics, left me suspecting that there might be.)
I wanted clarity on the subject, and thought that Ortega might be able to provide it. Color me surprised when I could find no one, even seasoned and experienced hunters of my acquaintance, who owned a copy. Our library system, which spans the largest city in Oregon to the most backwood hamlet, did not list it in their holdings. How odd! Such an important work, well known and oft-mentioned, yet no one seemed to have actually encountered it.
So, when the Second Edition of the Wescott translation of Meditations recently came out, I availed myself of free shipping on Amazon and ordered it. Finally I would get to see what all the fuss was about!
The book springs from Ortega's contention that life comes to us (or we to it) essentially empty, and it derives whatever meaning it has from the choices that we make relative to each situation in which we find ourselves. To Ortega, life really exists at the boundary of man and his surroundings, those surroundings to include our own thoughts and feelings. Hunting is such an interaction, and creates meaning by virtue of what it requires of the hunter.
The chase, the stalk, and yes the kill, all have great importance to the experience; missing any one negates the hunt's meaning. Ortega contends that the tension created by the sequence is an essential part of the experience, and without the unease created by the death of the animal that sequence becomes a farce, devoid of any meaning. This is the genesis of his most famous quote: "one does not hunt in order to kill; on the contrary, one kills in order to have hunted." Do not, though, assume that quote to be a substitute for the book - there is far more contained in that simple statement than is readily apparent, for it only hints at Ortega's complete philosophy.
(Like the poseurs I mentioned at the top, walking around with the NYROB poking out of their pocket, the passage is often intoned by those who have never read it in context. Having now digested his whole treatment of the subject, the statement by itself seems a caricature.)
It's important to understand that Meditations isn't about hunting as much as it is about man's relationship to the hunt. Remember that Ortega was a philosopher by training and occupation, holding a doctorate in the subject and chairing departments at Spanish universities. Thus, he's not a hunter who waxes a bit philosophic, but a serious philosopher who looks at the act of the hunt and reconciles it with his overall point of view.
As philosophers go, Ortega is surprisingly readable. Make no mistake, though - if you hated studying philosophy in school, Meditations may not be your cup of tea. It isn't about shooting deer, but about allowing the mind to learn more about itself. It requires introspection, an ability to deal in concepts rather than kinesthetics, and thus may turn off some people. However, his work is illuminating enough - even for the average person - to make it worth the effort.
I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of Meditations on Hunting and take whatever length of time you need to digest what Ortega wrote. I think that you'll come away with a better understanding of yourself, and a clearer picture of why you choose - or not, as the case may be - to hunt.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: The Big Bang
Friday, November 09, 2007
But not the one you may have
thought!
You may recall that back during World War II, we developed the first operational nuclear bomb. It was a massive effort, with the epicenter in Alamogordo, New Mexico. So, why was it called the "Manhattan Project"?
Many believe that it was a name picked to draw attention away from the desert southwest, to confuse the enemy by calling it by something completely unrelated to the project. A little security sleight-of-hand, as it were.
You might be surprised just how close to the mark the name actually was.
-=[ Grant ]=-
You may recall that back during World War II, we developed the first operational nuclear bomb. It was a massive effort, with the epicenter in Alamogordo, New Mexico. So, why was it called the "Manhattan Project"?
Many believe that it was a name picked to draw attention away from the desert southwest, to confuse the enemy by calling it by something completely unrelated to the project. A little security sleight-of-hand, as it were.
You might be surprised just how close to the mark the name actually was.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: My life and welcome to it!
Friday, November 02, 2007
Remember my
declaration of
geekiness? Well, a fellow I've been
known to hang around with (also a ham radio enthusiast - go figure)
sent me this:
Yes, that's me in a nutshell. Except I'm not an engineer - but I'd play one on TV if someone paid me.
-=[ Grant ]=-
Yes, that's me in a nutshell. Except I'm not an engineer - but I'd play one on TV if someone paid me.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: The Russians Aren't Coming! The Russians Aren't Coming!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Well, definitely
not in
these!
Owing to my unnatural fascination with old and abandoned things, I find the concept of an aircraft boneyard to be absolutely irresistible. The most famous of them is no doubt the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center outside of Tucson, but there are others.
The Russians have such things, too, and they can be a fascinating glimpse into the "other side" of the Cold War.
-=[ Grant ]=-
Owing to my unnatural fascination with old and abandoned things, I find the concept of an aircraft boneyard to be absolutely irresistible. The most famous of them is no doubt the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center outside of Tucson, but there are others.
The Russians have such things, too, and they can be a fascinating glimpse into the "other side" of the Cold War.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: You'll get a charge out of this
Friday, October 19, 2007
When we think of a battery,
we invariably think of the lead, acid, or alkaline components that
have become synonymous with the concept. But chemical repositories
are not the only ways to store energy; it can also be stored in its
kinetic form.
That's the idea behind the mechanical battery. Read all about it, courtesy of Damn Interesting.
-=[ Grant ]=-
That's the idea behind the mechanical battery. Read all about it, courtesy of Damn Interesting.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Something in the air
Friday, October 12, 2007
It's confession time: I'm a
geek. A card carrying,
spent-all-my-high-school-time-in-the-library,
know-how-to-use-a-sliderule geek. I love computers,
think physics should be taught in kindergarden, and generally find
technology of all kinds (modern to ancient) fascinating.
Seems I'm not the only gun blogger to claim that moniker: the infamous Tam purports to be a geek, too - but is she? Is she really? Oh, yeah, she makes a big deal about her old computers - but did she ever have a DEC PDP-11/70 (running RSTS, no less) in her garage like I once did? I think not!
I, on the other hand, can prove my exalted status beyond a shadow of doubt, as I possess the ultimate geek credential: an amateur radio license. No, not your simple no-code-Tech paper, but a real I-passed-the-Morse-code-test-and-have-HF-privileges-to-show-for-it General class ticket. In the world of the terminally socially inept, the ham radio license is Da Bomb. Let's see you beat THAT, Tam! Hah! Hah-hah-hah!
(I think I've been reading far too much Mogambo Guru. But I digress...)
This nerd calling-out is just a pathetically unimaginative way of introducing today's topic: an abandoned Ionospheric Research Station hidden deep in the Ukrainian wilderness. You see, such installations are all about antennas, and any ham radio operator worthy of the title is really into antennas. I sure am; I have books about antennas, have pictures of antenna installations, and generally love looking at anything to do with antennas - the more esoteric, the better!
They don't come much grander than this one, courtesy - once again - of that web site for all geeks, Dark Roasted Blend. (If after viewing the site you have an irresistible urge to buy a pocket protector, I cannot be held responsible!)
-=[ Grant ]=-
Seems I'm not the only gun blogger to claim that moniker: the infamous Tam purports to be a geek, too - but is she? Is she really? Oh, yeah, she makes a big deal about her old computers - but did she ever have a DEC PDP-11/70 (running RSTS, no less) in her garage like I once did? I think not!
I, on the other hand, can prove my exalted status beyond a shadow of doubt, as I possess the ultimate geek credential: an amateur radio license. No, not your simple no-code-Tech paper, but a real I-passed-the-Morse-code-test-and-have-HF-privileges-to-show-for-it General class ticket. In the world of the terminally socially inept, the ham radio license is Da Bomb. Let's see you beat THAT, Tam! Hah! Hah-hah-hah!
(I think I've been reading far too much Mogambo Guru. But I digress...)
This nerd calling-out is just a pathetically unimaginative way of introducing today's topic: an abandoned Ionospheric Research Station hidden deep in the Ukrainian wilderness. You see, such installations are all about antennas, and any ham radio operator worthy of the title is really into antennas. I sure am; I have books about antennas, have pictures of antenna installations, and generally love looking at anything to do with antennas - the more esoteric, the better!
They don't come much grander than this one, courtesy - once again - of that web site for all geeks, Dark Roasted Blend. (If after viewing the site you have an irresistible urge to buy a pocket protector, I cannot be held responsible!)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: All the king's horses and all the king's men...
Friday, October 05, 2007
So, let's say you've got
some precision tools, a dozen eggs, and some time on your hands.
What would you do?
How about carving up those eggshells?
-=[ Grant ]=-
How about carving up those eggshells?
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: What happens when you crash a plane in Alaska?
Friday, September 28, 2007
Well, chances are it will sit right where you left it!
Check out Abandoned Plane Wrecks of the North.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Busy as a bee
Friday, September 21, 2007
I like honeybees. Compared
to their shiftless relatives, the combative yellowjacket, honeybees
are a happy and productive insect. Of course, the reason I like
them so much is because they make one of nature's most perfect
foods: honey.
The inside of their hive, where they produce that golden nectar, has always held a fascination for me. I remember as a kid occasionally getting a large honeycomb and chewing on the honey-filled wax, wondering just how the little creatures managed their magic.
Well, one person thought of a way to watch. I present you with the Bell Jar Beehive:
Click here to see the rest of the amazing pictures!
-=[ Grant ]=-
The inside of their hive, where they produce that golden nectar, has always held a fascination for me. I remember as a kid occasionally getting a large honeycomb and chewing on the honey-filled wax, wondering just how the little creatures managed their magic.
Well, one person thought of a way to watch. I present you with the Bell Jar Beehive:
Click here to see the rest of the amazing pictures!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: It's the little things that make me happy
Friday, September 14, 2007
I'm always in need of small
containers of various types to hold oils, cleaners, parts, screws,
and other miscellany. They can be hard to find locally, but
specialtybottle.com carries a huge
selection.
I've used small clear top tins like this for many years; they are invaluable for many types of small parts. I bought my supply of them a long time ago, and recently started running low. I despaired about being able to find them again, but luckily they're in stock!
-=[ Grant ]=-
I've used small clear top tins like this for many years; they are invaluable for many types of small parts. I bought my supply of them a long time ago, and recently started running low. I despaired about being able to find them again, but luckily they're in stock!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
Friday, September 07, 2007
The other day I was in the
parking lot of the local Home Depot, whose coffers as of late have
been swelling from the various remodeling projects around our
house.
As I was loading up another pile of material for yet another round of work on the house, I watched in amazement as a couple contemplated how to carry their newly-purchased front entry door in (or on) their - wait for it - Mazda Miata. I wish I were kidding.
My wife chuckled all the way home.
My thoughts immediately turned to an episode of Rowan Atkinson's terrific "Mr. Bean" television show, wherein the namesake character carries the equivalent of a La-Z-Boy on top of his tiny little car (an original Leyland Mini):
But these two episodes of mirth pale in comparison to some real pictures of crazy portages, brought to us once again by Dark Roasted Blend. Enjoy!
-=[ Grant ]=-
As I was loading up another pile of material for yet another round of work on the house, I watched in amazement as a couple contemplated how to carry their newly-purchased front entry door in (or on) their - wait for it - Mazda Miata. I wish I were kidding.
My wife chuckled all the way home.
My thoughts immediately turned to an episode of Rowan Atkinson's terrific "Mr. Bean" television show, wherein the namesake character carries the equivalent of a La-Z-Boy on top of his tiny little car (an original Leyland Mini):
But these two episodes of mirth pale in comparison to some real pictures of crazy portages, brought to us once again by Dark Roasted Blend. Enjoy!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: No granola eaters here!
Friday, August 31, 2007
We all know the baggage
carried by the brand "Volvo": "Vegetarian." "Boring." "Safe."
"Comfortable shoes." "Risk-averse." Volvo as a company seems to do
little to dispel the image they have, as it's certainly been
successful for them.
There is another side to Volvo, though - the take-no-prisoners, rough-and-tumble side, represented by their superb line of all-terrain military trucks. The best known of these models is the C303, better known as the "Laplander."
The Laplander is a very boxy 4x4 vehicle, similar in design to the Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer but a bit larger. Powered by the superb Volvo B30 inline six and possessing front and rear locking differentials, it it has proven itself more than a match for the toughest terrain. Look at the ground clearance under the rear axle!
The C303 has developed a worldwide following of passionate enthusiasts, though (sadly) there aren't a lot of them here in the U.S. Now I'm not usually one to lust after a mere vehicle, but I've wanted a Laplander for years. I don't know whether it's the need to possess something no one else does, a psychological deficiency that compels me to seek attention, or just a desire to annoy my ever-so-yuppie neighbors, but I want one. Yes, it's probably impractical as a day-to-day driver; yes, the fuel economy is nothing to write home about; yet I still want one!
Check out some of the Laplander's many fan sites:
http://www.volvoadventures.com/Laplander_C303spec.html
http://www.volvoc303.co.uk/
-=[ Grant ]=-
There is another side to Volvo, though - the take-no-prisoners, rough-and-tumble side, represented by their superb line of all-terrain military trucks. The best known of these models is the C303, better known as the "Laplander."
The Laplander is a very boxy 4x4 vehicle, similar in design to the Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer but a bit larger. Powered by the superb Volvo B30 inline six and possessing front and rear locking differentials, it it has proven itself more than a match for the toughest terrain. Look at the ground clearance under the rear axle!
The C303 has developed a worldwide following of passionate enthusiasts, though (sadly) there aren't a lot of them here in the U.S. Now I'm not usually one to lust after a mere vehicle, but I've wanted a Laplander for years. I don't know whether it's the need to possess something no one else does, a psychological deficiency that compels me to seek attention, or just a desire to annoy my ever-so-yuppie neighbors, but I want one. Yes, it's probably impractical as a day-to-day driver; yes, the fuel economy is nothing to write home about; yet I still want one!
Check out some of the Laplander's many fan sites:
http://www.volvoadventures.com/Laplander_C303spec.html
http://www.volvoc303.co.uk/
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Not your typical "buddy" movie
Friday, August 24, 2007
The "buddy movie" has become
a staple in Hollywood's bag of banal plot staples. They've given us
cop buddy movies, firefighter buddy movies, private eye buddy
movies, superhero buddy movies, and even suicidal women buddy
movies.
In the hands of a master, though, even a cliche becomes fresh and intriguing. The master, in this case, is Akira Kurosawa, and the movie in question is the superb "Dersu Uzala."
Dersu is a Nanai hunter who befriends - and is befriended by - Captain Arsenyev, who is leading a surveying expedition in Siberia just after the turn of the 20th century. Dersu is the quintessential mountain man who is completely at home in nature, while Arsenyev (and his crew of soldiers) are distinctly out of place in the vast wilderness. Dersu becomes Arsenyev's friend, showing him not just how to survive in the unforgiving landscape but also a bit about the meaning of life.
Watch this clip, and note how Dersu not only sees subtle clues around him, but how he cares for those who he may never meet:
Their friendship grows out of mutual respect, not bravado; what they share is a heartfelt concern for the land and the people who inhabit it, as well as the welfare of each other.
The movie is based on the autobiographical novel of the same name, written by the real Captain Arsenyev about the real Dersu. Kurosawa had read the book and desperately wanted to bring it to the big screen, and in the 1970s finally got his chance - spending two full years filming in the wilds of Siberia. The result may, as some critics have suggested, be Kurosawa's most beautiful (and certainly most underrated) work.
Because it is a true tale, this movie teaches us more about the nature of friendship than anyone in Hollywood can fathom. There are no plot twists and no happy ending; like life, it proceeds at its own pace up to the poignant conclusion (which itself brings up back to the start of the film, reminding us of the cycle of life.)
I saw this film many years ago, and I remembered it as being a great story. Understand that I'm not a film buff - frankly, I find it hard to sit through a whole movie - and certainly not a big Kurosawa fan. That it is one of only a handful of films I actually want to own tells you that it is something truly special.
Thanks to the generosity of a close friend I now have my own copy, which I will treasure. The film is hard to find, but it is worth the search. If Nessmuk means anything to you, Dersu Uzala will be one of your favorites too.
-=[ Grant ]=-
In the hands of a master, though, even a cliche becomes fresh and intriguing. The master, in this case, is Akira Kurosawa, and the movie in question is the superb "Dersu Uzala."
Dersu is a Nanai hunter who befriends - and is befriended by - Captain Arsenyev, who is leading a surveying expedition in Siberia just after the turn of the 20th century. Dersu is the quintessential mountain man who is completely at home in nature, while Arsenyev (and his crew of soldiers) are distinctly out of place in the vast wilderness. Dersu becomes Arsenyev's friend, showing him not just how to survive in the unforgiving landscape but also a bit about the meaning of life.
Watch this clip, and note how Dersu not only sees subtle clues around him, but how he cares for those who he may never meet:
Their friendship grows out of mutual respect, not bravado; what they share is a heartfelt concern for the land and the people who inhabit it, as well as the welfare of each other.
The movie is based on the autobiographical novel of the same name, written by the real Captain Arsenyev about the real Dersu. Kurosawa had read the book and desperately wanted to bring it to the big screen, and in the 1970s finally got his chance - spending two full years filming in the wilds of Siberia. The result may, as some critics have suggested, be Kurosawa's most beautiful (and certainly most underrated) work.
Because it is a true tale, this movie teaches us more about the nature of friendship than anyone in Hollywood can fathom. There are no plot twists and no happy ending; like life, it proceeds at its own pace up to the poignant conclusion (which itself brings up back to the start of the film, reminding us of the cycle of life.)
I saw this film many years ago, and I remembered it as being a great story. Understand that I'm not a film buff - frankly, I find it hard to sit through a whole movie - and certainly not a big Kurosawa fan. That it is one of only a handful of films I actually want to own tells you that it is something truly special.
Thanks to the generosity of a close friend I now have my own copy, which I will treasure. The film is hard to find, but it is worth the search. If Nessmuk means anything to you, Dersu Uzala will be one of your favorites too.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: What Benito couldn't do, Carlo did
Friday, August 10, 2007
Before Honda, before Kawasaki, Yamaha or Suzuki, motorcycle racing was dominated by the great Italian marques. Legendary companies like Gilera, Moto Morini, and MV Augusta held consecutive world titles, some of which would stand for years. All of these makers had their adherents, but the undeniable "big boy" of Italian motorcycle racing was Moto Guzzi.
The company was formed when three friends - Carlo Guzzi, Girogio Parodi, and Giovanni Ravelli - were serving in the Italian Army during World War I. Part of a flying unit, they had complimentary skills: Guzzi was a talented, though as yet amateur, engineer; Ravelli was an up-and-coming name in racing before the war; and Parodi, like his successful father, had demonstrated business acumen. The three agreed to pool their talents and form a company to make motorcycles. Ravelli, sadly, was killed only days after the war was finished, but Guzzi and Parodi soldiered on to form the company they'd all dreamed about.
Guzzi designed the machines and Parodi (whose father financed the enterprise) handled the business aspects of the fledgling firm. They knew that the key to commercial success was a reputation in racing, and thanks to their combined skill they were almost immediately successful at both. Only four months after their first prototypes were completed, company rider Gino Finzi picked up first place at the prestigious Targa Florio - a win that surprised the industry.
The company rapidly expanded their pool of engineering talent, and they would flex their muscle by making amazing motorcycles: a magnesium-cased, supercharged 250cc; a 4-cylinder supercharged 500cc in 1930; and a 3-cylinder supercharged 500cc machine in 1940. Despite these advances, their racing reputation would be made with their more pedestrian - but wonderfully engineered - single cylinder twin-cam motorcycles.
Those bikes quickly came to dominate the 250cc and 500cc classes, racking up win after win. In 1934 they cemented their hold on the top 500cc class with their introduction of the two-cylinder 500cc bicilindrica, which allowed them a spectacular win in both the 250cc and 500cc classes at the Isle of Man TT race in 1935. in 1953 they entered the hotly contested 350cc class, again with a twin-cam single, and won every World Championship until 1957.
By the mid-50s, though, they were losing ground in the "top dog" 500cc class. The twin-cam singles were decidedly out of date, while the bicilindrica had been inexplicably killed off in 1951. Guzzi needed a new bike that could not just take on the increasingly successful Gilera and upstart MV Augusta designs, but would rule over them.
Chief designer Giulio Carcano put his considerable talent to work, and what emerged in 1955 stunned the world: a water cooled, 500cc V-8 motorcycle. With dual overhead cams and a separate carburetor for each cylinder, this audacious design pumped out a then-unheard-of 72hp at a scarcely believable 12,000 rpm. Guzzi was ready.
Sadly the tire, brake and suspension technology of the day weren't up to the demands of the magnificent engine, and the otto cylindri never achieved the success intended. Moto Guzzi retired from racing entirely at the end of the 1957 season, and the bike was shelved. This didn't stop it from leaving a stumbling block for its rivals, though - in its short 2-season career it set several lap speed records which would end up standing for more than two decades, a parting shot to those who would succeed them.
Today only two authentic examples remain, both in the possession of the Guzzi company in the picturesque Italian town of Mandello del Lario. They occasionally fire one up for a demonstration run on their test track behind the factory. The sound of the engine is unmistakable, and reminds us that there was a time when Italy did, in fact, rule the world - or at least a small part of it.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: What can you do with a grain of sand?
Friday, August 03, 2007
I know that I've been
featuring a disproportionate number of Dark Roasted
Blend articles lately, but they
just come up with so much good stuff it's hard not to! Take today's
topic:
That's the creation of a mandala, the Dharmic representation (in miniature) of a particular aspect of the universe. The amount of work is incredible, and the cool (or plaintive, depending on your point of view) aspect is their ritual destruction after completion.
Check them out.
-=[ Grant ]=-
That's the creation of a mandala, the Dharmic representation (in miniature) of a particular aspect of the universe. The amount of work is incredible, and the cool (or plaintive, depending on your point of view) aspect is their ritual destruction after completion.
Check them out.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: The broken record is silenced (at least for today.)
Friday, July 27, 2007
I'm sure that by now you're
quite tired of hearing about my interest in abandoned, secret, and
underground places. I love exploring such things, and rarely turn
down the chance to visit an old mine or poke around in the ruins
of Fort
Stevens, right here in Oregon. The
older, danker, and creepier they are the more i like them. I can't
explain this fascination, not even to myself!
I've been thinking that perhaps I've touched on this subject a bit much, and thought that it was only fair to give some balance - a counterpoint, as it were - to this keen interest of mine. Just so you know that there are some places I definitely don't want to explore, I give you abandoned bio-chem warfare facilities.
Yikes!
-=[ Grant ]=-
I've been thinking that perhaps I've touched on this subject a bit much, and thought that it was only fair to give some balance - a counterpoint, as it were - to this keen interest of mine. Just so you know that there are some places I definitely don't want to explore, I give you abandoned bio-chem warfare facilities.
Yikes!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Amazing underground spaces
Friday, July 20, 2007
I've previously mentioned
that I have a fascination with abandoned places, and even more for
abandoned/mothballed spaces that are underground.
Well, the folks over at Dark Roasted Blend have some amazing pictures of old underground facilities around the world. You won't believe the Tokyo Storm Water System! (OK, it's not really abandoned, but it's still awfully cool.)
(As you might have guessed, I'm a fan of the History Channel's show Cities of the Underworld. Check it out!)
-=[ Grant ]=-
Well, the folks over at Dark Roasted Blend have some amazing pictures of old underground facilities around the world. You won't believe the Tokyo Storm Water System! (OK, it's not really abandoned, but it's still awfully cool.)
(As you might have guessed, I'm a fan of the History Channel's show Cities of the Underworld. Check it out!)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Another senseless squirrel tragedy
Friday, July 13, 2007
Another squirrel attack. Were it not for the
quick-thinking cane wielder, this could have been ugly.
-=[ Grant ]=-
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: How did I not know about this site??
Friday, July 06, 2007
If you're into the weird and
esoteric, if strange machines and odd places intrigue you, check
out Dark Roasted
Blend. It's a site that showcases
an incredibly eclectic range of, well, things.
The way I was introduced to the site was a link to their entry on "Creepy High Voltage Installations" in the former USSR. Absolutely great stuff!
I could browse this site for hours. (Check out the Tatra car!) You can bet I'm subscribed to their RSS feed!
-=[ Grant ]=-
The way I was introduced to the site was a link to their entry on "Creepy High Voltage Installations" in the former USSR. Absolutely great stuff!
I could browse this site for hours. (Check out the Tatra car!) You can bet I'm subscribed to their RSS feed!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: A mystery worthy of Dr. House
Friday, June 29, 2007
So you're on your way home
from a hard day's work in Cameroon. You pass through a small
village, where everyone is dead. No external evidence of foul play,
and it appears that they died very quickly - in the midst of their
daily activities.
The deaths aren't limited to people. Animals for miles around died in their tracks, and just like the humans show no signs of foul play. The toll would eventually be 1,800 people and double that number of animals, all killed at the same time.
Investigators were baffled. Eventually, though, they did find the answer - and it was one worthy of a television show. It turns out that the mysterious killer had more in common with a bottle of soda than with a psychopath.
Find out what the mysterious killer was.
-=[ Grant ]=-
The deaths aren't limited to people. Animals for miles around died in their tracks, and just like the humans show no signs of foul play. The toll would eventually be 1,800 people and double that number of animals, all killed at the same time.
Investigators were baffled. Eventually, though, they did find the answer - and it was one worthy of a television show. It turns out that the mysterious killer had more in common with a bottle of soda than with a psychopath.
Find out what the mysterious killer was.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Turkey carving this ain't!
Friday, June 15, 2007
When I was a
kid, I was fascinated by the idea of carving (or whittlin', as we
called it.) My dad occasionally whittled a whistle, my uncle did a
spoon now and again, but the object that fascinated me the most was
a short wooden chain that my grandfather had hanging on his
wall.
The idea that one could gouge out a series of links, with no breaks, from a single piece of wood seemed incomprehensible to my young mind. It seemed almost like magic!
Today, of course, I understand how its done, but now marvel at the patience necessary to complete such a task. The little chain that captivated me pales, however, in comparison to this:
That item was carved from a single pencil! There's more to see over at The New Shelton Wet/Dry blog. Check it out!
-=[ Grant ]=-
The idea that one could gouge out a series of links, with no breaks, from a single piece of wood seemed incomprehensible to my young mind. It seemed almost like magic!
Today, of course, I understand how its done, but now marvel at the patience necessary to complete such a task. The little chain that captivated me pales, however, in comparison to this:
That item was carved from a single pencil! There's more to see over at The New Shelton Wet/Dry blog. Check it out!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Clothes may not make the man...
Friday, June 08, 2007
...but they can sure be his
undoing if they aren't right!
It's taken me years to assimilate this fully, and I still backslide occasionally, but the old saw "quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten" is so true!
Nowhere is this more evident than in the fine garments from Filson. Filson is an old-line outdoor clothing maker located just up the road in Seattle. (Yeah, it's a long road up there, but you get the point.) Filson has been making top-drawer clothing since the days of the Yukon gold rush, and many of their current designs actually hail from that era. "Tried and true" has never been more appropriate!
Filson became known for two materials: "mackinaw wool" and "tin cloth." These are incredibly rugged, durable fabrics that have no synthetic equivalents. A "tin cloth" coat will literally last generations, and I have a "mackinaw wool" coat in my (small) collection that is at least 40 years old and still in perfect condition despite having been worn in some very rough conditions.
Styling? What styling? The traditional Filson garments are functional above all, and whatever style they have derives solely from their function. The result is a look that has come to be known as "northwest casual", and to my eyes looks as good as it works.
This tremendous gear is made right here in the good ol' US of A. Needless to say, quality of this level is not cheap. It is, however, worth every penny when you're out in the cold and wet, and traipsing through vegetation that would shred even the best that Columbia or The North Face has to offer. After all that, you can hand it down to your children, who will get the same service out of it!
It's worth noting that Filson was purchased by an investment group a few years back, who promptly introduced a line of imported garments. Some of us watched with horror, convinced that our beloved Filson was going the way of another once-quality maker from this area - Pendleton - in transferring production overseas. Thankfully Filson's new owners didn't succumb, and kept those items traditionally made in Seattle right where they'd always been. They added new items made overseas, but at the same time introduced new items made in the US as well! While I'd prefer seeing everything made here, kudos to Filson for striking what is probably a pragmatic balance.
Just look for "Made in the USA" in the product description - Filson still proudly declares those items that are!
Filson is going to be featured on John Ratzenberger's "Made In America" show next Tuesday, June 12, on The Travel Channel. You can be sure I'll be watching!
-=[ Grant ]=-
It's taken me years to assimilate this fully, and I still backslide occasionally, but the old saw "quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten" is so true!
Nowhere is this more evident than in the fine garments from Filson. Filson is an old-line outdoor clothing maker located just up the road in Seattle. (Yeah, it's a long road up there, but you get the point.) Filson has been making top-drawer clothing since the days of the Yukon gold rush, and many of their current designs actually hail from that era. "Tried and true" has never been more appropriate!
Filson became known for two materials: "mackinaw wool" and "tin cloth." These are incredibly rugged, durable fabrics that have no synthetic equivalents. A "tin cloth" coat will literally last generations, and I have a "mackinaw wool" coat in my (small) collection that is at least 40 years old and still in perfect condition despite having been worn in some very rough conditions.
Styling? What styling? The traditional Filson garments are functional above all, and whatever style they have derives solely from their function. The result is a look that has come to be known as "northwest casual", and to my eyes looks as good as it works.
This tremendous gear is made right here in the good ol' US of A. Needless to say, quality of this level is not cheap. It is, however, worth every penny when you're out in the cold and wet, and traipsing through vegetation that would shred even the best that Columbia or The North Face has to offer. After all that, you can hand it down to your children, who will get the same service out of it!
It's worth noting that Filson was purchased by an investment group a few years back, who promptly introduced a line of imported garments. Some of us watched with horror, convinced that our beloved Filson was going the way of another once-quality maker from this area - Pendleton - in transferring production overseas. Thankfully Filson's new owners didn't succumb, and kept those items traditionally made in Seattle right where they'd always been. They added new items made overseas, but at the same time introduced new items made in the US as well! While I'd prefer seeing everything made here, kudos to Filson for striking what is probably a pragmatic balance.
Just look for "Made in the USA" in the product description - Filson still proudly declares those items that are!
Filson is going to be featured on John Ratzenberger's "Made In America" show next Tuesday, June 12, on The Travel Channel. You can be sure I'll be watching!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: I told you, but you wouldn't listen!
Friday, June 01, 2007
I've been trying my level best to
alert the world about the threat posed by militant
squirrels. They've been testing
us,
attacking
sporadically in an attempt to
weaken
our defenses. Now the unthinkable has happened
- they've acquired advanced weaponry!
Once their internal power struggles have been settled, we're in for a long, hard fight!
-=[ Grant ]=-
Once their internal power struggles have been settled, we're in for a long, hard fight!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: The rest of my plumbing story
Friday, May 25, 2007
Someone reminded me that I
promised to tell you the story of my little plumbing adventure.
Personally I don't think it's all that interesting, and there isn't
even a moral to the tale. It is, however, interesting in the same
way that highway accidents are!
It started, innocently enough, with a knock at the door. Standing on my porch was a nice gal from the city's Public Works department, who said something along the lines of "we think you have a problem!" The Finance Department had called them with the news that our water bill had jumped during the month from our normal $73 to a whopping $233, and that maybe they should come out and have a look.
She did, and didn't see anything. She did suggest that I call a leak detection company to locate the source, after which a call to a plumber might be "a good idea."
(It's worth noting that normally I take care of such matters myself, having grown up on a farm where we never hired such work out. However, I've got so many other things to do right now I just couldn't tackle the project. As you'll see, it was probably for the best.)
The leak guy came out and did his little magic (pumping the lines full of helium and listening for the popping sounds of the gas escaping from the leak site.) Nothing. He did the test again - same result. We were both standing in my side yard, wondering where this leak could be, when I heard a sound.
"Pop-snap-crackle" (trademark concerns, you understand.) We walked around in circles, trying to find the source. At one point I decided on a likely direction and followed the sound into....the middle of my neighbor's back yard, where a tiny geyser was erupting!
We theorized that at one point back in the 1940s both houses shared a common water service, but sometime later the neighbor got their own service. At that point they apparently cut the tie at their house and capped the now-unused stub, which finally rusted out and started leaking.
At least, that was the theory.
The leak guy traced what he thought was the offending pipe over to the leak site, marked everything, and left. That's when I started calling plumbers - and calling plumbers, and calling plumbers. An even dozen, in fact. I called half on Thursday and the other half on Friday, and none of them returned my calls. Finally, on Monday I found a plumber who actually answered his phone, and one of his crews came out to start digging.
The plan was to dig down 32 inches, where the line was, to the 't' fitting where the stub line originated, then cap the stub off at that point.
They got down to the point, and found only an elbow going into my house. They started digging a trench - 32 inches deep, by hand, mind you - in an effort to find the stub and it's fitting. The dug 8 feet of trench without finding that connection, and would have followed it clear to the water meter, were it not for one little problem: the garage was built on top of the water line, and the pipe went right under the cement floor!
At this point things got really expensive, as we elected to have them bring in a horizontal drilling rig and install a whole new service line. A couple grand later, and it was in - and the leak, naturally, ceased. I'm now glad I didn't try to tackle this myself.
On the plus side, those boring machines are pretty cool. They put a hole from the water meter, down under my garage, up the hill and into the end of the trench that had been dug - and got within a couple inches of center. The actual drilling probably took them 10 minutes, but the setup and takedown kept them here about an hour. Quick and easy, as long as one has a full checkbook!
There you have it. Hope it was as exciting as you were expecting!
-=[ Grant ]=-
It started, innocently enough, with a knock at the door. Standing on my porch was a nice gal from the city's Public Works department, who said something along the lines of "we think you have a problem!" The Finance Department had called them with the news that our water bill had jumped during the month from our normal $73 to a whopping $233, and that maybe they should come out and have a look.
She did, and didn't see anything. She did suggest that I call a leak detection company to locate the source, after which a call to a plumber might be "a good idea."
(It's worth noting that normally I take care of such matters myself, having grown up on a farm where we never hired such work out. However, I've got so many other things to do right now I just couldn't tackle the project. As you'll see, it was probably for the best.)
The leak guy came out and did his little magic (pumping the lines full of helium and listening for the popping sounds of the gas escaping from the leak site.) Nothing. He did the test again - same result. We were both standing in my side yard, wondering where this leak could be, when I heard a sound.
"Pop-snap-crackle" (trademark concerns, you understand.) We walked around in circles, trying to find the source. At one point I decided on a likely direction and followed the sound into....the middle of my neighbor's back yard, where a tiny geyser was erupting!
We theorized that at one point back in the 1940s both houses shared a common water service, but sometime later the neighbor got their own service. At that point they apparently cut the tie at their house and capped the now-unused stub, which finally rusted out and started leaking.
At least, that was the theory.
The leak guy traced what he thought was the offending pipe over to the leak site, marked everything, and left. That's when I started calling plumbers - and calling plumbers, and calling plumbers. An even dozen, in fact. I called half on Thursday and the other half on Friday, and none of them returned my calls. Finally, on Monday I found a plumber who actually answered his phone, and one of his crews came out to start digging.
The plan was to dig down 32 inches, where the line was, to the 't' fitting where the stub line originated, then cap the stub off at that point.
They got down to the point, and found only an elbow going into my house. They started digging a trench - 32 inches deep, by hand, mind you - in an effort to find the stub and it's fitting. The dug 8 feet of trench without finding that connection, and would have followed it clear to the water meter, were it not for one little problem: the garage was built on top of the water line, and the pipe went right under the cement floor!
At this point things got really expensive, as we elected to have them bring in a horizontal drilling rig and install a whole new service line. A couple grand later, and it was in - and the leak, naturally, ceased. I'm now glad I didn't try to tackle this myself.
On the plus side, those boring machines are pretty cool. They put a hole from the water meter, down under my garage, up the hill and into the end of the trench that had been dug - and got within a couple inches of center. The actual drilling probably took them 10 minutes, but the setup and takedown kept them here about an hour. Quick and easy, as long as one has a full checkbook!
There you have it. Hope it was as exciting as you were expecting!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Glow in the dark
Friday, May 18, 2007
Back when I was a teenager, I
apprenticed to a master watch- and clock-maker. He was an older
fellow - in his early 70s - and had been in the business for a very
long time.
I enjoyed looking around his shop in spare moments, as he had many old and wonderful gadgets on his jam-packed shelves. One one high shelf, way in the back, was a little vial of off-white liquid. I asked him what it was, and he said "radium paint. We used to use it to make the numbers on dials visible in the dark. Don't touch it!"
He never did explain to me why I shouldn't touch it, but I obeyed his command and forgot all about it. That is, until I ran across this article on US Radium, the company that made the paint in that little bottle.
-=[ Grant ]=-
I enjoyed looking around his shop in spare moments, as he had many old and wonderful gadgets on his jam-packed shelves. One one high shelf, way in the back, was a little vial of off-white liquid. I asked him what it was, and he said "radium paint. We used to use it to make the numbers on dials visible in the dark. Don't touch it!"
He never did explain to me why I shouldn't touch it, but I obeyed his command and forgot all about it. That is, until I ran across this article on US Radium, the company that made the paint in that little bottle.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Folks, I don't make this stuff up...
Friday, May 11, 2007
The Friday Surprise articles
usually present themselves well in advance of the time I need them.
There's just so much interesting stuff going on in the world that I
usually have no problem finding a topic.
Not this week. It really shouldn't have surprised me, as this week has just been a disaster from the start, but it did annoy me. I just couldn't find anything interesting to write about.
Luckily my old nemesis, The Squirrel, went on another rampage.
-=[ Grant ]=-
Not this week. It really shouldn't have surprised me, as this week has just been a disaster from the start, but it did annoy me. I just couldn't find anything interesting to write about.
Luckily my old nemesis, The Squirrel, went on another rampage.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: How do you fix an undersea cable?
Friday, May 04, 2007
That's right - an undersea cable.
I'll bet you thought that undersea cables were a thing of the past,
right? You probably had it in your mind that satellite technology
had rendered the undersea cable a relic of a bygone age, didn't
you? As Gomer would say, "surprise, surprise, surprise!"
The vast majority of telephone and internet traffic flows on undersea cables, to this day. Compared to satellites, cables are cheaper and have much greater bandwidth. As a result, there are hundreds of cables in use today, and well over 1,000 cable landing sites (where the cables come ashore) around the world. Here's a good graphic of the undersea cables - and their load - in use today. Wikipedia has a good article on cables, with lots of links to other sites that can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the subject!
Of course, all those cables sitting on the ocean floor are subject to lots of forces, and sooner or later they break. So, how do you repair a cable that might be thousands of feet deep, well below the ability to use human divers?
Find out here.
-=[ Grant ]=-
The vast majority of telephone and internet traffic flows on undersea cables, to this day. Compared to satellites, cables are cheaper and have much greater bandwidth. As a result, there are hundreds of cables in use today, and well over 1,000 cable landing sites (where the cables come ashore) around the world. Here's a good graphic of the undersea cables - and their load - in use today. Wikipedia has a good article on cables, with lots of links to other sites that can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the subject!
Of course, all those cables sitting on the ocean floor are subject to lots of forces, and sooner or later they break. So, how do you repair a cable that might be thousands of feet deep, well below the ability to use human divers?
Find out here.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Is he your 2nd cousin once removed, or 1st cousin twice removed, or...?
Friday, April 27, 2007
The changing social behavior of
Americans is having an interesting side effect: certain types of
knowledge are becoming extinct. I'm not talking about the kind of
information you'd expect to disappear: how to build a barn, how to
drive a team of horses, or how to make butter. No, what I'm
referring to is less obvious.
Prior to World War II - and even, in some place, for a decade or so after - people grew up in a specific area, got married, and settled in that same area to live out their lives. They might travel occasionally to see other locales, but they always returned to what they called "home" - where the rest of their family lived. Over generations, there would come to be a large number of folks in that area who were related to each other; large extended and interrelated families who knew each other well, even if they didn't always see eye-to-eye.
After the War, people started moving around the country in larger and larger numbers as the idea of going "away to college" became accepted. This lead to the practice of chasing a career across the nation, and as a result new families were being started a long way from the families which begat them. After a while, enough of these disconnected families existed that it became common for one member to not know his or her relatives in the other branch of the family, even at the first cousin level.
Without these large numbers of related people in a specific geographic area, our perceived need to know how we're related to someone else has diminished. After all, if you don't know who your cousins are, why do you need to know who the less-close members of your family are?
The upshot of this whole thing is that the common knowledge of how to place yourself (and everyone else) in the family tree is quickly fading away. Most people know how their cousins are related - but can you tell what a second cousin is? How about a third? What does "once removed" and "twice removed" mean?
Don't sweat it! Thanks the the miracle of the internet, you can find out everything you ever wanted to know about how families are structured. Check out these sites:
The Cousin Chart
Canon Law Relationship Chart
Simplified explanation of cousins
Yet another chart for determining relationships
A thorough explanation of relationships
What is a cousin? (Wikipedia)
-=[ Grant ]=-
Prior to World War II - and even, in some place, for a decade or so after - people grew up in a specific area, got married, and settled in that same area to live out their lives. They might travel occasionally to see other locales, but they always returned to what they called "home" - where the rest of their family lived. Over generations, there would come to be a large number of folks in that area who were related to each other; large extended and interrelated families who knew each other well, even if they didn't always see eye-to-eye.
After the War, people started moving around the country in larger and larger numbers as the idea of going "away to college" became accepted. This lead to the practice of chasing a career across the nation, and as a result new families were being started a long way from the families which begat them. After a while, enough of these disconnected families existed that it became common for one member to not know his or her relatives in the other branch of the family, even at the first cousin level.
Without these large numbers of related people in a specific geographic area, our perceived need to know how we're related to someone else has diminished. After all, if you don't know who your cousins are, why do you need to know who the less-close members of your family are?
The upshot of this whole thing is that the common knowledge of how to place yourself (and everyone else) in the family tree is quickly fading away. Most people know how their cousins are related - but can you tell what a second cousin is? How about a third? What does "once removed" and "twice removed" mean?
Don't sweat it! Thanks the the miracle of the internet, you can find out everything you ever wanted to know about how families are structured. Check out these sites:
The Cousin Chart
Canon Law Relationship Chart
Simplified explanation of cousins
Yet another chart for determining relationships
A thorough explanation of relationships
What is a cousin? (Wikipedia)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Why us?
Friday, April 20, 2007
During World War II, Oregon had
the singular distinction of being attacked by the Empire of Japan
not once, not twice - but on three separate occasions. It would seem that the war
planners in Tokyo had it out for us!
In early 1942, Fort Stevens - which stood guard at the mouth of the Columbia River - was shelled by the Japanese submarine I-25. Just a few months later that same submarine, this time fitted with an underwater aircraft hangar, launched a small airplane and bombed our southern coast. Finally, in 1944, the Japanese military launched a series of balloon bombs against North America, most of which landed in the forests of Oregon. One of those balloons landed in south-central Oregon, and killed 6 people - the only war casualties to occur in the mainland United States.
So, why Oregon? Basically, because we were the most convenient yet lightly defended target available to them. There is a lesson in that...
-=[ Grant ]=-
In early 1942, Fort Stevens - which stood guard at the mouth of the Columbia River - was shelled by the Japanese submarine I-25. Just a few months later that same submarine, this time fitted with an underwater aircraft hangar, launched a small airplane and bombed our southern coast. Finally, in 1944, the Japanese military launched a series of balloon bombs against North America, most of which landed in the forests of Oregon. One of those balloons landed in south-central Oregon, and killed 6 people - the only war casualties to occur in the mainland United States.
So, why Oregon? Basically, because we were the most convenient yet lightly defended target available to them. There is a lesson in that...
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: I have GOT to get me one of these!
Friday, April 13, 2007
So, let's say that you were going
to buy me a new cel phone. What do you think I'd want?
How about a Blackberry Pearl? Too "Geek bondage." A Motorola Razr? They are SOOOOOO 2006. Nokia N80? If I wanted a slide-out I'd buy an RV. The Apple iPhone? Tempting, and it would go great with my Macs, but no - there's something even better.
The cel phone I really want is the Portable Rotary Phone from Spark Fun Electronics. Inside this antique is a fully functional cel phone module that utilizes all of the phone's original parts for their intended purposes: the handset, the dial, and even the two-bell ringer!
My Father, who was an inveterate prankster and a telephone company employee, would've loved this thing. It would be just the ticket to out-annoy the clods who use their phones in restaurants, and imagine the looks you'd get in meetings ("sorry, but I have to take this call.")
Besides, the whole retro-dial thing goes perfectly with my revolver persona, don't you think??
-=[ Grant ]=-
How about a Blackberry Pearl? Too "Geek bondage." A Motorola Razr? They are SOOOOOO 2006. Nokia N80? If I wanted a slide-out I'd buy an RV. The Apple iPhone? Tempting, and it would go great with my Macs, but no - there's something even better.
The cel phone I really want is the Portable Rotary Phone from Spark Fun Electronics. Inside this antique is a fully functional cel phone module that utilizes all of the phone's original parts for their intended purposes: the handset, the dial, and even the two-bell ringer!
My Father, who was an inveterate prankster and a telephone company employee, would've loved this thing. It would be just the ticket to out-annoy the clods who use their phones in restaurants, and imagine the looks you'd get in meetings ("sorry, but I have to take this call.")
Besides, the whole retro-dial thing goes perfectly with my revolver persona, don't you think??
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: How to corrupt a town
Friday, April 06, 2007
I fell in love with the short
story format back in high school. While I cannot stand reading a
whole novel - non-fiction isn't really my "thing" - I do enjoy the
short story. It forces the author to work carefully on character
and plot development, and requires the reader to concentrate on the
storyline.
While my favorite author in this format is Stephen Vincent Benet, Mark Twain proved himself a master of the short story. One of my favorites is "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg."
Hadleyburg enjoys the reputation of being an “incorruptible” town, known for its responsible, honest people that are trained to avoid temptation. However, at some point the people of Hadleyburg manage to offend a passing stranger, and he vows to get his revenge by corrupting the town.
You can read the entire story online, or you can download it as an e-book.
Enjoy!
-=[ Grant ]=-
While my favorite author in this format is Stephen Vincent Benet, Mark Twain proved himself a master of the short story. One of my favorites is "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg."
Hadleyburg enjoys the reputation of being an “incorruptible” town, known for its responsible, honest people that are trained to avoid temptation. However, at some point the people of Hadleyburg manage to offend a passing stranger, and he vows to get his revenge by corrupting the town.
You can read the entire story online, or you can download it as an e-book.
Enjoy!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: A tisket, a casket...
Friday, March 30, 2007
Okay, I realize this is a little
morbid, but it's also pretty cool (in a weird sort of way): a
coffin made of recycled paper! From Boing Boing we learn about the
EcoPods,
which are made of recycled paper that has been "naturally
hardened." (Don't ask me...)
While you're reading the article, check out the other links - like how to make a cheap coffin out of Ikea parts. Folks, where else can you learn such useful things??
-=[ Grant ]=-
While you're reading the article, check out the other links - like how to make a cheap coffin out of Ikea parts. Folks, where else can you learn such useful things??
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Holy carp!
Friday, March 23, 2007
No, that's not a typo - just a bad pun. Find out why in the article "The Terrifying Toothpick Fish."
Makes me shudder just thinking about it.
(My female readers may wish to pass on this one, unless you're just morbidly curious. In that case, enjoy a laugh at our expense!)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Surveilling the squirrels
Friday, March 16, 2007
As you know, I've been on top of
the growing Squirrel Menace. I've alerted you to the pack of
squirrels
that kills dogs, and I've kept you up to date on
the squirrels
that take down planes. It's a tough job, but it's
important to the security of the free world!
Luckily for us all, there is finally one website that dares to expose the deeds of the most notorious squirrels on the planet. Scary Squirrel World: Profiles in Terror is where you can keep up on the most heinous of the squirrel conspirators.
Squirrel in top-secret SEAL training
I'll sleep easier knowing that they're one the job!
-=[ Grant ]=-
Luckily for us all, there is finally one website that dares to expose the deeds of the most notorious squirrels on the planet. Scary Squirrel World: Profiles in Terror is where you can keep up on the most heinous of the squirrel conspirators.
Squirrel in top-secret SEAL training
I'll sleep easier knowing that they're one the job!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Yes, I am a space cadet!
Friday, March 02, 2007
Perhaps it's normal when one
reaches a certain age, but occasionally I have small episodes of
nostalgia, and one of the things I miss is the thrill of our space
program. Oh, for the days when people would gather around the
television (black-and-white, of course) just to watch one of our
beautiful Saturn IV rockets blast into space - secure in the belief
that with each one we were leaping ahead of our Cold War nemesis.
("Take that, Comrades!")
It was exciting on many levels, and we never missed a liftoff - they were big events. I remember getting up very early one morning to watch Apollo 11 blast off for the moon; heck, we even waited for the splashdowns! (For those of you born after 1980, that's how astronauts landed before the wheeled Shuttle was developed.)
Not surprisingly, I was thrilled when I came across the International Space Artifact Collection at www.hightechscience.org They have artifacts from both the U.S. and Soviet space projects, and have lots of great pictures on their website. Cool stuff!
Authentic Soyuz spacecraft clock
(Trivia time: can anyone tell me the connection between the U.S. space program and one of my favorite revolvers??)
-=[ Grant ]=-
It was exciting on many levels, and we never missed a liftoff - they were big events. I remember getting up very early one morning to watch Apollo 11 blast off for the moon; heck, we even waited for the splashdowns! (For those of you born after 1980, that's how astronauts landed before the wheeled Shuttle was developed.)
Not surprisingly, I was thrilled when I came across the International Space Artifact Collection at www.hightechscience.org They have artifacts from both the U.S. and Soviet space projects, and have lots of great pictures on their website. Cool stuff!
Authentic Soyuz spacecraft clock
(Trivia time: can anyone tell me the connection between the U.S. space program and one of my favorite revolvers??)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: How many of you have ever had a dream like this?
Friday, February 23, 2007
As the story goes, a fellow in
Portugal decides he wants a new house. He looks around and finds a
nice old farm house, with some acreage and an old barn. He gets a
good deal on the property because the place has been empty for 15
years.
He moves in, and gets curious: what is in the old barn? Now this is not your usual barn; it's made of block, and features high windows and a very sturdy steel door which is padlocked solidly, the lock rusted shut.
He manages to cut through the lock and force open the door - and you'll never believe what he finds inside...
Find out more here. (Warning: lots of pictures, slow to load.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
He moves in, and gets curious: what is in the old barn? Now this is not your usual barn; it's made of block, and features high windows and a very sturdy steel door which is padlocked solidly, the lock rusted shut.
He manages to cut through the lock and force open the door - and you'll never believe what he finds inside...
Find out more here. (Warning: lots of pictures, slow to load.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Fun water tricks
Friday, February 16, 2007
Things you didn't know could be
done with water!
First, what happens when water hits a horizontal impeller being driven at high speeds? Patterns that look almost like solid glass!
More pictures of water polyhedra here.
What can you do with a waterfall controlled by a computer? Jeep Corporation figured it out!
-=[ Grant ]=-
First, what happens when water hits a horizontal impeller being driven at high speeds? Patterns that look almost like solid glass!
More pictures of water polyhedra here.
What can you do with a waterfall controlled by a computer? Jeep Corporation figured it out!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: The Big Boom
Friday, February 09, 2007
In 1988, at a facility near
Henderson, Nevada, something really bad - and really loud -
happened.
Pacific Engineering Production Company, aka PEPCON, was a producer of ammonium perchlorate - a very powerful oxidizer for rocket fuel. Ammonium perchlorate, as it happens, is very unstable and doesn't like fire one little bit.
Coincidentally, there was a repair crew on a television transmitter tower nearby, and not only did they witness the whole inferno they also captured an incredible video sequence of the main explosions. You just have to see it - watch for the shock wave as it travels across the ground!
You can read about the whole disaster at Damn Interesting.
-=[ Grant ]=-
Pacific Engineering Production Company, aka PEPCON, was a producer of ammonium perchlorate - a very powerful oxidizer for rocket fuel. Ammonium perchlorate, as it happens, is very unstable and doesn't like fire one little bit.
Coincidentally, there was a repair crew on a television transmitter tower nearby, and not only did they witness the whole inferno they also captured an incredible video sequence of the main explosions. You just have to see it - watch for the shock wave as it travels across the ground!
You can read about the whole disaster at Damn Interesting.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: The eerie island of Gukanjima
Friday, February 02, 2007
Gukanjima ("Battleship"), also
known as Hashima ("Border") Island sits a mere 15 kilometers from
Nagasaki. It is one of 505 uninhabited islands of the Nagasaki
Prefecture - but it was not always that way.
In 1890, Japan's industrialization was just gaining steam, and they
needed coal to make that steam. Mitsubishi (yes, that Mitsubishi)
bought the island that year, with the intention of mining the coal
reserves that stretched beneath it. Mitsubishi built a city on the
tiny island (only 15 acres) that eventually housed an incredible
5300 people - giving it, for a time, the highest population density
on earth.
By the 1960s, coal had fallen out of favor around the world, and
Japan was no exception. They began shrinking operations at the
mines, and in 1974 closed the mines - and the island -
completely.
Today the empty city stands, its once-bustling buildings being
reclaimed by the force of wind and rain. Travel to the island is
prohibited, but some intrepid photographers have made the trip to
capture haunting images like these.
Wikipedia
entry for Hashima Island
Archibase photo esssay - superb B&W pictures of the
remains
History of Hashima Island
-=[ Grant
]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Do you know Nessmuk?
Friday, January 26, 2007
You know, I had a pretty darned
good childhood. I grew up on a small farm, outside a small town (I
remember when the town passed the 1500 resident milestone) that was
nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Range.
After chores were finished and if there were no other pressing jobs to be done (like hauling hay), I got to do what I wanted. I could go down to our pond and fish, or take off with my friends Dan and/or Tom for an overnight camping trip - all with very little administrative (parental) hand-wringing. Even a two-day trip up the river and into the woods wasn't out of the question, though such an outing did prompt some worrying from my mother.
Not a bad way to grow up!
Living as I do in suburbia, I long for the time when we would run into the forest with little more than a small tent, a blanket, a sheath knife, maybe a couple cans of baked beans, and a fishing pole. (If we planned our trip into a particular area that we knew contained several small caves, we didn't even bother with the tent.) Woodcraft, such as shelter building and fire making, was an expected part of any well-balanced upbringing. I miss those days.
I have found a way to keep the hunger for simpler times at bay: I curl up with Nessmuk.
What is a Nessmuk? Properly, the question is phrased "Who is Nessmuk?"
Nessmuk was in normal existence one George Washington Sears. Sears was a slight, asthmatic individual who was born in 1821 in Massachusetts, and spent much of his life - at least, that portion when he wasn't working just to finance his next adventure - in a canoe or on a boat or in the woods.
He was able to combine his love of the outdoors and his considerable talent as a writer by having narratives of his adventures published in Forest and Stream magazine.
He wrote two books, Woodcraft and Camping, which are still in print - combined into one volume titled Woodcraft and Camping (no surprise there, right?!?) It is still available to this day, which must be some sort of record in the publishing business. (Another book, called Adirondack Letters, is a compilation of his articles in Forest and Stream.)
Woodcraft and Camping is not a thick book, nor is it solely a "how to" manual. It is the collected wisdom and insights of a man who lived just to be able to commune with nature. Nessmuk wrote in a beautiful, lyrical style that makes the reader salivate with the desire to get out into the wilderness.
At only $6.95, I believe it to be one of the greatest bargains - as well as one of the "must haves" - in outdoor literature. I cannot recommend this book highly enough to anyone who enjoys living in and exploring the wilderness, or even just dreaming about it!
Woodcraft and Camping at Amazon.com
A short biography of George Washington Sears
The Adirondack Letters online edition (free!)
Wikipedia entry on Nessmuk
-=[ Grant ]=-
After chores were finished and if there were no other pressing jobs to be done (like hauling hay), I got to do what I wanted. I could go down to our pond and fish, or take off with my friends Dan and/or Tom for an overnight camping trip - all with very little administrative (parental) hand-wringing. Even a two-day trip up the river and into the woods wasn't out of the question, though such an outing did prompt some worrying from my mother.
Not a bad way to grow up!
Living as I do in suburbia, I long for the time when we would run into the forest with little more than a small tent, a blanket, a sheath knife, maybe a couple cans of baked beans, and a fishing pole. (If we planned our trip into a particular area that we knew contained several small caves, we didn't even bother with the tent.) Woodcraft, such as shelter building and fire making, was an expected part of any well-balanced upbringing. I miss those days.
I have found a way to keep the hunger for simpler times at bay: I curl up with Nessmuk.
What is a Nessmuk? Properly, the question is phrased "Who is Nessmuk?"
Nessmuk was in normal existence one George Washington Sears. Sears was a slight, asthmatic individual who was born in 1821 in Massachusetts, and spent much of his life - at least, that portion when he wasn't working just to finance his next adventure - in a canoe or on a boat or in the woods.
He was able to combine his love of the outdoors and his considerable talent as a writer by having narratives of his adventures published in Forest and Stream magazine.
He wrote two books, Woodcraft and Camping, which are still in print - combined into one volume titled Woodcraft and Camping (no surprise there, right?!?) It is still available to this day, which must be some sort of record in the publishing business. (Another book, called Adirondack Letters, is a compilation of his articles in Forest and Stream.)
Woodcraft and Camping is not a thick book, nor is it solely a "how to" manual. It is the collected wisdom and insights of a man who lived just to be able to commune with nature. Nessmuk wrote in a beautiful, lyrical style that makes the reader salivate with the desire to get out into the wilderness.
At only $6.95, I believe it to be one of the greatest bargains - as well as one of the "must haves" - in outdoor literature. I cannot recommend this book highly enough to anyone who enjoys living in and exploring the wilderness, or even just dreaming about it!
Woodcraft and Camping at Amazon.com
A short biography of George Washington Sears
The Adirondack Letters online edition (free!)
Wikipedia entry on Nessmuk
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: "What the hell were you thinking??"
Friday, January 19, 2007
That was my dear, departed
father's question whenever I was found to have done something that
wasn't all that bright. Of course, any self-respecting 10-year-old
knows how to answer: look at the ground, shuffle your feet, and say
(sotto
voce) "I
dunno."
Unfortunately, once you become of age and start asking yourself the same question that tried-and-true answer know longer works. As luck would have it, sometimes it takes a while before you ask. Sometimes, it takes years. The great part about this delay is that it allows you to once again say "I dunno!"
This is a story about just such an event.
Here in Oregon we're blessed with some phenomenal scenery. From our gorgeous Pacific Coastline to the high desert east of the Cascades (a treasure unto themselves), there is something here for every taste. One of the most visited natural wonders is Multnomah Falls, located just a short 45-minute drive from downtown Portland.
The spectacular waterfall - the second-highest year-round fall in North America - is fed by a spring way up on Larch Mountain. In fact, it's not the only falls served by that spring: there are several other (much smaller, of course) falls that the water travels over before reaching the "big one."
(From the U.S. Forest Service website.)
Multnomah Falls is 620 feet high - a straight drop of 542 feet, then a bit of a pool, then another drop of a mere 69 feet. A footbridge spans the small canyon over the top of the smaller section, and leads to a trail which snakes its way up the side of the mountain to a viewpoint at the top. There, safely contained behind fences and guardrails, one can look over the incredibly scenic Columbia River Gorge.
However, back in 1982 there were no such amenities at the top - just a small sign that warned visitors (those hardy enough to make the steep climb) to stay on the trail. That didn't stop my buddy Ed and me from doing something stupid, however!
A quick digression: Ed and I were aspiring photographers who spent our days selling Nikons and other assorted high end gear to people who also aspired to be photographers. Most of them, however, would never put themselves on the line for "that shot"; we, on the other hand, continually stick our various body parts in harm's way just to get pictures that no one else would dare.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how we found ourselves in the middle of that cold little river at the edge of Multnomah Falls!
I decided that I wanted a different shot of the falls - one that no one else would take. So we lugged our 35 pounds of gear (per person, you understand) up the trail and sloshed out into the water.
I walked to the edge of the falls, where I found a couple of rocks between which I could wedge my Pentax KX-Motor camera on its Bogen Monopod and shoot at a low enough shutter speed to capture the movement of the water. I framed the scene to show the water going over the edge on its way to the bottom (542 feet below my, umm, feet) as well as a glimpse of the river and gorge, and made 3 exposures.
Once I developed the film, into my archives the negatives went - to be resurrected here for the first time in a quarter century:
Looking at this shot today sends chills down my spine. It was foolhardy in the extreme; I was literally leaning out over the edge of the falls to take the picture, knee-deep in cold water, just a slip away from certain death. I was either invincible or ignorant - I'll leave it to you to determine which.
It shouldn't surprise you to learn that this wasn't the first - nor was it the last - stupid thing we did in the name of photographic immortality. My wife, one would think, would be used to this sort of thing - yet when I told her the story (several years later), she asked "what the hell were you thinking?!?" Need I tell you my answer?
-=[ Grant ]=-
Unfortunately, once you become of age and start asking yourself the same question that tried-and-true answer know longer works. As luck would have it, sometimes it takes a while before you ask. Sometimes, it takes years. The great part about this delay is that it allows you to once again say "I dunno!"
This is a story about just such an event.
Here in Oregon we're blessed with some phenomenal scenery. From our gorgeous Pacific Coastline to the high desert east of the Cascades (a treasure unto themselves), there is something here for every taste. One of the most visited natural wonders is Multnomah Falls, located just a short 45-minute drive from downtown Portland.
The spectacular waterfall - the second-highest year-round fall in North America - is fed by a spring way up on Larch Mountain. In fact, it's not the only falls served by that spring: there are several other (much smaller, of course) falls that the water travels over before reaching the "big one."
(From the U.S. Forest Service website.)
Multnomah Falls is 620 feet high - a straight drop of 542 feet, then a bit of a pool, then another drop of a mere 69 feet. A footbridge spans the small canyon over the top of the smaller section, and leads to a trail which snakes its way up the side of the mountain to a viewpoint at the top. There, safely contained behind fences and guardrails, one can look over the incredibly scenic Columbia River Gorge.
However, back in 1982 there were no such amenities at the top - just a small sign that warned visitors (those hardy enough to make the steep climb) to stay on the trail. That didn't stop my buddy Ed and me from doing something stupid, however!
A quick digression: Ed and I were aspiring photographers who spent our days selling Nikons and other assorted high end gear to people who also aspired to be photographers. Most of them, however, would never put themselves on the line for "that shot"; we, on the other hand, continually stick our various body parts in harm's way just to get pictures that no one else would dare.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how we found ourselves in the middle of that cold little river at the edge of Multnomah Falls!
I decided that I wanted a different shot of the falls - one that no one else would take. So we lugged our 35 pounds of gear (per person, you understand) up the trail and sloshed out into the water.
I walked to the edge of the falls, where I found a couple of rocks between which I could wedge my Pentax KX-Motor camera on its Bogen Monopod and shoot at a low enough shutter speed to capture the movement of the water. I framed the scene to show the water going over the edge on its way to the bottom (542 feet below my, umm, feet) as well as a glimpse of the river and gorge, and made 3 exposures.
Once I developed the film, into my archives the negatives went - to be resurrected here for the first time in a quarter century:
Looking at this shot today sends chills down my spine. It was foolhardy in the extreme; I was literally leaning out over the edge of the falls to take the picture, knee-deep in cold water, just a slip away from certain death. I was either invincible or ignorant - I'll leave it to you to determine which.
It shouldn't surprise you to learn that this wasn't the first - nor was it the last - stupid thing we did in the name of photographic immortality. My wife, one would think, would be used to this sort of thing - yet when I told her the story (several years later), she asked "what the hell were you thinking?!?" Need I tell you my answer?
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Are you NUTS??
Friday, January 12, 2007
I found this thread over on
Candlepowerforums (a great place for flashaholics!) about a hike in
China. Take a look at what passes for a trail:
While not having been to China, I have had some experience along those lines. A few years back, I spent a month gold mining in the wilderness of southern Oregon - just a few miles, coincidentally, from where the James Kim family was stranded last month.
We were mining down in a canyon, and it was a seriously difficult hike in and out. The nearest flat, relatively clear spot to make a camp was about a 1-1/2 miles away, which wouldn't have been too bad - except for the 800 foot elevation change! Even that wouldn't have been too bad, except that more than half the trail was relatively level, which meant that we had to deal with an 800 foot vertical climb in about three-quarters of a mile! (Did I mention that the trail was wilderness, amounted to a path that most of the time wasn't even visible, and that we hiked in and out every single day for a month?)
At one point in the hike, we had to traverse a cliff face for about 50 yards. The drop from that point down to the river at the bottom of the canyon was about 300 feet, and the "trail" was nothing more than a few crudely carved footholds in the cliff face. The first few times across the cliff I was sweating bullets, but at the end of the first week I was hopping across the cliff with nary a care in the world!
(That's the cliff face, shrouded by trees, as viewed from the approach.)
After that we had to climb down a rock wall; the first day out I fell off the wall and landed on the rocks below. Luckily I was almost all the way down, and only fell 10 feet or so. The result was a broken finger (with residual loss of dexterity coupled with some arthritis - hey, ya gotta be tough if you want to live out West!)
Just for fun, here I am in all my glory; I'm carrying about 75 pounds of mining equipment in the British pack/web gear set:
Next installment: when I was younger, I did even dumber things. Wait until you see just what...
-=[ Grant ]=-
While not having been to China, I have had some experience along those lines. A few years back, I spent a month gold mining in the wilderness of southern Oregon - just a few miles, coincidentally, from where the James Kim family was stranded last month.
We were mining down in a canyon, and it was a seriously difficult hike in and out. The nearest flat, relatively clear spot to make a camp was about a 1-1/2 miles away, which wouldn't have been too bad - except for the 800 foot elevation change! Even that wouldn't have been too bad, except that more than half the trail was relatively level, which meant that we had to deal with an 800 foot vertical climb in about three-quarters of a mile! (Did I mention that the trail was wilderness, amounted to a path that most of the time wasn't even visible, and that we hiked in and out every single day for a month?)
At one point in the hike, we had to traverse a cliff face for about 50 yards. The drop from that point down to the river at the bottom of the canyon was about 300 feet, and the "trail" was nothing more than a few crudely carved footholds in the cliff face. The first few times across the cliff I was sweating bullets, but at the end of the first week I was hopping across the cliff with nary a care in the world!
(That's the cliff face, shrouded by trees, as viewed from the approach.)
After that we had to climb down a rock wall; the first day out I fell off the wall and landed on the rocks below. Luckily I was almost all the way down, and only fell 10 feet or so. The result was a broken finger (with residual loss of dexterity coupled with some arthritis - hey, ya gotta be tough if you want to live out West!)
Just for fun, here I am in all my glory; I'm carrying about 75 pounds of mining equipment in the British pack/web gear set:
Next installment: when I was younger, I did even dumber things. Wait until you see just what...
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Your cel phone and its amazing connection to Hollywood
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Today's cel phone technologies
rely on something called "spread spectrum," which is a fancy way of
saying "frequency hopping." In spread spectrum, a data stream - in
this case a voice - is transmitted using radio waves whose carrier
rapidly switches between many frequencies, using a prearranged
sequence known to both transmitter and receiver.
The reason the spread spectrum is so important - aside from being resistant to interference and very difficult to intercept - is because it makes more efficient use of scarce bandwidth. Spread spectrum makes it possible to carry more information - more conversations - amongst a limited number of frequencies.
But this use is very recent. Prior to the invention of the cel phone, frequency hopping was used to make military radio transmissions more secure. Using frequency hopping makes it far more difficult for an enemy to intercept your signal, and to use direction finders to pinpoint your location. Of course, it isn't just for voice! Frequency hopping makes it possible to have radio-control munitions, such as bombs and torpedoes, that your enemy can't jam into uselessness.
Now as useful as this is, one would think that the concept originated deep in some Pentagon think tank - but you'd be wrong! The idea came from the fertile mind of a beautiful woman, the actress Hedy Lamarr.
I'll let you read the articles below to find out about her valuable contribution to the world of communications technology!
Female Inventors: Hedy Lamarr
HEDY LAMARR: The Inventor of Frequency Hopping
Did You Know...about Hedy Lamarr?
Hedy Lamarr - from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
-=[ Grant ]=-
The reason the spread spectrum is so important - aside from being resistant to interference and very difficult to intercept - is because it makes more efficient use of scarce bandwidth. Spread spectrum makes it possible to carry more information - more conversations - amongst a limited number of frequencies.
But this use is very recent. Prior to the invention of the cel phone, frequency hopping was used to make military radio transmissions more secure. Using frequency hopping makes it far more difficult for an enemy to intercept your signal, and to use direction finders to pinpoint your location. Of course, it isn't just for voice! Frequency hopping makes it possible to have radio-control munitions, such as bombs and torpedoes, that your enemy can't jam into uselessness.
Now as useful as this is, one would think that the concept originated deep in some Pentagon think tank - but you'd be wrong! The idea came from the fertile mind of a beautiful woman, the actress Hedy Lamarr.
I'll let you read the articles below to find out about her valuable contribution to the world of communications technology!
Female Inventors: Hedy Lamarr
HEDY LAMARR: The Inventor of Frequency Hopping
Did You Know...about Hedy Lamarr?
Hedy Lamarr - from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: You just can't make stuff like this up
Friday, December 29, 2006
Some random news bits to round out
the year...
So, according to Fox News, last Thanksgiving a man breaks into a barn, spray paints some goats, and leaves some porno behind. Guess he didn't have cable...(I'd comment on this story's interesting similarity to the town I grew up in, but thankfully I've managed to suppress those memories!)
In a story out of Russia - one that literally begs for a Yaakov Smirnoff joke - we learn that a pack of squirrels has attacked and killed a dog. What happens if they get guns? THIS:
Finally, in North Carolina they just aren't making desperate criminals like they used to. And "they" say that kids aren't affected by television!
Have a safe and sane New Year's celebration!
-=[ Grant ]=-
So, according to Fox News, last Thanksgiving a man breaks into a barn, spray paints some goats, and leaves some porno behind. Guess he didn't have cable...(I'd comment on this story's interesting similarity to the town I grew up in, but thankfully I've managed to suppress those memories!)
In a story out of Russia - one that literally begs for a Yaakov Smirnoff joke - we learn that a pack of squirrels has attacked and killed a dog. What happens if they get guns? THIS:
Finally, in North Carolina they just aren't making desperate criminals like they used to. And "they" say that kids aren't affected by television!
Have a safe and sane New Year's celebration!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Pants. Yes, pants. Ya got a problem with that?
Friday, December 22, 2006
I admit it: I'm a bit picky about
things. Just how "picky" depends on what the "thing" is, but on the
whole I suspect friends and family would describe me as being on
the "anal retentive" side.
This extends to my clothing. A number of years back, when I was playing the keep-up-with-the-rest-of-the-yuppies game, I spent a lot of money on Italian suits and expensive ties. Over the years, as I've gotten wiser (and perhaps a tad more miserly), I've looked at clothing for its functional qualities rather than fashion. It's not as though I don't care how I look, but I don't care if I impress anyone with my style of dress.
How the clothing works for me in my lifestyle is more important than anything else. As a result, I've come up with something of a "uniform" - clothing that I've chosen because I like the way it functions. I always wear long-sleeve button-front shirts with two breast pockets - and those pockets must have button flaps. I'll settle for snaps, but I absolutely abhor Velcro! (Yes, long sleeves even in the 95+ degree temperatures of summer. In my mind, you can always roll the sleeves up - but you can't roll a short-sleeve shirt down for the winter!)
Suitable shirts are easy to find, but pants are another matter. I like cargo pants; again, I want the flaps to have buttons or snaps only. What's more, they have to be durable - I wear my chosen clothing everywhere from hiking to range training to getting groceries, and they see a lot of wear and tear. (I've torn out the corners on leg pockets and worn holes through front pockets in as little as six months!) Of course, they have to fit me well in the bargain - both with and without carrying a handgun on (or in) my waistband.
As you might imagine, I wouldn't be writing this diatribe if it were easy to find pants that met my requirements! Most cargo pants seem to be built for mall ninjas and yuppies who rarely venture beyond a Starbucks - their thin, soft material just doesn't hold up to heavy wear, particularly outdoors. Late in 2005 I bought yet another couple of pairs of a brand I'd not tried - they lasted a mere seven months. This was getting to be expensive! I resolved to find the toughest pair of cargo pants I could.
I started looking at Cabela's canvas "Nailhead" pants - which, sadly, were discontinued this fall. The Carhartt line looked promising, but their construction quality wasn't really any better than any other cargo pants I found. The new Woolrich "Elite" line has been getting a lot of press, but the material was a bit thin for my taste (and the price tag.)
I own some original Royal Robbins pants and shorts that must be 10 years old, and I thought that they might do the trick. Of course, those garments have been spun off to a new company, 5.11 Tactical Wear - and the quality has gone away. I examined a pair, and they weren't built nearly as well as my old Royal Robbins examples, despite having a premium price tag. (I guess you have to pay for that "tacticool" look!)
Wandering through my local farm store, I chanced upon some pants that looked promising: the new Riggs "Ranger" work pants from Wrangler. The material is 10oz ripstop canvas; all pocket attachment points are double thickness; the knees are double thick; the front pockets are made from heavier material than my last pair of pants were; and the cargo pockets have snap flaps, which are also anchored to a double thickness of fabric.
Other interesting features: the right cargo pocket has a couple of outside sleeves that hold a folding knife and a cel phone, while the right hand slash pocket has a reinforced corner edge to clip a knife to. This this prevents wear of the pocket edge, which is a nice touch. The back pockets (which I never use) are lined with Cordura, which makes them darned near wear-proof. Finally, they come in odd sizes - I wear a 34, but with an IWB holster they're too small and a 36 is too big - 35 fits perfectly, and Riggs are available in that size.
I picked up a pair, and I must say I'm impressed. They are far better built that your average "tactical" pants, and they look good too - not as "military" as some are. They're available in several colors, and sold by all kinds of stores all across the country so availability isn't a problem. (There are at least a half-dozen stores within 10 miles of me that carry the Riggs line!)
Suggested list is $39.99, which is really a bargain for a garment of this quality. If you're looking for a great pair of cargo pants for serious use, check 'em out!
Riggs work wear by Wrangler
-=[ Grant ]=-
This extends to my clothing. A number of years back, when I was playing the keep-up-with-the-rest-of-the-yuppies game, I spent a lot of money on Italian suits and expensive ties. Over the years, as I've gotten wiser (and perhaps a tad more miserly), I've looked at clothing for its functional qualities rather than fashion. It's not as though I don't care how I look, but I don't care if I impress anyone with my style of dress.
How the clothing works for me in my lifestyle is more important than anything else. As a result, I've come up with something of a "uniform" - clothing that I've chosen because I like the way it functions. I always wear long-sleeve button-front shirts with two breast pockets - and those pockets must have button flaps. I'll settle for snaps, but I absolutely abhor Velcro! (Yes, long sleeves even in the 95+ degree temperatures of summer. In my mind, you can always roll the sleeves up - but you can't roll a short-sleeve shirt down for the winter!)
Suitable shirts are easy to find, but pants are another matter. I like cargo pants; again, I want the flaps to have buttons or snaps only. What's more, they have to be durable - I wear my chosen clothing everywhere from hiking to range training to getting groceries, and they see a lot of wear and tear. (I've torn out the corners on leg pockets and worn holes through front pockets in as little as six months!) Of course, they have to fit me well in the bargain - both with and without carrying a handgun on (or in) my waistband.
As you might imagine, I wouldn't be writing this diatribe if it were easy to find pants that met my requirements! Most cargo pants seem to be built for mall ninjas and yuppies who rarely venture beyond a Starbucks - their thin, soft material just doesn't hold up to heavy wear, particularly outdoors. Late in 2005 I bought yet another couple of pairs of a brand I'd not tried - they lasted a mere seven months. This was getting to be expensive! I resolved to find the toughest pair of cargo pants I could.
I started looking at Cabela's canvas "Nailhead" pants - which, sadly, were discontinued this fall. The Carhartt line looked promising, but their construction quality wasn't really any better than any other cargo pants I found. The new Woolrich "Elite" line has been getting a lot of press, but the material was a bit thin for my taste (and the price tag.)
I own some original Royal Robbins pants and shorts that must be 10 years old, and I thought that they might do the trick. Of course, those garments have been spun off to a new company, 5.11 Tactical Wear - and the quality has gone away. I examined a pair, and they weren't built nearly as well as my old Royal Robbins examples, despite having a premium price tag. (I guess you have to pay for that "tacticool" look!)
Wandering through my local farm store, I chanced upon some pants that looked promising: the new Riggs "Ranger" work pants from Wrangler. The material is 10oz ripstop canvas; all pocket attachment points are double thickness; the knees are double thick; the front pockets are made from heavier material than my last pair of pants were; and the cargo pockets have snap flaps, which are also anchored to a double thickness of fabric.
Other interesting features: the right cargo pocket has a couple of outside sleeves that hold a folding knife and a cel phone, while the right hand slash pocket has a reinforced corner edge to clip a knife to. This this prevents wear of the pocket edge, which is a nice touch. The back pockets (which I never use) are lined with Cordura, which makes them darned near wear-proof. Finally, they come in odd sizes - I wear a 34, but with an IWB holster they're too small and a 36 is too big - 35 fits perfectly, and Riggs are available in that size.
I picked up a pair, and I must say I'm impressed. They are far better built that your average "tactical" pants, and they look good too - not as "military" as some are. They're available in several colors, and sold by all kinds of stores all across the country so availability isn't a problem. (There are at least a half-dozen stores within 10 miles of me that carry the Riggs line!)
Suggested list is $39.99, which is really a bargain for a garment of this quality. If you're looking for a great pair of cargo pants for serious use, check 'em out!
Riggs work wear by Wrangler
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Intact schooner found in Lake Ontario
Friday, December 15, 2006
Aside from my preoccupation with
personal flying machines, I'm also fascinated by abandoned
buildings, old mines, and - even though I can't swim -
shipwrecks!
The schooner Milan operated on Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, shuttling grain and other staples with its crew of nine men. In October of 1849, it was heading to Cleveland with a load of salt when it started taking on water. Despite the efforts of the crew, the Milan sank into the cold depths of Lake Ontario, coming to rest in over 200 feet of water.
The wreck was located in 2005, and a surprise awaited its discoverers: it sits upright, completely intact, on the bottom of the lake - even its masts are in place, sticking straight up from the deck as they did when on the surface! It is a superbly preserved example of early American sailing technology, and is an important historical find (in addition to just being really cool!)
You can read about the wreck in this article on Shiwreckworld.com, and get some more background material in this article on the ABC News website.
-=[ Grant ]=-
The schooner Milan operated on Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, shuttling grain and other staples with its crew of nine men. In October of 1849, it was heading to Cleveland with a load of salt when it started taking on water. Despite the efforts of the crew, the Milan sank into the cold depths of Lake Ontario, coming to rest in over 200 feet of water.
The wreck was located in 2005, and a surprise awaited its discoverers: it sits upright, completely intact, on the bottom of the lake - even its masts are in place, sticking straight up from the deck as they did when on the surface! It is a superbly preserved example of early American sailing technology, and is an important historical find (in addition to just being really cool!)
You can read about the wreck in this article on Shiwreckworld.com, and get some more background material in this article on the ABC News website.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: How do you drill a square hole?
Friday, December 08, 2006
No, I'm not talking about a
mortising chisel, or a broach - I mean a real drill for square
holes. They do exist!
A bit that drills square holes ... it defies common sense. How can a revolving edge cut anything but a circular hole? Not only do such bits exist (as well as bits for pentagonal, hexagonal and octagonal holes), but they derive their shape from a simple geometric construction known as a Reuleaux triangle (after Franz Reuleaux, 1829-1905).
To construct a Reuleaux triangle, start with an equilateral triangle of side s (Figure 1). With a radius equal to s and the center at one of the vertices, draw an arc connecting the other two vertices. Similarly, draw arcs connecting the endpoints of the other two sides. The three arcs form the Reuleaux triangle. One of its properties is that of constant width, meaning the figure could be rotated completely around between two parallel lines separated by distance s.
Click here for a scholarly (i.e., mathematic) explanation; click here to see a more down-to-earth explanation (including an animation that will make all clear.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
A bit that drills square holes ... it defies common sense. How can a revolving edge cut anything but a circular hole? Not only do such bits exist (as well as bits for pentagonal, hexagonal and octagonal holes), but they derive their shape from a simple geometric construction known as a Reuleaux triangle (after Franz Reuleaux, 1829-1905).
To construct a Reuleaux triangle, start with an equilateral triangle of side s (Figure 1). With a radius equal to s and the center at one of the vertices, draw an arc connecting the other two vertices. Similarly, draw arcs connecting the endpoints of the other two sides. The three arcs form the Reuleaux triangle. One of its properties is that of constant width, meaning the figure could be rotated completely around between two parallel lines separated by distance s.
Click here for a scholarly (i.e., mathematic) explanation; click here to see a more down-to-earth explanation (including an animation that will make all clear.)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Allow me to indulge my fancy of flights one more time
Friday, December 01, 2006
Regular readers are already aware
that I have this "thing" for personal flying machines. (See
here,
and
here,
and
here.) I
admit it, I'm hooked.
AirScooter has announced that their personal helicopter, the AirScooter II, will finally be available for sale in 2007. Weighing in a roughly 300lbs and flying at 55 knots, the helicopter features simplified controls that use no foot pedals - even amputees will be able to fly!
There's a great video of the craft in action that you can see here.
Of course I want one - but the price is likely to be in the neighborhood of $50,000. It's up to you, folks - order some custom gunsmithing, and lots of it! Papa needs a new 'copter!
-=[ Grant ]=-
AirScooter has announced that their personal helicopter, the AirScooter II, will finally be available for sale in 2007. Weighing in a roughly 300lbs and flying at 55 knots, the helicopter features simplified controls that use no foot pedals - even amputees will be able to fly!
There's a great video of the craft in action that you can see here.
Of course I want one - but the price is likely to be in the neighborhood of $50,000. It's up to you, folks - order some custom gunsmithing, and lots of it! Papa needs a new 'copter!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Spray paint isn't just for graffiti anymore!
Friday, November 24, 2006
Way back when, I spent a short
amount of time as a commercial photographer. It was a short amount
of time because, though I was technically proficient, I just wasn't
terribly creative on a daily basis. This guy, though, is!
Check out the videos - the creation of art from spray paint. Man, I have a hard time spray painting a tricycle!
Painting #1 - video
Painting #2 - video
Painting #3 - video
Will his work be ultimately be considered in the class of Mondrian - or "Velvet Elvis"? I don't know, but it sure is neat to watch!
-=[ Grant ]=-
Check out the videos - the creation of art from spray paint. Man, I have a hard time spray painting a tricycle!
Painting #1 - video
Painting #2 - video
Painting #3 - video
Will his work be ultimately be considered in the class of Mondrian - or "Velvet Elvis"? I don't know, but it sure is neat to watch!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Yet another flight of fancy
Friday, November 17, 2006
Regular readers may have noticed
that I have a "thing" for flying. This is somewhat contradictory,
as I simply cannot abide flying in an airliner. However, the
thought of flying a personal aircraft is immensely exciting to me -
and the more personal the craft, the more it intrigues me!
Back in the 1950's and 1960's, the Army experimented with personal flying machines as a way to increase troop mobility. Several different approaches were tried - some were even successful - but the Army ultimately decided that the concept itself had sufficient drawbacks to keep from being adopted.
The most recognized of the entries - and my favorite - was the VZ-1 "Pawnee":
The Pawnee, though, was only one of several designs. This article at Damn Interesting gives you all the poop on the various approaches to the Army's requests.
(Oh, and of course I want one !)
-=[ Grant ]=-
Back in the 1950's and 1960's, the Army experimented with personal flying machines as a way to increase troop mobility. Several different approaches were tried - some were even successful - but the Army ultimately decided that the concept itself had sufficient drawbacks to keep from being adopted.
The most recognized of the entries - and my favorite - was the VZ-1 "Pawnee":
The Pawnee, though, was only one of several designs. This article at Damn Interesting gives you all the poop on the various approaches to the Army's requests.
(Oh, and of course I want one !)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Dealing with doggy poo
Friday, November 10, 2006
Here in suburbia, everyone (save
for me) appears to have at least one dog - the latest fad amongst
the upper class, it seems. The trouble with having dogs in a
suburban area is that people take them for walks. When they are
taken for walks, they relieve themselves. When they relieve
themselves, they do it on my
lawn!
I'm tired of it, and now I have inspiration to tackle the problem - watch this video for a great tip on dealing with clueless dog owners.
Somehow, it fits right in with the recently completed election. I leave it to you to deduce the connection...
-=[ Grant ]=-
I'm tired of it, and now I have inspiration to tackle the problem - watch this video for a great tip on dealing with clueless dog owners.
Somehow, it fits right in with the recently completed election. I leave it to you to deduce the connection...
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Our "Eye in the Sky" gets a reprieve!
Friday, November 03, 2006
NASA has made a decision to repair
the aging Hubble Space Telescope.
I remember when the Hubble was launched in 1990. Once in orbit, NASA discovered a flaw in the main mirror. It was thought that the flaw would doom the Hubble to uselessness, but in '93 NASA sent a repair crew to restore the telescope to its planned quality. It worked, and the Hubble began to transmit the kind of startling images that everyone had hoped for.
Now the gyroscopes on the telescope have reached the end of their service life, and the only way to replace them is to send another manned mission. The only trouble is that NASA has a much better understanding of just how dangerous those missions are in the wake of the Columbia disaster, and they have been a bit reluctant to risk the lives of a crew - not to mention spending a healthy chunk of their operating budget - on such an expedition.
Last Tuesday, they finally reached a decision to repair the Hubble. This is great news for all science buffs, and serves as a chance for me to post one of the terrific images made by this marvel of American engineering. I give you the Crab Nebula, as only the Hubble Space Telescope can present it!
-=[ Grant ]=-
I remember when the Hubble was launched in 1990. Once in orbit, NASA discovered a flaw in the main mirror. It was thought that the flaw would doom the Hubble to uselessness, but in '93 NASA sent a repair crew to restore the telescope to its planned quality. It worked, and the Hubble began to transmit the kind of startling images that everyone had hoped for.
Now the gyroscopes on the telescope have reached the end of their service life, and the only way to replace them is to send another manned mission. The only trouble is that NASA has a much better understanding of just how dangerous those missions are in the wake of the Columbia disaster, and they have been a bit reluctant to risk the lives of a crew - not to mention spending a healthy chunk of their operating budget - on such an expedition.
Last Tuesday, they finally reached a decision to repair the Hubble. This is great news for all science buffs, and serves as a chance for me to post one of the terrific images made by this marvel of American engineering. I give you the Crab Nebula, as only the Hubble Space Telescope can present it!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: The Abner, John, Warren, and Bill Auto Company
Friday, October 27, 2006
Jay Leno has one (two, actually.)
In 1924, it ran on kerosene, developed 1,000 ft-lbs of torque, got
15+ MPG, had a top speed of over 100 mph, and had an engine that
ran at 900 RPM while traveling at 75mph.
What was this remarkable vehicle? The Doble Steam car! The Doble was the pinnacle of steam automobile design, and even today remains a marvel of engineering. Steam, for those not familiar with the "antiquated" technology, produces phenomenal, linear power with almost no noise. I've long been of the opinion that a modern steam car, taking advantage of advances in metallurgy and computer control, could be economical, powerful, and clean. What's keeping Detroit??
In the meantime, check out this article on the fantastic Doble. (Oh, and be sure to ignore the idiot commentary from one of the readers, who opines that the steam car is impractical because of the "dangerous" high pressure boiler. The Doble used a flash boiler, which doesn't contain a large quantity of high pressure steam. If it burst, the only result would be a sudden drop of power and large cloud of water vapor. Maybe he works for one of the Big 3 - it would explain a lot!)
-=[ Grant ]=-
What was this remarkable vehicle? The Doble Steam car! The Doble was the pinnacle of steam automobile design, and even today remains a marvel of engineering. Steam, for those not familiar with the "antiquated" technology, produces phenomenal, linear power with almost no noise. I've long been of the opinion that a modern steam car, taking advantage of advances in metallurgy and computer control, could be economical, powerful, and clean. What's keeping Detroit??
In the meantime, check out this article on the fantastic Doble. (Oh, and be sure to ignore the idiot commentary from one of the readers, who opines that the steam car is impractical because of the "dangerous" high pressure boiler. The Doble used a flash boiler, which doesn't contain a large quantity of high pressure steam. If it burst, the only result would be a sudden drop of power and large cloud of water vapor. Maybe he works for one of the Big 3 - it would explain a lot!)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Goodbye to Tom Cruise's most famous ride
Friday, October 20, 2006
The Navy retired the F-14 "Tomcat"
fighter last month. The F-14, one of the premier fighter aircraft
of all time, is being replaced by the F/A-18.
The F-14 grew out of a failure. In the 1960s Defense Secretary Robert McNamara was on a mission to standardize all kinds of equipment across the various military services - everything from boots to rifles to aircraft. He decided that the Navy (who, remember, operates airplanes off of short aircraft carriers) could use the same fighter as the Air Force (who operate from nice, long runways.) He decreed that the Navy should adopt a variant of the Air Force F-111A, to be designated the F-111B.
The F-111 wasn't exactly a rousing success in its original role, and despite throwing huge amounts of money at the modification project it never did make any of the Navy's goals. It remained grossly overweight, had extremely poor visibility for carrier landings, and at the medium speeds the Navy anticipated it to operate it had less than stellar maneuverability. It proved to be less suitable for the role than the plane it was to replace, the F-4 Phantom II.
It should go without saying that F-111B project died a horrible death, and the F-14 project was initiated. What the Navy got was one of the premier fighter aircraft ever made, and also one of the most visually striking. After giving yeoman service for 34 years, the Tomcat received a heartfelt farewell from the Navy.
F-14 FAQ
Tomcat Alley: The F-14 Site
-=[ Grant ]=-
The F-14 grew out of a failure. In the 1960s Defense Secretary Robert McNamara was on a mission to standardize all kinds of equipment across the various military services - everything from boots to rifles to aircraft. He decided that the Navy (who, remember, operates airplanes off of short aircraft carriers) could use the same fighter as the Air Force (who operate from nice, long runways.) He decreed that the Navy should adopt a variant of the Air Force F-111A, to be designated the F-111B.
The F-111 wasn't exactly a rousing success in its original role, and despite throwing huge amounts of money at the modification project it never did make any of the Navy's goals. It remained grossly overweight, had extremely poor visibility for carrier landings, and at the medium speeds the Navy anticipated it to operate it had less than stellar maneuverability. It proved to be less suitable for the role than the plane it was to replace, the F-4 Phantom II.
It should go without saying that F-111B project died a horrible death, and the F-14 project was initiated. What the Navy got was one of the premier fighter aircraft ever made, and also one of the most visually striking. After giving yeoman service for 34 years, the Tomcat received a heartfelt farewell from the Navy.
F-14 FAQ
Tomcat Alley: The F-14 Site
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: In honor of the 13th
Friday, October 13, 2006
Since this is Friday the 13th, I
thought I'd share with you some link that are a little on the
"eery" side.
The first deals with the Battle of Los Angeles: did we fight extra-terrestrials in 1942?
Second, check out the Glore Psychiatric Museum: a weird exhibition of madness and how we deal with it.
Finally, take a listen to one of my very favorite podcasts: HomeTown Tales - "because every town has one."
Enjoy!
-=[ Grant ]=-
The first deals with the Battle of Los Angeles: did we fight extra-terrestrials in 1942?
Second, check out the Glore Psychiatric Museum: a weird exhibition of madness and how we deal with it.
Finally, take a listen to one of my very favorite podcasts: HomeTown Tales - "because every town has one."
Enjoy!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: The first commercially produced personal helicopter!
Friday, October 06, 2006
OK, I admit it - I'm a sucker for
the idea of personal aircraft, though I do not own one.
Ultralights, autogyros, hang gliders - I love 'em all, even if I've
never flown in or on one!
Of course the ultimate would be owning a personal helicopter, and it looks like it may now be possible: the GEN H-4 personal helicopter! For about $30,000 and a week's worth of assembly work, you can have a helicopter that weighs only 155lbs and cruises at 55mph.
Yeah, I want one!
-=[ Grant ]=-
Of course the ultimate would be owning a personal helicopter, and it looks like it may now be possible: the GEN H-4 personal helicopter! For about $30,000 and a week's worth of assembly work, you can have a helicopter that weighs only 155lbs and cruises at 55mph.
Yeah, I want one!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Russian tank found in a...LAKE?
Friday, September 29, 2006
Back in the summer of 1944, the
Germans and Russians were fighting over a small strip of land in
Estonia. The Germans managed to capture one of the Russian T34/76A
tanks, and apparently needed it badly - as it was pressed into
their service and painted with German army insignia.
As the Germans organized yet another retreat, the tank was driven into a lake, presumably to keep it from once again being used against them. There it lay for 56 years, until one Igor Shedunov organized a crew to drag it back out into the light.
Buried in the cold waters under a 3-meter thick layer of peat, the tank was phenomenally well preserved. According to the story on the group's website, the engine was able to be started after relatively minor repairs!
Great story and pictures. Check it out.
-=[ Grant ]=-
As the Germans organized yet another retreat, the tank was driven into a lake, presumably to keep it from once again being used against them. There it lay for 56 years, until one Igor Shedunov organized a crew to drag it back out into the light.
Buried in the cold waters under a 3-meter thick layer of peat, the tank was phenomenally well preserved. According to the story on the group's website, the engine was able to be started after relatively minor repairs!
Great story and pictures. Check it out.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Captured Lightning
Friday, September 22, 2006
In the late 1700s, Professor Georg
Christoph Lichtenberg noticed some interesting patterns forming on
the dusty surface of a charged plate. He showed the unusual works
of natural art to his students and peers, and through time they
have become known as Lichtenberg Patterns. The same patterns can
sometimes be seen on the skin of people who have been struck by
lightning.
Formed as the result of high voltage discharges on, or within, insulating materials, Lichtenberg Patterns can today be captured permanently by discharging the output of a linear accelerator into a Lucite block. The resulting three dimensional fern-like patterns are strangely fascinating!
This website shows and explains the process. Very cool!
And you thought science was boring!
-=[ Grant ]=-
Formed as the result of high voltage discharges on, or within, insulating materials, Lichtenberg Patterns can today be captured permanently by discharging the output of a linear accelerator into a Lucite block. The resulting three dimensional fern-like patterns are strangely fascinating!
This website shows and explains the process. Very cool!
And you thought science was boring!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Ever wondered about cartoon speech balloons?
Friday, September 15, 2006
We're used to having little
"balloons" tethered to our favorite cartoon characters that show us
what the character is thinking or saying. Cartoons have been around
longer than those balloons, though, and this site shows you the evolution of the now ubiquitous
balloons.
OK, I admit - it's pretty useless information, but aren't you glad someone, somewhere, made up an entire web page on the topic? Amaze your friends with your knowledge of 19th century cartooning! (Or not...)
-=[ Grant ]=-
OK, I admit - it's pretty useless information, but aren't you glad someone, somewhere, made up an entire web page on the topic? Amaze your friends with your knowledge of 19th century cartooning! (Or not...)
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Will we finally be able to buy a flying car?
Friday, September 08, 2006
I've always wanted a flying car,
and every few years I get my hopes up only to have them dashed by
more vaporware. Will this be the one that finally makes
it?
-=[ Grant ]=-
The Transition is designed for jumps of 100 to 500 miles. It will carry two people and luggage on a single tank of premium unleaded gas. It will also come with an electric calculator (to help fine-tune weight distribution), airbags, aerodynamic bumpers and, of course, a navigation unit with a global positioning system.
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Oregon, where everything's deeper
Friday, September 01, 2006
If you've never visited our great
state, you owe it to yourself to come out and have a looksee. We
have some of the best Pacific coastline available, and - unlike our
neighbors to the south - the entire coastline is public property
and accessible to all. We have the gorgeous Willamette Valley,
which was one of the chief destinations for people coming over on
the Oregon Trail. In fact, there are lots of places in the eastern
part of the state where you can still see the wagon ruts!
(Speaking of eastern Oregon, what you may not know is that Oregon is nearly 2/3 desert!)
The point of this little travelogue, though, is to sing the praises of our favorite inland body of water: Crater Lake. Formed from the collapsed Mount Mazama, it is the deepest lake in the United States - 1,943 feet deep, to be precise! It is the deepest blue that you can imagine, and is one of the most picturesque lakes extant.
There is a large moss that grows on the bottom of the lake, which is itself the subject of some study. There is a project underway to study the organism, and you can see the latest video of the project here. (For more background on the lake, visit the official Crater Lake website.)
Crater Lake isn't the only deep thing in the state, however - we also boast the deepest river canyon in North America, Hell's Canyon. It sits along the border of Oregon and Idaho, and is considerably deeper than the Grand Canyon. Breathtaking! Visit the Hell's Canyon website.
Of course, there are many more natural attractions and historical sites to visit in our great state. Please visit and enjoy all that Oregon has to offer!
-=[ Grant ]=-
(Speaking of eastern Oregon, what you may not know is that Oregon is nearly 2/3 desert!)
The point of this little travelogue, though, is to sing the praises of our favorite inland body of water: Crater Lake. Formed from the collapsed Mount Mazama, it is the deepest lake in the United States - 1,943 feet deep, to be precise! It is the deepest blue that you can imagine, and is one of the most picturesque lakes extant.
There is a large moss that grows on the bottom of the lake, which is itself the subject of some study. There is a project underway to study the organism, and you can see the latest video of the project here. (For more background on the lake, visit the official Crater Lake website.)
Crater Lake isn't the only deep thing in the state, however - we also boast the deepest river canyon in North America, Hell's Canyon. It sits along the border of Oregon and Idaho, and is considerably deeper than the Grand Canyon. Breathtaking! Visit the Hell's Canyon website.
Of course, there are many more natural attractions and historical sites to visit in our great state. Please visit and enjoy all that Oregon has to offer!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: One of those interesting juxtapositions
Friday, August 25, 2006
In the news this
morning:
Pluto no longer a planet
Russian Cosmonaut to Whack Golf Ball From ISS
Am I the only one who sees the humor in this??
-=[ Grant ]=-
Pluto no longer a planet
Russian Cosmonaut to Whack Golf Ball From ISS
Am I the only one who sees the humor in this??
-=[ Grant ]=-
A new feature: the FRIDAY SURPRISE
Friday, August 25, 2006
Here in Oregon, we once had a
thriving retail enterprise known as Meier & Frank. M&F, as
their logo appeared, was a department store in the grand old
tradition - think of what a Nordstrom department store would look
like, and you have Meier & Frank. The store expanded to several
stores here in the northwest, but never got really "big"; many
years ago the family sold out to a corporation, and the circus
began.
Since then, the small but elegant little chain has had several owners (and bad management teams), culminating in their recent acquisition by Macy's.
We should have sensed that this behemoth from the east was up to no good, in the way that RiteAid (another large eastern corporation that purchased another homegrown chain, Payless Drugs) proved to be. Sure enough, Macy's announced that they would eliminate the venerable Meier & Frank name and paste their own (far less stylish) moniker on their buildings.
It is the end of a fond era.
But why "Friday Surprise"? Back in the good old pre-corporate-takeover days, Meier & Frank had a tradition of having some special sale or event every Friday. It was never advertised, but everyone knew about the Friday Surprise. So, to keep the memory of an Oregon institution alive, I'm inaugurating my own version of the Friday Surprise. This is where I hope to share all of the wilder (non-gun related) stories that I come across, pictures, events, personal stuff, and so on.
I hope you enjoy it!
-=[ Grant ]=-
Since then, the small but elegant little chain has had several owners (and bad management teams), culminating in their recent acquisition by Macy's.
We should have sensed that this behemoth from the east was up to no good, in the way that RiteAid (another large eastern corporation that purchased another homegrown chain, Payless Drugs) proved to be. Sure enough, Macy's announced that they would eliminate the venerable Meier & Frank name and paste their own (far less stylish) moniker on their buildings.
It is the end of a fond era.
But why "Friday Surprise"? Back in the good old pre-corporate-takeover days, Meier & Frank had a tradition of having some special sale or event every Friday. It was never advertised, but everyone knew about the Friday Surprise. So, to keep the memory of an Oregon institution alive, I'm inaugurating my own version of the Friday Surprise. This is where I hope to share all of the wilder (non-gun related) stories that I come across, pictures, events, personal stuff, and so on.
I hope you enjoy it!
-=[ Grant ]=-
Follow
me!
You're reading...
The Revolver Liberation Alliance!
The blog about revolvers, training, self-defense, and shooting in general (along with an occasional surprise!)
You're reading...
The Revolver Liberation Alliance!
The blog about revolvers, training, self-defense, and shooting in general (along with an occasional surprise!)
Accessories
Ammunition
Blog stuff
Competition
Completely irrelevant
Current Events
Friday Surprise!
General gun stuff
Gunsmithing
History
Humor
Hunting
Legal Issues
My Life
Personal opinions
Political Action
Recent work
Reloading
Revolvers
Rifles
Second Amendment
Self defense
Shooting industry
Shotguns
Techniques & Training
Technology
Things I like
What's New!
Ammunition
Blog stuff
Competition
Completely irrelevant
Current Events
Friday Surprise!
General gun stuff
Gunsmithing
History
Humor
Hunting
Legal Issues
My Life
Personal opinions
Political Action
Recent work
Reloading
Revolvers
Rifles
Second Amendment
Self defense
Shooting industry
Shotguns
Techniques & Training
Technology
Things I like
What's New!
- .38
- .357
- abandoned
- accuracy
- afgwwwtra
- apps
- ar15
- armed.citizens.network
- attacks
- autoloaders
- awareness
- bloggers
- books
- ccw
- colt
- combat.focus
- computers
- dammit
- design
- dogma
- ed.harris
- failures
- flashlights
- futility
- georges.rahbani
- good.pr
- gp100
- grips
- gun.skool
- gunshows
- gunstore.goons
- holsters
- i.told.you.so
- incredible
- jazz
- kaboom
- knives
- legal.stuff
- lever.actions
- lubrication
- magic.bullets
- maintenance
- massad.ayoob
- msm
- music
- my.bad
- mythbusting
- nasa
- nra
- old.technology
- optics
- oregon
- pdn
- personal.defense.network
- photography
- practice
- preppers
- proarms
- prohibitionists
- reliability
- rhino.revolver
- rimfire
- rob.pincus
- ruger
- s&w
- safety
- shot.show
- sights
- snake.oil
- snubby
- sources
- speedloaders
- stopping.power
- stupid.people
- tacticool
- tactics
- thats.odd
- turncoats
- ugly
- uscca
- vintage
- waiting.list
- women