This happened a while ago but I just happened to watch the video tonight. Congrats John! Way to go! He's the blond short haired guy in orange on the video.
http://www.myfoxla.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=3358280
&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1
Friday, August 31, 2007
Meteor shower possible Sat morning!!!
Earth to Hit Aurigid Meteors?
August 23, 2007
by Joe Rao
Skywatchers were out in force for the familiar Perseid meteor shower peaking in mid-August at the dark of the Moon. So why bother with a shower that almost nobody has heard of coming two weeks later in bright moonlight?
Because the Aurigids are this summer’s skywatching wildcard.
The Perseids are the "Old Faithful" of meteor displays, whereas most years the Aurigids produce little or nothing. But three times in the last century, skywatchers were surprised by a short-lived burst of bright meteors emanating from the direction of Auriga early on the morning of September 1st. Circumstances appear excellent for a repeat in 2007, with a small chance that the shower could turn extraordinary. So well-positioned meteor observers — those in far-western North America and Hawaii — are going on high alert.
Surprise!
No Aurigid outburst has yet been photographed (hint, hint). But during the 1998 Leonid fireball shower, Lorenzo Lovato caught four bright meteors in this single 9-minute, wide-field exposure. One prediction suggests that any shower on the morning of September 1st would be especially fireball-rich.
Lorenzo Lovato
The first known Aurigid outburst came in 1935, when on the night of August 31–September 1, astronomers Cuno Hoffmeister and Arthur Teichgraeber of Sonneberg, Germany, witnessed an unexpected and moderately strong meteor display. It appeared to radiate from a spot near the star Beta Aurigae, not far from Capella. Orbital expert Vladimir Guth immediately suggested that the meteors came from Comet Kiess (C/1911 N1), which followed a similar path through space and last came through in September 1911. It has an orbital period of approximately 2,000 years.
Then in 1986, meteor watcher Istvan Tepliczky of Tata, Hungary, went out on September 1st around 1:00 a.m. local time (0:00 Universal Time) for a night of observing. "Just after 1:00 UT", he wrote, "I was an eyewitness of a very spectacular phenomenon. Very bright yellow meteors began to fall; all of them left long trains... Around 1:20 UT I detected meteors every one or two minutes." The shower tapered off slightly after 1:30, and he saw his last meteor at 2:12 UT.
The Aurigids made their most recent appearance on September 1, 1994, caught by experienced meteor observers Robert Lunsford and George Zay at Descanso, California. Considering how few observers our knowledge of these events comes from, Aurigid displays may have happened in other years without being noticed.
Encore in 2007?
At the August 2006 International Astronomical Union meeting, Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute’s Carl Sagan Center announced that the Aurigids are likely to come to life again this September 1st. He based his forecast on calculations by himself and Jérémie Vaubaillon of Caltech, and on earlier work done in collaboration with meteor astronomer Esko Lyytinen of Finland. Working from positions of Comet Kiess recorded in 1911, they determined that prior to that appearance, the comet last swept around the Sun in roughly 82 BC.
At that time the comet should have released a trail of fine rubble following along its path. Some of this comet dross from more than 2,000 years ago, the astronomers found, should only now be completing its first revolution around the Sun, decades behind the comet. Jenniskens showed that the Aurigid outbursts of 1935, 1986, and 1994 all arose when Earth passed through this one lengthy debris trail. And now the stage is set again.
When and Where
The Far West is the place to be for watching whether the Aurigids erupt before dawn on September 1st. The shower’s peak is predicted for about 4:37 a.m. PDT. However, the time prediction could be a little off, the shower may last up to an hour, and some of the meteors may be bright enough to show through a lot of twilight. So observers somewhat east of the prime area could have a chance as well.
S&T Illustration
On Saturday morning, September 1st, around 11:37 UT (plus or minus 20 minutes), Jenniskens and Vaubaillon expect Earth to pass smack through this one-revolution rubble trail from Comet Kiess. The timing favors far-western North America, as shown on the map at right. In this region 11:37 UT falls before the first light of dawn, with Auriga very high in the northeast (roughly 60° or 70° up) — ideal circumstances.
For Hawaii, the radiant will be much lower at that time (1:37 a.m. Hawaii Standard Time). So any shower members seen will be earthgrazers that skim far across the top of the atmosphere nearly horizontally and leave long, colorful, persistent trains (as observed in 1986 and 1994).
Unfortunately, the rest of North America will be in bright twilight or daylight. Like the previous outbursts, the upcoming display should be short-lived, probably lasting no more than an hour or so.
Comet Crumbs
"What makes this shower so special," notes Jenniskens, "is the opportunity to see bits and pieces of the comet’s original crust." Long-period comets have just recently returned from cold storage in the Oort Cloud and are still covered by a crust that resulted from 4.5 billion years of exposure to cosmic rays. When the comet returns to the inner solar system, that crust is crumbled and creates peculiar meteors. "The only other time that a dust trail of a long-period comet was investigated, during the 1995 Alpha Monocerotid outburst, it was found that the meteoroids had lost all their volatile sodium minerals," continues Jenniskens. "There will be no other chance to study long-period-comet dust trails in the next three decades."
A drawback will be the bright waning gibbous Moon, 84% illuminated in nearby Aries. But because the Aurigids ram into our atmosphere at exceptionally high speed (66 kilometers, or 41 miles, per second), and because the particles are predicted to be relatively large, any shower should be rich in bright meteors, with many in the range of magnitude +1 to 0. "So," says Jenniskens, "the Moon probably won’t dim much of the display."
As to how many you might see, the safest forecast is perhaps 20 to 30 per hour. But Lyytinen is predicting many more, with a zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) reaching a few hundred. Lyytinen also expects the peak to arrive a few minutes earlier than Jenniskens and Vaubaillon: around 11:20 UT.
"I would predict a ZHR of 300," he says, "but with an uncertainty of 1 to 3; this would mean something between about 100 and 1,000. Let’s hope this will be around 1,000!"
August 23, 2007
by Joe Rao
Skywatchers were out in force for the familiar Perseid meteor shower peaking in mid-August at the dark of the Moon. So why bother with a shower that almost nobody has heard of coming two weeks later in bright moonlight?
Because the Aurigids are this summer’s skywatching wildcard.
The Perseids are the "Old Faithful" of meteor displays, whereas most years the Aurigids produce little or nothing. But three times in the last century, skywatchers were surprised by a short-lived burst of bright meteors emanating from the direction of Auriga early on the morning of September 1st. Circumstances appear excellent for a repeat in 2007, with a small chance that the shower could turn extraordinary. So well-positioned meteor observers — those in far-western North America and Hawaii — are going on high alert.
Surprise!
No Aurigid outburst has yet been photographed (hint, hint). But during the 1998 Leonid fireball shower, Lorenzo Lovato caught four bright meteors in this single 9-minute, wide-field exposure. One prediction suggests that any shower on the morning of September 1st would be especially fireball-rich.
Lorenzo Lovato
The first known Aurigid outburst came in 1935, when on the night of August 31–September 1, astronomers Cuno Hoffmeister and Arthur Teichgraeber of Sonneberg, Germany, witnessed an unexpected and moderately strong meteor display. It appeared to radiate from a spot near the star Beta Aurigae, not far from Capella. Orbital expert Vladimir Guth immediately suggested that the meteors came from Comet Kiess (C/1911 N1), which followed a similar path through space and last came through in September 1911. It has an orbital period of approximately 2,000 years.
Then in 1986, meteor watcher Istvan Tepliczky of Tata, Hungary, went out on September 1st around 1:00 a.m. local time (0:00 Universal Time) for a night of observing. "Just after 1:00 UT", he wrote, "I was an eyewitness of a very spectacular phenomenon. Very bright yellow meteors began to fall; all of them left long trains... Around 1:20 UT I detected meteors every one or two minutes." The shower tapered off slightly after 1:30, and he saw his last meteor at 2:12 UT.
The Aurigids made their most recent appearance on September 1, 1994, caught by experienced meteor observers Robert Lunsford and George Zay at Descanso, California. Considering how few observers our knowledge of these events comes from, Aurigid displays may have happened in other years without being noticed.
Encore in 2007?
At the August 2006 International Astronomical Union meeting, Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute’s Carl Sagan Center announced that the Aurigids are likely to come to life again this September 1st. He based his forecast on calculations by himself and Jérémie Vaubaillon of Caltech, and on earlier work done in collaboration with meteor astronomer Esko Lyytinen of Finland. Working from positions of Comet Kiess recorded in 1911, they determined that prior to that appearance, the comet last swept around the Sun in roughly 82 BC.
At that time the comet should have released a trail of fine rubble following along its path. Some of this comet dross from more than 2,000 years ago, the astronomers found, should only now be completing its first revolution around the Sun, decades behind the comet. Jenniskens showed that the Aurigid outbursts of 1935, 1986, and 1994 all arose when Earth passed through this one lengthy debris trail. And now the stage is set again.
When and Where
The Far West is the place to be for watching whether the Aurigids erupt before dawn on September 1st. The shower’s peak is predicted for about 4:37 a.m. PDT. However, the time prediction could be a little off, the shower may last up to an hour, and some of the meteors may be bright enough to show through a lot of twilight. So observers somewhat east of the prime area could have a chance as well.
S&T Illustration
On Saturday morning, September 1st, around 11:37 UT (plus or minus 20 minutes), Jenniskens and Vaubaillon expect Earth to pass smack through this one-revolution rubble trail from Comet Kiess. The timing favors far-western North America, as shown on the map at right. In this region 11:37 UT falls before the first light of dawn, with Auriga very high in the northeast (roughly 60° or 70° up) — ideal circumstances.
For Hawaii, the radiant will be much lower at that time (1:37 a.m. Hawaii Standard Time). So any shower members seen will be earthgrazers that skim far across the top of the atmosphere nearly horizontally and leave long, colorful, persistent trains (as observed in 1986 and 1994).
Unfortunately, the rest of North America will be in bright twilight or daylight. Like the previous outbursts, the upcoming display should be short-lived, probably lasting no more than an hour or so.
Comet Crumbs
"What makes this shower so special," notes Jenniskens, "is the opportunity to see bits and pieces of the comet’s original crust." Long-period comets have just recently returned from cold storage in the Oort Cloud and are still covered by a crust that resulted from 4.5 billion years of exposure to cosmic rays. When the comet returns to the inner solar system, that crust is crumbled and creates peculiar meteors. "The only other time that a dust trail of a long-period comet was investigated, during the 1995 Alpha Monocerotid outburst, it was found that the meteoroids had lost all their volatile sodium minerals," continues Jenniskens. "There will be no other chance to study long-period-comet dust trails in the next three decades."
A drawback will be the bright waning gibbous Moon, 84% illuminated in nearby Aries. But because the Aurigids ram into our atmosphere at exceptionally high speed (66 kilometers, or 41 miles, per second), and because the particles are predicted to be relatively large, any shower should be rich in bright meteors, with many in the range of magnitude +1 to 0. "So," says Jenniskens, "the Moon probably won’t dim much of the display."
As to how many you might see, the safest forecast is perhaps 20 to 30 per hour. But Lyytinen is predicting many more, with a zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) reaching a few hundred. Lyytinen also expects the peak to arrive a few minutes earlier than Jenniskens and Vaubaillon: around 11:20 UT.
"I would predict a ZHR of 300," he says, "but with an uncertainty of 1 to 3; this would mean something between about 100 and 1,000. Let’s hope this will be around 1,000!"
Sun is making waves!!!
This is really cool:
The Sun is Making Waves
For decades solar physicists have wrestled with why the Sun's atmosphere (the corona) has a temperature of millions of degrees, when the solar surface below it is merely thousands of degrees hot.
Magnetic loop on the Sun
A solar flare in September 2005, recorded by the TRACE spacecraft, sends a magnetized loop of superheated gas arching high into the Sun's atmosphere.
Stanford-Lockheed Institute for Space Research
They thought they had the answer when, in 1942, Swedish physicist Hannes Alfvén predicted the existence of waves that could pump energy into the corona as they propagated upward from the photosphere. But no one had been able to observe these Alfvén waves because instrument technology wasn't up to snuff yet.
Now a team headed by Steven Tomcyzk of NCAR's High Altitude Observatory has managed to record and measure the elusive waves. The researchers (including a high-school science teacher from Massachusetts) used a new instrument that rapidly maps brightness and polarization over a large swath of corona in near-infrared light. They made the observations two years ago; it's taken them this long to puzzle it all out.
As Tomcyzk's team reports in the August 31st issue of Science, the waves propagate upward into the corona along magnetic field lines at speeds of roughly 1,000 miles per second, about 10 times faster than the speed of sound there. (That's not the velocity of the superheated gas but rather of the waves themselves — think of the fast-moving ripple created when you flick the end of a taut rope.)
The bad news is that the Alfvén waves aren't nearly powerful enough to fuel the corona's incredible heat. Something at least 10,000 times more energetic is needed. The good news, however, is that scientists now have a powerful new technique to probe the solar corona. It turns out that the waves' propagation speed depends directly on the strength of the magnetic field around them. So the new instrument's images, when combined with other measurements of solar vibrations (helioseismology), can be used to estimate the intensity and orientation of the coronal magnetic field.
The Sun is Making Waves
For decades solar physicists have wrestled with why the Sun's atmosphere (the corona) has a temperature of millions of degrees, when the solar surface below it is merely thousands of degrees hot.
Magnetic loop on the Sun
A solar flare in September 2005, recorded by the TRACE spacecraft, sends a magnetized loop of superheated gas arching high into the Sun's atmosphere.
Stanford-Lockheed Institute for Space Research
They thought they had the answer when, in 1942, Swedish physicist Hannes Alfvén predicted the existence of waves that could pump energy into the corona as they propagated upward from the photosphere. But no one had been able to observe these Alfvén waves because instrument technology wasn't up to snuff yet.
Now a team headed by Steven Tomcyzk of NCAR's High Altitude Observatory has managed to record and measure the elusive waves. The researchers (including a high-school science teacher from Massachusetts) used a new instrument that rapidly maps brightness and polarization over a large swath of corona in near-infrared light. They made the observations two years ago; it's taken them this long to puzzle it all out.
As Tomcyzk's team reports in the August 31st issue of Science, the waves propagate upward into the corona along magnetic field lines at speeds of roughly 1,000 miles per second, about 10 times faster than the speed of sound there. (That's not the velocity of the superheated gas but rather of the waves themselves — think of the fast-moving ripple created when you flick the end of a taut rope.)
The bad news is that the Alfvén waves aren't nearly powerful enough to fuel the corona's incredible heat. Something at least 10,000 times more energetic is needed. The good news, however, is that scientists now have a powerful new technique to probe the solar corona. It turns out that the waves' propagation speed depends directly on the strength of the magnetic field around them. So the new instrument's images, when combined with other measurements of solar vibrations (helioseismology), can be used to estimate the intensity and orientation of the coronal magnetic field.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
August 28th Lunar Eclipse
So I hope you all saw the beautiful eclipse this week. It was just amazing. Unfortunately I found out too late that the Chabot Space and Science center was having this massive blow out, all-night long party with telescope viewing for it. Oh well, next time! However I did instead stay up and played WoW until about 1:30am, got into bed and watched a movie and then got back up at 2:30am to get my dad up, who wanted to see it as well. My dad was already up, apparently he's up every night from 2-3:30am. Gees! Well, I am too lots of times I suppose. So we got up and couldn't see the moon from the deck so we went out into the courtyard to look and found the moon perfectly. It was amazing seeing it almost covered. We turned off the bright night light that is on at night and my dad got his binoculars. It was just amazing, so beautiful and red/orange. Amazing images in the binoculars as it was quickly covered up for the full eclipse. So I read that early explorers who orginally thought the earth was flat, quickly realized from watching total lunar eclipses, that the earth was in fact, round. Also, another amazing thing about this months' eclipse is that the moon is supposed to be passing through some kind of solar meteor shower during the entire timeframe and news reported that those with telescopes out, might be able to see lunar meteor impacts! I still havne't been able to find data or pics on that as of yet, but will post here if I do.
This is a lunar eclipse computer calculator, where you can find info on the eclipses and info on upcoming ones as well.
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/LunarEclipse.html
This was taken in California:
And this is a really cool artistic photo collage that someone did:
This is a lunar eclipse computer calculator, where you can find info on the eclipses and info on upcoming ones as well.
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/LunarEclipse.html
This was taken in California:
And this is a really cool artistic photo collage that someone did:
Monday, August 27, 2007
Pirate Bay doing a great job of pissing off the MPAA!
How three Swedish geeks became Hollywood's Number One enemy
* Bobbie Johnson, technology correspondent
* Guardian Unlimited
* Saturday August 25 2007
Pirates of the Caribbean
Hollywood's image of piracy has been altered by the internet
Operating under the sign of a Jolly Roger, The Pirate Bay website hopes to evoke a buccaneer spirit: swashbuckling swordsmen, or perhaps the pirate radio stations of the 1960s. But as the internet's number one destination for illegal downloads, it has raised the hackles of the entertainment industry and elevated its founders to the top of Hollywood's most wanted list.
With more than two million visitors every day, The Pirate Bay has become one of the sharpest thorns in the side of the media business. Its controversial success has caused havoc in the music, TV and film industries.
Current top downloads include The Bourne Ultimatum, Die Hard 4.0 and Knocked Up — all showing in British cinemas, but available to watch on a computer screen for those willing to take the risk.
The three-year campaign to bring down the website is almost an epic of Hollywood proportions, sprinkled with high-flying lawyers and accusations of political extremism. And yet, so far, the chase has failed to bring the pirates down.
Despite their high profile, however, the men behind The Pirate Bay are not part of an organised crime syndicate. Instead, they are an unlikely trio of Swedish computer geeks who began their war with the media from a small room in Stockholm.
The group, who spoke exclusively to the Guardian, live like students in the suburbs of Sweden's major cities. They wake late and work into the night. The closest thing they have to an official headquarters is a desk on the suburban outskirts of Malmo — and that is simply because it has a working fax machine.
But as the most hated men in Hollywood, they said they have become used to the attention. "We get legal threats every day, or we used to," said Peter Sunde, 28, one of the site's main workers. "But we don't have a problem with them — we're just a search engine."
Fredrik Neij, a 29-year-old IT consultant, has a more prosaic view: "It's nice to be noticed," he smiled.
Chief among those angered by The Pirate Bay's popularity is the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which represents the US film studios. It is waging war against the site, which it claims is costing billions in lost sales.
John Malcolm, executive vice-president of the MPAA, has railed against the trio, accusing them of cashing in on illegal activity. "The bottom line is that the operators of The Pirate Bay, and others like them, are criminals who profit handsomely by facilitating the distribution of millions of copyrighted creative works," he said.
Mr Sunde insists the site does not profit its founders, and money raised from advertising is used to cover expenses. Instead, he says, the team make their money from a variety of side projects and day jobs.
Filesharing and illegal downloading has been a big issue for media companies since the late 1990s. But while pioneering services such as Napster and Kazaa were closed down by the courts, the campaign against The Pirate Bay has failed to make a breakthrough.
The crux of the defence is that The Pirate Bay operates like any internet search engine: it points to downloads, rather than hosting any illegal content itself. Under Swedish law this has so far made it immune to prosecution.
"I don't like the word untouchable, but we feel pretty safe," said Mr Sunde. He thinks that European enmity towards the Bush administration has bolstered support. "The US government is losing popularity every day in Europe, and people don't want to see us give in to them."
Their apparent invulnerability to prosecution has made them heroes of the internet piracy movement, but not everybody feels the same way.
"I certainly don't see them as romantic pirates: it's out and out theft," says John Kennedy, chief executive of the international music industry body IFPI. "It's pure, ruthless greed — or total naivety."
But the group's supporters around the world say they are vexed with what they see as the "corruption" of the media industry.
"This is already happening — you cannot stop it," says Magnus Eriksson of Piratbyran, the Swedish thinktank which helped start the website in 2003. "But the thing is that the people who download the most are also the ones who spend the most on buying media. Media companies already know that they have to change."
The pirates suspect the campaign against them is gathering pace. Last year police raided the site and held Gottfried Svartholm, the third member of the group, for questioning. No charges resulted, but the site was offline for two days.
Lately critics have focused on potential political links, including one German failed attempt to link the organisation with far-right extremists.
More recently Swedish police said they were considering blocking the website because of a tip-off that some pages linked to images of child abuse. This, says Mr Sunde, was just an attempt to smear The Pirate Bay's reputation. "There were three files in question, but it turned out that none of them contained child porn," he said.
The group is adamant it is just a search engine, but Mr Kennedy rejects any analogy with traditional internet businesses. "When I sit down with Google they are prepared to talk about copyright issues," he says. "If I thought The Pirate Bay guys were doing something really new and clever, then we'd look at it — but there's no evidence of that."
Mr Sunde remains unmoved. He says piracy is a way of life on the internet. "I started off copying disks on my computer when I was eight or nine," he said. "You should never tell people where they can't go or what they can't do."
* Bobbie Johnson, technology correspondent
* Guardian Unlimited
* Saturday August 25 2007
Pirates of the Caribbean
Hollywood's image of piracy has been altered by the internet
Operating under the sign of a Jolly Roger, The Pirate Bay website hopes to evoke a buccaneer spirit: swashbuckling swordsmen, or perhaps the pirate radio stations of the 1960s. But as the internet's number one destination for illegal downloads, it has raised the hackles of the entertainment industry and elevated its founders to the top of Hollywood's most wanted list.
With more than two million visitors every day, The Pirate Bay has become one of the sharpest thorns in the side of the media business. Its controversial success has caused havoc in the music, TV and film industries.
Current top downloads include The Bourne Ultimatum, Die Hard 4.0 and Knocked Up — all showing in British cinemas, but available to watch on a computer screen for those willing to take the risk.
The three-year campaign to bring down the website is almost an epic of Hollywood proportions, sprinkled with high-flying lawyers and accusations of political extremism. And yet, so far, the chase has failed to bring the pirates down.
Despite their high profile, however, the men behind The Pirate Bay are not part of an organised crime syndicate. Instead, they are an unlikely trio of Swedish computer geeks who began their war with the media from a small room in Stockholm.
The group, who spoke exclusively to the Guardian, live like students in the suburbs of Sweden's major cities. They wake late and work into the night. The closest thing they have to an official headquarters is a desk on the suburban outskirts of Malmo — and that is simply because it has a working fax machine.
But as the most hated men in Hollywood, they said they have become used to the attention. "We get legal threats every day, or we used to," said Peter Sunde, 28, one of the site's main workers. "But we don't have a problem with them — we're just a search engine."
Fredrik Neij, a 29-year-old IT consultant, has a more prosaic view: "It's nice to be noticed," he smiled.
Chief among those angered by The Pirate Bay's popularity is the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which represents the US film studios. It is waging war against the site, which it claims is costing billions in lost sales.
John Malcolm, executive vice-president of the MPAA, has railed against the trio, accusing them of cashing in on illegal activity. "The bottom line is that the operators of The Pirate Bay, and others like them, are criminals who profit handsomely by facilitating the distribution of millions of copyrighted creative works," he said.
Mr Sunde insists the site does not profit its founders, and money raised from advertising is used to cover expenses. Instead, he says, the team make their money from a variety of side projects and day jobs.
Filesharing and illegal downloading has been a big issue for media companies since the late 1990s. But while pioneering services such as Napster and Kazaa were closed down by the courts, the campaign against The Pirate Bay has failed to make a breakthrough.
The crux of the defence is that The Pirate Bay operates like any internet search engine: it points to downloads, rather than hosting any illegal content itself. Under Swedish law this has so far made it immune to prosecution.
"I don't like the word untouchable, but we feel pretty safe," said Mr Sunde. He thinks that European enmity towards the Bush administration has bolstered support. "The US government is losing popularity every day in Europe, and people don't want to see us give in to them."
Their apparent invulnerability to prosecution has made them heroes of the internet piracy movement, but not everybody feels the same way.
"I certainly don't see them as romantic pirates: it's out and out theft," says John Kennedy, chief executive of the international music industry body IFPI. "It's pure, ruthless greed — or total naivety."
But the group's supporters around the world say they are vexed with what they see as the "corruption" of the media industry.
"This is already happening — you cannot stop it," says Magnus Eriksson of Piratbyran, the Swedish thinktank which helped start the website in 2003. "But the thing is that the people who download the most are also the ones who spend the most on buying media. Media companies already know that they have to change."
The pirates suspect the campaign against them is gathering pace. Last year police raided the site and held Gottfried Svartholm, the third member of the group, for questioning. No charges resulted, but the site was offline for two days.
Lately critics have focused on potential political links, including one German failed attempt to link the organisation with far-right extremists.
More recently Swedish police said they were considering blocking the website because of a tip-off that some pages linked to images of child abuse. This, says Mr Sunde, was just an attempt to smear The Pirate Bay's reputation. "There were three files in question, but it turned out that none of them contained child porn," he said.
The group is adamant it is just a search engine, but Mr Kennedy rejects any analogy with traditional internet businesses. "When I sit down with Google they are prepared to talk about copyright issues," he says. "If I thought The Pirate Bay guys were doing something really new and clever, then we'd look at it — but there's no evidence of that."
Mr Sunde remains unmoved. He says piracy is a way of life on the internet. "I started off copying disks on my computer when I was eight or nine," he said. "You should never tell people where they can't go or what they can't do."
Sunday, August 26, 2007
**Lunar eclipse this week!!**
Mon Aug 27 - Tue Aug 28
Total Lunar Eclipse
Website
Schedule
Location Date and Time
high in the post-midnight sky
N/A
San Francisco, CA N/A
district: San Francisco
Mon Aug 27 (on the 28th at 2:52am (Good Night!))
Tue Aug 28 (2:52am (Good Morning!))
Description
"Close your eyes, breathe deeply, let your mind wander to a distant seashore: It's late in the day, and the western sun is sinking into the glittering waves. At your feet, damp sand reflects the twilight, while overhead, the deep blue sky fades into a cloudy mélange of sunset copper and gold, so vivid it almost takes your breath away.
A breeze touches the back of your neck, and you turn to see a pale full Moon rising into the night. Hmmm. The Moon could use a dash more color. You reach out, grab a handful of sunset, and drape the Moon with phantasmic light. Much better.
Too bad it's only a dream...
Early Tuesday morning, August 28th, the dream will come true. There's going to be a colorful lunar eclipse visible from five continents including most of North America"
- http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/03aug_dreamyeclipse.htm
Total Lunar Eclipse
Website
Schedule
Location Date and Time
high in the post-midnight sky
N/A
San Francisco, CA N/A
district: San Francisco
Mon Aug 27 (on the 28th at 2:52am (Good Night!))
Tue Aug 28 (2:52am (Good Morning!))
Description
"Close your eyes, breathe deeply, let your mind wander to a distant seashore: It's late in the day, and the western sun is sinking into the glittering waves. At your feet, damp sand reflects the twilight, while overhead, the deep blue sky fades into a cloudy mélange of sunset copper and gold, so vivid it almost takes your breath away.
A breeze touches the back of your neck, and you turn to see a pale full Moon rising into the night. Hmmm. The Moon could use a dash more color. You reach out, grab a handful of sunset, and drape the Moon with phantasmic light. Much better.
Too bad it's only a dream...
Early Tuesday morning, August 28th, the dream will come true. There's going to be a colorful lunar eclipse visible from five continents including most of North America"
- http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/03aug_dreamyeclipse.htm
New age art!!
This I definetly have to go see!!
Dark Matters: Artists See The Impossible
Through a Glass, Very Darkly
By Jesse Nathan (Aug 24, 2007)
* Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA)
701 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 Map
415-978-2700
New technology always generates new art forms, mediums, and modes of exhibition. The rapid digitization of our globe -- with its accompanying technologies of hyper-communication, intimate surveillance and documentation -- stands as no exception. “Dark Matters” at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts addresses the information-technology drenched society we reside in head-on, uniting a range of artists, each one using a dramatically different medium to reveal the invisible and the shrouded.
Though the artwork is not intended, exclusively anyway, to leave us with a sinking, paranoid feeling, much of it does -- and beautifully so. There are the blurry-by-necessity photographs, for instance, of camera-wielding, self-described “cyberspace researcher” Trevor Paglen that target the governmental use of secrecy we’ve become accustomed to if not before then certainly during the eight year reign of Bush II and his Junta.
Taken 18-20 miles out from Tonopah Test Range (a classified U.S. military base in Nevada) because civilians are prohibited from getting any closer, Paglen’s hefty photographs shimmer before our eyes, huge, stark reminders of how little we’re allowed to see of the inner-workings of our own government and military. They are, reads the description on the wall beside the photographs “minimalist statements about what we can know” –- images of faint, almost unseeable things that “threaten to disappear from sight.”
Paglen’s service to the public and it’s right to know continues with a wall-to-wall list of code names used by the U.S. for secret operations from 2001-2007. Etched into the white walls glare hundreds of bizarre, double-speak-laden handles like Black Demon, Bent Pipe, Eastern Reasoner, Hairy Buffalo, Salty Script, and Wiley, monikers for who-knows-what. Paglen’s bone-chilling installation prods us to wonder: what else will we find out (maybe) long after the fact? What else is Big Brother up to?
Those questions, however, punch at us in precisely the way these artists want them to -- thrusting us in front of the sort of “dark matter” we rarely come face-to-face with, let alone to terms with. The curator’s exhibit statement, for example, decries a “culture of secrecy” at all levels of government, as well as “a concern that we are losing touch with reality [as] the digitization of most content...produces a situation where information loses a sense of relative importance.” Surrounded by “digital white noise,” reads the statement, we must turn to art – and this exhibit specifically -- to “reveal the hidden and obscured.”
Paglen’s work only marks the beginning of this exhibit’s disarming array of hair-raising artwork. Tucked in corners and hallways around the gallery, for instance, wait black phones on black tables. The brainchild of artist Kambui Olujmi these pieces simulate eavesdropping. Each phone bears a sign inviting a person to pick it up. Though the conversations are in (sometimes obscure) foreign languages, they are each discussions of traumatic events, filled with emotional hooks that allow us to know –- even across languages –- that we are peeping in on something painful and private. Again, our spines tingle as we come face-to-face -– or ear-to-ear, as it were -- with the technologies and practices the information-age has unleashed.
The exhibit continues with music, video, and other multimedia. The pieces touch on only some of the dark matters swirling just beneath our lives, exposed here for brief, chilling moments in this show. Installed and exhibited with meticulous attention to space and light and color, the exhibit grabs and shakes gorgeously, and leaves us looking over our shoulders for hours.
Dark Matters: Artists See The Impossible
at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
$7 regular/$5 seniors, students & teachers
FREE for YBCA Members
Dark Matters: Artists See The Impossible
Through a Glass, Very Darkly
By Jesse Nathan (Aug 24, 2007)
* Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA)
701 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 Map
415-978-2700
New technology always generates new art forms, mediums, and modes of exhibition. The rapid digitization of our globe -- with its accompanying technologies of hyper-communication, intimate surveillance and documentation -- stands as no exception. “Dark Matters” at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts addresses the information-technology drenched society we reside in head-on, uniting a range of artists, each one using a dramatically different medium to reveal the invisible and the shrouded.
Though the artwork is not intended, exclusively anyway, to leave us with a sinking, paranoid feeling, much of it does -- and beautifully so. There are the blurry-by-necessity photographs, for instance, of camera-wielding, self-described “cyberspace researcher” Trevor Paglen that target the governmental use of secrecy we’ve become accustomed to if not before then certainly during the eight year reign of Bush II and his Junta.
Taken 18-20 miles out from Tonopah Test Range (a classified U.S. military base in Nevada) because civilians are prohibited from getting any closer, Paglen’s hefty photographs shimmer before our eyes, huge, stark reminders of how little we’re allowed to see of the inner-workings of our own government and military. They are, reads the description on the wall beside the photographs “minimalist statements about what we can know” –- images of faint, almost unseeable things that “threaten to disappear from sight.”
Paglen’s service to the public and it’s right to know continues with a wall-to-wall list of code names used by the U.S. for secret operations from 2001-2007. Etched into the white walls glare hundreds of bizarre, double-speak-laden handles like Black Demon, Bent Pipe, Eastern Reasoner, Hairy Buffalo, Salty Script, and Wiley, monikers for who-knows-what. Paglen’s bone-chilling installation prods us to wonder: what else will we find out (maybe) long after the fact? What else is Big Brother up to?
Those questions, however, punch at us in precisely the way these artists want them to -- thrusting us in front of the sort of “dark matter” we rarely come face-to-face with, let alone to terms with. The curator’s exhibit statement, for example, decries a “culture of secrecy” at all levels of government, as well as “a concern that we are losing touch with reality [as] the digitization of most content...produces a situation where information loses a sense of relative importance.” Surrounded by “digital white noise,” reads the statement, we must turn to art – and this exhibit specifically -- to “reveal the hidden and obscured.”
Paglen’s work only marks the beginning of this exhibit’s disarming array of hair-raising artwork. Tucked in corners and hallways around the gallery, for instance, wait black phones on black tables. The brainchild of artist Kambui Olujmi these pieces simulate eavesdropping. Each phone bears a sign inviting a person to pick it up. Though the conversations are in (sometimes obscure) foreign languages, they are each discussions of traumatic events, filled with emotional hooks that allow us to know –- even across languages –- that we are peeping in on something painful and private. Again, our spines tingle as we come face-to-face -– or ear-to-ear, as it were -- with the technologies and practices the information-age has unleashed.
The exhibit continues with music, video, and other multimedia. The pieces touch on only some of the dark matters swirling just beneath our lives, exposed here for brief, chilling moments in this show. Installed and exhibited with meticulous attention to space and light and color, the exhibit grabs and shakes gorgeously, and leaves us looking over our shoulders for hours.
Dark Matters: Artists See The Impossible
at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
$7 regular/$5 seniors, students & teachers
FREE for YBCA Members
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Pigeons to blame for bridge collapse??
Pounded and strained by heavy traffic and weakened by missing bolts and cracking steel, the failed interstate bridge over the Mississippi River also faced a less obvious enemy: Our friend the pigeon.
Yahoo reports that inspectors began documenting the buildup of pigeon dung on the span near downtown Minneapolis about two decades ago. Experts are saying that the corrosive guano deposited all over the Interstate 35W span's framework helped the steel beams erode faster.
They have not decided what caused the collapse, but pigeon dung is one of many factors that played a part.
"There is a coating of pigeon dung on steel with nest and heavy buildup on the inside hollow box sections," inspectors wrote in a 1987-1989 report.
They installed screens in the hollow sections of the beams in 1996 in hopes of keeping the pigeons out. Unfortunately that did not stop the dropping from building up everywhere.
The droppings contain ammonia's and acids. If it isn't washed away it dries and becomes a concentrated salt. If water combines with that salt and ammonia, it creates electrochemical reactions that rust the steel.
"Every time you get a little bit of moisture there, you wind up having a little bit of electrochemistry occurring and you wind up with corrosion," said Langerman. "Over a long term, it might in fact cause structural weaknesses."
But he is not ready to say that pigeon droppings caused the collapse.
This is a common problem with bridges. For instance, The Colorado Department of Transportation spent so much time cleaning pigeon droppings off of bridges that they are beginning a two-year research project looking for ways to keep pigeons away from its spans.
"It can be damaging to our structures because it's slightly acidic and it has other compounds in it that can dissolve especially things like concrete," said Patricia Martinek, the agency's environmental research manager.
In Denver, the DOT pays environmental specialists to clean their bridges wearing biohazard suits with respirators due to fears about bird flu and other diseases.
The art of keeping pigeons off bridges can often include netting to block holes, spikes so they can't land, poisoning, or even shooting.
Meanwhile, the NTSB has issued an update on their findings about the bridge collapse. They are investigating whether chemicals used in an automated de-icing system had any corrosive properties.
Oh my gosh, that is so fucked up! Fucking pidgeons! See, they have no other purpose on earth except to destroy homes, bridges and other bird's habitats! Anyone need a pidgeon exterminator?? Hire me! I've currently been able to exterminate most of the large population of pidgeons that tried to make new homes under our houses and they aren't trying to come back! Heh! I hate pidgeons!
Yahoo reports that inspectors began documenting the buildup of pigeon dung on the span near downtown Minneapolis about two decades ago. Experts are saying that the corrosive guano deposited all over the Interstate 35W span's framework helped the steel beams erode faster.
They have not decided what caused the collapse, but pigeon dung is one of many factors that played a part.
"There is a coating of pigeon dung on steel with nest and heavy buildup on the inside hollow box sections," inspectors wrote in a 1987-1989 report.
They installed screens in the hollow sections of the beams in 1996 in hopes of keeping the pigeons out. Unfortunately that did not stop the dropping from building up everywhere.
The droppings contain ammonia's and acids. If it isn't washed away it dries and becomes a concentrated salt. If water combines with that salt and ammonia, it creates electrochemical reactions that rust the steel.
"Every time you get a little bit of moisture there, you wind up having a little bit of electrochemistry occurring and you wind up with corrosion," said Langerman. "Over a long term, it might in fact cause structural weaknesses."
But he is not ready to say that pigeon droppings caused the collapse.
This is a common problem with bridges. For instance, The Colorado Department of Transportation spent so much time cleaning pigeon droppings off of bridges that they are beginning a two-year research project looking for ways to keep pigeons away from its spans.
"It can be damaging to our structures because it's slightly acidic and it has other compounds in it that can dissolve especially things like concrete," said Patricia Martinek, the agency's environmental research manager.
In Denver, the DOT pays environmental specialists to clean their bridges wearing biohazard suits with respirators due to fears about bird flu and other diseases.
The art of keeping pigeons off bridges can often include netting to block holes, spikes so they can't land, poisoning, or even shooting.
Meanwhile, the NTSB has issued an update on their findings about the bridge collapse. They are investigating whether chemicals used in an automated de-icing system had any corrosive properties.
Oh my gosh, that is so fucked up! Fucking pidgeons! See, they have no other purpose on earth except to destroy homes, bridges and other bird's habitats! Anyone need a pidgeon exterminator?? Hire me! I've currently been able to exterminate most of the large population of pidgeons that tried to make new homes under our houses and they aren't trying to come back! Heh! I hate pidgeons!
Friday, August 24, 2007
Science discovers big hole in space
"Astronomers are surprised by a recent discovery of a space hole that is nearly a billion light years across. "Not only has no one ever found a void this big, but we never even expected to find one this size," said researcher Lawrence Rudnick of the University of Minnesota. Rudnick's colleague Liliya R. Williams also had not anticipated this finding. "What we've found is not normal, based on either observational studies or on computer simulations of the large-scale evolution of the universe," said Williams, also of the University of Minnesota.""
Wow, I know a really good use for that - throwing certain individuals into it - the president, the govt, bees, the two girls who purposely and SLOWLY jaywalked in front of my car today and then gave me the finger when I didn't come to a full stop. My god, you know - I have the right of way and where is a cop when you need one anyway??!!
Yes, I'm in a pissy, smart ass type mood. My parental units have returned and my mom is trying to make my life living here especially hard. My dad occasionally backs me up when he can but mom has always been #1 in the family. :( She just has to get her way. It's always a big joke in my family - my mom likes to say that it's 'her' car and it's 'her' couch but who bought it? My dad of course! So technically it's really his.
Wow, I know a really good use for that - throwing certain individuals into it - the president, the govt, bees, the two girls who purposely and SLOWLY jaywalked in front of my car today and then gave me the finger when I didn't come to a full stop. My god, you know - I have the right of way and where is a cop when you need one anyway??!!
Yes, I'm in a pissy, smart ass type mood. My parental units have returned and my mom is trying to make my life living here especially hard. My dad occasionally backs me up when he can but mom has always been #1 in the family. :( She just has to get her way. It's always a big joke in my family - my mom likes to say that it's 'her' car and it's 'her' couch but who bought it? My dad of course! So technically it's really his
New migraine website just released!!
So I for a while have been on the commitee for this group, helping to provide feedback on their new beta website. It was pretty awesome the way it was setup and now the actual site has been launched. for anyone who sufferes from Migraines or if you know someone who does, send them this information. It is such a great resource!
Greetings:
I’m happy let you know that we recently launched the WEGO Health Migraines and Women’s Health message boards and I wanted to invite you to join in the conversation. The boards were launched in advance of the corresponding content areas of WEGO Health, which are under development.
You’re among the first to see the message boards, so we would very much appreciate your feedback and participation.
To get started, please visit the registration page:
http://forums.wegohealth.com/forums/member/register/
Below are a few discussions on Migraines and Women’s Health issues that you may want to check out.
On Migraines:
Migraine Diets vs. Headache Diaries
http://forums.wegohealth.com/forums/viewthread/21/
Biofeedback for pain
http://forums.wegohealth.com/forums/viewthread/45/
Keeping your life going when you have migraines and kids
http://forums.wegohealth.com/forums/viewthread/46/
How do you define a “good” doctor?
http://forums.wegohealth.com/forums/viewthread/41/
On Women’s Health Issues:
Dealing with endometriosis
http://forums.wegohealth.com/forums/viewthread/80/
New forms of birth control
http://forums.wegohealth.com/forums/viewthread/96/
Menopause at age 26
http://forums.wegohealth.com/forums/viewthread/79/
Once again, please feel free to contact me with any questions or suggestions. I look forward to getting to know you in the community!
Cheers,
Adrienne
Adrienne Lavidor-Berman
Online Community Manager, WEGO Health
http://www.wegohealth.com
617 649 1502
adriennelb@wegohealth.com
Greetings:
I’m happy let you know that we recently launched the WEGO Health Migraines and Women’s Health message boards and I wanted to invite you to join in the conversation. The boards were launched in advance of the corresponding content areas of WEGO Health, which are under development.
You’re among the first to see the message boards, so we would very much appreciate your feedback and participation.
To get started, please visit the registration page:
http://forums.wegohealth.com/forums/member/register/
Below are a few discussions on Migraines and Women’s Health issues that you may want to check out.
On Migraines:
Migraine Diets vs. Headache Diaries
http://forums.wegohealth.com/forums/viewthread/21/
Biofeedback for pain
http://forums.wegohealth.com/forums/viewthread/45/
Keeping your life going when you have migraines and kids
http://forums.wegohealth.com/forums/viewthread/46/
How do you define a “good” doctor?
http://forums.wegohealth.com/forums/viewthread/41/
On Women’s Health Issues:
Dealing with endometriosis
http://forums.wegohealth.com/forums/viewthread/80/
New forms of birth control
http://forums.wegohealth.com/forums/viewthread/96/
Menopause at age 26
http://forums.wegohealth.com/forums/viewthread/79/
Once again, please feel free to contact me with any questions or suggestions. I look forward to getting to know you in the community!
Cheers,
Adrienne
Adrienne Lavidor-Berman
Online Community Manager, WEGO Health
http://www.wegohealth.com
617 649 1502
adriennelb@wegohealth.com
Noise and illness
This is very very interesting - may explain why I get so aggravated by the gardeners and their goddammed loud leaf blowers that not only make so much noise and keep me from my precious sleep but they also pollute and smell awful!
How noise causes illness
How could exposure to noise have such devastating effects on human health as causing cardiovascular disease?
Key to solving this puzzle is recognising that noise can create a form of chronic stress that keeps our bodies in a state of constant alert. Research published last year by Wolfgang Babisch of Germany's Federal Environmental Agency in Berlin shows that even when you are asleep, your ears, brain and body continue to react to sounds, raising levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenalin and noradrenalin.
This makes evolutionary sense, as all animals need to be alert to threats even when they are asleep, so they can wake up and flee if necessary, says Andy Moorhouse, an acoustics researcher at the University of Salford, UK.
However, if these stress hormones are in constant circulation, they can cause long-term physiological changes that could be life-threatening. The end result can be anything from heart failure and strokes to high blood pressure and immune problems. "All this is happening imperceptibly, and this is the key," says Deepak Prasher of University College London, who collaborated on the WHO study. "Even when you think you're used to noise, these physiological changes are still happening," he says.
What's more, there are a wide range of sources of noise stress. Some are big and obvious, such as constant heavy traffic or aircraft taking off, while others are much more subtle and difficult to define as "pollution", yet can still cause intense anxiety and irritation. In the case of noisy neighbours, for example, stress might be triggered simply by knowing a neighbour is in, even if they are not being noisy at that point. "If you have no control over the noise, that's what creates anger and stress and causes people to tip over the edge," says Val Wheedon, a veteran campaigner against noise pollution in the UK and co-founder of the UK Noise Association. In such disputes, noise serves not only as an irritation, but symbolises perceived lack of consideration in others, priming the body for confrontation, Wheedon adds.
Noise can aggravate stress still further if it disturbs sleep, which can result in constant fatigue and outbursts of aggressiveness and irritability. People exposed to noise during their sleep have been shown to wake up more often and fidget more in their sleep - both indicators of sleep disruption.
There is also mounting evidence that excessive noise disrupts learning and education. As far back as 1975, studies by Arline Bronzaft in New York showed that the reading skills of children in classrooms next to noisy railways lagged three to four months behind those of their peers in quieter classrooms. More recently, Staffan Hygge of the Laboratory of Applied Psychology in Gävle, Sweden, demonstrated that the long-term memory recall of children in part of Munich, Germany, improved by 25 per cent after a nearby airport was closed (Psychological Science, vol 13, p 469). The recall ability of children living near the new airport deteriorated by the same amount once it opened.
How noise causes illness
How could exposure to noise have such devastating effects on human health as causing cardiovascular disease?
Key to solving this puzzle is recognising that noise can create a form of chronic stress that keeps our bodies in a state of constant alert. Research published last year by Wolfgang Babisch of Germany's Federal Environmental Agency in Berlin shows that even when you are asleep, your ears, brain and body continue to react to sounds, raising levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenalin and noradrenalin.
This makes evolutionary sense, as all animals need to be alert to threats even when they are asleep, so they can wake up and flee if necessary, says Andy Moorhouse, an acoustics researcher at the University of Salford, UK.
However, if these stress hormones are in constant circulation, they can cause long-term physiological changes that could be life-threatening. The end result can be anything from heart failure and strokes to high blood pressure and immune problems. "All this is happening imperceptibly, and this is the key," says Deepak Prasher of University College London, who collaborated on the WHO study. "Even when you think you're used to noise, these physiological changes are still happening," he says.
What's more, there are a wide range of sources of noise stress. Some are big and obvious, such as constant heavy traffic or aircraft taking off, while others are much more subtle and difficult to define as "pollution", yet can still cause intense anxiety and irritation. In the case of noisy neighbours, for example, stress might be triggered simply by knowing a neighbour is in, even if they are not being noisy at that point. "If you have no control over the noise, that's what creates anger and stress and causes people to tip over the edge," says Val Wheedon, a veteran campaigner against noise pollution in the UK and co-founder of the UK Noise Association. In such disputes, noise serves not only as an irritation, but symbolises perceived lack of consideration in others, priming the body for confrontation, Wheedon adds.
Noise can aggravate stress still further if it disturbs sleep, which can result in constant fatigue and outbursts of aggressiveness and irritability. People exposed to noise during their sleep have been shown to wake up more often and fidget more in their sleep - both indicators of sleep disruption.
There is also mounting evidence that excessive noise disrupts learning and education. As far back as 1975, studies by Arline Bronzaft in New York showed that the reading skills of children in classrooms next to noisy railways lagged three to four months behind those of their peers in quieter classrooms. More recently, Staffan Hygge of the Laboratory of Applied Psychology in Gävle, Sweden, demonstrated that the long-term memory recall of children in part of Munich, Germany, improved by 25 per cent after a nearby airport was closed (Psychological Science, vol 13, p 469). The recall ability of children living near the new airport deteriorated by the same amount once it opened.
Good resource for getting information on Fibromyalgia
So Im pretty psyched, even though I can't sleep and am awake still at 2:30am. I just saw the first ever commercial - and not even a drug-promoted commerical - just an info commerical for Fibromyalgia. How cool is that!?! This is a major breakthrough because this is just one more step that is going to help to educate the public about this horrible illness. So I'm really happy! Keep your eyes peeled. Thanks to the NFA for putting it out too! If you want more info, check out their brand new site at: http://www.fibrohope.org/.
Help support the fight to find a cure and help promote awareness of this illness that so many more people suffer from than people even realize.
Help support the fight to find a cure and help promote awareness of this illness that so many more people suffer from than people even realize.
Watch horse trials on internet!
Watch the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials Live
Don’t miss a second of the action at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials in England where eight Americans will be contesting for the coveted £50,000 prize. For the first time, the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials will be offering live webstream of the cross-country and show jumping worldwide September 1-2.
If you sign up before August 26, not only can you enjoy every minute of the 2007 event but you can also enjoy highlights of the 2006 event for free. There is also a special offer combining access to the webcast and a copy of the 2007 DVD after the competition is over.
Colorful commentary will be provided by some of the biggest names in the game, including:
—Alice Plunkett, Channel 4 Horse Racing Anchor, former eventer and wife of William Fox-Pitt;
—David O'Connor, Individual Sydney Olympic champion, World and Pan Am medalist, and winner of Badminton and Rolex Kentucky;
—Ian Stark, four-time Olympic Silver medalist, and triple Badminton champion; and
—Tina Cook, World and European Team medalist.
Visit www.burghley.tv to watch the action.
Don’t miss a second of the action at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials in England where eight Americans will be contesting for the coveted £50,000 prize. For the first time, the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials will be offering live webstream of the cross-country and show jumping worldwide September 1-2.
If you sign up before August 26, not only can you enjoy every minute of the 2007 event but you can also enjoy highlights of the 2006 event for free. There is also a special offer combining access to the webcast and a copy of the 2007 DVD after the competition is over.
Colorful commentary will be provided by some of the biggest names in the game, including:
—Alice Plunkett, Channel 4 Horse Racing Anchor, former eventer and wife of William Fox-Pitt;
—David O'Connor, Individual Sydney Olympic champion, World and Pan Am medalist, and winner of Badminton and Rolex Kentucky;
—Ian Stark, four-time Olympic Silver medalist, and triple Badminton champion; and
—Tina Cook, World and European Team medalist.
Visit www.burghley.tv to watch the action.
Stupid traffic light
So what do you do when a traffic light refuses to turn green for you? I'm sure we have all wondered about that, like the question of whether or not you'd go through a red if you were sitting at an intersection in the middle of nowhere. Well the same thing happened to me tonight. I just dropped C off at Oakland Greyhound and was heading back to the freeway, was literally a block from the entrance, but sitting at this light right next to a gas station in the middle of ghetto Oakland. Not my ideal place to sit at a light. After about 3 minutes I realized that the light wasn't going to change. The red walk hand was up on the other way but had never been blinking like it was going to change. People kept coming up behind me but they all turned right so none of them were helping by sitting on the sensors either. I backed up and went to sit in the farthest left hand lane, thinking I could trigger the sensor. Nope! No good. Well shit! What the hell? I don't want to sit here and just keep waiting especially when it's perfectly clear that the light is not working properly. So I looked around for any cops or people, gave the light the bird and made my executive decision to go safely through the red light. I pulled out into the intersection slowly, looked both ways many times and sped across the intersection and prayed that no cops were sitting blocks down and had seen me do this. Of course, I would let them know that the light was broken and I had waited at least 10 minutes but did not feel safe sitting there in a shiny red BMW, which I'm sure can attract the wrong kind of attention. But no cops and I just got back onto the freeway and headed home. It was really weird, because that light has worked before, but it was really slow and retarded and took a bit longer than normal to realize that I was sitting waiting for it to change to green for me. Well at least I don't have to go back there for a while, so that is good. Sheesh!!!
The past four days of fun and stress
Well overall I had a great week, even though I flared up too. A couple of times I was in such bad shape that I couldn't even move but my friend was nice enough to take really good care of me, give me massages when needed and cook me lots of healthy tasty meals :) I love home cooked meals. We mostly hung out, watched lots of movies, talked, went in the hot tub, he drove me around to my errands and pet sitting jobs and we relaxed. AND he helped me with getting ready for my art show this Sunday. Thank goodness he was here because I couldn't have gotten to where I am now without his help, since my folks are currently in Tahoe, returning Friday. So we made a ton of wine charms, I finished my earrings and found some nice paper to make earring backings, also printed out my label for my business name: Infinite Creations. I ordered more business cards beginning of last week, which I expect to get here tommorrow or Sat by the latest. I just need to make two more necklaces, two more bracelets and print out my Bio and custom orders information. I got my stands out of storage and also located the pretty mesh bags to put jewelry into when sold, just like the ones I use for my homemade bath salts. I'm also going to advertise that I'm going to donate 10% of my profit to an organization that is working on finding a cure and/or diagnostic test for Fibromyalgia. Any way I can spread the word about my illness, the better. I might also get some more pet sitting clients, since I'm using my personal business card. Decided against making an entirely new card just for my jewelry.
Yesterday after running errands and pet sitting, we went to pick up cat food and treats and saw the ice cream shop across the street and I'm always in the mood for ice cream. So we went to Tuckers, which is where some of you know the Rosenblum Zinfandel chip ice cream is made - which is my ultimate favorite flavor. Well guess what??!! They had it!! I was really psyched so I bought a quart of that and we also got cones too. Yum yum!
So today since it was C's last day, he really wanted to get the best burrito in the bay and I was dying to go play pinball and air hockey. So we ventured over to the Peninsula, back to our old stomping ground :) We went to Sunnyvale and stopped at Golfland, which has one of the best arcades that we know of. We at first were going to go to the Nickel Arcade in San Jose, but it was pretty far and then I remembered that they didn't have pinballs or other cool games, just silly ones and it's always really loud and full of screaming little brats. So we decided against that idea. Golfland is pretty nice, though when we stepped out of the car, Sunnyvale for some strange reason smelled like someone had set off a stinkbomb. Inside was much better. Golfland has a great mini-golf setup, which we've done before but we just wanted to do the arcade. I guess now they have deals during the week if you go at later times, after 6 or 7pm, you can get a play all, just for $5, which is a pretty good deal. The arcade only takes tokens and the bigger games are a $1 but some only take $.25 or .50. So we played Pinball - there was a new favorite, Spiderman, the set up was really cool, lots of flashy lights and tunnels, ramps, sumersault loops and such. Lots of fun and it gave me lots of do-overs for my lost balls. There was also Lord of the Rings but I'm getting really tired of that one, because a) it's in almost every single movie theater arcade, meaning I've played it quite a bit and b) it doesn't give you a do-over when your ball gets lost. Plus it got Tilted a lot and that was annoying too! They also had Monopoly but we had to limit what we spent so we didnt' play that one. Next we played Mario Kart - a fav of mine from Nintendo, it was fun to be in a big driver's seat version and I kicked ass both times :) They also had Puzzle Fighter which I really like but there was quite a wait since these asian kids kept hogging the game. Then they got really upset and pissy when I nabbed it because they had gotten up and walked across the room. Gees, deal! There was another puzzle type one but I can't remember the one now but you shoot different colored balls upwards, to knock off sets of three. I practiced and got it down. Some games I need to warm up on, like pinball and puzzle games and others, like air hockey, it's just permanently engrained in my brain on how to play :) Speaking of, I kicked some major butt at air hocket. I think it's due to play so much against my brother when we both lived down in San Diego. He plays really hard, really violent, so much so that he's garenteed to hit the puck so hard that it flys off the table at every game and you barely get a chance to hit it because you're so busy defending your goal. Well, fortunately I don't play that aggressively but I'm pretty darn good at defending my goal and getting it to go into the other side. Heh! That was a lot of fun and boy does my right arm hurt, just sore, but it was totally worth it :) I LOVE air hockey. My other favorite is After Burner but I havent' been able to find it anywhere. Bet I could find it in a big arcade but there are not that many left in the bay area unfortunately. There is however a massive arcade in Portland, so that is intriguing for a visit there :) I'm pretty good at any games that require strong eye/hand coordination.
After that we went to Jalapa tacoria, which is a very authentic, owned by two really nice Mexican guys who have been running it for many years and know my friend well since he used to go there with friends every week. It was great seeing them again and talking. They make the best burritos in the state! They are huge - like 3" by 9" long. Pretty massive and stuffed with all fresh ingrediants. I just got veggie with cheese, rice, beans, extra sour cream, guac and salsa. They have a pretty good menu to choose from and the food is just excellant. I can just barely eat half, which I did but I'm happy to have yummy leftovers for lunch tommorrow :) Yummy yummy! I love food! So good day overall, got to relax and work more on my jewelry. Think I'm all ready for the show now.
Of course I'll be much calmer the day of the show, after I get all set up and am sitting down waiting to greet people browsing. I'm really looking forward to my first show.
Yesterday after running errands and pet sitting, we went to pick up cat food and treats and saw the ice cream shop across the street and I'm always in the mood for ice cream. So we went to Tuckers, which is where some of you know the Rosenblum Zinfandel chip ice cream is made - which is my ultimate favorite flavor. Well guess what??!! They had it!! I was really psyched so I bought a quart of that and we also got cones too. Yum yum!
So today since it was C's last day, he really wanted to get the best burrito in the bay and I was dying to go play pinball and air hockey. So we ventured over to the Peninsula, back to our old stomping ground :) We went to Sunnyvale and stopped at Golfland, which has one of the best arcades that we know of. We at first were going to go to the Nickel Arcade in San Jose, but it was pretty far and then I remembered that they didn't have pinballs or other cool games, just silly ones and it's always really loud and full of screaming little brats. So we decided against that idea. Golfland is pretty nice, though when we stepped out of the car, Sunnyvale for some strange reason smelled like someone had set off a stinkbomb. Inside was much better. Golfland has a great mini-golf setup, which we've done before but we just wanted to do the arcade. I guess now they have deals during the week if you go at later times, after 6 or 7pm, you can get a play all, just for $5, which is a pretty good deal. The arcade only takes tokens and the bigger games are a $1 but some only take $.25 or .50. So we played Pinball - there was a new favorite, Spiderman, the set up was really cool, lots of flashy lights and tunnels, ramps, sumersault loops and such. Lots of fun and it gave me lots of do-overs for my lost balls. There was also Lord of the Rings but I'm getting really tired of that one, because a) it's in almost every single movie theater arcade, meaning I've played it quite a bit and b) it doesn't give you a do-over when your ball gets lost. Plus it got Tilted a lot and that was annoying too! They also had Monopoly but we had to limit what we spent so we didnt' play that one. Next we played Mario Kart - a fav of mine from Nintendo, it was fun to be in a big driver's seat version and I kicked ass both times :) They also had Puzzle Fighter which I really like but there was quite a wait since these asian kids kept hogging the game. Then they got really upset and pissy when I nabbed it because they had gotten up and walked across the room. Gees, deal! There was another puzzle type one but I can't remember the one now but you shoot different colored balls upwards, to knock off sets of three. I practiced and got it down. Some games I need to warm up on, like pinball and puzzle games and others, like air hockey, it's just permanently engrained in my brain on how to play :) Speaking of, I kicked some major butt at air hocket. I think it's due to play so much against my brother when we both lived down in San Diego. He plays really hard, really violent, so much so that he's garenteed to hit the puck so hard that it flys off the table at every game and you barely get a chance to hit it because you're so busy defending your goal. Well, fortunately I don't play that aggressively but I'm pretty darn good at defending my goal and getting it to go into the other side. Heh! That was a lot of fun and boy does my right arm hurt, just sore, but it was totally worth it :) I LOVE air hockey. My other favorite is After Burner but I havent' been able to find it anywhere. Bet I could find it in a big arcade but there are not that many left in the bay area unfortunately. There is however a massive arcade in Portland, so that is intriguing for a visit there :) I'm pretty good at any games that require strong eye/hand coordination.
After that we went to Jalapa tacoria, which is a very authentic, owned by two really nice Mexican guys who have been running it for many years and know my friend well since he used to go there with friends every week. It was great seeing them again and talking. They make the best burritos in the state! They are huge - like 3" by 9" long. Pretty massive and stuffed with all fresh ingrediants. I just got veggie with cheese, rice, beans, extra sour cream, guac and salsa. They have a pretty good menu to choose from and the food is just excellant. I can just barely eat half, which I did but I'm happy to have yummy leftovers for lunch tommorrow :) Yummy yummy! I love food! So good day overall, got to relax and work more on my jewelry. Think I'm all ready for the show now.
Of course I'll be much calmer the day of the show, after I get all set up and am sitting down waiting to greet people browsing. I'm really looking forward to my first show.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Link to my Chronic Pain Support Group
For those who weren't aware, it's almost been a year since I started my own chronic pain support group on yahoo groups. It's been pretty sucessful so far and we regularly meet once a week with another woman who is in Berkeley, at the Alta Bates hospital for once a month meetings. This Tuesday is that meeting so I'm looking forward to seeing if there are any new poeple who will decide to show up from my group. I have 23 active members, the number dropped since I changed some of the rules around, like how you have to post at least once a month - no lurkers allowed! Had some problems with people flaming others and posting paranoid, incorrrect info a few months ago so I changed my policies. And someone also contacted several members of the group off-group asking for medications. He asked me too, which was a big no no and I banned him from the group!
Anyway, it's a great group and if you suffer from ANY sort of chronic pain illness or syndrome, even bad headaches, you're more than welcome to join. The more the merrier! I have tons of resources available: links, help finding doctors in the bay area, free samples that I get from various companies that I'm working with, plus tons of other benefits.
The link is: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/SFBayAreaFMSMPS/
Check it out and let me know what you think! Have a great day :)
Whitney
Anyway, it's a great group and if you suffer from ANY sort of chronic pain illness or syndrome, even bad headaches, you're more than welcome to join. The more the merrier! I have tons of resources available: links, help finding doctors in the bay area, free samples that I get from various companies that I'm working with, plus tons of other benefits.
The link is: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/SFBayAreaFMSMPS/
Check it out and let me know what you think! Have a great day :)
Whitney
Sunday, August 19, 2007
What happens if you Google my name in Images?
So I was curious to see what would come up if I searched for my own name in Google Images. Well the result is very interesting. There are more females out in the world with my full name than I thought there would be. So far in my lifetime, I've only met two other Whitney's and I'm happy to say that I love my name and I'm very glad that my parent's gave me a unique name too.
As for the results, here are some other Whitney Walkers:
This chick from some university on the other side of the country: www.bowdoin.edu/.../whitney_walker_05.shtml
This girl who also rides horses but shows in Western - cute horse! www.countrypleasurefarms.com/Images/Sonny/m14.jpg
I swear to Mother Nature that I did NOT!!!! write this book! Thought you'd get a kick out of this one anyway - www.amazon.com/Baby-Shower-Musts/lm/30TJNTN2AMDVY
My apparently famous caving picture is on this page, just scroll down to read my blurb: animalwelfare.meetup.com/.../ca/san_francisco/
SWEET!!! There's a gun named after me, how cool is that!! The Whitneyville Walker Colt Pistol. http://americanhistory.si.edu/westpoint/history_2.html#
There is a Walker Whitney Plaza in St Petersburg, Florida. I'll have to go someday: http://www.florida-beach-condos.net/stpetersburg-beach-condos.html
I think that I should own this company - this is the Walker-Whitney style of living: http://walkerwhitney.com/index2.html
Heh, I could go on and on but I won't :) I definetly have to in this lifetime visit my museum in New York and climb my mountain :)
As for the results, here are some other Whitney Walkers:
This chick from some university on the other side of the country: www.bowdoin.edu/.../whitney_walker_05.shtml
This girl who also rides horses but shows in Western - cute horse! www.countrypleasurefarms.com/Images/Sonny/m14.jpg
I swear to Mother Nature that I did NOT!!!! write this book! Thought you'd get a kick out of this one anyway - www.amazon.com/Baby-Shower-Musts/lm/30TJNTN2AMDVY
My apparently famous caving picture is on this page, just scroll down to read my blurb: animalwelfare.meetup.com/.../ca/san_francisco/
SWEET!!! There's a gun named after me, how cool is that!! The Whitneyville Walker Colt Pistol. http://americanhistory.si.edu/westpoint/history_2.html#
There is a Walker Whitney Plaza in St Petersburg, Florida. I'll have to go someday: http://www.florida-beach-condos.net/stpetersburg-beach-condos.html
I think that I should own this company - this is the Walker-Whitney style of living: http://walkerwhitney.com/index2.html
Heh, I could go on and on but I won't :) I definetly have to in this lifetime visit my museum in New York and climb my mountain :)
Weekend fun
So this weekend seemed longer than others have. I have no idea why. Sat I did some cleaning up around the house, since I have a friend coming here to stay with me for 3 nights. Then I headed up to Napa to see B. We went to Chevy's for dinner, since I've been missing it so much. I still don't really understand why they closed the one in Alameda. It was the first one ever to be in the Bay Area, and now it's gone. I even drove by the building the other day and it's just sitting there, empty. wtf?
Today plans changed around a bit so I decided to head towards Stinson Beach since it was still pretty early in the day and I haven't been to the beach in quite a while. Had a pretty drive along Hwy 37 until I hit 101 and then there were some traffic areas, like going through San Rafael. I considered calling my cousin Gen to see if she and Chris were around but then later I was too tired and really hurting so I decided not to. Maybe next time! Was almost to Stinson, people going WAY too slow down that hill (have a rant about that on the way back up the hill!), and decided to go to Muir Beach instead of Stinson. I thought that Stinson would probably be overcrowded, which I hate and I think they charge you to park, and I didn't want to pay anything to park. So I ended up at Muir Beach, which was pretty and overcrowded as well, very rocky, lacking tidepools which I was hoping for and it had bees, which kept following me around and making me nervous, so I had to keep walking around rather than sit on a rock like I had planned. It was sorta foggy yet sunny, not windy - sorta weird weather. Not hot but not cold. I thought it was going to be chilly because of the fog. So I took lots of good pictures, which I included here.
After the beach I headed back up the hill, towards the Golden Gate Bridge. Decided since I hadn't been there in a while either that today might be a good day to go. So this guy in front of me in some Impala POS is going under 20mph UPHILL!!!! and is still braking. Gees! I was fuming to say the least. Too windy of a road to pass and it would be really unsafe anyway. But I thought, if I could only get into that car, sit in the passenger seat and have the car controls on my side too, like they do in those cars that teach you how to drive, so that I could push on the gas and teach the idiot how to drive properly!! In my dreams, I know :)
So I was totally wrong about doing the GG on a Sunday. Everyone and their kids were there and I was not happy. But then I had to pee so I didn't have a choice but to stop. Found a parking spot relatively easy (thanks to my placard) and waited in the bathroom line. This little woman behind me, not only did she have the worst BO in the world but she could not respect my personal bubble. If you are not closely related to me, or are a close friend or significant other, do NOT dare stand in my personal space. It's the easiest way to piss me off. I swear, I wanted to step on her toes and run her over. She kept bumping into me, she wasn't even looking at whcih was the line was headed and she was blocking the exit path too. Totally rude, people like that should be extinguised. It was Asian town at the bridge, so I took some cool shots and got the hell out of there as fast as I could! But I did get some good shots, even one where when I was first driving across the bridge, I just stuck the camera out the side window, pointed it up at the span and shot a picture. Came out pretty cool too!
On the way out of the city, instead of stopping and getting my favorite cookies, since I knew the place would be closed, I instead headed over to the Cheesecake Factory to treat myself to a slice of cheesecake, to bring home and devour all by myself. Well I don't normally drive in the city, I try to really avoid it at all costs. I almost didn't make it to get dessert. What is up with the no left turns and one ways?? Actually it's the no left turns that get me worse. Just put in a fricken left turn arrow signal. I'm sure the city can afford to do that too. Certainly would put me out of my misery. It took about 30 min just to get 10 blocks, where I ended up below mission, on Howard, and I needed to be up above Market, on Geary. Took fucking forever. ARGH! Talk about driving me insane. And I guess I haven't been into the city, like downtown, in a while. Well it certainly is tourist season there. Gees! Way too many sheep people. Fortunately I got in and out of the Cheesecake Factory in less than 20 min and I was able to park right in front as well. yay! So that made me happy. I need a little treat now and then.
Got home safe and sound with a kitty who was really really happy to see me. I'm very tired and in a lot of pain. I think I'm starting to stress about my art show next Sunday. I still need to make a couple more necklaces and a bunch more bracelets AND figure out how to display everything. I'm going to let my friend help me with all of that this week since mom and dad won't be home until Friday afternoon and that gives me Friday eve and Sat all day to prepare for the show. But I'm excited too, hope to get a lot of really good feedback on my work. :)
Today plans changed around a bit so I decided to head towards Stinson Beach since it was still pretty early in the day and I haven't been to the beach in quite a while. Had a pretty drive along Hwy 37 until I hit 101 and then there were some traffic areas, like going through San Rafael. I considered calling my cousin Gen to see if she and Chris were around but then later I was too tired and really hurting so I decided not to. Maybe next time! Was almost to Stinson, people going WAY too slow down that hill (have a rant about that on the way back up the hill!), and decided to go to Muir Beach instead of Stinson. I thought that Stinson would probably be overcrowded, which I hate and I think they charge you to park, and I didn't want to pay anything to park. So I ended up at Muir Beach, which was pretty and overcrowded as well, very rocky, lacking tidepools which I was hoping for and it had bees, which kept following me around and making me nervous, so I had to keep walking around rather than sit on a rock like I had planned. It was sorta foggy yet sunny, not windy - sorta weird weather. Not hot but not cold. I thought it was going to be chilly because of the fog. So I took lots of good pictures, which I included here.
After the beach I headed back up the hill, towards the Golden Gate Bridge. Decided since I hadn't been there in a while either that today might be a good day to go. So this guy in front of me in some Impala POS is going under 20mph UPHILL!!!! and is still braking. Gees! I was fuming to say the least. Too windy of a road to pass and it would be really unsafe anyway. But I thought, if I could only get into that car, sit in the passenger seat and have the car controls on my side too, like they do in those cars that teach you how to drive, so that I could push on the gas and teach the idiot how to drive properly!! In my dreams, I know :)
So I was totally wrong about doing the GG on a Sunday. Everyone and their kids were there and I was not happy. But then I had to pee so I didn't have a choice but to stop. Found a parking spot relatively easy (thanks to my placard) and waited in the bathroom line. This little woman behind me, not only did she have the worst BO in the world but she could not respect my personal bubble. If you are not closely related to me, or are a close friend or significant other, do NOT dare stand in my personal space. It's the easiest way to piss me off. I swear, I wanted to step on her toes and run her over. She kept bumping into me, she wasn't even looking at whcih was the line was headed and she was blocking the exit path too. Totally rude, people like that should be extinguised. It was Asian town at the bridge, so I took some cool shots and got the hell out of there as fast as I could! But I did get some good shots, even one where when I was first driving across the bridge, I just stuck the camera out the side window, pointed it up at the span and shot a picture. Came out pretty cool too!
On the way out of the city, instead of stopping and getting my favorite cookies, since I knew the place would be closed, I instead headed over to the Cheesecake Factory to treat myself to a slice of cheesecake, to bring home and devour all by myself. Well I don't normally drive in the city, I try to really avoid it at all costs. I almost didn't make it to get dessert. What is up with the no left turns and one ways?? Actually it's the no left turns that get me worse. Just put in a fricken left turn arrow signal. I'm sure the city can afford to do that too. Certainly would put me out of my misery. It took about 30 min just to get 10 blocks, where I ended up below mission, on Howard, and I needed to be up above Market, on Geary. Took fucking forever. ARGH! Talk about driving me insane. And I guess I haven't been into the city, like downtown, in a while. Well it certainly is tourist season there. Gees! Way too many sheep people. Fortunately I got in and out of the Cheesecake Factory in less than 20 min and I was able to park right in front as well. yay! So that made me happy. I need a little treat now and then.
Got home safe and sound with a kitty who was really really happy to see me. I'm very tired and in a lot of pain. I think I'm starting to stress about my art show next Sunday. I still need to make a couple more necklaces and a bunch more bracelets AND figure out how to display everything. I'm going to let my friend help me with all of that this week since mom and dad won't be home until Friday afternoon and that gives me Friday eve and Sat all day to prepare for the show. But I'm excited too, hope to get a lot of really good feedback on my work. :)
What kind of cat am I?
 | You scored as Maine Coon, You are a Maine Coon cat. You are very tall and shy. You like sport and you are different from everyone else.
What breed of cat are you? created with QuizFarm.com |
My interest in Illusionists
So I'm really interested in magick - always have been. I consider myself to be Pagan/Wiccan. Anyway, ever since the movie The Illusionist which was incredible, I've been interested in real-life illusionists. There are a couple in Las Vegas. I'm watching one guy, Criss Angel on A&E right now - just watched him walk on water, across a pool! Kinda mind-blowing. People were swimming under him, so don't give me that crap about it being fake. Anyway, check him out. You can see him on this site: http://www.angelofillusion.net/newbio.html or his videos of some stuff that he does on: http://www.metacafe.com/tags/criss_angel/.
there's another guy I saw on the science channel - Dirk (somebody) - can't remember his last name right now. He's an illusionist as well and he rescues and raises baby tigers and leopards. He's a big animal conservationist and activist and he likes educating the public on how to save endangered cats. I saw an hour on science channel on him and his big cats. He's just amazing as well.
Now I've been able to figure out some tricks that people do but Illusionists are different!
there's another guy I saw on the science channel - Dirk (somebody) - can't remember his last name right now. He's an illusionist as well and he rescues and raises baby tigers and leopards. He's a big animal conservationist and activist and he likes educating the public on how to save endangered cats. I saw an hour on science channel on him and his big cats. He's just amazing as well.
Now I've been able to figure out some tricks that people do but Illusionists are different!
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
City lights
So tonight I decided after I met Kelly for coffee that I would drive up the hill, to see if it was clear enough to see the stars and to see the city lights. I tried to take B up the weekend before but it was so incredibly foggy. That always randomly happens to me now. I plan to go up and it's fog city, sometimes to the point where I can't drive faster than 3 mph because I can hardly see the road - thank god for road lines! And reflective paint too!! :)
So I got up on grizzly peak and there were quite a lot of people up there. Most of the turn off spaces were filled up and I really didn't feel like being near anyone else but I didn't really have any choice by that time. So Parked away from other cars and pulled into a turnout. Turned off the car and stepped out, almost tripped and fell down the hill, which I'm sure would have ended badly. But it was very clear and beautiful. The sky was dark and I saw a shooting star, probably not the end of the already finished meteor shower that I yet again missed. But I did find that Gold Club Rd which runs off of Grizzly Peak does go down the backside of the hill, into nothingness, meaning: no lights, houses, etc for a while so in other words: dark skies! good telescope viewing spot. Will save it for next time. Wish it was easier to get out of the city though. I get really sick of the light pollution.
Took a couple of shots, but only this one came out the best.
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