10/18/2008
10/04/2008
And Now For Something Completely Different
These photos were taken on September 20th in San Francisco at the 13th annual Alcatraz Invitational Swim, which is hosted by the South End Rowing Club.
The weather was in the high fifties, the water temp was 62. Approximately 500 other folks and 'yours truly' were taken on two ferries to within a couple hundred yards of Alcatraz Island, where we jumped off and swam back to town, around a mile and a half away.
Here are some photos from that morning. Some taken by me, others, obviously taken by others who are sharing them. Thanks. It was a great time and lots of fun.
Early morning registration the day of the event.
Marching two blocks from the registration location in front of the SERC building, to the ferries.
On board and ready to go. Me in the red cap.
Out the door, three at a time.
Go time.
Swimming for it.
Some perspective from 'sea-level.'
Ofcourse during the swim, you need to pause, look and reflect.
Safely back on shore.
Irish coffees at the Buena Vista afterwards.
The weather was in the high fifties, the water temp was 62. Approximately 500 other folks and 'yours truly' were taken on two ferries to within a couple hundred yards of Alcatraz Island, where we jumped off and swam back to town, around a mile and a half away.
Here are some photos from that morning. Some taken by me, others, obviously taken by others who are sharing them. Thanks. It was a great time and lots of fun.
Early morning registration the day of the event.
Marching two blocks from the registration location in front of the SERC building, to the ferries.
On board and ready to go. Me in the red cap.
Out the door, three at a time.
Go time.
Swimming for it. 
Some perspective from 'sea-level.'
Ofcourse during the swim, you need to pause, look and reflect.
Safely back on shore.
Irish coffees at the Buena Vista afterwards.
9/13/2008
Not catch & release
Taken at Brooks River, Katmai National Park with a Canon Digital Rebel XTI, 1/125, Av=8.0, ISO=400, handheld
8/15/2008
8/07/2008
7/13/2008
Cloudbreak
Taken with a Minolta Weather-matic, dual fixed focus 35mm. camera & Fuji Provia 100 film, hand held.This was atop a hill outside of Dutch Harbor where there were WWII lookouts and gun emplacements.
7/05/2008
Russian Orthodox Priest's House, Unalaska
The Holy Ascension Russian Orthodox Church was originally built in Unalaska, Alaska around 1825. Though, I'm not sure, I believe that the priest's house may have been built sometime in the 1880's. It is presently under renovation, as you can see.
This was taken with a Minolta weather-matic, fixed dual focus 35mm. camera and Fuji 100ISO Provia film.
6/27/2008
Lookout Post for ships that never came
The view out of the lookout post atop a hill at Dutch Harbor, Alaska.This lookout is part of a larger shore gun battery that was defending Dutch Harbor during WWII. The remnants of the facility are still up on the hill and it's now a historical site. Today, the facility lies in decay. There would have been far worse places to have been assigned to during the war.
Dutch was bombed in June of 1942 by the Japanese. It was the only aerial bombing of a city on the North American continent during the war. Sixteen people were killed and numerous others were wounded.
6/19/2008
5/30/2008
5/24/2008
5/11/2008
3/29/2008
Vision & Perception
"In a 2001 study published by Nature, Frank S. Werblin, professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California at Berkeley, and doctoral student Boton Roska, M.D., showed that the optic nerve carries ten to twelve output channels, each of which carries only minimal information about a given scene.”
“Although we have the illusion of receiving high-resolution images from our eyes, what the optic nerve actually sends to the brain is just outlines and clues about points of interest in our visual field. We then essentially hallucinate the world from the cortical memories that interpret a series of extremely low resolution movies that arrive in parallel channels."
-The Singularity Is Near, by Ray Kurzweil pp.186
1/30/2008
1/01/2008
12/02/2007
11/20/2007
10/25/2007
10/13/2007
9/30/2007
9/21/2007
9/10/2007
Useful English System Conversions
Ratio of an igloo's circumference to its diameter: Eskimo Pi
2.4 statute miles of intravenous surgical tubing at Yale University Hospital: 1 I.V. League
2000 pounds of Chinese soup: Won ton
1 millionth mouthwash: 1 microscope
Speed of a tortoise breaking the sound barrier: Mach Turtle
Time it takes to sail 220 yards at 1 nautical mile per hour: Knot furlong
365.25 days of drinking low calorie beer because it's less filling: 1 lite year
16.5 feet in the Twilight Zone: 1 Rod Sterling
Half of a large intestine: 1 semicolon
1000 aches: 1 megahertz
Weight an evangelist carries with God: 1 billigram
Basic unit of laryngitis: 1 horsepower
Shortest distance between two jokes: A straight line
Time between slipping on a peel and smacking the pavement: bananosecond
A half bath: 1 demijohn
453.6 graham crackers: 1 pound cake
Given the old adage "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," the first step of a one-mile journey: 1 Milwaukee
1 million microphones: 1 megaphone
1 million bicycles: 2 megacycles
365.25 days: 1 unicycle
2200 mockingbirds: two kilo mockingbirds
10 cards: 1 decacards
1 kilogram of falling figs: 1 Fig Newton
1000 grams of wet socks: 1 literhosen
1 millionth of a fish: 1 microfiche
1 trillion pins: 1 terrapin
1 million billion piccolos: 1 gigolo
10 rations: 1 decoration
100 rations: 1 C-ration
10 millipedes: 1 centipede
3 1/3 tridents: 1 decadent
10 monologues: 5 dialogs
5 dialogs: 1 decalog
2 monograms: 1 diagram
8 nickels: 2 paradigms
2 wharves: 1 paradox
100 Senators: Not 1 decision
Credit - Neal Jackson
9/06/2007
Below, from a while ago, but still funny....
Here is the Washington Post's Mensa Invitational which once again
asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by
adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new
definition.
1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the
subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.
3. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in
the fruit you're eating.
4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops
bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows
little sign of breaking down in the near future.
6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of
getting laid.
7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the
person who doesn't get it.
9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running
late.
10. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.
11. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
12. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these
really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's
like, a serious bummer.
13. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day
consuming only things that are good for you
14. Glibido: All talk and no action.
15. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when
they come at you rapidly.
16. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after
you've acciden tally walked through a spider web.
17. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into
your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its
yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate
meanings for common words.
And the winners are:
1. Coffee, n. the person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted, adj. appalled by discovering how much weight one
has gained.
3. abdicate, v. to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade, v. to attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly, adj. impotent.
6. Negligent, adj. absentmindedly answering the door when wearing
only a nightgown.
7. Lymph, v. to walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle, n. olive-flavored mouthwash.
9 flatulence, n. emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been
run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash, n. a rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle, n. a humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude, n. the formal, dignified bearing adopted by
proctologists.
13. Pokemon, n. a Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster, n. a person who sprinkles his conversation with
Yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism, n. the belief that, after death, the soul flies
up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. circumvent, n. an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by
Jewish men.
9/02/2007
8/29/2007
The Day after
This was taken from Deer mountain in Ketchikan the day after the swim. Unusually nice for S.E.
8/22/2007
Go Time!!
It's been a while since I've posted anything, so here are two new photos. I've been very busy with work and also training for the event pictured here. This is the beginning of the 4th annual Pennock Island Challenge which took place on Aug. 12th.
It's an 8.2 mile open ocean swim around Pennock Island, just off of Ketchikan, Alaska in 55 to 60 degree water. There is a 5 hour cutoff time. Some of the swimmers wore wetsuits, many did not. The swim is to raise money for diabetes research and ofcourse, the fun of it.
This year there were 32 total participants. 16 were solo swimmers and 16 were on assorted relay teams. The swimming talent ranged from elite world class swimmers to yours truly (pictured below).
There were folks from Brazil, New Jersey, Missouri, Oregon and even James Pittar, a phenomenal Australian swimmer who is blind. Check out his web site freestyleman if you want to be inspired. The fastest person this year did it in 3:02. James did it in 3:20, without a wetsuit. The fastest person was planning to do the Catalina crossing next month and one gal was scheduled to try the English channel in September.
All in all, some very impressive swimmers. The swimmers were all great folks and I can't say enough good about the people who put the event on.
I managed to do it in 4:26:55. Not real fast, but not too shabby either.
3/03/2007
Still Here
It's been a while, but this photoblog is still alive.
I hope o be getting back to more active blogging soon.
12/10/2006
11/21/2006
11/16/2006
11/15/2006
11/12/2006
11/11/2006
11/10/2006
11/09/2006
11/06/2006
11/05/2006
11/04/2006
11/03/2006
11/02/2006
11/01/2006
10/31/2006
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