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February 24, 2009
Tucki Mine - Death Valley
Our first trip on our first morning in Death Valley was to the Tucki Mine (not very helpful Google satellite image here). According to the National Park Service, Tucki was a gold mine first located in 1909 and worked, off and on, until 1978.
Here's a link to my Tucki Mine photos and these are some of them:
Filed under California,Photography | permalink | February 24, 2009 at 08:50 AM | Comments (0)
Planning Some Whitewater Rafting?
Maybe after reading about Chris's waterproof Olympus Stylus 850SW on last summer's whitewater rafting trip you decided you needed one of those, or maybe you just want a waterproof, dustproof, coldproof camera for all those rugged, dirty, messy, cold photo opportunities you see in your future. But you've dilly-dallied and nobody gave you one for Christmas. Good news: your procrastination has worked to your advantage. Now Canon has announced its first compact digital waterproof camera, the D10. It's got all the features of Canon's superior user interface, plus you can throw it to the bottom of the Kern River, recover it, and still have photos to share.
B&H says their price is $330 and they expect it to be available in May.
12.1 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, image stabilization.
Filed under Photography | permalink | February 24, 2009 at 07:54 AM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2009
Time Warner's DNS Gone To Hell (and not coming back)
If you are using Time Warner Cable and your experience tonight is like mine and eddie's then those problems you're experiencing are TW's DNS server failing again (or still). How many months does it take to get a DNS server to work?
So, based on reader B's suggestion, I've switched back to OpenDNS tonight. The result was an immediate improvement. It's free, and it offers filtering that you can customize. They've improved the website since the last time I used it, making it even easier to get it right on the first try.
Filed under Web/Tech | permalink | February 23, 2009 at 10:12 PM | Comments (5)
Tucker in the snow
Tucker is Darrel's 1½ year old labrador. The day before he had his first experience with thin snow at Aguereberry Point. Here we were over in Nevada where he got to play in real snow for the first time:
Filed under Photography | permalink | February 23, 2009 at 09:06 PM | Comments (0)
Cleve Jones
Last night, when I heard Sean Penn give credit to "the great Cleve Jones" I knew there would be a Desert Sun article today calling him "Coachella Valley resident Cleve Jones".
Filed under Coachella Valley,Film/Movies,Gay Issues | permalink | February 23, 2009 at 02:33 PM | Comments (0)
Ipernity Functionality Question
My photos on Ipernity are supposed to be available for free downloading by everybody anywhere with an internet connection regardless of whether they are registered or signed in at Ipernity or not. Access to those images is via a link that says "View All Sizes" on the lower right part of any photo's page. Nonetheless at least two people have told me the "View All Sizes" link isn't there or it "doesn't work" for them. Because I can't stand behind them to peek over their shoulders to see if they are reporting this accurately, or to see if they are using an outdated browser (or maybe even an AOL browser), I don't know what the problem is.
Every time I have checked by using a different browser where I am NOT logged in to Ipernity, the link is always present and always works as it should.
So I'm asking for your feedback. Go check out this photo or any other of my still photos on Ipernity (videos don't work this way) and tell me if you see the link and whether it works for you. Leave a comment here, or email me at [email protected]
If the link is NOT visible, or if it doesn't take you to a page where you can select various sizes of the photo, please let me know what operating system you're on and what browser (and its version) you are using. If the link is not visible, are the other nearby links visible? That is, the date link, the link to exif data, and the link to download the original image? If the "View All Sizes" link is visible, but doesn't work, please tell me what happens when you click on it.
Thanks.
Filed under Photography | permalink | February 23, 2009 at 01:11 PM | Comments (10)
February 22, 2009
Back From Death Valley
I'm just back from a camping trip in Death Valley with Great Outdoors. This time the vistas were enhanced by snow, although the temps down in Furnace Creek where we camped were comfortable. Here are the panoramas:
Aguereberry Point is a high spot (over 6,000 feet) in the Panamint Range with a great view of all of Death Valley, easily accessible in dry weather. We drove up in snow.
This was my first time to see Ubehebe Crater which was described to me dismissively as "just a hole." Far from it.
Here we see Darrel standing on the edge of Ubehebe Crater.
I explored the grounds of Furnace Creek Inn. Checking a random date in April, I could reserve a room as low as $325 per night. In May the price lowers to $305. They are closed from mid-May to early October.
The view from the registration parking lot.
The view of Furnace Creek Ranch where we camped.
Furnace Creek Inn Cemetery where they buried workers who died in the 1920s and 1930s.
Lower Vine Ranch was Death Valley Scotty's home. It's located along Ubehebe Road, not far from the more famous "Scotty's Castle." It was opened to public tours only recently.
Filed under California,Photography | permalink | February 22, 2009 at 09:07 PM | Comments (1)
February 16, 2009
$5 Million Price Cut On Neutra House
Via The Real Estalker, Richard Neutra's Singleton House which was on the market for $19.5 million in 2007 but never sold, is back on the market for only $14.995 million.
Filed under Architecture | permalink | February 16, 2009 at 07:05 PM | Comments (0)
Karnack
| A. | Fillmore, Harding, Harrison, Pierce, Andrew Johnson, and Buchanan. |
| Q. | Name six Presidents that historians rate worse than George W. Bush. |
Hoover came in two ticks above Bush.
| permalink | February 16, 2009 at 06:48 PM | Comments (1)
Riverside County Reverse 911
Register here. They're supposed to already have all land-line phone numbers in their database, but they don't have cellphones. Imagine the thrill of getting a reverse-911 call on your cellphone telling you that a wildfire is racing toward your house while you are standing in line at, say, Musée du Louvre.
Filed under California | permalink | February 16, 2009 at 09:55 AM | Comments (0)
February 15, 2009
Preserving Access To Obsolete File Formats
For only €4.02 million (about US$5.185 million), the "Keeping Emulation Environments Portable" project will begin work to create a universal emulator that will open and play obsolete file formats. Without this, mere preservation of the data will be pointless.
Filed under Technology | permalink | February 15, 2009 at 09:21 PM | Comments (2)
New Simpson's Opening Sequence
But it still doesn't have Barack Obama in it.
Filed under Television | permalink | February 15, 2009 at 09:02 PM | Comments (2)
Satellite Debris Falling To Earth
Amazing video manages to capture not only the fireball but the fear-crazed villagers running for their lives - somewhere in Texas. Story here. More here.
| permalink | February 15, 2009 at 08:44 PM | Comments (3)
Protecting Our Homeland From Chinese Toilet Seats
David Sanger explains that the scanners installed at ports in America that are supposed to catch nuclear materials being smuggled into the country are producing 400 to 600 false positives a day. They detect Chinese toilet seats, granite countertops and wooden products made from trees that grew downwind from Chernobyl. They will not, however, detect a bomb as big as "Little Boy," because the bomb casing effectively contains the radiation. For this we pay $500 million a year.
| permalink | February 15, 2009 at 08:29 PM | Comments (0)
Waokiye Work
I don't know if it's called restoration, repair, rehabilitation, upgrading, enhancement or something else. So I just call it "work." Here are a few of the photos:
Filed under Desert Hot Springs,Photography | permalink | February 15, 2009 at 07:47 PM | Comments (0)
Restroom Construction at Cabot's
I went by Cabot's today to see the state of work on Waokiye, but saw that work on the new restroom was progressing quickly so I got pictures of that:
Seen from the hill just behind the site of the new restroom.
The view from the parking lot.
This is the temporary restroom being used now. Quite a bit nicer than just a porta-potty.
Curious about the sight lines from the upper courtyard (side courtyard?), the following five photos were taken along a line as I backed up from the new restroom into that courtyard.
In the photo below I've moved over to the left, to the table where one might sit to enjoy the view:
Filed under Desert Hot Springs,Photography | permalink | February 15, 2009 at 06:56 PM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2009
Limbaugh Reconfirms He Is A 'Tard
A PDF file is, as anyone who has used a computer knows, quite searchable - except for the DHS City Council agendas which are, in fact, merely pictures of pages.
Filed under Web/Tech | permalink | February 14, 2009 at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)
From The Kids At MIT
A team of undergrads at MIT have developed a new design for a motor vehicle shock absorber that (A) works better and (B) generates electricity. On a heavy truck, one of these shock absorbers could generate 1 Kw on a standard road.
I foresee a future green energy proposal that calls for our highways to be reduced to washboard in order to generate more electricity.
Filed under Technology | permalink | February 14, 2009 at 05:41 PM | Comments (2)
Valentines For Allies
The LAGLC is offering for today only (I assume) the ability to send a Valentine to selected straight allies in the marriage equality fight. Only 15 names on the list, so they've selected very narrowly. And there's no way to suggest an additional name. Governor Schwarzenegger, for instance, participated in a TV ad against Prop 8 before the election, but his name is not on the list...but maybe that's due to his johnny-come-lately support for gay marriage.
I could not resist sending a Valentine to Attorney General Jerry Brown, whose brilliant brief [PDF] to throw out Prop 8 you should read, if you haven't already.
Filed under California,Gay Issues | permalink | February 14, 2009 at 05:01 PM | Comments (0)
