Algal Bloom – check out the picture
Whoa. Posting this because algal blooms are scary, and one this size is SCARY. They could remake the Blob based on this.
BBC NEWS | Business | Fiat denies 18,000 job cuts plan
BBC NEWS | Business | Fiat denies 18,000 job cuts plan.
When exactly did Fiat become the American automotive industry’s savior? Wow.
May 6, 2009 2008 Economic Crisis, Articles from the Web 0 Read more >
Review: Sweeney Ridge Trail
This past weekend (May 2, to be exact), I went up to Sweeney Ridge for the 2nd time. It’s kind of a weird “trail” – it’s really a paved road for about 1.5 miles, then I veer off onto…another paved road that leads to a completely abandoned, falling apart (the point of dangerous) old Nike missle radar station. One can also veer off to a dirt trail that is more hiking-ish that leads towards the point where the bay was first discovered a long time ago (yes, I am very precise, aren’t I?) and most people go there. But I was after abandoned buildings (link and link, copyright respective photographers)
The paved road for the first part, leading up to the split, is fairly steep, then really steep, then fairly steep again. It really kills because it just goes up and up for a pretty long time. The first time I did it, I went straight on up with a full photo backup and I thought I was going to die. This time, I stopped about 2/3 of the way up long enough to take a large format photograph (so…15-20 minutes) and that was a perfect amount of time for the trail mix to kick in, for my legs to get enough rest, but to not lock up and refuse to move on. If I had not done that I would have had a serious problem.
Once you reach the top (and this is after you’ve passed the fog line, by the way, and have been walking in the rain for a while), it’s windy as you are completely exposed. Wind coming right off the ocean is just blasting you from the west. Pretty intense hike for about 4 miles total.
Great place for abandoned places photography. Images to come. 5×7 images…
Technology & Marketing Law Blog: Two 47 USC 230 Defense Losses–StubHub and Alvi Armani Medical
Technology & Marketing Law Blog: Two 47 USC 230 Defense Losses–StubHub and Alvi Armani Medical.
When you work at a law school, and one that specializes in Intellectual Property, with some real experts in IP…you find a few with blogs, and some of those are pretty good. Professor Eric Goldman has a great blog, which he updates regularly with really in-depth posts. This one, on StubHub, and another one on cyber-squatting have really pulled me in. And I do not have a JD…
Grand Palace, Wat Arun, and the Chao Phraya River at night
This is another view from the patio of our hotel when we were in Thailand. I’m nearing the end of the posts from that trip :-).
Obviously, this one is at night, and again, we were lucky to get one of the nights we were in Bangkok with a lit Wat Arun (rising structure on the right). The Grand Palace is on the left, also very lit up.
While Bangkok had its up and downs in turns of fun, experience and…atmosphere, the hotel we were at was terrific, and the view could not be beat.
Posing Groups at Weddings…
Ideas for Group Wedding Poses – Photo.net
Thus far, I have tried to avoid putting up posts from threads on photo.net. I have a whole other blog that did that extensively, to the point of annoyance, I think. It also became less and less useful as it became more and more full of links.
However, I have been struggling with group poses – they are all so traditional. So time constraint aside (and that’s a big aside), I’m going to try and make use of these examples this Saturday to be a bit more creative, if the venue allows. Even just a set of steps at the altar can make a big difference.
“living” with sleep apnea
I have Obstructive Sleep Apnea, a condition where, during the night, my throat/airway closes up and I stop breathing. Usually, a person notices the obstruction, wakes up, coughs and falls asleep only after the airway has reopened.
It is the frequency and duration of these obstructions that are the key. Right now I’m at about 15 apneas, with up to 50 seconds “toleration.” That means my body lets me go 50 seconds before it jumps me awake. My blood-oxygen level also drops to 60% at it’s low point, but only 1-2 times a night (doctors usually get worried if it’s less than 95%).
I am not going to say how bad that is because I’m not up to date on what is “bad” or “really scary.” But I do know that 2 years ago, during my last battery of tests, I was at 11 apneas and 25 seconds, with a blood/ox of 75%. My very first test, in 1997, I had 0 apneas and a blood/ox low of 80%.
As I said, I am not saying how bad of a trend this is, but I do know that I’m 30, and that many don’t experience the effects of apnea until they are significantly older. So I’m kind of “starting” young on this one. Young by most any standards (I’m 30 now, but when I was diagnosed I was 18).
I have always been torn about how significant to make my OSA sound. (more…)
May 4, 2009 Musings, Rants, and Random Thoughts 2 Read more >
roman influences in Thailand
This is from the Summer Palace at Bang Pa-In. It’s quite a strange place. It was built to entertain visiting diplomats and emissaries, and the architecture was designed primarily to make them feel at home. So you have roman statues, a “Chinese House,” and a primarily receiving building/residence that could be out of Victorian England.
Then again, you also have the building visible behind the statue, in the middle of the pond, that is classic Thai, and is also adherent to Buddhist and Thai royal philosophies. It is separated from any other building by the pond itself, and only the king and his wife is allowed to take the small boat across to it. It is a mini-temple just for the king, separated from the “foreign” influences (and I don’t mean that in a bad way) seen around the rest of the palace.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Norway tests laptop exam scheme
BBC NEWS | Technology | Norway tests laptop exam scheme.
This is kind of interesting. Many, many Law Schools use a variety of different exam software packages that do far more than what the Norway system does. It actually reboots one’s computer into a secure state, where one cannot access the internet or any files on the computer. After the exam is finished, the student then has to reboot again to upload the encrypted file.
May 1, 2009 Articles from the Web, Can't be Contained 0 Read more >
BBC NEWS | Business | US factory output continues fall
BBC NEWS | Business | US factory output continues fall.
It’s a bit odd to cite a BBC news article for this but the point is the same. The other day my international economics professor was talking about the advance GDP numbers released this week. One of the negative but promising items was that construction was down so much. The point is not that no construction labor is a good thing, but that we’ve probably seen that worn out as a negative factor for the overall GDP. People likely aren’t still losing jobs in the field, but have already lost them. There is nowhere else to go but up.
It may be a similar case for overall factory output as well. It’s so far down that perhaps it’s going to level off, then eventually climb. In fact, the article mentions that the drop was not as bad as expected.
May 1, 2009 2008 Economic Crisis, Articles from the Web 0 Read more >