Sunday, June 27, 2010

Looking into the Past

This is an idea that has been floating around in my head for a few years now. I'd like to share it with you. :) I'm pretty sure it will never be feasible. The technology in optics, propulsion, construction, etc will require leaps and bounds beyond what we have now before this is even remotely possible. For now, it's just fun to think about.

Imagine, if you will, an enormous mirror built to specifications that allow for perfect, precise clarity. With this mirror is built the most advanced, wondrous telescope ever. If you were to fly the mirror to a location 25 light years from Earth, and point the telescope at the mirror (to look back here) you would, in essence, be looking at our planet as it was 50 years into the past.


This means that if such a combination of devices existed today, we would be able to look into this machine and see things as they were in 1951. You could solve a crime that happened 50 years ago by watching it as it happens, provided you know where it happened.

Of course, with a telescope that precise (one that can see detail like that from 50 light years away) we'd be better off looking at planets in other solar systems. Like this one.Why look into our own past when we can see theirs?

-Barry

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Another Peek...

For today's peek into Yellowstone, I thought I'd offer a glimpse of a little-known, and rarely-seen, denizen of the park: the American White Pelican.


I never thought I'd see a bird this big in the park, but there he was, lounging in the middle of the Yellowstone River, with the late afternoon sun at his back. We pulled the car over, I ran over to the river, and captured the above image. Lovely. :)

I'll save the bear, bison, moose, and deer pictures for when I can write a more extensive and interesting post.

-Barry

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Just a Peek of My Adventures in Yellowstone

I don't have a lot of time to blog, so I was just going to show you a few pictures of what we've seen/done in Yellowstone over the past few days, which has been a TON of really amazing stuff! If nothing else, I will come away from this vacation with a newfound love/appreciation for the geothermic fores that stew beneath our feet. Geysers are muy AWESOME!

Like I said, I was going to put up a few pictures, but I'm on a borrowed laptop, so you'll have to enjoy just one tiny little appetizer of a picture.


Yep. That's it for now. Gaze into the aqua depths of that boiling crater and imagine yourself inhaling its sulphur-laden steam. Mmmmm.

-Barry

Monday, June 7, 2010

A Lesson on Running

When I was in fifth grade I was one of the fastest kids on the playground. My spindly, aerodynamic frame provided agility and quickness rivaled by only a select few of my peers - one of which was a kid named Joey. Joey was a short kid but built like a damned jackrabbit. He'd sprint around the playground on his little legs like a demon dancing on fire. I, on the other hand, lacked in any respectable muscle form whatsoever, and owed my speed to the fact that I was built like a toothpick with really long legs.

When Joey and I weren't racing around the school yard with other kids, we'd sit under a pine tree and talk serious about our techniques for being fast - what kind of face to make, proper hand posture, what kind of shoes to ask your mom to buy. Important stuff. The manner in which we spoke about running could have been compared to the thoughtful pontifications of ancient, Greek philosophers.

"I proposeth that the fastest shoes are Nike's Pumps. The extra air maketh thou lighter and, thus, quicker."

"False! Pumas are infused with the spirits of actual pumas. My dad saith so! Running in them wouldst, of certainty, make you impossible to catch!"

I look back now in awe at how easy it was to sprint to full speed, cut maniacally back and forth and stop on a dime. All without even a tinge of joint or muscle pain. In the spirit of learning from one's past, I guess that memory serves now as a cautionary inspiration to keep myself active, lest I find myself, in my geriatric years, reflecting on the days when I could walk up and down the stairs "without even a hint of hip pain, and nary a pause." :)

-Barry

P.S. The best wise men are those who share their wisdom, so here it is.

The Fires of Haiti



True story. :)

-Barry

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Summer Storm

Utah needs more crazy summer lightning storms like the one we had tonight - a meteorological wonder that sprayed rain so hard it sounded like hail and in which lightning danced so furiously and with such frequency, you'd have thought the neighbors were raving with strobe lights.


It started, as most storms do, with an incredible cloudscape. This is where I wish I had an ultra-wide angle lens.


At the northern end of the valley, there was a break in the clouds.


The texture in these clouds makes me want to touch them.


I sat out front for a little while trying to capture some lightning from the shelter of the front porch. This is actually a composite of three or four lightning shots.


This was my favorite single exposure of the lightning. :)

-Barry

Friday, June 4, 2010

Across Worlds

Scientists, in an incredible and world-shaking breakthrough, have, for the first time, captured a spiritual being in the electromagnetic spectrum.

The device used here is nicknamed "the sieve" by those who developed it for its ability to ignore the physics of the world as we see it and capture wavelengths of light and sound that we, as humans, are unable to see, hear, or recognize. The results are fantastic!

What you see below was recorded at night, shooting into the complete blackness of the Mojave Desert, north-east of San Bernardino, CA. I will warn you... it's a little creepy. But all the same, it's absolutely beautiful!

Enjoy...



-Barry

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Okay, so we haven't really bridged any ethereal chasms, nor can we see ghosts. I saw this video, though, and the first thing that came to mind was a humanoid, spirit figure. It's actually a very interesting video, though, created by uploading and downloading a video 1000 times through youtube. Every time this happens, the data is compressed, leaving a mess of artifacts - both visual and audible - where once there existed a normal looking video.