| It's a White Tailed Kite |
[May. 13th, 2008|03:26 pm] |
The markings look like a gull, the wings don't and it seems to fly more like raptor than a gull.
The beak is what? eagle?
<http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2002/2490885150_57b60354b5_o.jpg>
I'm afraid all I had was my 28-200, so the pictures aren't great quality:
http://flickr.com/photos/ellarsee/sets/72157605045357417/
Edit: I've been told that it's a kite. I've seen them hovering over the parking lot across the street:
http://www.moremesa.org/mesa_kite_hun.html |
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| I knew the Speed Racer movie would suck |
[May. 11th, 2008|09:43 pm] |
I knew Speed Racer would suck. All of the reviews I saw said it would suck in exactly the ways I expected it to. And, as expected, it had as much to do with real racing as the Matrix did to programming.
I was wrong about one thing. The Speed Racer movie rocks. The Wachowski's did a great job of translating the cartoon to the big screen, and turned the dial to eleven. It was two hours of visual effects eye candy. This is not a movie about character development, or plot. If I described everything that happens in the movie it would only have the slightest impact on your enjoyment because there were no real surprises. See it anyways. Enjoy the schmaltz.
Meanwhile, I'll do my best to resist the impulse to paint a big red "M" on the bonnet of my white Miata.
I was disappointed in that they never showed Sparky's Healey. |
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| bike picture |
[May. 10th, 2008|01:11 pm] |
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| Insta-crush * 2 |
[May. 10th, 2008|11:55 am] |
There was a new dancer at FNB last night who was rather nice looking. Turns out she's from Melboure. When I asked her what she does with her time, I found out that she's got a PhD in astronomy. She was there with a friend of hers who is also nice looking, and an astronomer.
What can I say, science chicks make me hot. |
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| Looking for tiltall tripods |
[May. 10th, 2008|11:36 am] |
After shooting some photos of the moon with my telephoto last week, it has become apparent that I need a sturdier tripod. The first response of everyone is that you need to spend $250 on up. I was thinking of making something out of an aluminum plate, drilled and tapped for steel pipe, and buying a head separately.
Someone pointed out tiltall tripods which seem to be pretty sturdy for
$100:
http://www.adorama.com/TPTLB.html
http://www.amazon.com/Tiltall-Tripod-Silver/dp/B0000AB4NP
http://wize.com/tripods/tiltall-te01-tripod/20911
But, it's something that I'd rather check out in person first. Does anyone know of a store in the bay area that carries them? |
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| shooting the moon |
[May. 8th, 2008|11:36 pm] |
Not bad for a camera and a telephoto lens, but for real astrophotography I'll need to invest in an adapter, and find someone willing to let me use their telescope. |
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| Anybody want to ID the birds? |
[May. 7th, 2008|12:48 am] |
shot today at lunch.
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| More baby bird photos |
[May. 6th, 2008|12:47 am] |
clickie
We're pretty sure that it's a stellar jay, anybody want to confirm or deny? |
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| Feed me Seymour |
[May. 5th, 2008|06:29 pm] |
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| Stellar Jay |
[May. 5th, 2008|06:03 pm] |
for ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mactavish
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| Learning connection and musicality in American vernacular dance |
[May. 5th, 2008|08:54 am] |
I love swing music and dancing. I've been involved in it fairly regularly since 1998, going dancing, doing weekly classes, going to workshops and dance camps and even taking private lessons. It is my experience that the least effective way to learn, is the way that most people learn, the one hour classes, either drop in or series, before a dance. What these classes mostly teach are steps and choreography. The followers learn the choreography and just walk through where they "are supposed to be" without waiting for the leaders to lead them, so the leaders never learn to lead, and the followers never learn to follow. Also, since what they teach is choreography, the leaders don't learn musicality, how to learn to dance with the music.
If you go to workshops or dance camps, they start teaching all of this stuff at the intermediate level. Some teachers will teach long complicated choreography and routines, but there will be classes on just musicality or connection. Likewise when you take private lessons, the teacher will concentrate on the fundametnals that anyone that's been dancing for ten weeks thinks that they know and people who've been dancing for ten years know that they'll never really know.
One of the things that I like about Blues dancing is that since there is no "basic pattern" the dance is entirely lead/follow, connection and musicality, and those are what get taught in basic classes. I've met swing dancers that started out doing both blues and lindy who after six months danced better than most swing dancers with several years of experience.
In the bay area there are two weekly blues dances, Friday Night Blues http://fridaynightblues.com and Roots http://blues-dance.com/roots/
Mihai has mentioned that if there is a group of new dancers, he can do a special class for them from 7-8 on a Friday before FNB. I expect that I could talk him into letting me do a "blues connection for victorian dancers" in that time slot if we got a group together some week.
In about a month, there is going to be a National level blues dance workshop in San Francisco: http://www.bluesshout.com/
They'll have some of the best instructors in the country. Damon also often has the advanced students going to the beginners classes, which can really help the beginners learn a lot more. On top of that, there will be some of the best blues dancers in the country here dancing well into the wee hours of the morning. |
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| Disappointing afternoon |
[May. 4th, 2008|09:01 pm] |
I got stuff checked in and tested by a little after 5 this afternoon. Took care of a couple of things and headed over to REI to pick up a couple of items. I got there at 6:03, and they close at 6:00 on weekends. WTF? REI is a bit of a pain in the ass for me to get to, basically 15-20 minutes out of my way, so just going there on the way home adds 30-40 minutes, even if I don't go in the front door. I'm quite annoyed.
I tried to find someone to go see Ironman with. There's actually a movie showing I want to see, but wasn't in the mood to see a movie solo. zabster finished her paper and was in bed before 6, She's been going short on sleep.
I could have gone for a bike ride, but the weather was just a bit off at work, and I'm still a bit sore and tired from the past week.
Once I got home I put a lock on the "lab", my upstairs shed, so I can lock it up and unlock it from the outside. Woo hoo! Big fun!
I need to eat, and want to eat something decent, but there's no food in the house and if I go shopping now, I won't even sit down to eat until 10PM. |
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| Hurray the latest assignment seems to be done |
[May. 4th, 2008|05:21 pm] |
Only had to spend about 2.5 hours at the office today. Not much more I can do until I get the specs for my next assignment, so I'm leaving now.
In theory I could go for a bike ride now, but the weather isn't wonderful and my legs are still a bit tired from last night.
Maybe I'll try to find someone to see Ironman with. |
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