Tempus Fugit

Latin (tem-pu̇s-ˈfü-git): Time Flies

Author: Garry

  • My Photo on NowPublic

    This is the second time my photo from a visit to the Kennedy Space Center has been used in a NowPublic article. Who knew that posting photos to flickr would get used in this way.

    Just to give you a sense of scale, the NASA logo is 6 stories tall. Also, the panel discolorations are a result of repairs after the 2005 hurricanes damaged the building.

    NASA approves August 27 Atlantis launch | The News is NowPublic.com

    NASA managers unanimously picked August 27 for the first attempt to launch the space shuttle Atlantis on a mission to resume construction of the international space station – but two precariously attached bolts securing a crucial antenna could delay those plans.

    Technorati Tags: NowPublic, flickr, NASA, Kennedy Space Center

  • The End

    I’m sad. Vacation has come to an end and it’s back to working for The Man.

  • TED

    A friend’s blog introduced me to TED, Technology, Entertainment & Design. You can learn more about TED here.

    What is really cool is that you can see the videos of many of the presenters at the conference. They are very interesting and very well known folks such as Nicholas Negroponte, Rick Warren, Tony Robbins & Al Gore.  I’ve watched these and plan on watching a few more they are all very interesting. I was especially facinated by Nicholas Negroponte’s $100 One Laptop per Child Education Program.

    At 18 minutes a segment they really pack in the content and deliver a solid message.

    Some have been reviewing the presenters for their presentation capabilites, and while that’s certainly important and makes the presentation more interesting I prefer to focus more on the content and the message. Lots of food for thought here.

  • It was a dark and stormy night…

    Last night there was a fairly strong storm. Lots of wind, quite a bit of rain, and many hours of lightening. In the morning the floating dock was gone!

    I’d wondered how it would fair in some extended rough weather, and now I had my answer. Fortunately, it was waiting for me at the neighbors dock which is in a bay just next to us. Unfortunately my new 8′ swim ladder was now only 4′ long after grounding in the shallow water. Still usable, but not quite as nice.

  • I smell smoke

    This is never a really good sign at the lake especially when there is a severe forest fire hazard and all burning is restricted.

    We had been outside from about 7-9pm and had walked up the road and out to the point on the trail I’ve been working on and enjoyed watching the sun go down. I’d taken a few photos, watched a beaver swim around the point and then we headed back to the cottage on the east side of the trail. We’d just settled in to watch a movie when I noticed a strong smoke smell. Not the fireplace kind of smell, but something much bigger. We had a look around but couldn’t see anything. The wind from the west had picked up and I guess smoke from one of the may forest fires had blown in. A couple of hours later, it was like nothing had ever happened.

    Experiences like this  makes me  think about what might have been and appreciate my surroundings even more.

  • How to get an iPod

    Well, here is one way. Thanks to Bill at achievable ends for pointing this out. Scott will be interested, but he has an iPod so this one might be for me!

    Apple – Back to School

    When you buy a Mac by September 16, 2006, you can get a free 2GB iPod nano after mail-in rebate. Or choose another iPod and enjoy big savings after mail-in rebate.* Plus, use your education discount to save even more.

  • Got Mail?

    Or is that Got Gmail?

    Actually this is about your inbox. Do you read all your email? Do you file or archive everything? Or, perhaps you’re more like me and just let the clutter build up in the inbox and hope you can find stuff when you need it. And, typically with the Gmail search, you can!

    Things must be a little boring right now. I actually read and/or dealt with everything in the inbox. Well, maybe not “dealt” with everything as some stuff was vanquished off to the abyss of the archive with a thought of doing something with it in the future. Really interesting stuff was marked with a star, but time will tell if it ever sees the light of day again.

    So, what happens when your Gmail inbox is empty? Well, our friends at Google have an idea about what you should do next.

    No new mail! There’s always Google News if you’re looking for something to read.

  • Cycling Hazard #23

    A while back I started commuting by bike to work on a regular basis. My route from my house takes me down some residential streets to a paved path to some more residential streets and then onto a major route into the downtown core. So, first thing in the morning I’m not too challenged for the first few kilometers and by the time I’m fully awake, I’m ready for the traffic. Actually, I enjoy riding in the traffic and I’ve yet to have a serious incident. Oh, I’ve been yelled at a couple of times (not my fault), and been cut off a couple of times, not unexpectedly because if you’re paying attention to your situation you can usually see it coming, and I’ve never been “doored”, the thing I’m most concerned about.

    But, today on the way home I discovered that there are other kinds of hazards out there beyond, traffic, pot holes and pedestrians with dogs on long near invisible leashes. There are bees! Thankfully, this encounter was on the bike path and not on the road in rush hour traffic. Suddenly, I hear and feel a thwack on a bug hitting my helmet and then going between the helmet visor and just above my sunglasses, instantly followed by quite a painful sting!

    Wow, talk about a surprise. I’m frantically wiping whatever it is out from under the helmet while coming to a panic stop. I really didn’t want to get stung a second time. It left a really nice red welt and hours later it’s still stinging quite a bit. It’s been a very long time since I’ve been stung like this, however it’s starting to settle down and I’m sure that by tomorrow it will be gone, I hope.

  • News Photographer with NowPublic

    Out of the blue I got an email from NowPublic. According to their “about us page”

    NowPublic is a participatory news network which mobilizes an army of reporters to cover the events that define our world. In twelve short months, the company has become one of the fastest growing news organizations with over 15,000 reporters in 130 countries. During Hurricane Katrina, NowPublic had more reporters in the affected area than most news organizations have on their entire staff.

    NowPublic Technologies, Inc. is a Vancouver-based company. The company owns and operates NowPublic.com, which showcases its platform for citizen journalism. Learn more about the site, our management team, our advisors or contact us with your comments or questions.

    They requested the use of three of my Flickr pictures from a recent trip to the Kennedy Space Center where I had taken some photographs of the shuttle Discovery on the launch pad. They wanted to use the pictures in conjunction with the story about the foam coating coming off the external fuel tank. Since the trip to KSC and getting high speed Internet at the lake I’ve been following the shuttle launch with a little more interest than usual.

    So, does this make me a published news photographer? – The photo credit is as Big Dadoo, my Flickr name.

    After two scrubs it would be great if they could launch on July 4th and mark the day as the Return to Space Flight.

  • To iPod or not to iPod

    I’ve been thinking for some time about buying an iPod, but it hasn’t happened yet, probably for a couple of reasons.

    One certainly is the price. At $349 for the 30gb video iPod + taxes + the required accessories like a case, dock, FM transmitter etc. this couple be a $500+ purchase. Seems like a lot for portable music.

     But, I like my music and I subscribe to a couple of podcasts and while riding the bike or walking it would be kind of nice. Plus I like the toys and this one certainly has the “cool-factor” going for it, perhaps too much, everybody has got one.

    That lead to the next reason why I’m hesitating. Ever notices about how the web is big on building community as we sit in isolation looking at a little screen and interacting with people at a distance? I know I’m guilty. Next time you’re out and about, look at the people you pass. How many have those little white buds tucked in their ears? If it’s not that, how about the cell phone. Everybody seems to need to plug into something other that where they are and who they are with. Have you seen couples waling together where one or more of them are plugged into the little white device? I have, many times. The one that really gets me is the guy & girl walking together and he’s plugged in and she’s talking to him. Is he paying attention? I think not. That will cause trouble down the road buddy, trust me.

    So, there is the appeal, perhaps the need to have the toys that all the others have. I can almost justify it for listening to work related podcasts and at IBM we’re really cranking them out. Everything recorded is being pushed out as a podcast. However when the voice says “as you can see on slide 23…” the podcast starts to fall apart and you know that some folks really don’t get the full podcast picture, but that’s another story.

    Maybe I’ll just borrow my son’s Nano from time to time and get my iPod fix that way. Free is good.

    Technorati Tags: ipod, podcast