Category: Photos

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Backlit Morning Clouds Freeway Sunset 1

The first photo is from Wednesday morning around 8:00. Katie took it on our drive to work. There’s actually another shot that shows more of the sky, but this one is more striking. The second shows tonight’s sunset as seen from the Metro Pointe parking lot. Yes, it’s a freeway in the foreground, but the sunset itself was incredible. Both thumbnails are linked to larger copies of the photos.

Finally, here are some vaguely lenticularish clouds I saw looking north at sunset on Friday. This one’s full-size already:

Lenticular Clouds on the Horizon

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The BBC has posted an interesting article on the US Military’s plans for Internet operations. But that’s not what I want to write about here. What I want to write about is this accompanying photo of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld:

AFP photo of Donald Rumsfeld holding his hands out.

The article mentions that messages put out for psychological operations in foreign markets are making their way back to American audiences. I’m not sure this photo qualifies as PsyOps, but I think it does qualify for a caption contest.*

Please post your suggestions in the comments.

(via Slashdot)

*OK, you won’t win anything, but with luck the other entries will make you laugh.

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I spotted workers trimming the palm trees at lunch today. In Irvine, that involves a bucket crane and a chainsaw, with a couple of guys on the ground to pick up the fallen fronds and pile them off to the side.

Trimming the palm fronds, mainland style

This contrasted heavily in my mind with the tree trimmers I saw in Hawaii, where a guy would shimmy up a palm tree with a rope and a machete, then hack away.

Trimming the palm fronds, Hawaii style.

I saw them rotating the crane to move the guy to a new tree, so I’m sure the mainland style trimming gets done faster than the island style… but then, we’re always in such a hurry here. Too bad we can’t do our landscaping on island time.

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The Moon and Venus behind a tree (Nov. 5, 2005 @ 5:09pm PST)

This view of the Moon and Venus was taken from our apartment balcony earlier this evening.

I also took a picture yesterday, from the top of a parking structure near John Wayne Airport (we went to a show at UCI later that evening.) You can see the red trail an airplane left as it crossed the frame:

The Moon and Venus above a cityscape (Nov. 4, 2005 @ 6:01pm PST)

Having seen that pairing last night, I knew I had to be ready to catch it today! I figured the Moon would be a lot closer, but I hadn’t expected it to actually pass Venus tonight. It really gives you an idea of how far the Moon moves in 24 hours. (or, in this case, roughly 23 hours, since yesterday’s picture was taken at 6:00 and today’s was taken at 5:10).

To be honest, I wasn’t actually certain it was Venus. It was my first thought, because of the brightness and the color, but I kept thinking it was too far from the sun. I kept trying to convince myself it was Jupiter or maybe Saturn (it wasn’t red enough for Mars, and besides, I’d seen Mars on the other side of the sky the night before). When I looked it up and realized it was Venus, I started remembering my days in high school when I would walk to school for a 7:00am “zero period” class. In winter it would sometimes be just dark enough when I left to see the planets and the brightest stars. I would keep my eye on Venus as the sky brightened, trying to see how late I could still see it by knowing exactly where to look.

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Pickle-and-onion Catamaran

You know how some restaurants always give you a pickle with their sandwiches? Well, at Ruby’s today I finished, picked up the toothpick flag that had been stuck in the hamburger, turned the pickle over and planted the flag, declaring it to be a boat. Katie immediately took her pickle and a leftover onion slice and turned it into an outrigger. A bit more manipulation, plus a napkin for a sail, and it became a catamaran.

Our waiter did a double-take when he picked up the plate, then set it down on the counter. We like to think it was so the other waiters could see it.

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I love carving jack-o-lanterns. These days, though, I don’t have much motivation to do one unless there’s a prize involved. So when I saw that someone on Puzzle Pirates was holding a contest for piratey-themed pumpkin carving, I jumped on it. This is my rendition of the navigation puzzle from the game, and my first-ever attempt at a projector pumpkin. I think it looks okay.

the navigation puzzle has looked better

glowy stars and projected arrrrrs

The lit picture is pretty dark, but it had to be or the “Arrr!” on the wall wouldn’t show up.

Suggestions for next year, or even out-of-season carvings for this year, are being taken……

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