September 6, 2009

posting machine

now I'm a posting machine!



check out the new razor I got a few months ago...






newer, in this case, IS BETTER...



new razor in use:






old razor in use:






I feel like an Ikea commercial..."it's old, throw it out"

my new way to post...

"John, if you don't make a post I will take you off my list!"
~Nature Nerd

I pinned my lack of posting to laziness and the fact that it takes some effort to log into blogger, upload pics, write, preview, etc... So I made myself a little tool...preset fields to slam text into, picture uploads that will re-size and upload (correctly) and put it all together and send it to iloveoil with one button click. It ain't pretty, but it's easy.







February 11, 2009

Numbers Part 3: Cosmos and Me...Feeling Tiny

Carl Sagan has always been a bit of a hero of mine. As a child I have a few memories of watching Cosmos, a fantastic show that took the viewer across space and time. I've had my copy of the book Cosmos for almost as long as I can remember...its pages never ceasing to ignite my imagination.

One cool thing that fits into my Numbers saga is the 'Cosmic Calendar'...a calendar that has 12 months and that represents the total time that the universe has existed. Humans only make their debut in the evening of the last day of the year.



Here is Carl Sagan explaining the calendar...


And I cannot resist another...making me feel even smaller!


...it just makes you want to hug somebody, eh?

February 5, 2009

Numbers part 2: Powers of ten and one

xkcd is a webcomic I tend to check 3 times a week. Sometimes I laugh my head off. Sometimes other people find it funny too...but sometimes the geek humour is a little too obscure.

Here is an example of one of said comic episodes...

Do you find it funny?

Here is what the comic is subtly emulating...

...this film was made in 1977 and is called "powers of ten".

Now do you find it funny?

February 2, 2009

Numbers part 1 : Zimbabwe Currency

Here's a graph I found that shows the inflation of the Zim-dollar over a span of time. To put the number scale in perspective, I added some various commonly used markers.




To view the unadulterated version click here.



100 Billion!??




According to Arminda, my friend Peter's sister, who recently arrived from Harrare there is worthless money littering the streets of the capital.



Not being an expert on the subject I won't speculate on the cause of this disaster but I do wonder how something so crazy can happen to a country in the world's eye.

January 29, 2009

Haiku season?

Seems lots of folks are getting their haiku on lately.
In memory of yesterday's dawn patrol ski mission to a local spot called 'the fingers'...

much fresh snow at dawn
one long run full of faceshots
I love the fingers

Really-it was pure snoetry (snow+poetry). Nice quiet hike up. Speedy powder. Choking and gagging on snow just like standing beside a snow-blower. Seeing your friends turn into swirling powder comets. At the end of it I think my smile muscles were more worked than my legs.

"You have no idea"