Peenie Wallie: July 2006 Archives

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July 31, 2006

Schlieren photography, anyone? anyone?

There was a cool photograph in High Mach of a Schlieren photograph showing the boundaries of turbulent vs. viscous flow around an alien landing craft they're testing in a hypersonic wind tunnel.

A Schlieren photograph allows you to see the graduations in air density that are not normally visible to the naked eye. For instance, this is an F-14 Tomcat breaking the sound barrier at sea-level between two ships. But this Schlieren photograph of a T38 gives you a better visual representation of what the shock waves actually look like.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 31, 2006 at 3:51 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

July 30, 2006

Uniform Bass Code and the Devil Fish

I don't know what I like more...the way the Devil Fish looks...or the way it sounds. This audio was created by the Uniform Bass Code.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 30, 2006 at 1:02 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

July 29, 2006

Trout Fishing in America

Here's Jennifer posing with four of the twenty eight rainbow trout we caught today at Montgomery Reservoir. When everyone asked what we were using for bait, she just smiled and said "worms." ;)

Here's one of Jennifer's videos of me attempting to catch a rainbow trout.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 29, 2006 at 11:51 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

July 27, 2006

Jennifer at the park

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 27, 2006 at 9:18 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

July 22, 2006

Print On Demand

I've been toying with the idea of print some of my photos and stories in a book. This web page has a cool review of the newest Publish On Demand sites, Blurb Inc.'s Booksmart, so maybe I'll put something together after my project in Tennessee is over.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 22, 2006 at 12:01 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

July 19, 2006

Photographic Image Sizes

So, after shooting over a hundred thousand images, I'm now toying with the idea of printing some of them out. Unfortunately, nothing is ever easy, and this is no exception. My camera has a 3:2 aspect ratio, like a standard 35mm film camera. For some reason, the different popular print sizes all have different aspect ratios. 3.5x5, 4x5, 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, 8.5x11. It's just nuts. So, I was wondering who came up with the standard print sizes, and found this fairly informative.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 19, 2006 at 8:26 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

July 17, 2006

The Big Dig

Recently, the Big Dig fiasco made headlines because 30 tons of ceiling dropped onto a housewife in the tunnel. Not many were surprised by this, and people that live there will tell you they cross their fingers when they go through the tunnels. For good reason, as it turns out.

When I was in Boston in 1993, the lead lead engineer documented hundreds of pages of serious issues, including the fact that the tunnel under the bay isn't buried. That is, the top of the tunnel that goes underwater is exposed, hence, vulnerable to a ship hitting it, ripping open the tunnel, and drowning everyone inside. Also, two of the tunnels pass within thirteen inches of each other in opposing turns, so there is some concern that a vehicle might break through between the tunnels. The lead engineering firm was so concerned over these inherent design flaws that they resigned, becoming the third engineering firm to resign from the Big Dig. That was 13 years ago.

This site has a fairly compreshensive look at the Big Dig.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 17, 2006 at 7:32 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Dust on the EOS 20D CMOS Sensor

So, I've got dust on my EOS 20D CMOS CCD sensor. This site explains various methods for removing the dust. I looked at my EOS 20D CMOS sensor very closely today. Blew on it some. It's definitely got some issues. So, now I'm looking at trying out a solution from this web site. I've decided to order this product to solve my CMOS sensor problems:

COMPLETE CCD/CMOS CLEANING KIT CONTENTS:
1) 2 oz. bottle of Eclipse
2) 100-pack of PecPads, prepared for easy removal
3) Ready-to-use SensorSwipe
4) Written instructions and illustrations
5) Stiff drink NOT included

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 17, 2006 at 5:53 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink

July 16, 2006

Photos from Lickskillet, Tennessee

This slideshow is composed of images I shot on the Cumberland Plateau, near Lickskillet, Tennessee. Photos were captured using a Canon EOS 20D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens, and a Canon EF 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens.

This slideshow (6:00) is a 9 Meg self-playing executable named filter.exe created using Imagematics StillMotion PE+. Soundtrack is Take a Picture by Filter, off of The Girl Next Door soundtrack.

Click here to download the presentation. If you have an Apple, or you're running Unix, or if you're nervous about running a .exe file from my site, then click here to download the Macromedia Flash version. The resolution is not quite as good on the Macromedia Flash version, and you can't pause and go backward and forward, but it loads faster, and it's a fairly decent presention. Click here if you need help.

Lyrics in the extended entry.

Continue reading "Photos from Lickskillet, Tennessee"

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 16, 2006 at 9:02 PM : Comments (2) | Permalink

Strange Statues From Around The World

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 16, 2006 at 6:37 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

July 13, 2006

Puppy

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 13, 2006 at 3:33 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Rodenator - The Boss of the Burrow

In Colorado, they're considering allowing people to blow up prairie dogs using something called the Rodenator. It's currentl legal in every state except for Colorado. Predictably, the tree-huggers are up in arms. Looks pretty cool in these videos. Of course, if the tree-huggers won't allow the farmers to use the rodenator, then they'll have to stick with the current tried-and-true method as demonstrated in Exploding Varmints Part II.

Update: Rodenator is a big GO in colorado. Wheh hew! Start blasting those varmints!
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4303560

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 13, 2006 at 8:51 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

July 12, 2006

A Farewell To Arms Sucks!

I just finished reading "A Farewell to Arms" and, I must say, it sucks. It blows. I want those hours of my life back that I wasted reading this trite little elementary school composition. It makes me want to read more of Hemmingway's stories to see if they're all this bad. It makes me want to get into writing because, if this passes for classic literature, I'm going to make a mint. I searched the internet to see if there were any other humans on this little planet that felt the same way. I liked this review the best:

A Farewell to Arms by Earnest Hemingway is phenomenally unpleasant. In fact, it’s the worst book I can remember reading and I heartily congratulate anyone who managed to drag themselves through it. The book is loosely based on Hemingway’s own experiences as an ambulance driver during the war. In that respect, this reads more like a poorly composed mass email than a stunning report from the front lines. Less a principled condemnation of the insane tragedy of war, and more a stilted biographical piece by someone who just happened to be around at the time.

That's basically how I feel about it. I mean, it's somewhat interesting in that he's describing WWI in Italy, which is somewhat compelling in its own right, but it's also got a pathetic little love story tossed in with an anti-war pathos that barely touches on the politics of war. Predictably, his wife and child die at the end. Like...ho...hum...who really cares? His writing is pathetic in this book. It is appalling boring and flat.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 12, 2006 at 7:25 PM : Comments (3) | Permalink

July 9, 2006

Jennifer at Pensacola Beach

Posted by Peenie Wallie on July 9, 2006 at 10:30 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

July 4, 2006

Venice, Louisiana

Before the eye of Hurricane Katrina hit the coast of Mississippi, it scoured the Mississippi River between Port Sulphur, Louisiana, and Venice, Louisiana, erasing civilization from that low, tenuous patch of land, sandwiched between the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River.

This slideshow is composed of images I shot where the eye of Katrina passed, between Port Sulphur and Venice, Louisiana. The photos were taken, 10 months after Hurricane Katrina, with a Canon EOS 20D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens, and a Canon EF 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens.

This slideshow (4:02) is an 8 Meg self-playing executable named venice.exe created using Imagematics StillMotion PE+. Soundtrack is The Only Living Boy in New York by Simon and Garfunkel.