Craig Venter unveils "synthetic life" | Video on TED.com

"To live, to err, to fall to triumph and to recreate life out of life" James Joyce

"See things not as they are, but as they might be" American Prometheus, a biography of Oppenheimer

"What I cannot build, i cannot understand" Richard Fenniman


Craig Venter unveils "synthetic life" | Video on TED.com

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Book Review: Guns Germs and Steel

Finished reading this book recently. It has been sitting on my bookshelf since 2002 I think. Too bad it took me so long to get around to reading it. It was great. Very informative and interesting. It is a brief history of humankind over the last 13,000+ years. Obviously, in covering so much ground in 400 or so pages, the book is low on specifics.  What it does is give a broad overview of why the several histories of different civilizations played out so differently.  For example, why did Europe conquer America and not the other way around?  He goes beyond the proximate causes of guns germs and steel and attempts to root out the ultimate causes that led to history playing out as it did.  It is a great book and well worth the read.

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Things that don't make sense

Studying up on the Kuiper Belt I found some other interesting articles of things that don't make sense.

 
13 things that don't make sense

13 more things


Which one do you find most intriguing?  If yours is not on the list what is it?

Flash Forward

Anyone watching Flash Forward?  We've watched though the 3rd episode and it's pretty fun so far.  Its off island Lost like so far.

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World

A national best seller and yet another Michael Pollan book that has won me over. Pollan focuses on four main plants that owe their current abundance to the cultivation of humans. In turn we owe a lot of our current abundance to them as well. I enjoyed how beautiful the writing was throughout the book, and especially enjoyed the idea of today's gardener being somewhat of a modern alchemist, turning dusty plants into ripe gold. For anyone that has an interest in botany, genetics, and gardening, this book was a fun and fairly quick read.

Tilt Shift

I gave fake tilt shift photography a try...the first 3 photos I did not take...just tried the tilt shift technique on them...The last I took from an airplane coming home from Hawaii. I think it worked the best. I'm not sure if it's my technique or my source photos or both...but I'm not all that happy with the results yet. Perhaps there's not enough blur. Anyway let me know what you think. If your wondering what tilt shift photography is google it for some good examples.

Photo Highlights

My camera is broken (shutter mechanism is not working). So I thought I'd post some of my favorite photos in it's memory. Some of the source photos were taken on Mom's or Matthew's camera though.

I've been experimenting with HDR photography and High Key photos. Let me know what you think.

Persimmons HDR 01

(Matthew has made an HDR with this crop that I like better)

Persimmons HDR 02

Persimmons HDR 03

Pomegranates and Ashes 01

Pomegranates and Ashes 02

Umpqua Hot Springs HDR 01

Tunnel Falls HDR 01

Chemical Warfare

It jumps out of grasp

It’s getting dark. In a flash, I notice it.  It’s tall.  It’s beckoning me.  My pulse races, yet I continue.  Just as I think I will reach it, it jumps out of grasp.  No matter how fast I run, it gets away.   Unless…good, the next street light is burnt out.

V

Do you guys remember "V"?  Anyway ABC is giving the series a refresh and the premiere is tonight.  I remember watching it as a kid but not much more.  Here's a preview.

The End - The Beginning

Eventually they were told about the comet.  "Get supplies... inside...anything."  Too late.  Food, water, gone, procured for Project Second Genesis...  our progenitors.  Humanity's survival left no alternative.  Now, just west of dawn, the seemingly endless night ending, we prepare to return, and fear, could anything survive above? Cold, dark, desolate.  Are they waiting?

Legend tells of those who fled deep into the earth, leaving us destitute, leaving us to die.  Someday they'll crawl from their culvert, after centuries of endless winter nights, to claim our world.  Remember their machinations, their forked tongues.  When dawn returns we'll be waiting, to redirect the comet's fury.

Despite training

San Quinten Prison

It's too hot

Billy Cowered

They'd searched for years.

Low Tide