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2013 / 02-03

2013 / 03 / 16

BUCK FORESTER

Wilderness Photographer

Buck Forester ( Brian Ernst )
is a wilderness backpacker / kayaker / adventurer / photographer / videographer who has a mesmerizing collection of work captured from wilderness hikes all over the U.S., with an emphasis on breathtaking shots in the Sierras of Northern California.

Many of his images are available for licensing through his Getty Images listings, and inquiries for prints may be addressed to the email listed on his Facebook page or Flickr profile page.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

Aristotle

2013 / 03 / 09

THE BOOK OF THE HUMAN GENOME

photos by JOHNJOBBY at the WELLCOME COLLECTION museum

Critics are raving about this enthralling new book.
If you like "War and Peace" you'll love "The Human Genome"!
Though somewhat dry, and arguably on the repetitive side in terms of pacing and plot, it's every bit as captivating as Tolstoy, and at roughly 100,000 pages and 120 volumes, it makes for an almost as functional bedtime read...for the rest of your life...and your children's...and your grandchildren's.

(A layman's grossly simplified and very possibly innacurate interpretation of the subject.)
The first documentation of a human reference genome was generated in 2003 after 13 years of work. This copy resides at the Wellcome Collection museum in London. A refereence genome is an approximate map of the major aspects of any particular living creature's DNA. DNA is the genetic blueprint for any particular living thing, which describes/dictates what kind of living thing it is, from organism type down to the particulars that make the distinct individual. The DNA blueprint is simply a huge combination of four chemical units, (adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G) and cytosine (C)), combined in groups of 8, in infinite variety. These combos reside in our chromosones, which in turn reside in the nucleus of every one of our cells.
So...this book is in every one of our cells.
Interestingly, a humane genome has approximately 3 billion 8 unit combos, while a salamander has approximately 50 billion.

2013 / 03 / 05

THE SILK ROAD

by ANDROS images

Gorgeous hiking shot in the mountains of northern Spain.

Francisco Domínguez ( ANDROS ) has a wonderful range of captivating nature photography ranging all over Spain and Europe.

Andros Flickr site:

Andros web site:

2013 / 03 / 03

QUADCOPTER FPV WITH AUQUACOPTER AND GOPRO

by vegetoast1 on YouTube

Beautiful video from a GoPro camera mouted on an AquaCopter quadcopter in the Southern highlands of Australia.
Flying these and capturing attractive video is harder than it looks. There is a lot of blah FPV quadcopter video on youtube, but vegetoast1 has some really nice cinematography here.

Quadcopters are relatively new remote control flying devices that are more stable/controllable than RC helicopters. These consumer level kit copters typically have 4 rotors, and are a foot or two across. Camera or video can be attached if the copter is powerful enough. For more precise control, virtual goggles can be worn for a first person view (FPV) from the perspective of a video camera on the copter. Cost is still in the low thousands for high qulity platforms, and generally are in kit form, but cheap ready to fly alternatives of lower quality are beginning to show up. This copter is uniquely waterproof, as is the GoPro camera, allowing for flights dipping the camera right into the drink, and a little less fear factor when flying expensive gear over water.

More cool videos on vegetoast1 YOUTUBE channel:

2013 / 03 / 01

DEAR PARK RANGER

A letter from Junior Ranger Evie to Yosemite Park Ranger Matt.

"I am a ranger in Yosemite National Park and receive many letters from visitors."
"This is my favorite."

"Dear Park Rangers,
I am a Yosemite Junior Ranger.
I went to Yosemite Recently and accidentally brought home two sticks.
I know I'm not supposed to bring things home from the park, so I am sending them back.
Please put them in nature.
Thank you,
Evie."

Posted by

One of the upsides of being a Park Ranger.

Ranger Matt at Yosemite national Park posted this letter from dedicated Junior Park Ranger Evie on Reddit, which attracted a multitude of helpful suggestions for his reply.
"I sent her a nice letter and an extra Junior Ranger badge."
"I told her how impressed we all were, and how we hung up her letter in our office so we could show others how great our Junior Rangers like Evie are."

A few of the more interesting comments are below.
Click the Reddit link for the full and very funny comment thread.

[–]mrmpr - You should take a picture of the sticks in nature and send the picture to the kid.
[–]bestmattever - Reading all the responses below, I wanted to let you know what I decided: I'm going to take photos of the sticks in various places in the park, then send Evie the pictures and ask her which spot she wants the sticks in. (I've already been in touch with her parents by email, so this should actually be pretty easy to do.)
[–]thesilentrebellion - You really are the best Matt ever :-)
[–]pntless - As a Matt, I can confirm that he is a better Matt than I.
[–]Applekami - Another Matt here, can confirm he is indeed better than other Matts. Brb, going to lay by the door and be useful.
[–]zeronamagem - This whole conversation makes me happy. You're a good person
[–]RadtasticNinjaChick - My heart is so warm and fuzzy right now.
[–]Unidan - Biologist here! You should send an extremely wordy and stern response about how contributing different tree litter to incorrect portions of the park can upset the soil conditions, resulting in differential humus accumulation, labile carbon, sequestration rates, pH, conductivity, soil microbial counts and other factors. Then make the child select a location based off of extremely dense soil profile charts and redox potential tables for each soil type for the differing areas of your park. Include the Russian name for all of the soil types and make sure to include tables on hydrology and gradation. Provide GIS information to absurdity and then collate all of the information and present it to the child in a gigantic phone-book type document. Arrive in person and demand an answer in thirty minutes. This is what I would do.
[–]Narcoleptic_Narwhal - This one. Do this one.
[–]kama_river - Dear Park Rangers, I appreciate the picture of the sticks you sent, but that's not exactly where I found them. They had a big tree on one side and a rock on the other. Close to a trail, I don't remember which. Please reunite the sticks with the correct nature or I will grow up with separation anxiety. Thank you, Evie
[–]Mac_Anu - Dear Junior Park Ranger, Thank you for keeping in contact, and thank you for showing such concern for your environment. Unfortunately, we cannot safely return them to the nature you took them from. Just as birds abandon their nests when they are disturbed, so too do sticks lose faith in the safety of their natures when they are taken from them. We set them nearby, but they wandered off to find a new nature that they found comfortable. They will never fully recover, but they are much safer now than they were before. Keep keeping natures safe, bestmattever
[–]Coryshepard117 - You should send this picture and the words: Too late... http://i.imgur.com/CYXdL3s.jpg
[–]follier - Behold what your boundless greed has wrought !
[–]drunkenviking - This is the most reasonable thing to do.
[–]jbtk - You don't "accidentally" bring home two sticks. This person knew what they were doing.
[–]RandomAmpersand - Dear Evie, We really appreciate you doing the right thing and sending these sticks back. That being said, what you did was still wrong. It would be easier on all parties involved if you would continue to do the right thing and turn yourself in to the authorities. If you fail to do so within 48 hours we will be forced to come down on you with the full power of the National Park Rangers. Don't think that your status as a Junior Ranger will grant you any leniency. Make no mistake - we will find you and you will pay for your crimes. Sincerely, bestmattever Yosemite National Park Ranger
[–]call_me_donny - Dear Evie, Returning the sticks was the right thing to do. Unfortunately, at this point the sticks have been away for too long, and have become too domesticated to survive in the wild. They have lost their ability to be in nature. They unfortunately must be put down because of this, euthanized. Despite what your parents may have told you, animals and sticks don't get sent to farms to play with other animals and sticks. They are brutally murdered and buried in mass graves. Thank you for coming to Yosemite National Park and please come again soon. Also, try not to inadvertently ruin anything next time. Sincerely, Best Matt Ever
[–]Phyltre - Dear Evie, You have no idea what you've done. You've made a mockery of the entire forest inventory system. Because these sticks weren't able to decompose in their intended spot, soil nutrient levels have started a snowball into near-desert conditions. More than seven nearby orphanages who depended on the forest for food have all starved to death. I don't have the heart to tell them it was you, Evie--instead, I stood by their mass grave and told them it must have been ecoterrorists. We're dealing with a dustbowl now. Nothing wants to grow here because nature knows what's up. And what's up is you, Evie. You and your two sticks you tried to send back too late because you felt bad. You wrote a check you couldn't cash, but Nature's going to collect whether you like it or not. She'll catch up.
[–]anticipates_cabbage - Dear Evie, Nature is full. The sticks have been euthanized.
-Ranger Dick
[–]VanBurenOG - Hopefully you kept the return address so you can prosecute this monster.

2013 / 02 / 18

LYTRO LIGHTFIELD CAMERA

A camera that records the light data for a range of focal lengths in one shot.

Camera technology is probably going to continue to advance dramatically in the coming decade or two. Lytro cameras are an impressive early stage proof of concept for one very big advancement.

(A layman's grossly simplified and very possibly innacurate interpretation of the tech.)
Lytro has a very cool consumer level plenoptic or lightfield camera that records the angles of light rays in addition to the color info typically captured by a camera, essentially capturing a full range of light field data instead of just the typical light data at one image plane. A certain amount of 3D data basically. This allows post shot manipultion of the image plane for options such as choosing from a variety of focal points (or potentially a blend of different focal points), and some limited 3d parallax. An aspect such as a particular post shot focal point adjustment can be baked into a traditional image format, providing powerful advantages over traditional photography, but the full capability is demonstrated in a new image format that is dynamic...a "living" image as Lytro calls it, that can be changed by the viewer in real time, (as long as it is viewed with living image software). Of course current image formats such as JPG, GIF, TGA, etc. are incapable of storing this extra 3D data.

This is all somewhat bleeding edge, so there are limitations for the relatively low cost. Lytro continues to expnd upon the applications/possibilities of light field data with new features/capibilities.

Go to Lytro's website to try interactive examples, or see videos outlining the capabilites.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”

Douglas Adams “The Salmon of Doubt”

2013 / 02 / 16

SURYIA THE ORANGUTAN AND ROSCOE THE DOG

by The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species

Suryia, a six year old orangutan at The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species in Myrtle Beach, SC, made friends with a stray hound dog on sight, jumping down to greet and play when on an a daily elephant ride with his humans to the river.
Roscoe followed them home and repeatedly snuck into the compound in search of Suryia, who proceeded to feed the hungry stray her dinner.

Posted by:

From:
The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species

More info and videos about Suryia and Roscoe on their website.

2013 / 02 / 15

MARS

by Mars Orbiters / Rovers for JPL / NASA

Even the most amazing things lose their fascination after awhile...but we have robots taking tourist photos on another freaking planet for goodness sake...how insane is that!!

Photo credits:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
( Some manipulations applied )

2013 / 02 / 08

TRAIL RUNNING BAIT

Timberland "BAIT" commercial

Fun trail running porn.

Posted by:

Music - "Dont Give Up" by the Noisettes.

Timberland outdoor wear.

2013 / 02 / 05

UNDER WAVES PHOTOGRAPHY

by enric adrian gener

Powerful and beautifully composed underwater photography.

Enric adrian gener captures powerfully dynamic subjects plunging through these gorgeously ethereal environments beneath the waves.
He has a plethora of work displayed on his Flickr site, including but not limited to this theme.

His website has further extensive galleries where he offers gorgeous large prints for sale,
as well as displaying some cool videos and offering t-shirts.

( All content property of respective owners )