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2013-05-22 17:00:10 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Daily Show tackles the subject of Rob Ford and the crack video. Ford is Toronto's embattled mayor. Sad there was nothing worse in the US that day to talk about Pretty embarrassing for the city i was born in. :/

#robford  

2013-05-22 11:58:53 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 13 +1s)

Tractor Cloud.
A rolling white out caused by a tractor passing by. It was like going from bright sunshine to thick fog in seconds then back to sunshine about a minute later.

#dust   #foggy   #ruralphotography   #tractor   #monochromephotography  

2013-05-22 02:32:19 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 13 +1s)

You could almost hear the glug glug glug as the roots drank in the river.

#river   #roots   #trees   #photography   #naturephotography  

2013-05-21 18:02:02 (11 comments, 16 reshares, 11 +1s)

This is via James Vaughan on Flickr.
Quote is from her yesterday at the NYC Media thing and now shared quite widely.
Original image:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/8771766514/
#Flickr   #FlickrRIP   #marissamayer  

2013-05-21 03:29:17 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

I posted this earlier over on Flickr. Genuinely bummed out about what the former Googler Marissa Mayer has decided to do. Killed the soul of Flickr. It might have been dying, but if she wanted to make it more about ads and less about content and content creators, then I guess she succeeded.

Link to original image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/work4bandwidth/8761243626/

#Flickr   #FlickrRIP  

2013-05-21 00:25:46 (17 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

Yahoo spends a billion on Tumblr, and on the same day announces that Flickr Pro users get a terabyte of storage. That is big. Your move Google. ;)

2013-05-20 16:39:50 (1 comments, 4 reshares, 8 +1s)

Mythbusters and +Chris Hadfield in the same video designing space games. :)
#testedcom   #Mythbusters   #ISS   #NASA   #CSA  

2013-05-20 03:47:59 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

Self portrait silhouette in sand.
#selfie   #selfportrait  

2013-05-19 18:34:25 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 18 +1s)

Three men and a moon. Cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, and astronauts Tom Marshburn and +Chris Hadfield  on their way to the International Space Station in a Soyuz spaceship last December. They returned to Earth Monday in the same ship, while the moon continues its journey around the home planet.

2013-05-19 16:31:27 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Stay on target... stay on target... - Gold Five.

#signs   #texture   #Target   #GoldFive  

2013-05-17 11:32:50 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Staying off googleplus till all the noise and whining and so on over the new features and layout dies down. Cluttering my stream and notifications now - and I keep getting sucked into commenting on things and then have to mute them after. Easier to just step back for a bit. Have a good weekend folks. :)

2013-05-15 23:40:43 (9 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

New Layout is Smokin' Hot!

Actually I am not sold on it yet. And I find it funny that Facebook went away from Double Column profiles nonsense to our having double column streams...  at least that can be turned off for the stream. Not sure how yet on the profile.

You can turn off the auto edit function on your photo uploads etc, which is good. As is the portrait orientation in posts...  

But where has chat gone on the right? There is probably a setting somewhere I can't see.

And how come in the stream some photos display as double wide column width and others that are landscape orientation are not doing that? 

And for me it is not auto updating and I have to manually reload the stream with blue '21 new' square on the left... That is so Facebook-esque.


#autoawesome      #gas #vapour   #ethanol   #therma... more »

2013-05-15 20:19:06 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

#AutoAwesome

Extremely proud of the team! Can't wait for everyone to take the new Photos product for a spin!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57584541-93/google-gives-photo-lovers-what-facebook-doesnt/

2013-05-15 17:02:09 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Grain smoke, No.5

Water vapour coming from the thermal oxidizer stack at an ethanol plant. I still like the title 'grain smoke' though. :)

#vent   #gas   #smoke   #clouds   #vapour   #ethanol   #thermaloxidizer  

2013-05-15 11:47:20 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Grain smoke, No.4

Water vapour coming from the thermal oxidizer stack at an ethanol plant. I still like the title 'grain smoke' though. :)

#vent   #gas   #smoke   #clouds   #vapour   #ethanol   #thermaloxidizer  
#monochromephotography  

2013-05-14 23:36:41 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Grain smoke, No.3

Water vapour coming from the thermal oxidizer stack at an ethanol plant. I still like the title 'grain smoke' though. :)

Took me a bit to research this +Tom Sparks, but thanks for the questioning comment. I like learning new things. :)

#vent   #gas   #smoke   #clouds   #vapour   #ethanol   #thermaloxidizer  

2013-05-14 16:18:56 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Grain smoke, No.2

An ethanol producer's main stack.
#vent   #gas   #smoke   #clouds   #blackandwhitephotography  

2013-05-14 14:26:28 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Tim Bosma of Ancaster, Ontario (the guy who was kidnapped and had his pickup truck taken after responding to the Kijiji Ad has been found dead.)  :/

2013-05-14 11:50:46 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 16 +1s)

Grain smoke

An ethanol producer's main stack.
#vent   #gas   #smoke   #clouds   #blackandwhitephotography  

2013-05-14 03:10:20 (2 comments, 3 reshares, 12 +1s)

Cmdr +Chris Hadfield  just extracted from the Soyuz TMA7a and sitting on a recovery chair on the Kazak steppes.  Should have been a Muskoka Chair. :)  Soon enough. :)
(NASA TV screengrab from a few moments ago)

2013-05-14 02:32:38 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Soyuz TMA7a touchdown in Kazakstan!  welcome home +Chris Hadfield 

(NASA screengrab from few moments ago.

2013-05-14 01:55:43 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Soyuz TMA07m deorbit burn complete and module separation upcoming at 10:04pm Eastern. Landing scheduled for 10:30pm Eastern.
(NASTA TV screengrab)
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ustream.html
#NASA   #Soyuz   #ChrisHadfield  

2013-05-13 18:41:02 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Spaceflight finale: To some this may look like a sunset. But it's a new dawn.

2013-05-13 12:00:08 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 18 +1s)

Hidden

#monochromemonday   #blackandwhitephotography  

2013-05-13 00:22:10 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 7 +1s)

A Swansong from Space.

By a real Rocket Man, who returns to Earth tomorrow. Been a wild ride with +Chris Hadfield being up there for the last 5+ months. He has done more for promoting the the work done on the ISS, NASA and has given the space program huge social media shoes to fill. 

#ChrisHadfield   #NASA   #ISS   #CSA   #DavidBowie  

2013-05-12 14:24:36 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Happy Mothers Day

This is a scan of a 4x5 inch print of my mom wearing a kimono taken during Christmas at 45 Kitano-Cho in Kobe, Japan. My mom's cousin Joan places the image in 1937. While my mom and my uncles were British, they were born in Japan as my grandfather was working there in the pre war years. They all left Japan before the war. My Uncle Murray said that tree was of the sort that seemed to appear as if by magic on Christmas morning, the adults decorating it and the house after the children had gone to bed on Christmas Eve. Joan said she and my mom always wore Japanese clothes at Christmas.

My mom, Yvonne Marion Wood, died in 1998. Seems like yesterday and at the same time so long ago.

Hug yer moms and do something nice for them today. One day that will no longer be possible. Miss ya mom.

#happymothersday #photography

2013-05-12 01:58:08 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Meanwhile in Canada...
Some parts of the country do not go as gently from winter to summer as we would like ...
Image from this CBC News article. http://goo.gl/2p3Ke

2013-05-11 23:52:30 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 1 +1s)

This is nothing short of fantastic. Hits all the points on why it is awesome to be a nerd.  Very well done +Wil Wheaton.  Would be cool in a couple of decades for Wil to meet the unborn person this was intended for. :)

2013-05-11 23:16:05 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Leaning Tower of Peace

The Peace Tower on Centre Block at Parliament Hill. Ottawa, Canada. September 2012.
#ottawa   #ottawaphotography   #Canada   #Canadianflag   #bluesky  

2013-05-11 19:54:24 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

The Russians are impatient for +Chris Hadfield to finish his command of the ISS tomorrow. :)

(screengrab during the ingress from today's spacewalk)
#ISS #CSA #Roscosmos  

2013-05-11 18:56:02 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

168th spacewalk in support of ISS construction and maintenance is complete. 1068 hours in total over all those spacewalks. Today's went about 30mins faster than expected. And they successfully swapped out the suspect ammonia pump. Lots of testing to come to confirm it, but it might have done the trick to fix the leak discovered on Thursday.
These screengrabs from before entering the lock and after the two astronauts were back inside.
#ISS   #NASA   #spacewalk  

2013-05-11 14:51:10 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 9 +1s)

East side, Centre Block, Parliament Hill

September 2012, morning.
#parliamenthill   #ottawa   #ottawaphotography   #Canada   #blackandwhitephotography  

2013-05-11 14:08:37 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Watching the US Astronauts doing their spacewalk this morning. They were having problems with the handheld Nikon camera's flash. Imagine trying to fix a camera flash sync cable wearing space suit gloves while the camera is in the space equivalent of an underwater housing (the white case/cover being held in the right hand here) and you are floating 324km up over Minnesota and travelling 27,000 kph. And yet they did it.:)

#ISS   #spacewalk   #cameratroubleshooting   #NASA  

2013-05-11 03:07:53 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 8 +1s)

Learn to Read Chinese in Eight Minutes
http://chineasy.org/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2013/04/25/learn-to-read-chinese-in-eight-minutes/

The creator of Chineasy, ShaoLan Hsueh, says that "if you can learn just the top two hundred characters, it is enough to be able to read about forty percent of popular Chinese literature." The idea is to make it easy to get started using drawings and stories to learn a few characters, and then learn how to combine them.

Hmm. Maybe I could learn a little bit in eight minutes, but the real question is: would I remember it? I studied Hebrew for several years and then forgot all of it in one summer vacation!

What do you think?

2013-05-11 00:07:23 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

International Space Station managers and the international partners approved plans Friday for a spacewalk on Saturday, May 11. Expedition 35 crew members Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn will step out of the Quest airlock of the U.S. segment of the complex to inspect and possibly replace a pump controller box on the station's far port truss (P6) suspected of leaking ammonia coolant. Final approval to conduct the spacewalk came after a day-long review of procedures and the crew's preparations to support the excursion.

A leak of ammonia coolant from the area near or at the location of a Pump and Flow Control Subassembly was detected on Thursday, prompting engineers and flight controllers to begin plans to support the spacewalk. The device contains the mechanical systems that drive the cooling functions for the port truss.

The P6 truss is the oldest component of the station's... more »

2013-05-10 22:10:15 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 7 +1s)

High Gothic Fence Post, Parliament Hill, Ottawa

Part of the 'Wellington Wall' fence on the South side of Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Canada.

#Ottawa   #Canada   #ottawaphotography   #parliamenthill  

2013-05-10 16:38:13 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Peace Tower & Centre Block, Ottawa, Morning

Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Canada, Sept, 2012.
#Ottawa   #ParliamentHill #peacetower   #ottawaphotography  

2013-05-10 12:41:43 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Morning

Seen from Major's Hill Park, Sept, 2012.
#Ottawa   #ParliamentHill   #ottawaphotography  

2013-05-09 21:38:29 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 16 +1s)

Promenade with shadows

National Gallery of Canada, September 2012

#NationalGalleryofCanada   #Ottawa   #ottawaphotography   #monochromephotography  

2013-05-09 11:56:14 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

The Three Watchmen 

This is a 16-foot bronze totem pole by Haida artist Jim Hart that I photographed last fall. It is located at the intersection of St. Patrick Street and Sussex Drive, close to the National Gallery of Canada and across the street from the Peacekeeping Memorial.

“These three watchmen . . . are doing the same work the peacekeepers are doing across the street, except they’ve been doing it for thousands of years,” said Mayer. “It deepens the meanings of the other works in the area as well, because they pretty much do the same work, and that is watching out for our well-being and our safety and our health. Symbolically, it’s profound right where it is.”
- Jim Hart quoted here:
http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2011/11/10/three-watchmen-new-sculpture-watches-over-downtown-ottawa/

#Ottawa   #ottawaphotography   #sculpture   #Haida  #totempole  ... more »

2013-05-08 22:40:07 (4 comments, 3 reshares, 19 +1s)

If you don't protect your nuts, apparently they get rusty.

#bridge   #rusty   #oxidation   #closeupphotography  

2013-05-08 15:54:12 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Pioneering stop motion special effects man Ray Harryhausen has died. He was 92.

#rayharryhausen   #rayharryhausenrip  

2013-05-08 11:54:13 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

Sentinels on the dunes

#beach   #dunes   #sand   #trees   #blackandwhite  

2013-05-07 23:41:02 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

They were rescued before their shelter was complete.

#photography   #beach   #blackandwhitephotography  

2013-05-07 21:13:13 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

This is really funny. Watch it right to the end. :)

2013-05-07 16:24:04 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 13 +1s)

Bleached beach sticks

#photography   #blackandwhitephotography   #beach  

2013-05-07 11:55:29 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

Close up of burned driftwood

#driftwood   #blackandwhitephotography  

2013-05-06 22:23:59 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

This isn't the first time  I have come across driftwood that seems to be an animal that has met an untimely end. Maybe it's just me.

#driftwood   #blackandwhitephotography   #animallike  

2013-05-06 18:33:59 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

Roots or frozen explosion, No2

Of the two, I think I prefer this one.

#driftwood   #tree   #beach   #monochromemonday   #monochromephotography   #blackandwhite  

2013-05-06 17:01:59 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Just watched +Chris Hadfield perform his song live from the ISS along with schools and Science Centres from across Canada. Pretty cool.

His mission is almost done and he will be home  in about ten days.  This is probably the last time we will see him play in space. Safe journey home.

#NASA   #CSA   #ISS   #space