iPhone snapshot modified with camerabag
(fisheye and infrared)
Tag: Photography
Robot City Workshop
One of the cooler stores in Chicago, especially if you like robots and robot toys. The sales clerk said this is the only robot store in North America.
www.robotcityworkshop.com/homeframes.html
All I could do to restrain myself from purchasing vintage Heathkit electronics, but I did buy a couple items, including a robot for my nephew.
Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathkit
Maybe next time…
No knowledge of electronics was needed to assemble a Heathkit. The assembly process did not teach much about electronics, but provided a great deal of what could have been called “electronics literacy,” such as the ability to identify tube pin numbers or read a resistor color code. Many hobbyists began by assembling Heathkits, became familiar with the appearance of components like capacitors, transformers, and tubes, and were motivated to find out just what these components actually did. For those builders who had a deeper knowledge of electronics (or for those who wanted to be able to troubleshoot/repair the product in the future), the assembly manuals usually included a detailed “Theory of Operation” chapter, which explained the functioning of the kit’s circuitry, section by section. Heath developed a relationship with electronics correspondence schools (e.g., NRI). Heath supplied electronic kits to be assembled as part of courses, with the school basing its texts and lessons around the kit.
Fossils Shed New Light on Human Origins
Amazingly cool. I’m sure Sarah Palin and her partners in error1 think these fossils are planted fakes, but I don’t.
After 15 years of rumors, researchers in the U.S. and Ethiopia on Thursday made public fossils from a 4.4-million-year-old human forebearer they say reveals that our earliest ancestors were more modern than scholars assumed and deepens the evolutionary gulf separating humankind from today’s apes and chimpanzees.
The highlight of the extensive fossil trove is a female skeleton a million years older than the iconic bones of Lucy, the primitive female figure that has long symbolized humankind’s beginnings.
[Click to continue reading Fossils Shed New Light on Human Origins – WSJ.com]
I don’t subscribe to the journal, Science, but I might look for this particular issue
Documented in 11 research papers to be published Friday in the journal Science, the fossils offer a detailed look at a species of sturdy, small-brained creatures that dwelled in an ancient African glade of hackberry, fig and palm trees, by a river that long ago turned to stone. Despite their antiquity, their bodies were already starting to presage humanity, the scientists said.
Indeed, unlike apes and chimps, they had supple wrists, strong thumbs, flexible fingers and power-grip palms shaped to grasp objects like sticks and stones firmly. They were primed for tool use, even though it would be another two million years or so before our ancestors began to fashion the first stone blades, choppers and axes.
But they were still evolving the ability to walk upright, with a big toe better suited for grasping branches than stepping smartly along, an analysis of their anatomy shows. They made their home in the woods, not on the open savannah grasslands long considered the main arena of human development. Yet their upright posture, distinctive pelvis and other toes suggest they walked easily enough. Most importantly, they showed no sign they walked on their knuckles, as contemporary chimps and apes do.
“They are not what one would have predicted,” said anthropologist Bernard Wood at George Washington University. Although the differences between humans, apes and chimps today are legion, we all shared a common ancestor six million years or so ago. These fossils suggest that creature–still undiscovered–resembled a chimp much less than researchers have always believed.
Note, these photos are mine, and have nothing to do with the new fossil discoveries.
From the Ann Gibbons article at Science:
Footnotes:Researchers have unveiled the oldest known skeleton of a putative human ancestor–and it is full of surprises. Although the creature, named Ardipithecus ramidus, had a brain and body the size of a chimpanzee, it did not knuckle-walk or swing through the trees like an ape. Instead, “Ardi” walked upright, with a big, stiff foot and short, wide pelvis, researchers report in Science. “We thought Lucy was the find of the century,” says paleoanthropologist Andrew Hill of Yale University, referring to the famous 3.2-million-year-old skeleton that revolutionized thinking about human origins. “But in retrospect, it was not.”
Researchers have long argued about whether our early ancestors passed through a great-ape stage in which they looked like protochimpanzees, with short backs; arms adapted for swinging through the trees; and a pelvis and limbs adapted for knuckle-walking (Science, 21 November 1969, p. 953). This “troglodytian,” or chimpanzee, model for early human behavior (named for the common chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes) suggests that our ancestors lost many of the key adaptations still found in chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas, such as daggerlike canines and knuckle-walking, which those apes were thought to have inherited from a common ancestor.[Click to continue reading Ancient Skeleton May Rewrite Earliest Chapter of Human Evolution — Gibbons 2009 (1001): 1 — ScienceNOW]
- the Creationists [↩]
When do we get to do pointed sticks?
Found objects, scanned.
apparently, a repeat post. Sigh.
Chicago Nocturne 0244-July 05, 2009- 11:38 PM
Fullerton near LSD, taken with my iPhone (and slightly modified with CameraBag)
reminds me, in spirit, at least, of a Turner painting.
Reading Around on September 21st through September 23rd
A few interesting links collected September 21st through September 23rd:
-
ejshea.com » Blog Archive » Why You Should Protest That Tucker Max Movie – “Earlier today, I made a comment that we all should ignore Tucker Max and the movie adaption of his book, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell.
The very spot-on Whet Moser corrected me over Twitter, as soon as I said it, and he backed his reasoning with this post:
You all should read it right now.
And after I finished reading it, I realized what a horrible, stupid, unreasoned response I made, thinking that the right response to misogyny is to be quiet and hope it goes away. It doesn’t and it never has and it never will. I have known that since I was a teenager, and discovered feminism, and identified as such”
-
[Lust Monster, 1965] - Inside Google Books: LIFE magazine now available on Google Books – starting today, visitors to Google Books will be able to search and browse even more magazines on Google Books. We’ve partnered with Life Inc. to digitize LIFE Magazine’s entire run as a weekly: over 1,860 issues, covering the years from 1936 to 1972. Most of us are familiar with the term “American Century,” but chances are few of us have been able to read Henry Luce’s defining editorial in its original context, a 1941 issue of LIFE. You’ll be able to find and read Leonard McCombe’s iconic cover and photo essay on a Texas Cowboy and Richard Meryman’s famous last interview with Marilyn Monroe. You can find a 1968 cover story on Georgia O’Keeffe
- First Draft: Party On, Boris – He [Clinton] also relayed how Boris Yeltsin’s late-night drinking during a visit to Washington in 1995 nearly created an international incident. The Russian president was staying at Blair House, the government guest quarters. Late at night, Clinton told Branch, Secret Service agents found Yeltsin clad only in his underwear, standing alone on Pennsylvania Avenue and trying to hail a cab. He wanted a pizza, he told them, his words slurring.
-
[WWII pinup]
Shine Your Lights For Me – HP5 Plus 400
I’m guessing the Pittsburgh Steelers on their way to O’Hare, as time was right. Three buses plus police escort heading towards the Interstate.
Could have been something else though.
on the corner of Canal Street and Randolph
Red red red
CameraBag treatment of last week’s great stuffed and simmered red pepper experiment.
came out delicious, despite this photo looking (intentionally) sinister
I used what turned out to be a variation of this Epicurious recipe, with able assistance and advice from my mom1 via email. If you click the link below you’ll see the original ingredients and technique, these are the ingredients I used:
2 large (8-ounce) red bell peppers
other peppers, pimento, whatever
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chopped onions
6 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2/3 cup cooked brown basmati rice, cooled
1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
2 1/2 cups tomato sauce, partially handmade from some roma tomatoes, and partially from a a jar of strained tomatoes
1 1/4 pounds lean ground lamb
oregano
a dash of cayenne
three diced carrots
a diced fennel bulb
seems like some other vegetable, celery, maybe?
1 large eggCut off top 1/2 inch of peppers and reserve. Scoop seeds from cavities. Discard stems and chop pepper tops. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground lamb2, onions, garlic, carrot, fennel, and chopped pepper pieces. Sauté until onions soften, about 8 minutes. Transfer to large bowl. Mix in rice, parsley, cayenne, paprika, salt, pepper, and allspice. Cool 10 minutes. Mix in 1/2 cup tomato sauce, and egg.
Fill pepper cavities with mixture. Stand filled peppers in single layer in heavy large pot. Pour remaining 2 cups tomato sauce around peppers. Bring sauce to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover pot and simmer 20 minutes. Spoon some sauce over each pepper. Cover; cook until peppers are tender and filling is cooked through and firm, about 20 minutes
[Click to continue reading Stuffed Red Bell Peppers Recipe at Epicurious.com]
My mom suggested two other variations which I would follow in a future preparation: slightly char the peppers before stuffing, and add a handful of pine nuts to the stuffing.
Footnotes:- she has a freaking Facebook account!! [↩]
- or ground beef, whatever, actually I’ve made it both ways [↩]
Corn and renewable energy
from my archives. Green City Market produce.
www.chicagogreencitymarket.org
Corn from a different farmers market, for the Chicago Chain.
republished:
www.gestor-energetico.com/bio-combustibles-en-centroamerica/
My Spanish-translation skills are very poor, can anyone tell me what this article is about? Headline is Bio combustibles en Centroamérica, Bio Fuels in Central America.
Google Translation renders the first paragraph thus:
The production of so-called “green fuels” is linked to food insecurity in Central America. Guatemala, on the basis of sugar cane and African palm in large areas, has significantly increased production of ethanol and biodiesel, both exported mainly to the European Union. While this is not basic crops, the fact is that large areas of land previously owned by farm families devoted to corn and rice have been displaced by private firms that have intensified to generate crops for biofuels.
Evening Party
Belmont and somewhere (Sheffield?)
republished:
chicagoist.com/2009/09/15/extra_extra_540.php
CTA streaker
Lake Street El blurry, only partly due to the wine
from a few years ago, taken on my building’s roof, sans tripod
Philip Anschutz is building his own empire
Denver billionaire and conservative Christian Philip Anschutz has, uncharacteristically, been in the news recently. First for purchasing Dick Cheney’s favorite magazine, The Weekly Standard:
[ Right Turn Ahead]
In June, [The Weekly Standard] was handed from one conservative billionaire, [Rupert] Murdoch, to another, Philip F. Anschutz, for about $1 million, according to an executive close to Mr. Murdoch who spoke anonymously because the terms of the deal were meant to be confidential. The new ownership comes at a time when conservatism, especially the version espoused by The Standard involving American muscularity to spread freedom abroad, is not in the ascendancy.
Mr. Anschutz, who made his billions in oil, real estate, railroads and telecommunications before turning to media, is more closely aligned with Christian conservatism, a thread not associated with The Standard.
Staff members say Mr. Anschutz, who has visited the magazine’s Washington offices once since buying it, did not meet with the staff as a whole. He instructed the two top editors — William Kristol, who last year was also a columnist for The New York Times, and Fred Barnes — not to alter the publication’s ideological complexion.
[From New Owner for Weekly Standard as Political Tastes Change – NYTimes.com]
and second, for purchasing a crowd-sourced news web site, NowPublic
Examiner.com, a media company controlled by the conservative billionaire Philip F. Anschutz, said on Tuesday that it had acquired NowPublic, an innovative Web site for citizen-generated media.
With the sale, Examiner.com, a unit of Mr. Anschutz’s Clarity Digital Group, became the latest company to show interest in a lively corner of the Web: the tools that let people read and share the news around them, sometimes down to neighborhood blocks.
[From Examiner.com Buys NowPublic, a Citizen-Media Web Site – NYTimes.com]
[for instance, this photo of mine was used by a NowPublic user]
The Weekly Standard does not interest me, except in abstract terms, ((liberals would do well to at least have a vague idea of what the latest conservative talking points are)) but NowPublic’s users have used dozens1 of my photos in various articles over the four years of their existence. Not a huge number, but at least ten that I noted. I don’t want my photography to be anywhere close to any corporation owned by Philip Anschutz.
Who is Phil Anschutz you might ask? Well, for starters, from his Wikipedia entry:
Anschutz, a Republican donor and supporter of George W. Bush’s administration, has been an active patron of a number of religious and conservative causes:
Helped fund Colorado’s 1992 Amendment 2, a ballot initiative designed to overturn local and state laws that prohibit discrimination against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation.[13]Helped fund the Discovery Institute, a think tank based in Seattle, Washington that promotes intelligent design and criticizes evolution. [14]
Supported the Parents Television Council, a group that protests against what they believe to be television indecency.[14]
Financed and distributed Christian films, such as Amazing Grace and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, for mass audiences through his two film production companies and ownership of much of the Regal, Edwards and United Artists theater chains. In addition, as a producer Anschutz reportedly required the removal of certain material related to drug use and sex in the 2004 film Ray because he found it objectionable.[14]
Financed The Foundation for a Better Life.
There’s more, but that was enough for me to send an email to NowPublic co-founder Michael Tippett, asking
In light of super conservative Republican Philip Anschutz purchasing your company, how do I go about removing my photos from the various stories they’ve been used on?
Cheers, and hope you haven’t been fired, or forced to take a loyalty oath to the anti-evolutionary forces
If I get a response, I’ll add it to this post.
Footnotes:- or more, I stopped keeping track [↩]
Weakness Will Be Overcome
Slightly south of the Art Institute
From Feb 2007 – a brutally cold month, if I recall correctly…
Reading Around on August 25th through August 27th
A few interesting links collected August 25th through August 27th:
- Mac OS X Automation: Services Downloads – Download free services. Service collections are grouped by color. Some services will install required Automator actions and may require an adminstrator password to do so.”
-
- Chicago vice – chicagotribune.com – Chicago Police Sgt. John F. Mangin displays a bushel of marijuana leaves and a jar of ground marijuana found Sept. 27, 1945, in a flat at 601 W. Madison St.. Six men were arrested in the narcotics bust, including a 60-year-old man that Mangin said was the first person he arrested when he joined the narcotics detail in 1931.
Say Goodbye
even though phule beat me to it…
[ www.flickr.com/photos/phule/3828089135/ ]
a few blocks north of me…