This Old Blog

The Fermi Paradox asks, essentially, if the Universe is as vast as it is, and has been in existence for as long as it appears to have been, with all chances for life to appear then statistically speaking why haven't we crossed paths with at least one alien culture? Where are they? That question, asked by Enrico Fermi  while at lunch with his friends Emil Konopinski, Edward Teller and Herbert York at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the early 1950s, has never been adequately answered since. In spite of how we wish to believe, we've yet to discover any concrete evidence either in the universe or closer to home on any of the planets and moons we've explored. A number of theories have been advanced as to why we haven't found them yet (conspiracy theorists not withstanding). One of those theories is the it's dangerous to contact us. After reading today's news, and after watching the government shutdown and the idiots who have participated in it, I can see why...

Lucy the guard cat is on the lookout for Ted Cruz. If you thought the passage of a continuing resolution to fund the government and temporarily raise the debt ceiling at the very last minute meant that idiots like Texas' Ted Cruz (a.k.a. Senator Shutdown) meant would go away, then you're sadly mistaken. If anything, the Retardican party, driven by its Tea Party radical elements, and led by Senator Shutdown, continues to do everything in its powers to subvert real democracy by using the tools of democracy against it. Just this past week, Senator Shutdown put on his Senator Obstacle cap and blocked the nomination of Thomas Wheeler as FCC chairman. Senator Obstacle's excuse was he wanted to question "Mr. Wheeler’s views on whether the FCC has the authority or intent to implement the requirements of the failed Congressional DISCLOSE Act." Yes, Senator Moron wants to know if the FCC will implement the requirements of a law that failed to pass in July 2012, a cam...

I have kept my comments pretty much to myself with regards to the NSA's Orwellian surveillance systems, letting others far more articulate than I lay out the details and the repercussions of the fine mess we find now find ourselves in. Rather than parrot what's already been written I'd like to point out an interesting feature of this system of systems. And it is a system of systems for gather copious amounts of information on all of us. Right now we're focused on the top level of this SoS, the NSA. The NSA, over time, has built interfaces into each and every participant for the express purpose of gathering the surveillance intelligence, either directly from participating Internet companies or from the web infrastructure itself. Everyone is concentrating on the NSA at the center of this surveillance web, because that's convenient for the real owners of the surveillance web. The NSA didn't build it, contractors did, contractors like Booze Allen Hamilton. Gov...

From Shepard Fairey (creator of the original "Hope" poster): "Warrantless surveillance under Bush was extremely disconcerting, but not surprising in the post 9/11 climate of fear. The extent of Obama’s spying is unacceptable and I feel sickened and betrayed by someone I dedicated a huge amount of time, energy, and money to support based on the way he presented his views as the antithesis of Bush’s. The charge of Edward Snowden with espionage for exposing the Prism program only dims my view of the Obama administration further." Link:  http://blogs.artinfo.com/artintheair/2013/06/27/shepard-fairey-likes-those-nsa-themed-remixes-of-his-obama-hope-poster/ Link:  http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-shepard-fairey-obama-nsa-surveillance-20130626,0,1666290.story Happy Fourth.

If I didn't have Florida sunsets (and other Florida visual sights) I'd probably shrivel up and die from depression. That's one reason I like to go out for dinner in the summertime, especially after it's rained. The clouds and the setting sun's light make for spectacular light shows that lift and invigorate the tattered human spirit. I needed today's sunset because of Chief Justice [sic] John Robert's direct assault on the Voting Rights Act and the further enabling of the war on voting that's been waged by conservative (read:Tar Party) state houses across the nation since McCain's loss in 2008. Before this there was the Robert's court decision in the Selinas v, Texas where you're essentially damned if you do and damned if you don't with regards to the Fifth Amendment. In case you've forgotten, Justice [sic] John Roberts was the little joke former President [sic] George W. Bush left behind as part of his "legacy" as pres...

I can't add more to what has flooded the news since Edward Snowden's initial leak about the NSA's whole-sale domestic spying and other unconstitutional activities, except my own personal feelings, which are intensely against the NSA's actions. I find the whole Democratic party's participation, in particular Dianne Feinstein's, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who stupidly labels the NSA's actions as " protecting America " totally reprehensible. The only Democrat with enough backbone who has shown enough anger about the revelations is Al Gore, who called the NSA's actions what they truly are, " obscenely outrageous ." And now comes the news that the U.S. government has issued a formal indictment and a request to Hong Kong to arrest him and hold him for extradition back to the U.S. I don't know if this will do any good, but I am repeating what the ACLU sent out earlier today. Dear Friends, Edward Snowden risk...

Technical Sony NEX-5N with Sigma 2.8/19mm. Post in LR 4 and Color Efex 4.

I was out with my camera and the 40-150mm R II mounted, and came across these three sandhill cranes rummaging in the shallows for something to eat. Temperatures have been in the upper 70s to  low 80s since the last week of January, and it's the dry season here in Florida, so that water level has dropped several feet in the artificial overflow flood pond that's next to my office building. The plastic baggie behind the cranes was one of several that were on the shore, along with other trash. This was taken at lunch after hearing and reading a trio of uplifting stores. NPR has a story about how the Marine Stewardship Council, or MSC, had essentially greenwashed the fact that Canada's long-line swordfish boats pull tens of thousands of blue sharks up out of the water along with the swordfish. The Canadian fishers let them go, the only problem being that 35% of the sharks caught eventually die right on the hook or days after release. The findings suggested that Canadian sw...

You're looking at a blocked page I encountered on my Nexus 7. I was at a local restaurant, Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza . Anthony's, like so many restaurants in the area, provides an open WiFi point. Unlike other restaurants this Anthony's uses Solid Oak Software's CYBERsitter to "filter" ( censor ) sites it deems unfit for the general public. In this particular case, it flagged  BoingBoing.net as undesirable for one of the possible reasons listed to the left. In particular I found the last reason, about being located in a "blocked country," a bit humorous. A simple WhoIs lookup (via GoDaddy, of all people) shows BoingBoing to be hosted in Toronto Canada. The only thing BoingBoing is "guilty" of is acting as one of the leaders against uncontrolled and blatant Internet censorship and IP fascism. Solid Oak Software has been, and continues to be, the center of controversy. From its heavy handed censorship to accusing the Chinese for pir...

Aaron Swartz was 26 when he took his life. That's the same age as my oldest daughter, a truly  frightening contrast for a parent. I knew of Aaron in a detached sort of way, from his exploits and the resultant stories. I never gave him too much more thought until I read of his suicide Friday morning. I've had a few days to think about Aaron Swartz's short but powerful 26 year life. I've read and re-read just about all that's been written about him since he took his life. I wanted to wait and see what the U.S. attorney Carmen Ortiz, the ignorant fool who stripped him of just about everything he ever had before driving Aaron to take his own life. In the end, the government "quietly dropped" all charges against him. Ortiz declined to comment. It should be noted that the string of trumped up, over-criminalized charges filed against Aaron would have had him facing more prison time than murderers, bank robbers, slave dealers, child pornographers, al-Qaeda s...

I didn't realize it until I went back and looked, but it's been a year and a day since I first had to deal with my left knee , other than to use it and ignore it. It was a year ago that I took my first trip to the hospital emergency room and from there to physical therapy and then more doctors, leading up to the MAKOplasty operation two weeks ago . Since that event I've been home recuperating, daily following the directions of the physical therapy people to slowly gain complete reuse of the left knee, and the left leg. The pain caused by the loss of cartilage within the joint is gone. Completely gone. The pain I feel now is different, more a healing pain, and far less intense than before the operation. My walking is limited, but I no longer walk with a limp. That's gone completely. The only issue at the moment is lack of flexibility in the left knee. It's still swollen, but the swelling goes down slowly but steadily. The home-based PT helps me to build up flex...

You're looking at two recently deceased businesses on I-10 at exit 262 north bound on County Road 255 to Lee, Florida, one directly across the other. I found these quite by accident when I pulled off of I-10 to switch driving with my wife. I say recently deceased because there's very little wear on the businesses. While I was standing there trying to photograph Kounty Kitchen Restaurant a relative of the former owner drove up in his truck to ask if I was interested in buying the business. When I told him "No" he grew a bit disappointed, said goodbye, and drove on. This is indicative of what I continue to see, small businesses all over that are being shuttered, one by slow steady one, while both political parties continue to dither over a solution. I find the unemployment statistic of "only" 7.8% to be something close to obscene. No, I don't believe the numbers were manipulated by the president. Yes, I do find 7.8% just as depressing as any of the p...

I rarely write inflammatory (what some might call trolling) titles to a post, but this building you see before you deserves it. I've been seeing this building next to I-4 just east of Altamonte/436 and Crane's Roost for nearly 12 years, and never knew who owned it. Today on a trip up to Lake Mary with my wife I saw it yet again. That's when I told her I wanted to stop by on the way back and poke around the property, and photograph any parts of it if I could. What I discovered was this still unfinished eighteen story (I counted) white elephant, overgrown with weeds and yet still under slow-motion construction. It looks impressive with its exterior glass curtain walls, but that impression is quickly lost when you see the unfinished lower stories and look inside to the unfinished interior spaces. A quick check via Google leads to an article written in 2010 by the Orlando Sentinel about the Majesty Tower. Based on what I read in the article it's owned by SuperChannel ...

The title comes rather round-a-bout from a Warehouse 13 episode that was a riff off of the Frank Capra movie . That's enough of a clue to figure out the episode. I wasn't watching so much as listening, as I'd seen the episode already. My wife was watching the episode after we'd gotten back from supper out. It was fajita Wednesday at Don Pablo's. It's one of the few low calorie, healthy meals you can eat out. Summer monsoon season here in central Florida means afternoon showers and spectacular sunsets. We didn't get rain on our neighborhood today but we certainly got our share of spectacular sunset. I'd been entranced by the skies both headed to supper and headed home from supper. Right before the sunlight darkens completely there are a few moments where the clouds are lit with spectacular color against purpling skies. Right when I drove up into our driveway was when that moment occurred. I stepped out with my camera and caught these two views looking u...

The President is making a campaign stop in Orlando this coming Friday at Rollins College. This makes the second college stop that Team Obama has made that I'm aware of, the first being the First Lady at U.C.F. last week. I have two tickets to the event to photograph because my wife had the intestinal fortitude (and the wheel chair) to stay queued up along East Colonial from 4:30pm until 7:00pm, waiting for these tickets. I was at work and couldn't leave to go and stand in line. When I did come by to take these photos it was 5:30pm, and I stayed just long enough to grab a few shots and then head on home. The weather was cloudy and threatening rain, and it started to sprinkle almost as soon as I got there. The campaign staff had set up a single table in the front lobby of the 1516 building, and were slowly and  laboriously typing in the names and contact information of everyone who came to get a ticket. This is what they did when we came to get tickets to see the First Lady. As...

Remember those tickets my wife and I picked up last Saturday to see the First Lady? Today was the day to use those tickets. The First Lady was scheduled for a campaign stop at the University of Central Florida's "The Venue", which sits right behind the UCF Arena. Printed in Large Black Letters on the front of our ticket were the words "DOORS OPEN 3:00 PM". I figured I could work until 4PM in my office which is about 10 minutes away from the Arena, then drive over and find a spot to park, then queue up and wait my turn to go through security and wait for the First Lady to speak. Most of that came about, except the last part about seeing the First Lady in person. That never happened. I arrived on site a little after 4. By the time I walked to the front of the Arena and went inside it was about 4:20. That's when I queued up at the end of the line. For the next 1 1/2 hours, until a little after 6PM, we moved forward in fits and starts, turning various corners, ...

One of our Saturday stops was at the Obama campaign headquarters at 1516 East Colonial to pick up tickets for First Lady Michelle Obama's visit to the University of Central Florida this coming Tuesday, July 10th. They started giving tickets to anyone who wanted one starting at 3pm. We arrived two hours later to find a lull. We were lucky to arrive when we did; as we filled out the paperwork to get our tickets folks started lining up behind us. That staff wasn't just giving out tickets, but helping with voter registration as well. Thanks to our "governor" Rick Scott and our rubberstamp Republican state legislature, Florida voter registration has been turned into an absolute mess . Hopefully those who have been registered will be allowed to vote this November. In case you're curious, the Obama campaign headquarters are located in a building next door to the little Penguin Power mobile. This "specialized" van has been sitting here for years, but this pa...

I was out running errands on the north side of Orlando around the 436/434/I-4 Altamonte section. I had to swap out some supplies at Florida Hospital up on 434, turn in some paperwork with my accountant off Lee Road, and make some final Father's Day returns with Kohl's up at the intersection of 436 and 434. It was at the last errand at Kohl's that I found these three small defunct businesses in the general vicinity. Right next to Kohl's was what appeared to be a Mexican restaurant. From the outside it still looks fairly new and well kept. According to the sign it's a "fully equipped restaurant." (Note: I do not work for the company trying to lease this building, nor will I get some sort of commission; I just happened to see this empty building sitting here.) In the same parking lot, next to the out-of-business restaurant sat this defunct restaurant. I have no idea what used to be here, but the oval sign looks like a Fazoli's or Donatos. The only probl...