The Earth is alive!

My flowers don't look quite this pretty, and I certainly don't have the variety anymore, but, this is beautiful to watch anyway...

Walk quickly

My eldest two children will be joining my mother-in-law in North Carolina for an extended vacation this summer. They're really looking forward to hiking as part of that trip. My mother-in-law lives about 1-1/2 mile from the Appalachian Trail and has hiked quite a bit of it. It's taken her a lot longer than this, and she's not finished the whole thing yet, but if you think it'd be interesting to hike the whole thing, but are too much of a couch potato or just haven't made the time yet and want to see what you're missing, Kevin Gallagher has something to show you. :-)

Wired Magazine has an interesting article about his adventures, but in a nutshell, he hiked the whole trail and took 24 shots a day over his six-month-long trek and stitched them into a really cool video. As cool and beautiful as this video is, it really doesn't do the Trail justice. It's just something to whet your appetite until you can experience it for yourself. Enjoy.

Another view of Mother Nature's power

We've all been focusing on water's destructive forces recently, but Nature holds another source of unfathomable power as well. In this case the power is also pretty beautiful (since I was no where near where it connected). Click the image below...

Earth shakes

In the days leading up to the devastating earthquake in Japan, the region suffered MANY, MANY, MANY tremors. Earthquakes are quite usual for the region, and thankfully Japan was probably the most prepared for the recent quake of any country, or things could have, believe it or not, been oh so much worse.

Take a quick minute and see all of the earthquakes that lead up to (and after) the big one. It's hard to believe that the large quake was only a little over a week ago.

SECRET BP EXECUTIVE MEETING CAUGHT ON CAMERA!

(Warning: curse word at 2:31)

BP Shares the wealth in this other video.

Say Cheese!

A little girl walked to and from school daily. Though the weather that morning was questionable and clouds were forming, she made her daily trek to the elementary school.

As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up, along with lightning.

The mother of the little girl felt concerned that her daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school and she feared the electrical storm might harm her child. Full of concern, the mother quickly got into her car and drove along the route to her child's school. As she did, she saw her little girl walking along. At each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look up, and smile. Another and another flash of lighting followed quickly and with each, the little girl would look at the streak of light and smile.

When the mother's car drew up beside the child, she lowered the window and called to her, 'What are you doing?'

The child answered, 'I am trying to look pretty because God keeps taking my picture.'

Smile!

Amazing hummingbird video

Benefits of living in the country

Out the back window of my Dad's house...  And this is a common occurance!

Bird music

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Reading a newspaper, I saw a picture of birds on the electric wires. I cut out the photo and decided to make a song, using the exact location of the birds as notes (no Photoshop edit). I knew it wasn't the most original idea in the universe. I was just curious to hear what melody the birds were creating.

I sent the music to the photographer, Paulo Pinto, who I Googled on the Internet. He told his editor, who told a reporter and the story ended up as an interview in the very same newspaper.

Here I've posted a short video made with the photo, the music and the score (composed by the birds).

Music made with Logic.
Video made with After Effects.

The newspaper story about my work (O Estado de São Paulo): http://tinyurl.com/l4qdbg (Google English translation)

These boots were made for hikin'

So that's just what we did... We hiked from Max Patch to Lemon Gap on the Appalachian Trail in NC the other day. The guide books say that's a distance of 5.8 miles, but I don't think that includes the mile or so climb to the top of Max Patch to start the trip, so let's make it an even 7 miles including the "up the hill, down the hill" games the kids played.

My mother-in-law lives at about 3750 feet up in the mountains, and Max Patch peaks another 900 feet higher than that at about 4616 feet above sea level. We ended at Lemon Gap which is back down to about 3500 feet so it was a nice downhill slope most of the time. My mother-in-law has hiked about 3/4 of the Trail so far. Now my kids can say that they've hiked 0.32% of it!

They had a great time, though I had to carry my youngest (and another one his age) at the very end. 5-1/2 year olds just can't handle all of that yet I guess. The views were really spectacular even through most of the trail was through the woods. The path was really well maintained. It was a nice trail to cut our hiking legs on. I suspect that we'll do more as the kids get a little older.

Pick on someone your own size!

There's something about the mosquitoes in Michigan the past few years. This picture is that of my son's swollen eye caused by a single mosquito bite last year. It was pretty nasty. Both of my son's have had this kind of reaction the past several years to mosquitoes. A single bite will cause their whole hand to swell up almost to the point of them not being able to form a fist. Or a bite on the leg will form a welt as large and puffy as if someone slit open the skin and stuffed an errant golf ball under their skin before closing the wound. It's kind of freaky. Thankfully, nothing life-threatening so far, but freaky nonetheless. In the picture, less than 24 hours after the bite, my son was unable to open his left eye.

Based on anecdotal evidence and conversations with friends and neighbors, I think this is really getting worse. Many others have stated that they too are getting more and more allergic to being bitten. There's a actual condition called Skeeter Syndrome that involves the extreme swelling like my sons are experiencing, but it also involves a fever. I don't recall any of that.

It's interesting that neither my daughter, my wife, nor I get this much extreme swelling, but with my oldest son's allergy to peanuts, that might be some evidence of a slighted immune system that might allow this kinds of condition. My younger son has no diagnosed allergies at this point. With his body reacting so aggressively toward a little mosquito bite...maybe we'll have to get him tested further.

Did I already say that it's just the female mosquito that does the biting? Apparently the males are content to snack on the nectar of juicy fruit... Go figure.

Save the Earth?

Myth: we have to save the earth.

Frankly, the earth doesn't need to be saved. Nature doesn't give a hoot if human beings are here or not. The planet has survived cataclysmic and catastrophic changes for millions upon millions of years. Over that time, it is widely believed, 99 percent of all species have come and gone while the planet has remained. Saving the environment is really about saving our environment - making it safe for ourselves, our children, and the world as we know it. If more people saw the issue as one of saving themselves, we would probably see increased motivation and commitment to actually do so.

-Robert M. Lilienfeld, management consultant and author (b. 1953) and William L. Rathje, archaeologist and author (b. 1945)

Don't save the planet!

There! Got your attention. :-)

I was watching a low-budget film on the Sci-Fi channel the other day. It was about some scientist who's attempts to save the world from global warming had led to the creation of an invention that had gone astray. Typical sci-fi disaster film (but without the 300 foot monster).

In the midst of this terror, many people had been trapped in a lab with the scientist and only he had the code to let them out. In his despair over not being able to save the planet because of the device failure, he was putting the rest of the occupants of the building at risk as the lab collapsed around them. One of the scientists pleaded with him to "wake up" and help them escape. In trying to convince him to help, she
commented a fatal flaw in his pursuit -- that he thought he was trying to save the planet. The planet doesn't need to be saved. It will be here millions of years after we all die. What he was really trying to do was save the people (or "inhabitants" to rightfully include the "flora and fauna" as well). Thus, he could still save people of the Earth by helping them escape the building was her logic.

That got me thinking about all of the other "green" initiatives that are so prevalent in the media now days. They all talk about "saving the planet." The planet is a big rock floating through space. Hundreds, if not thousands of others just like it exist in the universe (plus or minus intelligent life). Why should we care about this one. Um... 'cuz we live here!

How much more personal, and effective, would those campaigns be if they asked for assistance in saving someone's life -- your mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, grandson, grand daughter, great-grandkids, etc...

I wonder...

We're being invaded!

It used to be the Asian beetles that look like their much more docile Ladybug cousins, now it's house flies!

Each fall for the past several years we've dealt with literally swarms of the Asian Beetles all over our house. This year, for some reason it's been the (way too) common housefly. The other night I killed 12 on the downstairs window and then another 8 upstairs while watching TV.

I can't find the source! There is nothing that is acting as a breeding ground that I can find. While there may a loose screen or something somewhere in the house that would provide a doorway for them, I'm not sure why they seem to be swarming right now. No drastic weather change. No rotting corpse that I can find (or smell).

I just don't get it!

Save trees. Trees save.

My wife and I encourage our kids to reduce, re-use and recycle. We teach them to care for the environment. We teach them to value life - no matter how small.

My kids have organized recycling campaigns. They've made posters to "Save the Earth." They've helped with returning cans and bottles.

I think that they'd like this un-sourced advertisement. It's very understated and yet very powerful. It simply says, "Save trees. Trees save."

I SAW ONE!

There are a lot of animals that you only see in zoos -- usually ones that are not native to the area, or ones that are very rare or need special habitats or handling. Pigeons on the other hand are none of these, but I have never (and I bet few of you have) seen a baby pigeon. For some reason you just never see them. You see the parents ALL OVER THE PLACE, but the babies, and even young teens are hidden.

Well today, I saw one! On my route home, I circle under an overpass that tends to be filled with birds. Most of the time, they're pigeons, but I've seen hoards of black birds as well at times. Today, for some reason, I looked up at the girders as I was stopped at a light and spied a momma pigeon feeding a baby pigeon. It still had a lot of it's downy feathers too. What a site!

God rays

I was always fascinated by the streams of light that seemed to burst through the cloud cover particularly after a storm. I'm not sure where I heard it, or if I made it up myself, but I started calling them "God rays." It seemed a little romantic, in an other-worldly kinda way.

Then along came the big book of Google and ruined it all. I was searching for something and came across the "real" name for these picturesque events... Crepuscular rays. Sounds a lot more ominous, almost medical, when compared to "God rays."

Well, fear not. There are still others, I've found, that think God rays is a more romantic, if not appropriate, term for the rays shining down from the heavens; the smiling twinkle of millions of hues of yellows and whites intertwined in their ephemeral journey toward this cold, dark rock we call Earth.

Yeah, I like the romantic better. :-}

Nature has a sense of humor

Last month we finally had a couple of days where we had snow on the ground and it was warm enough for the kids to go outside and play. Each of the snowfalls before that, even last year, were accompanied by bitter cold and winds that made it unbearable (for us as parents, anyway) to be out playing in the snow. This time the weather was warm (high 30's). The snow was heavy and sticky -- perfect for building.

My older two went to work immediately on building their snowmen. The snow was sticking so well that it was like rolling up carpet (or sod) as they rolled their balls across the yard. It took off the entire snow blanket -- right down to the grass. When my youngest saw how easy it was he decided that he wanted a snowman too. He built with a little ball in his mittens and then started rolling. He was ecstatic! He was making a snowman!

The bigger base was first. Followed by the big white belly. I helped lift the belly up on top of the first snowball. As I did this, he started to roll out the head. While he worked on his own snowman head, his siblings were working on "decorating" theirs with sticks and other paraphernalia. As I turned to lift the now-finished head on my son's first snowman, my wife started chuckling. I thought I had some snow stuck to my backside or something. Then she pointed to the now-finished head I was about to lift. From her angle, on the other side of the ball, she was seeing something a little different than I was on the back side. As I came around to see what she saw, I realized that Mother Nature had already decorated the face on this ball -- complete with two eyes, a nose and a mouth! The picture on this post is exactly what she left for us! As my son had been rolling the ball, he had picked up a couple of leaves and sticks that Mother Nature had laid in just the right spot on the ground this past fall -- just waiting for a snowman to personify!

That Mother Nature... always planning...

Birds do the wave

Interesting how nature imitates nature...

Pets Welcome!

I had lunch with a friend of mine over the weekend. It had been a while since we had talked so it was nice to catch up on happenings, and rumors, and just spend some time chatting. He's changed quite a bit since last I saw him. He's lost over 100 pounds (intentionally) and has adopted a rigorous exercise plan (just finished a half marathon). This guy is light years ahead of anything I'm working on personally right now. I envy his dedication and persistence. He's even trying to get into the Police Reserve Corps.

His current job has brought him to Michigan several times in the past couple of years, some times for week-long (or longer) stays. He got married several years ago, but states emphatically that their "kids" all have 4 legs and always will. He commented that he wished it was easier to find lodging that accepted pets so that he might be able to bring his "whole" family on a trip with him next time maybe. He couldn't dream of leaving his pooch in a pound.

It can be difficult to find hotels that accept non-human family members. But, once again, I have a site to ease the pain... Pets Welcome is a searchable database of pet-friendly lodging locations. Search by state, city, lodging category (hotel, bed and breakfast, etc), even route! My mother-in-law's site gets a lot of referrals from this site, so I know it's being used. It may not have every city in there, but if you find a location not listed in there, encourage them to get listed -- for FREE!