Uthrecht

So, my trip started at 2:45 AM when I pushed off from home. The driving was uneventful until I started west on I-80 off the PA Turnpike, when I ran into a storm system that on and off dumped water on me for the next 4-5 hours until I got into Ohio. I got past the clouds about a third of the way into Ohio, and found sunny skies for the rest of the drive. The driving directions aimed me at a nonexistent turnoff of I-80 for US 20, but I managed to get around that and into Indiana. It then directed...

I passed this as a gag PM to someone, so thought I'd stuff it in my blog.

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As I descended beneath the cloud layer, my Albatros' engine roaring over the whistle of the wind, something felt... wrong. I looked over my left shoulder, and my right. I realized that I couldn't see Harkinson's Spad. I leaned over the side to look beneath me, and there he was.

Pinwheeling slowly down towards the ground, on fire.

That's when I heard it. The...

Watch for the birds. Look to the skies.

So, I picked up a new lens for my camera earlier this week, and like a kid with a new toy (a close analogy, really), I've been fiddling with it. The greater zoom means I can get better detail shots from further away, and the vibration reduction means I *should* be able to get crisper shots while moving the camera. I've been experimenting taking shots on something that should tax both.

Birds in flight.

Not an...

I have a Nikon D40X digital SLR camera. I upgraded to it from having a Coolpix 8800, deciding that I wanted the greater flexibility of an SLR, along with slightly better rapid shot and picture quality you can get. I moved a little after the D40X came out, and it's a pretty nice camera for the money. Not that I'm recommending it; there are newer cameras in the Nikon line at this point that I'd probably recommend, although I haven't researched their current lineup.

The downside is...

I just posted a response to a question on evolution that reminded me of one of my annoyances. Thought I'd dig into it here.

There's been a growing trend to make science and history accessable and fun. That's great. More people should understand that the subject matter is exciting and interesting, on its own merits. But to someone not versed in it, it can be hard to understand what's so cool about there being little rods helping to hold up cells, or why everyone's so interested...