Virtual porn or….?

More thoughtful this time… something thought provoking for me, at any rate. I was listening to a techno futurist named Jason Silva (Brain Games) today about virtual reality and the possibilities. I have noticed that VR media attention has been about gaming and porn/futuristic sexual relations. Silva offered this and think of the potential for humanity….What if VR could take us to a refugee camp, an epidemic zone, a war zone, the aftermath of a natural disaster, the scenes of loss, devastation, the humanity of it all. Seeing is believing. Not news specials, news soundbites, still images…all with some influence upon us granted, but the VR would be profoundly more into our gut, our mind…dare I offer our soul?

What would be the impact on breaking down barriers, to clarify the often filtered, propagandized inputs? Would we perhaps care more, try harder with what is before us and beyond. Would the need for force on earth be clarified, if really needed? I found it thought provoking and far more important than those seeking self absorbed gratifications or the media’s limited promotion of the potentials here. Silva’s verbal presentation was far more provocative than here. Something to consider?

Mashable.com

Not quite full….the Moon & Mars

Tonight, I had just finished snapping some shots of the moon just after sunset. I never quite do it justice, but I still try.  A young man approached me. I had seen him shooting the sunset with a tripod/camera setup. “Pssst! Hey there’s a once in a lifetime event…tonight, shortly after midnight, Mars comes close to the Moon and it’s as large. We’re coming back up here to see and photograph it. We’ll have to sneak in because the parks closed.”

I think he was serious…or maybe just pulling my leg. I didn’t know. So when I got home, I searched a bit to find out it is a falsehood and I was relieved…not wanting to drag my keister out of bed and find a secluded spot…even for a once in a lifetime Mars/Lunar shot. I settled for an almost full moon. 

 

Timber!!!

Well sort of…

~

“If a tree falls in the woods, and no human or animal is there…does it make a sound?” Or, now they ask does the tree even exists? Some people think much too much.

Logging Safety: “More loggers are hurt and killed during felling than any other activity!
Most who die at work are killed within 10 feet of the stump.”

Undersea Volcano Erupting….

off the Oregon~Washington coast (Axial Seamount). Nature always full of surprises...read here

 

Axial Seamount, 2011 Image

187.5 (Synchronized Radio Bursts from Far Away)

Unexplained Signals

“there is something really interesting we need to understand. This will either be new physics, like a new kind of pulsar, or, in the end, if we can exclude everything else, an ET. When you set out to search for something new, you might find something unexpected.”   (Now make that Twilight Zone sound track play in your head…if you are old enough to remember that?)

Clouds…a spiritual affliction

“A cloudless plain blue sky is like a flowerless garden.” Terri Guillemets

Why the fascination with the clouds on the sky’s canvas? I doubt many of us consider too many of the cloud types or analyze the pending weather beyond amateurish speculations. Why the fascination with sunrises, sunsets, cloud’s contrasts and shapes? Is it imagery alone? Is there something just felt that is beyond beauty, majesty, whimsical, brooding?

Blood Moon Blunder

Browsing the net last night, I noticed a piece about the Blood Moon, which was to occur in the wee hours of the next morning. Hmmm? Was I prepared to get up at 2:00 am for this two hour event? But the moon would turn red! An eclipse. A rare event. So, I did some prep, in advance: tripod, lens, settings (for normal lunar shots), set my alarm for 0145 hrs. and dozed off. 

It came quickly, the alarm, and the anticipation. I got up. I even got my wife to join me, bundled up on a lawn chair to take in the view. 

It started off well enough. Normal moon shots. I was using my 75-300 lens. Just adequate, but does alright. I snapped away and then something happened with the lens. Not sure what yet, but a malfunction in the midst of a holy Blood Moon for crying out loud! I swapped lens to an 18-200 lens. Less adequate, but my tried and true lens I use most often.

The moon was changing and there was, indeed, a subtle red-pinkish glow to the moon. I continued to shoot. BUT as the moon grew darker…I never changed my settings to allow for the drastic decrease in light. I started with ISO 100, f 11, 1/200 settings.

To my eye, I thought the camera was displaying what I was seeing. But, eventually, I realized I was losing the most important part of the whole show: the blood red tone to the eclipsed moon! Live and learn. There will be two more chances (next April and again in September) to get it right. Then not for 20 more years.