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Awesome. Thanks Lisa!

Thermalization is the process of reducing the energy level of a neutron from the energy level at which it is produced to an energy level in the thermal range. The moderator is the reactor material that is present for the purpose of thermalizing neutrons. Moderating ratio is the ratio of the macroscopic slowing down power to the macroscopic cross section for absorption. The average logarithmic energy decrement is the average change in the logarithm of neutron energy per collision. Macroscopic slowing down power is the product of the average logarithmic energy decrement and the macroscopic cross section for scattering. There are three desirable characteristics of a moderator. 1. large scattering cross section 2. small absorption cross section 3. large energy loss per collision I miss that stuff... nuclear theory is fascinating to me. I just like not living on the ocean to practice it. I've often considered going back to school to finish my Bachelors in Nuclear Engineering Technology. I'm close to the degree... could probably finish in a year. I could bum all the books off Jason. Arrrrg. Who has time for that? Anyhoo, I have a meeting. Welcome to the middle of the work week.

Circulating the Net for years, I've always enjoyed this alleged college entrance essay: "I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row. I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru. Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge. I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer, I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration team. I bat .400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me. I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who has seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me. I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and all my bills are paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life, but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prize-winning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis. But I have not yet gone to college."

I am saddened by the story of the American hostage beheaded. I feel for his parents... his family. However, I think it is a disservice to the hundreds of men and women that have already given their lives in combat since we got into this mess if we let the death of one shadow their loss just because it was on video and posted on the Internet. If you think that a man getting his head cut off is the worst shit that happens in this world, you need to wake the fuck up.

Oh my! I have never seen anything like this in my life! Horrific! Poor bees.

just some hay...

surely a colorful parking lot...

Palmetto pathway...

Amber waves of grain...

Tea Garden steps...

I cannot fucking believe that Rupert got voted off. That show sucks my ass.

I've received a couple of comments and emails about how me posting my photographic hoo-ha on this blog is somehow inspiring. I am really honored to have such wonderful compliments sent my way. I thought I'd take a moment to share a few names that inspire me... work I admire and learn from... who knows, maybe someday I'll be on a list like this... :-) Steve Bloom Frans Lanting Jim Brandenburg Thomas Mangelsen Nigel Dennis Quang-Tuan Luong Joel Sartore Art Wolfe Moose Peterson Art Morris Sandy Mossberg Marc Graf Richard Hogg Todd Johnson Mahesh Thapa Peter Yang Kenneth Kwan Joseph Victor Stefanchik Gary Voth Bambi Cantrell David Beckstead Sacha Dean Biyan Russell James Mark Henninger Tim Brisko Baldur Bragason James Russell Mark Plonsky Andy Biggs John Shaw Mark Tucker Grab a cup-o-joe and spend some time in these artists' galleries.

tadpole posted a comment on this entry about the technique used in taking the photo: "say was the BW shot with or without the IR filter in place? (nightshot??)" Actually, the shot isn't black and white... it's what they call faux color IR. We can't really visualize what color IR looks like because in order for us to see "in infrared" we have to remap the light to something in the visible range. So what we really capture is a visible representation of how IR light reflects off stuff instead of how visible light reflects off stuff. This is why plants are usually a lighter color and the sky is a darker shade... IR light travels and interacts differently that visible light. The further you go into the IR spectrum, the less faux color you have in your images. The coloration, however slight, is due to leakage of near infrared and visible light. The shot was taken in full daylight... just after the first one (in color above it)... with a IR filter in place. Shooting digital IR is much different that shooting film IR, but if you are interested in learning more about the topic, start here and continue on here and here. Feel free to ask me questions, but I obviously don't have all the answers, so experiment! :-)

Whirrrr! Zip! Another day passes. Where is the time going really? Yesterday, I discovered Fedora Core 1 as a reasonable attempt at RedHat getting back to where they need to be for the average Linux enthusiast's. I dig their effort to wedge into the corporate market, but they sold out the little guy in the process. Fedora seems to be attempting to reestablish that connection. Mandrake 10 was my first choice, but I couldn't find ISO's and since I was dynamically resizing an existing NTFS partition, I didn't want to do an FTP based install from a network install point. This all stems from a brief series of disgruntling events with my new work laptop. It's a long story, but the bottom line is the same as it always has been... Micro$oft has some serious issues. Linux just seems to work. I don't have weird problems with it. Anyhoo, my mom is getting married today. I arranged to take the day off and be there, but realized I'm on call. The guy that was covering my on call is out sick today. I supposed it's ok... I mean, I wish I could be there, but whether I'm there or not doesn't change how incredibly happy I am for her. Besides, it would be about 7 hours of driving round trip and I have to work again tomorrow. I just finished my morning report and send that off to email land, so I really need some coffee. It's hump day!

Now matter how my day is going, I just have to look at this picture to remember that I'm the luckiest man on Earth. I can't stop looking at it.