Category: Random Thoughts, Observations and Weird Stuff
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The Mars Reality Show Has Begun!
If you haven’t heard about the private-sector “Mars One” project to colonize Mars, you should check it out – I posted about it back in April. The project envisions being largely financed by the proceeds of a reality show to eventually beam back to Earth as the 7 billion of us who stay behind…
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Southern SuburbIndia: Kolams and Cows
Every morning, all across southern India, millions of women wake up at sunrise to draw what’s known as a “kolam” at the entrance to their home. Kolams are geometric designs hand “drawn” by sprinkling rice flour (or in some cases other substances) on a freshly-swept and watered piece of pavement. I see them on my…
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Boys Beware: Views on Homosexuality in 1961
For a change from the standard fare offered on YouTube, it’s fun to stop by occasionally at the Prelinger Archives, a diverse collection of thousands of preserved films from the ages, all available for download in the public domain. In addition to being interesting, the collection offers insights on changing attitudes over the years. Most…
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Silly AFN Commercials
If you’ve had the pleasure of watching the Armed Forces Network which is produced for U.S. military and many other categories of government employees serving overseas, you’ll remember those irritating commercials. After you’ve been without AFN for awhile, according to many people, the feeling you have for these commercials becomes a fondness. But this takes…
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Photos from the Oregon Country Fair
Since 1969, the Oregon Country Fair has been a gathering of the wacky, existing as a three-day fair in Veneta (near Eugene) with a counterculture theme that attracts as many as 45,000 visitors. This year, those visitors included us. We had great food, met interesting people, and heard lots of great music (even buying a…
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Final Stop in the Great Western States Odyssey: Crater Lake
In our continuing Western States Odyssey in a rented 31-foot RV, our final stop was a return to the place we had originally intended to be our first stop: Crater Lake. Unfortunately, we had gotten a late start and ultimately decided to postpone it to the end. Crater Lake is always a special treat –…
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Cliff Diving into the Truckee River
They say few things are as American as baseball, apple pie….and add to that “jumping into the old water hole.” As we headed west from Reno/Sparks, Nevada, the temperature climbed steadily toward the maximum it would reach that July afternoon – 109 degrees Fahrenheit. Just off to the right, winding alongside interstate 80, the Truckee…
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Reno and Squid Hats
…so the (teen) kids didn’t want to see the inside of a casino when we stayed overnight in Reno. Apparently gambling has gotten a bad rap in our family, which is not a bad thing as far as I’m concerned. But as parents we insisted they see Circus Circus – “just humor us”, we told…
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The City By the Bay
Marin County Coastline The latest turn in our Western States Odyssey took us into San Francisco. And if you’ve never had the opportunity, a great thrill ride is to take a 31-foot RV and drive it over the Golden Gate Bridge and straight through the heart of San Francisco. I believe if you put it…
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Really, Really Big Trees
Our continuing RV Odyssey in the Western States today took us through what botanists like to refer to as Really, Really Big Trees. The Avenue of the Giants was particularly impressive – not really captured accurately by this timelapse: It’s really not possible to capture the grandeur, scale and magnitude of these trees, some…
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More Adventures in ‘Murr’ca
Today was an eventful day in our Western States RV Odyssey. For those just tuning in, we are touring Oregon, California, Nevada and Idaho in a rented monstrosity of an RV, in order to satisfy a Congressionally mandated Foreign Service “home leave” (between overseas tours), and in order to avoid camping with relatives for an…
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The Great American Fast Food Odyssey – part 2
Yesterday I posted about our efforts to satisfy American fast food cravings while on “home leave” after a 2-year absence. And about how the menus change gradually, but how after two years the all-familiar fast food menus suddenly appear loaded with strange and unfamiliar menu items. The major shifts among the big contenders are pretty…
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The Great American Fast Food Odyssey – part 1
Foreign Service Officers (i.e. U.S. “diplomats”) are Congressionally mandated to spend a decent amount of time in the United States between tours – presumably so that we maintain a good understanding of our home countries while we’re out representing America to other countries. This means is that every 2-3 years, between foreign tours, we’re required…
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Um…is that an accent I hear?
Ever come across a North American accent you couldn’t quite place? Well now, there’s an easy chart to figure it out. Someone has gone to the trouble of mapping it all out, using things like, do they pronounce “pin” and “pen” the same way… It includes audio samples to help better understand the accent descriptions.…
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Found memories…and a lost roll of film
Here’s a fun mystery to try and solve. For my (recent) birthday, my kids went down to Otto’s, the local “junk and curiosities” dealer and picked out for me the newest additions to my growing vintage camera collection. In addition, my youngest was excited to have found an original box for the Agfa Billy Compur…
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Build Your Own Plant Host Drone
I recently posted about drones and how they’re being used. Here’s a much more humble drone – one that simply moves plants around your house to take advantage of changing sunlight. For the cost of $10-$15 (and a bit of know-how, which is of course priceless) you too can own one of these. Find the…
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Got Drones?
Lately there has been increasing mention of the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for unexpected purposes. For example, both India and Namibia have been experimenting with the use of UAVs to control poaching, thanks to a $5 million grant given by Google to the WWF. Here’s a video showing how it works in Namibia (here’s…
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“Pooh” Creator AA Milne’s Secret Life in Propaganda
So it seems that childhood favorite author AA Milne, who created all of the wonderful “Winnie the Pooh” stories (along with some of my favorite childhood poems), also spent some time in World War I writing propaganda for a secret British military intelligence unit. And that this is only known to us because Milne broke…
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An Oshikandela, by any other name…
In our local grocery shop you can buy a couple of different varieties of yoghurt drink. Two popular kinds sit right next to each other on the shelf. I’m not a big breakfast eater; as I did when I lived in Europe, I like to take a drinkable yoghurt to work in the morning. I…
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Namibian Fairy Circles Mystery Solved AGAIN!
It’s fun to ponder those unsolved mysteries of nature we’ve all heard about from childhood onward. Last March I blogged that one of those “nature’s unsolved mysteries” was unsolved no more – Namibia’s “fairy circles.” Of course, depending on where you grew up, this may be the first time you’ve ever heard of them. The…
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MySpace Resurrected, Photoshop to Close
I know, right? MySpace is back. I just got my invitation to join the new MySpace and decided to go and check it out. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I’m not too optimistic – though the younger crowd that’s into music and music vids may appreciate it. I’m hopeful it will be a…
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Female Entrepreneur Launches Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaign for Township Bicycle Touring Company
Here in Namibia, where income disparity is one of the highest in the world (THE highest, depending on whose figures you use) and unemployment hovers around 34 percent, small entrepreneurs in both the formal and informal sector are likely to be the biggest drivers of Namibia’s economy in the near future. This is something young…
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AFN Commercial: Proud to Serve Again
Here’s another fun “commercial” from the Armed Forces Network, or AFN. In this video, former military are encouraged to take up a job teaching. While this is an admirable profession and I certainly would never suggest otherwise, whenever you’re trying to convince someone to do something, it’s good to portray that in as positive a…
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The Korean Air Force Releases Les Miserables Parody Video
Following a long tradition of military folks getting involved in musical YouTube shenanigans, the (South) Korean Air Force has released a hilarious parody of Les Miserables they call “Les Militaribles.” After only a week, the video has picked up an amazing 3 million views as it makes the rounds on Facebook. For Koreans to put…
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Namibian Nights: The Best Timelapse Ever
I’ve looked at a lot of timelapses, and after a certain number of them you just start to want to fast forward through them because they’re spectacular and all, but after awhile everything just sort of starts to look the same. This one, however, is different. Not only because I’ve tried to take photos in…