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Tuesday, February 27, 2001
Ruins of the Hudson Valley
Here we have artful photographs of nouveau ruins found in a series of small towns along New York's Hudson Valley. These are more interesting than the ruins found in big cities. Losts of old mansions, abandoned churches, schools and resorts. The most interesting is Bannerman's Castle.
Hudson Valley Ruins
"THE CASTLE was built in 1908 by Francis Bannerman to house his private arsenal. By the 1960's the place was abandoned, and Bannerman's descendants donated the island to New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. In 1969, a "mysterious" fire-- whose light could reportably be seen from as far as 25 miles away-- reduced the castle to its present condition."
"GETTING TO BANNERMAN'S is a complicated affair. Obviously, one needs a boat (except on the rare occasions when the river is covered with ice). Once on the island, snakes, deer ticks, an unbelievable amont of poison-ivy, regular patrols by the New York State Parks Police and the Putnam County Sheriff and now security cameras complicate matters further."
posted at 2/27/2001 12:13:04 PM
Another modern ruins site, this time featuring Detroit. Check out the Lascaux Detroit Paintings or just take the tour..
The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit
"In my wanderings through the near west side of Detroit, I have noticed, over time, a large number of finely appointed synagogues that are now, for the most part, thriving Afro American Christian churches. "
" You do not need to tour the ruins of Detroit long before you will be first amused and then amazed at huge and accomplished paintings that appear in the loneliest and most forbidding places."
posted at 2/27/2001 10:55:56 AM
Here are some interesting 24 hour webcams at Racerocks on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The elephant seals look like close relatives of Jaba the Hut, and are just about as big.
RACEROCKS.COM
"This camera is transmitting live 24 hours a day from the marine science centre at Race Rocks. The default view is on the Northern sea lions that are hauled out on the middle island. "
"... On preset 2 you may see the large Elephant Seals that are less active and usually hauled out high on the center rock. Zoom in for a closer look. You can also look up the Strait of Juan de Fuca using the remote, and by a system of mirrors, you can view to the south and the north of the island."
posted at 2/27/2001 10:41:14 AM
Thursday, February 22, 2001
Here is the text of Samuel Johnsons travelogue of a trip throughout the western islands of Scotland in 1773. Interestingly, even over 200 years ago he speaks of buildings being in a state of decay and being far from modern. There are 34 chapters of interesting history here.
A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
"Dunvegan is a rocky prominence, that juts out into a bay, on the west side of Sky. The house, which is the principal seat of Macleod, is partly old and partly modern; it is built upon the rock, and looks upon the water. It forms two sides of a small square: on the third side is the skeleton of a castle of unknown antiquity, supposed to have been a Norwegian fortress, when the Danes were masters of the Islands. It is so nearly entire, that it might have easily been made habitable, were there not an ominous tradition in the family, that the owner shall not long outlive the reparation."
posted at 2/22/2001 03:52:21 PM
This site has several methods for making your own biodiesel fuel at home from used cooking oil. Now if only I had a diesel vehicle.
Biodiesel: Journey to Forever
"Biodiesel is much cleaner than fossil-fuel diesel ("dinodiesel"). It can be used in any diesel engine with no need for modifications -- in fact diesel engines run better and last longer with biodiesel. And it can easily be made from a common waste product -- used cooking oil."
"Germany has more than 900 filling stations supplying biodiesel, and it's cheaper than ordinary diesel fuel. It's widely used in France, the world's largest producer (most fossil diesel fuel sold in France contains 5% biodiesel), and there are an increasing number of US suppliers, though biodiesel is more expensive than ordinary diesel in the US."
posted at 2/22/2001 03:14:31 PM
Thursday, February 15, 2001
Here is a collection of photographs and mpegs taken on Newfoundland's Avalon Pennisula in early February,2001. The last I checked, they had around 72 inches of snow on the ground. Luckily, it isn't like this every winter. This year has been quite abnormal for snow in the northeast.
Snow on the Avalon - February 4, 2001
posted at 2/15/2001 02:55:45 PM
This chart shows the Mirs's Orbital decay and occasional corrections to put it back into a higher orbit every few months. The orbit currently appears to be decaying around 20km closer to earth each month. This is way more than I would have guessed, I always assumed these things could stay up unaided for years.
Mir Orbit Decay
"This graph is updated continuously as new orbital data is published by NASA, and re-entry will occur when the lowest point of the orbit descends to approximately 100 km. Close to the end, the drag will be much higher because of the increase in air density at lower altitudes and so Mir will descend very rapidly in the last few days."
See also MIR Dumping Delayed
posted at 2/15/2001 11:29:19 AM
Tuesday, February 13, 2001
This race follows the same route the two previous races held in 1919 and 1934. The 1919 race was won in 720 hours by a Vickers Vimy, while the 1934 race was won in 71 hours by a twin engined Comet. This year there is even at least one helicopter entered. It promises to be an interesting race. The race starts on March 11, 2001.
London - Sydney Air Race::March 2001
"Such has been the early enthusiasm that entries already range from medium sized jet airliners to single and twin engine private aircraft. Final entries may even include helicopters and a special section is being included to cater for older aircraft and former military aircraft, known as Warbirds, in the event."
posted at 2/13/2001 05:18:38 PM
Monday, February 12, 2001
Impress your friends ! First you will need a sabre.
WineToday - The amazing Champagne sabre trick
"Then run the blade up the seam very fast and sharply hit the lip, forcing the lip with the cork still inside to pop off the bottle. And voila!"
via GirlHacker's Random Log
posted at 2/12/2001 12:42:21 PM
Act now, if you buy or upgrade Microsoft Office in Canada, you will receive a free Toboggan. This is a sled, not a hat.
The Register
posted at 2/12/2001 12:04:24 PM
Friday, February 09, 2001
An interesting site. There is a map of NY City. As the cursor moves over it, different parts of the city are highlighted. Clicking zooms in on that section, to an image overlain with red and green dots. Clicking on a red dot brings up a story about that place. There are lots of interesting stories in the Big Apple.
Mr. Beller's Neighborhood
via Rebecca's Pocket
posted at 2/9/2001 07:51:03 PM
Thursday, February 08, 2001
The new species has been discovered in the wilds of northern China and Mongolia. They can survive on saltier water than other camels and even look different. DNA testing has shown them to be distinct from known camel species. There are perhaps 1000 in existance. Having survived for centuries in one of the world's most inhospitable areas near China's nuclear testing range in Lop Nor, in the future they could be in danger from possible resumed nuclear weapon testing. Well, they've survived it before.
New Scientist: Novel camel
"The Chinese herd had another form of protection between 1955 and 1996 because it lived near Lop Nor, China's nuclear testing range. But after the tests ended, the gold prospectors moved in, says Hare. They hunt for camel meat by putting land mines around the region's brackish waterholes."
"Arms control experts also warn that if the US builds its planned anti-ballistic missile defence system, China will resume nuclear tests. That could chase off the poachers but the camels would then have to survive advanced weapons tests."
posted at 2/8/2001 11:23:56 PM
Here you can find over a hundred simple but interesting science experiments based on exhibits at the Exploratorium at the Museum of Science, Art and Human Perception in San Francisco, California.
Exploratorium Science Snacks
"For three years, nearly one hundred teachers worked with staff members to create scaled-down versions of Exploratorium exhibits. The results were dozens of exciting "Snacks" --- miniature science exhibits that teachers could make using common, inexpensive, easily available materials."
posted at 2/8/2001 12:57:19 PM
Wednesday, February 07, 2001
This page has a nice diagram of an aeolian (wind blown) harp from which it would be easy to build your own.
The Little Aeolian Harp Page
"On the Aeolian harp all strings are tuned to the same pitch, but have different tensions and diameters. Thus the wind will play one harmonic on one string, then a different harmonic on another, depending on the intensity of the wind. The harmonics, which have a rather thin ethereal sound in any case, come and go. Changes of pitch occur without the aid of a human hand."
posted at 2/7/2001 05:37:46 PM
Friday, February 02, 2001
This project from Cornell University really harnesses the power of the internet. From Friday, February 16 to Monday, February 19, people all around North America send in reports of which birds are at their feeders along with their postal code. Then, by going to the site you can see maps showing where concentrations of different types of birds are located. You can even see animated maps showing differences over several years.
Great Backyard Bird Count Sponsored by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society
"Now that winter has gripped much of the continent, where are the birds? Bird populations are dynamic, they are constantly in flux. We want to take a snapshot of North American bird populations and you can help us. "
posted at 2/2/2001 11:43:02 AM
Thursday, February 01, 2001
This is a very comprehensive site on volcanoes. There are up to date activity reports, links to other volcano sites, a volcano listserver, and the Catalog of Active Volcanoes of the World with photos of most of the volcanoes. With several large volcanoes (Etna, Fuji, Mayon, Popocatapetl ) showing activity now, this is an interesting site.
Smithsonian Institution - Global Volcanism Program
posted at 2/1/2001 08:21:39 PM
Forgot what an Afgani license plate looks like ? You can find it here. Indexed by country, state, province, Native American tribe, you name it. Full colour photographs of thousands of automobile license plates.
License Plates of the World
"In 1999, Nunavut, the Eastern part of the territory [Canadas NW Territories], was partitioned off from the rest of the territory. Both territories continue to use the polar bear shaped license plates."
posted at 2/1/2001 07:49:58 PM
Apparently a silvic is a forest tree. This USDA site has descriptive web pages for each of around 200 tree species in North America. The pages include range maps and associate plants.
Silvics Manual Volume 1-Conifers and 2-Hardwoods
"The silvical characteristics of about 200 forest tree species and varieties are described. Most are native to the 50 United States and Puerto Rico, but a few are introduced and naturalized. Information on habitat, life history, and genetics is given for 15 genera, 63 species, and 20 varieties of conifers and for 58 genera, 128 species, and 6 varieties of hardwoods. These represent most of the commercially important trees of the United States and Canada and some of those from Mexico and the Caribbean Islands, making this a reference for virtually all of North America. A special feature of this edition is the inclusion of 19 tropical and subtropical species."
posted at 2/1/2001 04:16:56 PM
