I’m ready to be back on the water…
Humor
IMAX Shenanigans
Megan and I went to see Jack the Giant Slayer today. The movie was in a new IMAX theater at a local place. As we sat down in the theater (and well before the movie started), Megan put on her glasses, started waving her hands around in front of her face, and said, “It’s like I’m actually in the theater!”
Stop Motion Video: Heading Out
Megan and I decided to play around a bit with some stop motion video. We decided that kayaking through the house and out the door was silly enough to warrant some effort, so here’s the end result.
She was a trooper, too. It was about 30 degrees out and the wind was whipping in the door and all she had on was her "Go Play Outside" t-shirt from Shanks Mare. Her smile (on-camera) never wavered.
Tilting at Windmills…
I read some articles a few weeks ago about a study which found wind farms causing localized ground surface warming in certain regions because they mix the higher, warmer air with the cooler air closer to the ground at night. The headlines were predictably misleading at first, saying things like “Wind farms causing climate to warm.” In a few days, things settled down and the people who understood the study responded with explanations… no, they’re not causing global warming. It’s localized warming. It’s at night. Here’s what happens. etc… etc…
So most headlines were more accurate from that point. Not all. There were still plenty of misleading ones, just not as prominent or numerous. What I found funny, however, was the collection of headlines in my Google News feed on the subject (ordered and formatted here as it showed up in my feed). Note the headline message… and the news source. One of these things is (predictably) not like the others. Ha!
Don’t believe the headlines. Wind farms do not cause ‘global’ warming.
Christian Science Monitor – 20 hours ago
A recent study published in Nature Climate Change suggests that large wind farms could be pulling down hot air at night, raising the average temperature of the local region.No, wind farms are not causing global warming
Washington Post (blog)Myth-busting claims that wind farms cause global warming
Alaska DispatchIn Depth:Wind farms are causing global warming, researchers say
Fox News
The Common Loon
At the "State" Fair at my daughter’s school today (where all the students show off the projects they did about their selected US state), I just found out that the state bird of Minnesota is the Common Loon (also known as the Great Northern Loon).
It struck me as wholly appropriate, given that Minnesota is the home state of Michele Bachmann.
It’s got to be a coincidence, right? Right?!
Bacon makes a beautiful bride
Jack in the Box has a new commercial for their BLT Cheeseburger. The website promoting it has all kinds of bacon-related stuff, most of which is promotional, but still has some bacon gems!
Aluminum Journey
I just finished my latest video project today. This was probably the most effort I’ve put into anything I’ve done to date… more moving parts and shots than previous videos. I think it was also my first multi-location video as well.
Fun to shoot. Fun to edit (to a point). It changed focus from being an emotional, tiring journey to a lighthearted romp across various landscapes (the video, not my attitude toward making it). It also changed from having a somewhat serious message to… well… not.
I shot it using a Kodak Playsport and a Kodak Zi8. Editing was done using Hitfilm Ultimate. Music composed with SmartSound Sonicfire Pro. Additional sound cleanup was done using Audacity.
