be the change you want to see in the world

I caught that Bald-faced Hornet again today. Great detail so click-through to the bigger versions if you are interested.

Two strategies for macro with insects. I’ve been doing the handheld chase method lately where you follow the bugs around and try to catch them where they land. This results in about a one-in-twenty success ratio because getting the focus right is very tough.

I want to try the other method of setting up with a tripod and pointing where you think they will land. I expect the latter will be kind of like fishing. Nice to hang out in a flower garden waiting for your subject, but be ready to pull the trigger when the bait is being taken. How’s that for mixed metaphors?

MEDIA ADVISORY: M06-128

NASA Announces Dark Matter Discovery

Astronomers who used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 21, to announce how dark and normal matter have been forced apart in an extraordinarily energetic collision.

Reporters must call Megan Watzke at the Chandra Press Office at: 617- 496-7998 or e-mail: mwatzke@cfa.harvard.edu for participation information. Shortly before the start of the briefing, images and graphics about the research will be posted at:

http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2006/1e0657/

Spent the day up island at Parksville. Beautiful place. Beautiful weather. The reason we went up was to meet a friend and see the 2006 Canadian Open Sand Sculpture Championship. He’s a sample of the art:

The event is suffering under its own success. It is over-sponsored and caged in behind a yellow taped area. Despite the major corporate brands all over the place, including on the sculptures themselves, they still charge an admission “by donation.”

These sculptures should be on the beach, but I’m sure there are lots of good reasons why they are in the park next to the beach.

Nonetheless, the sculptures were pretty cool, with notable cheesy exceptions. One sculpture depicts a cat of some sort and a naked woman in analagous poses. Can anyone say black velvet painting?

Another gorgeous day in Victoria today. Plenty of action on the Gorge as the dragon boats were in full swing. Check out my set of dragon boat photos, but first, check out this shot of a bee on a blackberry.

Might be a wasp. I can’t tell the difference. It wasn’t very cooperative. Kept showing me its hind end, but the focus on this is really good so click “all sizes” to see the hi-res versions once you get to the Flickr page.

A 500 Million dollar donation to the United Nations from a private foundation headed up by Bill Gates has captured the imagination of people everywhere. It is an astounding sum of money. It is a welcome contribution to a fund that is running short of its requirements due to the delinquency of committed donor nations in the G8. Despite the Gates donation, the fund is 2.7B shy of what it needs to adequately deal with the challenge of AIDs in Africa.

500 Million dollars. That’s 1.5 percent of what George W. Bush has spent in Iraq.

Let’s rewind to 2001. It is post September 11, and Bush is standing on the pile of rubble, speaking to America and the world, letting his intentions be known.

What if, instead of pledging to kill the terrorists, he had done something truly remarkable? George W. Bush has said that he accepts Jesus Christ as his personal saviour. What if, in the face of an attack, he had followed Christ’s example and turned the other cheek? What if, instead of taking actions that have now resulted in the deaths of a minimum of 40k civilians, alienated America’s friends and hardened her enemies, he had pledged to help the world face down its worst problems, vanquish the many scourges facing the underdeveloped world, and lead the way to a peaceful Earth?

The outpouring of grattitude would have been incredible. The leadership example would have been world-historic, and could have ushered in a new era of cooperation and peace. Instead, under Bush, America is a mace-dragging, oil-hungry murderer of civilians on a scale that dwarfs the 9/11 terrorists. The only thing Bush has vanquished is the good will generated from empathy over 9/11. And as we see today, the terrorists continue to plot destruction and death for our families and our children.

A failure. Bush is a world-historical failure.

300 Billion dollars over four years. The opportunities were limitless, and they are now lost.