Posts
Thursday, March 12, 2009
End
I'm a little behind, but I'll blame it on my current location. I was greatly saddened today to learn of the demise of a famous Colorado publication, the Rocky Mountain News. It was my newspaper of choice and was Colorado's oldest continually operating business. It nearly reached it's 150th birthday, had it made it until April 23rd it would have marked this amazing anniversary. Can you imagine a business in the west that predates the civil war? It's a terrible blow to Denver, and really brings us face to face with the reality of print media losing ground to tv/blog/internet news.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Sadly, the fish is dead.
We've got a tiny little fish tank with a couple of guppies in it. FFM greets said guppies every day with a hearty "ISH, ISH, blublublublublub!" He's very very very good about not banging or poking the tiny tank and has never dropped anything in it even though if he stood on his tippee toes he probably could.
Thus I was utterly horrified when my otherwise generally well behaved child (currently when he knows the rules he's really pretty good) tried to drop an unidentified object into the tank. I was distracted and not really paying attention, but out of the corner of my eye I saw the tippee toes, the outstretched hand, the small grey object. I, of course, screeched at my poor unsuspecting child who promptly dropped the object back on the floor. Only then did I tune him in and notice that he was saying "ish, ish, ish."
Sadly, at some point between when I checked on them last night and when FFM found it today, one of our two guppies made the leap from the tank to the floor. FFM was picking the poor dried up little fishy and trying to put him back in his home.
After the initial sadness (and slight gross out) I enjoyed a moment of FFM's developing logic. He figured out, all on his own, that that fish belonged in that tank even though, as far as he knows, it's never been anywhere outside of that tank before.
Thus I was utterly horrified when my otherwise generally well behaved child (currently when he knows the rules he's really pretty good) tried to drop an unidentified object into the tank. I was distracted and not really paying attention, but out of the corner of my eye I saw the tippee toes, the outstretched hand, the small grey object. I, of course, screeched at my poor unsuspecting child who promptly dropped the object back on the floor. Only then did I tune him in and notice that he was saying "ish, ish, ish."
Sadly, at some point between when I checked on them last night and when FFM found it today, one of our two guppies made the leap from the tank to the floor. FFM was picking the poor dried up little fishy and trying to put him back in his home.
After the initial sadness (and slight gross out) I enjoyed a moment of FFM's developing logic. He figured out, all on his own, that that fish belonged in that tank even though, as far as he knows, it's never been anywhere outside of that tank before.
Friday, March 6, 2009
The Coolest Video This Week
I know sometimes video takes a lot of time to load, and then you have to adjust your volume, and sometimes it's a real pain...but this is really nifty folks. And it doesn't have any toddlers in it at all.
Fun facts:
The video was shot all stills - roughly 3225 still photos for the entire video, using one camera, hanging from the ceiling for the main body of the movie.
* It took 4 weeks before shooting to create an animated computer generated storyboard for the video, with 3d dummies for the characters.
* It took only 2 days of shooting for the live actors on set to re-create the 3.5 minutes computer sequence, frame by frame.
Fun facts:
The video was shot all stills - roughly 3225 still photos for the entire video, using one camera, hanging from the ceiling for the main body of the movie.
* It took 4 weeks before shooting to create an animated computer generated storyboard for the video, with 3d dummies for the characters.
* It took only 2 days of shooting for the live actors on set to re-create the 3.5 minutes computer sequence, frame by frame.
The Coolest Trick This Week
To get the stain out of your carpet left by the green crayon that fell onto the floor behind the curtain, you promptly forgot about, and then proceed to melt into a puddle, use WD-40. Then clean up the WD-40 with soap and water. Thank you to Crayola for having an entire stain removal guide on their website.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Uluru
You know us, a long weekend and it's tough for us to stay put. This past weekend was a holiday weekend and we headed out to the Red Centre (or Center, depends who/where you are). The three of us flew from Perth to Ayer's Rock, or Uluru, about 450km/280mi southwest of Alice Springs.
More than 80% of Australia's population lives along the coastlines, most of it in the half dozen major cities. Going to the Red Centre is really going beyond, towns are sparse and smaller, ranches are big, and the sky is huge. It was great! The downsides were the heat (104-111F) and the flies, but that was simply the time of year we chose to go.
I'm not joking about the flies. This time of year we weanies (and even some locals) need fly nets to be comfortable any time we went outdoors. The flies don't bite, but they do tickle your ears, nose, eyes, and any other exposed parts. They're small, so it's not bothersome on your less sensitive parts like arms and legs, but it's annoying on your face. FFM wore his 'special' hat all weekend and didn't fuss at it once.
After the Sydney Opera House, Uluru is probably Australia's most recognized icon. The red sandstone formation stands 348 m (1,142 ft) high with most of its bulk below the ground, and if you want to walk around it, it's 9.4 km (5.8 mi) around. Uluru is famous for it's color changes, as the light hits it differently at different times of day and at different times of the year it is all shades of red and purple.
The area around is flat with some low, rolling hills so the large red lump of sandstone is impressive for it's uniqueness in the landscape. All of a sudden it just pops out at you.
We considered doing the hike around, but the weather this time of year is just too hot for a 5 mile hike with our little 20 month old furnace. We did a short walk to the water hole and even that had him really overheated. It's so dry that the sweat evaporates off your body immediately so you don't get all drippy.
Looking at the waterhole I'm amazed at the lack of fractures or joints. This rock is smooth. All of Uluru is like this, which is in stark contrast to the red rock I'm used to seeing in the Western US.
The surface was textured, which the Uluru website tells me is from the chemical decay of the minerals in the arkose sandstone.
After our trip around and to the cultural centre we went home for naps and snacks. Later we went back for sunset viewing.
Hey, I DID go on this trip! Travis took about six of these pictures, and the ONLY one where FFM isn't trying to leap out of the picture is this one with a posse of Asian tourists sharing our lovely backdrop. *sigh*
At sunset Uluru glows red in the surrounding desert.
Heading home I spotted a herd of camels grazing on a ridge. Camels are not native, they were imported in the 19th century and were outback transport until railways and roads were established.
Kata Tjuta, also called Mount Olga or The Olgas, is another rock formation about 25 km (16 mi) from Uluru. It's a different type of sandstone and so has eroded differently, leaving lots of large lumps instead of one large monolith. Both Uluru and Kata Tjuta have great cultural significance for the Anangu Aboriginal Tribe who are the custodians of both sites.
We stayed at the resort a few miles away from Uluru. After getting our fill of geology and Aboriginal culture our afternoons were spent at the hotel pools. FFM gibber jabbered to his many new friends each day and we learned that if you're covered in pool water the flies don't bother you.
More than 80% of Australia's population lives along the coastlines, most of it in the half dozen major cities. Going to the Red Centre is really going beyond, towns are sparse and smaller, ranches are big, and the sky is huge. It was great! The downsides were the heat (104-111F) and the flies, but that was simply the time of year we chose to go.I'm not joking about the flies. This time of year we weanies (and even some locals) need fly nets to be comfortable any time we went outdoors. The flies don't bite, but they do tickle your ears, nose, eyes, and any other exposed parts. They're small, so it's not bothersome on your less sensitive parts like arms and legs, but it's annoying on your face. FFM wore his 'special' hat all weekend and didn't fuss at it once.
After the Sydney Opera House, Uluru is probably Australia's most recognized icon. The red sandstone formation stands 348 m (1,142 ft) high with most of its bulk below the ground, and if you want to walk around it, it's 9.4 km (5.8 mi) around. Uluru is famous for it's color changes, as the light hits it differently at different times of day and at different times of the year it is all shades of red and purple. 
The area around is flat with some low, rolling hills so the large red lump of sandstone is impressive for it's uniqueness in the landscape. All of a sudden it just pops out at you.
We considered doing the hike around, but the weather this time of year is just too hot for a 5 mile hike with our little 20 month old furnace. We did a short walk to the water hole and even that had him really overheated. It's so dry that the sweat evaporates off your body immediately so you don't get all drippy.
Looking at the waterhole I'm amazed at the lack of fractures or joints. This rock is smooth. All of Uluru is like this, which is in stark contrast to the red rock I'm used to seeing in the Western US. 
The surface was textured, which the Uluru website tells me is from the chemical decay of the minerals in the arkose sandstone.
After our trip around and to the cultural centre we went home for naps and snacks. Later we went back for sunset viewing.Hey, I DID go on this trip! Travis took about six of these pictures, and the ONLY one where FFM isn't trying to leap out of the picture is this one with a posse of Asian tourists sharing our lovely backdrop. *sigh*
At sunset Uluru glows red in the surrounding desert.
Heading home I spotted a herd of camels grazing on a ridge. Camels are not native, they were imported in the 19th century and were outback transport until railways and roads were established.
Kata Tjuta, also called Mount Olga or The Olgas, is another rock formation about 25 km (16 mi) from Uluru. It's a different type of sandstone and so has eroded differently, leaving lots of large lumps instead of one large monolith. Both Uluru and Kata Tjuta have great cultural significance for the Anangu Aboriginal Tribe who are the custodians of both sites.
We stayed at the resort a few miles away from Uluru. After getting our fill of geology and Aboriginal culture our afternoons were spent at the hotel pools. FFM gibber jabbered to his many new friends each day and we learned that if you're covered in pool water the flies don't bother you.
