July 23, 2023 · 20:42

Day 532

The convention is winding down so I took a hike off between panels and concerts to find large government buildings, statues, parks, and critters.

Louis Riel got hanged for being a traitor back in the day, apparently for insisting that EVERYONE had rights instead of just the the white, male, French-Canadians of Ontario and Quebec. Today he’s a Founding Father out in Manitoba with a huge statue.

Plus ça change…

Soooooooooo many Canada Geese! There must have been 200-250 or more in this group, plus stragglers all over the grounds. They were calm, lots of signs warning folks against feeding them, so no expectations on their part. But watch where you step… IYKYK!!

Way up high, apparently 25’ tall, covered in a small fortune in gold, and anatomically correct, is Golden Boy. I have no idea who is represented by the four sets of figures on the corners beneath him. Perhaps I’ll check out the power of my Google-foo when I get home.

Which, with luck, will be tomorrow evening. Wish us luck!

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Filed under Birds, Photography, Travel

July 22, 2023 · 20:58

Day 531

Interior lobby of the place where we had dinner yesterday.

Some of the best food I’ve ever had! And with that gorgeous stained glass at the landing on that stunning staircase!

If you ever get a chance to indulge in some fine dining in Winnipeg, go to 529 Wellington!

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Filed under Photography, Travel

July 21, 2023 · 21:09

Day 530

Went on some sightseeing quests around the city today.

Found flocks and flocks of the dreaded Cobra Chickens!

Came outside after a wonderful anniversary dinner and found thunderheads punching their way toward the stratosphere. Five hours later (i.e., now) there are lightning bolts all over!

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Filed under Birds, Critters, Travel, Weather

July 20, 2023 · 20:27

Day 529

Convention started. Smaller than I expected.

Dinner with friends. (Still eating WAAAAAY too much on this trip. 🤯 )

I love that our hotel has balconies. And we’re on a high floor.

Beautiful sunset view with a sliver of a crescent moon.

Skies are clear tonight – any sunspot activity? Dare we hope for auroras? ❤️💫✨☄️🌠

As I’m finishing writing this on my phone (well, THERE’s your problem!) one of my kids kindly gives me the heads up that “today’s” post just reposted the same as yesterday’s post. Sorry ‘bout that all y’all, blame phat thumbs and an obvious user error issue, but THIS is today’s post.

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Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Sunsets

July 19, 2023 · 21:32

Day 528

Trying to get over being jet lagged – that’s a young person’s game. Delays, trying to clear Customs after midnight and then funding a cab to the hotel didn’t help.

A couple of showers, a bit of sun, some convection, and overall a very pleasant day to try & get my circadian rhythms back on an even keel.

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Filed under Photography, Travel, Weather

July 18, 2023 · 17:30

Day 527

Travel day

MSP is a much bigger place than I remember. Granted, it’s been years, but jeeze louise! Good thing we had a layover of almost five hours!

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Filed under Photography, Travel

July 17, 2023 · 23:43

Darwin Award Nominees

There’s a new volcanic eruption in Iceland, with webcams set up:

and drones overhead:

(Isak Finnbogason’s drone work is spectacular, I recommend following his work on YouTube!)

The views can be spectacular, and I’m sure seeing it in person is a life-changing experience, much like seeing a total solar eclipse or a spectacular aurora display.

(Image from RUV.is)

When this volcanic field erupted a couple of years ago it became a hugely popular tourist attraction.

(Image from RUV.is)

Not entirely safe, to be sure, but once the eruption became more stable and they were reasonably sure that there weren’t going to be any toxic gasses emitted, the tourists were allowed to make a hike of a few kilometers in from the coast.

This eruption is more gassy, judging by all of the warnings that you see from the Icelandic authorities on various feeds, and tourists are supposed to be forbidden still.

(Image from RUV.is)

Not that that stops folks from walking in anyway. About once an hour or so today we would see someone wandering by the camera.

Which is annoying. Half a world away we’re wanting to see the volcano erupt, not someone who’s foolish enough to ignore all of the warnings to be there. And if you’re there, fine, good for you, but get out of the way! Don’t block the view of the camera!

(Image from RUV.is)

And risking your own daredevil butt is one thing, but bringing your kids along? Are you kidding me? That seems … reckless.

Then I think of some of the Christmas card pictures that get sent out from certain right-wing 2nd Amendment cultists who have younger children toting high-powered automatic weapons – maybe going hiking into an active volcano isn’t all that bad in comparison.

I’ve mentioned in the past (here and here) that WordPress gives out a little “atta boy!” if you post daily on your site. That daily streak continues.

Again, there were two days prior to this where consecutive day streaks were “broken” because I posted a few minutes after midnight – but I did post. If those streaks are added here, I would currently be at 1,192 days. That’s over 3.27 years. Not bad!

The next week may be challenging to keep that streak going. But the adventures should be epic!

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Filed under Freakin' Idiots!, Travel

July 16, 2023 · 23:18

Sunset – July 16th

It’s been a while!

Either it’s been clear and a million with <10% humidity or it’s been coastal clouds (May Gray leading to June Gloom).

Today finally there’s some moisture around (about a 5% chance of showers and thunderstorms over the coastal waters off in this direction) and something for the sunset to bounce off of.

Add in the odd contrail or two and it makes for a most beautiful display. A great way to end the weekend.

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Filed under Photography, Sunsets

July 15, 2023 · 23:23

Twitter Time Out

Huh!

It turns out if you respond to Ron Desantis’ Twitter ad (where he’s requesting support and money, of course) with a common phrase from my teenage days suggesting something anatomically improbable, you’ll get a “time out” and not be able to post on Twitter for a day or so.

HUH!!

First of all, isn’t that sort of thing protected political speech under the First Amendment? IANAL, but I watched a LOT of “Paper Chase” and I’m not sure John Houseman would have put up with any of this nonsense.

Secondly, my time out can’t even start until I “review and delete” the offending response? That feels way too much like an apology or an admission of guilt on my part, and that’s not happening! On the other hand, I am busier than god and I’ve got bigger fish to fry. That whole proverbial “hill you want to die on” thing…

Thirdly, I understand that while the suggested actions might be difficult for even a circus contortionist, the odds of good ol’ Ron being able to do them are, well, probably even worse than 🌟ME🌟 being able to do them. Still, the suggestion is hardly “abuse.” I like to think of it as good-hearted encouragement! Ron said he wanted 🌟ME🌟 on his team – don’t teammates encourage each other and urge each other to dream big?

(BTW, I saw someone I like on Twitter doing the “🌟ME🌟” thing today and while I suspect it paints a target on my back as an “olde,” I realized that A) I 🌟AM🌟 an “olde” and have been for quite a while, and B) I stopped giving a shit about the opinions of those who would diss me for being an “olde” back before most of them were born, so C) 🌟I’m🌟 going to keep doing it! It’s my name in the URL!)

But – I’ve digressed.

No, I’m not going to repeat the exact post, although you might still be able to see it on Twitter. I try to keep this site free of the worst of my extreme cussing, whereas Twitter is a PERFECT place for it. Especially since 2015 or so, if you catch the way I’ve drifted…

It’s weird – I get a time out for posting it, have to agree that it’s wrong and “delete” it, but it’s still up there so far as I can see. On the other hand, there are a LOT (or should that be “a 🌟LOT🌟”?) of really screwy things going on over at Twitter these days, so it may just be a screw up in their system. Who knows? Better yet, who cares?

I’ll be back to insulting fascists and blocking right-wing, guanopsychotic Nazis tomorrow. How long I’ll stay? Depends on whether or not they take the hint I was sending on the original note.

Just ’cause I was rude doesn’t mean I was wrong!

 

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Filed under Politics, Social Media

July 14, 2023 · 23:17

No Context For You – July 14th

The thing is with these “No Context For You” posts is that, while I may not be sharing any context for a blurry or distorted or altered image so that you can immediately figure out what it is and why, so far *I* have always known what it was, or at least had a pretty darn good guess.

Some of them have been pictures accidentally taken when the camera/phone got bumped or I had fat fingers while taking it out of my pocket or putting it into my pocket or some such thing. But when I look at the other pictures in the series around it and look at the time stamp to see where I was and what I was doing then, I can be pretty sure of my guess.

Not these! They’re colorful, which I like, but I found them in that old, old cache of misfiled cellphone pictures from 2008-2016. They’re old enough so that I don’t have a clue what they’re of or why/how they got taken.

A little mystery is good for us all. Granted, I would prefer to have the mystery be that I won that freakin’ HUGE lottery and I’ve used the hundreds of millions of dollars to establish myself with a secret superhero identity out fighting crime, injustice, and the Republican Party (but I repeat myself…), but no, we’ll just have to settle for the moment to being puzzled over some pictures that go back to sometime in late 2016.

They’re colorful. They’re weird. They’ve been found and pulled back from the abyss.

Take what you can get!

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Filed under Art, Photography