Canadian photographer Gregory Colbert collaborated with animal species around the world to create Ashes and Snow, a groundbreaking exhibit of photographs and films that explores humanity’s relation to the natural world. His remarkable sepia-toned images glimpse a world in which humans live in profound harmony with the rest of the animal kingdom. His poetic style — more art-house film than nature documentary — is unique among wildlife photographers, and it exerts a powerful, almost hypnotic effect on the viewer, awakening a primal feeling of kinship with the natural world. As the New York Times notes, “The power of the images comes less from their formal beauty than from the way they envelop the viewer in their mood.”

Part of the exhibition’s brilliance comes from its permanent home within an impermanent structure, the Nomadic Museum, a portable gallery space designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban and made entirely of shipping containers and other recycled or reusable materials. Dawn and I saw the unusual structure during our 2006 vacation, even photographed it, without realizing what lay within. Had we known, we certainly would have enjoyed the experience, described by many as almost spiritual.

Since its Venice premiere in 2002, “Ashes and Snow” has attracted more than a million visitors as it travels the world. The museum debuted in New York in 2005, subsequently opened in Santa Monica, California and Tokyo, Japan, and will travel indefinitely to ports of call with no final destination. Colbert considers the exhibition a work in progress, and plans to develop his “21st-century bestiary” for years to come.

The website is best viewed using Flash and takes a little practice to navigate. Moving the mouse across a page, for instance, reveals thumbnails which, when clicked, display additional images. The work is truly unique and worth spending the time necessary to experience.

Thanks for the “heads up”, Michael!

No, not Richmond, California or Richmond, Virginia. The plane! The plane!

I can’t believe this beautiful piece of aviation history is still for sale! $2700/offers? Hell, I’m tempted to buy it myself to donate to the McClellan Aviation Museum here in Sacramento. Instead, I think I’ll try to get the McClellan folks together with the seller. This beautifully restored airplane needs a home where folks will appreciate it!

Regular contributer Dave gave me the heads up on this. Here are some of the particulars:

It’s a 1929 Ford 4-AT-E Tri-Motor restored to an extraordinarily high standard. In 1929 it was delivered as a new passenger plane to Mamer Flying Service in Spokane, Washington. It was later sold to K-T Flying Service of Honolulu and was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Brought back to the mainland in 1946 by a private owner, it was leased by TWA for their 1949 20th anniversary celebration. It then went to an agricultural operator in Idaho and was modified as a sprayer and also as one of the pioneer forest fire fighting air tankers. Johnson Flying Service in Montana flew it for several years to drop Smoke Jumpers and supplies to fire fighters.

Since 1969 the plane has been privately owned and hangar stored by Dolph Overton and was part of his Wings and Wheels museum collection. It is currently owned by the Overton Family Trust, which was created by Mr. Overton to fund the plane’s restoration and facilitate its sale.

In November, 2005 the Tri-Motor was flown from Goldsboro, NC to Richmond, VA where (until recently) it was on public display at the Virginia Aviation Museum. It has also graced the cover of the March, 2006 issue of Trade-A-Plane. Currently hangared at Petersburg-Dinwiddie Airport in central Virginia, it is available for viewing and inspection by appointment only.

Here’s the link for all the details, more photos and to contact the seller direct. It’s a beautiful piece of aviation history. I’d love to see it find a new home.

A while back, the fun-loving folks at Google asked people to show a little imagination. They wanted creative videos showing how G-Mail (Google’s new e-mail service) travels from one point in the world to another. Google received about 1,100 videos from more than 65 countries. And what did they do with them you ask? Well, they edited them into this very entertaining collaborative video short…

Thanks Michael!

One of the things about the fashion industry that can be quite entertaining is how it sometimes goes way over the top to introduce a new offering. Take this story I found on Perr-Bear….

LONDON (AFP) - To their high society owners, a pair of haute couture shoes can be a precious thing. But to guard a 62,000 pound (120,000 dollar) pair of ruby, sapphire and diamond-encrusted Rene Caovilla sandals at their London launch, retailer Harrods went to extreme lengths: bringing in a live Egyptian cobra to patrol the shoe counter.

Whether hiring a poisonous snake is, strictly speaking, the most effective means of guarding precious footwear might be a moot point with security experts. But it makes for a pretty effective photo opportunity.

A spokeswoman for Harrods admitted that the cobra had been hired strictly for Monday’s launch of the shoe collection. “The snake has now been returned to its owner,” she said.

So no need to fear snake bites at the shoe counter, then? “Not unless you’re a burglar,” the spokeswoman said.

The killer heels (No Dawn, you can’t have them!) were designed by Rene Caovilla, renowned for using rare jewels on his glamorous shoes popular among the celebrity set; Caovilla clients include Diane Kruger and Carmen Electra. This “creation” is the limited edition “Nyssia” sandal. The cobra featured on the shoes has eyes made of rubies and wears a brilliant-cut 3.5-carat diamond and crown on its head. The sinewy body is studded with round-cut, pave-set sapphires: a total of 20.60 carats.

Impressed? I’m sure Cedrick the Snake was a big hit at Harrod’s. But he may want to lay low for a while. Cobra skin is sometimes used to make couture shoes; he might become the next Caovilla “creation”… Video

As explained in a recent article at TechShout, the Storm Worm email virus, which first attacked in January 2007, tries to trick recipients into opening an executable attachment file that can hijack their computers. Security companies have said that Storm Worm has managed to quickly drive global virus levels 60 times higher than their daily average.

Once installed on a personal computer, Storm Worm takes control of the machine by adding the infected Windows PC to a “bot army” of compromised computers that are connected to a custom peer-to-pear network where it can download new updates, upload personal information from the compromised computer, and scan e-mail addresses to send out spam to further the attacks.

According to Adam Swidler, senior manager of solutions marketing at security firm Postini, the virus can be detected by up-to-date antivirus software. Its spread can be controlled by most Internet providers using up-to-date virus filters. These filters should stop it before it reaches inboxes.

However, the best solution to avoid serious trouble, said Swidler, is to delete any e-mails with subject lines that refer to the worms or the word love. “Definitely don’t click the attachments,” he added.

A serious problem for Windows users. Here’s an update from Michael…

The Storm Worm is turning out to be one of the most resilient attacks in history. The creators use spam messages to entice users to a malicious Web site. The site uses JavaScript to launch exploits against your browser and programs. If this attack fails, you’re encouraged to download the virus manually. The virus turns your machine into a zombie.

Spam messages associated with the Storm Worm have taken many forms. [Recently], it was coming as confirmation messages from various sites. It has also taken the form of e-card spam. The messages originally warned of a European storm. Now, they entice you with a YouTube video.

Folks, the creators of the Storm Worm have planned the attack carefully and they’re staying ahead of security warnings. Make sure your security programs are updated and Windows is fully patched. And be careful where you click.

And one final note:

Infected computers generally show little sign of their infection; they just become unwilling members of the worm’s “bot army”. But emails you send to friends and business associates can be infected and their data compromised. Best to (1) trash suspicious emails, and (2) update and use your virus software often. More here.

A couple of hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his eyes are rolled back in his head.

The other hunter whips out his cell phone and calls Emergency Services. He gasps into the phone to the operator, “I think my friend is dead! What can I do?”

The operator, in a calm, soothing voice, responds, “Take it easy, sir, I can help you. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.” There is momentary silence, then a shot is heard. The guy’s voice comes back on the line. He says, “Okay, now what?”

Here’s an interesting tidbit. It seems that while David Watanabe was trying to report a potential problem via iTunes, selectable options for “Movie Rental” appeared in the list as shown on the above screenshot. Are rental movies coming to iTunes? I wouldn’t be at all surprised, would you?

David adds that “Engadget … confirmed the veracity of this screenshot, saying that at the time of writing, they ‘verified that these options are still viewable’. These options have subsequently been removed, since there presence was clearly a mistake. However, this third-party verification should remove any doubt as to the validity of this screenshot.”

Now, this could simply have been a few Apple guys testing theoretical functions and inserting humorous test data. Or not. Movie rentals via iTunes would certainly be nice, especially if they’ll stream via iMovie to your big screen…

Okay, I took the “Nerd Test” I got from Grouchy Old Cripple to get a handle on my “relative nerdiness.” There were some surprises, of course…

…I was surprised I scored as high as I did on Sci-Fi/Comic and that I scored higher in History/Literature than Science/Math which were always my best subjects.

Curious? Take the quiz! Learn something about your inner nerd!

The California State Fair came and left with lower total (but greater daily) attendance than last year owing, officials point out, to a run that was six days shorter. In addition, it was hot - really hot - and the wonderful delta breezes we usually rely on to cool things down brought little relief.

Dawn and I go to the Fair at least a couple times every year to “take it all in,” but this year, because of the heat, we decided once was enough. We’d gone one weekday right after work and stayed until closing so we could enjoy the evening fireworks. We watched The Temptations perform, toured the exhibit halls, took in some of the livestock and finished on the midway. As has become our custom, we even rode the giant Ferris wheel. It was a lot of ground to cover in too little time and, with the heat, we were exhausted (I was drenched!); I think it was still pushing 90 degrees when we left!

One of the things we love but missed seeing this year was the judging of the 4-H kids with their livestock. Bidders pay top dollar at the after-fair auction for the hand-raised quasi-pets. We also missed the horse races, the herding dog demonstrations, the pig races (oh yeah, pig races!) and the corn husking competition (Dawn’s even entered a couple times over the years!) And no, I didn’t allow them to launch me 180 feet into the air with a giant rubber band this year. Good thing, too, because there was a mishap. A “rubber band” snapped and left the two riders stranded 80 feet in the air (thank goodness for the safety cable) and a bit shaken up!

We finally received word that Canon has repaired and shipped Dawn’s new pocket camera, but not in time for the Fair. So I took my Nikon and a “walk around” lens to try, in one visit, to capture at least some of the flavor of the event. I’ve posted 40 images… Enjoy!

A reminder: All the album images are clickable; once in the album, clicking on an image enlarges it, clicking again returns you to the regular sized image.

It’s been six years. Perhaps the emotions you experienced that day - terror, disbelief, anger - have faded. Perhaps you think that day is a horrible part of our history to be filed away. It’s not. The enemy is reforming and will strike again. The war against evil is now and forever a part of our lives. We must be vigilant. We must use all means to defeat the enemy or he will surely defeat us. That is the nature of war. And make no mistake - we are at war.

We must remember the act of war that brought us here. Take a few moments to watch this video. Do you remember that day? Were you angry? Are you still angry?

We are Americans. We honor our dead and we give aid and comfort to those who have suffered. But then we return to the battlefield to engage and defeat the aggressor. He is still there, plotting, planning to attack again. The war is not over…

Remember those who perished that day. Say a prayer for those who carry on without them. Never forget.

During World War II, the Army Corps of Engineers needed to hide the Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant to protect it from possible Japanese air attacks. They covered it with camouflage netting and trompe l’oeil to make it look like a rural subdivision from the air. As this series of 9 photographs illustrates, the ruse was quite effective, allowing workers to carry out their daily routines without fear of becoming targets…

Tip o’ the hat to Davey!

A woman went to the doctor’s office and was seen by a young, new doctor. After a few minutes in the examination room, the doctor told her she was pregnant. She burst out of the room, screaming as she ran down the hall.

An older doctor stopped her and asked what was wrong and the woman explained. After hearing what had transpired, he had her sit down and relax in another room.

The doctor marched down the hallway to the exam room and confronted the younger doctor. “What’s the matter with you? Mrs. Johnson is 59 years old, has four grown children and seven grandchildren, and you tell her she’s pregnant?”

The new doctor continued writing in the woman’s file and, without looking up, asked, “Does she still have the hiccups..?”

These are purportedly photographs (click to enlarge) of the worlds largest helicopter, sighted on the tarmac in Dease Lake, B.C., a couple weeks ago. It was apparently being used to move mining equipment and cargo to Galore Creek, a new mine in that area. Called the Utsky and owned by a Russian company, the behemoth chopper couldn’t land at the unpaved air strip at Bob Quinn Lake (its rotor wash blows 12-inch rocks around like leaves!) so it had to land at Dease Lake until the landing site north of Bob Quinn could be inspected. It’s probably bigger than anything ever seen at the Dease Lake Airport, including the terminal building!

Stats (unverified):

• Russian crew of 6 (2 pilots, 1 navigator, 2 engineers (mechanics), 1 cargo person)

• Carries 75 troops

• Consumes 2000 litres of fuel per hour

• Range: 580 km

• Rental rate: $30,000/hr

• Length: 40 metres

• Rotor: 8 blades, each about 2 feet wide

Thanks Davey!

For those of you who didn’t catch this season’s America’s Got Talent, you missed perhaps the best ventriloquist act I’ve ever seen. Terry Fator went on to win the $1 million contest and will be appearing in Las Vegas before the year is out. Give this video a watch. It may just reshape your perception of ventriloquists…

Want more? Watch all of Fator’s America’s Got Talent performances on YouTube.

This comes from Sara…