History, folklore, or rumor?

This is an examination on stories, assumptions, and filling in the blanks, which changed as I was writing it.

I grew up on the northern tip of Cayuga Lake, one of the Finger Lakes of central New York, and right down where my street ended at the lake’s edge sits an historical marker telling of a former bridge across the lake from colonial times. Standing there and looking out over the water, read more

10 tips from an expert

No, not me I’m actually talking about an article by Andrew Evans called, “10 Tips for Photographing Wildlife in Galápagos.” Evans shoots for National Geographic Traveler, and thus has more cred than I’ll ever have. Definitely check out that article, because he’s got some decent points.

Of course, with a lead-in like that, it means the “but” is coming, and read more

Amateur naturalism, part six

It’s been a while since I tackled another aspect of this topic, but this is the right time of year for this one, so let’s delve into orphaned wildlife and rehabilitation.

I used to work in this field a fair amount, both in administration of wildlife organizations and as an active raptor [birds of prey] rehabilitator, plus I served as wildlife adviser in several different situations. So read more

Put down the Dymo, Avery

Several recent posts and articles have highlighted a problem that I’ve seen far too many times from, quite frankly, people who should probably know better. It’s rampant within philosophy, and unfortunately, there are still too many who think philosophy is something to be revered, so it tends to cross over into other disciplines as well. For lack of a better way of describing it right read more

The fine line between clever and stupid

Quite a few months back, perhaps as much as a few years ago, I started thinking about how and when I began to embrace critical thinking. I mentioned before that I used to believe in a whole lot of crap and gradually left it all behind, but was there some particular event that started this process? We like read more

The return of hummer cam

I just happened to check in on this when reviewing some old posts, and it seems there are already eggs in the nest. So check out ‘Phoebe,’ a returning resident hummingbird (I apologize for the ads – it’s how the server is hosted):



Live TV : Ustream

[You also might enjoy this. I’m a bit of an aircraft enthusiast, and as I was writing this post just now I heard a plane read more

More Darwin (less cowbell)

Nice day out there, so it’s time to go see if there’s anything to be captured in mid-February, with the added incentive that it’s Charles Darwin’s birthday and I should illustrate natural selection. Hmmmm.

Okay, let’s start with the tiny winter flowers that can be found here in North Carolina, in corners and areas that see little traffic. With some poking around, I managed read more

Marvel of design

Walkabout podcast – Marvel of design

I delayed this one slightly to serve as my Darwin Day post ;-)

I freely admit that there are some really stunning things to be found in nature – in fact, that’s what many of my ‘Too Cool‘ posts are intended to highlight. Predator/prey relationships, highly read more

On composition, part 16: Focal length



Focal length. Some people consider it the “zoom” of a camera. It’s expressed, though not really explained, by the numbers on the lens that say “18-55mm” or some such. Essentially, it determines how close the subject appears, the magnification or lack thereof. There are, naturally, the obvious aspects of using focal length in composition – read more

Stupidly proud of myself

I mentioned before, I take pride in being able to retrace my steps, even on trips long ago where I’ve never been before or since. But back when I added the Google Earth placemarks to many of the images in the photo gallery, one in particular was a little tricky: the time exposure on the side of the highway.

It was the night of a total lunar eclipse, and after totality had ended, I went out read more

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