2008-09-17

Ike in Ohio

Power to our neighborhood was knocked out by Ike's remains on Sunday afternoon, around 1pm. My wife and I were getting ready to leave to attend a wedding. High wind often knocks out our little corner of the electrical grid so we believed everything would be working by the time we returned from the ceremony and reception. We were wrong. Power only came back a short time ago, around 11pm Wednesday night.

What I love most about Dayton and the Miami Valley in Ohio is exactly what has created the biggest delays in restoring power here. The trees. Ike took care of a lot of overdue trimming, topping, and clearing of deadwood, and deposited most of it in area utility lines. Nearly two-million Ohioans were left without power after Ike's passing.

The loss of electricity was a big inconvenience for most of us, but only an inconvenience. In many areas it became something of an adventure, and in other areas it was a great excuse for block parties and blow-outs, you know... since all that food in the fridge is gonna go bad anyway, unless we eat it all now!

Here are some photos taken at the wedding during Ike's passing and the day after at my mother's house. Best wishes to everyone whose path Ike crossed.

2008-09-03

PinkTentacle.com

If you know me you know I like to photograph cicadas and you know I enjoy watching "Attack of the Show" (AotS). AotS includes an occasional segment called "What's up with Japan?" highlighting the strange and fascinating Japanese culture. A J-Pop star known as Shokotan was shown having adorned herself with cicada shells and throwing the shells to her fans during a performance.

When I searched for these strange photos I found them hosted on PinkTentacle.com. Despite the implications of it's title PinkTentacle is a fascinating site; from cicada-wearing pop stars to dome homes and more.

Here are some interesting things I found at Pink Tentacle*:

I liked these images of large concrete things used in Japan to prevent land erosion.
http://www.pinktentacle.com/2008/08/photos-tetrapod-beaches-of-japan/

Cicada shell cosplay
http://www.pinktentacle.com/2008/08/cicada-shell-cosplay/

Unique method of building demolition
http://www.pinktentacle.com/2008/07/video-daruma-otoshi-skyscraper-demolition/

Floodgate photos
http://www.pinktentacle.com/2008/07/floodgates/

and much, much more*.

Enjoy!


*You may notice I am interested in unusual structures and feats of engineering.