Speed Racer themed automobile service stations in Japan. The site is entirely in Japanese, but for the cheerfully curious the site is a fun place to click around in.
マッハＧoＧoＧo・車検・車買取・車販売・板金塗装・ＧＳ l 車検他TOTALカービジネスの マッハFC OFFICIAL WEB SITE
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.
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.
Flaming Turtle
Milk chocolate, caramel and
chopped pecans, flambéed tableside.
Dippers...
Fresh strawberries, banana, cheesecake, tasty marshmallows, pound
cake and brownies for you to dip into any of our decadent chocolate
fondue creations.
Pictured here are:
Foreground:
Boston Lager Cheddar Cheese Fondue
Aged cheddar cheeses blended with Samuel Adams Boston Lager,®
Tabasco,® Worcestershire sauce and chopped chives.
Bread and apples for dipping.
Background:
Strawberry Basil Lemonade
Nothing like Mom used to make! Smirnoff Strawberry
Twist vodka, fresh strawberries, basil and lemonade.
[Click the title of this Blogger post to go directly to my Picasa Gallery and view these images (and more) in greater detail.]
I've been busy shooting but haven't had time to post much. I've been shooting for fun, but I've set random goals here and there to test myself. The Air Show set features attempts to convey the scale of one of the huge cargo planes on display. The City Life '08 night shoot wasn't very successful because I strongly resisted the urge to use the flash. Well, here are some of my latest sets:
7/16/08 - Wednesday Afternoon at demolition of "The Coop", Patterson Cooperative High School
7/18/08 - Friday Evening at Great American Ballpark for Cincinnati Reds versus New York Mets
>
7/20/08 - Sunday Afternoon at Dayton International Airport for Dayton Airshow
7/23/08 - Cicada Hatchlings
8/10/08 - Sunday Afternoon at Montgomery County Fairground for the German Picnic
8/17/08 - Sunday Morning at Fraze for Breakfast with The Beatles with VenusLoveCircus
8/18/08 - Monday Night at Riverscape with the City Life '08 statues
At the pool today, I spotted what I thought was a butterfly. Then I noticed it wasn't moving like a butterfly. Then I noticed it was a tiny bird! I thought hummingbirds were larger, so this tiny avian really took me by surprise. I went home to get my camera and tripod and probably got some strange looks from other folks at the pool while setting up... I was too concerned with getting my shots to actually notice. BTW, there were originally two hummingbirds, but I only saw one, or one at a time (who can be sure from 20 feet away) once I had the camera ready.
I had to keep my distance so I wouldn't scare it/them, so I used full zoom and tried to pre-set my focus on some of the floral clusters they were frequenting. Check out the slideshow below. The images aren't great, because of their size, my distance, and the fact that it was necessary to severely crop the images. Prior to cropping these photos were like a "Where's Waldo" picture, Waldo, in this case, being the hummingbird. I'm excited to have caught my first hummingbird photos. If you click to visit my Picasa gallery, you'll find my other recent collections from my first Reds game at Great American Ballpark, the 2008 Dayton Airshow, and some pretty cool new cicada images. Enjoy!
