Fall 2010 images

I finally found the time to edit some images during the power outage of Dec 27.  These photos were made with a FinePix S5 Pro camera.  Hudson Valley, NY and Western Connecticut USA. October 17, 2010. 

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80's Networking Parties at Palladium

OK, how many remember these?... the networking parties at the Palladium nightclub in NYC in the mid to late '80's. I know... that is a long time ago. They were quite interesting. Working in Manhattan, the invitation cards were handed out around town in subway stations and coffee shops. We had to show up after 500pm but before 700pm on Fridays, then got to stay in the club when it opened up later that night without having to pay the more expensive cover charge. It was a bit awkward, though, because we were dressed in three piece suits and hauled around these big thick leather briefcases with all of our papers, manila folders and magazines. No mobile phones or laptop computers whatsoever. The Palladium was a huge nightclub, a former theater space. I remember hanging out on the dance floor with a drink in one hand, probably a cigarette in the other, with briefcase placed on the floor at our feet. Jerry and Mimi Rubin were standing together in the exact middle of the dance floor greeting guests. We knew who they were... Jerry, the 1960's counter culture activist, Yippee leader and pal of Abbie Hoffman. We thought it was cool to meet them and chat, like Manhattan royalty. The Palladium on 14th Street was torn down years and replaced by a NYU high rise dormitory. Jerry Rubin died after being struck by a car in Los Angeles in 1994. I found these tickets in a an old shoebox in my basement.

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Blockbuster Irony

Article about struggle of Blockbuster, and battle with RedBox over kiosks, includes a 'sponsored link' ad by Netflix. Ultimate irony.

NYC Chinatown and Brooklyn Bridge

We rode into NYC on Sunday of Labor Day weekend. Dim Sum in Chinatown, then a strole on the very busy pedestrian walkway of the Brooklyn Bridge. Beautiful September weather.

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AT&T company stores have LOTS of displays

I visited an AT&T store in Danbury, CT recently. The store was loaded with many displays.  

Here are a few pictures:

Accessories (blu-tooth headsets, etc.) in an acrylic case atop a locking cabinet; Three-sided take-one for cases; A large iPhone kiosk with video display and live product samples (video showing 3GS model) and a cloth banner sign for the 4GS model; U-Verse floor stand with brochure take-one's on top; and a peg-board floor stand spinner for more accessories.

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Digital Frame at Citibank

A Pandigital photo frame on the counter at local Citibank branch in Connecticut.  Not sure what the purpose of it is.... just had a few photos with no text.  Could have been selling a service or perhaps a premium offer for the frame itself. At any rate, I am seeing more digital frames being used at retail. 

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Red Bull can display

Spotted this ultra simple, small but eye-catching display for Red Bull carbonated beverage in a bar. Displays two actual size cans of the beverage, design is simple wire with a stamped sheet metal base with indented section for setting the bottom can in place. The top can is held in place by the bent wire. Powder coated in silver. Small metal ball feet welded to bottom. An excellent and low cost way to display this product.

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Phenomenal Wonders Of The Natural World

Environmental Oddities Sailing Stones  The mysterious moving stones of the packed-mud desert of Death Valley have been a center of scientific controversy for decades.  Rocks weighing up to hundreds of pounds  have been known to move up to hundreds of yards at a time.  Some scientists have proposed  that a combination of strong winds and surface ice account for these movements.  However, this theory does not explain evidence of  different rocks starting side by side  and moving at different rates and in disparate directions.  Moreover, the physics calculations do not fully support this theory  as wind speeds of hundreds of miles per hour would be needed to move some of the stones. Columnar Basalt When a thick lava flow cools, it contracts vertically  but cracks perpendicular to its directional flow with remarkable geometric regularity - in most cases forming a regular grid of remarkable hexagonal extrusions  that almost appear to be made by man.  One of the most famous such examples is  the Giant's Causeway on the coast of Ireland (shown above), though the largest and most widely recognized  would be Devil's Tower in Wyoming .  Basalt also forms different but equally fascinating ways  when eruptions are exposed to air or water. Blue Holes Blue holes are giant and sudden drops in underwater elevation  that get their name from the dark and foreboding blue tone they exhibit  when viewed from above in relationship to surrounding waters.  They can be hundreds of feet deep  and while divers are able to explore some of them  they are largely devoid of oxygen that would support sea life  due to poor water circulation - leaving them eerily empty.  Some blue holes, however, contain  ancient fossil remains that have been discovered, preserved in their depths. Red Tides Red tides are also known as algal blooms  - sudden influxes of massive amounts of colored single-cell algae  that can convert entire areas of an ocean or beach into a blood red color.  While some of these can be relatively harmless,  others can be harbingers of deadly toxins  that cause the deaths of fish, birds and marine mammals.  In some cases, even humans have been harmed by red tides  though no human exposure are known to have been fatal.  While they can be fatal,  the constituent phytoplankton in ride tides are not harmful in small numbers. Ice Circles While many see these apparently perfect ice circles  as worthy of conspiracy theorizing,  scientists generally accept that they are formed  by eddies in the water that spin a sizable piece of ice in a circular motion.  As a result of this rotation,  other pieces of ice and flotsam wear relatively evenly at the edges of the ice until it slowly forms into an essentially ideal circle.  Ice circles have been seen with diameters of over 500 feet  and can also at times be found  in clusters and groups of different sizes as shown above. Mammatus Clouds True to their ominous appearance,  mammatus clouds are often harbingers  of a coming storm or other extreme weather system.  Typically composed primarily of ice,  they can extend for hundreds of miles in each direction  and individual formations can remain visibly static  for ten to fifteen minutes at a time. While they may appear foreboding  they are merely the messengers - appearing around, before or even after severe weather. Fire Rainbows A circumhorizontal fire rainbow arc occurs at  a rare confluence of right time and right place for the sun and certain clouds.  Crystals within the clouds refract light  into the various visible waves of the spectrum  but only if they are arrayed correctly relative to the ground below.  Due to the rarity  with which all of these events happen in conjunction with one another,  there are relatively few remarkable photos of this phenomena. Sinkholes Sinkholes are one of the world's scariest natural phenomena.  Over time, water erodes the soil under the planet's surface  until in some cases, quite suddenly, the land above gives way and collapses into the earth.  Many sinkholes occur naturally  while others are the result of human intervention.  Displacing groundwater can open cavities  while broken pipes can erode otherwise stable subterranean sediments.  Urban sinkholes, up to hundreds of feet deep  have formed and consumed parts of city blocks, sidewalks and even entire buildings. Penitentes Named after peak-hooded New Mexican monks (lower right above),  penitentes are dazzling naturally-forming ice blades  that stick up at sharp angles toward the sun.  Rarely found except at high altitudes,  they can grow up taller than a human and form in vast fields.  As ice melts in particular patterns,  'valleys' formed by initial melts leave 'mountains' in their wake.  Strangely, these formations ultimately slow the melting process  as the peaks cast shadows on the deeper surfaces below  and allow for winds to blow over the peaks, cooling them. Lenticular Clouds  Ever wonder the truth about UFOs?  Avoided by traditional pilots but loved by sailplane aviators,  lenticular clouds are masses of cloud  with strong internal uplift that can drive a motorless flyer to high elevations.  Their shape is quite often mistaken  for a mysterious flying object or the artificial cover for one.  Generally, lenticular clouds are formed  as wind speeds up while moving around a large land object such as a mountain. Light Pillars Light pillars appear as eerily upright luminous columns in the sky,  beacons cast into the air above without an apparent source.  These are visible when light reflects just right off of ice crystals  from either the sun (as in the two top images above)  or from artificial ground sources such as street or park lights.  Despite their appearance as near-solid columns of light,  the effect is entirely created by our own relative viewpoint. Sundogs Like light pillars, sundogs are the product of light passing through crystals.  The particular shape and orientation of the crystals  can have a drastic visual impact for the viewer,  producing a longer tail and changing the range of colors one sees.  The relative height of the sun in the sky  shifts the distance the sundogs appear to be on either side of the sun.  Varying climactic conditions on other planets in our solar system  produce halos with up to four sundogs from those planets' perspectives.  Sundogs have been speculated about and discussed since ancient times  and written records describing the various attributes of our sun  date back the Egyptians and Greeks. Fire Whirls Fire whirls (also known as fire devils or tornadoes) appear in or around raging fires  when the right combination of climactic conditions is present.  Fire whirls can be spawned by other natural events  such as earthquakes and thunderstorms,  and can be incredibly dangerous,  in some cases spinning well out of the zone of a fire itself  to cause devastation and death in a radius not even reached by heat or flame.  Fire whirls have been known to be nearly a mile high,  have wind speeds of over 100 miles per hour  and to last for 20 or more minutes. Orange Moons This last phenomena is something most people have seen before - beautiful orange moon hanging low in the sky.  But what causes this phenomena - and, for that matter, does the moon have a color at all?  When the moon appears lower on the horizon, rays of light bouncing off it  have to pass through a great deal more of our atmosphere  which slowly strips away everything but yellows, oranges and reds.  The bottommost image above is true to the hues of the moon  but has enhanced colors to more clearly show the differences in shade  that illustrate the mixed topography and minerology  that tell the story of the moon's surface.  Looking at the colors in combination with the craters  one can start to trace the history of impacts  and consequent material movements across the face of our mysterious moon.

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Just Another Day

Enjoying a wonderful Saturday morning at home, reading the paper, editing photos and straightening up around the house.  Quite enjoyable with Brian Eno's brilliant 2005 album, Another Day On Earth cranked on all the speakers throughout the house.

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Turkey Time

Dad cutting a turkey at 89 West Street. George and Jenny Cote, Nana and Mom look on. No idea who too this picture. Early 1960's.

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New Milford High School concert - May 20, 2010

 

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Posted via email from Tom Curley