Parking lot goose

This past spring, I took a few photos of the goose you see below. It had been resting in the middle of that parking lot for several days, driving away any other geese that wanted to be there as well. The odd thing for me is that I’d never seen a goose defend a parking [...]

The Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse

The Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse is the oldest surviving screw-pile lighthouse on the Chesapeake Bay. It was built in 1856 (before the Civil War), and installed at the mouth of the Patapsco River, where it marked the shoal known as Seven Foot Knoll for 133 years. We visited it during our recent trip to Baltimore.

The [...]

A look at noise cancelling headphones

I’ve recently had the chance to try out three noise-canceling headphones:

Bose QuietComfort 2
Creative Aurvana X-Fi
Philips SHN9500

I looked at these criteria as I used the headphones:

Effectiveness of noise-canceling technology
Quality of sound
Fit and comfort
Price

What may or may not surprise you is that all noise-canceling headphones block only low sounds, like the rumble of jet airplane engines. They [...]

Removing photos from my main feed

At least for now, I’m removing my Flickr feed from my main feed. If you are a feed subscriber, you’ve been able to see my Flickr photos appear as separate feed items in my main feed, thanks to a feature at FeedBurner that allows me to splice my site feed with my Flickr photos feed.
But [...]

Dumping on the Poor: see the video

I wrote about the problem with e-waste and pollution in China back in April, but this topic is worth harping on every chance I get. It’s very serious, and it will affect us as well, in the very near future. The Earth is smaller than we think, and its ecosystem is fragile enough already.
Please watch [...]

What’s on my desk?

The idea for this post has been sitting among my drafts for a long time. I always thought it’d be a good idea to share how I work and what equipment I use, for the benefit of those of you that want to put together a similar setup. Let me make it clear that I’m [...]

T-Mobile would rather let you die than help you

My mother received a death threat last night. A real, bonafide death threat. Someone called her on her cellphone and left a clear, unequivocal death threat. Her phone didn’t list the number. It simply said “Unknown Caller”. She didn’t recognize the voice of the caller, and she didn’t know what to do.
She forwarded the voicemail [...]

The Education of Little Tree (1997)

A little boy loses his parents during the depression, and his grandparents take him to live with them in their mountain cabin. The premise is simple, but the lessons are many. I liked this movie because it taught respect for native Indians.
Let’s face it, the “red skins”, as they used to be called, owned this [...]