Author: 6000

Long Exposure

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I quite like long exposure photographs. And not just from other people. I’ve had a go at a few long exposure photographs myself.
I think my record length is 4 hours. And it worked out quite well.

But those 240 minutes pale into insignificance when you learn about what Jonathon Keats, an experimental philosopher at the University of Arizona, is doing.

His is longer than mine (stop it). His is going to be 1000 years long.

His creation is simple: A small copper cylinder with a pin-sized hole sits atop a steel pole. To ensure the device survives the ravages of time, the tiny opening was pierced through a thin layer of 24-karat gold. Over the next 1,000 years, sunlight that enters the contraption will slowly fade a light-sensitive surface covered in an oil paint pigment called rose madder, resulting in an extremely long-exposure image of the landscape.

This is essentially a very (very) fancy take on a beer can solar tracking photography experiment. For which the current record is 8 years (and that was by mistake).

The camera in Tucson isn’t Keats’ first venture with experimental long-exposure photography. In 2014, the researcher worked with a team to distribute 100 cameras to residents in Berlin, instructing them to hide the cameras until 2114 for the next generation to retrieve. He has previously installed several other Millenium Cameras at Arizona State University in Tempe, Amherst College in Massachusetts and Lake Tahoe in Nevada. Keats hopes to keep installing additional Millennium Cameras in new locations around the world, from the Austrian Alps to Chongqing, China.

I guess that South Africa doesn’t make the list. Despite being plagued by the same issues as the rest of the world as far as Climate Change, rampant development and loss of natural habitat go, our local skollies also have a bit of a scrap metal fetish, and a camera full of copper and 24k gold will definitely be enough for a quick fix. It’ll be lucky to last 1000 hours, let alone 1000 years.

I mean, as a project, it’s very adventurous and impressive and all that, but I quite like the idea of being able to actually view what I’ve spent the time and effort creating. Jonathon isn’t going to have that privilege. Unless something very remarkable happens in the medical research field over the next couple of decades.

I’d find that incredible frustrating. But if he’s at peace with it – and I don’t really think he’s got any choice in the matter – then fair play.

It’s just disappointing that no-one came up with a similar plan back in 1023 (which was admittedly about 800 years before the invention of photography), so that we could see what the results looked like before we pop our collective clogs.

Ride Lonesome

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I should have waited for v7.0.1 – this is terrible.

I’m a bit irritated with WordPress at the moment. It’s really tough to write when the font is 0.1mm tall and the letters appear to all be stuck together. Hopefully, there’s a quick fix for this and hopefully, it’ll be sorted sooner rather than later.

But rather than moaning, here’s some positivity before I head off to watch Hull City vs Southampton.

Oh, apparently, Southampton didn’t make the final. Oops. My bad.

Never mind.

Here’s the new one from Beck. We’ve come a long way from Loser (and so we should have done, that was [weeps] thirty-two years ago).

But this is a(nother) new direction from him, and it’s really beautiful. I’m rather addicted, but in a good way. Quite enjoying that light, country sound.

Now, let’s see what this post looks like when it’s uploaded.

Agulhas Moon

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Today’s post is a bit of a test of the new WordPress 7.0 which I downloaded and installed this morning. If you’re reading this, it worked.

Except that there is a problem that only I can see: the backend really isn’t very pretty.

I suppose you could say that for a number of things (and people), but for an app that has been probably overly indulgent on appearance above function on the last few updates, this is a real let down.

Unless I’ve just missed a setting I need to tweak?

My font is tiny, my kerning is all wrong, and it’s actually rather difficult to read. Thankfully, I’ve checked, and none of these issues seem to be occurring on the front end of the blog (the bit you’re reading at the moment).

All you’ve got to contend with is the quality of the stuff I’m writing.
And yes, I recognise that that’s not great either.

But.

Let’s pop in a quick image of an Agulhas moonrise, meaning that you don’t have to look at so much writing.

Taken last time we were down there – handheld, nogal – and a good reason why there really wasn’t much beach left to walk along at high tide.

Anyway. I need to go and search (but with what terms?) for what’s gone wrong here, because it really isn’t conducive to producing decent content.

More tomorrow.

EDIT: Hmm. It has made a difference to the font on the front end as well.
That’s great. Exactly what an update shouldn’t do.

World Cup Health Matters

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Here’s a great post from YLE (see also here and here) about the public health operation surrounding the upcoming World Cup in the USA and Mexico and Canada.

The World Cup’s Hidden Health Operation

Because you need to have a plan in place when there are a lot of people from all over the world coming together in one – ok, several – places. This isn’t rocket surgery: lots of people, high density events, different pathogens from all over the globe. It’s microbial heaven.

A lot of people are concerned about the nasty stuff: Hanta Andean virus, and Ebola, but that shouldn’t really be an issue in North America.

(Elsewhere though…

…but that’s for another post.)

However… measles, dengue, covid and all the usual nasties will surely be present and partying hard.

And it does seem like the battered and bewildered American healthcare and epidemiological systems are doing what they can, despite The Orange Turd and The Anti-Vax Kid having systematically stripped them of powers and funding over the past 18 months.

The biggest saviour of them all though, might be the fact that no-one actually turns up because of politics or because of prices.

I love football, but I hate FIFA and I’m not a huge fan of the American Government right now, so I’m sorry to say that I would be delighted to see this whole tournament fail completely.

It won’t, of course: that won’t be allowed to happen. But I can’t wait to see it struggle. And if fewer people get sick because of it – well, that’s just a bonus.

Lighthorse

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“Haha! He’s misspelled “Lighthouse” in the title of the post!
What a muppet!”

But… actually not.

Because, please bring forth the Lighthorse of Jeju Island.
The red one.

Amazing. A 12m tall Lighthorse sitting on one of the Iho Hang breakwaters, west of Jeju City on Jeju Island, South Korea.

But you know that Lighthouses always look better in red and white?
Well, obviously, there’s a white one too:

These are modelled on the Jeju Pony – a rare, ancient breed native to Jeju Island, and were completed in 2009. And while they’re not exact replicas of the actual animals (I mean, the horsey ones aren’t those colours and don’t have a light on their heads), they’re a lovely twist on the traditional big tower with a light on the top.

And if you want more animals made into functional buildings – in this case, specifically lighthouses – then you need look no further than… er.. Jeju Island, South Korea, where they also have a 13m high Lighturtle.

That doesn’t really work as well as the horse one, does it?

Anyway:

It’s not just the name that doesn’t work. For me, this one is cheating a bit. That’s just a lighthouse with an added turtle, not a turtle lighthouse. Not that I don’t admire the effort. Just that if you set the bar so high with the red and white horses, I just think the turtle should be rearing up on its hind legs flippers and balancing the light on its nose.

Doesn’t seem like a lot to ask.