Picture Or Caption?

"The Two Explorers lived in the same world, but one searched below her depth while the other searched above her sky. They both found much of interest but never saw each other--and so missed finding their other selves, exactly what they would most have liked to find." --Herr D, all rights reserved, picture and words

'Miss Tiny,' as Herr D dubbed his second explorer, gave me some real laughs. Interesting that he invented makeup for her, and the anchor earring implies sort of an S & M sort of a thing, but anything that big would need a whole suit, not just a seawater-filled helmet. I mean, one bruise or scratch on a rock and her hide would explode! He's probably right about collecting vehicles, though. People collect shells . . .

So today's question is whether you like Herr D's picture or words better? I promised him I'd try to field some opinions on this. I like his words better, but I'm not all of you. So?

Heat It Up

Herr D said that this one was actually easy.

He made it on heromachine.com, and it IS

a very good likeness for the photo I told him

had been an oil painting!                             

This is a picture that -- uh, let's just say theoretically that you should see something like this skimming the corona of a yellow star with an atypical spectrum in a solar sailcraft traveling at about half the average planetary speed.

I want very much to hear from someone who has Seasonal Affect Disorder. I looked that up recently, and I was wondering whether taking Vitamin D really does help. I understand how UV lamps would work, but a pill or enriched milk wouldn't also irradiate and heat the skin and warm the blood to the surface. Overall, I gotta say that being irradiated while wearing less sounds more fun, especially if done in mixed company. Personally, I really don't mind the dark--doesn't depress me at all; I'd just miss color after a while.

Lots Of Hot Air

Image copied from tourism site. Apparently windmills used to

be as common as mill wheels in some countries. Maybe more.

I haven't gotten any responses on why reverse wave machines wouldn't be good generators. I got an e-mail from an organization called a neighborhood association member that claimed he wasn't allowed to put solar panels or wind collectors on his property. I -- don't know whether that's true or not. Are there really, and, let me quote this: "busybodies who claim some stupid traditional plan is more important than the ecology" (?)

I realize that people like their neighborhoods to look certain ways, but how important is that exactly? I've always found bricks ugly, but I wouldn't try to tell my neighbors they couldn't have any brick pavestones or barbecues. Most yards look ugly, too. I hate grass. I can't picture anyone deliberately choosing  grass over morning glories. Pretty flowers you don't have to mow?   Good thing I don't need to worry about that.

How much say do you think everyone should have over their neighbors' properties?

You Been Mooned

No credit information on this photo either. Found through the

higb.edu site on the subject of Apollo's anniversary. People

still do lunar cycle theater, apparently.                                          

So I went looking at this other blogger's site? He was all about 'renewable energy,' which, as a phrase, seems very wrong. You guys want to cull and collect non-expiring, or present energy. Because it's present, as in here rather than buried underground, and because it's present, as in it's practically gift-wrapped.

While I was looking at his site, I was struck by something odd. He kept referring to wind and solar power. To my knowledge, all that still depends on weather and technology, that (I'm sorry, but) sounds like isn't your most advanced, efficient tech benefiting from billions in R & D.

Now I know more could be done with those, but isn't there something a little more direct? The wind is erratic except in certain places where people don't live as much. The sun is always on, sure, but it's so far away that clouds can ruin your amounts. You know what's closer than the sun, always on, not so erratic, not so affected by weather, and always causes energy output where people already are?

The moon doesn't need photoelectric panels or a cloudless day to provide a massive, steady output of 'renewable' energy that doesn't ever shut off all up and down every shoreline on Earth. They're called tides.

I'm not an avid researcher, but I do know that there are places along every shoreline that don't make scenic beaches, safe swimming, great fishing holes, boat piers, etc. I also know that various water parks have machines that make waves. I also know that underemployment is so bad in America right now that three mechanical engineers worked in Home Depots in the northern Virginia area as recently as a year ago, and one good employee in particular stayed unemployed despite his best efforts.

So, why doesn't someone tell me why reverse wave machines wouldn't make good generators, and why no one appears to be building them under every big dock in America? I'm only guessing that there is a certain minimum and maximum size for efficiency, that there is a way to make them reversible, perhaps even 'self-ruddering' to account for erosion, and that there are five thousand ways to do it very badly wrong.

Great Legs, Too!

I cannot BELIEVE that nobody knew there were squid over 7

meters long until just a few years ago. I mean, really, that's not

as silly as not knowing there were primates bigger than man till

a few hundred years ago, but COME ON! No wonder NASA 

hasn't found any -- uh -- anything --  PLANET's not done yet.

Look at THIS one. Recently discovered, and expanding the weight class yet again, a beauteous femme over 7 meters long. Man, could THOSE arms give a hug! YOWZA! Nice shades of salmon to mauve too . . . 

I like big SUCKERS and I cannot lie,
And a MASSIVE milky eye!
When the other squid tell you why
Their tentacles flutter on by--
They all stop to think
And get left in the ink
As I make 'er say "Me oh--

Mute enthusiasm. Question?

--oh, all right.
I've done a bit of research on underwater tourism recently, and I guess it's fair that you all would be looking downwards to lower your crowding-- How many of you would live in underwater condos if the life was there for you? I found it FASCINATING to live briefly in a few places I couldn't have survived naturally, but didn't wish to settle there for long.

Good Times

Herr D made this on heromachine.com.  I don't think

I understood his explanation at all, but it's a nice one.

I FINALLY figured out what was going on the other night with those drunk hu-uh . . . those drunk hombres. One of them had hidden a piece of jewelry in the odd eggs and the others had tossed the basket in the water near my home. Now that they helped him find it, he's not spending as much time with them. Cultural attachments to birds is something I don't know much about. They said he's apparently getting laid with the eggs. While metaphorically that sounds intimate, I'm pretty sure bestiality and pseudo-Freudian drama with other species is not what they meant. And they're drinking MORE.

Metaphor suggests alternate meani--[ERROR]

Wha--? Oh, Shelob! Silt in your conduits AGAIN?! Oh, those guys are stirring up the place again. Oh, well. Today's question is about those unexpected happy moments. The picture above represents a cute scene. I really liked seeing all that litter pulled up. How about you?

Hand - Eye Coordination

The guy who found this actually thought it was a squid eye.

(Herr D was kind enough to offer a cut-paste, credit to
Florida Wildlife Commission, CNN, etc.)                      
   

Finding an eye in the water while fishing must be odd to some people. I personally like hanging tires and old shoes on the hooks. --I mean, really--those things don't belong in the water. I'd have been moderately horrified if it'd been a squid eye because I identify strongly with the multi-limbed, but it was just a swordfish eye. Not to be obvious, but swordfish are pricks.

Who do you have a surprising affinity or lack of sympathy for?