Around the Neighborhood

An artist's impression of Alpha Centauri. Our star is located in the upper right side of the frame.

A lot of people ask the question, "if it is so statistically improbably that we are alone in the universe, then why haven't we been contacted yet?"

Well, one reason I can think of is the Prime Directive, from Star Trek. It states that you are not allowed to interfere with a culture's development, no matter what happens.

Maybe, just maybe, there is other life out there, and it has the good sense to leave us alone for a while. If you really think about it, if an alien race did try to contact us right now, what would we probably do? Shoot first, ask questions later.

So, maybe we have to reach a point in our development when we are reasonable enough to have in a greater community, a community of space faring civilizations.

That seems pretty reasonable to me.

Rain

Rain is an amazing thing.
It can give life to parched plants,
or it can wash the plants away.
It can cleanse the mind,
or make it sad.
It can be a symbol of optimism,
or a symbol of pessimism.

In the end, it is a symbol of life. Even if its effects are bad, it still isn't a bad thing to have.

Panzer IV in the Desert

A Panzer IV with a short barreled 75mm gun in the desert near El Alamein, 1942.

Drop

Taken from a rest stop along an old section of Highway 290 near Sheffield, Texas. This is where the Edward's Plateau starts to be cut up by rivers and drop. Down in the valley beneath used to lie an old frontier fort, Fort Lancaster.

Seeing Through Time

This is a Hubble Space Telescope view of one of the most distant and luminous quasars ever seen (circled in white) and dates to less than one billion years after the big bang. This near-infrared light image was taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 in December 2010 and January 2011.

Nevermore

Someday we will never see images like this again. Someday we will be able to look at photos like this one and shake our heads and say "were we really that stupid?"

Someday.

Chills

Cleopatra

Obviously a photographer and a friend having some fun while in Egypt (pre-2011 obviously).

Temporary Cave

An ice cave created by volcanic activity in Iceland

German Armor In Russia

German infantry supporting an StuG III assault gun on the advance to Stalingrad.

A Panzer IV and supporting troops join the fight near Volchov, 1942.

Spanish Armored Car

New model Spanish armored car in 1936. It seems fairly well armored against small arms fire, but that's probably it. And it appears to only be armed with one machine gun.

Turkish-Japanses Martini-Henry

This is quite an interesting bit of history that I did not know about. This is a Peabody manufactured Martini-Henry short lever that was made for a contract by Turkey. A few years later, Japan bought 7,000 of them for their navy. It has the Turkish markings intact, as well as the Japanese markings. It has the Meiji Year 13 stamped on it as well. While it is hard to see the markings in the photos, they are there. It also retains its original caliber of .577/450 Martini-Henry.

This is quite an interesting piece, one I would love to own. Unfortunately, $2,250 is rather out of my price range right now.

Ideas Estupidas

Spanish soldiers with a Maxim-Tokarev during the Spanish civil war. I tell you what, the Maxim-Tokarev was one of the dumbest ideas in history. It's up along the lines of the German MG-08/15 "light" machine gun. Basically, in both cases, a regular Maxim was taken and some genius put a stock and stuff on them. Really not a practical idea.

Oh and that one guy on the right has a Mosin-Nagant.

On a less critical note, it is interesting to see a gun as rare as this in action. Like the Picture of the G41(M) I posted a while back, this is one lucky find.

Endless Possibilities

As you go through the day, whether it be good or bad, you must remember that places like this are in our universe. While we may not be able to go to them today, someday soon we will. Let that thought fill your head. Let all the possibilities stimulate your imagination.

Then look around you. All you see today will be a part of history. The things you do and the things you strive to become will affect that future.

So don't let the world get you down. Let the possibilities get you up.

And have a good day.

Catching a Mouse by the Tail

The one completed Maus (Mouse) super-heavy tank being explored by Russians. Today it resides in the Moscow Tank Museum. There were a total of nine produced, but only this one was fully assembled. It had a 128mm main gun, as well as a 75mm co-axle and a 20mm co-axle.

Southern Dust

A Chilean Leopard 1 tank kicking up dust as it speeds along through the desert brush on exercise.

A Touch of Perspective

You are one person out of seven billion people,
on one planet out of eight planets,
in one star system out of one hundred billion star systems,
in one galaxy out of one hundred billion galaxies,

And you are enormously insignificant.

Tusks

An Elefant/Ferdinand tank destroyer being lifted to another work station in a factory. It appears to not have its gun in place yet.

A British railway gun. It's amazing how big those things were.

Havoc

Two of twelve U.S. A-20 Havoc light bombers on a mission against Kokas, Indonesia in July of 1943. The lower bomber was hit by anti-aircraft fire after dropping its bombs, and plunged into the sea, killing both crew members.

Amature LRDG

So, for about the next week, I'm going to be in Big Bend National Park in the south of Texas, USA. I've never been before, and I'm really looking forward to it. My father and I were packing up the truck today and it made me think of the LRDG - the Long Range Desert Group. Then I thought of one thing better - the original Saharan explorers. Well, of course they weren't the first, but they were the first to go in cars. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, some explorers took regular cars, as well as tons of supplies, into the Sahara. Before that, it was relatively unexplored by Europeans.

Then came the war in the desert in the early 1940s. Quite a few of those explorers' maps and experience went into creating the LRDG. If you don't know, the LRDG was basically a reconnaissance group made up primarily of ANZAC (Australian/New Zealand Army Corps) troops. They were experts at navigating across the vast deserts, and surviving the incredibly harsh climates. Here is one of their most popular vehicles - an American Willys Jeep. They were light, powerful, and four-wheel drive.

Here's a photo of another, much larger truck. I'm not sure what it is, but it seems to be fairly heavily laden with supplies. Also, notice the wider tires. Better for getting across sand and the rocky desert terrain. Unfortunately, I won't be going where no one has gone before in Big Bend National Park. But, I can always dream.....

Marks

The moon lay untouched by living beings for billions of years. To me, it seems pretty significant that we've set foot up there. We've gone to an object in space other than our own. While today that may seem like a rather short hop, it was only 50 years ago that it was a major ordeal. Only 50.

Let me put that into perspective: recorded human history roughly extends about 10,000 years. We made progress at an incredible pace in the 20th century.

And isn't amazing that all that progress is summed up in a photograph of one footprint?

Two Worlds

A dawn panorama over Egypt. The morning light is coming from the left, while the Milky Way and the darkness are still lingering on the right.

It's amazing how the world really is a different place during the night and during the day.

Sails

I'm rather restless.
I don't want to sit here anymore.
I want to get out.
I want to go.
Let's fill the sails full of air.
Let's cross the seas.
Let's find some treasure.
I want to get out.
Let's sail 'til we run out of wind.
I want to get out.

Buckets

Without fail, where ever it is, if you give a kid water and a bucket, he'll probably play with it. This is a very happy photograph.

Too Low

Two Italian SM.79s buzzing an airfield. The men on the ground seem to be pretty afraid, I know I would be! Action photography is very interesting. I doubt the person taking this photo was trying to have the effect he got, but sometimes unintentional things are good.

A World of Beauty

A town in the mountains in Ecuador.

Agave cacti in the south western United States.

Old buildings being consumed by the land in Scotland.

Active Io

Jupiter and one of its moons, Io, in the same photo. Io is our solar system's most volcanically active body. Its surface is covered by volcano's, and volcanic plumes regularly extend out of its atmosphere because of its low gravity.

Positive Effects

This has got to be one of the most beautiful photos I've ever seen. Not just because of the stunning beauty of the lunar surface and the crescent Earth, but because it shows this beauty even in the time period in which it was taken. The 196

0s was a time of conflict across the entire world. The Cold War was going strong, along with dozens of civil wars, small brush fire conflicts, as well as a major war here and there. Yet this photograph doesn't show that. It shows the Earth from the outside in. It shows a blue, white and green planet. A planet full of life. A planet so different from the others near it.

Space exploration may be expensive, it may seem to not have much of a purpose right now, but it has shaped Earth's future in ways unimaginable to us right now.

City in the Clouds

Dubai in the early morning light under a thick blanket of fog. With the modern architecture, this scene looks almost like science fiction.

Amazing Irony

First of all, this is an amazing painting. What it depicts is, sadly, very true. As human civilization grows, we consume and destroy our planet. Unrestricted industry cannot be allowed as it once was. We only have one planet.

What is even more amazing about this photo is a bit of irony that many people wouldn't recognize. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not. It is the pistol. It is a Russian-issued M1895 Nagant revolver. What is ironic about it is the Soviet Union totally disregarded any preservation of the environment.

Science Fiction?

Science+Creativity=Science fiction.

Science fiction+Time+Need=Science fact.

(and you might have to add some money into the last one)

 

 

Fighting in France

Canadian soldiers in France, 1918.

A column of German tanks during the invasion of France, 1940. In the photo are several types. In the foreground with the large road wheels: Panzer 38(t), Czech tanks in use with the German army. On the far right; early Panzer IVs with short barreled 75mm guns for infantry support. Bringing up the rear; Panzer IIs with 20mm auto-cannons, they were fast, but not very useful. And behind that, tons of trucks holding infantry, fuel and supplies.

Gliders in Normandy, 1944. On the ground are British Horsa gliders, while American Waco gliders are still in the air being towed by C-47s.

Human Epic

This image is the culmination of millions of hours of work, research, testing, and dedication. It is the life's work of three astronauts. It is one of the most epic photographs in human history.

While we may see the moon as fairly close to us now, when this photo was taken, it was a huge leap.

Imagine being the first human to see this view.

Space Cowboys

Apollo 10's primary mission was to test the lunar module in orbit around the moon. The astronauts were instructed to separate the command and lunar modules, fly the lunar module to 50,000 feet (pretty close) and then return and dock with the command module.

Some of the guys at NASA decided that the lunar module's ascent rocket (what they use to get off the surface of the moon) should only be filled halfway with fuel. Why?

Because they were worried that the astronauts would try to land on the moon instead of completing their scheduled mission.

I find that very funny, because if I had the chance to land and have been able to take off again, I definitely would have violated my orders

One of the Few We Lost

Columbia was the first shuttle to reach space, in 1981, and carried dozens of astronauts into space before tragically burning up over Texas with a seven-member crew on Feb. 1, 2003.

Previously.....

Joseph Kittinger jumping from the Excelsior III gondola in 1960.