Images

Storm, smog and sky above LAX.

They’re finally replacing the broken window in my old 11th-floor office. (It’s been held together with duct tape for months.) I’m still in the same suite, so the air pressure just started pulling a serious breeze from the vent in my ceiling.

I should really go grab lunch…

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Why, yes, that was thunder I heard. Good thing the window replacement is done.

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Storm, smog and sky above LAX. I’ve seen one lightning bolt and heard a few thunderclaps. The darker clouds are bunched up over Palos Verdes.

Graphic showing consolidation in the US telecommunications industry

Interesting timeline.

Consolidation in the Telecommunications Industry – Graphic

AT&T’s proposed $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile USA would cap two decades of deal making that has left the U.S. telecom industry with just a handful of major players. Today’s AT&T…

The US government broke up the AT&T monopoly in the early 1980s, leaving the original AT&T doing little more than long-distance service. NYNEX, US West, Pac Bell and the rest were all separate companies until they started buying each other up again.

Looking back at it, what I find weird is that while Pacific Telesis ended up as part of AT&T, and MCI ended up as Verizon, their wireless divisions ended up owned by the opposite companies.

Mt. Saddleback

Saddleback from Tustin Hills: January 2011

Today is moving day. I’ve spent most of my life in Orange County, where the eastern skyline (when not blocked by trees and buildings) is dominated by the Santa Ana Mountains. The two highest peaks, Santiago Peak and Modjeska Peak, are known locally as Saddleback because of the shape they form together.

We’re not moving far — just to the South Bay — but it’s going to be weird not seeing this landmark on a day-to-day (well, non-smoggy day-to-day) basis. You can see it from that far away, but it takes a very clear horizon and a very clear sky. On a good day I can just make out the silhouette from LAX.

This shot was taken in Lemon Heights, where you can (usually) see a lot more than just the silhouette.

Level 2 coffee? Character profiles? Is this a new Coffee-themed RPG?

Level 2 coffee? Character profiles? Is this a new Coffee-themed RPG?

For the record: The back explains that it's roasting levels.

Katie: I can see coffee having strength, constitution, and charisma, but the rest…not so much.

Wayne: roasting levels themselves are a stat right? ;> Actually, how does one measure charisma on coffee? How sane it ends up making you after you drink it? ;p

Katie: I'd think of coffee charisma as being layperson appeal…how friendly it is to the general public's palate. But tea automatically has a better charisma, being CHA.

Wayne: (forehead slap) groooan TEAed off good there

Kelson: That's a measurement of Total Effective Armor, right?

Wayne:totally 🙂

Katie:Yeah, that stat increases steeply over time. Makes a big difference in whether you take one lump or two.

Wayne:ba-lump-dump!

Glenna:now, do you want Charisma to mean attractiveness of a person or how hyper-bunny that person is thus driving the rest of us insane? lol 😀

On Facebook

Barn After the Storm

Old Town Irvine After the Storm

Well, technically, it’s Old Town Irvine during a lull in a storm last December. The clouds were moving very fast, with light and shadow moving over the empty fields and office parks, and I waited several minutes for the sun to play over this scene.

I particularly liked the contrast of the dead brown tumbleweeds scattered around the bright green meadow.

My one regret with this photo is not being able to capture the steep drop-off into a wash right below the frame. I could get the wash, or the sky, but not both.

Gate

Mercey Springs Gate

Next to the first gas station south of CA-152 along I-5 in California’s central valley.

Here’s to maps+satellite views. I’ve identified this as S. Mercey Springs Rd, at the parking lot of Mercy Spring Shell. The private road runs up into the hills past this gate. Off to the right, it makes a sharp turn to cross the freeway and then head north to Los Banos as Highway 165.

UCI Student Center: Then and Now

UC Irvine Student Center: Then and Now

Composite of two photos of the University of California, Irvine Student Center: One taken in 1997, the other in 2007.

The biggest difference (aside from the time of day) is that the Student Center itself was torn down and replaced with a new complex, which is why I focused on the center area for the cut-out. The Irvine Barclay Theatre, Administration Building and Student Services II, ring road, and the office building in the distance are all still there.

See also my write-up about taking the second photo.

Not a Rainbow

Feathery Not-a-Rainbow

An amazing circumhorizon arc that I saw last May. I had just crossed the street while walking to lunch when I looked up, saw it…and walked back to the office to get my camera!

It started out as just a couple of small segments, but as the clouds drifted into position it quickly grew, and at its strongest it was just long enough to fill the field of view on my camera. There were also a couple of fragments of a 22° circular halo visible at the time.

It looks like a sort of straightened-out rainbow, but it’s actually caused by ice crystals. If the right type of crystals cover the entire sky, this will actually stretch in a circle all the way around the sky, parallel to the horizon.

At times like this, I really wish I had a DSLR, but the point-and-shoot will do in a pinch.

Location: Irvine, California. May 14, 2010, 1:30pm

Palm Tree Alley

Palm Tree Alley

The walkway between the Hilton Anaheim and the Anaheim Convention Center. The blocky wall to the right is a large area full of staircases at one end of the convention center.

Taken this past April, during Anaheim Comic Con. The convention center was also host to a much larger coffee convention.