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Tuesday, January 17, 2006
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 Tuesday, January 17, 2006
started 1/17/2006; 7:16:57 AM - last post 1/17/2006; 5:54:12 PM
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Doc Searls - Tuesday, January 17, 2006 
1/17/2006; 11:16:57 AM (reads: 5243, responses: 3)
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Bon appetit 
Taller tales
| | Yet I've always felt a bit suspicious about what high altitude aviation does to atmosphere, and to climate. Contrails lace the sky with clouds that nature otherwise would not put there. Often they go away. Often they do not. They spread into a high lacy haze that drifts across the globe, reflecting sunlight out into space and cooling (or is it warming?) the Earth below. (Dig this picture from space.) |
| | Sept. 11th, 2001 Climate Impact "Experiment" |
| | It had been hypothesized that in regions such as the United States with heavy air traffic, contrails affected the weather, reducing solar heating during the day and radiation of heat during the night by increasing the albedo. The suspension of air travel for three days in the United States after September 11, 2001 provided an opportunity to test this hypothesis. Measurements did in fact show that without contrails the local diurnal temperature range (difference of day and night temperatures) was about 1 degree Celsius higher than immediately before (Travis et al., J. Climate, 17, 1123-1134, 2004); however, it has also been suggested that this was due to unusually clear weather during the period (Kalkstein and Balling Jr., Climate Research, 26, 1-4, 2004). |
| | I've watched a few contrails here in Santa Barbara spread out to cover nearly the whole sky. And guess what that contributes to? Try global warming. Well, at least some folks think so. |
| | Wacko or not, the absence of commercial aviation in the U.S. is at least an invitation to all kinds of interesting science. When the current news trails off, don't be surprised to hear about some interesting discoveries made in the absence of airplanes. |
| | While that jury stays out on the whole subject (for some of us, anyway), I had a fun time shooting pictures of contrails spreading across the sky at sunrise and again at sunset yesterday. (That's the series above.) I also have a third set of plain old sunrise shots, assembled without regard to the avaition without which the pictures never would have happened, because the sky would have been cloudless and clear. |
Conspiracy
To the manner taught
| | Manners are the outward and visible sign of an inward and justifiable aspiration. We mimic those whom we admire in hopes of achieving their station. Only in that sense does the trickle-down theory actually work. There are only two explanations for the manners meltdown: |
| | - The well-mannered are not admirable.
- The well-mannered are not really in charge.
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| | In either case, they will fail to inspire polite behavior. |
| | Unless manners aren't really melting down. Or melted a long time ago. Since I'm still being corrected by admirable people, I suspect melting is a localized phenomenon: it only happens when I cause it. |
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Rich Moore - Re: Tuesday, January 17, 2006
1/17/2006; 6:01:16 PM (reads: 528, responses: 2)
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Doc, I'm reasonably new to you Blog, really enjoy it. My one quick question is what type of camera are you shooting all these with? I'm looking for something smaller than my digital Rebel to carry when traveling. Any suggestions?
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Doc Searls - Need a smaller camera
1/17/2006; 9:54:12 PM (reads: 697, responses: 0)
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It's a Nikon Coolpix 5700, a four-year-old model I got on a bargain when it was discontinued about two years ago. Before that I used a Sony camcorder that shot 1.5 megapixel still shots. These, for example, were all shot with the Sony. So was this series of windowshots from an airplane. Remarkable, considering that they're produced by a small camcorder.
What I like about both is the flip-out viewer — a feature that makes candid shots like the ones above possible. Also the zoom. The Nikon has an 8x zoom and the Sony goes to 10x or 12x (I forget which). The Sony will also focus easily down to about 1/2 inch. Camcorders are made to do that, while cameras generally are not. And the Sony has night vision, which makes interesting greenish pix in zero-lux conditions, which don't look bad when converted to black and white.
The still cameras I'd love to play with are the new hi-def camcorders that do 3.something megapixel stills.
Anyway, I have no small camera to recommend. Never used one.
I do wish I had a Rebel, though. These amazing pictures by Mike Hollingshead were all taken with a Canon Digital Rebel. Kinda hard to beat, methinks.
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