Pix Of The Day: Nevada Desert Rocks & Mythology
CREDITS: © Erik Gauger/NotesFromTheRoad.com
MAPS: Rachel, and the Valley of Fire, State Park at the VoF, Nevada.
Thumbnail click pops-up source page with larger image.

On the last day of September we asked you to exercise your CSD (Cool Site of the Day) vote in favor of Erik Gauger's NFR (Notes From The Road) web site. Thank you to those of you who did: perhaps you will want to further Erik's success by voting for him as CSM (Cool Site Of The Month). The last time we checked, Erik was leading by a short head. Knowing that complacency is almost as dangerous in the voting procedure as apathy, we ask you to support web excellence with your vote by clicking the CSM link above.

To avoid the 'Florida Syndrome' you will be asked to enter your email address: we have done so on several occasions in the past without receiving spam. Any 'Cool Site' links will obviously become dated very quickly, though you should always find something at those destinations.

Today's picture is from 'Rocks and Mythology in the Nevada Desert' on the Notes From The Road web site. The travelogue starts in Rachel, the nearest town to the mysterious Area 51, and by way of Cathedral Gorge on the Nevada-Utah border finishes in the Valley of Fire, south of Las Vegas. AWEA 51 (that links to an Elmer Fudd cartoon joke, just to keep you grounded) is covered by UFOMind.com, and the AmericanSouthwest.com web site has sections covering Cathedral Gorge (including an image gallery) and the Valley of Fire State Park (also with a gallery).

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Pix Of The Day: Land Of The Long White Cloud
CREDITS: © Tim Exley/PhotoWeb.com The Long White Cloud
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'Aotearoa', the Maori word for New Zealand, means 'land of the long white cloud'. British born photographer Tim Exley, a Toyko resident for 12 years, went there for medical treatment in early 2001. An exhibition, at GoodHonestGrub.com in Tokyo, and a web site, at PhotoWeb.com, resulted from a personal reawakening. We think we should feature more art photography here on ODAAT…

We chose four of the most representational picture to make the thumbnail strip. The only reason for doing this was to make a more approachable and recognizable introduction. We suggest that you enter by the home page, or the first image, then follow the artist's progression. However, we do not think you will be spoiling anything if you just drop in by clicking any or all of the thumbnails.

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On This Day In 2002: Getting Lucky in Las Vegas - Wed, 30 Oct 2002
CREDITS: (left) © UMC; (right) © Robin DuCrest/Special FX Lighting, Inc.
MAPS: [1] District [2] Location

This entry does not mark a return of the particular feature, but rather fulfills the promise made a while back in the web log; it was also a personal watershed. The stents were a 'temporary' measure as things turned out, and six months later I had a quintuple cardiac bypass. I hope that lasts a little longer.

Two weeks ago to the day, we went to participate in a trade show in Las Vegas. The following Sunday morning at 6 am I began a heart attack that lasted for four hours, though by that time I was receiving medical care. I was admitted to UMC (University Medical Center of Southern Nevada), which is one of only four hospitals in the USA to have installed an advanced digital imaging catheterization system, as recently as summer 2002, that allowed a surgeon on two successive days to place 'stents' in the blocked arteries of my heart so that the blood started to flow again.

In the city built by losers, I became a winner.

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Pix Of The Day: All Without Support From Below
CREDITS: © Jacques Mossot/Structurae.de, and © Weslyan University
MAP: Marvejols, and Millau. Thumbnail click pops-up larger image.

In France's Massif Central area, north of the town of Millau featured in yesterday's item, lies the Viaduc Garabit, which spans the Truyère river on the railway line between Marvejols and Neussargues. When Gustave Eiffel built the structure, a copy of his successful Maria Pia or Duro Bridge in Opporto, Portugal, it was at the time the highest bridge in the world. Size was not the main claim to fame of either structure, it was the ingenious method of building without a requirement for support from below, something the builders at Millau have taken to heart. Macindoe & Vanbuskirk have a neat and succinct summary of Eiffel's life and work, and the official Eiffel Tower web site is worth visiting, with an interesting set of document pages available.

The Boutique-Eiffel.com we site, which otherwise offers trendy brand personal items, has another neat biography page plus an historical picture series showing the building of the Tower in progress. Both pages were marred, at least on our computer system, by the clunky popup implementation, but are never the less recommended. The PBS feature Building Big, accords the Viaduc Garabit its historical dues. Five years after the completion of the viaduct, Eiffel was indicted on charges relating to the building of the Panama canal, and his career never really recovered.

On the web site of the Weslyan University we found [1] [2][3] [4] a set of historical images, held on captioned thumbnail pages. Click the thumbnails to go to the source pages for larger versions of the images. There are three pictures of the Viaduc Garabit newly completed or under construction, and a fourth of the Eiffel Tower partially completed. We were unable to acquire the web site context for the photographs, but thought them too interesting to be allowed to pass unrecorded.


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Pix Of The Day: Close, But No Cigar Just Yet
CREDITS: © Net Resources International (NRI)/RoadTraffic-Technology.com
MAPS: Millau, France. Thumbnail click pops-up source page with larger image.

In the south of France they are busy building a bridge of mind boggling dimensions. It will soar on pylons across the valley of the River Tarn, from high plateau to high plateau on either side of the river valley. The project began in mid 2002 and the bridge is expected to be open to traffic on 10 January 2005. The work has been estimated to have a final cost of €310,000,000, and is expected to become the second most frequently visited tourist destination in France.

Today's featured picture shows the point from where the bridge decking will be built out from one plateau towards the opposite plateau. RoadTraffic-Technology.com has good web site coverage of the construction, with details of the fabrication of the component parts, and the logistics of putting it all together.

Here is the description from the RoadTraffic-Technology.com web site, With a total height of 343m, taller than the Eiffel tower, the structure is expected to be the highest viaduct in the world and will be the first cable-stayed bridge to be built with seven pylons instead of the usual two or three. 2,460m in length, the crossing is expected to last, by car, around one minute.

The reason the bridge is being featured here, was to establish the highest bridge in the world. The impressive 343m seems to be total pylon height, whereas the clearance above the river is a less convincing 235m (771ft). We think the New River Gorge Bridge may still be the winner at 876ft, at least in our eyes. The search goes on, and we will let you know.

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Pix Of The Day: King of Steel Arch Bridges
CREDITS: © Susie Post Rust/NationalGeographic.com MAP: Fayetteville, WV
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We featured the New River Gorge Bridge, West Virginia, at the end of January 2003. When recently we came across another dramatic image of the 'King of Steel Arch Bridges', we thought the opportunity to run another feature was too good to miss: it is the longest single span steel arch bridge in the world; the arch is 1,700 feet wide, and the total deck length of the bridge is 3,030 feet. It is also the second highest bridge in the United States at 876 feet.

For further information and links to web resources, please load the ODAAT entry for 30 Jan 2003. The following day's entry, for 31 Jan 2003, dealt with the highest bridge in the USA, the Royal Gorge Bridge, whose 1,053 feet claim is only weakened because it is restricted to pedestrian traffic. The world's record highest bridge was uncertain when we ran that feature. Tomorrow we resolve the uncertainty.

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Pix Of The Day: "Flight shots are not the easiest…"
CREDITS: © NAME/NigelBlake.co.uk MAP: Welney, Norfolk
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Today's headline is a quotation from Nigel Blake's web site: clearly he is a master of the deadpan understatement as much as he is a master of the long focal length lens. We even have a segue that Kent Brockman, the newscaster on The Simpsons, would give his eye teeth to use: the picture on the left was taken at Shingle Street, the very same area we have featured in our last two daily entries!

You may already have seen some of Nigel's work: he is a special effects model maker whose work has been used in Superman 2, Spielberg's Empire of the Sun, Aliens, a few of the Bond movies, Lost in Space, Batman, Memphis Belle, and recently the Harry Potter film. As you will know, an IMDB.com (Internet Movie Database) entry is almost as avidly sought as an entry here in the ODAAT… pages, even though the latter is generally considered a greater accolade. You will probably agree with this assertion if you go off and look at some of the featured pictures that are the fruits of Nigel's wildlife photography hobby in his spare time between movie projects.

We have a particular weakness for owls, because like Nigel we were inspired at a tender age by the work of Eric Hosking (1909-1991), who lost his left eye in a 1937 owl encounter in Wales, yet still admired these birds more than any other. Hosking had reason to be grateful to that owl: his career as a photographer went into high gear after reports of the incident were widely circulated in the media.

The other shots were taken around Welney in the English county of Norfolk. Visitors who want to know more about these endlessly fascinating birds may enjoy visiting the OwlPages.com web site, where there is a comprehensive species guide with a good proportion of photographed examples. The owls in these pictures are Barn owls and Short Eared owls: if you visit Nigel, he will tell you which is which in his captions: wonderful birding web site, full of visually amazing images.

Today we will be leaving the Suffolk coast, travelling much further than Norfolk even, for tomorrow's feature. Visitors may enjoy, in the company of Carolyn Lee on her fine web site, a final stroll, or even two, along the foreshore, which notwithstanding the successful legal action in 1855-58 by George Harrison, Attorney General for Cornwall, to establish the Duchy of Cornwall as owners of the foreshore in that county, is owned by the Crown. The Crown is not the Monarch, and the Duchy is not strictly speaking owned and operated by Prince Charles, who as the Prince of Wales is also the Duke of Cornwall. Since 1863 the Prince is only chairman of the Prince's Council in this context … no wonder this stuff is impossible to explain to Americans!

Just enjoy walking freely along the tideline: unlike the rest of the UK you are very unlikely to be challenged, except in areas reserved for use by the MoD (Ministry of Defence), which probably has the only people in the country who can legally accost walkers with, "Git off ma land", while brandishing a firearm.

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Pix Of The Day: Radar From Suffolk To Tibet
CREDITS: © Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Imaging Radar/NASA
Thumbnail click pops-up source page with larger image.

Today's image shows the mountains of southeast Tibet, acquired by SIR-C/X-SAR (Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar). The early development of radar (radio detection and ranging) was driven by a British response to the perceived threat of German airborne attacks in the years leading up to World War II. The 'Father of Radar' was Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, and the first operational installations were made at Bawdsey south of Shingle Street, visited in yesterday's feature.

American soldier Gardner L. Friedlander has many memories of the early years of radar, and received training at Bawdsey. The development of the first operational radar defense system, called Chain Home, and its final destruction (strangely undated on that page, but was scheduled for 21 Sept 2000), can be read in depth in a series on Dick Barrett's Radar Pages web site. Visitors who seek historical balance will want to read American authored 'Deflating British Radar Myths Of World War II' by Major Gregory C. Clark (PDF format). One of the spoils of war is that the victors get to write the history, often at the expense of the truth.

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Pix Of The Day: Wartime Propaganda Or Cover Up?
CREDITS: © Ian Davey/SuffolkCAM.co.uk MAPS: Shingle Street.
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The village of Shingle Street lies on the Sussex coast at the mouth of the River Alde. The featured picture shows the former Coast Guard Cottages, now used as vacation accommodation. Nearby is a Martello Tower, which is a small circular fort, usually on the coast to prevent a hostile landing, named after Cape Mortella in Corsica, where such a tower proved difficult to capture in 1794. The tower is one of seventy four defensive towers, built between 1805 and 1808, during the Napoleonic period, from Folkestone to Seaford.

Several other buildings, which help to tell the story of Shingle Street, may be seen on Ian Davey's SuffolCAM.co.uk (content may change before you visit, but the item will appear in the 2003 archives). Coastal defence, as you may discover, is a long standing tradition in this area, right up to the Cold War. Some say after. This coast faces the European mainland, complete with both the opportunities and dangers implied in that situation. Some say that a German invasion was secretly repelled at Shingle Street. Others say it was wartime propaganda, and recently just a newspaper hack trying to manufacture a story. People don't stoop that low, do they?

Here are the web resources where you may review both sides of the discussion. Firstly a thorough and well executed site from Ronald Ashford that clearly states its agenda. Secondly, available from LTM Publishing who offer historical titles under the CD14 banner, a book by James Hayward, who has written other books on similar subjects. We were unable to find much of the Hayward material on the web, other than offers to purchase the books, but the foreword to 'The Bodies on the Beach', seems to give a good idea of his position. Lastly, The BBC have a couple of items on national and local services, which are both worth reading. We are waiting for the official documents to be released in 2021 before we make our determination.

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Pix Of The Day: Hot SF Wheels Action Shots
CREDITS: © Adam Tow/Tow.com
Thumbnail clicks popup source pages with larger image.

Ian Scott-Parker writes: For several weeks, I have found the task of researching and writing the daily updates to be an ever more onerous task. Regular readers will have noticed that with increasing frequency, update deadlines were not being met, this one being a case in point. Rather than practice blogus interruptus, I decided to continue, but fake it a little. The daily feature will change to a simpler format, like the one you see in the remainder of this update. Thank you for visiting: many of you are unknown to me, but even if you are just a single entry on the server log, your presence is appreciated. I hope you find something to enjoy!

Back to the photoblog: Following yesterday's item on Oz bicycle racing, we went out on to the net to find some good quality bicycling racing action shots, ones with an immediacy and an 'I Know Because I Was There' quality. On 14 September 2003 they ran what was formerly known simply as the 'San Francisco Gran Prix', but under commercial pressures is now known as the T-Mobile International. Shorter we grant you, but does it really have much meaning outside of the already converted? We thought at first it was a trade show for the operators of those hot drink carts we see at the County Fair. We appreciate the commercial sponsors of bicycle racing, but it must be a labor of love, rather than an accountant's cost/benefit analysis.

Adam Tow is an native of San Diego, who moved north to be educated and employed, and seems to have managed admirably on both counts. One of his stocks in trade is professional photography, and he shares lots of his work online. Check out his site: these pictures come from the obviously bicycle oriented gallery near the bottom of his Digital Journal. We presume that at some time the gallery will move into the archive section, and we will update the link if we see that happen.

There are pictures of Adam and many of his friends from all over the world, but we were so amazed at an image of him hand holding a giant lens, that we expect you might be experiencing a little web page shake. Lots to enjoy on this web site: from now on rootling is the order of the day! Just imagine you are a porcine truffle hunter.

Oink. Oink.

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Pix Of The Day: Some Down Under Bicycle History
CREDITS: © Bruce Henderson/WarrnamboolCAM.com
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We spent many enjoyable hours earlier this year, watching TV coverage of the three great European bicycle races; the Giro d'Italia; the Tour de France; and the Vuelta A Espagna. The Ozzie riders such as Baden Cook and Robbie McEwen , who battled it out for the Green Jersey right up to the line on the last day, were heroic despite some shoulder charging that passed without much comment. We thought it wryly ironic that both men in the final battle of the Titans came second and third to Jean-Patrick Nazon!

Cycling TV commentator Bob Roll, something of a hero in his own right, often says that bicycle racing is a metaphor for life; the intertwining of glory and failure in a single thrilling event Well perhaps his and yours, but ours is much less heroic: racing for the finishing line is something we try our hardest not to do at this stage of our lives. An earlier generation of Ozzie riders were much more polite than the young bloods of today. Bruce recounts the tragically foreshortened career of acutely short sighted Russell Mockridge: 'In his first race (on a very old bicycle with his glasses held to his face with sticky tape) Mockridge made a remark (which would epitomise his cycling career), when he asked those riding along with him, whether they would object if he went ahead on his own! Whatever you do, do it with style.

Somehow we don't expect Lance Armstrong & Jan Ullrich or top 2003 Vuelta sprinters Eric Zabel & Mario Petacchi [Tasteful nudity at that link - Ed] to start such foppish banter. David Millar? Well, perhaps. Ozzie bicycle racers are doing so well on the world scene that one day OLNTV might extend their much appreciated bicycle racing coverage to include the Tour Down Under.

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On This Day In 2002: Denver & Rio Grande Western Trip
CREDITS: © ND Holmes/DRGW.net
Thumbnail click pops-up larger image from the source site.

Today's Google date search for "22 Oct 2003" returned a result on image searches of the kind that many webmasters would give their eye teeth to achieve: first place went to the DRGW.net web site. The DRGW is the Denver & Rio Grande Western railway, and the web site is Dedicated to preserving, organizing, and making available information on the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad.

They make a good job of that: Rocky Mountain railways are something we have been looking at in ODAAT's EPSG (Editorial Policy Steering Group) for some time. DRGW has a POTD (Picture of the Day) feature [These acronyms are getting out of hand again! - Ed.], and although today's was empty, awaiting the update when we visited, there was a large archive going back as far as January 2001.

Our feature picture for today came from the section for 14 Aug 2002 to 7 Jan 2003 (note the unusual US use of a logical date format), where the caption reads 'DRGW 0306 brings up the rear of the last regularly scheduled westbound over the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic this year. After a disastrous season due to the FRA closure and worse, the US Forest Service closure, it's good to see them running again.'

From the same summary page, a picture of Moffat Road, taken on the Denver & Salt Lake Railroad, is stunning: however, you will have to examine it carefully to see why! The caption gives a good clue to look high. Yankee Doodle, yes indeed!

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Pix Of The Day: Robin & Donna Are Married!
CREDITS: © Ian Scott-Parker/PishTush.com

Regular visitors may remember Robin & Donna from a feature we did on them performing as In•2•It a while back. Last Saturday they were married, and we feel sure you will join us in wishing them a long and happy life together.

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On This Day In 2002: Gettysburg Mississippi Monument
CREDITS: © Randy Chadwick/Battle of Gettysburg
The web site will soon be relocating to the BrothersWar.com domain.
Thumbnail click pops-up the source page with a larger image.

We thought it was time we gave Americans an opportunity to participate, despite their bizarre handling of date formats. We input the date into Google in the "10-21-03" format, and were rewarded with a thorough web site, by Randy Chadwick, about the American Civil War battle at Gettysburg. The date is only significant from the image filename, which we presume indicates the date the picture was taken: the Battle of Gettysburg was fought on 1-3 July 1863.

The picture shows a monument to commemorate the Mississippian contingent of the Confederate army, part of a page about the soldiers who fought in the battle: Late on July 2, 1863, an anxious Mississippi Brigadier General finally heard the words for which he had impatiently waited. Receiving his orders, General William Barksdale road out in front of his men and thundered, "Attention, Mississippians! Battalions forward! Dress to the colors and Forward to the foe! Onward, Brave Mississippians! For Glory!" Leading by as much as 50 yards, Barksdale was mortally wounded as his valiant men surged through the Peach Orchard towards the Union lines.

We leave you to work your way through all the resources offered by the site, but ask you to note that it may soon relocate to a knew home in its own domain, for which the URI address is given in the heading to this item. Our own surfing safari fetched up on the Library of Congress web site for Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. There is only a single known extant photograph of Lincoln taken on 19 November 1863 at the dedication of the Civil War cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. There are five known copies of the Gettysburg Address manuscript; the Library of Congress has two, which may be viewed on their web site, with notes about all five copies.

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Pix Of The Day: We Wish We Knew What It Meant
CREDITS: © Tony Richards/LakelandCAM.co.uk MAP: Grasmere
Thumbnail click pops-up larger image. See another Grasmere picture.

We came across a poem by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) in the 1898 'Wessex Poems and Other Verses' entitled In a Wood. The opening lines are:

Pale beech and pine-tree blue,
Set in one clay,
Bough to bough cannot you
Bide out your day?

The Bartleby commentary notes, Hardy's verse is spare, unadorned, and unromantic, and its pervasive theme is man's futile struggle against cosmic forces. Though we understood the critical reference to Hardy's oft repeated themes where physical harshness echoes that of an indifferent, if not malevolent, universe, we found that difficult to reconcile with this delightful picture by Tony Richards.

It is difficult to know if Hardy's attitudes were exogenous, the direct result of his own experiences, or endogenous, created from within: he was after all relatively affluent and sheltered from the vicissitudes and troubles of life. As our sensei was fond of telling us, "Some things only exist in your head!"

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On This Day In 2002: Disturb Not The Peaceful Dragon
CREDITS: © ThePeacefulDragon.com MAP: Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Today's date generated Google search for "20 Oct 2002'" fetched up on the web shores of The Peaceful Dragon, a cultural center and restaurant in Charlotte, North Carolina. We arrived specifically at a page featuring the formal group portrait at the Grand Opening Ceremony. The founders, Eric Sbarge and Hu Wan Chih, had a mission to preserve and pass on the best of Asian culture, which begat the center.

The lineage school offers courses in Chi Kung (Qigong), kungfu, meditation, and other disciplines. We appreciated the reminder that kungfu means 'hard work', and so we took our sensei's advice to walk away with an empty mind, leaving our own dragons untroubled. This is an excellent site just to gain an overview of the often ancient Far Eastern cultural contributions to life in the West.

The vegetarian restaurant features a mouth watering menu under the care of Chef Geoff Bragg, from which we fancied Imperial Phoenix, sautéed shiitake and snow peas in a rich brown sauce, served with steamed brown rice; or perhaps Steamed Dumplings, served with ginger sauce, rice and steamed vegetable salad. Chef Geoff is also something of a TV star on the local cable network. When he is moonlighting in his second job, Chef Geoff is not above rustling up a good old chicken dinner!

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Pix Of The Day: Familiar But Never Hackneyed View
CREDITS: © Andrew Leaney/Leaney.org MAP: Blea Tarn (and detail).
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Blea Tarn towards the Landale Pikes must be one of the classic views in the English Lake District. We have featured similar views before, but we thought this to be one of the best we have seen. Andrew Leaney has another view on his web site, taken on a wonderful Autumn day in Lakeland, on a walk round the valley of Little Langdale. Three CAM site pictures have brought us close to experiencing home sickness. Two of those were taken by Andrew

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On This Day In 2002: Nobody Is Perfect In Every Way - Sat, 19 Oct 2002
CREDITS: © David J. Farber/DJF home page. Thumbnail click pops-up larger image.

Yesterday we made a facetious remark about academics liking to attach long names to things: today, missing an archive entry for the appropriate day, we Googled "19 Oct 2002" then stumbled across David J. Farber, who is The Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunication Systems in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Professor of Business and Public Policy at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Early in 2000, David was appointed Chief Technologist at the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), a body renowned for its ability to sense the policy direction in which any current administration wants to go. We hope he gave them a rough ride. He was named as one of the most powerful twenty five people in networking in an issue of Network World magazine. Wired Magazine, issue Sept 1996, said he was the Paul Revere of Cyberspace.

The achievements listed on his web site are extensive, and his resumé clearly defines him as a technologist with clout. We were most impressed firstly with his Apple Macintosh laptop, seen in our feature picture for today. We confess that when we first saw the thumbnail of that picture, we thought David was a TV evangelist: we were only half right as usual. What he evangelizes is more temporal than spiritual.

Secondly his irreverence and disrespect for copyright holders, celebrated here by stealing his picture even though the official publication released one is perhaps more flattering. Our eagle eyed readers will doubtless notice the title of his homepage is macpond (more kudos), and features at the very top a logo for the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation: motto 'Defending Freedom in the Digital World').

Thirdly his invention of the Farberism: surreal garbled sayings that have a meaning despite their confusion. One of his best known sayings, a reflection on the anarchic nature of the movement of information about the Internet, was "Photons have neither morals or visas". Nothing unclear in the thinking or the expression in that sound bite, which he used as an email sig.

David also has the common touch: about 25,000 people receive his personal mailing list Interesting-People.org. In an interview, David said that he would be allowed to maintain his list while working for the FCC. "I couldn't have accepted the job otherwise," he said. At FCC Towers they must have wondered what kind of a square peg they were trying to fit into one of their comfortable round holes.

We also respect the man who spoke as an expert witness in the Microsoft hearings: "In general, designers have a huge amount of flexibility in how to package these files, the same way you have a large amount of flexibility in how you put things in a grocery bag, as long as you don't crush stuff. Software is infinitely malleable." Many saw this as the death blow to Microsoft's assertion that it had to integrate its browser into the operating system desktop. When obfuscation is raised to an art form, genius is needed to articulate what any idiot should know to be the truth.

This item specifically revolved around the date of 10 Oct 2002, and that was the date on which David's web site was last updated. It seems that only people like us, on whose hands time lies heavily, can afford the overhead of keeping web pages updated.

Further research updates David's circumstances: he has resigned posts at the University of Pennsylvania, is no longer the FCC Chief Technologist, but does hold the posts of Distinguished Career Professor of Computer Science & Public Policy in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, which is brief to the point of terseness compared with his last title. He holds secondary appointments in the Heinz School of Public Policy and the Engineering Public Policy Group.

Although we hesitate to offer advice to someone in such a lofty position, here goes: Dave, ya gotta do sumptin' about that web page! It is one of the worst we have ever seen. Now you have left UPenn, deletion seems a good option. On the other hand that would leave this page with broken links.

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Pix Of The Day: Two Turners Portraying Lakeland
CREDITS: © Peter Turner/MaccCAM.co.uk MAP: Elterwater
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Autumn, or Fall if you prefer, is in full swing in our old homeland of the English Lake District. Today as we flicked through the local CAM web sites there were some appealing and reminiscent shots. The ice is beginning to form on the smaller tarns, and the morning fields are rimed with white.

Peter Turner visited Elterwater on a trip north from his Macclesfield base. The tree outside the Britannia at Elterwater nearly always makes an excellent photographic subject: it's rather difficult to do badly unless there are intrusively parked vehicles. Another of Peter's excellent 'walkabout' tours… then we saw the featured picture. We could write several hundred appreciative words about it… but we will just quietly withdraw to allow you to gaze in wonderment on another fine Turner lake scene.

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On This Day In 2002: No Faking When Dennis Met IRIS - Fri, 18 Oct 2002
CREDITS: © Anglo-Australian Observatory, Epping, New South Wales
MAP: Sydney, NSW. Thumbnail click pops-up larger image on source web site.

When there is no entry available from our archives to prepare this feature, we input the date in our preferred format into Google and take pot luck.

Given our own Google settings, and the bizarre American way of formatting dates, this method does produce a high percentage of hits from Australia. Today was no exception: we had to miss out the 'dayname' to get a suitable return, but eventually the Anglo-Australian Observatory in Epping, a suburb of northwest Sydney, New South Wales hove into view on our monitors. This facility introduces itself like this, "The AAO operates the Anglo-Australian and UK Schmidt telescopes on behalf of the astronomical communities of Australia and the UK. To this end the Observatory is funded equally by the Australian and British Governments. Its function is to provide world-class observing facilities for British and Australian optical astronomers. We wish more web sites gave such a clear statement of purpose.

There is a gateway page leading to thumbnails of images recorded at the Epping observatory, which are also available at a reasonable size. The observatory web site also offers much larger pictures, for sale, and an annual calendar. The observatory is also equipped with an IRIS (Infrared Imager & Spectrograph), which is seen in our picture, and judging from the picture file title [Dennis_IRIS2_medium.jpg] we think perhaps it is operated by someone called Dennis.

Proving that academics love attaching long names to things, the Institute of Astronomy is part of the Faculty of Physics and Chemistry within the School of the Physical Sciences of the University of Cambridge in the UK. Fortunately their web address ast.cam.ac.uk is elegantly brief and to the point.

There the very latest development for the Anglo-Australian Telescope is the construction of AAOmega. This will be the next generation optical spectrograph for the AAT. The instrument will be a multi-purpose fibre fed spectrograph with two main observing modes: multiple-object spectroscopy using the existing 2dF top end; integral field spectroscopy at Cassegrain focus; spectropolarimetry may be available at Auxiliary Cass (yet to be determined).

AAOmega will provide higher spectral resolving power, throughput, and stability than the existing 2dF, RGO, and SPIRAL spectrographs and is intended to replace all three. AAOmega is currently in the Final Design phase, with commissioning currently scheduled for Semester 2005B.

On the mechanical team is one J. Dennis Whittard. Could it be?

When first we looked at the thumbnail in Google, we thought Dennis was some crazed laboratory technician driving an upscale scientific ATV, but when we tracked down the larger image on the source web site we realized that those were gimbals not wheels; that was the IRIS instrument not a steering column; and what we first thought was a steering wheel, looks like it might be part of the tracking mechanism, receiving maintenance attention from Dennis. Whatever the facts, we thought it was a very appealing picture. We feel sure that IRIS will not offer Dennis anything but valid scientific data, never faking anything just to gain attention.

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Pix Of The Day: Bellagio Burns Sound Of Muzak®
CREDITS: © Robin DuCrest/FXlight.com

One year ago to the day, we set off to spend a few days in Sin City, Nevada. Our stay was unexpectedly somewhat extended to almost two weeks: that story will reappear here later this month on 30 October. Our only comment today is that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.

Meanwhile we thought a tasteful picture of Las Vegas might be just the thing to remind us of Robert Burns' lines, 'The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley'. Despite our usual sniffy posture about the delights of Las Vegas ("America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between." We find it hard to believe that Oscar Wilde really did use prepositions to end sentences with!), these mighty spouts dancing animatedly to and fro in front of the Bellagio Hotel really are a compelling sight. We hate web sites with piped music, even worse if the music is in the 'midi' format, but if you must have music, then use short acoustic Vivaldi clips like the Bellagio; but best of all maintain silence, like the Muzac® web site.

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On This Day In 2002: Unplanned Interlude - Thu, 17 Oct 2002

We are taking a break. Vermont to see the glorious shades of Autumn? The Rockies, perhaps, to see the golden aspens shimmering in the rich afternoon light? Death Valley in Nevada to experience the uplifting desolation of a real desert, now that the season has cooled the heat of the Summer? Not quite: we are off to Las Vegas for a trade show. We have been assured that even beginners like us can arrive in a $2,500 Chevvy, and leave in a $250,000 Greyhound. The weblog will be back next week with an update at 00:01GMT on Tuesday. Meanwhile, why not have a dig around the archives from the pulldown menu in the sidebar, or visit one of the CAMs or galleries from the other pulldowns?

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Pix Of The Day: Aeronautical Inventors Fly Kites
CREDITS: © CTIE/Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Thumbnail click pops-up larger images on original source page.

Following a recent item about Alexander Graham Bell and his experiments with kites five years after the Wright brothers first flew, Australian reader Eric Shackle alerted us to the contributions to aviation made by Lawrence Hargrave (1850-1915). One of those 'amateur' scientific gentlemen that England is so good at producing, he was born in Greenwich, London, but was educated at Queen Elizabeth School, Kirkby Lonsdale, in the English county of Westmorland, which has since been absorbed into the county of Cumbria. This fact in and of itself is sufficient to explain his genius, but must also have contributed to his generosity of spirit: he never patented any of his inventions, preferring to see them as contributions to the advancement of science and the general good.

At the age of fifteen Hargrave sailed to Australia to join his father, who had moved to New South Wales in 1866 to pursue a legal career. Young Lawrence was not destined to follow in his father's career footsteps, because he failed his matriculation examination, and in 1867 was apprenticed in the engineering workshops of the Australasian Steam Navigation Company. The cause of his failure is usually seen as his decision to circumnavigate Australia as a passenger in the schooner Ellesmere soon after his arrival in the colony, rather than spend time in study.

The circumnavigation seems to have awakened in Hargrave an interest in exploration and scientific discovery because over the next decade he joined several expeditions to New Guinea, beginning with the ill-fated journey of the brig Maria which sank with great loss of life off the coast of Queensland. Our research into this episode casts doubt on Hargrave's presence on board at the time of the disaster.

Later Hargrave joined Macleay aboard the Chevert, leaving it prematurely to join Octavius Stone aboard the Ellengowan. Although regarded as the expedition's engineer Hargrave made detailed notes of his observations of people, their homes, habits, technology, and language. His last expedition to New Guinea was as engineer to the Italian naturalist, Luigi Maria d'Albertis [NB: 'Maclay' in that last article is not the previously mentioned 'Macleay'] aboard the launch Neva. Hargrave mapped the Fly River and collected specimens of scientific interest.

In 1877 he decided to settle down, and was elected a member of the Royal Society of New South Wales. In 1878 he was appointed an assistant astronomical observer at Sydney Observatory, a post that he held until 1883, when he retired to devote the remainder of his life to research work into problems connected with human flight. His son and fellow experimenter, Geoffrey Lewis Hargrave, was killed at Gallipoli in May 1915. Following this tragic news Hargrave became seriously ill with peritonitis, and he died in a hospital on 6 July 1915. He was buried in Waverley Cemetery in Bronte, New South Wales. More biographical details are available on a CTIE Monash University web site devoted to Hargrave. The AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics, Inc.) has a detailed biographical article on Hargrave written by Ian Debenham, Curator of Transport at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia.

Perhaps Hargrave's most important contribution was the double box kite: this seemingly mundane development allowed the development of the type of machines flown by the Wright brothers. Certainly they knew of Hargrave's work, but possibly because of political and patent considerations, they never acknowledged the debt.

On 12 November 1894, Hargrave linked four of his kites together, added a sling seat, and flew sixteen feet. By demonstrating to a skeptical public that it was possible to build a safe and stable flying machine, Hargrave opened the door to other inventors and pioneers. The Hargrave-designed box kite, with its improved lift-to-drag ratio, provided the crucial theoretical wing model that allowed the pioneering development of configurations for the first generation of airplanes.

The first successful aircraft incorporated three crucial aeronautical concepts studied by Hargrave: the cellular box-kite wing, the curved wing surface, and the thick leading wing edge or aerofoil. Some European pioneers did acknowledge their debt to Hargrave, and in one diagrammatic representation (Shaw, W. Hudson and Ruhen, Olaf, 1977) of the development of the factors and technologies that enabled the Wright Flyer of 1903, Hargrave's name appears eight times.

The Power House Museum in Sydney is often identified as the final repository of Hargrave models, papers [on that page, input 'HARGRAVE' then click the SEARCH button], and effects, but there does not seem to be any easy way for lay people to easily access these resources. On the web, a Google site specific search for "HARGRAVE" returned a disappointingly impoverished selection. Perhaps our searching skills need honing: we will keep trying, and report back if we find anything gripping. Limitations on spending must prevent many institutions from staging exhibitions of the treasures in their collections, but surely the web is an acceptably low cost alternative to allowing dust to gather in neglected archives?

Today's feature picture, taken in 1910, shows Lawrence Hargrave arm in arm with Alexander Graham Bell, from the Monash gallery page. In that year, on 21 May, Wilbur Wright made his last flight as a pilot in the United States, when he flew at Simm's Station in Dayton, Ohio. On 25 May, Orville and Wilbur Wright made a short flight at Huffman Field, Dayton, Ohio. It was the only time the Wright brothers were in the air together. Pioneering history was beginning to change into flight development history. Within sixty years a man walked on the surface of the moon.

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This article was extensively revised and corrected at 00:01GMT on Fri, 17 Oct 2003

On This Day In 2002: Holiday Snaps - Wed, 16 Oct 2002
CREDITS: © Tony Richards/LakelandCAM.co.uk
MAPS: [1] Region [2] District [3] Location

Photographer Tony Richards is having a break too. Rather than visiting the fleshpots of some God forsaken city, Tony opted for the place they call 'God's Ain Country'. Specifically Tony is touring the Galloway Region of Southwest Scotland. This area is just across the Solway Firth (the latter being the Scottish name for an arm of the sea) from Tony's usual stamping grounds in the Lake District of the English county of Cumbria, where he runs LakelandCAM.co.uk

The featured photograph is of 'The Merrick', Southwest Scotland's highest hill, seen across the waters of Loch Doon, which is actually in Ayrshire to the north. Our favorite bit of topography thereabouts is 'The Dead Hand', which is made up from five ridges that descend from one of the hills. Historically the interior of this countryside became known as 'The Wild Recesses of Galloway': Robert the Bruce hid a whole army here while weathering out some difficult times.

Some time ago we featured another Galloway picture, on that occasion of Loch Dee. Loch Dee Sunset is very evocative of those haunting landscapes. the original may be viewed as a high-res panorama if you have the resources.

The Scottish Mountain Photo Gallery is maintained by Douglas E. Wilcox and is also home to the Morss Collection of aerial photographs of the mountains and islands of Scotland. Highly recommended if you are interested in any of the Scottish mountains, or just enjoy looking at landscapes. The site has lots of additional material to enjoy - check out the Landstat image of the Cuillin Mountains, Isle of Skye.

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Pix Of The Day: How To Be Happy For A Lifetime
CREDITS: © Charles Winpenny/CornwallCAM.co.uk
Thumbnail clicks popup larger images.

A Chinese philosopher said, "If you would be happy for a lifetime, grow Chrysanthemums." Affectionately known as 'Chrysanths' and 'Mums' in the Occident, their ancient Chinese name was 'Chu'. The flower was exported first to Japan, where it became revered, then in the 17th century to Europe. In 1753 Karl Linnaeus, the Swedish father of botany, combined the Greek words chrysos, meaning gold, with anthemon, meaning flower. Our preference is for 'Mums'.

Chrysanthemums are the largest commercial flower crop in the USA, due to ease of cultivation, capability to bloom on schedule, diversity of bloom forms and colors, and holding quality of the blooms. Though they bring joy to many, in some places such as Belgium, and Austria, Chrysanthemums are generally used as a memorial flower on graves. Well, that never stopped us liking Arum lilies, traditionally a funeral flower in the UK: known as Callum lilies in the USA, they are often carried by brides!

You may read a fuller history of the Chrysanthemum on the web site of the National Chrysanthemum Society USA (NCS-USA), which is hosted in the wonderfully named Internet domain of Mums.org. If you want your life to be not only happy but also long and ahem… rewarding, perhaps the Chrysanthemum Tea With Ginseng that we found online might do the trick. In Chinese mythology, a Chrysanthemum that has been used to wipe one's lips after drinking wine, and then given to a beloved, will ensure undying love and fidelity. We are unable to offer warranties for any of these claims, which we have not yet been able to test in our laboratories.

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On This Day In 2002: Buttermere Lakeland Classic - Tue, 15 Oct 2002
CREDIT: © Andrew Leaney/Leaney.org page for 13 October 2002
MAPS: [1] Region [2] District [3] Location

A few days ago we featured a Langdale Lakeland Classic. This is a Classic in another valley. If it was possible to wear mountains away by taking photographs of them, then this one would feature among the early losses. The last time we ascended the col on the right hand side of the picture there was some British Royal Wedding or other event in progress. A teenaged girl was sitting by the path with a transistor radio held to her ear, weeping and making all kinds of public fuss and comment to anyone who passed within range.

We joined a solitary walker at the view point to take in the wondrous view down the length of the lakes of Buttermere and Crummock Water, which the nearby radio audience was ignoring. After a minute or two of otherwise silent contemplation, we remarked softly beneath the distant sobbing, "Should we throw her over the edge?" After a few moments of further silence, with a jerk of his head, he asked tersely, "Her or the Royal Personage?" Mountain perspectives are so nourishing to the spirit.

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Pix Of The Day: Travelling In Style In A Fowler
CREDITS: © Tony Richards/LakelandCAM.co.uk
MAP: Ravenglass. Thumbnail clicks popup larger images.

We think this may be the same Fowler traction engine spotted by Ann Bowker for a feature we did earlier this month. On that occasion it was seen climbing towards Newlands Hause, but is shown here at Ravenglass, photographed by Tony Richards. Both locations are in the English Lake District, so the conclusion, that they are one and the same, does not seem unreasonable. The operating manual from the manufacturers, John Fowler & Company (Leeds) Limited, includes instruction that might benefit operators of today's internal combustion engine vehicles, 'Before Starting, see that all moving parts are properly lubricated and all oil cups and cylinder lubricator filled. Make a practice while oiling up of inspecting all bolts, nuts, and other parts which may shake loose. The early discovery of faults of this kind saves many breakdowns.'

Fowler steam rollers and steam traction engines were manufactured, along with steam locomotives. Fowler ended steam locomotive construction in 1936. Twelve steam locomotives were built between 1933 and 1936, and eight were supplied to Queensland Sugar Mills in Australia. The Bundaberg Foundry Co Ltd located in Bundaberg, Queensland was an established engineering company to the sugar industry and had repaired steam locomotives. After World War II there was still a demand for steam locomotives despite the availability of petrol locomotives.

Bundaberg Foundry obtained a licence from John Fowler to use their designs to build steam locomotives. The company still offers Fowler replacement parts! Eight Bundy Fowlers were constructed in 1952 and 1953. Europe's oldest working Fowler was to be an Irish owned 1892 'Invincible' after renovation in 2001 by Bartlett Engineering Co. of Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales. The last surviving Fowler Patent Drive, which is prohibited from steaming up by the Queensland boiler code legislation, is located as a static exhibit at the Australian Sugar Industry Museum in Mourilyan, where it first went to work. [NOTE: images did not load when we visited this web site].

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On This Day In 2002: Heroes of Mountain Rescue - Mon, 14 Oct 2002
CREDITS: © Braemar Mountain Rescue Team.
MAPS: [1] Region [2] District [3] Location. Thumbnail clicks popup larger images.

In the UK responsibility for rescuing people in the mountains rests with the local Chief Constable of the police area where the incident occurs. Sea cliff rescue is the responsibility of HM Coastguard. These authorities usually call upon one of the many independent voluntary organisations whose members risk their own lives, motivated by community spirit.

Voluntary groups depend on donations for their continued existence, and the ability to perform this life saving work. The Braemar Team covers one of the wildest areas of Scotland: the road at Cock Bridge (in the top right hand corner of the location map in the link above) is usually the first in Britain to be closed by snow at the onset of winter. The Cairngorm Plateau to the north of Braemar can experience unexpected arctic conditions at almost any time of the year. The pictures featured here are from training exercises: imagine doing this sort of job in a blizzard or a storm to get an idea of the committment that is required.

The teams need support, no matter how small the contribution. You may make a donation to support the work of the Braemar Team through their website. Details of the other teams are available from the MRCS (Mountain Rescue Committe of Scotland) or the MRC (Mountain Rescue Committe), which covers England and Wales.

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Pix Of The Day: Fickle Finger Of Fate Lighthouse
CREDITS: © Rudy & Alice Rico/RudyAliceLighthouse.net
MAP: Monterey, California. Thumbnails pops-up source page with larger image.

Ian Scott-Parker writes: Saturday's big wedding went off without a hitch: in the dying rays of the sun, on a perfect Fall evening in southern Utah, Robin & Donna made their vows to each other before the assembled guests. Immediately the ceremony was completed, the sun slid gracefully below the horizon of a nearby hill. Robin is a former theatrical director, so although the dramatic thespian timing was happenstance, it was never the less wholly apposite.

I was helping to serve the buffet, and hearing my accent ("tomato" is a dead give away around here), the lady I was serving said, "I know you! What's your name?" It transpired that she was the duty nurse one night shift in May of this year: that was the same night that I was the patient who went into convulsions, accompanied by loud bellowing and violent bed rocking, which triggered the alarms that brought a posse of nurses and doctors rushing into the side room. "You scared me half to death," she said accusingly, "Don't you ever do that again!" I apologized profusely, thanked her for her care in my hour of need, and gave her an additional serving of cauliflower.

Another guest, a regular reader of this web site, was admiring a bird house in the form of a lighthouse. "Why don't you do a piece on lighthouses?" she asked. This was another coincidence, because earlier in the day I had filed away a web reference, thinking that perhaps my own interest in lighthouses might not be shared by many readers. Imagine my surprise when all those present agreed that lighthouses were fascinating places worthy of more frequent coverage on this web site. I tried hard to remember if we had ever covered lighthouses at all: imagine my further surprise when I discovered that in today's 'On This Day In 2002' feature the Fickle Finger Of Fate on the Long Arm Of Coincidence points at Godrevy Lighthouse in Cornwall!

The piece I had filed away was not just about any old lighthouse, rather it detailed the longest continuously operating lighthouse on the west coast of the USA. Although historically the third lighthouse to be built, the earlier two fail on the continuous operation criterion. The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History has a short history of the Point Piños Lighthouse, which was visited in 1879 by RL Stevenson, the author of 'Treasure Island' and something of an expert of lighthouses.

The first keeper, Charles Layton, was killed in 1856 while serving as a member of the sheriff's posse chasing the notorious outlaw Anastasio Garcia. The keeper's widow, Charlotte, succeeded him and remained head keeper until 1860, when she married her assistant keeper, George Harris. The most famous keeper was Mrs. Emily Fish, who served from 1893 to 1914. She was called the 'Socialite Keeper' because she frequently entertained guests at the lighthouse.

Rudy & Alice Rico have a fascinating web site with a comprehensive Point Piños page. There are several varied pictures of the exterior of the lighthouse, plus several interior shots, all accompanied by an excellent historical text. The site has sections for lighthouses nationwide: in other parts of California; Lake Ontario; Lake Erie; and Cape Cod. Each lighthouse visited has a neat selection of pictures with accompanying text. The PBS Legendary Lighthouses site is another rich resource, though neither of the two series of TV programs is currently scheduled to be broadcast. These sites are treasure troves for lighthouse lovers, and show the web at its very best.

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On This Day In 2002: Cornwall's Hospitable Shores - Sun, 13 Oct 2002
CREDITS: © Charles Winpenny/CornwallCAM.co.uk
MAPS: [1] Region [2] District [3] Location

After yesterday's visit to the wild coast of Greenland, we return to the usually more hospitable shores of Cornwall, the final English county on the southwest peninsula. This fine seascape by