As I’ve mentioned here before, I am colorblind, and as I said then, it’s not really something I like to bring up.
I’m mentioning it now because I’ve found an awesome shareware utility that is absolutely indispensable. I don’t know how Ive gotten along without it! Years ago I found eyedropper, a handy utility that lives in your system tray, ready to tell you the color value of any pixel on your screen in RGB or Hex. Handy for matching colors and such, but less so for actually identifying colors.
Now I’ve found What Color, a tiny little utility that tells you the color not only in RGB and Hex, but also in plain english. For me “166,204,227″ is much less helpful than “LightBlue”. Optionally, it can also display the color’s position on a color-wheel; also quite helpful.
‘What Color’ will be a permanent resident of my system tray. If you, or someone you know, has some level of color blindness it’s worth a look.
Thursday Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced that the American Bald Eagle will be taken off the endangered species list.
Biologists have recorded nearly 10,000 nesting pairs of bald eagles in the lower 48 states, with at least one pair in each of these states*.
This is a remarkable turnaround when one considers that in 1963 there were only 417 nesting pairs*.
This shows how large an impact (positive and negative) we humans can have on other species as well as on the environment as a whole.
Wide-spread use of DDT (among other less significant factors) drove our national symbol to the brink of extinction.
Now the majestic and once again plentiful birds soar as an inspiring testament to Man’s ability to act as a good steward for the environment when he chooses (or is compelled) to do so.
Hopefully, under the continuing protection of the ‘Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act’ and the ‘Migratory Bird Treaty Act’ these magnificent creatures will be around to enthrall countless future generations with their grace and beauty and with all that they symbolize.
I’ve had the new bike for over 3 months now, but for some reason I just got around to putting its Madonna del Ghisallo medallion (which I purchased in anticipation of buying the bike) on. As I’ve written before, this isn’t necessarily about religion, but it has become a sort of talisman to me. Both of my other bikes have one and now, so does the Felt.
Click for close-up of medallion.
I really like the way they look once they take on the patina of an old penny, but right now I’m digging the contrast. The bike, stem, and bars are all matte black, so the shiny copper medallion is a nice counter-point.
Yeah I know… “Thirty-six minutes to ride less than 7½ miles*? Wimp!”
You have to take into consideration all of the stop-signs and red-lights getting out of town (16, by my count), plus I had a 10-15 mph headwind, and I was taking it easy (honestly).
*The distance from my house to here and here (they’re the same place).
Today on my way back from the bike shop I passed a deer; a young doe, standing just off the side of the road (on my side). I turned around and rode back, positioning myself for a photo while she warily watched me. As I fumbled for the camera, I noticed her looking more tense, just then her little fawn appeared from the bushes and nursed for a moment. Now having become much more concerned with my presence, mom began leading her little one away from me. I grabbed a quick picture before riding on, leaving them to their business.
The two barely discernible blobs near the center are the deer
Click for a digitally zoomed ‘Bigfootesque’ view
A bit closer to home, very near where I drew inspiration from the elderly gentleman on his bike the other day, I spot what appears to be a motorized wheelchair coming down the road toward me. As we draw closer, I realize that it is, in fact, a man in a motorized wheelchair, and perched on his shoulder is a great big parrot!
As we pass I say “howdy”, he nods, and the parrot squawks. As I ride away, I can hear the parrot squawking for quite some time, I’m pretty sure he was talking about me, but it’s hard to say. I do wish I had stopped and asked them if they’d mind me taking their picture. Oh well… maybe next time.
Go for a bike ride, or a walk out in the country. There truly is no telling what you might see.
Back in October of last year I saw the band ‘Brazilian Girls‘ perform on The Late Show with David Letterman. I was really impressed with them, great music coupled with an innovative and arresting stage show (bordering on performance art), but somehow still managed to promptly forget all about them.
So anyway, this past Sunday I was watching A&E’s ‘Breakfast with the Arts’ and guess who was on? Brazilian Girls! Let me pause a moment to explain one thing, “Brazilian Girls” is just the name of the band. There is only one girl, Sabina Sciubba, who is drop-dead gorgeous, but is not Brazilian, hailing instead from Italy and Germany. The 3 guys in the band (Didi Gutman, Aaron Johnston, and Jesse Murphy) are also not Brazilian, nor are any of them girls. Anyway, they’ve become my new musical obsession and I can’t wait to get both of their CD’s.
Here’s their video for “Jique” which Sabina sings in English, Italian, French, and German (by my count). The title, “Jique”, is apparently a word of her own invention.
You can find videos, wallpapers, and lots more on their website, including the aforementioned Letterman and “Breakfast with the Arts” appearances.
Today while I was out riding my bike I saw a Peacock! I was going to title this post “Unusual Birds”, but since I’ve been seeing a peacock at that same spot every now and then for years, it’s not really that unusual. Plus, exotic is really more descriptive anyway.
I would have taken a picture, but he lives beside a nice little down-hill on a fairly heavily trafficked road. And you know… bike riding, particularly on the fixed-gear, is all about preservation of momentum.
Posted by Greg Evans in rides, wildlife Comments: Comments Off
You may recall that some time ago, I was bemoaning the fact that I needed a smaller digital camera to take along on rides and such. I’ve got a Nikon Coolpix 5400 which I love, but it’s just too big to fit comfortably in a jersey pocket.
Well, a couple of weeks ago, I decided enough was enough and started shopping for a smaller digicam. I wanted something that was small, ran on AA batteries, had a high ISO for low-light shooting, was a capable macro shooter and wouldn’t break the bank.
I found all of that in the Nikon Coolpix L12, which I got about a week ago from Amazon.
What a great little camera! It slips easily into a jersey pocket, produces fantastic images, has point and shoot simplicity but yet still offers a fair amount of creative control. The Nikon Coolpix L12 earns:
If a picture is worth a thousand words, that’ll save me a lot of typing. I’ll just add this:
Is it any wonder this is one of my favorite spots to take a snack break?
Today it was about 70°F (21°C) with bright sun and fluffy white cumulus clouds marching by overhead. There was just enough gusty breeze to keep things interesting, basically as close to perfect riding weather as I would dare to hope for. I don’t mind hot weather (which is good, given that summer seemed to arrive in mid-May this year), but 70-ish seems to be where my motor runs best.
As I was rolling out of town I spotted two wrenches in the road, which I grabbed to add to my collection of road finds.
Later, riding along an otherwise empty country road, I passed another cyclist going the other direction; a gentleman of (I’m guessing) 70+, tan, shirtless, and fit-looking. We exchanged pleasantries and I rode on, grinning a bit wider than before, imagining my future riding off behind me.
The much needed rain we finally got yesterday had everything looking very fresh and green; a Goldfinch paced me for bit before disappearing into the trees. The day just kept getting more perfect!
Turning back toward town, the wind shifted and I glided along effortlessly at 20MPH, all was right in my world.
Back in town, heading home, I did a (rare for me) perfect trackstand at a 4-way stop and the driver whose turn it was actually went.
Harsh reality, as always, awaited. A block later a car coming the other direction starts to turn directly in front of me; the dreaded left cross! He’s coming right at me, I’m going too fast to stop… thankfully his window is down and he hears me shout “Hey!” He jams on the brakes as I’m right in front of him, looking right into his wide, vacant eyes.
“My bad” he says.
“My bad?”
“My bad” is for when your buddy is wide-open under the basket and you don’t pass him the ball. “My bad” is for when you spill your drink. “My bad” is not for when you nearly hit someone with your car. “My bad” in that situation will get you (at a minimum) cursed at. Thankfully, by the time I realized how much that pissed me off, I had cleared the intersection and was riding away (cursing over my shoulder).
I’m glad I’d had an otherwise perfect day, it makes the near-miss much easier to shrug off. I’m also grateful that the near misses are few enough and far enough between that I don’t recall when the last one was. I do know that I’ve put quite a few perfect rides under my wheels since then, however.
of their 
