A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
Laura and I attempted to watch the Perseid meteor shower last Sunday night. Normally, we would hop in the convertible and try to find some dark sky. However, it was still dreadfully hot, and the clouds were iffy, so we just pulled chairs into the front yard and stared at the sky for awhile. I … Read More “There must be dozens of them!” »
I’m not sure how this slipped past me. Since I don’t pay attention to the RSS subscription notices on my Flickr page, I really hadn’t spotted it, but there it was… …a direct link to a KML file for my Flickr photos. But wait! Since this is a network link, it dynamically updates, loading … Read More “Native KML Support in Flickr” »
Confession time – I am not a neat person. This is born out by the deplorable state of both my home and work offices. For some reason, entropy intensifies around any space I occupy. While my real world may be cluttered, I like for my cyber worlds to be nice and neat. That means having … Read More “It Just Doesn’t Fit” »
Thursday we held our Technology Boot Camp for teachers that are new to our district. Each year I’m ambivalent about this workshop – I wonder about it’s effectiveness, but afterwards I often get thanks from the participants for having offered it. This year was certainly no different. I got a couple of very complimentary comments … Read More “Enabling versus Controlling” »
It happens every time I attend a conference. You drop your business card into various pots for drawings, and about six weeks later the sales calls start pouring in. I’ve already gotten several follow-ups from contacts made at NECC back in June, and the calls had not looked like they were going to diminish anytime … Read More “And the Winner Is…” »
Ah, the Dog Days of Summer. So named from ancient Roman times, not because of the languid outlook of canines, but because of a star. This time of year, Sirius, the Dog Star, rises about the same time as the sun. It was thought that that this combination of stellar bodies was responsible for the … Read More “But Siriusly, Folks” »
As I was checking the stats for this site I came across a couple of curious links. As it turns out, my brother Stephen and his daughter Lauren have both started their own blogs, and had linked to mine. I guess I’ll have to return the favor. Lauren’s blog is Constantly Colliding. Stephen had started … Read More “Welcome to the Blogosphere” »
Sounds like a prizefight – kind of like the "Thrilla in Manilla." In a sense, that’s not a bad description. Most of Mahler’s Second Symphony is a struggle, between despair and hope, musical motifs, and extreme dynamic ranges. I left early to make the drive up and over the mountains to Brevard. I was unsure … Read More “Mahler in Brevard” »
Each year the Furman Summer Indergraduate Research Program has an Ironman/Ironwoman competition. There are the typical track and field vents, but there are some that those of us who are less athletically inclined can master. These include table tennis, bowling, darts, and horseshoes. Last night we had the darts and horseshoe competition at the Hanks/Veas … Read More “Darts and Horseshoes” »
I think I can safely say, without giving away any spoilers, that the overriding theme of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows deals with Harry’s coming to terms with his own mortality. Those lessons have hit home in numerous ways this week. First there are the subtle, constant reminders of the unrelenting passage of time … Read More “Bereite dich zu leben!” »