Busy day at the library and meetings with research staff
Monday, January 16, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Money, tickets, passports, yellow book, N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide
Heading to Panama (via MIA). Work visit at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Library, and then to research station on Barro Colorado Island in Lake Gatun for an Encyclopedia of Life meeting (representing the Biodiversity Heritage Library along with William Ulate).
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Monday, January 09, 2012
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Remember the times of your life, Kodak and Penn Camera
Many of you are probably following the slow, tortuous decline of Kodak into likely bancrupcy and, if lucky, a restructuring that will leave the once iconic company a mere shadow of what it was (see Polaroid which now exists merely as a name with no relation to Edwin Land's original company). Ironically, the company that brought photography to the masses with products from the Brownie to KodoChrome, has as its most valuable asset, patents for digital photography.Kodak, captured - as the reminded us - the times of our lives. Remember the ad campaign from the 1970s with Paul Anka? Here's a version from 1977:
Michael Hilzik, in the LA Times (4 Dec 2011) made a salient comparison to other transitional businesses:
Kodak, however, markets a process technology; and as the chemistry of film has yielded to digital electronics, consumer demand for Kodak's traditional products has evaporated. A similar transition afflicts newspapers, book publishers, movie studios, broadcasters and record labels today, but the issues for those industries are different yet.[insert here "libraries"]
As Don Draper reminds us, "technology is the glittering lure" ... Kodak, once the master of embedding their technology in our lives, seems to have now failed.
On a related note, this week also saw the bancruptcy of Penn Camera, a local Washington, DC institution going back to the 1950s. Ironically, I found out about this the day after it was announced when I was going in to buy a new camera.
I remember going to their old store at Metro Center, full of all kinds of photo gear and smelling of developer and the other chemicals since replaced by digital.
I'm particularly going to miss Penn as I was one of the, apparently, few, who regularly printed out digital photos. With Penn gone, Ritz Camera shrunk to a few inconvenient stores, printing options are now the CVS drugstores or online. I'll miss that ability to queue pictures the night before and pick them up at lunch.
Thursday, January 05, 2012
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
The results are in, the voice of the people has been heard
No, not the Iowa Caucuses (though we'll know that in a few hours), but the results of the 2011 Washington Monument Photo survey.And the results are, by an overwhelming majority (85.7% to 14.3%) you want to see more daily photos of the Washington Monument. When questioned as to their enjoyment level, you - the people - responded "lots and lots" (28.6%), "pretty much" (42.9%), and "could take 'em or leave 'em" (28.6%).
Among the insightful comments received were:
- I think a time-lapse video is in order. 15 frames per sec, 36 sec. Let's talk.
- Beautiful mosaic! Just pick a new topic.
- Didn't even know you were doing this. It's an interesting obsess ... er, I mean, hobby. Any chance that you're balancing phallic architecture with, say, pictures of the Capitol or the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (which we wafer gobblers growing up in the DC area used to refer to as the Purple Tit)?
- You rock Martin! keep snapping the photos!
And yes, all seven (7) of you, you can sleep better knowing that your vote does make a difference.
Now, all the rest of you need to remember that come November!
Sunday, January 01, 2012
41,990 air miles in 2011
2011 was a busy flying/travel year, not as busy at 2010 (by 20,000 plus miles) or even 2009, but number three on the list. Here are some stats from OpenFlights.
Here's the Google Map:
View 2011 Travel in a larger map
Unique
Here's the Google Map:
View 2011 Travel in a larger map
Unique
Airports 15
Carriers 3
Countries 3
Vehicles 15
Distance
Total flown 41,990 mi
Around the world 1.69x
To the Moon 0.176x
To Mars 0.0012x
Journey records
Longest BRU - IAD, 3,879 mi, 08:15
Shortest LAX - SAN, 109 mi, 00:43
Average 1,235 mi, 02:57
Airport records
Northernmost AMS (52.31°N 4.76°E)
Southernmost IAH (29.98°N 95.34°W)
Westernmost SFO (37.62°N 122.37°W)
Easternmost AMS (52.31°N 4.76°E)
Overall
34 segments
41,990 miles
4 days 4:43
Routes
BOS - DCA 6
DCA - ORD 5
SFO - IAD 2
IAH - MSY 2
DCA - IAH 2
DCA - CHS 2
AMS - IAD 2
BRU - IAD 2
IAD - SAN 2
LAX - SAN 1
DCA - PHL 1
DCA - MSY 1
LAX - IAD 1
STL - PHL 1
IAD - MSY 1
STL - CLT 1
SAN - ORD 1
DCA - CLT 1
Airports
Ronald Reagan Washin (DCA) 18
Washington Dulles In (IAD) 10
General Edward Lawre (BOS) 6
Chicago Ohare Intl (ORD) 6
San Diego Intl (SAN) 4
George Bush Intcntl (IAH) 4
Louis Armstrong New (MSY) 4
Los Angeles Intl (LAX) 2
Schiphol (AMS) 2
San Francisco Intl (SFO) 2
Brussels Natl (BRU) 2
Lambert St Louis Int (STL) 2
Philadelphia Intl (PHL) 2
Charlotte Douglas In (CLT) 2
Charleston Afb Intl (CHS) 2
Airlines
United Airlines 17
US Airways 13
Continental Airlines 4
Planes
Airbus A319 10
Boeing 767-300 3
Embraer 175 3
Boeing 757 2
Airbus A320 2
Boeing 737-700 2
Boeing 777 2
Embraer 170 2
Boeing 757-200 2
Canadair CRJ-700 1
Boeing 767-200 1
Boeing 757-300 1
Boeing 737-900 1
De Havilla...00 Dash 8Q 1
Canadair CRJ-200 1
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