Thursday, October 28, 2021

New toy

Just like Lene Lovich, I got a new toy yesterday

'I got a new toy oh oh oh

I feel my head expanding'

There is nothing like 80's music.

New toy by Lena Lovich



Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Spring freedom

Today I went for a walk in a local park.  It was excellent..  There was a deep blue spring sky that goes on forever.  The air was so still that all you could hear was the birds and the very far off hum of traffic.  The path follows a creek down to a small lake.  The round trip was around one hour.  There is but a short amount of time before lockdowns end forever here in Melbourne. Pictured are the flowers on a late blooming wattle.



Sunday, October 24, 2021

Distracted

On this day four years ago Penny and I visited the National Rhododendron gardens at Olinda in the Dandenong ranges east of Melbourne.  These two where so distracted by their devices that they failed to notice the magnificence around them



Friday, October 22, 2021

The lens

Recently I have been reading the Foundation series of books by Isaac Asimov and also watching the same story on Apple+.  Coincidentally the show on TV is only loosely based on the original story.  I have also been watching a Netflix series called "The billion dollar code".  This story is about a group of German hackers (Art+Com) that created a program called "TerraVision" in 1994.  It is essentially Google Earth but not on any computer.  The story is about how they sue Google over who invented Google Earth.  

After rereading the Foundation series, I believe that neither Art+Com or Google invented the idea of Google Earth.  It seems that in the book "Second Foundation" (on Page 32 of my digital copy) is a description of a device called "The lens".

Excerpt from Book "Second Foundation" by Isaac Asimov

The Lens was perhaps the newest feature of the interstellar cruisers of the day. Actually, it was a complicated calculating machine which could throw on a screen a reproduction of the night sky as seen from any given point of the Galaxy.

Channis adjusted the co-ordinate points and the wall lights of the pilot room were extinguished. In the dim red light at the control board of the Lens, Channis’ face glowed ruddily. Pritcher sat in the pilot seat, long legs crossed, face lost in the gloom.

Slowly, as the induction period passed, the points of light brightened on the screen. And then they were thick and bright with the generously populated star-groupings of the Galaxy’s centre.

End Excerpt

The description of the lens is almost word for word the same as how TerraVision is described in the Netflix series.  The main difference is the scope.  In the case of the "Second Foundation" the scope is an entire  Galaxy and TerraVision/Google Earth restrict themselves to the planet earth.

Either way the idea for what we now know as Google Earth can trace a genesis back to Isaac Asimov and potentially any patents may actually belong to him and his descendants?

Isaac Asimov was the person that ignited my love of hard science fiction. His books still to this day stand up to technical scrutiny.

Image #feetupfriday waiting for the show to begin :)



Monday, October 18, 2021

Tree

During lockdown here in Melbourne taking photos has been difficult. I like to get out and about and take photos in the city or the country. Most of the time I have been restricted to just a 5k radius of my home. As I couldn’t travel I found myself photographing a specific tree from the balcony here. Apparently Google Photos doesn’t provide a preview so you will need to click through to see the album of images all different days focal lengths, leaves/no leaves, landscape and closeup. Enjoy

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4p9TPLfsrwK9wSEJA




Saturday, October 16, 2021

Negative space

Frankston beach on this day four years ago.  I missed this image at the time and rather like the way it came out after editing



Thursday, October 14, 2021

Scam by SPAM

It seems that the old Nigerian scam is still alive and well.  It is a number of years since I received a similar message to the one pictured.  Send $135 USD plus full name, address, phone number and profession.  The scam will not end with you losing $135 USD.  You have been warned