Photography By Janet Delaney
Some sample pictures from some of the projects of California-based photographer Janet Delaney. In the 1980s Janet made a number of trips to New York and wandered the streets with a twin lens Rolleiflex camera capturing some lovely examples of street photography. Another project from decades past is the series of photos South of Market 1978-1986. I’ve got a soft spot for Beijing having been there for my honeymoon so it’s nice to see some photos from that wonderful city too. The last lot of photos I want to share come from Janet’s collections from South of Market (now) – a revisit to the area she photographed in the 1980s to highlight what has changed and what it heralds for the future – and Managua, Nicaragua...
KIC 8462852
Reported elsewhere but I’ll link to Phil Plait’s blog about the story here: Did Astronomers Find Evidence of an Alien Civilization? (Probably Not. But Still Cool.) A star – the titular KIC 8462852 – has produced some very strange observations that are difficult to explain right now but do present some intriguing (with care) possibilities. Most likely, of course, are natural ones that we’re not able to observe thanks to the distance involved (around 1500 light years) but there’s an unlikely-but-appealing argument for something a little more unnatural too. The observations are dips in the star’s light output, the means by which we typically detect planetary transits. As a rule these are periodic and the drop in starlight is a tiny percentage as planets are considerably smaller than the solar bodies they orbit. In KIC 8462852’s case the drops are irregular, sometimes dip slowly then rise quickly, and in a few cases dip by huge amounts (22%). Look at our own civilization. We consume ever-increasing amounts of power, and are always looking for bigger sources. Fossil, nuclear, solar, wind… Decades ago, physicist Freeman Dyson popularized an interesting idea: What if we built thousands of gigantic solar panels, kilometers across, and put them in orbit around the Sun? They’d capture sunlight, convert it to energy, and that could be beamed to Earth for our use. Need more power? Build more panels! An advanced civilization could eventually build millions, billions of them. […] But it raises an interesting possibility for detecting alien life. Such a sphere would be dark in visible light, but emit a lot of infrared. People have looked for them, but we’ve never seen one (obviously). Which brings us back to KIC 8462852. What if we caught an advanced alien civilization in the process of building such an artifact? Huge panels (or clusters of them) hundreds of thousands of kilometers across, and oddly-shaped, could produce the dips we see in that star’s light. The odds are low, but it’s a big universe out there. More observations...
City Of The Amazons
Previously… Leopard Ladies Of Mercury Buxom Amazons Of Jupiter Sex Sirens Of Saturn I opened the door as the echo of the ringing bell finally faded to nothing in the stone hallway and was instantly blinded by the sunshine that flowed in and around the silhouette of a buxom young woman standing there. I blinked and shielded my eyes. “Albert’s girth!” I exclaimed. “Elizabeth!? Is that you?” “It is, doctor,” she said, stepping inside without invitation and allowing me to cast my eyes over Carruthers’ niece from a more favourable angle. She was a sight for sore, watering eyes, and more besides, but I regained my composure quickly and glanced outside. Of Carruthers there was no sign; only a tandem penny farthing stood propped against the wall that mostly surrounded my country retreat in Sussex. Over my best attempt at a cup of tea – one really doesn’t appreciate a housekeeper as good as Mrs Amersham until she is of necessity called away to attend a family bereavement; a cousin killed just the weekend past by an anti-suffrage mob in Brixton – Elizabeth told me that it was imperative I accompany her to her uncle as he was certain he had found the fabled City of the Amazons and felt the chance of success in such a mission would increase with my accompaniment. It was difficult to say no to Elizabeth and I suspected that had been Carruthers’ intention. “Elizabeth, dear Elizabeth,” I said, trying to find the right words. “As you know I have not been well ever since that horrible incident that saw the three of us set foot on Saturn. I have self-administered a dose of trepanning but the mental ailment that yet still afflicts me has left me with little desire” – I choked on this word and blushed, I’m sure – “for adventure or the company of man. I find myself thinking dark thoughts from time-to-time and I have not fully gotten over the loss of Mr Hawkes, I’m certain.” I glanced at the empty picture frame on the mantelpiece; it ashamed me that my intention to sketch my former spacefaring companion in tribute had been scuppered by a frightening inability to recall his features. “I am sure your uncle can cope without me. Indeed, he may be better off without worrying over what I might say or do next as it’s a constant threat at the back of my own mind.” “My uncle wouldn’t ask this lightly,” answered Elizabeth. “And neither would I,” she continued, fixing a stare at me that I hurriedly broke. “Normalcy may be just what the doctor should be...
Bad Space Hotels
Subtitled Reviews from another world! and published in 1975, Bad Space Hotels was quite likely partly the inspiration for the Space Vacation novels by Joachim Tung-Deprezant of a few years later. Unlike those novels, though, Marshall Wickstomp’s foray into literature disregards storyline in favour of fictional reviews of hotels (with problems) on planets throughout the galaxy. The book is quite funny to start with – although the use of the word “space” as an adjective does wear thin after a while – but gets darker towards the end, a result of problems in the author’s personal life: house repossession, liquidation of his company manufacturing Space Frisbees, premature baldness, and most influentially, a messy divorce. This is easy to see with a comparison of one of the early bad space hotel reviews with a later one. Early: The Triton Excelsior is perfectly located for the Space Convention Center but our room was too close to the rooftop launchpad. While we appreciated the great view of Space City Gamma and the bonus sight of the entire Spacegridball field during the tournament final my tertiary wife felt the deafening roar and retro rocket plumes that cascaded onto us during our digital candlelit dinner on our 829th floor balcony spoiled our anniversary. Later: I thought this would be the only hotel I’d ever need. I thought I would be able to stay here forever. I was wrong. It looked good on the outside, at first. But inside there was not enough space illumination. The darkness seemed to grow like a cancer. The bed was hard, cold, and unforgiving. The windows were covered in astrosoot. Looking out from inside made everything seem bleak. There is a foulness in the corridors that permeates everything it touches. I would not recommend the Hotel Caroline on Arcturus IX to my worst enemy, although I understand my former best friend Dave likes his regular room in the basement. Wickstomp disappeared in...
Morris Men, Stealing Sheep, And An Apparition
A fabulous music video for the song Apparition by Stealing Sheep featuring the Abingdon Traditional Morris Side and the Oxford City Morris Men. I’ve got some history with Abingdon Traditional Morris having photographed them on one or two occasions before (Mayor’s Day 2011, Mayor’s Day 2012, and the Abingdon Extravaganza) and from having a wife and a best friend, both of whom are cousins of one of the dancers (the bearded one you can see stepping over the broom at the start of the video). The song is great and it’s made greater by the video which is wonderfully choreographed and expertly directed by Dougal Wilson with some lovely effects and a fantastic attempt to feel like a one-take video, without actually being one. Extra points go to the band for learning some of the steps too. Stealing Sheep is Rebecca Hawley, Emily Lansley, and Lucy Mercer. Their sound in general and the sound in particular for this song fits perfectly with this video. Quirky is the...
Recent From Retro
-
The Women Of Kilobaud Computing Sep 26, 2016 -
-
-
-
-
Recent From Entertainment
-
Dance Music Triple Nov 19, 2016 -
-
-
-
-
Recent Comments