Geeks In Action

Back in October I posted a picture of a couple walking stick like bugs that I saw while riding home. The picture was taken with my phone and wasn’t too great. I saw another pair of them again a few days after that. And then while we were at Canaveral National Seashores with Ingrid’s parents a couple weeks ago – we saw a couple of them on a tree. Ingrid took a picture. A small one is below, click on it for a larger photo.

I didn’t know what they were – but it didn’t take too long to find out. They are known as two striped walking sticks – and they can spray you with some nasty stuff. Good to know. You can read about them here.

The big one is the female and the little one is a male along for a ride.

Haven’t had a Navy pic in a while. Here’s the Reagan getting all groovy. A nice companion piece to Heel to Starboard. (Click on the pics for full photo)

PACIFIC OCEAN (Oct. 30, 2007) – USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) conducts rudder checks as part of the ship’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) following a six-month Planned Incremental Availability. All naval vessels are periodically inspected by INSURV to check their material condition and battle readiness. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class M. Jeremie Yoder

For comparison – here she is as she would normally sit.

I made a calendar for my cube. If you want a copy – you can have one too. It is a U.S. Navy Blue Angels 2008 Calendar with 13 photos of the Blue Angels in action. I put the calendar together with gimp, the calendar wizard at lulu and most importantly – public domain images from the U.S. Navy.

I may throw a few more together. I get about 50 cents for each one that is purchased. That’s not much – but 20 would be a fluff novel to read.

A B-52 Stratofortress leads a formation of Air Force and Navy F-16 Fighting Falcons, F-15 Eagles, and F-18 Hornetst over the USS Kitty Hawk, USS Nimitz and USS John C. Stennis Strike Groups during Exercise Valiant Shield exercise Aug.14 in the Pacific. The forces participated in Valiant Shield, the largest joint exercise in the Pacific this year. Held in the Guam operating area, the exercise includes 30 ships, more than 280 aircraft and more than 20,000 servicemembers from the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. (U.S. Navy photo/Petty Officer 2nd Class Jarod Hodge)

I’ll be posting the write up immediately after this. Here are the pictures from my night flying with the Phoenix Police Department. Click on the photo for a larger image.


A Koala in the hangar.

Same Koala head on

Eurocopter in the hangar

Pilot’s seat and controls – Eurocopter

Me in observers seat of the Eurocopter

The actual Eurocopter we were flying in that night, shows how great our view was due to the huge window on the door.

The new props on the Hawkeyes are very distinctive. The sure do look cool. This photo links directly to the hi-res version, full description below.

MOUNT FUJI, Japan (May 9, 2007) – E-2C Hawkeyes assigned to the “Liberty Bells,” of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 115 perform a formation flight in front of Mount Fuji. VAW-115 is one of the nine squadrons assigned Carrier Air Wing (CVW) Five, which is assigned to USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63). Kitty Hawk operates out of Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jarod Hodge

This astronomy picture of the day is pretty cool. (If you click on that link it will take you to an explanation of just what is going on in the picture – basically an eruption on the surface of Io) I immediately thought – ‘hey this would make nice wall paper for my desktop’. But the bigger version wasn’t quite the right dimensions – and it had a couple detail frames on it that I didn’t want. So I downloaded the large version, took out the detail parts, changed the dimensions and rotated it. If you want it – just right click and save the smaller version below – or click on it to see the big version and then download it. Whatever works for you.