The Slow Trudge of Time… Always feels like forever waiting in line…

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Photo #661: Truck LineLocation Taken: Ohio, maybe?
Time Taken: May 2007

Apparently I need more dinosaurs in my blog so here’s some more-

No wait, that’s a bunch of trucks.

Eh, close enough, right?

Big lumbering things (that still move pretty quickly), rampaging across the countryside.

And, to use the classic jokes, fossil fuels are made of dinosaurs so there are dinos in this photo (or at least things containing dinos).

…That’s not true, mind you. Oil is almost entirely made out of extremely decomposed sea algae. And coal is made mostly out of swamp plants. The really good coal deposits were laid down during the Carboniferous era, when the world happened to have vast wetlands in tropical regions for optimal swamp-plant production. And by vast I mean continent-sized shallow seas surrounded by and containing swamps. And the Carboniferous ended a good 67 million years before dinosaurs started showing up. Which, coincidentally, is pretty close to the same amount of time that’s passed since the dinosaurs died off, some 66 million years ago.

Ah, the joys of geologic time, when an extra million years is “close”.

It does take all those millions of years for oil and coal to form. Organic matter gets trapped underground, and then the heat and pressure get to work, slowly cooking and pressing away all the complexity until you’re left with a lovely mess of carbon that burns really well. Or oozes out of the ground in a sticky mess, if it’s oil.

And then we take it, apply chemistry to it, and burn away millions of years of work in a matter of days just to get ourselves somewhere else in a hurry.

  

I could say something about how Brontosauri never existed, but everyone knows that…

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Photo #660: Tall DinoLocation Taken: American Museum of Natural History, New York City
Time Taken: June 2007

You know, some days I just don’t feel like posting. I’m just looking through folders of photos I’ve seen literally hundreds of times before, trying to find one that will give me a topic. Nothing overly interesting will have happened to me, nor will I have learned any new tidbit I want to pass on, and then, my last hope, finding a photo with a story to tell, falls through.

However, I also know how irritating it can be to see blogs or webcomics or what not fail to update, or worse, have the creator just vanish entirely. It’s also annoying to have the “Sorry for not posting for so long…” updates. So I shall trudge through and come up with something to say. Maybe even something self-referential, such as explaining why I don’t have any real topic written that day.

And then I’ll just put some random photo on top, one that caught my eye in the photo trawling, even if it wasn’t so kind to give me something to write about.

Maybe a dinosaur.

Everyone likes dinosaurs, right?

And then, of course, I’ll come up with a vague glimmer of an idea (maybe based around the books on dinosaurs I’ve read, or a random factoid such as that T. Rex lived closer in time to humans than to stegosauruses, and yet we humans put both into the same image all the time, isn’t that crazy), but I’ll have already written a full post and I’m lazy enough to not want to toss out what I just did. And then I’ll shrug and post the lazy post and file away the idea for another time.

  

At least the tree doesn’t have to worry about dehydration…

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Photo #659: River TreeLocation Taken: Ithaca, New York
Time Taken: March 2010

This tree must have fantastically strong roots for its size.

It’s right at the edge of a river, surrounded by hard rock and fragments of said hard rock. And this is an area prone to high amounts of snow. The water must get up and over the base of this tree come Spring thaw.

And yet, despite the difficult terrain and the flooding, it’s still growing strong.

Not particularly large, mind you, and given how many bends that trunk has, it’s seen more than its share of trouble. But it’s still hanging on, away from all the tall trees that would choke out the sunlight from it. It has found its niche, however poor, and is hanging on to it with all its might.

It’s no wonder lone trees are a favorite subject for artists who love symbology. There’s just so much potential there.

  

The Road to the Field of Knowledge…

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Photo #658: Field RoadLocation Taken: Chicago, Illinois
Time Taken: April 2008

The only reason I decided to post this photo was because of how it looks like the road just heads right into the Field Museum back there.

There’s a curve in the road that routes it around the museum, but you really can’t tell that from this photo, can you?

I suspect some of it is perspective playing tricks on us. The Field Museum building is very large, actually larger than it looks in this picture. And thanks to everything lining up right, the perspective makes it look both closer and smaller – and thus right by the road.

This is Lake Shore Drive, by the way, the major road that goes right by the lake in the center of town. This is the part of it by Millennium Park, hence all the trees.

I also seem to have caught the moment right when the light turned green. I don’t think anyone had entered the intersection quite yet. I wonder if that’s where the feeling of imminent motion comes from when I look at the cars in front…

  

Ah, if only the in-focus range had been just one millimeter closer!

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Photo #657: Curling LeavesLocation Taken: Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago, Illinois
Time Taken: April 2008

Tell me, does the fact that the flower is slightly out of focus make this photo lesser?

I mean, just look at that marvelous texture on the leaves, and the intricate curling patterns they make!

It would be an easy winner if the flower was in focus and the leaves were not, but is the flower any prettier than the more modest leaves?

I suppose there’s the argument that the flower is a natural focal point in the composition. It’s round, and has a clear center. It’s also a beautiful blue spot in a sea of green.

But oh my, those delicate curls!