Obscured Clarity

Monday, June 29, 2009

Bavaria is not only the land of 1-liter beers and dirndl-clad alpine women, but it also offers the adventurous numerous paddling opportunities with train-accessible put-in and take-out points. A buddy of mine visited me last week and brought with him two Alpacka Packrafts from a small company in Colorado, USA. A Packraft is a cross between a kayak and a raft and is just long enough to sit in it with your legs stretched out in front of you. They weigh about 2.5 kg, have a spray skirt, and are propelled with a kayak paddle and strong arms. They can be rolled up into a bundle about the size of a packed down sleeping bag and carried in a backpack - ideal for traveling fast and light. We set our sights on the main river that flows right through the heart of Munich - the Isar - and took off early one morning on a train heading to the source of the river near Sharnitz, Austria. In a total of three days, we made a round trip from Munich to Sharnitz and back with 95 km (60 miles) on the Isar between Sharnitz and Wolfratshausen.

If you plan on paddling the Isar anywhere along that stretch of the river, click on the interactive map for beta about portaging the numerous dams and other tips.

Upper Isar above Sharnitz

The "Nature Lounge" in Sharnitz, Austria. A place to rent boats, neoprene, helmets and get river beta.

The Isar somewhere between Wallgau and Fall

One of hundreds of alpine waterfalls

The upper Sylvanstein Stausee Dam

Mixing point of multi-colored water

Sylvanstein Stausee

Lunch break in Lengries

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Bar-headed Goose - Streifengans

The Bar-headed Goose (Streifengans) is seldom misidentified given its light color and striking black horizontal bars against a white background on its head. Native to Central Asia, scattered populations live throughout Europe, whose ancestors were probably escapees from bird collectors who fancied this bird's beauty. One of the highest flying birds in the world, they are able to migrate at over 10,000 m, hitch a free ride on the jet stream, and complete a 1,000 mile trip in one day. Compared to other geese their wing span to weight ratio is relatively large and specially adapted blood lets them fly high at low oxygen levels. The geese pictured here were photographed in Munich's English Garden, where a local population lives year-round off of frequent bread hand-outs from the locals. I observed one bold bar-headed goose approach a woman who had bread, stand in front of her with its neck streched high, and comically stomp its feet on the ground as its way to ask for a hand-out. Click on any thumbnail for a screen-filling full-resolution detailed image.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Barchan Dunes on Mars and Earth

Barchan Dunes are simply well-ordered piles of sand with a characteristic horseshoe-like shape, which can migrate across vast distances and coalesce into flowing ridges. Here are two examples of these dunes - one from southern Mars and one from southern Earth. Can you guess which picture is from where?

Image source: APOD

Image source: Google

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Jumping Spider Macro Videos

Impressive videoography of an impressive critter. The first video shows a jumping spider cleaning its feet, fangs, and eyes. The second video shows a jumping spider mating dance. The third is a National Geographic clip of a jumping spider catching a honey bee. Enjoy!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Smooth Newt (Teichmolch)

The Smooth Newt (Teichmolch) can be found in almost any small backyard pond or along the shallow water shores of lakes throughout Europe. I found this dandy of a specimen in the small pond in my wife's parents' backyard in Nordheim-Westfalen, Germany. I first noticed him while he was enticing one of the many female newts in the pond by floating in front of her and vibrating his neon-blue and -orange tail. After about two minutes, she had enough and darted away. At this point I caught him with a net and placed him in a glass container for a few portrait shots. I grabbed one of the females and stuck her in the jar too.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Mandarin Duck - Mandarinente

The Mandarin Duck (Mandarinente) is a beautiful and unmistakable duck. Similar to Wood Ducks, they nest in dense forests inside hollow tree cavities, which the babies must jump out of when their mom decides it's time to go. Native to Asia, these ducks can be found throughout Europe, where escapees from private bird collectors established feral populations. The ducks photographed here were found in Munich's English Garden. The male was eating grass and other plants, while the female was gobbling up big earthworms laying on the damp grass.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Earth's Magnificent Moon (17 Stunning Images)

"Into the sunset's turquoise marge The moon dips, like a pearly barge; Enchantment sails through magic seas, To fairland Hesperides, Over the hills and away." ~Madison Julius Cawein

Light reflecting off the moon, Earth's only natural satellite and the only extraterrestrial body man has stepped foot upon, travels 1.28 seconds before reaching our eyes and cameras here on Earth. It is about 4.6 billion years old, the same approximate age of the Earth. Most scientists agree that it was formed after a colossal collision between the Earth and a rouge planet at the beginning of Earth's formation. The molten debris shot into space after the collision and eventually clumped together forming a liquid ball that cooled into the sphere we see today. Through conservation of momentum, the interaction between the moon's gravity, the Earth's spin and the ocean's tides, the moon moves farther away from us every day while slowing the spin of the Earth and lengthening the day. Since the moon has no atmosphere or weather, the millions of impact craters are not eroded away, like on Earth, revealing to us a great deal of historical information. Some of these impact craters are so big, they can be seen with the naked eye on a clear night with a full moon. No cheese has been found on the moon.

Image Credit: Philipp Klinger

Image Credit: Andrei Lintu

Image Credit: pxipusher

Image Credit: joka2000

Image Credit: Romair

Photo Credit: Terence Molter

Image Credit: Surfingjoe

Image Credit: revlimit

Image Credit: stormygirl

Image Credit: Heartkins

Image Credit: Terry Lea

Image Credit: Ben

Image Credit: mattie shoes

Image Credit: Ben

Image Credit: R. Motti

Image Credit: Images in the Backcountry

Friday, March 20, 2009

FASTRA - A Faster Cheap and Compact Cluster

In my article 24-Core Linux Cluster in a $29.99 Case from IKEA, I showed how you can build your own cluster (pictured at left) that is small enough to fit under your desk. It's turned out to be a nice space heater in the winter too, keeping my toes warm while it crunches numbers. It's come to my attention that someone in Belgium has created a 128-core cluster called FASTRA computer for under $5000 using 4 GPUs. Graphical Processing Units are normally used to render 3D video games, but in this case, they are using the cluster to speed up their 3D tomography calculations. Check it out below. Too bad they didn't use a Helmer cabinet...

By the way, IBM has the world's fastest computing cluster called Roadrunner using a similar design but much much bigger. It has 130,464 cores and uses 2.35 MW of power.