At the end of October, 2019, my photo library contained approximately 60,000 images, mostly taken over the past 20 years. (Of those, nearly 40% are from the past five years.) Comparing the size of my library with those of friends of mine, I’m about average, but still, 60,000 is a big number, and managing that […]

The post Managing your photo library: pruning old growth appeared first on Complete Digital Photography.

The H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest (Andrews Forest) is both an idea and a particular place. It is an experimental landscape, a natural resource, and an ecosystem that has long inspired many people. On the landscape of the Andrews Forest, some of those people built the foundation for a collaborative community that fosters closer communication among the scientists and managers who struggle to understand how that ecosystem functions and to identify optimal management strategies for this and other national forest lands in the Pacific Northwest. People who worked there generated new ideas about forest ecology and related ecosystems. Working together in this place, they generated ideas, developed research proposals, and considered the implications of their work. They functioned as individuals in a science-based community that emerged and evolved over time. Individuals acted in a confluence of personalities, personal choices, and power relations. In the context of this unique landscape and serendipitous opportunities, those people created an exceptionally potent learning environment for science and management. Science, in this context, was largely a story of personalities, not simply a matter of test tubes, experimental watersheds, or top-down management sponsored by a large federal agency or university. Ideas flowed in a constructed environment that eventually linked people, place, and community with an emerging vision of ecosystem management. Drawing largely on oral history, this book explores the inner workings and structure of that science-based community. Science themes, management issues, specific research programs, the landscape itself, and the people who work there are all indispensable components of a complex web of community, the Andrews group. The first four chapters explore the origins of the Forest Service decision to establish an experimental forest in the west-central Oregon Cascades in 1948 and the people and priorities that transformed that field site into a prominent facility for interdisciplinary research in the coniferous biome of the International Biological Programme in the 1970s. Later chapters explore emerging links between long-term research and interdisciplinary science at the Andrews Forest. Those links shaped the group's response to concerns about logging in old-growth forests during the 1980s and 1990s. Concluding chapters explore how scientists in the group tried to adapt to new roles as public policy consultants in the 1990s without losing sight of the community values that they considered crucial to their earlier accomplishments.

The HCR (Harvest Cost-Revenue) Estimator is engineering and financial analysis software used to evaluate stand-level financial thresholds for harvesting smalldiameter ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) in the Southwest United States. The Windows-based program helps contractors and planners to identify costs associated with tree selection, residual handling, transportation of raw materials, and equipment used. Costs are compared against total financial return for regionally based market opportunities to arrive at potential net profit. Information is used to identify per-acre cost thresholds, for contract appraisal, and for prioritizing project planning for wildfire fuel reduction treatments and forest restoration efforts.

Sold prices for national forest stumpage provide geographically specific price references for timber. This report presents "sold" price series for western national forests between 1984 and the first 3 months of 2007. Selected trends in stumpage prices and sold volumes as well as issues related to species aggregation in the data are also discussed.

Old growth revisited: integrating social, economic, and ecological perspectives.

Late-successional and old-growth (LSOG) monitoring characterizes the status and trends of older forests to answer such questions as: How much older forest is there? Where is it? How much has changed and from what causes? Is the Northwest Forest Plan (the Plan) maintaining or restoring older forest ecosystems to desired conditions on federal lands in the Plan area? This assessment is the second in a continuous monitoring cycle. We initially reported on LSOG status and trends from 1994 to 2003 in the "10-year report." This document, the mid-cycle "15-year report," updates the assessment to 2006 in Washington and Oregon and to 2007 in California. The next major assessment will be the 20-year report.

Premier League clubs will also hold a videoconference on Monday to discuss Project Restart

Newcastle United were left without a centre-forward in 2011 but looked at signing World Cup ace to replace him with

GLOBAL MEDIA Partner HAROLD AUSTIN shares, "I wanted to bring attention to a blog that we just posted on our website, entitled 'Radio’s response to the CV crisis,' which … more

Another AM station is proposing to run testing of all-digital broadcasting, with BRIAN R. WALSH filing an STA request to operate Oldies WIOE-A/FORT WAYNE in full-time HD RADIO MA3 mode with … more

You could previously only buy the two chocolate bars in Australia.

iHEARTMEDIA's Board of Directors has approved its own poison-pill provision in the form of a "short-term stockholder rights plan" that would deter a third party from taking … more

NIELSEN HOLDINGS has filed an initial Form 10 Registration Statement with the U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION in connection with the Company's proposed separation of the NIELSEN … more

If they don't get help within six months the 150-year-old charity will collapse

Daily Photo – Exploring the Old Rockets at NASA If you’re a rocket enthusiast, then the museums at NASA are a must. I’m a little bit of a rocket nerd so I found it pretty exciting. That, plus being a photo nerd, was a perfect combo. Also, you get a leeway when it comes to […]

Email marketing is great for staying in touch with your existing customers and attracting new ones. Also, it’s a very effective method of selling your products. According to email marketing stats, 60% of consumers say they’ve made a purchase as the result of an email marketing message they received. There are certain types of emails...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability. Older adults are more likely than younger individuals to sustain TBIs and less likely to survive them. TBI has been called the “silent epidemic,” and older adults are the “silent population” within this epidemic. This study evaluates whether indicators of preinjury health and functioning are associated with risk of incident traumatic brain injury (TBI) with loss of consciousness (LOC) and to evaluate health‐related factors associated with mortality in individuals with incident TBI.

CEDAR RAPIDS — A 17-year-old, charged in January with fatally shooting an 18-year-old during a drug robbery, was released in March only to be arrested about a month later for drunken driving....

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is providing an update on coronavirus in Iowa at 11:00 a.m. today. She is speaking from the State Emergency Operations Center in Johnston. The news conference will be...

Iowa State University graduates who celebrated commencement Friday saw lots of caps and gowns, red-and-gold confetti and arenas packed with friends and family. But none of those images were from...

Note: This post is adapted from my original viral Twitter thread. Ffrom November 2003 through July 2005, I worked in the prepaid cell phone and phone card industry. Most of my work was in BFE meth towns and urban ghettoes. I learned things about the poor in America you won’t want to believe… But this […]

CEDAR RAPIDS — A 17-year-old, charged in January with fatally shooting an 18-year-old during a drug robbery, was released in March only to be arrested about a month later for drunken driving.

Kyler David Carson, now 18, of Cedar Rapids, was charged last month with operating while intoxicated and unlawful possession of an anti-anxiety prescription drug.

After two judges reduced Carson’s bail, he bonded out and was released pending trial.

Police arrested Carson April 24 when they believed he was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to a criminal complaint.

He provided a breath sample, which showed no signs on alchol, but refused to provide a urine sample for chemical testing, the complaint states.

In January, Carson was charged with voluntary manslaughter, delivery of a controlled substance-marijuana, carrying weapons and obstructing prosecution.

He is accused of fatally shooting Andrew D. Gaston, 18, on Jan. 24, as Gaston and his cousin, Tyrell J. Gaston, 16, were attempting to rob marijuana from Carson, according to a criminal complaint.

Police received a report of shots being fired at 11:48 p.m. and found Andrew and Tyrell Gaston with gunshot wounds in the parking lot of 3217 Agin Court NE.

During the investigation, police learned the Gaston cousins had arranged, with the help of others, to rob Carson that night. Witnesses told investigators they contacted Carson and “lured” him to the address to rob him of marijuana.

Carson thought he was called that night to sell 45 pre-rolled tubes of marijuana for $900, according to criminal complaint.

While Carson was delivering marijuana to the others in their car, the cousins and a third person ambushed Carson from behind, according to a criminal complaint.

Andrew Gaston struck Carson in the back of the head with a metal object. Carson then turned around and exchanged gunfire with Tyrell Gaston before running from the parking lot, witnesses told police.

Both Carson and Tyrell Gaston later discarded their firearms, which police didn’t recover, according to the complaint.

Tyrell Gaston also was charged with first-degree robbery, conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance-marijuana, carrying weapons and obstructing prosecution.

A judge, during Carson’s initial appearance in the fatal shooting, set his bail at $50,000 cash only, according to court documents. His bail was amended, in agreement with prosecutor and Carson’s lawyer, to $50,000 cash or surety March 23 by 6th Judicial Associate District Judge Russell Keast.

Carson remained in jail, but his lawyer asked for a bond review three days later, March 26, and Associate District Judge Casey Jones lowered the bail to $30,000 cash or surety.

Carson posted bail that day, according to court documents.

Assistant Linn County Attorney Rena Schulte has filed a motion to revoke Carson’s pretrial release and will request his bail ne set at $500,000. A hearing is set on the motion for next Thursday in Linn County District Court.

If convicted, Carson faces up to 19 years in the fatal shooting and up to two years for the other offenses.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is providing an update on coronavirus in Iowa at 11:00 a.m. today.

She is speaking from the State Emergency Operations Center in Johnston. The news conference will be livestreamed and viewable on this page.

Coronavirus hospitalizations have continued a steady increase, with more than 400 Iowans presently admitted for COVID-19.

DES MOINES — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds will not be holding a news briefing Friday on the coronavirus outbreak in Iowa due to scheduling conflicts created by Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to Iowa, according to the governor’s office.

The vice president was slated to travel to Des Moines Friday morning with plans to participate in a discussion with faith leaders about how they are using federal and state guidelines to open their houses of worship in a safe and responsible manner.

Also, Friday afternoon the vice president was scheduled to visit Hy-Vee headquarters in West Des Moines for a roundtable discussion with agriculture and food supply leaders to discuss steps being taken to ensure the food supply remains secure. Pence will return to Washington, D.C., later Friday evening.

Along with the governor, Iowa’s Republican U.S. Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley are slated to join Pence at Friday’s events in Iowa.

According to the governor’s staff, Reynolds plans to resume her regular schedule of 11 a.m. press conferences next week.

Iowa State University graduates who celebrated commencement Friday saw lots of caps and gowns, red-and-gold confetti and arenas packed with friends and family.

But none of those images were from this year — which now is defined by the novel coronavirus that has forced education online and put an end to large gatherings like graduation ceremonies.

Appearing in front of a red ISU screen Friday, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean Daniel J. Robison addressed graduates like he usually would at commencement — but this time in a recorded message acknowledging the unprecedented circumstances keeping them apart.

“This year, because of the COVID crisis, we are unfortunately not all together for this happy occasion,” he said, pushing forward in a motivational tone by quoting famed ISU alumnus George Washington Carver.

“When you can do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world,” Robison said, citing Carver.

About 12,000 graduates across Iowa’s public universities this month are doing exactly that — capping their collegiate careers with never-before-attempted online-only commencement ceremonies, with each campus and their respective colleges attempting a variety of virtual celebration methods.

ISU and the University of Iowa are attempting some form of socially-distanced livestreamed convocation with countdown clocks and virtual confetti. All three campuses including the University of Northern Iowa have posted online recorded messages, videos and slides acknowledging individual graduates.

Some slides include photos, thank-yous, quotes and student plans for after graduation.

UNI, which didn’t try any form of a live virtual ceremony, instead created a graduation website that went live Thursday. That site hosts an array of recorded video messages — including one from UNI President Mark Nook who, standing alone behind a podium on campus clad in traditional academic regalia, recognized his campus’ 1,500-some spring graduates and their unusual challenges.

“We know the loss you feel in not being able to be on campus to celebrate this time with your friends, faculty and staff,” Nook said. “To walk around campus in your robe and to take those pictures with friends and family members … The loss is felt by many of us as well.”

He reminded those listening that this spring’s UNI graduates — like those at the UI and ISU — can participate in an upcoming in-person commencement ceremony.

And although students were allowed to return caps and gowns they ordered for their canceled walks across the stage, some kept them as keepsakes. The campuses offered other tokens of remembrance as well, including “CYlebration” gift packages ISU sent to graduates in April stuffed with a souvenir tassel, diploma cover, and streamer tube — to make up for the confetti that won’t be falling on graduation caps from the Hilton Coliseum rafters.

In addition to the recorded messages from 17 UI leaders — including President Bruce Harreld — the campus solicited parent messages, which will be included in the live virtual ceremonies.

To date, about 3,100 of the more than 5,400 UI graduates have RSVP’d to participate in the ceremony, which spokeswoman Anne Bassett said is a required affirmation from the students to have their names read.

“Students do not have to sign up to watch,” she said. “So there’s no way at this time to predict how many will do so.”

Despite the historic nature of the first online-only commencement ceremonies — forever bonding distanced graduates through the shared experience — UI graduate Omar Khodor, 22, said it’s a club he would have liked to avoid.

“I’d definitely prefer not to be part of that group,” the environmental science major said, sharing disappointment over the education, experiences and celebrations he lost to the pandemic.

“A lot of students like myself, we’re upset, but we’re not really allowed to be upset given the circumstances,” Khodor said. “You have this sense that something is unfair, that something has been taken from you. But you can’t be mad about it at all.”

Life is too short to dwell on what could have been or what should have been — which sort of captures graduate Dawn Hales’ motivation to get an ISU degree.

The 63-year-old Ames grandmother calls herself the “oldest BSN Iowa State grad ever.”

“It’s the truth, because we’re only the second cohort to graduate,” Hales said. “I’ll probably be the oldest for a while.”

ISU began offering a Bachelor of Science in nursing degree in fall 2018 for registered nurses hoping to advance their careers — like Hales, who spent years in nursing before becoming director of nursing at Accura Healthcare, a skilled nursing and rehabilitation center in Ames.

In addition to wanting more education, Hales said, she felt like the “odd man out” in her red-and-gold family — with her husband, three sons and their wives all earning ISU degrees. She earned an associate degree and became a registered nurse with community college training.

“I was director of nursing at different facilities, but I did not have a four-year degree,” she said. “I always wanted to get my BSN.”

So in January 2019, she started full-time toward her three-semester pursuit of a BSN — even as she continued working. And her education took a relevant and important turn when COVID-19 arrived.

“My capstone project was infection control,” she said, noting her focus later sharpened to “infection control and crisis management” — perfect timing to fight the coronavirus, which has hit long-term care facilities particularly hard.

“We were hyper vigilant,” Hales said of her facility, which has yet to report a case of COVID-19. “I think we were probably one of the first facilities that pretty much shut down and started assessing our staff when they would come in.”

Hales said she was eager to walk in her first university graduation and was planning antics for it with her 10-year-old granddaughter.

“We were trying to think, should I dance across the stage?” Hales said. “Or would I grab a walker and act like an old lady going across the stage?

“She was trying to teach me to do this ‘dab’ move,” Hales said. “I said, ‘Honey, I cannot figure that out.’”

In the end, Hales watched the celebration online instead. She did, however, get a personalized license plate that reads, “RN2BSN.”

Coming from a family-run dairy farm in Jerome, Idaho, EllieMae Millenkamp, 22, is the first in her family to graduate college.

Although music is her passion, Millenkamp long expected to study at an agriculture school — but Colorado State was her original choice.

Then, while visiting family in Iowa during a cousin’s visit to ISU, she fell in love with the Ames campus and recalibrated her academic path.

While at ISU, the musical Millenkamp began writing more songs and performing more online, which led to in-person shows and a local band.

And then, during her junior year, a talent scout reached out to invite her to participate in an audition for NBC’s “The Voice.” That went well and Millenkamp, in the summer before her senior year, moved to Los Angeles and made it onto the show.

She achieved second-round status before being bumped, but the experience offered her lifelong friendships and connections and invigorated her musical pursuits — which have been slowed by COVID-19. Shows have been canceled in now idled bars.

Millenkamp went back to Idaho to be with her family, like thousands of her peers also did with their families, when the ISU campus shut down.

After graduation she plans on returning and working the family farm again until her musical career has the chance to regain momentum.

But she recently returned to Ames for finals. And she and some friends, also in town, plan to celebrate graduation, even if not with an official cap and gown.

“We’ll probably have a bonfire and all hang out,” she said. “We’ll celebrate in our own way.”

Most college seniors nearing graduation get to spend their academic hours focusing on their major and interests, wrapping their four or sometimes five years with passion projects and capstone experiences.

That was Omar Khodor’s plan — with lab-based DNA sequencing on tap, along with a geology trip and policy proposal he planned to present to the Iowa Legislature. But all that got canceled — and even some requirements were waived since COVID-19 made them impossible.

“There were still a lot of a lot of things to wrap up,” he said. “A lot of things I was looking forward to.”

He’s ending the year with just three classes to finish and “absolutely” would have preferred to have a fuller plate.

But Khodor’s academic career isn’t over. He’s planning to attend law school in the fall at the University of Pennsylvania, where he’ll pursue environmental law. But this spring has diminished his enthusiasm, with the question lingering of whether in-person courses will return to campus soon.

If they don’t, he’s still leaning toward enrolling — in part — because of all the work that goes into applying and getting accepted, which he’s already done.

“But online classes are definitely less fulfilling, less motivating. You feel like you learn less,” he said. “So it will kind of be a tossup. There’ll be some trade-offs involved in what I would gain versus what I would be paying for such an expensive endeavor like law school.”

As for missing a traditional college commencement, Khodor said he will, even though he plans to participate in the virtual alternative.

“Before it got canceled, I didn’t think that I was looking forward to it as much as I actually was,” he said.

Not so much for the pomp and circumstance, but for the closure, which none of the seniors got this year. When the universities announced no one would return to campus this semester, students were away on spring break.

They had already experienced their last in-person class, their last after-class drink, their last cram session, their last study group, their last lecture, their last Iowa Memorial Union lunch — and they didn’t even know it.

“So many of us, we won’t have closure, and that can kind of be a difficult thing,” he said.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com

For a list of commencement times and virtual celebrations, visit:

The University of Iowa’s commencement site at https://commencement.uiowa.edu/

Iowa State University’s commencement site at https://virtual.graduation.iastate.edu/

University of Northern Iowa’s commencement site at https://vgrad.z19.web.core.windows.net/uni/index.html

International students who have been in Australia for longer than 12 months who find themselves in financial hardship will be able to access their Australian superannuation. The Government will undertake further engagement with the international education sector who already provide some financial support for international students facing hardship. International students working in supermarkets will have […]

The post Student visa holders and New Zealand citizens in Australia and the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis? appeared first on Visa Australia - Immigration Lawyers & Registered Migration Agents.

In today’s Adobe Photoshop tutorial I’m going to show you how to turn anything into gold using this simple combination of Photoshop filters and tools. The effect smooths out the details of a regular image and adds an array of shiny reflections to mimic the appearance of a polished metal statue. A gradient overlay gives […]

The post Video Tutorial: How to Turn Anything into Gold in Photoshop appeared first on Spoon Graphics.

It’s that time of year when Spoon Graphics gets a little older, with 2020 marking 13 years of tutorial creating, freebie sharing and article writing on what started as a blog that was attached to my portfolio website in 2007. Every April I take some time to reflect on the past 12 months and talk […]

The post Spoon Graphics Turns 13 Years Old — Traffic Down, Subscribers Up! appeared first on Spoon Graphics.

Old paper textures are one of my most commonly used design resources, as you may have noticed from my tutorials! I have always just downloaded whatever third-party assets I could find, so I thought it was about time I made a collection of my own old paper textures to keep handy in my digital toolbox. […]

The post 20 Free Old Paper Textures with Creases, Folds and Stains appeared first on Spoon Graphics.

Technology continues to transform the world at a mind-numbing pace. Every year it seems, new technologies emerge that put our traditional ways of doing things to shame. Some of these methods are inherently superior, such as the movement toward digital media. While you might not be able to physically feel it in the palms of your hands, having digital media can ensure that you never lose pictures, photos and other forms of media. Most people have old photos laying around that they’d like to ensure last forever, but they haven’t taken the time to digitize and organize them. We’ll review some tips on how to digitize and organize your old photos so that they stand the test of time. Procure a Capture Solution There are a few different ways in which you can begin the process of digitizing your old photos. The first solution is through the use of a ... Read more

The post Tips for Digitizing and Organizing Old Photos appeared first on Digital Photography Tutorials.

I’m happy to report 2017 was a much better year than 2016 on many fronts. Family was healthy, we avoided experiencing the passing of family members, there was a fair amount of travel, a few great photos were taken and most importantly to me my boys continue to experience nature and ask for repeat camping trips. In past years yearly recaps I’ve emphasized how much of my focus has shifted from taking nature photos to instilling a sense of wonder about and deep respect for nature in my two young sons. That continues to be the case.   I’ve never delved into it too deeply in past yearly recaps why my prioritization has shifted. In part it’s likely very obvious for some. That said I do want to call it out. I became a photographer because of my love for nature. If I hadn’t been so intrigued by nature I’d never have had a reason to pick up a camera. With the onset of social media and mobile phones with cameras I’m not sure that can be said of many young photographers today. More and more as I view photography online I wonder whether people are truly interested in their subjects (all styles of photography not just nature) or just trying to increase their follower stats because that’s the thing to do in this day and age. Perhaps my cynicism is getting the better of me after working at Borrowlenses where I dealt with photography talking heads & professional and aspiring professional photographers on a daily basis. An element of my becoming a jaded photographer I’m sure (kudos to my friend Richard Wong for writing that post). I’ll avoid going down the path of airing dirt for now as that’s a series of posts unto itself. Anyhow once my boys got old enough it was quite natural for me to want to go back to my roots enjoying nature over photography. I’d like my children to deeply respect and value our natural world. What would I be teaching them, about nature and in general, if I was always taking photos on our trips versus living the moment? For that reason my yearly recap photos have and will continue to be split between family photos and everything else. While my boys are in their most formative years I’ll continue to put my emphasis behind experiencing nature versus artistically capturing it. The fact that my boys regularly tell me, often out of the blue, they want to go camping again means the world to me. I’m incredibly grateful one aspect of my professional outdoor photographer mind has not lost a beat and that is timing our trips for optimal conditions. This used to torment me as I’d leave my DSLR behind, but the more my boys reminisce and ask for more nature experiences the more I know I’ve made the right call. Now that that’s out of the way… my favorite photos, in no particular order are below. Enjoy and thanks for taking the time to view this post and my blog in general.  If you happen to have a recap of your best photos of 2017 I invite you to submit it to my blog project, where I list the best photos of photographers who read my blog. It’s a lot of fun and a great way to get inspired at the beginning of the new year. Best of  Landscape & Nature I took my boys to witness the total solar eclipse in August of 2017. We went off road to an isolated mountaintop with 360 degree views in eastern Oregon. My focus for the eclipse itself was on the experience with my boys, but we did star gaze a lot at night before the big day. In trying to explain how the earth moves I set up a quick star trail sequence to show the boys. This was the result. Water levels were near record levels this spring in Yosemite Valley. I made what has become a regular hike to Upper Yosemite Falls to take time-lapses of moonbows with my friend, Brian Hawkins. Like me, he seems to have enough screws loose to think this night hike is a good idea along with huddling in ice cold mist to capture this view. At the beginning of the year I timed a trip to Yosemite Valley to capture some long overdue winter star trail photos. This was a single 2+ hour exposure taken with my Canon 5D Mark II. Pictured is Three Brothers with star trails reflected in the Merced River. Another single 2+ hour exposure taken with my Canon 5D Mark II. Pictured is Upper Yosemite Falls as seen from the valley floor. For most of my family trips this year I’ve rented an SUV outfitted with a rooftop tent via PacificOverlander. I took this photo on the first night of one of my trips with the boys as we explored the Owens Valley. While they slept I snuck in this photo of our truck/tent under the Milky Way. If you’re unfamiliar with PacificOverlander it’s well worth investigating. I’ve had several amazing experiences and my boys keep asking me why I keep giving the truck back. They regularly have so much fun on these trips it would seem they’re sold on having a truck/rig like this of their very own.   Best of Family Taken on our trip to see the total solar eclipse, the boys enjoy hanging out in the tent atop our PacificOverlander SUV. This photo sits atop both my home and work desk. It’s probably my favorite photo of the year as it captures the raw joy my boys have on our camping excursions. I spoiled my kids with ice cream atop the Glacier Point lookout in Yosemite National Park. A moment I enjoy remembering through this quick snapshot. Wrangling family for a group photos is… a challenge. This is especially true when the boys enjoy making faces and test the patience of my wife. Every so often though a photo comes out just right. This was one that I took while we enjoyed a sunny day at a beach near Half Moon Bay. Not a technically […]

2018 has been quite the year. You wouldn’t know it from my blog, but it’s been one of the most hectic years I’ve had in a long time. Much of that centered around establishing a new home base for my family, albeit in the same area. Uprooting a family of 4 in the SF bay area is not for the light hearted. Luckily everyone has been quite excited about our move, but it has taken up most of my free time. I’m happy to say that I’m starting to get my nose above water and eager to do a bit more photography. Another development this year was my acquisition of the domain calphoto.com and the CALPHOTO California photographic condition mailing list associated with the domain. Interested in real-time photo conditions across California? Then be sure to join. CALPHOTO is comprised of a great community of people who share a common interest in photographing and preserving the beauty of our state. With limited time this year I focused on trips for my kids versus dedicated photo trips. In years past I’ve mentioned how my focus was to foster a deep appreciation of nature and the outdoors with my boys and that has firmly taken hold. I am regularly asked when our next camping trip will be and what other cool places we can visit. I also get a great deal of joy from the kids when we’re driving around town and an epiphany hits that we haven’t been to Yosemite in a while. I suppose that adds to the prospect of more photography and photo trips as they’ve been picking up an interest in taking photos too. That should give you an idea of 2018 in a nutshell. Here are my 8 best photos of 2018… Landscapes Fall Color Abstract Redwood Circle of Life Fresh Snow in Yosemite Valley Rays of Sun in the Redwoods National Forest Family Fun Someone has picked up good tripod technique by watching his dad. He started doing this on his own randomly during our trip. He was insistent he use my tripod even if he was just resting his camera on top of it without a base plate. Fun at the Trees of Mystery Trees of Mystery Portrait Holiday Photo Hijinks Thanks for looking and have a great new year!

Thanks for checking in to see my best photos of 2019. This year for a variety of reasons I didn’t have many opportunities to get out and pursue photography to the degree I’d have preferred. Some of the reasons why were good (new house, settling in, kid activities with both boys being in elementary school for the first time, etc.) and some were downright bummers (passing of my grandfather, getting used to this aging thing, etc.). Through it all though I got the kids out on some bigger trips this year beyond our regular trips to Yosemite. We drove from California to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Glacier National Park in Montana. With my focus on the boys having a great experience my normal serious photographic endeavors were kept on the sideline. As always I felt good with that decision after hearing how much they loved Glacier National Park, especially given Glacier it is a personal favorite of mine. In 2020 I’m looking forward to exploring more of my favorite locations with them and seeing it all a new through their eyes.  All that being said enjoy my best of the year…   Landscapes & Wildlife Much of my time outdoors this year was spent showing the boys more of my favorite locations and experiencing the great outdoors while indulging them with great views and of course many evenings of campfires and s’mores. The following view at Two Medicine lake in Glacier National Park was incredibly memorable as we explored the shore and skipped rocks.   Of all my time at Glacier National Park I’ve never once seen a Pika… until this year. Not only are they well camouflaged and hard to see, but they’re incredibly fast. Being small even photographing them with a 400mm lens isn’t nearly enough magnification. The first photo below is a severely cropped photo taken at 400mm. The uncropped photos, 2 down, is included to give you an idea of how hard it is to find them in a rock pile. Add in their constant state of running, to forage food for the winter, you have an even tougher subject to photograph. That said I do have a good number of Pika butt photos now.   While in Glacier National Park it’s always fun to see marmots scurrying about. On a hike at Logan Pass my boys and I saw several. One of the more interesting was perched in a tree surveying his territory.   Adventures with the Kids My boys enjoying a brief encounter with a curious ground squirrel was amusing. Even more amusing was the play structure my youngest son built for him with rocks near his den.   My youngest still has not shaken his interest in photography. While he wasn’t as steadfast about using a tripod this year he still seemed to enjoy taking some ‘serious’ photos.   A brief moment my kids weren’t a blur from running around, tackling each other, and/or tackling me.   A personal favorite of mine taken by a passing hiker. Thanks unknown hiker, I salute you and your ability to capture a well framed photo while maintaining focus. You’d be surprised how hard it is to get that even with an iPhone. Thanks for checking in and Happy New Year!

Video by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Jefferson Beck Arctic sea ice has not only been shrinking in surface area in recent years, it’s becoming younger and thinner as well. In this animation, where the ice cover almost looks … Continue reading →

In today’s tutorial, we’re going to take an in-depth look behind the process of creating a folder icon, and see how easy it is to build one from scratch using nothing more than a couple of basic geometric shapes, which we’re going to adjust here and there. So, assuming you already have Illustrator up and […]

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So you’ve updated your plugins… … and your blog doesn’t work anymore … and you have no backup … … […]

There’s a simple way to get hold of previous versions of your WordPress plugins, for example if a current version […]

The notoriously independent-minded federal judge who once said he was disgusted by the conduct of Michael Flynn could block the administration's bid to drop criminal charges against the former adviser to President Donald Trump, legal experts said.

For years now I’ve had a thing for old doorways with big old locks – now on Cyprus it escalated a bit due to the number of absolutely beautiful old doors. Many of them not restored but broken or run […]

Applying the equivariant moving frames method, we construct convergent normal forms for real-analytic 5-dimensional totally nondegenerate CR submanifolds of C^4. These CR manifolds are divided into several biholomorphically inequivalent subclasses, each of which has its own complete normal form. Moreover it is shown that, biholomorphically, Beloshapka's cubic model is the unique member of this class with the maximum possible dimension seven of the corresponding algebra of infinitesimal CR automorphisms. Our results are also useful in the study of biholomorphic equivalence problem between CR manifolds, in question.

In this paper, we develop the theory for classifying all the geometric fibrations of compact, connected, flat $n$-orbifolds, over a 1-orbifold, up to affine equivalence. We apply our classification theory to classify all the geometric fibrations of compact, connected, flat $2$-orbifolds, over a 1-orbifold, up to affine equivalence. This paper is an essential part of our project to give a geometric proof of the classification of all closed flat 4-manifolds.

We prove the following result: Let $(M,g_0)$ be a compact manifold of dimension $ngeq 12$ with positive isotropic curvature. Then $M$ is diffeomorphic to a spherical space form, or a compact quotient manifold of $mathbb{S}^{n-1} imes mathbb{R}$ by diffeomorphisms, or a connected sum of a finite number of such manifolds. This extends a recent work of Brendle, and implies a conjecture of Schoen in dimensions $ngeq 12$. The proof uses Ricci flow with surgery on compact orbifolds with isolated singularities.

We prove an inequality between the sum of the Betti numbers of a complex projective manifold and its total curvature, and we characterize the complex projective manifolds whose total curvature is minimal. These results extend the classical theorems of Chern and Lashof to complex projective space.

In this paper we introduce various types of harmonic Finsler manifolds and study the relation between them. We give several characterizations of such spaces in terms of the mean curvature and Laplacian. In addition, we prove that some harmonic Finsler manifolds are of Einstein type and a technique to construct harmonic Finsler manifolds of Rander type is given. Moreover, we provide many examples of non-Riemmanian Finsler harmonic manifolds of constant flag curvature and constant $S$-curvature. Finally, we analyze Busemann functions in a general Finsler setting and in certain kind of Finsler harmonic manifolds, namely asymptotically harmonic Finsler manifolds along with studying some applications. In particular, we show the Busemann function is smooth in asymptotically harmonic Finsler manifolds and the total Busemann function is continuous in $C^{infty}$ topology.

We propose a general procedure to construct noncommutative deformations of an algebraic submanifold $M$ of $mathbb{R}^n$, specializing the procedure [G. Fiore, T. Weber, Twisted submanifolds of $mathbb{R}^n$, arXiv:2003.03854] valid for smooth submanifolds. We use the framework of twisted differential geometry of [Aschieri et al.,Class. Quantum Gravity 23 (2006), 1883], whereby the commutative pointwise product is replaced by the $star$-product determined by a Drinfel'd twist. We actually simultaneously construct noncommutative deformations of all the algebraic submanifolds $M_c$ that are level sets of the $f^a(x)$, where $f^a(x)=0$ are the polynomial equations solved by the points of $M$, employing twists based on the Lie algebra $Xi_t$ of vector fields that are tangent to all the $M_c$. The twisted Cartan calculus is automatically equivariant under twisted $Xi_t$. If we endow $mathbb{R}^n$ with a metric, then twisting and projecting to normal or tangent components commute, projecting the Levi-Civita connection to the twisted $M$ is consistent, and in particular a twisted Gauss theorem holds, provided the twist is based on Killing vector fields. Twisted algebraic quadrics can be characterized in terms of generators and $star$-polynomial relations. We explicitly work out deformations based on abelian or Jordanian twists of all quadrics in $mathbb{R}^3$ except ellipsoids, in particular twisted cylinders embedded in twisted Euclidean $mathbb{R}^3$ and twisted hyperboloids embedded in twisted Minkowski $mathbb{R}^3$ [the latter are twisted (anti-)de Sitter spaces $dS_2,AdS_2$].

Let $Gamma$ be a discrete group acting properly discontinuously and isometrically on the three-dimensional anti-de Sitter space $mathrm{AdS}^{3}$, and $square$ the Laplacian which is a second-order hyperbolic differential operator. We study linear independence of a family of generalized Poincar'{e} series introduced by Kassel-Kobayashi [Adv. Math. 2016], which are defined by the $Gamma$-average of certain eigenfunctions on $mathrm{AdS}^{3}$. We prove that the multiplicities of $L^{2}$-eigenvalues of the hyperbolic Laplacian $square$ on $Gammaackslashmathrm{AdS}^{3}$ are unbounded when $Gamma$ is finitely generated. Moreover, we prove that the multiplicities of extit{stable $L^{2}$-eigenvalues} for compact anti-de Sitter $3$-manifolds are unbounded.

We study the non-relativity for two real analytic K"ahler manifolds and complex space forms of three types. The first one is a K"ahler manifold whose polarization of local K"ahler potential is a Nash function in a local coordinate. The second one is the Hartogs domain equpped with two canonical metrics whose polarizations of the K"ahler potentials are the diastatic functions.

This is an expanded version of the talk given be the first author at the conference "Topology, Geometry, and Dynamics: Rokhlin - 100". The purpose of this talk was to explain our current results on classification of rational symplectic 4-manifolds equipped with an anti-symplectic involution. Detailed exposition will appear elsewhere.

We investigate the Boundary Harnack Principle in H"older domains of exponent $alpha>0$ by the analytical method developed in our previous work "A short proof of Boundary Harnack Principle".