Full Rainbow Over Library

A panorama of yesterday's full rainbow east of the library.

Fun with the Camera on my Communicator

Can't call it a phone because I hardly talk on the damn thing. I have a few different camera apps on my phone I like to play with and today was a good day to sit outside and mess around.

Today at lunch I was sitting by the fountain eating the porky cheesey sandwich I purchased from the Roaming Fork food truck. I love the porky cheesey sandwich. It is a grilled sandwich that consists of pulled pork and barbecue sauce. It's perfect. After wolfing down the sandwich I took a few shots of the back of the library and the fountain.

Normal camera mode with the reading taken off the foreground.


Normal camera mode with the reading taken off the sky.


A shot using the app called HDR Camera


The final image was taken using the Platinotype setting on the app called Vignette

Jose Valverde Blows Up Twitter

Even when he was awesome Jose Valverde gave me gas when he closed out a game. He takes forever and seems to always put a runner or two on base and then pitch out of the jam. Right now he is not effective and today he blew a save and Twitter blew up. Here are a few.

Most pathetic end to a baseball game I've seen in a long time. Valverde makes me want to rip my eyes out #BoycottPotatoeHead

— Jacob Linklater (@J_LINKscribes) June 12, 2013

I put a Jose Valverde poster on my door and now it won't close!

— Cole Lopez (@ColeLopez77) June 12, 2013

Jose Valverde couldn't save a pdf file to his desktop

— Fake SportsCenter (@FakeSportsCentr) June 12, 2013

It's over Papa...Tigers need a closer, sorry but Valverde is done...can't recover from this one

— Jim Brandstatter (@brandymancan) June 12, 2013

The fact that Jose Valverde continues to close games for the Tigers should be a human rights violation.

— Joe Stapleton (@joe_stapes) June 12, 2013

I agree! RT @tigstown: Good result, bad result, doesn't matter. Tigers can't win a World Series with Jose Valverde as closer. End of story

— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) June 12, 2013

Valverde blows another one. #tigers

— lj (@ljpring) June 12, 2013

Can't take it anymore. Valverde is atrocious. Get him out of this organization.

— Jacob Babbitt (@Jacob_Babbitt) June 12, 2013

VALVERDE IS THE WORST PITCHER IN MLB HISTORY!!!! HE JUST BLEW IT AGAIN!!!!!

— Luke Jones (@Luke_Jones33) June 12, 2013

Dear Jose Valverde Your multi-colored beard is stupidThe line up job on your hair is stupid You're stupidAnd I hate you

— Ryan McWilliams (@McWeezy27) June 12, 2013

This is a little harsh, sir. It's only a game.

If valverde took a line drive to the face and died on impact, I'm not going to lie I would smile.

— Ben Kleiman (@BK_BenKleiman) June 12, 2013

Platinotype Clouds

I still enjoy the app called Vignette that I have on my phone. I need to use it more.

More Michigan Slides

I am now more than halfway through my last batch of old slides that I bought on eBay. They were all taken, probably, somewhere in Michigan. Not probably on some. Some are definitely from Michigan because I can see the Mackinac Bridge and the Mackinac Bridge can only be found in one place, Michigan.

Here are a few choice shots in no particular order. The dates I have come from a stamp on each slide. I assume the stamp means the date the film was processed and not the date the picture was taken.

Exuberance from September 1959.


A June 1959 picnic with old cans of Budweiser and Lays chips.


A vacationer descending the stairway at the Chippewa Hotel in July 1964.


The same lady in her bathing suit on Mackinac Island. July 64.


July 1964, Mackinac Island street scene


Grilling in August 1959


August 1959 Firing Range

What Cool Looked Like in the 80s

Some time in the early 80s my sister and I received proper outfits for cross country skiing. I remember when I first saw the outfit I was skeptical. Shorts? who wears shorts outside in the winter? Turns out that cross country skiers do. I found out quickly that loose fitting heavy corduroy shorts and a sweater were perfect for outdoor winter exertion. Freedom of movement, you know. Once I had this outfit I skied a lot on my own in the woods you see behind me in this picture. After a couple hundreds of yards the woods opened up onto a series field covered hills that were perfect for skiing.

This picture I scanned from Kodak Disc film negatives and the resolution on this picture is terrible. The negative is only 8mm by 11mm wide. I see where they were going with this. I'm surprised that since Kodak was so into miniaturization with their film in the early 80s that they would be so resistant to digital photography when it came along.

Moon Shots

Just in case you were wondering the longest home run hit by a Detroit Tiger this year during a home game is Prince Fielder. The ball traveled 460 feet.



But, what really surprised me while I was browsing the website Hit Tracker is that the longest home run hit by a Tiger this year was this 463 foot shot hit by 37 year old Torii Hunter. Lord knows why the MLB website will allow me to embed one video and not the other. Who knows why MLB does anything sometimes (see their blackout rules).

Queen vs. Satan

I posted this on Facebook earlier today. I cannot possibly say how much I love this mashup. Pure genius by the DJ Lobsterdust.