Associated Press 2008 moments

The Big Picture year 2008 in photographs

I love pictures and they are relatively easy to blog about. You see them then you show them. It is also the time of year for 2008 best of list so when I come across something like this I naturally.


This is the Chaiten volcano as seen from Chana. This photo was taken in southern Chile May 2, 2008 by Carlos Gutierrez


The Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off from Kennedy Space Center on May 31, 2008. Photo by Eliot J. Schechter.


A polar bear is drying off in St-Felicien Wildlife Zoo in St-Felicien, Quebec on March 6, 2008. Photographed by Mathieu Belanger.


Although this picture was released November 7, 2008 by the Big Wave Awards in Sydney the picture was taken July 6 by Andrew Buckley.


Here are some of the Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008.


No, this is Mercury and not the Moon. Taken as the MESSENGER spacecraft departed the planet for the second time.


Spiral Art - This image was taken by Vicent Peris using the 3.5 meter telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory in southern Spain.

Please visit these websites for larger pictures with better explanations.

Classical music performed by the Muppets

I have always loved the Muppets. I have been searching for the Muppet Movie to show to my kids. These videos were a great shot on the arm.

Habanera



Stars & Stripes FOREVER!



Classical Chicken



Ode To Joy




Mahna Mahna

Google Street view

I was reading on the Internet how Google has expanded its street view. I remembered seeing a car that I thought was a google car last spring. So I zoomed into that location and guess what?



There I am just after my sons soccer practice.


View Larger Map

Here's a bunny with a pancake on its head

You can't say you have seen that every day. Visit the website.

Centaur Herd Folding Scooter

While I was surfing I came across this picture of a Centaur Herd Folding Scooter.



It caught my attention because of the similarities to the Tote Gote.



I thought my brother would get a kick out of it.

Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar 2008

I found this great animated image on the Hubble Space Telescope internet advent calendar.


Advent day #15 - Saturn


Advent day #4 - The colliding Antennae Galaxies


Advent Day #3 - Supernova 1994D

Best Pictures of Microscopic Life, 2008

I like to post great pictures I have seen. I came across this set of microscopic life from National Geographic that I thought I would share.



This is a fairy-fly wasp and it is 0.2 millimeters long. This was taken by M.I. "Spike" Walker, a British photographer.



This is by Montana psychiatrist Stephen Nagy. Magnified by 40 times, this is a 20-million-year-old fossil of an extinct breed of algae.



This 30X image, by Briton David Walker, is of snail "teeth".

These three winners along with the other nine contest winners, and 70 honorable mentions, were recognized at the Camerawork gallery in San Francisco on December 14, 2008.

Ferrofluid

A ferrofluid (from the Latin ferrum, meaning iron) is a liquid which becomes strongly polarized in the presence of a magnetic field.





There are more example of ferrofluid and this kind of art form at flypmedia.com

I think this would be a fun science fair idea.

Tote Gote

Why not start with Tote Gotes?


My other brother, Ralph and my uncle Dik

I have known about Tote Gote off road motorcycles my whole life. My grandpa B used to have a couple in his shed. He even built a similar machine himself.


My grandpa B's homemade gote

Although I have know about these machines I never really thought about them until a few years ago when my baby brother began refurbishing them for fun. He and my uncles have started a great collection of them.

Last summer they decided to hold a 50th anniversary party for the first production model of the Tote Gote. They put out fliers and invited other collectors to the event. They even invited the inventor to come to the celebration.

This is my brother riding his restored Gote. You can also see my dad, mom , sister, uncle, nephew and other uncle's hat in this picture.

As they got talking about their Tote Gotes and sharing their finds, they noticed a guy with suspenders and a white hat who they did not recognize.



It was Ralph Bonham, the inventor of the Tote Gote. I don't claim to know the history of Ralph Bonham or of the Tote Gote but there are some interesting things I did find out.

Ralph was born in my home town of Ogden, Utah. The Bonham Factory was in my boyhood home of Provo, Utah.



Ralph is credited with creating the first off-road motorcycle. He wanted to create a motorized goat to help him carry items in the mountains of Utah. Apparently he and my brother both like to roll their pants and wear white shirts.



One of the traditions we have kept is attending the fourth of July parade in Provo every year. So this picture of a Tote Gote in the parade caught my eye.



It is taken in front of Provo High school and if you look closely you can see that they are riding the Gotes over the float as it goes down the road.


Left front Ralph Bonham & grandson, right my brother and his wife.

My uncle Dik and baby brother entered the group into the Spanish Fork Fiesta Days parade and they rode their bikes in the parade.



That's all I have for now.

Life

Life is shaped by memories
of actions and decisions.
An accumulation of desires
and our own ambitions.

Looking back, life chose a path
that some would like to change.
You wonder what would have been
or regret a choice once made.

I am my life, my life is me
my decisions make it so.
I realize to change a thing
could ruin the life I know.

Thank you for the life I have
without you it's not the same.
The memories of the could have been
lead me to who I became.