Uploaded by: oliver: Debbie\'s Birthday

Uploaded by: oliver: Debbie\'s Birthday

Uploaded by: oliver: Debbie\'s Birthday

Uploaded by: oliver: Debbie\'s Birthday

Uploaded by: oliver: Debbie\'s Birthday

Uploaded by: oliver: Debbie\'s Birthday

Uploaded by: oliver: Debbie\'s Birthday

Uploaded by: oliver: Crystal springs reservoir in the morning fog. I didn\'t have my tripod - bad me.

Uploaded by: oliver: Soooo....how much water does the one-gallon urinal save? Silly folks at Zurn need to take a couple more math classes.

Uploaded by: oliver: This picture shows the force being applied to the arm of a bar clamp and the reactions from the bar.

Uploaded by: oliver: The foot of this end station floats on a cushion of air supported by a smooth glass surface. This exerts only a force along the z (upward) axis, while allowing free motion along the x and y axes. The more I learn the more I\'m able to see things in new light.

Uploaded by: oliver: This is a ball joint, ideally it will provide a reaction with components only in the x-y-z space but no couples. The ball joint is mounted above a slide which can move easily along one axis only but resists any motion normal to that axis. The more I learn the more I\'m able to see things in new light.

Uploaded by: oliver: These short struts, used to position a photon stopper in LCLS suddenly jump out at me as being short links - idealized members in a static system that transfer forces along a line that passes through their two end points. The more I learn the more I\'m able to see things in new light.

Uploaded by: oliver: My keysafe key is on a spring loaded key ring that I wear around my neck. It looked just like the moment about an axis problems I\'m working on in my engineering statics class!

Uploaded by: oliver:

Thought the statics book my class is using gives a very short way to find the parallel component of one force to another the logic of that formula (left) isn\'t really obvious.

Using the magnitude of the cross product (area of parallelogram), then dividing that area by the length of one side A I get the width of the rectangle of equal area to the parallelogram defined by the two vectors. Then using the Pythagorean theorem I can get the length of B along A.

All these little pieces are fitting together!

Uploaded by: oliver: Stretches of the Lost Coast are impassible during high tide. Some parts are still not totally passable even during middle tides!

Uploaded by: oliver: Stretches of the Lost Coast are impassible during high tide. Some parts are still not totally passable even during middle tides!

Uploaded by: oliver: Stretches of the Lost Coast are impassible during high tide. We hiked extra miles on Sunday afternoon to avoid making that hike at the crack of dawn on Monday morning.

Uploaded by: oliver: A candle illuminates my tent and a headlamp illuminates Megan\'s map.

Uploaded by: oliver: Alissa sterilizing water with UV light.

Uploaded by: oliver: Megan getting ready to brush her teeth.

Uploaded by: oliver: My feet did all the work this weekend.

Uploaded by: oliver: Henele is dwarfed by the bluffs above him and the ocean next to him.

Uploaded by: oliver: Pulling my keys out of my pocket I noticed that they were a great example of a statics problem like the ones I was studying. The keys weigh 74g, the cord is 46cm long and my hand is 30.5cm from my belt loop. What is the force in the cord?

Uploaded by: oliver: Slight bump in saturation, little tweak in the curves.

Uploaded by: oliver: This shows the net zero heat added to a room from a thermo-electric junction powered fan sitting on a stove.

Uploaded by: oliver: 50 micron filter for generating harmonic wavelengths of UV light.

Uploaded by: oliver: Pic of the surf at Aquatic Park. 15s, f16, iso160, ND3 filter. Name inspired by Andrew Bird\'s \"Yawny at the Apocalypse\", though photo was not.

Uploaded by: oliver: Transit of Venus Used ND3 and ND2.4 filters. Approximately 24 stops. ISO 64, f13.5, 1/1000s.

Uploaded by: oliver: 2012 Annular eclipse as seen from Menlo Park. The sun, seen through a variable ND filter ~8 stops and another ND filter for about ~5 stops.

Uploaded by: oliver: 20% MORE TUNA* *More tuna than the leading brand\'s 5oz. tuna.

Uploaded by: oliver: minimal overpass in Menlo Park.

Uploaded by: oliver: Unknown and long unused wires.

Uploaded by: oliver: View from a cafe at dusk.

Uploaded by: oliver: Detail of the garboard strake and the stem on the Eva B.

Uploaded by: oliver: Trees in the fog near Crystal Springs reservoir. I wish I had used iso 160 rather than 400.

Uploaded by: oliver: Urban decay always make for an easy photography subject.

Uploaded by: oliver: Grays in the sidewalk and on a wall on a street in San Francisco

Uploaded by: oliver: Primate enclosure at SLAC

Uploaded by: oliver: Primate enclosure at SLAC. Color version

Uploaded by: oliver: Grays in the sidewalk and the walls around a garage door and a side door in San Francisco

Uploaded by: oliver: James out for a row

Uploaded by: oliver: Wires in a tunnel near the SLD.

Uploaded by: oliver: This is pretty much the way things looked when I left my eye exam today - there were a few more points on the stars but it was damn close!

Uploaded by: oliver: View over Crystal Springs in the evening

Uploaded by: oliver: This image shows tracks of two small flies with about 12 identifiable wing beats over the length of the exposure. The shutter speed was 1/40 seconds so the flies were beating their wings about 480 times per second (28800 bpm).

Uploaded by: oliver: A 100% crop from the image \"Flies at Aquatic Park\".

Uploaded by: oliver: Flies swarmed under a drain pipe near Muni Pier in San Francisco\'s Aquatic Park.

Uploaded by: oliver: An alley on Russian Hill. ISO 160, f1.7, 2s, desaturated in GIMP.

Uploaded by: oliver: Cross-sectional scan of a red onion

Uploaded by: oliver: Squash at the farmers\' market.

Uploaded by: oliver: This is the sample chamber in one of the LCLS experimental hutches. Within this chamber samples are blasted with mindbogglingly short pulses of x-ray light (the packets are as short as 10 * 10^-15 seconds long!).

Uploaded by: oliver: At the end of the LCLS (linear coherent light source) the x-rays are split between hard and soft (short v. long wave lengths) and carried in very slightly diverging vacuum tubes - they almost appear parallel, however as you walk the length of this tunnel you can see that they diverge.

Uploaded by: oliver: The linear accelerator (linac) at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, in whole is two miles long, though only about a third of that is used today.

Uploaded by: oliver: Shown here are the filters which select what part of the spectrum is used to image samples which are housed in the chamber at the left side of the image. The tube coming in from the right side of the image is the x-ray source produced by the LCLS\'s nearly mile long linear accelerator.

Uploaded by: oliver: This chamber holds samples for x-ray imaging at the LCLS. Specifically it is used for imaging samples under extreme conditions. Those extreme conditions are created by a very large laser which is hidden behind the big chamber in the picture

Uploaded by: oliver: Two mile long klystron gallery at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a DOE high energy physics lab.

Uploaded by: oliver: Soft-box made out of a 16\" cube cardboard box, some white paper and a couple clip lights.

Uploaded by: oliver: Rorschach test. Part of a joke in an on-line forum.

Uploaded by: oliver: This helps illustrate that the position of the atoms along body diagonal in the diamond cubic crystal structure are located at [¼¼¼].

Uploaded by: oliver: This helps illustrate that the position of the atoms along body diagonal in the diamond cubic crystal structure are located at [¼¼¼].

Uploaded by: oliver: Some perspective correction added, contrast tweaked with a red filter, curves tweaked for a little pop.

Uploaded by: oliver: Compass card made in Inkscape for a small magnetic compass I made. This is a low resolution version for web uploading - specifically for the CL science forum discussion on the declination of the sun.

Uploaded by: oliver: Among my first couple shots taken in a cardboard light box. $5 worth of paper for the diffusers and back drop and about $20 for the lights - I think I need one more light from the front since it is a little dark.

Uploaded by: oliver: The Star King Open Space is a natural serpentine grassland in San Francisco which is managed by a locally appointed board. It is preserved in its native state for the nearly unrestricted use by all

Uploaded by: oliver: Teaching permaculture, the Hayes Valley Farm has had a productive, successful and transformative first year.

Uploaded by: oliver: Teaching permaculture, the Hayes Valley Farm has had a productive, successful and transformative first year.

Uploaded by: oliver: The green hairstreak is endemic to San Francisco, has a very limited range and is in danger of local genetic bottle necking. Volunteers and home owners in its historic range are working to build a corridor to allow genetic communication between populations.

Uploaded by: oliver: Juvenile great horned owl in a nest with two others. Glen Canyon Park.

Uploaded by: oliver: I was going for a cold a lonely scene on the bay. This is the original image from my camera, the only modification was that I resided it.

Uploaded by: oliver: I was going for a cold a lonely scene on the bay.

Uploaded by: oliver: Lines showing stress in a 5cm * 5cm piece of 6mm thick acrylic with a slot cut in it.

Uploaded by: oliver: Stresses around a bolt are visible in an acrylic viewed with polarized light and filters.

Uploaded by: oliver: front of MFC-440CN printer for sale on Craigslist.org

Uploaded by: oliver: Back of MFC-440CN printer for sale on Craigslist.org

Uploaded by: oliver: Keyboard and trackball for sale on Craigslist.org

Uploaded by: oliver: X60 laptop for sale on Craigslist.org

Uploaded by: oliver: AMD tower for sale on Craigslist.org

Uploaded by: oliver: Side of Compaq monitor for sale on Craigslist.org

Uploaded by: oliver: Front of Compaq monitor for sale on Craigslist.org

Uploaded by: oliver: Pancakes with an big scoop of post processing!

Uploaded by: oliver: Showing the watermark and the \'please log in to continue\' window that pops up over every image

Uploaded by: oliver: Pinhole picture taken at China Camp on 12 Feb 2011. f645, 20min exposure, no filters, 8x10 paper negative. Contact printed w/o filters, 25s, f8, bright field slightly larger than paper negative.

Uploaded by: oliver: Plotting countries by Tax rate v. Birth Rate per 1000 persons no correlation is apparent. I used the average of rates given for income tax and did not include business tax, VAT, etc. Some locations surely have municipal, local, state, provincial, etc. income taxes that are not reflected in these numbers. Data from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependent_territories_by_birth_rate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_rates_around_the_world

Uploaded by: oliver: Plotting countries by Human Development Index (HDI) v. Birth Rate per 1000 persons a correlation is shown between the two. Data is the most current from the UN and is taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependent_territories_by_birth_rate

Uploaded by: oliver: Either there is a problem with the SWF interpreter on my machine or with the puzzle itself, but having outlines of the puzzle and of all the pieces does not make for a very difficult (or fun) puzzle in my opinion.

Uploaded by: oliver: My new 2010 Trek 2.1 alpha

Uploaded by: oliver: Why white balance is important: Top Left: untouched image with horrible custom white balance set on a bright red pillow Top Right: untouched image with automatic white balance Bottom Left: red channel only of image with bad white balance Bottom Right: red channel only of image with automatic white balance.

Uploaded by: oliver: The star is the mask or the pattern that is being searched for, the white square with the circles and stars is the target image which is being searched and the muddled gray image is the result from the comparison - the black dots represent the centers of the stars as found by my program

Uploaded by: oliver: Chief Joseph returns from sea heavily laden and decks stacked with pots

Uploaded by: oliver: Fog lifting in the afternoon at Aquatic park

Uploaded by: oliver: Image from book showing a state in the FSM with a double circle but is not a terminal state.

Uploaded by: oliver: My livingroom, photographed for CL housing ad.

Uploaded by: oliver: My kitchen, photographed for CL housing ad.

Uploaded by: oliver: My bedroom, photographed for CL housing ad.

Uploaded by: oliver: Surface plot produced by my 3D graphing program. This is the first trial at adding real perspective to the images. The plot is of the function z = 10 * sin(sqrt(x*x+y*y)) / sqrt(x*x+y*y) and is plotted over x,y between ±20. You might notice some distortion in the surface, this a problem with the perspective functions that I\'m working on fixing

Uploaded by: oliver: Screen shot of Audacity showing the waveform of a fog signal as recorded over the phone from the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Uploaded by: oliver: A screen shot of Audacity showing the start of a fog signal in a recording as recorded over the air from my roof top.

Uploaded by: oliver: Screen shot of a wave form from the Golden Gate Bridge south tower fog horn as recorded at my house.

Uploaded by: oliver: Venn diagram showing that photographers are a subset of artists.

Uploaded by: oliver: Image of Millennium Falcon as originally shot - re-sized only.

Uploaded by: oliver: Image of Millennium Falcon processed with the Advanced Tone Mapping script in gimp. pane 1: original pane 2:g10, ob75, om100, c1 pane 2:g10, ob75, om100, c3 pane 3:g10, ob75, om100, c5

Uploaded by: oliver: HDR image of a bathroom in a warehouse in Alameda. The image is a composite of three at +/-1ev

Uploaded by: oliver: HDR image of a bathroom in a warehouse in Alameda. The image is a composite of three at +/-1ev

Uploaded by: oliver: 0ev image which was later turned into an HDR image of a bathroom in a warehouse in Alameda.

Uploaded by: oliver: ALC Logo

Uploaded by: oliver: A message in a bottle I cast into the sea was found by Xiao Wei on Orchid Island off Taiwan.

Uploaded by: oliver: At some point the OSD/notifications started showing messed up blocks of color rather than legible notifications. Haven\'t been able to track down what package is responsible.

Uploaded by: oliver: San Francisco China Town\'s Grant St. It looks about like this every day of the year!

Uploaded by: oliver: Meridian passage chart for planets and sun for year 2010. Copied from US nautical alminac

Uploaded by: oliver: I taped reflective dots to my joints and recorded myself walking in front of a black screen, I picked out six frames from the video, drew stick figures on top of those frames in Inkscape, opened those six stick figures in GIMP as different layers, gave each layer a striped layer mask and printed the thing out.

Uploaded by: oliver: I taped reflective dots to my joints and recorded myself walking in front of a black screen, I picked out six frames from the video, drew stick figures on top of those frames in Inkscape, opened those six stick figures in GIMP as different layers, gave each layer a striped layer mask and printed the thing out. This image is a still from the video. The red lines mark the stationary reflective dots

Uploaded by: oliver: Oblique view of the periodic table with trasparent background. Screen-shot of sagacious.us

Uploaded by: oliver: Oblique view of the periodic table with white background. Screen-shot of sagacious.us

Uploaded by: oliver: This image was taken with a home made pinhole camera and then processed using home made photo chemicals.

Uploaded by: oliver: This image was taken with a home made pinhole camera and then processed using home made photo chemicals. This positive image was generated in Gimp.

Uploaded by: oliver: This image of a ship was developed in instant coffee and Spic and Span, stopped in vinegar and water and fixed in salt water.

Uploaded by: oliver: This aquarium was sealed in February of 2009. Nothing can get in or out except sunlight. The plants produce oxygen and the snails remove the oxygen from the water and eat the dying parts of the plants then bacteria finish that process and free up the nutrients for the plant to again use it to grow.

Uploaded by: oliver: Free to a good home.

Uploaded by: oliver: Screen shot of the desktop of gauss.

Uploaded by: oliver: Close up of section of Mandelbrot set generated from C++ program I wrote.

Uploaded by: oliver: Close up of section of Mandelbrot set generated from kturtle program I wrote. Kturtle is a Linux implementation of the classic language Logo. It is horribly slow so this image took about eight hours to render.

Uploaded by: oliver: Close up of section of Mandelbrot set generated from kturtle program I wrote. Kturtle is a Linux implementation of the classic language Logo.

Uploaded by: oliver: Made from only four panels this is about the fastest bear there is.

Uploaded by: oliver: This chart shows every day\'s close of the Dow upto 2009. It is plotted on a logarithmic graph.

Uploaded by: oliver: Meridian Passages chart for the year of 2009. Copied from the Nautical Alminac.

Uploaded by: oliver: A little marsh in Sausalito. City College's Ecology of San Francisco Bay explores the habitat in this little corner of San Francisco Bay.

Uploaded by: oliver: A little marsh in Sausalito. City College's Ecology of San Francisco Bay explores the habitat in this little corner of San Francisco Bay.

Uploaded by: oliver: Grindelia stricta: This relative of the sunflower was used by Native Americans to treat sores, scabs, and other skin ailments; also as a tea to treat breathing problems.

Uploaded by: oliver: City College of San Francisco's Ecology of San Francisco Bay class met in a number of places around the bay. China Camp State Park was one of those places.

Uploaded by: oliver: City College of San Francisco's Ecology of San Francisco Bay class met in a number of places around the bay. China Camp State Park was one of those places.

Uploaded by: oliver: City College of San Francisco's Ecology of San Francisco Bay class met in a number of places around the bay. China Camp State Park was one of those places.

Uploaded by: oliver: City College of San Francisco's Ecology of San Francisco Bay class met in a number of places around the bay. China Camp State Park was one of those places.

Uploaded by: oliver: City College of San Francisco's Ecology of San Francisco Bay class met in a number of places around the bay. China Camp State Park was one of those places.

Uploaded by: oliver: City College of San Francisco's Ecology of San Francisco Bay class met in a number of places around the bay. China Camp State Park was one of those places.

Uploaded by: oliver: Heron's Head park is a new nature preserve in San Francisco built on top of an old US Army land fill. Rather than cleaning up the site local ecologists pushed to have the site left undisturbed because many migrating birds were using it for nesting and the chemicals under the ground are not leaching into the environment.

Uploaded by: oliver: Heron's Head park is a new nature preserve in San Francisco built on top of an old US Army land fill. Rather than cleaning up the site local ecologists pushed to have the site left undisturbed because many migrating birds were using it for nesting and the chemicals under the ground are not leaching into the environment.

Uploaded by: oliver: Melanitta perspicillata: Declined 50% since 1950s due to heavy metal contamination of shellfish, extensive logging, oil spills. Often uses concealed nest of other ducks. Breeds in Alaska/Northern Canada; winters along W.Coast, Aleutians to Baja California, and E. Coast to Newfoundland to northern florida; some overwinter in Great Lakes.

Uploaded by: oliver: Classmates in City College's Ecology of San Francisco Bay watch birds at Heron's Head Park.

Uploaded by: oliver: Classmates in City College's Ecology of San Francisco Bay watch birds at Heron's Head Park.

Uploaded by: oliver: Sketching birds forces you to see the composition of the bird and often prompts questions about why the bird looks the way it does. Such questions are the heart of ecology

Uploaded by: oliver: Recurvirostra americana, In decline. Will fly directly at people who approach nest or chick too closely. Nests across W. US, including at Heron's Head park, on ground with gravel and vegetation.

Uploaded by: oliver: Aythya affinis: Also known as a Bluebill. Confined to the Americas, Lesser Scaup is an uncommon but regular visitor to Hawaii. Has shifted migration routes slightly in recent years to take advantage of non-native zebra mussels in the Great Lakes.

Uploaded by: oliver: Sloughs like this one are important feeding grounds for marsh birds. Invasive grasses are chocking off some of these sloughs and reducing the effective habitat of the birds at the same time as development is reducing the extent of the habitat.

Uploaded by: oliver: Recurvirostra americana, In decline. Will fly directly at people who approach nest or chick too closely. Nests across W. US, including at Heron's Head park, on ground with gravel and vegetation.

Uploaded by: oliver: Baylands park is built above a capped land fill. There is a membrane and clay trapping the waste and helping to collect methane which is pumped off and burned in generators to feed the local electrical grid.

Uploaded by: oliver: Nycticorax nycticorax: Strong digestive acids help in dissolving bones of food. Young will vomit when disturbed. Breeds on open water or wetlands; nest in groups during spring/summer in trees with ibises and herons.

Uploaded by: oliver: Cuscuta salina: Parasitizes pickleweed and Salsola soda, an invasive; usually parasites attack only natives. Used in baths by Native Americans to break a fever and in a mash to treat insect stings.

Uploaded by: oliver: Before we were even finished tying up the ship the gantry cranes were already rolling into place and beginning to pluck containers off the ship, dropping them onto trucks to be whisked off to the container yard. As many as six cranes may be working a ship like this at a time and each is moving 30+ containers an hour for a total rate, upwards of 180 containers an hour (the ship carries around 2000 containers total).

Uploaded by: oliver: The Chief Engineer looks like he is going to take to flight when he surfaces after a dive off the ship.

Uploaded by: oliver: While in the air I had way too much time to ponder my falling, I became more and more pleased with my decision to jump feet first.

Uploaded by: oliver: Always busy with ships the port of Shanghai is an impressive sight.

Uploaded by: oliver: The final match of the Ping Pong tournament.

Uploaded by: oliver: Hopefully I'll never need to use this thing for real, but should we need to abandon ship into icy waters this suit will keep me alive for a day or so to ponder my fate before I freeze to death.

Uploaded by: oliver: A new perspective of the ship, I'm looking down from the container crane in Honolulu.

Uploaded by: oliver: A new perspective of the ship, I'm looking down from the container crane in Honolulu.

Uploaded by: oliver: A new perspective of the ship, I'm looking down from the container crane in Honolulu.

Uploaded by: oliver: The bridge is a very different place at night. I spend half of my work day in this dark room, where even the blue black light of my wrist watch can seem blinding.

Uploaded by: oliver: By day the bridge seems like a wonderful place to work: a view, comphy chairs, tea, etc. But don't be fooled, in the middle of the ocean it is tranquil but once we near China the stress rises quickly as the number of fishing boats I need to maneuver for goes through the roof.

Uploaded by: oliver: A view from the container crane: the bow of the Maunawili with Honolulu in the distance. The once predominant Aloha Tower can be spotted in this picture if you look carefully.

Uploaded by: oliver: The best bookstore around is closing up forever. I've purchased books from this store every time I've visited Long Beach for the past 8 years. This store's closing feels like the loss of an old friend.

Uploaded by: oliver: Ships can't just go to the hardware store when they need parts or tools, we order them at sea and they get delivered when we reach port.
Since our stores crane is broken we had to haul the stores aboard with line running up and over a block. I was on the dock tying up the stores and there were a few sailors up on deck hauling everything up. With the boxes and bales of line it felt like an old scene, it seemed only natural to take this photo in black and white.

Uploaded by: oliver: Ships are lined up one after the other steaming in and out of Shanghai. There may be as many as 50 big ships transiting the river at any time and probably twice that number of small coastal freighters. Fortunately all the big ships stay in the traffic lanes and the small ships, who criss cross the lanes and are generally unpredictable, know to stay out of the way of the big ships.

Uploaded by: oliver: This little ship could be carrying anything from rocks to steel beams. I've seen ships like this being loaded with trucks and containers in the holds. Basically if it will fit in the hold they will carry it. (photo: 02 Oct 08)

Uploaded by: oliver: This ship is a break bulk ship, the masts and booms above the cargo allow her to pull up to any dock and discharge her cargo without shoreside help. With out such cargo gear on board she would only be able to work cargo where there are cranes that can hanle her loads. (photo: 02 Oct 08)

Uploaded by: oliver: Small junks like this one are used for hauling supplies to ships and for taking trash. Sometimes the junks will take garbage almost for free because there is often enough value in the scrap they can salvage to make the pucup proffitable. Many of these small junks are home to a family who crews and lives on the boat. (photo: 02 Oct 08)

Uploaded by: oliver: Hopefully this ship isn't going to sea since none of thes bundles of lumber are lashed down. As this vessel steamed by I could see that the helmsman was sitting ontop of a pile of boxes, his feet dangling well above the deck. (photo: 01 Oct 08)

Uploaded by: oliver: While not a coaster, these tugs are a common site in Asian ports. For some reason every port in Asia is filled with one of only very few different types of tug. This tug was approaching my ship to take a line and help us get along side our dock. (photo: 01 Oct 08)

Uploaded by: oliver: When a ship needs fuel, it can't just pull into a gas station. Because the schedules are so tight, the 'gas station' comes to the ship in the form of a little ship like this. This ship is probably carrying heavy fuel oil, but you might also get diesel or lube oil from boats like this one. (photo: 01 Oct 08)

Uploaded by: oliver: This little tanker probably carries some sort refined petrolium product. In this picture she is loaded down to her marks, meaning that she can't safely load any more cargo, you can see from how close the water is the deck that you probably wouldn't want to load any more cargo regardless of what the rules say. (photo: 01 Oct 08)

Uploaded by: oliver: This little tanker probably carries some sort refined petrolium product. In this picture she is loaded down to her marks, meaning that she can't safely load any more cargo, you can see from how close the water is the deck that you probably wouldn't want to load any more cargo regardless of what the rules say. (photo: 01 Oct 08)

Uploaded by: oliver: When a ship needs fuel, it can't just pull into a gas station. Because the schedules are so tight, the 'gas station' comes to the ship in the form of a little ship like this. This ship is probably carrying heavy fuel oil, but you might also get diesel or lube oil from boats like this one. (photo: 01 Oct 08)

Uploaded by: oliver: Typhoon Jangmi ran over Taiwan and shut down almost every port on the East coast of China. Even thought the seas were rough and the winds were high I liked sailing through it because it meant that all the fishing boats stayed in sheltered waters and out of my way.

Uploaded by: oliver: This pixelated version of a California Poppy was one of the most time consuming quilts I have ever made. Each of the 448 squares that make up the top was individually placed then pairs were sewn together, ironed flat and sewed together again. Piecing the top probably took about 16 hours!

Uploaded by: oliver: With so many pieces in my California Poppy quilt there were lots of corners to match up when sewing the top. I made sure that my corners were well matched with the judicious use of pins. Very thin (0.45mm) pins going through the corners helps a lot.

Uploaded by: oliver: A very pixelated California Poppy begins to take shape. The quilt was made out of nearly five hundred individually placed squares of color. The quilt top took a couple days of solid sewing to complete.

Uploaded by: oliver: Sewing my California Poppy quilt made from so many individual pieces meant that there were lots of seams to sew and sloppy sewing would compound itself with the multiple seams. To help keep the squares the same size I used the quilting guide and measured of the width of the finished square rather than relying on the size of the seam allowance ans is typical.

Uploaded by: oliver: Every summer when it gets warm and the basil gets cheap I make a year\'s supply of pesto. My kitchen always smells and looks so wonderful when I come home with all the pesto making supplies.

Uploaded by: oliver: Every summer when it gets warm and the basil gets cheap I make a year\'s supply of pesto. My kitchen always smells and looks so wonderful when I come home with all the pesto making supplies. Placing the pesto into big freezer bags then freezing it flat and pressed into the rack of my freezer makes it very easy to break out small pieces for use all year long.

Uploaded by: oliver: Every summer when it gets warm and the basil gets cheap I make a year\'s supply of pesto. My kitchen always smells and looks so wonderful when I come home with all the pesto making supplies. Placing the pesto into big freezer bags then freezing it flat and pressed into the rack of my freezer makes it very easy to break out small pieces for use all year long.

Uploaded by: oliver: Parents proudly stand with their newly wed daughter and her wife on the 17th of June 2008 - the first full day of same sex weddings in San Francisco.

Uploaded by: oliver: A proud newlywed couple emerges from City Hall in San Francisco on the 17th of June 2008 - the first full day of same sex weddings in San Francisco. The rights of same sex couples to wed was later revoked by the passage of Prop. 8.

Uploaded by: oliver: A proud newlywed couple emerges from City Hall in San Francisco on the 17th of June 2008 - the first full day of same sex weddings in San Francisco. The rights of same sex couples to wed was later revoked by the passage of Prop. 8.

Uploaded by: oliver: A proud newlywed couple emerges from City Hall in San Francisco on the 17th of June 2008 - the first full day of same sex weddings in San Francisco. The rights of same sex couples to wed was later revoked by the passage of Prop. 8.

Uploaded by: oliver: A proud newlywed couple emerges from City Hall in San Francisco on the 17th of June 2008 - the first full day of same sex weddings in San Francisco. The rights of same sex couples to wed was later revoked by the passage of Prop. 8.

Uploaded by: oliver: A proud newlywed couple emerges from City Hall in San Francisco on the 17th of June 2008 - the first full day of same sex weddings in San Francisco. The rights of same sex couples to wed was later revoked by the passage of Prop. 8.

Uploaded by: oliver: A proud newlywed couple emerges from City Hall in San Francisco on the 17th of June 2008 - the first full day of same sex weddings in San Francisco. This particular couple was about the most photographed couple married that day, they were in seemingly every paper in the country! The rights of same sex couples to wed was later revoked by the passage of Prop. 8.

Uploaded by: oliver: Every summer when it gets warm and the basil gets cheap I make a year\'s supply of pesto. My kitchen always smells and looks so wonderful when I come home with all the pesto making supplies.

Uploaded by: oliver: Every summer when it gets warm and the basil gets cheap I make a year\'s supply of pesto. Uploaded by: oliver: A proud newlywed couple emerges from City Hall in San Francisco on the 17th of June 2008 - the first full day of same sex weddings in San Francisco. The rights of same sex couples to wed was later revoked by the passage of Prop. 8.

Uploaded by: oliver: Every summer when it gets warm and the basil gets cheap I make a year\'s supply of pesto. Uploaded by: oliver: A proud newlywed couple emerges from City Hall in San Francisco on the 17th of June 2008 - the first full day of same sex weddings in San Francisco. The rights of same sex couples to wed was later revoked by the passage of Prop. 8.

Uploaded by: oliver: There were crowds of supporters and protesters outside San Francisco\'s City Hall on the 16th of June in 2008 - the first day of legal same sex marriages in California - a right which was later taken away by the passage of Prop 8.

Uploaded by: oliver: Two flags held high by a supporter in front of San Francisco\'s City Hall on the 16th of June 2008 - the first full day of same sex weddings in California - before the passage of Prop 8 took that right away.

Uploaded by: oliver: As a method of culturing many different bacteria in concert with one another - the way they are found in nature the Russian biologist used the Winogradsky column which bears his name.

Uploaded by: oliver: As a method of culturing many different bacteria in concert with one another - the way they are found in nature the Russian biologist used the Winogradsky column which bears his name.

Uploaded by: oliver: From every ship I sail on I cast messages in bottles into the sea. So far I have heard back from only one bottle. This image shows the beach where the message was found.

Uploaded by: oliver: Snowy Egret in the artificial lagoon at Crissy Field. This was shortly before sunset.

Uploaded by: oliver: Depicting only species indigenous to California this quilt was lots of fun to make and lots of fun for the recipient to play on! A quilt made for a friends new baby. I have two rules when I give baby blankets away: 1) the baby must actually use it (it can\'t just go on the wall) and 2) I require as payment a photo of the kid with the blanket.

Uploaded by: oliver: From every ship I sail on I cast messages in bottles into the sea. So far I have heard back from only one bottle. This bottle is wonderfully crusted with life after spending two years alone in the Pacific

Uploaded by: oliver: From every ship I sail on I cast messages in bottles into the sea. So far I have heard back from only one bottle. This bottle is wonderfully crusted with life after spending two years alone in the Pacific

Uploaded by: oliver: From every ship I sail on I cast messages in bottles into the sea. So far I have heard back from only one bottle. This message was written on a standard piece of printer paper and was in perfect condition when it went into the sea - it was the two years of traversing the Pacific that made this note look so weathered.

Uploaded by: oliver: Re-purposing a surplus French army blanket I made a coat.

Uploaded by: oliver: Re-purposing a surplus Italan army blanket I made a coat.

Uploaded by: oliver: Re-purposing a surplus Italian army blanket I made a coat.

Uploaded by: oliver: A quilt made for a friends new baby. I have two rules when I give baby blankets away: 1) the baby must actually use it (it can\'t just go on the wall) and 2) I require as payment a photo of the kid with the blanket.

Uploaded by: oliver: A quick prototype of a purse made from a design in my own head. Perhaps someday I\'ll get around to trying to make some extra cash with these things...just one of another my un-followed projects.

Uploaded by: oliver: Typical red blood cells and a couple red blood cell variants that look a little more like pollen than like blood.

Uploaded by: oliver: Homemade Stirling Engine made from directions in Make Magazine. I never got it to chuff around more than just a couple times.

Uploaded by: oliver: I pulled this bird from the water on the 14th and my green vinyl gloves quickly turned black with sticky oil. The bird was turned over to animal control who helps keep a tally of injured and dead animals as a result of the oil spill.

Uploaded by: oliver: Though not coated with black oil this grebe likely died from the light oil that coated it's feathers rendering them useless as insulation.

Uploaded by: oliver: The day after the Cosco Busan allided with the Bay Bridge oil found its way into Aquatic Park

Uploaded by: oliver: By noon on the 8th of November the oil slick had surrounded small craft at Hyde St. Pier.

Uploaded by: oliver: The day after the Cosco Busan allided with the Bay Bridge oil found its way into Aquatic Park

Uploaded by: oliver: Oblivious to the dangers of swimming in the slick sea birds were swimming through the light slick around Aquatic Park. Though not visibly covered in oil the birds I saw were cleaning and primping their feathers very frequently as a result of the oil they had picked up.

Uploaded by: oliver: Crews from NRC cleaned the oil clumps from the beaches in Aquatic Park.

Uploaded by: oliver: Volunteers and Crew at Hyde St. Pier pitched in to assemble the oil booms brought by NRC

Uploaded by: oliver: Volunteers and Crew at Hyde St. Pier pitched in to assemble the oil booms brought by NRC

Uploaded by: oliver: Using Hyde St. Pier's work boats volunteers and employees placed oil boom around the historic craft. Not only did they protect the craft but they skimmed oil out of the water brought by the tides.

Uploaded by: oliver: Using Hyde St. Pier's work boats volunteers and employees placed oil boom around the historic craft. Not only did they protect the craft but they skimmed oil out of the water brought by the tides.

Uploaded by: oliver: Using Hyde St. Pier's work boats volunteers and employees placed oil boom around the historic craft. Not only did they protect the craft but they skimmed oil out of the water brought by the tides.

Uploaded by: oliver: By the afternoon of the spill oil had already spread out across the bay and accumulated around Alcatraz.

Uploaded by: oliver: By the afternoon of the spill oil had already spread out across the bay and accumulated around Alcatraz.

Uploaded by: oliver: At sea objects that seem inconsequential ashore become noticed luxuries. What ever supplies we have when we leave the dock will be all we have until our next land fall and these binder clips are in shorts supply. They are very handy for keeping charts organized and in order and I have scoured the ship looking for more but I may have procured the last of them.

Uploaded by: oliver: Most corrections simply require you to draw a buoy or change the flashing characteristic of a light, others require that you add a spoil ground or fish haven both of which need blue tint and a blue high lighter seems to be the easiest way to apply that tint.

Uploaded by: oliver: While I have a chart table in my cabin, all the real navigating takes place on the bridge on a much larger (and nicer) chart table. Hanging above the chart table is the passage plan, daily navigation slips and scratch paper. On the right is one of our GPS units.

Uploaded by: oliver: The central part of the navigating equipment is the chart, they are treated with respect and updated frequently. A GPS position is useless unless you have a chart to put it on: how else will you know if you are steering into danger? This ship has almost a thousand charts in its catalogue covering only a small swath around the world. This particular region of this chart is especially dense with corrections. There are 23 in this 2.5 by 4 inch section of chart, can you find them all?

Uploaded by: oliver: There are literally hundreds of different symbols that appear on charts and this book known as \'Chart No.1\' lists them all. Some symbols are very common and every navigator is expected to know them by heart, some symbols however, are far less common: what is the symbol for an obstruction with a known least depth swept by a cable? I might understand this symbol when I see it but when prompted to draw K42 I like to be sure I\'m drawing the correct symbol.

Uploaded by: oliver: Chart corrections are published weekly in the \'Notice to Mariners\' (NTM), then every few years they are compiled into the Summary of Corrections. In one book you may find every correction for a particular chart how ever old that chart may be.

Uploaded by: oliver: Just a little peek into the daily work of the Second Mate: chart work is one of my main duties. To allow me to work on the charts in the comfort of my cabin I have built a chart table there. You can click on the items on my chart table to learn a little about the tools of the professional navigator.

Uploaded by: oliver: Some times you remove an item from a chart by putting a double hash through it, other times it may be better to cover it up completely. Here I am removing a dangerous wreck from a chart.

Uploaded by: oliver: We don\'t use rulers to measure distances on charts but \'pick\' off distances with dividers. You can use the latitude scale at the side of the chart to find mileage (one minute of latitude equals one nautical mile or about 6076 feet) then use the dividers to transfer that distance elsewhere on the chart.

Uploaded by: oliver: Charts are meant to be drawn on. The second mate draws the waypoints, track lines and courses then all the mates write down the ships position every hour plus any construction lines that helped them find that position, they may also write notes about lights, fishing vessels, expected arrival times at turns or instructions about calling the captain at a certain point. All these marks must be erased once the passage is completed. It may not seem like much but a fine eraser becomes an essential tool for the second mate. Here is a particularly soft and efficient eraser which I guard closely!

Uploaded by: oliver: Every once and a while a chart needs numerous or complicated corrections in one particular area (such as when land has been reclaimed and a new terminal built) rather than listing all the changes for the mariner to draw, a little chartlet is provided in the notice to mariners which may be cut out then glued onto the chart. The glue stick which I have always associated with elementary school craft projects has now taken on a new use as a tool of the professional navigator.

Uploaded by: oliver: Internet access at sea is an expensive luxury that few can afford. Our chart supplier will down load and print chart corrections that we need and send them to our home office which will in turn forward them to our next port. They are essentially the same as the weekly Notice to Mariners, only they lack all chartlets which supposedly may be downloaded as individual files but I have yet to see these arrive at the ship.

Uploaded by: oliver: Computers are working their way into everything. I use my laptop to read the electronic Notices to Mariners, to calculate schedules, and to write up passage plans as well as other non navigational work. It has become such a handy tool I can\'t imagine going to sea with out one any more. Also pictured are my thumb drive which is always close at hand and my trusty TI-86 calculator which I have been programing continuously to perform all my routine calculations while navigating with a quick and easy user interface.

Uploaded by: oliver: This mechanical pencil has a long collar along the graphite so that I can draw precise lines next to a straight edge. I keep this in my kit and take it with me to every ship I sail on; a fine pencil is a hard item to come by in the middle of the ocean.

Uploaded by: oliver: I usually opt for my mechanical pencil but the traditional side of me requires that a good wooden pencil be kept handy and the Dixon Tichonderogas are the best (rivaled only by Murado\'s Black Warrior) and so there it lays at the ready by my chart table.

Uploaded by: oliver: I have sailed as second mate for a few years now and I am refining my kit. I collect the pens, erasers, dividers, compasses which I think work the best and carry them to each ship I work on. With this kit I always know I have exactly the tools I will need for any chart work I may be called upon to do.

Uploaded by: oliver: British Admiralty (BA) charts are corrected using a purple pen and specific hash marks to remove an item, while this ship uses primarily US charts, using the techniques that BA recommends for their charts produces the best results on any chart. I would rather use British charts, but since I can\'t aboard this ship I\'ll at least correct them the \'Admiralty\' way.

Uploaded by: oliver: There are hundreds of symbols that the chart corrections may call for. To make the job of the second mate easier, you can buy rub on symbols that depict everything from buoys to rocks, lights and sunken ships. However, in my experience it is usually easier to just draw the symbols your self rather than to hunt for the right symbol to rub on.

Uploaded by: oliver: When especially long notes or graphical corrections (usually corrections are all just in text form giving the position and item to draw on the chart) are provided you don\'t transcribe them by hand onto the chart, rather you cut them out and glue or tape them down.

Uploaded by: oliver: My cabin may not be a bastion of luxury, but it is comfortable. About five plants and a few pictures and the right books on the book shelf make it home...for now.

Uploaded by: oliver: Some corrections on charts require that you draw a tiny little ship wreck or a light on a buoy with a particular shape. These symbols must be small but at the same time easily legible to the other officers using the chart, to help draw them this template has the most common symbols. I like the template for some things but for others I think my hand is good enough to just draw them myself.

Uploaded by: oliver: Some people prefer the parallel rule, but I like triangles. These little clear plastic triangles have protractors etched into the bottom and may be used to draw lines at any angle or to transfer angles across the chart by using two to slide along one another. They are so handy I keep a set in my desk at home for any little drafting projects I may have.

Uploaded by: oliver: Gray Seas in the North Pacific. This is the view from my office when I\'m out working at sea.

Uploaded by: oliver: Getting close to nature the third engineer caught a big wahoo off Hawaii aboard the Moku Pahu. Half of this fish fed the crew for two days and the third took the other half home.

Uploaded by: oliver: Sometimes drawing a picture is the best way to peel back the layers of a problem. When you do this in probability it is called a \'probability tree\'.

Uploaded by: oliver: Sometimes drawing a picture is the best way to peel back the layers of a problem. When you do this in probability it is called a \'probability tree\'.

Uploaded by: oliver: Limits at infinity can be challenging. This is my meager attempt at helping someone on-line.

Uploaded by: oliver: Can you come up with a name for every color for each letter of the alphabet? Neither can I. Here is my best effort on the subject though.

Uploaded by: oliver: Broken down by day of the week, a pattern begins to emerge in the birth rates of the United States. This image show a graph of birth rates for the year 1978, but this pattern is typical of other years too.

Uploaded by: oliver: Broken down by day, patterns begin to emerge in the birth rates of the United States. This image show a graph of birth rates for the year 1978, but this pattern is typical of other years too.

Uploaded by: oliver: On almost every ship I have sailed on I have brought a small handful of beans to grow - like bringing a small piece of land with me upon the seas. This image shows the beans in my cabin transiting the locks in Panama.

Uploaded by: oliver: My blood viewed at ~900x. You can see red blood cells as the typical doughnut shaped disks and you can see red blood cell variants as spiky balls. What you can\'t see is how flexible the cells are in this static image.

Uploaded by: oliver: A Winogradsky column is a method of culturing many different types of bacteria in concert with one another. This image shows my first attempt at such a culture.

Uploaded by: oliver: Tetroids are a puzzle: can these shapes fit together to form an unbroken square? If so, do it, if not prove that it can\'t be done.

Uploaded by: oliver: Arrival: We arrived at our camp site at the magic hour. The setting sun bathed everything in warm orange light.

Uploaded by: oliver: By the Fire: The warm campfire kept us warm while Jaymz cooked a tasty dinner (not pictured)

Uploaded by: oliver: Breakfast: Jaymz set the bar with his dinner and I tried to raise it with breakfast.

Uploaded by: oliver: Here and Now: Leslie up in the mountains enjoys the here and now.

Uploaded by: oliver: Yoga: After a sound sleep the new day was welcomed with a little yoga.

Uploaded by: oliver: Yoga: After a sound sleep the new day was welcomed with a little yoga.

Uploaded by: oliver: Small Pine: Numerous pine trees poked from the rocks while we hiked to the Twin Lakes. This was the smallest I saw.

Uploaded by: oliver: On the Trail: Halfway to Twin Lakes we stopped for a snack and some photos.

Uploaded by: oliver: Dead Tree: Standing above Twin Lakes was a sun-bleached and weathered dead tree. Surreal and gnarly we ate our lunch beneath it.

Uploaded by: oliver: Dead Tree: Standing above Twin Lakes was a sun-bleached and weathered dead tree. Surreal and gnarly we ate our lunch beneath it.

Uploaded by: oliver: On the Trail: On the hike back to the trail head we stop for a snack.

Uploaded by: oliver: On the Trail: Because of the rocks we were hiking on few trees could take hold and so the views were rarely obscured.

Uploaded by: oliver: Swim Call: We took refuge on an island after swimming in the ice fed lake. None of us wants to swim back now that we are dry.

Uploaded by: oliver: Twin Lakes: Tucked high in the hills of Desolation Wilderness the Twin Lakes are a surprising sight. The surrounding terrain is rocky and barren.

Uploaded by: oliver: I tried several times to measure several bands directly with my dial indicator calipers, but found the most repeatable results to come from counting all the bands on a 3x5 card.
I counted 54.5 bands on the card and my calipers said the card was spot on 5" long so my bands were 2.330275x10^-3 meters wide.

Uploaded by: oliver: I mounted a laser pointer on a wooden block with an elastic strap to hold it down, then I leveled the block with screws on the bottom.

Uploaded by: oliver: In this close up shot you can see the elastic band over the laser pointer holding the power button down.

Uploaded by: oliver: With a micrometer I measured the thickness of the wire I used as the diffraction grating.
In this case the wire was 2.320x10^-2 inches or 5.8928x10^-4 meters.

Uploaded by: oliver: Using a 3x5 card for a projection screen I was able to see beautiful and unmistakable bands from the interference pastern.

Uploaded by: oliver: National Archives and Records Administration logo – they are the folks who maintain the Code of Federal regulations.

Uploaded by: oliver: Because the sugar is thick with molasses it needs to be scraped from the hold and into the hopper.

Uploaded by: oliver: When steaming down the Columbia River you have to get closer to other ships and the shore than makes me comfortable.

Uploaded by: oliver: When the Bosun fell overboard the crew spread out along the rails searching for anything they could see through the fog.

Uploaded by: oliver: Eerily out of the fog life rings appeared one at a time. Of the five that were thrown overboard only four were positively identified during the search, for months the fifth life ring remained a nagging source of hope and loss at once. (this photo was taken after the fog had lifted a little

Uploaded by: oliver: The sun sets on our search for our Bosun.

Uploaded by: oliver: Poverty has ravaged Benghazi Libya as bad as any war could.

Uploaded by: oliver: I made friends with the crew of Bagging Machine #1 in Mombasa Kenya. Teaching these guys how to make hats out of the grain bags was a wonderful introduction, then we talked about poverty, government corruption, politics and other cheery subjects.

Uploaded by: oliver: The longshoremen in Port Sudan wear the traditional thobe (and some wear vests too) so to my Western eyes it seems like they could have walked out of any millennium.

Uploaded by: oliver: Some gangs of longshoremen in Sudan changed work songs while humping bags of sugar our of the ship docked behind the Moku Pahu.

Uploaded by: oliver: You can\'t call out a technician in the middle of the Indian Ocean, so Captain McDevitt replaces the magnetron in our RADAR himself!

Uploaded by: oliver: The crew of the Moku Pahu looks worn after a long four months.

Uploaded by: oliver: Outside of the protection of the park baboons primary predator is humans and as such they generally keep a safe distance. Because humans are not a threat in the park the baboon's curiosity brings them close to explore our van. Before entering the park we had a baboon climb on the hood of our car and examine the rear view mirror.

Uploaded by: oliver: A massive and powerful animal the cape buffalo has few predators.
Though this buffalo stands a good chance against lions, it is wary of humans (its worst predator). Moments after this photo this animal disappeared into the bush.

Uploaded by: oliver: Poachers are the only predators of the large African Elephant.
Elephants live in tight family groups, some times in conjunction with other families. They care for one another and each others young.

Uploaded by: oliver: The Gazelle looks fast, even while standing still.
Both male and female Grant's gazelle have horns and though the male is slightly larger with longer horns than the female it is difficult to pick him out from the herd of 10 to 15 females. Pictured here is a lone male.
Notably the gazelle is not restricted in its habitat by water since it is able to receive all its water from the vegetation it eats.

Uploaded by: oliver: Though their long necks have no more vertebrae than humans the elongation allows them to eat foliage inaccessible to most other animals.

Uploaded by: oliver: Also called a giraffe gazelle (gerenuk means 'giraffe-necked' in Somali), this peculiar looking animal takes refuge under trees and uses its long neck and stands on its hind legs to reach foliage in places that other animals might have difficulty reaching.

Uploaded by: oliver: Spotted Guinea foul flock together.

Uploaded by: oliver: Pictured here are female impalas foraging for grasses and herbs.
During rainy seasons and near abundant water the males become very territorial, but when water is scarce the males will cede control as their herd wanders in search of water.

Uploaded by: oliver: Buzzards circling over head lead us to this lion eating her fresh kill.
She was protective of her food and didn't appreciate our presence. In this picture she is beginning to show her teeth. We quickly left her to her meal.
Note the light spotting on her belly; youth may be very spotted, this gall has retained some of her spots.

Uploaded by: oliver: While they may travel across the ground to get from tree to tree this monkey feels most at home in trees where it can watch for predators and eat leaves, a staple of its diet.

Uploaded by: oliver: Ostriches with buzzards in the background

Uploaded by: oliver: The water buck's hair is coated in a pungent waterproofing oil which may also help to deter predation.
This animal usually lives near water where abundant vegetation provides refuge from predators as well food.

Uploaded by: oliver: Most of the colors in East Tsavo were muted, but the soil was a brilliant and fiery red-orange that no photo can do justice.

Uploaded by: oliver: The small river eagle feeds primarily on fish.

Uploaded by: oliver: The ship Kauai departs Oakland berth 62 on a dark still night.

Uploaded by: oliver: Cargo is King, so a dredge must work around the clock and around the ships in the port of Oakland.

Uploaded by: oliver: A San Francisco original, Swensen's (located at Union and Hyde) has been making and selling ice cream at this location since 1948 (this is the store that started the chain).

Uploaded by: oliver: Chester makes the cut as the poster boy on the No Opportunity Wasted website.
In this picture he is using a zipper bag as a pastry piping bag to apply epoxy fillets inside the main hull.

Uploaded by: oliver: After some experimentation we got the hang of tacking the new vessel and started making way to the Golden Gate.
Because the main hull was so long and fine it cut through the water like a knife; this was good for speed but bad for tacking. To help the boat tack one person would have to go forward and back-wind the jib until the bow made it through the eye of the wind.

Uploaded by: oliver: Once we found the wind we went over as many waves as we went through. The Blaze of Glory could have handled seas two or three times this size and handled these seas easily.
The grin on Christian's face indicates well the fun we were having on this boat.

Uploaded by: oliver: With our sails filled on a broad reach we screamed through the water at speeds up to 10 knots. Rooster tails kicked up behind the ammas and the boat leapt from wave to wave.
As we were only 18 inches off the water we all held on tightly to stay out of the ocean.

Uploaded by: oliver: After turning deciding that the seas were too rough and the wind too unfavorable to go all the way we turned back and hoisted the NOW flag.

Uploaded by: oliver: Plagued by earthquake damage since construction began in 1542, little remains of Catedral De Santiago.

Uploaded by: oliver: Plagued by earthquake damage since construction began in 1542, little remains of Catedral De Santiago.

Uploaded by: oliver: This massive church was completed in 1715 and opened in 1717 only to be destroyed by an earthquake the same year. An earthquake in 1773 finished the job, scattering huge boulders of masonry in the sanctuary.

Uploaded by: oliver: After visiting every comidor in Antigua I concluded that Betty (that really was her name) was tops. I ate lunch at her stand most days of the week, usually asking for "un papusa con laroca por favor".

Uploaded by: oliver: The signature Arco de Santa Catalina is actually a bridge that allowed nuns to pass between the convent and the cathedral without being seen.

Uploaded by: oliver: With just four years passing since the last major eruption (2000) the rocks near the top barely hang at their angle of repose. (yes this picture IS level)

Uploaded by: oliver: Having last erupting in 2002 and still without life and without color Vulcan Pacaya looks other worldly. When the clouds enclose you and the volcano the green mountains near by might as well be continents away.

Uploaded by: oliver: A fountain shaped like a water lily, a Mayan symbol of power, entirely fills the courtyard in the convent at Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Merced.

Uploaded by: oliver: Offerings of crutches and braces are made to Santo Hermano Pedro, the founder of the first hospital for the poor in Antigua. He was somewhat of a local saint since his death in 1667, long before his canonization by Pope John Paul II in 2002.

Uploaded by: oliver: The tranquil court yard at Monsterio dos Jeronimos still inspires introspection and quiet thought.

Uploaded by: oliver: With fresh artesian springs running throughout the town, Residents of Sintra have long enjoyed indoor plumbing. Here a splitter sends water to two homes. Regulated by crimped lead pipes this system hasn't been upgraded since 1882.

Uploaded by: oliver: Designed by Ferdinand de Saxe Coburg-Gotha, eclectic doesn't begin to describe the Palacio National.

Uploaded by: oliver: King Neptune sits on a throne of shells above a doorway at the Palacio National in Sintra.

Uploaded by: oliver: The view down Rua do Cimo de Vila from my hotel room is typical of the streets in the city of Porto.

Uploaded by: oliver: Before modern trucks, boats like this one carried grape juice from the vineyards in the Douro River valley down to the wineries in Porto.

Uploaded by: oliver: The train station can be seen in the foreground and city hall in the distance. This was the view from my room at Pensao Mondariz in Porto.

Uploaded by: oliver: Porto's rolling hills and crooked streets create wonderful panoramas of red tiled roofs

Uploaded by: oliver: Sitting at my desk at Pensao Mondariz I would drink wine, write, and try to keep my eyes away from the view from my window.

Uploaded by: oliver: Tickets from trains, museums and parks quickly pile up when exploring a new country.

Uploaded by: oliver: In a rare moment the Long Beach docks are quiet while the sun is setting.<r>The ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles and San Pedro all meld into one and make up the busiest port in the US, so moments of tranquility don't come around very often but when they do I am always sure to eager to appreciate them.

Uploaded by: oliver: During a long port stay and numerous laborers on the ship the engine room head became amazingly filthy.

Uploaded by: oliver: Braced up from the ground and clamped into the keel, Jenna's plank is ready to be nailed.
You can see in this picture the bare and trodden earth beneath the boat, a stark contrast to the lush green before building and an indicator of the amount of activity that had been taking place around and beneath the Grace Quan.

Uploaded by: oliver: Looking down from the stern the boat is taking shape and coming to life.
Despite the fact that she looks nearly whole from this view only the shear is planked and the interior is not even started.

Uploaded by: oliver: West Junk: In about 1913 two shrimp junks burned and sank. They settled into the thick anaerobic mud and have survived surprisingly well.
To answer questions that arose during the building of the Grace Quan we excavated and documented this hull. Cleaning the thick gray mud from the details was no small task, but we found most of the clues we were hoping to find.

Uploaded by: oliver: Near the end of the project a large shipment of nails arrived from China. The nails were identical to those that we had been making and those that were originally used on the San Francisco shrimp junks - these same nails are still used by boat builders in China's Pearl River Delta today.

Uploaded by: oliver: Garboard Strake: Jenna is smiling now as she begins to fit the #1 garboard plank on the port side. At this point she didn't know that this one plank would take two weeks.
As she worked on the port plank, I worked on the starboard plank, we conferred and consoled often over the frustrating and trying two weeks.
Most other planks took little more than an afternoon, but the extreme shape and radical twist of this plank thwarted most standard fitting techniques. Once the plank was fit a feeler gauge could barely pass through the seams! Though it took a long time at least we both had near perfect fits.

Uploaded by: oliver: Jim, Andrew and Henry tend the fire and watch the plank as it is bent.
Western boat builders steam wood make it flexible so that it can be bent to the shape of the boat, but the Chinese boat builders in California used the traditional Chinese fire bending method (actually this method was and still is common throughout Asia).
To bend wood with fire, one end of the wood is fixed in a horse and the free end is weighted, then a fire is built in a drum hanging beneath the plank. As the wood gets hot (and burns a little) it warps, the weights and the watchful eyes of the attendants guide that warping to match the curve of the boat.

Uploaded by: oliver: Very few parts of a wooden boat just snap together and because the construction of this boat is so foreign to the builders lots of parts need new tricks to fit.

Uploaded by: oliver: Looking weary after several months of building (with several more months to go), John stops for photo with the then un-named Grace Quan.

Uploaded by: oliver: George's careful hands work the beautiful wood which was salvaged from a water tank on Angel Island.

Uploaded by: oliver: The precocious and 14 year old Henry has been studying the Chinese language and culture for years. He painted signs all over the work site and came up with characters for our interpretive signs.

Uploaded by: oliver: On site we forged nearly every nail used in the Grace Quan.
After forging, the nails must be sorted by size and quality. After removing the rejects a good day might yield 100 to 150 nails.

Uploaded by: oliver: Jaymz has a cup of coffee while he sights down the hull looking for frames that need shaving or adjusting before they become permanent. Taking time at this stage will save much hard work and headache later in the project.

Uploaded by: oliver: Fairing battens line out the hull and hold the frames in place.
With most of the shaping done the first plank of the shear strake is fit in place.

Uploaded by: oliver: Pattern Making: Sawdust flies as Marissa uses a saber saw to cut out a template for a frame.
This template will be shaved and adjusted to fit one frame station on the Grace Quan, once the shape is known the final frame will be made of redwood.

Uploaded by: oliver: Keel Horses: The untrodden ground is still green before building gets underway.
In this picture the keel horses have been driven into the ground, their positions will determine the final shape of the keel which will be laid soon after.
(note the rooster: this was one of three ill-fated birds we kept as pets)

Uploaded by: oliver: The keel, stem and a few frames begin to line out the size of the boat we are going to build.
Every piece of wood makes the vessel look larger and larger, and this is just the beginning.

Uploaded by: oliver: I am not sure what the point of this urinal was since it dumped down a hose that was hung over the side of the ship. Next to it was a spigot shooting water up for hand washing and drinking, this 'sink' dumped straight on deck.

Uploaded by: oliver: Using AGFA APX25 (sadly no longer in production) the bubbling tide dashes up the beach in Monterey.

Uploaded by: oliver: Launched in 1940 as the Del Orleans she was built for the coffee trade between South America and the United States, barely a year later she was pressed into service for the US Navy and renamed the USS Crescent City. After WWII she was laid up in the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet until 1971 when she was renamed as the TS Golden Bear and served as the training ship for the California Maritime Academy (CMA) until her retirement in 1995.
In 1999 the city of Oakland purchased the ship and renamed it as the Art Ship where they housed a few galleries and some studio space until she was sold for scrap in 2004.

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This photo was taken in the evening after a long day of photographing murals painted by years of students when she was the TS Golden Bear.
Each summer the ship would take students abroad as part of their training at CMA, and each summer students would paint murals commemorating their travels.
The Art Ship Foundation was cleaning up studio space and was going to paint over numerous murals, when some friends of mine caught wind of this we spent about 10 hours and 15 rolls of film documenting every mural on the ship. Before we left for the day I pulled out my tripod and snapped this photo.

<img src="http://sagacious.us/upload/tsgb.jpg" alt="T/S Golden Bear" title="T/S Golden Bear">

Uploaded by: oliver: A simple urinal in a stark white tiled bathroom was all that was available at a restaurant in Kowloon.

Uploaded by: oliver: The Lombard '76 station is quietly busy in the dark night.