Author: Chris
January 25, 2025 / Journal

Things I Learned This Week II

  1. A phosphene is the phenomenon of seeing light without light entering the eye. Thanks, Ms. Optometrist.
  2. Apophatic translates to negative theology, or teaching beyond reason or language.
  3. The global ship tracking website is great for spying on all of the marine vessels in the area. I’ve been observing a lot of watercraft in the bays and gulf and wondered where they were coming from and going to. This helps.
  4. It’s quite possible the Game, colloquially named “Rabbits” has been going on for centuries and from China.
  5. Also while driving up and down southwest Florida, I was curious to know how big my work responsibilities actually were. Apparently I am responsible for approximately 270 square miles from the tip of Captiva Island down to North Naples. Wow,
Amazing how Rabbits always manages to pop into my life.
I first discovered this phenomenon in 2023, the year of the Rabbit
I have a large office with an ocean view
Ship tracking view from the Gulf
January 25, 2025 / Photography

PhotoDenbow.com

…is back online. I have finally reacquired the rights to the domain name. I have even given it a new coat of paint and worked the backend so it should render quickly and smoothly. You can find it by clicking the link or visiting the Photographing section of this website.

The Flyday project is in there too. I am thinking of resurrecting the Palm Sunday project as well.

January 24, 2025 / Photography

FlyDay 2025-01-24

Pelican flying overhead on Ft Myers Beach
January 20, 2025 / Photography

Abandon Ship

Remnant of 2022’s hurricane Ian
January 19, 2025 / Thinking

Things I Learned This Week

  • The popular wayfarer style sunglasses started off as optical glasses in the early fifties and has been iconic ever since. My shades are this style for this reason – iconic. May have to look into getting my eyeglasses in the same way.
  • Backronym ,noun, an existing word turned into an acronym by creating an apt phrase whose initial letters match the word, as to help remember it or offer a theory of its origin. For example, rap has been said to be a backronym of “rhythm and poetry.”
  • Why do alarm clocks only allow you to snooze for 9 minutes? Due to the mechanical limitations of the late 1950’s alarm clocks, it was possible to mechanically have a gear set for 9 but not 10, which would complicate the gears. Smartphone alarms could help you to snooze as long as you want, but in homage to the clocks, will only allow 9 as a neat throwback.
  • The Fake Book was a self-printed composition in the 60’s of famous jazz song sheet music made by two students and a professor due to the fact that other students could not afford the expensive sheet music. Apparently every jazz musician and jazz wannabe has an underground copy so anyone could join in on a jam session. And yet somehow, no two jazz musicians ever sound the same.
January 19, 2025 / Journal

Top Secret GORP Recipe

A geographical amendment, and some1 would say an improvement on the original recipe. This one is best suited for tropical environments and has a brilliant mixture of nuts, seeds, fruit and a little extra sweetness to balance the savory.

  • 1 cup of raw macadamia nuts
  • 1 cup raw almonds
  • ½ cup pumpkin seeds unsalted
  • ½ cup dried mango unsweetened
  • 1 cup dried pineapple, unsweetened
  • 1 cup shredded unsweetened toasted coconut shreds
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • Pinch of salt to taste
  1. It’s me. I am the “some” ↩︎
January 19, 2025 / Journal

GPSy

January 18, 2025 / Technology

Expansion

I was admiring the latest Mac mini from Apple with the new M4 chip and read amazing reviews on it, especially for its low price and thought HMM. But then I saw the storage space offered was MEH. My existing Mini is seven years old and has 1 TB storage space which will fill up soon because it acts as my file server and with all of the Time Machine backups as well. What’s a guy to do?

Also, because of my desk and home office arrangement, I don’t want unsightly cords in the way physically and visually.

Then I had it.

Why not plug in my existing 10 TB external hard drive to the Mac Mini that is currently connected to my television display and enjoy the remote access and is also invisible? Will it work?

It works. This screenshot is from my desktop dialed into the Mac mini file server and the Archives on the external hard drive. Problems solved all around with 8.92 TB left!

January 18, 2025 / Technology

Bionic Ears

Apple was generous with their software updates to the AirPods recently. In addition to the existing Spatial Listening they have added Active Noise Cancellation that works a little too well. I was driving down the road and only heard music, that is the point, right? But when I took them out, my ears were drowned in the surrounding car/road noises.

I’ve heard of people tuning the world out but now it is a reality for me, if necessary.

January 18, 2025 / Journal

Bonita Día

Enjoyed a beautiful outing in Bonita Springs and Estero today that did not involve work. First stop was the Everglades Wonder Gardens, host to amazing landscapes and animal encounters. I was introduced to a few species of animals and birds I have never seen before, and added to my list of birds observed while in Florida.

Afterwards we enjoyed a delicious Caribbean meal that included conch fritters and pineapple/mango/peppers shrimp served in a half cut pineapple. Those flavors were overwhelmingly yummy.

January 18, 2025 / Journal

What the Shell?

If I had the time, desire or moolah to do it, I would create a comprehensive seashell identifier app that would help viewers discover what they have found and catalog them. Exhibit A: the long, black shell shown in the photo. Is it an angel wing shell? A mollusk? Shell if I know!

Recent finds off of Captiva Island
January 18, 2025 / Epigraph

Creative Regret

“The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.”

– Mary Oliver
January 17, 2025 / Journal

FlyDay 2025-01-17

Spooked this egret when I was working in the field under chilly, cloudy conditions.

January 16, 2025 / Journal

Today and Yesteryears

I am really digging the “On This Day” script I wrote and added to the Archives page. It prompts me about what I have experienced in the past and makes me reflect.

Well today I noticed that there were two themes from different years but all on the same date, today, January 16th.

This time last year I was sick in Houston, and ugh, that was the worst. Apparently I was sick on the same day way back in 2010. Thankfully this is not the case currently. Wait, is that a tickle in my throat? Better wash it down with Diet Doctor Pepper, STAT.

On this day in 2019 and again in 2022, I was feeling analytical about how I can utilize the iPad as a portable photo studio. For some reason and without intentionally doing so, I felt compelled writing those on the same day. Odd! I don’t feel compelled to write an update today, however.

January 16, 2025 / Journal

GeoDenbow

I’ve resubscribed to a premium Geocaching service and I am ready to go out and explore more. I was able to upload a few caches to my new Garmin GPS device named “Trekkie.” When I am out working tomorrow, I’ll try to find them on the islands.