joke

I Found Fountain Of Youth, But I Wasn’t Thirsty.

September 25, 2015 — 6 Comments

hoboken park

F/10.0, 30.0, ISO 100.

Day 268 / 365

A drunk falls into one of the fountains in Trafalgar Square. Floundering around, he looks up and sees Nelson standing on his column.

“Don’t jump!” he shouts. “This is the shallow end!”

Interesting Fact: The ancient Greeks were apparently the first to use aqueducts and gravity-powered fountains to distribute water. According to ancient historians, fountains existed in Athens, Corinth, and other ancient Greek cities in the 6th century BC as the terminating points of aqueducts which brought water from springs and rivers into the cities. In the 6th century BC the Athenian ruler Peisistratos built the main fountain of Athens, the Enneacrounos, in the Agora, or main square. It had nine large cannons, or spouts, which supplied drinking water to local residents. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain )

Enjoy Every Sunset And Look Forward To Every Sunrise!

September 24, 2015 — 8 Comments

sunset

F/11.0, 1/320, ISO 100.

Day 267 / 365

Why did the sun go to school?

To get brighter!

Interesting Fact: Sunset or sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the western horizon as a result of Earth’s rotation. The time of sunset is defined in astronomy as the moment when the trailing edge of the Sun’s disk disappears below the horizon. The ray path of light from the setting Sun is highly distorted near the horizon because of atmospheric refraction, making the sunset appear to occur when the Sun’s disk is already about one diameter below the horizon. Sunset is distinct from dusk, which is the time at which the sky becomes completely dark, which occurs when the Sun is approximately eighteen degrees below the horizon. The period between sunset and dusk is called twilight. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset)

Fly Me To The Moon

September 23, 2015 — 20 Comments

moon 2

F/6.3, 1/2500, ISO 500, Photoshop CS6.

Day 266 / 365

When is the moon not hungry?

When it is full!

Interesting Fact: When a month has two full moons, the second full moon is called a blue moon. Another definition of a blue moon is the third full moon in any season (quarter of year) containing 4 total full moons. ( http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_facts.phtml )

Mother Nature Has A Big Canvas

September 22, 2015 — 8 Comments

clouds 1

F/4.5, 1/2500, ISO 500.

Day 265 / 365

What do you call a sheep with no legs?

A cloud.

Interesting Fact: Ancient cloud studies were not made in isolation, but were observed in combination with other weather elements and even other natural sciences. In about 340 BC the Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote Meteorologica, a work which represented the sum of knowledge of the time about natural science, including weather and climate. For the first time, precipitation and the clouds from which precipitation fell were called meteors, which originate from the Greek word meteoros, meaning ‘high in the sky’. From that word came the modern term meteorology, the study of clouds and weather. Meteorologica was a work of intuitive rather than scientific study. Nevertheless, it was the first known work that attempted to treat a broad range of meteorological topics. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud )

There Are Always Flowers For Those Who Want To See Them

September 21, 2015 — 6 Comments

campanula

F/ 5.6, 1/60, ISO 500.

Campanula

Day 264 / 365

Why couldn’t the flower ride its bike?

It lost its petals.

Interesting Fact: Campanula /kæmˈpæn.juːlə/[4] is one of several genera in the family Campanulaceae with the common name bellflower. It takes both its common and its scientific name from its bell-shaped flowers—campanula is Latin for “little bell”. The genus includes over 500 species and several subspecies, distributed across the temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest diversity in the Mediterranean region east to the Caucasus.[5] The range also extends into mountains in tropical regions of Asia and Africa. The species include annual, biennial and perennial plants, and vary in habit from dwarf arctic and alpine species under 5 cm high, to large temperate grassland and woodland species growing to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) tall. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campanula )

 

Pool Party!

September 20, 2015 — 27 Comments

House Sparrows

F/11.0, 1/400, ISO 400.

House Sparrows

Day 263 / 365

Two small time thieves had been sent by the Big Boss to steal a van load of goods from a bathroom suppliers. One stayed in the van as look out and the other went into the storeroom. Fifteen minutes went by, then half an hour, then an hour, and no sign of him. The look out finally grew impatient and went to look for his partner. Inside the store the two came face to face. “Where have you been?” demanded the worried look out “The boss told me to take a bath, but I couldn’t find the soap and a towel.”

Interesting Fact: House Sparrows in flocks have a pecking order much the way chickens in a farmyard do. You can begin to decipher the standings by paying attention to the black throats of the males. Males with larger patches of black tend to be older and dominant over males with less black. By wearing this information on their feathers, sparrows can avoid some fights and thereby save energy. ( http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Sparrow/lifehistory )

 

High Dive Competition

September 19, 2015 — 12 Comments

Greater Yellowlegs 3

F/7.1, 1/160, ISO 100.

Greater Yellowlegs

Day 262 / 365

A man met a gorgeous woman and knew immediately that he wanted to marry her. “But, we don’t know anything about each other,” she said.
“That doesn’t matter,” he replied. “We’ll learn about each other as we go along.”
So, she agreed. They married and went to a beautiful resort for their honeymoon.
One morning, as they were laying by the pool, he got up off of his towel, climbed up to the diving board, and did a two and a half tuck gainer. This was followed by three rotations in a jackknife position, where he straightened out and cut the water like a knife. After a few more demonstrations, he came back and lay down on the towel.
“Wow,” she said, “That was incredible!”
“I used to be an Olympic diving champion,” he explained. “See, I told you we’d learn more about each other as we went along.”
With that, she got up, jumped into the pool, and started swimming laps. After about thirty laps, she climbed back out and lay down on her towel, barely out of breath.
“That was amazing!” he exclaimed. “Were you an Olympic endurance swimmer?”
“No,” she replied, “”I was a hooker in Venice and worked both sides of the canal!”

Interesting Fact:  Although the Greater Yellowlegs is common and widespread, its low densities and tendency to breed in inhospitable, mosquito-ridden muskegs make it one of the least-studied shorebirds on the continent. ( http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Greater_Yellowlegs/lifehistory )

 

Foggy Morning

September 18, 2015 — 8 Comments

foggy morning

F/5.6, 1/125, ISO 280.

Day 261 / 365

What cloud is so lazy because it will not get up?

Fog.

Interesting Fact: Fog begins to form when water vapor condenses into tiny liquid water droplets suspended in the air. The main ways water vapor is added to the air: wind convergence into areas of upward motion;[6] precipitation or virga falling from above;[7] daytime heating evaporating water from the surface of oceans, water bodies, or wet land;[8] transpiration from plants;[9] cool or dry air moving over warmer water;[10] and lifting air over mountains.[11] Water vapor normally begins to condense on condensation nuclei such as dust, ice, and salt in order to form clouds.[12][13] Fog, like its elevated cousin stratus, is a stable cloud deck which tends to form when a cool, stable air mass is trapped underneath a warm air mass. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fog )

 

 

 

Going Down Down Down

September 17, 2015 — 10 Comments

American Kestrel 2

F/6.3, 1/1250, ISO 400, Photoshop CS6.

American Kestrel

Day 260 / 365

Teacher: “What is the difference between a bird and fly?”
Student:  “Well…a bird can fly…..but a fly can’t bird.”

Interesting Fact: Unlike humans, birds can see ultraviolet light. This enables kestrels to make out the trails of urine that voles, a common prey mammal, leave as they run along the ground. Like neon diner signs, these bright paths may highlight the way to a meal—as has been observed in the Eurasian Kestrel, a close relative. ( http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Kestrel/lifehistory )

 

Don’t Turn Around, Just Walk Away.

September 16, 2015 — 10 Comments

American Robin 1

F/ 6.3, 1/60, ISO 1600.

American Robin

Day 259 / 365

What did the cat say after eating two robins lying in the sun?

I just love baskin’ robins.

Interesting Fact: Robins eat different types of food depending on the time of day: more earthworms in the morning and more fruit later in the day. Because the robin forages largely on lawns, it is vulnerable to pesticide poisoning and can be an important indicator of chemical pollution. ( http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/lifehistory )