Showing posts with label pictures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pictures. Show all posts
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Pictures of Snowdonia
Here are some pictures I took from a trip to Snowdonia in north Wales last Spring. Click for larger images.
The view towards Mount Snowdon from Nant Peris.
Looking towards Snowdon.
The view between Y Garn and Elidir Fawr.
Y Garn to the left, Snowdon in the distance, Elidir Fawr to the right.
Looking northwest from Elidir Fawr.
Near the summit of Elidir Fawr.
Looking down 1200 feet from Elidir Fawr. We came down this way. Slowly.
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Update - and Cute Pictures
Sorry for the light posting; things are starting to pick up around here. The university term officially starts at the beginning of October, and that's when most of my teaching will begin. We still don't have our teaching schedules yet - and 19 days till term starts. (Less than that if you include the fresher's orientation/team building stuff in the week before.)
But in the meantime, I'm starting to teach at Maynard again this week (equivalent to high school Juniors). I'll be running the course twice this year, which will be nice. Most of the lessons are already prepared from last year, so it's not too much extra work. I quite enjoy it; they're always so keen.
And of course these next few weeks are the time to finalize preparations for the studies I want to conduct over the year. One is already churning through the ethics committee, and I'm writing up the ethics proposal for another one. And there is the constant background hum of reading journal articles, which is the literary form of chamomile tea, mildly good for you and pleasantly soporific.
The biggest event on the horizon is Green Week. Starting in early November, it is going to be a week (plus) of green related events culminating in the Green Fair on 9 Nov. We've got about 20 different events throughout the week, and about 20 different organizations slated for the Fair. Last year we had about 15 organizations, about 400 attenders, and not much budget. This year we have a 4-digit budget (six digits if you include the pence!), have been planning since Spring, and are hoping for a few thousand attenders. We've got a great team of planners working on it, but its a fair bit of work no matter how its sliced. I'll be very happy when it's done - both because it will be a great, fun event, and because I can stop thinking about planning for it for a little while!
I don't show much cute stuff on here, but why not shake things up a bit? Maybe these will brighten your day.
These baby mallard ducks were found abandoned in the ocean off of Devon in July before being rescued. And we think the ocean is big.
What do you get for a walrus on its birthday?
But in the meantime, I'm starting to teach at Maynard again this week (equivalent to high school Juniors). I'll be running the course twice this year, which will be nice. Most of the lessons are already prepared from last year, so it's not too much extra work. I quite enjoy it; they're always so keen.
And of course these next few weeks are the time to finalize preparations for the studies I want to conduct over the year. One is already churning through the ethics committee, and I'm writing up the ethics proposal for another one. And there is the constant background hum of reading journal articles, which is the literary form of chamomile tea, mildly good for you and pleasantly soporific.
The biggest event on the horizon is Green Week. Starting in early November, it is going to be a week (plus) of green related events culminating in the Green Fair on 9 Nov. We've got about 20 different events throughout the week, and about 20 different organizations slated for the Fair. Last year we had about 15 organizations, about 400 attenders, and not much budget. This year we have a 4-digit budget (six digits if you include the pence!), have been planning since Spring, and are hoping for a few thousand attenders. We've got a great team of planners working on it, but its a fair bit of work no matter how its sliced. I'll be very happy when it's done - both because it will be a great, fun event, and because I can stop thinking about planning for it for a little while!
I don't show much cute stuff on here, but why not shake things up a bit? Maybe these will brighten your day.
These baby hedgehogs were orphaned and are being raised in a shelter with the help of their surrogate "mom."
These baby mallard ducks were found abandoned in the ocean off of Devon in July before being rescued. And we think the ocean is big.
What do you get for a walrus on its birthday?
Sunday, 9 September 2007
Canterbury: Pictures and Video
I got back from Canterbury just before midnight on Saturday night. The conference was good, but not exceptional, which is what I was told it would be. A few talks stood out: Peter Hegarty rocked with his presentation about how bias creeps into research through the use of "typical" exemplars. Michelle Ryan had a great overview of the Glass Cliff findings, with a focus on people's reactions to it. There were plenty of other good ones too, and a few boring ones as would be expected. But it was a good medium-scale event for my first "real" conference. I'm looking forward to going (and hopefully presenting!) at a much bigger one in Croatia next June.
The University of Kent is subtly bizarre in ways that are difficult to explain. It seems like a good school, but something just felt a bit strange about it. The campus itself is beautiful. The room numbering system is Byzantine - I never did work it out completely. The en suite dorm bathrooms are like big showers with a toilet and sink inside them - and no barrier between the shower tile and the bedroom carpet, so water will seep into the bedroom if you turn the shower on all the way. But the upside: they gave us University of Kent branded soap and body wash (why doesn't Exeter do this?!) The University of Kent branded one-use disposable bath mat was a little weird. I think one thing that disoriented me is hearing so many American voices in a quintessentially English place. Parallel universes... slowly... colliding...
My favourite experience was at breakfast in the cafeteria. I asked one of the workers if she knew what food was vegan. Looking helpful, she said she would check with the cook and be right back. A few minutes later she returned. "The beans and tomatoes are vegan, of course. The vegetarian sausages are vegan as well. Unfortunately the potato wedges have onion in them though" she said sincerely.
"Oh, eh, well, thanks for checking."
The cooks also cut the crusts off of my vegan sandwiches (and none of the others.) Not sure what that was about. The complete non-comprehension of veganism was almost like being back in Georgia. The food was tasty though.
The conference ended on Friday afternoon, so I headed to Kipps Hostel for the evening. It wasn't bad, especially for £15 for the night. I headed to a pub to meet a friend/fellow-conference-goer to watch the rugby game. It was my first time watching rugby. All I can say is that I've never seen that much blood coming out of peoples' ears. During the day Saturday I wandered around the city of Canterbury. It's really the perfect size to see by foot in a day. There are plenty of things to see, many for free. Here are a few pictures:
The city walls were originally Roman, but have been rebuilt a few times through the millennia. Like most of the stonework in the city, they are made of cloven black flint river cobbles. Canterbury gave in to William the Conqueror without a fight, so they didn't see action then, but they did successfully fend off a number of Viking raids in the centuries before. Now a highway encircles the area where Vikings and Saxons fought and died for control of the city.
St. Mildred's church, near the castle ruins, was built by the Saxons before the Norman conquest.
St. Mildred's again. The flint cobbles were gorgeous. They are glassy black, almost like obsidian, and surprisingly sharp.
Greyfriars, the oldest Franciscan building in the UK, is perched upon the river Stour. It's small and humble, but the gardens were some of the best in the city.
I found most of my lunch in the Greyfriar gardens actually: hazelnuts, beech masts, blackberries, haw berries, apples, pears, and sprigs of rosemary and peppermint. This juicy pear was soon to be eaten.
This sycamore tree near Greyfriars had a trunk about the size of a small car, shaped like a mound. There was no sign to say there was anything special about the tree, but it looked to be one of the oldest in the city.
Just a few feet from the sycamore tree is the River Stour, down which you can see the massive Westgate Tower. You can see cars driving through the main archway between the towers.
Canterbury Cathedral was founded by St. Augustine at about 600 CE. As you probably know, it is the centre of the Anglican church. You probably didn't know you can buy the Archbishop's own special orange marmalade in the gift shop for £3.50.
The cathedral again. It was impressive, but not head and shoulders above other cathedrals I've seen. There are several shots of the inside in the video below.
The castle keep's ruins were desolate. I spent about 30 minutes there and did not see a single other person (on a Saturday in good weather.)
The castle again. There are more thorough views in the video.
I took this video of Canterbury with my regular digital camera (ie decent camera, but not meant for taking high quality videos). In order, it includes the city walls, Grayfriars, the Cathedral, the town centre, and the castle ruins. I did the editing in a hurry, so it is a bit of a rush-job. The music is from Sigur Rós' Taak.
The University of Kent is subtly bizarre in ways that are difficult to explain. It seems like a good school, but something just felt a bit strange about it. The campus itself is beautiful. The room numbering system is Byzantine - I never did work it out completely. The en suite dorm bathrooms are like big showers with a toilet and sink inside them - and no barrier between the shower tile and the bedroom carpet, so water will seep into the bedroom if you turn the shower on all the way. But the upside: they gave us University of Kent branded soap and body wash (why doesn't Exeter do this?!) The University of Kent branded one-use disposable bath mat was a little weird. I think one thing that disoriented me is hearing so many American voices in a quintessentially English place. Parallel universes... slowly... colliding...
My favourite experience was at breakfast in the cafeteria. I asked one of the workers if she knew what food was vegan. Looking helpful, she said she would check with the cook and be right back. A few minutes later she returned. "The beans and tomatoes are vegan, of course. The vegetarian sausages are vegan as well. Unfortunately the potato wedges have onion in them though" she said sincerely.
"Oh, eh, well, thanks for checking."
The cooks also cut the crusts off of my vegan sandwiches (and none of the others.) Not sure what that was about. The complete non-comprehension of veganism was almost like being back in Georgia. The food was tasty though.
The conference ended on Friday afternoon, so I headed to Kipps Hostel for the evening. It wasn't bad, especially for £15 for the night. I headed to a pub to meet a friend/fellow-conference-goer to watch the rugby game. It was my first time watching rugby. All I can say is that I've never seen that much blood coming out of peoples' ears. During the day Saturday I wandered around the city of Canterbury. It's really the perfect size to see by foot in a day. There are plenty of things to see, many for free. Here are a few pictures:
The domjohn behind the city walls is the mound that was the basis of the original Normal motte and bailey castle. It was originally a Roman burial mound. Now it is a public garden with a panoramic view of the city.
The city walls were originally Roman, but have been rebuilt a few times through the millennia. Like most of the stonework in the city, they are made of cloven black flint river cobbles. Canterbury gave in to William the Conqueror without a fight, so they didn't see action then, but they did successfully fend off a number of Viking raids in the centuries before. Now a highway encircles the area where Vikings and Saxons fought and died for control of the city.
St. Mildred's church, near the castle ruins, was built by the Saxons before the Norman conquest.
St. Mildred's again. The flint cobbles were gorgeous. They are glassy black, almost like obsidian, and surprisingly sharp.
Greyfriars, the oldest Franciscan building in the UK, is perched upon the river Stour. It's small and humble, but the gardens were some of the best in the city.
I found most of my lunch in the Greyfriar gardens actually: hazelnuts, beech masts, blackberries, haw berries, apples, pears, and sprigs of rosemary and peppermint. This juicy pear was soon to be eaten.
This sycamore tree near Greyfriars had a trunk about the size of a small car, shaped like a mound. There was no sign to say there was anything special about the tree, but it looked to be one of the oldest in the city.
Just a few feet from the sycamore tree is the River Stour, down which you can see the massive Westgate Tower. You can see cars driving through the main archway between the towers.
Canterbury Cathedral was founded by St. Augustine at about 600 CE. As you probably know, it is the centre of the Anglican church. You probably didn't know you can buy the Archbishop's own special orange marmalade in the gift shop for £3.50.
The cathedral again. It was impressive, but not head and shoulders above other cathedrals I've seen. There are several shots of the inside in the video below.
The castle keep's ruins were desolate. I spent about 30 minutes there and did not see a single other person (on a Saturday in good weather.)
The castle again. There are more thorough views in the video.
I took this video of Canterbury with my regular digital camera (ie decent camera, but not meant for taking high quality videos). In order, it includes the city walls, Grayfriars, the Cathedral, the town centre, and the castle ruins. I did the editing in a hurry, so it is a bit of a rush-job. The music is from Sigur Rós' Taak.
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
Pictures of a More Natural Habitat
The perpetually cold, wet weather and the dense populations here in the UK has made me wistful for America's scorching hot rural summer-times. That means it's time to get out the photos. These are pictures I took at my old university, a small number of students (~2000) in a big, natural campus (~30,000 acres) nestled in the southern Appalachian Mountains. There are plenty of things I don't miss there (like racism and rampant homophobia, for example), but I'll always miss the land.
Horses playing in the rain, near the gravel road west to Possum Trot.
Cypress knees growing by Mirror Pond
The view from Berry Hill, looking north-east towards Lavendar Mountain
A cypress grove near the edge of Victory Lake. The chorus of frogs here in the summer is deafening.
In the fields and hills east of Frost Chapel, looking north.
Victory Lake
The Lavendar Mountain Reservoir on a cloudless summer day. Or a champagne glass.
The Old Mill grinding corn on Mountain Day. This is the largest overshot waterwheel known to exist, built by students in the 1920s. Many of the surrounding pine trees are Longleaf Pines, an endangered tree that forms the Longleaf Pine ecosystem, home to 33 threatened or endangered species.
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