travel

Unusual to use an off-line computer. The wifi in the Hilton London Metropole is ridiculously expensive, so I use the complimentary service in the lecture hall and have none in my room. I wonder if it really makes business sense to make people pay separately for the wifi instead of sharing the cost over all the guests' bills. It is after all 2010. When I look at hotel rooms on the web I don't go "oh look, free wifi included, what a selling point". I just react badly when it's not there. Still, being off-line does improve concentration no end. Anyway, I'm in London for the second Amazing…
I'll be travelling a lot in October and November and giving some talks. Aard readers in the afflicted cities, drop me a line and maybe we can meet up! 16-18 Oct, TAM London. 29-31 Oct, Oslo, Kritisk Masse: speaking about Thor Heyerdahl and other Scandy pseudoarchaeologists. 4 Nov, Uppsala: speaking about pseudoarchaeology. 14 Nov, Norrköping: speaking about the Late Iron Age elite in the area. 29 Nov - 1 Dec Birmingham: Viking workshop.
When I visited Shanghai a few years ago, one of my favorite moments was riding the maglev train from the airport to a Metro station on the outskirts of the city. As I recall, its speed got up to around 250 mph - a counter in each car displayed the speed, and the numbers changed in a blur as the train accelerated out of the station. I thought about how wonderful it would be to have such a high-speed train between DC and New York or LA and San Francisco, but feared it couldn't happen in the US. Flights and long drives are not only major sources of greenhouse gases, they're also growing sources…
The Department of History and Archaeology in Chester is moving from their lovely but run-down Georgian building at the north city gate to the main campus. So I spent most of today helping with the move: shifting finds from a Tudor manor site at Stokenham in Devon and excavation gear. On our way to the excavation site we then stopped to check out the Pontcysyllte aqueduct, an amazing 195-year-old piece of hydraulic engineering where a transportation canal has been made to cross a river 38 metres above its surface. The afternoon's fieldwork was interrupted and finally cut short by torrential…
tags: Magnificent Frigatebird, Man O'War, Fregata magnificens, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Magnificent Frigatebird, sometimes known as the Man O'War, Fregata magnificens, photographed at Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary, Brazoria County, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 15 July 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. This bird is built for speed and agility in the air and is…
tags: Rosa Blume, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, travel, nature, flowers, image of the day, photography Rosa Blume unter Goldenen Blumen Image: GrrlScientist, 14 July 2010, Frankfurt am Main, Germany [larger view] This pink rose was the only one in a sea of gold roses.
tags: Reddish Egret, Egretta rufescens, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Reddish Egret, Egretta rufescens, photographed at Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary, Brazoria County, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 15 July 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. This lovely species was nearly exterminated in the US by hunters who killed the birds for their plumes. The population is small…
tags: Purpur Clematis, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, travel, nature, flowers, image of the day, photography Purpur Clematis (Clematis species) Image: GrrlScientist, 14 July 2010 [larger view] Some of the lovely purple clematis that are growing at the Vietnamese Restaurant near where I live in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
tags: Black Kite, Milvus migrans, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Black Kite, Milvus migrans, photographed at Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Dan Logen, 23 January 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D2X, with 600 mm lens with 1.4 extender, ISO 320, 1/350 sec f/5.6. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. You've seen this African species before, but may not remember, but there are plenty of family members in North America that you are familiar with, so if you cannot identify this…
tags: Gray Wren-warbler, Zambia Wren-warbler, Western Wren-warbler, Calamonastes simplex, Lesser Striped Swallow, Striped Swallow, Hirundo abyssinica, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird]Gray Wren-warbler (perched), also known as a Zambia Wren-warbler or Western Wren-warbler, Calamonastes simplex, and a Lesser Striped Swallow (flying), also known as a Striped Swallow, Hirundo abyssinica, photographed near the Pangani River Camp, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Dan Logen, 14 January 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D300s, 600 mm VR lens. ISO…
tags: White Tern, Gygis alba, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] The White Tern is known by more alternate names than a con-artist, also being known as the Angel Tern, Common White-tern, Common White Tern, Little White Tern, Little Fairy Tern, Fairy Tern, Little White-tern, Little Fairy-tern, and even (since it lives in tropical oceans of the world) as the Atlantic White Tern, Gygis alba (formerly; Gygis microrhyncha), photographed on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge -- one of the most remote coral atolls on earth -- a US territory in the north Pacific Ocean [I will…
tags: Bicolored Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus gubernator, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Fledgling Bicolored Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus gubernator, photographed at Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds, Marin County, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 13 May 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. This mystery bird is quite challenging to identify, but for those of you who can ID this…
tags: Red-throated Loon, Red-throated Diver, Gavia stellata, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Red-throated Loon, also known as the Red-throated Diver, Gavia stellata, photographed at Bodega Bay, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 12 May 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. This bird has a character that sets it apart from the others in the same genus and family, and this…
tags: Least Bittern, North American Bittern, Ixobrychus exilis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Least Bittern, Ixobrychus exilis, photographed at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Anahuac, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 5 July 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Why are these bird's eyes placed in such a strange way on its head? This bird's eyes are placed in a pointing down way…
tags: Swallow-tailed Kite, Fork-tailed Hawk, Swallow-tailed Hawk, Snake Hawk, Fish Hawk, Elanoides forficatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Swallow-tailed Kite, also known by a bunch of other common names, such as the Fork-tailed Hawk, Swallow-tailed Hawk, Snake Hawk and Fish Hawk, Elanoides forficatus, photographed at Double Bayou Park, Chambers County, Anahuac, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 26 June 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/400s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400. Please…
tags: Irania, White-throated Robin, Irania gutturalis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Irania, also known as the White-throated Robin, Irania gutturalis, photographed at Nyumba ya Mungu Reservoir, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Dan Logen, 14 January 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D300, 600 mm VR lens. ISO 500 1/400 sec, f/6.3. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Review all mystery birds to date.
tags: Green Barbet, Stactolaema olivacea, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Green Barbet, Stactolaema olivacea, photographed at Udzungwa Mountains National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Dan Logen, 10 January 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D300, 200-400 VR lens at 400 mm., ISO 800, 1/640 sec, f/7.1. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Review all mystery birds to date.
tags: White-winged Scoter, Melanitta deglandi, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] White-winged Scoter, Melanitta deglandi, photographed at Bodega Bay, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 12 May 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. The White-winged Scoter, Melanitta deglandi, a large black duck of coastal waters which is the largest of all the scoters. This species breeds farther…
tags: Walk-Through of NYC's American Museum of Natural History, museum, natural history museum, AMNH, American Museum of Natural History, NYC, New York City, culture, edutainment, streaming video This is a rather nice video with a home-made feel to it. It presents a quick view of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, starting on the subway platform (filled with lots of beautiful tile art, all of which I've photographed and shared on my blog). (I noticed that they seem to have finished refurbishing their Indians of the Pacific Northwet exhibit). The AMNH is a scientific…
tags: Acorn Woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Acorn Woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus, photographed in China Camp State Park, Point San Pedro Peninsula, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Joseph Kennedy, 11 May 2010 [larger view]. Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/400s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. This bird has a very unusual behavior that is a response to the availability of its primary food supply. Can you tell…