Crater Lake In Time from Jerry Lin on Vimeo.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t seem to get enough timelapse. This one was filmed by Jerry Lin, who sets the stage thusly:
Here’s my time lapse finally, It was a super cold day filming this. Being blasted from snow that felt like sand, it was no bueno. Next time I’ll remind my self to bring Arctic gear when I head back to Crater Lake, hand and feet were super numb.
Check out more of his work at infinixd’s posterous.
About a year ago, we took a tour of the Central Library’s Ecoroof. It was neat to see a 95 year old building updated with an Ecoroof.
Just last week we had the pleasure of meeting with Matt Burlin, the City of Portland’s Sustainable Stormwater Management Outreach Coordinator, for another ecoroof tour. We are actually just being polite when we say it was a pleasure. Matt was a nice guy, and all, but as we reached the penthouse level of the sleek new Pearl tower we were visiting, the Portland winter sky opened up and unleashed upon us a ferocious mixture of snow and sleet and wind and rain and cold.
Over the roar and din, Matt pointed out the surrounding rooftops and their colorful mosaics of living roofs. I did the best I could to get photos without drowning the camera. But the weather was really remarkably bad. Matt said it was the worst weather during any of his tours.
We learned enough on our quick tour to know we certainly want to tour more projects from the Portland Ecoroof Program (maybe on a day when the weather is more cooperative . . . in August, and preferably with a summer beer in hand, when the rooftop BBQ is open).
Ecoroofs aren’t just for hippies, dainty environmentalists, and real estate developers. If you want to learn more about how they work, and maybe even put on your own structure (high rise, house, food cart or chicken coop!) go check out Ecoroof Portland 2011 on March 18 (10am to 6pm) at the Oregon Convention Center (777 NE MLK Jr. Blvd).
Participants will learn how ecoroofs work, why they’re important, and what resources are available to help start their own projects. They can get information directly from ecoroof vendors including architects, consultants, contractors, landscape architects, manufacturers, nurseries, structural engineers, suppliers, researchers, and non-profit and community organizations.
Go on a tour too (but be sure to bring your rain gear!).
Visit the Ecoroof Blog any time for project updates, announcements, and events. Ecoroof Portland can also be found on Facebook!
Cartographer Daniel Huffman maintains a blog called somethingaboutmaps where he expounds on the cartographic craft and highlights interesting map work of his own and others.
Recently he created a series of maps of river systems in the style of Harry Beck‘s famous London Underground maps. One of the river systems he mapped is the Columbia River System, which is friggin cool! (see small version to the right).
Featuring the following rivers, creeks, forks, (etc.): Columbia, Cowlitz, Willamette, Deschutes, John Day, Yakima, Snake, Crab, Okanogan (I used the American spelling for this one), Kettle, Spokane & St. Joe, Pend Oreille / Clark / Silver Bow, Kootenay (Canadian spelling, this time), Crooked, Palouse, Clearwater & Selway, Grande Ronde, Salmon, Payette, Malheur, Boise, Owyhee, Bruneu, Big Wood, Similkameen, Duncan, Elk, Flathead, Blackfoot, Bitterroot
Read about Huffman’s methodology and considerations in his post On River Maps. You can buy prints of his maps too, and he will donate 10% of the profits to organizations that protect and restore some of the watersheds depicted on each map. The Columbia River System map is available on Zazzle in two sizes: 18″ x 24″ | 30″ x 40″ (make sure to read the re-sizing warnings here!).
Hat Tip spinnerin
Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution via natural selection revolutionized biological science and gave us a greater understanding of the origins of life.
Darwin Day is celebrated around the world on February 12th, the anniversary of the day Darwin was born in 1809.
The Darwin Day website explains what the celebration is about:
Darwin Day is an international celebration of science and humanity held on or around February 12, the day that Charles Darwin was born on in 1809. Specifically, it celebrates the discoveries and life of Charles Darwin — the man who first described biological evolution via natural selection with scientific rigor. More generally, Darwin Day expresses gratitude for the enormous benefits that scientific knowledge, acquired through human curiosity and ingenuity, has contributed to the advancement of humanity.
Portland Area Darwin Day Events
After months of heavy rain and snow and unseasonably warm weather that melted much of that snow the Willamette and Columbia, and numerous other Northwest rivers, flooded in February of 1996. In Portland the Willamette flood waters crested at around 30 feet on February 9, 1996.
To put this flood into perspective for those who weren’t here, think about that big seawall at Waterfront Park. It’s about 30 feet high. The city constructed additional sandbag barriers – a.k.a. Vera’s Wall – around the railings at the top of the seawall as a last ditch effort to prevent flooding in downtown Portland. Imagine violently eddying, debris-filled chocolate milk colored water surging up to the brim, basically on the same level as the sidewalk. The seawall disappeared . . . but then the waters subsided.
Portland’s downtown was lucky. Oregon City and Tillamook’s downtown areas were submerged for days, and flooding occurred throughout the entire Pacific Northwest. In Oregon eight deaths were attributed to the flood. Over half a billion dollars in property damage was sustained throughout the Pacific Northwest, and 30,000 residents had to flee their homes.