Martian Exercise Program
Behold the exercise program for the Mars Curiosity rover – click to GIFinate. (Dammit WordPress, why aren’t you auto-animating?)
I strung these 17 images together from the Curiosity MSL image page and (painfully) aligned them in an order that sort of shows the instrument arm’s motion. (Anyone know of a good GIF editor that’s not Illustrator?)
This is some seriously bad-ass cable management. (More on the nearly-lost art of cable lacing here.)
Alas @linecook feels this is not representative of humanity.
It’s easy to forget that humans had their hands on this less than a year ago. I can imagine a JPL engineer at the bar: “No big deal, just my handwriting on Mars.”
(Also, I would love for the ChemCam team to take the laser and etch “CROATOAN” into a rock just to mess around with future Martian historians.)
Double IPA Rainbow
Forget gold — in SF it’s IPA at the end of the rainbow.
Ghosts of 1906
Shawn Clover has put together a jarring set of then-and-now composites from the 1906 earthquake and fire.
The Valencia St Hotel. (This is pretty much what’s in my head when I ride my bike past 18th St.)
In the case of the Valencia St. Hotel, I had to return to the scene on Valencia between 18th and 19th four times before I managed to get it right. There’s quite a bit of conflicting information of exactly where this building once stood.
Van Ness and 17th:
Lafayette Park:
Sacramento Street:
Many, many more on Shawn’s website, including a second set. And it looks like there’s more on the way:
And just when I was about to wrap things up, my dad announced that he had unearthed a local magazine published in late 1906 loaded with earthquake-aftermath photos that I had never seen in any library or online collection. On the plus side, I’ve got plenty more material for a part three now.
Doomed Burrito
I cannot stop laughing at this picture I took.
Poor pollo asado burrito, your defensive strategy is flawed. You are doomed.
Bernal Flats My Ass
The LaLeRePaCo (La Lengua Revolutionary Party Committee) certainly welcomes the attention to our finely crafted microhood. But WTF, Bold Italic, Bernal Flats?
La Lengua, as seen on TV!
Even the imperialistic Bernal overlords recognize the supremacy of La Lengua, never mind Google Maps:
But The Bold Italic’s heart is in the right place. Look for me at Rock Bar wearing a bandolier.
Gave proof through the night that Sutro was still there
O say can you see,
through the fog’s ghostly light,
Sutro proudly we hailed
antennas silently gleaming,
whose red lights and white bars,
through the perilous fight,
o’er Dolores we watched,
webcams gallantly streaming?
And the sunset’s red glare,
the fog bursting in air,
gave proof through the night
Sutro Tower was still there.
O say does that fog-spangled transmitter yet wave
o’er burritos for thee
and the home of the grey?
Juan de Fuca
The Hanjin London plies the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
And a timelapse.
Also: I find it strange when beaches *don’t* have giant logs washed upon them:
I guess this is why I find Guerrero Beach so comforting.
And for good measure, Mexican food on a houseboat.
I have mixed feelings on this, though it could be the model for San Francisco apocalyptic food culture in 2072.
Dusk, Vancouver Island
Sutro Meteor
@somebitslinks pointed me to this epic 8 second exposure of Sutro by trophygeek that also captured one of the Perseids burning up overhead:
(Now I just need to do the math to get a shot of the International Space Station flying over Sutro.)
Around (and around) City Hall
Not nearly as smooth as HYPNOSF would have done it, but here we are:
Burrito Justice 