Change... lots of people didn't want to give up their rotary phones.

BC

Celebrating 100 years, here are some notable photos documenting BMW's history.

BC

http://www.caranddriver.com/flipbook/bavarian-motor-working-a-visual-history-of-bmw?mag=cdb&list=nl_dvr_news&src=nl&date=051316

Some good advice.

http://www.howtogeek.com/253901/get-windows-10-for-free-after-july-29th-with-a-little-prep-now/

Personally, I'm using the Clone and Restore method.

Just in case...

BC

A bit more on these birds... they are part of the Corvidae family. This family includes crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers. In common English, they are known as the crow family, or, more technically, corvids.

Birds are some of the smartest animals on the planet and the Corvids are the smartest of the smart. That's why they seem to be more "aware" and can appear more calm when held by hand, sensing your intent to not harm them. As seen in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrAfEeiXDBg

More often these birds "walk" instead of hop, which saves energy. They also seem to know just when you fill your bird feeder and seem to invite their friends to share in your "generosity".

BC

When you look at the "big picture" you realize how tiny we truly are...

Here's a bit of trivia that will put our size in a more local, yet still amazing perspective.

http://www.howtogeek.com/trivia/what-classification-is-bestowed-upon-the-largest-stars-in-the-universe/

BC

Amazing video taken with GoPro camera, a winner of the GoPro awards.

http://www.photographybay.com/2016/05/06/watch-this-gopro-camera-travel-to-the-edge-of-space-at-mach-5-5/?awt_l=DzzHM&awt_m=J_uBU6ZnlP62xu

note: I think the rocket spins so fast just after liftoff to stabilize its flight, because shortly after the engine quits, it stops its spin and the picture stabilizes.

Anyway, a wild ride, for sure.

BC

Over the 26 years of the Hubble Telescope "shooting" the heavens, here are 12 of the "Craziest" Photos from Hubble of all time.

http://www.popsci.com/craziest-hubble-pictures-all-time?cmpid=enews050516&spMailingID=25409324&spUserID=ODY3MTA4ODg2MDUS1&spJobID=800753574&spReportId=ODAwNzUzNTc0S0

Impressive.

BC

Here you go...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj1cqIXJz6E

BC

Great-Tailed Grackles, a bit smaller and having longer tails than Boat-Tailed Grackles, are common to West Texas and they have some of the most unique calls I've ever heard.

Oftentimes when they fly they look like they're barely staying airborne dragging a big anchor.

Here are some songs as seen on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=great+tail+grackels+calling

Bc

http://www.popsci.com/10-funny-animals-captured-by-camera-traps?cmpid=enews050516&spMailingID=25409324&spUserID=ODY3MTA4ODg2MDUS1&spJobID=800753574&spReportId=ODAwNzUzNTc0S0

BC

Ever see the movie DISASTER IN TIME about time travelers that come back to witness the great disasters in history, such as the TITANIC, HINDENBURG, etc?

One of the devices these Time Tourists had was an image sensor inside their heads and attached to their Optic Nerve where they could capture what they were seeing by pressing on their temple.

Well, even though it's not as impressive as the movie version, "rumor" has it that SONY has patented a small Contact Lens Camera that can be operated by a deliberate blink motion. Shutter speed automatically adjusts based on the speed you might be traveling at the time to reduce blur.

For more info check out:

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sony-patents-a-new-contact-lens-camera-say-by-bye-to-google-glass/

BC

From the Article

I don't know how much influence we could have on a geologic scale. From more than just a few hundred miles in space, humanity is merely a faint smudge on the surface of the Earth.

BC

That is really cool...

Thanks for the tip.

BC

Whichever plates are in the area, nothing really seems to be happening lately in the area.

That might be concerning.

BC

With all the news of late about the earthquakes in Ecuador and Japan, we looked up earthquake historical data on the USGS website.

click this link, which is already filtered to include Magnitude 4.5 or higher quakes for the last 30 days.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/#%7B%22feed%22%3A%2230day_m45%22%2C%22search%22%3Anull%2C%22listFormat%22%3A%22default%22%2C%22sort%22%3A%22newest%22%2C%22basemap%22%3A%22grayscale%22%2C%22autoUpdate%22%3Atrue%2C%22restrictListToMap%22%3Atrue%2C%22timeZone%22%3A%22utc%22%2C%22mapposition%22%3A%5B%5B-64.77412531292872%2C-341.71875%5D%2C%5B71.63599288330609%2C-50.625%5D%5D%2C%22overlays%22%3A%7B%22plates%22%3Atrue%7D%2C%22viewModes%22%3A%7B%22map%22%3Atrue%2C%22list%22%3Afalse%2C%22settings%22%3Atrue%2C%22help%22%3Afalse%7D%7D

You'll notice much activity in the Asian and South American portions of the "Ring of Fire" that delineates the Pacific Plate where most earthquakes occur.

BUT... there is very little activity on the west coast portion of the Ring of Fire from Mexico northwards through California into Alaska.

Just saying, it looks like pressures might be building up and would have to be released sometime.

We're talking geological time frames, so it could be today or 20 years from now or even longer.

And remember, the definition of the "Big One" is really personal.

If a magnitude 2.0 quake strikes and a brick falls off a building, hits you in the head and kills you... then for you, THAT was the "Big One".

BC