
[![](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-31-my-first-carbon-offsets/55656880_5096ebe070_t.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/skintype/55656880/ "DSC024731, by skintype")Today, I was buying some airline tickets to give as a wedding gift to some friends who are getting married next month so they can come visit us after their honeymoon. My choices of airline were [RyanAir](http://www.ryanair.com/) or [easyJet](http://www.easyjet.com/), the two main budget airlines in Europe. After recovering from the seizure and cleaning up the vomit induced by RyanAir's homepage, I went to easyJet.com. They've cleaned up their interface and added more gradients (which I'm a sucker for) since I visited them last.  As I was completing the checkout process and was scrolling through the attempts to sell me rental cars and hotel reservations, I noticed something I'd never seen before. Check this out:

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-31-my-first-carbon-offsets/2720118670_e75ac2a3b0_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="My First Carbon Offsets">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-31-my-first-carbon-offsets/2720118670_082153df80.jpg" alt="My First Carbon Offsets"/>
</a>

"Contribute Â£2.35 per person to balance the 180kg of Carbon Dioxide per passenger on this booking - there are no middlemen and easyJet does not profit from the scheme." [Read more about easyJet's environmentally-friendly policies](http://www.easyjet.com/EN/Environment/index.shtml).

Good work, easyJet! Every airline, bus, subway, and train service should adopt a similar scheme. The gas station is not really where people want to be spending more right now, but an offer to buy offsets equivalent to the tank of gas might work too. Frankly, I think there are a lot of people out there like me who won't go out of their way to buy carbon offsets, but that, if given the chance of adding 4% onto a purchase for offsets, will. Carbon offsets are not the full answer to concerns about the environment, but they're a step in the right direction.

When our newlywed friends Robert and Ania come to visit us in October, their flight will be carbon neutral.


My First Carbon Offsets


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-30-gazpacho-cold-spanish-soup/2715769397_f205626aaa_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Gazpacho">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-30-gazpacho-cold-spanish-soup/2715769397_b5ba49cf0e_t.jpg" alt="Gazpacho"/>
</a>

We bought a new blender recently. Being myself, I bought the most expensive model that didn't come with extra vacuum packing gadgetry thrown in. This, combined with some extra leftover bread from a few days ago, was enough to push Marga into buying some peeled tomatos and a cucumber to make gazpacho. She's never made gazpacho before, but she's seen and helped her mother do it countless times. So we gave it a try.

### Ingredients

- Day-old bread, soaked in water for 15 minutes or so. About enough to make a ball the size of your fist.
- Peeled tomatoes. We only had one tomato, so we peeled it and bought a can of peeled tomatoes.
- One cucumber, peeled.
- Two fried eggs.
- Two large cloves of garlic. This gives it a nice tang.
- Salt
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Vinegar
- Water, if outcome is a little too thick.

Traditional gazpacho is one of those recipes that grew out of necessity and just blending together whatever people had available. It's one food where, no matter how you make it, if you serve it to a large group of Spaniards, everyone will tell you exactly how what you've served is different from how _their_ family usually makes it. Generally, anything that you'd put on a salad is fair game.

### Instructions

1. Blend
2. Serve
3. Eat

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-30-gazpacho-cold-spanish-soup/2715757915_e318ff8b56_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Salad Chefs Observe Gazpacho Ingredients">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-30-gazpacho-cold-spanish-soup/2715757915_e0a9d8a8d3.jpg" alt="Salad Chefs Observe Gazpacho Ingredients"/>
</a>

The [Salad Chefs](/2007/05/18/salad-chefs/) oversee the addition of ingredients into the blender. Note that I said only one "fist" of bread, and we have two. Adding too much bread was the only mistake we made. The resulting gazpacho was a little too grainy.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-30-gazpacho-cold-spanish-soup/2715765409_0866ba3a36_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Gazpacho Ingredients - Preblend">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-30-gazpacho-cold-spanish-soup/2715765409_bde20d57b5.jpg" alt="Gazpacho Ingredients - Preblend"/>
</a>

Preblend.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-30-gazpacho-cold-spanish-soup/2715769397_f205626aaa_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Gazpacho">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-30-gazpacho-cold-spanish-soup/2715769397_b5ba49cf0e.jpg" alt="Gazpacho"/>
</a>

The first few times I tried gazpacho, I didn't really like it. But I think my aversion was more just a general aversion to cold soups, which I have since overcome. One way to trick yourself past the cold soup problem is by serving it in a glass.

Really, if you think about it, eating gazpacho is rather like drinking salad.


Gazpacho - Cold Spanish Soup


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-29-ocdelightful-squeegee/2711532034_fe143df91c_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Shower Squeegee">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-29-ocdelightful-squeegee/2711532034_c7fd99064d_t.jpg" alt="Shower Squeegee"/>
</a>

In the bathroom where I shower, we have a glass shower stall. After about a week of use, it gets little dots over it and must be cleaned. These are calcium deposits from the water that remain when the droplets dry.

When I was a kid, I always thought it strange that my grandparents had a squeegee in their shower stall. When I was visiting, I used to dry the glass in their shower stall after my showers, not because they asked me to, but because it was fun to pass the rubber squeegee over the glass and watch the water all run down to the bottom. It never occurred to me to ask why they had a squeegee in there. It just seemed fun to me.

About a year ago, it hit me that my grandparents' squeegee was a solution to calcium deposits dirtying the glass. But it took me a year to remember this revelation when I was anywhere other than using or cleaning the shower. Finally we bought a squeegee for the shower! The results were amazing. Immediately there was a difference in the general appearance of the bathroom with the clean glass of the shower stall. It's working really well.

The other day, as I was sliding the squeegee down the glass, exterminating the little droplets, it occurred to me that I found this activity very pleasing in a very OCD way. I certainly don't have diagnosable obsessive-compulsive disorder, but I think that everyone that's at all neat has some subtle [chemical imbalance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsessive-compulsive_disorder#Biological) that, when _way_ out of balance, results in full OCD, but normally just controls how generally neat and organized you are. There in the shower, I coined the term "OCDelightful" for any activity that triggers pleasure for reasons of order and neatness. I've [submitted it](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=OCDelightful "Pending approval...") to the Urban Dictionary. When I went to submit its close acronym, OCDelicious, I found, to my surprise, that [it is already there](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=OCDelicious)! With the proper definition and everything! Amazing.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-29-ocdelightful-squeegee/2711532034_fe143df91c_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Shower Squeegee">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-29-ocdelightful-squeegee/2711532034_c7fd99064d.jpg" alt="Shower Squeegee"/>
</a>

This is a reenactment, since common decency prevents me from sharing a photo of actual showering conditions.

I think that "squeegee" is one of the most awesome words in the English language. Don't you?


OCDelightful Squeegee


Yesterday, as I was walking along a street watching my iPhone in amazement as the little blue dot representing my location moved ever so slightly towards the intersection I was approaching, four clothing stores were marked with flags after entering the word "clothing" into the map search. And, with my mind raised on hours of video games, I got to thinking...what if the other dots weren't locations, but were other people, also moving around the map.

Here's my idea for an awesome iPhone app. There should be just a simple app that lets you play games in which the other players are carrying their iPhones and everyone can see everyone on the map. In this simple framework, a wide variety of games can be constructed. The simplest and first to come to mind is Capture The Flag. Imagine with me... You divide all the players into two teams (we'll call them red and blue). Each team is given a "flag". But it's not really a flag, it's a bar code. It can be printed or just any UPC symbol off any supermarket product. Each team captain takes their bar code "flag", takes a photograph of it with his iPhone, and then hides it somewhere, making sure to set the location of the flag into his iPhone via GPS with a tap when he hides the flag. It's not really hidden, it should be in plain sight at eye level. Once both flags have been placed, the game begins. The red team has to try to capture the blue team's flag and make it back to their base (where the red flag is hidden), and vice versa. The way you defend your base is to "shoot" an opponent. The way you shoot and opponent is you get within X meters of him and press a "fire" button on your iPhone. X could be 10 or 100 or 1000; it depends on the size of the playing area. If someone kills you, you must go half the distance back to your own base before you become active again. To capture the opponent's flag, you must simply take a picture of it, the iPhone will match the bar code with the one given at the start of the game for the opposing team, mark your dot on everyone's map as having the flag, and you run like the wind back to your base. If you get killed on your way, the virtual flag is returned instantly back to the enemy base and you have to go scan it again (and you have to go halfway back to your base to revive yourself). Perhaps when you have the flag, you can't shoot anyone, so your teammates without the flag must run with you defending you.

But think about it... This can be played anywhere, and on any scale. You can play in the forest behind grandpa's house, or you can play it across all of Manhattan, or the United States, or the entire globe!

The technology is all there. All that is needed is a little help from an internet server to coordinate locations. It's probably important that the rules stipulate that items must be at ground level, since the mapping software is still 2D. As I mentioned initially, Capture The Flag is not the only game available once the player-tracking infrastructure is set up. A bar-code-based treasure hunt could work too. You have to figure out the clues, but you can also see where the other teams are and where they are headed. So once you figure out where a treasure is, you scatter your team so the opponents don't know which location the treasure is in. And of course there are plenty of more possibilities...

I'm not going to develop this app because I'm just not that interested. But I'm posting this because I think it's cool and highlights the immense possibilities of a geolocated, internet enabled device...and so that I can point back to this when it is finally released and say, "See, I thought of that in July 2008!"

A little research shows that apparently someone [had this idea back in 2005](http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=/iel5/10396/33046/01550821.pdf?temp=x), and someone [has implemented a simple version](http://thinkabdul.com/2007/10/08/phonetag-elite-play-gps-location-based-real-world-capture-the-flag-against-friends-on-mobile-phone/) of it for other phones. The GPS-enabled iPhone, however, provides a device that contains all the necessary technology.


iPhone App Idea: Capture The Flag


[![Sandwich Party](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-26-voice-of-a-pork-sandwich/2702147033_e0d0612c46.jpg "Get your badge here")](http://macbebekin.com/2008/07/sandwich-party-favors.html)Last December, I participated in an international blogosphere [Sandwich Party](http://www.hillbillyplease.com/blog/?page_id=2237), put on by two lovely hostesses, Elsa and Jane, in which all the participants made and ate a sandwich and photo-blogged the process. This concept may seem very strange, but I am absolutely certain that this kind of thing will become more and more prevalent in the coming decade: strangers from around the globe banding together via the internet to participate in a creative project.

Well, the second Sandwich Party is this weekend, and I have prepared and consumed my entry. My regular readers won't be surprised by what they find at the bottom of this post, but perhaps some of the other Sandwich Partiers that happen by will. My sandwich entry for the July 2008 Sandwich Party is more or less a recreation of the sandwich I order almost every Thursday night when the missus and I go out dancing. Pork fillets, onions, peppers, melted cheese, and mustard. Delicious.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-26-voice-of-a-pork-sandwich/2702695602_a6bf594cd6_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sandwich Party: Ingredients">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-26-voice-of-a-pork-sandwich/2702695602_ff3e4b551a.jpg" alt="Sandwich Party: Ingredients"/>
</a>

It's very common here to find these fillets of pork that have been rolled/marinated in garlic. It's called _lomo al ajillo_.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-26-voice-of-a-pork-sandwich/2702705388_113170b5aa_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sandwich Party: Onions">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-26-voice-of-a-pork-sandwich/2702705388_2918c6eeb2.jpg" alt="Sandwich Party: Onions"/>
</a>

Chopped onions.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-26-voice-of-a-pork-sandwich/2701900773_0cb5c95007_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sandwich Party: Red Peppers">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-26-voice-of-a-pork-sandwich/2701900773_d1d75bb33c.jpg" alt="Sandwich Party: Red Peppers"/>
</a>

Chopped peppers.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-26-voice-of-a-pork-sandwich/2701913239_f78d1be1e7_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sandwich Party: Video Studio">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-26-voice-of-a-pork-sandwich/2701913239_bfb60f6ddf.jpg" alt="Sandwich Party: Video Studio"/>
</a>

Camera set up to watch over things.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-26-voice-of-a-pork-sandwich/2702756626_a067b814b4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sandwich Party: Cheesy Peppery Goodness">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-26-voice-of-a-pork-sandwich/2702756626_bfa8cf67a9.jpg" alt="Sandwich Party: Cheesy Peppery Goodness"/>
</a>

The final result.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-26-voice-of-a-pork-sandwich/2701923983_8f42e4d65b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sandwich Party: Final Result">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-26-voice-of-a-pork-sandwich/2701923983_772d43cc00.jpg" alt="Sandwich Party: Final Result"/>
</a>

Mmmmmm!!!!

But what does the voice of a pork sandwich sound like?

Music by [Jimbo Mathus & Knockdown South](http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=156852774&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;id=156852742&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;s=143441).

You can follow other Sandwich Party developments on [the Flickr Group](http://www.flickr.com/groups/sandwichparty/) or on [Jane's Sandwich Party page](http://www.hillbillyplease.com/blog/?page_id=2237).


Voice of a Pork Sandwich


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-25-ambigram-domains/2701149876_887ef28082_o_d.gif" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="6q.bg (thumbnail)">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-25-ambigram-domains/2701149876_887ef28082_o.gif" alt="6q.bg (thumbnail)"/>
</a>

The other day, someone found my blog from [google.bg](http://www.google.bg/). Rather than think, "Oh, that's Bulgarian Google. I know [someone](http://www.isoglossia.com/) who is moving to Bulgaria," the first thought that I had was, "Hey, lowercase 'bg' has a rotational ambigram equivalent!" For those of you that are not typeface junkies and haven't read [_Angels and Demons_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_&_Demons), an [ambigram](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambigram) is a word that, when written down, has some symmetry. It can be mirror symmetry, like "MOM", where the left side is the mirror image of the right, or "BOID", where the top is the mirror image of the bottom. Or it can be rotational, where the word reads the same way if you rotate it 180Â°. What follows is all about rotational ambigrams.

So I challenged myself to figure out what the rotational ambigram of "bg" was without rotating a piece of paper. I'm rather disappointed to say that, although my brain had immediately recognized that there was one, I went though several guesses involving "p" and "d" before figuring it out. The answer, is, of course, "6q". And it still took me another hour to realize that "bg" is just a slight variation on the most famous numerical rotational ambigram of all. <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-25-ambigram-domains/2700334359_c2d68167a1_o_d.gif" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="6q.bg">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-25-ambigram-domains/2700334359_c2d68167a1_o.gif" alt="6q.bg"/>
</a>

From here, I started wondering what rotational ambigram internet domains were available. I thought of suggesting to my Bulgaria-bound friend that he should try to register 6q.bg when he gets there and meets the requirements for getting a country-specific domain. When I was thinking about other domain suffixes with rotational possibilities (the common .org, .com, and .net suffixes don't work), I realized that, if capital letters were used, Spain's suffix would work!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-25-ambigram-domains/2700336119_567a2e3798_o_d.gif" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="S3.ES">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-25-ambigram-domains/2700336119_567a2e3798_o.gif" alt="S3.ES"/>
</a>

I checked, though, and Spain's domain registrar does not allow two-letter domains, so I can't register s3.es. Of course any rotationally symmetrical letter can be added in there. Unfortunately, I've been unable to come up with any actual words that make sense. S3POd.ES? S3Z.ES? And yes, X works, too.

I just thought I'd share some of these incredibly nerdy thoughts that I have occasionally.


Ambigram Domains


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-24-wacky-wacky-web/2698097069_94df5750de_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Hacked Blog">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-24-wacky-wacky-web/2698097069_a81f17ba97_t.jpg" alt="Hacked Blog"/>
</a>

You may have noticed some weirdness on this blog this week. On Monday evening, some of my coworkers, for solid business reasons, had to reinstall the server this blog runs on. They backed up the database, reinstalled the operating system, restored the database, and brought the blog back up. The only real problem my blog experienced was with the character encoding of the database. The odd Spanish characters like "ñáéí­óíº" weren't showing up properly. Today I managed to fix it, and there were only a couple comments from Tuesday and Wednesday that were lost. Below I'll share a few interesting things that happened throughout the process. [![asdf](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-24-wacky-wacky-web/2690519991_93a4206990.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/aparejador/2690519991/ "Hacked Blog by erikrasmussen, on Flickr")

I was surprised to see that one of my readers, Ray Tibbetts, had taken a screenshot of my blog as it was down on Monday morning and posted it on Flickr. By the time I saw my blog that morning, it was already up (albeit with the broken Spanish characters), so it was interesting to see what had happened earlier.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-24-wacky-wacky-web/2698097069_94df5750de_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Hacked Blog">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-24-wacky-wacky-web/2698097069_a81f17ba97.jpg" alt="Hacked Blog"/>
</a>

This screenshot blows my mind. Get this: During my repair of the character encoding today, I had to blow away the database, create a new one with the proper encoding, and then import the original Monday backup. The import took about 10 minutes. During those ten minutes, my blog was showing the default Wordpress "empty database" screen that asks you to click "install wordpress" and set up your blog.

During these ten minutes, someone from the internet found my blog, noticed that it was a virgin Wordpress installation waiting to be set up, and clicked "install wordpress" and set up the header to point to his money-making affiliate site.

I've never been robbed and my website has never been maliciously hacked, so I'm usually not very paranoid about stuff like that (although I do take important security precautions), but it's good to have the world remind you that there are people out there in the shadows willing to take advantage of you if you ever let your guard down.

The solution to this problem, by the way, was to change the database password setting in the Wordpress configuration file so that it could not see the database while I was doing the import. Still, pretty amazing.

The other thing that happened this week from the server reinstall is that the [BITWRATHPLOOB website](http://www.bitwrathploob.com/) was completely destroyed. Its database was not backed up before the machine was wiped, and all the posts, pages, and comments were lost forever.

Or were they?

Through a process that I still find difficult to believe myself, through several hours of copying and pasting this week, I have been able to restore all the pages and posts from Google Cache. When Google scans your website for information to index their search engine, a couple times a month, they save an entire copy of each page in their cache. This enables you to find information from websites even when they are down or unavailable. To view any page in the Google Cache, you simply google the full url with the word "cache:" before it. Like so: [cache:http://www.erik-rasmussen.com/](http://www.google.es/search?hl=en&q=cache:http://www.erik-rasmussen.com/). If you click on that link, you will see a copy of this website from a week or two ago without hitting my webserver. It's pretty incomprehensible to imagine how Google has an entire copy of every public web page _everywhere_ stored on their servers. They've gotten into more than one law suit about it.

So this is why my blog has been a bit quiet and strange lately, and I hope you've learned a few things about the nature of this wacky wacky web. That is what "[www](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWW)" stands for, you know.


Wacky Wacky Web


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686194991_fecbb9dc5d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Sardines">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686194991_6d5373ccce_t.jpg" alt="Sardines"/>
</a>

This weekend, we went to Mondragon to participate in some annual festivities at my in-laws' social club, the Centro Extremeño. We really enjoyed the rib feast last year, and it didn't disappoint this year either. And on Sunday there was free gazpacho and grilled sardines. <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686129573_acd0a2a063_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Mondragon Balcony Pan">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686129573_e759bfee2e.jpg" alt="Mondragon Balcony Pan"/>
</a>

This is a fantastic panorama from my grandfather-in-law's balcony. I made it with two rows of portrait photographs, so it covers a very wide area. [View full 12061x5463 (10 MB) version](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/2686129573/sizes/o/).

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686958462_e60034e28f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Church Bells">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686958462_03f41f75ec.jpg" alt="Church Bells"/>
</a>

The bells in the town church, also seen in the panorama above.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686153915_4e4c48f3be_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ribs">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686153915_c55e68a6e9.jpg" alt="Ribs"/>
</a>

Ribs go on the barbeque.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686160899_330ec2f1bc_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Three Glasses">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686160899_2cbe1fd292.jpg" alt="Three Glasses"/>
</a>

Three glasses on the table as we wait for ribs to cook.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686978834_d824476816_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Café Solo">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686978834_1f54aabdb3.jpg" alt="Café Solo"/>
</a>

The new branded coffee cups are very nice.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686164795_21a5898217_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Centro Extremeño Café">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686164795_9d39c54619.jpg" alt="Centro Extremeño Café"/>
</a>

This symbol is very well designed. It's both a map of Extremadura, the flag (green, white, and black horizontal stripes) of Extremadura, and a picture of the ubiquitous _encina_ that is all over Extremadura. I'm impressed every time I see it.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686175865_05f93cdea6_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Abuelo and Pedro">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686175865_b61e5f1288.jpg" alt="Abuelo and Pedro"/>
</a>

Grandpa and his friend, Pedro.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686999488_7d8344ea40_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Little Fishies with Wine">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686999488_0773bfe391.jpg" alt="Little Fishies with Wine"/>
</a>

The next day, this was the snack given to us with our wine. They're these tiny little fish that are fried and eaten whole. Head, eyeball, tail, fins, and all. They're petty good, but strange eating whole fish.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686194991_fecbb9dc5d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sardines">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2686194991_6d5373ccce.jpg" alt="Sardines"/>
</a>

Now it's the sardines' turn on the grill.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2687021842_6d95c05fec_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Grilled Sardines">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-21-ribs-and-sardines/2687021842_2175b9a383.jpg" alt="Grilled Sardines"/>
</a>

The smell is amazing. Too bad my camera can't capture that.

I forgot my iPhone charger when we left on Friday afternoon, and by Sunday afternoon, it was completely dead. That's pretty good considering that it was complaining about battery capacity by Friday night.


Ribs and Sardines


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-18-should-i/2678894831_499dcbc4e2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Google Suggestions?  Should I?">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-18-should-i/2678894831_a96bd46ddf_t.jpg" alt="Google Suggestions?  Should I?"/>
</a>

Google is really funny sometimes, mainly because it provides an unbiased algorithmic mirror of society. While chuckling about people that find my blog by asking google 20-word complete sentences, I was going to run a search, for the sheer irony of it, for "Should I search with complete sentences?" But the suggestions that popped up distracted me. People are seriously asking Google questions about how to lead their lives _in the first person_! <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-18-should-i/2678894831_499dcbc4e2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Google Suggestions?  Should I?">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-18-should-i/2678894831_a96bd46ddf.jpg" alt="Google Suggestions?  Should I?"/>
</a>

Let me answer these for you, people.

1. If you go, there will be trouble. But if you stay it will be double. So go.
2. Kill 'em both.
3. Yes, but don't mention the other women of your dreams.
4. No, it would be a waste even if you knew your place.
5. Yes, you should [be a teacher](/2008/02/20/taylor-mali/).
6. Go, trouble. Stay, double. Got it? Get outta here!
7. No, you should go back to XP, or, ideally, buy a Mac.
8. Sure, get a cat, but be sure to post photos of it with funny captions on the internet. There's a shortage, don't ya know?
9. Yes, be a nurse. But only if you get to wear one of those little hats.
10. Only if you can do so without getting caught.

There, now that's all settled.


Should I?


[![](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-16-no-jose-tomas-tickets/1433427712_dba6ebcfdd_t.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/metafora/1433427712/ "Filosofí­a..., by metafora")A couple months ago, I read [this fascinating article about bullfighting in the NY Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/sports/playmagazine/601bullfight.html). It really is as fair and balanced as I've seen any articles about the controversial Spanish tradition. I highly recommend reading it.

In that article, I learned of a bullfighter named José Tomás, who came out of retirement last year to wow spectators in Barcelona, the stronghold of anti-bullfighting sentiment in Spain. Ever since, the phenomenon that is José Tomás has been snowballing. You know how they say that there's a fine line between bravery and stupidity? Well, most of the people in the bullfighting community, including many professional bullfighters, think that José Tomás has gone way over that line. So when Marga, a fan of bullfighting, saw that JT was coming to Santander this summer, she got pretty excited. She said, "Look, it's pretty clear that this guy's gonna die young, so we need to see him as soon as possible." That pretty much sums up the opinion of all bullfighting aficionados in Spain.

This past Monday, as I was doing my morning email check, I had an email from Marga saying, "Bullfighting ticket sales open at 11:00 AM today. The newspaper says people have been waiting in line since 7:00 PM last night! Can you go at 11:00 AM and buy José Tomás tickets? Please!?" At 10:30, I hopped in the car and, at 11:00 sharp, was climbing the stairs from the underground parking into the Santander town hall square where the ticket sales take place. What I saw amazed me. The line went up and down the entire square three times. I found the end and got in line.

Conversations began with people near me in line and we sent a teenager from our group up to scout out what was happening at the front of the line. We learned that, in the first 40 minutes of sales, only 20 people had bought tickets. This didn't bode well for us in the back with over a thousand people ahead of us. We also learned that the ticket booths would close at 2:00 PM that day. Those two facts were enough for any reasonable person to give up. But then we heard, from our scout, that the vast majority of the José Tomás tickets had been "reserved" by the Town Hall for itself, pretty much guaranteeing that only a small number of ticket buyers would get to see the bullfighting legend. As in most things in life, it's all about who you know. Since I was there on orders to buy only JT tickets, there was clearly no reason to stay. So I left.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-16-no-jose-tomas-tickets/2673089187_4fc1744f94_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Back of the line">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-16-no-jose-tomas-tickets/2673089187_0df654b7a6.jpg" alt="Back of the line"/>
</a>

 The view from the back of the line.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-16-no-jose-tomas-tickets/2668217590_6db9ca39da_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Santander Bull Ticket Line">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-16-no-jose-tomas-tickets/2668217590_cd4487a788.jpg" alt="Santander Bull Ticket Line"/>
</a>

 A complete panorama of the entire square full of people. [See larger](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/2668217590/sizes/l/).


No José Tomás Tickets


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-15-i-have-an-iphone/2670769122_780ce7dcc2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="iPhone Blog">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-15-i-have-an-iphone/2670769122_c1d26cf18b_t.jpg" alt="iPhone Blog"/>
</a>

On July 14, 2008, three days after [the official international launch date](/2008/07/11/the-iphone-in-spain/), I purchased an iPhone 3G.

Click the play button below before continuing.

ytaudio(jY17CU6DJ0Q)

I went to check the [iphone.movistar.es](http://www.iphone.movistar.es/) page to find the local dealers in Bilbao and Santander that were selling iPhones to call them up and check if they had any available. But to my surprise, there was a store in nearby Laredo listed! I called them up in the morning to ask if they had any iPhones and they said that a shipment was due "either this afternoon or tomorrow morning". So I said I'd be in the next morning to buy one. On a whim, I called them again in the afternoon and they said that they had received a shipment and that only two remained!! So I rushed upstairs, woke Marga from her afternoon siesta, and we raced to Laredo. We parked and walked briskly to the Telefonica shop.

> Me: "Hi, I called about the iPhones. Do you have any left?"
> 
> Clerk: "Sorry, we don't have any and won't until probably September."
> 
> Me \[horrified\]: "What?!? I just called and you said you had some!"
> 
> Clerk: "No, we haven't had any had any all day."
> 
> Me: "But! Is this not your number?" \[showing her my last dialed number on my previous crappy mobile\]
> 
> Clerk \[not really looking\]: "Sorry, but we don't have any."

Dismayed, I pressed dial on my mobile and spoke to the person I'd been talking to. I asked where their store was and they told me they were two blocks away. So we rushed out of the store and walked as quickly as we could to the other store, Marga laughing the whole way at my enthusiasm. Finally we got to the store that had a big "The iPhone you've been waiting for! Now available!" poster on it. I rushed in and the clerk immediately recognized me as the wide-eyed enthusiastic gent with the funny accent he'd been talking to on the phone.

> Clerk: "There's only one left."
> 
> Me: "Great!"
> 
> Clerk: "It's 8 GB. Is that okay?"
> 
> Me \[visibly disappointed\]: "Hmmm. I really wanted the 16 GB."
> 
> Clerk: "They're shipping me one tomorrow."
> 
> Me \[enthusiastic again\]: "Great! What time!??"
> 
> Clerk: "Hard to say. I just sold the last 16 GB to this gentleman here."
> 
> Other Dude: "Wait, this is 16 GB? I really wanted 8 GB, but you told me all you had was 16 GB!"
> 
> Clerk: "Oh, well, no, I can give you this other one, then."
> 
> Me \[incredible luck of the situation dawning across my face\]: "Perfect!"

He told us to take a walk for 20 minutes while he finished up activating the other dude's iPhone. We went for a walk on the beach and returned. There were problems immediately. The system wasn't letting him select the contract I wanted, etc. etc. To make a long and complicated story very short, the entire process took us 3 hours, with a failure of some sort at every step, between walking in the door and walking out the door, 15 minutes after the store closed, with the new iPhone. They only shipped _four iPhones_ to that store and I bought the last one. Apparently there's some attempt to play hard to get to build mystery or something. The stupid software required two surnames, as is the Spanish custom, so my phone bills will come to Erik Rasmussen Rasmussen. Awesome. Ras2!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-15-i-have-an-iphone/2670769122_780ce7dcc2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="iPhone Blog">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-15-i-have-an-iphone/2670769122_c1d26cf18b.jpg" alt="iPhone Blog"/>
</a>

With the flash, it looks really smudged, but the screen is crystal clear during use.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-15-i-have-an-iphone/2669942043_2017bb3cd6_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Happy iPhone 3G Owner">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-15-i-have-an-iphone/2669942043_383f2525bf.jpg" alt="Happy iPhone 3G Owner"/>
</a>

Needless to say, I'm in Apple geek heaven.


I HAVE AN iPHONE!!!


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667490010_c23c0b68da_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Thats a lotta Bull!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667490010_c4369534c7_t.jpg" alt="Thats a lotta Bull!"/>
</a>

We didn't really have any plans this weekend. On Saturday it was drizzling all day long, so we didn't leave the house much. But on Sunday we decided, "Heck, the biggest party in the world right now is only 2 hours away. People travel from _literally_ the other side of the world to go to it. We should go!"

Plus, it gave me a chance to meet a second person on my blogroll. This is the second person that I have actually had a beer with after meeting them, and following their life, on the internet. You may recall the first was when I [spotted Scott from South Dakota](/2008/01/11/the-world-is-a-handkerchief/), an American video blogger in Laredo, in a local bar. I've been following the lives of Theresa, an _americana_ in Pamplona ([The Rain in Spain...](http://rainypamplona.blogspot.com/) on my blogroll), and her family for well over a year now.

So I sent Theresa an email, we exchanged mobile numbers, Marga and I watched the Sunday morning bull run live on television, and off we went to Pamplona! Upon arrival, we parked in just about the first parking lot we could find, knowing that getting close to the city center would mean parking frustration. We parked and noticed that almost all the other cars in the parking lot had people in San Fermin attire passed out in them. Cheap hotels. As we walked the 2 kilometers or so into the city center, the number of people in the streets slowly grew, and eventually we were in the middle of the packed, most famous cobblestone street in all of Spain.

The ambiance at noon during San Fermin is probably the most calm and tranquil as it gets throughout the nine day festival, and it was still what, in any other place, could be considered riotous. This was the time of middle-aged people and families with small children to be out and about. Still, there were a few stragglers from the night before. As we entered various bars, half-closed-eyelid staggering men would try to touch Marga and put their face in front of hers, etc. But she knew to just push them aside and continue. The drunks never felt the rejection for more than a second before tottering off toward some other female.

After a few _pintxos_ we walked three blocks in any direction and found a restaurant with only locals in it and had a quick meal that closely resembled a Full English Breakfast. More walking with an occasional entrance into a bar to use the bathroom and have another beer, and eventually we met up with Theresa and her family.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667413208_60b9f0ce7a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="San Fermin Mosaic">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667413208_1002b46800.jpg" alt="San Fermin Mosaic"/>
</a>

An awesome bull run mosaic on the side of the Pamplona bullring.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667422234_afc2460f1d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Pamplona Fence Post Holes">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667422234_e78cc3fb11.jpg" alt="Pamplona Fence Post Holes"/>
</a>

I took this so you can see the fence post holes neatly cut and covered in the cobblestone square in front of the town hall.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667430060_10bcb8b25b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Heaven is a corner of a bar in Pamplona">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667430060_deb2f73850.jpg" alt="Heaven is a corner of a bar in Pamplona"/>
</a>

In one of the bars, the only place to sit was this window ledge where the sun came in and was absolutely heavenly. It was a little chilly and I had only worn short sleeves, so it was nice to warm back up in the bars.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667440472_ba10ac68b0_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Walking to where the bull run starts">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667440472_a948453688.jpg" alt="Walking to where the bull run starts"/>
</a>

Walking along the bull run towards where the bulls are released.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2666632307_ee220cf4bf_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="The bull pen for the Pamplona bull runs">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2666632307_75b0fc3b3a.jpg" alt="The bull pen for the Pamplona bull runs"/>
</a>

Looking down into the bull pen where it all starts every morning at 8:00 during the festival.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667461210_18cc02cf42_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Guard doesnt fit in tower">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667461210_72f48da88e.jpg" alt="Guard doesnt fit in tower"/>
</a>

Goofing around in a guard tower that's part of the original town wall. Theresa's husband explained to us that the town of Pamplona has only spread outside its original medieval wall in the last 100 years. So everything outside the wall is very new, by European standards.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667467412_6e16a65f02_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Pamplona Ayuntamiento">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667467412_a46372c796.jpg" alt="Pamplona Ayuntamiento"/>
</a>

The Pamplona town hall is beautiful.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2666650993_2cd58d23be_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Erik and Pamplona Town Hall">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2666650993_a20d554c6b.jpg" alt="Erik and Pamplona Town Hall"/>
</a>

Sitting on one of the only pieces of bull run fence still up in the early afternoon.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667483262_ecc267de26_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Erik and Marga in Pamplona">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667483262_616270cb05.jpg" alt="Erik and Marga in Pamplona"/>
</a>

Stranger photography skills.

 This video is a good example of the types of sights and sounds on the streets of Pamplona.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667490010_c23c0b68da_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Thats a lotta Bull!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667490010_c4369534c7.jpg" alt="Thats a lotta Bull!"/>
</a>

We walked into a tourist shop where there was a big blue bull sitting on the counter. As we walked in, he waved at us. I nudged Marga and said, "Boy that's a tough job, huh?" But she hadn't noticed that it wasn't just a stuffed animatronic critter. I asked Señor Toro if we could pose for a photo. If I'd had one more beer beforehand, I might have had the nerve to grab his, um, danglers, for the photo.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2666668057_7cdf195161_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="50€ for bull run balcony viewing">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2666668057_b6481c3639.jpg" alt="50€ for bull run balcony viewing"/>
</a>

In case you were wondering how much it costs to see a bull run from a balcony...

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667499324_a1012ba71a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Bloggers Unite!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667499324_050a8bc200.jpg" alt="Bloggers Unite!"/>
</a>

Bloggers unite! Theresa, and her daughters with Marga and me.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667502010_8558002354_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Alcohol poisoning centers">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-14-san-fermin-2008/2667502010_fe6670b7e7.jpg" alt="Alcohol poisoning centers"/>
</a>

We found this legend of a Pamplona map rather humorous/sad/good. There were four Alcohol Poisoning Attention Centers on the map.

I have to say that I am 2-for-2 with meeting people on the internet. Like Scott, Theresa and her family were wonderfully charming and interesting to talk to. Her daughters were kind enough to greet me, but didn't say much after that. They seem to be at an age when strangers are to be observed, not interacted with. One of Theresa's friends that was with them is actually from the tiny, tiny, _tiny_ town where Marga's grandfather was born in Extremadura and a five-minute drive from where we stay down there in August. Stuff like that is always pretty shocking.

We're very glad we went and experienced the unique atmosphere that is San Fermin this year. We had such a good time, we were reluctant to leave. _¡Gracias por tu hospitalidad, Theresa!_

Epilogue: On the way home, we stopped at a gas station just outside of Bilbao. As I was pumping gas, a guy my age got out of the car behind ours and asked, "D'you have a good time in Pamplona?" Confused, I said, "Yes, we did." A minute later, I remembered I was still wearing my red scarf which clearly informed anyone who saw me where I had been that day. You forget about those things when you spend the day with like-dressed people. Funny.


San Fermin 2008


This video is pretty much everything I want to be able to do with nature-related timelapse photography. Unbelievable. 

It really needs to be viewed full screen in HD, which can only be done if you [go to Vimeo to view it](http://www.vimeo.com/1250929).

The part with the stars looking up through the trees actually got a gasp out of me.


Coolest Timelapse I've Seen In a While


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-11-the-iphone-in-spain/725350481_5222379b8a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-11-the-iphone-in-spain/725350481_e4d8063f3b_t.jpg" alt=""/>
</a>

What's the deal with the iPhone in Spain? Well, I'll tell you. Today is July 11, 2008, the international iPhone 3G launch date. And there are no iPhones in the stores in Spain. The local Telefonica outlet in my little town has no information whatsoever about the iPhone. Telefonica is the telephone monopoly in Spain, very much the equivalent of AT&T. Their mobile phone branch of business is called [Movistar](http://www.movistar.es/), which is a bizarre Spanglish play on words, since _móvil_ is Spanish for "mobile".  Continuing my research, I went to [iphone.movistar.es](http://www.iphone.movistar.es/) and found their "Where to buy" list. There are three stores in Bilbao, and two in Santander, the two large cities closest to me. But when I called those stores to verify that they would have iPhones on the launch date and maybe reserve one, all the shopkeeper knew was that she, too, had heard that it was supposed to be launching on July 11, but that she had heard nothing at all from further up the chain at Telefonica. Great. That's Spain for you.

What about pricing? How much will it cost once they eventually get their acts together and ship some units? Well, here's the simplified and translated pricing table ([pdf](http://www.iphone.movistar.es/pdf/ven_a_movistar.pdf)): (all contracts are for two years)

table.prices { width:100%; border-collapse: collapse; border: 1px solid #336699; } table.prices td, table.prices th { border: 1px solid #336699; color:black; font-weight:normal; text-align:center; } table.prices th { white-space:nowrap; }

Minimum talk fee

9€

20€

40€

60€

90€

Obligatory iPhone Fee

Normal: 15€ / month

Plus: 25€ / month

iPhone 8GB

Change contact

259€

149€

49€

0€

0€

iPhone 8GB

Initiate contract

259€

149€

49€

0€

0€

iPhone 8GB

\# from other company

259€

129€

39€

0€

0€

iPhone 16GB

Change contact

359€

209€

109€

59€

0€

iPhone 16GB

Initiate contact

359€

209€

109€

59€

0€

iPhone 16GB

\# from other company

359€

189€

99€

59€

0€

Now what's the difference between the "Normal" and "Plus" plans, besides 10€/month? With both plans, you get an unlimited data connection. This is absolutely essential for the iPhone, because so many of its applications use the internet. But, with the Normal plan, you only get up to 200 MB of data at high speed each month, and then the connection gets throttled back to 128 Kbps (16 kilobytes/second) for downloads and 64 Kbps (8 kilobytes/second) upload. With Plus, you get up to 1 GB of data each month before getting throttled. That's the difference.

I'm probably going to go for the 359€ option. My current mobile contract has a 9€ minimum talk fee, and I [almost never use it all](/2008/05/08/are-you-paying-optional-fees/). When I buy technical gadgets, I tend to be of the "pay a little more up front to get the absolute top model so that it lasts a little longer before becoming obsolete" philosophy. I don't know how much data I will be using each month, but 200 MB sounds _awfully_ small. I would love to pay the 25€/month rate instead of the 15€/month, but there's no way I'm getting the 60€ minimum talk fee. That's way too much.

Let's bite the bullet and perform the forbidden calculation of total cost.

Total Cost = 359€ + 24 \* (9€ + 15€) = **935€ + tax**

So, with tax, it costs about 1000€ to have a 16 GB iPhone 3G in Spain for two years. Count me in!

Now let's see when they actually become available...

Update! [I bought one three days later](/2008/07/15/i-have-an-iphone/). Don't we all love [smart cell phones](http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones)?


The iPhone in Spain


I've been [following](http://twitter.com/erikras/statuses/853464830) this story, in utter disbelief, for a few days now. I can't describe it any better than PZ Myers (which sounds like the name of a circus or ice cream mogul), so I give you a short clipping of his post.

> There are days when it is agony to read the news, because people are so goddamned stupid. Petty and stupid. Hateful and stupid. Just plain stupid. And nothing makes them stupider than religion.
> 
> Here's [a story that will destroy your hopes for a reasonable humanity](http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=912931E6387D06E86603288C86CA66A1?contentId=6932236&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1).
> 
> > Webster Cook says he smuggled a Eucharist, a small bread wafer that to Catholics symbolic of the Body of Christ after a priest blesses it, out of mass, didn't eat it as he was supposed to do, but instead walked with it.
> 
> This isn't the stupid part yet. He walked off with a cracker that was put in his mouth, and people in the church [fought with him to get it back](http://www.wftv.com/news/16798008/detail.html). It is just a cracker!

Grab your jaw so it doesn't hit the floor too hard and read this:

> "We don't know 100% what Mr. Cooks motivation was," said Susan Fani a spokesperson with the local Catholic diocese. "However, if anything were to qualify as a hate crime, to us this seems like this might be it."

Yes. She's referring to not eating a cracker..._as a hate crime_! I highly encourage you to read the rest of this wonderfully written Monty Python sketch actual blog post [here](http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/its_a_goddamned_cracker.php).

For exercising his free speech, PZ Myers has received death threats and his boss has received numerous requests _demands_ for his dismissal. As a result, Dr. Myers has [requested](http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/fight_back_against_bill_donohu.php) that those of us that agree with him send a very polite, rational email to President Robert Bruininks, presumably Myers' boss, to show our support.

So I wrote him.

> Dear Prof. Bruininks,
> 
> I have been following this story with Webster Cook and the cracker theft via PZ Myers' blog. It very deeply saddens me to see such religious superstition in the 21st century. We live in a time of immense prosperity from the scientific achievements that our species has made over the past hundred years. Heck, I'm writing to you from another country and no paper is involved and delivery is instantaneous! That's what science, testing and rejecting incorrect hypotheses, and critical thinking have given us.
> 
> If I hadn't been so amazed, I think I would have wept when I learned that people were getting outraged over a man taking a cracker because it was thought to have magically transformed into the flesh of a man that died 2000 years ago. How can that happen? Maybe if it happened 500 years ago, I could believe it, but today? In our most sophisticated society in the richest, most educated country on the planet? Very disturbing.
> 
> I hope that you and your organization continue to support PZ Myers and his very reasonable outcry at what is happening in Florida.
> 
> Very sincerely, Erik Rasmussen

Darn! I just realized I forgot to sign it with [MHNATY](http://www.mhnaty.com/)! Oh well.


Jesus was a cracker


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656303912_718195d25b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Sea Gulls Take Flight">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656303912_de2d36d830_t.jpg" alt="Sea Gulls Take Flight"/>
</a>

After slathering on some sunscreen, I grabbed my camera and set out on a long coastal walk this morning. What follows are items that caught my eye. Come, walk with me...and be sure to check out the panoramas. <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655415847_851371bf40_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sea Grass">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655415847_637dacf320.jpg" alt="Sea Grass"/>
</a>

Sea grass still above water at high tide.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655418537_b009d096f0_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Bug On Flower">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655418537_4d9f0f0fbf.jpg" alt="Bug On Flower"/>
</a>

A little bug on a white flower.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656249296_b38e343ab2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Farm Gate">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656249296_a2b0952c66.jpg" alt="Farm Gate"/>
</a>

A red gate to a farm.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656250540_a599d09edb_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Pink Flower">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656250540_f7fdfb433e.jpg" alt="Pink Flower"/>
</a>

Pink flower.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655426691_2d79136f76_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Spider Web">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655426691_c705747b53.jpg" alt="Spider Web"/>
</a>

Spider webs between flowers.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655429897_ba1e05de4e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Spider Web">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655429897_4a0cc672fd.jpg" alt="Spider Web"/>
</a>

Same as above, but focused on background web.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656258936_8dab4ebcae_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Snails in grass">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656258936_52bb5dc6d4.jpg" alt="Snails in grass"/>
</a>

Some snails up on high grass.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656259808_fd2586f66e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Cone snail on grass">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656259808_a8865befc6.jpg" alt="Cone snail on grass"/>
</a>

Nice conic shell. This looks like one of those crabs you see on the beach, but it's clearly a snail.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656271524_9704f411f7_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Beach Panorama with House">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656271524_edbaaf1c47.jpg" alt="Beach Panorama with House"/>
</a>

A panorama of the Colindres, the beach, and a little house out there in isolation. [See full version](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/2656271524/sizes/o/).

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656272304_2ae5530f86_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Boat and Lighthouse">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656272304_afd792b041.jpg" alt="Boat and Lighthouse"/>
</a>

Boat and lighthouse.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656274076_8938575c82_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sunken Vessel">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656274076_fcf7b76d6a.jpg" alt="Sunken Vessel"/>
</a>

The bow of a sunken ship. I wonder how long it's been there?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655449053_7a63ff73e7_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Boat Skeleton">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655449053_12cc60575d.jpg" alt="Boat Skeleton"/>
</a>

The same ship with another boat skeleton in the background.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655451725_4764cbbb50_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sunken Ship">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655451725_14c6fec0f1.jpg" alt="Sunken Ship"/>
</a>

Kind of creepy how much they resemble rib cages.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656281030_3843f5478a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Wooden Bridge">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656281030_161a80e65c.jpg" alt="Wooden Bridge"/>
</a>

A bridge over a little creek.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655454831_f932712932_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Fish come in with tide">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655454831_a5d56bd4e0.jpg" alt="Fish come in with tide"/>
</a>

There were tons of fish feeding in this shallow water, leaping into the air. I spent about 10 minutes there trying to catch one in the air, but was unsuccessful.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655472465_87101fa5a1_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Bridge Panorama">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655472465_ed518d8984.jpg" alt="Bridge Panorama"/>
</a>

A panorama of the bridge and creek area and the sunken boats above. [See full version](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/2655472465/sizes/o/).

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656302314_60eef8b89d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Wall protecting grass">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656302314_2c722b3119.jpg" alt="Wall protecting grass"/>
</a>

This grass is growing perfectly behind this short wall, and nowhere else.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655475981_9f44d391e6_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sea Gulls Take Flight">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655475981_38d08b6c1b.jpg" alt="Sea Gulls Take Flight"/>
</a>

Did you notice the seagulls on the beach in some of the above photos? I went out there to scare them into flight ('cause I'm nice like that), but I hoped to get closer before they all took off.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656303912_718195d25b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sea Gulls Take Flight">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656303912_de2d36d830.jpg" alt="Sea Gulls Take Flight"/>
</a>

Gull storm.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656304752_a426cbf43e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Budding">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656304752_faf0304e35.jpg" alt="Budding"/>
</a>

Some soon-to-be flowers.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656305336_57929e1d42_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Stables">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2656305336_da3eee8604.jpg" alt="Stables"/>
</a>

Some horse stables. There is a lot of horse-related activity in that area of the beach. If I was a horse person, I'd be down there a lot more.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655478903_a9d31c8b3e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Stable Door">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655478903_c9ed46f5fb.jpg" alt="Stable Door"/>
</a>

Cool stencils.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655481489_0524b58710_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Lovely Yard">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655481489_b3854a086e.jpg" alt="Lovely Yard"/>
</a>

A nicely manicured yard. Pretty idyllic, huh?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655483515_6f7dee15cb_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Purplicious">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655483515_7cba24b1f9.jpg" alt="Purplicious"/>
</a>

Purple flowers.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655486009_68f9f65b6d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Bed Spring Fence">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655486009_e75d41bfb2.jpg" alt="Bed Spring Fence"/>
</a>

A lot of places around here use old bed springs as fences. One farm had about 30 or 40 of them all lined up.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655488517_257135b391_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Lovely Picnic Location">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-10-sunny-morning-walk/2655488517_4ff0d34f26.jpg" alt="Lovely Picnic Location"/>
</a>

What a wonderfully peaceful place to have a summer picnic. I don't know what kind of fruit that is all around, but the table and setting is lovely.

This is an experiment to make the panoramas more accessible. I'm not sure I like it that much. What do you think?

That's it! My feet hurt a little. I hope you enjoyed our walk.


Sunny Morning Walk


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-08-ceramic-bulldog/2648374739_7410fff0d1_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Ceramic Bulldog">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-08-ceramic-bulldog/2648374739_e047d29d2a_t.jpg" alt="Ceramic Bulldog"/>
</a>

In preparation for hosting our [July 4th party](/2008/07/05/july-4th-party-hamburgerfest-2008/), we had to move a table that we had never really moved since we moved into our house. Most of our furniture came from the previous owners, and this table was no different. Also on the table, left by the previous owners, is a ceramic bulldog. Upon first seeing it, both Marga and I exclaimed, "Oh my god! How horrible!" We immediately agreed that we couldn't stand having that thing in the house and we agreed to throw it away. But, in the move, actually discarding it got overlooked, and it's been there ever since.  On Friday, when I was clearing things off the table to move it into the dining room, I said, "Hey! We can finally get rid of this horrible bulldog!" "Great!", Marga said, "Set it over there." And the party preparations continued. Later, when Marga was showering, I thought it would be a good idea to take some photos of the bulldog to remember him by and write this blog post. So I put him up on the dining room table and took these photos.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-08-ceramic-bulldog/2648374739_7410fff0d1_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ceramic Bulldog">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-08-ceramic-bulldog/2648374739_e047d29d2a.jpg" alt="Ceramic Bulldog"/>
</a>

Ugly, ugly, ugly!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-08-ceramic-bulldog/2649207838_44ea505971_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ceramic Bulldog">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-08-ceramic-bulldog/2649207838_549fcaedfc.jpg" alt="Ceramic Bulldog"/>
</a>

Why would anyone buy one of these things?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-08-ceramic-bulldog/2648379821_22e682c50c_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ceramic Bulldog">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-08-ceramic-bulldog/2648379821_2331ba78a4.jpg" alt="Ceramic Bulldog"/>
</a>

How could someone see this thing in the shop and say, "I want that for my house!" Insanity!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-08-ceramic-bulldog/2648383715_244fddf2be_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ceramic Bulldog">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-08-ceramic-bulldog/2648383715_0bb1a1a5d3.jpg" alt="Ceramic Bulldog"/>
</a>

When it was finally time to take out the trash, I grabbed this little kiln-fired canine by the head and said, "Okay, little guy! We're going for a walk, but only one of us is coming back!" That's when Marga stammered, "Well...maybe... Perhaps he can stay as a doorstop here. You know...as long as he's being useful..." I laughed and set him on the floor. What's funny is that I was relieved that the little guy had been pardoned. Damn nostalgia from familiarity! How can something, that we both initially detested and would never ever _ever_ bring into the house on purpose, build such an emotional attachment? Psychology's funny that way. Stupid brain!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-08-ceramic-bulldog/2649217922_fde744bc6c_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Bulldog Door Stop">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-08-ceramic-bulldog/2649217922_0da3ace863.jpg" alt="Bulldog Door Stop"/>
</a>

Our new doorstop. It definitely looks like he's being a bad dog, if you know what I mean.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-08-ceramic-bulldog/2648390661_9b06eaa168_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Bulldog Door Stop">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-08-ceramic-bulldog/2648390661_8312970eb5.jpg" alt="Bulldog Door Stop"/>
</a>

Not exactly welcoming into the room, but there he is.


Ceramic Bulldog


[![Cactus Flowers 2008](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-07-cactus-flowers-2008-now-in-hd/default.jpg)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlvNctifhvo)Over the past weekend, I took three different timelapse videos of my flowering cactus over three separate evenings. The results are quite lovely. Each frame was captured as a 5.7 MiB, 1944x1296 pixel, "small RAW" file, I sized them down to the [maximum HDTV dimensions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Common_Video_Resolutions_2.svg) of 1920x1080 before loading them into iMovie. In order to upload them with maximum quality to my .Mac account, the only place I know of that will host large videos, I had to use the new [iMovie '08](http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/). As it turns out they only allow up to 960x540, which is really plenty. For iMovie '08, Apple completely rewrote iMovie to an overly userfriendly interface. It's the only video editing software I've ever seen that doesn't offer a "timeline" view where you can move video and audio around. This caused a great backlash (from me as well) at the time of its release, so Apple allowed the older version, iMovie HD, to be a [free download](http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imoviehd603.html) to owners of iMovie '08. However, I must say that after using iMovie '08 today, it's really not that bad. They took away control over some aspects of the editing and provided more control in others. One thing that always annoyed me about iMovie HD was that once you added a text title to the movie, it was there for good, rendered and saved to each frame, and couldn't be edited. Not so in '08. You've [already seen](/2008/07/04/two-flowers/) the first clip of the video. The third clip was a little disappointing because I mis-guessed that the flower was going to rise a bit during bloom, but it actually fell. So I spent ten minutes (one frame per minute, remember), slowly moving the camera down a millimeter between each shot.

If your bandwidth can handle it, I highly recommend [watching this movie in high definition](http://gallery.mac.com/erik.rasmussen#100000) (you have to click "Large" to see it in 960x540).

This video is also available on [Vimeo](http://www.vimeo.com/1314222), [YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlvNctifhvo), [Metacafe](http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1471298/), [Google](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5933303818345642275), [DailyMotion](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x61ql3), [Blip.tv](http://www.blip.tv/file/1057233), [Sclipo](http://sclipo.com/video/cactus-flowers-2008) and [Viddler](http://www.viddler.com/explore/rasman1978/videos/24/).


Cactus Flowers 2008 - Now in HD!


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-05-july-4th-party-hamburgerfest-2008/2638505201_4c10820452_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Burger Oozage">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-05-july-4th-party-hamburgerfest-2008/2638505201_e28023023c_t.jpg" alt="Burger Oozage"/>
</a>

Yesterday we invited some friends over for beer and hamburgers. I had built up the "I make great hamburgers" myth, so I was a little worried that I might not live up to the hype, but everyone left very pleased. And a little wowed, if I might say so. Good food and good people. <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-05-july-4th-party-hamburgerfest-2008/2638501533_f11f3aa44f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Cheeseburger and Onion">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-05-july-4th-party-hamburgerfest-2008/2638501533_41881d5aba.jpg" alt="Cheeseburger and Onion"/>
</a>

Now that's a burger!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-05-july-4th-party-hamburgerfest-2008/2638505201_4c10820452_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Burger Oozage">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-05-july-4th-party-hamburgerfest-2008/2638505201_e28023023c.jpg" alt="Burger Oozage"/>
</a>

Obligatory oozage shot. Lightly toasted sesame seed bun and sauteed onions. Lettuce and tomato on some of them.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-05-july-4th-party-hamburgerfest-2008/2638509957_b9591b19ba_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="July 4th Hamburgerfest">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-05-july-4th-party-hamburgerfest-2008/2638509957_2b47e8cf4e.jpg" alt="July 4th Hamburgerfest"/>
</a>

Maria Jesíºs, Marga, and Manolo.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-05-july-4th-party-hamburgerfest-2008/2639344034_5f3ed3c2db_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="July 4th Hamburgerfest">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-05-july-4th-party-hamburgerfest-2008/2639344034_533e5b638d.jpg" alt="July 4th Hamburgerfest"/>
</a>

Marina, Juan Carlos, Carmen, Chef Erik, Ramón, and Maria Jesíºs. And Manolo acting mature.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-05-july-4th-party-hamburgerfest-2008/2638518553_0f41938718_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Dessert">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-05-july-4th-party-hamburgerfest-2008/2638518553_27d6735d9e.jpg" alt="Dessert"/>
</a>

Marga made this fantastic dessert with flan, peaches, pineapple, ice cream, whipped cream, and caramel. Yummy!

Happy July 4th, everybody!!


July 4th Party - Hamburgerfest 2008


[![thumbnail](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-04-two-flowers/default.jpg)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnoh5cdsOSU)Now _this_ is a timelapse flower movie! Four hours and thirteen minutes, one photograph every minute. I'm so pleased with the result! The animation is smooth and perfectly captures nature's beauty. What's rather amazing is that there is motion between every single frame. The cactus never spent a full minute motionless. Absolutely gorgeous!  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-04-two-flowers/2636256990_2eb1b272ca_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Cactus Cam Productions - Studio B">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-04-two-flowers/2636256990_2c3f9e1cf3.jpg" alt="Cactus Cam Productions - Studio B"/>
</a>

Cactus Cam Productions - Studio B. When I brought the cactus inside, I also brought some sort of colony of insects that I never saw, but show up in the first few frames of the video crawling around on the black chest. You may have to watch [the full resolution version](http://www.blip.tv/file/1049788) to see them. When they stop is when I sprayed some insecticide around the area.

The other five flowers – as you may recall, [there are seven](/2008/07/03/cactus-teaser/) – look like they will open tonight. They always open at night. The video above, for example, spans from 20:18 to 4:31. I don't know about this cactus' allegiances, but it sure seems to be celebrating the United States Independence Day.


Two Flowers


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-03-cactus-teaser/2632869691_39a9b6dd5b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Cactus Teaser">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-03-cactus-teaser/1010658.jpg" alt="Cactus Teaser"/>
</a>

For whatever reason, cramped space, climate change, low rainfall (aka. negligent watering), etc., the cactus is flowering late this year. In anticipation of the flowers, I took my photography up to the next level by purchasing a [real professional tripod](http://www.vanguardgb.com/details.php?id=456). One of the problems I saw in the [Cactus Cam videos from 2007](/projects/cactus-cam/) was that, since the cactus was outside, the wind and varying sunlight made the video flicker and jump like the early days of cinema. I want to show smooth growth and flower blooming. With this in mind, I moved the cactus indoors, right inside the window ledge he's used to occupying, and set up the tripod with my expensive DSLR trained on our prickly subject. This is a _huge_ improvement over the 320x240 resolution my 7-year-old webcam was giving us last year.  The problem is that my timelapse studio is not yet complete. My camera does not have a permanent power source, and thus is operating on limited battery power. Using a USB cable and a computer program, I started taking shots every 5 minutes last night at 19:00 and the camera's battery died 12 hours later at 7:00 this morning. So it looks like it's going to be a matter of timing it just right on the night that the flowers open. For the flower night I'll probably do more shots, like one per minute, too, to guarantee smooth motion.

What's amazing is that the cactus, and its little prickly children, are about to produce... _**SEVEN FLOWERS** simultaneously_! Unbelievable!

Below is the 6 second clip of last night's 12 hours of growth....with some cinematography to express the anticipation and excitement I'm feeling.

Look, it says "teaser" in the title! What'd you expect?

This video is also available on [Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/2632869691/), [YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpzQ4lyYXsU), [Metacafe](http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1457167/), [Google](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1901845226685441653), [DailyMotion](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x601bs), [Blip.tv](http://www.blip.tv/file/1046490), [Veoh](http://www.veoh.com/videos/v14705761PddyM6wf), [Crackle](http://www.crackle.com/?id=2328311), [Sclipo](http://sclipo.com/video/cactus-cam-2008-teaser), [Viddler](http://www.viddler.com/explore/rasman1978/videos/22/) and [Howcast](http://www.howcast.com/videos/17461-Cactus-Cam-2008-Teaser).


Cactus Teaser


This page is about blog traffic. To learn about [Spanish Soccer Chants, click here](/2010/07/08/spanish-soccer-chants-world-cup/).

It's not much, but over the past few weeks, I've noticed several visitors coming to my blog, particularly from Germany and Austria, searching for things like "What does '_a por ellos_' mean?" and "What does '_podemos_' mean?" The answers to those questions are, indeed, here on my blog, [here](/2006/07/09/san-fermin-2006/) and [here](/2008/06/11/podemos/) respectively. These two phrases that people are searching for are the two main Spanish soccer chants. Obviously the Spanish soccer team got [some attention lately](/2008/06/30/euro-2008-champions/), particularly in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. It's just neat when current events affect my traffic. I'm already starting to get hits for next week's [San Fermin](/2006/07/09/san-fermin-2006/) festival. <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-02-what-are-those-crazy-spanish-soccer-fans-saying/2632202980_38b8a8d1aa_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Podemos">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-02-what-are-those-crazy-spanish-soccer-fans-saying/2632202980_1de44573a8.jpg" alt="Podemos"/>
</a>

Searches for "_podemos_" broken down by country.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-02-what-are-those-crazy-spanish-soccer-fans-saying/2631384115_674d2440a7_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="A por ellos!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-02-what-are-those-crazy-spanish-soccer-fans-saying/2631384115_582b461974.jpg" alt="A por ellos!"/>
</a>

Various phrases of "_a por ellos_" that were searched for. I particularly like the "a por ellos oe a por ellos what does it mean" one...as if Google is going to understand what the pronoun "it" is referring to. Actually, Google's pretty smart, so it might...


What are those crazy Spanish soccer fans saying?


Not even humor is safe from analysis by those pesky evolutionary biologists. Apparently [sarcasm is an evolutionary survival skill](http://richarddawkins.net/article,2761,n,n). Well _that_ explains a lot!

> It's easy to imagine how sarcasm might be selected over time as evolutionarily crucial. Imagine two ancient humans running across the savannah with a hungry lion in pursuit. One guy says to the other, "Are we having fun yet?" and the other just looks blank and stops to figure out what in the world his pal meant by that remark. End of friendship, end of one guy's contribution to the future of the human gene pool.
> 
> \- [Meredith F. Small](http://richarddawkins.net/article,2761,n,n)

So let me get this straight. Because getting someone else's sarcastic joke will strengthen the friendship bond between you, _even though it will hurt the bond with all others that don't get the joke_, we can then conclude that there's an evolutionary advantage to telling and getting jokes? Seems pretty tenuous to me. Maybe that's just dumbed down for the press release. The paragraph I quoted, at least, is pure nonsense.

My understanding of the evolutionary biologists' explanation for humor is that it's a helpful, calming defense mechanism for dealing with tense/dangerous situations. Is there something new here? Or is there something uniquely advantageous to sarcasm, which hurts as well as entertains, as a subset of general humor?

Either way, my parahippocampal gyrus hurts. Can anyone else explain the article's findings better?


Only the funny shall survive


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621025371_d57fb99866_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Low Tide">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621025371_cdff0af918_t.jpg" alt="Low Tide"/>
</a>

On Saturday, Marga and her mother went to Bilbao to shop for dresses for cousin Andoni's upcoming September wedding. I was specifically not invited, much to my delight. It was a beautiful day, so I took several long walks around town. In the evening, I went out to the little lighthouse, where I [had been the day before](/2008/06/27/wedding-finally-over/), to take some photographs and sit and read. I took some wonderful panorama photos of the port and the tidal basin around it, as well as a cool timelapse video that I will share in [my next post](/2008/07/01/timelapse-tides/).  Optional soundtrack to this post: ytaudio(rd3rA89VhtA)<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2620979381_2848dd6e08_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sunlit Spanish Flag">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2620979381_c87cd4a26e.jpg" alt="Sunlit Spanish Flag"/>
</a>

A Spanish flag with the sun directly behind it on the way out to the port.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621835136_ea2b1114f5_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Marisma Pan">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621835136_b620ec7f19.jpg" alt="Marisma Pan"/>
</a>

A panorama of the tidal basin at low tide.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621025371_d57fb99866_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Low Tide">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621025371_cdff0af918.jpg" alt="Low Tide"/>
</a>

There's something awkward about a boat sitting on the ground like that.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621034681_5f2415cc83_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="On a leash">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621034681_3df5c37fd6.jpg" alt="On a leash"/>
</a>

But it has to be tethered, because when the tide comes in it will be in several feet of water.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621868094_8861eb7629_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Looks like grass">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621868094_3ff7e2d308.jpg" alt="Looks like grass"/>
</a>

Close-up of previous photo.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621073081_fa6876e95f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Reflected Sunlight">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621073081_e915167d15.jpg" alt="Reflected Sunlight"/>
</a>

Reflected afternoon sunlight on the water.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621902606_a20593aef3_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Tide coming in to lift boat">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621902606_8135557ce0.jpg" alt="Tide coming in to lift boat"/>
</a>

Tide coming in to lift the boat.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621081999_f073c76571_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Boat Wake">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621081999_a3f0cbc1bd.jpg" alt="Boat Wake"/>
</a>

A boat whizzes by.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621082801_9fedba05ce_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Floating on Light">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621082801_03498b2da5.jpg" alt="Floating on Light"/>
</a>

Silhouetted by the sunlight.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621084631_a8be050dce_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Flying Spaghetti Monster?">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621084631_4a5caf5538.jpg" alt="Flying Spaghetti Monster?"/>
</a>

Clouds in the shape of [God](http://www.mhnaty.com/). MHNATY.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621088081_ac89482ac3_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="How many faces do you see?">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621088081_6bcf26a1e2.jpg" alt="How many faces do you see?"/>
</a>

Really, though... How many human faces do you see in this photograph? Our brains are well trained to pick them out.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621061571_8728268c71_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Colindres Port Panorama">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/2621061571_5578ee3c92.jpg" alt="Colindres Port Panorama"/>
</a>

A panorama of the port of Colindres. [View 12291 x 1790 original](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/2621061571/sizes/o/).

On Monday, one of Marga's coworkers asked her, "Was that your husband that spent an hour out by the lighthouse on Saturday just reading and taking pictures?" She replied, "Yep, sounds like him."


Sittin' on the dock of the bay


[![](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-timelapse-tides/999702.jpg)](http://revver.com/video/999702/affiliate/20700/tide-comes-in-timelapse/)Those of you that follow my blog regularly know that I have somewhat of a [fascination with timelapse videos](/category/timelapse/) and that I live in a town with a [_huge_ tidal basin](/2007/06/08/afternoon-by-the-ria/) that [fills and empties](/2007/07/02/low-tide/) with water [twice a day](/2006/12/22/days-getting-longer/) in [one of the locations on Earth](http://www.esr.org/polar_tide_models/Model_TPXO62_load_plot_large.png) with the largest difference between low and high tide. So naturally I've been dying to somehow make a timelapse video of the changing tides.

Unfortunately, the only way I have to make a timelapse video without having a computer plugged in is to [fake it](/2006/11/23/falling-fireball/) by taking a regular speed video and speeding it up later. And my camera will only take videos up to 67 minutes long for some reason. This resulted in a 1.86 GiB movie file, which, when converted to DV format to use in iMovie was well over 17 GiB. Yikes! <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-timelapse-tides/2621068079_db3793a2ed_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Timelapse Tide Filming">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2008-07-01-timelapse-tides/2621068079_9f972aa063.jpg" alt="Timelapse Tide Filming"/>
</a>

This shows how I had the camera set up on the rocks. I spent the 67 minutes reading a book and [taking panoramic photos](/2008/07/01/sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay/) with [my other camera](/2007/12/19/electronics-prices-in-europe/).

Here's the final product. I hope you like it. The clicking sound is the wrist strap of the camera hitting the tripod. Notice that two boats go by and their wakes make the waves bigger. And there's a white bird that wanders around the middle of the video towards the end. Watch the boat when the video is sped up at the end.

This video is also available on [Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/2624393838/), [YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_V-GT8tr1k), [Metacafe](http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1442260/), [Google](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8577517776350929078), [Revver](http://one.revver.com/watch/999702), [DailyMotion](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5yde5), [Blip.tv](http://www.blip.tv/file/1033761), [Veoh](http://www.veoh.com/videos/v14541115J24JYzjE), [Crackle](http://www.crackle.com/?id=2324993), [Stupid Videos](http://www.stupidvideos.com/video/just_plain_stupid/Tide_Comes_In_Timelapse/), [Sclipo](http://sclipo.com/video/tide-comes-in-timelapse), [Viddler](http://www.viddler.com/explore/rasman1978/videos/20/) and [Howcast](http://www.howcast.com/videos/16732-Tide-Comes-in-Timelapse).

It would be nice to do a full 6-hour low-to-high cycle. The logistics of that are still being worked out.


25 posts from July, 2008