Butterfly or Moth...

I don't only catch snakes and lizards.

Today, at Alum Rock Park, I caught a butterfly. Or a moth. 

I wasn't sure.

Either way, Angie was pretty impressed that I caught one with my bare hands.

Mrs. Remington was my High School English teacher.

She always said, "It's a sad day when you don't learn something new".

It's probably the best advide I've ever received... 

So I decided to learn something new.

I googled "Butterfly or Moth" and found out that this is probably a butterfly, because:

1. It has knobs on its antennae
2. It sits with it's wings upright and closed

I had no idea those were the discerning characteristics of a butterfly... but now I do!

How cool is that? 

VizThink 09 Highlights II - Jessica Hagy

Jessica Hagy debunks 15 Professional 'Rules'

If you haven't seen Jessica Hagy's brilliant Indexed site or book, you should go look at it now. Don't even bother with my site until you've spent an hour in hers... really.. hers is a treasure. I grant you permission to go there (if only Jennifer had just said that.. "Go Brad. Hell, it's Angelina. Clearly, I've been bested").

Jessica gave a very funny, informal presentation where she summarized 15 professional rules, and then debunked all of them. In between, she had us use her favorite tools - Venn diagrams and the X-Y axis - to make some sense of our worlds.

This was my favorite exercise.

1. Draw a 2-circle Venn Diagram.
2. Label the first circle with something you're really good at.
3. Label the second circle "Prostitution"
4. Find the relationship between the two (if you're a lawyer, the overlap will obviously be much greater than the one in my diagram).

Here's mine.

Teaching is what I do, but it was hard to find a common area, at first.

Then I found it - Students named John.

Try the exercise.

And if you get a chance to see Jessica present, I recommend you do it.

From Cabo: Hummingbirds, Photography, and Learning

A hummingbird at Plaza Mijares, San Jose del Cabo

A few days ago, I mentioned that pelicans are one of my three favorite birds, along with kingfishers and hummingbirds.

Today, I was lucky enough to be able to photograph a hummingbird feeding on flowers in the Plaza Mijares.

Photography is one of my addictions, for many reasons:

• photography is a tool I use for making memories (as opposed to capturing them)
• I enjoy the technical aspects
• I find viewfinders to be an excellent tool for seeing
• I find the process of interpreting a scene fascinating
• I enjoy working with the environment - light, shadow, clouds, people
• Tracking and anticipating the movements of people and wildlife is challenging. It combines the skills of an anthropologist, a naturalist, a psychologist, a musician, an athlete, and sometimes a seer
• I constantly learn through all of the above

This was a challenging shot.

The hummingbird was shy. People were milling around and scaring it away.

There were too many flowers in bloom. The hummingbird was flitting erratically from one to another and then back. It was difficult to predict where he would be next.

The light was contrasty. The hummingbird spent much time in shadows, where a good photo was impossible.

I sat around these bushes (there were 4 of them in a 50 foot stretch) for about 40 minutes. The hummingbird spent about ten of those minutes around the bushes. During those ten minutes, I took ten photos.

While this is not an award winning picture, I'm quite happy with it as a record of a beautiful day, an extraordinary creature, and my efforts to capture both.

2009 Visual Thinking Conference in San Jose

Here's the ad for VizThink 09 in San Jose.

Besides being a good advertisement, it creates a useful graphic vocabulary for the disciplines of Visual Thinking.

VizThink takes place in February and I will certainly be there.

I missed last year's event, as I was in India, but this year I'm scheduling around it.

Hopefully, I'll see you there!

Burgers at Sino, Santana Row

When we lived in Asia, Angie and I really grew to enjoy 'big city' life.
The assortment of restaurants, the range of arts, along with the ability to do these things without driving, ...

That doesn't really exist in San Jose/Santa Clara (yes, I know it does in San Francisco, but who can afford it?)...
with the exception, that is, of Santana Row.

It's within walking distance of our house, and it's got a number of excellent restaurants - Straits Cafe for Singaporean food, Blowfish for sushi, Thea for Meditereanean, and Amber Indian for (surprise!) Indian. We've also started frequenting Sino, a newer 'Chinese/Asian' eatery that is good, but more of a fusion restaurant.

The above shot has Angie posing with two Kobe beef mini-burgers that were pretty yummy.
Santana Row has tons of street side seating, so the show is always good (and Border's is nearby, so you can shop off a hangover, not that I would know...)