Sunday, August 31, 2014

Flying a Kite

As I came out of the overpass entering Norlo park I noticed this really neat chalk drawing on the pavement. The park has had some real problems with graffiti lately, so it was a little jarring to see the drawing. It was very well done and will disappear at the first rain.

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Late summer flowers

This afternoon I weeded out the flower bed in front of the house. But there were still a lot of flowers. So I only did the weedy half.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Make a GIF from cellphone pictures

My Samsung Galaxy S4 phone's camera has a setting to do the best of eight pictures. I saved all eight and then uploaded them to a make a gif website. This one, http://gifmaker.me/, didn't seem to have a limit on the size of the images. GIFs can be distracting, but they are fun!




Recycle Me!

The previous owners of our house had used this old truck tire as a child's sandbox. I want to get rid of it! I hope the township will take it during the recycling weekend in September.

Sunday, August 03, 2014

Koi Update

The fish survived their first night in the new water. The goldfish seem to have a hard time staying upright. One has been continually getting stuck in the filter. I hope they will get themselves oriented soon.

Saturday, August 02, 2014

Koi Pond Maintenance

We have been having a huge problem with algae in the koi pond. I have been taking all the rocks out. Today I took out all the fish into temporary containers and drained the tank. I scrubbed the sides to remove the algae. Here is how it looked.


20140802_153905

Here is a slide show of previous pictures. In the morning I will add the pond now. The fish seem to be doing well. I hope the trauma wasn't too severe.


Bringing Down Gaddafi


Here's my review of Andrei Netto's book from Librarything. I got the book as part of their early reader program and it was really worth it.

This book reads like a spy thriller, but it is amazingly real. A Brazilian journalist, the author, Andrei Netto, tells the story of his attempt to enter Libya to report on the Revolution and go to Tripoli with the help of revolutionaries he meets along the way. Eventually, he is captured with his companion, an Iraqi journalist. In time he is freed and continues to tell the story of the Revolution. 

Often during the book, I was silently urging Netto to turn back, but like all good journalists he persisted to the end. 

The book drew me in to the action, while at the same time giving a good overview of the overall situation. It would have been helpful to have a map of Libya to follow through the towns he visited. I found myself frequently going to Google Maps.

Given how Libya has become a matter of partisan politics in the USA, it was refreshing to see a different perspective. The book was originally written in Portuguese. The English translation is excellent and highly readable.