Sunday's Silly Sign APR 10, 2011: Smokers and Chewers

 Maw, we better get a new sign or have this one repainted.

Don't want customers comin' in here and thinkin the place is tacky.

Folks, I hate to tell you but, this sign has been hanging on the wall

in my karaoke bar for, heck, I don't know

maybe ten or fifteen years !

Laptop Cooling Tower: The Redneck Version (Photo)

Spring has sprung and the flowers are blooming all over the island of Okinawa.  That means, anyday now, it will get so hot my flip flops will start sticking to the blacktopped roads.  It'll be just like Summer ! 

I love hot weather but, those poor laptops of mine don't.  They started meltdown today.  Not one to present a problem without a solution here's my version of the redneck cooling tower.

Mind you, this is just a prototype the Ryukyu Mike Research and Development Staff is working on but, so far it's an all-systems-go.  If your better half is as fussy as mine about housekeeping you might want to consider spray paint, or something, for the blocks before placing them on the kitchen table.

What prompted this ingenious set-up?  Well, I remember one day last summer, I had a skimpy little cooling tower.  It consisted of a pair of real fancy, custom made flip flops a gal gave me for my birthday.  They were too nice to wear so, I used them to prop up the back end of my laptop.  That gave it about half an inch of air circulation and I put this humongous floor fan right next to the kitchen table.  It worked alright for awhile.  But when it got really hot in the summer my keyboard started sagging in the middle.  I suspect it wasn't getting enough cooling air.

Do you know, if the supposed genious laptop builders had any brains they would make the things with built-in fold down legs.  Then people like me wouldn't have to run around the neighborhood looking for nice clean cement blocks to borrow.  But, it could be they want our laptops to melt so we have to buy new ones every few years.  Not me, Buddy.  I ain't that stupid.

Just in case any of those wise guys try to steal my Redneck Laptop Cooling Tower idea get this:

I AM THINKING OF GETTING SOME OF THOSE PATENT PENDING STICKERS FOR MY CEMENT BLOCKS. 

I BETTER NOT CATCH ANYBODY SNOOPIN AROUND MY INVENTIONS.

GET YOUR HANDS HIGH IN THE AIR WHERE I CAN SEE THEM, TURN AROUND AND WALK AWAY SLOWLY !

If you are one of my friends who isn't a millionaire and it gets hot in the summertime, in your neck of the woods, you have my permission to experiment with this invention.  Friends are good people.

Just  be careful not to drop any of the parts on your toes during assembly. OK ?

Saturday Photo: The Torii on the Beach Okinawa, Japan

There is some mystery behind this photo.  I just returned from another Saturday traveling the northern areas of Okinawa island with Doc, the cameras and an awful hangover. 

That happens, sometimes when I get stuck working the bar on weekends but, it's all part of the job, I guess.

Last week I was contacted by a young lady asking directions for the iris fields. You know, that place that had hardly any purple iris flowers and got me introduced to the cosmos things.

I updated my blog post and added a Google Map.  It worked; she found the place.

Well, she comes back again asking me if I know where this Torii, on a beach in Okinawa is located. 

She sent a link to someone else's photo of the same Torii.  Whoever shot the original photo refused to share the location with her. The photo was titled "Higashi".  That means "East".

It looked sort of familiar but, you just don't see many Toriis on beaches around here. I snapped a photo of it off the laptop, using my cell phone camera and showed it to a few of the locals.

Nobody knew where I could find the place.

The dang thing looked familiar to me and I told the young lady, if it's on this island, I'll find it.  So, before I had my third, or maybe, fourth beer last night, I wrote a note to myself. "Find the Torii on the Beach."

Doc and I drove north this morning, heading up the east coast of the island.  BINGO, we found it !

Even though I have a frazillion photos to download and develop, I decided to get this one done and online, right away. It'll take me awhile to give you a thoroughly researched story about this place but, the reason it looked familiar to me is, I've been here before.

It's a sacred site, up the hill, once you pass under that Torii.  There is an Utaki at the top of some stairs.  Something that looked like a ghost moved in front of my camera the last time I was at that place.

So, I shot it.  And, I have a picture to prove it.

For now, this place will have to remain a mystery.  I ain't saying I believe in ghosts or anything like that.  The place just makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.  It's spooky.

That got me thinking maybe, just maybe, that's why the original artist doesn't want anyone to know the location of the Torii on the Beach in Okinawa, Japan !

Photography Tips: Shoot The Moon 5 Tips from RyukyuMike

This photo of a Full Moon was taken 28SEP2010 at 5:09AM using an 18-250mm lens at a focal length of 250mm. The camera was my Pentax K10D mounted on a tripod and a cable release was used to activate the shutter. Specs:  f/16   1/30   ISO 100

The Crescent Moon photo was snapped on 25JUL2009 at 8:37PM using the same equipment as in the photo above. In this case, I was at a festival and had to snap the shot in a hurry.  The tripod legs were folded, creating a monopod.  With the lens at 250mm, using the cable release the shot was taken with these Specs:  f/11  1/13  ISO 1600.

FIVE TIPS FOR SHOOTING THE MOON:

1.  A sturdy tripod and Cable Release are the ideal camera accessories to use.  However, anything to steady the shot, along with using your camera shutter timer, will do the trick as long as the camera doesn't move.

2.  If possible, get away from people, city lights, traffic, telephone wires and wind.  I have climbed towers, used rooftops and even propped my camera up with rocks on a secluded beach to take moon shots.

3.  The slightest breeze will ruin a shot of the moon, even when you are using a tripod.  The lower the the tripod is, the less effect wind will have on it. Do not raise the center post if you can avoid it. Most quality tripods will have something you can attach weight to at the bottom of the center post. This helps steady the camera.  Remove your camera strap when it's windy outside, or it will shake the camera, even with the best of tripods.

4.  When you shoot the moon, you are creating a high contrast photo.  For high contrast photos, you'll want to stop-down on camera settings. You'll want to deliberately "UNDEREXPOSE" the shots.  I experiment and take plenty.  Underexpose by a full 1, 2, or 3 Exposure Values (EV).

5.  Generally, the lowest ISO setting and an aperture of f/11 is where you'd want to start for taking moon shots.  It doesn't matter if you're looking at a Full, Half, or Crescent Moon. I won't tell you shutter speeds because depending upon clouds, humidity, dust and whatever gets between you and the moon, shutter speeds can be tricky. Just read your lightmeter and underexpose, underexpose, underexpose and before you know it, you'll be shooting the moon like a Pro ! 

A Statue The Most Loyal and Faithful Dog in Japan: Hachiko

Today for Travel Photo Thursday: A tribute to the most famous dog in all of Japan, Hachiko the Akita.

This dog, a Japanese Akita, became famous for waiting at the train station for his master to come home.

They had a routine, Professor Ueno would take the train, everyday, from Shibuya Station to go to work at the University of Tokyo. Hachiko, would wait for him to return, everyday.

Well, one day in May of 1925, the Professor died and didn't return but, nobody told the dog.

Hachiko, even though, adopted by a new family, escaped and kept going back to the train station, waiting for his master to return.  How long ?  How about until he died in March of 1935, a few years later !

There are bronze statues of Hachiko the Akita, books and movies about him, even video games.

People often use Hachiko, as an example of loyalty, to teach their children as they're growing up.

Hachiko is a National Hero and every year on the 8th of April there is a ceremony dedicated to him at Tokyo's Shibuya Train Station.  That's this Friday, for those who'd like to participate.

Learn more about HACHIKO THE MOST LOYAL AND FAITHFUL DOG IN JAPAN HERE and see if there are any dogs as famous in your culture. I think, Scotland has one. Australia, too.


NOTE: This Statue of Hachiko, in Okinawa, is located on HWY 329 on the left side of the road just after crossing the Kin Bridge, heading north. A better photo could be taken in early morning light.