Romania celebrate third place (Photo: DAMIANO BENZONI – Flickr: DamjanBNZ)

Photo credit: DamjanBNZ

Un raggio di sole è sufficiente per spazzare via molte ombre.
San Francesco d’Assisi

in_Explore_14/04/09

Photo credit: gigi 62

I was here to click on the button, but Mother Nature did it!

IMPORTANT UPDATE JULY 4 2009
CLASS B FLARES Started July 4 with a B7 Class Flare @ 04:35 UT
CLASS C FLARES started July 5 with a C1 Class Flare @ 07:10 UT
CLASS C FLARES started July 6 with a B8 Class Flare @ 17:05 UT
July 7 finally ….. CLASS A3.3@16:18 UT it is gone for the moment… but watch the Magnetosphere now CLASS A8.3@17:00 UT – end of the story CLASS B1@23:44 UT

SUNSPOT ALERT: The most active sunspot of the year so far is emerging in the sun’s southern hemisphere: movie. Sunspot 1024 has at least a dozen individual dark cores and it is crackling with B-class solar flares. This morning, amateur astronomer David Tyler caught one of the flares in action from his backyard solar observatory in England: The magnetic polarity of sunspot 1024 identifies it as a member of new Solar Cycle 24. Its rapid emergence on July 3rd and 4th continues the recent (few-month) trend of intensifying new-cycle activity. This sunspot is the best offering yet from the young solar cycle. Monitoring is encouraged. spaceweather.com/

more images: from Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from Mark Townley of Brierley Hill, West Midlands, UK; from Cesare Guaita of Tradate, Italy; from Jan Timmermans of Valkenswaard, The Netherlands; from Emiel Veldhuis of Zwolle, the Netherlands; from SOHO in orbit; from Peter Desypris on the Island of Syros, Greece; from Bruno Nolf of Otegem, Belgium;

My prediction (based on CC infos) on June 25th: This image will celebrate the Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) of our Sun on July 7 2009…
Fasten your seat belt, you have been warned. nota bene pilottage prediction

Those speculations are structured and elaborated here in the comments of the May and June CC have a look here: www.cropcircleconnector.com/2009/june2009.html

No fear, and Love to all my flickr friends!

This image has become my best shot since the last 3 days!!!

Follow the sun activity from your home solar-center.stanford.edu/SID/docs/SID_Manual.pdf

Sun Magnetic fields and pressure in realtime www2.nict.go.jp/y/y223/simulation/realtime/index.html

A very clever comment on the cropcircle phenomena by a brilliant scientist:
Albert Einstein once remarked that for the human there is no more powerful feeling than that of the ‘mysterious.’ In fact, he was convinced this feeling for the mysterious was the cradle for all works of science, art, and religion. In light of Einstein’s conviction, one might ask: "What is the opposite of a feeling for the mysterious?" The opposite would be the sense that one understands it all. The opposite would be the feeling that one is in possession of a system that explains all the phenomena in the universe. For such a person, the universe loses its appeal for it becomes something we don’t really need to pay attention to. The universe becomes an exemplification of a theory that one has already understood. No real surprises are possible, only the working out of a logical system through time. When a feeling for the mysterious is lost, one become s vulnerable to the various fundamentalisms plaguing our planet, each one with its passionate certainty that it has all the answers while every other system is just superstition.

In moments of stress and breakdown, there is a powerful drive in us to acquire answers and explanations. Certainly in our own time when we are dismantling ecosystems around the planet and deconstructing the stable climate upon which our civilization is based, we feel a deep need to know what is real and what is good and how to proceed. This need can become so great we are liable to latch onto one of these simplistic pseudo-explanations just to quell the feelings of fear and doom surfacing in us. "What on Earth?" does not provide any such simplistic explanations. This restraint is one of its greatest achievements. By insisting that the Crop Circles are beyond any easy explanation, "What on Earth?" enables us to make peace with living in the ambiguity of not knowing. This ability to live with ambiguity is related to a sense for the mysterious and together these two may be the most important factors for deep creativity to take place. At the very least, we need to realize that an embrace of ambiguity is a form of humility when confronted by the magnificent complexity of nature.

One of the great benefits of viewing "What on Earth?" is the feeling one can get of wading into the mysterious. Through its balanced and wide-open approach to the phenomena of Crop Circles, the film has the power to ease us out of some of the prior certainties we might have had. "What on Earth?" explores and celebrates the fact of the existence of these designs. And as we are guided into this reflection, we find ourselves considering new ideas about the nature of our universe. We begin to imagine that things might be different than we thought. We might even begin to release ourselves from some of the tired explanations lodged into our minds by the media. But most important of all, as we view the film we might even begin to feel stunned by the simple fact that here we are in the midst of this overwhelming mystery, the universe."
– Brian Swimme, mathematical cosmologist specializing in the evolution of the universe

Thanks to Johanne of Shield of excellence: Summer 2009: Theme "Sunrise/Sunset"
1st Place photo by pilottage

www.flickr.com/groups/cerofex/discuss/72157622392112385/

Photo credit: Pilottage

While walking through a sketchy part of Thailand, I found a bunch of families that were living in what appeared to be abandoned buildings. Here is one.

Looks best: Large on Black

Thanks all! For you, here are the most Popular Pictures you dig from my stream. Thanks again!

Photo credit: Stuck in Customs

Explore_15/01/09#21

Photo credit: gigi 62

My Travel Photos: tourismPICS.com
My Travel Blog: TourismPicks.com
Follow me on Twitter HERE: Mike Behnken’s Twitter

Photo credit: MikeBehnken

Romania drawn by Mario

Photo credit: adrian, acediscovery

If you want to see how I made this (and how you can too!), visit my HDR Tutorial. I hope it gives you some new tricks!

I love this shot! It came out wicked.

I used to say wicked a lot in grade school and I still like saying it. This may or may not make me lame, and I can’t be objective about such things.

This is the airport in Bangkok, Thailand. I am not sure who the architect is, but it came out quite inspired. Taking photos of beautiful architecture is somewhat of a sport of mine. I want to try to honor the lines and the textures via a good composition and a good HDR treatment.

from my daily photo blog at www.stuckincustoms.com

Photo credit: Stuck in Customs

Romania e ca o mare masinarie invechita care la inceputuri functiona foarte bine insa pe parcurs nu i-a mai schimbat nimeni piesele ci doar a mai uns-o cu ulei un pic, ca sa poata continua sa produca cate ceva pentru un grup restrans de oameni.

More about Romania here:
www.dtailed.com/blog/category/proiect-romania/

Photo credit: dtailed

My Travel Photos: tourismPICS.com
My Travel Blog: TourismPicks.com
Follow me on Twitter HERE: Mike Behnken’s Twitter

Photo credit: MikeBehnken