Did the Japanese come to America before Colombus?

Via Archeological.org I found and interesting post published in the Ohio Archaeology Blog that explores the idea that Japanese Fishermen reached America five thousand years ago.

This is a very real possibility, and personally I have been a firm believer that other cultures “discovered” this continent before Colombus).

Read the article here.

Good advice for setting a camp in bear country

This video comes from a documentary crew shooting in Alaska (grizzly territory), and refers specifically  to a long term base-camp.

Besides the common advice of keeping the kitchen and food storage area separated from the living and sleeping quarters in combination with the use of bear-proof containers, it’s interesting to note how they installed an electric fence around the camp (I pointed to some commercial electric fence solutions in a post from 2011).

These safety measures apparently worked very well, taking in consideration that the person mentions that more than 100 bears were wandering in the area.

I learned about this video through the Good Nature Blog  where you can learn more about the film and check the video of a bear virtually eating a GoPro camera and some others.

Very interesting stuff!

National Trails Day and other outdoor activities

Next June 1 the American Hiking Society celebrates the National Trails Day with multiple outdoor events that include hikes, bike and horseback rides, paddling trips, birdwatching, geocaching and more.

For Floridians this may be a good excuse to learn about the Florida Trail Association and the Florida National Scenic Trail under the administration of the U.S, Forest Service.

But there is more to try, if you plan to be around South Florida go for the Tamiami Trail “Triathlon”, an initiative of Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve and the South Florida National Parks Trust. The idea is to engage in hiking, biking, canoeing or kayaking in three different points of the area.

For all the details check this page of the NPS.

Specifications for You Tube Videos

Just a quick note to remind myself about the specs when encoding with Quicktime Player.

  • Export movie (wrapper): Quicktime 
  • Frame size: 720P (1280 x 720 pixels)
  • Codec: H264
  • Frame rate: 30 fps
  • Frame reordering: OFF
  • Audio: AAC
  • Render Audio Quality: Best
  • Select Constant Bit Rate for the audio (CBR).
  • Check Internet Streaming Fast Start.

Audio settings tab in Quicktime Pro Internet Streaming Tab

If I missed something or someone has a better method add it in a comment.

Images: Screenshots from the program I use for encoding, Quicktime Player 7.

New photographic exhibition in Biscayne National Park

 

A new photographic exhibition will open next June 7 at the Dante Fascell Visitor Center Gallery in Biscayne National Park. The photographer this time is Paul Marcellini and the main theme the park’s wildlife.

According to the artist “The project is dedicated to reconnecting people with the wildlife on their own doorsteps – and enriching their lives in the process.” It’s interesting to note in the technical side that the photographer used a pure white background from a portable field studio to take the images.

This show is part of the larger global Meet Your Neighbours initiative (check the link for info and great photos). If you want to explore the work of Paul Marcellini check his website.

The event looks like an interesting excuse for a trip to the park. Don’t you think?

Via: Biscayne National ParkImage Credit: Poster for the event published by Biscayne National Park | Photo: Potugues Man-o-War by Paul Marcellini. 

Two snapshots of Eco Pond

Follow two of my photos taken from the same vantage point in Eco Pond, Everglades National Park. The first-one is from April 2011 and the second picture is from May 2013.  Big difference in 25 months.

Eco Pond in 2011.

Eco Pond in 2013.

Photo Credit: oncamping.net

Germans and American fighting together in World War II?

This comes as a curiosity to me from an article published yesterday in The Daily Beast about a battle where American soldiers, French prisoners and Germans joined forces against the attack of an SS Division at the end of the war (Read World War II’s Strangest Battle: When Americans and Germans Fought Together).

Pointed by a comment also found an older page that narrates the event accompanied by some photos published by the Texas Military Forces Museum.

Everything happened in the Austrian Itter castle (click the link to see photos in Wikipedia).

Do you suffer of Herpetophobia?

 

Herpetophobia means fear of reptiles and if you suffer from it check the website Reptile World from Michael Shwedick. Education and knowledge can go a long way in controlling unfounded fears; what we need to do is to learn to identify the dangerous species that in the case of Florida include the coral snake, copperhead, cottonmouth or water mocassin and timber rattlesnake (also known canebrake of banded rattlesnake) and the pigmy rattlers.

Photo Credit: oncamping.net | One of my photos of the Tusayan Ruins in the Grand Canyon.

 

Literature inspired in the Caucasus mountains

The recent terrorist attack in Boston put the Caucasus in the map for many Americans, specially the region of Chechnya where the attackers were born.

According to Pliny the Elder’s Natural History written in the first century, the name Caucasus comes from a Scythian word meaning “ice-shining” in clear reference the snow in the peaks.

I remember a Russian movie named Prisoner of the Mountains  from the late 1990s that was based in the work of Leo Tolstoy A prisoner in the Caucasus (you can read the text here), but casually I found now that exists also a narrative poem written by Alexander Pushkin with a similar name.

Pushkin is considered by many the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature ( check Ruslan and Ludmila, Eugene Onegin, etc). I found his poem published online and can be accessed through this link.

Photo Credit: The photo illustrating this post is from Svanetia, Georgia, and was released under a  Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 by his author Petrusbarbygere. 

The wacky camper of Jay Nelson

His camper may look wacky but it’s a piece of art and at the same time a testimony of what you can do with interest and effort. I learned about the story via one of the blogs I follow, Adventure Journal, where you can read the article accompanied of a nice video (check it here).

An applause to the beauty of imperfection because life is not perfect. Worry less and enjoy more!

Note: You can check more projects in the Jay Nelson website

Oklahoma D-Day 2013

For the scenario paintball fans this is a huge event scheduled for June 15th. What’s all the buzz about? Well, usually has been said that Oklahoma D-Day is the world’s largest paintball event.  Check the following video and if you want  more info go to their website.

Choose the best Swiss Army Knife

The answer may come from a website specialized in the popular compact tool with reviews and information related to their functionality. Check BestSwissArmyKnifeGuide.com.

Note: To complement your search check also the many buyers reviews written in Amazon about this brand.

Etón new BoostSolar backup battery

Etón Corporation announced today the availability of the BoostSolar, a backup battery that can be USB or solar powered. The battery can be acquired in Amazon or REI stores.

Eon solar battery

This link takes you to the product page in the Etón website.

Does more gun control equals more crime?

I just read an article published by The Blaze (The firearms statistics that gun control advocates don’t want to see) that compiles some criminal data and surprisingly to what many would expect, points to a sort of relation between strong gun control laws and crime rate.

The stats used by the writer come in part from FBI reports and data compiled by the Brady Campaign to prevent Gun Violence for their annual scores (in general the organization  advocates for more restrictions but facts are facts). Some of the data that called my attention follows (most is from 2011): Continue Reading →

The Everglades in the Scarmato’s paintings

If you go to Everglades National Park’s Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center  this month you will enjoy some oil paints inspired in the park created by the artist Tony Scarmato.  A visit to the painter virtual galleries reveals that his skills painting landscapes, something that we saw first hand in the park exposition.

I liked how he represented the fine details in the grass, water and trees. Judge yourself in the following photos taken in the gallery (I also included some of my images from the area for sort of a comparative reference).

Big Cypress bird.

Another painting from Scarmato.

Gator taking the sun in the lake banks.

Scarmato's Everglades painting.

Photo Credit: Oncamping.net