The Sun today

In case you missed it, the Sun was shinning bright this morning!
Click to enlarge and count the sunspots! (Minus the dirt on your screen...)

Compare to this image to see if you got them right:

http://sdowww.lmsal.com/sdomedia/SunInTime/2012/05/31/l4500.jpg

Now: looking out the window

The view from my balcony!
Initially I thought it was natural light, but heck, it is still beautiful!
If you have a sharp eye you might notice that the clock's hands are missing. I used to glance over to see the time but one day I noticed the hands were gone! Who took them?

No one is Evil

How come suddenly no one has any responsibilities whatsoever and at the same time every one is trying to save the country?
Who are the bad guys, and where are they now?

The picture above seems most appropriate to describe these days.
It is the famous See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil, located at the Tōshō-gū shrine in Nikkō, Japan.

Fun random fact, the frieze of this temple depicts the life cycle of a monkey.

Stone(d)

Stepping on stones,or stepping stoned?

On way or the other, the outcome of today's election will affect your life for at least 4 years to come.
Be cautious.

Now fool moon.

On the way to Zaganiari after a coffee with P. and M.
Tomorrow we are going to vote for a new parliament. I hope that it will not be full of fools like during the last decades.

Potatos

It has been quite a long time since our last post.
Spring is at its best in the Greek islands. My father is again proud of his potato plants.
This photo of his potato field is rather bad as it is taken with a cheap and dirty lens of a random mobile phone. However, for an unidentified reason I like it.

The way home

Spotted in Ueno, neighborhood in Tokyo, Japan.

Nostalgia kicks in when one sees a sign like this in a land far far away from home. To be honest, when Pierro sees a sign like this and translates it for us: "Munich City Germany".

Japan is a lovely place with many magnificent details to explore. I barely got a taste of its magic, but I will be definitely coming back, hopefully with the co-owner of this blog. :)

Many thanks to Pierro who always kindly answered our questions and guided us to the best places!

Η φωλιά

Τώρα εξηγούνται όλα! Χρειάζεται εκπαίδευση πλύση εγκεφάλου από τα γενοφάσκια για να είναι κανείς ακόμα πασόκος.

Spotted: στη χώρα του ανατέλλοντος ηλίου. Τυχαίο? Δε νομίζω!

p.s. Η φωτογραφία είναι 100% αυθεντική.

Ως πιστός και φιλότεχνος στρατιώτης. As a loyal and resourceful soldier.

There are some afternoons in the army camp when time passes slowly enough to be against all laws of physics.
A., a film director, has invented the so called lower-bed-theatre to have some quality time.

17/2/2012 Follow up:
A piece of A.'s (aka Sir Avrilios Karakostas) work is a documentary about Zagori in Epirus. You are strongly encouraged to watch it here.

And a question: Any ideas why when I post from my SE X8, the photo in the blog has all those small squares? They do not appear in the original photo in the smartphone!

Panorama

Next time you find yourself in LBT, have a look out from the window. You have a handy guide (click on image to enlarge) to spot all the visible mountain peaks including some useful information such as height and distance. :)

Such a cool idea!

Dead

Something else I witnessed for the first time in my life while in Arizona was a dead cactus. Apparently, they can die of old age or due to all the expected reasons fire, humans etc. A rotting cactus is a sad sight though. Spotted on the way up to mount. Lemmon.

In the background you have the city of Tucson.

The Largest Binocular!

The Large Binocular Telescope - LBT is located at Mt. Graham in Arizona, USA.
It consists of two 8.4m diameter telescopes under one roof, and operates in the optical and infrared.

In the picture you see one of the two telescopes. The whole structure is so big that it was impossible to take a picture of the whole thing with my lens. I should have bought that fish-eye lens I wanted some months ago!

I was amazed by the smooth movement of this gigantic instrument and I am grateful for being there. We managed to get some good data and hopefully I will inform you about the results soon!

33 000 ft

Last week I have been observing the american night sky from a mountain about 10 700 ft high (3200m). I wanted to take nice pictures of the stars but it was impossible this time.
Instead, I took a picture of the sky on the way home to Munich. So there you have it, this is how the sky looks like from 33 000 ft (10000m) above the Earth.
Not very impressive? Try to keep your hand steady for 2-3 seconds in a moving airplane! That is impressive! :)

Tomorrow I will show you the telescope!!

Cactus

Cactus spotted in Tucson, Arizona. Very interesting place this is. More fun facts about it in the following days, for the moment the jet lag is calling me.

Cold

It is rather cold today! :)

p.s. I am getting my feet wet in time-lapse photography, stay tuned!

Green and blue, a statue and a lighthouse

Δεν μπόρεσε να μάθει καν το επ ώμου,
Κι όλο εμουρμούριζε "κυρ δεκανεα μου,
ασε με να γυρίσω στο χωριό μου".
Difficult to translate this verse by Kostas Kariotakis, this great Greek poet. I am looking forward to see this view again in summer as a civilian.

Oliven

Olives for our beloved friends.

Why everyone feels tired after a holiday break? Equivalent question to "why did the chicken cross the road?" I suppose.

happy new year!

The sky might be temporarily cloudy, but the sunshine in the horizon is bright.

From the bottom of our hearts we wish you a fruitful new beginning!

Kostas - Sotiria

Request 2

Dear Santa,
I have never asked something very fancy. This year I will be more demanding.
This year I would like a time-machine.
I know I am being too irrational for a physicist, but, heck, you are the Santa and have a sleigh pulled by flying raindeer, and you can distribute a billion presents overnight and all. I am pretty sure you can't do it without a time machine.
If you can't find one more, could you please change the calendar so that after 7 Jan I can get a 27 Jun?
Anyway, if you insist that I should obey the laws of Physics, please give to me and my beloved, health, peace and a healthy level of insanity to overcome the complexities of 2012.
Ah! I could also find some good use for an one way ath-muc ticket for 5-15 Jul.

Yours

Kostakis

Gray city: Munich

The snow lasted only for a day.
Warm winter (that is temperatures above zero) is plain sad.