What Yosemite looks like in infrared:

In case you were wondering, this is what Yosemite valley looks like in near-infrared.  Near-infrared is different from thermal infrared, which shows temperature.  In near-infrared, which is commonly used in see-in-the-dark security cameras, foliage is very light, while water is very dark and murky.  I brought a near-infrared camera along on my trip to Yosemite yesterday. 

 
 
 
   

Full set on flickr.

If you like these, I also have some near-infrared pictures of the japanese gardens in San Francisco.

Yosemite during heavy storms

We originally planned on hiking up Half Dome yesterday, but we changed our minds after an all-night thunderstorm that was followed by a hailstorm the next morning.  We did get to see the park full of clouds, and that ended up being quite beautiful:

 
 
   
 
   
 

Full flickr set

Oil industry begging for more deepwater drilling opportunities in 2008

I was looking over an old issue of Scientific American from 2008, and I found this little gem.

It's an ad from an oil & gas industry consortium, begging for people to persuade their leaders to ease restrictions on deepwater drilling.

My favorite line: "New technological breakthroughs allow us to tap these resources, even in "ultra deep waters", while protecting fragile marine environments."