Protecting Antarctica from Tourists

by Dave Luna on

Chinese government officials have asked Chinese citizens to avoid Antarctica as a travel destination. Officials cited the fragility of the continent’s ecosystem as the driving force behind the request. The country has not made this an official travel restriction, but the government has plans to regulate its travel agencies if South Pole tourism continues.

The number of all vacationing travelers visiting Antarctica has quadrupled over the last eight years, and this has scientists worried. Conservation and preservation of the icy land may be impeded by the rising tourism market. If left unchecked, the number of tourists might keep rising, and the environmental repercussions could be damaging. Also, more tourists might lead to hotels, and that might even lead to an Applebee’s here or a Trump McMurdo Casino there. As I’m sure you’re aware, once we change that landscape, it will be very difficult to return it to its previous glory.

The Reuters article did not mention the current impact of Antarctic tourism, but China’s appeal left me questioning my own interest in visiting the penguin haven. I was a bit interested in an educational Antarctic trip I recently found in Road Scholar, but now I think I’ll mull over a more eco-friendly way to explore the polar region. Wikipedia, perhaps?

High Seas: Prefer Murder or Suicide?

by Iva Skoch on

We’re not ones to fear-monger, but this story was surprising. Thursday’s The Guardian ran a story about the numerous passenger disappearances from cruise ships over the past few years. It turns out that at least 30 people have simply vanished from cruise ships in the past four years.

Considering the large numbers of passengers on cruises annually, and, while very regrettable,30 is not a large number. What’s shocking is how little is done to solve this disappearances or prevent them. Take the disappearance of a woman from a Celebrity Cruise in 2004. On the second day of the cruise, a steward told his boss that the woman’s cabin hadn’t been slept in. Apparently, nothing was done, and the steward continued to place chocolates on the bed each day, through the duration of the cruise. After the cruise was over, the woman’s things were boxed up and removed from the room. And no one notified any authorities. It wasn’t until her family made a missing persons report that any action was taken. The case is still not closed. Not surprising, considering how cold the trail would become..

Dazzling Effects of HDR Imaging

by Justin Glow on

Following up on Dave’s “Lights of Tokyo” post yesterday, I tracked down some more amazing cityscape photos of Japan for your viewing pleasure. It’s hard to believe these are real photos and not some computer generated model. Like Dave mentioned, the effect is obtained by a post-production image processing method called HDR.

What exactly is HDR? “High dynamic range (HDR) images enable photographers to record a greater range of tonal detail than a given camera could capture in a single photo,” says CambridgeInColour.com’s tutorial on creating HDR images. The breathtaking final product you see is actually a combination of multiple images of varying exposures, yielding the cartoonish, futuristic qualities typical of this process.

Flickr has a large community of photographers creating HDR images, and simply searching for “HDR” brings up thousands of impressive examples. If you’re interested in creating your very own HDR photos, start with the CambridgeInColour.com tutorial, which requires Adobe Photoshop CS2 (and a digital camera, of course) — and be sure to share your results with us!

Lights of Tokyo

by Dave Luna on


This dreamy High Dynamic Range (HDR) photo was taken at the top of the Roppongi Hills Mori Building in Tokyo, Japan by /ltus. I love how the vibrant lights make the city appear alive.

HDR imaging composites a range of camera exposures of the same subject. The technique usually produces a gorgeous picture with brilliant color and deep contrast.

(via Boing Boing)

A Brokedown Melody

by Erik Olsen on

I don’t know how many of you out there are Jack Johnson fans; I suspect some of the surfers among us are. But I have to say that I love his music. I really do. At one point his cheery, bestubbled mug was everywhere. He was to surfing magazines what Lance Armstrong is to Outdoors/fitness magazines. And when anything becomes that popular, the hauteur sets in, and folks like me snootily reject the offerings of anything or anybody with such widespread appeal. And so it goes.

But as I say, Jack Johnson, for some reason, tends to be different. Even though some say his music all sounds the same, I still have an odd addiction to it. And I am also rather intrigued by Johnson’s efforts as a filmmaker, which is really the crux of this post. Even though it looks like it was produced a few years ago, I only recently stumbled upon this DVD of a film called A Brokedown Meoldy (also the title of a Johnson song) that Johnson worked on with such surfing luminaries as Kelly Slater, Tom Curren, Gerry Lopez, Rob Machado, and others. Of course, Johnson, an accomplished surfer himself, is featured too. The group, or various iterations among the list, find the best surf spots around the world including Jamaica, Indonesia, Tahiti, Hawaii, Mexico and South America. And yes, the film is sound tracked with music by Johnson. I mean, duh.

Anyhoodle, it sounds like a great film, and I rather enjoyed the clips available here.