And Then They Learn to do Cool Night Launch Photos

 

Have We Reached Peak Tattoo?

OK, it wasn't exactly the first thing I thought about when I saw this in the UK Daily Mail earlier today ... the first thing I thought was, "Gee, Jorgie Porter looks much more realistic here than she does on TV."   Maybe it is good airbrushing, but her makeup is more natural here than on TV; when I see her on telly I think she looks like a china-doll with a little too much makeup.

Aside from that and her almost classical proportions, there is a stunning lack of ink on her.  If you look really close, you might see what is a tattoo just under the strap of her bikini briefs, though I suppose that could be a label ... looks more like the former.

This is noteworthy, because she is 29 according to the mail, and many of her age have substantial inking all over their bodies.  According to an article I found in the Daily Telegraph when I googled "Peak Tattoo," something like one out of every five young people in their 20's have tattoos.  OK, so Jorgie is still a part of a large majority.

But it made me recall being on the beach in Florida a few weeks back, and I kept seeing groups of 20-somethings, nearly all of whom had no tats and no piercings, and it made me wonder then if we had already reached Peak Tattoo.  Not just one group, but many.  I don't have any stunning photos like the one above, so you will just have to take my word for it.

Is this surprising?  I guess a number of tweens, teens and 20-somethings are seeing the next two generations before them age with substantial body ink and piercings, and it ain't a pretty sight.  Or maybe they are total snowflakes and can't bear the thought of the pain.  Either way, it is a sign that time moves on.

Failure ...

A long time ago I posted about how much I hated the job that I had at the time, which funny enough was three and a half weeks into that job.  I gave it a few more months and then pulled the rip-cord and landed into a much better job (been doing it nearly ten years later).  I like it so much that I haven't even been tempted to look for a new job, which is usually an early-warning sign that you might start looking because you might be complacent, except that I have received high praise from the top of the company, so while I've learned not to take it for granted, I feel somewhat good about where I am these days ... except:

I get these magazines like the annual Bloomberg gift-giving guide (shown here), and "How to Spend It" from the Financial Times.  I guess if I really wanted to, I could find the $3,915 to buy a silver-lined frying pan, but I have to admit to myself that I cannot afford to drop that kind of money for this sort of thing, and I kind of envy those who can.  I will take this shame to the guillotines when the 99% come for me.

Lennon is Spinning in His Grave ...

Everyone knows the famous shot of Abbey Road, but Beatles fans more in the know will recognise the exterior of what used to be the London HQ of Apple Records ... except that it now appears to be a part of the Abercrombie Fitch family.

I've come late to party, as the controversy is already several years old, but then again, I haven't really wandered this section of London for roughly the same period of time.



The interesting part of the story ... As I was taking photos of the storefront, an older gentleman, perhaps in his late sixties or early seventies, dressed in a mustard-coloured coat with an equally bright yellow and blue tie, missing several of his bottom front teeth, but carrying a rose and gold iPhone (oh, the iRony in that!) that was certainly more useful for the task than my BlackBerry, came up to me and asked,

"Do you know what that is?" And before I could actually answer the question, he continued,

"Yeah, I was here in 1969. Almost got arrested that day, I did. The Beatles were doing a concert up there on the roof. Do you know about that?" he asked, pointing up to the roof.

"Yeah, but I was a bit young and on the other side of the world ...."

"I was just a teenager myself, but we were here, and we were almost arrested.  We heard this noise, so we came around to see what it was, and the street was jammed, and the police came along and told us to keep moving along or they would arrest us."  

So I asked, "Do you think John Lennon is spinning in his grave"

"Yes, most definitely he is."

Then I thanked him for sharing the story with me and wished him a good day, and he said, "Yeah, I'm going to take a few photos for the grandkids.  You have a good day too!"

I got around the block and thought, "Dammit, why didn't I break out the iPad [more Apple iRony there] and get him to tell his story in video?"  Well, the lame excuse that I can offer is that he seemed a bit eccentric and I was in a hurry to get on to my next meeting, but can't help but feel like I really missed a chance to throw something interesting up on YouTube.

It's the old Lennon line of Life being what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. Well, maybe there might be a "next time."

Ten Years Gone

Wow, I remember writing a blog way back in the past, but I didn't realise until now that it all started nearly ten years ago. Would you believe that that state of the art flight simulator computer system I built way back then choked when I recently tried to install Windows 7 on it? So I had to turn it into a Linux box. So way back then I went looking for a job, and six months later I found one ... I hated it, so I quit, but then I got offered a better one by the same Company, and it has kept me running around the world for nearly ten years. I'll have to write about it sometime soon. Tot Ziens!

Old Rocket Scientists Don't DieThey Go to Florida to Watch Rocket Launches

This was a night launch of a Delta-IV with the next generation of GPS satellites. Needless to say, I set the shutter a bit too long, so it looks like day, but if you look closely you will see the exhaust plume in the middle of that bright spot in the sky.

We also saw the landing of the Space Shuttle Atlantis the day before, but I had left my telephoto lens in Germany, so all I have to show for it is a nice picture of blue sky with a speck that may as well be dust.

No, this time around I did not travel just to see a couple launches ... it is just a perk of having a place near the Cape. But one of the last two launches of the Shuttle will be a given ... and I will bring a telephoto for that.