Fractal
It's one of the fractals I made with Fractal Explorer. Which is a beautiful and versatile program you can download from the internet. It's freeware. Just play with it and see what it can do.

Sunflower
This sunflower was planted by Sjoerd in our garden. The actual plant didn't look like much, but the flower was georgeous.

The weather, or climate change
It's been hot the last couple of days, even had a day that reached 30 degrees. Which for a september day is unusual. The month of july saw record high temperatures while august showed record precipitation levels. So, extremes. Experts say there's nothing wrong, these are just the normal fluctuations weather always shows. And they dive into the past and come up with statistical data and other info to back up there point of view. Among those experts we find President Bush. Now, he is not a very smart man, research recently learned that he 's the second dumbest American President ever (only President Harding scored higher or lower, I should say). Other experts tell us that the extreme weather conditions are the result of the changing climate. It's warming up, pole ice is melting which will have nasty effects. Sealevel will rise, hurricanes will be more severe and frequent to name a few. The warming up is a result of the levels of carbon dioxide humanity emits (mostly done by the western world but China is doing its best to catch up with us). I'm no expert, I have to go by what experts tell me and I go by what the latter bunch is telling. It's kind of scary. Among important world players there doesn't seem to be a sense of urgency, they're still downplaying things. The environment should be much higher on the agenda of politicians. They will have to take action and that action will not fall on favorable ground. In other words, it might cost them votes. So, they sit tight. Priority should be though that there's only one earth. Our children and grandchildren will be grateful to us if we take the right measures now. We owe it to them. Big Thunder (Bedagi) Wabanaki Algonquin said: "The Great Spirit is in all things, he is in the air we breathe. The Great Spirit is our Father, but the Earth is our Mother. She nourishes us, that which we put into the ground she returns to us...." He seems to me to be a very wise man. To paraphrase President Clinton: It's the environment, stupid.

9/11 and intolerance
It has been five years ago that the attacks on the WTC towers and the Pentagon took place. Horrible acts of terrorism. Also acts of supreme intolerance. Tolerance is one of the most important virtues in human beings. It's the basis of liberalism. It means that opposing views can exist side by side. Live and let live. Principled people, religious and/or fundamentalist people quite often are extremely intolerant. They will try by force or by coercion to have other people live by their standards and have them adopt their ideas. It has been the root of a lot of wars and violence. Tolerance is a great good. Should tolerance tolerate intolerance? It's the one thing it shouldn't do, because intolerance will destroy tolerance. My wish would be that people would learn to be more tolerant toward each other and toward other opinions and religions. It would make the world a better place. This posting is based on an article by A.C. Grayling I read the other day.

Photography
The camera doesn't make a bit of difference. All of them can record what you are seeing. But, you have to SEE. (Ernst Haas)

Egg timer

Moderation
Epicurus taught that the good life is a simple life. A life of moderation. He also taught moderation in moderation. By which he meant, that once in a while it's good to throw a grand party. The ensuing hangover and indigestion will teach you a thing or two, and not just in a philosophical way. Now, that's reassuring.

Fall
Fall is nearing, and with it the fall colors. Beautiful, I love it, every year again.

Photography
"To the complaint, 'There are no people in these photographs', I respond, 'There are always two people: the photographer and the viewer." (Ansel Adams)
Finally, I'm being backed bij somebody and not just anybody, but Ansel Adams, my favorite photographer. He shot awesome landscapes, just take a look at his site. (www.anseladams.com)