December 17, 2004
Underground fire
This underground fire is what cut the power to the Aquarium. :-(
Shark!
We saw this shark at the Barcelon aquarium. Just before the power went out...
Barcelona Market
This is a shot from the Barcelona market that has an amazingly wide variety of food. There were a number of fruits I'd never seen before and all kinds of fresh fish.
How about a head of a sheep, complete with eyes? Nummy!
Gaudi House
This is the Gaudi house on Passeig de Gracia. This house and the rest of the Passeig is quite impressive at night.
December 05, 2004
Gran Via at night
This is the intersection of Gran via de la Corts the Catalanes and Passeig Gracia in Barcelona. With a long exposure I managed to catch a couple of cars driving by leaving trails of their taillights.
MusicBrainz Pub Night
MusicBrainz Pub Night was a success -- here is a shot towards the end of the evening.
Old Thamesside view
This is the view from the Old Thamesside Pub where the MusicBrainz Pub Night was held.
Bedford sunset
So much for the myth that Britain always has crappy weather -- this nice shot was taken in Bedford just before sunset. It was nice and sunny the entire time I was in Britain -- go figure.
Thermostat
This thermostat that I encountered in Barcelona on my last night is the perfect example of stupid user interface design. How you do use the damn thing?
The dial is currently in its minimum position. What does it do?
The vertical slider has 5 positions and 3 of them are marked. The top marking shows a fan with 4 blades. The middle setting shows fan with 3 blades. The bottom one, a fan with 2 blades. I would assume that this is the fan speed indicator. The grey button isn't. Its just a darkened raised piece of plastic that seems to serve no function.
I fiddled with this for a few minutes before giving up -- in retrospect, I think something was broken -- none of the combinations of the two controls seem to do more than just one a fan on low.
Even if it did work, its a terrible design.
BSOD info phone
This lovely blue-screen-of-death phone/info booth greeted me in Frankfurt where I was running to my plane. Why do people run Windows on systems that the public can touch? Stupid. Stupid! Stupid!!!
Strangely, I thought taking a picture of this phone was more important than continuing my break-neck pace through the crowded airport to catch my plane.
