Mayhem Photoblog

Grave stone

This old, but still very shiny gravestone is in the old graveyard, in the old part of Reykjavik. Very picturesque and lovely to walk around in.

Boiling hot spring

This hot spring just up from Strokkur, is piping hot -- near boiling temperatures. I also like the evil looking hole that serves as a gateway to hades.

Strokkur

Strokkur is the active Geyser next to the original Geysir geyser. Did you know that the term Geyser originally came from the Geysir geyser here in Island?

Reyjkjavik from the Perlan

This shot is from the base of the perlan (not on top of it).

More swans on ponds

Another shot of the pond with swans and ducks just kicking it on a sunny and calm day.

Swan in Pond

This mean swan kept picking on the other swans, so I wanted to watch it a little closer. Too bad that in this light he looks like a little angel.

Mid-atlantic rift

This is the mid-atlantic rift where the North American tectonic plate (left) and the Euralasian plate drift apart from one another. When you walk across the bridge you literally walk from Europe to North America (tectonically speaking). How cool is that?

The water in this rift is clear and deep -- very beautiful!

Þingvellir National Park

This small waterfall is in the Þingvellir National Park, and only about 300m away from gathering spot of the Alþingi (the national assembly). An amazingly beautiful spot!

Island greenhouse flowers

On the Golden Circle Tour we stopped in a small green house village and we toured one of the green houses. The green house was stacked with tons of attractive flowers that would not normally grow in Island, were it not for the geo-thermal heating.

Colorful buildings

This row of colorful buildings is pretty typical for scandinavia where humans must bring color into the world where they can. My question is this: How do you coordinate which color to paint your building?

Implosion crator

We visited this implosion crater on the way to Gulfoss. The cavity underneath this area used to be filled with magma, and then due to an erruption elsewhere the magma emptied. And then this crater happened as all of the mass above caused the now empty space to collapse forming this crater.

Gulfoss 2

A view of stage 1 of the Gulfoss waterfall here in Island.

Gulfoss 1

This is Gulfoss, the most famous waterfall in Island. The fall churns up so many water particles that its hard to get a clear picture of the fall. Regardless how clear the picture may be, its stunning!

Rock stacks

On the road to Keflavik there are dozens of pick piles -- I managed to take a few pictures that didn't totally suck. This piccy is for you Ryan!

Favorite street name

This is my favorite street name so far. :-)

Church near my hotel

This church is near my hotel. I found it on the first day here and it has served as a great navigational beacon ever since!

Flowers in the snow

There are not many flowers (or trees) here in Iceland. These tiny flowers are struggling to make it in the cold weather, and I was drawn to the contrast of the ice and colorful flowers.

Funny t-shirt

Seen in a shop in Reykjavik.

Volcanic rocks

Volcanic rock and snow are probably the only abundant resources in Iceland. To no surprise will you see volcanic rock in use everywhere: gravel, road filler, ice on road countermeasures, building construction, erosion control, coastal control, water filtration, vodka filtration and on and on...

Reykjavik Harbor Coastline with Snow

This is the Reykjavik Harbor coast line from a slightly different vantage point. About 14 hours later, also a clear and dry day -- it just snowed over night. This weather pattern is really nice, because you get a nice clean coat of snow every day and it's mostly gone by noon when you'd get sick of it. So, it works out well.

Reykjavik Harbor Coastline

This is the Reykjavik Harbor coast line. Late afternoon on a windy, but dry day.

Sun craft

This amazing stainless steel sculpture sits on its own little bulge in the Reykjavik coast line. It's so large, shiny, weird and cold. Incredible!

Hverfisgata

These houses on Hverfisgata show the much used corrugated steel coverings over rocks and wood to give the house better protection from the intense exposure to the elements here.

iPod Ad?

WTF? What does this little sign off to the side mean? And why does it look strikingly similar to an iPod ad without the headphones and iPod? Why do I have this urge to bust-out the white out and fix this?

Hallgrí­mskirkja

This rather large church is one one of the highest points in Reykjaví­k and is visible for miles away. Overall, its a cool design, I just don't care for its dingy grey color. Maybe it needs some corrugated tin and a colorful paint job like the rest of the buildings that surround it.

Blue Lagoon 4

This shot is from the outside -- this non heated pool seems to be some sort of run-off pool. Here you can see the milky blue color better. Looks quite alien doesn't it?

Blue Lagoon 3

In this shot you can see the water a bit more clearly and how blue it is. Also see the silica deposits that form on the lava rocks on the side.

Blue Lagoon 2

I love how the steam rising from the water can't be differentiated from the clouds.

Blue Lagoon 1

This is the first picture in what promises to be a long sequence of pictures from Iceland. This is the first shot from the famous Blue Lagoon near Keflavik, Iceland.

Iceland flag

I'm going to Iceland -- what better hair design than the flag of iceland? (Unfortunately the red stripe got to be a little too wide, but you still get the idea.

As Ariel predicted, someone already mistook it as a Union Jack, and its less than 24 hours old.

Exotic flower

I shot this exotic flower a few weeks ago in Morro Bay. Waaay cool!

Tube Weasel

Just a random tube weasel licking itself.

Landscape and another cow

Landscape and not the same cow as last time.

Landscape with Cow

A nice SLO landscape as seen from Prefumo Canyon on a nice and temperamental day.

More purple white flowers

I love these purple white flowers outside my office.

tree under street light

This tree is being illuminated by the street light. Looks surreal, doesn't it?

plane landing night shot

In this time delay exposure you can see the light trail left by a plane landing at SBP.

Flower!

If I wasn't such a geek, I might even be able to tell you what kind of flower it is. :-)

Moon and redwood tree

This is the moon right above the redwood tree in the backyard at Tanglewood.

Plasma toy

Nice time-delay shot of the plasma toy we have at Tanglewood.

Shark demo on fog screen

This demo of the fog screen involved two cameras that were tracking an infrared LED mounted on a visor. The person wearing the visor would control which way the Shark was facing. The person can walk 360 degrees around the fog screen and have the shark face the person at each position. Very cool and trippy at the same time!

Fog screen side view

Here is a side view of the UCSB fog screen. There are parallel sheets of air on either side that keep the fog (water mist) from disintegrating immediately. Without the supporting sheets of air, the fog becomes erratic quickly and a lot of capacity to display on the fog gets lost.

Fog display screen at UCSB

This display screen was demonstrated at UCSB a couple of days ago. They have figured out a way to make fog travel downward in a reasonably flat method, so that you can project images on it.

G-string!

Random G-string at the bike happening. Ahhh. The simple pleasures in life!

Eyesore of the month: March 2006

This butt-ugly house adorns the side of a hill here in SLO near Prefumo canyon. It really does look like someone barfed on the side of a hill. Yet, this house is undoubtedly worth a millions.

Rock!

Is this a tiny rock or a giant rockface?