Violence in Zimbabwe

Terrible things are afoot in Zimbabwe, and have been since the March 29th election. Mugabe's farcical poll on June 27th and rushed reinstatement has done nothing to slow the terror.

Sokwanele provides some insight into what is happening on the ground. Their election violence map tracks post-election incidents, but only those that have been confirmed and verified - it represents the tip of the iceberg.

I'm not sure how to embed their map, so here's a screenshot from today:


Sokwanele also has a Flickr photostream. There are disturbing images of post-election violence.

Here are some photos from their set:





There are others I can't bring myself to repost: raw flesh and open wounds, huge deep red holes in buttocks and bodies from extensive beatings; axe wounds; burn wounds. And these are only the victims who are close enough to 'civilization' for their injuries to be recorded.

The government and its thugs are indiscriminate: they attack MDC activists (first photo above), white people (often elderly: the lady pictured above is 74), and ordinary citizens who appear poor weak and defenceless: anyone who is suspected of not being a whole-hearted supporter of the government, or anyone who seems easy prey.

It makes me sick and sad. Zimbabwe today is an example of unbelievable courage and extreme depravity.

Murders in Boston

Mashups and Google Maps allow interesting visualization of data, making things suddenly more concrete. Dorchester has a reputation as being one of Boston's toughest areas: this map of 2008 murders in Boston brings it home.

Cambridge has a relatively low murder rate, though I haven't been able to find a similar mapping of murder stats. From a quick search, anecdotally I think it's been a couple of years since the last murder in Cambridge, though there have been recent homicides which appear to be accidental. Somewhat bizarrely, someone originally from Cambridge was recently killed in Salem. The method of murder?... being run through with a sword.

Spring Rain

Spring in Cambridge certainly lives up to the adage "April showers bring May flowers". Today was a lovely April day and in between thunder storms I captured some cloudscapes.

Well, mostly between showers. That black cloud at the top of the "Spring Rain" shot got me :-)

Lunar Eclipse Tonight

Much of the world is able to observe a lunar eclipse tonight.

The moon is accompanied by Saturn and Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo. It's an extended show, starting before 9 pm, peaking around 10:30 pm and continuing until midnight. (All times EST since we're at home in Cambridge).

One Perfect Day

While in Belgium (visiting Aileen) we endured a week of sullen grey skies and intermittent rain. It was ideal for squelching about in wellies or staying inside but didn't hold much promise for photography.

Then finally one perfect day dawned - glorious light, blue skies and Magritte-style clouds. This was the view from my bedroom window early that morning.


As an added bonus the waterbirds decided that it was spring and time to argue about territory. This year the lake has a new pair of swans, younger and more athletic than its former inhabitants. The cob (male swan) put on a great display, claiming the lower end of the lake and its island as his own, and trying to chase away the Canada geese. This was a largely futile effort since there were dozens of geese and they seemed to take great glee in taking turns to taunt the swan. The geese are smaller and generally more agile than the swan, but a couple were surprised by the cob's speed.

We also had the rare treat of seeing the swan fly. The cob is a massive heavy bird: it takes great power for him to achieve liftoff - see the continuous sequence of shots. In contrast, when he circled back to land he skidded across the water at enormous speed while holding his wings aloft to slam on the brakes.

Though the show was fun, it might be unwise to argue with a territorial swan :-)

Belgium Attracts Bloggers

Yesterday I posted some shots from my recent trip to Belgium. These posts must have had magic dust or perfect timing - it seems Blogger picked it up and the blog received over 240 visitors from 27 countries. That's a spike relative to my usual friends-and-family and random-passers-by visitor rate :-)

Washington DC

The Washington DC photos are now all up. If you looked at them the other day, scroll down since I hopscotched around in history when posting.

Google hits = goat testicles

Google allows me to track non-feed-readers who visit my blogs. Visitors include friends and friends of friends, as well as an increasing amount of search engine traffic. A lot of people come here looking for images of oceans and continents [sorry to disappoint - try my images across the earth photoblog or just use more specific search terms], as well as traffic relating to specific experiences/destinations. What amuses me is that recently we have received visitors looking for goat testicles. Really!

Just to be sure I googled goat testicles and sure enough Peter's culinary story shows up as hit number nine on the first page of results.

What I want to know is... why are these people googling goat testicles??

Recent Travels

Our most recent trips were to Tucson for Seline and Dylan's wedding, and I went to DC to buy an application form for a new passport. The latter is a long story...

On the topic of Tucson, we missed our original departure from Boston to [Dallas Fort Worth] Tucson due to the never-ending delights of the TSA. There must have been at least three hundred people in the security line: even the airline staff were wondering out loud what the heck was happening. People ahead of us whose flights were due to depart after ours were allowed to skip the line, but we were told to keep standing in the queue... and eventually raced to our gate to see that the jetway had just been pulled back from the plane. The people who'd been allowed to cut the line (whose flight was due to leave ten minutes after ours) ended up with a delayed flight, so they had to wait airside too. Fortunately the staff of American were helpful, and Peter's BA status got us into the Admirals club lounge, where a star by the name of Maureen re-routed us through Chicago. We arrived only a couple of hours later than originally planned: good thing we were booked on one of the early flights [though if we had been flying later perhaps the TSA would have been more manageable?]

As for DC, the passport tale isn't done yet so rather than jinxing myself I'll wait to tell the story until I am able to travel internationally again. The upside was that I saw one of my business school classmates, Faheen (and her eight month old son Zain), and after all the embassy hoo-ha had a beautiful autumn afternoon of wandering around DC to see the White House [tourists + protestors] and war memorials [more tourists + a massive school group]. I have posted some photos and will post more over the coming days.

Oh, and there was *no* line at the TSA in DC, though I had hours of time to spare before my flight. The TSA staff manning the checkpoint I went through told me they'd been on duty for almost an hour and I was the first person they'd dealt with that day [they were a few checkpoints down from the end of the line]. Perhaps Dulles could send some of their extra TSA staff and scanners to Logan?

Regatta, Rugby, Red Sox

While Peter was in soggy Vancouver I had a very sunny weekend of sport in Cambridge.

• The 43rd Head of the Charles regatta was held on October 20th and 21st (photos).
• The Springboks won the Rugby World Cup... I had to text score updates to Peter who was turned away from apparently the only pub in Vancouver showing the match. I am very impressed that he turned into a rugby fan after only watching a couple of matches - goes to show he really is an african at heart.
  
• The Red Sox came from behind to win 4 games in a row and turn a 1 - 3 deficit into victory in the ALCS.

The Red Sox are playing again tonight - Game One of the World Series.

(even as a baseball fan, I still think it's daft to call it the World Series when only [north] American teams compete)

Prague Photos (complete)

The Prague photos are all up now - let me know which ones you like best.

I'm also glad to say that all the South African miners made it out of Elandsrand.

Gold Mines

... just before I go back to bed, saw this story on Google News:

Thousands trapped deep inside gold mine in South Africa
More than 3000 miners were trapped a mile and a half underground in a South African goldmine after the lift shaft was shattered by falling equipment. ...

This is why we only went down to level eight the last time (Peter's first time) we visited Dalny Mine in early 2004. Dalny is Zimbabwe's deepest gold mine: 40+ levels / 1 mile down - shallower than many of the big mines in South Africa. We had to be able to climb out in case the mine experienced one of the unfortunate but increasingly frequent ZESA outages...

I hope all the miners get out okay. The Elandsrand mine is 2.2 km (~1.5 miles) deep, there's limited oxygen, and deep mines get really HOT at lower levels. There were parts of Dalny where the miners set to work wearing only gumboots and safety helmets. Really! While the miners were generally delighted to have visitors, females - including the occasional lady geologist - were not made welcome in those areas.

And part of me wonders what the heck the Elandsrand management were thinking with a mine that deep having only a single personnel-ready lift shaft.

“They are still in good condition but are angry, hungry, frustrated and want to get out of there,” Mr Boqwana said.

Indeed.

Prague Photos

Most of our Prague photos have been posted, and I hope to post the remainder in the next day or few.

Somewhat inconveniently for the viewer, I have not been publishing the posts in chronological order i.e. an 'older' post might appear on the site after a 'more recent' post - so something published tomorrow may be further back in the blog's history than what's already there. (I hope this makes sense... it's 4 am and it's not clear if I'm perfectly coherent).

Apart from innate disorganization there are a couple of reasons for this:

• Collating pictures - we went to the same spots on several days so I took multiple shots of whatever-sight-it-was (e.g. the Astronomical Clock, the Church of Our Lady before Tyn, etc) - to spare the viewer deja vu I've collated the shots for each of these.
• Choosing pictures - I still haven't decided which of the umpteen shots of Prague Castle at sunset to post, but we're getting closer.
• Binning pictures - playing with the new lens I took an awful lot of experimental and simply awful photos. It takes stamina to go through 800+ shots, even when a lot of them are simply junk.

... thanks for your patience gentle readers.

As a side note, even in the shoulder season of early September, Prague was heaving with tourists and Irish soccer fans. This made it tricky to take clean shots - either a tourist/s would pop up in the frame, or there would be a mob of people elbowing for position to take their own shots. The Astronomical Clock is pretty cool, but every hour there would be a horde of people waiting for Death to do its dance - being crushed by a mob is not my idea of fun. From a safe distance it was amusing to watch a gathering crowd of people wait for ages - 20 minutes or more - only to disperse within a couple of minutes after the hour. Clearly marking off boxes on the must-do Prague checklist.

The crowds also explain why I won't be posting too many shots of the old town square or of Charles Bridge as a whole, and why my Týnský Chrám (Church of Our Lady before Tyn) shots are not of the famous front of the church, but rather from around and behind... these angles are more interesting than the usual bog-standard postcard shots anyway.

Oddly while the major sights were overrun with people, there were some very cool spots that were simply deserted. I stumbled on David Černý's Hanging Out entirely by accident, and there was absolutely no one around. The only people in my later shot of the scene are my two companions - i.e. Peter and a Czech mate.

okay, my brain has obviously melted - back to bed for a few hours' sleep.

Prague Leprechauns

Upon our arrival in Prague we went out to Cěrný Vůl and took a nap, then went into the city to the main square Staroměstské Nám.

A surreal sight greeted us: a heaving sea of emerald green- (and sometimes flag-) attired young men. That evening Ireland was playing the Czech Republic in a qualifying soccer match for Euro 2008.

Peter, Nora and Jason decamped to a cafe serving strong Turkish coffee, and I wandered through the Irish crowd. The good-natured slightly drunk young men took me back a dozen years to nostalgic memories of my bartending days in Cork City. Though the Czech police were keeping watch there didn't seem to be any trouble beyond the occasional drink accidentally knocked over.

The Irish fans sang songs, kicked plastic soccer balls around and generally had a good time. They were just happy to be there, with a great atmosphere and no malice in mind. Contrastingly, I doubt I would ever choose to walk through a similar crowd of English soccer fans... Though Ireland lost 0-1 to the Czechs, quashing their hopes of advancing in the tournament, we didn't hear any reports of subsequent bad behaviour.

New Blog

Rather than cluttering up this blog with talk about technology, I've started another - Testing Testing - http://baobabtech.blogspot.com/ - where I can indulge my inner geek and post away to my heart's content about technology and photographic technique (or lack thereof!). I've been playing with the new Nikkor 18 - 200 mm lens, so there's already material for the photo-geeks in the audience.

Though we haven't been posting much about our travels since China, there are subsequent pictures from Cambridge and elsewhere on Images Across The Earth - http://baobabgallery.blogspot.com/. We are off to Prague soon, and I'll ask Peter to provide his usual witty reports.

New (Web 2.0) Toys

As part of my continuing fascination with maps - and justified by my professional 'need' to be on the bleeding edge of mashups and all things Web 2.0 - I've created a Platial mapkit, which is now visible in the blog's sidebar. The sidebar is a bit squishy, and some people may not like the pop-up widget, so here's the link to the original (larger) map at Platial.

I've started out by adding places we've been to recently / that are relatively nearby. Over time I'll try to dredge my memory for locations that are further away / in the distant past. One cool feature is the ability to embed images and url links, so the map and the photo blog are mutually referential. Platial also offers the ubiquitous Web 2.0 ability to add tags and comments. Since the images and stories were from specific times as well as places (duh - this is a travel blog), it would be great if Platial added a date field. For now I've put dates in the comments.

Click-drag the map to move around, hover over the pins to see where they are and a corresponding image. Clicking on a pin will open up a window with more info, where you can add comments too.

Back on the topic of user feedback (I told you I was using 'work' to justify this), unfortunately I find the Platial widget a little... ugly. Orange, while popular among the web crowd, is arguably my least favourite colour, and it clashes with the style of these blogs. Hopefully over time Platial will allow the user to tune the mapkit's colour scheme.

And props to Blogger, which allows one to hack around with things. It seems daft that Typepad charges hundreds of dollars per year to provide the same level of flexibility. Blogger is FREE!

August update

We haven't been travelling much recently, though April brought a wedding in South Carolina, and July a short jaunt to Montreal for the Jazz Festival.

Peter went to Kentucky overnight for work, and I made a trip to New York for visa purposes - both were all work and no photos. Otherwise I've been puttering around taking photos close to home, often of the earth in bloom. Yesterday we went to a local farm for a glorious if windy day outside. We returned with loads of fruit, and lots of photos of bumblebees busily pollinating sunflowers - quite a feat (for bees and photographer) considering that the sunflowers were waving wildly in the wind. Good to have a fast lens!

As noted before, I've been very pleased with the images from the 18 - 70 AF-S DX Nikkor lens. The Quantaray zoom left a lot to be desired and quite frankly wasn't worth carting around China. So I am very excited (though until it arrives a little apprehensive) that I've just ordered the reputedly wonderful 18 - 200 mm AF-S DX VR Nikkor lens. Apparently Ritz Camera has them in stock right now, though they sell above list and sell out really quickly from all reputable vendors. For Nikon enthusiasts interested in more on the lens and where to buy it, see Ken Rockwell's site.

Photos

Our photos are almost all up - just the Yang Tse / Three Gorges left to go.

Photography notes and wishlist

Taking photographs on this trip was not always straightforward.

In the places where we had a formal guide the guide was often focused on charging ahead through the day's checklist. If you're fortunate enough to have your own guide you can ask them to slow down and give you time. Some are more patient than others.

On boat cruises and long drives controlling the angle, timing and framing can be a challenge. The vehicle moves, the angle is enforced, and on large boats or at tourist attractions there are other sight-seers who also want the best angle. Patience, a rapid shutter finger, and a generous frame (which may be cropped) help. Shooting from a moving car can be surprisingly successful.

The best shots are of evanescent moments. Sometimes they simply can't be captured. These be memories.

Most photos were taken with a Nikon D70, mostly with an 18 - 70 Nikon lens. Some were taken using a Quantaray 100 - 300 zoom. Settings varied from fully manual (including ISO) to fully automatic. We also took some snaps with a Canon Ixus/Elph - see the to-be-posted airport series.

Camera wishlist for future trips:

• A high-quality wide angle to telephoto zoom. Our current 100 - 300 lens isn't great and switching lenses is a pain. As well as the obvious distance shots, the zoom enables candid pictures of people without interfering with the subject.
  
• A lightweight but sturdy monopod. I decided not to take the tripod but wished for it on several occasions. Peter's shoulder worked in a pinch.
  
• A Nikon D2Xs. Maybe someday ;-)

O yes - and a tiny light-weight laptop. We'd decided against taking one of our workhorses because of the weight, but it would have been handy for editing photos, blogging, email, checking on weather/flights, and providing entertainment while ill in a hotel.

Traveller's Notes

Or what we learned...

• Carry tissues - you will be grateful.
• Make good use of individually packed wet wipes - you will reduce the risk of getting sick.
• Fancy hotels = expensive services; cheap hotels = uncomfortable beds but cheap laundry.
• Learn to do your business while squatting.
  
• Keep an eye out for others' business on the streets.
• Wear the provided slippers in your hotel room. Either the carpet is already gross and/or your shoes have gross stuff on them.
• Carry a phrasebook and point at what you want to say.
• Don't expect peasants to be able to read. Charades are the order of the day.
  
• Sit in the front seat of a taxi. Say "ni hao" (hello) and either give the driver the Chinese characters for where you want to go or point at the spot on the map. Then pretend you know where you're heading. Steel yourself (remember, you are sitting in the front seat).
• The Shanghainese have cross-cultural taxis taped - many commercial places and most ex-pats have name cards with both English and Chinese addresses and maps on the reverse.
  
• Failing a name card + map, ensure that you have a local phone number for someone who speaks both English and Mandarin. A mobile phone with a local SIM card can be useful too.
  
• Looking both ways before crossing the street is inadequate. Continuously scan all directions as you cross the street. Expect to feel targeted. Aim for where other people / bicycles / rickshaws / cars / buses will have been (as opposed to where they are or may be going). He who hesitates is lost.
• If you master the Mandarin phrase to ask how much something costs you will be quoted a better starting price. Be prepared for Mandarin numbers in response!
• If your Mandarin numbers are as shaky as mine, barter by writing down numbers / punching them into a calculator.
  
• Make copious use of "Xie xie" (thank you) and smiling.
  
• Blonde hair is a magnet for unwanted touts.
  
• If touts don't get the message when you repeatedly say "no thanks" or shake your head, say "Bu yao" ([I] don't want it) or just "Bu" (no). When all else fails say "bu, bu, bu". The touts may look offended, but they will get the message.
  
• Watches offered for sale on the street are fakes. So are brand name bags. Surprise!