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Archive for June, 2008

 

Land of Enchantment

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

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Northern New Mexico, Taos and the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Southern Colorado

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Forrest near Los Alamos
Canyon near the Los Alamos Mesa
Canyon near the Los Alamos Mesa
Canyon near the Los Alamos Mesa
Canyon near the Los Alamos Mesa
Destiny
Forrest near Los Alamos
Road through forest near Los Alamos
Forrest near Los Alamos
Valle Caldera, New Mexico
Valle Caldera, New Mexico
Water fall in the San Miguel Mountains
Water fall in the San Miguel Mountains
Rattle Snake
San Miguel Mountains
San Miguel Mountains
Warm springs in the San Miguel Mountains
Warm springs in the San Miguel Mountains
Hiking trail in the San Miguel Mountains
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Next Stop – Colorado

Posted in New Mexico | No Comments »

 
 

Club on Wheels

Sunday, June 15th, 2008

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Some people collect art. I prefer to collect interesting people. You can’t party, talk, get high or laugh with art. But you can with the right people

During the past year, Destiny has served as my office, bedroom, lounge and as an impromptu after hours club. Often when the bars close down a few interesting stragglers join me for a nightcap at the motor lounge. Even grown adults like a cute little playhouse on wheels, especially when it has a full bar, a vaporizer and a great sound system

In Taos, New Mexico at a back alley adobe bar, I met a guy who appeared to be the closest thing in Taos to Andy Warhol. I also met a woman who was part Navajo and very in touch with her inner savage.

They followed me back to the motor lounge and the three of us partied until dawn. Then they spilled out the back door into the twilight as a newly minted couple, leaving me with some very strange photos.

To learn more about the Andy Warhol of Taos visit his TraLaLaMedia website. I get the impression he watches a lot of TeleTubby reruns.

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Posted in New Mexico | 1 Comment »

 
 

A-Bomb City

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

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Los Alamos, New Mexico (population 12,000) was created virtually over night on a remote mesa by the US government during World War II in order to develop the atomic bomb.

Within only 27 months and under great secrecy Los Alamos went from breaking ground to rolling out two nuclear bombs for export to Japan. These two atomic bombs, “Little Boy” and “Fat Man”, were dropped by B29 bombers first on Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945 and then three days later on Nagasaki. Both cities were utterly destroyed with over 200,000 people dying within days.

Some claim that these two nuclear bombs ended the war early and thus prevented the need for a conventional land invasion of Japan. In such an invasion an estimated one million US troops would have been causalities, with even more Japanese casualties.

However, others now believe that the Japanese had come to realize the war was futile and were nearing surrender. Thus they believe the use of the atomic bombs was unnecessary.

The project to develop the atomic bomb, which also involved top secret installations in other areas of the US was known as the “Manhattan Project“.

[View as slideshow]
The Road Up to Los Alamos
"Fat Man"
"Little Boy"
Little Boy and Fat Man
Nuclear Fun of Everyone!
Modern Missile
Bradbury Science Museum
What's going on Underground?
Bradbury Science Museum
8 Megabyte "Super Computer"
Nuclear Controversy
Future Rocket Scientist?
Fun with Bombs
Cruise Missile
Dr. Oppenheimer's Street
Park in center of town.
Main Road through Los Alamos
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory
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Today Los Alamos is home to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which continues to be a premier national security research institution. Its primary responsibility is ensuring the safety, security, and reliability of the US nuclear weapons program.

However the Laboratory claims to also help curb a wide variety of threats to U.S. interests such as the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the spread of deadly diseases, inadequate supplies of energy, or the effects of climate change.

It hosts the world’s most powerful hybrid supercomputer built by IBM for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Los Alamos National Lab. It can perform 1.02 quadrillion calculations per second. It gets its power from 12,240 IBM PowerXCell 8i Cell Broadband Engine(TM) processors — derived from chips that power today’s most popular videogame consoles.

Next Stop – Beautiful Northern New Mexico

Posted in New Mexico | No Comments »

 
 

Cliff Dwelling Condos

Saturday, June 7th, 2008

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No one knows for sure why the ancestors of today’s Pueblo Indians disappeared from these cliff dwellings along the canyons in Northern New Mexico around 1,200 A.D. Some speculate that the area became over crowded and could not support the community when long term droughts came about.

But my theory, judging from the many condo like dwellings, is that the area became over built. Then the cliff side condo crazy collapsed, leaving many Indians upside down on their mortgages. This led to mass evictions and there went the neighborhood.

Perhaps there will be neighborhoods in Las Vegas, Florida and California that will suffer the same fate.

Learn more about the official version of the Pueblo Indian Dwelling in Bandelier National Monument.

[View as slideshow]
01 Pueblo Canyon Road
02 Pueblo Canyon Condos
03 Pueblo Canyon Condos
05 Pueblo Canyon Condos
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Next Stop – A Bomb City – Los Alamos, New Mexico

Posted in New Mexico | 1 Comment »

 
 

Santa Fe Style

Sunday, June 1st, 2008

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While so much of the USA has become a soulless string of chain stores and strip malls, Santa Fe New Mexico (Population 70,000 – Elevation 7,000′) has preserved its heart and soul and nurtured it’s own unique aesthetic style.

To wander through Santa Fe is to bask in natural and artistic beauty. Santa Fe exudes good taste and style that is in harmony with its pastel high desert surroundings.

There is no assault of commercial signage but rather thousands of beautiful paintings, sculptures and buildings as well exquisite jewelry and clothing. Santa Fe’s culture is a unique blend of Native American, Hisplanic and Anglo peoples.

Santa Fe was established in 1607, before the Pilgrims even landed at Plymouth Rock in New England. It has the oldest building in the USA, the Palace of the Governors, which has been in continual operation since for over 400 years.

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The serenity, charm and natural beauty of Santa Fe have a attracted world class artists for decades. Artists such as Georgia O’Keefe, D H Lawrence lived and worked on Canyon road in modest adobe studios beginning in the 1920’s. Today Canyon Road is lined with world class studios that contribute to Santa Fe’s reputation as the third largest art center in the USA, right behind NYC and LA.

Canyon Road in Santa Fe

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Next Stop – Cliff Dwelling Condos

Posted in New Mexico | No Comments »

 
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