Monday, May 19, 2008
Oodles Of Doodles CCCXL
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5/19/2008 05:39:00 PM
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Thank You For Not Smoking
I'm not sure why, but I found this hilariously funny. I spotted this cigar-loving cop at Tropical Heatwave Saturday night. He was wandering around making sure things didn't get out of control, and every time I saw him, he had this huge stogie between his teeth. I never saw it lit, so I suppose he wasn't smoking on the job, but it's a fine line.
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Ernie
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5/19/2008 05:22:00 PM
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Friday, May 16, 2008
Oodles Of Doodles CCCXXXIX
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Ernie
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5/16/2008 07:28:00 PM
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Not Flying In Circles
Several weeks ago, I went to Airfest 2008 at Macdill Air Force Base. I've been reticent in posting any pictures from that event, but I stumbled across one today that I thought was worth sharing. The photo above shows a WWII B-25 bomber flying by, in what must have been a common sight on the back in the day, but it's not something you see much of anymore. What makes this photo a little unique and worth sharing is the fact that the prop on the right side of the plane (to your left) is not blurry. It's in as good a focus as the rest of the picture. Look close and you'll see that the left prop is blurred by it's motion (the blade tips are moving at close to the speed of sound). What's going on here? Well, as the pilot made this particular pass, the RH engine was shut off. If you look really, really close, you can also see that the blades on the prop have been feathered so that they point into the oncoming air. This lowers the wind resistance and keeps the engine from being forced to turn over. I always figured the plane would be impossible to control with an engine on only one side, but I guess I was wrong. Learn something new every day. Check the photo below for the same plane on a different pass, and you can see that the prop is again in motion after he restarted that engine.
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Ernie
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5/16/2008 06:08:00 PM
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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The Results Are In
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Ernie
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5/14/2008 06:27:00 PM
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Oodles Of Doodles CCCXXXVIII
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Ernie
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5/14/2008 06:01:00 PM
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Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Oodles Of Doodles CCCXXXVII
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Ernie
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5/13/2008 07:05:00 PM
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Oodles Of Doodles CCCXXXVI
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Ernie
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5/13/2008 05:54:00 PM
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Monday, May 12, 2008
Oodles Of Doodles CCCXXXV

I'm doing my best to get on a roll here and throw up a bunch of doodles while I'm in the mood. I think finding this one is the reason why I got in the mood to post some of these again. Isn't this just a great little piece of art? These happy drummers hail from the flipside of Steel Drums (HiFi R817, 1959), credited on the label as 'Live Recording of Native Steel Drum Group'. I can't say much for their record keeping or cultural sensitivity, but at least they gave us a great doodle. And if you look close, you'll see the name of a great doodle artist at the base of the palm tree at far right. F. (Frank) Page is a name that has popped up here many times (1, 2, 3), and it always brings a great doodle with it. I think this is the first time it's shown up on this label, previously showing up on Capitol and Dot. Oh, the sun below is actually from up above the scene below, but I wanted you to see the funky drummers first. Sorry if I confused anybody.
Curious little side note for anyone who cares. This LP is marked with a red rubber stamp on the back that states: "Specially recorded in Trinidad for AREYTO Record Shops", and the right side of the stamp is some sort of Aztec or Mayan-looking mask. Does that mean anything to anybody?
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Ernie
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5/12/2008 07:36:00 PM
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Sunday, May 11, 2008
Oodles Of Doodles CCCXXXIV

As the boys from Led Zeppelin said, It's been a long time. But I'm back with a new doodle or three, my first since February. Just because I haven't been posting them doesn't mean I haven't been collecting them though. There are dozens and dozens of records around here that have great doodles, and I want to share them all with you eventually. Good things take time. The three doodles here for you today are all from the back of Les Baxter-Baxter's Best (Capitol T1388), a collection of tracks from the Godfather of exotica. Looks like I previously featured a doodle from a Les Baxter LP here. I've posted so many of these things now that I have a hard time remembering what I have and haven't posted. I've got to use the search feature to see what I've already done.

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Ernie
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5/11/2008 08:17:00 PM
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Thursday, May 08, 2008
Eddy Arnold, RIP
Countrypolitan crooner extraordinaire Eddy Arnold passed away this morning at the ripe old age of 89. While I can't say he's a blog favorite, there are plenty of his records down in the archives. And if you're looking for some small tribute to him, I've shared out a couple of Christmas items from him around here. The first is a USAF promo from sometime in the late 60s or early 70s. He also turns up on a US Navy promo from sometime a little later. I hope you enjoy these little tastes from a great artist.
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Ernie
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5/08/2008 07:18:00 PM
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The Big Time

Those of you who visit regularly may remember the sculpture above, entitled Pulse, and you might remember my involvement in getting it manufactured. Well, they finally issued a program for the show, featuring photographs of all the artworks and bios of the artists, and guess what? They used one of my pictures instead of a shot by the official photographer! How cool is that? I didn't know they were going to use it, or I may have worked on it a little harder. Like move those little signs you see in the picture that warn people not to climb on the structure, or maybe try to get a better sunset in the background. But it's still a great picture.
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Ernie
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5/08/2008 07:00:00 AM
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Tuesday, April 29, 2008
And I Quote
From Roger Ebert's review of Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle, "The only hamburger worth that much trouble when you're clean and sober is at Steak 'n Shake." I couldn't agree more. I knew I bought all those books for a reason.
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Ernie
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4/29/2008 08:06:00 PM
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Monday, April 28, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Support Your Local Eagle
As part of the Earth Day festivities at Oscar Scherer State Park last Sunday, they brought out this bald eagle. He's a permanent resident of a local sanctuary, and they bring him out to show the majesty of these beautiful birds. You see them on the backs of quarters, and maybe in the opening animation on The Colbert Report, but how often do you get to see these guys up close? Never, that's how often. Well, maybe not never, but rarely. And Sunday was your chance. They really are magnificent. No wonder they selected the bald eagle as our national bird. They're much more exciting than some dumb old turkey.
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Ernie
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4/21/2008 07:35:00 PM
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Unprocessed Thanksgiving Dinner
For only the second time ever, I saw a wild turkey on Sunday. The first time was quite a few years ago when I was first starting to get interested in digital photography. A buddy and I took my new 1 megapixel camera out on a small road trip, and one of our stops was a dirt road that ran up into the Green Swamp a short ways. Off on the side of the dirt road, I spotted a turkey and got a single shot that's only slightly worse than this one. But I knew that great things were coming if I only practiced with that camera. And that brings us to yesterday and my second turkey. This gobbler was on a trail at Oscar Scherer park. I spotted him as soon as I came around a corner. I thought at first it was a single sand hill crane, but I watched him for a second and figured out what it really was. I slowly started trying to get closer for a better shot, but a couple of other hikers walked past me and straight towards the bird, causing him to run off into the bushes. I would have liked to gotten a better picture, but there's always next time. Even if it takes 6 more years...
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Ernie
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4/21/2008 07:27:00 PM
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What Is A Balloon Glow?
Gather 'round kiddies, and let Ole Ern tell you about the balloon glow. It was about a week and a half ago when I was at the Sun-N-Fun Fly-in, and I came across a few of these hot air balloons, all filled up with hot air, as is their way. But nobody was going anywhere because they were tightly tied to the rear bumpers of large pickup trucks. Every so often as the hot air in the balloon turned to lukewarm air, the operator would pull a handle overhead and release a generous helping of flammable gas into the balloon. At about the same time, he would flick a lit match up over his head, igniting the flammable gas and creating a giant fireball. As it got darker, these fireballs would light up the inside of the balloons, creating the glow I spoke of earlier. Now you know. It's hard to tell, but the balloon all the way on the left would be glowing if it weren't made of a dark fabric. I don't know why they included such a dark colored balloon in their glow. I guess they didn't want to exclude anyone...
Posted by
Ernie
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4/21/2008 07:14:00 PM
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A Thistle Among Flowers
Sometimes you've got to zoom in as far as you can go to get right to the heart of the matter. I found this thistle blossom on the side of a runway at the airshow last week. Even though there were hot-air balloons taking off over my head, I had to get down on my hands and knees to shoot the flower at my feet. Beauty is where you find it.
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Ernie
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4/21/2008 06:12:00 PM
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Home Sweet Hole
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Ernie
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4/21/2008 04:57:00 PM
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A Wing And A Prayer
I didn't download the pictures I took on Saturday until Sunday night, and I didn't look at most of them until today. So I didn't know that I had this great pelican picture until just a few minutes ago. I shot this guy near the New Pass Bridge at the south end of Longboat Key. As you can see, the water is starting to get that great shade of green again. I need to get out and take more pictures!
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Ernie
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4/21/2008 08:20:00 AM
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