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Pittsburgh Gigapan

A couple years ago, I posted a Gigapan of President Obama’s inauguration. The detail and resolution of the image was quite amazing. Well, I found another Gigapan I just had to share…

Some folks in Pittsburgh set their sites on a 360 degree shot of our fair city, taken from atop the US Steel Tower in downtown Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh Gigapanorama was produced in conjunction with an on-going project being conducted by David Bear at The STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University. You can see the Gigapan here:

Pittsburgh Gigapan

The sweeping image was taken from 9 and 10 a.m. on Oct 19, 2009 is actually an assemblage of four separate Gigapans totaling 31.3 gigabytes (10.49 gigapixels) of information.

Aw, go ride a bike!

Talk about re-use of industrial sites! This short 5 minute film will amaze you! (Well, OK, it amazes me!) … While Pittsburgh offers a bevy of similar abandoned mills and blighted industrial sites, I don’t see them becoming bike parks in the near future.

Enjoy:

Birds on the Wire

Music is all around us. Sometimes, you just have to add some creativity to see it take wing.

Jarbas Agnelli of Sao Paulo must be a very creative person. One day he saw a simple picture in a newspaper. It was an image of birds sitting randomly on several electrical wires. He thought they resembeld music notes on a page. So he put the image to music. The result… Well, judge for yourself. Beauty, as they say, is in the eye (ear?) of the beholder:

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

83 Years Young

The more things change around us, the more they stay the same at good ol’ PSU.

I was lucky enough to earn my Varsity “S” playing lacrosse at Penn State in the year Joe Paterno served as the school’s Athletic Director (1981). To this day, I regret that his signature does not adorn my official plaque. Instead, it has an assistant AD’s autograph. I always wanted to have Coach Paterno sign it, but still have not gotten around to trying to do so. Maybe I should do it soon… JoePa is now 83 years ol… er, young. And he still says he has another “3-5 years” of coaching in him. God Bless ya, Joe!

What reminded me of my dilemma was a George Vecsey article in today’s NY Times: Coaches Come and Go.

Clip: For coaches, it’s always time to get restless and seek a new challenge when the N.C.A.A. comes nosing around. Whether it was played that way by Carroll, we will discover down the line.

Carroll put in nine years at U.S.C., which is long by the standard of his flighty profession, but Paterno has been the coach in Happy Valley for 44 years, since the regime of Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Quote of the Day

“I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.” 
– Harry Truman

City of Champions! (AGAIN!!!)

Way to go Pens!

Congratulations to the tremendous, tenacious Pittsburgh Penguins!

This year’s run to the Stanley Cup was every bit as enjoyable as Mario & company’s conquests in the early 90s. The best thing about it for me? I loved that just about every single player contributed to the championship… from role players like Tyler Kennedy, Bill Guerin and Matt Cook, to determined scrummers like Max Talbot, Brooks Orpik, Kris Letang and Ruslyn Fedetenko, and finally — the amazing youthful core of Marc-Andre Fleury, Jordan Staal, Evgeni (Mr. “I’m Score” has become “I’m Cup!”) Malkin and Kid King Sidney Crosby. Everyone did their part, played their role, and ultimately contributed to a well earned team victory.

It was also great to hear Mike Lange on the radio. His hall-of-fame energy really makes us feel like we know what these kids are doing on the ice.

What a year 2009 is for Pittsburgh. First Steelers, now the Pens (not to mention the fact our fair city will be hosting the G20 Summit later this year)… We can only hope the success is contagious and spreads to the tennants at PNC Park — now THAT would make for a miraculous year!

Following are a few more select pix that captured the moment for me:

Golf tips from a master … (dancer)

Here is a tremendous instructional golf video I came across today … It features Fred Astaire and his amazing balance, timing and body control. Enjoy:

Aside: I always said my brother Bobby, a Broadway dancer who passed away on Christmas day 1988, was the best athlete I knew when I was growing up. Watching this video brings it all back – Bobby taught himself tap dancing on the concrete floor of our old basement before going on to make his mark on the hardboards of New York and around the world. His commitment to conditioning, his dexterity, his determination, and his coordination were world class. Hard to believe he’s been gone more than 20 years, but his astounding abilities are still dancing fresh in my memories. (Like Fred Astaire, Bobby was NOT a golfer. But had he chosen to play, I’m sure he would have been a scratch player or better!)

5 minutes (and a world) of smiles

Grandpa Elliott, New Orleans, LA

Here is a wonderful video that is guaranteed to deliver a smile…

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2539741

It is brought to us by playingforchange.com – a self-described “multimedia movement created to inspire, connect and bring peace to the world through music.”

Troy-mendous poster

The truth about Troy!

A different kind of Iron City beer

A little corny… But enjoyable still…