Not So blue, Blue Moon

Friday[s Moon is just short of full so a full moon is in store for tonight and it is a Blue Moon as well, the last until 2020. Now, the Blue Moon isn't blue, it just means that it is the second moon of the month. I could make it blue, but that is not how it looks in the sky:

A model GIF

This series of shots is of the model Kayla, taken at the 2018 WPPI conference in Las Vegas. I got a chance to shot a bunch of models in a series of photo booths to try out new equipment and lighting. In this case, I was using a beauty dish and constant lighting. I decided to turn this into a GIF as I never did that before. Quite easy actually, although if you are going to do a proper GIF, you should keep the camera level.

Chicago Cultural Center Tiffany Dome

Stepped in to the Chicago Cultural Center (the old Chicago Public Library) to get out of the cold this past winter and saw the Tiffany Dome, restored back in 2008 in all its splendor. This glass dome, the largest in the world, has 30,000 individual pieces of glass. It was evening so no sun shining through but worth a stop to take a look anyway.

Classic Train Store, Medina, Ohio

You don't know how a store like this survives when ToyRUs are closing all over American but here is a classic train store in Medina, Ohio (outside of Cleveland) and it is still open. A throwback to an older style of play. Ormandy Trains and Toys. Even funnier is that they barely have an internet presence. Not surprising as some of these toy trains on display might have been there for dozens of years.

The Beetles

Which was your favorite? I always liked Paul (the middle one) best. Ha. I would freak out if I saw any of these in real life. There is a favorite quote of mine, possibly apocryphal, from biologist J.B.S. Haladen. He is supposed to have said, "The Creator, if He exists, has "an inordinate fondness for beetles".  That always makes me smile and reminds me how little I know about nature. For example, there are about 250,000 different types plants on this planet. However, there are 350,000 different types of beetles. Creationists may have some explanation for this diversity but it is far more easily explained by natural selection (and by the fact that the Beetle is very a resilient creature).  Anyway this display had hundreds of different beetle types and is worth the price of admission alone to the Hayden Butterfly Center in Houston. Yuck.  

Medina, Ohio

Got to visit a small town on the outskirts of Cleveland a couple of weeks ago, Medina, Ohio. Quite a nice town square with some wonderful old buildings.

A sight never seen before....

Here is a sight never seen before. That's because the old low-rise General Growth building is being torn down (you can see a corner of it left) and for now you can see the buildings behind and to the side of it, at least until next year. That is because another disgusting 52 story monstrosity of a steel and glass building is going to be built on the site.  I did not recall that the old building was originally called the Morton Salt Building and almost got a historic designation, which would have prevented the new building from being built. The old building probably wasn't functional in this new modern world. The new building will be occupied by Bank of America as the lead tenant. Change is the only constant.