"It was relatively quiet along the shores of the Big Island in Hawaii for quite some time. But since early March of this year, lava from the Kilauea Volcano flows down again to the coastal plains - which produces new land for the island - and makes the Big Island even bigger. Now when the red lava meets the Pacific Ocean, giant steam plumes rise high in the sky - this makes it so magnificent and absolutely unique to Hawaii. I photographed the phenomenon from land, water and air. A white plume currently issues from the vent - and I was lucky enough to get some shots." -Josef Hoflehner
posted to MetaFilter by notsnot at 10:45 AM on May 8, 2008 (16 comments)

Ever wonder how camera lenses are made? *Almost* justifies the cost of some of these behemoths. via.
posted to MetaFilter by notsnot at 1:31 PM on February 3, 2007 (31 comments)

What can two nerds from Chicago do about the crisis in Darfur? Donor fatigue means the marginal value of each life has effectively dropped to zero. Kill 5 people, kill 500, kill 500,000 - it makes no difference - each added fatality has absolutely no policy impact and won’t change the situation one iota. It’s not that as many as 500,000 (essentially an entire Seattle) have died in Darfur. The horrific thing is that they could kill another 500,000 and nobody will bat an eyelash.
posted to MetaFilter by notsnot at 4:53 AM on December 5, 2006 (95 comments)

Computer Modeling of the large-scale tectonics associated with the Genesis flood...
posted to MetaFilter by notsnot at 5:12 PM on November 28, 2005 (29 comments)

Coolest sun picture ever - sunspot closeup... The Swedish Institute for Solar Physics web site has some other cool pictures. (As an aside, I wonder what equivalent shutter speed, aperture, and focal length would be?)
posted to MetaFilter by notsnot at 1:21 PM on November 15, 2002 (15 comments)