Final Cephalopod Render

My class is over and one of the renders I used was this one. After doing some more research this week, I would change the two squid tentacle arms to 2 regular length ones to make 10 of the same type of arms. Also I would add a fleshy hood to the top of the body to keep more like the diorama protrayals in museums.

More Photos from Churchill Downs Opening Day

Here are some more pictures I took on opening day at Churchill Downs, Louisville, Kentucky. Starting off with the Kentucky state flag flying in the in field.

Most of the rest of the pictures are of the 5th race.

Here is how I think I bet the races I saw:

1st race did not bet
2nd race #3 Tarva to show
3rd race #4 Proper Paul to show
4th race #6 Justice For Auston to show
5th race #5 Staton to show

Since I had to turn in tickets, I am not sure about all the horses I picked.

Churchill Downs Louisville Kentucky Spring Meet

Attended the Spring Meet at Churchill Downs on April 26, 2008 which opened the time of racing for the Kentucky Derby. A famous 2 minutes in sports.

The weather was great at 68 degrees F and a nice breeze. The rain came early in the morning but everything was dried out and the track looked great.

I bet on 2nd, 3rd,, 4th, and 5th races always betting for a horse to show. I had winning tickets on 3 races and finished break even in betting.

It was a great time and watching the horses run is always nice.

Here are a few pictures I took of the grounds from our view in the stands, horses racing, horses approaching the finish line, and a view of the finish line and the winners circle.

Microbiology at the BioLab

Here was a neat event I helped out with at the Louisville Science Center today. It was microbiology lab for 7th and 8th graders.

They prepared their own cultures from various things around school. I saw samples labeled AC vent and bathroom floor.

Here is an e coli stained plate that I shot with my camera through a microscope viewer. It takes a steady hand and the correct distance from the lens.


Here is the lab already set up for this morning. Lab equipment in place. I was volunteering with some excellent volunteers and had very good students, teachers, and chaperons.

Daffodils in Sunroom

Trilobites From Speed, Indiana

I was able to find two trilobite heads and a tail at the last KYANA geological society field trip keeping my streak alive at finding trilobites on the last 3 trips out.

These trilobite heads were found at the Essroc Quarry in Speed, Indiana from probably Jeffersonville Limestone formed in the Middle Devonian period. They are phacops trilobites and I would guess since it is only their head, a molt.

Daffodils at IUS

Pyrite Shell

Here is pyrite replacement of some sort of bivalve creature but I am not sure what type of creature it is though. It might be a brachiopod called rafinesquina ponderosa.

I thought it might be a pyrite sun rock that you see coming out of mines in Illinois. The shell features look pretty prominent near the shell edge.

Ancyrocrinus Crinoid from Speed Quarry

Here is the second Ancyrocrinus crinoid anchor I have found. This one came from the field trip I took to the Sellersburg Speed Quarry to collect fossils. It is about 2 cm tall and a little over the 2 cm wide.

The formation it came from was either Jeffersonville or North Vernon limestone.

Iridescent Pryrite

The Geological Society got to visit the Speed Quarry in Sellersburg Indiana on Saturday April 19. We collected a lot of Devonian fossils, geodes, and pyrite.

Here are pictures of two samples of some iridescent pyrite. One is more of a crystalline nodule and the other is cylindrical chunk.

The colors I can see are goldish, reddish, purplish, and aqua blue colors.

My Rendering

It is coming along but still not finished. The semester is winding down with some finals already taken and one left plus two final project presentations.

Plus more work outside of that so I gotta keep truckin!

Archimedes Spiral

Here is a picture of bryzoan that one normally finds out on the ground without the mesh that I assume filtered the water for food.

Below is an Archimedes spiral bryzoan that has some of its filter mesh still attached. It was preserved in a rock so I took some close up pictures.

This picture is at the bottom of the spiral and you can see a fragment of the mesh better.

This looks like a wonderful creature geometrical and would have been neat to see when it was alive.

Picture taken horizontal to show the spiral branches with their remaining mesh fragments.

Another angle view of the bottom mesh layer.

More fossil pictures

These fossils have been posted before or at least two of them. The pictures are new and I was using a tripod with sunlight and an incandescent bulb to take pictures.

The images are of a dawsonoceras cephalopod, crinoid calyx, and blastoid head.

Human Powered Toy Vehicle

At the Louisville Science Center today I picked up a vehicle somewhat had built at the model table and used it in my circuits demonstration. It was a nice design and I used for my morning and afternoon demonstrations. The morning demo was a little different than the afternoon in that I had a chance to change the vehicle frame to incorporate the fan motor horizontally.
Here is a picture from a movie I took of the vehicle at rest at the end of the table.
This picture shows the vehicle moving away from the camera being propelled by the spinning fan as I power it with the dynamo.

The picture below shows the afternoon car with and expanded back frame that shows the rubber band attached motor with the connection wires fastened to the front.

This image shows the morning version with a narrow top frame and the motor attached with 4 rubber bands. The motor started to fall off and one of the rubber bands broke after 16 moved the car down the table.

Neat idea but not built to last.

It was good to see that design work and get some children to think about creative ways to use their toys.

Amaryllis in Bloom

One of the amaryllis flowers is now fully opened and it is beautiful. The camera could not quite capture its true beauty though.

I also include a daffodil from the IUS campus where they are blooming all over the grounds.

Progress on Cephalopod Render