Photographed by Taryn Simon, they include nuclear waste giving off an eerie blue glow known as Cherenkov radiation. A mentally retarded white tiger, the result of selective inbreeding. A peek inside the Cryonics Institute in Michigan.

From Wired.com.

Do I have a lot of work to do? Yes. Are squirrels still bothering me? Yes. Am I easily distracted? Yes.

Martin Schoeller doesn’t take the usual glam photos, and his images can be a bit disturbing if you are used to the prettier pictures. From Popular Photography’s Images from 2007.

When I have a lot of work to do at night, I am easily distracted. How could I not go to this page, which tells how to take care of squirrel dental problems. Now I know what a squirrel burrito is.

Scroll down a bit, you’ll find a link that shows how to approach a squirrel with a Dremel hand drill.

Not just one or two, but maybe 10 or 12 all over the yard. From my desk today, I spotted with my peripheral vision what looked like a cat skulking along the base of the fence. Cats I don’t mind. But for the rodents, I have a bowl of overripe fruit to lob, and I can report that a dried up Clementine is not a good substitute for a rock. Although a Clementine will not shatter a car windshield, which I did once with a rock, a smallish one at that.

Missed the squirrel. Perhaps I can construct something like this, and have some fun. Not sure how they did it.

It lingers, the bug. Just when I thought I was free, back it comes this afternoon, a vague queasiness, tiredness, a froggy throat. The runs came back as well.

At dinner, I watched as a family member ate leftover barbecued baby back ribs and hash brown patties. It smelled good, but I was having none of it, even though my stomach was beginning to rumble. Nothing in the fridge appealed, most of it being raw.

We had to run out to Whole Foods, whose pastry department is the best place to get a surprise gift for someone who’s done something very nice for you and isn’t going to send a bill. After I picked out three of the big fancy desserts, including the one shaped like a coffee cup, I headed for the soups/stews island. Rejected most, settled for the turkey.

All this wearing my heaviest coat, which is heavy indeed, the kind with two layers of fasteners. I was happy to see other shoppers wearing overcoats, though none quite as extreme as mine. Then I saw something that made me feel much better, and finely dressed at that.

Over by the fresh mozzarella, highly favored by another family member, a couple was talking to a clerk. The guy was dressed in a light jacket, the woman had on black furry boots that looked to be made of bear. At least six inches thick. I must find these online and post a picture.

The turkey stew/soup was most excellent, I should have gotten the big container.

I began by playing the robot at the Scrabulous site. That was certainly an eye-opening and degrading experience as it quickly racked up huge scores using words I’d never heard of. I was used to family games where we never bothered to keep score.

Over the course of many humiliating losses, I began to consult the online dictionary that comes with Scrabulous. Faced with either all vowels or all consonants, one gets a little desperate against an unseen, highly superior opponent who has access to an enormous vocabulary of obscure words. I never thought of it as ‘cheating’. During family games, we automatically google if someone comes up with a questionable word.

Since three of my Facebook fellow players are from across the pond, they produce words from time to time that are unfamiliar to me, but which I accept without question. It’s all for fun, after all. They do talk funny over there. But then I guess so do we.

But I would never call consulting a dictionary cheating. This particular one does not allow the word ‘toga’, for example, which is puzzling.

Nevertheless, it will be interesting to follow the progress of the Hasbro lawsuit against Scrabulous.

I’m sure there were many preorders for the MacBook Air soon after it was announced. For a few minutes I thought about doing it myself. Such is the power of hype. Now that things have settled down a bit, some, like Paul Boutin at Slate, are saying the Air should have some of the features of the iPhone, including its ability to access the web with tremendous ease.

My old G4 Powerbook is showing its age. I need something that will process my ever-increasing photo processing needs, so I’m going with the 17″ MacBook Pro. The smaller screen of the Air would mean I would have to spring for a separate monitor. Don’t want to lug around a monitor from room to room.

Mired in January doldrums, a bug that won’t go away, an inability to get ahead on work thanks to that bug - this is the perfect kind of film to watch in the evening (after a visit to my tax person). Nothing too deep here, highly entertaining, somewhat nifty special effects, child actors who are not annoying, set in a place where I used to live (Seattle).

Dinner was the leftover beef stew from last week. The meat was more than tender, the potatoes all melty in a tomatoey broth. A big spoon, a big bowl.

Now you might think that this would be news only if the owner were French, for example. In which case, the owner would ignore the cat.

In this case, the cat belongs to a Chinese grandmother, who claims it can say ‘Laolao’, which means grandmother in the dialect of its owner.

It also can say ‘gan sha ne’, which translates to ‘What are you doing?’ Can a cat make the hard ‘g’ sound? Could we see a video, please?

How many cats in the world are asking their non-Chinese owners, ‘What are you doing?’ You have to admit that gan sha ne is probably a lot easier for a cat to say than ‘What are you doing?’ or ‘Where is my food?’

It fits in a mailing envelope, and weighs three pounds less than my current Powerbook G4. Mighty tempting. Mighty. Tempting.

Last week, I made wontons for a photo shoot. I didn’t get around to cooking any, leaving them in a couple of plastic bags in the fridge. At some point over the weekend when I was sick, a family member placed some heavy objects on top of the bags.

Today, I am still queasy, and discovered the wontons. Had I been a bit more careful, I might have a photo op with wonton soup, but alas, they were all glopped together. Even after I dropped them into broth, they insisted on remaining unified. After breaking them apart as best as I could, I have a soup that is unappetizing to look upon, but tasty.

If you can’t get out to the henhouse and seize a chicken to make a proper broth, Trader Joe’s is a fine substitute.

The good news is that it’s not the vomiting thing going around. The bad news is I sound like Alec Baldwin. I chugged half the jug of Tropicana yesterday until my stomach complained of acidic conditions. My errand running ended when I realized I’d best be near a bathroom.

I sent a family member out for toilet paper, because even though I generally stock up, the apocalypse does tend to arrive now and then.

Today, food is not real welcome, which I guess is a good thing.

Just after Christmas, a family member and I went to Orchard Supply, which was advertising storage boxes for $5. These were the right size for me to move around, unless I filled them with books, which I am doing today, even with the upper respiratory. Because the ‘putting away’ frenzy is on.

We found three boxes and no tops. The clerk called a superior, who reported that there was a glut at their other store ten minutes away. We didn’t have the ten minutes to spare. Life, you know.

Fast forward to last week, when Target had the same boxes advertised for a lot less. Thursday night, another family member and I tried to access the ones on a high shelf. After failing, then getting a clerk’s attention, we learned they had plenty of boxes, but no tops.

Do people walk out with extra tops? Is there a higher authority somewhere in the supply chain that decrees, we’re going to send them 100 boxes and 70 tops? Do I have to run out Sunday morning after the ads appear to get first choice?

We got the last ten at another Target. The contents of the garage will be indigo blue. But they will have tops.

Now then. What to do with all the VHS tapes of X-Files and Simpsons that the kids taped years ago.

The beef stew cooked for over four hours while I dealt with taxes. Don’t ask. This is the perfect movie to be entertained by after such an ordeal. While scooping up warm stew full of potatoes, carrots and beef so tender it made me glad I’m not a vegetarian.

I knew the movie would be fun, and didn’t require a lot of heavy thinking. The other choices were Bourne Ultimatum and Jindabyne, neither seemed right for a Friday night.

One patient showed remarkable results within ten minutes after the drug was injected. Experts say that Etanercept, usually prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis, might not have this effect on all Alzheimer’s patients.

If the future isn’t here now, it’s coming very soon. The price? Why, compared to the Mercedes SLR McLaren (just under a cool half mil), it’s a steal. While some might argue that the Mercedes does indeed fly, we are talking flight in the aeronautical sense.

Buyers are apparently lining up. In case you’re reaching for your wallet, make sure you have a pilot’s license.

When I’m in the food picture-taking mode, the fridge is filled with pretty stuff. Currants, blueberries, uncooked but filled wontons. Shrimp patties with salmon and cilantro. Fresh dill. Fresh mozzarella. Creme soda. There would be strawberries, but even in California, January is not such a great time. I know, because I shopped last night in vain.

Outside the fridge, there are wondrous-looking biscuits from Whole Foods. Sourdough rolls from Trader Joe’s. Avocados. Cara cara oranges. Baby yellow potatoes. An enormous assortment of Christmas hard candies.

Of course, it depends on what family members have been trained to recognize as ‘Don’t touch that open-faced sandwich’ or ‘The pudding has stuff that’s not food’. So far, no one has actually eaten anything destined for photographing. Maybe because the grub I usually dish up for meals looks nothing like what I take pictures of.

We were in the city during the holidays, got a glimpse of the spider at the Embarcadero. I’ve written about her before, and am very glad her works can be seen locally.

She is 95 years old.

Just in time for January’s weight loss attempt comes the latest in the M1-5 series, known in the UK as ‘Spooks’. I try to catch up on this kind of British viewing during supper, and lately, it has been the Monarch of the Glen shows, which are excellent for dining to.

But M1-5 is another animal entirely. Dinner tends to gets cold while I sit white-knuckled. It’s the best of its kind that I’ve ever seen, engaging characters, horribly intense situations, breakneck pace. I forget to breathe. Don’t make the mistake of watching the interviews too soon. Or even reading the Netflix descriptions too closely. The writers have no qualms about killing off key cast members.

After a long time away from the show, despairing that I’d ever find out what happens to the crew, now Vol. 5 is out. There’s a ‘long wait’ for the first disc at Netflix. I guess I’d better eat supper while I can.

Some scenes will be painful to watch, but I’m looking forward to the special effects on the Spectors.

The sun was out. This was not in the forecast. Taking advantage, a family member and I headed out for groceries. My rain jacket was still a mess from numerous trips out to take pictures in yesterday’s downpours, so I just wore a waterproof vest. First mistake.

A couple of seconds after leaving the car at Costco, the umbrella inverted itself. Inside, it was as if the apocalypse was arriving tomorrow, with gridlock in the aisles, hostile-looking people pushing carts aside in their rush. At the banana section, one whole side had only green ones. The other side was really picked over. I clumsily pushed one box aside. Second mistake. Immediately, the woman next to me reached over and got the two best bunches. Not a word. I uncovered another box as a man pressed in, waiting to do the same.

I heard a shopper say to his wife that they needed toilet paper. Family members know that I stockpile enough to last till the apocalypse.

I wonder if it fell from near the top of the redwood tree. Lots of heavy branches litter the yard.

A flock swept into the pyracantha bush during a brief lull in the winds. It never stopped raining, and one robin decided to freshen up a bit, shaking out his feathers, and having a drink too. This is taken through a less than clean window with camera settings for indoor shooting.

One of the others decided to keep an eye on me.

Most of the shrubbery bending over double as the storm continues. A section of the fence is down (crap). It’s going to be a long three days.

Water is pooling in the lower parts of the backyard. The house shudders from high winds, and the vent in the kitchen rattles with debris. The power will no doubt go out, fences will collapse and an explosion was heard earlier (transformer?). If anything, the wind is getting more powerful by the hour. The neighbors’ eucalyptus looks ready to fall.

We don’t get storms like this very often, this is the first in a series of three to pummel us through Monday. Up in the mountains, a family member is going to encounter 150 mph winds and no snowboarding, and might be stuck for several days.

According to the Beeb, one trader bought 1,000 barrels to bring the price up, then sold it immediately for a loss. Just to be able to say he bought oil at $100/bbl.

I tell ya, it gets crazy out there.