Thomas Jefferson & Good Government

Posted on by farlane

Detail: Hand and Globe, “Spirit of Detroit”–Detroit MI, photo by pinehurst19475

The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.
-Thomas Jefferson

Happy 274th birthday to the principle author of our Constitution, Thomas Jefferson.

As we head into a recess where we all have a chance to speak with our elected officials, my personal hope is that many voices will be raised in support of this Jeffersonian ideal of good government that seeks to uplift and preserve our health and well-being, particularly in regards to our preserving & expanding access to health care, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and ensuring that efforts to protect the Great Lakes aren’t defunded. You may want something different, so you probably should show up and share your thoughts as well! ;)

View the photo background bigtacular and see more in pinehurst19475’s massive Statues & Sculpture slideshow.

PS: This is the detail of the hand on the Spirit of Detroit by noted sculptor Marshall Fredericks and you can click that link for much more!

Snowdrops and a Bee

Posted on by farlane

Snowdrops and a Bee, photo by Trish P.

Trish took this Saturday on the Leelanau Peninsula. View the photo bigger, see more of the same in Trish’s In the Garden slideshow, and follow her at trishy_p on Instagram!

More flowers and more from the garden on Michigan in Pictures.

Ecorse, Little Venice of the West End

Posted on by farlane

Morning, Ecorse, MI, March, 2017, photo by Norm Powell

It’s always cool to discover new websites about Michigan, and my search for more on the history of Ecorse led me to Mr. Cosbey’s History of Ecorse at the website Along the Detroit River. It was written by  Ecorse High School history teacher John Howard Cosbey and is very comprehensive – here’s a slice:

The River Aux Ecorces appears in history as early as 1763 as the retreat of Pontiac and allied chiefs in the famous plot to rid the mid-west of the encroaching white settlers. It was known also as a favorite burying ground of the Indian tribes in the locality.

It appears, however, on the evidence of birth records and of the statements of sworn witnesses in court that the first white settlements at the River Aux Ecorces were made during the period between 1784 and 1797, probably about 1785.

…The Detroit Free Press for July 2, 1905, tells of the “Little Venice of the West End”:

“All along the river shores from Fort Wayne to the Village of Ecorse, some hardier folks of Detroit who like to keep cool cheaply have boat houses in which they live during the summer. “The Little Venice of the West End,” they call it, and it is truly a colony of resorters distinct in itself.

“The rich may go to Grosse Point, to the mountains or to the sea shore, those of limited means, such as skilled mechanics, clerks, and other small salaried men with families may easily afford to rent a cottage built out upon the piers of Ecorse’s “Little Venice.” There they may have the air and the cool of the river, in fact, all of the real luxuries of a more exclusive colony, and at much less cost.

“Every day the resorters of Ecorse, who have business in the city, travel back and forth on the trolley. And every evening fish, boat and bathe with the women and children before the very doors of their summer homes.”

View Norm’s photo bigger and see more in his slideshow.

Brunching with Bald Eagles

Posted on by farlane

Bald Eagle with Cargo, photo by Jeff Dehmel

Jeff took this shot last weekend in Milford’s Kensington Metropark.

If you’re looking for an alternative to Saturday morning cartoons for kids & adults alike, the CarbonTV Eagle Cam at the Platte River Fish Hatchery in Benzie County has returned for 2017. While it’s a lot of sitting on eggs right now, before too long there will be all kinds of fun as the eaglets hatch and grow!

View the photo background bigilicious and see more in Jeff’s Kensington Metropark 4.1.17 slideshow.

More bald eagles on Michigan in Pictures.

Breaking Fall at Gerlach Point

Posted on by farlane

Breaking Fall – Gerlach Point, photo by Aaron C. Jors

Gerlach Point is located east of Miner’s Beach in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

View Aaron’s photo from fall of 2015 bigger, see more in his Michigan slideshow, and view & purchase more photos at Aaron C. Joors Photography.

Lots more from Pictured Rocks on Michigan in Pictures!

Include Carp River Falls in Your Waterfall Weekend

Posted on by farlane

Carp River, photo by Blondieyooper

How about we all pretend that Mother Nature is not dumping a bunch of wind & winter on us and instead plan a UP adventure??

Only in Your State shared a waterfall weekend itinerary for the Upper Peninsula that includes a super cool 3D Google Earth tour. The waterfalls include Tahquamenon Falls, Sable Falls & Miners Falls in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Black River Falls & Laughing Whitefish Falls.

This waterfall is Carp River Falls about which Go Waterfalling says:

The Carp River makes a noisy, tumultuous journey through Marquette county on its way to Lake Superior. The final 5 miles of the river from Carp Lake to Lake Superior drops over 600 feet and there are long stretches of rapids, white water, and many small falls. At Carp River Falls the river drops over 30 feet while taking a sharp curve.

Reaching this waterfall is not easy, and getting a good view of it requires a precarious climb into and out of the gorge. From Morgan Falls you can cross Morgan Creek above the falls (there is a crude bridge) and follow a rough trail upstream along the banks of the Carp River for about 1/2 mile. You will see and hear lots of white water. The trail goes high above the river when you reach the falls, and there are no good views from the rim, so if you really want to see it, you need to climb down, and then back up.

There are many rapids and smaller falls both above and below the main falls. You could spend a lot of time here trying to see all of them.

Blondieyooper took this photo back in May of 2009, and you can see her daughter to the left. View the photo on Flickr and see more in her very seasonally appropriate Green slideshow.

Automotive Old Guard Leading the Race to the Future

Posted on by farlane

Autonomous Fusion Hybrid research vehicle in Dearborn, courtesy Ford Motor Co

While Uber, Tesla & Google are getting most of the ink, WIRED magazine’s article Detroit Is Stomping Silicon Valley in the Self-Driving Car Race says:

IF YOU’RE BETTING on Silicon Valley stars like Google, Tesla, and Uber to free you from your horrorshow commute with autonomous driving technology, don’t. That’s the key takeaway from a new report that finds Ford—yes, the Detroit-based, 113-year-old giant—is winning the race to build the self-driving car, with General Motors running a close second. Renault-Nissan, Daimler, and Volkswagen round out the top five. Meanwhile, Waymo—aka Google’s driverless car effort—sits in sixth place, with Tesla in twelfth. Uber languishes in sixteenth, behind Honda and barely ahead of startup Nutonomy and China’s Baidu.

That may sound all kinds of wrong to anyone who has seen Uber, Waymo, and Tesla flaunt their tech, and regards Detroit’s old guard as ill-prepared for the robotic future. But it’s the state of the race according to Navigant Research, whose newly released “leaderboard” report ranks these players not just on their ability to make a car drive itself, but on their ability to bring that car to the mass market.

Ford and GM both score in the low to mid 80s on the technology front; it’s their old-school skills that float them to first and second place. They’ve each spent more than a century developing, testing, producing, marketing, distributing, and selling cars. Plus, each has made strategic moves to bolster weak points. Ford just dumped a billion dollars into an artificial intelligence outfit. It acquired ride-sharing service Chariot and invested in Velodyne, a company producing lidar, the laser scanning tech many argue is necessary for self-driving cars. GM scooped up self-driving expertise via a startup called Cruise, and partnered with Lyft to put the eventual result on the road.

Lots more in a great article from WIRED!

View the photo of an autonomous Ford Fusion hybrid bigger on Ford’s website.

More cars & autos on Michigan in Pictures.

Eight Hooter, Rain Owl, Wood Owl, Striped Owl, Barred Owl

Posted on by farlane

Barred Owl, photo by Mark Miller

Those cool names are from the Wikipedia for the Barred Owl (Strix varia). The All About Birds page on Bard Owls says in part:

The Barred Owl’s hooting call, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?” (see video below) is a classic sound of old forests and treed swamps. But this attractive owl, with soulful brown eyes and brown-and-white-striped plumage, can also pass completely unnoticed as it flies noiselessly through the dense canopy or snoozes on a tree limb. Originally a bird of the east, during the twentieth century it spread through the Pacific Northwest and southward into California.

Barred Owls live year-round in mixed forests of large trees, often near water. They tend to occur in large, unfragmented blocks of mature forest, possibly because old woodlands support a higher diversity of prey and are more likely to have large cavities suitable for nesting. Their preferred habitats range from swamps to streamsides to uplands, and may contain hemlock, maple, oak, hickory, beech, aspen, white spruce, quaking aspen, balsam poplar, Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine, or western larch.

Barred Owls don’t migrate, and they don’t even move around very much. Of 158 birds that were banded and then found later, none had moved farther than 6 miles away. (In Michigan, the average range is about a mile)

 
View Mark’s photo bigger and see more in his In My Backyard slideshow.

More owls on Michigan in Pictures.

Detroit Tigers Opening Day & 2017 Home Opener

Posted on by farlane

4 days to opening day, photo by Kevin Povenz

Justin Verlander will take the mound today at 4:10 PM for the Detroit Tigers as the face the Chicago White Sox for their 116th Opening Day. The first game the Tigers played as a Major League team was on April 25, 1901 against the Milwaukee Brewers. Roscoe Miller started the first-ever Tigers Opening Day, a game the Tigers won 14–13.

The Baseball Almanac lists the results of all Tigers’ opening day games. They are 65-50 on opening days with an 11-8 record against the White Sox.

The Tigers’ home opener – fortuitously for the title of today’s photo – is Friday at 1:10 PM against the Boston Red Sox – play ball!

Kevin posted this back in April of 2014. View the photo bigger and see more in his Fun/Interesting slideshow.

More Detroit Tigers on Michigan in Pictures.

Fog rolling over the Narrows

Posted on by farlane

Fog rolling in over the Narrows, photo by Unique View Photography

Here’s a look at North & South Lake Leelanau with “The Narrows” in between. I live just off the right edge of this picture and thought it was pretty cool how the spring fog completely covered Lake Michigan in this picture, creating a lake of fog!

See the photo bigger on Facebook and follow Elijah on Facebook.

More aerial photos on Michigan in Pictures.