Tag: technology

Checking out Top Secret exhibit on USS Midway!

Top Secret: Inside the High-Stakes World of Naval Intelligence is a fantastic exhibit that opened on the USS Midway Museum last year. I finally checked it out a few days ago.

The exhibit takes visitors through the Carrier Intelligence Center, which is contained in a surprisingly large area (1,500 square feet) under the USS Midway aircraft carrier’s flight deck, spanning its entire width. During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, the Carrier Intelligence Center served as the nerve center for intelligence gathering and analysis, mission planning, and strategic decision-making.

Today visitors can enjoy interactive displays that demonstrate how, years ago, in a less technologically advanced era, naval intelligence was gathered and analyzed, to aid combat operations, search and rescue, and humanitarian missions.

Walking through the exhibit, I observed how Intelligence Specialists worked like detectives. It was interesting to see how analog instruments were used to analyze gathered information. Imagine my surprise seeing an old-fashioned slide rule, which was used to calculate the size of structures in photos taken from a great distance! Some of the original, restored equipment includes teletypes and radio receivers.

I learned that specialists who gathered, analyzed and acted upon critical information included Air Intelligence Officers, Aerographer’s Mates, Photographers Mates, Cryptologic Technicians, Squadron Aviation Intelligence Officers… In combat, when every moment might mean life or death, everyone must work quickly and efficiently as a team to achieve success.

Top Secret: Inside the High-Stakes World of Naval Intelligence is so amazing it earned the MUSE Gold Award in the Experiential and Immersive Exhibition category!

If all this sounds interesting to you, head over the USS Midway Museum in downtown San Diego and check it out!

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Over 250,000 miles from San Diego!

You might have heard that the Artemis II moon mission will be splashing down off the San Diego coast on Friday shortly after 5 pm. But did you know you can be watching the mission live during its lunar flyby?

This afternoon I’ve been watching live video from NASA as Artemis II has begun passing around the far side of the moon! It’s the farthest humans have ever flown from planet Earth. Over 250,000 miles!

Right now as I type this they cannot contact Earth due to loss of signal, but as soon as they come around the opposite side of the moon, we’ll hear from them again and see new views! From over a quarter million miles away!

I urge everyone to watch the live feed from NASA as this historic mission progresses. Human eyes are seeing what they have never seen before. You can watch the live feed from the NASA website. Click here!

All my photos are screenshots taken from the live video feed.

Here’s one look inside the Orion manned capsule:

And here’s the Earth–that tiny bright sliver–about to pass behind the moon as the Artemis II mission moves around the moon:

UPDATE!

Later, the crew of Artemis II would watch a solar eclipse–one never seen before! From a point near the moon!

Yes, the moon at their position appeared much larger than the sun. That tiny dot is Venus.

Science will benefit from this unique observation of the sun’s corona.

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AI creates bizarre San Diego weirdly!

Just a fun post.

I thought I’d activate Galaxy AI Drawing Assist on my Samsung smartphone and have it create crazy images of San Diego!

Using the text “bizarre San Diego weirdly” and the pop art setting generated some wild results!

Lots of big surfboards, waves, tacos, hot air balloons, lighthouses, and strange structures, some of which kind of look like San Diego buildings!

Historical police cars at San Diego Automotive Museum!

The San Diego Automotive Museum is now showcasing a fascinating slice of our city’s history. Visitors can check out vintage San Diego police cars!

Yesterday, while roaming about the museum, I came upon these vehicles owned by the San Diego Police Historical Association–the organization that operates the San Diego Police Museum. (Years ago I blogged about the police museum here.)

A complete range of old vehicles is on display. I enjoyed a close look at a very unique 1968 Ford Country Squire Police Ambulance, a 1953 Ford Mainline police car, a 1948 Ford Traffic Supervisor’s Car, and even a 1926 Buick Police “Paddy Wagon.” There are police cars from the 70s, 80s and 90s, too.

Perhaps you’ve seen some of these vehicles in parades or at special events. The San Diego Police Museum boasts a large collection of restored police vehicles. All are in working order. They can be rented out for special occasions. To learn more, visit this webpage.

A few photos taken at the San Diego Automotive Museum…

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Emojis, memes and emotion in Oceanside.

Much of social media is geared toward eliciting an emotional response. Much of art serves the same purpose. An exhibition of art in Oceanside fuses the simple emojis and memes of social media with framed artistic creation.

Neon Afterlife is the title of the exhibition. It can be freely viewed in the Oceanside Museum of Art’s annex gallery inside The Seabird Ocean Resort & Spa, a short walk from the beach and Oceanside Pier.

Pieces by Southern California artists Magz Yang, Jon Savage and Evyn Hewett utilize the “language” of Gen Z and today’s digital pop culture–an increasingly illiterate culture saturated with adrenaline fueled gaming and provocative short videos.

These works of art, like many of the images on one’s phone, might arrest shortened attention spans. They produce an emotional response by using simplistic symbols and bright colors. It’s as if the small screens people endlessly scroll have been splashed onto the gallery walls.

I do love the creativity. And I smiled when I noticed fun is made of the pretentiousness of much social media.

Does an emoji or meme suffice for life’s complexity?

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Unique printmaking art exhibit in Oceanside!

The subject matter for art is infinite, and sometimes it seems like the different paths for creating art are beyond count. That is certainly the case in a current exhibition at the Oceanside Museum of Art. Matrix multiplied: hybrid approaches to printmaking demonstrates that amazing art can be produced by utilizing multiple printmaking techniques.

Eighteen artists are featured in the exhibition. Many of their pieces incorporate different techniques, ranging from traditional handmade printing methods to digital technology. They are truly unique!

No particular theme is depicted among the pieces. You’ll see abstracts, portraits, landscapes . . . art books, hangings, sculptures . . . all produced in ways you might not have imagined. The exhibition is a celebration of artistic skill and creativity!

Go check it out through August 2, 2026!

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Amelia Earhart at San Diego Air & Space Museum.

Amelia Earhart was an aviation pioneer best known for her disappearance over the South Pacific while trying to become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. But some might not know that she became a popular American hero by setting numerous flight records.

Visitors to the San Diego Air & Space Museum will find several displays that recall how she accomplished historic world’s firsts, including the first female solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, the first female solo flight across the United States, and the first solo flight from Hawaii to the United States mainland.

Her portrait can be found in the museum’s Hall of Fame Hallway. Amelia was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame in 1967. This Hall of Fame webpage describes her many successes, including setting multiple speed records.

Visitors can listen to an animatronic Amelia Earhart talking about her life, and view a reproduction of a Lockheed Vega 5B, the type of aircraft she flew while setting many world records. The airplane in the museum was created for the Hollywood film Amelia.

There are also artifacts that show how she was a celebrity in her time, a leader in the fight for women’s rights, promoter of commercial aviation, and a founder of the Ninety-Nines, an International Organization of Women Pilots.

The San Diego Air & Space Museum is a must visit for everybody. It’s crammed full of cool exhibits, representing the dawn of flight right up to present-day space exploration.

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San Diego Takes Flight at History Center!

Every time I visit Balboa Park, I poke my nose into the San Diego History Center. It seems there’s always something new to experience!

In the atrium today I noticed a small, new exhibit titled San Diego Takes Flight! Several displays concern the Curtiss School of Aviation, established in 1911 at North Island, Coronado.

Photographs accompany descriptions of Glenn Curtiss and his students learning about the characteristics of flight on newly invented airplanes, including hydroplanes that took off from San Diego Bay. In that early era, most aviation exhibitions in the United States featured Curtiss graduates flying his planes.

Curtiss’ collaboration with the U.S. Navy in San Diego would be instrumental in the birth of naval aviation.

This exhibit at the San Diego History Center includes the participation of women at the Curtiss School of Aviation and their historic accomplishments.

Years ago, during a walk in Coronado near the Ferry Landing, I photographed a historical plaque marking the birthplace of naval aviation.

To see those photos and read the words on that plaque, click here.

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Vintage cars gather for San Diego Excursion!

Over a hundred fantastic cars gathered in Balboa Park this morning before the start of the 2nd Annual San Diego Excursion vintage car parade!

Cars of every type dating from 1906 to 1941 parked in the lot near the San Diego Automotive Museum, and drivers and passengers dressed in period attire enjoyed looking at each other’s machines.

At nine in the morning the cars would depart Balboa Park and begin the Vintage Car Parade, travelling through Mission Hills, then in a loop through Point Loma. The parade would conclude at Liberty Station, where a Car Show would be enjoyed by the public in the early afternoon. (If you read this blog post in time, perhaps you can see these cars for yourself.)

Today’s looping course through Point Loma would roughly follow the route of a historic car race held back in 1915 to promote the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park. Perhaps you remember how back in 2015 the Point Loma race was “recreated” for the Balboa Park centennial. I posted many photos of those amazing cars here.

The cars participating today in the 2026 San Diego Excursion are listed and can be seen on this webpage.

First, a couple photos of vintage cars arriving in Balboa Park…

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Clocks in San Diego as time flies!

I remember as a young man thinking–with disbelief and amazement–that one day I would be alive for the big year 2000! Now it’s 2026 already.

Yes, time flies. It seems the older you get, the faster it goes.

Here we are on New Year’s Day, January 1, 2026, and this old world just keeps spinning around, like the hands of an old analog clock. (In this advanced digital age, some of you might remember what I’m talking about.)

I thought it would be fun today to link to a handful of past blog posts. They concern clocks and other instruments that tell the time. I’ve made discoveries and taken photographs while walking all around San Diego.

Click the following links to make these discoveries, too…

A closer look: Koester Memorial Sundial at SDSU.

Swiss clock tower rises above San Diego!

The forgotten Seiko clock in San Diego.

The famous Jessop’s Clock coming to Balboa Park!

Clock and flag Welcome to Allied Gardens.

Time (and a cow) flies in Escondido!

History and holidays at Coronado Rotary Plaza.

The oculus at Chula Vista’s Sweetwater Park!

Happy New Year!

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