Cloudporn

I'm a little stunned to find I do, indeed, have a porn fetish. Apparently there is a new category, "Cloudporn".

I guess this is up there with phonerage and Brangelina... everything can be combined now. I'm just waiting for the day when I can order swour pork with frice from my local Chinese restaurant, or maybe I'll one day be applying for jobs as a ribrarian. Honestly, are we that pressed for time now?

Anyways, I discovered the wonder of Cloudporn on Flickr. Yet another aspect of life I was completely missing out on, unaware that my life was unfulfilled. But for all the time a-wasting on Flickr and sites like it, I have found some things that might impact on my work. For instance - some beautiful images of Ptilotus, a plant which is the focus of one of my RHD students' research.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3383/3424719511_66cd35e910.jpg

Also, I'm finding myself interested in geotagging. This is the process where you assign a geographical location to your image, not just a subject based tag. The anoraks have then spent many many of their precious hours writing code that will allow your geotag to interact with a world map, so that in the end, you can search a map of the world for images of a specific spot.

Take a moment to imagine that. From your chair, you could see actual photographs of a specific location in the world. Not touristy images, not a Hollywood version, but actual images of real streets. Bus stops. Mailboxes. Cafes. Traffic lights. Gardens.