The Historic C.O.D Ranch outside Oracle in Arizona where Automattic held a meetup in January 2008. Winter in the desert is mostly pleasant, during the day. At night it was freezing!

Related Posts

• Junk in the desert
• A place to live in the trees
• Fire!

Inside Biosphere 2, Arizona is a complete ecosystem meant to keep a group of people alive for months on end. That project ended years ago but the building remains and it’s worth a visit if you’re in the area!

Just in case you didn’t see yesterday’s post, 3 hotel rooms going for free on the 25th of September if you’re going to the photowalk the following day! Just leave a comment if you can definitely go and want to be in with a chance to win.

I thought there might be a rush on this but, boy is it proving hard to give away such a good prize! I’ll just have to claim one of the rooms for myself!

Related Posts

• Biosphere 2 desert and sky
• Biosphere 2 Blue
• Wild Woodbine

Biosphere 2 in Arizona, from the outside with clouds.

Related Posts

• Biosphere 2
• Biosphere 2 Blue
• Junk in the desert

These tall evergreens planted in front of a set of small houses in Oracle were almost gone before I saw them. The scene looked bizarre. Tall trees, tiny houses. I wonder who lives in them?

Here it is on Google Maps. Try the Street View, you’ll see two cars pulled up in front of the same house as in my photo. Spooky.

Related Posts

• Haunted Trees
• Autumn Trees
• Margi, of Ladywolf Glass

If you’re living in Ireland, you’ve no doubt noticed that this summer hasn’t been great. Actually, I haven’t. I work at home and looking out my little window at the rest of the world is some days the closest I get to the outside world (almost!)

Well anyway, this is to console you if you’re suffering through yet another flood, or a downpour. It even rains in the desert. Of course, it was late January, and the shower was a light one that lasted about 20 minutes but it’s the thought that counts, right?

In other news, I’ve just released Tweet Tweet, a plugin for WordPress that archives Twitter conversations. It’s been a nerve wracking experience as I’m using a few technologies that I haven’t had much call for before.

Related Posts

• Moonlit Arizona
• The faraway hills of Arizona
• Burning Embers

As Biosphere 2 is a self contained and airtight structure the air inside would expand and contract on warm and cold days which could cause the building to explode or implode!

Two lungs were built to cope with this effect. One of them is pictured above. As the air in the building warmed up the black lung would expand and the roof of this room lowered. When we were there they opened an outside door to ventilate the room and the roof slowly fell. It was quite a sight to see and the draught out the door was enough to make it hard to be heard over the whine.

More on the Biosphere 2 lungs here and here.

Biosphere 2 needed something like a bellows, a lung!
Biosphere 2 would heat up like a greenhouse and cool during the night and during cold, cloudy days. The expansion and contraction would subject the rigid steel and glass structure to enormous pressures as the air inside expanded and contracted. On a hot day, pressure would push out. On a really cold day, Biosphere 2 might implode.

Bill Dempster, Director of Engineering Systems, had an inspired solution, and in time Biosphere 2 got a pair of lungs, or “variable expansion chambers”. The two lungs took the form of graceful hemispheric white domes which protected the liner from wear and tear of the Sun. Both domes, 150 feet away from Biosphere 2 had underground air tunnels connecting them to the main structure. Inside each tank and connected to each tunnel, a gargantuan synthetic rubber membrane with a circular metal top moved freely up and down on a cushion of air.
As air inside Biosphere 2 expanded from the Sun’s heat, it flowed through the tunnels and into the lung, raising its top. As air cooled, the lungs deflated.

Related Posts

• Biosphere 2 desert and sky
• Biosphere 2 Blue
• Growing Wild in the Biosphere

Biosphere 2 lies in the dusty hot desert in Arizona. It was originally designed as a self contained “world” where scientists stayed for an extended period of time. After going through the tour, there’s no way I’d volunteer to spend my time inside. It must have been very difficult being cooped up in one building. The Wikipedia page on the project has a lot more detail about what went on there.

Anyway, the building is very striking to look at, especially as the day was fine and interesting clouds added to the scene.

Related Posts

• Biosphere 2 desert and sky
• Biosphere 2 Blue
• Growing Wild in the Biosphere

I shot this through the window of our car while driving back to the ranch after Automattic’s trip to Biosphere 2 in Arizona a few months ago. I love how the foreground blurs but the background and the sky remain motionless and static. Love the movement.

Related Posts

• Allihies Countryside
• The rolling hills of the Irish countryside
• Electronic waste in the countryside

Another cactus shot from Arizona. I’m sure this is as boring as the flower pics everyone else posts for people who live in the desert but it’s all new to me!
Black vignetting caused by a polarizer!

Related Posts

• Spikey Cactus

Cacti are probably an everyday sight for people living in desert regions, but I look out the window of my office and all I see are lush green trees, an overcast sky and the threat of another shower of rain. They’re an exotic plant for me to see out growing in the open.

They also make for great black and white subjects as the spikes leave great long shadows against the low January sun. Expect more of these in the next few weeks!

A previous spikey photo is a lot different, and creepier!

Related Posts

• Spotty Cactus