© 2009 Amit Basu
I sort of grew up with SGI (Silicon Graphics) computers during my university years and beyond. There was a time, for a span of some 12 years in my academic life, when I had a SGI machine either on my desk, or somewhere close by. Most of my research was done on SGI machines, and data visualized on its fabulous graphics system.
So, today was a sad, sad day for me. With a lot of regret today I read the obituary of SGI. An once mighty Silicon Valley company, with peak sales around 4 billion US dollars, now got sold for a paltry $25 million to Rackable Systems. This is the end of “beautiful computing” as I knew it.
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© 2009 Amit Basu
We were on our way through the beautifully green four-mile scenic drive near the town of Hilo, Hawaii, when we had a serendipitous moment. Out of nowhere, we came upon a quaint little store by the wayside. It was quaint as quaint goes. Small, shabby, and age written all over it, it was the kind of little shop that one just loves to discover.
We were in that completely relaxed mood where you go around looking at things, and stopping at all kinds of interesting wayside places, because there is no hurry to get anywhere soon. And in Big Island, Hawaii, we were on vacation. We were going nowhere fast.
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© 2009 Amit Basu
Lava deltas are formed when molten lava stream hits the ocean (happens all the time in Hawaii) and creates new “lava-land” as it solidifies. On November 28, 2005, a rather big lava delta in Hawaii Big Island collapsed … I mean, just vanished into the ocean! Now, lava deltas are infamously unstable, and collapse in minor ways every now and then. What makes this collapse special is that fortunately the USGS caught the collapse on video. A 34-acre delta at the East Lae’apuki ocean entry collapsed over a span of five hours, taking an additional ten acres of land with it to its burial place under the ocean waves. The time-lapse video below is amazing. See it for yourself.
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© 2009 Amit Basu
It was a cloudy, cool, and drizzly kind of day, the kind of day you typically want to stay indoors and watch the rain running down the window pane. But we were in Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii, and the weather was no damper for us. We were on our way to hike down to the Kilauea Iki crater, a volcano crater that had last erupted in 1959, and still shows activity in the form of rising steam from many cracks on the crater floor. When Kilauea did erupt in 1959, it was quite a spectacular eruption, as has been described in great detail here.
Kilauea is a stuff of legends. In Hawaiian mythology, Kilauea is where most of the conflict between the volcano goddess Pele and the rain god Kamapua’a took place. Pele is revered all over Hawaii Big Island. Some lava formations are named after her, such as Pele’s tears (small teardrop shaped lava droplets) and Pele’s hair (thin, brittle strands of volcanic glass).
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© 2009 Amit Basu
It was a nice sunny morning in Hilo, Hawaii.
Now, that itself would make a story, wouldn’t it? For Hilo in Big Island is famous for its 140 inches of rain every year. Fortunately, such rain has its rewards too. The area surrounding Hilo is in part what we associate with Hawaii: lush rainforests, abundant greenery, fabulous waterfalls, and a great ocean view.
But I digress. This happens to me often when I talk of Hawaii! : )
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Published on: 11 Mar 2009
By: Amit Basu
Categories: travel
Tags: bay, beach, big island, drive, hawaii, hike, hilo, holiday, lava, ocean, onomea, overlook, scenic, sea, shore, surf, tour, trail, travel, vacation, wave