A couple of months ago I posted a list of websites I visit most mornings.  That has already changed a bit; but there are also a few sites that I visit most late afternoons that might be of interest to readers of this journal.

        One is http://www.vimeo.com which is a kind of YouTube for serious film makers.

        Recently I came across a video there called “Surfing the 4th Dimension” that has been the proximate cause of this post.  It can be found at: http://www.vimeo.com/13831859

        It happens that I also recently watched a more traditional surfing film, BILLIBONG ODYSSEY.

        I think I wrote about this a few years ago when I first viewed it. 

        If so, we probably all have forgotten.

        BILLIBONG ODYSSEY is about big wave surfing.  It is 90 minutes long with about 70 minutes of filler.  But the other 20 minutes are spectacular, especially the opening and closing scenes, which are of the same ride down the biggest wave I have ever seen on film, and far bigger than any I have ever seen in person. 

        Some surfers have a genuine passion for the sea--at least its edges.  In BILLIBONG there is talk about being “in the middle of the ocean” when they are in fact only 100 miles from shore--and that some men have the nerve and ability to ride waves over 60’ has my awed admiration.

        http://www.boston.com/bigpicture  runs groups of striking photos about a single subject, usually one currently in the news.

        http://70point8percent.blogspot.com  is a site I have written about before, and one of only two sailing sites I regularly check.  (The other is my morning visit to http://www.sailinganarchy.com/index_page1.php )

        70.8% is small boat oriented, with a slant toward cold Northern waters, and I often find items there of interest that appear no where else such as the current lead post about sailing Davis Strait.

        http://www.shorpy.com  is an archive of old photographs of life in the United States that was brought to my attention by a Kiwi--thanks, Zane. 

        Three or four new photos are posted each day.  Most date from the first half of last century, but there are some as far back as the Civil War, including one at the moment on page 3 taken after the battle at Harper’s Ferry in 1862.

        http://www.oobject.com updates at intervals with lists of photographs that are sometimes of interest, sometimes not.

        On their current home page my favorites are “world’s largest crowds” and “decayed Olympic sites.”