Category: learning curve

Day 662 – That Comet

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It all seems so long ago now. In a galaxy far, far away.

But it was actually less than 3 weeks ago when the boy wonder and I stood on the front stoop at Suiderstrand and tried to find Comet Leonard somewhere in the vast Western skies over the South Atlantic Ocean.

A little route finding via instructions on the internet and a bit of good fortune, and there it was (sort of) in plain view. Kind of about that far [indicates an approximate distance] across to the left at about 10 o’clock from Jupiter.

Don’t bother looking now, of course.

Things will have moved.

We tried a million (only just an exaggeration) different ways of photographing it, fiddling with the ISO and the shutter speed on most every shot, and given that the wind was PUMPING, the locals had the place lit up – appropriately enough – like a Christmas tree, and we didn’t have any specialist equipment like a tracking mount and the like, I’m fairly happy with the results. A little tweak here and there in Lightroom has made a difference too.

Here are a few of our efforts:

Both at 211mm | 6s | f5.6 | ISO 6400

Yes, some streaking because of the exposure length required to get enough comet action, but actually, that only serves to make it look like it was moving very fast. Which it was of course (see below), but this isn’t whizzing in and out of the stars like you see in a movie or a cartoon. And yes, those two above are crops because even at 200mm, it’s still just a tiny smudge in the sky:

200mm | 8s | f5.6 | ISO 8000

In fact, even at 150mm (the widest my chosen lens could get) you’re still getting quite a good zoom on the thing. I should have taken a shot of the whole sky. The more I think about it, the more I realise that we did well to find it, let alone shoot it.

150mm | 2s | f5.6 | ISO 16000

A quick wave to (and a wish upon) the photobombing shooting star on that one.

Many people (with or without better equipment than me) will have taken many better shots of Comet Leonard, but I don’t care. We went out after dinner, stood in the relative darkness and the northwest wind with a tripod and a basic DSLR and took photos of a little 1km diameter ball of ice travelling away from us at 254,411 kph (70.67 km a second!!) and already 106,909,845 km distant.

Wow.

More Comet Leonard information.

Day 658 – Use it/Don’t use it

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I get asked a lot about the best way to vaporise chicken legs. You do a bit of microbiology and messing around with science, and suddenly everyone thinks you’re the go-to for all things vaporisey (at least as far as chicken legs go).

But I quickly deflect to my default position on this sort thing, pointing people straight to the maker of this video, “NileRed Shorts”.

It’s well worth 1:51 of your time.

Watch and wince…

Fascinating – and terrifying.

For me it was the bit at the end (spoiler) when he says: “There was absolutely nothing left”, and I looked and thought, “Yeah, but it’s just masked by the bubbles. Wait til they clear and….HOLY F!”

Anyway, as the title suggests, I’m just putting this out there for the science of it all.

Use it/Don’t use it.

And by that, I mean… Don’t use it.

Really. Don’t.

Day 657 – Webcams

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We’ve covered the Isle of Man webcams quite extensively on here, not least when some kind soul popped out into the cold to wipe down one of the lenses for me, using – it turned out – a duster on a pole.

Amazing.

Well, now I’ve stumbled across a channel on Youtube on which you can watch some South African (actually exclusively Western Cape) webcams – live.
Strand, Clifton, Ceres, Milnerton and Muizenbeagle are all represented with impressive HD feeds:

…(albeit occasional wonky horizons), and so you can check out the surf, the chicks and the fynbos from the comfort of your home.

Click through to their website and you can view other places like Durban, Pretoria, Kruger National Park and even Tau Lodge where we went, back in… (yikes)… 2007!

Happy viewing, viewers!

Day 656 – Alarm

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It’s the last day of the kids’ summer holidays today. As with all these sort of things, it seems to have gone on forever, and yet also it seems to have passed by in an instant. Covid ruined a lot of the grand plans we had, but we still managed time away as a family, time away with friends, and yes, that little mini-break towards the end of it all.

And even then, it’s worth noting that sometimes not doing anything at all is just as important as doing anything at all.

I have grudgingly set the alarm for foolish o’clock tomorrow morning. I’m not looking forward to it waking me: I’d happily forgotten that that kind of time existed over the last 6 weeks.

It’s been nice.

On the plus side, I am looking forward to a little more rhythm and routine back in my life. Even though I am busier during the school terms, I find that I can also still get more done simply because I have deadlines and a bit of a schedule. And hopefully, that will include a bit more exercise, which I have been putting off because it scares me I’ve been waiting for the kids to go back to school. And because it scares me.

Last year was a tough one, but a good one for the kids. Here’s hoping that 2022 will be better in every way.

Day 651 – Inspired

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If you think I was feeling pretty inspired yesterday, you should see me today. I have revisited Inspirobot after seeing someone on social media using it. Remember those terrible inspirational posters on beige office walls in the 80s and 90s? Now you can make your own… or get this website to do it for you.

Inspirobot describes itself as:

“an artificial intelligence dedicated to generating unlimited amounts of unique inspirational quotes for endless enrichment of pointless human existence”

And, at the click of a button, will supply you with any number of inspirational posters to get you going, make you pause, and… well… inspire you.

I had a few clicks today, and included in my haul were these gems:

The more you have, the longer it lasts, see? Like a viral load in a Covid infection. Or depression.

And:

Aim high. But not that high.

Also, always remember this:

Clearly, it’s sometimes difficult to spot the distinction.

And then finally, these two, which came back to back:

The latter undeniably proving the former.

Sure, there’s plenty of chaff amongst the Inspirobot wheat, but there are enough decent grains to keep you clicking the button and having a good laugh or a surprisingly deep think every now and again.