Author Archives: momdude

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About momdude

Space cadet | Family dude | Photographer | Music lover | Traveler | Science fiction fan | Hugo Award nominee | Writer | 5x NASA Social participant | KC Chiefs fan | LA Kings fan | Senior Director of Finance & Administration for ALS Network | Member & former staff Finance Officer at the Commemorative Air Force SoCal Wing | Hard core left-wing liberal | Looking for whatever other shenanigans I can get into
August 10, 2019 · 22:28

Hellcat In The Sun

An F-6 Hellcat.

Getting all cleaned up for next weekend, the Wings Over Camarillo airshow.

If you’re in the LA/SoCal area, maybe come and see us. I’ll probably be running around somewhere in the CAF SoCal hangars, down at the west end of the ramp. Stop by and say hello.

This plane, along with our F8 Bearcat, PBJ, P-51, Spitfire, Zero, PT-19s and SNJs and F-24 will all be flying, along with dozens if not hundreds of other aircraft.

On Saturday, the Camarillo animal shelter (on the airport, just down the block from our hangars) will also be holding a “Clear the Shelter” event.

For more information, see wingsovercamarillo.com.

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Filed under Airshows, CAF, Flying, Photography

August 9, 2019 · 23:37

The Rabbit Hole

Being really tired at the end of a long, exhausting week can leave one…vulnerable.

The rabbit hole of the internet and Google searches and Wikipedia and IMDB and all of it can be strong on someone in a vulnerable position.

Which can lead to learning…things.

Start with an innocent Hallmark movie with Danica McKellar, who is cute and smart and has a most interesting and diverse background outside of acting, so I sort of adore her.

Which led to the Oracle of Bacon to see her Bacon Number.

Which led to learning that she also has an Erdös-Bacon number, so of course I had to go see what an Erdös number was.

Which led to me realizing just how freaking rare it is to have an Erdös-Bacon number!

Which led me to find out that she has an Erdös-Bacon-Sabbath number (ESB) of 10.

Which led me even further down the rabbit hole to find out what an ESB is.

Really? REALLY??!!

Albert Einstein has an ESB of only 8, while Danica McKellar has a 10?

So what’s Brian May‘s ESB? A man I consider to be a god walking among us!

Finally, a question that appears to have no simple answer in a Google search or two.

But it’s obvious that his “S” number is 1, since it’s easy to find references to a recent collaboration with Black Sabbath.

And Oracle of Bacon says his “B” number is 3. (Via Joe Walsh and John Candy, “The Strat Pack,” “The Blues Brothers,” and “Planes, Trains, Automobiles,” obviously!)

So can we track down an “E” number for Brian May? Apparently it’s a 7.

So Brian May, lead guitarist for Queen, astrophysicist, demigod, has an ESB of 11.

While Danica McKellar has an ESB of 10. I wonder if she knows?

And if Danica’s ESB is 10 but her Erdös-Bacon number is 6 (E=4, B=2), then what is the “S” that’s a 4?

Apparently even THAT isn’t a questions that can stump Google tonight.

 

 

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Filed under Deep Thoughts, Silly Shit

August 8, 2019 · 23:39

No Context For You – August 08th

It’s a fuzzy picture of a thing.

It’s not a snake. I hate snakes.

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Filed under Photography

August 7, 2019 · 23:56

Another Straw

One thing about last night’s ISS photos is that the field of view is a bit narrower than normal. I was using the generic 18-55mm zoom lens that came with the Canon Rebel XT when I got it in 2005, but I wasn’t using it pulled back to the 18mm setting to get the widest field of view. It was set zoomed in just a bit, at 24mm.

That’s not a preference – that’s a workaround to a lens that’s suddenly getting glitchy. I first noticed it about three weeks ago when we were up in Ventura and the camera kept jamming. I realized that it would only jam when the lens was set to the widest zoom. When zoomed in all the way, it was fine. I played with it a bit and found that there was a point where it would work if zoomed out more. So I’ve been using the lens in that somewhat limited way ever since.

Yesterday I was troubleshooting. I have multiple camera bodies, so it’s easy to tell if it’s the lens or the camera that was going bad.

Same lens, different camera bodies, same problem when used the same way. Seems that it’s the lens.

One more pain in the ass annoyance to deal with.

It’s not much compared to what you see in the evening news. (Assuming you can still stomach the evening news.) It’s a little bit of “first world problems.” (Okay, it’s a whole huge chunk, not a little bit.) If this should be the worst thing that happens this week (it already isn’t, not by a big stretch) I should be grateful. And worst case, the lens dies and has to be replaced, well, I got almost 14 years of heavy use out of it, literally tens of thousands of pictures.

And yet…

Another straw that this camel could live without.

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Filed under Paul, Photography

August 6, 2019 · 21:32

ISS Pass – August 06th

It’s been a few weeks, and while there have been some nice passes earlier this week, seems that this “adulting” thing has gotten out of control and I’ve had no time to “waste” on things like looking at the night sky.

I fixed that tonight.

The only question was whether I could remember all the lessons I taught myself again last month.

(Image from Heavens-Above.com – why aren’t you using them?)

  • Prep and know where I’ll be looking (NE as the ISS is rising, almost due west as it sets, going past the bowl of the Big Dipper, past Lyra near the zenith)
  • Know in advance how big the frame is so I know when to switch to the next setup
  • Set the lens wide open (f 3.5)
  • Set the exposure length (5 seconds)
  • Set the focus
  • Lock the focus so the camera doesn’t try to auto-focus and ruin everything on the first shot
  • Start shooting early and finish late
  • TRUST IN YOUR SETUP AND PREPARATION, FOLLOW THE PLAN!

Action…

(Images combined using StarStaX software.)

Like a boss! There’s the Big Dipper and while the view to the west is just a quarter shade too bright in five-second exposures, it’s not bad. The ISS came up out of that tree exactly where I thought it would. The Southwest Airlines 737 into Burbank on the other hand was not listed on Heavens-Above.com.

Timing was perfect. I “wasted” six pictures (30 seconds) before the first frame that showed the ISS and I shot only two pictures after the ISS departed the upper right corner of the frame.

Flip to the next position, take your time, set it up. Think for a second – is the ISS headed exactly where you thought it was going to go? Maybe make the tiniest of adjustments to the left. And….action!

Just about perfect! I shot two pictures prior to the ISS entering the upper left and two more after it had set in the lower right.

There were a few clouds down over Hollywood and downtown LA, but not enough to make a huge difference. Click on the picture to blow it up to full size (I’m giving you the full-sized, no-compression image, so use it!) and you can see that the ISS was fading into shadow on the last few frames.

And…

AND!!!

Do you see the surprise bonus? That other track, going from the middle right (due south) to the upper left (due north) would be a polar satellite that I caught by accident!

I’ll take it. I might actually have this thing down.

Now to figure out how to do it with the camera mounted on my telescope mount tracking the stars – that would keep the stars from trailing. (The trees and ground will blur, but not the stars.)

Next goal!!

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Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Space

August 5, 2019 · 23:54

Ring Around The Sun (With BBQ)

It seems that the weekends are distinguished from the weekdays only in that they slightly less hectic and crazed and busy. Not relaxing, not calm, not restful, merely the thinnest of shades less exhausting.

This weekend we managed to squeeze in a quick BBQ in 102° heat.

With the kids all grown up and moved out, the grill often seems a little empty and lonely. There’s some joy to be found in having a crowd over and milling about with beverages in hand, conversation bouncing all over the yard, and a jam-packed grill sizzling along with a second shift of assorted fare ready to go on as soon as the first round is off to the table.

While it was hot, there was a thin layer of high clouds. It made it a pain to see the ISS pass later that evening, but there was a nice 22 degree halo around the sun when I turned around from the grill.

It’s the little things. You’ve got to take them when you can find them.

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Filed under Castle Willett, Photography, Weather

August 4, 2019 · 17:19

Lesson Learned – August 04th

A two-day beard on a guy in a Hallmark movie means he’s hunky and sexy and probably the studmuffin de jour. It doesn’t matter if he’s the stick-up-his-ass city guy who’s going to get dumped, the old high school flame, or the small town single dad with a heart of gold who he’s going to be replaced with. Hunky. Sexy. Studmuffin.

A two-day beard on a sixties-something, slightly pudgy guy who just wants to relax a bit for the weekend does not equal “hunky.” Or “sexy.” Or “studmuffin.”

No – think “homeless.” Or “alcoholic.”

Or both.

No, there will not be pictures. A man’s got to know his limitations.

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Filed under Paul

August 3, 2019 · 23:36

Birthday Knight Out

Not my birthday, but our daughter’s, one of those that end in a zero. So we’re the old pharts that got to go along with her and all of her wild and crazy friends to eat with our hands and watch dudes in very extravagant costumes ride horses and pretend to fight with various swords, flails, lances, and maces. (Macii? Maceses? Mace?)

It’s bright and colorful and loud…

…but I couldn’t help but wonder what their worker’s comp rates must be like.

I need to update my usual profile picture, but I’m not sure this is the one to use. I think at the moment I was not only contemplating how I looked in the crown, but the fact that our youngest child is now starting her fourth decade.

I can’t possibly be that old!

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Filed under Family, Photography

August 2, 2019 · 20:44

Naked Plenum & T-Bar

Any number of sins can be hidden above those ceiling tiles, up where the plenum air is rare.

Duct work. Insulation. Pipes. Conduit.

So you thought Bruce Willis might be crawling around up there with a machine gun. (Yes, it IS a Christmas movie, even if you’ll never see it on the Hallmark Channel!)

Highly unlikely, unless Bruce has lost a truly significant amount of weight.

Not sure what that T-bar grid is rated for in terms of weight capacity, but I’ll guarantee that it’s in the tens of pounds, not in the hundreds. It doesn’t take much to bring it all down, if that’s what you’re in the mood for.

Lots of interesting things can be hidden up there, some for aesthetic reasons, some for more mischievous reasons. (Poor Mr. Barstow – never did find that radio we hid up there in high school algebra class one day.)

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Filed under Art, Photography

August 1, 2019 · 23:36

No Context For You – August 01st

I leave myself reminders – then the weight of the world drags my head down to where I can’t even look up to see them.

The chains holding me down are no less strong or real for being non-physical. I have to remember that I can fly, both physically and emotionally, but it’s difficult when there seem to be so many things holding me down, pressing me into the earth and rooting me there like an maple tree.

But the maple releases its seeds as little whirligigs, spinning away on the breezes. Tomorrow I’ll try to remember that.

More whirli needed, perhaps less gig.

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Filed under Deep Thoughts, Paul, Photography