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Jupiter impacted by another comet or astroid

July 21, 2009 By 1 Comment

In July 1994 the world watched in awe as the planet Jupiter was pummeled several times by fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy. It was the first time in human history that we were able to see first-hand through photographs the impact of two objects in space.

Amazingly, exactly 15 years later it has happened once again. It isn’t clear at this point whether it was another comet or an asteroid that impacted the gas giant, but photographic evidence shows that it has indeed happened. Here are a couple of links to photos and more information about the impact:

http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/jup-20090720.html

Thanks to my brother Glen for the heads-up!

Filed Under: My thoughts on...

Using manual focus for better photos

July 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The Auto-Focus (AF) function of modern digital cameras is simply amazing, especially when using a Digital SLR (DSLR). In most instances shooting in AF mode will result in a sharp, crisp image that rivals the ones you’ll take by focusing manually. But there are some situations in which you’ll get better results by focusing manually, and others where Manual Focus (MF) will be your only practical option. Here are a few tips to help you recognize when you should opt to focus manually:

1 – Low-light photography

Most digital cameras have trouble focusing automatically at night or under extremely low-light conditions. You can usually tell when this is the case because the camera will “hunt” by zooming in and out as it tries to find a clearly defined subject to focus on. If it fails to find one, the camera usually won’t even attempt to take the photo and an error message will be displayed. In instances like this your only option will be to focus manually.

2 – Close-up (macro) photography

All auto-focus lenses have a minimum distance between lens and subject at which the auto-focus function will work properly (usually several inches) . If you place the camera closer to the subject than this distance, you’ll have to focus manually.

3 – Portrait photography

When shooting portraits, it is almost always desirable to ensure that the eyes are in perfect focus, a task that is very tricky indeed when using the camera in AF mode. By focusing manually, you can concentrate on the eyes and get the results you are looking for.

4 – Shooting a “crowded” scene

When shooting a subject in a crowded scene, your camera’s AF will often have difficulty finding the subject that you wish to focus on. For example, if you’re trying to focus on just one of the individuals in a group, you’ll probably have to focus manually to get the desired effect.

5 – Wildlife photography

As in #4 above, photographing a bird in a tree or an animal peeking out of some underbrush will almost certainly require manual focus as there will be branches or other objects for the AF to “find” and focus on.

Conclusion: Sometimes you’ll simply have no choice except to focus manually in order to get a decent shot. To do so using a DSLR, you usually have to flip a switch on both the lens and the camera body from “AF” to “MF”. Many point-and-shoot cameras require you to change a menu setting. Your camera’s user manual will provide instructions if you need them.

Filed Under: Rick's Tips

Birds & Blooms magazine

July 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Do you enjoy working outside in your flower garden? How about enjoying the fruits of someone else’s labor by looking at stunning photographs or watching colorful birds that come around during the various seasons? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then I highly recommend that you check out Birds & Blooms magazine.

Every issue of Birds & Blooms is packed with gorgeous images of birds visiting feeders, birds making nests, birds singing their avian melodies…as well as plenty of beautiful flowers and outdoor creations of all sorts. Check it out!!!

Filed Under: Things I like

40th anniversary of the 1st lunar landing

July 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I remember the events of July 20, 1969 very well. I was all of 8 years old, and I was sitting in my Aunt Ruby’s living room with my eyes glued to the TV set just like the vast majority of my fellow Americans. Eagle, the Apollo 11 lunar module, was descending towards the surface of the moon, and absolutely no one back on the home planet knew for certain exactly what would happen when it touched down. Would it sink up in the moon’s chalk-like soil? Would some unforeseen force cause it to crash or explode? I would find out later that I wasn’t alone in holding my breath until the craft had safely touched down.

So there I sat along with Aunt Ruby, both of us hoping that everything would go as planned with the landing. And so it was. America breathed a collective sigh of relief when they heard these words from astronaut Neil Armstrong: “The Eagle has landed”. Moments later, Armstrong would be the first human being ever to set foot on a heavenly body other than planet earth.

The Apollo 11 lunar mission was arguably the greatest scientific achievement in history. And now, exactly 40 years after Eagle made that ever-so-soft landing on the surface of the moon, we Americans are setting our sights on an even more distant journey. It is our hope and dream to send a human crew to land on the surface of the planet Mars. The Apollo lunar missions were extremely dangerous in their own right, and the round-trip to Mars will be many times more dangerous than they were. But to the “Red Planet” we will go, whatever the cost in American capital and human life. Why? Because God created mankind with an inherent curiosity about the universe in which he placed us, and the burning desire to explore the rest of His worlds.

Filed Under: My thoughts on...

Our love/hate relationship with our sycamore trees

July 19, 2009 By 2 Comments

One of the things that drew Cheria and me to the home we bought a few years ago were the huge, stately trees that stand guard over our large yard. There are several species of trees growing on our property, and we really love the black walnuts and maples that adorn the back and front lawns. But the trees we are most passionate about are the huge sycamores!

These amazing trees average several feet in circumference, and in the summer they are covered with the most beautiful leaves I have ever seen on a tree. And those leaves are humongous – probably about the size of a dinner plate! The thin bark of the sycamore sheds on a regular basis which leaves the trunk covered with colorful splotches, making it vaguely resemble a holstein cow. The huge leaves make sycamores the best shade trees ever all throughout the summer, and then in the fall they cling to the branches long after they have changed colors. In short, these trees are truly awesome, and they add so much to our large yard.

But the sycamores have a few negative traits as well, the most annoying of which are the way the branches simply break off and fall to the ground for no apparent reason. Every time I go to mow the lawn I have to pick up dozens of sycamore branches before I can even begin. And in late autumn all of those big, beautiful leaves fall to the ground and create a mess the likes of which I had never seen before we moved in here. The good news? All of those huge sycamore leaves completely disintegrate and more or less disappear when I run over them with my mower.

Every time we have a windstorm and the yard ends up littered with sycamore branches, I wish we had more maples instead. But after the mess is cleaned up and the yard is mowed, their beauty and the amazing shade they supply makes me happy to have them again. The bottom line: If you want a great shade tree that grows quickly and adds much beauty to your lawn, you won’t go wrong by planting a sycamore or two. Just be prepared to put in a little extra time on yard work. Well…make that a LOT of extra time.

Filed Under: Things I like

Belkin N+ Wireless Gigabit Router

July 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

In a November 2007 post I wrote about installing a Belkin Wireless N router to replace Amy’s aging Wireless G model. To say the least, I was highly impressed with the fast and painless installation, and she was very impressed with the new router’s performance. Well, a couple of weeks ago my own Linksys Wireless G router got taken out by a lightning strike, and I finally had to replace it. I guess I should have replaced it long ago since the wireless connectivity hadn’t worked in over a year, but since all the computers we use in our home are connected via Ethernet cables, I just kept putting it off. Anyway, after the lightning took out our router, I HAD to shop for a new one.

I knew I wanted to upgrade to Wireless N technology, and since our experiences with Amy’s Belkin had been so positive I decided to go with that brand for my own home network. While researching the latest technology, I found out that in the year+ since Amy bought her router the Wireless N specifications had been upgraded a couple of times. The latest technology is N+ with gigabit ports, which is better than the original draft N specification. I finally chose to purchase a Belkin N+ Wireless Gigabit Router with a built-in USB 2.0 port for connecting an external hard drive.

Well, the installation started out just fine as it had with Amy’s Belkin, but when it came time to set up the wireless networking the router stopped working completely. I mean everything quit working, including the wired PC’s that had been working just fine a minute or two earlier. I thought maybe I had messed up the cable internet connection somehow, but I was able to connect to the Internet just fine by connecting my PC directly to the cable modem via an Ethernet cable. I began to wonder if the router had gone south on me…

After spending about half an hour studying the manual and tweaking various settings, I finally broke down and did what no self-respecting man likes to do: I called Belkin technical support. My experiences with tech support in general have been dismal over the years, so I expected the same when I dialed Belkin’s number. And sure enough, after navigating the voice mail menu (I absolutely detest voice mail menus), I was told to wait for my turn to speak to a technician and placed on hold. But before I could even begin twiddling my thumbs, a technician answered and politely asked how he could help me. In less than 2 minutes his analysis led me directly to the setting that I had messed up. After I clicked a link telling the router to “sync up” with the cable modem’s MAC address, I was connected to the Internet, and it has been smooth sailing ever since.

Now I can connect wirelessly to the Internet with my notebook PC from anywhere in the house, from out in the yard, and even from my neighbors yard! It’s a good thing I have the wireless network set up to require a password (something that I highly recommend anyway). Even though all of our computers have Wireless G adapters, there is still an obvious speed boost over the connection speeds we had with the old Linksys. But now comes the thing I like best about this new router…

For a couple of years now Cheria and I have been sharing an external hard drive, with her plugging it into one of her PC’s USB ports and me plugging it into my PC’s Firewire port. Even though it’s physically possible to connect the drive to both PC’s at once, the manual says that doing so could possibly fry the hard drive, one of our computers, or the entire shebang. Needless to say we have always had to be very careful about unplugging the drive from one computer before connecting it to the other one. But since it is now connected to the new Belkin router, we can both use the drive at the very same time! It simply shows up in “My Computer” as another hard drive. I can save a file onto the drive and she can access it immediately. No more sending photos and such across the room on a USB drive or via email. I can even access the drive wirelessly from my notebook. Talk about convenience!

Like I said before, I was extremely pleased with Amy’s new router, and so is she. And I can gladly say the same about my shiny new Belkin N+ Wireless Gigabit Router. I highly recommend it whenever it comes time to replace or install a router of your own. And if the latest technology has made this model obsolete by then, in my opinion you’ll do well to stick with Belkin!

Filed Under: Technology

Another round with Sciatica

July 19, 2009 By 3 Comments

Well, here I go again. Back in 2006 I had a very painful attack of sciatica that lasted for about 6 months. I was finally able to get rid of it by taking a couple of prescribed medications, doing a few doctor-prescribed exercises, and just plain taking it easy. I thought I had gotten rid of it for good (I know, wishful thinking!), but it has reared its ugly head once again.

For those of you who have never experienced the pain of sciatica (lucky you), here’s a brief description. Not an illness in itself, the term sciatica is used to describe the symptoms a person endures when suffering from an irritated or inflamed sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in the human body, extending from the lower back where it exits the spine all the way down the back of the leg to the foot. The pain and burning of sciatica is ALWAYS caused by a problem in the lower back region, but the pain can extend throughout the entire length of the sciatic nerve. Mine does exactly that, but the most severe pain seems to be in my right hip and right calf.

For some, the sciatic pain is most severe when walking, but for me walking is the only way I can get any relief from it at all. I find it extremely uncomfortable to lie down, sit, or stand in one position. For the past 3 weeks I have spent the majority of my time awake just walking around to keep the pain at bay, and by the end of the day I’m as tired as I can possibly be. But the real problem comes when I go to bed. I can hit the sack feeling little or no pain, but I’ll wake up in an hour or so with my right hip and leg so stiff and painful that I have to struggle just to get out of bed. And it stays that way until I get up and walk around for a while.

I went to the emergency room a couple of weeks ago and got prescriptions for a rather powerful pain killer and muscle relaxer, but the help they have been providing is marginal at best. The doc at the ER told me that an MRI is needed to help them determine exactly what’s causing my sciatic pain so that an effective treatment regimen can be developed. He scheduled an appointment for me to have one done – in late August! Looks like I’ll be hobbling around for at least another month.

I don’t think anyone has ever been completely done in by sciatica, but the pain is about as bad as it gets. If you have never had it, I hope you never do. If you have, I can certainly “feel your pain”.

Filed Under: My thoughts on...

Can your PC run Windows 7?

July 17, 2009 By 3 Comments

Well, after years of frustration with Windows Vista, it appears that Windows 7 is just about ready to hit the store shelves. The good news? The vast majority of beta testers tell us that Windows 7 is a MUCH better operating system than Vista – as in faster boot-up times, faster program execution, and greater system stability when compared to its predecessor. The bad news? Windows 7 might not work on your PC as it is currently configured.

As a general rule, if your PC currently runs Windows Vista it can most likely run Windows 7 as well. But if it currently runs Windows XP, maybe it can run Windows 7, and maybe not. How can you find out for sure? It’s simple: Just download and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor from the Microsoft website. The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor will scan your system and inform you about any hardware or software issues that might arise if you upgrade to Windows 7.

It is strongly recommended that you take the following actions BEFORE downloading and running the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor:

1 – Run Windows Update to ensure that your current installation of Windows has all the latest updates installed.

2 – Visit the manufacturer’s website for each of the peripherals that you have connected to your PC (i.e. printers, scanners, etc) and update the drivers to the latest versions.

3 – Download the latest updates for any software packages that you have installed as well.

4 – After you have completed the steps above, make sure all of your peripherals are connected to the PC and powered up.

5 – Download, install and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.

If the Upgrade Advisor finds one or more issues which might affect your PC’s ability to run Windows 7, it will list them and tell you what you need to do to fix the problem(s). Some problems can be fixed (such as adding more memory or a larger hard drive) and others cannot (such as your PC lacking enough CPU  “horsepower” to run Windows 7.

If your PC is capable of running Windows 7, I strongly recommend that you purchase the upgrade version of your choice and install it. If it cannot run Windows 7, perhaps it’s time to replace your PC?

Filed Under: Technology

You know you’re getting old when…

July 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

You know you’re getting old when…

…you can’t bend over far enough to tie your own shoes…
…you visit your doctor more than your best friend…
…OR your doctor has become your best friend…
…you have more hair growing inside your ears than on the top of your head…
…the music you listened to growing up is now played exclusively on the “oldies” stations…
…the “kids” you grew up with start having grandchildren…
…your grandchildren ask what it was like having to watch TV in black & white…
…AND you only had two channels to choose from…
…AND you had to get out of your chair and walk over to the TV to change it…
…the “kids” you grew up with start kicking the bucket at an ever-faster rate…
…AND many of them are younger than you are.

Filed Under: My thoughts on...

The story of a real life treasure hunter

July 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I ran into a guy the other day who makes his living as a real-life treasure hunter. Yes, I’m serious. His name was Steve, and he told me that he got started in the “business” when his dad bought him a metal detector for his 12th birthday. He began by searching for “treasures” such as loose change, watches, jewelry and such at the beach near his home in eastern Virginia. Then, before he even realized it, he was making almost as much each week as his dad made on his job selling cars at a local dealership. Not bad for someone who wasn’t even a teenager yet!

As he became more and more skilled with his metal detector, Steve branched out to other venues such as high school sports stadiums, parks, and hiking trails. Since he was still a long way from being old enough to drive, he would pay his uncle to drive him to “work” and back every day after school and on most weekends. And even after paying for the rides his profits were often in the low 3 figures per week!

By the time Steve was old enough to drive himself to “work” he was averaging around $600 per week in profits. Today he is 27 years old, and he has never worked as much as a day on a public job. He literally hunts lost treasure for a living, and he makes a pretty good living at it indeed. And to think it all started with a $300 metal detector that he received as a gift. Now he is a master at profiting from the carelessness of others. He does go about it in an ethical manner though. On those rare occasions when he finds a valuable object that can be traced back to its owner, he makes every attempt to return it.

As a kid I used to daydream about finding lost treasure just like the treasure hunters in the old movies and cartoons that I watched on TV. While I seriously doubt that I could ever become as successful as Steve, I just might buy a metal detector of my own some day and give it a try!

Filed Under: Technology
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