Saturday, December 31, 2011

Sunset Animation

I went out to photograph sunset tonight and put my pics together into a little animation. I did not photograph continuously so you will notice some jumps as I paused a little bit (I tried to pause when there was not likely to be much action, but I know I missed a couple of potentially interesting moments...the buffer in my camera will fill up if I take too many in a row!)

It was a nice sunset with multiple green flashes as different parts of the Sun disappear behind the jagged mountain. Look closely and you can even see some rare blue flashes and at least once I see some even more rare purple. The blue and purple get scattered more by Earth's atmosphere than green light so it is harder to catch them. Of course we get some great conditions with low humidity and pollution here so you can occasionally catch them. I have never seen them naked eye, only in my pics.


If the weather holds tomorrow night, I am planning on trying to get pics from Windy Point up on the Catalina Highway. I need to get up there more often since the extra elevation can give some interesting effects...stay tuned!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Friday, December 30, 2011

"My PVC Instrument - 'Wizards in Winter'"



Well, that's one thing you can do with plumbing pipes.

Four for Fridays

Hello everyone! Welcome to the final episode of Four for Fridays of the year! Hope everyone had a great year! Here are some questions to ponder...

1) What are your New Year Eve's plans?

2) Do you have any resolutions for the new year?

3) What event did you enjoy the most in 2011?

4) What what you looking forward to the most in 2012?

Enjoy your weekend!

Open Blog - Friday & Weekend


Enjoy your New Year's celebrations this weekend.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my year-end lovelies! How are you? Are you suffering from Post Christmas Stress Disorder? I suggest that you do like Ms. Lizardmom says and keep the decorations up, keep the celebration going. After all, aren’t there twelve days of Christmas? Even more in some religions. So keep the mistletoe growing and glad tidings flowing. All of that last week, that was for everybody else. Now have some Christmas for yourself. Take a break, relax, and soak in the holiday spirit.

Some of you will be imbibing spirits of a different sort this weekend. Happy New Year! If you are indulging, please leave the driving to someone else. I certainly hope that 2012 will be less angry than 2011. Nastiness seems to be the norm now. Oh dear.

Our marvelous and majestic Green Bay Packers won against the Chicago Bears on Christmas. Happy, happy, merry, merry! Next, they face the Detroit Lions on New Year’s Day at noon in Lambeau Field. I predict another holly jolly win.

Psst, have you noticed how little snow we’ve received and how mild it has been? Shh. Don’t wake Father Winter.

In honor of the upcoming New Year, and in the hope of kick-starting that year with some good vibrations, I have selected this video for you. Please enjoy Ian Axel performing “This is the New Year.”



Oh my, that certainly is upbeat, isn’t it? Now I have some hope and love in my heart going into 2012. Bring it on.

Thank you for reading my blog this week. It’s so nice to visit with the JTIs and other friends. No matter how many presents you gave or received for Christmas, you’re all gifted. Your best gift to me is being my friend.

Want to know what your New Year’s resolutions should be? madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

Enjoy New Year’s Eve and Day, my dear friends. Remember, moderation is the key. All my blessings upon you for the coming year. Peace, love and joy to everyone. Madame Zoltar™ commands it. Mythomania!

I think it's someone's birthday...


The day has come for Lizardmom to take a day off work and think it's all about her.
I don't know about being productive...

I wanted to be the first to put it on here, hopefully no one has one pre-set to upload at midnight...
Happy Birthday, Mom :)

Yes, someone has been quite ambitious with the cake decorating this year...

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before...

Okay, I intentionally used the original "No Man" for a reason. It turns out that Dennis Hof, proprietor of the infamous Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Nevada has bought another brothel that he is remodeling with a science fiction theme and will open an Alien Cathouse. Yep, that is where nerds and geeks everywhere can live out their alien fantasies.

I can definitely see the Captain Kirk Suite and the Jabba the Hut with Slave Leia rooms. Not sure how Doctor Who would fit in...maybe a Police Box door to the room for starters. Should have a Millennium Falcon suite in there. Surely all Star Trek versions will be honored in there somewhere.

I am holding out for the zero-g suite personally!

Irregular Football League Final Standings


Congratulations to drewzepmeister and his Racine Irregulars as the Champions. Fred and The Debate Team took second, while hale-bopp's Half-Astrophysicists took third.

Venus and the Moon

Just had to post a few pics of Venus and the Moon tonight. These were taken around Tucson from a couple of different locations over the course of an hour or so as I was running errands, grocery shopping, etc. Enjoy.



Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Useless Information


Did you know:

Colored pencils do not contain lead; it’s all pigment and wax.