In October of 2004, the Mount St. Helens Volcano went through a period of relatively high activity. The frames that went into this pseudo-movie all happened on the morning of October 4, 2004 within an hour and 15 minutes or so. Please note that I added the sound for dramatic effect and the time scale is highly compressed.

Every once in a while I will tune my browser to the Volcano WebCam, located at the Johnston Ridge Observatory, northeast of the famous volcano, Mount St. Helens. They used to have a very basic low-resolution image a few years ago, but since then have upgraded to a variety of resolutions, including both high and low.

I downloaded this image today late in the afternoon (Pacific Time). Click the thumbnail for a larger view.

They say this about their current capability:

These are near real-time images of Mount St. Helens, taken from the Johnston Ridge Observatory (JRO) using our VolcanoCam Classic camera and the new VolcanoCamHD camera. The (JRO) and VolcanoCams are located at an elevation of approximately 4,500 feet, about five miles from the volcano. You are looking approximately south-southeast across the North Fork Toutle River Valley. The VolcanoCam images automatically update approximately every five minutes.

I have a pseudo movie of an eruption event somewhere - I’ll post it when (and if) I find it. Meanwhile check out the cameras at Mount St. Helens during daylight hours (Pacific time).

Yesterday, I took the little Warthog .45ACP pistol to the range. In all, we put about 100 rounds through her without any ammo feed malfunctions other than when Bob was shooting with the pinkie magazine and he got one round he had to tap and rack. The other 99 rounds went through without incident.

We were using 45 Auto 230 Grain Full Metal Jacket ammo. We have tried several different brands lately, and other than the junk Wolf Russian-made ammo we were using after the last gun show, most ammo acts more or less the same. That is, only an occasional feed problem.

The Wolf ammo was horrid - dirty, smoky and, more than occasionally, prone to stand at attention in the chamber or to hang on the ramp. No more of that for us.

After cleanup, I loaded up the magazines for next week and posed them with my purdy li’l pistol. Click for big.

When we went to the range today, we found all the lanes to be occupied. We were an hour later than our usual time of arrival and the later crowd had already showed up. We were both annoyed when we had to wait. Later, after thinking about it, it occurred to me that there were a lot of people interested in guns and shooting, which is probably not a bad thing. The more people who become avid shooters, the better it will be for all of us as the incoming White House Administration seems like it will try to limit our Second Amendment rights.

Image: The Smiths and the Glocks - click for bigger.

Shooting was pretty much the usual thing. Damsel and I put the usual number of rounds through the guns. She brought her Warthog (.45), S&W 686 (.357) and S&W 908s (9mm). I brought my Glock 30 (.45) and Glock 26 (9mm). We also brought the Remington 870 Security Shotgun (12ga.).

Weird things that happened today:

1. For the first time in over two years of ownership, the S&W 908s actually had a misfeed. Damsel popped the magazine out, cleared the round from the chamber, put the unfired round back in the magazine, loaded it and it fired fine. I suspect, since it was the last round in the 8-round magazine, that the springs may need replacing. We’ll watch it for a while.
2. The Estate 12 gauge rounds we bought for the shotgun were sometimes difficult to cycle and eject. Damsel had to lay the shotgun on the counter at one point and let me clear it out. It’s as though the cartridges are expanding in the chamber after discharge and getting wedged in there a bit. A little extra force pulling back the fore end cleared it every time.

A Local brush fire is now under control, but not before the smoke nearly blotted out the sun. Fine, white ashes continue to fall here, even after sunset. This is how the sun looked mid-afternoon from the back yard. Click to enlarge.

SoCal Edison blamed the fire on a bird. From the Daily Breeze:

Firefighters mopped up the remnants of a 10-acre brush fire this afternoon that briefly threatened the Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall earlier in the day.

Unlike fires raging elsewhere in Southern California, the one on the Palos Verdes Peninsula was put out quickly. It took about 100 firefighters and two helicopters about an hour to extinguish it, authorities said.

The fire was reported at 11:02 a.m. It burned in a canyon near Hawthorne Boulevard and Palos Verdes Drive South.

“It started to go to the city yard,” said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Jeff Vroomes. “That was our priority. We made an aggressive attempt to get in front of it.”

No homes were immediately threatened.

Southern California Edison officials determined the fire was caused by a bird that landed on power lines. After being killed by electricity and catching fire, the animal fell into the dry brush, Vroomes said.

STS-126 is on the way to the ISS. Damsel snapped these from the TV before and after engine ignition.

This is the NASA account the launch thus far:

Go for Launch!
Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:46:20 PM PST

NASA’s mission managers have announced a “go” for launch! The countdown for the STS-126 mission has entered its final moments. Automatic systems at the launch pad will remove the remaining equipment out of the way of space shuttle Endeavour so it can make its climb into space.

Endeavour Soars Into the Night Sky!
Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:07:21 PM PST

Space shuttle Endeavour roared off Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on a spectacular tower of smoke and flames. The STS-126 mission is an extremely ambitious undertaking, highlighting four spacewalks and delivering the heaviest payload in shuttle history.

External Tank and Boosters Away!
Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:09:23 PM PST

The giant orange tank that provided fuel for Endeavour’s climb into space is now empty and is jettisoning from the shuttle. As the tank falls away and descends toward Earth, the tank’s on-board cameras record the process. About two minutes into flight, the solid rocket boosters propelling Endeavour higher into space have successfully separated and gracefully fallen away. Each booster has a parachute packed in its frustum that will automatically deploy after entering Earth’s atmosphere to slow the descent into the ocean. Endeavour has safely attained orbit and NASA mission managers have given the command to proceed with main engine cutoff, also known as MECO. Less than 10 minutes after launch, Endeavour was orbiting around Earth. Within 24 hours, Endeavour will meet up and dock with the International Space Station.

After nearly a half-year, Mars lander and science robot Phoenix goes silent. I posted about this interesting project in ‘Flight of the Phoenix’ Parts I, II, and III. This is the finale, although there is a very remote chance the robot could ‘phone home’ one last time.

Watch the video to see the Phoenix Mars approach and landing animation (courtesy NASA).

From NASA:

Mars Phoenix Lander Finishes Successful Work on Red Planet

WASHINGTON — NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander has ceased communications after operating for more than five months. As anticipated, seasonal decline in sunshine at the robot’s arctic landing site is not providing enough sunlight for the solar arrays to collect the power necessary to charge batteries that operate the lander’s instruments.

Mission engineers last received a signal from the lander on Nov. 2. Phoenix, in addition to shorter daylight, has encountered a dustier sky, more clouds and colder temperatures as the northern Mars summer approaches autumn. The mission exceeded its planned operational life of three months to conduct and return science data.

The project team will be listening carefully during the next few weeks to hear if Phoenix revives and phones home. However, engineers now believe that is unlikely because of the worsening weather conditions on Mars. While the spacecraft’s work has ended, the analysis of data from the instruments is in its earliest stages.

Read the rest here.

Thank you Veterans for your service, your sacrifices, and your spirit. May God bless you all.

Two years ago, Damsel took this shot of the Lomita, California Veterans of Foreign Wars post. Each year, they fly these brilliant colors all over the property. A large American Flag and the POW flag were on the mast high over the post. We get a nice thrill out of their show of VFW patriotism on Veterans Day.

Diffraction and reflections aren’t all the optical tricks this seven-holer can do. Click for big.

This is the ‘Pontiac Chieftain’ hood ornament on the 1947 station wagon that we saw yesterday. It’s an Art Deco classic sculpture in it’s own right. Click the image above for the extra large view.