Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Technobabble

Warm Hands

Little HottiesDuring the winter months here in Arizona, the temperatures don’t get extremely cold, but to an aging couple, both with arthritic hands, the lower temperatures can bring some discomfort. Add to that the fact that we don’t run the heater in our retirement house, the minor discomfort is not limited to the outdoors.

Damsel suggested that we acquire some hand warmers for those occasions when a little heat might go a long way to relieve the little aches and pains in our hands. I went on Amazon and found these Little Hotties Hand Warmers. I ordered a box of ten pairs of them and today, I opened up one pair to try them out.

It was cool in the office this morning when I activated the pair of warmers at about 10AM. It is now quarter to eight in the evening and these little guys are still warm in the front pouch of my hooded sweatshirt. I have not had cold hands all day and the discomfort due to the cooler temps is virtually nil. We probably won’t need to use these every day while the cooler weather persists, but, on those occasions when the joints are acting up, they will be a welcome addition to the pockets where the hands go when they feel cold.

24 Jan 2016 by Arizona Environment Technobabble

Another Grandson on the Way

Grandson Ultrasound

We have known for a couple of months that we are going to become grandparents yet again. My son called me today and announced that the ultrasound shows a 99% probability that this is a baby boy.

Even though we are already great grandparents, this is the first grandchild from this branch of the family tree. Our son and his wife both had careers to nurture before children, but we’re glad that the blessed event is on the way.

It was especially nice to get this news on Mothers Day. Happy Mothers Day to all.

10 May 2015 by People Retirement Technobabble

The Camera Mode Wheel

Camera Mode WheelI have been in possession of my Canon EOS Rebel SL1 since last December. Damsel has had Canon EOS Rebels for years, but this one is my first semi-serious DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera.

Since I had little experience with DSLRs other than borrowing Damsel’s from time to time, I bought and read “Canon EOS Rebel SL1/100D for Dummies.” The book helped a lot in that it pointed out all of the special features of the camera including the menus plus all of the modes available on the wheel and a few more beyond that.

In this post I will discuss what the Canon manual describes as “creative modes,” which are P, Tv, Av and M seen in the image enclosed by an arc and braces on the upper left side of the wheel in the image. I won’t go into all the other modes available other than to enumerate them. Starting with the green box “A” on the left going counter-clockwise, the fixed modes are as follows:

  • Scene Intelligent Auto
  • Flash Off
  • Creative Auto
  • Portrait
  • Landscape
  • Close-up
  • Sports
  • and Special Scene Mode with a variety of kitschy settings available (snow, beach, fireworks, etc.)

Now for the creative modes:

P is for “Program AE,” which automatically selects aperture and shutter speed for you. If you select ISO AUTO, then this mode is more-or-less completely automatic with the exception that if you want the flash to fire, you must deploy the pop-up wink light manually. The latter is true for all of the creative modes. “P” is the mode I use the most.

Tv is for “Shutter Speed Priority.” Set the shutter speed to get the effect you desire. Long exposure time to blur motion and short exposure time to freeze it. Aperture and other settings are automatic. I have this mode set to a very fast shutter speed for normal use in case I see something moving that I wish to freeze. Switching modes is almost instantaneous while in the field.

Av is for “Aperture Priority.” Use a narrower aperture for greater depth of field. I have this set to a wide aperture to be able to capture objects with a blurred background. It’s good for portraits of people and photos of critters in the desert with attention focused on the subject and drawn away from the background.

M is for “Manual Settings.” The photographer can select both aperture and shutter speed settings. I keep this set for the occasional solar filter photography I do: very fast shutter speed and wide aperture seem to work best with the solar filter I use.

In the few months I have had this camera, I have tried to delve into the myriad functions and modes, but after this short time there is still much to be discovered. Regardless of that, I am very well pleased with the camera.

28 Apr 2015 by Entertainment Photography Technobabble

First Color Image of the Pluto/Charon System

nh-first-pluto-charon-color-image.jpg

NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto released this image yesterday of planet Pluto and it’s satellite Charon. The distance between the imaging spacecraft and the two objects was about 71 million miles when this photo was taken.

At first glance, the colors appear to be quite close to those depicted in space artist Dan Durda’s 2001 illustration (commissioned by NASA) of the planetary system panorama seen here. The reddish color of Pluto is brighter than its grayish companion. Click on the image to enlarge.

New Horizons at Pluto

NASA Press Release:

First Pluto-Charon Color Image from New Horizons

This image of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, was taken by the Ralph color imager aboard NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on April 9 and downlinked to Earth the following day. It is the first color image ever made of the Pluto system by a spacecraft on approach. The image is a preliminary reconstruction, which will be refined later by the New Horizons science team. Clearly visible are both Pluto and the Texas-sized Charon. The image was made from a distance of about 71 million miles (115 million kilometers)—roughly the distance from the Sun to Venus. At this distance, neither Pluto nor Charon is well resolved by the color imager, but their distinctly different appearances can be seen. As New Horizons approaches its flyby of Pluto on July 14, it will deliver color images that eventually show surface features as small as a few miles across.

Some of us have been waiting for fifteen years to see the images from New Horizons. We’re looking forward to seeing more as the spacecraft looms closer.

15 Apr 2015 by Aerospace Astronomy Rocket Science Technobabble

New Pocket Camera

ELPH 140 ISI don’t have a smartphone with a fancy camera built in and my flip phone takes such lousy images and is compounded by the problem of not being able to directly upload them to the computer. I also don’t like to necessarily lug the big camera along everywhere I go, so I like to have a pocket camera with me most of the time.

I had a Canon A1400IS Power Shot for a couple of years, but a few weeks ago I dropped it for the third or fourth time and this time it woke up dead. That prompted me to get on-line for a replacement. I finally settled on this ELPH 140 IS Power Shot which is actually smaller than the one I dropped. It has all of the same features except for an optical viewfinder. I found the viewfinder to be better than the 2.5 inch LCD in sunlight, but I will have to work around that. The other item that I have to work around is the fact that this camera uses a small lithium ion battery rather than the two rechargeable AA cells that I used in the old camera.

The ELPH takes fair pictures, is point and shoot and fits nicely in the ‘technology pouch’ of my cargo pants or shorts as did it’s predecessor. If you click on the link and see a price of $129, I actually paid $40 less for mine. Click on the image above to enlarge.

18 Mar 2015 by Photography Technobabble

Moving the Travel Trailer

Moving Trailer

The big chore today was moving the trailer across the road to the new lot we bought. The new spot is not its permanent storage location, but we moved it there temporarily so the work of building retention walls and paving the RV drive around the house can be done. We had planned to tow the trailer to the lot across the road and had the blessing of the previous landowner, but now, it’s a moot point since we closed escrow over three weeks ago.

This is the first time that we towed the trailer with the new Ford F-150. As soon as we got the trailer electrical cable hooked up to the truck, the electronic readout in the drivers instrument console started reporting information about the trailer. Since I was busy with the move, I didn’t take the time to check out all the data there. I will consult the owner’s manual before the next time we hitch up the trailer.

04 Feb 2015 by Retirement Technobabble Travel Wanderlust

More Camera Gadgetry

Shutter GadgetAs we gain more experience and proficiency in using the new camera, there is the urge to try something different, even if it involves adding a gadget or two (or more). The new camera is equipped with an IR detector which is used in conjunction with a remote control to release the shutter. This is good for a couple of things: (1) taking a group photo in which the photographer wishes to be in the photo and (2) shutter release for long exposures on a tripod without the shake associated with pressing the button on the camera. We acquired the IR gadget last week and it’s in the camera bag now.

Image: NEEWER EZa Digital Timer Remote

The latest gadget, depicted to the right, is an aftermarket electronic programmable remote shutter release that uses the camera’s external shutter release input port. In addition to just being able to release the shutter manually, it contains the electronics to allow programmable hands free operations.

The device has three timers. The first timer can be programmed to set the time to count down a predetermined delay before operations commence. The second timer sets how long the shutter is to remain open and the third timer sets the interval between multiple exposures, the number of which is also programmable.

I can see how this device can be used for astrophotography and for applications where digital noise can be removed using appropriate software. I’m going to read up on applications for this technology and hope that some of them might be of use here and on our travels.

Click on the image above to enlarge.

13 Jan 2015 by Photography Technobabble

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