god, shaw, you're brilliant!!!!

and, no, not obscure.

Yours is better.

Stand really still and make a sound like a headlight?

Seconded!
Just keep your hands off my plums.

But...they were so cold and good...sorry!! :blush:

I am fortunate enough to have a significant other who holds season tickets to the L.A. Lakers games. We sit pretty much near the top of the arena, but it's still thrilling to get to see epic rivalry like the Lakers vs. the Celtics (I used to live in Boston).

Of the Lakers, my favorite player is Pau Gasol. The look of intensity on his face here makes the whole shot.
Attachment 28668

Attachment 28669

Nah, I'm just totally tubular!

Fer shure!

Tube gate lover.

Saturday's sunset @ 60 mph

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4114/...520c15e0_b.jpg


on black

Making it look like a cell tower, Woody. :D

Yeah..Kinda like a living telephone pole. Only for a bit. It had to come down and did soon after I took the picture. The pine had a major bug infestation and I was afraid of it coming down.

"Hey mom, what are you doing?"
"Taking pictures for the treasure hunt thing..."
"Oh, ...'cause it looks like you're playing with Legos."

That's funny Jinx.

I've read two threads and got two chuckles for far.:D

Taken in Yarner Wood / Dartmoor during my recent holidays:

Some flora (moss and foxglove)

.... and some fauna.

Come on...Admit it...You played with the Legos, didn't ya?

Playing with different long-exposure settings, I fell bass-ackward across a couple interesting pics while watching Ferguson...can't remember who these people are, but I think the guy was high.

http://www.georgevidas.com/artpark/trombone_shorty.jpg

Trombone Shorty @ Westcott Theater, 7/20


http://www.georgevidas.com/artpark/shakerboarder.jpg

The Manlius Shakerboarder @ that corner every night this summer from 4-7.

Trombone Shorty?, I will have to look him up.

From wiki

He was great, and his band was tight. I was impressed both with their skills and their showmanship. Made me excited again for (the idea of) New Orleans.

Good pic.

Scriv are you UK-based?
I think there are more Brits here than I realised...

Pics from the back garden.

ooooo - ! Nice spiderhouse!

Hi SG, wish I were. As it is I'm going for second best and travel in the UK for four weeks every year: Hiking - music - friends. I love it!

Praise from Brianna is praise indeed - I thought you were a spider hater!
For real haters, the web is little wider than a handspan, so the spider would probably fit on a thumbnail.
HEY, PM some of us next time!
If you want I mean...

Seriously - depending on circumstances I'd travel to meet you.
And the 'rents are always up for meeting foreigners.
Well, Mum is. Dad would drive.
From your post I understand you have your own friends here, but this is an open invite to Dwellars outside of Bucks: even if it's just a half hour GTG, I'll do what I can to make it.

I'll exact the same in return of course :)
You just wait til my ship comes in...
I'll sofa-surf the US until I've worn out my welcome in each and every Dwellar home.
And after that week...

PMed you, SG :)

A while ago on a whim I picked up this silly lens, a f/8 500mm mirror. On my DSLR it's effectively a 750mm lens.

I don't own a tripod, and it's manual focus, so getting sharp photos out of it is tricky, and anyway I don't think it's that sharp of a lens.

But the moon sure is pretty tonight.

http://zrv.tumblr.com/photo/1280/859...4amc8dW1qckh8l

I agree, the moon tonight is spectacular, and I'm impressed at your steadiness of hand.
Here in PDX we have rain or clouds 7 or 8 months of the year, so the summertime night sky is quite a treat for us.

I am curious about something (astronomical).
In the Google Images pics below, the image on the right was taken in Iowa,
and the one on the left was taken by an observatory in Sydney, Australia.

But I was expecting that the view of the moon from "down under" would be a vertical rotation.
That is it would be an upside down view compared to what we see here in the US.
If not, why not ?

Took me an hour to work out. Hope I'm right.

The part of the moon that seems "up" to you is dependent on both where you are on earth (lattitude) and whether the moon is near the horizon or at it's highest.

If you are standing on the equator, the bit of moon that is the top when the moon's rising, will be at its bottom when it's going down.

If you are standing near either of the poles, the same bit will always on top. What is top for the "Southerner" is bottom for the "Northerner"

If you are standing at some lattitude in-between, it is a mix of the two effects. When the moon is rising, both persons (say 52 degrees north and 52 degrees south) will see similar bits "up", as they are both looking East. At the highest, they will see opposite points "up". When it nears the horizon again, the two views will converge again as both are looking West.

Nice links:
Lots of astronomy questions answered
Yahoo group on astro photography

you're looking at the same thing from effectively the same place.

try this. pick something in the far distance. A building, in your neighborhood. Now, stand on the sidewalk in front of your house and look at the building. See what it looks like? Good memorize that. Now get a ladder and climb up onto your roof. Look at the same building. Does it look familiar? Why? Because you're looking in almost almooooost exactly the same direction from each vantage point.

Same thing happens downunda. we and they are looking at the same moon, of course, from essentially the same perspective. why would it look upside down? Both of us are looking UP from the ground to see it. if you want see it spin upside down, you'll have to rotate yourself. Just stand upright, moon overhead is physically easiest, and turn in a circle watching the moon. Be careful! don't spill all the moonlight.!!

@Scriv: OK, I follow some of what you say, but it'll probably take me more than an hour to get the rest. Thx.

@ V: I'll be careful... I really don't want to get covered with moon-goo.

Oh dear, moon goo? Is that what he told you it was...?

Thanks for the explanation chaps.
Like LL, I'll still have to think it through any number of times, but it makes sense on an immediate level.

Some of the better photos from my trip to the Wolf Sanctuary of PA on Saturday night. Enjoy!


http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...9/IMG_1797.jpg


http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...9/IMG_1812.jpg


http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...9/IMG_1799.jpg


http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...9/IMG_1796.jpg


http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...9/IMG_1800.jpg


http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...9/IMG_1844.jpg


http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...9/IMG_1839.jpg


http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...9/IMG_1866.jpg




And by the way...the fingers feeding the wolf are NOT mine...they belong to one of the volunteers...and still do. :)

very nice!

Some need to get that wolf a toothbrush.

Pretty dogs!

Thanks Tulip but even the ones that look like dogs are at least 60% wolf. I wouldn't want to try to leash one up and take it to PetSmart. :D

That really looks like a neat place. Wolf Sanctuary homepage.

It really is Griff. The wife and I are going back down for our anniversary in October. They actually have a B&B on the property as well.

That's 'cause your wife likes the wolf whistles. :lol:

Damnit...and here I thought it was ME they were whistling at. :blush:

Hihi....I know they're wolves. I just think they look like pretty dogs. :p:

The twins

bebeeeeessss are cyyyuuuutteeeeeee

They are, aren't they? Jinx, I didn't know you have twins.

I like the textures of the first, and the simplicity of the second.

Tulip, those are jinx's niece and nephew.

I spent a good amount of time trying to figure out what that ghastly wound was on the boy's arm, until I finally identified Ronald McDonald's terrifying--err, smiling face.

On the other hand...you'd probably get put to the front of the line at Petsmart. "Well, I can wait in line and my "dog" might eat several of your other appointments or....":eek:

Oh, hihi...sorry, Jinx. :p:

Hehe....Hey, what kind of dog is it that look kinda like a wolf?

When I was little, we had an Australian Cattle Dog and all of our neighbors though it was a hyena. So mebbe that would work?

Those wolf pics are awesome. My brother's inlaws have a half wolf, half malmut that's mag freaking nificent. Great animal. Real pretty and a super howl. :-)

Must have been around 40 years ago, my uncle brought up a couple of wolves in his home, bottle-feeding them from cubs. The family toddlers, my cousins, were playing with the animals. Can't find the photo negatives that must be drifting around the house somewhere. - Here's a newspaper clip when the wolves were 3 years old.
Eventually the neighbours became a bit nervous and my uncle gave them away to a zoo. (The wolves, not the neighbours)

Cool, Scriveyn. He should have done it the other way around...put the neighbors in the zoo. I've only known 2 people who had wolf/dog hybrids. I work with one whose just died. I don't know that I would want the responsibility. I have enough with a German Shepherd, a pit bull mix and a Yorkie. And yes...they all get along GREAT!

That's the nice thing about dogs - they don't judge us just because our face is all pixelated.

Your uncle looks a lot like a guy I saw on "Cops" once...

Ay, he does get around :D