Dave's Stuff

Finally, Some Solar Activity!

dkodama — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 06:14:45 +0000

Finally, after a couple of years of a virtually spotless sun, we seem to be seeing some significant activity. This shot was taken in late September and closely approximates what could be seen through an eyepiece. I used what has become my standard setup for photographing eclipses – a Nikon D700, 2x teleconverter, and Borg 4″ refractor. 43 frames out of 540 were combined to produce this shot. A lot of images and processing are necessary to show what can easily be seen by the eye! Click on the image for more details.

Cassini Flies Past Saturn

dkodama — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:52:37 +0000

A movie stitched together from real images from Cassini as it flies through Saturn’s system of moons and rings:

http://youtu.be/OpBvM3Tn0iU

Voyage to the End of the Universe (and back)

dkodama — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:47:04 +0000

A nice visualization from earth to the distant reaches of the known universe:

http://youtu.be/17jymDn0W6U
(American Museum of Natural History video)

A nice touch is to see the orbits of satellites, the moon, and planets as we depart Earth.

Vanishing Technologies

dkodama — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:13:36 +0000

The steam roller of progress rolls on…

Nevada Melt

dkodama — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:07:51 +0000

Whatever it is, I keep wondering about the blueprints…

Money Problems?

dkodama — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 04:37:21 +0000

The U.S. government is not the only one with money problems. Let’s hope we don’t also repeat mistakes!

Pacific Barreleye Fish

dkodama — Sat, 29 May 2010 04:09:27 +0000

Imagine finding this on your fishing line!

Click on the image to see deep-sea video footage of this bizarre fish shot by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).

Sawdust Art

dkodama — Wed, 12 May 2010 13:34:46 +0000

Art by Larry — Layers of sawdust in a dust catcher under the table saw.

More “Wheat”

dkodama — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:14:34 +0000

In late December (2009), yet another fairly old “wheat” penny (1927 D) showed up in my change:

It’s not as valuable (from the collector’s viewpoint) as the 1931 S penny I found a few months back, but I’m wondering if someone is having to spend a coin collection in desperate times…

Hybrid Vehicle Done Right — The Chevy Volt

dkodama — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:01:48 +0000

November was a busy month for us from the Electric Vehicle standpoint. In addition to being invited to the unveiling of the Nissan Leaf, we were among a small number of EV1 drivers invited to test-drive the Chevy Volt on Dec. 1! Check out our review of the Volt here:

http://www.eanet.com/kodama/ev-chronicles/other/volt/

Bottom line? We like it!

Stay tuned for more… 12/6 update – 3 more pages of detailed comments at the link above.