Also well known as the Sunflower galaxy, M63 has a few distinctive features.

It has fluffy looking spiral arms, referred to as 'flocculent'.

Plus it has this odd looking dark dust lane running along the front left edge as seen in this image.

Another feature of M63 which makes this galaxy so memorable is it's bright core, reported to be a thousand light years across and 6x brighter than the rest of the galaxy. This bright core is thought to contain a supermassive black hole with a mass upwards of 850 million Suns!

Found in the constellation Canes Venatici it lies about 27 million light years away from us.

Boring techie bit:

Skywatcher Quattro 8" with f4 aplanatic coma corrector. Skywatcher EQ6 R pro mount. Altair Starwave 50mm guide scope & ZWO asi120mm guide camera mini.

ZWO asi533mc pro cooled to -20c gain 101.

Optolong UV/IR 2" filter, ZWO filter drawer, ZWO asiair plus.

57 exposures of 180s each.

Darks, Flats & Bias.

Stacked and processed in PixInsight.

Kizuna and Sakura discuss how we tackle certain themes here at the Lab.

- - - - -

Created for the Flickr Friday theme, PARALLEL, and the Crazy Tuesday theme, DIAGONAL.

Per Wikipedia, Grosvenor Arch is a unique sandstone double arch located within Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. It is named to honor Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor (1875–1966), a president of the National Geographic Society.

Techie stuff: 107 minutes of 30-sec exposures stacked with StarStaX, Canon 5D Mark III, ISO 2500, Canon 14mm F2.8L at F2.8. Light-painting on the arch compliments of a passing car. (Hard to believe: this is on a dirt road 10 miles from nowhere at 11 pm.)

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Taken in 1974, when I was a size 14, and I still kept the skirt till a few years ago!

And now it really IS my first pic on here, only appropriate, eh?

Just a bit of techie stuff, the pic was taken with a Werra V camera, a pretty rare device, and I still have it. I developed and printed pic myself as I had all the correct stuff to do, and back then it was a lot easier to do than risk getting the films processed elsewhere!

Double Arch, Arches National Park. My Flickr friend Don Cook and I went out to do the night sky through Double Arch but we spent so much time uh trying to get the light painting down that I used up my hour I had planned to do a startrail. So I went back a couple of nights later. The sky had some light clouds passing through, accounting for the distortion particularly on the planet at the far left. All in all, it was still a lovely evening.

Techie stuff: Canon 5D Mark III, 14mm F2.8L, ISO 6400, 30 sec at F2.8 x 130 exposures stacked.

I found a place to download some fonts, found the one that I thought would work, downloaded it and managed to install it. It only works with photoshop, but that's what I wanted it for today. Then I coloured the letters and set up the shot using a macro ring. If I wasn't busy the rest of the day, I'd re-set it up, and shoot it on my lightbox rather than the kitchen counter - I didn't 'see' that the pattern of the countertop made the white paper look off... I was needed in the kitchen, so yada yada yada... Have a great day everyone!

An intermediate barred spiral galaxy first discovered by William Herschel on the 6th of April 1785.

At 41 million light years from us this stunning galaxy and it's neighbours, NGC 4747 bottom right of centre and NGC 4712 to the left and just above 4725, can all be found in the constellation Coma Berenices. There are a few fainter galaxies dotted about as well.

NGC 4725 is 100,000 light years across, a similar size to our own Milky Way.

All data gathered at www.astronomycentre.org.uk/

Boring techie bit:

Skywatcher Quattro 8" Newtonian Reflector steel tube with the f4 aplanatic coma corrector, Skywatcher EQ6 R pro mount, Altair Starwave 60mm guide scope, ZWO asi120mm guide camera mini, ZWO asi533mc pro cooled to -20c gain 101, Optolong UV/IR 2" filter, ZWO filter drawer, ZWO asiair plus.

180s exposures.

34 light frames.

Darks, Flats, Dark Flats & Bias

Stacked and processed in PixInsight & Affinity Photo.

An emission nebula in the constellation of Cygnus, lying about 5,600 light years away.

Boring techie bit:

Skywatcher Quattro 8" Newtonian Reflector steel tube with the f4 aplanatic coma corrector, Skywatcher EQ6 R pro mount, Altair Starwave 50mm guide scope, ZWO asi120mm guide camera mini, ZWO asi533mc pro cooled to -20c gain 110, Optolong L'enhance 2" filter, ZWO filter drawer, ZWO asiair plus.

180s exposures.

Best 90% of 50 light frames.

Darks, Flats, Dark Flats & Bias.

Stacked with DeepSkyStacker and processed in PixInsight & Affinity Photo.

This is an open star cluster in the constellation of Auriga. Sometimes called the Salt & Pepper cluster.

It was first discovered in the early 1650's by Giovanni Battista Hodierna. Later to be independently discovered by Charles Messier in 1764.

The cluster lies 4,511 light years away from us and is estimated to be between 350 and 550 million years old. Quite a few red giants can be seen within the 500+ stars that make up the cluster.

The best time to observe M37 or NGC 2099 as its listed in the New General Catalogue is the months of December, January and february.

Boring techie bit.

Skywatcher quattro 8" S & f4 aplanatic coma corrector

EQ6 R pro mount guided with an Altair 50mm & Altair GPcam

Canon 450D astro modded with Astronomik CLS CCD EOS APS-C clip filter. Neewer Intervalometer used to control the exposures.

70 - 80 second exposures with the best 75% stacked in DeepSkyStacker with calibration frames.

All other processing done with StarTools

I managed to get three targets in this shot thanks to the little Asker FRA400 scope and the 533 sensor. Located in the constellation of Cassiopeia.

All data was gathered at www.astronomycentre.org.uk/

They are: NGC 7635 the Bubble Nebula. Discovered by William Herschel in 1787 it lies about 7,100 light years away and spans about 7 light years across.

NGC 7538 Northern Lagoon Nebula is the bright patch to the lower left. This is a stelar nursery some 9,000 light years away. It is actively forming proto stars, many of which are 40 times the mass of our Sun.

M52 open star cluster.

Also given the NGC 7654 tag.

Discovered by Charles Messier in September 1774. Sometimes called The Scorpion cluster lies about 5,000 light years away and is the only one of these 3 targets that can be picked up in a pair of binoculars.

Boring Techie bit:

Telescope: Askar FRA400

Mount: EQ6r pro

Camera: ZWO 533mc pro

Filter: Optolong L'eNhance.

Guided and controlled by the ZWO asiair+

Best 80% of 138 light frames 120 seconds each.

Stacked with darks, flats, dark flats & bias with DSS.

Processed using Graxpert, PixInsight & Affinity Photo.

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This is the second part of my video blog (vlog?) recorded on Tuesday 23 May 2017 when I finally had my first experience of venturing out in public dressed as a woman. I had christened myself ‘The Terrified Tranny’ as I will admit to several doubts about the whole idea, the prospect of stepping out in public was as mortifying as it was exciting.

In the first video flic.kr/p/V7xZgc my thoughts as I headed out in the car were recorded and it ended with my supportive and wonderful female friend gently persuading me to step out of the car. This video starts later that day in which I recorded my thoughts and feelings about how it unfolded.

I was a bit nervous about heading into a shop and being filmed so asked my friend to use a small GoPro camera which she held at waist level to hopefully make it less obvious. The resulting video is a bit wobbly and the camera angle far from flattering but it did the job and my first moment out as a woman was recorded.

There were further technical issues with this second video in that I was so elated about what I had done as I sat down to record my thoughts I forgot to turn on my microphone and ended up only having the distant audio recording from my phone. I was outdoors near a busy road and the traffic passing is somewhat intrusive on my dialogue.

So all in all a bit of techie disaster but in essence a special moment for me a a transvestite, I had got over my barrier and actually ventured out. Even today, I ca still hardly believe I did it, the video proves to me I did, it was quite an emotive experience but one I m thrilled to have had.

I feel sure my next time out in public as a woman will be more relaxed and I can settle in a bit more to being Helene the woman, but that’s all for the future. I confess I am excited and very much looking forward to the next trip out as a woman.

Futaba enjoys the dusty, dirty, dangerous game of urban exploration.

- - - - -

Created for the Toy Sunday theme, EXPLORATION.

Thanks to Joyce van der Linden for the background.

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Copyright Susan Ogden

I have no idea what these are, but i love that they felt the need to pose in the same position in height order for me as i was walking by! So cooperative these dried curly grassy things!!

have a lovely Thursday....i am trying to figure out how to get photos that were backed up, out of my Time Machine backup, because doofus that i am, i believe i accidentally just trashed the newest sets i took this past week....sigh.....i have no time for this nonsense!! i need to get a techie brain installed SOON!! i want to cry or say some very naughty words about now......

+

Day 49 - February 18, 2010

Third Installment of my Boy Behind The Lens Series.

The love affair began when I purchased my first iPod. It was one of those iconic white ones, with a scroll wheel, a mono-chromatic screen and twenty gigabytes of disk space. Five iPods, 2 iPhones, and about half a decade later here I am an Apple evangelist, fanboy, or whatever else they call people like me.

But more than just being a lover of all things Apple, at heart, I am a true blue techie, a lover of all things that have to do with technology and gadgets. From pocket video cameras, gaming consoles, gizmos and what have you, I love it all, these are my toys and my passion.

I have dabbled in web and graphic design, blogging, micro blogging, podcasting, and non-linear video editing. Nowadays I bring that knowledge in multimedia into my own profession with work in Digital News Gathering (DNG), social media and hosting a tech segment on TV. Its really great because I get to do something related to what I love and am passionate about.

Some friends call me the "tech guy", you can do the same if you want. And as part of the package if you have a tech question, need buying advise, or my thoughts on a particular device, or Internet service don't hesitate to send me Flickr-mail, I love to teach and help people out.

PHOTO NOTES: I've always known that I wanted to do an Apple themed shoot and earlier today while trying to figure out how I would implement my concept, my red iPod nano caught my eye. I've always loved the color of my red nano and today it really has served as the inspiration for this diptych. I knew I needed color since my keyboard was black and the apple logo on my MacBook Pro is white on silver.

To add red to the keyboard I basically made a large white canvas on Photoshop, enough to fill the screen and then filled it with red, also placed a large red bag against my laptop so the color would reflect on the backlit keys.

To add red to the Apple logo I basically shot this in the dark, waited till the logo dimmed from full brightness (it does this for a few seconds before the screen eventually goes black to save power), and then added the red tint using my iPhone (again opening up a white canvas and filling it with red).

Awesome Large On Black | Twitter | Facebook

EXPLORE #17 - February 19, 2010

EXPLORE FRONT PAGE - February 19, 2010

View On Black and Large. They type F11, and F11 again to exit.

What do you see when you look at the water? Boats on the water? Twlight reflections and lighting?

I often walk my dogs to this park, where I can see this lovely view of Coconut Grove harbor, as well as the lovely park grounds and other vistas. It's such a peaceful spot, and many people pause here to take in the lovely panorama across the water. This photo is my first somewhat successful twilight shot. I'm trying to learn more about twilight and night-time photography and welcome all tips. I let my camera rest on a railing, and then I followed a tip given me by Terry Grealy (http://www.flickr.com/photos/33113103@N03/) to use either a remote shutter device or self-timer feature. So, I tried my self-timer feature--and this came out much better than others I've tried. I don't have a tripod- and don't really want to carry one around. I still have much to learn-- but this is light years beyond where I was before, and did not even bother to post- so bad. I set my Cannon Powershot 630 for a night scene (think it provides a longer exposure-- I'm not a techie here), and used the timer-- to delay the picture-- and voila. Less movement in the photo. I love the twilight- and it's nice to be able to capture some of the beauty I see at twilight.

3/19/09 #2423

Also known has the Whale galaxy.

Just above the Whale can be seen a small elliptical galaxy, designated NGC 4627.

The whale galaxy lies approx 25 million light years away in the constellation of Canes Venatici.

Data captured at The Astronomy Centre, Todmorden, UK. 30/03/2024.

www.astronomycentre.org.uk/

Boring techie bit:

Skywatcher Quattro 8" Newtonian Reflector steel tube with the f4 aplanatic coma corrector, Skywatcher EQ6 R pro mount, Altair 60mm guide scope, ZWO asi120mm guide camera mini, ZWO asi533mc pro cooled to -20c gain 100, Optolong L'enhance 2" filter, ZWO asiair plus.

180s exposures.

Best 70% of 54 light frames.

Darks, Flats & Bias.

Stacked with DeepSkyStacker and processed in StarTools & Affinity Photo.

With an autumnal mist in the air class 73 no. 73111 stands at Waterloo with the 10.52pm service to Southampton on 14th October 1977.

More of a parcels working than passenger service there was plenty of opportunity en route to get off, set up the tripod, and take a couple of night shots. It was even easier if you were able to sneak a cab ride as I was lucky enough to on a couple of occasions.

For the techie minded I shot this on Agfa CT18 for 24 secs at f8 with an 80B filter

Also known as NGC 7822, The Teddy Bear Nebula. Found in the constellation of Cepheus and lies about 2,500 - 3,000 light years away.

Can you see the 3D?

Stare at the middle of the image and try to go cross eyed. You should see a third image start to appear in between the two, whilst going ALMOST cross eyed, try to focus on the middle image.

Any luck?

Still struggling to see it?

Try moving a little further away from your screen.

Boring techie bit:

Skywatcher Quattro 8" Newtonian Reflector steel tube with the f4 aplanatic coma corrector, Skywatcher EQ6 R pro mount, Altair Starwave 50mm guide scope, ZWO asi120mm guide camera mini, ZWO asi533mc pro cooled to -10c gain 100, Optolong L'enhance 2" filter, ZWO asiair plus.

Darks, Flats & Bias.

Stacked with DeepSkyStacker and processed in StarTools.

The best part of these long nights is sharing a cozy meal out with a cherished friend. This is along the Mendocino Coast in Northern California, on a chilly winter evening.

TECHIE NOTES:

8 second exposure @ f/11 and 100 ISO.

Lighting this shot with its strong contrasts, took some ingenuity:

~ Natural light from outside.

~ Natural light from the candle.

~ A bounce flash through a diffusing white umbrella pointed at the ceiling to brighten the interior.

~ My trusty little LED flashlight to 'paint' the plates with light for just a second or so during the 8 second exposure.

~ A little ambient light from incandescent lamps about 20 feet away, behind where I was standing.

Photo taken in RAW. Sunset was at 4:52. I took this photo at 5:29. But I had set up the shot earlier. When the scene was set, I bracketed and tested every several minutes as the daylight decreased and dusk approached, to ensure a good final shot. Because of the different kinds of lighting, the white temp in camera was set at 'overcast'. White temp was adjusted in RAW converter very slightly. Dodged the table area in post processing a little to bring it forward to the eye. Adjusted color balance slightly. You can see where I 'light painted' the plates. They got a tiny splash of LED light from my flashlight during the exposure to bring up the details of the food.

Engagement session of New York photographer Ryan Brenizer and fiance' Andrea.

Ryan is an awesome photographer known on flickr as Carpe icthus

Ryan and I try to do lunch when he comes to Arizona. This time he asked me to create some portraits for him. When you have the task of photographing a photographer, a lot is on the line....are they critiquing you every second? Will they like it? .....I think I did OK, what do you think? ;-)

*Strobist* (techie and lighting info)

-White Lightning x1600 w/ 22" Beauty Dish - fired via PW.

-Powered by a Tronix Explorer 1200 Battery Inverter

-sb800 (optically triggered) behind 2 ft wall & left of the couple. Fired into the ceiling.

-AcmeEdit (medium) using the actions AcmeMagic and AcmeGlam

© Adam Nollmeyer | acmephotography.net

Arizona Studio Portrait Photography on Location

PS: Thanks for the link love Ryan. Congrats on your wedding!

Uhhh OK yeah really this could've been my April Fools post or something. Four versions of Killer Moth. Techie, Alien-y, Space-y, and Ninja-y. Enjoy.

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For more info: xradio.zone/xradio-halloween-party-2020

Club Aquarius TP: Club.XRadio.Zone

Halloween comes only once a year, and it is a BIG deal for us at XRadio! This year, XRadio will be hosting a party in Second Life at our very own club, Club Aquarius. Join us as we rock the house down for ten hours of pure Halloween havoc with FIVE LIVE DJs for the party of the year!

It all starts off with a Special Edition of Music Mayhem with DJ Mantle at Noon from Club Aquarius. XRadio’s resident zombie techie will be mixing it up from rock to pop to EDM!

House of Rock with DJ Ennie follows at 2PM at Club Aquarius. Come dressed in your best Halloween costume and get down with the hottest rock music filling your earholes with candy!

The party continues with the 5th Annual Halloween Spooktacular on Magic Carpet Ride with Jude Connors immediately afterwards. Jude will rip it up with rock, rap, rave, and spooky remixes as he navigates you on a haunted magical musical tour. There will be contests and prizes and giveaways… oh my!

Up next is Pandora’s Box with DJ Siouxie! She’s gonna mash up your brains and show why she is the Goddess of Mashups. Will your brain be able to handle it or will you become a dancing zombie as she opens her box for all to see!

Closing out the ten-plus hour extravaganza is the X-Rave with DJ Bass Queen. The live mixing shape-shifter will have you purring like a black cat as she spins her unique style of hardcore and drum and bass... mesmerizing you with her macabre mix!

So mark your calendars and clear your schedule! XRadio's Halloween 2020 awaits you, if you dare! Good times, spooky music and great people! LIVE from XRadio: Club Aquarius from 12PM Noon to 10PM-ish! Be there!

A planetary nebula found in the constellation of Camelopardalis (The Giraffe). Also known as the Oyster Nebula.

A little under 5,000 light years distant from Earth, it's another one of William Herschel's discoveries in 1787.

Boring techie bit:

Skywatcher quattro 8" S & f4 aplanatic coma corrector

HEQ5 pro mount guided with an Altair 50mm & GPcam setup

Canon 450D astro modded with Astronomik CLS CCD EOS APS-C clip filter. Neewer Intervalometer used to control the exposures.

This is a planetary nebula around 2,600 light years away.

Planetary nebula is formed after a star very much like our own Sun burns through all it's fuel. The star swells up in size and then rapidly shrinks right down to become a white dwarf. As it shrinks, it's gaseous outer layers are left to just simply drift outwards continually expanding. This particular one is approximately 2 light years across.

It gets it's name the Owl Nebula from the two dark patches that kind of look like big beady eyes.

Boring techie bit.

Skywatcher quattro 8" S & f4 aplanatic coma corrector

EQ6 R pro mount guided with an Altair 50mm & Altair GPcam

Canon 450D astro modded with Astronomik CLS CCD EOS APS-C clip filter. Neewer Intervalometer used to control the exposures.

60 - 2 minute exposures with the best 70% stacked in DeepSkyStacker with calibration frames.

All other processing done with StarTools.

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Known as the Oyster Nebula or the Camel's Eye Nebula, NGC 1501 can be found some 5,000 light years away in the constellation Camelopardalis.

It's a planetary nebula, that being, a star that has shed off it's outer layers as it comes to the end of it's life. Leaving behind what's left of the star, usually to become a white dwarf. However, the star at the centre of the Oyster, astronomers have found seems to be pulsating. Pulsating variable stars are certainly not uncommon, but it is very unusual to find one at the centre of a planetary nebula. This particular pulsating variable can vary it's brightness noticeably over a half hour period.

Boring techie bit:

Skywatcher Quattro 8" with f4 aplanatic coma corrector. Skywatcher EQ6 R pro mount. Altair Starwave 50mm guide scope & ZWO asi120mm guide camera mini.

ZWO asi533mc pro cooled to -20c gain 101.

Optolong UV/IR 2" filter, ZWO filter drawer, ZWO asiair plus.

65 exposures of 180s each.

Darks, Flats & Bias.

Stacked and processed in PixInsight.

IC 443 can be found in the constellation of Gemini lying very close to the star Propus, Eta Geminorum.

The Jellyfish nebula is a supernova remnant some 5,000 light years away from us.

Data captured at www.astronomycentre.org.uk/

Boring Techie bit:

Telescope: Askar FRA400 with .7 reducer

Mount: EQ6r pro

Camera: ZWO 533mc pro

Filter: Optolong L'eNhance.

Guided and controlled by the ZWO asiair+

Best 75 light frames 180 seconds each.

Stacked with darks, flats, dark flats using WBPP in PixInsight.

Processed using Graxpert, StarNet2 & PixInsight.

This is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Lyra. Planetary nebula are so named because, they are small, round and look like planets.

A planetary nebula is a star entering the final phases of it's life cycle. The more massive stars go out in spectacular style as a supernova. The smaller stars, like that of our Sun. Enter their penultimate phase, that of a white dwarf star, with a little less pazzazz. Though they are no less beautiful.

Captured on 10th of February in Newhey, UK.

Boring techie bit.

Skywatcher quattro 8" S & f4 aplanatic coma corrector

HEQ5 pro mount guided with an Altair 50mm & GPcam setup

Canon 450D astro modded with Astronomik CLS CCD EOS APS-C clip filter. Intervalometer used to control the exposures.

15 exposures of 180 seconds at ISO 800 (perhaps over exposed it).

Stacked in DeepSkyStacker with darks, flats, dark flats & bias frames. All processing done with StarTools.

ift.tt/2icLmo1 ift.tt/2icLmo1 www.oplususa.com

Women of Color in Tech stock images, Women in Tech stock images

Spent the day searching around Ottawa for a sign to shoot, just couldn't find anything that worked. Heading home feeling bummed I looked up and saw this just 200 yards from my house, sometimes you just gotta look around closer to home ;)

Techie Stuff:

Used the Center Weighted meter mode just below the sign to get the right exposure for the light, had to move around a few times with it to get the right exposure. For post processing I desaturated it a bit to reduce the redness in the bricks.

Our Daily Challenge

59/366

Wifey is away for the weekend... Winner! What's a man supposed to do with himself on a Friday evening? Get nekkid of course! At least I'm honest gents ;)

So I have the living room to myself and out comes 'the gear'

Two light stands and an office chair mat courtesy of Ikea suspended between them. Gelled 'Medium Blue Green' YN560IV fired from below 1/16 @ 24mm. Gelled 'Rust' YN560IV fired from above and slightly behind me 1/8 @ 105mm. Ryus Lightworks MkII torch gelled 'Quality Street' orange and then a quick swap to a 'Quality Street' blue for the background faffery. These had the LPB black fibre modifier attachment. Exported to PS for some fartnarkling and lots of 'Liquefy' to hone the torso!! Then into LR for the RAW conversion.

Enough 'techie' Mark D :)

Thought I best make an effort after last nights quickie! Many thanks to all you folks who commented on my No1 :)

-----Prologue-----

“Seems like you have taken up the best spot already!”, I said in half jest to the photographer right next to me while setting up my gear for the above shot of Zion’s Virgin and the Watchman.

“You got that damn right!”, She said with that unmistakable British accent with no audible trace of jest in her response.

-----Act 1-----

To tuck in the Virgin river’s bend into the frame without backing off on millimeters and the Watchman’s proportion in the shot, I had to move my tripod by about four inches to the right. Problem was, firmly planted on the concrete one inch away was the stern British lady’s equally stern tripod leg.

“Would it be OK if I put my tripod right next to yours?” I asked as gently as I could.

“Yeah fine. Don’t trip mine over”, the flinty voice yielded.

-----Act 2------

While waiting for the sun to obey my wish and light up the Watchman precisely as above, I killed time by serving as an iphone-photographer for a group of three giggling Alaskan college girls (who never paid me my paltry fees of $5, do you believe it?), stretching my muscles in all sorts of shapeless contortions, waving at aghast drivers driving past the hoard of us photographers at 5mph, and talking again to my austere British neighbor.

“Are you from around here? Are you a techie in the Silicon Valley?” She asked me. When I told her what I do for a living, she broke out into a laughter and apologized profusely for stereotyping. From there on, our conversation took on a more manageable course. I learned her name was Mickey. Mickey is not on Flickr but she and her incredibly handsome and devoted husband were traveling the US with one sole purpose: landscape photography.

-----Act 3-----

“Why do we do this?” Mickey asked hinting at all the pain undertaken by landscape photographers (or, faux landscapers, like, yours truly).

“I don’t know why Mickey. I guess, we like chasing the light and stopping time.” The nerd in me was having a field day.

“Tell you what, I do it because it keeps me going. I have lost my son to cancer but all this running around with the camera keeps my sixty-year-old mind and body going. You know?” I noticed a hint of moisture in her eyes reflecting the orange glow of the west earnestly.

“Tell you what Mickey,” I said, looking straight at the unexpectedly revealed segment of her core, “you are damn right! To keep going... That is exactly why I do it too!”

-----Epilogue-----

Mickey, if you are reading this, then here is one more reason why I do it: To meet people like yourself on the trail who somehow have that magical ability to touch others in the span of a moment. Thanks for loaning me a pint of your life-blood to keep my soul flickering.

Women of Color in Tech stock images, Women in Tech stock images

Hikikomori (shut-in) Futaba Sakura was afraid to go out even before COVID-19. To overcome her anxiety, she wears this outrageous mask. Unfortunately, it causes anxiety in everyone else.

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Created for the Toy Sunday theme, STEPPING OUT.

Now, you can chat with Barbie®!

Using WiFi and speech recognition technology, Hello Barbie™ doll can interact uniquely with each child by holding conversations, playing games, sharing stories and even telling jokes!

It's a whole new way to interact with Barbie®.

She's ready to discuss anything in an outfit that blends trendy and techie for a cool look.

Use is simple after set up -- push the doll's belt buckle to start a conversation, and release to hear her respond.

More than 8,000 lines of recorded content means countless hours of fun!

Just like a real friend, Hello Barbie™ doll listens and remembers the user's likes and dislikes, giving everyone their own unique experience.

To get started, download the Hello Barbie™ companion app to your own smart device from your device's app store (not included).

Parents must also set up a ToyTalk account and connect the doll to use the conversational features.

Hello Barbie™ doll can remember up to three different WiFi locations and does not require a smart device after WiFi configuration.

chinatown - san francisco, california

Licensing available through Getty Images: www.gettyimages.com/license/141759700

Techie Notes: I added a touch of blur to this scene in PS, to bring out the soft feeling of the rain.

The kiosks selling umbrellas sprout up on days like this so one never need worry about being caught without an umbrella. It was a busy shopping day for locals in this neighborhood near the Guglie Bridge. What a pleasure to be able to enjoy the city on foot, with not a single car ever showing up, since they don't exist in Venice. There is a special peacefulness here, away from the big tourist area os San Marco Piazza, and a sense of village and community life undisturbed by traffic remains. I love the soft sounds of Venice: just people talking or the water lapping against the sides of the canals and rios. An occasional boat engine, but they are quiet because they are only allowed to move slowly so as not to create a big wake that further erodes the sides of the buildings. Not a single car! A magical place for sure!

I will now translate the expression the woman behind Daisy is wearing here. "OK...now that tears it. These two are definitely up to SOMETHING! Nobody...but nobody takes pictures in the checkout line at Walmart just for the hell of it!" 😜

I just had to post this one first. Daisy and I had a very nice evening yesterday. Nothing special, just stopped and shopped at a couple of places before doing a pretty big Walmart run. We were getting low on a bunch of stuff, and I figured it was as good a time as any to knock it out. Afterwards, we had a nice dinner before heading home. And before you ask, yes I had a little fun with Daisy's little backdoor vibrating toy along the way. Not as much as I would have liked however. Technical difficulties kept me from realizing it's full potential. (It would be so nice to have a knowledgeable techie to walk me through this stuff...) But it was a good test run. I'll figure it out soon enough. 😉

copyright Susan Ogden

forced socialization is exhausting!

I had a mixed bag kind of day! It started out looking dank and like rain, so i rolled over and went back to sleep for another 40 minutes. When i got up, the sky was breaking up to my Carolina Blue, so i got myself together and had my tea and checked my mail ...and FB ...and found a message from a friend in Florida that asked if she could use two of my shots to paint in watercolors! She will put my link to my site and give me credit for the original shots. I had the forethought to ask her for a recommendation of a decent web site that i, the untechie might be able to manage on my own. She made a suggestion, and so i called her to discuss and was convinced....so i spent time looking into it and TRYING to set it up.....going back to that whole UNTECHIE problem i have (i am sure it is related to math!) . By then it began to rain,,,,i never even noticed it had clouded over, i was so intent on figuring this out...so i never got out to the store because they do not believe in gutters on houses here and the way my roof slopes, the rain pours off down my stairs, leaving me looking like i just got out of my shower fully clothed. The store could wait!

Then promptly at 1:57pm, the installers arrived for my countertops...which i am thrilled about because now i am not using wood slats to hold my electric kettle for my tea! I love them....my countertops (altho i love my electric kettle and tea too!) i was fascinated with the whole installation thing...they attached something that looked like a defibrillator to my counter top and let it do it’s thing (getting the seam tight?!?). One of the installers was from the town next to me when i was growing up!! small world. i tried to work while they were here but i couldn’t because one of them kept asking me questions ....most of which i was unsure of the answer to...so i was glad when my son in law showed up!

When that was said and done, i felt like i had socialized for a month...which is probably why when i went back to trying to figure out the techie stuff i felt overwhelmingly exhausted...so i ate.....tried again and have decided that tomorrow is another day...and i am going to read my new book. It is quiet time at the ok corral!

Hope tomorrow is a day of less “social” stress....just throwin’ it out there!

One of the most beautiful Victorian homes in the historic village of Mendocino, the MacCallum House was built in 1882 as a wedding gift for Daisy Kelley and her husband Alex MacCallum.

TECHIE NOTES:

This is a single exposure, using a tripod, and the following settings: 6/10th of a second @ f/3.5 and 200 ISO.

Getting this shot took some planning. I wanted to show the house all lit up just before nightfall, yet still have some daylight in the sky. I arrived ahead of time to be able to do some test shots and be ready for the moment. Because it was slightly windy, the clouds were moving quite quickly and there was enough movement in the bushes and decorations that they would get motion blur, so I couldn't do a very long exposure. I tried several shots, and eventually settled on f/3.5, at 6/10th of a second, and ISO 200. I guess I could have increased the ISO but my experience with the Canon EOS 20 D, suggested it best to keep the ISO as low as possible to minimize grain in the final shot. This final and most successful of the evening's exposures was taken at 5:48 P.M. in mid December (several years ago).

Northern California's Mendocino Coast was home to many Native American tribes until Spanish conquistadores, and Mexican settlers -- and later Anglo settlers from the East Coast -- arrived and systematically took over tribal lands after, sad to say, decimating the native populations. There is an excellent museum at the Cabrillo Lighthouse just north of Mendocino village which pays tribute to the culture of the first true Americans - the Pomo - to have lived along this coast.

As for more recent history, here is more information about the Kelley family, one of the first Anglo settler families to establish themselves in this area in the mid-1800's, see: www.kelleyhousemuseum.org/

“I’ve got all the friends I need... online,” Futaba Sakura explains. With the Coronavirus situation, Futaba’s shut-in lifestyle may become more prevalent.

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Created for this week’s Toy Sunday theme, INTIMACY.