Author Archives: shelldigger

04.22.14
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Hawk Update, and Meteor Watch

The wife was walking the dog today and noticed some new activity with the hawk nest. I just came in from a look with binoculars and indeed the hawk is sitting on the side of the nest now, looking in the nest quite a bit. This suggests there could very well be little hawks. As I get time I will be out getting some pics.

Tonight is supposed to be the peak of the Lyrids, and it will hopefully be clear here. I have to be up and about from 12- 2 AM anyway tonight, so I will definately be dedicating some time to catch the action. I do hope it is lively. Last year we had a pretty good show with around 2-3 meteors a minute for as long as I was out there looking up. If it’s half that good I will take it.

So if any of you are up late, go out and look up! Sometimes these things can be really awe inspiring. Especially if you manage to catch a fireball (self explanatory) or a bolide (exploding meteor). Both of which I have seen at one time or another. They are spectacular.

EDIT: Lyrids damnit. Lyrids (Not Leonids). The goof has been corrected. I blame my odd hours of late and the lack of sleep. I turned off the alarm clock this morning @6:00 AM and fell back asleep for 30 min. If I hadn’t heard my boys shuffling around I’d still be lying there asleep… Doing too much through the day and not getting much sleep in between makes for a zombified way of living.

Oh and the shower was a bust at my location. Nuttin. I mean absolutely nuttin in the 25 minutes I spent looking up. Heck on any regular old night I can usually catch at least one meteor in 25 min. With that lack of sleep already mentioned I packed it up and hit the hay. Will perhaps try again tonight but doubtful, I have a genuine opportunity to get some sleep tonight.

04.14.14
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Quote of the Month

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I thought I would change things up a bit, from the usual founding father quotes, and go with something a tad more modern. I googled famous atheist quotes and found this. I had no idea Clooney was leaning atheist, he just went up a notch in my book.

As for the quote, I like the second part best. I think we all should take this to heart. Live your life. Do something with yourself. Enjoy the things you enjoy. I know one thing for sure, and I may have this put on my headstone, “I have lived my life.” Have been all over this country as I grew up in a owner operator trucking family, played lead guitar in a local classic rock cover band, was a commercial diver for over 30 years, have a few kids, and a great wife. We all should be so fortunate, to have lived a little. Live!

As a side note, I do not know for sure that this quote can actually be attributed to Clooney, having picked it up from the internet, we all know how that goes, but I am going to run with it right or wrong. Sometimes living means living with your mistakes 🙂

https://www.google.com/search?q=famous+atheist+quotes&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=5QtMU_jhC8TF2AX4hoHACg&sqi=2&ved=0CEIQsAQ&biw=1327&bih=690

04.12.14
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More Hawks!

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Got out today and manged a few pics throughout the day. This hawk doesn’t like to pose much, I was lucky to get a few broadside shots, unfortunately focus is proving difficult through my setup. Was windy today as well, the trees were swaying a bit, which made things interesting. 

I thought early on this morning perhaps there were babies in the nest as the hawk that is staying home to incubate was up and about, (I assume the female, but do not know this for sure, I have not heard of male hawks doing any incubating but must admit my ignorance on the issue)… but this hawk soon settled back in the nest and stayed there most of the day. I got one more decent shot (of many that were not so good) here:

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I’d damn near order me a nice Canon DSLR but the last thing I want to do is add more debt to any of my credit cards. My wife has a pretty nice Olympus camera but it won’t quite get close enough as this through the telescope shooting I am doing. Perhaps with time I can get better with what I have 🙂

Will continue to get shots as I can, I want to become a semi regular thing out there so they can sort of adapt to me being there. Hopefully the little ones will be along soon.

04.10.14
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Your Inner Fish

It has been all day. I have yet to hear anyone say anything about Neil Shubin’s “Your Inner Fish” show last night. I thought it was fantastic. Such a classic case of using the theory of evolution to go to the place where the transitional species you are looking for should be in the geological column. Search out these known places where the geology is dated to the time period you are investigating. And BAM! They found what they were looking for. Tiktaalik was born. A modern success story if ever there was one. Based on the overlapping fields of biology and geology, using science for discovery.

Talk about the power of prediction, evolution has got it. 

It was such a good show covering embryology, DNA connections, Sonic Hedgehog genes, all about our inner fish, as well as the Tiktaalik discovery. I’ve waited all day and none of my usual blog spots have said a word, I haven’t heard any wailing from the usual creationist slime pits either. It just seems odd. So I thought I would do a post my self! If you have not seen it, it is a must watch program for anyone scientifically inclined, and I highly recommend it. I think there is supposed to be another show or two, I will be looking tonight for any follow ups.

03.28.14
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Christian Love, It’s So Nice When It Shines

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/christian-school-complains-8-year-old-girl-isnt-girly-enough/

So, a girl 8 years old, who is a bit of a tomboy “defied biblical standards by looking like a boy.” So this fine school (Timberlake Christian School) told the grandparents (who apparently have custody of the child) to have the child dress and act more like a girl. Because of some moronic ass backwards smug ass x-ian principles. Damn but those people irritate me.

Why was her hair short? She had long hair to her waist, but she had it cut off for a child with cancer. 

I suppose it is important to note that the family (x-ians) decided to pull the child from this so called x-ian school on their own. The child was not forced to leave, but if you ask me, that is more like what I’d call a gray area. They had labled this child, and and singled her out for some good old fashioned x-ian love. Once you have been identified as some kind of x-ian misfit the odds are pretty good your standard of social acceptance is going to take a sharp nosedive at best, and single you out for all sorts of shunnings and other types of abuse at worst.

The grandparents made the right choice. The child will certainly be better off as far away from her previous school as she can get. 

03.28.14
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I Haz Hawks!

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Look closely, there is a hawk eye looking back at you. I have known for some time they were building a nest on my property. Have been keeping an eye on their progress, I did not want to get involved in too much activity, say by making a fuss as to their whereabouts too soon. Now I am fairly sure they have eggs in the nest, as it looks like someone is staying home to incubate. I feel like I can start taking a few pics now, without scaring them off.

I only have one good vantage point where there are not a lot of trees obscuring the nest. It is at least 50-60 yards from the tree, and they are probably at least 60 feet up. For anyone interested in my pic taking gear I am using an 80mm apochromatic refractor (that I already have for astronomy purposes) on a home made alt az mount. I am shooting through 17mm and 13mm Orion Stratus eyepieces (that I also already have for astro purposes) and a 12.1 mp Sony Cybershot camera mounted on a homemade afocal camera eyepiece adapter. Which means the camera is mounted to this gizmo that is attached to the eyepiece in the telescope.

Am still getting used to the gear, so with any luck the pics will get better as I go. I can’t wait till their are little hawks getting fed by the parents! As time and weather permits I will be out getting lots of pics. Oh, Red Tail hawks…I am fairly certain.

…the first time I set the scope up to check out my vanatge point, I zeroed in on the nest and one of the hawks was staring right back at me! Full frontal view…I was like “shit!” I didn’t know anyone was home. I do wish I could get up high enough to look down into the nest, but that would be a chore of astronomical difficulty. Gonna have to do this from the ground. Anyway it should be fun.

 

03.27.14
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Jesus Seeds?

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We had 20 minutes to kill after calling in a pizza order from Dominoes yesterday. The decision was made to hit the Dollar General for a few minutes, I needed razors for one thing, and grabbed shop shop rags while I was there. As I was wandering the aisles I went past the candy section. My first thought was “it’s friggin Easter already?” Then I saw these…

I looked at the bag, note where it says “Each packet wrapped in a promise of god.” I said out loud, and in no small voice “huh, I didn’t know god was available for that kind of stuff.” Being in the babble belt of Tennessee where the average shoe size is higher than the IQ you can bet your last 50 cents I got some strange looks. Ah well, I fear am moving well beyond that point where one gives a shit about such things.

Jesus seeds, I swear if someone had told me about this I would have doubted it. But I googled them this morning and went here: http://scripturecandy.com/  Yes indeed folks, that ain’t all! There is all kinds of crappy candy with all kinds of religious messages for all kinds of occaisions. Head…meet desk.

03.25.14
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Been Slow

Too much going on lately to find time to be creative, or become inspired to write up a post. I did decide to renew my WP account for another year, so that’s something I guess. 

I have been wrapped up with helping my neighbor, he is building a water wheel, trying to use it to create energy. I don’t think it will ever work in that capacity, having the chasing your tail problem inherent in the design. Which is using an electric pump to power the wheel. By using energy to propel the system, you aren’t very damned likely to get a gain at the other end, be lucky to break even. But I enjoy piddling with stuff like this, I call it brain food. Measuring, thinking, evaluating, finding ways to improve effiency, cutting, welding, general guy stuff with lots of tools. We just got done with a 4 foot wheel that has 36 halved 6″ plastic pipe pieces that are assembled with an aggressive angle to the water supply, it looks like a damn turbine. Gotta say it looks good no matter how this project turns out.

Then decided to do some lawn work at some point, the onions had taken off, and needed to be trimmed. Also changed the oil in the car, washed, vacuumed, and detailed it. Add to these kinds of things general day to day stuff, taking out the trash, cleaning up after the clutter monster, figuring what the hell is for supper, duct taping the children and keeping them in the closet, wait did I say that out loud? Hey I have good kids and they rarely need to even be talked to let alone reprimanded for anything. 

Also have been talking to my old band buddies about getting together and making some noise, plus I have one brat that is attempting to learn guitar so I have been showing him how to do some stuff. He is at the very early stage where every little thing comes with much difficulty. He has a great love for AC DC so Ive been showing him how to play a couple of their easier tunes.

Toss in getting the brats back and forth to school, and the necessity of getting groceries, and gas, and all that jazz, I simply haven’t had much time or inspiration to do much here. I am sure any day now though something will spark my interest, or piss me off enough for a good write up. 🙂

To those of you that have hung with me this far, there will be an upswing at some point. Thanks for sticking with me.

03.20.14
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Quote of the Month

This is the opening line from the first in the Quote of the Month series. Thought I would repost it as a reminder why I am engaged in the endeavor. “You know, you see people claiming that this country was founded on x-ian principles a LOT these days. As if an oft repeated lie will make it true. Sorry, repeating what your authority figure says as fact, without any investigation into the matter, is just plain ole laziness. These lies spread like a plague among those who want to hold their preconceptions dear and these false claims are used as a buffer zone to solidify their beliefs, and sadly in some cases to try to influence the laws of this country.” 

This month we have a quote by John Adams.

“The priesthood have, in all ancient nations, nearly monopolized learning. And ever since the Reformation, when or where has existed a Protestant or dissenting sect who would tolerate A FREE INQUIRY? The blackest billingsgate, the most ungentlemanly insolence, the most yahooish brutality, is patiently endured, countenanced, propagated, and applauded. But touch a solemn truth in collision with a dogma of a sect, though capable of the clearest proof, and you will find you have disturbed a nest, and the hornets will swarm about your eyes and hand, and fly into your face and eyes.” 
– letter to John Taylor

Hence the creation of the DI, AiG, and the ICR. All institutions dedicated to the whining and crying foul, as well as a practiced attack on all of science that dares to riddle their faith with holes, based on observable facts. All the while ignoring the atrocities of the past and present heaped upon society at the hands of their religions.

As always, the link to the page I borrow these quotes from:   http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html

03.13.14
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The Closet Trap

I used to play in a local classic rock cover band a long time ago, there has been some talk of getting a few guys together and making some noise. So I was looking for an old set list to look over what we used to play. It was in a box, buried in the closet. To get to this box, I had to remove at least a ton and a half (well maybe not exactly a ton and a half, but it seemed like it) of other boxes, shoes, coveralls, rifles, old pants, the list goes on and on. Then had to get the vacuum cleaner to suck up a few dustballs that were hiding back there in the abyss. 

Next thing I know I am going through old paperwork, and reciepts for tax purposes, and filling up a trash bag with stuff deemed no longer wearable, and paperwork that no longer had any useful purpose. Probably been at it for nearly 2 hours by now.

Then my neighbor calls me, he wants some help figuring out why his 5 horse Honda engine won’t run. We wound up taking the carburetor apart and cleaning it, after an hour or so we had it up and running again. Then I return home stinking of gas and carb cleaner.

The friggin closet still looks like it has exploded. It takes me another 3 hours getting all of this crap sorted out, and half assed organized, and put back in some orderly fashion. I am just now sitting down and taking a break. Got it all done. That one piece of paper I went in for was found, but it took an entire afternoon to get it.

This is just a warning to anyone headed into the closet looking for a treasure buried there. Run! It isn’t worth it! Think of the children!! I just had the crazy notion of living in your house till it gets so full of junk you can’t find the back of the closet… then burn it down and start over. That almost seems reasonable after experiencing the time warp nightmare that was once a closet, this day.