[savoche]

Dry weather here, and mild, hovering around 0°C. Nice to see the sun Well, it's still dark when I go to work and it's dark when I get home, but our office is temporarily moved from 5th to 16th floor (which is really high up by humble Norwegian standards). Nice views of the town from there.

I might even get in shape as I still insist on taking the stairs rather than the lift. It takes me about 4 minutes to the top. Will be interesting to see if I have shaved some time off that by the end of the 3 month period of our stay up there.

[savoche]

Oh, and we had some nice stratospheric clouds here the other day. Wikipedia calls them "Lenticular type II polar stratospheric clouds"

Anyway, they require some quite specific conditions to form around here; moist air in the western moutains and gale force winds to force the moisture all the way up into the stratosphere - where it turns to ice particles. Then, if there are no clouds at lower altitudes and the sun gets just below the horizon, boom!

Ok, there was no sound. But there were colours.

[dbs]

Luckaly a K3 cannot take a photo like that....or else...we'll


BACON

Dave

[gaweidert]

Oh, and we had some nice stratospheric clouds here the other day. Wikipedia calls them "Lenticular type II polar stratospheric clouds"

Anyway, they require some quite specific conditions to form around here; moist air in the western moutains and gale force winds to force the moisture all the way up into the stratosphere - where it turns to ice particles. Then, if there are no clouds at lower altitudes and the sun gets just below the horizon, boom!

Ok, there was no sound. But there were colours.

Those are called nacreous clouds. Also mother of pearl found clouds as that is what they look like. They are featured on today's {(January 10th 2020) Astronomy Picture of the Day website. I highly recommend the website.

[Racer X 69]

So I got an e-mail from Sigma yesterday.

Seems they are eager to have me attend the Imaging USA event in Nashville, Tennessee at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, 16-21 January 2020, and stop by their booth, #327. Be their guest as a thank you for sticking with them.

Sent me a personal invitation to attend.

They did.

Now Nashville is about 2,500 miles from me.

And the gig is next week/weekend.

And I got that date with Dr. Alien Anal Probe on the 17th.

And then there is that pesky job thing. They kinda expect me to be there every day you know.

And really, since Sigma has forsaken the lowly Pentax K mount, why would I want to give up a few days of vacation, miss my date with Dr. Alien Anal Probe, spend the money on airfare, lodging, rental car and meals?


Sheesh!

Besides, I pretty much embrace older lenses, with aperture rings. Sure, I have a few Sigma lenses. But they have long been out of production.

The do make nice images.

So not only will I not buy a K-3, I am not interested in what they no longer have to offer.

[robtcorl]

And I got that date with Dr. Alien Anal Probe on the 17th.

Tell 'em where they can stick their invitation.

[monochrome]

@robtcorl Are you getting thunder yet? A neighbor is sandbagging along the creek that runs next to his house. Thankfully I had my gutters cleaned a month ago and we’re higher than the creek. Looking at 6” - 8” in the next 24 hours So the swale in my yard will fill up.

[rod_grant]

Wish we could send some to the land down under.

Thanks for the thought Bob. We could do with some.
Actually it would be quicker for our northern cousins to send some; half a metre in the last 24 hours at the top end. - beats your 6 inches!

We are having a cooler spell here at the moment with a bit of moisture over some of the fire ground.
A friend of mine who's property (50 kilometres out of Wangaratta on back roads mostly) backs on to a pine plantation had some sleep last night - first decent nap for a week and a half.
Last Sunday he thought he would lose his house - sent his wife into town for safety while he dozed containment lines and put out spot fires, etc.
She went back on Monday to feed him and do what wives do. (If your house is going to burn, at least it should be clean first!!) Oh, and she has been watering heavily around the house too).
His grapes will be ruined by smoke, I don't know what he has done with his cattle.

It has certainly been a bad start to the fire season, not the worst by any means, but bad.

[rod_grant]

While my friend has been working in his Country Fire Authority workgear, I have been doing a couple of jigsaws that I received for Christmas.
The second one (attached) is actually a bit of the south end of Wangaratta, with my house slap-bang in the centre. (The middle one of three in the centre.)
I haven't had time to use a K-3, even if I had one.

[robtcorl]

@robtcorl Are you getting thunder yet? A neighbor is sandbagging along the creek that runs next to his house. Thankfully I had my gutters cleaned a month ago and we’re higher than the creek. Looking at 6” - 8” in the next 24 hours So the swale in my yard will fill up.

Some thunder, but no rain currently. The line of storms haven't hit here yet, but are getting close.

[rod_grant]

I have just had a look at the governments emergency website and the area at my friend's place has been downgraded to "Advice".
The website's levels of panic are 1. Evacuation 2. Emergency Warning 3. Watch & Act and 4. Advice.
This is the advice posted an hour ago;

"There are still fires that will continue to burn for the coming weeks.
We would like to thank the community for their attention to the warnings issued, Friday 10 January 2020. While conditions did reach anticipated levels for this spike day, the work completed by crews leading into this period and the use of helicopters, firefighting aircraft and crews on the ground meant we were able to act quickly on any break-outs.
Over the next few days, weather conditions look to be favourable and firefighters will continue to work in the area, and where possible, perform back-burning which may increase smoke.
An Emergency Warning will be issued if the risk to communities increases."

All the other areas in the high country around here are now down to Watch and Act, and things should improve for a few days, until the next wind storm and 40C temprtatures often coupled with dry lightning strikes. Further south in East Gippsland where most of the damage and loss has been, all the areas are down to Advice.

New South Wales, I'm not so sure about.

[Racer X 69]

RIP Neal Peart.

You Tube

You Tube

[gaweidert]

While my friend has been working in his Country Fire Authority workgear, I have been doing a couple of jigsaws that I received for Christmas.
The second one (attached) is actually a bit of the south end of Wangaratta, with my house slap-bang in the centre. (The middle one of three in the centre.)
I haven't had time to use a K-3, even if I had one.

WOW. Checked it out on Google Earth. They even have a street view of your place but it is dated 2/2010. Is no place on this planet safe from Google's prying eyes.

[bertwert]

But I might like this one better. With slugs, and outdoors of course.

For hunting you know.

Curious as to why one would use a shotgun with slugs for hunting as opposed to a rifle.

We've got rubber slugs here for bear deterrence, and 'proper' slugs if things go pear shaped. But for hunting I would much rather a rifle.

[bertwert]

I honestly do not think I would go into the back country without a firearm. Just in case the bear spray failed.

Meh, if you've deployed bear spray and it 'failed' you wouldn't have time to get at your firearm.

Also, in the back country, bear spray is a much more effective defence that a firearm.
Bear spray will make the bear stop running, a bullet or slug will not stop the momentum. A 400 pound mass hitting you at 25 mph could still kill you. One bullet/slug will probably not kill it straight off, especially with such limited time to draw and aim, only angering the bear further. Now, I'm not saying that a .44 Magnum or whatever is useless against a bear attack, just that generally bear spray is more effective and the better choice for the first line of defence.