December Chock Full of Celestial Events

Jupiter and Venus begin the party with the waxing moon tonight. Then at the end of December Mercury gets in on the fun. following these events the December 12th full moon will be at it's closest to Earth since 1993. To top it all off Saturn will make it's appearance at the end of the month. Train your telescopes on the Washington Post for the whole story.

Happy Thanksgiving

I Want One

I used to dream of owning one of these babies when I was a kid watching Lost in Space. Eric Scott gets to live the dream with his jet pack. Fly on over to CNET News for the rest of the story.

U.S. cancer rate declines for the first time

For the first time since the government began keeping records on the disease cancer rates have dropped. There are several reasons for the decline, including heather diets, decline in the smoking population, people getting more exercise. For more info head over to the story in the L.A. Times

Even a Little Walk Helps

Exercising on a regular basis can help against cancer risk. If you can't join a health club or find time to exercise on a daily basis, just parking a bit further away at the store or office is a start. Even walking thirty minutes a day helps. Find out more here.

It's Not Your Ordinary Bran Mufin

Mufin, has introduced a new way for you to find the kind of music you like from bands that you may have never even heard of. I don't know how they do it, but they use what they call fingerprinting technology that searches for certain musical characteristics of any song or artist you like and makes suggestions for other songs and artist for your listening pleasure. So tune in to Mufin, your music discovery engine.

Guitar Boat Hero

Josh Pyke has combined two of my favorite activities in his new video, guitars and boating. A guitar boat, what could be better, a guitar motorcycle I guess, for me at least.

LIFE on google

Google has procured the rights to digitally publish LIFE magazines photo archive.

Here is a link to the story and a link to google search for LIFE images.

Enjoy.

google search

Jonathan Coulton Fans

Jonathan Coulton has teamed with Creative Commons to release his greatest hits compilation on a one gig usb drive. CC will be offering the drives until December thirty first to help support their 2008 campain. Check out the particulars Here

First photo of planets outside solar system

Astronomers have taken a snapshot of three planets outside our solar system. One of the three being larger than Jupiter orbiting a nearby star. Check out the whole story here.

Transportation Overload

More Transportation Overload I don't know how they do it

The Crackeler

She looks like a beat up Q-Tip, but she is a ball of personality and is totally fearless. I did a bit of messin' with the second photo, turned out a bit grainy

Air Tanker Pilot Retires

Photo credit Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times

Chief water bomber pilot Jean-Pierre Guay is retiring from a 32-year career flying Canadair Bombardier CL-415. Thousands of lives, homes and acres in the L.A. area have been saved by these pilots with nerves of steel. They give up holidays and time with family as well risk their lives on a regular basis battling wildfires. Fly on over to the L.A. Times to read more about the job these pilots do and the ceremony Jean-Pierre Guay received for his years of selfless service.

Gas Prices to Drive For

The best news I have had in a while is the recent drop in gas prices at the pump. Bayou Boy called me last night to tell me the prices in his neck of the woods were down to $1.95 a gallon. They are $1.95 in my area of operation as well. I really didn't believe we would ever see gas prices below two dollars again. Lets hope the trend continues and leads to lower prices across the board. To find the lowest gas prices in your area, plug your zip code into the gas buddy icon on the right side of the page.For more on the fall of gas prices, drive on over here.

Window Shop Online?

With the holiday season just around the corner, Amazon is trying to take window shopping to whole new level, your PC. To those of us who would rather avoid the mall at all cost like me. Amazon is trying to bring the Mall expeience without the crowds to your house. Push your shopping cart this way for the skinny.

Kalamazoo Promise inspires other cities to follow suit

I was recently appalled to find out that the city of Detroit has a 75% drop out rate. I grew up near Detroit and I love the city and the state of Michigan, even though I don't live there any longer.
I visit the state at least once a month because my family is there.
I get so tired of people saying negative things about Detroit.
Obviously the city has major problems, but it has a lot of great things about it too. I have great memories of growing up in Michigan.
After I heard the tidbit about the drop out rate in the city schools I happened to watch a news piece on the Kalamazoo Promise. It is a program that pays college tuition for anyone who graduates. The amount given is based on the grade point average and is totally funded by anonymous donors who do not want any credit. They just want to have the focus on the program and for it to achieve it's full potential.
Apparently this has led to an increase in the housing market there along with the intended benefits.
I did some checking around and there are similar programs in the works for
Detroit and the city of Mt Clemens. This would be an amazing thing for the children of Detroit and I pray that it becomes a reality.
For more info visit these sites. http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/17825953/detail.html, https://www.kalamazoopromise.com/, http://www.detroitcollegepromise.com/

Home Energy Cost

As part of the government bailout package congress has included extended tax credits for solar and wind power to your home. With the cost of heating and cooling our homes on the rise, this is certainly good news. You can get the rest of the story @ USA Today

Photography

Like a lot of people I enjoy photography. You see a great photograph and say to yourself, Wow how did the photographer get that effect or such a fantastic exposure. There are so many settings on a camera, it is hard to get the right kind of combination to get the exposure you are looking for.

These days, a lot of photographers take a shot and enhance it with photoshop. While that's fine and dandy, that program is pretty damn expensive and you practically need a college degree in photoshop to use all of it's magic, plus all the photoshop extensions that are available separately. It's enough to make ones head spin.

While I do from time to time use photo editing software, I try to get the creative effect from the settings on the camera. Doing this can be as complicated and frustrating as going through photoshops dizzying array of options. There is a lot a trial and error involved, but there is a lot of info out there to help us on our photographic journeys. While I am no where close to being a great photographer, every now and then I take an image that I find interesting.

For those of us that are interested amateurs, there is quite a bit of help out there to guide us on our photographic sojourns. Here are a couple of resources I find useful. Popular Photography's how to archive, Webshots Blog,Photo.net are just a couple of resources I find have a wealth of info on how to improve the quality of your photography.