Archives for the Month of July 2006 on Miscellaneous
Paper Flowers
My sister made paper flower arrangements for the table centerpieces and cake-topper for her wedding. I loved how they turned out. Also included is a picture of her bouquet of yellow spider mums. Her creativity and originality really colored the weekend. Congratulations to her and her new husband!
AYB
I was unexpectedly reminded of the "All your base are belong to us" video today and couldn't help but laugh. There is even a wikipedia entry for this internet phenomenon.
Watch the videos here (click on video from the menu to watch).
Backyard Photos
My backyard (and admittedly, my neighbor's beautiful garden) is often featured in my nature photography. Here are a few recent photos.
Here is one of many spiders who call my lilies of the valley patch home.
I've been waiting for my cone flowers to bloom for this shot with my new camera.
And finally, here is one shot of my neighbor's beautiful poppies.
I took this at twilight and accidentally got a really neat lighting effect.
Image Capture from Video
Ever wondered how to capture an image from a video file? You've probably tried the simple print screen method with Windows Media Player and found that it shows black where the image should appear. A simple setting change will allow the screen capture. Try the method suggested here .
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Or follow these instructions:
- Open Windows Media Player
- Then go to Tools | Options
- In Options, select the Performance Tab
- Click on the Advanced Button
- Uncheck 'Use Overlays' under Video Acceleration
- Click Ok
- Click Apply
I tried it with a video sent from a German friend on 6/23/2006 after the Poland vs. Germany World Cup game.
And, here is the result after a little Photoshop cropping and adjustment...
World Cup Final
The German post doc and the German clinical fellow in my lab got all of us involved in the World Cup. We watched as many games as possible over lunch and on the weekends. I became a huge fan of Zidane and just loved watching him play (especially after the US and English team fell out).
When the finals came around, I wasn't sure who I wanted to win...I liked Zidane...but, I'm Italian...so, who do I choose? I was tormented. In the overtime period, I was really surprised that Zidane would head-butt another player. No matter what the guy said, it was out of line. So, it made the French loss seem less tragic and certainly made Zidane seem more human.
Here's the link to the SI.com article.
At least I won the office pool for the finals (I had picked the Italians to win).
International Space Station (ISS) Sighting
My boss gave me the heads up about the ISS flyover in the skies of Cleveland. So, on Wednesday night at about 10:00 pm, I went outside to look. After a false alarm (just an airplane), I saw a bright, steadily moving "star" appear in the predicted region of the sky and travel in an arch until it disappeared again. I had a dinky pair of binoculars, but they didn't help much.
Future sightings can be found at the following NASA link http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/. You can select your country and your city for a list of sightings.
A few years ago, I saw the ISS and docked shuttle with a set of high powered binoculars. I was amazed that I could recognize the fuzzy shapes of the station and shuttle. So, if you try any future sightings, bring along the best binoculars you have. Otherwise, the naked eye works well enough.
With the naked eye, you'll see something like this...