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This is the page where I will put pictures and videos of unusual things or things that don't fit on any of my other pages.
Scobee Field 11/15/2023.
Many years ago, I had some boomerangs that I'd tossed around. I
lost most of them when Anubis, my basenji, knocked them off the wall and
chewed them up (which was quite a trick when some were 6 feet up, and he was 20 inches high at the shoulder).
I
decided to try this again, so looked for some boomerangs. I found a toy
one (very light, very soft) and a wooden one here in town. I had
to look online for others. I
bought two plastic ones
(thinking the plastic would be harder to break). Then I went out
to Scobee Field, which has a LOT of space, to throw them.
To
my suprise, one of the plastic ones broke after hitting the ground just
a few times! Probably a faulty injection mold shot...it happens.
But I threw the others without
breaking any more. The toy was
very easy to toss and return. In fact, since then (Today is
12/13/2023 and I've been tossing them since.) I've been using it to get
a quick
read on wind direction. When I threw the wooden
one, I was able to get it to turn properly, but then it stuck into the
ground. When I tried to catch this on video, I couldn't
repeat this result, and it didn't happen again. Video that I captured that day is here.
This yellow boomerang
is a custom design, for better flight. It's smaller and lighter and
thinner than the blue one, and did return easier. I was holding my
phone and
recording video with my left hand, and throwing the
boomerangs with my right. The first 3 images below are from one
flight.
The 4th image above, and the 4 below are frames from a single throw that came right back to me. I stepped aside because I'm wasn't going to try to catch it with one hand.
Brazos Bend State
Park 08/20/2023.
I spent 90 minutes with some visitors watching some gator drama near
the 40 Acre Lake Observation
Tower. A few visitors that had walked down the Spillway Trail
from Elm Lake mentioned that they'd seen baby alligators along the way.
I tried to figure
out where they'd seen them-since I knew
about 2 nests there. In
this weather (Temperature had been near 100F), keeping hydrated is important. For years, I've
used a
2-liter Camelback water pack. For additional comfort, I fill it with
ice and cold water before I leave home. Since I have the thermal camera, on 8/13/23, I
imaged myself to see what's hot and what's not. It's not designed for
shooting timed "selfies", so I had either get close
enough to trigger it manually, or shoot
video. I did both. The 3 images
below are frames from video taken at the Spillway Bridge about 11:30am.
The
4 images below were taken in the shade by the 40-Acre Lake
parking
lot about 1:08pm. I had taken off my cameras,
changed my
hat, and added a bit of
water to my nearly-empty water supply. I can pull data
off the the photos, so added sense points to the first image. The other
images are frames from video.
In all images, darker colors are
cooler. My shirt is cooler due to evaporative cooling of
sweat (Hooray for the breeze, and I was
soaked with sweat!), and the
tube from the Camelback got a lot cooler when I drank
from it.
06/29/2023.
I use a plastic bottle containing ice to maintain something cool to
drink while I enjoying recreation outside during this hot weather. I
built a foam
sleeve to preserve the ice as long as possible. I
used my FLIR ONE usb to check the insulation value of my foam sleeve.
The software allows for detailed
analysis when I copy the
images to my PC. I can screengrab the results, as shown here. This was
after 90 minutes in a closed car.
Another
image, with the bottle out, and different markers placed. Once an image
is captured, various items can be modifed to clarify data. A thermal
camera
alone usually has poor resolution, but the FLIR one merges two images for clearer definition. And final example, the same image with the markers placed, but
with
the thermal image removed, leaving the temperature values in place. I
still had ice, but the water around it was warmer. I'd bought this
device for certain
wildlife experiments-which the current
weather has delayed a bit. However I had some success with my first
field trial in March. Those can images are far down
on this page.
11/18/2017 The
Weiss Energy Hall has been closed for about a year. It is to be
re-opened to the public 11/20/2017. I went to a members' sneak preview.
Here are some images
showing the new marine seismic
acquisition section. The last image below right is a frame grab
from short video clip showing the opration of the seismic air gun
(PAR-pneumatic
acoustic repeater) . The gun can be fired "on demand" by pumping up the display control chamber. This video clip shows it in action.
7/24/2016 Brazos
Bend State Park reopened this week! Even this long after the
flood, the park shows signs of what the high water had done. In this
long panorama shot, here are
two interesting examples. 40 Acre lake
is almost totally choked by Water Hyacinth. But....Pilant Lake is more
open than I've ever seen it in 14 years! Take a look. Click the image
to
see a larger version--then scroll across.
And
another wonderful thing! The Golden Silk Spiders (Nephila
clavipes) have come back. The numbers of these spiders had dwindled
since the big drought of 2011, and on some
trails where I'd previously seen hundreds or thousands....I saw few. In fact, so few that I didn't feel comfortable disturbing any of them. This year, there are many more, and I was able
to gently borrow one from her web to show to some park visitors. Afterwards, I placed her back into her web. Here she is:
10/23/2015
I visited HMNS on Friday, and I saw the Chronophage clock in the Grand
Hall. According to information on the HMNS website, this is one of the
4 Chronophage
clocks
of this design in the world. I was impressed by the style in the
design, and after watching a video about its construction and operation
I was even more impressed.
Below are 3 animated gifs I made showing the movement of the "insect" at the top.
------------ ------------
This
is a working mechanical clock, powered by actions of the pendulum and
the"grasshopper escapement". The clock is 1.5 meters across
(about 5 ft).
The "grasshopper" escapement was designed in 1722 by
British clockmaker John Harrison. This refers to the actual
mechanism of the clock, which is just modified to
look like a "grasshopper".To acknowledge and demonstrate the escapement John C. Taylor designed the Chronophage clock.
The
clock may stop occasionally, or even reverse itself, but every 5
minutes it gives the correct time, and shows it in 3 concentric rings.
Outer is seconds, then minutes, then hours. The lights
seem to rotate,
but are actually rings of LEDs that show only when a single opening
passes in front of each one. Every 60 seconds, it opens its mouth to
devour a minute, and every hour, the
Chronophage lights up and sings. According
to the HMNS website, the clock's face is gold-plated stainless steel.
The stainless was shaped by explosive hydroforming.
It's
a fine example of artistic appliance (it *is* a clock, after all), and
I'm glad I took the time to see it. The only information I can
find says that it will be in HMNS from 8/24/15 to 12/31/15.
So, it
won't be here next year. If you can't get out to Houston Museum
of Natural Science to see it, then maybe these images will show enough.
Or, click the following links to see some video clips
of the Chronophage: clip 1(wmv) clip 2(wmv) clip 3(wmv)
The 4 Chronophage clocks that I could find on the internet are at the following links.
"Untitled" -- which is the one currently at HMNS
Corpus -- http://www.johnctaylor.com/the-chronophage/corpus-chronophage/
Midsummer -- http://www.johnctaylor.com/the-chronophage/midsummer-chronophage/
Dragon -- http://www.johnctaylor.com/the-chronophage/dragon-chronophage/
And more information is here: http://www.johnctaylor.com/2015/02/twelve-things-you-didnt-know-about-iconic-chronophage-clocks/
Just in case the links to outside pages go dead, the list below is from www.johnctaylor.com
Here are twelve facts that most people don’t know about the Chronophage clocks:
1. The name ‘Chronophage’ is derived from the Ancient Greek words ‘chronos’ meaning time and ‘phage’ meaning eater.
2.
Dr Taylor, the creator of the clocks, also invented the cordless
kettle. He has over 400 patents to his name, six of which pertain to
the timepieces.
3. Dr Taylor is also a leading expert on the work of
John Harrison, an eighteenth-century English horologist who built the
first marine chronometer, allowing seafarers to determine their
positions
at sea.
4. Each Chronophage is three metres tall, and the 1.5 metre diameter clock face is plated in 24 carat gold.
5.
The clocks only show the correct time every five minutes. Exploring
Albert Einstein’s theory of relative time, they slow down, speed up and
occasionally stop.
6. The clock faces have no hands, but instead
tell the time with three concentric circles of blue light-emitting
diodes (LEDs). The lights do not flash on and off but are obscured
and
revealed by three stainless steel discs, each with a ring of Vernier
slits. When the slits align, the lights are visible. The outer ring
shows seconds, the middle shows minutes
and the inner ring shows hours.
7.
The dragon on the Dragon Chronophage was designed by Professor Long of
China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. The design is authentically Chinese –
for example, the dragon is
accompanied by a pearl, which it swallows
every hour. The pearl is a symbol of purity and prosperity.
8. Since
its installation in 2008, the Corpus Chronophage has become one of
Cambridge’s most popular landmarks. In 2014 the Tour de France passed
the clock in its early stages.
Vincenzo Nibali, the first rider past
the Chronophage, went on to win the Tour.
9. Each of the creatures
is a part of the clock’s mechanism. The technical name for this
component is a ‘grasshopper escapement’ and it was invented by one of
Dr Taylor’s greatest clockmaking
influences, John Harrison.
10. The
distinctive rippled effect on the Chronophage clock face is created
using underwater explosions, and depicts time moving outwards from the
centre of the universe after the Big Bang.
11. The construction process is so complex and meticulous that only four Chronophage clocks have been created.
12. The Dragon Chronophage is valued at over �3 million, making it one of the world’s most valuable modern clocks.
09/14/2014 Vampires at Brazos Bend State Park!
....sort of. While walking the Spillway Trail near the Alligator
Nesting Display, I noticed an area of vegetation covered with orange
string-like
growths. This was near one of the islands, so I had to
examine the growths through binoculars. Some years ago, I'd seen areas
like this, and I'd asked David what they were. He had told me
what it
was then, and...I had forgotten. Fortunately, I was able to ask
David again, and he refreshed my memory. The growth is called "Dodder",
and it's a true parasite. That is, it survives
entirely
by sucking what
it needs from the plants it grows on. There are many varieties of
Dodder (which are plants in the Cuscuta genus). Some of these are
native, some invasive. Dodder
plants grow from seeds. When the seed germinates, the new shoot starts
questing about for a nearby host. They "move" as ivys or similar plants
do, but experiments have shown that they
grow towards other plants,
and not in random directions. When they reach a host plant (and they
can use many different types of plants), they wrap around it. Then,
theygrow shoots, called
haustoria, that penetrate the plant and join
with the host plant's vascular system. The original roots are
discarded, and the dodder begins living off the host plant. Recent
studies have shown
that along with the necessary plant materials (water,
sugars) the dodder and the host plant also exchange mRNA (messenger
RNA). Further studyis needed to understand what effects this
can
have
on both plants, but it's possible the dodder could influence the host
to either lower its chemical defense, or even to produce more nutrients
to benefit the dodder. So, although this
botanical "vampire" can't turn into a bat it *might* be able to "hypnotize" its host.
Here are some links that talk more about Dodders:
locating hosts:
Locating 1
Locating 2
exchanging chemistry:
chemistry 1
chemistry 2
chemistry 3
chemistry 4
chemistry 5
May 25, 2013-- SPECIAL UPDATES:
On 4/20/2013, I recieved the following email (quoted with permission):
"Rick,
I read your page on Wyrex and noticed your comments about her missing
tail. When we excavated Wyrex, we searched and searched for more tail
vertebra but none were found. Wyrex was
laying on a fairly flat plain
and none of us could figure out where her tail was. However during the
prep work on her, it was discovered that her tail had been bitten off
long before her juvenile
death. At that time it was discovered that the
pathology showed that it had healed a estimated that it did not cause
her death. Not sure what the sign at Houston states nor what Bob
Bakker’s
opinion on it is, but hope this helps you better understand
Wyrex."
Imagine my surprise at recieving this. It's always (well, usually) pleasant to get some feedback from my pages; and this was so polite. And then, I got to the signature:
Allison Wyrick
(original discover and excavator)
How wonderful is that?
I was in contact with the people who had actually made the fossil of
"wyrex" possible!! I wrote back, and we had some pleasant
back-and-forth conversation. I promised
Allison that I'd research
further, but that I'd also make some reference to this correction on
this page. So here it is.
Since
I posted the entry about the HMNS Morian Hall of Paleontology, I've
been doing some reading and catching up on dinosaur events since I last
read about them some years ago. I first read
through Dinosaur
Paleobiology, by Stephen L. Brusatte. Much of it is technical, but I
did pick up some items of interest. What I mostly came to understand
was that although there has been a LOT
of new dinosaur material
unearthed and/or described over the last 20 years or so-and there have
been many modern methods used to interpret this data-there is still not
total agreement on
various points. This is in spite of the fact that
some of these points have been made public. But, that's science, and
the nature and number of studies is large and varied. All interesting,
but I can't
imagine how full-time paleontologists can keep informed of
all new developments. Another book I have been reading through
is: Tyrannosaurus rex, the Tyrant King, edited by Peter
Larson,
Kenneth Carpenter. It is a collection of studies presented in a
symposium about the Tyrannosaurus rex. As I am going through it,
I can see that even with this source, there are some studies that
appear to disagree with each other, but that's ok for me. They still
bring up interesting points.
One
major item I've gotten from the book so far is this: From
1900 (when the T. rex was first discovered and defined) to about 1980,
there were only 7 examples of this fossil known--in the entire
world,
Now, there are about 46 known, in various percentages of completion
(defined by bone count). 16 of those specimens have been found since
1999. Three of the most complete appear in
the Houston Museum of
Natural Science. We have "Wyrex" (aka BHI-6230) and Wyrex is the
actual fossil, and the one that Allison and family discovered and
excavated in Montana. We also have
full replicas of "Bucky" (aka TCM
2001.90.1) and "Stan" (aka BHI-3033). I have emailed HMNS and
have been looking, but can't find any other description of the Wyrex
fossil, or any reference to
the tail. I'm still looking though, and
probably should try emailing the Black Hills Institute (BHI)
myself. I've
been back to the museum many times since May of 2012, and have been
looking more at
the skeletons as I learn more about them. I
wouldn't have been doing this as much if not given the boost by
Allison's letter. Thanks, Allison! That is for writing to me in
the first place. And thanks to
you and your folks for finding the
Wyrex, and then taking the effort to bring it out of the ground so that
we can all see it.
January 12, 2013--
The Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS) has the Weiss Energy Hall.
It talks about sources of energy, and how we create energy. While doing
geophysical surveys in
a marine environment, we tow arrays of sensors.
These sensors can pick up pressure waves which have traveled through
the rock strata under the sea bed. The pressure waves are usually
produced be releasing air that has been comrpressed to thousands of
pounds per square inch--in one pulse. This causes high-pressure bubble
to form. The device that creates this is called an
"air gun". There is
functioning air gun on display at the museum. It works at much less
operating pressure than the ones in the field, but it is still
interesting to watch. I shot some video of the gun
at work (it fires
about every 20 seconds) and edited them together. The clip can be seen here. The image below is a frame from the video.
9/06/2012 -- I've
been back to HMNS many times. As an experiment, I tired shooting
multiple photos and putting them into animated gifs for a "3D" effect.
Since I had the chance, I tried it with dinosaur skeletons. You can see them on this page.
May 31, 2012-- DINOSAURS!!
The Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS) has just opened their
upgraded Paleontology Hall. I was able to visit it a few days before
the public opening. What
a fantastic upgrade! I will post some
pictures here, with a few decscription, but that's it. If you are
reading this, and you live in Houston (or near it) then GO SEE
IT! I've always been interested in
dinosaurs and other
prehistoric animals. From the time that I first read about them as a
child (back in the '60s) until now, the way that dinosaurs and other
ancient creatures are studied and
understood has changed very much.
Advancements in analytical technologies and the encorporating
physics and mechanical analysis (kinematics) to model the movements
of extinct life forms from
studies of still extant animals can give
clearer imagery of how they may have lived. I'm sure it must be a
wonderful, exciting time to be a paleontologist! (Although...it
was probably *always* exciting
to be a paleontologist.)
So...these are some pictures of my visit to HMNS and the new
Paleontology Hall. These cannot convey everything that is there.
Entering the hall, we start early in geologic
time. Among the things to
see is a three-panel view into the ancient ocean. But this isn't a
painting--it's a moving display that appears to be windows looking
into the ancient ocean. The sun's rays
flex as they are bent by the
surface above, and, as one watches, one ancient creature oranother
will appear out of the distance, or out of the sandy bottom, move
about, then move away. It's a
wonderful display--and you just have to
go see it.
Eventually, one will encounter the Dimetrodon, a permian
reptile--but not a dinosaur. They haven't appeared yet. This creature
was cold-blooded. Dinosaurs were warm-blooded. A
little further
along,
after various other creatures, one encounters the Smilosuchus, a
crocodile-like animal. This was large, but not a true crocodile--those
appeared millions of yearslater. The Smilosuchus has nostrils
just
in front of its eyes and living crocodilians don't. They have
nostrils at the end of their snout, with a passage that brings air to
openings in the throat behind their hard palate. I counted, and
the
Smilosuchus has 5 toes on all four feet. Alligators have 5 toes on
front feet, 4 toes on back feet. The display mentions an "armor " of
plates that cover the Smilosuchus--but the mounted specimen
doesn't
show any.
--------
Closer views of the Smilosuchus skull show the nostrils in front of the eyes.
After some more interesting displays, the Steneosaurus can be
seen, mounted to the wall. This was another
crocodile-like
creature, but still not a true crocodilian. But it's closer. I compared
an alligator osteoderm to one that can be seen on the fossil.
--------
The rear foot of the Steneosaurus has 4 toes, and the front foot has 5 toes.
Moving foreward will eventually bring one to the Late Jurassic,
and also to an Allosaurus. The Allosaurus is facing a rearing
Stegosaurus.
--------
Passing
under or around the Stegosaurus, one then passes under a Diplodocus,
and into what I call the "main hall". And my first view of this just
awed me. No use in describing all of
the creatures on
display. Look at the pictures below, and then GO TO THE MUSEUM and see
the display. It's impossible to show how HUGE these are with pictures,
and I'm not showing
video clips here. This is a herd of
immense prehistoric predators and herbivores, rearing, lunging and
walking. GO SEE THEM.
--------
Near the back end of this section, there are a nesting pair of
Quetzalcoatlus--the largest-known flying creature...ever. There's one
mounted flying overhead (and I've seen this before),
but it's hard to tell the how big it really was. Unless, one
stands next to the nesting pair. Then, the effect is something
like imagining wings on...a giraffe. That's me standing next to them.
Near them is a new Tyrannosaurus skeleton-a very fine
specimen. The description says that the end of the tail appears to have
been bitten off, with no healing evident. This could mean
that the tail was bitten off after the Tyrannosaurus died--or
just before it died. If the latter, I could imagine that the
Tyrannosaurus bled out and died after having its tail bitten off (the
display mentions that the Tyrannosaurus would have had difficulty
walking without the tail to balance and without the muscle attachments
that were lost). On the other hand, if the
T.rex had
fallen into a mud pit or drowned, or been buried, then maybe only
the tail was exposed--and this "cover" was what preserved the body and
the skeleton so well later.
--------
The forearms and front claws are also well-preserved, and show an additional "toe" or spur that is not normally visible.
There are other specimens, and then one eventually will come to this jaw of a Megalodon...a prehistoric shark.
------
And that's a taste of the new Paleontology Hall. I'll be going
back again. Soon. Because of my volunteer work at BBSP, I get to
see, almost weekly, the activities and habits of alligators--living
relatives of some of the archosaurs at the museum. And--I get to
see any number of about 300 species of birds that appear at BBSP--along
with their activities and habits. And they are
related to the dinosaurs at the museum.
------------------------------------------- ----
OLD RICKUBISCAM
Now
you know why I stopped. Below (TURN OFF THE VACUUM!) is another picture
from across the street. Fortunately, I'd seen a short report on this
on our local TV news (but I hadn't noted
where the house was), or I wouldn't
have known what to think when I saw this. This house is an arresting sight
when you don't expect to see it.
----
TURN OFf THE VACUUM!!
THE DESCRIPTION
This
house is actually an art piece. The card affixed to it (see DESCRIPTION,
above), named it as Inversion. I was able to return to this house
after my surgery, on June 18th. The remaining
three images above show me
inside the hole, showing scale. If you happen to be in Houston, you might
consider driving by and seeing this for yourself.
And, I'm recovering quite
well from
the surgery.
2003/2004/2005-- (added here 5/24/2022) Although I did put this material on its own page, I thought I'd also link the page here, just for the sake of history. So, here's the Fossil Crocs page.
This page was born 12/23/2010. Rickubis designed it. (such as it is.) All contents � 2005-2022 Richard Dashnau
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