[Plamadude30k]

I’ll never figure out these voters. It’s still early, and I see climbers. I’m shooting for a 3rd place–that’s the only top ten spot I’ve yet to get. I’ve already bested a few of my personal stats–why be greedy?

I’ve got two of those and nothing else in the top 10. I’d gladly trade one of mine for one of yours this week 😀 .

[Plamadude30k]

Thanks, ELO! Would it help to know that the particular shot you’re talking about was my very first long-exposure shot and was not intended to look like that at all? I hadn’t quite figured out my camera yet. The starfield in question is the summertime sky from Curtain Springs, Australia. You can also sort of see the LMC near the trees in the bottom right.

[Plamadude30k]

Oh, and damn, you Orionid, and your snow! 😉 I’m seriously considering not even entering ‘Winter’. Given the state of my tires, I don’t dare drive the 3 hours to get to it/drive through it, and realistically, my Arizona chances are slim to none elsewise. I think I’ve got enough ‘credits’ to keep my ultra-farktographer status even if I skip one–and if not, such is life.

I’m in the same boat down in Tucson. My only hope for snow is possibly some up in the Catalinas if a storm comes through, but I’m not holding my breath.

[Plamadude30k]

Anybody have input about which of these I should use?

http://photos.imageevent.com/ulle17/fark/Cone_4595.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/ulle17/fark/Window-Into-Summer_4150.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/ulle17/fark/Spider_3797.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/ulle17/fark/Door_2501.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/ulle17/fark/Outlet_0519t.jpg

I quite like the door. The rectilinear lines give it a really interesting feel. The cone is good as well, but the composition just doesn’t strike me in the same way.

[Plamadude30k]

I was wondering if I could get a ruling on this entry:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Darth.Java/Farktography#5563572811476954594
I’m not very attached to it, but I’d like other’s opinions; does it fit the contest?

[Plamadude30k]

When you’re doing physics, there’s usually no real time limit or important stakes resting on your shoulders (like lives, for example). Just my two cents.

You’ve never seen reactor power screaming up at 5 decades per minute. Yes, decades. As in, adding zeros on a logarithmic scale.

/Crap. Now I have to kill all of you.

Heh. Well, perhaps I should specify my particular subfield. The most dangerous thing we deal with in observational astronomy is a liquid helium dewar, which is pretty dangerous but not catastrophe dangerous.

Until you spot the asteroid that’s coming to kill us all!

Yeah, I work right next door to the Catalina Sky Survey guys who discover a significant percentage of the new asteroids per year. Now that’s a high-stress job. I just look at planets outside our solar system.

[Plamadude30k]

Also, why stop short of suggesting a scanner themed contest? In the original scanner discussion, it came up as a possibility, and it sounds fun.

I’d enjoy this, but I’d be tempted to use an image of Mars I requested from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter/HiRISE camera, which is essentially a scanner (they use a single row of pixels and the pushbroom technique). I have the feeling that’d be illegal for some reason or other-probably more than one. 😀

[Plamadude30k]

When you’re doing physics, there’s usually no real time limit or important stakes resting on your shoulders (like lives, for example). Just my two cents.

You’ve never seen reactor power screaming up at 5 decades per minute. Yes, decades. As in, adding zeros on a logarithmic scale.

/Crap. Now I have to kill all of you.

Heh. Well, perhaps I should specify my particular subfield. The most dangerous thing we deal with in observational astronomy is a liquid helium dewar, which is pretty dangerous but not catastrophe dangerous.

[Plamadude30k]

As an astronomy/physics student who has taken far too many quantum and thermal classes to be consistent with good mental health…

Yeah, I think there’s something about upper-level physics that either requires or generates (I’m not sure, it’s a chicken-and–egg thing) a certain, shall we say, different way of thinking. 🙂 Every one of my physics professors fit the stereotype to a tee.

And I think Teller and Openheimer might disagree with you about the lack of important stakes. 😉 (Not to diminish the pressure of being doctor at all.)

Anyway, good luck with your studies, stay sane, and keep with it. I consider physics to be the top of pile of engineering-related studies. As I used to rib my friend who’s a petroleum engineer, “The rest of y’all just plug numbers into forumlas, the physicists derived those formulas in the first place!”

Of course, the mathematicians would say they’re ultimately on the top of that pile, and I’m not going to argue. Anyway, the weirdness in physicists is a combination of the internal strangeness and the external. You have to be a little crazy to do it in the first place, and by doing it, that bit of you is magnified. Everybody needs a release; I’ve got photography (among other things) and I’m always thankful for this place.

[Plamadude30k]

Man, am I intimately aware of that. One of my degrees is Engineering Physics. It was all good until we got into quantumn mechanics. I took some comp sci classes for math electives and ending up liking it enough that I went on to earn a CS degree, too, but comparitively, CS is a walk in the park. I’ve got a huge amount of respect for the physicists out there.

As an astronomy/physics student who has taken far too many quantum and thermal classes to be consistent with good mental health, I thank you. Still, I’m not so sure I agree with U-Man-this stuff is pretty difficult, but medicine just seems way beyond difficult in a lot of ways. When you’re doing physics, there’s usually no real time limit or important stakes resting on your shoulders (like lives, for example). Just my two cents.

[Plamadude30k]

A few comments:
1) I meant to submit quite a lot earlier, but it’s difficult to do so a quarter of the globe away. I love vacation, but I’m happy I get back to my normal time next week.

2) U-Man, that Moonlight on snow is simply spectacular. I mean, I always expect to be blown away by your stuff, but that is just above and beyond.

3) Also, for the first time, b-sides!

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xKnB48_E8XRYwILaZeKUNw?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ab-C9PQoVRuKsGMl1FnChw?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/DVDxUPeuwGS7lx-_Wj45SA?feat=directlink

[Plamadude30k]

Just a quick question of clarification: I’m assuming lightning is not legal for this contest, right? I’ve got plenty of options otherwise, but I wanted to be sure before I made my final decision.

[Plamadude30k]

It’s so nice to hear everybody’s having the same problems I am. I have a really detailed dream journal, but after reading through it I realized that nothing in it is really photographable without significant non-farktography-legal methods. Time to dive into the archives, I guess.

[Plamadude30k]

Merry Christmas to you all and may Santa’s bag be full of B&H gift cards for everyone!

Man, that would be awesome.

Just as a matter of curiosity, is anybody here especially familiar with the FSM? By my calculations, I should be a Total Farktographer (86 contests/43 entries, exactly like the FAQ says in fact), but I’m still only listed as active. Does it have to be updated manually by schnee, or is the formula different from what’s on the FAQ page?

[Plamadude30k]

I had no idea what I was going to do for a third picture until I saw that one of my brother in a christmas food coma in my archives. Hopefully the voters find it as funny as I do.

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