Setting up lots of Macs? Want an offline installer? Here’s how to roll your own.
via Ars Technica
How to make your own bootable OS X 10.11 El Capitan USB install drive
34 Amazing Photos Of The Super Blood Moon
Sunday night’s sky was a rare treat, wasn’t it? We won’t even see another lunar eclipse until 2018. But in the meantime, we have a lot of fantastic photos, taken by you, of the blood super moon.
Middle-Of-Nowhere
We live in the Middle-Of-Nowhere, Colorado. We often have some beautiful night skies to stare at. But for tonight, I had to call a neighbor and go interrupt their dinner so I could set up shop in their backyard. As their house was actually blocking the view from our house! I bit my nails as a large cloud covered most of the action, but it cleared just in time for the awesomeness. Another neighbor thought it would be a good idea to turn on her flood light! At first i panicked, but then I used it to my advantage to light the field. This is a composite of a few images, just to get all the exposures right. But I didn’t go too crazy with the Photoshopping. Canon 7D, 200mm (Canon 70-200L), 5.6, Tripod
Ruxy Papineau
Birthday
I shot this image using a canon 60D camera with 135mm lens. It was my birthday and I was celebrating with my family and the Super Moon was our main event.
Elaine Fayad
Drug Deal Overwatch
I went to the airport for the shot, but getting the shot was kind of strange. A pickup truck was sitting in a pull off engine on lights off. The truck took off after a few minutes lights off. A taxi pulled up and sat right after. A drug deal with lunar eclipse problems.
Mark Avery
Partial Duo
The full eclipse photos did not turn out. But I like these two from the partial eclipse. The shots were taken 20 minutes apart, with the upper moon the 1/2000s exposure. I use Lightroom for processing and Photomatix Pro to merge the photos together. I used the Natural filter in Photomatix Pro to keep the shots looking mostly normal. Canon T3i, 250mm, ISO 400. 1/4000 and 1/2000s at f5.6
David Short
The Backyard
Recent evening clouds scuttled any excursions to shoot this moon, but I pressed on in my light-polluted back yard with my rental Sigma “bigma” lens. This is as the moon was coming out of totality. Pentax K-50, Sigma 50-500 6400 ISO f8
James Wilson
Westwing Mountain
Hike to the summit of Westwing Mountain in North Peoria, Arizona for this shot. I got some great panoramas with the iPhone, too! This one was with my Canon Rebel 300D. The hike down in the dark was a little hairy. 🙂
Dave Reuss
Flare
Exciting that I am both in a location where I could see this AND it’s at a time I’m actually awake. That hasn’t happened in, I can’t even remember the last one. Confused the heck out of the dogs- “What is this game? Why are you sitting on the ground and why do you keep shooing us away? We just want to play!” It took a second to get it set up since I didn’t want to find my tripod (stupid move) so patio table plus kitchen towel equals lo-tech support. Did have to dig out the remote though, and super happy it still worked. Since I live in the middle of nowhere, during most full moons it’s like daylight outside and I thought that this shot was a nice combination of eclipse and the normal “Holy cow, did I leave a light on?” And the lens flare mini moon happened naturally- I liked it, so I kept it.
Shot with my Nikon DSLR, (since I bought a new thingy to get pictures off of it) the longest lens I have, f/6.3, 2.5 sec. And at ISO 400 cause I forgot to change that. Turned out pretty good for approximately 5 minutes prep.
Christina Anstaett
Eclipse Over Boston Federal Reserve
I headed to Faneuil Hall to take most of my eclipse shots so I could hear Alabama Shakes playing live across the street at the same time. Afterwards, I walked to South Station to get a cab away from the crowds when I realized the Federal Reserve Bank building was a perfect subject. There was no street level view of the moon over the top, but from this angle it looks as if the blood moon is reflecting off the silver siding. Sony A7 II with Sony 24-240 lens at 52mm, 4/10 sec f6.3 ISO 800
Josh Wardell
Blood Moon
The blood moon is so much more dark than the normal moon, which made it tough to shoot. I had to use manual focus because the moon was so dim, a long exposure, and bump the ISO which added a bunch of noise. But it was fun! Canon EOS M3 (with a 1.6x crop sensor). 1/3 sec, f/8, and ISO 3200. 300mm f/2.8 lens with stacked 2x and 1.4x extenders. So effectively 300 * 1.6 * 2.0 * 1.4 = 1344mm.
David Lee
Partly Cloudy
I’ve been dabbling in astrophotography for a little bit and figured this shooting challenge would be up my alley. It’s been really cloudy for the last few months and I was expecting to miss the eclipse altogether. But 10 minutes before it was scheduled to start it cleared up. So I ran outside, threw my equipment together and started shooting. Clouds did come in eventually, ruining my chances for a shot of the full eclipse itself, but I did get some nice images of the earlier parts of the event. Olympus VG-110 (point-n-shoot camera) afocally mounted to a Celestron PowerSeeker 80EQ Telescope. Camera set to -2.0 exposure compensation, ISO 100. Levels and color balance adjusted slightly in GimpShop.
Richard Gonzalez
Half Moon
I got a new camera over the weekend, and decided it would be a good time to try some astrophotography through my telescope. I am pleased with the results and now realize that astrophotography is a lot harder than it appears to be.
After being all excited up until eclipse time, it was a huge disappointment to see nothing but clouds during the entire course of the eclipse. The clouds finally went away near the end, and I captured what you see in the photos. I took nearly 300 of them over about a half hour. Since I am fairly new at photography through the scope, I did not load it up and drive to some out of the way place. The photo was shot from my backyard in San Jose, CA.
The camera I used was a Canon 6D mounted to a 900mm telescope. I used a Barlow adapter to mount the camera to the scope. The Canon 6D has wi-fi capability, so I was able to use my iPhone to change settings and ISO as well as firing the shutter. ISO 1600, SS: 1/80, Sept 27, 2015 8:59PM PDT,
Shane Lee
Progression
It was shot using a Canon 70D, with a 18-135 mm STM lens. Each shot was taken at 135 mm, 4 second exposure at ISO 400. I took a shot each 10 minutes, and then merged them together on Photoshop, to get the final result.
It was funny, because the sky was a bit cloudy, and every time I had to take a shot (after 10 minutes), there were no clouds in front of the moon. I was lucky with that! So, that’s it. I really liked the final result. I’m happy with that.
Bruno Saad Marques
Airshow
I shot quite a few things today with my SX60HS camera, an airshow, the moon rising as a supermoon. This shot was taken around 10:30PM in Mission, KS.
Samuel Micah Edward VanHorn III
Shine
We had overcast weather towards the east here in the bay area all afternoon until the clouds finally opened up to give this great composition.This was shot on an Sony a7s on a tripod with a 500mm Minolta reflex lens.
Jorge Mena
LA Moon
After spending a few days of preparing how I can best shoot this super rare celestial event, instincts kicked in and everything I read online became meaningless. I pulled out my Canon 6D and 70-300mm lens out of my case, mounted it on my tripod. There was a lot of trial and error, but after several shots of learning from my mistakes, I ended up with this. A scene of the super moon, Los Angeles cloudy skies (which did have me worried for a little bit that it’d block the entire event) and some of the stars in the background. My camera was set at an ISO of 1250, shutter of 2 seconds, and aperture of f/5.6. Manual focus was used and image stabilization and a remote shutter release was used for minimal camera shake during the shot.
Ryan Valle
In Branches
My name is Piotr (Peter) Milert. I was very excited to find this contest on Gizmodo website and even though I do realize I don’t have many chances of winning it due to my camera being Point & Shoot, I still wanted to share my attempts to memorize this amazing event! Today on September 27th, 2015 I witnessed full Super Moon Eclipse. I was lucky enough to spend that evening surrounded by friends and many other people who were also interested in being part of this astronomical moment and gathered at OMSI parking lot in Portland, Oregon. I took many pictures, from partial eclipse till almost the end of full coverage. Unfortunately, most of them were lacking necessary quality and ended up being a little bit distorted…At that point we decided that we’ve seen what we wanted and left; also major input had the fact that it was pretty cold outside, so to avoid getting cold we made that crucial decision to cut the party short.
Although when I reached my house I’ve noticed that the event isn’t fully over just yet and decided to snap few more pictures. And this time, because it was only me watching it, I decided to use the small viewfinder instead of 2.5” screen. I was fiddling around with different settings on my P&S camera and couldn’t figure out why the pictures aren’t coming out clear. That’s when I decided to zoom out tiny bit and noticed that there’s something slightly obstructing the view. The effect in my humble opinion is pretty interesting and I hope you guys will enjoy it too!
Piotr Milert
South of Market
The Blood Moon as taken from the roof of our building, overlooking the South of Market district of San Francisco. Taken with a Sony A7s on a tripod. So happy we weren’t fogged in!
Albert K
Orb
This was shot with a Canon 5DIII, a 300m f/2.8 with a 2x teleconvertor, making it a 600m f/5.6. Taken in my backyard around 4:00 am on a tripod with remote release, about 30 miles southwest of London. Conditions were pretty good, a bit damp, so some haze and softening of the moon. Not too cold out and no wind, so that helped! Postprocessed with Lightroom, a really quick job this morning as I’ve got a day gig too!
Michael Smith
Cityscape
This photo was taken on a Nikon D610 on a tripod at f/8, ISO 800, and 1.6 seconds.
Moonrise here in LA was at 6:40 Sunday night which isn’t too bad except I had a family party to go to that day at 2:00. I figured if I left the party at 6:00 I would have enough time to go find a good spot and set up my gear in time to catch the moon rising over downtown. At 6:00 I said goodbye to everyone and started driving towards West LA to try and find a spot where I could get a picture of the moon behind the LA skyline, however traffic was heavier than I had anticipated and come 6:40 I still didn’t have a spot to set up my camera. After a little more searching I was able to find a multi-story parking garage in Koreatown so I got to the top and was able to set up my tripod and camera just in time to see the moon rising over the US Bank Tower. By around 7:00 I had gotten the camera fully dialed in and I was trying to get as many pictures as I could because I could see some clouds starting to move in. This was one of the last photos I was able to take before the moon moved completely behind the clouds at around 7:40.
Oliver Carlton
Visitor
This owl flew over and stooped upon a lifeguard tower just as clouds parted just for a short time. Kindly, the owl unperturbed by my presence, posed for a few shots. Illuminated with flash, I captured two images. Using Photoshop I merged the two images bringing both subjects into focus. 6D 300mm f/2.8 @ f/29 .3 sec ISO 6400. Taken near the Ventura Pier (CA)
Richard Heller
Mordiford Moon
Got up about 3am and took a few shots, these seem to be the best in terms of colour and sharpness/focusing. Canon 1000D (XS rebel), Sigma 70-300mm lens, Home made mount, ISO 400 / f5 / 5sec exposure @ 214mm
James Drew
Dead Moon Break
Here’s one shot I got of the super moon. My wife and I had to take a break from our Walking Dead Season 5 binge (just released on Netflix) to get the shot. Was taken with our Sony DSC-HX200V, 144mm. 1s exposure, f/5.6, iso800
Drew Ayrit
Cloudbreak
It was a cloudy, hazy evening in the mid-atlantic east coast, and the moon was mostly obscured. But near the beginning of the eclipse, a break in the clouds allowed a few quick photos. By the time the moon was in total eclipse, it was completely shrouded in cloud cover, so I missed the best part of the show. This is a composite image of two photos taken a few moments apart. One image of the moon over the treeline with a tripod-mounted camera, and a second handheld shot through the eyepiece of a small telescope to show the moon detail more clearly. Canon G7x, f/2.8, ISO-125, 1/15 sec. and 1/120 sec. exposures. Post processed with GIMP.
S Wootten
Partly Cloudy
We had cloud coverage for most of the eclipse here in southeast PA, and I was shooting through them for the majority of it, but occasionally I had a clear shot. While i did get a few good ones of totality, this one had better composition with the clouds as it was waning at 11:41 EST. Canon SL1, 75-300 lens, ISO 400 f7.1 for 1 sec.
Jeff dePascale
Fliberflys in the Desert
Shot this image at a Gathering celebrating the Supermoon/Eclipse In California, Drove 3 hours into the desert and got there and the gathering was pretty much over sadly, But still took some portraits, had some fun, and got some great shots of the eclipse.
This Photo is an Unedited Light Painting, Created with a Fiber Optic Whip (prototype of a new “fiberfly”). Settings ISO 800 F/9 14 Second Exposure, Created on a Sony A7R, I also took a bunch of Light Painting portraits that included the moon, but I thought that for this submission some abstracts art featuring the moon would be appropriate.
After shooting this image I promptly realized that if i wanted to submit this image to you… I Couldn’t stay or sleep in the desert… So i shot for an hour or two and then packed up, Got lost in the desert for a while, And finally made my way back home about 4am!
Reid Godshaw
Michigan Moon
It was a cloudy night in Southeast Michigan, so we decided to be lazy and just stay in and check out the window occasionally to see if the moon was visible.
When it was I’d hurry to try the shot, but this was my first attempt at astronomy photography (astrography?), so it involved a lot of experimenting with exposures, focusing, and timing (the remote shutter wasn’t working well) and catching it between the clouds.
Fun experience.
Jeff Hafner
The Redeye
I had been excited for weeks to see last night’s lunar eclipse. I rarely stay up past 9pm but if I was to ever stay up late, tonight was the night. My wife wanted to stay inside and go to bed, but eventually gave in and helped me set up our telescope and binoculars in the driveway of our suburban New Hampshire home, just far enough from the city lights to not be dragged down by light pollution. There were some tree branches in the way so I chopped them down and we settled down for a couple hours in the cold darkness. We had only been out for about 15 minutes when I saw a commercial airliner and its moonlit contrail approaching from the south. It was a one-in-a-million chance that it happened to pass right in front of the moon, so I snapped this photograph using my Canon SX280 point-and-shoot held against the eyepiece of a 5” Celestron 130SLT telescope. The picture was flipped and cropped but not altered in any other way.
Chris Andrews
3 Minutes In The Heavens
It took me a while to get my camera’s settings to a place I was ready to commit to for a multiple exposure shot. Once I was happy with what I was getting, I spent about half an hour taking one shot every minute, afraid to even touch the camera (a remote can be a really hand thing). After looking at the shots, three minute intervals produced the best spacing.
Shot on a Nikon D7000, 200mm (55-200mm lens), F/10, 1.6”, ISO 400. When producing the final image, I brightened the original shots by overlaying four copies of each. Overlaying and some minor cropping all done in GIMP.
Jacob Trioiano
Penumbra
Now, don’t get me wrong. A blood moon is certainly cool. But I was not prepared for how spectacular the penumbra was. Seeing the edge of the Earth’s shadow really put the scale of it all in to context.
ISO100, 300mm, f/5.6 5 sec. Canon T3i
Matt Heiniger
Phases
Pretty much straight out of the camera shots, a little brightening, alignment and sharpening. No color correction (which I’m normally a huge fan of). It was a challenge to expose the surface of the moon correctly that was in sunlight, and in shadow. Tried HDR, didn’t work at all; moon moved too many (!). Ended up just doing one or the other.
Elliot Scott
Focus
I am lucky living in Oxford, UK, as we have an overload of incredible architecture that is very easily accessible. I set my alarm for 3am hoping that if I headed to the city centre I would get a good shot of the blood moon with some of Oxford’s famous buildings in the foreground. After taking shots with buildings for over an hour I decided to try something different, and frame my favorite statues as though they are looking at the moon. I only wish I had tried this approach earlier when the moon was a deeper red and the eclipse was peaking and not at the end. My equipment: Canon T3i and 18-200mm lens on a tripod with IR remote, 10s exposure, f/8, ISO 400. This is a composite of two images merged in photoshop in order to get the statue and moon in focus.
NJ Brideau
Slow Learning Curve
Took this one with my trusty 20D early in the eclipse before trying a series of multi-exposures that did not turn out well at all. Can try again in 18 years I guess….
Scott Lumsden
Karl the Fog
Taken from the pier in Saucalito, CA. That’s Karl the Fog. Fuji X-T1, XF 55-200mm, 800 ISO, f/8
Mark Farinas
Incredible entries all around. And a very special thanks to everyone for not sending us pictures of their butts.
We’re One Small Step Closer to a Working Light Saber
Killjoy physicists have long pointed out the sheer unlikelihood of building a working light saber. But now, they’ve taken a small step toward realizing the dream of Star Wars fans worldwide, by figuring out how to get photons to stick together like molecules in a super-chilled gas.
This latest work builds on prior experiments from 2013, when Harvard physicists first announced a new state of matter.
Photons don’t have mass and zip along at the speed of light, with no time to hang around in clumps. They also aren’t charged particles and thus don’t interact with each other much at all. They love to hang out with charged electrons, though. And that’s what’s going on here: the Harvard experiment created a special kind of medium in which photons act like charged particles with mass, enabling them to form molecules.
When the Harvard researchers blasted a cloud of cold rubidium atoms with a laser, they found that when more than photon passed through, the photons clumped together — it was like they were superimposed one on top of the other as they passed through the gas. The culprit: a phenomenon known as the Rydberg blockade. As Adam Clark Estes reported for Gizmodo in 2013:
This rule states that atoms neighboring an atom that’s been excited — say, by a passing photon — cannot be excited to the same degree as the initial atom. When multiple photons pass through a cloud of atoms, this creates a push-pull force between them, which is what binds the resultant molecule.
Technically, the photons haven’t changed their basic nature; they still have no charge and no mass. They’ve just found a way to interact with each other via intermediaries — namely, the ultra cold rubidium atoms. They need to be inside that rubidium gas in order to interact. That said, “It’s not an in-apt analogy to compare this to light sabers,” Harvard’s Mikhail Lukin said at the time. “When these photons interact with each other, they’re pushing against and deflect each other. The physics of what’s happening in these molecules is similar to what we see in the movies.”
Now, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have shown that it’s possible to get two photons to travel side by side at a set distance from each other, similar to how hydrogen atoms are arranged in a hydrogen molecules. That’s an impressive degree of control that shows great promise for making molecular light. And if you can shape a molecule out of photons, why not a light saber?
Before all you Star Wars fans out there get too excited, there are the usual caveats. There’s a pretty elaborate laboratory setup required to make even simple molecules of light, given the need for ultra cold rubidium gas. The photons can’t interact without it, and it’s quite the engineering challenge to shrink a roomful of equipment down to handheld size.
Even if scientists figure out how to build complicated objects, like a sword, out of photons, there are plenty of other hurdles to overcome to make a working light saber — issues like power, size, and the difficulty of keeping the laser light within a short blade, since light won’t actually stop unless it hits something that can absorb or reflect its energy.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t practical applications, such as replacing electronic switches in computers or fiber optic systems with optical versions, thereby reducing the energy losses that occur when converting optical signals to electrical signals and back again. “Lots of modern technologies are based on light, from communication to technology to high-definition imaging,” NIST physicist Alexey Gorshkov said in a press release. “Many of them would be greatly improved if we could engineer interactions between photons.”
[Via PhysOrg and Nanowerk News]
Image: Artist’s conception of two photons (depicted as waves) locked together at a short distance. Credit: E. Edwards/JQI.
References:
Firstenberg, Ofer et al. (2013) “Attractive photons in a quantum nonlinear medium,” Nature 502: 71-75.
Maghrebi, M.F. et al. (2015) “Coulomb bound states of strongly interacting photons,” Physical Review Letters 115: 123601.
via Gizmodo
We’re One Small Step Closer to a Working Light Saber
Dilbert 2015-09-29
Olympic Archer Jay Barrs Offers Beginning Bowhunting Tips
The best thing beginning bowmen or even a rusty bowhunter can do is get some shooting instruction from a professional, says Olympic gold and silver medalist archer Jay Barrs, a Jacksonville, Florida native now living near Salt Lake City. “A local archery shop or good sporting goods store is a great place to seek instruction,”[…..]
The post Olympic Archer Jay Barrs Offers Beginning Bowhunting Tips appeared first on AllOutdoor.com.
via AllOutdoor.com
Olympic Archer Jay Barrs Offers Beginning Bowhunting Tips
PETA Defends Its Rights To Represent The Selfie-Taking Monkey In Court
We’ve written plenty about the infamous monkey selfie, and have even been threatened by two totally separate organizations for posting the photo here on Techdirt (which we’re about to do again):
Sarah Jeong, over at Vice’s Motherboard, likes to dig deep into wacky copyright stories, and this was no exception. Her original article on this story was basically a bunch of good questions about the lawsuit, including things like "How do they even know the monkey’s name is Naruto?" and "Can monkeys even sue?" Amazingly, PETA’s lawyer agreed to be interviewed by Sarah, and the results are totally worth reading. She starts out by exploring the question of Naruto. How do they know his name, how are they sure it’s really Naruto in the photos — especially since Naruto is a male and nearly all of the original stories about the monkey selfie claimed that the macaque selfie photo was of a female. Slater himself has said that it was a female.
Jeong doesn’t quite get to the bottom of it, but there’s at least some evidence that the monkey really was a male, and it’s entirely possible that he’s been named Naruto by the folks who study the monkeys in Indonesia. But then there’s the legal discussion. I will just give you this snippet and then tell you that you need to go read the whole thing. Also, news would be a lot more interesting if journalists did interviews like this more frequently.
Does Naruto know about this lawsuit?
[pause]
Um, the… fact here is that Naruto is unable to come into court himself and so we are standing as Next Friend. Your question is silly, frankly. The issue is as I’ve stated it.
Does Naruto know about his selfies?
[pause]
I have the same response.
Naruto certainly knew at the time that he was engaged in intentional conduct that is obvious from Mr. Slater’s own description of the situation. And Naruto clearly engaged in the purposeful intentional conduct that resulted in the creation of the selfies.
There’s more and it gets better. I, for one, can’t wait to see if someone tries to list Naruto as a witness.
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via Techdirt.
PETA Defends Its Rights To Represent The Selfie-Taking Monkey In Court
Disney’s ‘Making Memories’ is Your Weekend Photography Song
I spent a good while in the car this week. One of the pros and cons of modern vehicle technology is DVD players and TV screens. My kids have this DVD that feature’s Disney sing-along songs from the 80s/90s… and they love to play it on road trips. Every time that “Making Memories” comes on, […]
via Photography Bay
Disney’s ‘Making Memories’ is Your Weekend Photography Song
Learn SQL with This Free Three-Hour Course from Codecademy
SQL is the world’s most popular language for managing and manipulating databases. Today, Codecademy launched a free Learn SQL interactive course that will teach you the basics of tables, queries, aggregate functions, and more.
Codecademy says SQL is one of the most requested languages since Codecademy started, and this course is made possible through a collaboration with Periscope, a SQL analysis tool.
Like other Codecademy courses, you learn through interactive tutorials, building on previous exercises. You can also test your knowledge with quizzes or explore deeper with additional recommended resources.
As with Khan Academy’s SQL course, this is an introductory course for those new to SQL. It’s a useful language to learn, whether you’re interested in using databases to build complex apps or you want to delve into interesting datasets for work or pleasure.
Get started learning at the link below.
Learn SQL | Codecademy
via Lifehacker
Learn SQL with This Free Three-Hour Course from Codecademy
Japanese Photographer Captures The Beauty Of Living In Japan
Five years ago, Takashi Yasui’s niece was born. It was with this new arrival, Yasui would discover a passion for photography. What started out as a way to capture his beloved family, began evolving into a serious hobby. Now, Yasui works as a freelance photographer based out of Kyoto, Osaka, Japan–and his portfolio has […]
The post Japanese Photographer Captures The Beauty Of Living In Japan appeared first on DIY Photography.
via DIYPhotography.net -Hacking Photography, One Picture At A Time
Japanese Photographer Captures The Beauty Of Living In Japan
This delightful video of traveling to Japan is just so much fun to watch
Francisco Fuentes’ amazing visual diary of his trip to Japan is so awesomely captured and so well edited and so fun to watch that it makes me want to take a trip there immediately. It’s because every video in the series (there are 12 15-second videos) basically acts as a teaser for his time in that wonderful country.
You get to see the food (oh the food), the drinking, the weirdness, the culture, the people, the cities and so much but before you can process what’s happening and what you’re seeing, you’re already watching something else. Try to keep up! It’s fun.
SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
via Gizmodo
This delightful video of traveling to Japan is just so much fun to watch