Fran - just Fran: February 2011

Monday, February 28, 2011

A shadow across the Shuttle

Ridiculously awesome pic of Discovery and the ISS taken from the ground!
from here

At some point, you look at a picture and think, it is seriously insane that we can do this. Behold: the Orbiter Discovery approaching the International Space Station, as seen from the ground:

I think I remember that scene from Star Wars!

This remarkable picture was taken by Rob Bullen on Saturday February 26 from the UK, using an 8.5″ telescope. I’ll note that’s relatively small as telescopes go! But the ISS is now over 100 meters long, and if it’s directly overhead (that is, the closest it can be to an observer on the ground) it appears large enough to easily look elongated in binoculars — in fact, it would be big enough to look elongated to someone with good eyesight and no aid at all*! Still, images like this are difficult to obtain even with a carefully guided telescope equipped with a video camera.

Oh — did I mention that Rob hand-guided his telescope for this shot?

Yeah. Wow.

This is a remarkable piece of photography involving excellent timing, good weather (it had been cloudy at Rob’s location almost up until that moment), and luck. But the equation for luck is really just (hard work + preparation) x (time) x (statistical fluctuations).

Clearly, the "hard work + preparation" was the most heavily weighted factor for Rob, and it paid off for him handsomely.

Looking down at Discovery

Angkor, July 2009

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Cheeks

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Quoi? 3

Friday, February 25, 2011

Quoi? 2

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Discovery Liftoff as seen from Fran's dune.

Please click on picture to see full size.

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Quoi?

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

100 Acre Drug Use

Rabbit is on amphetamines, Eeyore is a former opiate addict trying to readjust to society, poo is obviously on pot, tigger is the one on cocaine, christopher robin is possibly on peyote, but most likely just suffers from child onset schizophrenia (side note, schizophrenics are statistically much more likely to become dependent on and abuse narcotics) piglet is a fucking light weight who foolishly dabbles in whatever his associates are doing but easily succumbs to "the fear."

it's mental disorders in the 100 Acre Woods. Christopher Robin is schizophrenic, Winnie the Pooh has an eating disorder, Piglet has General Anxiety Disorder, Tigger has ADHD, Kanga and Roo are codependant, and Eeyore has Depression. Perhaps owl is a shrink.

7 signs to prove that Winnie the Pooh characters have mental disorder.
1) Eyeore the Donkey doesn’t care about anything, slow reactions, and lack of motivation. : Schizoid
2) Rabbit Gets into Everyones Business and constantly needs everything: Narcissitic Personality Disorder.
3) Piglet is afraid of everything and is paranoid of constantly being chased: Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
4) Tigger can’t calm down, bounces all the time and is never tired. :ADHD
5) Pooh loves sweets and has the Wildest Imagination: OCD
6) Christopher Robin can Talk to animals: Schitzophrenia
7) Owl is always there to help anyone who needs it: Altruistic

owl is has narsisstic personality disorder...he thinks hes the best and knows everything, rabbit has ocd...everything has to be perfect, tigger is adhd, piglet is general anxiety disorder, eeyor is depressed, christopher robin is schizophrenic and pooh is bipolar

Owl has an inferiority complex and delusions of grandeur... Rabbit has OCD and Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Poo has Attention Deficit Disorder, is an addict and has an eating disorder, Piglet has G.A.D, Eeyore is Manic Depressant, Tigger has ADHD, Kanga is the only normal animal, Roo has early ADHD, Christopher Robin is actually normal, most children his age would talk to stuffed animals, he is only 8 years old...

Eeyore = Valium (tired, mopey, depressed)
Tigger = Speed (very hyper and non stop)
Rabbit = Recovering Alcoholic (always stressed out by everything going on)
Piglet = Cocaine (paranoid and stutters)
Pooh = Pot (always hungry and forgetful)
Owl = Prozac or Ecstasy (likes to tell long stories that aren't related to current conversations and most people lose track of what he is saying)
Christopher Robin = Acid (He talked to stuffed animals and they talked back.)
Kanga and Roo = Dealers (its all in the pouch)

Eeyore is probably on some kind of opiate, and gets depressed when he cant get his fix.
Pooh is obviously the pothead, he has constant munchies.
Tigger is probably on coke or amphetamine, MDMA itself doesnt make one energetic.
Rabbit would be a recovering alcoholic with a bad case of OCD and a temper because he misses drinking.
Owl is clean of drugs and tries to stage interventions for the rest of them.
Piglet either has an anxiety disorder, is just generally paranoid, or is suffering from amphetamine psychosis.
And christopher robin does extremely high doses of LSD. Or is schizo. :P

Monday, February 21, 2011

$50 to win?

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Tickling a camel

Silly woman, don't you realize that camels spit?

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Mission Impossible Squirrel

This takes place in England - the owners of the yard added each piece
of the Rube Goldberg contraption slowly so that when the squirrel
learned one section and got the nuts, they then added the next
section.
Finally it ended with what you see on the clip! It took over 2 weeks to
get to this point.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Fran is not fond of Traffic Circles

and has been known to have had a mini-meltdown navigating Dupont Circle in Washington, DC

Below is a picture of The Magic Roundabout in Swindon, England where Fran would be SURE to simply stop the car, take out a tissue and cry.

The Magic Roundabout was constructed in 1972 and consists of five mini-roundabouts arranged in a circle. Its name comes from the popular children's television series The Magic Roundabout. In 2009 it was voted the fourth scariest junction in Britain.

It may be saying something negative about the town if its most notable feature is a traffic junction, but the Magic Roundabout is truly a wonder of the world. And by “wonder” I don’t mean “wow” I mean “I wonder why they built such a stupidly complex junction”.

You see, the Magic Roundabout is in fact 5 small roundabouts surrounding one large centre roundabout.

If you too want to avoid England's seventh most feared road junction... here's a map!

Camouflage

Chinese artist Liu Bolin does not use digital photo manipulation to achieve this see-through camouflage effect. The process is much more tedious, as he uses paint and a painstaking amount of patience.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Enterprise was built as a test vehicle and not equipped for space flight.

On March 13, 1978, the Enterprise was ferried atop the SCA to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, where it was mated with the external tank and solid rocket boosters and subjected to a series of vertical ground vibration tests. These tested the mated configuration's critical structural dynamic response modes, which were assessed against analytical math models used to design the various element interfaces.

These were completed in March 1979. On April 10, 1979, the Enterprise was ferried to the Kennedy Space Center. mated with the external tank and solid rocket boosters and transported via the mobile launcher platform to Launch Complex 39-A. At Launch Complex 39-A, the Enterprise served as a practice and launch complex fit-check verification tool representing the flight vehicles.

It was ferried back to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Facility on Aug. 16, 1979, and then returned overland to Rockwell's Palmdale final assembly facility on Oct. 30, 1979. Certain components were refurbished for use on flight vehicles being assembled at Palmdale. The Enterprise was then returned overland to the Dryden Flight Research Facility on Sept. 6, 1981.

During May and June of 1983, Enterprise was ferried to the Paris, France, Air Show, as well as to Germany, Italy, England and Canada, and was returned to the Dryden Flight Research Facility.

In the April-October 1984 time period, Enterprise was ferried to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and to Mobile, Ala. From there it was taken by barge to New Orleans, La., for the United States 1984 World's Fair.

In November 1984 it was ferried to Vandenberg Air Force Base and used as a practice and fit-check verification tool. On May 24, 1985, Enterprise was ferried from Vandenberg Air Force Base to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Facility.

On Sept. 20, 1985, Enterprise was ferried from Dryden Flight Research Facility to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On Nov. 18, 1985, Enterprise was ferried from the Kennedy Space Center to Dulles Airport, Washington, D.C., and became the property of the Smithsonian Institution. The Enterprise was built as a test vehicle and is not equipped for space flight.

Mother and her sisters

What a beautiful portrait

Les soeurs Gaudreau de Stanbridge East, QC, 1912. Unknown photographer

Eat my dust Hanks!

Fran loves Tom Hanks and this is just hilarious

(in a sick kinda way)

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Oh sorry, you taking a picture? (#2)

Image Source,Photobucket Uploader Firefox Extension

CN Tower - then and now

Fran was there when they put the 'top' on the CN Tower, April 1975

Friday, February 11, 2011

You know when this starts that BAAAAD things are going to happen

Wrestler meets Tiny Tim
"Tiny Tim has always been an easy target. When we are young we think this guy is really wacky. But he was never boring, he loved his music, and he was undeniably true to himself. The older I get the more I appreciate those that live a peaceful and colorful life. You know when this starts that BAAAAD things are going to happen."

reposted from Humble Uker Ramblings by HumbleUker

This must be what Mubarak feels like today..............

Spectators stand in front a partially inflated hot air balloon depicting the Star Wars character Darth Vader, before its flight during the 16th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta at Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga. Hot air balloon pilots from various countries are taking part in the annual event that was started in 1994 at the former US military air base

Owl

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Time passes.

March of the penguins...

straight into the shower for a quick wash and brush-up.

The midday sun might not burn quite so ferociously upon the Falkland Islands, but penguins are used to life in a cold climate.

So there's often a queue for the freshwater spring shower to be found on Saunders Island which offers the chance to cool off and clean up at the same time.

These delightful pictures show the clearly hygiene conscious Rockhopper penguins waddling in from their coastal colonies for an invigorating rinse..

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1352465/March-penguins-straight-shower-quick-wash-brush-up.html#ixzz1CjAzOAlg

Brothers Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas travelled from London to take pictures of albatrosses, but quickly became distracted by the irresistible antics of the amusing troop of quirky penguins.

'The penguins were incredibly cute,' said 27-year-old Will.

'They were wonderful to watch, as they clearly seemed to be enjoying themselves.

'They would often squabble for the best spot under the water.

'We could have spent the entire trip watching the penguins frolicking in the water!'

The Rockhopper Penguins form colonies of up to 100,000 in the Antarctic summer when they come ashore to lay eggs and raise their chicks.