The Coffee House

[sm4him]

Happy cell phone pics for those of you that are snow-bound.

Yes, a duck pulling a sleigh. Don't ask.

Too late, because in my head I already thought, "Wait. What? Is that a giant DUCK pulling Santa's sleigh?"

 

[snerd]

I had to come back to town to refuel. The car and ME!!!

Heading back out to try and catch some sunset colors.

Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Designer]

Happy cell phone pics for those of you that are snow-bound.

Yes, a duck pulling a sleigh. Don't ask.

Too late, because in my head I already thought, "Wait. What? Is that a giant DUCK pulling Santa's sleigh?"

Santa's reindeer were otherwise occupied.

 

[snerd]

First Red Bull I've ever drank. Not bad. Okay, I'm going! Gotta go! Gonna run now!! What?! Yes! Gotta go!!! What what yes yes yes okay gotta go now!!!!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro

 

[snerd]

Trying to learn this PhotoPills app........

There's some good stuff here if I can just figure it out lol!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro

 

[pgriz]

There's some good stuff here if I can just figure it out lol!!

\

It says...


At 5:33pm, the sun's about to set, and is maybe 5 degrees above the horizon (that's the thin orange line). At that moment, the moon is about 90 degrees towards the east, at about 50 degrees above the horizon (that's the thin blue line). The thick blue line is the direction you need to look at to see the moon break the horizon (moonrise), and that would occur at about 12:30 pm. The thick dark blue line is the direction of the moonset which would occur at approximately 2am. The thick yellow line is the direction of the sun rise, which would occur at 7:45am-ish, and the thick orange line is the direction of the sunset, which would occur at 545pm-ish.

 

[pgriz]

TPE is the other application that allows you to figure out the sun and moon positions, while you drag the pin around a google map. It's really good to help you figure out where you need to be to get a particular alignment. Say you want to get the full moon in the "V" formed between two mountains. You'd go to the day before full moon, figure out how high the moon has to be to clear the "V", then find the corresponding time. To figure out where you need to put yourself, you'd drag the pin around so that the thin blue line points between the two mountains, and then you look to see where you need to stand in order to get that alignment. Easy-peasy.

 

[sm4him]

There's some good stuff here if I can just figure it out lol!!

\

It says...


At 5:33pm, the sun's about to set, and is maybe 5 degrees above the horizon (that's the thin orange line). At that moment, the moon is about 90 degrees towards the east, at about 50 degrees above the horizon (that's the thin blue line). The thick blue line is the direction you need to look at to see the moon break the horizon (moonrise), and that would occur at about 12:30 pm. The thick dark blue line is the direction of the moonset which would occur at approximately 2am. The thick yellow line is the direction of the sun rise, which would occur at 7:45am-ish, and the thick orange line is the direction of the sunset, which would occur at 545pm-ish.

TPE is the other application that allows you to figure out the sun and moon positions, while you drag the pin around a google map. It's really good to help you figure out where you need to be to get a particular alignment. Say you want to get the full moon in the "V" formed between two mountains. You'd go to the day before full moon, figure out how high the moon has to be to clear the "V", then find the corresponding time. To figure out where you need to put yourself, you'd drag the pin around so that the thin blue line points between the two mountains, and then you look to see where you need to stand in order to get that alignment. Easy-peasy.

Ah. So it's official, then.
I actually *am* just not very bright.

Because I've had TPE for over a year but I quit even TRYING to understand it. Even after you just explained it, it just befuddles me. I really need someone who can stand right next to me, with the app open and really SHOW me what in the world it all means.

 

[bribrius]

just got here. No idea what you are talking about. Clearly it must be over my head.

 

[snowbear]

Good evening folkses. I had a busy morning -- went with my lovely wife to train some of our firefighters in computer stuff.
Marija - I'm sorry I wasn't able to get on earlier to give you some support, but it looks like everyone else had it covered. I'm glad it went well.

We had about 2" of snow on the grass, a little bit of frozen slush in the parking lot, but the roads were just wet. This was the local story of the day: Family's car swallowed by giant sinkhole after Bladensburg water main break | WJLA.com

My new project. I am involved in this: New program helps donate more smoke detectors
In a nutshell, the department is getting businesses to "adopt" a neighborhood and fund new smoke detectors. I am working with one of the senior GIS programmers (he is project lead) to develop an online mapping application that will help the department track which neighborhoods have been adopted and which residences have gotten the smoke detectors installed. Teddy (the programmer) and I are slated to give a demo at the state GIS conference at Towson Univ. next month.

 

[snowbear]

Ah. So it's official, then.
I actually *am* just not very bright.

Because I've had TPE for over a year but I quit even TRYING to understand it. Even after you just explained it, it just befuddles me. I really need someone who can stand right next to me, with the app open and really SHOW me what in the world it all means.

The sun and moon come up on the right and set on the left. The intersection of the lines is where you are, or want to be.

 

[pgriz]

Sharon, open up TPE and follow these pointers:

Let's start with the Sun/Moon curves on the bottom part of the screen. Put the calendar to "today" which is Tuesday, January 27, 2015. Sharon, I'm putting the pin on Nashville, TN.


The bottom line (with the cursor) is the time of the day. Drag it over to 6.51am, which is the sunrise. The yellow line (representing the sun) is about to rise above the horizon (the 0.0 degree horizontal line). If you now look at the map graphic, you'll see a thick yellow line pointing to the East-South east (or 112.3°).


Drag the time cursor (bottom line) and move it to 9:00 am. The little table next to the vertical line says the sun is 20.7° above the horizon, and in the direction of 134.0° (North being 0.0, due east being 90.0°, due south being 180.0°, and so on) on the thin orange line. The moon (blue line) is below the horizon. Did you notice that as you dragged the time cursor from 6:51am to 9am, the thin yellow line moved as well? Well that line is pointing towards the sun.


Drag the time cursor to the time of 11:30am. That is when moonrise will happen (it crosses above the horizon line), and you need to be looking in the direction of 35.0° to see it. However, practically speaking, the moon needs to clear the horizon by at least 5° and usually 10° to be easily visible. So, keeping an eye on the blue square (representing the moon), drag it over so the vertical distance is now 10.0°. That will happen at 12:27pm. If you now look at the map, you'll see the direction (thin blue line) you will need to look to see the moon 10° above the horizon, namely 81° (which is just slightly north of due East).


As you drag the time cursor towards the right, notice that both the sun and moon projection lines (the thin orange and blue lines) also move.


Now drag the time cursor to 17:08 (5:08pm). This is the sunset, when the sun dips below the horizon (represented by the 0.0° line). Notice that the thin orange line disappears into the thick line. The thick orange line represents the direction you need to look to see the sunset (247° or a little south of due west). If you now look at the moon information, it is 62° above the horizon, and in the direction of 138° (which is almost exactly south-east).


Now... let's say you want to catch the new moon setting just after the sun. You want a very thin cresent, and if you go to the calendar (upper left) and advance to February 20, 2015, you'll have a cresent of 3.7% full. Let's also assume that you're going to the J Percy Priest Resevoir, and you will go to the Cook Public Use area, at the end of Old Hickory boulevard so tha you can have a good look over the reservoir towards the west. Drag your pin over to that location and plunk it down. At the time of sunset (occurs at 17:32), the moon will be about 25° in the sky, in the direction of 250° which is 20°south of due west. Right after sunset, the sky is still kinda bright, so let's wait until civil twilight end which is at 17:58. So grab the time cursor along the bottom and drag it over to 17:58. The moon square says that the moon will still be about 21° degrees above the horizon. Perfect. So take a shot.

Now, wasn't that easy?

 

[Gary A.]

It was gorgeous today. 70F+, bright blue skies w/ nice clouds scattered here and there. No rain, no winds ... just a gorgeous day. Snow is down to 6,000', a bit higher than halfway up the mountain. Nothing to report on the Chrysalis Watch, still waiting. I should break 20,000 steps on my Activity Tracker today.

 

[Warhorse]

[QUOTE="sm4him, post: 3418459
I have an Ethiopian friend who sometimes does a full Ethiopian coffee ritual. They start with green beans that they get from a friend who travels to Ethiopia a good bit, and move through the whole process of roasting, grinding, brewing, all done in a very ritualistic, ceremonial manner. It's fascinating to watch, and the result is pretty delicious too.[/QUOTE]
I thought they fed those beans to cats first, then harvested them?

 

[Gary A.]

[QUOTE="sm4him, post: 3418459
I have an Ethiopian friend who sometimes does a full Ethiopian coffee ritual. They start with green beans that they get from a friend who travels to Ethiopia a good bit, and move through the whole process of roasting, grinding, brewing, all done in a very ritualistic, ceremonial manner. It's fascinating to watch, and the result is pretty delicious too.

I thought they fed those beans to cats first, then harvested them?[/QUOTE]

Ethiopians actually invented coffee. Ethiopian shepherds noticed that their herds/sheep would get all hyped up when they ate the coffee cherries ... so after a bit the shepherds started poppin' coffee too.

The cat business is actually from the greater Sumatra/Indonesia/Philippines area. The cat is actually a civet. That coffee which has passed through the civet's digestive system and collected after being pooped is called kopi luwak. Interesting stuff, the civets digestive fluids alters the taste of the beans ... adds a bit of chocolate-like flavoring ... which ... after thinking about it isn't very surprising as well as gross.