Thanks Mom

I Am Here

Thanks to Mothers of all species, there is life on Earth.



I sincerely wish you a wonderful, heartwarming, Happy Mothers Day.



I was reading a Smithsonian article about the best mothers in the animal kingdom. There were several contenders. Crocodiles, cheetahs, and gorillas were at the top of the list.



I just got finished reading a blogger's review, and subsequent comments, about a program that appeared on the History Channel. 

Apparently the Discovery and History channels are guilty of presenting fictional material as fact in an attempt to pander to viewers who would not be watching if the subject matter were actually history, or real discoveries. (The REVIEW)



I experienced a real occurrence in the real world, today. It had to do with operating the Time Lapse App on the iPod while it is mounted inside the car, on a warm Redding day.

It all began yesterday, when I set up the iPod to film from between the seats, at head level, looking out the windshield.



I put the iPod in the stand that John made, rubber banded it to the top of the tripod, that was sitting on the floor of the back seat, and pressed record. I got in behind the wheel of the Buick and drove up Lake Blvd. to the DYI carwash.

There, I walked around the car, spraying with the rinse and high pressure settings on the wand. When I was finished spraying, I squeegeed the windshield, wiped off a few water spots, and headed back down Lake to the Arco station.

In hindsight, I should have stopped recording and started a new clip before each new destination, but I found out today, that probably would not have saved the time lapse video.



When I checked the results of yesterday's filming, there was an error message that said the video could not be processed, and the battery indicator was in the red. I charged up the iPod, opened the Time Lapse App, and still got the error message. I even imported what was there into the MacBook and attempted several salvaging software methods to no avail.



I had planned to use one of my time lapse creations for today’s video, so I went out this afternoon, and tried to film a short trip to show me taking a picture of MT Shasta.



I drove to the spot, got out and set up the Lumix on a tripod with lots of hammy, exaggerated gestures that would be fun to see in a time lapse clip.

This time I figured I would check the recording status before filming the drive back home.



I took the iPod off the mounting between the seats and anxiously clicked the home button to see the results. The iPod had shut off because of high temperature exceeding safe operation! I figured that was the problem with yesterday’s project, too. Both days had temperatures in the 90’s. Inside the Buick, when stopped for the various events, with no A/C to keep it cool, I am sure it must have been over 100°.



I realized that if it was too hot for the iPod, it was probably too hot to be out in the car.

Now that I am back at home, in the comfort of my air conditioned apartment, without a Happy Phil time lapse Video to present, I found this instead;

Today’s Video;




Matriarchy Makes Sense