These fireworks caught me by surprise. They just happened to be at the beach next to the place we were having dinner. I didn't have a tripod, so I found a flat rock and just tried to keep the camera steady, which seemed to work.
Last month while watching fireworks I got the idea of trying a video for the finale, since the intensity of the finale usually overwhelms the image, leaving you with a bright white blur. I jumped the gun on anticipating the finale, and also mistakenly put the camera in manual mode instead of video, which was set to a 1/4-second exposure. I really like the resulting photo, which shows people on the beach illuminated by the pyrotechnics (image number 5). I did manage to catch most of the finale on video, too (the end of which allows me to see that my camera has a dead pixel -- grrrr!).
It's that time of year. The fireworks barge has appeared in the Charles River in preparation for the Boston's 4th of July Celebration. For those in the area, details of the event can be found at july4th.org.
Another six months of Prius statistics is in the books. I've changed my work commute to mostly public transportation, which has significantly decreased my average miles per day. The table below shows a bunch of statistics for the life of the car compared to the last 90, 180, and 365 days of service.
|
|
Lifetime |
Last 90 |
Last 180 |
Last 365 |
|
Number of Days in Service |
1662 |
90 |
180 |
365 |
|
Number of Fillups |
117 |
7 |
17 |
44 |
|
Miles |
41786.3 |
2667.5 |
5886.1 |
16257.0 |
|
Gallons |
910.2 |
56.7 |
134.4 |
346.7 |
|
Cost |
$ 2,293.16 |
$ 210.21 |
$ 443.31 |
$ 1,032.66 |
|
Avg. Days between Fillups |
14.2 |
12.9 |
10.6 |
8.3 |
|
Avg. Gallons per Fillup |
7.78 |
8.10 |
7.90 |
7.88 |
|
Avg. Gallons per Day |
0.55 |
0.63 |
0.75 |
0.95 |
|
Avg. Miles per Tank |
357.1 |
381.1 |
346.2 |
369.5 |
|
Avg. Miles per Day |
25.1 |
29.6 |
32.7 |
44.5 |
|
Avg. Cost per Gallon |
$ 2.52 |
$ 3.71 |
$ 3.30 |
$ 2.98 |
|
Avg. Cost per Mile |
$ 0.0549 |
$ 0.0788 |
$ 0.0753 |
$ 0.0635 |
|
Avg. Cost per Day |
$ 1.38 |
$ 2.34 |
$ 2.46 |
$ 2.83 |
|
Avg. MPG |
45.9 |
47.0 |
43.8 |
46.9 |
|
Avg. Estimated MPG |
46.5 |
48.1 |
44.6 |
47.5 |
|
Avg. Daily Temperature |
49.8 |
59.0 |
46.6 |
51.1 |
With the rising cost of gas, I was wondering the savings of owning a Prius versus cars that got lower gas mileage. Here are calculations of savings for the entire 4.5 years of ownership:
- Lifetime Savings vs. 25 MPG = $1,917.75
- Lifetime Savings vs. 30 MPG = $1,215.93
- Lifetime Savings vs. 35 MPG = $714.63
- Lifetime Savings vs. 40 MPG = $338.66
We had a company outing to watch the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles play at Fenway Park last night. The Red Sox won 9-2, bolstered by a grand slam in the 5th (the Orioles decided to intentionally walk Manny Ramirez, setting up the grand slam by Mike Lowell).
I would have posted this last night (as well as watching the Celtics), but Verizon screwed up my order from earlier in the day. I canceled service at my old address and they shut off service at both my old address and the new address. It's probably just as well that I couldn't watch the Celtics game, because they seem to do better when I don't watch.
Update: Apparently our section was frequently the start of the TV pan, so we were on TV a lot. If I'd known, I'd have recorded the game (although it wouldn't have worked since I didn't have TV service).
I relocated a spider from the kitchen to the outdoors a couple days ago. I was fascinated by its appearance, so I took some pictures. During (and after) the photo shoot, the spider exhibited some amazing qualities. I put the spider on the porch railing, and I was a little surprised the first time I saw it jump. The second time I saw it jump was a little more disturbing, as I was taking a macro shot and concentrating on the image in the viewfinder when suddenly the spider leapt right at the camera lens. Fortunately I managed to hold on to the camera and the spider wasn't able to establish a grip on the smooth camera, so it fell back on the railing.
Once I was done with the photo shoot I transferred the spider to a plant next to the driveway. It promptly spun a thread, rode it down to the driveway, and started walking towards my (bare) feet. I moved out of its path and it stopped, turned, looked up at me, and again started walking toward my feet. We repeated this dance about five times. It was a little freaky. Eventually I stepped farther away and it took a path off into the plants.
After a little searching on the web, I identified the spider as Phidippus audax, or the Bold Jumping Spider (audax is Latin for "daring" or "audacious"). Very aptly named. I also learned that they can jump 7-10 inches (pretty impressive for a creature that's only 1/2" in size) and have some of the best vision of the arachnids.
Some additional info and photos can be found at:
Article from the Cape Cod Times
This is perhaps one of the most horrifying pictures I've seen in a while. The driver of the car admitted to taking cocaine and was apparently trying to pass the police car escorting the bicycle race in Matamoros, Mexico.
Story from the Brownsville Herald: One dead, four injured as car hits bike racers
It's so wonderful that the world still holds some secrets. Uncontacted tribe photographed near Brazil-Peru border.