I noticed this subtle tagging on a tree during disc golf today.
Female Ent?
Whee!
This plant is jumping for joy!
Cat in a window
This was a rather quick snap. Especially since the cat was in the process of getting up and moving on…
And another quick snap. This time the automatic focus points were centered on the arm rather than the face.
Reflections in a shadow
I don’t normally walk this way, so I was happy coming across these reflections across the shadow. It worked well on the multi-colored granite tile backdrop. Although I feel that I should spend more time on the post-processing of this photo. The picture turned out too flat.
Making caramel sauce
I bought some new lights recently. Two ePhoto 1000 LED 5500K Professional Video Studio Portrait LED Light Panel Lighting Light Panel. My kitchen is rather dark. Its not next to windows for natural lighting. So it relies on fluorescent lighting. Which is okay for normal use. But not nearly bright enough for video. I tried out three halogen work lights from Home Depot. These are pretty cheap. You can work around the yellow-brown tint. But they put out a lot of heat.
LED lights are the wave of the future. They use less electricity and they run cool. The only problem is with the light balance. But that will become less of a problem as the technology progresses.
This time around, I decided to not talk as I was cooking. And I just recorded the background noises. This meant I had to wait for the refrigerator to stop cooling and turn off the air conditioner.
Now I had to write a dialog and record that track separately. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn off the computer’s speaker while I was watching the video and speaking my lines. And I caught an instant messaging beep at the end. I also didn’t bother with timing out the lines and fitting them to what I was doing on the video. Sigh, this gets complicated rather quickly.
Cooking Caramel from Mark Hamzy on Vimeo.
This recipe is for a quick version of caramel sauce. Instead of using white sugar, you use dark brown sugar. The molasses is what you would normally get when you caramelize the sugar. You also mix the cream in with the sugar and just cook off the water without burning the sugar and milk solids. So I wanted to show you what stages the liquid goes through as the water slowly cooks off. Keep in mind that it will snowball towards the end. Water keeps the temperature pegged at the boiling point until it boils off. Once the water is gone, it will offer no protection and the sugar (and other solids) will quickly heat up.
When sugar syrup is heated, it goes through the following stages (which is how it acts when it is cooled back down in ice water.
| Fahrenheit | Term | Sugar/Water % | Description | Use |
| 230-234 | Thread | 80% | Forms 2″ threads | Syrup |
| 234-240 | Soft Ball | 85% | Ball that flattens | Fondant, fudge, pralines |
| 244-248 | Firm Ball | 87% | Ball that holds its shape | Caramels |
| 250-266 | Hard Ball | 92% | Ball is hard and firm | Divinity, nougat |
| 270-290 | Soft Crack | 95% | Hard, pliable threads | Taffy |
| 300-310 | Hard Crack | 99% | Hard, brittle threads | Brittles, lollipops |
| 320-350 | Caramel | 100%? | Syrup from tan to brown | Flan |
Florida trip
I went to South Florida again to visit the family, the beach, and some Cuban restaurants. This time I tried out the Prius as a rental car. It was okay car to drive.
While I stayed at my Aunt Jill’s house, I was able to visit with my other Aunt, Beth. Here I am with both of my Aunties.
I also saw some of my friends who still live here: Sean Conner and Bunny.
And another Sean. Williams, that is. It was good to see them again. If only briefly…
We went to the Sundy House in Delray Beach for brunch. I’ve never been there before and it was nice. The location is pretty. There is an indoor garden, well more of a tropical forest. We also had fun taking pictures. I wish I had more spontaneous pictures like these… The first is my mom and I and the second is my cousin Heather and her mother, Jill.
Here is a video of the Lake Worth beach (here).
And a video of the Boynton Beach Inlet.
links
The world’s largest amateur rocket link via
“I Am Immune” Short Product Piece link via
800 hours training to become a train driver link via
The Fun Way of Scientifically Slicing a Pizza link via
Split Testing with a Genetic Algorithm link via
Pop band OK times Rube Goldberg Machine to music link via
Analemma with an eclipse link via
Tatev Monastery link1link2 via
Rubiks Cube Poster Illusion link via
Monster Truck Backflip link via
BMW S 1000 RR pulls off the old tablecloth trick link via
2011 Koenigsegg Agera Supercar link via
How the cure for Scurvey was found and then lost link via
Lava lamp in a homemade centrifuge link via
Giant Redwood panorama link via
Strobeshnik clock link1 link2 via
Tokyo’s rail network grows like slime mold link via
The making of the Terminator’s laser-sighted .45 pistol link via
Adam Savage: my Blade Runner gun link via
Do not trust profile pictures link via
Cows are equivalent to the atomic bomb link via
Carnivorous Toilet Plant link via
Chocolate Easter Bunny versus heat link via
Stormtroopers having a good time link via
Paris in 26 gigapixels link via
Alkali metals reacting to air and water link via
A day in the life of a programmer link via
Sous-vide steak primer link via
Using flute technology to control downforce in race cars link via
Impressive Chinese architecture link via
Using a Bonsai tree as an instrument link via
Baby’s first internet link via
Matching fonts with dogs link via
Don’t worry. He’s my brother. link via
Rock Paper Scissors Playing Glove link via
Business Card / Transistor Amplification link via
The Newspaper Club Produces–and Prints–a Newspaper at SXSW link via
6 Ways We’re Already Geoengineering Earth link via
Living in internet cafes link via
Last Supper was supersized link via
Periodic Table of Periodic Tables link via
Family of 5 bikes across America link via
Shoes that make everyone the same height link via
Reflections of a Shuttle launch link via
Dung Beetles inspire low-light video enhancements link via
A home built Turing machine link via
People painted to look like acrylic paintings link via
The A-Z of awesomeness link via
Cooking Some Bacon – The Machine Gun Method link via
Aerial video with a Canon 7D link via
Dr. Horrible in 8-bit link via
Japanese gut bacteria gain special powers from sushi link via
Lighting it up in Austin with Robert Seale link via
Turnip Rock, Port Austin, Michigan link via
Why the so called “Blockbuster” look? link via
Why Cilantro tastes like soap link via
Building a StarCraft bot that plays like a pro link via
Light painting Hennessey link via
What really happens after you rescue the princess link via
Board James: DragonStrike link via
Zip files all the way down link via
May is the official Zombie Awareness Month of the Zombie Research Society link via
The Fastest and Funniest LEGO Star Wars story ever told link via
Celebrity Phone Book carvings link via
Tactical Nuclear Penguin link via
DIY DSLR Wooden Shoulder Rig link via
Vintage Lomo Lenses Attached To Canon 5D Mark II link via
How They Filmed the Star Wars Opening Crawl… link via
If The Empure Strikes Back was filmed in 1950 link via
Youth From Vienna (shot using the 7D) link via
Ten maps that changed the world link via
Hayaku: A Time Lapse Journey Through Japan link via
Making Of: Luxembourg Air Rescue Promo Film link via
Mic comparison worth a listen by digital SLR video shooters link via
The Making of The Carnival Sequence from “The Last 3 Minutes” link via
The Starry Night Pie Packed link via
Bronze Katamari sculpture link via
Porn has never touched this machine link via
DIY DSLR Cage / Stabilizer / Fig Rig link via
Making French Fries link1 link2 link3
Chiquita Banana Brand Refresh link via
Great moments in sport link1 link2 link3 link4 link5 via
Extreme Sheep LED Art link via
Four Austin companies serve quick, healthy meals link via
Filming Race Across America link via
Viewfactor Powered Cage For Canon 7D link via
Conan the Barbarian: The Musical link via
TEDxOilSpill Expedition link via
A Very Scary Light Show: Exploding H-Bombs In Space link via
TEDxOilSpill Poster Competition Winners link via
Camera survives ocean trip to Florida link via
How the Old Spice Videos Are Being Made link via
Album cover redesigns link via
photo sequence of 42 stacked shots, caught in Olympic Stadium, Athens during a severe thunderstorm link via
Come Rain or Come Shine link via
Canon 7D vs. Barbie Video Girl link via
How to Make a Clay Tablet Magazine link via
That Looks Good Enough to Eat link via
102 year old lens on a 5DmkII link via
Pineapple agua fresca
Given how easy it is to make my lemon-lime aid, I thought I would see if I could replicate another favorite drink of mine: the agua fresca at La Selva Mexican Ice Cream store.
I took some pineapple chunks and blended it in water until smooth. The result was really thick and cloudy. Not at all smooth and clear. Straining it off helped out a little. But I think that I need a gravy strainer for this. Or maybe a siphon.
I also made some caramelized simple syrup to sweeten it with. I really have to come up with an easier way to make this. Basically, you take a cup of sugar and put it in a pan. Dry. And heat it up until it turns light brown. Take it off the heat and pour in a cup of water. The problem is that the browned sugar is 340 degrees and solidifies when the water is poured in. You have to mix it around until the candy sugar melts. Which takes a long time and a lot of work. I think it would be easier to just use dark brown sugar in a cup of water and boil it a little bit to break down the sugar.
I do like the effect that the two speedlites had on the picture. It really darkened down the foreground and background.
Texas sized cicadas
It was really hard to take this photo. It was too dark for the automatic focusing to work. So I had to shine a flashlight in one hand to help with focusing. Then the mosquitoes were eating me alive. I gave up after the tenth bite.
I also tried recording the buzzing of the cicadas. I think I need a wind sock on the audio recorder. Because, while it didn’t seem windy when I was standing out there, there were definite wind spikes.
Tropical Storm Hermine
I missed an opportunity to take some pictures of flash flooding. According to KVUE, Georgetown received 14.57 inches over two days! Sadly, the weatherman talked about how this was a 500 year rain event, but then did not blog about it.