next time somebody squeaks, “sorry, that’s impossbile!” just point them to this feat some brains pulled off. it’s a fly by of a tiny asteroid. the pictures have great detail. on top of that there were enough of them to make a movie of the flyby. it’s all pretty incredible. need perspective to the scale of the achievement? imagine dispatching a camera to photograph a specific grain of sand 10 miles away. that’s hard right?

more from Rosetta.

Jupiter takes yet another hit from Science News on Vimeo.

somebody who decided to use his free time aiming a telescope at Jupiter caught a really big crash. it’s just a two second flash but it left a mark.

details

post lens surgery. saved the eye but lost some parts. no more eyelid. but it can still see! see…from the Twitter

the camera that I haul around every where ended up with a ding on the inner front lens ring that prevented the automatic lens cover from totally opening. it stopped halfway. I don’t think I tool a picture of it’s half-ness but it doesn’t matter. as it was the camera was done. which is sad because I know it which means I like it so I use it. in looking at the ring it appeared that it could be pried off which would offer one of a few solutions: bending back the ring, removing the lens doors or actually fixing it so it could work again.

it was easy to pry off and once that was done it was easy to bend the ring back to normal. putting it back together proved impossible. there was no way to attach the tiny springs without tiny tools which I have none of. so I removed the doors and springs saving them for some reason. then I snapped the ring in place which took lots of force. then I snapped a shot to make sure it wasn’t borked. then I was done!

at some point this little camera will get replaced by the next Canon. but until that day it’s good go for taking the day to day.

next time you look at a shot and wonder how in the world they were able to get a film crew there for the day just remember they probably just made it from nothing instead.

OH the huge manatee!

I’m out of the video business for a while and I need to clear stuff out. I have two NTSC monitors that I’ve used for that last 10 years on various projects. one of the monitors is a portable 5″ color. you would use this next to your camera to watch a performance instead of viewing it in the camera. or it could be the final output of the show. etc. the other is 12″ color. it has 2 inputs that you can easily flip between as well as a over/underscan switch. both are made by Sony. don’t know (or care) what the model numbers are but whatever, they do their jobs well.

open to offers. DM me on Twitter @johnfoster or email me if you know the address.

so you are going to play Dictator Wars. here’s some thoughts on how to make the most of it.

ignore the game as long as your Energy is low. a clock cycle is how long it takes for your Energy to become full. this will take between 1.5 – 3 minutes per unit depending on which type of Dictator you chose. with every Clock Cycle or Level Advancement you should keep playing until you have no more Energy.

when you Level Up the only thing you should buy is Energy. Attack, Defense, Health and even Stamina don’t matter. Energy allows you to do more Missions with each clock cycle.

in general do higher level Missions that require more power first. then do Missions that generate items that are depleted by other Missions of Foreign Affairs.

in a Cycle after running Missions you must do or check these three things until your Heath and Stamina are depleted :
check your Properties for damage
do each Foreign Affair Request
Fight

use Upgrade Points made by completing a Mission to 100% to buy Attack or Stamina upgrades. you will get these less often. they will help later.

don’t use the Offshore Bank. buy Properties instead. this will generate money that will pay for your people, weapons and transportation. each time you buy something the price of the next one goes up. save your money and buy 10 at a time if you can. it’s the best deal.

don’t buy people, weapons and transportation unless you need them for a mission. you can sell off Staff that you aren’t using if you want to Maximize your money. I don’t care and just pay them every hour.

some Foreign Affairs must started by someone else for you to get a benefit. this means you should work with a friend to coordinate the payout. Hand Cuffs are a good example. you must be the second person on the list to have a chance to receive them.

don’t wait for a clock to count down. close the the window and come back to it in an hour.

the ONLY thing you should spend Favor Points on is Patsies or Mercenary.

after you deplete your Stamina and are ready to stop playing go to My Stats and buy back your Health. this way you have a chance for people to attack you. if you win you get Experience Points.

in the Autocrat (13-17) mission level there are 6 thing generators and 2 that do nothing. once each item reaches 100% it’s not doing you any good to keep using it. after you complete each to 100% run the last 2 to reset the level to 100% to reset the level. this will help you get more Upgrade Points.

Fighting is a poker battle. you might get money and you might get Experience. look for battles that will get you 1:1 or better Exp.

attacking Property doesn’t do much to hurt the other person UNLESS it’s a coordinated Attack.

here’s a Map of what gets you what. helpful for figuring out how to get Spies or Inflatable Globes.

good luck.

from Dave

I thought this was done a long time ago. guess somebody forget to pull the plug.