Featured Photo

Featured Photo

Photo courtesy of Can Wong
Unexpected Thunderstorm
courtesy of Can Wong

I know we don’t want to keep talking about Friday’s storm, but you’ll have to forgive me with this picture. I mean look at it; isn’t it just amazing? From the ominous blue color of the sky, to the lightning streaks, to the framing of the Capitol Dome; this is damn near perfect. Can Wong must have risked life and limb to get this shot, but it certainly paid off. I tip my cap to you, sir!

Before I got into photography, I always wondered how people caught shots like this. As it turns out, this is equal parts skill and luck. The actual technique is a long exposure; keeping the camera lens open for longer than a fraction of a second of a normal photograph. That way the lightning, which only last a second or two, can snake across the sky and be caught by the camera. The luck comes in with where you point the camera, and whether you have the camera exposing when the lightning strikes. Because as soon as you see the lightning, it’s already to late to get a photo. Sounds simple, but it’s not. That’s why I’m in awe of this one!

BTW: last reminder about the 4th of July Fireworks meetup tomorrow. 6:30pm meet up near the Arlington Cemetery metro stop; read the post for more info.

capitals hockey, The Daily Feed

Roloson, Lightning Strike Capitals Twice

Photo courtesy of
‘Roloson Keeps the Door Closed on Backstrom’
courtesy of ‘clydeorama’

For the fifth time in 25 games this season, the Caps have been shut out. Prior to this stretch of goose eggs, the Caps have only seen the zero four times in 190 games. Last night, Dwayne Roloson stood on his head 23 times and punctuated the fact that the Tampa Bay Lightning are a worthy opponent for the Caps in the Southeast Division, beating the Caps 3-0 in Tampa. Continue reading

News, The Daily Feed

Fire In The Sky, Thunder In Your Ears

Photo courtesy of
‘Thunderstorm over Villa Adelina’
courtesy of ‘Maluilo’

Boy oh boy did DC get her share of nature’s greatest light show last night.

If you didn’t see it, you might’ve been sleeping. But if you didn’t hear it, then I’m jealous because I’m a light sleeper and you’re not.

This November weather rarity was explained by NBC4 Meteorologist Tom Kierien: a front from the Midwest picked up speed while moving through the mid-Atlantic region, generating isolated thunderstorms with frequent lightening. This is odd during the post-spring/summer months due to cool temperatures, but somehow the airspace above our fair city provided enough lift to create the rainy show we were treated to on Thursday night.

Sounds good to me. I mean, it could be worse: below 30 and snowing! (Knock on wood.)

The Daily Feed

Don’t get shocked

Photo courtesy of
‘Crecent Lightning’
courtesy of ‘Cazimiro’

It looks cool but it’s less pleasant to get hit by it. According to Pepco lightning strikes kill 400 people in the US every year – most of them in June, July, and August. So they’ve offered up this selection of tips for how to stay safer in a storm.

They don’t offer any tips for keeping your stuff safe, so let me drop some knowledge on you here: there is no consumer protection gadget out there that will protect your computer/DVD/tv/whatever safe against a close lightning strike. So-called “surge protectors” are typically one-use components (an MOV, to be precise) that may marginally protect against dirty power – but probably not. Lightning travels through the air so I assure you: it will have no problem jumping a nanometer distance or even across a power switch on a strip if the strike was close enough.

For 100% protection in an ugly storm, unplug.

[edit: accidentally left in ‘kill’ from a previous edit – Pepco claims approximately 60 fatalities out of those 400 who are struck]

News, The Daily Feed

Thunderstorm Timelapse

A line of thunderstorms swept over the Metro area around 1PM this afternoon; we got home from church just as the darkening sky let loose its first drops of rain. While it stormed, I ran wget on the ABC 7/News Channel 8 webcam and got this time lapse video. Watch for the two bolts of lightning.

The storms caused a few injuries today, and capsized boats at the Aquapalooza festival on the Potomac.