September 2, 2007 9:44 am
…Not A Cloud Up In The Sky, Stormy Weather…
Posted by Will under happenings, nature, updated, weather
[4] Comments
Hey there. It’s your friendly neighborhood mad scientist/engineer/documentationalist/timelapsologist again, coming to you live from the tippity top of roof of our Silver Lake abode, where I got the bug to install my laptop and digicam in an attempt to capture what hopefully will be the building of another day’s “thunderhat” above and beyond the Verdugo Mountains centered out there in the distance as seen below:
As you can see there’s nothing much happening but a lotta blue sky right now but I’m hopeful that as the hours march so will the cumulo-nimbussessess way out over the Antelope Valley as they have rather spectacularly the last few days. If the clouds come back and it all works out (meaning that the heat/direct sunlight doesn’t melt the camera, the tripod, the cabling, and the laptop — which it very well might, despite the rudimentary shading I erected) I should be able to post a timelapse movie compiled from images made every 30 seconds that will be a treat to watch as it slowly unfolds. Fingers crossed!
UPDATE (12:36 p.m.): I must’ve been reading my friend Frazgo’s mind because upon our return from grocery shopping I immediately went up top with an umbrella and rigged up some of the very shade he recommended in the comment that I just found when I came back down to upload pics of the set-up still fully functional, perhaps made a little more so by the extra sunscreen (after the jump):
I was pleased to see clouds had indeed moved into the frame, but opted not attach an umbrella directly to the unsecurable tripod for fear of the breezes — however slight — might be just enough to tip it over.
The laptop itself — still rocking, bless it’s little six-year-old G3 engine– is now elevated off the searing roof by the roll of duct tape and “protected” however flimsily by one of the two magical French umbrellas that stopped the Paris deluge the moment after we bought them on Rue Claire last May. Let’s see if its special powers are enough to beat back the searing rays of the sun.
4 Responses to “ …Not A Cloud Up In The Sky, Stormy Weather… ”
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September 4th, 2007 at 7:12 am[...] fascinating to see for so many reasons. Will Campbell (over on his blog [sic] – see the posts here and here for background), who has been doing some fun experiments with his camera and computer to [...]
September 2nd, 2007 at 11:10 am
If your laptop is up there without shade it will not survive the day. Temps much above 120 pretty much fry those babies. Would it be possible to get a super long USB cable that is attached to a powered hub to route the stuff inside where the laptop is set up? Just a thought hate to see it die and us not get the benefit of your adventures in documenting nature around us.
I really think I am going to rename you Carl after the Caddyshack guy. You are just way too smart and entertaining.
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Funny you should mention it Frank as a couple weeks ago in Best Buy I was looking to purchase a 25 foot DV cam firewire cable, but didn’t because they wanted forty freakin’ dollars for the thing.
Had I gone ahead and bought the overpriced item I’d have been able to keep the’ puter much closer to earth and shade instead of up where it clearly doesn’t belong.
The good news is that three hours into the experiment I added an umbrella to help “protect” it. In the meantime the computer’s still kicking ass, and clouds have rolled on into the frame!
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:29 pm
It scares me that we are on the same wave length. Must be brothers from different mutha’s somehwere along the line. Keep rockin with the time lapse stuff.
BTW…did you see the size of the thunderboomer building up over Mt Baldy/Wrightwood? Its starting to spill into the SGV. Could be a good one the way its cooking up today!