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#SilentSunday #SacramentoWildlifeRefuge #Fujifilm

Dozens of blackbirds are evenly perched in four leafless, dormant trees against a hazy blue sky. Some of the birds may be starlings as they more brown than black,

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Today we went to Black Butte Lake and the pelicans were there! This is at the forebay, where a whole lot of water is being released into Stony Creek (tributary of the Sacramento River) mostly in case of future rain & snow melt #AmericanWhitePelican #BlackButteReservoir

Four pelicans floating in some what turbulent water, mostly in shadow, though the back of the neck and wings are lit up by sun. They are big birds!

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FlightFactor’s 777 version 2 for X-Plane models nearly everything using their own code. This means their Electronic Flight Book is critical for pre-flight weight & balance. I detest the EFBs clunky, opinionated, & inefficient manner. With the free Zibo 737-8,  I can start-up fast & get flying with no fuss.

FlightFactor, in the pursuit of perfection, overrides a lot stuff that X-Plane can natively take care of. Once I submitted a bug report for incorrect fuel flow via standard X-Plane endpoints (datarefs) compared to the 777's EICAS readouts. The fix was to override X-Plane's fuel flow simulation output!

So basically, the plane gets simulated twice per unit time, with X-Plane's simulation largely being ignored except for maybe physical airflow dynamics. For some reason this deeply offends me, and it probably shouldn’t. I'm weird.

#XPlane #FlightSim

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December 27, 2025: this American Bushtit was perched for an unusually long time, perhaps soaking in the sun’s morning energy like humans do coffee or tea

#AmericanBushtit #SacramentoWildlifeRefuge #Birds #BirdPhotography #Fujifilm #SOoCAn American Bushtit sits perched on a narrow branch. It is looking with beady black eyes slightly up and to the right, fully illuminated by the sun. Its face has brown and the rest of its orb-like body is a light tan. Its tail feathers stick out straight behind it.

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This morning, my wife caught early sunlight slowly lighting up our citrus trees #Yarden #HomeOrchard

A mandarin tree and a Valencia orange tree catch early sunlight, illuminating a strip of oranges and foliage with a bright yellow glow. The sky is clear and a eucalyptus tree in the distance is fully lit.
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December 17, 2025: At sunrise, a container ship and a helicopter that's coming in for a landing on the Waterfront, Vancouver #Vancouver #Fujifilm #SOoCA sunrise lit container ship, with its east-facing side lit up and the rest in shadows. There are clouds looming on the mountainous horizon over Vancouver habor waters, including a group of birds flying in front of the clouds. Large cranes are also illuminated from one side. A helicopter is just above the cranes, approaching a nearby landing pad.

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December 17, 2025: Sunset over Thurlow Street in Vancouver #Vancouver #StreetPhotography #Fujifilm #SOoCThurlow Street is still damp from rain as the sun sets between tower buildings along Thurlow Street. Sunlight reflects off damp streets and there are two fire engines parked on the right-side of the road. A nearby traffic signal has a red light.

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Today most people will be back at my work. So to celebrate the return of needless office distractions, enjoy a Song Sparrow, if you can find it #SongSparrow #Birds #BirdPhotography #SacramentoWildlifeRefuge #Fujifilm #SOoCA brown and tan Song Sparrow, borb shaped, is hanging out on a horizontal reed within a mass vertical brown and green reeds. It is looking towards the camera, helping to illuminate the tan behind its eyes.

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The backyard was crowded with hummingbirds enjoying our planted native shrubs, so what the heck. Here’s some photos taken in very poor lighting conditions (cloudy, mid-morning, and winter) #Hummingbirds #BirdPhotography #Birds #Fujifilm #SOoC

A hummingbird is perched in a California rose, showing a red stripe on its throat. It's otherwise gray and brown. There's a blurry branch obscuring the lower part of the bird.A hummingbird is perched on an elderberry branch that has fresh grown leaves. The little bird has an olive head and a dirty-yellow to gray chest and belly. It is looking to the right and the background is blurred out.A profile view of a hummingbird looking to the left, with one eye towards the photographer. It is in a ceanothus bush so there are lots of leaves in the way, but the hummingbird can be seen through a hole in the foliage. It has clear plummage, with a bit of red on its head and greens on its tucked-in wings. Its chest is a light gray.A profile view of a hummingbird looking to the right. It might have a membrane covering its eye? It is another bird with clear sharp individual feathers that are olive green in the back to medium gray to the front. Its long thin beak is pointing straight to the right. The background has blurred ceanothus leaves and branches along with gray skies.

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December 6, 2023: Am Flakturm im Volkspark Humboldthain, Berlin #SilentSunday

#Berlin #Fujifilm #SOoC

A large concrete area with a spiraling ramp, where its walls are covered in colorful street art. A lone person stands at the center in front of looming iron rod fence. There's light snow covering the concrete ground and it's completely fogged in so there's no viewl.

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May 2, 2025: San Francisco, Geary and Powell streets just south of Union Square #StreetPhotography #SanFrancisco #Fujifilm #SOoCA sidewalk view of Powell and Geary streets, with a person looking and smiling at a building-side mural of a family of monkey or lemurs. Various buildings loom with Saks Fifth Avenue, Swarovski, and CK Contemporary signs. Two classic palm trees sit between the Saks building and Swarovski, likely at Union Square.

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Last weekend, I caught a Northern Harrier in flight. Though the view finder, I only knew it was some kind of raptor #NorthernHarrier #Birds #BirdPhotography #Fujifilm #CropToZoom

A oblique front view of the Northern Harrier, with its head tilted so one eye is looking at the ground, and the other is angled upward. It is in midflight with both wings visible and outstretched. Its face and upper body is lit by sun against a blue sky. A Northern Harrier, in profile view, with only one outstretched wing visible. It has a white ring of feathers around its mostly brown and tan neck. It is looking straight and there's a glint in its eye.

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In 2025, I made big indulgent updates to my XPlane 12 FlyWithLua scripts that add multi-button functions to the Yawman Arrow controller. The scripts became easier to adapt to new aircraft. I also wrote a quick Outdoor Air Temp and ISA UI XPPython3 script. See my projects on Codeberg. #XPlane #FlightSim #FlyWithLua #XPPython3

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After all that happened in 2025, I’m side-eyeing 2026 like this Towhee side-eyed the space above #HappyNewYear

#CaliforniaTowhee #Birds #BirdPhotography #SacramentoWildlifeRefuge #Fujifilm #CropToZoom

A sun-illuminated brown California Towhee is in a grassy area, taking up the center third of the photo, with its head cocked and eye pointing up to the sky, as if something caught its eye and it needed a better look.

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Back to work! It should continue to be quiet until next week. I got nothing done these last days and I’m happy about that.

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My home seismometer managed to clearly detect the M5 earthquake near Susanville. I definitely didn’t feel it 114 miles away #Earthquake #RaspberryShake

A screen capture from RaspiberryShake app with a map showing the earthquake’s location vs the seismometer along with two charts showing a clear seismic signal.
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A view from yesterday toward Goat Mountain in Northern California’s Interior Coast Range #SilentSunday #Fujifilm #SoOCA telephoto view of a few steeply rising freshly snow covered forested peaks, including Goat Mountain, in the Northern California Interior Coastal Ranges south of Snow Mountain and east of Lake Pillsbury on the Mendocino National Forest. The foothills and some blurry trees in the immediate foreground can be seen.

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Our “Bacon” Avocado tree produced fruit for the first time this year. “Bacon” varieties have very thin skin and, no, they do not taste like bacon. The wind knocked one off and it was ripe. But the bottom had been punctured and insects may have enjoyed its flesh. However, plenty of the fruit was unscathed and we enjoyed a very creamy, lightly flavored avocado! After years of waiting & babying the trees, a nice reward. #HomeOrchard #Yarden #AvocadoA "bacon" variety avocado on a cutting board. The bottom quarter has turned dark green compared to the rest of the skin. Its skin is densely spreckled.The "bacon" avocado is cut in half, and pitted, showing where the puncture happened on the bottom, and that some insect(s) likely already dug in for a meal. Its flesh looks soft and is greener near the skin and a olive-yellow toward the pit. A knife lays to the left of the fruit.On a cutting board, the "bacon" avocado is being smeared across a tostada shell. It looks very creamy and indeed it was easy to spread. One hand is holding the tostado and another is smearing the avocado flesh with a fast moving spoon.

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I'm not a fan of business or private jets but I like this photo of one taking off from SFO on December 14, 2025. It's a Bombardier Challenger 300 flying to Van Nuys. #Aviation #PlaneSpotting #Fujifilm #SOoCA private or business jet taking off from SFO 28R, showing its belly, with its gears up and a bit of wispy clouds behind it. Its flaps are still slightly down.

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In Vancouver today, the sun came out and provided some great morning light at the waterfront

#Vancouver #Aviation #Seaplanes #Fujifilm #SOoC

A seaplane descends above the harbor, with the sun reflecting off its body. A large industrial facility with series of tall tanks looms in the background . The hills behind it all are forested with a few wispy clouds.

A seaplane flies a few feet about harbor waters as it lands, its airframe reflects in the harbor waters. The morning sun lights up a background of ships, port facilities, trees, and buildings built up a gentle hill.

A float plane descends in front of fluffy light orange clouds and unlit mountains below