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A stunning clear day today. Here’s Mt. Lassen from the Black Butte Dam. Quite the change from burn pile smoke of the last several days A scenic landscape featuring a rustic barn on rolling green hills, with sparse trees in the foreground. In the background, a snow-capped Lassen and mountain range is visible under a clear blue sky.

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A nice, if breezy, day at Black Butte Reservoir. It was not great for bird watching… unless you prefer seagulls and vultures View of a dam with a concrete structure in the water, surrounded by hills and greenery under a clear blue sky. An orange floating boom extends across the water around the dam workings, with rocky terrain in the foreground.

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A fire pit at a Christmas Market in Berlin, 2023 #Berlin #Travel #Fujifilm #SOoC People warming their hands around a fire pit with glowing logs.

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USGS reports a M6.6 off Cape Mendocino. Here’s my seismograph curtesy of Raspberry Shake. Be sure to log a Did You Feel It at the USGS site. #CaWx #Earthquake The image shows an earthquake event off the coast of Northern California with a magnitude of 6.6, recorded on December 5, 2024, at 18:44:19 UTC. A map indicates the earthquake’s location off the coast of cape Mendocino.

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well that was an earthquake that I felt. Thought I was losing it for a moment #CAWx #Earthquake

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Berlin, December 2023. Looking across the Spree toward the Berlin Cathedral #Berlin #Travel #Fujifilm #SOoCA silhouette of a person stands under an archway with graffiti. In the background, a snowy scene features a river, a large historic building, and a domed church. Birds fly in the sky.

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Frankfurt Airport train station on December 4, 2023 #Travel #Trains #EDDF #Fujifilm #SOoC A modern train station with a sleek, white train on the left platform. Passengers are walking and waiting near platforms 6 and 7. The scene is well-lit with a reflective ceiling and digital displays showing platform information. The photograph must be shooting from an escalator.

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On this day in 2023, we began our trip to Germany. We flew KSFO-EDDF (Frankfurt) on United 777-3 reg. N2250U #Aviation #Avgeek #Travel #N2250U #B77W #KSFO An airport scene at SFO with a United Airlines 777 on the tarmac, a monorail train in the foreground, and a parking lot filled with cars. The background features airport buildings under a low overcast sky. The ground is damp. A United Airlines 777-3 is parked at the airport gate on a rainy day. Ground crew and equipment are visible around the aircraft. Overcast skies are in the background.

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A random San Francisco photo, looking south down Main Street from Market Street. January 2023. #SanFranciso #Fujifilm #SOoCA San Francisco city street lined with tall buildings, some modern and some classic in design. There are tram lines above the road. A parked white truck is visible on the right, and blue glass modern skyscrapers are in the distance under a clear blue sky.

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A very grim story - it doesn’t candy coat the great human tragedy of airplane crashes: “Chaos in the Clouds: The Crash of TWA Flight 514 and Its Lasting Impact on NoVA”

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Our first frost! And so the birds are having a lousy morning (re)discovering frozen water #Birds 🪶 A pair of small birds, one with a red head, perched on the edge of a birdbath against a wooden fence background.

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November 26 and we’ve already heard Last Christmas.

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I nearly forgot to show-off this Ruby-crowned Kinglet that foraged in our backyard today. It loved the asparagus fronds, sweet basil, and grapes. It’s quite the rare to see their full crown! #RubyCrownedKinglet #Birds #Fujifilm #SOoC 🪶A small Ruby Crowned Kinglet with an olive-green body and a distinctive red mark on its head is perched among dry and green sweet basil shoots and leaves.

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Big storm coming, the air is thick with smoke, so all the ag piles must be burning 🤢 glad we’ve an decent air filter This image shows a PM2.5 Air Quality Index (AQI) reading with two channels: Channel A at 169 and Channel B at 166, indicating poor air quality. A PM2.5 AQI history graph is displayed for the last half day and it’s all bad.

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Yawman Arrow is celebrating MSFS2024’s release with a sale on their fantastically portable controller - $149 USD #YawmanArrow #MSFS2024 #FlightSim #XPlane #Aviation #AvGeek https://yawmanflight.com

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More big birds from yesterday: a White Egret, a Red Tailed Hawk, and an Air India 777-2 VT-AEG flying SFO-DEL at 30,000 ft #SacramentoWildlifeRefuge #WhiteEgret #RedTailedHawk #B77L #AI174 #AvGeek #Aviation #Fujifilm A white egret stands by a body of water in a marshy landscape with tall grasses. The background features distant trees and a clear sky. A red tailed hawk flying in the sky with wings spread wide. The bird’s plumage is a mix of light and dark brown patterns. A photo from below 777-200 LR Air India flight 174 from SFO to Delhi at flight level 30,000 ft. The plane has a red belly flying in a hazy blue sky.

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Today’s best birds at the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge includes a Bald Eagle, a Belted Kingfisher (!!!!!!), a well hidden Meadow Lark, and a Black Phoebe #BaldEagle #BeltedKingfisher #MeadowLark #BlackPhoebe #Birds #SacramentoWildlifeRefuge #Fujifilm 🪶 A large Bald Eagle soaring in the sky.

A King Fisher perched on a bare tree branch against a blue sky, with some foliage visible below.

A Meadow Lark is hanging out among dry grass reeds near the edge of a pond.

A Black Phoebe is perched on dry, tall grass in a field.

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“We have about the same number of federal employees than we had in the 1960s, even though the government does and spends a lot more now. As a percentage of the total population, the federal workforce is at historic lows” from Some basic math about cutting government - by Don Moynihan

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Tankless Water Heater citric acid flush day! About 1.5lb citric acid to 3.5 gallons of water. Long ago I did the math to get the right pH and now I just trust it 😆⚖️A tankless water heater maintenance setup is shown. Two hoses are connected to the heater, with their ends immersed in a bucket filled with almost 4 gallons of water and 1.5lbs of citric acid crystals. An electric sump pump is in the bucket, connected to a power cord. The setup is on a concrete floor.

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Big X-Plane 12 beta release! ATC now support SIDs, STARs, and the AIRAC cycle is now 2402, iirc updated from 1801. There’s lots more.. What’s new in X-Plane 12.1.3? #XPlane #FlightSim