Category: Technology

Views of science and technology from around the world

Monday (20-December-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

The temperature dropped to the low 20’s (F) overnight. The solar powered pump for the birdbath continued to pump water part of the night leaving an ice sculpture.


Birdbath Ice Sculpture. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Mourning Dove, Northern Mockingbird, House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Time-lapse Little Planet videos of the day. The concrete for the inner sleeve posts was allowed to set for 48 hours. Combination rain day, and colder temperatures. Eight of the eight foot outer sleeve posts were installed with the appropriate hardware (bottom brace band with eye bolt, middle collar with eye bolt, and top brace cup). The 2nd video shows eight more post holes being dug by Red Rover. Will wait for warmer weather to install the inner sleeve posts and Quikrete fast-setting concrete.

Daily Electric Energy Used (81.1 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (32.9 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sunny. Geothermal HVAC heating the house, much of the day stage 2 since it is cold outside. Deficit of 48.2 kWh.

Thursday (16-December-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Mourning Dove, Turkey Vulture, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Red Rover time-lapse video of the day. Today’s project was to attach the Woods PD-25 post-hole digger on Red Rover. Took a while to get it installed. Read the safety manual several times. When completed, dug the first of 170 holes for the deer fence project. Small issue of a bolt rubbing one of the safety shields, and a shear bolt falling out (didn’t shear, nut must not have been on tight enough). Tech from Belle Mead motors stopped by to fix the rubbing issue.


Daily Electric Energy Used (50.3 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (27.5kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and clouds. Geothermal HVAC heating the house. Deficit of 22.8 kWh.

Tuesday (07-December-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Time-lapse Videos of the Day. Assembly of the 4th ShelterLogic storage shed. This one has a rounded roof, and we will see if it does better when the snow comes. 1) Morning, assembling the frame. 2) Afternoon, back and front walls. Didn’t finish with the top or anchors as the sun started to go down. Just hope not too much wind overnight.

Daily Electric Energy Used (64.8 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (25.2 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sun and clouds. Geothermal HVAC heating the house. Deficit of 39.6 kWh.

Monday (29-November-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Blue Jay, House Finch.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Little Planet Time-lapse Videos. Continuing to evaluate the LabPano Pilot EE 360 camera. I found that I can do longer shoots using an external USB-C battery pack. It just needs to be one that can do fast charging. The first time-lapse little planet video was changing the AAA batteries in the solar powered Trolls.
Five of the batteries that were removed, wouldn’t take a charge. With the new batteries, three of the Trolls LED lights were on during the day. They are supposed to charge the batteries when it is light out, and only light up when it gets dark out. All but one of the Trolls lights went on when it got dark out, and they were still on at midnight. Will continue to monitor if they continue to charge during the shorter days, and now that the temperature is dropping below freezing every night.

For the next video, the camera was mounted on Red Rover, and on a tripod in the field. Today’s main project was to prepare and seed some of the back sections. A couple of months ago, the sections were fertilized, rototilled, and then covered with black agricultural fabric (to kill germinating weeds). The wildflower seed vendor recommended to sow the seeds after the first few freezes. Apparently, some seeds germinate better if they are out for some time in the cold. (Just hope the birds and mice don’t eat all of the seeds). Today, the black agricultural fabric was removed, the plot leveled with a drag harrow, seeds sowed, then the seeds pressed down with a water-filled drum roller. The LabPano Pilot EE 360 camera was set for a 20x 4K time-lapse video. The white balance and exposure were set to Auto. In the time-lapse video you can see problems with the white balance and exposure. The lighting conditions kept changing from sunny to cloudy.

Daily Electric Energy Used (69.1 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (24.5 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Cloudy and cold. Geothermal HVAC heating the house. Deficit of 44.6 kWh.

Thursday (25-November-2021) — New Jersey

Happy Thanksgiving.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Continuing to learn how to use the Labpano Pilot EE 360 camera. This time I set it up to record me cooking a duck for my Thanksgiving Dinner. The time-lapse was set for 20x (0.6 seconds/frame) @ 4K (3840 x 1920). The battery ran out at ~99 minutes, even though I had the USB-C connected to an external battery. When I checked online, it appears that the USB-C power source needs to be a USB-PD fast charger. The 4K equirectangular video was processed using Premiere Pro with the GoPro FX Reframe plugin for the rotating Little Planet video. Since the time-lapse video stopped recording before I finished cooking, I’ve provided a still image of the Thanksgiving Roasted Duck Dinner for One. Beets and Onions from Clifford Family Farm, Duck and Mushrooms from Zell’s Farm, Brussel Sprouts from Whole Foods, Wild Rice from Minnesota.

Thanksgiving Duck Dinner. (David J Mathre)
Thanksgiving Dinner. Image taken with a Leica SL2 camera and 24-90 mm lens (ISO 400, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/40 sec). (David J Mathre)

Daily Electric Energy Used (65.9 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (25.9 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sunny, some clouds, but cold. Geothermal HVAC heating the house. Deficit of 40.0 kWh.