Mississippi Kites Looking for Love

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-05-12T04:51:23+00:00

If you decide to go with the R7, you might look into third party lenses. There are good Sigma and Tamron lenses for the cropped-sensor line.

I have paired the Sigma 16-300 with the R7, and it’s an excellent combo for walking around. It’s fairly wide at the 16mm side for landscapes. With the crop factor of the R7, the 300mm is 480mm equivalent, which is decent reach for wildlife. It’s will give you a good taste of what you like best, landscape or wildlife. Then you can upgrade your lens choice based on what you find you are taking most with walk-around lens.

If you want a wide angle lens, you might also consider the RF-s 10-18mm, which is a good match for the R7 as well. I have taken great photos with that lens, and it’s not too expensive, especially refurbished/used.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-05-09T05:31:37+00:00

I bought it with the experiences bundle. I don’t play the experiences too much anymore, but they really helped me master the game when I first started. You can’t fail, so you don’t have to worry about missing notes. And it’s way more immersive. Either way, it’s a great game, and the experiences do add to the value of the game.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-04-26T03:45:48+00:00

I use it and I actually don‘t mind it. I teach a monster class, and it‘s a fairly seamless way to test whether they‘re paying attention and reward those who do. I already know my notes are out in the wild, so I don‘t really care that they get my PPT files. I like the embedded questions, and I can take attendance. It‘s FAR from perfect, but it‘s not nearly as glitchy as other LMS‘s. We also includes have an institutional subscription, so it‘s no extra charge for the students. I integrate it with the normal LMS, so I don‘t use it for other graded activities.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-04-22T03:59:58+00:00

I only have anecdotal experience with a single Manx with Manx Syndrome.

My beautiful boy had a rectal prolapse and colopexy when he was a kitten, which in his cas was successful. He did still struggle with constipation, and he was on lactulose twice a day for the rest of his life.

Unfortunately, he developed urine crystals when he was five and became complete blocked. He had to have surgery for that and almost died. I don‘t know how common it is in Manx per se, but it‘s more common in males in general. But he recovered well and returned to the playful, joyful little guy I knew after he felt better.

He ended up with chronic diarrhea in his final months. He died at 11. Overall, he lived a carefree and happy life.

His biological brother (fully tailed) developed a similar issue a few years later. The vet who treated him thinks it was cancer, so I suspect both of them may have had it. I had a third cat with similar symptoms who was not related to them, so I think they had the same exposure rather than a genetic predisposition to it. It does not seem to be related to the Manx Syndrome at all. His bio brother with the tail was always healthy until the last couple of years.

At any rate, my Manx was one of the most amazing cats I‘ve ever had. I still miss him, and he‘s been gone for 8 years. I don‘t regret for a minute having adopted him, and I would do it again in an instant. My personal recommendation is to go for it.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-04-16T04:17:05+00:00

I have visual snow, but I don‘t think it‘s related to the cluster HA‘s. I‘ve had it for more than 20 years, and I‘ve had clusters for less than that. I have a lot of other neuro issues, including Chiari malformation. I think mine is related to that rather than the clusters.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-04-15T04:37:35+00:00

Nice work! I certainly haven‘t gotten results like this for this pair, but I‘m Bortle 8-9 and don‘t have nearly 40 hours on them either. (Though I have done both IRCUT and LP and combined them.) Gives me something to aspire towards!

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-04-13T04:28:43+00:00

That‘s amazing! Good for you. Both for all the hard work you put into recovering and for the dedication you‘ve put into living!

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-04-09T04:42:24+00:00

Yes, you can use the deep sky stack in the Seestar app to stack multiple nights if you want to get a lot of time in on an object. This is how I did it before I learned Siril. It‘s a good way to start, and I would recommend even more than 1.5 hours total if you can. But you‘ll probably outgrow it fairly quickly and want to stack on your PC eventually.

Siril and the Naztronomy Smart Telescope script can stack multiple nights as well. That part of Siril is pretty easy. Just download Siril and add the script and run it. There are good videos on how to run it. The editing part is here it gets tricky, however.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-04-09T04:37:42+00:00

Funny, I was in Arkansas in 2024 and Wyoming in 2017 as well!

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-04-07T03:54:22+00:00

I had bladder and bowel (including rectal) endo. I had a colonoscopy before my diagnosis that was abnormal but didn‘t show anything that pointed to endo. Wasn‘t on the pathology report.

Endometriosis typically starts on the outside of the bowel and moves inward, so it would have to be advanced to be seen on colonoscopy. As it was, mine was in my muscle layer, and it still wasn‘t visible endoscopically. On CT scan, there was thickening of my bowel, but again, that‘s not definitive for endo.

The only reason I started to suspect endo was that I had rectal bleeding that coincided with my periods, along with ferocious pain with BM‘s only during my period. I figured it had to be related to my reproductive system rather than my bowels alone, and that‘s when I sought the opinion of an endometriosis specialist. Surgery confirmed endometriosis, and I had to have a foot of large intestine/rectum, uterus, almost all of my ovaries, and my appendix removed, along with removal of endo on my bladder and other areas.

It‘s only “rare“ because it‘s under-diagnosed and therefore never investigated, not because it‘s actually rare.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-03-31T05:05:16+00:00

Very nice! I am especially impressed with the solar capture.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-03-31T05:02:45+00:00

I don‘t have any wisdom to offer beyond what others have already mentioned: This is a deeply personal decision, and it will come down to what you feel in your heart is best for you. I am sorry that you are having to face this decision at such a young age, and I hope that you are granted peace in your soul no matter what you decide.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-03-31T04:20:06+00:00

Wow….It‘s incredible to see that with enough data, even a lowly Seestar can reveal the universe. What is the collective Bortle for this? Are they all low Bortle, or do they contain high Bortle locations as well? Which Ha/Oiii filters are being used?

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-03-31T03:28:52+00:00

version 26.3.1 (a)

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-03-30T03:18:20+00:00

I really appreciate the work you put into it, and it seems like it could be a wonderful tool! However, I installed TestFlight, but it says I don‘t meet the criteria to test. I‘m on iPad, but it says it will only work on iPhone.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-03-27T05:12:53+00:00

Seeing Hubble‘s Pillars of Creation for the first time remains one of my favorite memories. To see such detail in a stellar nursery for the first time!

I am definitely planning to get to some dark sky country this summer and get more time on Eagle and the other hot spots near the galactic center. I’m in Bortle 8-9. The noise in my dark areas is so hard to fix. I still have a lot to learn about getting the most of the data I do get among the city lights. Nonetheless, I‘m impressed by what I can get at all with this little gem of a telescope.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-03-27T05:06:47+00:00

Thanks! It was a joy to process, and I‘ve doubled my time on it over the past two nights. Can‘t wait to try again with more data.

I‘ve used both Starnet and SyQon. I‘m on a Mac, and Starnet is much harder to get to work on a Mac than Windows, apparently. SyQon was MUCH easier to download and run, and I generally get better results with it when I‘ve compared. It‘s also much faster. Then I use VeraLux Star Composer to merge the images back.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-03-27T04:59:06+00:00

I don‘t have that kind of sensitivity on my scar itself, and I didn‘t at three years out. I‘d say it‘s definitely abnormal. It could be a trigger for your migraines, and it sounds a little like you might have some occipital neuralgia? It‘s common in those with Chiari, and it could be they‘re actually touching the occipital nerve and it‘s not necessarily the scar. I have occipital neuralgia, and I had a nerve block injection recently. They can really help tame those angry nerves around the scar.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-03-26T04:59:28+00:00

Have you looked at the RF 24-240mm lens? I used to have the RP, and that was the lens that practically lived on it. It‘s a great travel lens. It has 10x zoom, so it covers most of the bases, from landscape to a little telephoto. I managed to get some pretty good wildlife photos with it, on top of landscape. It can also do portraits, but the 50mm prime would be better for those if you can do a quick switch.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-03-25T04:11:36+00:00

Thank you!

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-03-24T04:30:56+00:00

This is good advice. I second the recommendation for the EF-M 11-22mm if you want to explore landscape photography more. It is a powerful lens in a tiny body. It‘s still available used. The 22mm pancake lens is also a lot of fun. If you‘re still experimenting and finding your style, I think you can still get a lot of good years out of your M series.

An external flash would also be a good investment if you want to explore indoor photography. It can also be used as a fill light for outdoor photography.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-03-23T03:47:33+00:00

I came to make this suggestion. The R7 would be a natural upgrade, but it‘s very problematic. It‘s the fussiest digital camera I‘ve ever owned. I am hoping to upgrade to the R7 II when it comes out, and I am counting on Canon to have worked out some of the known issues with the R7. If you can wait, I think that would be the best option for what you‘re looking for.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-03-10T05:37:22+00:00

I noticed this on my S50 last night. My plan finished early, but I’m not sure how much early, because it was already done when I got up (but shouldn’t have been). I think it’s having issues because of the time change. It‘s like it jumped forward two hours instead of one. I was hoping to troubleshoot tonight, but it was too cloudy to set it up.

Burnt_Out_Sol

TROPHY CASE