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Meteors are typically bits of material left behind by comets. They're often no larger than sand grains, and they vaporize as they enter our atmosphere. In general, the Earth encounters richer meteoric activity during the second half of the year. Between August 3 and 15, there are a half-dozen different minor displays that are active.

Friday, August 1 is a red-letter day for eclipse enthusiasts. On that date, the sun will be partially eclipsed over an immense area that includes western and central Asia, parts of northern and central Europe, all of Greenland and even a small slice of northeastern North America.

This photo by Christopher Go of Cebu City, Philippines, shows that little remains of the Little Red Spot. Click the image to see an animation of the event as photographed by amateurs around the globe.

An image of the Wilkins Ice Shelf disintegration taken from the British Antarctic Survey's Twin Otter aircraft reconnaissance flight. Credit: Jim Elliott, British Antarctic SurveyAs of March 8, about 220 square miles (570 square kilometers) of ice has disintegrated from the ice shelf. Credit: Jim Elliott, British Antarctic SurveyA map of the Antarctic Peninsula with the location of the the Wilkins Ice Sheet, which is on the southern portion of the peninsula. Credit: British Antarctic SurveyDuring the break-up, the Wilkins Ice Shelf broke into a sky-blue pattern of exposed deep glacial ice. This true-color image of the Wilkins Ice Shelf was taken by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on March 6, 2008. Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center

It may not sound like a classic Saturday night blow-out, but at 8 p.m. on March 29, millions of people around the world will turn off their lights to celebrate Earth Hour. This event, sponsored by the WWF, a global conservation organization, is intended to increase awareness of global warming and spur action to combat the issue. The movement began last year when the WWF asked residents of Sydney, Australia, to turn off their lights for an hour. So on March 31, 2007, 2.2 million people and 2,100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights. Even icons such as the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House went dark. Electricity in many cities and countries is powered by coal-fired plants that produce carbon dioxide, the most important greenhouse gas that human activities emit into the atmosphere. The WWF estimates that if the greenhouse gas reduction achieved during the Sydney Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year. The event has expanded this year to include cities in other countries, such as the United States, Canada, Denmark, Israel and Thailand. Chicago will serve as the U.S. flagship city for the event, with Atlanta, Phoenix and San Francisco joining it as leading partners in the endeavor. Individuals can sign up to participate on the Earth Hour site — so far 240,000 people have signed their support of the event. Celebrities such as singer/songwriter Nelly Furtado and the band Fall Out Boy have pledged to turn out their lights, as have the Phoenix Suns and Chicago Cubs.

A total eclipse of the Moon occurs during the night of Wednesday, February 20/21, 2008. The entire event is visible from South America and most of North America (on Feb. 20) as well as Western Europe, Africa, and western Asia (on Feb. 21). During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon's disk can take on a dramatically colorful appearance from bright orange to blood red to dark brown and (rarely) very dark gray.

This month’s malware pick, highlighted in order to help you understand how to keep it off your system, is the notorious web nasty commonly known as “Storm Worm.” At Lavasoft, we classify it as “Win32.Worm.Zhelatin.” Storm Worm’s reign shows no sign of coming to an end, as the already-massive Storm botnet (the infected machines controlled by Storm’s creators) is growing daily.

Thought I'd write up a single, rather long post, to keep my postcount within limits, and get some links grouped together Do you see a difference between Photoshop and another program? Likely this has something to do with (the other program not using) colormagement... For starters: Check whether the other program is color managed. AFAIK, Windows viewer is not (before Vista, that is), ACDSee (non Pro) is not, Breeze Browser is not, iView Media (non pro) is not, iPhoto is not (not sure about newer versions). A lot of web browser (anything on Windows, all but Safari and IE (when set) on OSX) do not use color management. Not sure about your browser? Try it here or here, or more dramatically: Here If you are using a working color space other then sRGB, the differences can be quite shocking. So, if you don't know a thing about color management, you might want to stick to sRGB. (Or learn a bit about color management) First off: there will *allways* be a (slight) difference between a non color managed application and PS, even displaying an sRGB file: That's the difference between your display profile and the sRGB standard. If you are comparing an image with a different working space then sRGB (AdobeRGB or ProfotoRGB for instance), you'll see a*huge* mismatch. The only 'solution' is to not use colormangement in PS (set 'Monitor Color' in PS color prefs). That throws color management out the window. Not a good solution IMHO: No way of telling what your image looks like on any other monitor or in print.... For more or less the same reason: *never, ever* use your monitor profile as working space! What works better, is to get a basic understanding of color management, and set up everything correctly. To do that, first check your monitor profile: Go to this page by Norman Koren. Scroll down, there are a few quick tests to see if your monitor is profiled more or less okay... If your monitor profile is corrupt, something like this might happen. (The solution was found at last: click) (Another Check here) A few links on monitor calibration can be found in this post by PhotosGuy. Easiest way to get your monitor calibrated, is by buying a calibrating device. Lots of them availiable. Search for Eye One, Monaco Optix, Colorvision Spider, Pantone Huey, to name a few. Another (cheaper) option would be to use something like Adobe Gamma: Click If your monitor is (more or less) calibrated, and you're still "seeing problems", it might be time to dive a bit into Color Mangement. Start off (after calibrating your monitor) by setting Photoshops color settings something like this (click image to enlarge): The 'RGB Working space' is a case of personal preference. (Also take a look at the "sRGB or AdobeRGB" links at the bottom of this post!) As long as the color management policies are set like this, most problems will be avoided. (Or at least you'll get notified that there is a potential problem) If you use DPP, be sure to set the monitor profile. (the program is too stupid to figure it out for itself ) (Edit: Latest version (windows) seems to have the option to set it so the 'system profile' is used) Again, work color space is personal preference, but it would make most sense to use the same working space as in PS... When converting a file, make sure to embed the profile. In DPP (or whatever Raw converter of choice might be): tick the checkbox: If you shoot jpg, the profile will allready be in the file. Now, if your default working space is not sRGB, you'll get lousy display in a non color managed application (like most web browsers) if you don't convert to sRGB before saving an image for web. Unfortunately, "Save for web" does not do this all by itself... (Edit: CS3 offers the option) I find it easiest to make a keyboard shortcut for it for single images: (I use an action when I'm doing a lot) Alternatively, go Edit > Convert to profile (PSCS2) or Image > Mode > Convert to profile (PSCS). Don't know for sure where it is on other versions, but probabely one of these two... When converting from, say AdobeRGB to sRGB, the colors should not change (by much). Only colors that are out of sRGB Gamut (like very saturated greens) change a bit, depending on rendering intent used. (see link on the bottom of this page) Note that there is also an option "Assign Profile". Do not use that. The *only* time you assign a profile, is when the document doesn't have one embedded. And if the document doesn't have an embedded profile, someone (likely you) made an error... (That's why the warning boxes in the PS CM settings are ticked) Next, make sure WYSIWYG in the 'Save for web' window, or just use "Save as" and keep the EXIF in the image (Which I prefer)Note this is the setting I use, because I use Safari, which is color managed. If you want to see what a non color managed browser looks like, you need to select 'Uncompensated Color'. This will show you what the jpg will look like in a non color managed app. The colors in the document are not affected however (they are the same as the original when viewed in a color managed app)... Logical annit. Regardless of the method used for saving an image, IMHO a profile should always be embedded, if only for those of us using Safari for browsing, or for later, correct viewing in a color managed application..Some general CM links: (hey, at least now I can find them back )The ultimate resource: Bruce FraserThe most recommended book about Color Management. By Bruce Fraser.Canon articles about Color ManagementReviews of equipment like Monitor & printer profilers.'Favourite CM links in the Digital Outback Photo Forums.Colour Management.. as explained by Cambridge In ColourColor Management. Yet another site. What Norman Koren has to say on Color Management.Color remedies: links and articlesInformation on Profiles from the ICCWide Open (color) Spaces; Bruce FraserDigital Dog; lots of good pdf filesColor Management and Your Display. by Andrew RodneyColor Management Myths Read all 28 of them!Color space conversion and rendering intents:What Rendering Intent to use?Color space conversion & Rendering intentA graphic explanation of Rendering intentAnother link about Rendering Intent.Out of Gamut: Realizing Good Intentions with Rendering IntentsColor Management Myths: Sometimes Perceptual isn't perceptualColor spaces and working space:ICC sitesRGB or Adobe RGB. Why sRGB might be a better choice sometimes.Another link about sRGB vs. Adobe, with some 'real life' examples.sRGB or Adobe RGB. Same story, also about 8 vs. 16 bit.What about ProPhoto RGB?A bit more on ProPhotoRGB, to help understanding some problems.A few more spaces by HutchColorInfo on working spaces, including graphic representations.UPDIG guidlinesInteractive graphic representations of color spaces.Misc. programs & linksA pdf about color management in Lightroom.A bit more on Color management and web browsersA few images to test the monitor.A DAM comparisonWhat Monitor Calibrator?Shootsmarter on Monitor Calibration (Also a few further links, which require logging in)Another site on Monitor Calibration.DryCreek Photo on Monitor Calibrating and ProfilingA thread explaining the difference between calibrating and profiling of a monitor. (Yes I've very probabely used the word 'calibrating' a few times where I should have said 'profiling'.)Printing?Post at the end of this thread, concerning soft proofing.Softproofing as explained on LL. Very nice first part of a video tutorial on LLSoftproofing as explained by Bruce FraserAnd another explanation.How to use ICC Printer ProfilesUsing Printer Profiles with Digital LabsOn printing and profiles with Canon printersSoftproofing and Printing with an Epson 3800.CS3, OSX and CM printing.Some test images.PDF by Adobe about a Color managed workflow.A whole load of PDFs on the XRite site, explaining Workflows - Using Profiles with Third-Party Applications.The color management chain by GballardHP and OSXHP and Windows If anyone wants to add: Please do...

Is your system ICC Version 4 ready? One way to find out is to view or print this page using your system. The test image uses a mix of unusual ICC version 4 and version 2 profiles, one for each quadrant of the image. The test is also available in pdf format, as in both html and pdf file formats each image can use an unique profiles. Profiles in each quadrant: v4 e-sRGB v4 YCC-RGB v2 GBR v2 Adobe RGB Expected Results The display of the above test image on your system will change according to the abilities of your system. Here are three possible outcomes. (These are RGB screenshots from actual systems) The system supports these ICC version 4 and version 2 profiles The system supports ICC version 2 profiles only The system does not support these ICC profiles Sources The test and image were provided by Lars Borg, Adobe Systems, November 2003. The embedded profiles are provided by Adobe Systems. GBR is a Green-Blue-Red color space.

"I wish the best for her and I just wish everyone would leave her alone so she could live her life," the 26-year-old hotel heiress-actress tells E! News. "She's a great mother and a great girl and I really care about her."

Everybody has the same basic tasting equipment – eyes, tongue, nose – but it’s how you use them that determines whether you’re good enough to taste tea for a living. After a year of tasting over 500 cups of tea a day I had memorized enough individual characteristics to have only a very basic knowledge of the different colours, flavours and styles of tea – but perhaps more importantly, I was now able to spit without dribbling on either myself or my boss! It was only after years of training and visiting over 120 tea estates around the world that I could legitimately call myself a master taster. Such intensive training is not for the faint hearted, but meant that I could identify the region and often the particular estate a tea originated from in the world - with a blindfold on…

One problem photographers have always faced is the fact that no medium yet invented can capture the tonal range our eyes can see. Film can’t get close to recording the brightness range of light that the human eye can perceive. This holds true for digital sensors as well. While some high-end sensors can record more tonal information than film, they still can’t record all the tonal variations the eye can see. The human eye can perceive a contrast ratio of 800:1; the best slide films, 30:1; and the best digital sensors, 40:1. So photography has always been about compromising. When shooting slide films, the old adage was “expose for the highlights, pray for the shadows.” With digital, that has changed a bit, especially with RAW files. You can process the RAW file two (or more) different ways and combine these images using an image-editing program to get the best of each exposure. When shooting with a digital camera in the RAW format, you have the capability of processing your image specifically for different exposure values, highlights, midtones and shadows. You can use this flexibility of the RAW format to your advantage when photographing scenes with a high dynamic range of light. Is it best to slightly underexpose or overexpose RAW images? When you lighten a dark RAW image, you risk adding a lot of noise to the shadow areas. When you darken a light RAW image, you might not have good highlight detail. I find when shooting under contrasty light that it helps to slightly overexpose the image and then process it twice—once to have more shadow detail and once to bring back the highlight detail.Start1 2 3 Next Tags: How To, Image Processing How To,

NEW YORK - A company that sells Internet domain names is facing criticisms for holding some in reserve as a consumer-protection measure, a move that also prevents interested parties from shopping around for better prices.

Why does the moon seem to change its shape every night? The moon is a world in space, just as Earth is. Like Earth, it’s always half illuminated by the sun. In other words, the round globe of the moon has a “day side” and a “night side.” From our earthly vantage point, as the moon orbits around Earth, we see varying fractions of its day and night sides. These are the changing phases of the moon.

Sometimes there are good reasons to shoot JPEGs. You might be running out of space on your memory card, or you know you'll never make prints of the pictures, or maybe you're just a really, really, self-assured photographer.

“The impact probability resulting from the recent orbit refinement has increased to a surprising 3.9 percent…about 1 in 25 odds,” explain JPL’s Near Earth Object Program website, updated today regarding the asteroid meets Mars altercation.

NGC 7662 is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Andromeda. (The term "planetary nebula" is misleading. These objects were originally named such as the result of their resemblance to planets such as Uranus, but they have nothing to do with planets.) These nebulae represent the final stage of a smaller star's life, at which time the core of the star contracts and rises in temperature. The outer layers of the star are ultimately blown outward into a gigantic cloud and ionized, producing the characteristic glow of a planetary nebula.

From Wallet to WaistlineSuper-Sized Portions may be More than You Bargained For-- By American Institute of Cancer ResearchAmericans who take advantage of larger sizes for just a few pennies more when eating out may be getting more calories than they bargain for, according to a new report by a coalition of health organizations. The report found that the food industry's "value marketing" encourages overeating and contributes to the skyrocketing rates of obesity in adults and children."Americans are constantly induced to spend a little more money to get a lot more food," said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). "Getting more for your money is ingrained in the American psyche. But bigger is rarely better when it comes to food."From Wallet To Waistline: The Hidden Costs of Super Sizing, was issued by the National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity (NANA), a coalition of over 225 national, state and local health organizations. The report compares the price, calories, and saturated fat in differently sized foods from fast-food chains, convenience stores, ice cream parlors, coffee shops, and movie theaters. Among the findings:Upgrading from a 3-ounce Minibon to a Classic Cinnabon costs only 24% more, yet delivers 123% more calories. The larger size also provides almost three-quarters of a day's worth of artery-clogging saturated fat. Switching from 7-Eleven's Gulp to a Double Gulp costs 42% more, but provides 300% more calories. Those 37 extra cents deliver 450 extra calories-more than you'd get in a McDonald's Quarter Pounder. It costs 8 cents more to purchase a McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese, small French fries, and small Coke (890 calories) separately than to buy the Quarter Pounder with Cheese large Extra Value Meal, which comes with a large fries and large Coke (1,380 calories). "McDonald's actually charges customers more to buy a smaller, lower-calorie meal," Wootan said. Moving from a small to a medium bag of movie theater popcorn costs about 71 cents-and 500 calories. A 23% increase in price provides 125% more calories and two days' worth of saturated fat. (And that's unbuttered popcorn!) According to the report, the practice of "bundling"—turning a fast-food sandwich into a "value meal" by adding sides like fries and a soft drink-is responsible for some of the largest increases in calorie content. And fountain drinks proved to be especially bad health bargains. They cost the least to upgrade and deliver the biggest calorie boosts (and they provide some of the highest profit margins for retailers).Have It Your Way"So what can consumers do right now?" asked Melanie Polk, RD, director of nutrition education at the American Institute for Cancer Research. "We can speak up. Say 'small,' say 'half,' and share."By speaking out, Polk said, consumers let the food marketer know that they want healthy meals. "Order a small or half-size. Share that bucket of fries or bladder-bursting drink with friends. Keeping those extra cents in your wallet means keeping extra pounds off your body, and that's more important than ever.""If you walked into a McDonald's in the 1950s and ordered a burger, fries and a 12-ounce coke, you'd have bought a meal with about 590 calories," said Carol Tucker Foreman, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America. "Today a popular super-sized meal may contain 1,000 calories more. As a result, we're super sizing our kids and super sizing ourselves."That's why consumers should decline to take advantage of "more-for-less" marketing practices, even if it may seem cost-ineffective, says Polk. "It's penny-wise and pound-foolish to order more food than you really want, just because it seems like a bargain," she says. "Let restaurateurs and retailers know that you want reasonable portions at reasonable prices. After all, restaurants pride themselves on responding to customer demand." Article created on: 12/8/2004

If skies are clear in your area on Sunday night, Dec. 23, you'll be able to partake in a rather unusual sight as the full moon appears to glide very closely above the planet Mars. Mars, which made its closest approach to the Earth on Dec. 18, will be only hours from a Christmas Eve opposition with the sun and is now shining prominently with a bright yellow-orange glow. And if you're favorably positioned in certain parts of the Pacific Northwest, western Canada, or Alaska, you'll actually see the moon occult (hide) Mars for a short time as the pair sits low above the east-northeast horizon. A similar encounter in 2003 created a great photo opportunity

Jackie Brown Otter created The Pretty Bird Woman House after the brutal rape and murder of her sister, whose Lakota name means Pretty Bird Woman. PBWH is a safe haven for abused women. The shelter was burned down leaving them with no where to go and they are in desperate need of help to purchase a new shelter. If you can, please help these women and children out.