Last weekend, I bought some new seed for the bird feeder. (It was a long winter’s drought for the poor birds.) Since spring arrived, though, we have seen quite an array of birds around the neighborhood: robins, cardinals, mourning doves, various finches, starlings. Ergo, it was time to fill the feeders. All weekend, I watched. And waited. And watched some more … And nothing. Zip. Nary a bird in sight. Then tonight, Didion and I saw a cardinal couple eating and scaring off the other birds. (Cardinals are not as friendly as gold finches.) We managed to get this picture from inside the house:

male northern cardinal

We decided we needed some better shots, so we sat on the porch, but, sadly, the birds deserted us. I did manage to get this excellent shot of Didion:

cute, even when way too close to the lens

And now for some photos worth looking at….

An ingenious astronaut figured out how to build a camera that could take sharp nighttime photos from the International Space Station — a mean feat considering the long exposure times required, the speed the space station travels, and the fact that he supposedly did this from “spare parts” he found lying around the station. The story, some great photos, and a neat video are here. Seriously, read the article; watch the video. The guy controls the camera’s movement with a cordless drill (!!!).

Something telling: The Las Vegas Strip is the brightest spot on earth. Says a lot about what is important.