Birdfeeder still popular

Although spring has arrived the feeder is still visited by many birds throughout the day. Some bird couples are very 'regular' and come to feed together (e.g., House Finch [see photo], Starlings, Junkos), some others visit separately (e.g., Cowbird, American Goldfinch [see photo], Mockingbird). Additional species arriving back from their winter quarters in the South have not shown up yet.

Welcome home, Katze Walk II.

After more than seven years we have taken another cat into our home. Gabriele and I were always thinking about it but could not decide to take on another responsibility. Now Alexander asked us whether we could have a pet companion in our family and that tipped us over the edge. And here she is, "Katze Walk the second". About one year old, a grey tiger that is healthy and happy with people inside a home. From the first moment she 'owned' the place and felt at home. Alexander will give her a new name but in the the interim she bears the same name as our former cat in Germany which looked very similar and kept us company for more than ten years before she died of old age.

Blueray - Second thoughts

After comparing the quality/impression of the picture of the Blueray player (Sony BDP-S300) with Blueray DVDs and standard DVDs upsampled to 720p resolution with the images presented by the 460p Lexicon RT-10 DVD player (no upsampling), we decided to return the Blueray player and continue to use the standard player instead. Either the technical quality and sophistication of the first and second generation of Blueray players is still far from that of higher-end standard DVD players or the component cable connection that I have to use with my Meridian G68 processor is so much worse than the HDMI connection used by the most recent versions of processors that they should not be used (I actually saw a Denon Blueray player that had only HDMI output). So if you consider Blueray at this time, make sure you can use HDMI connectors and have a TV or projector that can handle full 1080p resolution. Then Blueray may make sense even at this time. But also check and compare carefully before you commit to replace your current DVD player with a new Blueray.

Discovery of organic molecules on extrasolar planet.

Methane molecules in the atmosphere of the Jupiter-sized extrasolar planet HD 189733b has been found with the Hubble Space Telescope. Under the right circumstances methane can play a key role in prebiotic chemistry -- the chemical reactions considered necessary to form life as we know it. Although methane has been detected on most of the planets in our Solar System, this is the first time any organic molecule has been detected on a world orbiting another star.

Blueray is the winner

The decision is made: Blueray will be the new DVD standard and HD-DVD is history. As a first consequence most Blueray players are sold out immediately. So I had a limited choice and bought a Sony BDP-S300. The good thing about this particular player is that it upconverts 'normal' DVD up to 1080p resolution (the best you can have with your TV or projector these days). So its "Blueray time"! Well, for me that means I bought one single Blueray DVD for calibration and reference purposes ("The Fifth Element" - a great movie!). I have this movie already in the standard DVD (460p bitstream) version and so I can play the two with my Lexicon RT-10 DVD player and the new Blueray Sony side-by-side. My first impressions are that the picture is more detailed with Blueray (I can project 720p of the 1080presolution of the Blueray disk with my "old" Yamaha DPX-1000 projector.) than with the standard DVD. Also the contrast is increased which makes 'black' more black and 'white' more white. With this difference the picture becomes less soft and color-detailed (or less 'movie-like'). Maybe this can be tweaked with the settings of the new player, but I prefer the 'old' DVD tone of the picture more. The same difference can be observed with upconverted DVDs on the Sony vs. th Lexicon player. So the picture 'liking'is a question of what the viewer prefers: detail resolution or natural color tones.
Another clear difference between the two players is the sound. Here is the ten-times more expensive Lexicon as a high-end player the clear 'winner' over the Sony. Again, this is a first impression after two movies and I may not have optimized thge settings and cables, but the sound difference is very audibel. Another point is that the Lexicon but not the Sony can play two- and multi-channel SACDs and HD-Audio CDs. So the Blueray player is not a replacement for the Lexicon at this time. So, I will watch some more and compare the the two systems. Maybe some of you can help and join me for a movie. By the way, I will obtain my Blueray movies through my Netflix subscription and will not buy a new collection of disks in yet another format to be replaced by something 'better' in the future.

Movie of the Day: Damages
A few TV series actually can work as the material for a good movie (without episodes on different days and interrupting ads so one can follow a complex story). We had already enjoyed both seasons of "Carnivale" and now are going through Season 1 of "Damages". Damages is a complex legal drama with Glenn Close as steely litigator Patty Hewes and Rose Byrne as Ellen Parsons who is a young successful 'runner up' in Patty's law firm which finds herself in jail with a murder charge. The story is told in time 'flips' back an forth and so comes together with increasing numbers of episodes. Each episode, though, is an interesting piece in itself and the characters as well as the story are interesting, complex, and good material to think about. Family values, business drive, betrayal and loyalty, money & power, and many other important concepts in life are being portrayed, challenged, lost and found with actors who represent the complexities in an excellent way. If you get started and like it as much as we do, you will spend a lot of hours in front of the screen, because it sucks you in and doe not let you go. (Our score: 9/10)

Birdfeeder extension

We have now extended our birdfeeder on the deck from two to four 'arms', each carrying a different feeder. The 'design' of the feeder comes from a book that Gabriele gave me as a Christmas present. We have now a finch feeder, a berry feeder, a peanut feeder, and a sunflower seed feeder. In addition a wirebox with suet for woodpeckers is attached to the 4x4 pole. We hope that this variety will increase the variety of bird species coming to our deck. Our yard is the home to at least 32 species of birds. In accordance with the expected ranking of frequency of feeder visits in Virginia, House finches, Slate-colored juncos, Cardinals, Northern mockingbirds, White-breasted nuthatches and Carolina chickadees are the most frequent guests. We also saw Carolina wrens, Red-breasted woodpeckers, Tufted titmice, Mourning doves, European starlings, Hairy and Downy woodpeckers join the party. A few days ago a Yellow-rumped Myrtle warbler showed up. I took photos of these birds and can share them with you, if you are interested.