Suffering for my art - prickles

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Beatsy
Posts: 2105
Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:10 am
Location: Malvern, UK

Suffering for my art - prickles

Post by Beatsy »

This "native plant" (so named because "weeds" have to be dug up) has been growing in my wild flower patch for a quite while.
Image

I'd noticed it was prickly, but white warts recently appeared all over the leaves and caught my attention. I dug a loupe out of my pocket and went to pull a leaf off for closer inspection. That's the moment I discovered these "warts" were armed with nasty spikes of their own. Ouch!
Image

Out of sheer vengeance and spite I fetched tweezers and scissors and viciously cut a leaf off for stacking on my macro rig. That'll teach it! :) Interesting how it has spikes to stab you with and hooks to hang on with - no doubt for a chance at stabbing you again. An utter thug of a plant!
Image

Incidentally, this is the first stack with my new PC. Fourteen cores of blistering speed and more fast memory than me! At least 3x quicker than my old (now backup) PC on deep stacks and large images. Wheeeeeee...!

leonardturner
Posts: 713
Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2013 11:40 am
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA

Post by leonardturner »

I really like that last image. Nasty indeed! I trust you got it before it got you--

Leonard

Ulrik Tønnesen
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2018 7:35 am
Location: Denmark

Post by Ulrik Tønnesen »

Nice photos of an interesting subject.
Your machine sounds neat, I wouldn't mind upgrading mine a bit :D

Sumguy01
Posts: 1715
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:05 pm
Location: Ketchikan Alaska USA

Post by Sumguy01 »

:smt038 The last photo is great.
Thanks for sharing.

Davids
Posts: 189
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2016 2:20 pm

Post by Davids »

Really lovely and excellent detail. Is this 10x?
Also, would you be able to give more information on your new computer? I'd love to build a faster computer but not exactly sure where to start.

Thanks!

Beatsy
Posts: 2105
Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:10 am
Location: Malvern, UK

Post by Beatsy »

Davids wrote:Really lovely and excellent detail. Is this 10x?
Also, would you be able to give more information on your new computer? I'd love to build a faster computer but not exactly sure where to start.
Thanks. Can't remember the mag for this one, either 10x or 5x though.

PC spec depends entirely on your budget and needs. I used pcspecialist.co.uk and can highly recommend them. You basically spec your own PC using their online service (very thorough and easy to use) then they build, test and deliver it. Not the cheapest, and you can wait up to a month for delivery (mine was 3 weeks) but very convenient and they do a good job. They are very helpful with subsequent queries and alterations too. The initial spec of my PC was...

Case FRACTAL DEFINE R6 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™ i9 14 Core Processor i9-7940X (3.1GHz) 19.25MB Cache
Motherboard Gigabyte X299 UD4 PRO: ATX, USB 3.1, SATA 6 GB/s - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM) 64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (8 x 8GB)
Graphics Card 8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk 2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 128MB CACHE
2nd Hard Disk 2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Cooling Corsair H60 2018 Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Liquid Series Ultra Quiet Fans
Wireless/Wired Networking WIRELESS 802.11 AC1300 867Mbps/5GHz, 400Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence

Just over £3k with a 3 year warranty (they collect for repair). I've since added extra hard disk space (got two different drives initially to test performance). I also doubled up the fan on the liquid cooler so I can overclock to 4GHz without anything getting too close to heat limits. CPU rarely goes over 65C now (limit is 95C) and all cores clock at this speed.

Davids
Posts: 189
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2016 2:20 pm

Post by Davids »

I appreciate the detailed info: sounds like quite a machine! I'll have to see what type of companies offer a similar service here in the US.
Thanks again!

Ulrik Tønnesen
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2018 7:35 am
Location: Denmark

Post by Ulrik Tønnesen »

What a powerhouse of a machine :D

santiago
Posts: 109
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2018 5:56 am
Location: Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Post by santiago »

very nice image, great stack, also congrats on the new computer, that's a lot of horsepower :D
Santiago
Flickr

MarkSturtevant
Posts: 1946
Joined: Sat Nov 21, 2015 6:52 pm
Location: Michigan, U.S.A.
Contact:

Post by MarkSturtevant »

Dang! Those reverse hooks are just extra nasty! One has to admire plants for armaments like these. I still think in amazement at how just brushing past a cholla cactus can ruin your day, with their layers of spines that can even penetrate leather.
Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters

Ichthyophthirius
Posts: 1152
Joined: Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:24 am

Post by Ichthyophthirius »

Hi,

This looks like Bristly oxtongue (Helminthotheca echioides).

http://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/Flowers/O/Oxtongue(Bristly)/Oxtongue(Bristly).htm

Admin edit, RJL: URL formatting

Beatsy
Posts: 2105
Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:10 am
Location: Malvern, UK

Post by Beatsy »

As this post had a Lazarus-like resurrection, it seems a good place to post a close up of seeds from the same plant (shot last night while testing a minor diffuser mod).
The plant has a dandelion style seed head but is hanging on to the seeds for longer than most. I used a 7.5x Mitty at 7.5x (200mm tube lens) on full frame.
Image

mjkzz
Posts: 1681
Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2015 3:38 pm
Location: California/Shenzhen
Contact:

Post by mjkzz »

Beatsy wrote:
Davids wrote:Really lovely and excellent detail. Is this 10x?
Also, would you be able to give more information on your new computer? I'd love to build a faster computer but not exactly sure where to start.
Thanks. Can't remember the mag for this one, either 10x or 5x though.

PC spec depends entirely on your budget and needs. I used pcspecialist.co.uk and can highly recommend them. You basically spec your own PC using their online service (very thorough and easy to use) then they build, test and deliver it. Not the cheapest, and you can wait up to a month for delivery (mine was 3 weeks) but very convenient and they do a good job. They are very helpful with subsequent queries and alterations too. The initial spec of my PC was...

Case FRACTAL DEFINE R6 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™ i9 14 Core Processor i9-7940X (3.1GHz) 19.25MB Cache
Motherboard Gigabyte X299 UD4 PRO: ATX, USB 3.1, SATA 6 GB/s - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM) 64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (8 x 8GB)
Graphics Card 8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk 2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 128MB CACHE
2nd Hard Disk 2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Cooling Corsair H60 2018 Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Liquid Series Ultra Quiet Fans
Wireless/Wired Networking WIRELESS 802.11 AC1300 867Mbps/5GHz, 400Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence

Just over £3k with a 3 year warranty (they collect for repair). I've since added extra hard disk space (got two different drives initially to test performance). I also doubled up the fan on the liquid cooler so I can overclock to 4GHz without anything getting too close to heat limits. CPU rarely goes over 65C now (limit is 95C) and all cores clock at this speed.
wow, I missed the PC setup, that is a monster (in good sense :D).

Having just got a new "portable" PC for myself, I am so happy with 3 480GB SSDs, one in M.2 format and two 2.5 format. Now, it takes about 15s to boot up (the genuine Windows 10 is on the M.2 drive). The two 480GB SSD in 2.5 format are arranged in RAID 0 configuration as they are not the best SSD (Western Digital Green version). With RAID 0 configuration, it is rather fast (though at risk of higher driver failure). I have some external 4TB drive to back things up. But for image/video editing, all data are on the SSD. Though my CPU (i5 8500) is far less powerful (compared to yours) as I intend to use GPU more (some AI stuff), I stuffed a GTX 1080 in an ITX case with a PCI extension cable.

From now on, I do not want to use mechanical drives anymore in a PC/workstation, maybe get some large ones, like 8TB, configure them in RAID 6 and build a NAS box to back things up (this is so important that I have lost some critical things on a failed 12 years old hard drive)

Anyways, just want to share some of my experience.

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