Colour Matching

 

On Mars the rovers carry colour calibration targets. This allows the images captured to be adjusted to the correct colours depending on the light conditions and the colour response of the cameras.

At my favourite hardware warehouse I found a colour calibration card for use with mobile telephone cameras. It is a card with various colour squares and a grey scale and raised ridges. These characterise the light source and the camera response. In the centre is a hole for the colour to be matched.

The card is stored in a sleeve to protect it from abrasion, staining and fading.

The trademark on this card is Coloursmith and there is a mobile phone app to go with it to produce a colour matched paint.

This card could have applications for recording science.

Line up

 

Long ago I used to put off folding my washing because there were so many tasks to complete. Now I do it very quickly.

One of the changes I made was to make all of my socks the same - it is no trouble to pair them up now. A sock can pair with any other sock. 

Attack

 

It's high summer, my bee hive is under attack. The flies (which are imitating wasps) are laying eggs in crevices hoping that when the maggots hatch they can sneak into the hive.

Tasty

 

I got together with some friends. We all have native bee hives. 

I helped to extract some honey. Then demonstrated how to split a bee hive into two.

We laid out samples of our honey and compared tastes. 
Left     - Sweet with mild flavour
Middle - Well balanced flavour
Right   - Very strong flavour

The reward

 

This is native bee honey harvested from the hive of the previous post.

The hive produced a total of two jars like this, about 1 kg.

The native bee honey is less viscous than european honey bee honey. The taste is sweet with a citrus tang. Like honey bee honey the taste varies with the plants used to make it. Because the honey matures in pods made from a mixture of wax and resin it has favours and substances contributed from the resin. The antimicrobial activity of Tetragonula carbonaria honey has been measured to be higher than the famous Manuka honey.

It is delicious.

Drip, drip

 

The honey super has been flipped over to drain the honey out. The bees are still calmly wandering over the hive.

Next the honey is strained through a mesh sieve.

Can you smell the sticky sweetness?

Honey! Super!

The honey super - upside down

 Here I have placed the honey super (ie top level) from a native bee hive on a table and I am poking holes in the honey pots with a bamboo skewer. Soon I will flip the honey super over to allow the honey to pour out.

I intend to leave most of the propolis (mixture of bee wax and tree resin) so the bees can quickly rebuild.

The bees are still very calm - they are crawling around the hive and not flying in a defensive cloud.