Interesting Details

Drobo link

2009-03-15T09:11:00.002-04:00

Link to http://mydl.me and you could win a free drobo.

Boy, I'll tell you what.

2009-01-12T19:08:00.001-05:00

We are in one hell of an interesting time.

Test

2008-12-13T12:06:00.001-05:00

Trying out BlogWriterLite from iPhone.

Sean Hayes - Politics

2008-08-04T00:35:00.001-04:00

Quick crosspost for a song I like.

http://www.last.fm/music/Sean+Hayes/_/Politics

CVS hack: $45+ FREE per week.

2008-07-27T19:59:00.006-04:00

Disclaimer: Company policy officially prohibits the following activity. By officially I mean that customer service reps at both store and corporate levels said so. I requested this policy's documentation in writing but was denied. They were not able to provide an excuse in print, by mail, or on the web prohibiting this activity.

0. We are talking about CVS Pharmacy retail stores here, not the software checkout management system.
- 24-hour and mall stores tend to work best.
1. Have a CVS extra care rewards card.
2. Buy something small every day
- Use your card (duh).
3. I usually get a $0.99 Arizona iced tea or a soda.
- Candy bars and gum work too.
- They have food.
4. Check out which are the nice or new or lax cashiers.
3. Get a "$10 off purchase of $50 or more" coupon back with each purchase.
- You have to rip it off your receipt.
- You will get other coupons.
4. Do this once a day for five days.
5. Go to CVS on the sixth day or later, but before coupons expire.
6. Check in with your cashier.
- Clear your plan with them.
6. Fill a shopping basket of merchandise totaling $50.00 or more.
- Get soda last because it is heavy.
7. Use the flyers, coupons, Extra Bucks and hyigene to help select products.
8. Check out at the register.
- Present coupons and card first.
- They already know your plan because you told them on the way in.
- Five coupons takes $50.00 off; zero minimum balance.
9. Enjoy.

* Notes:

- The registers will take as many coupons as you throw at them!
- You won't always get coupons back with every transaction.
- Associates may be "told not to" do this. Human factor is a big part of this hack.
- A good first line of defense is "It doesn't say on the coupon that they can't be used together."
- I have used this hack 6 times so far. 5 successfully.
- I have checked out with up to nine coupons on one transaction. My total came up to $92, I paid $2.
- Try to do this at your regular CVS. That way they know you.
- I have had to re-shelve a big basket full of stuff because I could not get the clerk or manager to accept multiple of the same coupon. In this case it was not my regular CVS, I didn't check in with the clerk before shopping, and they were about to close. Learn from my mistakes.
- Having a 24-hour CVS is handy.
- Have the customer service phone number in your cell phone. Again, this is still "against company policy" either way.

If you are using a Sony Alpha camera...

2008-07-09T23:55:00.002-04:00

...this is the list of lenses you can use.

On the right, filter by D lens compatible = yes.
Could not figure out how to do a direct link. Someone help?

Hot deal. I can't decide which to buy.

2008-07-02T00:12:00.004-04:00

Slice-of-Meat and Braised Pork cell phone charms via dealextreme.com

Trying out some functionality in Aperture 2 re: Apple Video Tutorial

2008-06-27T17:10:00.006-04:00

Like anyone else, I'm trying out Aperture 2. I was looking through the video tutorials and after the intro, number two in the huge series was on the power of the keyboard. Here's a windowgrab from messing with the Command Editor. But check the other movies too. Or should I say free suite of courses?

A wagon for bands.

2008-06-26T14:05:00.001-04:00

Been tweeting (see right) more than blogging lately.

Got some new posts upcoming. Let's see how this pans out.

All the heavens for $0.01 USD

2008-06-19T01:14:00.001-04:00

The "bad" news is there is no god.

The "good" news is there's energy, matter, and money.

Everyone I know says I'm in inordinately over my head.

Product photographer for hire.

2008-05-29T02:02:00.000-04:00

I am now renting an additional small room for use as a simple photography studio in the Worcester, MA area only. I specialize in small product close-ups on white.

Really make your products pop! Stun your customers! Amaze your advertising department! Spice up your website!

Available by appointment only. No job too small! Turbo 15-minute sessions or on-site visits also available. I use a high-resolution, professional digital SLR camera and professional digital workflow software. Looking to build my portfolio. 24-48 hour turnaround.

You'll love the eye-catching details I bring out in your products!

I can provide prints and digital images in a range of packages. Let me set up a custom quote for you.

Studio:

Products
Auction items
Components
Collections
Artwork

Merchandising.

2008-05-24T22:51:00.002-04:00

Dear sirs and mesdames,

I bet you only imagined these in your wildest dreams.

Attune

2008-05-24T03:08:00.005-04:00

Now that I understand what this is all about, I assure you I'm just a quiet citizen using this medium to passively voice opinions and fiction. However I don't plan to stop writing in any demeanor unless asked correctly/politely.

Wow, we really do live in an incredibly interesting world. Thanks to those who keep us all safe. Cheers!

2008-05-24T02:53:00.002-04:00

Dear Anything That Creates Carbon Footprints,

BASICALLY, I wish you would just quit dredging oil out of my planet. Fixing you is next on my list.

Signed,
Eric V

The future is calling. There's a lot of beeps.

2008-05-24T02:27:00.004-04:00

Mark my words I do believe that before we croak, we will see android companions regularly in society.

Not "just in Japan" with the dancing demo robots, or just in the lab.

I mean going out shopping, and seeing people with a humanoid robot walking alongside them. Carrying groceries. Fetching shoes and dresses in colors and sizes.

Or hanging out with you.

Or, I assume you've seen the movie AI,

"press ... -start- ... to begin your ... -blowjob.-"

... ... [noises] [actions] [sensations] [whirring] ... ...

"please insert ... -nine-ty- -nine- -credits- ... to continue the pleasure.

But I'm not kidding. We have the technologies and willpower to do these things. To create pervasive and incredible robotic products. And I promise you: over the next couple of decades there will be not only a market demand but also a total acceptance into society.

It will take time. Businesses and products like Segway and iRobot are going to become, let's just say... -a lot more.- A lot more.

And eventually we'll have one machine tell the other not to feed him. They'll only want more. They'll only want more.

Manufacturing Engineering Magazine.

2008-05-22T23:24:00.004-04:00

This monthly magazine is the closest we engineers get to porno. jk.

Link. Feed.

2008-05-21T14:01:00.003-04:00

Dear Shane Carruth,

...complete submission.

Signed,
Eric V

Flash 'em that glance like you know.

2008-05-19T22:37:00.002-04:00

2008-05-09T12:46:00.002-04:00

It's seven past seven and those uptown fags are getting hungry.

But the avocados and cold cuts have gone bad.

I wonder if you'd forgotten about this.

2008-05-03T22:39:00.005-04:00

See how far they've come.

Three new Eve 6 songs autoplay here or here.

I am searching for a travel partner to the June 17 2008 concert in Stamford, CT.

Movie comments: "Teeth"

2008-05-03T00:57:00.005-04:00

Listen. I watched the movie Teeth.

When I first saw the trailer I was terrified.

Not to bore you, but it's about a teenage girl who literally has a chomping set of teeth in/on/around her vagina. And the horny boys that make passes. And the agony their shafts and tips must experience from the gnashing of a shark-mouth-pussy.

This is the single deepest, most unifying fear of ALL MALES.

The film turns out to be extremely disturbing. And equally interesting. Actually pretty high quality. And if you allow it to be, a dark comedy.

"Congratulations! You've been chosen to win a free iPhone Two!"

and then the cumshot.

2008-04-23T17:45:00.001-04:00

The science of tomorrow is literally happening tomorrow.

A serious question.

2008-04-23T16:59:00.007-04:00

What if you could manufacture a real, living dragon. I mean what if you had the technology to print in three dimensions, molecule-by-molecule. Computer numerically control the print head so materials and reactions occur at the right place and right time. Then press the green button and spark life.

We're already printing living bacteria. As in, scientists warily agree that the output of these manufacturing systems are verifiably alive critters. Next is rats and plants, then people, then custom creatures. Of course there are technical and moral dilemmas; I think they will be overcome in short time.

With enough dollars and lawyers, I think you could get a real dragon out. Or a chain gang of siamese twin rock stars. Or a billion other things that weren't on the Ark.

And eventually we'll have one machine tell the other not to feed him. They'll only want more. They'll only want more.

Commons

Everything's polarized to hell.

2008-04-22T03:06:00.005-04:00

If Edwin Land had a facebook account, he would wall you to get off of there and get on with two thousand eight.

This was organic; this is devolved.

2008-04-21T18:39:00.008-04:00

I never go looking for beauty anymore.
I never scream what's going on.

I want enough skyscrapers to block out the sun.
I want to wake up choked and deprived.

I see a blanket of dirty permanence.
I see the future as tax class gray.

The boys at Kittyhawk used to ride bikes.

2008-04-19T18:29:00.008-04:00

Those wright brothers really had a thing going.
The purpose was to control flight and they did it.

Viceroy! he'd yell down.
Passenger! he'd yell up.

My god ... I'm actually flying he thought.
A ripple of wind ripped through them.
My god ... he's ... actually ... flying ... he thought.

That night Mom made pork beans, fritters and slaw.
The boys couldn't stop chattering through their food.
There were no manners that night.

This was going to be big. Like, really big.
They stayed up all night thinking of all the things they thought of.

Now fast forward to two-thousand and eight where birds are citadels.
You, reader, think of all the things they could never imagine.

You can ship a hundred and thirty seven thousand tons in one airplane.
And park it on a dime through every axis you know.

Buckle up, she'd yell down.
Little bags, in case they throw up.

Turbines, taxiing, turbulence.
Gates A through Z and back again.
Buckle your safety belts please; don't smoke when the warning light's on.

I wonder if the boys at kitty hawk just rode bikes down to the dunes
and knew what the other was thinking.

Their mouths full of sandwich about the mile high club.

2008-04-18T20:06:00.002-04:00

Your mom's a cat shelter!

2008-04-17T23:30:00.003-04:00

There's a band coming to town to play a concert.
They won't let you take pictures of the event, but that's their prerogative.

Bands hire media managers to deal with this type of thing.
No photos, no videos, no sound recordings. Pat downs, the nine yards.

Of course the first thing that comes to mind is how do they cameras in cell phones.
Best guess is they don't do anything to stop them. Fine, litter YouTube with that stuff.

I'm told only two persons are allowed to take photographs "in front of the fence" at this particular show. One from the news paper, the other from the organization arranging the concert. I was trying to get a press pass but both these holes are taken.

It gets a bit more interesting: they are only allowed to photograph for the first three songs. "After that, the cameras have to be put away." I'm guessing this is because they will be opening with some old-time favorites and playing some new never-before-heard content afterward.

It's good.

2008-04-15T00:56:00.003-04:00

Hail to the Geek - Deaf Pedestrians

I don't mean to marginalize the rest of you.

2008-04-14T23:36:00.003-04:00

As far as "religion" is concerned, Scientology and Rick Rolling are about on par in that they're helter-skelter, complete B.S., and you shall not give them even one second's consideration.

A chum-filled shipping container sits in a warehouse overnight.

2008-04-14T22:15:00.006-04:00

Right now, a clam-shelled-oyster at 39 meters below on a Chinese shoal is waiting to be dredged out, dumped in a hopper, and ground up.

I can't express to you how immediately or how violently I would vomit if I ~~tasted~~ got anywhere near this adult beverage.

USING MICROSOFT PRODUCTS IS NOT A RESPONSIBLE USE OF TECHNOLOGY

2008-04-12T23:37:00.010-04:00

I try not to use caps, at least when I'm posting something on a public medium.

But this is important.

I was in a computer lab today and I watched a person in the row ahead of me deliberately click on a banner ad. As in, not clicking it as a joke--not like, "haha dude look at this dumb ad. punch the nun haha." This person is days away from completing his or her degree and being released into the workplace. Coffee, commute, cube. Outlook, Word, Powerpoint, Excel. Daily, minutely. People think this is acceptable. It is not.

Oh, I forgot the point of the anecdote, but maybe it's obvious: he or she was using Internet Explorer. One of the fine pieces of software of our time.

The world of Microsoft is not okay. Every day, nine out of ten or ten out of ten people I come in contact with don't realize this. When I say the headline (in caps), they're completely taken aback. Some days I don't know if I can go on. And I don't even use any of their diseased manifestations.

Picture ALL of the people who use, rely on, even enjoy the software, hardware and otherwise that come from our friends at Microsoft. All of those people: in a crowd laid out before you, as far as the eye can see. Zune users up front. There's an awful lot of them. I'm worried they're all lined up for the fall.

Some day, someone is going to do something very bad to exploit a/all Windows computer(s). And the economic system we have built for ourselves will come to a devastating standstill. And people will be fucked in every way, all of them bad.

IT'S CALLED A PERMISSIONED FILE SYSTEM, PEOPLE.

It's lovely.

her
yipes
him
lol no worries.
you will be comfy with this in no time flat.
its not trashy, like windows.
her
haha
him
where you have to worry about everything, and there's a -registry- and an unpermissioned file system...
this is the thing, it sounds geeky but listen a sec.
a "file system" is just the way anything "gets at" the files on your hard drive. in windows, the file system is NTFS, which is very bad. basically all it knows about files is where they are (so it can read and write them), and what size they are (so it doesn't let files step on each others toes).
the problem is for the most part anything can get at any file.
with your mac, and all other operating systems that are based on linux, the file system is -permissioned- which means every file has a size and location, and also a set of rules on who/what/when/where/why it can be used.
thats why theres no such thing as a virus on a mac.
its impossible by definition because it would never get your permission.
her
sounds lovely
haha
him
so all of that goes on behind the scenes for you and makes you happy, and doesnt crash, like windows.
lol.
well, it is.

It gets busy around Thanksgiving.

2008-04-09T06:09:00.007-04:00

(click through to wiki commons)

Private note written directly to you.

2008-04-06T11:44:00.003-04:00

Science is the only thing that matters. Realize that or off yourself.

It is scientifically prove-able whether or not god exists--and (so far) it has not been proven.

So if there's one more word about religion or deities then I'll punch you in the throat.

The only other option, if you're dead-set religious, is to work on the technology that proves god's existence. I bet if you join those engineering teams you'll lose faith pretty quickly.

Experts will tell you what's impossible.

2008-04-06T11:37:00.005-04:00

I'm of the opinion that if you're a "professional" sports player then you really have only 2 options. One, drop dead immediately. Two, leave sports forever and enroll in an engineering education tomorrow morning. When I say 'sports' I basically mean anything that is not technology, not driving our society forward. Good luck guys.

I would stand in line for this.

2008-04-06T04:04:00.001-04:00

A glass menagerie does not a morsel make.

But maybe five minutes into it you're chomping at the bit.

Pancake mix marketed as waffle mix.

2008-04-06T03:11:00.005-04:00

I guess I'd be more pissed if it was triple-A batteries in the double-A package.

They've got it all figured out at the candy whistle factory too, by the way.

I really envy those guys.

Mustard has zero calories per serving so you can have infinite servings in one sitting. I wonder if you could sculpt mustard into a lasagna.

I guess what I mean is, what if you sat down to eat only mustard and continued doing that for eternity?

Unlike Ben and Jerry's, which has a mechanism for telling you when you've had enough.

Maybe I'll just go batshit crazy out of my mind.

The minute you turn on CERN is the minute you return to pangea.

2008-03-31T06:31:00.002-04:00

blah blah blah how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

what about the slightly larger angels that can carry pins in their beaks?

and guardian angels.

and angels that wrap their wings around you.

and what if there were an angel big enough to wrap its wings around the whole earth.

well, that would be god, you would say.

maybe you should get out of my way I would reply.

The average bobcat has seen more of the world than I have.

2008-03-30T01:00:00.003-04:00

We need to REALLY get on geocoding photos and videos, along with photosynth.

I think there's probably a good amount of money to be made.

p.s. this was a rushed post so sorry for not giving better links. let's get out there.

Arr.

2008-03-29T20:47:00.000-04:00

I want one of these kinda.

Deprecation.

2008-03-27T23:10:00.006-04:00

Old.
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- GE d+(?) s--:+ a- C++++ UL P-- L++ E- W++ N++ o K w--- O---- M++ V- PS+ t 5 X? R !tv b++ DI++ D G-- e++ h+ r- y z++** ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

New.

PLEASE MAKE SOMETHING BETTER!!

To do in no particular order.

2008-03-27T21:57:00.003-04:00

Ok so you know those Dove chocolates with the little messages written inside the foil wrapper.

Do something spontaneous. I blink twice--at this point I'm tasting this delish chocolate. And grab another out of the bag.
Hold hands firmly, hearts gently. At this point I'm thinking, scarf a bunch more of these down, no more looking at wrappers. Just chomp nom nom nom.
Be a little mysterious. About halfway through tearing open the foil on the next one I think what about if I open the foils reeeeaaallly slowly and delicately. You know, really go all soft on it. Girls would like that. So be mysterious, okay whatever; it's still got my attention barely.
Watch the sun come up. As always. Day, night, it's pretty much all the same to me. Not much time for sleeping these days.
That's when I paused to write those four. And grab this one: Share a sunset.
Then I thought hey I share every sunrise and sunset with my right hand firmly, there's not a whole lot of mystery or spontaneity to that.
Laugh until your heart overflows. Whatever. At this point I'm quitting the post. Last one nom nom.
Make someone melt today. And I IMMEDIATELY thought of how they make hockey pucks.

Sort of interesting to see what will happen next.

2008-03-21T00:51:00.000-04:00

Since the conversation's already been planned out for you.

What you learn from someone who consumes 9 apples in 9 minutes.

2008-03-20T17:05:00.007-04:00

You know when you get an apple, you should "shine" it on your shirt before you eat it to get off the wax and pesticides? And you know how you could shine one on a tuxedo and barely be able to see any residue, let alone cause harm to the suit? Apple shining isn't a destructive process. Also, you know how you can see your wallet corners worn into the pocket on your favorite pair of denim jeans?

I had a chance to meet someone who, get this ... eats so many apples that: not only is one specific part of every shirt he owns worn to denim-like obviousness, they're what you call threadbare.

He tells me every few months his wife has to him seriously stop eating apples for five damned minutes to go to the store and buy a few new shirts. It's not that he's poor or he's lazy--not at all, it's just that all he really does is eat apples. Constantly, in the strictest sense. I don't think he notices the faded patches, I think he just thinks that's the way it goes.

Whatcha doin'? Eatin' apple. Whatcha doin'? Eatin' apple. You can count on it.

So you're thinking it's impossible to eat apples every waking hour, all waking hours. Right, of course. I'd agree with you. Normally. But I cannot stress how much of a science he has it down to: both from a metabolic standpoint and an art form. For example, he never drips a drop of apple juice, even on the really juicy bites. I figure you sit down to eat ten apples in a row and you'd probably figure out how to control the mess too. I could tell he joked it a million times before, "I did drip once, when I met my wife!"

And the sheer quantity of apples! Pack the car up with big bundles-worth in the morning, head to work. Chomp away at them all day. Lay out different flavors throughout the afternoon, organize them in groups, meals, desserts. If he runs out on the ride home, maybe grab 6 or 7 at the market to tide him over... and continue on in to all sorts of apple eating till bedtime, basically.

From what I gather he's also quite the apple connoisseur. Not to mention on the board of some national-agriculture-producers-type--organization--fruit-division. He orders pallets-worths of specialty, expertly cultivated apples and has them shipped in from all over the globe. Rants about great deals too. (In my time on a nine minute tour with him he had to sign for two waybills on fruity-fresh-deco stationary).

His home now has 3 additions, with vast top-calibur specialty apple storage cellars. Think, the most expensive/elaborate wine cellar you'd have if you were a world-renowned wine critic or something (not to mention gushing through bottle after bottle, that would be no good). Parts are even refrigerated and humidified in custom controlled compartments. It's all top-of-the line; he says he can stock about two shipping containers-worth at a time. "If, I'm having a party," he winked.

In the micro-tour he gave me, he was babbling constantly on with horticultural-, specie-, flavor-, nuance-jargon--all not losing a drip. Sort of this constant split-attention to you and the fruit-at-hand, and this always sucking-in when his mouth was open. He was grabbing at all manner of breeds and varieties to show me from bins and storage installations unknown.

He'd take a small bite like a trained professional taster, slow and deliberate. His teeth are bleach-white and anatomically perfect, by the way, which after thinking about it probably makes some sense. Then after the first taste bite he'd take a huge chomp, like a third of the apple plus core, and pass it on to me while describing all sorts of aromas and flavors together in rhythm between chews. He tossed me one after another, "Oh try one of these, oh you'll definitely love this...," he mentioned the name, it was aboriginal or something. Pretty soon I had an armful of foreign, colorful, some half-eaten apples. "You'll probably never see another one of those ever again," pointing at three withering in a plexi-door cold-chamber.

Then it was time to leave, having started just a moment ago. I'm positive I got the abridged version of the tour. Probably everybody leaves there with a peck or two of fruit. So I thanked him, shook his free hand, and said goodbye. But it's great because he's poured all this money and love into his apples but, his shirts are still basically all worn out.

A Crash Course in the Interesting.

2008-03-13T23:24:00.002-04:00

For the next few weeks I will be assisting a team competing in the 2008 Lunar Regolith Excavation Challenge. The goal is to mine the moon and win $750,000. I will be in a research and development role.

The Design Process.

2008-03-10T21:31:00.004-04:00

1 - Identify a need
2 - Research the background
3 - State the goal
4 - Develop function task specifications
5 - Experimentation and iteration
6 - Modeling and analysis
7 - Select the best solution
8 - Detailed design
9 - Prototype and test
10 - Production

Drop your crosses and blot your eyes.

2008-03-05T03:18:00.004-05:00

I DONT BELIEVE SOMETHING UNTIL I'VE USED ALL FIVE SENSES ON IT.

We're really good at doing things from the neck up. Depending on what you think proof is, maybe we can only prove things to ourselves. Eat more proof-ful pudding.

ENERGY, MATTER, AND MONEY PLEASE SAVE US.

Point your crossbow into the South wind. Have skeleton dust for dinner.

2008-03-03T09:32:00.006-05:00

Look at a spot eleven feet away from you. No, that's eight feet my friend. You're not a very good estimator, huh? Get out a tape measure if you have to. That's an albatross wing span.

A heavy creature to have 'round your neck.

All kidding aside.

2008-03-03T09:20:00.002-05:00

I got one of these today. Really, though. The immediate future should be interesting.

Hilariously endowed sherpa meets abysmally bankrupt photographer.

2008-03-03T08:54:00.006-05:00

Sigma's APO 200-500mm F2.8/400-1000mm F5.6 EX DG Lens is not appropriate for anything. If you had this, you would be compensating for something. I mean it.

Leap year festivities.

2008-03-03T08:46:00.004-05:00

During the invisible day I jacked off once an hour for twenty-four hours.

Then at midnight the year started back up again so I returned to reality.

Holding fast don't slow 'em down.

2008-02-21T04:34:00.008-05:00

I was in the doorway talking my usual gloom and doom
when Jimmy-the-girl wanted to inch by.

Inside people were chomping the whore-candy whole
smacking at their cheekbones like they forgot how to say.

Outside they're carpet-bagging the booze
and tough Johnny's boxing Jenny's ears off.

Well when pen hits paper, boy, you know what to do.
The King's Men are coming down hard.

If you let them, they'll get you.

The internet is a series of tubes, and you need to realize that those tubes can be filled, and if they're filled...

2008-02-17T18:26:00.009-05:00

Anyone who knows photography knows famous websites like dpreview.com (digital photography review) and photo.net (including boastfully "more than 3,000 [forum] posts added daily").

The photography website that I now hold in high esteem is imaging-resource.com.

This could be one of the best websites dedicated to digital photography on the internet.

I say could be because the user interface has some shortcomings.

I especially love the camera reviews for their technical professionalism, among many other things. When you go to one, look for the gray tab bar near the top. That's how you have to navigate, okay? When you get to the bottom they're kinda buried. Tabs, no 'next page' button. I think it lets them force you to drag your eyes over advertising.

There's, of course, much more to see. Like, for example, the ability to show you everything about all of the top current DSLR camera models at once.

Removed!

2008-02-17T05:55:00.006-05:00


$ sudo mdadm --query --detail --scan --verbose /dev/md0 /dev/md1

/dev/md0:
    Version : 00.90.03
Creation Time : Tue Jan 22 06:23:53 2008
 Raid Level : raid6
 Array Size : 796566528 (759.67 GiB 815.68 GB)
Used Dev Size : 199141632 (189.92 GiB 203.92 GB)
Raid Devices : 6
Total Devices : 6
Preferred Minor : 0
Persistence : Superblock is persistent

Update Time : Sun Feb 17 05:54:22 2008
      State : clean
Active Devices : 6
Working Devices : 6
Failed Devices : 0
Spare Devices : 0

 Chunk Size : 64K

       UUID : 4b2f184c:88e28e2c:cedde749:cf01a12c (local to host rackmount)
     Events : 0.132552

Number   Major   Minor   RaidDevice State
   0       8       17        0      active sync   /dev/sdb1
   1       8      161        1      active sync   /dev/sdk1
   2       8       81        2      active sync   /dev/sdf1
   3       8      145        3      active sync   /dev/sdj1
   4       8       33        4      active sync   /dev/sdc1
   5       8      177        5      active sync   /dev/sdl1
/dev/md1:
    Version : 00.90.03
Creation Time : Sun Jan 27 17:16:35 2008
 Raid Level : raid6
 Array Size : 156247808 (149.01 GiB 160.00 GB)
Used Dev Size : 39061952 (37.25 GiB 40.00 GB)
Raid Devices : 6
Total Devices : 5
Preferred Minor : 1
Persistence : Superblock is persistent

Update Time : Sun Feb 17 05:54:42 2008
      State : clean, degraded
Active Devices : 5
Working Devices : 5
Failed Devices : 0
Spare Devices : 0

 Chunk Size : 64K

       UUID : 1e242aa6:b4f082ef:cedde749:cf01a12c (local to host rackmount)
     Events : 0.239172

Number   Major   Minor   RaidDevice State
   0       8      193        0      active sync   /dev/sdm1
   1       8       65        1      active sync   /dev/sde1
   2       8       97        2      active sync   /dev/sdg1
   3       8      113        3      active sync   /dev/sdh1
   4       8      129        4      active sync   /dev/sdi1
   5       0        0        5      removed

Presidential candidates issues comparison grid.

2008-02-16T18:12:00.003-05:00

I mean, I'm not really "that into" politics but, at this point you can't avoid it.

How is it that I am the only one to have posted this page to del.icio.us?

I guess you should vote for somebody, rather than not vote. Also here's where you can see Ron Paul on Letterman's Tonight Show.

Partly sunny and a chance of Thursday.

2008-02-14T07:25:00.001-05:00

When I was your age, facebook was just the words 'face' and 'book' put next to each other.

Script kiddies and those who associate with them.

2008-02-10T19:56:00.001-05:00

Best regards!

Nikon and Canon the crap out of your kids and pets this weekend.

2008-02-09T00:56:00.001-05:00

I'm supposed to teach a workshop on the Pentax K10D in the morning, however if everything goes as planned, nobody will come to it. For a good reason. I think most of the photography world just feels sorry for Pentax, but I could be wrong. Anyway let me sleep in for an hour or two.

A city in terror on a thin blue line.

2008-02-09T00:41:00.001-05:00

The more I look at careers in the job market in my field, the more I think (just think) about unions. What they are, and what they do.

19 men were tried and fired, August 26th through 29th.
For violation of rule 35,
The forbidden right to organize.
They suffered the loss of their livelihood that night.

A thousand-plus walked off the job to support their
brothers' cause (the anti-union prohibition clause).
They demanded loyalty at any price.

Work hard for your Ameros.

2008-02-08T00:33:00.001-05:00

Oh from now I'll be saying "North America" to refer to the following things:

All of the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico
All United States, not including Puerto Rico
The 48 contiguous states
New England
The arbitrarily-bound 'Northern United States' which sometimes includes Washington, D.C.
Franco-American Canada
The US-Canada border-area
Mexico
The US-Mexico border-area
Canada, United States, and Mexico, together
Any other combination of these

I'm trying to push the fake-o North American Union conspiracy theory. At least this week. Plus, those 2 words replace all those others, so it's easy for me. But dauntingly confusing for my listeners.

The next big thing.

2008-02-05T20:40:00.002-05:00

Lightfield cameras will probably be the most profound photographic evolution since digital. The ability to adjust focus after the exposure has been made!

Oh yeah and if you don't know about photography, don't start here, but get there quick.

WHO WILL SUPPORT YOU?

2008-02-04T16:53:00.000-05:00

Embedded Windows is a hangman's noose and you know it.

Seriously, people.

This isn't anything special.

2008-02-01T18:01:00.001-05:00

[cell phone starts ringing]
[you hear it]
[you open it, if appropriate]
[you look at the screen and indicators]
[you see who the call is from]
[you choose to answer it or not]
[you decide to answer it]
[you press a button]
[the call connects]

"Hello?"

---
I think, on average mostly any American person would be familiar with what a cell phone is and what it does.

Grandmothers get it. Its the new kind of their old rotary phone. Too many buttons. They don't actually use cell phones, but they get it. It's a telephone. Culture-starved midwest farmers get it. They've either got one or they've seen it on the tee-vee. Or at least they think it's some kind of walkie-talkie. Poor minority toddlers know Da-Da's calling on the daddy's-sound-comes-out-of-it-chew-toy. Top NYC professionals are on them constantly too. And everyone in between.

You've got a name, a mic., a speaker. You can trade voices with just about anyone. And just about everyone knows how to use them. Great.

That's how it should be for the successors of peer-to-peer sharing!

Sharing content with others should be as pervasive as making phone calls. It should be constant and instant and fall to hand with unmatched simplicity.

Keep the physical cell phone form factor for the time being. But get that solid state storage up there, boys! Should be rocking Azureus on the iPhone right now. Should learn some lessons from the one laptop per child program to see what can be learned about large-scale mesh networking.

Screw Azureus. Screw Treos. If you ask me every processing bit should always be running full tilt and never have wasted clock cycles. And every storage bit that we have should basically be full right now with incredible rich content to mash around. I'm talking about our near future: swapping HUGE amounts of data back and forth. Bandwidth is such a huge problem in the US.

All of your own digital voice, videos, photos, documents, 3D models--they're all available at your "phone number", your internet handle, whatever.

Where's it physically stored? Depends.

Probably some type of distributed filesystem. More on this later but basically, parts of your entire digital holdings can be stored on local physical memory in different places. You get something semi-central that keeps track of all your files'. It performs synchronizations, backups, balancing, caching, etc. to deal with constantly-changing device needs and content consumption. Some files on your 'cell phone,' some on your 'media center' at home, part on your husbands laptop, part on your work home folder, part on the fridge's built-in computer. That menu-maker on the refrigerator, by the way, acts as a digital picture frame too, and there's a couple photos on there too. You've got all kinds of media strewn about, people. We're looking at a messy future, but for now go with the distributed filesystem thing for 'you' or 'your family.' I'm not sure about how to "get at it all" in terms of a front end yet, I haven't thought about it.

But your cell phone should definitely blip if your friend calls you. It could show he's looking to download movie X. He saw it on your folder listing as movies being shared with friends.

If the movie's on your desktop at home, then maybe it'll automatically connect him through to do that, if the bandwidth makes sense. But this movie's stored only on your cell phone, because you downloaded it with your cell phone earlier, and you haven't been home, and your home system hasn't (up until this call decision) needed to manage bandwidth and storage. No need to try and get the home system involved. You've set it to not pull the movie off the phone during the day (via 3G or EDGE maybe) unless explicitly told to do so. It'll sync (maybe bluetooth) when you get home.

But now you've got the movie only on your cell phone, and your friend wants it. To get the file to him right now, it would need to use "conventional" wifi, the slow kind. In the future our wifi and 3G will be paltry, I hope, but this is the equivalent of bad reception. I expect there will be tradeoffs to future wireless technologies, like there are now.... So it would take "a while" for the movie to go from your phone to his, but it would go. It would just be slower. So you can tell him, or have the system automatically tell him why it predicts the call was not accepted.

Plus in theory the network fabric would be much more interesting. This example would work if it was a rarer file. Or everyone else had worse bandwidth than you. In a case like this the transfer will be permitted, but with very poor bandwidth. All the while it is attempting to optimize changing mesh network connections as the environment changes.

As in conventional peer to peer networks, all software bandwidth decisions are tradeoffs but there are probably plenty of people who already have movie X or parts of it. This call then equates to "I'm already downloading this movie from some slow peers but I wanted to to see if I could get it faster from your bandwidth, on account of you also being a contact." Your phone's reply is then either "Yeah I can seed, but it will not be any speed increase since I'm in a low-wifi zone." Or it will be "Can't contribute to seeding this file at all, in too-low bandwidth area." Maybe once you get back to the city the bandwidth will automatically boost it through. It can or can't all be done automatically by the filesystem and bandwidth managers.

Then you can grow these of course with a powerful set of permissions. A "call" shows you who's calling and what they want: if they want to talk, vidchat, get wedding pix you took, etc. Some things maybe you make public (CC) and people can browse your globally-shared files by looking at your online status (ID, phone number). To prevent everyone and machines from constantly hammering you for calls you obviously implement a system like current phone numbers. Not enough room here today to discuss filtering.

Anyways you can share/give/get/recommend/point-to any data with friends, family, and other types of contents. Obviously people in work group can only see your work files (some at the office mainframe, some from your laptop, and some on tablet you're updating now). I don't need to explain these things to you.

I dunno, I think I know more about bittorrent than the average person. But that really upsets me. I should know the same amount as most other people. Or in this case, they should all know, on average, about as much as I know.

I know how to connect and manage various types of downloads. I know how to port forward and how to change settings. I know how to get 4 people a I have used more than 14 different bittorrent clients but this isn't anything special. I would expect you have, too. I mean at least 8 or 10. I mean, you settled on one. You're using one. How did you get to it. I'm sure you're using one. I die by remembering most people have never heard bittorrent.

I challenge you, because I'm lazy.

To point me to a good bittorrent search site. One with lots of comments on every torrent, with tags, and features, and options. Lots of hits, friendly community, no BS. Clean layout, intuitive usage, no banner ads, no phishing, and really, no BS. If you know a good one let me know.

I don't care who you are, the current bittorrent is a piss-poor excuse, especially for the average person. Making a phone call and exchanging large-scale data should be equal in scope.

Some days I will give you a Word-Of-The-Day but most days I will give you a Knuckle-Sandwich.

2008-02-01T17:53:00.001-05:00

We know who and where we are.

They can rock a nested coil.

2008-02-01T17:37:00.000-05:00

There's a little pit that hits your stomach, hits the the part of your stomach that can hear sounds, the digestive-tract-eardrum tucked right between the jejunum and the duo-audio canal. And it starts right after you realize you're listening to things like Tegan and Sara and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs now.

Put your elbow in your ear.

Books I have in-hand by and about Andy Warhol.

2008-02-01T04:08:00.000-05:00

Beloff, Halla. Camera Culture. New York: Basil Blackwell Ltd., 1985.
Colacello, Bob. Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up. Cooper Square Press, 1999.
Crone, Rainer. Andy Warhol: A Picture Show by the Artist. New York: Rizzoli, 1987.
Hickey, Dave and Steven Bluttal, Editor. Andy Warhol "Giant" Size. Phaidon Press, 2006.
Honnef, Klaus. Warhol 1928-1987: Commerce Into Art. London: Taschen, 2000.
Kaustenbaum, Wayne. I'll Be Your Mirror : The Selected Andy Warhol Interviews: 1962-1987. Carroll & Graf, 2004.
Lippard, Lucy R. Pop Art. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., 1966.
Makos, Christopher. Warhol: A Personal Photographic Memoir. New York: New American Library, 1989.
McDarrah, Fred and Gloria McDarrah. Beat Generation: Glory Days of Greenwich Village. New York: Schirmer Books, 1996.
Miller, Bobby. Fabulous! A Photographic Diary of Studio 54. New York: St. Martin’s Press,1998.
Princeton University of Art Museum. Pop Art: Contemporary Perspectives. Princeton, New Jersey: Yale University Press, 2007.
Ratcliff, Carter. Andy Warhol. New York: Abbeville Press, 1983.
Stanton, Melissa, Editor. LIFE Sixty Years: A 60th Anniversary Celebration 1936-1996. New York: Life Books, 1996.
Van Deren Coke. The Painter and the Photograph: from Delacroix to Warhol. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1964.
Warhol, Andy. Andy Warhol Photography: The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, Hamburg Kunsthalle. Edition Stemmle, 1999.
Warhol, Andy. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Javanovich, Publishers, 1975.
Watson, Steven. Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties. New York: Pantheon Books, 2003.
Yau, John. In The Realm of Appearances: The Art of Andy Warhol. Hopewell, New Jersey: The Ecco Press, 1993.
Warhol, Andy and Pat Hackett. The Andy Warhol Diaries. New York: Warner Books, 1989.

Movies I have in-hand by and about Andy Warhol.

2008-02-01T04:03:00.000-05:00

In no particular order and in need of proper citation.

I Shot Andy Warhol.
Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film.
Warhol, Andy. Beauty #2.
Warhol, Andy. Bike Boy. 1967.
Warhol, Andy. Eat. 1964.
Warhol, Andy. Heat.
Warhol, Andy. Kiss. 1963.
Warhol, Andy. Lonesome Cowboys.
Warhol, Andy. Trash.
Andy Warhol: The Complete Picture.
Chelsea Girl.
Basquiat. 1996.

I haven't even gotten to the movies yet. Looking at about 14 days out to complete rough draft.

Potential.

2008-01-31T12:23:00.001-05:00

Sony Alpha DSLR-A700 body, firmware v.3
Sigma 17-35mm f/2.8-4 EX DG lens + hood
Minolta 50mm f/1.7 AF lens (pocketable)
Sony VG-C70AM vertical grip
Transcend 4GB 133x compact flash card
2 x Sony NP-FM500H batteries
Stock Sony A700 strap
No intentions of adding to this kit in the near future

Workflow software? We have yet to get started talking about that.

Hmm.

2008-01-31T00:41:00.000-05:00

Oh so did you see anything in that Red One Box while you were in there?

Bashing.

2008-01-31T00:39:00.000-05:00

Click the video to learn about a camera.

To digital camera makers.

2008-01-30T23:31:00.000-05:00

Top shelf

Canon
Nikon

Second Shelf

Pentax
Sony
Fuji
Panasonic

Third Shelf

Olympus
Samsung
Kodak

I have used hundreds of digital cameras from all of these manufacturers (see list at right) and yet none of them, not one single one--has satiated my lust for customizability. The software interface that shows up on our digital camera screens could be MUCH better. The computers in cameras have a lot of horsepower to deal with huge amounts of data. The screens cost an extra fifty bucks every 1/8 bigger you go. The current software menu systems and playback functions should have many more features and make use of more horsepower.

The display screen on your camera should give excellent feedback to you at all times. And you should be able to change it at any time and in any way, should you so choose.

You should have applications built-in. Do it in Java for all I care.

I want a calendar and a contact list and a face recognizer and an in-camera crop function and a turn-to-black-and-white option. And I want to rename a file letter-by-letter right in the camera. And if I so choose, I want to use either the scroll wheel or left-and-right to do it. And by the way I'm a bimbo and I shoot my camera upside-down from a custom gimbal. I want all the screen elements to flip upside down for me and let me switch the functions of the playback and shutter release buttons for an hour while I hammer out this photo shoot. On top of all that I want to see stacks and work with batches and move files around.

Yup, I want geotagging, and yup I want face tagging. If you have your wits about you, you might write your camera's software to play really really nicely with PhotoSynth.

No camera firmware past present or future can be perfect nor expected to be perfect. But from what I can tell, it would be currently possible write open-source software to run on a given camera's integrated computer. It could be emulated on a computer. Call it an ARM processor for the time being.

I believe that it would be possible to write software that would perform ALL of the functions and exhibit all of the features of ALL current digital camera models.

From there, the modularity of ins and outs of the software-hardware system could be performed by others. Working with others is key. Bring it on. Contact me if you want to work on an open-source in-camera software.

Shameless plug.

2008-01-29T15:17:00.000-05:00

I am now renting an additional small room for use as a simple studio in the Worcester, MA area only. I specialize in small product close-ups on white. Really make your products pop! Looking to build my portfolio. Available by appointment only (turbo 15-minute sessions also available). No job too small! Let me set up a custom quote for you.

Studio:

Products
Food
Art

Portraits:

Students
Business
Yearbook
Couples
Sports/Uniformed Service

A Lensbaby nG could be sweet.

2008-01-28T16:36:00.000-05:00

When n is large.

Lensbabies model 3G has got it almost right. They need to design it to look and work "more like a regular lens." The accordion bellows and prong thing makes people shy to shoot with this casually, I think. Also you want to be using a tripod. Or build an autofocus system for it. Or let people mount lenses on the end of it. Just lay through contacts and contract with whomever to make the mount rings and contact assemblies. Have a large ring slide in and out around the barrel. Have it guide you to available focus spots, have it follow your focus lock, have it do magic.

But basically have that ring be larger than the barrel diameter so as to be able to twist/contort the mechanism and "sweet spot of focus." They could rapidly ramp up production for something like this by keeping the insides mostly the same and making the overall lens interface look and operate like "a regular lens with a roll'n'ring that can be bent around weird ways." Add more intuitive dynamism and you could really have something.

Ordered: Sigma 17-35mm f/2.8-4 EX DG Aspherical Lens for Sony/Minolta mount.

2008-01-28T13:08:00.000-05:00

After reading the reviews, I weighed the tradeoffs and placed an order for this lens. Should be here this week. Will post back here with test shots and comments when it comes in.

I called Sigma to ask a technical question about this lens. It seems that they have put out several versions of the 17-35mm f/2.8-4 lens. I wanted to know if this lens had the HSM hypersonic motor focus drive. Here's where it becomes interesting, from the rep and Sigma's lens page:

[17-35mm F2.8-4 EX DG Aspherical HSM] Sigma, Canon, Nikon (D)
[17-35mm F2.8-4 EX DG Aspherical] Sony/Minolta (D), Pentax

They are making this lens with the HSM built-in for Canon, Nikon, and Sigma-proprietary mounts only. Sony mount only has the drive-pin focus type available. So I ordered one anyhow. By the way, (D) is for distance information, not 'digital;' (this is a property of the mount).

Continuing on we learn that all of these lenses are full-frame, not APS-C (1.5x) crop corrected. So don't loose sight of the fact we're talking about an 25.5-52.5mm apparent focal length here. "26mm at the wide end?" I turned the question over in my mind. Would it be okay? Well when the dollars weighed in I came to grips with the fact that getting a true 17mm apparent, would require a 12mm lens like the Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG Aspherical HSM. Those are expensive and not as fast, HSM notwithstanding. As an aside, that is one of those triplicates you should try to avoid in your writing.

I went to a local retailer to test this lens before ordering, however it turns out the version I tested was the Sigma 17-35 F2.8-4 EX Aspherical. Not DG. Ugly as sin. This works fine and has a nice action, but I think the exterior is an eyesore. The old Sigma EX lenses had rubber zoom/focus rings with a "tire tread" type of grip. It looks dumb. The new ones have a simple straight knurl pattern. To further add to the confusion I believe the Dyxum listing has the wrong photo for this (discontinued non-DG lens). I am interested in seeing what comes in the box.

As we know, lens offerings for the A mount are only recently picking up. The Sigma rep on the phone said these things may change in two days, after PMA. I think there's a good possibility they will add HSM to some of the lenses for the Sony/Minolta mount. They might even do it for the 17-35mm. If that happens I'll have to see how much it costs. If I like the "classic" one that comes this week, I may just keep it (depending on the price of a new one).

Minolta 50mm f/1.7 Lens on Sony Alpha A700 Body: Harsh Conditions Review

2008-01-28T01:02:00.000-05:00

I am currently shooting with the Sony Alpha DSLR-A700 body (firmware version 3) with the VG-C70AM vertical grip. I purchased a used Minolta 50mm f/1.7 AF lens from a local pawn broker after first testing it, and talking him down. This prime lens has the "old Minolta" style grip. "50mm has an apparent focal length of 100mm on this 1.5x crop body, f/1.7 is a nice wide aperture but it's not as fast as so and so, and blah, blah, blah. Get over yourselves, people. The thing cost me fifteen bucks. So let's get on with the show.

I have recently subjected this kit to some particularly tricky lighting and focusing conditions, and I would like to report on it. Instead of creating a fleshed-out blog post, I wrote the intro paragraph, the sentence before this one, and then everything below here: starting at the bottom and writing upwards. It was an interesting experience but I guess I need to go start on that Andy Warhol Project for school. Then maybe I'll come back and fill in some of the holes. There is much to discuss.

Focusing Ability
Used no flash
Sharpness
Center sharpness
Edges not sharp
NOT SHARP at f/1.7, f/2.2, f/2.5, or f/2.8 at many distances.
Lens Flare
Tradeoffs

Lens Hood

The manufacturer included one too many or one too few pieces of plastic on this lens. The lens hood is basically trash, but it's built in and you can't really get it out easily. It can do one thing very well: piss you off.

Kit Balance

Battery

800 shots in 1 hour, depleted ~50% of battery #1. This is 5th battery power cycle.

Thermal Concerns

I regularly subject this kit to harsh cold temperatures outdoors and subsequently bringing it into a warm indoors. I can tell that condensation appears on the innards of the lens. I cannot think this is too healthy for the sensor but no problems so far.

Memory Card

Shooting with 4 GB 133x Transcend Compact Flash card.

While going about some fast-paced shooting I only noticed the camera/memory card slow down one or two times. This was while doing 3-in-1 drive modes such as white balance bracketing or dynamic range bracketing. Got to remember every time you make an exposure with those, it's recording three full-sized files instead of one. After trying out a few of these (with results) I quickly went back to continuous and/or continuous bracking for the sake of speed and storage.

Interface Personal Note

Regarding a custom adjustment of the camera color scheme.

Those who know me know that I am a bit of an orange freak. You won't like what I'm about to say if you're one of those crazed, old-timey Minolta freaks or Sony fans bois. Believe it or not, I took an orange-colored Sharpie marker and colored over the white "AF Lens / 50" and "Minolta [logo]" on the lens barrel. This semi-matches the color of the lens alignment bump and adjacent orange lens mount detail. Plus there's the shiny alpha symbol too. Right, so I markered my lens.

And then I looked at the back of the camera, the air still rank with sharpie. Blue buttons = playback mode. I know it; locked in. The entire QuickNavi menu/setting system has items highlighted with orange. The button to activate QuickNavi? Fn. Function. With white print. No, no. So as quickly as I could, I filled in the white Fn with orange. Yes. Color coded; locked in.

Hey, what if I wanted to change the on-screen menu system "skin" to more white (or gray or blue) instead of orange?

TO DO: Make Andy Warhol Blog

Services rendered.

2008-01-22T15:10:00.001-05:00

Manufacturing Engineering
User Interface Consulting
Professional Services

Photographic Services

Submission Training

+2UP

2008-01-21T13:04:00.001-05:00

Now my MacBook Pro has the same amount of memory as my camera. You can compromise an entire outfit by wearing trashy boxers.

Year.

2008-01-21T00:06:00.001-05:00

Definition: 365 days in a row.

Opinion: Sucks.

So now I'm twenty-three years old. Oww that three stings.

The internet is not something you just dump something on.

2008-01-17T01:28:00.000-05:00

This man is an American lawmaker. Meet him by clicking here. (warning: sound link)

Red Lights Warm Nights.

2008-01-17T00:49:00.000-05:00

What's a box of a hundred eight-by-ten sheets of Ilford RC Multigrade IV Pearl cost you these days? Fifty bucks? Now I'm just talking about the paper, not the film, darkroom chemicals, What's a hundred eight-by-ten digital prints cost you at your local commercial printer? Five hundred bucks?

Verge.

2008-01-16T03:17:00.000-05:00

At fifty millimeters and one-point-four we are on an orange horizon.

Sipping lemonade out on the screen porch.

2008-01-16T02:31:00.000-05:00

I think I will document the process of getting my server back up and running to the state I want it in. There are many chores to be done. Hopefully I can get some help soon from one of my fellow linux users.

There are many steps involved but its important to document things of technical relevance/learning. So instead of tediously taking screenshots, I think I will just look over the shoulder of my guru and make photos of the screen at important intervals.

Well my camera is certainly higher resolution than the screen so it should be fine. There's the concern of moire and "obviousness of pictures of pixels" but I hope I can test a few shots to see how they touch up in software. Then another step along the way is setting up a batch to run them through so they look good posted here. I've been testing out some different photography softwares lately so we'll see what happens.

Okay, so the majority or people you encounter are incompetent. How to deal.

2008-01-16T02:05:00.000-05:00

First of all, you are a smart cookie.
You know it.
I know it.
Auntie always says "That boy's smart."
She knows it.
Probably incompetents would know it if could realize things.

You realize it when you look in the mirror. And when you get a couple more points than you thought. You know it for sure, because you're a smart one, you are.

So what's with all of them? The average Joe. Incompetent. Dumb as a doornail. About as smart as a sack of wet mice. They're nowhere near as smart of a cookie as you. Yet they're all out there driving cars. They all put shoes on in the morning and they all feed themselves enough to keep alive. I don't know how--mind you.

I kindof got hooked on the following text about competency from this page on Wikipedia (which is unfortunately one with an HR spin).

"To be competent you need to be able to interpret the situation in the context and to have a repertoire of possible actions to take and have trained in the possible actions in the repertoire, if this is relevant. Regardless of training, competence grows through experience and the extent of an individual to learn and adapt."

Now the very next thing I will do from here is make a batch of warm chocolate chip cookies.

Polycarbonate PCK-LH1AM LCD screen protector cover for Sony A700.

2008-01-16T01:46:00.000-05:00

I waited for about four weeks and eventually got mine from Amazon.

Snaps on nicely. Works good. When people say 'optical quality plastic' this is probably what they're talking about. I would buy a backup given the fact that they're hard to come by. And eventually, you will scratch one. I've got a faint one on there after a week's worth of grinding. Yet the rule is: don't put a clear peel-film protector on a camera which has an available hard cover. They're worth it.

DVD and CD ROM exploration.

2008-01-16T00:58:00.002-05:00

We're talking about wide-area systems integration with redundant failover fault-tolerance for the masses! Look what we've done in just... in just... the last six months, even.

This is one of the better things I've seen.

Our world is a delicate thing.

2008-01-16T00:48:00.001-05:00

Ruby on rails file IO basics, as is customary.

fileName = File.new("filePath.txt","w")
fileName.write("hello world.")
fileName.close

Getting on the good stuff

2008-01-16T00:42:00.000-05:00

I could easily rattle off a list ten core things that I do which are bad.

Yep, just thought of them. They're no good. And eleven and twelve are coming on easy.

I think it would be good to do ten core good things instead.

It's important to do good.

Later this morning is my first real counseling session, ever.

2008-01-16T00:40:00.001-05:00

And I'll tell you what.

I don't know what to say.

Something you need to realize.

2008-01-14T22:14:00.000-05:00

Most people click on banner ads.

Can you believe that? No, of course not. You're competent. You've never clicked one, not even when you used to have America Online. You never have--and you never will click one. If you looked over at someone's screen and saw them click some blinking scam, your eyes would bug out of your head! But the thing is: most people click them. Most people. My god. Repeat it to yourself a few times and the shock just gets more intense.

Most people click on banner ads.

While we're at it, here's another one for you. Most people use Microsoft Windows. Look around at the people in your local grocery store, or even your workplace. Most of them. Sheep, man.

It's hard to keep faith in people with these holocausts going on.

From womb to tomb.

2008-01-14T22:08:00.002-05:00

At the moment we are born, we are charged with one single thing: to do good.

Look at the people in your local grocery store. They are nowhere near as smart as you.
Look at the people in your workplace. When they leave at five, what do they do?

Of the ones who "know how to use computers" most of them click on banner ads. Most of them click on banner ads.

Some point down the road, you're not going to be here any more. Have you used your brain?

I came as a rat, I came as a whore.

2008-01-13T18:33:00.000-05:00

And here lies she, young Harlot, The Great.

Now it's time for a game of draughts.

Count to ten and tell me if you're still here.

2008-01-13T15:16:00.001-05:00

Don't shop retail.

But really, don't work retail.

2008-01-13T15:13:00.002-05:00

Fish oil salesman seeks apprentice.

Screw you and your megapixels.

2008-01-13T15:02:00.000-05:00

Over the years I've shot with hundreds of cameras ranging in resolution from 1/16 of a megapixel up to 16 megapixels.

And every pixel did the very best it could.

It would be interesting to know if the Foveon X3 sensor is an amazing new technology or a gimmick.

You could help with the open camera.

2008-01-13T14:06:00.000-05:00

The Basics: Iteration 1
"Just a project box" with a and a few buttons.
Photographic needs

Low-resolution CMOS/CCD sensor.
No lens.
Simple shutter button.
Small, low-resolution screen.
Some number of other buttons.
A scroll wheel would be cool.

Hardware needs

USB connectivity (USB-B)
SD or better card storage (2 to 5 slots)
802.11b or better wifi with SDIO expansion
GPS with SDIO expansion
Bluetooth with SDIO expansion
ARM or better processor
Modular hardware, selectable button positions.
Simple component I/O
Standard batteries
Wall-power connection
Tripod mount

The key is choice.

At least in First Iteration software.

Software needs

Linux.
Live software update/installation over wifi.
OpenRAW support.
Calendar.
Store over wifi.
Auto-upload to services.
CUPS printing over wifi.
Grouping photos with scalable time interval (like Apple Aperture's Stacks)
Scriptabilty.
Batch marking and processing of scripts.
Intelligent calculation of time-to-execute all functions.
Prompt user on tasks that will take a long time.
Progress bars presented at all times.
Simple block-based exposure program creation on-camera.
Unlimited storage for presets and settings.
Full text-entry for naming any photo or setting.
Choice of what what file format to save as.
Choice of what compression to use.
Choice of what file size to save as.
On-camera cropping.
Photosynth integration.
User-customizable power management (i.e. sensor polling, processor throttling)
User-customizable resolution for all adjustments/sliders/selections/etc. (i.e. show ±0.01% battery life, rather than ±1 bar)
Language support.

The possibility of an open camera.

2008-01-13T13:59:00.000-05:00

Something I can't get off my mind is the possibility of creating an open camera platform.

Look at projects like the OpenMoko that are a testament to community-driven, collaborative product design. This type of project could actually get off the ground if enough brains, tools, and resources got behind it.

Blinded by light science.

2008-01-13T13:58:00.001-05:00

ISO sensitivity controls how your camera performs in low light and high action.

Here in 2008 if you are buying a camera with anything less than 6400 ISO, what are you thinking?

Grandeur and beguilement.

2008-01-13T13:53:00.000-05:00

If technology doesn't concern you do not procreate. If you bring a sub-par individual into the world here's a big fat fuck you.

Rules for the ladies:

If he has an earring, run, don't walk.
Marry rich or not at all.
Don't be dead down there.

First post!

2008-01-13T13:50:00.001-05:00

We think, of course, that the world of bloggery is nothing in itself.