journal

I Was Not Alone

Today I took advantage of my extra hour to go for a short morning hike up in Quicksilver park, a 3000 acre preserve replete with wildlife. About one very lonely mile into it I spotted a very gnawed ex-deer... Next time up I take my walking stick and a knife...not that they would help much if a mountain lion decides he'd like a quick Carlos snack.

Jersey-style Cheesesteak

Just had the worst cheesesteak ever... Andbthe beer was warm. Blogworthy? sure.

Camcoder Vs. Digicam Video

Some screenshots further illustrating the last post....

Here is the SD300 version of the same scene:



Clear difference.

Digicam Video vs. Camcorder

I've always wondered if the video captured by my wife's digital camera (the tiny SD300) was comparable to that produced by a camcorder. The SD300 is capable, in theory, of recording 640x480 at 30fps, which is better than the specs for most consumer DV camcorders.

The Conventional Web Wisdom seemed to be that it was a joke to even ask the question - if you wanted video, use a camcorder. Having seen what the SD300 was capable of, I wasn't convinced.

I decided to put it to the test: I recorded the same scenes with both the SD300 and my venerable (but top-of-the-line at the time) Ultura DV camcorder. I recorded 4 types of scenes: bright outdoors, bright room, dim room, dark room. For each scene, I had my kids jump around to provide movement. I then burned the scenes back to back on a DVD, and played them back on a large screen TV.

In conclusion: in nearly every situation, the SD300 produced better video. The detail was much higher, the colors more saturated, and (importantly for me) the dynamic range was far superior. The camcorder *was* better in the dark room. Also, the SD300 video had a 'film-like' quality, probably due to the fact that it captures progressively, instead of interlaced.

The cons of SD300:

• 9 minutes suck up a full 1GB sdcard
  
• you can't zoom while recording
  
• the focus remains fixed while recorded
  
• audio is not stereo
  
• no image stabilization
  
• video editing is slower (because of encoding)
  

These really limit your applications, though most of them have work-arounds. Some may even have unexpected benefits (not having zoom, for example, prevents you from newbie zoom-abuse tendencies).

So - usable, especially for use during trips, where carrying a camera AND a camcorder might get cumbersome.

An aside: as part of the test, I used Adobe Premiere's auto-correction (fixes colors, highlights and shadow), and the result was very pleasing. Almost like have an high-end camcorder stuffed in a cigarrete-pack sized box.

TROLL UPDATE

Ok, I figure Phantom and Bruce decided long ago to push until I banned them. As long as they stuck to debating my posts (albeit badly) and taking potshots at their author I was prepared to wait them out - after all, I do have experience dealing with two year olds.

Recently, having failed to cajole me into debate, they've taken to attacking other regular readers of this site, going so far as to post on those reader's sites. They also posted assuming the identities of others. This, I feel, crosses the line.

I asked them (nicely, I think) to stop going after commenters, a request they ignore, going so far as to step up their attacks. I attempted to combat this with humor, but, frankly, what they're doing just can't be made funny.

I've banned Phantom and Bruce from posting, though (assuming they are who I think they are), they'll soon find a way around it.

Should this devolve into a banning battle, know this: I spend a minute or two each day clearing the hundreds of spam comments I constantly get. Handling you will involve no more than a click of the mouse. Bring it.

Don't Feed the Trolls

As you may or may not have noticed, we've acquired a pair of trolls. Given past comments, I suspect a couple of friends from a past company. I'm pretty sure they're just pretending to be assholes (convincingly - they're proving to be *very* good at being assholes) so just ignore 'em.

Trolls, I'm fair game, make fun of me all you want. I enjoy my foibles being pointed out. But be nice to my guests. Being rude to a me = funny. Being rude to a stranger = um, rude. Going forward, I'll delete those kinds of comments.

Heeeere piggy piggy.... sooooeeeeee!

Daily Kos: State of the Nation

Number of Pork Projects in Federal Spending Bills

2005 - 13,997
2004 - 10,656
2003 - 9,362
2002 - 8,341
2001 - 6,333
2000 - 4,326
1999 - 2,838
1998 - 2100
1997 - 1,596
1996 - 958
1995 - 1439

A vote for Republicanviks is a vote for Pork.

Fare the Well, old friend

After about 6 weeks, I finally found a good home for my X5. That's the longest it's ever taken me to sell a car. Between stratospheric gas prices, shaky economic outlooks, and lease-expiration-driven X5 gluts , it was a perfect storm of car sale suckiness. At one point, there were 30 or so 2002 X5s on craigslist. It took a large price cut (3-4k off the kelly blue book value) for me to sell this perfectly good, warranteed car.

In the past, selling a car like this would have taken one or two weeks, at most. Looking at this as an indicator of our economy, I conclude:

• Few people want SUVs anymore. Yay!
  
• People are worried, and less willing to buy expensive cars
  
• Competing against $29k new Expeditions is Hard. Damn Ford and their huge discounts.
  
• It takes a special person to like a dark green SUV.
  

BTW, cars.com (which includes edmunds.com) and autotrader.com (which includes kbb, yahoo cars) suck at selling cars. They're expensive ($40 each) and swamped by dealer ads. I didn't get a single lead from these services, other than spam and fraud offers. All my calls came from craigslist.

A Plan for Iraq

Succint, lucid plan for Iraq, from a Iraq war vet. I've snipped a couple of pieces below, but the full thing is worth reading.q

First, we can (and should) establish a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The president and his supporters have suggested that establishing a timeline would only embolden the enemy. This is false. Our current problem is not that we plan too much; it's that the Bush dministration has planned too little. History and experience make clear the price to be paid by such a failure.

...

Second, we need to radically overhaul the reconstruction effort. Thus far, it has been an unmitigated failure. Today, roughly half of all Iraqi households are still without clean water, the average household is without electricity for 10 hours each day, and (outside of Baghdad) only 8 percent of households enjoy access to a sewage system. The reconstruction fiasco has created a drag on Iraq's economy - nearly 50 percent of the country is under-employed or unemployed - fertile ground for political instability, terrorism and a growing insurgency.

Eating Crow

Last night, as I watched Jon Stewart beat the crap out of O'Reilly, it dawned on me that Billy-boy is still boycotting France, presumably because they opposed invading Iraq. At the time, they were called cowards and traitors.

Except, of course, they were absolutely right. The reasons the US was giving the world for the invasion were all proven to be wrong. Bush was wrong. Powell was wrong. We were wrong.

And Billy is still eating Freedom Fries.

While we're on the subject, remember how wingnuttia was up in arms about Michael Moore claiming Bush had made the country less safe, and how all the supposed beefing up of National Security amounted to nothing? Well, I guess Katrina proved he was right too.

9 Mad Cow Cases in Idaho

9 Cases of Brain-Wasting Disease in Idaho

"One thing is very clear in Idaho — the number seems to be higher than the number reported in previous years," said Dr. Ermias Belay, a CJD expert with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "So far, the investigations have not found any evidence of any exposure that might be common among the cases."

Think about that next time you eat a 1000-cows-per-patty McBurgerKingJrInTheBox. Why isn't America's tainted beef supply main-stream news?

Consumer Subsystem Check: A-OK

Just had a wierd little experience... I was listening to XM radio, and this haunting little tune popped up. I check the title... 'Staralfur, by Sigur Ros'. While listening to it, I suddenly remembered how awesome The Life Aquatic had been (just *fucking* incredible... I loved that movie), and remembered Netflix was offering used copies for ten bucks... I zipped over and bought it, very easy one click transaction...

Then I went and googled 'staralfur soundtrack'... just curious, you know?

Sure enough, the music was in the movie. Neat little subliminal trick there, Hollywood.

You can download the track here: Sigur Ros - Epitonic.com: Hi Quality Free and Legal MP3 Music

Did I mention the movie rocked? It did. The soundtrack was awesome, especially these completely wierd portuguese covers of Iggy Pop-era songs, by one of the sailors in the movie (pretty much the only thing he does is hang around and sing these songs). Just. Fuckin. Awesome.

I'm actually glad the song pushed me over the edge to buy this movie. Now, if I could actually convince anyone else that it was a good movie...

Fleetweek, anchored off of Alcatraz...

I was anchored out in front of Alcatraz (on a friend's 37 footer) with the rest of the Bay Armada... there were easily hundreds of boats. The weather was awesome, considering where we were... a lot less chop than I expected.

The location was perfect for seeing (and photographing) the air show. We were buzzed over and over again by the Blue Angels... at one point an Angel shot straight up over our boat, giving us a unique view of the corkscrew smoke trail - and I got it on video. In short... awesome.

Some video:
Straight up manuever thingy
Angel Flyby
Herding boats

The anchorage was a show in itself. The crowding, the depth, the chop and the wind made anchoring iffy (our host, fortunately, was in total control - a true sailor). Our boat seemed to have a powerboat magnet... they'd congregate from all over, hovering over our anchor line. Occasionally, OCSC j24s would zip through, sailing all-out, dodging Cigarettes and parked trawlers. When the show was over, all hell broke loose. Picture, if you will, hundreds of boats raising anchor simultaneously, their variously skilled skippers in all states of innebriation. We had the foresight to raise anchor a few minutes before the show was over, so we were able to dodge the worst of it, but it got pretty busy. Complicating matters, the Coast Guard nearly went hysterical trying to herd these hundreds of boats out of the (mysteriously) still-restricted channel. They were ignored, for the most part.

The chop went crazy, with wakes both huge and small hitting us from all sides, tossing this rather large boat around as if it were my P19. I can't imaging what it would have been like on my boat. The 18 extra feet probably made the difference between it being a blast and it being scary/dangerous.

Do I sound like I (and my family) had a good time? You betcha... Shucks, I'm still grinning :)

President Pelosi

Think Progress » Right-Wing House Twists Arms, Thwarts Democracy To Pass Oil Industy Windfall

Watch the video...

Apropos of Nothing

A Newborn Girl at Passover

Consider one apricot in a basket of them.
It is very much like all the other apricots--
an individual already, skin and seed.

Now think of this day. One you will probably forget.
The next breath you take, a long drink of air.
Holiday or not, it doesn't matter.

A child is born and doesn't know what day it is.
The particular joy in my heart she cannot imagine.
The taste of apricots is in store for her.

by Nan Cohen