The French Defense

2005-08-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

Cast iron door

2005-08-12T19:36:00.000-07:00

Sunrise over Mono Lake

2005-08-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

Golden Gate Bridge, south tower just past sunset

2005-08-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

The Golden Gate Bridge at sunset in the fog

It's been a long, long time

2005-08-12T18:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't posted to my blog for so long now, it seems like a year. But hardly anyone ever looks at it, so the motivation to continue posting is not strong. And it was taking a half hour or more every night when I was doing the whole deal with the puzzler and interesting article of the day and all of that. But today I decided to post anyway. I think I will upload one of the GG bridge shots that I took when I got the new lens.

Speaking of the lens, it is a Canon 70-200 image stabilized f/2.8. Very nice lens, very sharp, and the IS lets me hand hold at 3 stops slower than normal. Pricey, but nice.

I am currently working on a new project that involves an embedded microcontroller and relates to photography. That is all I can say now, but I hope to have something to show in a few weeks if I get the time to write the software and build the interface, etc.

That's it for today!

2005-06-05T23:31:00.000-07:00

St. Helen's

Four churches and a wall

2005-06-05T23:19:00.000-07:00

Had a nice weekend in Sonoma county and took some photos of churches and one wall of an old building that appeared to be abandoned. I will upload one of the photos to this blog. To see the others, go to http://donfrenchphotography.com/Places/SonomaCounty. The churches in this area are exceptionally beautiful, in my opinion. One of them is named St. Helen's, which is also my mother's name. Well, she isn't a saint, but she is pretty close.

2005-06-03T00:12:00.000-07:00

Memorial day 2005 (Where have all the soldiers gone?)

2005-06-03T00:10:00.000-07:00

The church of DOM (the document object model?)

2005-06-03T00:09:00.000-07:00

The non-conformist

Published!

2005-06-03T00:04:00.000-07:00

SanFranciscoSentinel.com just published an article I wrote and photos I took at Carnaval this year! Check it out at http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/id387_m.htm.

2005-05-26T22:27:00.000-07:00

Rose is rose

2005-05-26T22:26:00.000-07:00

From the Golden Gate rose garden

Infrared roses

2005-05-26T22:23:00.000-07:00

A couple rose photos for you.

2005-05-24T20:49:00.000-07:00

Kaboom (number 2)

2005-05-23T22:21:00.000-07:00

Kaboom 2005 (number 3)

2005-05-23T22:18:00.000-07:00

Kaboom 2005 (number 1)

Kaboom!

2005-05-23T22:09:00.000-07:00

Long time no post. I have done a little photography in the past couple weeks, but didn't get around to posting anything on this blog. Right now, the application I use to post photos ("Hello" from Picassa) seems to be having problems, but I think it just succeeded in logging me on.

Saturday night I went to Treasure Island to shoot the annual Kaboom fireworks show that a local radio station (KFOG) puts on. It is a spectacular show and a big downtown party with lots of live bands. I thought I would try to shoot the fireworks from across the bay with the city in the background. But the location of the barge from which the fireworks are launched and the location of the public parts of Treasure Island made that impossible. But the Bay Bridge makes a nice substitute for the city and so I shot it that way. Enjoy!

2005-05-01T22:10:00.000-07:00

Boquet 2

2005-05-01T22:09:00.000-07:00

Bouquet

2005-05-01T22:08:00.000-07:00

Morning light

2005-05-01T22:07:00.000-07:00

Cala Lilly

2005-05-01T22:05:00.000-07:00

California Poppy

New photos

2005-05-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

I am posting some new photos today. These were all taken with the M1.

2005-04-25T23:37:00.000-07:00

View from Mt. Diablo

2005-04-25T23:34:00.000-07:00

Wheat

2005-04-25T23:33:00.000-07:00

Spiky bud

Mount Diablo

2005-04-25T23:25:00.000-07:00

Just a brief post to put up a couple photos taken yesterday on Mount Diablo. No jokes or interesting articles or puzzlers today, as I am tired and past my bedtime. So, just photos today.

2005-04-19T23:43:00.000-07:00

Cowboy

Just haven't taken any photos in a week

2005-04-19T22:54:00.000-07:00

I know! All of my faithful blog readers are asking me what happened to a photo a day. I just don't seem to be able to do it. Maybe if I didn't work for a living?!

I guess I will post some not-so-recent photos to keep the blog moving along. Today's photo was taken in Monument Valley a couple years ago.

Joke of the day:

A seaman meets a pirate in a bar, and they take turns boasting of their adventures on the high seas, The seaman notes that the pirate has a peg-leg, hook, and an eye patch.
The seaman asks, "So, how did you end up with the peg-leg?"
The pirate replies "We were in a storm at sea, and I was swept overboard into a school of sharks. Just as my men were pulling me out, a shark bit my leg off."
"Wow!" said the seaman. "What about your hook?"
"Well..." replied the pirate, "While my men and I were plundering in the Middle East, I was caught stealing from a merchant and the punishment for theft in the Middle East is the loss of the hand that steals."
"Incredible!" remarked the seaman. "How did you get the eye patch?"
"A sea gull dropping fell into my eye", replied the pirate.
"You lost your eye to a sea gull dropping?" the sailor asked incredulously.
"Well...", said the pirate, "..it was my first day with the hook."

Interesting article of the day:

I really liked this article about the inside story of what happened when Apollo 13 almost died in space. It was a real triumph of the geeks.

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/wonews/apr05/0405napola.html

Pope story. I have to include this historical tidbit (or bit of fiction, not sure which) about the papacy. Either way, it is a great story. Here is the page: http://www.britannica.com/heritage/article?content_id=1381 but you have to scroll down about half way till the heading, From the eighth edition. I wonder if they put Ratstinker on the groping stool this morning?

Puzzler of the day:

Can you decode this message?

G T Y O R J O T E O U I A B G T

Hint, this is called a Caesar's Box method of encryption (you could look it up)

Answer to previous puzzler:

432 This was like those damn IQ test progressions. The progression went 0, 2, 16, 54, 128, 250, where each number is 2 times its position cubed. In other words, 2*0^3, 2*1^3, 2*2^3, 2*3^3, 2*4^3, 2*5^3. And the next number is 2 times 6 cubed, which is 2 * 216, or 432.

If you saw the pattern you qualify as a near genius (or genius)!

2005-04-10T09:46:00.000-07:00

Borago officinalis (Borage)

2005-04-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

Nemophila menziesii (Baby Blue-Eyes)

2005-04-10T09:44:00.000-07:00

Fremontodendron bud ("Pacific Sunset")

2005-04-06T22:10:00.000-07:00

Reflections in Mission store window

2005-04-05T23:51:00.000-07:00

Succulent

2005-04-05T23:34:00.000-07:00

Fern in Golden Gate park

Been a while

2005-04-05T23:29:00.000-07:00

I finally got my computer working again. Just a video card, thankfully. No file recovery needed. I have been busy lately and it is late now so I can't do the whole shebang with a joke and article and puzzle and all that. But I will post two photos from my walk in Golden Gate park on Sunday. More to tell soon.

Good news bad news

2005-03-30T09:33:00.000-08:00

Last night I sold my RV. That is good news but I am still a bit sad about it. It was my home for a period of time and I took a lot of pleasant journies in it. It served me well. It was purchased by a musician from Wisconsin who goes by the name of Timothy Daniel. I hope it serves him well too.

The bad news is that this morning when I turned my computer on it did not boot. Nothing on the screen at all. I shut down normally last night with no problems, so I really don't know what the problem is. But until it is up and running again, I don't foresee posting any more photos.

Damn, I hate it when this stuff happens.

2005-03-28T23:57:00.000-08:00

Rainy night on the highway

2005-03-28T23:48:00.000-08:00

Christ on the cross, guarded by purple muppet

Easter Sunday, 2005

2005-03-28T23:15:00.000-08:00

Damn! I spent an hour writing the blog entry tonight only to have the blog posting software lose it. Man, I hate that. Clicked Publish Post, and it gave me an oops page. The back button brought me back to the entry page, but the all my typing was gone. Grrrrr!!!

So, I start over. This time I will save what I write to a text file before clicking the Post button.

The photos for today were taken yesterday, Easter 2005. The shrine was at the Pescadero Beach parking lot and was just too Easterish to pass up. Plus, it struck me as slightly surreal. The stoplight shot was on the way back up the coast, taken through the windshield. These are the first shots on this blog that were not taken with the tiny Sony cameras. It was good to have the 10D back in my hands again. I have been enjoying using the little pocket cameras and trying to see what I could get out of them. But there is no question that a DSLR is much easier to get the shot you want and the quality you want. You have so much more control and the sensor and the lenses you can use on a DSLR make for much higher quality images, if sharpness and resolution are how you judge quality. But I am a firm believer that there are other judges of quality, and sometimes sharpness and clarity detract rather than add to an image. In any case, no photograph is worth snot if the composition is not there. And I see so many people on the web who cherish their pin sharp garbage shots.

Well, off my soapbox. As the careful observers of this space have noticed, I have not come close to keeping my promise of a new photograph every day. It turns out that I just don't have the kind of discipline that is required to keep up that pace. There are those who do it, but I am not one of them. But I will try to post as often as I can.

Joke of the day:

Today's joke relates to both the last joke on this blog and to the last puzzler. Here goes.

There was this tribe of Indians in the old west who had a custom that whenever a couple was expecting, that the brave would venture into the wilderness, slay a mighty beast and bring the skin back to wrap the newborn in. It was supposed to bring the power and spirit of the slain animal to the new member of the tribe. Well, one particularly fertile year there were three couples expecting. The braves all went out into the wilderness about the same time to do their solemn duty to their newborn and to the tribe. The first brave went out and slew a grizzly bear and proudly returned with the skin to wrap his new baby boy in. The second brave went out and slew a cougar and proudly returned with the skin to wrap his new baby girl in. The third brave went to a special place he knew in the wilderness (there were those who suspected it was very close to the zoo), and slew a hippo, which he skinned. When he returned, he discovered that his wife had given birth to twins, a boy and a girl, which he proudly wrapped in the hippo skin.

This just goes to prove that age old adage (or is it a theorem?) Ready?

The squaw of the hippopatamus is equal to the sum of the squaws of the other two hides!

(Admit it, it's funny!)

Interesting article of the day:

Have you been wondering how the secret service keeps cracking the code with which you are encrypting your plans to assasinate the president? Well, here's how:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6098-2005Mar28.html

The previous puzzler:

Of course, Doris solved it handily. So did Shriram. Here are the decryptified (my new word of the day) quotes. Let's see the secret service do as well as Doris and Shriram! Ha!

Ninety nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
George Washington Carver

Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.
Marie Curie

The oldest shortest word – “Yes and no” – are those which require the most thought
Pythagoras

My advise to you is get married: If you find a good wife you’ll be happy; if not you’ll become a philosopher.
Socrates

Today's Puzzler:

What is the operating principal of these equations?

Sock + Pants = Tshirt
Hat + Skirt = Shorts
Sweater - Shoe = Underwear

2005-03-24T00:03:00.000-08:00

A classic beast

2005-03-24T00:01:00.000-08:00

A classic beauty

A little TV

2005-03-23T23:27:00.000-08:00

Tonight's images are captures off the TV. Can you identify the movie they are from? I am betting that my friend Shiram will get it right if no one else.

Oh, the tornado update: It was officially rated as a F1, and a real tornado! Yes! I saw my first tornado, and up so close that I couldn't even see the funnel cloud.

Joke of the day:

It is a groaner!

These friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise the funds. Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men in the really cute robes, the rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. He asked his mother to go and ask the friars to get out of business. They ignored her too. So, the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town, to "persuade" them to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they didn't close shop. Terrified, they did so - thereby proving that ...

ready?

Hugh, and only Hugh, can prevent florist friars.

Interesting article of the day:

I think my sister Jane would be especially interested in this article, as she was a student of genetics back in the days before we knew much about DNA.

A startling scientific discovery was published today. According to the article, "If confirmed, it would represent an unprecedented exception to the laws of inheritance discovered by Gregor Mendel in the 19th century"

http://tinyurl.com/4cv5j

Answer to the last daily puzzler:

The shot you fired straight out to sea will hit the water after the ball. This is assuming that the ball and the bullet have the same approximate wind resistance when falling. Physics tells us that two objects fall at the same rate no matter what their weight. I think it was Galileo that proved this by dropping an iron ball and a wooden ball off the top of the leaning tower of Piza. So why don't the bullet and the ball hit earth (and water for the shot going out to sea) at the same time? Well, the Earth is round, another claim of Galileo's, one that got him in a lot more trouble than the dropping balls did. And since the Earth is round, the surface drops away at the rate of 8 inches per mile. Assuming that a high powered rifle can shoot a bullet fast enough that it can go a mile before dropping six feet (an assumption that may or may not be true), the bullet drops 11% further than the ball, and therefore takes longer. It is helpful to assume a very still ocean with no waves, for this to work in reality.

Today's puzzler:

Here is one for my sister Doris, who is expert at these things:

Below are cryptograms in which the solutions are quotes of famous scientists and other smart people. Every letter stands for another letter, and no letter can represent two letters, nor can two letters represent the same letter.

1. KJKVZE-KJKV HVDFVKZ NC ZQV CYJBADVM FNWV CDNW HVNHBV OQN QYTV ZQV QYIJZ NC WYPJKX VGFAMVM.
--XVNDXV OYMQJKXZNK FYDTVD

2. KNZQJKX JK BJCV JM ZN IV CVYDVS. JZ JM NKBE ZN IV AKSVDMZNNS.
--WYDJV FADJV

3. ZQV NBSVMZ, MQNDZVMZ ONDSM - "EVM' YKS "KN" - YDV ZQNMV OQJFQ DVRAJDV ZQV WNMZ ZQNAXQZ.
--HEZQYXNDYM

4. WE YSTJFV ZN ENA JM XVZ WYDDJVS: JC ENA CJKS Y XNNS OJCV ENA'BB IV QYHHE; JC KNZ, ENA'BB IVFNWV Y HQJBNMNHQVD.
--MNFDYZVM

2005-03-21T09:44:00.000-08:00

The souvenier tornado shingle

More about the tornado

2005-03-21T08:53:00.000-08:00

The experts are trying to decide today whether what came past my house was a tornado or not. If it touched the ground, it was. If it didn't, it wasn't. I found two main points of possible touchdown when I went driving about. One of them was a produce store that saw some damage and the other was a tree that came down and spit apart. Both of them were just a few blocks from my house. The map I uploaded shows the damage sites and my house and a line I drew through all three.

I heard a roar and loud banging noised just outside my house, which prompted me to run to the window to see what was happening. As soon as I saw the swirling debris in the air just above my house, I knew it must be a tornado. I ran out the front door with my new M1 on in movie mode, but the funnel cloud had apparently disappeared. The guy across the street kept pointing to the cloud just to the north but there was no funnel visible at that time. The street was littered with debris, and one piece landed in my yard.

There was a funnel cloud and someone luckier than me captured it! Check out this site:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/news/032105ap_nw_funnel.html

This is as close as I have ever come to seeing a tornado, and even if it was a small one, it was exciting! They say that it will be rated a F0 if it is determined to be a tornado. From the damage I saw, it appears to have touched down. I will post a photo of my souvenier tornado shingle later today.

2005-03-21T08:52:00.000-08:00

The path of the tornado

2005-03-21T08:34:00.000-08:00

The yellow fence

2005-03-21T08:32:00.000-08:00

24th and Mission BART station

Tornado!

2005-03-20T16:12:00.000-08:00

A small tornado came through my back yard about 30 minutes ago! Ok, it didn't actually touch down in my yard, but the debris was flying right outside my kitchen window, in front of which I was washing the dishes. Just a few minutes before that there was a hail storm. Neither of these two meteological events are common in these parts. Hell, we hardly ever hear thunder here. Unfortunately, I did not get any photos of the funnel cloud, though the guy across the street says he saw it. I heard all this banging around and looked outside and saw swirling black stuff, which I think was mostly roofing shingles. There is a lot of debris in my street and even one piece of roofing shingle right in my yard. Two blocks away there is a natural gas leak and the signal lights are out near by. I have power. There are a lot of sirens going off, but after driving around a little I didn't see any real damage except where the gas leak is. A tree came apart at that site and damaged a house. There are a bunch of cops and firemen telling everyone to go inside because of the gas leak.

A little midwestern style excitement right here in San Francisco. Yeehaw!

Joke of the day:

Today's joke continues with the mathematcial theme started with the Puzzler a few days ago:

After the waters receded, Noah commanded all the animals to "Go forth and multiply." The ark quickly emptied, except for two small snakes, who stayed behind. When Noah asked them why, they replied, "We can't multiply. We're adders." Noah, being the resourceful man he was, immediately got busy cuttin down trees and building a large table with the unfinished lumber therefrom. The snakes were overjoyed when Noah picked them up and placed them on it. They knew that even adders could multiply on a log table...

Interesting article of the day:

Machines with biological components. Remember the article on robots with legs made of mouse hearts? Well, this time they have found a way to make bacteria cells function as tiny bio-electronic circuits. This time it is the U of Wisc doing the innovative blending.

http://www.news.wisc.edu/releases/10831.html

Answer to the last Daily Puzzler:

35 quarters $8.75
9 dimes .90
6 nickles .30
5 pennies .05
--------------
$10.00

Today's Daily Puzzler:

This one is more in the line of science. Physics, to be precise.

You're standing on the edge of an ocean with a high powered rifle and a ball. The ocean is smooth and there is no wind. Holding the rifle level with the ground six feet high, you fire a bullet out to sea. The very instant the bullet leaves the barrel you drop the ball from the same height as the rifle. Which will hit the water first, the bullet or the ball?

2005-03-16T21:30:00.000-08:00

Leaves of gold and green and red

Wednesday, March 16

2005-03-16T21:07:00.000-08:00

Some days it is hard to get around to shooting a photo. This one was taken on Monday outside my workplace.

Joke of the day:

Did Roman paramedics refer to IV's as "4's"?

Interesting article of the day:

A pair of engineers in London have come up with a "building in a bag" -- a sack of cement-impregnated fabric. To erect the structure, all you have to do is add water to the bag and inflate it with air. Probably the only way I will ever get a house!

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,66872,00.html

Yesterday's Daily Puzzler:

With that last clue, you must have all gotten it, but for those of you who didn't, here is the answer: It is a mathematical limerick.

A dozen, a gross, and a score,
Plus three times the square root of four,
Divided by seven,
Plus five times eleven
Is nine squared and not a bit more!

Today's Puzzler:

Speaking of the math puzzles, here is a really easy one:

You have 55 coins totaling $10.00. There are more nickles than pennies, more dimes than nickles, and more quarters than dimes. How many of each coin do you have?

2005-03-14T23:12:00.000-08:00

Another self-portrait

A little more time

2005-03-14T22:51:00.000-08:00

Today's shot was taken on Hwy 101 near Candlestick park at 65 miles per hour. Slow-sync flash on the M1 blurs the traffic but freezes the mirror with me in it.

Joke of the day:

Did you hear Lorena Bobbit died in a car crash?
Some dick cut her off.

Interesting article of the day:

Are nanobacteria making us sick? Particles 1/100 the size of a bacterium are at the center of this research but controversy rages as to whether they are true life forms and if they are causing illness:

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,66861,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1

Yesterday's puzzler - more information:

I know that some of you aren't mathematically inclined, but I accidentally left out some explanatory information that will clear it all up for you. Here it is: The carat (^) means "raised to the power of" and a number raised to the power of .5 is its square root and a number raised to the power of 2 is its square. So, now you have no excuse. Anyone can get that puzzler now. Do I even need to tell you the answer tomorrow?

2005-03-14T08:12:00.000-08:00

Chris

No time

2005-03-14T08:03:00.000-08:00

No time to do anything but post a pic from last night.

2005-03-13T00:48:00.001-08:00

Your friendly blogger!

2005-03-13T00:48:00.000-08:00

One lens looking into another

Some self portraits

2005-03-13T00:35:00.000-08:00

I was playing with the M1 tonight and using its tilt and rotate screen to take some self portraits. This is one of the results. I used only an overhead incandescent lamp for lighting but it worked ok. I also used the camera's B&W mode rather than altering the B&W one in Photoshop. The other shot is a closeup of the camera lens reflected in my eyeball. You can read some of what is written around the lens if you look closely. Just click on this (or any) image on the blog and you will get an enlarged version. You should be able to see optical 3x and 3.5-4.4 6.7-20.1, which are printed about 2mm high on the front lens plate.

Joke of the day:

If Dolly Parton married Tommy Smothers, then went even further back in show business and married Mr. Lucky, then divorced and married Martin Short, then divorced and married football kicker Ray Guy, we could all nod understandingly when we heard, "Dolly Parton Smothers Lucky Short Guy."

Interesting article of the day:

Physicists discover surprising 62 million year cycle to mass extinctions. And guess what? We are way overdue:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/03/10/MNGFIBN6PO1.DTL

Daily puzzler:

What kind of poem am I?

(12 + 144 + 20 + 3 x (4^.5))/7 + 5 x 11 = 9^2 + 0

Answer to yesterday's daily puzzler:

Beethoven's fifth!

2005-03-11T21:43:00.000-08:00

Eleven millimeters

TGIF

2005-03-11T20:47:00.000-08:00

That about sums it up for me today. Thank Goodness It's Friday.

Joke of the day:

An elderly man goes into confession and says to the priest, "Father , I'm 80 years old, married, have four kids and 11 grandchildren, and last night I had an affair and I made love to an 18 year old girl. Twice!"

The priest said: "Well, my son, when was the last time you were in confession?"

"Never Father, I'm Jewish

So then, why are you telling me?"

"Are you crazy? I'm telling everybody!"

Interesting article of the day:

Sci-fi epic shot on a shoestring,

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,66859,00.html

Daily Puzzler:

What famous classical composition is shown by the following: Bach, Berlioz, Bizet, Borodin, Beethoven, Brahms?

Answer to yesterday's puzzle: You shoot them with a camera, of course!

2005-03-10T21:55:00.000-08:00

Architectural abstract

2005-03-10T21:48:00.000-08:00

Sunset on the cube farm

Rode the bike to work today!

2005-03-10T20:51:00.000-08:00

Man! I was biking to work every day from the day I started until sometime late last fall when I got a car. Then, although I swore I would continue, every morning when I laid in bed and realized that I could stay there another half hour if I drove, guess what I did. So, today when I biked for the first time in months, I arrive winded and feeling pain in my legs. It was worse coming home, which is mostly up hill. Only one damn mile, mind you, but you know, up hill! Anyway, my legs were wobbly when I got off the bike and I thought I might fall over.

Before I went to work in July I was doing 40 minutes at 4 mph on the treadmill every day (almost) and was feeling pretty good. Now I don't do squat and am gaining weight like crazy and am way out of shape. Why don't I have better discipline?

Today's shot was taken at work as the sun was going down. For some reason it is only 480 x 640, which isn't what the camera setting says it should be. Yesterday's stuff was at full res, so what happened? I will have to do research.

The joke of the day:

A minister, having served the same church for many years, decided to leave and take a similar position in another church. Without telling anyone he had made this decision or writing a letter to the congregation, he waited until Sunday morning to announce his resignation in church. When he spoke to the congregation he said, "The same Jesus that called me to this church many years ago has now called upon me to leave and serve another church."The choir all stood and sang, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus."

Too bad my dad isn't still alive. He might have liked this one, having left a few pulpits in his lifetime.

The interesting article of the day:

India, the next knowledge superpower. This is a short article and a set of links to other interesting articles about one of the most intriguing nations on earth. Those of you who don't live in the Bay Area might not be aware of the extent of the influence the Indian sub-continent has on American technology, but it is considerable. The best and the brightest in the software industry are Indians and Chinese, and we have about equal numbers of both where I work (and they both outnumber the Anglos). So, read this article, and if you see some other articles on the site that look interesting, read them too.

http://www.newscientist.com/special/india

The daily puzzler:

There are 100 birds on a tree. Using what method will you be able to capture them all in one shot?

Answer to yesterday's puzzler: CIVIL

2005-03-09T22:26:00.000-08:00

Bird on ledge, looking in.

Like a birthday today!

2005-03-09T21:44:00.000-08:00

I got two new toys by UPS today, the camera I ordered when I thought my other one was gone forever, and a new chess set/board/carrying case that I have been wanting. I ordered a different camera than the one I thought I didn't have any more. This one is another Sony, but it has some other nice features that the T3 doesn't have. It is a DSC-M1. For one thing, it creates high quality 30 fps VGA resolution movies in 640 by 480 MPEG-4 format, complete with stereo audio. I can get 27 minutes of recording on my 512 MP card. It has the same Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar® 3X optical zoom lens as the T3, but the zoom operates even while capturing video, which isn't true with the T3.

Another cool thing that I like is the swivel viewer that lets you hold it up in the air for example, and still see what you are shooting. Or take a picture of yourself while looking in the viewer. But the other nice thing about this camera is that the LCD screen is a different technology than the T3 and works in bright sunlight, something I found out the T3 did not at all. Otherwise, the modes, including the magnifyer that lets you get 1 cm from the subject, and all the other still photo features are identical to the T3. But it is definitely bigger. While it still fits in a shirt pocket, it is much heavier and more obvious.

But for now I am keeping it, for taking movies if nothing else. But I suspect that I will find the swivel viewer that I can use in bright sunlight to be irresistable too. Anyway, I am having fun with it now!

Read all about it here: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/m1.html

Oh, today's photo is the first one I took with the new camera.

I think I am going to add another feature to the blog, not that very many people visit it. I found a great source of brain teasers and will put one up every day along with the answer to the previous day's. But first the joke!

Joke of the day:

There was a man who entered a local paper's pun contest. He sent in ten different puns, in the hope that at least one of the puns would win. Unfortunately, no pun in ten did. (sorry to punish you like that!)

Interesting article of the day:

Not only is this an interesting story, but it is apparently about my brother-in-law Richard Bovard's twin, from whom he was separated at birth.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/09/books/09grim.html

The daily puzzler:

What is the only kind of war you can spell with Roman numerals? I'll give the answer tomorrow.

Mt. St. Helens blows off a little steam

2005-03-08T22:33:00.000-08:00

Nice little eruption in Washington tonight. Here is a great shot on a photoblog taken from Portland:

http://www.euphorochrome.com/photoblog/index.php?p=131

Joke of the day:

"May I take your order?" the waiter asked.
"Yes, how do you prepare your chickens?"
"Nothing special sir," he replied. "We just tell them straight out that they're going to die."

Interesting article of the day:

Seems that laughter is as good as working out for some things. So, my joke of the day might be doing some good after all! Well, those that are funny, anyway.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7103

2005-03-08T22:20:00.000-08:00

Rusty pier

Warm weather!

2005-03-06T21:18:00.000-08:00

San Francisco got a bit of warm weather today and more is expected. Went to the Pacifica Pier today with Anne and watched the big rollers come in. Took the photo of the fisherman in the coolie hat out on the end of the pier. Didn't finish my taxes like I planned on, but did make progress.

Big gripe about the T3! Very hard to see what you are shooting in bright sunlight. I expect I will put it up on eBay and try for something compact but with a better system for bright light. I actually took several photos that came out all right, but the composition was pretty much luck, as I coul hardly see anything on that LCD screen. A viewfinder is sorely lacking. Anne's daughter, Anna, has a new Sony P150 I think that has a viewfinder, 7 MPixels, and while it is definitely bigger than the T3, it will probably fit in a shirt pocket. Hard to get everthing you want.

2005-03-06T21:08:00.000-08:00

An afternoon in Pacifica

I can't believe it!

2005-03-05T10:10:00.000-08:00

I have a pretty small place. No room to lose anything, especially a jacket. There are only a few places I ever leave my jacket. There are only a few places I can leave my jacket. I looked in all those places. Twice, no three or four times. No jacket. I had to have left it at the restaurant. I knew very well that I didn't leave it at the laundromat (the only other place I was last Sunday) because I just wouldn't have taken it off there. The jacket with the camera in the pocket had to be left at and taken from the restaurant.

This morning I went back there to see if it was, by any good fortune, found, and if they would let me post a reward notice. I came away convinced that the staff did not take the jacket and the camera. You can usually tell when you talk to someone whether they are telling the truth. Well, I feel I can, anyhow. And I left there today believing the waitress when she said that neither she nor anyone else there took it, nor would they. I told her I believed her and I did.

Well, guess what!? A few minutes ago I found another place I can hang a jacket. A place that I never hung anything before, to the best of my memory. Ah, my memory! There's the rub. Yup, you guessed it. My jacket was hanging on a hook the whole time, and the camera was in the pocket! It was hanging on the back of a door that is almost always open, so that the back where the hook is is not in view. I didn't even remember that I had a hook on the back of the bathroom door. I live alone and seldom am inside the bathroom with the door closed, so I never saw the jacket hanging there until today. So, what do you know? I got the camera and the check for $470, so I am way better than even now. Yabadabadoo!

It all works out!

2005-03-03T21:21:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I lost a $500 camera. It is probably gone for good, although I reported it to the police and sometimes things show up. But I am not counting on it. But tonight I began to believe in karmic balance. When I sorted through my mail tonight I found a letter from the Stock Transfer Corporation. That name rang a bell, but I couldn't remember where I heard it. I opened the letter and to my astonishment it was a check for $470.58. When I looked at the odd name that rhymes with Kalamazoo in the top right corner of the check I remembered who the Stock Transfer Corporation was.

It all started six and a half years ago. Some entrepreneurs hungry for some good press for their new dot com company came up with the bright idea that they would just give stock away to anyone who asked. All you had to do was write them an email and they would grant you three whole shares of stock. It wasn't much to lose, email postage being what it is, so I did it. They sent me back an email with my three share numbers and I promptly forgot about it.

About two months ago I was looking through my email folders and came across the name, Travelzoo. I didn't remember what email I might have in there but I took a look and found the 1999 email with my stock numbers. I figured Travelzoo must have died with all the other dot com wonders, but Google them just to be sure. And to my surprise I found that they were not only alive, but very well indeed.

In all they gave away 2.6 million shares of stock in the company to 700,000 people. Apparently, they went public a few years later in 2002 at around $10 a share. The stock price stayed pretty flat until January 2004, when it climbed to $110 a share. Oh, yeah, somewhere along the way it split 2 for 1, so I now might have six shares.

Well, when I saw that, I wrote to the company to find out about my stock. The first exchanges were not encouraging, but eventually, a month or so ago, they sent me a form to fill out and send back with my three stock numbers plus the original email address I used to apply with (long since inactive) and a photocopy of my driver's license.

Well, apparently, they cashed my six shares at $78.43 each and sent me the check! The stock price dropped since January, and today it is $61.85. So, while I missed the peak, I didn't do too bad! I really never thought that I was going to get any money from these guys, but I guess I was wrong.

So, my depression over losing the camera has lifted!

Joke of the day:

A few sick Jeffery Dahmer jokes (you remember him, don't you? When he had people for dinner, he really had them for dinner.)

Q. Why did Jeffrey Dahmer keep testicles in the fridge?
A. Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't.

Q. What did they find in Jeffery Dahmer's medicine cabinet?
A. Head and Shoulders

Q. What did Dahmer do when he finished his vegetables?
A. He threw away the wheelchairs!!!

Interesting article of the day:

Where does personality come from? Scientists study birds to find out!

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/01/science/01anim.html

The camera is gone

2005-03-01T21:33:00.000-08:00

I went back to the restaurant and the waitress said that no one turned in a jacket or a camera. I am pretty sure that one of the staff took it. The place was busy. They had to clear the table soon after I left and couldn't miss the jacket. Checking the pockets, they surely found the camera and it was just too nice to hold for the owner to claim. The waitress said someone else who sat there after me probably took it, but when they clear a table and find a jacket over the back of one of the chairs, would they leave it there for the next patron? I don't think so.

So, I am still stinging from the loss and the knowledge that it was ultimately my fault for leaving my jacket there with $500 worth of camera equipment in it.

But maybe I can force myself to find a joke of the day to post anyway.

Joke of the day:

Buses stop at bus stations.
Trains stop at train stations.
On my desk, I have a workstation.

Interesting article of the day:

Tsunami uncovers lost city:
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg18524883.800

Bad day

2005-02-27T23:23:00.000-08:00

I did my laundry and got breakfast this morning before coming home to work on my taxes. I took a break around six to see what was happening with the Oscars. I fell asleep though and didn't wake up until they were almost over. That was when I remembered that I hadn't taken any pics today. So, I went to get my camera and couldn't find it. Then I remembered that I took it with me when I went for breakfast and laundry, so I went looking for my jacket, in whose pocket the camera would surely be. But no jacket either. I am almost certain that I left the jacket with the camera inside at the diner where I had breakfast. I can remember walking up the street to the laundromat from the restaurant carrying what was left from the newspaper I read while eating. I recall thinking as I was walking that I am forgetting something, but the nothing came to mind, so I just kept walking. I will go back first thing in the morning and see if they kept it and if the camera is still in the pocket. Right now I feel depressed, so no joke tonight and not even an interesting article to post.

2005-02-27T01:49:00.000-08:00

And a one, and a two, and a ...

Went to Capitola

2005-02-27T01:10:00.000-08:00

Took a road trip with Peggi today. Peggi needed to go to Santa Cruz to pick up her Girl Scout cookies from her darling granddaughter and I wanted to see if I could place some of my "Day in Capitola" photo note cards in some of the shops. Getting the cookies (and devouring a whole box of peanut butter ones) turned out to be as easy as imagined. But placing the cards did not. I learned two things. One is that no shop owners seem to work on Saturday, at least in Capitola. Two is that lots of people think my cards are really nice. Or they are exceptionally good liars. But, because the person who makes buying decisions wasn't there, no sales today. I left some samples and a price sheet that had thumbnails of the images and maybe someone will get back to me. More likely, I will have to go down again during the week and do a selling job.

But the trip was fun none the less. The drive down the San Mateo coast is always a treat, even when the sun isn't shining. And we stopped at Duarte's in Pescadero for dinner on the way back, which is also always nice. Peggi and I did the Sunday NYT X-word in record time (30 minutes) while waiting for our food. And, after I brought Peggi back, I stopped in La Boheme and had several high quality games of chess (won 4, lost 1, drew 1). So, all in all, it was a very pleasant day.

Didn't take much in the way of photos though. The one I posted is of some bubbles in the foam at Bean Hollow in one of the tide pools.

Joke of the day:

A woman walks off the golf course into the pro shop, complains to the golf pro "I was just stung by a bee." Pro: "Where did you get stung?" Woman: "Between the 1st and 2nd hole!" Pro: "Well, I can tell you right now, your stance is too wide!!!"

Interesting article of the day:

An innovative form of solar power, where the sun heats up a mass of air that rises through a very tall tower and drives turbines to generate the electricity. No expensive photovoltaics in this application. It also looks like they should be able to prevent the killing of birds that plagues the giant wind farms near here.

http://www.webaccess.iii.rmit.edu.au/vrc/solartower/

2005-02-26T01:01:00.000-08:00

The Birthday Cake

Another year older

2005-02-26T00:01:00.000-08:00

Well, the good news is I am a year closer to getting my social security. Yes, it was my birthday today. No, don't send me gifts! Well, ok, if you really think you have to!

I spent most of today printing up Capitola cards and order forms. Tomorrow I go down to that fair city and make my first real attempt at selling my photo cards. They really look pretty good and I think I will place a few. The sales won't really pick up until summer, but it seems a good idea to get my foot in the door early. I also have the counter-top card stands to display them in. We shall see!

The joke of the day:

A chicken and an egg are lying in bed. The chicken is smoking a cigarette with a satisfied smile on it's face and the egg is frowning and looking a bit pissed off. The egg mutters, to no-one inparticular, "Well, I guess we answered THAT question..."

The interesting article of the day:

Rip van winkle has nothing on these guys. 32,000 years frozen in water. Add a little heat and maybe a slap in the face, they snap back to life.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7064

Uh oh, I think they forgot about all those science fiction stories where the creature from the past is brought to the present. I think you know where this is going!

2005-02-24T22:09:00.000-08:00

Stars and swirls

2005-02-24T22:07:00.000-08:00

Hearts and stars

Christmas tree lights

2005-02-24T21:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I have to amuse myself somehow, don't I? So, tonight I played around taking photos of the Christmas tree lights. Yes, I still have my Christmas tree up! Doesn't everyone?

Joke of the day:

Senators William Spong of Virginia and Hiram Fong of Hawaii sponsored a bill recommending the mass ringing of church bells to welcome the arrival of the U.S.Table Tennis Team in Hong Kong after its tour of Communist China. The bill failed to pass, thus cheating the Senate out of passing the"Spong-Fong Hong Kong Ping Pong Ding Dong Bell Bill."

n.b. I am not sure if this is true, but it could be. They were both in the senate at the same time in the seventies.

Interesting article of the day:

Another story about a machine attached to an animal. Or is it an animal attached to a machine? This time it is monkeys who can make a robotic arm move with nothing except their brain waves. Has implications for paraplegics and quadraplegics.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4275245.stm

2005-02-23T22:06:00.000-08:00

Beauty in death?

The end of the road for the rose

2005-02-23T21:54:00.000-08:00

Tonight I shot the same rose as appeared in this blog a few days ago, but now the rose is dead.

Joke of the day:

Einstein dies and goes to heaven. At the Pearly Gates, Saint Peter tells him, "You look like Einstein, but you have NO idea the lengths that some people will go to sneak into Heaven. Can you prove who you really are?" Einstein ponders for a few seconds and asks, "Could I have a blackboard and some chalk?"Saint Peter snaps his fingers and a blackboard and chalk instantly appear. Einstein proceeds to describe with arcane mathematics and symbols his theory of relativity. Saint Peter is suitably impressed. "You really ARE Einstein!" he says. "Welcome to heaven!" The next to arrive is Picasso. Once again, Saint Peter asks for credentials. Picasso asks, "Mind if I use that blackboard and chalk?" Saint Peter says, "Go ahead." Picasso erases Einstein's equations and sketches a truly stunning mural with just a fewstrokes of chalk. Saint Peter claps. "Surely you are the great artist you claim to be!" he says. "Come on in!" Then Saint Peter looks up and sees George W. Bush. Saint Peter scratches his head and says, "Einstein and Picasso both managed to prove their identity. How can you prove yours?"George W. looks bewildered and says, "Who are Einstein and Picasso?" Saint Peter sighs and says, "Come on in, George."

Interesting article of the day:

An entire galaxy with no stars!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/4288633.stm

Think maybe they forgot to take the lens cap off? Like it has never happened to you!

Oops.

2005-02-23T09:43:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Peggi for correcting me on three points. Opal the cat is Jessica's (her daughter), not hers. The correct spelling is sphinx, not sphnix, and that green stuff is moss, not lichens. I already made the corrections. In other news, I got my 512K memory stick for the camera last night which makes me very happy. Now, instead of only being able to shoot about 20 images before having to start deleting when I am in the field, I can shoot about 320. I have some backup batteries coming too, which, along with the battery charger that runs off the cigarette lighter that I got yesterday, should complete the package for the T3.

2005-02-22T21:02:00.000-08:00

The "fun room" at work

2005-02-22T21:01:00.000-08:00

The daily flower shot

2005-02-22T21:00:00.000-08:00

Red curb, green moss

2005-02-22T20:58:00.000-08:00

Eucalyptus leaves in swirling slime

Variety of shots

2005-02-22T20:34:00.000-08:00

I took all these on my lunch hour again today. Ok, maybe the inside one was a little later. Anyway, they are all quite different. I am having a terrible time limiting myself to one shot a day, as you can see. Selecting one over another is like choosing one child over another. Maybe it is a character flaw. I have trouble choosing. Which is why I seldom finish anything. I keep getting distracted by other things I like or want to do.

Today I am initiating the joke of the day on my blog and here is today's

Joke of the day:

A man goes to the doctor. He says, "Doc, you gotta check my leg. Something's wrong. Just put your ear up to my thigh, you'll hear it!" The doctor cautiously placed his ear to the man's thigh only to hear, "Gimme 20 bucks, I really need 20 bucks." "I've never seen or heard anything like this before, how long has this been going on?" asked the doctor. "That's nothing Doc. Put your ear to my knee." The doctor put his ear to the man's knee and heard it say, "Man, I really need 10 dollars, just lend me 10 bucks!!" "Sir," said the dumbfounded Doctor, "I really don't know what to tell you. I've never encountered anything like this before." "Wait Doc, that's not it. There's more, just put your ear up to my ankle," the man urged. The doctor did as the man said and heard the ankle plead, "Please, I just need 5 dollars. Lend me 5 bucks if you will." "I have no idea what to tell you," the doctor said. "There's nothing about it in my books," he said. "However, I can make a well educated guess though. Based on life experience I can tell you that your leg seems to be broke in three places."

And I promised to add an interesting article every day. Here is the one for today.

Interesting article of the day

It is a list of the 100 best gadgets of all time. Hey, look! It includes Lite Brite and Etch-a-Sketch, two toys that I really enjoyed many years ago.

http://www.mobilepcmag.com/features/2005_03/top100gadgets.html

2005-02-21T18:30:00.000-08:00

Jewlery tray

2005-02-21T18:29:00.000-08:00

The Sphinx (Jessica's cat Opal)

2005-02-21T18:27:00.000-08:00

Cala Lily

Cala lily and jewlery

2005-02-21T18:19:00.000-08:00

The shot for yesterday is the Cala lily. Like I said, I am a sucker for flowers. And Cala lilies are among the most beautiful, in my mind. The shot for today is jewlery on a sidewalk vendor's tray. The vendor had not yet put all the pieces in their places, and the jumble of rings and pendants and pins caught my eye. I think I will also toss in a shot of Peggi's cat, Opal. Still concentrating on the tiny T3.

I want to thank all the famous presidents born in February for giving me the day off today.

2005-02-20T00:50:00.000-08:00

The bar scene

2005-02-20T00:48:00.000-08:00

What kind of girl do you want to be?

An evening in the Mission

2005-02-19T23:28:00.000-08:00

Two very different shots tonight. The little girl was a charming kibitzer at the table where I was playing chess tonight at La Boheme in the Mission. I was playing with Alice Rules at the time, an old friend from the Haight. She had me on the ropes the second game, but I managed to swindle a victory. The little girl is really much prettier than the photograph makes her appear, but it is fun to capture the odd expression now and then. Her mother, who was also there playing chess, wants a copy.

The photo in the bar was an experiment using the candlelight mode of the T3. I thought it worked fairly well considering I was holding the camera steady on the bar without benefit of a tripod.

2005-02-18T19:46:00.000-08:00

Building corner

2005-02-18T19:44:00.000-08:00

Trees and clouds reflected in windows

2005-02-18T19:36:00.000-08:00

Ice plant

Which photo to post?

2005-02-18T19:22:00.000-08:00

Some days it seems like none of the photos I took were worth posting and other days I have several and can't figure out which I like best. So, today I am posting three, all of which I took on my lunch hour. The flower is almost too easy, but I am a sucker for flowers and I think this one has nice colors. When I came back from lunch, the clouds were reflecting nicely off the building I work in, so I shot a couple of them and I like them both about the same. So I am posting both of them. Today is a three-fer. Enjoy.

I deleted stuff from this post about my job, as it might not be appropriate if some of my fellow employees read it.