Top Ten Charts of 2010 | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.

Top Ten Charts of 2010 | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.

Video Barbie in FBI Cross Hairs | Threat Level | Wired.com

Video Barbie in FBI Cross Hairs | Threat Level | Wired.com

Canon 7D vs. Barbie Video Girl from Brandon Bloch on Vimeo.

YouTube - Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

YouTube - Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!: ""

Wow. Best campaign ad of the year.

Summer Camp

Is CO2 the cause? - Pt 1 of 4

Instructions on Using Your Rotary Phone

Mourning in America vs. Morning in America

Gmail Supports IMAP4

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/10/gmail-supports-imap.html

OK, this news is a mere 23 months old, but I just learned it today.  A great reason to use GMail is it is one of the few (only?) free online e-mail sites to support IMAP4.  What's that mean?  Well it allows you to use a great E-mail program like Thunderbird from Mozilla while you are at home.  Anything you do, like sending messages, deleting messages, etc at home will also be recorded online.

Then when you travel you can still use GMail online.  It's the best of both worlds, and the equivalent of how large corporation handle e-mail by keeping your e-mail on a central server that you can access and manipulate just like Outlook.

Further thoughts on the higher education bubble |

Glenn Harlan Reynolds: Further thoughts on the higher education bubble | Washington Examiner:

"Right now, people are still borrowing heavily to pay the steadily increasing tuitions levied by higher education. But that borrowing is based on the expectation that students will earn enough to pay off their loans with a portion of the extra income their educations generate. Once people doubt that, the bubble will burst.

So my advice to students faced with choosing colleges (and graduate schools, and law schools) this coming year is simple: Don’t go to colleges or schools that will require you to borrow a lot of money to attend. There’s a good chance you’ll find yourself deep in debt to no purpose. And maybe you should rethink college entirely. "

You're never too young to learn that your government sucks.

Portland lemonade stand runs into health inspectors, needs $120 license to operate | OregonLive.com

Google Chrome Extensions that I Like

AdBlock - Version: 2.0.18 AdBlock for Chrome! Blocks ads all over the web. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars by our users!

AdThwart - Version: 0.9.26 Blocks ads using the Firefox AdBlock Plus filter engine. Kiss ads goodbye and browse in peace!

Blog This! (by Google) - Version: 0.0.7 Add a BlogThis! button to the browser toolbar, which lets you post to your Blogger blog from any webpage with just one click.

Click&Clean - Version: 5.3.0.0 Deletes your browsing history, typed URLs, Flash cookies, all traces of your online activity to protect your privacy.

Downloads - Version: 1 Access the Downloads window directly from the toolbar

Google Calendar Checker (by Google) - Version: 1.0.3 Quickly see the time until your next meeting. Click the button to open your calendar.

Google Mail Checker Plus - Version: 1.1.7 Displays the number of unread messages in your Gmail and Google Apps inbox. Preview mail, read, delete, archive and mark as spam!

Woot! - Version: 1.1 Want to see what's for sale today at Woot? There's an app...Er, I mean, we can help.

Xmarks Bookmarks and Password Sync - Version: 0.8.43 Backup and sync your bookmarks, passwords and open tabs across computers and browsers. Xmarks is also available for Firefox, Safari and IE.

Orlando Real Estate Financing Data

The percentage of Orlando real estate transactions completed on an all cash basis has increased dramatically over the past years. Reasons include:

A significant number of investor buyers who are not able to secure financing and therefore must pay cash, and
A significant number of properties that are ineligible for financing, such as very low priced condos and properties that need intensive rehabilitation.
All Cash Transactions
Year % of All-Cash Transactions
2010 51.09
2009 41.38
2008 20.26
2007 8.95
2006 6.56
2005 9.28
2004 10.48
2003 9.50
2002 10.03

Unbelievable Plots from the History Channel Network

Read the Whole thing:

I think the worst offender here is the History Channel and all their programs on the so-called "World War II".

Let's start with the bad guys. Battalions of stormtroopers dressed in all black, check. Secret police, check. Determination to brutally kill everyone who doesn't look like them, check. Leader with a tiny villain mustache and a tendency to go into apopleptic rage when he doesn't get his way, check. All this from a country that was ordinary, believable, and dare I say it sometimes even sympathetic in previous seasons.

I wouldn't even mind the lack of originality if they weren't so heavy-handed about it. Apparently we're supposed to believe that in the middle of the war the Germans attacked their allies the Russians, starting an unwinnable conflict on two fronts, just to show how sneaky and untrustworthy they could be? And that they diverted all their resources to use in making ever bigger and scarier death camps, even in the middle of a huge war? Real people just aren't that evil. And that's not even counting the part where as soon as the plot requires it, they instantly forget about all the racism nonsense and become best buddies with the definitely non-Aryan Japanese.

New Laptop

I was about getting a little netbook as the family portable computer.  We are in need of an inexpensive portable computer to take with us on trips and the boat.  But wasn't really happy with the price / performance formula you get with the netbook.  The screen resolutions seem poor, the processor and memory seem slight and the operating system that comes with it is crippled.  To get the battery life you want, the 2GB memory you need for performance, and the newest processors you are spending close to $400.

So I started looking at laptops.  But they tend to be pretty big and have much less battery life.  I finally settled on a Toshiba T135-S1305.  It has a very nice 13.3" screen, 320GB Hard Drive, Intel Pentium SU4100 low power dual processor and 3GB of memory.  It also shipped with the Windows 7 Home Premium OS.

Now I need to populate it with my software.  The list is:

1. Microsoft Security Essentials AntiVirus and Spyware protection.  (the laptop shipped with Norton, which demands payment after 90 days.  ick, get rid of it and replace it with Microsoft's free software.)
2. Itunes (of course)
3. Chrome (plus a host of extensions including AdThwart, BlogThis, Click & Clean, Downloads, Google Calendar Checker, Google Mail Checker Plus, Woot!, and Xmarks Bookmarks Sync plus Adobe Flash player and Shockwave)
4. Open Office (free!)
5. Photoshop and Premiere Elements (not free, but essential!)
6. Picassa (also free!)
7. Google Earth (fun!)
8. And of course all of the family's printer drivers

So it will be quite the project.

This About Sums It Up

Father's Day Request

The Road to Serfdom as a Comic Book @ AMERICAN DIGEST

The Road to Serfdom as a Comic Book @ AMERICAN DIGEST

FSYO Symphonic Orchestra Mahler 1 Parts 1 and 2

Eric is playing the right side timpani drums

Arizona Sing-A-Long: Read Immigration Law!

WPHS Wind Ensemble "Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral"

shot with Kodak ZI8 camcorder from balcony.

Singing for the Nerds

May the (musical) force be with you - OrlandoSentinel.com

Betsy is singing this weekend in the chorus for Star Wars Live Musical event. While I am somewhat confused by this, it is a HUGE event and close to a sellout.

Here's the important bit for those of you thinking about attending:

"Star Wars in Concert" presents live orchestral music in an era when local and regional orchestras struggle and generations have never gotten into the live classical music habit. So as much as Daniels and the producers encourage fans to show up in costume — "You know, that one you've got tucked away in the attic," Daniels cracks — there's another mission in this tour.

Adagio for Strings.flv

St. Luke's School of the Arts

Presents

A Night of Percussion

Monday May 10, 2010

Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber

Performed by Erik Chmura, Peter Grant, Eric Lundeen, Will Teegarden

TLC Cooking "Wok Cooking"

TLC Cooking "Wok Cooking"

Not Evil Just Wrong – The True Cost of Global Warming Hysteria

Not Evil Just Wrong – The True Cost of Global Warming Hysteria

Be a Wok Star: Stir Frying without recipes

Be a Wok Star: Stir Frying without recipes

Weekend at the Dog Park

Saturday and Sunday trips to the dog park. Shot on my new D5000 with 18-55mm zoom. I need to find other willing subjects to photograph. The 35mm AF-S DX f/1.8 arrived today. that is a fast prime lens for shooting indoors. Maybe I'll take some shots updating the ruins project...

Calvin and Hobbes Snow Art Gallery

Calvin and Hobbes Snow Art Gallery

Picture of the day

I took my new Nikon D5000 to the dog park this morning to try out the telephoto lens.

We normally go to great lengths to wipe the slobber off Hoover's lips, but I really didn't want to get my new camera slobbered on. This shot is from about 50' away and is uncropped.  Click on the picture for a larger image.

Digital SLR on the Way

I have a Nikon D5000 DSLR camera on the way.  It has been years since I last used my Konica SLR film camera.  I am thinking about attending a class or two to get back up to speed.  Harmon Photo in Orlando offers a bunch of them.  In the meantime, I am getting e-mails from them on photography tips.

Tip of the Week
Photography Tips: Shooting In Manual Mode
By Tom Marvin

When people get their first good digital camera, many feel they can take photographs like the pros. And they really do get better photos than they have in the past, partly because of the instant feedback of looking at the photos, and partly because of the technology in today's digital cameras.However, to really move to the next level of photography, let me suggest you learn to do three things with your camera. 

1. Learn to shoot in manual mode. 
2. Learn to shoot in RAW.
3. Learn how to use a good flash. 

If you learn to master these three things, you'll be on your way to being a photographer instead of a person with a nice camera.It amazes me how many people see one of my professional cameras and a large lens attached and comment, "You must be able to get some nice photos with a camera like that."

The camera is just the tool. Learning to master the tool is what makes a craftsman.

First, a person should learn to shoot in manual mode. Shooting in manual mode is the only way to truly learn photography. I know some people who get great photographs and contribute to microstock photo sites, but still don't know how to shoot their camera's in manual mode.They don't know an f-stop from a shutter speed. They don't know why their sports photographs come out blurry. All they know is if they keep the camera on one of the automatic modes the photos come out good most of the time. 

If you want to learn how to control depth of field, or how to stop action, or took good photos in low light, you have to get a good grip on how f-stops, shutter speed and film speed all affect the amount of light that hits the sensor of the digital camera. 

Even though technology has changed from film to digital sensors, photography is still about light. Light creates the image in a digital photograph, just like it did on film. A good exposure is making sure the right amount of light is hitting the sensor. 

There are four ways to change the exposure:

1. Change the f-stop on the lens. 
2. Change the shutter speed. 
3. Change the iso (film speed/sensor sensitivity) 
4. Change the lighting.If you shoot in automatic mode, chances are you camera will only take advantage of one or two of these. It may be able to do all four, but may choose to do the wrong one.
 
To be continued......

Our Little Percussionist

Eric has been working hard getting ready for the All County Band performance
this Saturday night.

"I" x 132 = how many jobs?

Best line: "This is not about me."

Cartoon of the day from Don Surber

Cartoon of the day- Don Surber

POTUS bring TOTUS to 6th grade class speech

Photo from Getty Images

I really wish this were not true.

From Boing Boing

UN climate chief admits mistake on Himalayan glaciers warning

UN climate chief admits mistake on Himalayan glaciers warning - Times Online

They gave the panel a Nobel Peace Prize for this report:

The 2007 report, which won the panel the Nobel Peace Prize, said that the probability of Himalayan glaciers “disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high”. It caused shock in Asia, where about two billion people depend on meltwater from Himalayan glaciers for their fresh water supplies during the dry seasons.

It emerged last week that the prediction was based not on a consensus among climate change experts but on a media interview with a single Indian glaciologist in 1999. That scientist, Syed Hasnain, has now told The Times that he never made such a specific forecast in his interview with the New Scientist magazine.

I guess the facts were just too damn good to check!

An Obama Voter Laments

Mortimer B. Zuckerman is chairman and editor in chief of U.S. News & World Report who voted for The Won, had his magazine endorse him, now laments his support.

He's Done Everything Wrong

Five states got deals on health care—one of them was Harry Reid’s. It is disgusting, just disgusting. I’ve never seen anything like it. The unions just got them to drop the tax on Cadillac plans in the health-care bill. It was pure union politics. They just went along with it. It’s a bizarre form of political corruption. It’s bribery. I suppose they could say, that’s the system. He was supposed to change it or try to change it.

Better late than never for Zuckerman.

Playmobil Airport Security Checkpoint

Amazon.com: Playmobil Security Check Point: Toys & Games

Can't make this stuff up. Must read the comments.

Our Little Percussionist is off to All-State

Not Time's Man of the Year

Oh my.  In a vote more shocking than a Tampa Bay Buccaneer victory -- look who is not Time Magazines Man of the Year.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/why-time-passed-obama-by/article1415232/

A few choice quotes from the article:

It's an uncomfortable pivot from the audacity of hope to buyer's remorse. Very uncomfortable for those in the media who played the cheerleader for Mr. Obama, who skated by controversies that would have sunk other candidates or abandoned the ruthless investigations they would have pressed on less congenial candidates. 

The ferocity they applied to the Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, in contrast with the timidity they brought to his campaign, will in time come to be seen as one of the most shameful episodes in American journalism. Not so much for what they did to Ms. Palin, but for what they neglected to do in examining the candidate for the office that really counted. In some curious way, the U.S. media's bulldogging of Ms. Palin was kind of an inverted compensation for what they weren't doing to him.