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