Happy 21st Birthday, Johanna!
ppp|
|ppp
Biographical Note: Johanna is one of my cousins on my mom’s side of the family – the daughter of my mother’s sister Christine and her husband John.
Johanna
Leave a reply
Author Archives: Peter
A cheap, portable digicam?
So as my regular readers know, I recently ***purchased a new camera|http://prwdot.org/archives/002432.html***. This camera is considerably larger and less-portable than my previous camera. It certainly won’t fit in any pocket of any article of clothing that I own, and I wouldn’t want to attempt to carry it everywhere. I’ve been looking for a nice, big, not-quite-professional-grade camera like this for a while, and I’m loving it.
My previous camera, the Canon Powershot A70, was portable, but not really all that portable. Though it could fit in a pocket, it was not terribly comfortable to carry, and it was also relatively heavy, what with four AA batteries. So I never really considered it a ‘portable’ camera. In any case, I just sold it to ***Corey|http://corey.prwdot.org/***, so it’s out of the picture (no pun intended).
So what I’m looking for now is a small, inexpensive (less than $100) camera that can do at least 640×480 resolution… the type of thing I can keep in a pocket and take everywhere, to take photos on those occasions where I don’t have the Big Kahuna tagging along. My current phone, the ***Sanyo SCP-8100|http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=293***, has a camera built in… but the quality and size of the photos leave quite a bit to be desired. They are usually muddy, out of focus, grainy, and their resolution is a lot lower than my 640×480 minimum. There are some other camera phones out there with better quality, but I don’t know about pricing.
Any suggestions?
Interviews
***Michelle|http://mikao.blogspot.com/*** is currently doing an installation of her extremely cool Random Interview Project, and Becky and I are two of her latest interviewees. You can read her interview questions and our responses at the following links:
***Peter|http://mikao.blogspot.com/2005_03_01_mikao_archive.html#111091641804836973***
***Becky|http://mikao.blogspot.com/2005_03_01_mikao_archive.html#111091615795849161***
Michelle picks random questions for each interview, so you get to find out some interesting stuff about us that you might not have otherwise discovered. Enjoy!
Possessed!
Last week, I finished a book that I’ve been working on since Christmas*: aaa|The Neutronium Alchemist Part 1: Consolidation|0446605174|aaa. This book is part of a science fiction saga created by Peter F. Hamilton. Hamilton has created a huge universe, with a vast array of characters, cultures, settings, technologies, and concepts. I enjoy reading science fiction books such as this for the sheer escape value of far-out science fiction. Imagine if you will, sentient, biological starships that gestate their human captains. Or nano-scale implants that can enable humans to run programs on their own nervous systems, for example to block out emotional impulses, or tactical programs that coordinate your body’s nervous and muscle response without you even needing to think. Or souls that have come back from the dead by way of a dimensional rift, and are possessing the living, endowing them with energistic abilities and bringing some of history’s most notorious personalities back to life.
That, in a nutshell, is the universe that Hamilton has created. If you’re into far-out science fiction, with lots of weird technology, aliens, etc… this is the book for you. My one complaint is that Hamilton includes too much gratuitious sex and gore in his narrative… if it was toned down, I think it would still be a great story. But I have been able to look beyond that and enjoy the rest of the fictional universe he has created.
* It’s not a long book, and I’m not a slow reader or anything, I just don’t spend as much time on reading as I used to. These days, reading serves as a nice diversion in the middle of the work day, when I spend my 30 minute lunch break reading and eating.
Communities, on-line and in-person
In the past several years, I’ve taken the opportunity to attend meetings of a number of Boston-area special interest groups. These are groups where people interested in various specific topics meet in person to discuss whatever is on their mind. I enjoy getting to meet people in person who I’ve previously only met on-line, as well as getting to meet completely new people. I’d like to introduce you to some of those groups, and share some of my thoughts on the motivation (or lack thereof) for attending groups like this.
Continue reading
Hey, there’s no tunnel here!!!
Alas, I’ve been duped. There is, in fact, no Cape Cod Canal Tunnel. I drove down to visit Jeremy in Hyannis today, and on the way I thought I might as well stop and look for this tunnel I’d heard so much about. Well, there isn’t one. Shucks.* Anyway, I did manage to get some nice photos of the ***Sagamore Bridge|http://gallery.prwdot.org/sagamore_bridge*** area, and I also drove down and took some photos at ***Scusett Beach|http://gallery.prwdot.org/scusset_beach***. I was lucky enough to get there just in time to see a huge tanker entering the Cape Cod Canal:
ggg|scusset_beach/P1000414|Tanker in the Cape Cod Canal|ggg
Pretty sweet!
* Yes, I’m well aware that the Cape Cod Canal Tunnel bumper stickers are a joke.
Berkman Thursday Meeting
Tonight I attended the ***Berkman Thursday Meeting|http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/thursdays*** at Harvard Law School’s ***Berkman Center|http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/***. I had heard about the meeting a while ago through the ***Boston Blogger Meetup|http://blog.meetup.com/3/*** group, and had wanted to attend… and tonight I finally got around to it. I invited ***Kellan|http://laughingmeme.org/*** to come, thus killing two birds with one stone – attending a Berkman meeting, and meeting Kellan (which I’d been hoping to do since he mentioned he was going to be in Boston).
Continue reading
Rushin’ Visa
Two Russian tourist visa invitations, with vouchers: $90
Two Russian tourist visa applications, with consular fees: $200
Two visa applications mailed to the Russian consulate in NYC, with individual prepaid return postage: $23
Two excited American citizens who will be in Russia within six weeks, Russian consulate willing: priceless
Mahhhhk
Happy birthday to my cousin Mark!
ggg|nd_party/RemoteCapture_00040|Mahhhhk|ggg
This shot was taken in the Glamour Shots studio we set up at our recent ***Napoleon Dynamite Party|http://gallery.prwdot.org/nd_party***. What a great pose!
Biographical Note: Mark is one of my cousins on my dad’s side of the family – the son of my dad’s sister Joan and her husband Errol. He is a fellow lover of Taco Bell, and has recently started using an Apple laptop. He lives in Cambridge, MA and works there as well, with his company ***iZotope|http://www.izotope.com/***. Mark’s sister is none other than The Kimster, who we will soon be visiting in Russia! And, as long as I’m dropping family names, Mark’s brother is ***Scott|http://www.scottethier.com/***, a composer living in NYC.
I’m constantly in shock that I am actually related to these outstanding people!
So Digital, yet so Secure
My ***NewEgg|http://www.newegg.com/*** shipment arrived today. Included were the ***HEISEI 6-in-1 USB flash reader/writer|http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-180-212&depa=0*** ($14.49), and the ***KingMax 512 MB SecureDigital card|http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-155-257&depa=0*** ($39.91). Both arrived in excellent condition, and work just as advertised. Well done, NewEgg. The flash reader is pretty tiny – I ***have|http://gallery.prwdot.org/grab_bag/P1000301*** ***some|http://gallery.prwdot.org/grab_bag/P1000305*** ***photos|http://gallery.prwdot.org/grab_bag/P1000308*** if anyone’s interested. (the SD card in the shots is, obviously, not the 512 meg card – I was using that to take the photos…)