I’m resolving nothing this year… nothing. I always think New Year’s resolutions are a waste of time – we all know what to do and should get on and just do it. So that’s it – nuff said.
A few random thoughts…
- I think Twitter is a huge waste of time for the average person. That, plus people whose blogs I enjoy are blogging less and Tweeting more. Unfortunately, there is just so much information, ideas or wisdom that can be imparted in 140 characters.
- All this hype about an Apple tablet! Wow. Do I really need another device? You Betcha!
- I’m looking forward to the new Adobe Premiere CS5 suite of tools – even though I’m on a Mac.
- Okay – I lied about making a resolution – I’ll make only one and that will be to myself
- There will be a new family update soon… stay tuned
Happy new year everyone!
So the gas bill for last month is $1.67. Really! We pay in equal payments so there’s always a strange amount left at the end of the year.
My bank charges me $1.00 to pay the bill online so I figure – I’ll pay it with the “normal” payment next month. So this month’s normal payment comes is with a note saying how important it is to pay the bill on time to avoid disruption in service, bad credit, blah blah blah – late payment fee: $0.20 (so I’m still ahead of the game).
You would think that the guys who wrote the software would have something like… Gee… let me spend some time on this one… If the bill is less than a certain amount… like oh.. $2.00 just add it to the next month’s bill. Don’t send out a bill for anything under $2.00 because postage, printing, environmental impact… whatever are greater than the $2.00 we are owed.
On the other hand, they did make an extra $0.20….sheesh!
For those (few) readers that read this blog, I’d like to point out a sad, petty development in the blogosphere.
I have mentioned on many video blogs the wealth of information that can be found on Eugenia Loli’s Blog.
Eugenia is one of those prolific “helpers” that has offered many tips, written many articles and suggested a lot of solutions to many questions in the world of videography and film making (Thanks, Eugenia).
Her latest posting on her blog dealt with the (non-existance) of the much-anticipated RED camera.
A subsequent post on the RED forum lambasted her for her well-thought out and, in my opinion, honest posting. Eugenia then politely defended her thoughts on the RED forum… All of which ended up getting her banned!! How shallow can you get?!
I frequent many forums specific (amongst others) to videography and I have never seen such petty reaction to honest, polite dialogue.
The whole point of a forum is to discuss, courteously, the pros and cons of the forum’s theme. Companies pay close attention to these forums and they have great influence. Witness Canon’s addition of manual control to the 5D2 and their announcement to update the 5D2 again soon.
Are the people/moderators at RED User so thin-skinned that they cannot tolerate honest and open dialogue?!
What makes this even more annoying is that Eugenia didn’t even start the post on RED User. Someone who read her blog made the first post (where he trashed her blog) and she was merely there to defend herself. She was, again, polite, honest and, in my opinion, correct!
Shame on you, RED User!
Well… That was the season! Balena was taken out of the water today and put on her cradle for another winter. It will be April (at least) before she’s back in the water. There will have to be some maintenance done this season (ah the joys of owning a boat) and then we will, hopefully, have a better season next year!
The Interwebs are full of an announcement from Canon that say they will be adding 25p and 24p to their upcoming firmware update for the EOS 5d2. They expect the firmware to be released in the “1st half or 2010.”
I also noted that they will be releasing a new wireless bridge for the camera in December and that it will require new firmware. This leads me to believe that the new framerates will be released at that time!
I hope they also add industry-standard rates like 29.97p which will make working with the footage from different source much easier!
In the meantime…. Thanks Canon!!
So, I’m watching the saga of the “Balloon Boy” LIVE from Colorado (isn’t the internet amazing!) and I look at the balloon. I think OK… the balloon looks like it’s about 25 feet in diameter and about 5 feet in height. It turns out that it’s 20 feet in diameter and 5 feet at its deepest… pretty close
A 2 second Google search reveals that Helium (the gas in the balloon) will lift about 1 gram per liter. If the balloon were a perfect cylinder then calculating it’s volume (V=Pi*R*R*H) you would get that the balloon, at Sea level, could lift ~44Kg. And that’s at sea level – Denver, CO, which is close to their house is near the “Mile high” stadium – so the air is thinner and the balloon lifts less. Also, the balloon is very far from a perfect cylinder so say it has (erring on the safe side) about 60% to 70% of the volume so it will lift even less.
Google also has some links to standard age/weight charts and the average six-year-old kid is between 25 to 35 kilos.
If the boy was in the balloon, the balloon on the incessant video would have had a more classic “balloon” shape as the bottom would be pulled down by the weight of the boy and the helium would tend to stretch the top.
Yet there I sat listening to CNN, local news and other pundits including State Police, SAR, the National Guard and even licensed balloonists speculating that the boy was aloft and the helicopters were in hot pursuit in the event the boy would land somewhere.
When the Balloon finally reached the ground… Surprise, surprise – no Kid.
Seriously does anyone even think this way anymore?!
P.S. I’m very glad the boy was found safe and sound – his parents should definitely ground him!
We recently returned from a very special trip to Holland. I’m in the process of putting together the “photo books” but in the interim, This edition of Grist from the Mill gives a good overview of our trip.
Grist: September 2009 – Reunions
Luca’s birthday was looming and we wanted to do something special. What better than an extended boat trip?!
Grist August 2009
For all the trials and tribulations we’ve had with the pets at 228 Mill, there have also been some wonderful experiences. This unfortunately is not one of them…
Here’s the latest
Grist from the Mill for May 2009
So…
The fun continues! This time it’s a flight of fancy, so to speak. This is also an attempt at using some different hardware and software in an effort to really downsize the technology footprint here at 228mill!
A new Mac, some “interesting” software (iWork) and a whole lot of frustration went into producing this edition of…
Grist from the Mill – May 2009
