Here are a couple of photos of a really simple subject: an old speed limit sign. It doesn’t get much easier than this. I just needed some reasonable light, and the ability to get my subject in the frame, which I got. I have post processed these pretty much the same - tighten up the contrast levels a bit, bump the saturation levels a bit. These are 1/2 original size. Extra mgapixels don’t make these pictures any better. No cropping, as I tried to frame my subject tightly right in camera. I didn’t have all day to think about it either, as I was walking with a guest.

Photo attempt #1:

This is pretty much my standard shooting without thinking about it result. It’s not the worst picture in the world. It does have quite a few issues. There are distracting elements behind the top of the sign, the concrete block, the rail road crossing sign, and the piled up bright orange snow fence. I decided the tire was part of the commentary of the old sign.

Photo attempt #2

I reviewed the first photo, noting the above issues, and moved my camera down a foot, since we are talking imperial here. That’s right, a foot down and pointing slightly more up is all the difference between these two pictures. This is a better picture. I managed to hide all the original distracting elements behind the sign. I introduced a new distracting element, the warehouse peaking over the hill on the far left. It’s not too bad, as I’m trying to get a bit of the road in there. I also find the horizon distracting, as the hill line coming down to the left distracts from the horizontal line of the top sign border.

I managed to be quite consistent about framing, cutting off the tip of the right sign post both times. I’d have made a third attempt if I’d had more time, as I did notice that at the time. I also might try to get a little more of the road in, if it doesn’t introduce more background buildings. I’d also get the camera down more, to try and get the hill behind it and get the top of the sign in the sky. I would also consider opening up the aperture to blur the background a bit, although I would need a full SLR to do that - I suspect my new Canon S100 was at wide open already. If I’m trying to show the road, putting the sign more to the right might help too, although it would cut off the tire.

I’m not sure if I should have gotten closer and done with a wider angle. This picture is at roughly 50mm in 35mm film terms. If I backed up and went longer, I’d get rid of the other elements, which might be good if I want just the sign. But if I go wider, I can get more of the road in, at the risk of getting other distracting stuff.

So, overall, picture #2 is better, but could use improvement. I’ll try to visit this spot again next week and try this photo again.

Consider this video - if you have not seen it, is well worth watching for it’s elegance in showing the complex nature of this robot’s transition from free-flight in space to being on Martius firma, all in six minutes, where every last planned event has to go off exactly as planned to get this 2.5 billion dollar 1 ton beast on the ground, ready for it’s next journey:

You could consider this a piece of science fiction, speculation on what might happen - someday. But that day is coming, August 6th to be precise, and if everyone converted their American Imperial to Metric properly this time, we might actually get to see the results some some extraordinary science being done for the very first time. Lest we forget, Opportunity is still doing amazing science, now beginning it’s 9th year of operation on Mars. Some people’s cars don’t last that long. This robot is our eyes on another world formerly imagined - now being seen from above and on the ground for real.

I hope that NASA can keep turning science fiction into science.

I see you’ve been busy in your new role as heaven’s technology innovator. I really thought you’d take it easy for a bit, but no, you’re right back in it, stirring things up as you always did in the mortal world. But I have to ask: what did I do to deserve today?

I’m sure you had nothing to do with our internet/phone connection literally being dug up (that was human stupidity along the lines of move the equipment, but forget to move the buried trunk line before demolishing the building). However, did you really have to rub my face in how bad the windows world is for lack of coordinated design? Yes, I know only three USB ports right on top of each other sucks, with me having to choose between keyboard, mouse, internet stick, and a Blackberry, which I was trying to figure out how to suck internet off of. Yes, I know that the same system is a steaming pile of cruddy 3rd party software bloat slowing it down to a crawl while I try to research and install software. But I didn’t need to sit half the afternoon on it while I’ve got other people needing internet sticks installed. I also didn’t need to be reminded how our Windoze boxen become sloth like because they keep trying to authenticate to a connection that I know has been snipped, but I have no way to stop the madness. I also didn’t need to be reminded about the bloatware that is Roger’s Rocket Stick installer - trying to install while virus scanners that I can’t turn off are fighting me for every CPU cycle. On the way home at the liquor store, I didn’t need a POS Windows system (that’s Point of Sales, as well as the obvious) acting up not scanning my nectar of Lethe. To top it all off, I didn’t need every friggin’ piece of software I have on my home machine nag me for updates, and reboots when I sit down at home. It’s like coming home to a virtual nagging wife.

For what ever I did to offend you, I’m SORRY! Oh, and can you lay off the Blackberry servers for just a bit? I really need them to work right now while we don’t have a working internet connection.

Perhaps it’s just that KD has been in the news. Today, I see that Kraft Canada has been “cease and desisting” a local teacher trying to teach students how to eat less crap - ie there are alternatives to KD. He called his program “Kick the KD”, with a logo that is certainly evocative of the KD brand. While I have no problem with the company protecting it’s brand, I do have a problem with the media trying to make a story out of nothing. Kraft asks teacher to stop using their brand marks in advertising his course. Teacher complies. This is not a story.

Hell, I can come up with a better story for the media to cover. How’s this grab you:

Man Eats Kraft Dinner from 1999 and Lives to Tell the Tale

Calgary Random Blogger has an amazing tale to tell of having eaten a Kraft Dinner brand Macaroni & Cheese that expired in December 1999, and having suffered no ill effects. According to Random, “It still tasted good, even though the noodles seemed to be loosing their integrity”. Random Blogger discovered the pack of noodles in the back of his cupboard, having a hankering after seeing a recent news article about Kraft persecuting teachers trying to teach courses about better eating. “I saw the expiry date, Dec 30th 1999 and thought, what the hell, what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger, right?” quips Random Blogger, “besides, I have faith in the quality of Kraft’s preservatives, a company with Krafts’ reputation will make sure it’s products have enough high quality preservatives to way outlast any ‘best before’ date”. No word from Kraft Canada on if there are any preservatives that would extend the lifespan of it’s product out 12 years past the recommended ‘best before’ date.

True story, I have yet to die and it’s been 30 minutes since I’ve eaten the whole box. To be fair, I did have some salad with that so maybe that made a difference.

Okay - It wasn’t quite that long ago, but I did drink some very good beer from Big Rock sometime ago. It’s been gone a long time now…

But it’s back! May 1st! In stores! The beer is… Magpie!!! (Read the link if don’t know about what is one of the few rye ales out there)

I regularly visit Big Rock Restaurant, and the beer store attached to it, both of which are well worth a visit if you are looking for lunch in the 52 St / Glenmore SE industrial area. I have been lamenting the loss of Magpie pretty much every time I drop into the beer store. I kept getting the same response for the last while. Something along the lines of ‘We hear that a lot. Have patience, it might be back sometime.’ Thus, my continual lamentation. Teasing Ralph with beer bad. Ralph no happy. Ralph keep pestering Big Rock to bring back beer.

Last time I was in the beer store I get a different response. Do you have a few minutes? Come with me. We go upstairs to what is normally used as a wind down space after the beer tours, where they have some taps that you can sample the normal Big Rock products. Except now there are no normal products there, only a bunch of new beers I have never seen before, except the Magpie. My excitement is building - Magpie returns AND a bunch of new specialty beers? Could Big Rock be back to it’s roots of brewing good beer, domestic be damned?

We belly up to the bar, where sample glasses are being poured. Magpie must be had first - it is true to what I remember - must stock up when this one comes out, May 1st I have been told. I continue down the line and quickly come to the conclusion that Big Rock is back when it comes to brewing unique specialty beers that are different from the standard domestic mold. It’s been a month since I sampled them so forgive my beer and age inhibited memory.

There is a picture of an IPA that I believe is the new bitter. According to Big Rock, it’s very bitter. For you hop heads out there I would say it’s on the bitter side, but not extreme. It mellows to a nice floral aftertaste as you have a few sips. Could pair very well with a curry. There was a cherry beer that is going to be popular with the ladies - these tend to be too sweet sometimes, but Big Rock has resisted that and made something a little more citrus like, not to heavy on the cherry flavor. It will make an excellent summer beer for when you can’t decide between a cooler and a beer. There was an oak aged beer that I wasn’t too fond of. If you like that oak aged Innis & Gunn’s beer you should check this one out when it’s out. There was another heavy roast beer than had a wonderful smokey flavor - complex with changing flavors that I can’t even peg until I sit down with a whole glass. Woe is me - so much beer to choose from in front of me I didn’t have time to properly enjoy them. I can’t even remember the others. I think we were at around 7 taps, so there is at least one more, there might have been a tap of Trad or such mixed in there I didn’t notice.

According to the Big Rock Blog, it’s all part of there new Brewmaster’s Series of beers. Everyone of them different, with the first one being the triumphant return of Magpie. Now, unfortunately, it’s not a permanent return - it’s supposed to be one of a seasonal rotation of beers. The blog only has a hint of what is to come, (post to follow soon according to them). At least when the Magpie rotates out, I’ll have others to look forward to!

{edit Apr 15th} Went to the Big Rock for lunch today. Due to production issues with the new packaging, Magpie is delayed until the end of May. The good news is that Magpie is available on tap in the restaurant now!

So now we get to the fun part - the pizza. It lived up to it’s name “rizin’ crust”. Actually has 4 pieces of Pepperoni per 1/4 pizza. The cheese looks like cheese and seems to be there in a not too skimpy amount. First bite…

Hmmm. Not that bad. (Why yes, I *am* writing this while I’m eating the pizza!) Second bite. Crust is kinda doughy, some crispy on the outside - passable. Cheese is standard for a cheap pizza. Third bite - get a whole piece of peperoni in this time. The peperoni is not that bad, actually has a bit of kick to it - unlike the usual bland crap you see. Forth bite - get the crust edge this time. Perhaps shouldv’e kept it in for a minute more - not quite as crispy as I’d like. Stop writing now to finish off the piece. The tomato sauce is pretty bland, and a little too sweet.

Overall verdict: This pizza is a cut below the standard Mcain or Kraft rising crust, but not that far below. I actually think it’s better than say, a Little Caeser’s (more topping), definitely better than Pizza Hut, which is the worst grease fest pizza ever in my books. For $3, this is a steal of a deal for a 12″ pizza, feeds two hungry people, or one hungry teenager. As always, YMMV. I can’t find a web site for them, although I did find a reference to food poisoning (eep!). You’ll just have to head over to Walmart and get one of these things if you want to try it. If the pizza doesn’t agree with me, I’ll definitely write a follow up, assuming I live.

For DSLR owners, (and some high end point and shoot cameras I think) life is not so fun. As designers of cameras from a film background, Canon and Nikon built sensors on a 3:2 ratio. You take these pictures and put them on a 4:3 frame and you will get one of several possibilities, possibly under your control if the frame supports it:
- Fit the picture to the more square 4:3 ratio - everything gets distorted. People will seem to be fatter or thinner depending on the orientation of your frame.
- Auto crop of the short sides to take it down to 4:3 If you’ve been composing carefully and care about what is on the edge of your photo, this will drive you nuts.
- Fit the picture as is, leaving black areas on the long sides of the frame. Probably the best option - at least the picture is left as is.

The only solution if you want proper control is to do what the photo labs used to do for your 8X10’s - crop the photos yourself to intelligently remove the unimportant bits - you might as well resize them for the native resolution of the frame at the same time. You can get a lot of pictures on even the paltry 16MB some frames give you for in-frame storage - the native resolution will take up way less space than the much larger original picture from your camera.

So, what I want is a 3:2 picture frame to display my DSLR pictures without having to crop. I had briefly looked for one when I bought my last 15″ frame - no luck finding any and I had not yet had the pleasure of going through every photo I wanted to put on the frame and tweaking it. Now that I’ve done some of that, I REALLY want a 3:2 frame. Surely by now there is some “professional grade” digital photo frame to satisfy the picky photographer like me?

My initial search turned up nothing. Barely even a mention of photo ratios out there. Tuning my search to a discussion of photo ratios - I find I was wrong - - it turns out that Philips did make a 7″ 3:2, yet they dropped it, probably because people like me never found their product in a sea of generic and brand name frames available today.

What surprises me is that a company like Sony, which has absorbed Minolta, has not had the camera people talk to the digital frame people and point out that a quality 3:2 digital frame might be a high margin seller with all the consumer SLR owners out there who have a bit of dosh to spend for convenience and quality. Actually, working for big companies myself, I’m not *that* surprised that the left hand hasn’t talked to the right hand.

At any rate - Sony, Canon, Nikon - you have a niche you have not filled yet - high end frames tailored for your high end DSLR’s. 3:2 ratio - better LCD’s of computer display grade - I know I’d pay 2X over the current price of a 15″ if I could get something like this.

Dear Mr. Obhrai,

As a voter in the riding of Calgary East, I wanted to drop you a line regarding the current government’s plan to make the long form census optional. I do not support the optional aspect. I work as a data analyst, working with statistics and having a good knowledge of general statistical theory. I agree with those statisticians who have come out saying that results from the proposed census changes would result in bias data. The results coming from this proposal would not be as accurate - in fact I believe that the results would for the most part be ignored by most groups outside the government - leaving the government using flawed data to make important decisions about where to allocate our money. I feel this is an important decision - I rarely have offered anyone in any government my opinion on anything, yet I do so today because I feel the government is about to make a mistake that will affect pretty much every program the government rolls out to help its citizens.

I don’t buy the government’s argument that there have been many complaints - if so, please provide evidence to back this up.

What I would like to see is a review of the questions being asked on the long form census - if we need to remove some questions deemed objectionable by the public, removal is a better option than making the whole long form optional. I feel an open debate where statisticians, policy makers and politicians among others can argue the merits of the questions against the privacy of the citizens of this country would be more productive by far than what seems like an arbitrary move by the government to change the requirements for answering the long form census.

Thank you for your time,

Past Conservative voter, Calgary East.

I can live with that. I’ll even put up with the waste of cash that is “own the podium”. Are we that vain that we must worry about our medal count?

What’s got me got me ticked is the media making it look like everyone is going to be watching the Olympic hockey. According to the media, everyone was watching the Swiss / Canada men’s game. Well, for the record, most people I know didn’t watch it, including me. I would say there is a whole third of the country who doesn’t care about hockey, or any other sports for that matter.

So, quite treating the Olympics like it’s news and put it in the sports section where it belongs. The third of us who don’t give a rat’s ass about sports will thank you.