“One of the things I like to do in my spare time is trying to capture a specific film look.” (Source) What the author meant is: I like to use software to force an otherwise decent digital photo to resemble a photo taken with a specific type of film.
In one of the photography forums I frequent, this question arose: Is it just me, or does anyone else keep secrets from their loved ones when purchasing camera equipment? … I have occasionally bought … without saying anything (because they look very similar, so I guessed she wouldnt know the difference). Occasionally I also lie[...]
The first three points below are unrelated to the internet; it’s just that the internet has made me more aware of them. The fourth point below is almost certainly because of the internet. 1. Believing the untruth If something is true and verifiable, there are many, many people who believe it’s not true. The inverse[...]
Things you should know about me: I like charts. I’ve always like charts and comparing numbers and trends. The results don’t have to show anything; just the act of creating/reading charts is fun for me. In 2001, after a few years of intense poetry writing, I made the following chart, in a half-hearted attempt to[...]
Yes, I seem to have a fascination with expressing opinions that I know won’t be popular. Here’s another one: Too many of you own pets. Fortunately for me, my only regular readers are people who live in rural areas with larger properties than the U.S. average — so all of you fall into my one[...]
There really are such things as stupid questions. One good place to find them is in the advice columns of magazines or newspapers. Sometimes I characterize the question as stupid because the answer is (or should be) obvious. Other times it’s because the question itself says a lot about the person who asked it. The[...]
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised at how quickly the news stories shifted yesterday from “Shooting at Connecticut School” to “It’s Time To Get Rid of Guns”. But I still am always surprised at how that happens in the U.S. I suppose political activists have learned that it’s much easier to press their agenda[...]
In The News: Is Public Nudity A Form Of Free Speech? (BBC News) Answer: No.
By happenstance, I came across several “logical” arguments today that said voting is irrational. Here is one such piece, found on the New York Times’ website, published seven years ago: Why Vote?. For others try this Google search. The theory goes like this: “Because voting exacts a cost — in time, effort, lost productivity —[...]
In The News: Kill the Password: Why a String of Characters Can’t Protect Us Anymore In this five-page epistle, most of which I don’t expect anyone to read, writer Mat Honan waxes non-eloquent about how all his online accounts were hacked this summer and he lost everything, including every photo of his two-year-old daughter. I’m[...]
Title: The Raven, A Biography of Sam Houston Author: Marquis James Year: 1929 Publisher: University of Texas Press, Austin ISBN 0-292-77040-5 View it on Amazon View it on Google Books Sam Houston on Wikipedia This book was awarded the 1930 Pulitzer Prize for “Biography or Autobiography” (James is one of the very few people who’ve[...]
Flickr holds a special place in my heart, at least compared to other internet sites. I’ve spent more time on Flickr than most people have spent on Facebook or Twitter — daily participation since I joined in Sept. 2005. Not only have I uploaded over 30,000 images to my photostream (most of them now non-public),[...]
“I thought the left loved freedom of the press and open government. I guess that’s only when ‘The Man’ is someone else.” That’s what one commenter said on a news story about the federal government hoping to charge a journalist for publishing news. It’s an astute observation about the way our two-party political system works:[...]
Commentary: A record Powerball jackpot isn’t a record to celebrate (Christian Science Monitor) The editorial board of CSM concluded their piece with this: Before the news media play up the next record-setting mega-lottery like Powerball, they may want to add these kinds of caveats in their reporting. It could deter people from rushing to the[...]
Following are some passages I underlined during a reading of To Sail Beyond The Sunset (1987) by Robert A. Heinlein, the last novel he published before dying in 1988: “I remember Earth. I knew her when she was clean and green, mankind’s beautiful bride, sweet and lush and lovable… It is futile to mourn over[...]
There is a school of thought, albeit a relatively unpopular one, that poor grammar or punctuation on printed signs should be corrected with a Sharpie or other tool, vigilante style. In the News: Vigilante Copy Editor (New York Times) And there are older instances, such as this one (The Virginian-Pilot).
Following are some passages I underlined during a reading of The Cat Who Walks Through Walls: A Comedy of Manners (1985) by Robert A. Heinlein: “It does not do to encourage bad banners; one should retaliate, urbanely but firmly.”
In The News: Adobe starts subscription for Photoshop and Dreamweaver (BBC News) This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone; many software companies are moving in this direction. Instead of having to ship millions of boxes and discs every year when they upgrade the software, they’re just going to add the updates to the online[...]
Following are some passages I underlined during a reading of I Will Fear No Evil (1970) by Robert Heinlein: “…most people think of money as something to pay the rent. But a money man thinks of money in terms of what he can do with it.” “…it’s impossible for a woman to lay it on[...]
For about $5, I made this measuring cup holder that’s hidden inside a kitchen cabinet: (Copyright © 2013 by Wil C. Fry. All rights reserved.)
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