Nicole
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| here are those macro shots I warned you about |
[Nov. 20th, 2009|07:06 pm] |
NEW LENSES! First of all, if you've been reading for any length of time, you know that I hate change, even when it's fun and exciting change. So my first thought when I pulled the new 50mm out of its box? "Oh no, it looks so different than my other 50mm." As if this matters. (It looks different because it has no aperture ring--it's made for modern cameras that let you set the aperture on the camera body instead of the old-school method of turning a ring on the lens itself. It also has less writing on it around the focus ring.)
And then I pulled out the 105mm, which is big and heavy (not massive, but it's my biggest lens for sure). It's so long, especially on my crop-sensor D300, that it's going to be practically useless indoors--as it is I never even use my 85mm indoors--except for using it for detail shots. Which is where the macro capability comes in handy. It is capable of 1:1 magnification, which means that it can reproduce an image on its sensor in exactly the same size it is in real life. I've never had this before.
So, on to the test pictures. These aren't all that inspired, although I kinda like them. It rained on and off all day and was overcast and gray so I didn't get much opportunity to go outside and really play around with what I could do with flowers/plants/etc. But here's one of a bud in my backyard.
Look at how creamy & smooth the background is.
( then I came inside and took pictures of a pear ) |
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| weird science fact of the day |
[Nov. 20th, 2009|03:38 pm] |
Hedgehogs get MS. Except that in hedgehogs it's called - I'm not making this up - Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome.
Maybe I should start heading my Injectable Science posts "WGS". |
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| The Sad Review of the Grossbarts |
[Nov. 20th, 2009|09:38 am] |
Hi,
So I was really jazzed to pick up The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington. I mean, just look at that cover (go on, I'll wait). I want a print of that cover. And the basic blurb also seemed really great. Two grave-robbing brothers set out on a journey to avoid punishment for their heinous crimes and to loot the tombs of Egypt. Seemed like a black comedy kind of deal. Some Dying Earth mixed with Warhammer fantasy kind of deal.
Yeah, not so much.
So, in the very first chapter, the protagonists basically murder a family in cold (but creative) blood and then flee. Obviously, you're not going to be rooting for these guys and you expect some sort of grandiose comeuppance. Their behavior will get worse and worse and then they'll get hoist by their own petard and hey presto -- catharsis! The brothers are thoroughly selfish bastards who see themselves as being the agents of the Virgin Mary and sometimes their self-justifications for their terrible behavior is kinda funny. But mostly they're just bastards and the people they don't kill, they usually drag along with them until they meet an even worse end later on. The fact that the brothers occasionally kill demons, witches, or other monsters isn't terribly redeeming since it's not clear that such evils are really any different to them from the other people they come across and kill.
In the end, yeah, they get their ironic comeuppance. But it's like two paragraphs at the end of the book (in an ending that's terribly rushed and slightly incoherent). It certainly isn't much of a payoff for wading through their bluster for so long.
Get a print of the cover, that's probably for the best.
Tom |
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| Shadowrun, anyone? |
[Nov. 20th, 2009|12:26 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  quixotic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Out of Jail - They Might Be Giants | ] |
Once upon a time, some friends and I played in a D&D "pick-up game". Whoever was free on Sundays showed up, somebody would try to pick up the story where we left off, and we tried to keep it just plotful enough to avoid being all-combat all the time. It didn't really succeed in its goals, but was fun. I've been pondering trying to start a similar idea for a Shadowrun pick-up game, one of the advantages of which being that Shadowrun is a world better suited for a revolving gallery of characters and fluctuations in mood.
( And so I present: The Weekenders ) |
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| the macro shots are coming... |
[Nov. 19th, 2009|08:48 pm] |
I made a snap decision this morning to buy two new lenses. Actually I've been planning to buy the 50mm f/1.4 for a while but just hadn't gotten around to it. And I've wanted a macro forever, but it always seemed frivolous. But it took me about 5 minutes this morning in the shower to decide that I need these lenses in time for a shoot I'm doing on Saturday. So I popped on the B&H website and ordered them (the 50mm f/1.4 and the 105mm f/2.8 macro) with overnight shipping (because, hey, what's another $50 at this point?), and tomorrow morning I will be waiting anxiously for the FedEx truck to pull up in front of my house (before 10:30am). You will probably be subjected to a bunch of macro shots tomorrow...just a warning.
In other non-related news, I started doing the 30-Day Shred this week and ohmydog I can barely walk. I weigh 10lbs. more than my pre-pregnancy weight, and I'd like to get back down a bit closer to my "normal" weight (as I will call it, even though it hasn't been my weight for 3+ years...). Also I have too much tummy now and I don't like it. I have never before tried to lose weight. Actually I can't even really say I'm trying THAT hard...I'm not giving up junk food, for instance. (haha...come on, people, let's not get crazy.)
Who's watching "Glee"? I haven't been this excited for a tv show since college--back in the mid-90s when we'd look forward all week to "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Melrose Place" each week. I love musicals and shows about high school, so this show is perfect for me. |
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| Droid Thoughts |
[Nov. 19th, 2009|06:09 pm] |
I've not had my Droid for just over 48 hours and I think I know how to use it now. Really could use an instruction book. Will google that later.
This being my first "smart" phone, I don't have much to compare against. I've had all of three phone calls (I'm so popular) one of which was through speaker phone. The Droid is smart enough to know it's in the car mount (a magnet I believe) but when in car mode it's *not* smart enough to switch automatically to speaker phone. Or if it is, I haven't found that setting.
It absolutely eats battery but to be fair, would probably last longer if I didn't have it constantly on. I would like it to wake up when I touch the screen, not just the button on top. But then, I'd probably accidentally turn it on a lot.
I wanted to get a Body Glove for it but I can't easily transition from that to the window mount. So I got a leather holster combined with InvisiShield (which was painful to put on).
It's too easy to accidentally stop the navigation process. And while you appear to be able to overlay traffic it gives you a wider shot than you were just at and I'm unsure if it adjusts for traffic. I have a real time traffic widget which gets data from other Android phones. Pretty slick but it doesn't help to re-route as best I can tell. My Garmin is still superior... so far.
The e-mail client has the same restriction as every other portable device e-mail client I've seen. It doesn't check subfolders for new mail unless I specifically check that folder. This is both a plus and a minus. The minus is I do a lot of server side filtering and would like to be able to tell the Droid which folders to check. The plus is I also get a lot of e-mail for work which doesn't need my immediate attention so that e-mail isn't pestering me. Still, I'd like the option to say "check this folder for new mail". Maybe I need to look harder. I also don't think I can move items from one folder to another but I also didn't look very hard.
I keep hitting the wrong buttons and cancel what I was doing. I've had a couple of applications crash on me. I'm sure a lot of this has to do with the fact I'm a novice at this thing plus other temporary issues. In time, I believe I'll like it more.
This would all seem to be "hey, he hates this phone." On the contrary. But most of what I see from people is "rah rah my droid is so cool". It does have some drawbacks but nothing I can't overcome. |
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| selling lenses |
[Nov. 19th, 2009|01:37 pm] |
I'm thinking about selling a couple of my lenses. Mentioning it here in case any of you guys might be interested.
First is my Nikon 50mm f/1.8, which is an awesome lens. It costs $120 new from B&H. I've had it for years and used it a lot--it was the very first lens that I bought when I got my first SLR camera back in 2001--but it is still in great condition. But I definitely do not have the original box it came in or anything like that. I'm thinking $75. Selling because I'm upgrading to the 50mm f/1.4.
Second is my Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens (Nikon mount), which is a great lens but I just never use it because I have other focal lengths that I like better. This sells for $420 new at B&H. I've had it for 2 years but only used it a handful of times. I'm thinking $350 for this one? I might still have the original box even.
I don't know how much shipping might cost but we can work something out if anyone is interested in either of these. Let me know if you are! :) |
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| Oink |
[Nov. 19th, 2009|10:36 am] |
Just called my doctor's office to see if they have the H1N1 vaccine yet. They do, but of course they have a shortage. They're vaccinating by tiers. I, apparently, am in tier 4, the last one. Now, it's great that I'm in such good shape that I'm not the priority, and I do understand how much more threatening the illness would be to some of these other people... but given what so many of my friends have been going through -- and given how many of my friends seem to be infected -- I'd *really* rather not get it, even if they don't think it would kill me, thanks. Sigh. |
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| Not quite a nightmare |
[Nov. 19th, 2009|10:21 am] |
I dreamt I was in a zombie apocalypse. And within the dream, I had a weird sort of deja-vu. It was as if I was in a movie I'd seen before. And almost methodically, I played through all the various scenarios; I guess kind of like playing the movie forward and seeing what happens to all of the main characters, with myself in the role. And as is typical with these sorts of movies, none of them were good. So rather than rushing to the rescue as I felt I was meant to do, I just walked away from the scene of the outbreak and went home. I was living upstairs from a restaurant, so I figured I had access to some amount of food. And I just decided to make the most of the rest of my life, however short, by doing things I'd planned to do (like finally writing a novel) and just having as good a time as possible with what was available to me.
Later, I tuned into a news broadcast and found out that there was a sort of cure being rolled out, and that things were returning to normal. But I'd already sort of planned what I wanted to do, which included some travel and now that it was safe to do so, I decided to visit some friends on the far side of the world, visit Tibet, etc. Real spiritual journey stuff. On the airfield, one of the passengers had a kid snatched by a zombie. So they were still out there, but it was kind of controlled. It was sort of like chancing a bear attack by going to the woods.
The central theme of the dream requires some thought, though. I usually argue against the sort of philosophy that one should sit back and let better, more qualified people fix things. At times, I feel like apathy is a kind of cancer, especially in a country built upon democracy. But I guess at other times, it just doesn't make sense to get involved. Sometimes things do just work themselves out. I know I have some pretty obvious control issues, and it was interesting to see these play out on the dream stage.
But I think the real message from me to me was that when the world is burning down around you, you might as well dance, because hey, why not? Personally, I plan to go out on a high note. |
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| Diaspora -- Fairhaven |
[Nov. 19th, 2009|09:24 am] |
Fairhaven T-2 E3 R1
The legends of Fairhaven speak of a time in the ancient past when Lord sent his two angels out to people the two worlds. Now, depending on who's telling the story, it was Orphamiel who rebelled against god and sought dominion over all of Fairhaven or it was Sabrael who was the traitor. In any event, the followers of each angel marched out into the sky to do battle and after a long and terrible war, the right side one and the other side was left utterly devastated and defeated.
It's been a long, slow climb out of the darkness and even now Fairhaven relies on coal and natural gas for most of it's energy needs. The sophisticated and cosmopolitan members of the larger cities are fully aware of the distorted history their religions are based on and pay it only minor lip service, but the mass of people still follow the church. Everyone still believes their side was in the right.
When St. Eigen brought his sky ships into the world, the rich and powerful shielded him from the more literal-minded members of the Clergy until a number of mutually beneficial agreements could be worked out. Eigen ships freely move through the system extracting the rich resources of the system, the aristocracy of Freehaven get lots of high-tech toys to play with and the Church gains powerful "signs and portents" to hold over the masses. The system was far from perfect, but Fairhaven was in no position to bargain and the offer was really quite generous.
Now that the slipstreams have reconfigured and Confederation ships from Apex (via Bellweather) have been appearing in the skies, the facade has been cracking and crumbling at a faster pace. Some see this as a chance for Freehaven to free itself from Eigen control, others see it as the chance to free the people from the crushing boot of the aristocracy or the Church or both. A select few see this as an opportunity to finally put an end to the heretics who started the war that drove them all to this pitiful condition.
Aspects:
- The war is not yet over between us
- Church and State are only united against the people
- "Angels" travel between the worlds [Angels being a biological creature that moves through interplanetary space. Think space-borne algae -- occasionally they "bloom" in the upper atmosphere of the habitable worlds causing an impressive lightshow]
later
Tom |
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| Odaiko New England Winter Extravaganza |
[Nov. 19th, 2009|01:00 am] |
The Odaiko New England Winter Extravaganza is coming up on 13 December from 2-5 PM. It will be at the ACAS Center, 29 Montvale Ave, Woburn MA
From the ONE calendar listing:
"Join Odaiko New England students, community members and ensemble members for an afternoon of fun, food, festivities and, of course, taiko."
There should be a flyer available soon; I'll link to it when it shows up. I should be performing in at least one piece, probably two. |
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| qotd |
[Nov. 18th, 2009|06:30 pm] |
"Crashed slow-rolling near ground. Bad show."
- how British pilot Douglas Bader (later Group Captain Sir Douglas "Tin Legs" Bader, RAF, a hero of the Battle of Britain) logged the 1931 accident that cost him both legs |
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| unnecessarily irritating |
[Nov. 18th, 2009|03:00 pm] |
I bought a sump pump today, never mind why, and when I went to put it into service, out in the middle of the back yard, I discovered that whoever packaged it had put a zip tie through the tines of the electrical plug and secured it, such that the pump could not be plugged in. Why? Is there some significant safety hazard involved in the employment of a sump pump that it should only be undertaken after the pause for contemplative reflection afforded by having to go into the house to get a wire cutter? There is no reason I can see why this should fall into any category other than "items that can be unpacked and put into service without the use of any special tool", yet it does. |
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| "HEROES" is this Saturday, November 21! |
[Nov. 18th, 2009|01:58 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  dancing in heaven | ] |
This Saturday November 21:
"HEROES"
This is the link for the "HEROES" 11/21 flier.
DJ CHRIS EWEN mixes the music -
NEW WAVE, RETRO, ELECTRO, PUNK
and some Old School Goth + Industrial
and
TERRI mixes the cocktails in the Lounge.
CD RELEASE PARTY!
Cherrytree Records is Proud to Introduce
SPACE COWBOY "Digital Rock Star"
One of the original touring members with LADY GAGA.
Featuring "Falling Down" and "I Came 2 Party"
LOTS OF GREAT GIVEAWAYS!
The next "HEROES" is on November 28, with the
LADY GAGA "The Fame Monster" CD RELEASE PARTY
Here's the link for the LADY GAGA CD Release Party
@ "HEROES" on November 28.
Only $7. And it's 18 plus.
Open from 9pm until 2am.
T.T. THE BEAR'S PLACE
10 Brookline Street, Cambridge MA
(in Central Square). |
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| For Your Reference |
[Nov. 18th, 2009|01:50 pm] |
My Kitchen Aid stand mixer has been making some strange noises, and so I went to take it apart (you know, the old take it apart, clean it, regrease it and put it back together song & dance) and got stuck at the split-the-case-halves step, when I could not figure out how to get the locating pins to let go (STORY OF MY LIFE).
I just found a service manual online!
I love the Internet. |
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