TedPage

Maps are fun. They little booklets of instructions with no bounds on where we have to go. I can get lost in Google Maps for hours on end, especially with the satellite photos. It's like looking at pictures of the whole world, and being able to move around in them. Fascinating.

A found another fun site which houses Wiki style travel guides. But, what I like more is the ability to make maps of states you've been to and countries you've been to. Not a very impressive list for myself, but you can make your own here. The maps they use aren't that good, and they're hard to resize, they should have used the SVG ones from The Open Clipart Library.

Update: I've noticed a lot of people coming from SVG.org, I'm not sure why they linked to this post either. Anyway, you'll probably like this post on AJAX based SVG maps better. Sorry.

posted on Thu, 26 May 2005 at 04:00 | permanent link | Comments

I just finished taking a class at UCLA Extension with Erika Fabian called Photographing the National Geographic Way. Ms. Fabian has done many assignments for the Geographic and has also taught this class for many years. I enjoyed it immensely, and would recommend it to anyone near UCLA (and who likes photography). I've attached my notes after this (I typed them up so I would lose them), while I don't think that they will replace taking the class you might learn something.

• National Geographic photography is taking pictures of life around a place, people living there, how they live, etc.
• If you get somewhere with bad light go home. You'll only end up with a "record shot".
• Talk in stories using your pictures, story telling photography
• The photographer can not be indifferent to the subject. You have to "make yourself care".
• Most good pictures have some form of setup. Either moving people, stopping traffic, or talking to the subjects. Most pictures are "arranged".
• When you smile at people, they tend to smile back.
• Tip if asked, but get the photo first. Don't offer to tip and have your guide tip if possible (more likely to know local rates and tip reasonably).
• Include a person in your picture. Is the case of many pictures in National Geographic. Show how the object is used.
• Around the world people know how you are feeling and your attitude. Be curious and there to learn about them, truly interested.
• When taking pictures of craftsmen, the best pictures are of them working. Or, when they are just looking up from their work (more of face).
• When taking pictures of statues looking at light and their expression. Try to say something with the statue, why is that statue there?
• Hand customs a list of all the equipment to help through process. Ask for hand inspection if possible (better for film to not go through lots of X-rays). Hand inspections are difficult to get in Paris.
• Keep a record on all the information and answers to questions you ask while you are there. You won't remember the spelling of that place later. Really.
• You'll want a few basic pictures to tell an event: An overall or establishing shot, an medium shot, a zoom in some specific of the event, something with humor or a 'kicker' to make it fun.
• When shooting something that is happening quickly, remember to push the button BEFORE what you want the picture to be. There is all kinds of delay, anticipate.
• If you can't get good light, silhouette.
• If the sky is not interesting, leave it out.
• With reflections, lie on your stomach to get better images.
• Don't put your main subject exactly in the center of the object. Perfect balance in a picture gives it a static appearance. You can balance across the picture with empty space.
• Just go to lunch between 11am to 2pm. The light is too harsh and will make things look dead.
• With very difficult light, expose to 18% grey, and go with it.
• When using a flash shutter speed doesn't matter, f-stop controls the picture more.
• Be careful about getting too technical, you can lose sight of getting pictures.
• When taking pictures of people, talk to them. This puts them at ease and makes them look less frozen.
• The direction of light effects the appearance of the texture on the object. Side light give the most dimension.
• Backlight through organic material can give a glow effect.
• Specular highlights in certain parts of the picture can cause it be overexposed.
• "Walk around flash". A picture can be taken by opening the shutter, and then using the flash in manual mode throughout the room. This creates the effect of the lighted room.
• If a building faces north (bad to light facade) take pictures in the morning or evening to get some light.
• Carry a compass to determine lighting.
• With all good photographers, nothing is authentic.
• You'll never get a good photography if you're ever worried about what people are thinking about you while your photographing. (What is he doing?)
• Diagonals and off-balance pictures create a sense of action.
• If the components in a picture that catch the eye are in the shape of a triangle (or other closed shape) it keeps the eye in the picture.
• Giving everything equal emphasis means you give nothing emphasis. Decide what you want to show.
• Strong vertical lines in a picture show majesty or power.
• When shooting dancers, their feet are part of the show.
• "intellectual idea". When you look at something in your picture and think too much about what it should symbolize, and now how the picture really makes the viewer feel. Not really part of field photography.
• Think to yourself: "What am I trying to say? How can I say it visually?" Never count on a caption.
• Research your subjects, it will provide more insight into the pictures you're taking.
• In a city, make sure to get all the "big buildings", and also try to work them into your other shots to anchor the picture at that location.

posted on Sun, 22 May 2005 at 02:31 | permanent link | Comments

So, Bryce has proposed, and I agree, we need to work on getting an Inkscape release out the door. I definitely haven't made as much progress on the things I wanted to get done for this release. As we're targeting stopping development at the end of the month, there are two things I want to get done -- and I think that then effects can be turned on by default.

• When running an effect that is also a script, there shouldn't be a second window opened.
• Effects should work with undo/redo.

That means that I'm leaving off a couple of things that I really wanted to get done for 0.42, namely:

• Grouping of extensions. This would help in both open/save dialogs but also is vital for effects.
• Reworking of extensions so that it is all, finally, object oriented.
• Clean up all file operations so that they use a 'logical' programming interface.
• XSLT implementation type for extensions.

Who said that I wouldn't have anything to do for 0.43? I also really want to get the Inkboard code updated and integrated so that it is easier to maintain. Even if the menus are hidden like the effects menu for a while, otherwise the code will bitrot. It is too useful to have that happen.

posted on Thu, 19 May 2005 at 19:59 | permanent link | Comments

I've been reading Christian's posts on GUADEC, I'm so jealous. I want to help run a camera at GUADEC! Ah, I need either a job where I can go to Open Source conventions without burning vacation (ideally doing Open Source work) or a lot more vacation.

One good thing about living in LA is that there are a lot more conferences, and even more within a few hundred miles. That's exciting in itself -- now I just need to get off my ass and go to them!

posted on Thu, 19 May 2005 at 19:48 | permanent link | Comments

I, like a lot of liberals who oppose the war, always have hard time answering the question: So, don't you think Saddam Hussein was a bad person? The answer is yes, but I don't think that we should have preemptively attacked Iraq. But, that argument gets lost. Along comes Madeline Albright to save the day:

Well, I'm very glad that Saddam Hussein is gone, and I really admire the Iraqi people for voting. But I don't think that there are a lot of countries in the Middle East or in other parts of the world that say, "I would like my country to look just like that." (Madeline Albright on Real Time with Bill Maher on May 06, 2005)

Of course, while I'm quoting Bill Maher, I have to include this one. I'm voting for Teresa-Hillery in 2008.

And to be a Democrat means...I don't know...In the last election, George Bush called John Kerry "a coward, a liar, a wimp, a flip- flopper and a war criminal." And Kerry got so incensed, he almost fell off his windsurfer. It's bad when the person in your party with the biggest balls is named Teresa. (Bill Maher)

posted on Mon, 16 May 2005 at 01:58 | permanent link | Comments

There are now pictures online from our trip to the zoo. This trip was to play with and learn about my new lens which did very well. It is much better to have enough zoom to be able to frame the picture you want, but I also ran into situations where I had too much zoom! I didn't take the old lens just to force myself to use the new one more.

       

We enjoyed the LA Zoo, we found it to be better than the Phoenix Zoo. Besides having animals that we liked more, it seemed to have more of them. I also realized this is only the second set of pictures that I've put online with my new camera. Here is the other.

posted on Sun, 15 May 2005 at 21:31 | permanent link | Comments

I've been reading Friedman again, and thinking about what he's been saying (for a while) about motivating science and engineering in the US by establishing urgency. Specifically, he'd like our "man on the moon" project to be energy independence. I think that we can safely say with a Texas oil man and an oil executive in the White House, this isn't going to be a national priority this presidency. But, could this be a campaign issue for Democrats in 2008? In fact, I think that it is the perfect issue.

This is the perfect issue for a Democrat to run with because it is something that motivates liberals. Liberals, for the most part, love environmental issues. This is something that they can get behind, because, unlike Kerry, it is something that they are excited about. This was one of the key problems with the Kerry campaign, no one was excited about him. They thought he could beat Bush. Excitement inspires more than hate.

The issue of energy independence also works as a single issue that can be leveraged against all other national concerns. You can talk about anything while staying on message. And, we all know that Democrats have a problem staying on message. Here are some sound bites for various issues:

• Terrorism -- We can not stop terrorism if we keep funding it by sending money to the middle east.
• Education -- In order to stay competitive in a global marketplace we need to encourage more science and engineering education in the United States through funding of Energy Independence research.
• Family -- I just don't know how a candidate can say he's pro-family when he supports policies that cause innumerable health problems for children, our most vulnerable citizens.
• Foreign Relations -- The US can not have the freedom to support democracy abroad when it is hamstrung by countries who control it's energy supply.
• Outsourcing -- In order to keep jobs in the US we must make our products and our consumers more savvy and advanced through pushing new technology and innovation in the goal of energy independence.
• Soaring energy costs -- Energy costs effect every American, poor and rich. In order to combat costs, we need to combat demand, and so we need to work on Energy Independence.

How do we do it? Well, that's a nuanced issue that doesn't get picked up by the evening news or discussed in 45-second debates. It is something that would take hard work and determination. But, people are inspired by having a goal they believe in.

posted on Thu, 12 May 2005 at 16:29 | permanent link | Comments

Aaron Spike is reporting that script extensions work on Windows! This is very exciting because it makes extensions something that can be usable in all Inkscape builds (thus useful overall). Now, to clean up effects for the upcoming 0.42 release. Very cool.

Thanks go to Aaron for all his ideas and testing. And, also, making some really cool effects for Inkscape.

posted on Wed, 11 May 2005 at 16:53 | permanent link | Comments

Hey, I finally got the pictures from Donna and Jim's wedding online. Yeah, you thought it'd never happen. Unfortunately I decided to take the time to adjust the white balance in the camera from "auto" and made many of them very yellow. Oops.

   

posted on Mon, 09 May 2005 at 00:30 | permanent link | Comments

Inspired by Tivo I'm here asking the question: why do we delete files?

I think the answer, for most people, comes down to ensuring that there is enough space left on their hard drive for files they may create in the future. But, on your 120 GB hard drive, are you really worried about the 100 KB document or the 2 KB e-mail? I think a secondary reason is organization. "In this folder I have only the things I'm interested in." So we delete the other things, kinda like throwing the junk mail off of your desk.

But, what if you decide later that you really want to order pizza? How can you find that coupon you threw away? Well, that's where the Trash Can comes in. You can still organize by throwing your files into purgatory, eventually saving them or emptying the trash periodically. Emptying the trash can be hard though. You're making the final decision on those files, they make a final appeal for their lives; trying to appear interesting in your trash folder. But alas, you empty the trash to satisfy condition one: to make sure you have surplus disk space.

Tivo doesn't work this way. You set up your programs, how many of the program you'd like to keep, and how long you'd like to keep it for. The goal of Tivo is to always keep your hard drive full. If you're not using the space, it will download things for you. There is always some space saved for live feeds, and things that are planning on being recorded, but for the most part, the hard drive stays full. This is great! I don't have to worry about having space on my hard drive, it is made when I need it.

I need a filesystem that works this same way. It needs to have its own trash, but then delete the files when I need the space, not before then. That way I can always have as much data as possible, but never run out of space. Seems simple enough, and makes someone else do the dirty work of killing my files.

posted on Sat, 07 May 2005 at 00:30 | permanent link | Comments

This is bad, this is really bad. Today I got an e-mail with a subject line of: INVITING CHRISTIANS TO THE RIGHT WAY AND REDEMPTION! This is my first piece of religious spam, but to say the least, if other people think that they can convert through e-mail, the spam problem is going to get much worse. If people were motivated by petty Viagra sales, I can't imagine how much spam religious fervor is going to create. Plus, it will also be spam that will make people very angry, and scared to open their e-mail. Hmm, this is bad.

Here is a link to the site that contains the message I got sent. I'm not linking there because I think you'll find redemption, but more so that you can start training your spam filters. It's nasty out there, make sure to wear your raincoat.

posted on Tue, 03 May 2005 at 10:33 | permanent link | Comments

Now my blog is a year old, here is the First Post. It has been fun. Posting ideas, links and other things that are just happening in the world. I've gotten a touch behind on posting pictures (which is one of the reasons I started the blog). Anyway, here are some fun statistics about this first year:

• 250 KB of text
• 20,000 words
• 110 entries
• 4 entries mention Friedman
• 28 entries mention Inkscape
• Oldest unposted photos: 4/30/04

To another year!

posted on Mon, 02 May 2005 at 16:39 | permanent link | Comments