This is the first actual video I've seen from Canon's new digital SLR camera (probably the first posted anywhere). Yes, I said "video" and "SLR" in the same sentence. What's more is that it films through any SLR lens you can imagine and it does so at 1080p resolution! All of you out there can finally take advantage of your hi-def TV's when watching your family home videos of the kids in the tub, haha!
See the stunning, un-enhanced video made by Vincent Leforet here using the as-yet unreleased Canon 5D Mark II camera. That pre-order list just got really long.
For more reading about the camera and the making of the video, see Leforet's blog here and here.
Forget those lame mashups that people have been putting together the last few years, I'm ready for some quality independent films on very low budgets.
Unfortunately it's not every day that you find a company willing to help out a single user when it means making a global change to the product. In the case where that change will help other users, this becomes more common, but it is still rare for it to happen quickly. I came across a great service that did just that. TopoRoute is a route mapping software for runners and cyclists (and anybody else that needs to plot a route). The software works great and they've gone through some changes recently that have made it even better.
I was trying to plot a route that was 115 miles long with many curves (means the file size is relatively large). They apparently had a limit on the size of a file that could be created and I was over that limit. I emailed their contact and within the day, Martin (thanks Martin!) got back to me to tell me the problem and that he wanted to get it fixed. By the next day, he had doubled the size of file that could be created and my route worked perfectly. Here's the route (a ride that me and some friends are going to do this Saturday if anyone else wants to come!)
First off, I'm not going to do this film justice in any way, shape, or form without holding your hand and taking you down to the theater to watch it full-length. That might be a bit difficult to do, so I'll do my best to try to get you interested in seeing it yourself.
First off, the trailer.
Gina and I really wanted to see this movie, and thanks to Tom getting us tickets at the SFF we were able to go!
"A Crude Awakening" and An Inconvenient Truth" were good and decent, respectively; however, on a scale with the three films together, "Fields of Fuel" is way ahead of the curve. While the first two show us all how screwed up we will be if we don't do anything, they don't offer very many glimpses of hope and they make it seem like there is nothing the individual person can do to help the problem.
Fields of Fuel, on the other hand, offers a very humanizing view of the current energy situation that the US faces. It does not dwell on well-documented but not-quite-proven theories (like the Theory of Global Climate Change and that crazy Theory of Gravity, for instance) but instead focuses on tangible evidence that the way we use energy here in the US is not sustainable and has backed us into a corner that requires immediate change. While some other countries have done this too, we don't live there, we live here and should worry about it here. Josh Tickell then continues on to give the audience various ways in which the individual can make a difference. Below is a list of 10 things he suggests. Not everybody can do all of these right away, but everybody can do at least one of these.
1) Buy a biodiesel, hybrid, electric, or ethanol car 2) Change your fuel to biodiesel, ethanol, or electricity 3) Switch your local school buses to biodiesel 4) Get your gas station to sell biofuel 5) Start a biofuel purchasing co-op 6) Get green energy education into your local schools 7) Use public transportation, bike, or walk 8) Vote for leaders committed to green energy 9) Buy electricity from solar and wind companies 10) Learn more: read Biodiesel America
In the film, Josh gives a very holistic approach to the use of biofuels. He realizes that they are not the ultimate answer, but they are what we can do NOW to get the ball rolling in the right direction. He tells the audience very matter-of-factly that the only way to fix the energy problems in the world is to move towards a diversified energy structure where the energies being used cannot be monopolized by governments or by any one large corporation.
PS, did I mention it received the Documentary Audience Choice Award at Sundance?!
VW has kind of lacked on the marketing for TDI's (diesel engines) in my opinion, but then again I can kind of understand why... They don't need to advertise when most TDI's are sold before they even reach the lot and used ones hold their value so well. Why advertise when more people are trying to buy a TDI than there are TDI's available? Well, they are finally upping the production of TDI engines in multiple models in the near future and more specifically the new Jetta TDI wagen (dubbed the Sportwagen) is set to appear on US roads this fall! So, with the increase in TDI production, they have a reason to start marketing it. I can't wait, if only I could afford one!
And here is the web page that sparked this post And that's right, a true 40-50mpg out of a car that literally hauls! Not to mention it is cleaner than nearly all other cars currently on the road today.
I usually don't take many "people photos" but when Emily approached me and asked if I would take their engagement pictures I jumped at the chance for a bit of practice. They were awesome to work with and it seemed like they felt comfortable, so that added a lot to the way the pictures turned out. Some slight photoshop techniques were used, but the majority of each photo is as I took them. Check them out here
And, here's a teaser to get you to actually click on the link above
While that may sound like a sales pitch for a magazine subscription, it is actually referring to subscribing for email updates to my blog. It's a new subscription option on the blog and makes it easier to know about new posts without needing to check the blog until I post something. See the link in the top-left corner to subscribe, or just click here > Blog Email Updates
Since my birthday is coming up, I was trying to figure out what I wanted. That is always a tough call for me because I want too much stuff. (Gina says I have too many hobbies) The problem with my hobbies are that they're expensive ones. Bikes (of all kinds), photography, computers, skiing, cars, Land Rovers, etc. You just can't get away with having one of those hobbies for very cheap. Maybe I should re-start my bug collection...
At any rate, since my birthday is in October and it's not as fun to bike in the winter, (and winter is coming soon!) photography was the next best hobby to feed. So, since the new Photoshop CS3 Extended is like $1000 new and it's only $192 for students, I decided on that!
And boy is this software amazing! I know it's just work for you graphic artists, but for me it's a lot of fun.
Those of you that got my email about this know that I'm pretty excited about the new Amazon MP3 Store.
Finally there is a good, reputable digital music store that offers DRM-free music. But not only is it DRM-free, but it is also in a higher bitrate (quality) AND uses the widespread mp3 format. This means that it can be played on ANY digital music player. All of the things that I just mentioned have been the exact things that have kept me away from iTunes (and other mainstream stores too of course). And it's cheaper to boot! Only $0.89/song. I'm sure the others will catch on fast though, they're just one step behind. (and even Amazon has a ways to go still IMO)
I haven't blogged for a bit, so today turns out to be a good day to blog. We had a great time this weekend with our friends, Steve, Liz, and Nash (and Lexi too of course), that finally joined us up in Salt Lake. Cornia even showed up at their house! He's got a great reggae band, "Carlos Cornia" that I actually have yet to see in person, but want to really bad. We went to eat at Settebello, mmmm, that's all that needs to be said about that :-)
But the main thing that spurred me to post was the movie that Gina and I just got done watching, A Crude Awakening. My favorite part was hearing about Hubbert's Peak because I have learned about it in school already and could relate to it. I highly recommend the movie if you have not seen it
The movie is very well researched and follows along very well with what scientists like Hubbert have been telling us since the 60's and 70's. So far, they've been very close to perfect with their estimations about oil reserves and our obscene exploitation of those reserves. For those of you that remember the 70's gas crunch, that was only a drop in production of crude oil by about 5%. Royal Dutch/Shell announced in 2004 that it really knew of 20 percent fewer oil reserves than they had been reporting up to that point. At the time, 20 percent of just their reserves equated to 3.9 billion barrels of oil valued at $136 Billion at that time. Today that same amount of oil equates to nearly $254 billion at current ~$65/barrel prices. Evidence that our oil reserves are limited is all around us. Many countries are now importing more oil than they are producing and it's not far off for the U.S. either. At the rate we're using it, even all of our "untapped" reserves would not sustain us for very long in a crisis. It's an interesting movie and shows how dependent we are on oil. A change is needed, and there is no silver bullet. No matter the mechanisms that you use (even my beloved biodiesel) we will all have to use less of it and promote sustainability and conservation. Go out and rent this movie, if nothing else, to simply be aware of what is to come in our future.
This post is about Judd (mostly because I have pictures of him from lab, but because he's a good guy too). Judd started working in the cardiovascular physiology shortly after I did. We put our lives at risk there everyday (just kidding). Here's Judd playing with beta mercaptoethanol
Deadly stuff, it will work it's way into your skin and denature proteins. Believe me, you do not want your proteins denatured.
