Yosemite information

I was supposed to go to Yosemite today but had to cancel. 🙁

Based on discussions on flickr which reminded me about the rockslide in Yosemite blocking 140, I thought others would find this tip useful:

It is simply a must to subscribe to Yosemite Blog before your trip out there to supplement your trip. Besides some wonderful photos by the owner and other contributers, there are updates about the weather and road conditions, hiking tips and discussions. For instance, did you know the cables to Half Dome have just been put up?
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Posted on by tychay 0

Where 2 millimeters makes a difference

In an old article, I mentioned that a Canon 18-55mm at high end isn’t that different than the Nikon 17-70mm kit lens in focal length (reach).

My statement was:

After all, you can just shoot the Canon at 55mm @ 1.6x and then crop it down to a 6 megapixel photo and it will look close enough to the Nikon D70 at 70mm at 1.5x.

I’m surprised nobody has called me out on this statement!
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Costco cameras and the D50

I was at Costco today and noticed that they now have the kit cameras in boxes out. Normally, you have to write down a number of pick up a flag, take it to a register to pay for it, and then pick it up behind the counter. Now you just pick up the box on some cameras.

If your box is big enough, I’m sure this will help sales. Those extra 20 minutes of gratification when you know it’s “yours” make a big difference.
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Posted on by tychay 5

Apology and responsibility

John Cole finds an apology in the latest admissions.

In this case, it is apologizing on the presentation of the war instead of the actual actions of war. Such a strange admission is understandable—they must be giving a sideways glance at Nuremberg every time they open their mouth. I still find the whole thing ironic since the presentation of the war seemed to be the one area in which the administration made no mistakes.

I glossed over this article because the parts I read seem to follow into the same mold: passive voice. Along the lines of: “mistakes were made” or “I know we’ve made tactical errors—thousands of them.”
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6 months to a better Iraq

During the boom, if you asked any startup in the Valley when they planned on going public they’d tell you “about 18 months.”

Come back in 18 months and you’d hear the same talk. This continued until IPO’s become radioactive. Post boom you hear these same people espouse having a “path to profitability,” which is a sure barometer for the fact that they actually have no such plan.

After working at four startups, I can see clearly from the inside that most of these strategies are wishful thinking tied together with two matchsticks: that’s why luck is so important.

A lot of startup people spend an inordinate amount of time messing with their Excel spreadsheets of revenue and growth projections until the numbers say they’re going to be profitable. When you read, “the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy,” a startup person knows this is what you get when you elect a CEO president: someone simply forgot to prefix the word “failed” in front of his title.
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Posted on by tychay 0