Considering an entry level camera

I received an e-mail today about a new camera purchase. Here is an excerpt:

About the camera stuff, I am in the market for a “prosumer” digital camera and considering the Canon Rebel XT (350D). I think it’s quite a bit lower level than the D70 but do you have any thoughts on the camera or Canon’s SLR in general? Any recommendations you have for a different model/brand in the 800-1000 range would be appreciated as well.

What follows is my relevant response.
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Posted on by tychay 22

Immigrants are the new gay

Conservative blogger, John Cole, has an insightful article on immigration being the new wedge issue for the midterm elections.

It is weird because I thought that this was an issue that would just backfire against the Republicans. Hispanics, after all, are not voting “traditionally democrat” anymore than Catholics are (I believe the numbers in the last election were 45 for Bush, 55 for Kerry). Driving the largest growing segment against you, especially a segment that normally votes for you on the abortion wedge-issue seems a recipe for pitting border-Republicans (California, Arizona, Texas, Florida) against the rest, in a party that can only survive through nazi-like discipline—their views, after all, on nearly every issue are in the minority.

But it’s bad to dismiss Right Wing political strategy. I can only assume that they’ve done the polling and have determined that while a majority of them again are disagree or are indifferent, a number of people like “Ms. Kitlica” mentioned in the article will be motivated enough to go to the polls to vote.
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Posted on by tychay 9

Forbes Field Forever

Today, I saw a poster next to Michael Rowley’s desk and I asked if any of the baseball fanatics at Plaxo knew which stadium it was of.

Nobody did.

forbes19

I mentioned that I thought that it looked like Forbes Field to me. Given what I remember of the remains of it (the right field wall and home plate), it looks like the Cathedral of Learning would have afforded exactly this sort of view.

(When I was a kid, I used to point at the Cathedral of Learning, “the tallest schoolhouse in the West” and say “my mommy works there” (she actually worked nearby). My mom said that when I was younger I thought it was the Washington Monument: “Whenever we passed it, your eyes would get wide and you’d say reverently, ‘Washington!’”)

It turns out that stopping following baseball after the 1994 strike and being a die-hard Pirates fan had its advantages—it is a view of Forbes Field from the Cathedral of Learning.Continue reading →

Posted on by tychay 12

hardware problem

Overheard today:

J: “I have this hilarious but really debilitating hardware problem.”
R: “I know these pills I got from Mexico that will fix you right up!”

Posted on by tychay 0

Aperture 1.1 out

Aperture 1.1 was released as a free update today. If you own Aperture, see Software Update. (My comments about it are here.)

In my original review of Aperture, the only real complaint I had was the price, which was too close to PhaseOne CaptureOne. I felt that Apple should undercut them like Final Cut Pro did to Avid. Well, if you own Aperture 1.0 like I do, you can get a $200 coupon good for future Apple Store purchases (Academic users get a $100 one).

By the way, this also means a $200 price drop to Aperture to $300 from $500.

Now how is that for service?Continue reading →

Posted on by tychay 2

A difference of one letter

Redgee likes to joke that his relatives are all in jail or the military. He told me a few months ago that he heard from them that they are being told to gear up for a war in Iran. Now with a recent New Yorker article I read, this rumor is getting some play in the public discourse.

I don’t think it’s going to happen. But since we are gearing up for midterm elections, it is about time for the Republicans to start another war.
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Posted on by tychay 7