Off-topic posts

Open Mike: New Habits

Monday, 06 March 2023

Happy to report that my lifestyle changes are going swimmingly*. My problems are worse than some others have, and not as bad as some others deal with. But they're mine so they're all I can share.

I'm either supposed to do, or trying to do on my own, five things:

  • Go back to my plant-food diet, and stop eating sugar;
  • Wear compression socks;
  • Lose weight;
  • Resume using CPAP; and
  • Exercise.

The Five Doctors (I seem to keep seeing different people) are more or less agreed that I was having heart problems caused by sleep apnea—my heartbeat had become uncoordinated and irregular and my heart wasn't pumping enough blood, so I wasn't getting enough oxygen. This was causing all sorts of symptoms. I've been back on the CPAP for 31 days and the difference is...astonishing. I've gone from extreme fatigue (four naps in one day being the signal that got me to the doctor) to no naps; from oxygen hunger and shortness of breath to breathing normally; from lethargy to energy; from badly fractured sleep (with an avalanche of nightmares) to almost normal sleep; from confusion to normal mental sharpness (such as it is, yuk-yuk).

I've been off sugar and back on my plant-food diet for a mere eight days, and have been working out for only six days, and I've already lost 9.3 lbs. (.66 stone). (I weigh myself first thing in the morning on an excellent scale.) Who knows if the weight loss is attributable to the return of normal heart function, or the diet and exercise, or the resumption of normal sleep, or all those things?

The exercise is interesting. I rather enjoy it. I just take my tablet and read, and that makes the time fly by. I use some combination of a total of five different cardio machines, alternating sitting with being on my feet. I get my heart rate to between 90 and 100 BPM and keep it there. It isn't hard. I'm going to add workouts with dumbbells sooner or later.

Books, books!
I'm really enjoying Bill Bryson's The Body: A Guide for Occupants. I love love love his guided tours of subjects far from my usual field of interest; I lapped up his lovely book on physics, A Short History of Nearly Everything. The Body is equally entertaining, and bits and pieces of fascinating information fly by. For instance, babies who grow up in houses with cats present almost never get asthma. (I'm on the chapter about the lungs now.) His vivid account of how long it took before we accepted that smoking was linked to lung cancer is very telling. There's certainly a parallel to the obesity epidemic: as Dr. John McDougall says, "People love to hear good news about their bad habits."  

Speaking of which, that's what I'm working on now, habits. I'll let you know how it goes. I'll report back in a month or two. I hope I can do this. (I initially mistyped "can't" for "can"...Freudian slip?)

And speaking of habits—to briefly get back on topic—I'm carrying the camera again. Too many pictures were going by in my daily life. From now on, where I go, the camera goes.

Mike

*Except that I'm having trouble with time management.

Original contents copyright 2023 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

Featured Comments from:

Keith Mitchell: "I also enjoy Bryson's writing. Despite being a recently retired registered nurse, The Body left me with a sad sense of my lack of knowledge but simultaneously a sense that more work and research will still facilitate big improvements to our health.

"Glad to hear you are on the right side of your health concerns and hope that your new habits become embedded quickly."

Steven ralser: "If you want to read further about one of the reasons why it took so long to recognize the link between smoking (and second hand smoke)and lung cancer, read Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, by Naomi Oreskes [and Erik M. Conway —Ed.]. See also https://www.merchantsofdoubt.org."

JoeB: "Good to hear the phoenix is rising from the ashes. I have found going to the gym an excellent way to organize my day—I enjoy the routine. I also enjoy the results of my workout. The social aspects of seeing the same folks at the same time of day cannot be discounted. Diet cannot be ignored. What and how much is eaten make all the difference in our life. I should have turned green if the saying 'you are what you eat' is true!"

MikeR: "Yay for you! And aren't those sleep apnea nightmares horrifying?"

Mike replies: They certainly are. I didn't think I was going crazy, but I did think the cause was fundamentally psychological. I didn't realize it was a symptom of sleep apnea.

Posted on Monday, 06 March 2023 at 09:51 AM in Off-topic posts, Open Mike | | Comments (7)

Thursday, 29 October 2009

OT: Cliff Lee

Cliff Lee, Cliff Lee, Cliff Lee.

Mike

*In case you're wondering what's up with this post...well, it's all Cliff Lee.

Posted on Thursday, 29 October 2009 at 01:09 AM in Off-topic posts | | Comments (39)

Sunday, 11 October 2009

Open Mike: Plugs

Janulis
On Sundays I sometimes write off-topic posts that have little or naught to do with photography. This week, plugs: that is, a few endorsements of stuff I happen to like. Some of these you might have heard before from me. Apologies if I repeat myself.

Who Reads TOP? Bronislaus Janulis reads TOP
First of all, ever wonder where the frames for priceless museum paintings come from? They're obviously not just stock moldings from the U-Frame-It down at the local strip mall. Regular perusers of the site will recognize the name Bron Janulis from the comments section, where he frequently contributes. Bron is a painter, photographer, and wood-carver from South Bend, Indiana, who makes his living creating custom-made, very high-end frames for artwork. Working craftsmen hold a particular appeal for me; if you feel the appeal too, check out Bron's frame offerings at his website. Granted, most are not for photographs, being better suited for paintings. But they're beautiful. Keep Bron in mind if you have something precious you need a fine frame for, or if you know someone who does.

-

WispelweyPhoto: cc Fai Ho

Pieter Wispelwey and Dejan Lazik

Pieter Wispelwey
This rightly belongs in a "music notes" post, but I thought I'd put in a plug for another recent find. Pieter Wispelwey and Dejan Lazik's traversal of the Beethoven Complete Sonatas and Variations for 'Cello and Piano, issued in 2005 on the Channel Classics label, is terrific on any number of points—the two discs are superlatively played, very expressive, and outstandingly well recorded. If you like this music you probably have a couple of versions of these pieces already, and maybe favorite artists in the repertoire. I also like Pieter's earlier traversal with Lois Shapiro on period instruments. But this is well worth hearing. Just terrific. Available in CD or hybrid SACD, and on iTunes and eMusic. And from the Channel Classics website. And probably elsewhere as well.

-

Bob Latino
Another richly deserved plug for Bob Latino, who sells tube amplifier kits. Bob's kits amount to replica Dynaco Stereo 70 amps*. Dynaco, for those of you too young to remember (it was before my time too, really) sold inexpensive kit amps that helped turn a whole generation on to electronics and stereo.They're still so plentiful that several different outfits make and sell replacement input boards for them, the input board being the biggest weak point of the original. There's even a small cottage industry on Audiogon selling hot-rodded originals in candy colors. 

Willvincent
Back-on-black rebuild by Will Vincent, who often paints his rebuilds red, purple, or yellow.

And, over the years, suppliers started selling replacement parts of all kinds for the originals. I don't know whether Bob was the first person to figure out that you could put together a whole new amp using only new parts, but that's what he sells...and from what I hear, his assembly instructions are outstanding. (Bob built mine...he'll build one for you, too, for a very modest premium.)

There are still some ways this could be improved, in my opinion. A standard IEC C14 chassis socket is needed in place of the captive lamp cord, and the input jacks are just too close together for many of today's interconnects. And see that stereo/mono switch on the front panel in the picture below? It's a dummy! The circuitry degrades the sound, so Bob leaves it out.

VTA120top Full-tilt boogie: Bob's supercharged VTA ST-120, sporting KT-88 output tubes, beefier transformers, and upgraded caps. 60 watts per side. 

The big 120 will drive most speakers, but efficient speakers are still best—especially with my VTA ST-70, which I run with EL-34s. For those who are really ready to chug the Kool-Aid, Peter Comeau designed a replica Dynaco A-25 kit (the WD25A) that's sold through World Designs in Britain. Watch out, though, because their shipping costs to the States are excessive.

Of course, nothing matters if the sound quality isn't there, and my Bob Latino ST-70 replica is the best amp I've ever owned and one of the best I've ever heard. I love it. It has none of the weaknesses of the original. There are stories on the internet of people giving up $5,000 conrad-johnsons and Air Tights for this thing, and I believe them. Simply the most satisfying audio purchase of my life, is all.

How's that for a plug?

I should add that I don't know Bob, except as a customer. Check out his web page.

-

Keep yer pencil sharp
Panasonicpencilsharpener This is going to seem like a strange one, but you know one thing I hate? It's when an object or device only has a very limited design brief—only a couple of things its design needs to fulfill—and it fails at one or more of them. For instance, when a broom handle  falls off the broom. Really, the entire design brief of a broom can be summed up in about four points, and one of them would  have to be, "the broom part and the handle part must not fall into two pieces." A broom whose handle falls off had a designer who ought to be flogged with...well, a broom.

Anyway, one of those frustrating possessions I've been putting up with for years is a horrible electric pencil sharpener that slanders the name of the great city of Boston—a Boston Model 22, to be precise. It can't hold a pencil without allowing it to wobble all over the place, meaning that the points are always decentered, and the motor in the bloody thing isn't strong enough to keep turning with even moderate inward pressure. Flunk! Fail! Back to design school for you, phooey designer!

I know...who uses pencils any more? For what, the grocery list? But in case you are one of the hold-out pencil users, I'm pleased to commend to your attention the Panasonic KP380-BK. Briefly: it fulfills its design brief. With no fuss, no muss, and the shavings collected.

Further in re pencils: It probably won't surprise you to learn that there are pencil aficionados and pencil connoisseurs, and that they're now served by specialty websites such as pencilthings.com; and finally (told you I repeat myself), another plug for an old favorite book, Henry Petroski's The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance—proof that a good writer can write at length about anything, and still be thoroughly enjoyed.

-

Blue Jean LC-1
We were talking not long ago about $2,700 power cords for stereo equipment. It made me think of another plug to make...the best single-ended stereo interconnects I've found are called Blue Jean Cable LC-1. They're very low capacitance interconnects with very good shielding. (There's a white paper...okay, let's call it an an "off-white" paper...here.) They sound as good as anything I know of under about $700 a meter pair, at which price-point you can find well-made, well-shielded pure silver interconnects that do sound a little better. (Forgive me; I was a high-end audio salesman, many years ago, and I've actually heard some of the megabuck interconnects). And LC-1 are eminently affordable—about $39 for a 2-meter pair. I use these, and would recommend them for virtually any real-world stereo system. They're very good.

-

Gruesome1
Gruesome

Albatross bars
I bought a new bike a couple of weeks ago—hopeful of Spring, as John Camp commented—unfortunately just prior to learning that I should have reserved that money for fixing the garage door. The bike's an aluminum-framed Cannondale called an "Adventure." I immediately named it "Gruesome," after a comment made by Robin P. about the illustration I used in the "Observations" post. (A comment I loved, I hasten to add.) Quoth Robin, "Your 'wimp bikes' really are exceedingly gruesome!—must be the cycling equivalent of a cheap pink P&S with a very small sensor...."

Very funny, although attempts to shame me with associations to cheap cameras will never work; you should see some of the cheap cameras I've played with over the years. I actually once sold a picture that I made with a Kodak Instamatic, and I am not kidding. It was used in an actual print advertisement, and I was paid well for it, by my standards.

It's not Gruesome I want to plug here, but rather albatross bars. What are albatross bars, you ask? Well, I didn't know either, until about two weeks ago. They're the kind of bicycle handlebars that were in fashion before "monkey bars" (drop bars) became all the rage in the '70s thanks to what is arguably the most significant bicycle in American history. Well, actually, albatross bars never went out of fashion in about 80% of the world—they're common from Rotterdam to Bangalore to Beijing. They're the rising, swept-back style of bars you'll see on Dutch bikes and old Schwinns.

Schwinncollegiate A 1970s Schwinn Collegiate with albatross bars

I've had some absorbing conversations about bicycle functionality and aesthetics lately with Grant Petersen of Rivendell, and one thing he said to me was that "...the Albatross...is the only bar, that, once you try it, you never leave it." Not surprisingly for a purveyor that decidedly goes its own way, Rivendell sells albatross bars—two kinds, actually, one steel and one aluminum, both made by Nitto.

Nittoalbatrossbars
Rivendell albatross aluminum bar by Nitto

I am gratefully now of an age when I can return to sensible handlebars without having it damage my cool or my cred, not because the bars aren't still a little geeky, but because I have so little cool or cred left. I'm happy about that. To make a long story short, Grant's sending me some Nitto albatross bars for Gruesome, along with a warning that my bike shop won't be pleased about swapping in a new part they didn't sell me and will probably charge me enthusiastically for the privilege. You know what they say: Oh well. I'm looking forward to it. I'll post an update on Gruesome's new albatross fitment once it's actually fitted.

Has this gone on long enough? Thus endeth my plugs for today. Is there any product you've encountered recently that you think is undeniably superior and worth a genuine endorsement? Have a nice and relaxing Sunday.

Albatross

Mike

*Bob clarifies: "Your amp in kit form or wired was designed to look like an original Dynaco ST-70, yet have the performance of a modern, high-quality tube amp in terms of sound quality and reliability."

Featured Comment by Scott Jones: "OMG, I didn't think anybody else in the whole world had read that book on the history of the pencil! It was really good and every time I mention it to people they just roll their eyes and laugh. Also on the topic of fine art frames, it was so nice to see your comments. My wife always looks at me funny when we go to high grade museum shows and sometimes I am more enthralled with the frames than I am with the paintings. Some of the frames are just plain gorgeous. Thanks for these fun OT musings...."

UPDATE: Nic M. found a nice review of the Wispelwey/Lazik Beethoven.

UPDATE #2: The not-at-all-gruesome bicycle that Robin Pywell built for himself in 1982:

Pywell

Posted on Sunday, 11 October 2009 at 02:55 PM in Off-topic posts | | Comments (43)

Friday, 09 October 2009

OT: More Howlers

Howler, n., informal, a stupid or glaring mistake, esp. a humorous one.

As a professional editor, I was a semi-professional editor. I've never been trained in editing and I am not an expert in grammar. However, spending six years of your life correcting other peoples' prose has the effect of sensitizing you to verbal errors; it's unavoidable. As a naturally good speller, I'm also sensitive to spelling mistakes.

"Howlers," to a professional or semi-professional editor or a former one, as well as to many readers, are commonplace. Finding them is easy. But sometimes I'm amused by finding several in close proximity—a high "howler density," you might call it. I ran across this actual sentence the other day on a forum:

"Hey your right. Where is everbody? Look's like there loosing interest...!"

That one is pretty impressive. Three sentences, and at least one error in each; and, in a mere 11 words, five errors, four of which are flagrant howlers. And that's not counting the fact that there probably should be a comma after "hey." The third sentence is particularly impressive, with three howlers in eight words (the whole sentence had three more words), for a total howler density of 37.5%. A howler density over 50% is rare, even on the internet.

It should be, of course (with corrections in bold):

"Hey, you're right. Where is everybody? Looks like they're losing interest...!"

Of course, that was not on a photography forum. You can tell not necessarily because of the howler density, but because people don't loose interest in photography. Theirs alway's somthing new and interesting to learn. Photo buffs aren't loosers.

Mike

(Reminder: I'm off tomorrow. I'll try to find something just as productive as this to do.)

Send this post to a friend

Featured Comment by Matt: "To be honest, I find it a bit harsh how nitpicky some people here are. Of course, good grammar would be a pleasure to read, but keep in mind not everyone's native language is English. If one learns the language at an older age, it might even be quite challenging. There's people that don't even bother or try, but those are most likely the same people that don't write their sentences with capitals in the first place."

Mike replies: I probably should have made more of the fact that I consider my sensitivity to be a regrettable occupational hazard, in the way that a podiatrist might notice the way people pronate their feet when they walk, or the way a musician might be unable to ignore the Muzak in an elevator. It's not necessarily even desirable.

And of course it's possible to be perfectly correct and utterly boring. One of my favorite readers here on TOP writes comments that are peppered with errors, but he also expresses himself vividly, and with spirit, and he has a lot to say because he knows a lot. To be distracted by his errors—or, worse, to be bigoted against his opinion on their account—is akin to not enjoying a spectacular sunset because there's a contrail in the sky, or dismissing a great photograph in a museum because it has dust spots.

For instance, in your comment, you made a common error...."there's people...", where "there's" is a contraction for "there is," when of course it should be "there are." But what does it profit me to notice that? Nothing. It's like a nagging little pinch to my brain on the way by. And I wish I didn't feel it. You've expressed yourself perfectly clearly. I would prefer not to notice the small mistakes people make. I would prefer not to notice all the mistakes I make. Alas, 'tis not to be.

But I'm sorry if I offended anybody here. That wasn't my intent.

To be honest, I'm going to try very hard to take to heart the comment made by David, the former proofreader, in the comments section below.

Featured Comment by robert e: "That forum poster 'should of' proofread his remarks.

"I am as annoyed by these errors as anyone, and probably just as annoyed that I'm annoyed as you are annoyed that you are annoyed, Mike.

"And it is doubly annoying when I consider what an unkempt, mercurial pastiche the English language has been since its beginnings: the bastard offspring of several major linguistic collisions, a ravenous assimilator, even historically a big mess that, late in its adolescence, a bunch of cloistered monks attempted to stuff whole into an ill-fitting Latinate grammatical structure.

"Being picky about something so wild and alive feels like a futile and inappropriate thing to do."

Featured Comment by Rana: "What I tell my students, when it comes to grammar, typos, and writing, is that correcting errors is a way of showing that you respect your readers and your own work.

"I liken it to brushing your hair or checking your suit for lint before an interview; people will notice errors, and, for some of them, it's a deal-breaker. They'll stop reading, outright, or they'll view everything else you wrote with increased scepticism.

"In some cases, too, the errors are such that they get in the way of the message—it's not unlike trying to view the world through a lens covered with specks of dust. Clean them, and your point is easier to discern.

"That said, I make a distinction between formal writing and causal writing, just as I make a distinction between formal speech and the sort of speech you use when hanging out with your friends.

"(Of course, as I've been writing this, I've backspaced more than once to correct typos, errors in punctuation and spelling, etc.  It's pretty hard to turn off the internal editor once you've acquired one.)"

Posted on Friday, 09 October 2009 at 05:48 PM in Off-topic posts | | Comments (31)

Wednesday, 30 September 2009

OT: WTTW

Sorry about this morning's post. I was still a little traumatized by something that happened last night. (You have no idea how many babbling-brook/stream-of-consciousness vamps I write and don't post...I'll get done with one, sit back, and think, nah, I can't inflict that on people.)

Last night I had hopped into the car, late for an appointment, and the garage door was opening when it made a loud "SPROING!" sound and essentially disintegrated. The rollers came off their tracks, the cables jammed, and the appearance of the panels became the reason why the word "wopplejawed" was invented (it's sort of like "akimbo" only worse).

Zander called the garage-door repairman, Stu, who was here until well after 9 p.m. despite the fact that it was his wedding anniversary(!).

I need to try to remember every now and then that garage doors are expensive, and that they need maintenance. We use our garage door several times a day, and the wear-and-tear adds up. Assuming you live in a house and have a garage door, here's what, according to Stu, you should do: every year or so, look it over and tighten up all the many bolts and screws you can find. Use silicone spray lubricant on the metal hinges between the panels and on the chain and chain-rail. About every three years, call a garage-door repair outfit (find 'em on Angie's List) and have them come out and give your door a checkup. That still doesn't guarantee you won't experience a catastrophic failure, but it betters your odds. And it will cost you about fifty dollars, as opposed to, oh, let's say $790.80, which is what you might be charged if the garage repairman has to come, let's say, in the evening, after business hours, all the way from Milwaukee, and leaves his missus stewing at home about him being late for their anniversary dinner.

And by the way, if you live in a condo or an apartment with indoor parking, don't assume you'll never be the victim of a malfunctioning garage door. I used to live in a condo with a huge commercial overhead door on the garage, and one day the spring broke and the door jammed shut; it was ten hours before it could be fixed, my car was trapped inside, and I missed a job and lost a client. Best not to assume that routine maintenance is being performed on a communal door. As for me, you'd think I'd learn.

(I gave Stu a Chet Baker CD to give to his wife. Nobody can stay mad listening to Chet.)

Anyway, I'm not the least bit thrown by a broken garage door; it was that $790.80 that had me traumatized.

Mike

Featured Comment by Geoff Wittig: "True garage door follies:

"We live out in the boondocks at the end of a winding 250 yard driveway. We haul our trash to the road in the trunk of the car, seeing as how 250 yds. is a bit far to carry it on your shoulder. About 15 years ago I hit the door opener and backed out like usual, with the trunk so packed with trash it wasn't closed. Unfortunately I was about 10 milliseconds too fast; the raised trunk lid caught the lower edge of the rising garage door, with hideous consequences for both. It sounded like a beagle caught in the trash compactor. Total repair costs were about $1,500.

"About five years ago, my daughter hit the door opener button inside the garage and then hopped into the car. She unfortunately then absent-mindedly hit the remote button in the car to 'open' the door, which of course promptly began to close again. Which she failed to notice, so she backed into the door at high speed. Crushed two panels and the bumper of the car. That was also about $1,500, if I recall.

"Two years after that, my son did exactly the same thing. My wife and I were sitting in the kitchen over coffee; we looked at each other as we heard the garage door cycling down again (waaaaay too soon) and we both jumped up just in time to hear the 'crunch.' Sigh. Fortunately my son was slower than his sister; we were able to bend the kinked door panels back into semi-functional shape.

"The door screeches like a banshee every trip up and down since then. We're leaving it like that as a daily reminder to our youngest son, who still lives at home. We're hoping maybe the the unpleasant din will stick in his head if he's tempted to back into the door."

Posted on Wednesday, 30 September 2009 at 05:08 PM in Off-topic posts | | Comments (41)

Thursday, 10 September 2009

OT: On Sobriety

I mentioned a few days ago that I had a personal anniversary coming up today. September 10th is the date I got released from detox at Suburban Hospital in Maryland, and commenced a long journey of learning how to live.

When I was doing my "90 meetings in 90 days" in the (very rough) early going, I often went to the Westside Club meeting of AA in Georgetown. In those days, it was the meeting of choice for some of Washington's movers and shakers—Ted Kennedy came every now and then, and Jim Vance, anchorman of one of the local nightly news broadcasts, would show up on his blindingly chromed Harley dressed from head to foot in white fringed buckskin leathers. Those meetings could be crowded and loud. At one, a guy got up to speak who had been sober for 19 years. I had maybe eight or ten days at the time, and was really struggling with it, desperately, hour by hour—I remember sometimes having to go to three meetings in a day because I couldn't think of any other way to get through another six hour period. And I remember feeling completely, utterly incredulous at that guy's situation, for a whole jumbled mix of reasons—I couldn't believe anyone could do what I was doing for 19 years; I had no confidence at all that I wouldn't be dead by then; and I couldn't believe a guy who'd been sober for that long was still coming to meetings. That period of time just seemed so incomprehensibly immense—you might as well have told me I had to count all the grains of sand on a beach. I got so fixated on it that a few of the guys eventually had to sit me down and give me a good talking-to on the whole meaning of "one day at a time." "You worry about the next nineteen hours. That you can do."

That was true. The days do add up, though. Today, I've been clean and sober for 19 years. I'm still just a little bit incredulous at the whole preposterous idea—but here I am, alive, and still sober. And still going to meetings (whenever I get cocky, mainly).

Anyway, no need to comment on this. I don't need or want to start a discussion (and neither do you—go to your meeting to do your talking). I just wanted to give a word of encouragement to anyone who is struggling with staying clean or sober on this day, September 10th, 2009. I know you're out there. Solidarity, my brothers and sisters. Make it through today. It actually gets easier, little by little, one grain of sand at a time.

-

Ambrogio_Lorenzetti

Mike


The illustration shows "Temperance bearing an hourglass," a detail of a fresco by Ambrogio Lorenzetti at the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, Italy.

Send this post to someone you know who's staying sober today!

Posted on Thursday, 10 September 2009 at 10:58 AM in Off-topic posts |

Tuesday, 01 September 2009

OT: Self-Incrimination

By Ctein

Elmo Kissing Ctein-cropped Well, folks, it's been exactly three years since I started writing these columns for Mike. To celebrate, here is an off-topic column (which will lead to a photographic question next time).

Paula and I cohabit with four demented psittacines (your new word for the day—it means "parrots"). This column's about our nine-year-old male African Grey, Elmo, who we've had for a bit over two years. (Some other day I'll tell you about Opal, our tool-making budgie. I am not joking about that!)

One of Elmo's previous owners developed "bird-handler's lung," a.k.a. bird-fancier's lung or bird-breeder's lung, an allergic reaction that can cause permanent lung damage and be fatal. There is no cure except to avoid the allergen, and African grays are powdery birds that naturally create airborne dust.

Coincidently, our Nanday Conure, Tinker, died at 25 of old age. We found ourselves reflexively preparing food dishes for her at dinner time, expecting to hear her shriek when we drove up to the house, etc. After a month I turned to Paula and said, "Omigod, we are suffering from empty nest syndrome...literally!"

Off we went to our local high-quality bird store, looking for a bit larger bird to hand-raise. Elmo was being boarded there. He was cordial but a little bit stand-offish and reserved with us. Obviously not the right match. After several visits, we had pretty much settled on one of their hand-raised babies, when we got the back story on Elmo.

Elmo wasn't an older juvenile as we thought—he was seven, and he'd been hand-fed and raised by his owners his entire life, just the three of them. Now he was separated from them for the first time and surrounded by strange birds and strange people. Just a little reserved and standoffish?! He had to be the most well-adjusted African Grey on the planet; a common reaction would be nonstop screaming and feather plucking. It was hardly surprising he wasn't treating us like his best friends.

After a great deal of dithering, we decided Elmo needed a good home a lot more than we needed to raise a baby bird.

Shortly, two things became apparent:

1. Elmo is one hell of a talker. The way he'd expressed his distress was by shutting up. I should have been keeping a log book of his utterances; I only started doing so at the beginning of this year. He's got at least 150 different vocalizations, and it's probably more than 200. He tends to run "playlists," six to twelve different utterances which he'll use quite frequently for several days to several weeks; then the playlist will change to a different one. These will get mixed in with the dozen vocalizations that he does routinely as part of his basic repertoire.

2. The social relationship with an African Grey is extremely complex. Best description of our first couple of months? Highly bipolar. Imagine you adopted a teenager who'd been suddenly orphaned. Would there be mood swings? Understatement! Elmo oscillated between, "Oh, I love you I love you I love you thank you for rescuing me I love you I love you I love you!" and, "You're not my mommy you're not my daddy these aren't the rules I have to follow I hate you I hate you I hate you!"

We consumed many, many Band-Aids. African Gray bites won't crush bone, but they will draw blood. At first, several times a day. Then we got it down to once a day, then once a week, and now he bites (defined as drawing blood) less than once a month.

We understood what was going on but thought it was a good idea to talk to one of his previous owners after a month or so, to learn what his behavior had been like with them. He assured us that Elmo was a total sweetie and that they had never, ever had any trouble with him biting. Okay, they doted on him, so we didn't entirely believe this, but we took it for what it was worth.

Fast forward to last winter: I'm in the living room with Elmo, packaging up dye transfer prints. Elmo's on his perch, running his playlist for me. There's a momentary lull followed by this, all in the previous owner's voice:

"Ouch!"

(One second pause)

"No bite. No bite."

(Two second pause)

"Goooood boy."

Elmo returns to the program previously in progress.

I look at Elmo and say, "You are so busted!"

Elmo looks back at me and clucks happily.

Ctein
Photograph of Elmo and Ctein © 2008 by David Dyer-Bennet

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Featured Comment by John Sarsgard: "I had a friend with a Grey several years ago. It picked up several vocalizations not in its own best interest, such as 'here, here, kitty kitty.' "

Featured Comment by Paul Amyes: "We have a Weiro (the Aboriginal name for a Cockatiel) name Diego, also known as el grumpy. He also has an amazing repertoire of words but his main talent is mimicking the noises of machinery. He does a very convincing telephone ring which is followed by 'Hello Cheeky' when you find you've been suckered yet again. His main fault is his need to ride on the mouse as I work in my home office. He had a fascination with the wires and chewed through quite a few before I went cordless. I'm now waiting for Microsoft to make a cordless mouse with a built in perch."

Posted on Tuesday, 01 September 2009 at 09:01 AM in Ctein, Off-topic posts | | Comments (28)

Monday, 24 August 2009

Bad Shopper: UPDATE (and Jim Lager Leica Books)

I know this is just egregiously off topic, and I apologize in advance to those who might be annoyed on that account. There's an on-topic bit at the end...

Continue reading "Bad Shopper: UPDATE (and Jim Lager Leica Books)" »

Posted on Monday, 24 August 2009 at 07:02 PM in Off-topic posts | | Comments (59)

Sunday, 23 August 2009

Open Mike: Bad Shopper

I've been shopping for a new refrigerator, and I believe I have given up.

I have an incredibly poorly designed kitchen. Well, actually, to be fair, it was probably adequately designed in 1957 for a 5'2" housewife. Back then it probably featured a 24-inch-wide range and one of those semi-miniature 'fridges that come up to about my chin. (Occasionally, in old houses, you can still see bays that were built with that size refrigerator in mind—now usually stuffed, often awkwardly, with something else.) But with modern-sized appliances, the room features both a critical shortage of space and also a lot of wasted space, which is no mean feat. For instance, there is only 10" of counter space anywhere near the refrigerator and the stove. Many of the cabinets are in the wrong places, and the windows and the traffic flow seem particularly suited to disrupting the room's main function. Like most photographers, I have pretty good "spatial visualization," as the mental aptitude for comprehending the volumes and arrangements of objects and spaces is called, but I can't figure out how to re-map my kitchen, short of tearing everything down to the studs and starting over.  I have a feeling it would be a good problem to present to a residential architecture class. But it had better be on the final.

To add insult to injury, the adjacent living room is long and skinny, so it also features limited living space alongside more space that is essentially wasted.

But back to the refrigerator. I really like the new designs with the freezer situated as a drawer at the bottom of the unit. You access the freezer less often, and accessing the freezer from the top seems sensible for keeping the cold air where it belongs. Plus, being 6'2" and having a bad back, I dislike stooping down to peer into the refrigerator. I would very much like the business end of the thing to be up on the level of the atmosphere that I inhabit.

Picture 55A "DIY Famous Photograph" (see #3). The model is Tom Starkweather.

For various reasons having to do with my poor layout, however, I am limited to refrigerator units with a total width of no more than 28 inches. Well, little did I suspect, but the refrigerator industry is rigidly locked into various size classes. As far as I can tell, there are no bottom-freezer models that are 28 inches wide. They are are all 29 and 5/8ths inches wide or wider. I can't imagine this is much of an impediment to most buyers, but I do not have an extra inch and 5/8ths. That would entail buying a new custom cabinet unit for more or less $500 (yes, I inquired) and reducing my precious 10 inches of counter space to 8 and 3/8ths inches.

So all right, then, I'll buy a unit with the freezer on top if I have to. Grump.

In appliance stores, all of the 28-inch wide models are down at the back end of the least-traveled aisle. They are usually utilitarian models with flat white or "bisque" slab sides and doors. ("Bisque," if you are not among the initiated—as I was not, previously—is a color, one that is apparently deeply beloved of appliance manufacturers. It is not quite yellow and not quite brown, with a lot of white thrown in—about the color of a latté made with skim milk and bad gas-station coffee—apparently useful because, being roughly the color of dirtiness, it can get dirty without looking dirty. Either that, or it always looks dirty). Refrigerators lacking that socially crucial last inch and 5/8ths of width are clearly for second-class citizens. I only encountered two other shoppers who were looking at them. One was a man looking for a refrigerator for his senile grandmother, who he and his wife were installing in a presumably temporary apartment in their home, and the other was a landlord looking for a unit for a rental apartment.

So I found a suitable if plain model that was not expensive, and very nearly simply plunked down the cash for it. But a tiny voice inside my brain—the small part I use to review cameras, probably—was murmuring something about getting more data. So at the very last second, I decided to hold off until I could read some reviews. So I came home, subscribed to Consumer Reports, and discovered, to my horror, that I had come within a fraction of a millimeter of purchasing the loudest refrigerator ever conceived by Man. My mind flashed on the terrible scenario—buying the unit, having it delivered, transferring all my food to it, and then discovering that it sounded like an industrial blower and realizing that I could not possibly keep it, in light of all the torture that years of excessive noise would entail for me (I hate noise).

Chastened, I looked into every single unit that Consumer Reports rates "excellent" for noise. Not a single one of them is 28 inches wide.

I literally stayed up until 3 a.m. last night making myself bleary-eyed by poring over appliance manufacturers' websites. Conclusion? I cannot buy a refrigerator. The task is too much for me. Looks like the grubby old one is going to have to soldier on.

At least it is bisque, so it doesn't look quite as dirty as it probably is.

Meanwhile, I am going to submit my kitchen to "This Old House." I think it would make a nice challenge for their cadre of ace designers and contractors. Although they'd probably study the problem at great length and come to me and solemnly say, "Well, can redesign your kitchen, but unfortunately, what with one thing and another, the old refrigerator is going to have to stay." There are limits to expertise, after all.

Mike

"Open Mike," which encompasses off-topic ruminations and meanders on a variety of topics, appears on Sundays. But only occasionally.

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Perfect for lenses—and eyeglasses


Featured Comment by Marc Rochkind: "Mike, I think you are taking the wrong approach. You need to think of your refrigerator as a classic refrigerator. Then whatever hardship there is in using it becomes instead a time to reflect on whatever you are trying to access. Do you really need another beer? With a modern refrigerator, the beer would be in your hands in seconds (auto focus on beer). With yours, you would have time to think. With a refrigerator that holds 8GB of food, you just fill it up and never discard the old stuff. With yours, you only keep what you really need.

"In fact, I want yours! List it on eBay under Vintage Refrigerators and I'll definitely bid on it."

Featured Comment by John Camp: "I would recommend getting the refrigerator of your dreams and putting it in the front room, thereby freeing up space in the kitchen and using wasted space in the front room; if you can fit it in so the refrigerator is facing the side of the couch, you'll be able to get a beer without standing up, when you're watching the Packers. Eventually, you'll become so embarrassed by this arrangement, especially if you start dating again, that you'll go to Home Depot and buy a load of drywall, drywall compound and paint, and remodel the kitchen, and then everything will be perfect.

"I charge you nothing for this advice."

Featured Comment by Jim Hart: "Mike, I feel your pain. Our house is 12 years old—relatively new construction. My wife found a 'fridge she had to have after our original unit broke. The new refrigerator—nothing special, side-by-side, indoor ice and water dispensers—it was an inch too wide to fit where the old 'standard' top freezer model went.

"I pulled out my circular saw and (after some education on how difficult it can be for even a circular saw blade to cut through various counter top materials) I created an inch of nothingness into which the extra width new 'fridge would slide.

"I'm an even worse carpenter than I am a photographer—but as my granddaddy would have said, I had my 'Irish' up. I'm only thankful I didn't have a chainsaw handy, or a supply of C4.

"Forget the 'fridge. You need a wrecking bar, a case of beer, and some quality time with your kitchen...."

Featured Comment by fmertz: "This story left me cold!"

Posted on Sunday, 23 August 2009 at 12:19 PM in Off-topic posts | | Comments (79)

Tuesday, 14 July 2009

OT: New 'Pretties'

Gem Totally off-topic: my little brother's new auction series has begun. (He sells investment, jewelry, and collector gemstones at wholesale. His stones routinely appraise for 2x–4x what he sells them for. Not to brag, but Charlie is such a gem nerd that in high school he spent half his senior year interning at the Gemology Department at the Smithsonian Institution. He had already taught himself to facet by that time.)

For security's sake, I need to mention that the stones are all kept in safety deposit boxes, not in his home, which adds an extra 2–3 days to the typical MTBS (mean time before shipping).

Photos by my niece, home for summer break! Enjoy.

Mike

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Posted on Tuesday, 14 July 2009 at 10:17 PM in Off-topic posts | | Comments (4)

Saturday, 04 July 2009

OT: Music Question

I just caught part of a fascinating documentary on PBS with Dr. Oliver Sacks, the popularizer and philosopher of neuroscience who wrote The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and who was portrayed by Robin Williams in the superb movie "Awakenings." In an FMRI scanner, Sacks's amygdala (a.k.a. the lizard brain, the most primitive part of your brain, the center of smell-memory and raw emotion) lit up while he was being played Bach, but not when he listened to an outwardly similar piece by Beethoven. I've long suspected we have a "personal chemistry" connection to certain kinds of music, even certain composers or songwriters. My brother has an almost mystical connection to John Coltrane's music, for example, but Coltrane has consistently left me cold over the years—I have "aColtrania," I guess. That's a neologism from amusia, defined as the inability to perceive music as music. Well, it's not that bad—I can hear and "get" Coltrane. He just doesn't grab me, is all I mean.

So I have a question. Let's say you were off to the proverbial desert island—or not a desert island, but a very beautiful and pleasant island where you're going to spend the rest of your days, but where there would be no music except what you brought with you. You can bring all the music you want, but only in one specific musical genre—classical-period classical, Jamaican reggae, 1950s doo wop, Renaissance plainsong, heavy metal, like that—for you, if you're a music lover, what would that genre be? What's the one style and kind of music that's truly your favorite, that you could least do without, that lights up the emotion center of your brain like a Christmas tree?

Mike

Featured Comment by juze: "Well, how about if we take a different approach. In mathematics, there is the so-called Erdős number. Anyone who ever co-authored a paper with Erdős has an Erdős number of 1. Anyone who co-authored a paper with someone whose Erdős number is 1 has an Erdős number of 2. Etc.

"Basically, I'd take anyone with a Tom Waits number of 3 or less."

Posted on Saturday, 04 July 2009 at 09:03 PM in Off-topic posts | | Comments (142)

Sunday, 07 June 2009

Sunday Open Mike: Sound! Music!

I haven't kept up very well with my resolution half a year ago to write about topics other than photography once a week on Sundays. What usually happens (I hope this doesn't betray my utter lack of foresight) is that I'll think of some appropriate topic during the week, and think to myself, well, it's not Sunday, better wait till Sunday, and then on Sunday I either can't remember what it was I wanted to write about or it seems like there's not enough time to write about it. I guess you can tell from that that I don't have many weeks' worth of post topics already prepared and queued up for publication (although I have a couple of nice book reviews from Ctein that will go up soon, possibly tomorrow).

Anyway, breaking with tradition to return to tradition, here's an off-topic post covering a few recent audio products I like.

Computer speakers?
I personally went from listening to music on my computer just using its sound card and built-in speakers, to trying to improve the musical output of my computer, to simply hooking up my hard drive to my main stereo. I now use a single preamp that includes a USB input from my computer (it has its own DAC) and a tubed line input from (oh, I can hear the howls already)...a phono preamp. No CD player; I listen to digital files and vinyl. The latter only occasionally, the former most of the time, but I enjoy having both.

Audioenginea2
If you're looking to improve the sound from your computer, especially if you need the portability, try the excellent Audioengine A2 powered computer speakers (they also come in white). They're tiny—only 6 inches (15.2 cm) high—and cheap, only $200. Curiously, some of the complaints about Micro 4/3 cameras might be echoed when talking about the A2's, in that they're no substitute for full-sized speakers and yet they're miles ahead of most of the drek that passes for outboard computer speakers, some of which I find literally unlistenable. While they might not be the thing for a permanent installation, they're very portable. And they sound wonderful. (You will need to replace that soundcard, or get yourself at least a cheap non-oversampling [NOS] DAC.)

Audioengine makes bigger speakers and of course the obligatory "sub-" woofer (almost all computer "subwoofers" are simply woofers—nothing sub about 'em), but the little 15-watt-per-box A2 is the sweet spot. One word of warning: the volume knob turns the speakers on, and there's a three-second delay before the signal starts. Don't crank the volume knob up when you turn them on and you don't hear any noise! Oh, and you might want to site these directly on your desktop—normally tiny speakers will sound a little better if you get them closer to ear level, but in this case the boundary reinforcement doesn't hurt.

Best thing about them? They make MP3 files sound better than they have any right to sound. And who needs equipment that "reveals all the limitations of the source" when you're listening to MP3s?

UPDATE: Yes, Soundsticks are nice too.

'Phones—head-, not cell-
If you prefer to do your listening a little more privately (and even more portably), the new "i" (for improved) versions of the old Grado headphones are still outstanding values. In a field just chock-full of fly-by-night companies, the business started by inventor Joe Grado is still run by a Grado—Joe's nephew John. Also very unusual is the fact that the entire lineup of their headphones are each easy recommendations at their widely varying price points. I'd probably pick the $150 SR125i as the sweet spot, but not by much—everything from the $79 SR60i to the former top-of-the-line RS1's are fine performers and good value (there's now an RS1i and a much more costly flagship model, the GS1000i, but I haven't heard 'em. I remain skeptical that anybody needs to spend $695 on a pair of headphones, never mind a grand.)

Of course, be warned—buy a decent set of headphones, and you're half a skip away from needing a headphone amplifier. And from there it's a short step to spending all your time on Head-Fi, and we'll never see you here at TOP again. 

We get esoteric and start having fun after the break...

Continue reading "Sunday Open Mike: Sound! Music!" »

Posted on Sunday, 07 June 2009 at 06:32 PM in Off-topic posts | | Comments (47)

Friday, 15 May 2009

Musical Notes (OT)

Picture 35

There are plusses and minuses to working at home, but probably the biggest plus is that I can listen to music all day. And since I can, I do.

I assume many people already know about iTunes, Napster, and other 128 (and lower) kbps MP3 and MP4 download options for purchasing music online. But I want to put in a plug for a nifty and fast-growing site called HDtracks that appears to be coming on strong, where you can buy true CD-quality downloads. They list 110 different record labels (although a fair number say "Coming Soon").

It's true that "HD," or high definition, should really be reserved for higher-than-CD file types, which is a misrepresentation that does rather irritate my editing gene. But HDtracks do have some selections in 88/24 (SACD) and true 96/24, the latter set aside in a special "96khz/24bit Store." The latter are all (or mostly) FLAC (free lossless audio codec) files. To play them you need a network music player (such as the Logitech Squeezebox) that will handle them, or the appropriate software for FLAC decoding (such as Media Monkey, which is PC only) in addition to an "upsampling" USB (or Firewire) DAC. I haven't yet been able to play them from my Mac, but I'm looking forward to being confused further with yet more perplexing information.

The 44.1/16 (Red Book CD quality) AIFF files cost no more than physical CDs, and they sound fantastic, although they do take up a worriesome amount of hard disk space. I only have 1.36TB here at TOP World HQ. (Just to give you an idea of the impressiveness of our physical plant, the other day, rather hilariously, I literally did not have a place in my entire office to set my coffee down. I'm serious—there was not four square inches of free flat space anywhere.)

Just exploring the labels is fun. They run the gamut from Dave Grisman's Bluegrass label Acoustic Disc (try the George Barnes Quartet's "Don't Get Around Much Any More") to ECM; surf music on Sundazed, to Tzadik and Cryptogramophone; there are classical labels like ASV, Dorian and BIS, and audiophile staples Reference Recordings, Chesky, and Water Lily Acoustics. A veritable plethora. Fun stuff.

Even HDtracks' MP3 downloads are better than iTunes', being 320kbps vs. iTunes' 128.

We now return to our regular programming. Oh, and please don't ask me questions about this stuff, as I am the furthest thing from an expert.

Mike

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Posted on Friday, 15 May 2009 at 08:22 PM in Off-topic posts | | Comments (44)

Wednesday, 13 May 2009

(OT) What's in a Name, Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116?

Apropos of this*, there's this.

I can't stop chuckling over Talula. I love weird names....

And in case you're wondering, "Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116" is pronounced "Albin."

Mike

*Warning: profanity

Featured Comment by Robin Parmer: "My absolute favourite, from The Guardian: 'After being charged £20 for a £10 overdraft, 30 year old Michael Howard of Leeds changed his name by deed poll to Yorkshire Bank PLC Are Fascist Bastards. The bank has now asked him to close his account, and Mr. Bastards has asked them to repay the 69p balance, by cheque, made out in his new name.'"

Posted on Wednesday, 13 May 2009 at 02:18 PM in Off-topic posts | | Comments (22)

Sunday, 03 May 2009

Mine That Bird! (OT)

Picture 26Calvin Borel brought Mine That Bird from out of nowhere. This colt can run.

If you didn't see the Kentucky Derby yesterday, you missed a spectacular race. But don't feel too bad, because nobody watching on television saw it either.

The camera work during the running completely missed the significant action as 50-1 longshot Mine That Bird pulled the second greatest upset in the Derby's 135-year history.

Not till you could see the overhead view in the replays could you see what really happened—a stunning, fluid run for daylight worthy of Walter Payton, by a horse whose fleet speed made him look like a gazelle among wildebeest. Absolutely remarkable.

Fortunately, after the tragedies of recent years, the the only one who pulled up lame in this race was...Tom Durkin. From way, way back, Mine That Bird threaded his way magically through the field and barely squeezed by on the rail. When he took the lead nobody watching on television had the slightest idea who he was! Durkin, calling the race, was as surprised as everybody else—so surprised that Mine That Bird was three lengths in front before Durkin dared call the horse's name! He probably just didn't want to call the wrong name. Couldn't believe his eyes, maybe? It simply couldn't be the same horse who had been dead last on the backstretch, could it?

Here's the overhead view of the home stretch run. This is the must-see. It is really something.

Mike
(Thanks to Peter Robinson for the link. Photo credit: unknown)

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Featured Comment by Pen Waggener: "Living in Kentucky, I often catch flack for not watching the Derby, but I much prefer to listen to them call it on the once-legendary WHAS 840 AM, because the guys calling for radio really know how to describe the action, and because—knowing the races—they get really excited calling the Derby. Sometimes I get chillbumps. Yesterday I watched on television instead, and I remember feeling intense frustration as the horses came down the stretch while the TV announcer fell mute. Next year it's back to AM radio for me!"

Posted on Sunday, 03 May 2009 at 04:07 AM in Off-topic posts | | Comments (19)

Friday, 24 April 2009

War Story

A reader named Jamie left this comment under the post "Everything Is Amazing, Nobody Is Happy" below:

"Did you know that the comedian in the clip is an avid Leica shooter? This is a link to a blog post with some photos and good writing about a little trip he took."

If you have some time today, especially if you're feeling a little stressed or down, scroll down about halfway, to Sunday, March 22, 2009: "USO Blog: Kuwait Day 2." There's a big chunk of text just before the end of that post that you really should read. Priceless, as they say. Quite a good war story. I think you'll get a real smile from it. Unless (or maybe especially if) you were an officer.

Mike
(Thanks to Jamie)

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Posted on Friday, 24 April 2009 at 05:53 AM in Off-topic posts | | Comments (7)

Tuesday, 14 April 2009

OT: Ides of April

April 14th, and I've lost that heavy feeling of false wealth you get when you've had money in the bank you know you don't get to keep. It's all off to the U.S. Treasury now, where I know it'll be safe.

Lovelyday-1

It turned out to be a lovely day despite a rough start, although a few buds on the trees would be nice. Whenever. I don't know if you can make him out, but the wretched little terrier on the left stole Lulu's tennis ball and frolicked around the park with it for ten minutes, delaying our departure, while its owner fatalistically trudged after it saying things like "he never comes unless he wants to." Extraordinary. I never know when I'll encounter something entirely unforeseen and discover that it too is capable of annoying me—"dogs owners who won't train their animals" now newly added to the list.

Lovelyday-2

Every picture tells a story, as Rod Stewart might say. End of the day (well, obviously—you can tell from the long shadows), and a girl needs a good long drink after ninety solid minutes of running hell-bent-for-leather after tennis balls. (Until it got nicked by that furry little reprobate with the slacker owner, that is.) I was getting tired by then, and I wasn't even the one doing the running. Maybe it was signing those checks that did me in.

Both snaps made with the new SMC Pentax DA 15mm ƒ/4 ED AL Limited.

Mike

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Two shots taken by James McDermott using the same lens:
 Mcdermott-1

Mcdermott-2

"Shot in Raw, converted to JPEG in Elements without tweaking," says Jim. "That isn't a new form of distortion (in the top shot) by the way—the walls really do bow outwards."

Posted on Tuesday, 14 April 2009 at 11:45 PM in Off-topic posts | | Comments (28)

Friday, 10 April 2009

OT: Slicker 'n Spit Imaging Workstation fer Cheap

IMac

I want to get in a plug for the latest best buy in computers, the new 24-inch iMac, just in case you might not be aware of it yet. For considerably less than you could get a 20" iMac for a couple of years ago, you get a 24" LCD monitor, a 640-GB hard drive, 4 GB of RAM, a fast processor and excellent nVidia graphics processing, and of course the best operating system money can buy, all in a streamlined stainless-steel-and-glass case that's no bigger than most flat-panel monitors alone—and all for the bargain-basement price of $1500*. To put you in context, that's about half what I paid for my first Apple, a 512k "Fat Mac" Macintosh in 1984. (Of course, that included a nifty dot-matrix printer than I sometimes wish I still had—but on the other hand, those were 1984 dollars, which bought a lot more of most things than 2009 dollars do. They sure bought a lot less computer.)

This is a significant bargain*. The existence of the new 24-inch iMac, and its excellence, is the direct result of the sales of gazillions of iPods, iPhones, and iTunes songs, all of which have got Apple awash in cash and which now essentially subsidize the Mac line. The Mac's market share in the U.S. has more than doubled since 2004, to nearly 9%. Apple's share of personal computer profits is more like 17%.

The 24-inch iMac is even a little cheaper at Best Buy. I was looking at this machine there the other night, across the table from a guy who'd just bought one. The salesman was regaling the guy with a cock-and-bull story about how the "Apple representative himself" had been telling him "just the other day" about how he wished more Apple customers would have their computers "optimized" before they bought them, a service he was willing to perform behind the scenes at point-of-purchase for just $29.95. He had a spiel about how Apple software is "hard to update" because "each update has to be loaded, then you have to reboot, then another one can be loaded, then you have to reboot again," which is "all very time-consuming and complicated when you have to do it yourself," and so on. It was bad enough that I took the guy aside once the salesman had gone and told him that everything he'd just been told was total, complete bullshit; he said he'd suspected as much.

I wonder how many people don't? And, at what point does "salesmanship" become outright fraud? I think that salesman stepped across that particular line. For the record, it's safe to say that no Apple representative has ever said that a brand new iMac has to be "optimized" by a fast-talking Best Buy salesman before it's safe to take it home. If you buy one there, don't let them break the seal on the box.

Regardless, the 24-inch iMac is a superior product, slicker 'n hot crankcase oil on wet pavement at a hot rod show. I will now cede the floor to those who think Vista is just as good as Leopard, and a $400 Dell is all anybody needs, and how I should stick to photography, etc. Do bear in mind I'm not a computer expert, or even a computer enthusiast. All I can do is testify to constant daily use of my 20" iMac, and, apart from one solitary kernel panic early on, zero problems.

Mike

*Yes, I thought it was high time for us to be treated once again to 20 comments about how you can build your own Linux machine from parts far more cheaply. You might as well suggest that I build my own car.

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Featured Comment by Geoff: "I'm a big fan of these machines for working on images up to about, I don't know, 5000x4000 pixels? Maybe a little bigger than that, but not much. DigLloyd's excellent Guide to Optimizing Photoshop Performance will tell the tale about why the maximum image size you can efficiently work on on these machines would be capped (and no, it's not because of CPU speed, it's because of available RAM and the lack of fast hard disk I/O on anything except the boot volume).

"Still, finding a way to cheaply outfit a 24" iMac (I'd go for the 2.93GHz variant but that's me) with the 8GB of RAM it so richly deserves and a Firewire 800 RAID system to use as a fast Photoshop scratch disk and primary image storage would probably raise the practical image size limit to almost double the figure I quote above.

"Then the only real drawback (for me, my preferences, etc.) is that you have no choice but to take the glossy screen, which means overhauling your workstation lighting, wearing a lot of black while you process images and accepting calibration results that aren't as good as they could be. Only you can decide if that's a big drawback for you.

"Another thing these are great for is as a tethered capture station for a lower-ish megapixel camera. If you're doing table top or still life, why not plop one of these down nearby and check your work at 24" instead of 2.5 or 3? Sure, you don't want to drive a Phase P65+ with it, but a reasonably MP'd Can-ikon prosumer camera would mate up very nicely with it and either Capture One Pro or the manufacturer's tethering software and something like Lightroom. That way you can learn how almost all studio, corporate, celebrity and advertising photography is done in this day and age (although to truly experience it, you have to have a cranky art director sitting in front of the capture station telling you to 'make it more blue').

"Overall, highly recommended for those who don't want to shell out another grand+ for a Mac Pro."

Mike replies: The bit about the cranky AD made me laugh....

Featured Comment by Bahi: "The 24" iMac comes with a proper, 8-bit-per-channel (24-bit) display but the 20" model doesn't. Like most LCD computer displays sold and almost all laptop displays, the display of the current 20" iMac has a 6-bit-per-channel unit that uses a dithering technique to extends its range. It's fine for regular, non-photographic use but one of the most irritating and least talked about side-effects is that digital noise in areas of shadow can be crazily amplified in some situations. The display is trying to reproduce a noise pattern built upon subtle colour variations and will sometimes resort to dithering to achieve its results; the dithering itself can then appear to us as noise and the combined effect can be startlingly misleading. I had a pet theory (unproven) that a good chunk of forum complaints about noise came from people looking at their results on 6-bpc displays (cheaper LCDs, laptops) and not prints.

"If you're buying a separate LCD display in the UK, look for a specification that says '16.7 million colours' rather than '16.2 million colours.' That seems to be the somewhat sneaky method that UK retailers have settled upon to distinguish the 6-bit displays from the 8-bit.

"In the previous, plastic bodied Intel iMacs, both the 20" and 24" models offered full 24-bit colour and the 17" was the exception."

Posted on Friday, 10 April 2009 at 08:29 AM in Off-topic posts | | Comments (81)

Friday, 27 March 2009

OT: Auto Ezz-thetics

Picture 35

Izzat purdy, or what? It's the ever-upcoming Tesla all-electric sedan. (And you thought you had to wait a long time for digital cameras to make it to market.) It will have a range of 225 miles and a pricetag around $60k. American made. Available only to Hollywood movie stars.

Okay, kidding about that last.

The picture is by Digg co-founder Kevin Rose, from Jalopnik.

Picture 39

Speaking of pretty cars, the Volkwagen CC is an unusually beautiful automotive design for a current car. It plays no tricks, doesn't resort to gee-whiz gimmicks or trendy excrescences or swoopy boy-racer faux-Jessica-Rabbit curvaceousness, but the thing just doesn't have a bad angle: it looks classic and sleek from every quarter. Car design for grown-ups. See it in person: it's a pleasant change of pace in a time when many new cars flirt with either design incompetence or downright bug-ugliness.

Of course, they make up for the illustrious aesthetic design by calling it a "four-door coupe," which is dazzlingly dimwitted. Brilliantly birdbrained. Smartly sappy! Somebody stop me. (A coupé is normally considered to be a two-door car, although there have been other exceptions.)

Picture 36

And speaking of ugly, what were the people at Mazda thinking? They had to be drunk on rice wine in the boardrooms of Hiroshima when they approved this front end. I remember reading many years ago—it might have been the great automotive writer Ralph Stein who said it—that every car designer needs to be aware that the front of a car resembles a face, but every car designer also needs to be aware that the front of a car shouldn't look too much like a face. I'm betting this thing gets a new front end as a 2010 1/2 model.

Picture 38
Does the new Mazda 3 remind you of anything?

Cool that they know that
Also from Jalopnik: the 2010 Toyota Prius gets 26.2 miles per gallon...at 102 miles per hour.

Mike

P.S. "Ezz-thetics," of course, is from this.

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Posted on Friday, 27 March 2009 at 07:53 AM in Off-topic posts | | Comments (43)

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