Do you do digital photography? What software do you use to download, edit, and store your digital photos?
I’ve been very slow coming into the digital age. Mostly, since our kids have grown and left home, my wife and I don’t take anywhere near the number of photos we did when the two kids were tiny.
Way back then (1970s), a 35mm film camera with slide film in it was our weapon of choice. For awhile, I went through the Polaroid “instant picture” craze — but I soon discovered Polaroids faded and didn’t age all that well. The older the kids got, the less we traveled anywhere as a family and the less I could be persuaded to load film in the camera and take pictures.
Then a year or so ago, after some particularly disasterous family Christmas pictures, my wife and the kids finally persuaded me to buy a decent digital camera. Nothing fancy at all, and probably well behind the latest digital technology — but fun and useful nevertheless.
But the really fun thing was that I bought an SD card for the camera to store digital photos on, extending radically the number of photos we can get between downloads. For a guy who thought 36 slides per roll of 33mm film was spectacular — imagine how I feel when I think that the SD card in this digital camera will allow me to take MORE THAN 900 photos before I have to download them to my computer. Why, we made a trip across the country to visit a couple of brothers I don’t see but every few years. Brought all the photos back on the SD card without a single download, and never came close to capacity!
Okay, some of us are more easily entertained than others.
What do you use to download digital photos to your computer, to edit the photos, and perhaps to organize and store them on your hard drive? I hated the over-bloated freeware that came from the camera manufacturer. I’m generally confused trying to use “Picasa,” the highly touted free imaging software from Google. What do you use? Any recommendations?
Technorati Tags: SD cards, digital photography, storing photos, digital photography software, just a guy who reads the papers
Hillary Clinton’s presidential race has just about run it’s course — what’s next for her?
With news that Utah just added a superdelegate to Barack Obama’s total, it’s looking more and more like it’s curtains for Hillary Clinton in this presidential race. Mathematically, I think, she’s all but finished. And now that more and more superdelegates are switching to Obama or finally declaring a preference for Obama, it’s hard to see how she will accomplish anything of value by staying in the Democratic Party’s race until the convention.
But I really do not see, as some have seriously suggested, that she and Obama could run on the same ticket, with him picking her as his vice presidential running mate. I simply think Hillary Clinton is too strong-willed to function as “second banana” (this post seems filled with vaudevillian references, doesn’t it?) to Obama. In presidential history there have been a couple of really bad mismatches — Washington and Adams, Kennedy and Johnson are the two which may have been the worst choices. I think Obama and Clinton would be a similar disaster.
Personally, I think Hillary Clinton should continue doing her good work in the Senate, or find a spot in an Obama Cabinet post (perhaps Secretary of State?), and bide her time. Sixty-eight or 69 is not too old to run for president, is it?
Anyway, however it works out, I’m committed to vote either for the Democratic candidates in November, or simply throw my vote as a protest to Ralph Nader (as I’ve mentioned in the past). No matter how genial and jolly McCain may appear on the television talks shows, I cannot vote for a man so committed to Iraq and a number of stands on social issues that are too conservative for me.
Technorati Tags: Democratic presidential race, Obama and Clinton, just a guy who reads the papers
How about a nice inflatable boat? There’s an idea that might float
Everything I know about inflatable boats I pretty much learned from various comedy skits where people bumble around and accidentally inflate one in a small closet, or small bedroom, or small bathroom, or … well, anyway, you get the idea: I’ve never owned an inflatable boat and know pretty much nothing about them except bad jokes.
Nope, inflatable boats in real life are far from bumbling or “bad jokes.” I just saw a boating article that said retailers in the U.S. sold 29,400 inflatable boats in 2007, generating nearly $118 million in sales. Wow. The same article said the boating industry generally is slumping right now, but that inflatable boats are popular because of their versatility.
Okay, now, where can I find a good deal on wholesale inflatable boats, drop shipping inflatables maybe? Inflatable boat affiliate marketing anyone? Worth a thought for that kind of money.
Technorati Tags: inflatable boats, boating industry slumps, just a guy who reads the papers
Amazing — the St. Louis Cardinals have exploded into the season this year
With a record of 22-12, my St. Louis Cardinals have exploded into the baseball season far ahead of what I or most people imagined possible. They are leading the Chicago Cubs by two and a half games in the NL Central Division.
In light of the players the Cards traded away, the sort of “no name” lineup they were left with (except for Albert Pujols — a true “Big Name” player in anyone’s league), it’s amazing. Their pitching has no one who is “star” material and they have no one expected to lead anybody’s league offensively or defensively.
Last night, against the Colorado Rockies, I saw TWO, not just one but TWO, amazing defensive plays by the Cards’ centerfielder, Rick Ankiel. He threw two players out at third base with perfect cannon shots from deep centerfield. (What wonderful baseball trophies those two balls will be for him to cherish throughout his career!)
When I was a kid, I lived five years in Denver. They had a team then, the Denver Bears, which generally led their minor league division. That was in the old Denver Mile High Stadium. I once saw an exhibition game there between the San Francisco Giants (must’ve been a year or two after they moved to San Francisco from New York — yes, I’m that old) and the Cleveland Indians. I’ve never forgotten a play in that game when the famous Indians outfielder, Rocky Colavito, threw an absolute “strike” from deep right-center to the plate to throw out a runner. It was the most amazing thing I can recall ever seeing in baseball at any level. The ball arced through the air like it had been shot out of a howitzer and seems in my memory to have been perfect.
Last night’s two — TWO! — throws by Rick Ankiel were the only thing I’ve seen comparable.
Perhaps my amazing Cardinals will keep up the good work, surprise me and everyone else, and go all the way. (I know. It’s early in the season, and I really don’t want to jinx ‘em!)
Technorati Tags: St. Louis Cardinals, Cardinals baseball, Rocky Colavito, just a guy who reads the papers
So why are the San Diego U drug busts so newsworthy?
We were sitting here enjoying our new patio furniture and watching the evening news when our son came by. He works at a local university, and he came in just as we saw coverage of the big drug/weapons bust in which 75 students were arrested at San Diego University. Now admittedly, the arrest of 75 students, mostly frat members according to the report I just saw online, and the monetary value of the drugs and weapons found ($100,000), were no small thing. The bust came about after a year-long investigation into the cocaine-related death of a student there.
But, hey, there must be millions of dollars worth of drugs and weapons floating around colleges and universities nationwide, aren’t there? I mean, really, cocaine, marijuana, even heroine and meth, are widely spread all over America. So why such a big deal about the bust at SDSU?
That was the question my somewhat cynical research scientist son asked me and his mother as we were watching the newscast when he came in.
(I lied, by the way: We have no patio or patio furniture, just some worn recliners and a broken down old sofa. But a nice patio with nice patio furniture would be so much more fun on this beautiful spring day.)
We had no answer for him. As rampant as drugs and weapons are on almost all college and university campuses in America, what’s the big surprise? Not that the bust — and many more like it, I’m sure — shouldn’t be made. Absolutely it was the right thing to do. But what made this bust newsworthy enough to make all the networks and the cable news channels?
I really don’t know. Was last year’s drug death victim someone wealthy or especially sympathetic to the public? I don’t know. Were those busted obnoxious, spoiled “little rich kids”? I don’t know. The article indicated law enforcement people were angered at how open and “blatant” the drug dealers who got busted were — and the article mentioned one was a criminal justice major.
As my son pointed out, ultimately there is so much like this happening nationwide that it really isn’t a big deal and probably not newsworthy. At the same time, it can’t hurt just to let parents and students out there hear the message that ideally if you do drugs or sell drugs or deal in weapons, you will pay the penalty. That’s ideally, of course. And maybe “ideally” is something we have to shoot for.
Technorati Tags: university drug bust, newsworthy drug busts, just a guy who reads the papers
Depths of political pandering: Suspension of federal gas tax for the summer
Just when you think politicians can’t stoop any lower in their open fawning and groveling for votes, the leaders at it — Sen. John McCain and Sen. Hillary Clinton — outdo your lowest expectations.
I’m talking about their totally ignorant, completely political call for suspending the federal gas tax for the summer. This is so wrong, so downright silly on so many levels, I hardly know where to start. But here are a few problems with the idea
1. Federal gas tax money goes primarily, as I understand it, to building, repairing, and maintaining highway infrastructure — things like bridges, Interstate highways, other roads, rail systems, etc. I don’t know about where YOU live, but where I live we need more and better infrastructure, not a huge chunk taken out of present funding.
2. Less money for all of the above means losses of jobs as well as more potholes and at-risk bridges.
3. The whole silly thing won’t save more than a buck or two per tank of gas. Do you really want to contribute to the sort of maintenance problems that led to the big Minnesota bridge collapse last summer to save $3-$4 on a tank full of gasoline? Will that small savings per tank full (and the $3-$4 figure is probably a liberal estimate for most drivers) REALLY make a difference in your life?
4. The ultimate goofiness about this proposal is that McCain and Clinton are both absolutely powerless to implement such a scheme — they really expect voters to be so in love with their “person of the people” image shown by suggesting the move that they’ll flock to the polls and pull the lever beside their names. This is NOT a presidential race, people. It’s a political popularity contest to decide who will actually run for president. And even if this were for the general election, whoever wins that contest will have absolutely no power to suspend any gas tax or any other tax this summer!
An acquaintance of mine on a forum I visit regularly probably put this and all these other schemes by the candidates in perspective far better than I could. His comment about this goofy gas-tax suspension idea was this:
“Dire Straits sang it as Money for Nothing and the Pot Holes are Free. It’s embarrassing. I wish they’d warn me when they’re trying to kiss my butt for vote pandering.”
I take that as something of a mantra that applies to this whole waaayyyy too long, dumb election year charades: “I wish they’d warn me when they’re trying to kiss my butt for vote pandering.”
Couldn’t have said it as well myself, Mike.
Technorati Tags: gas tax suspension, political campaigning, just a guy who reads the papers
Who are more ‘powerful’ — candidates’ spouses or candidates’ VP picks?
It’s fascinating to watch presidential candidates express their unique “style” of campaigning and to think about what might truly influence voters — which leads me to the question in today’s post title: Which do you think is more important for a presidential candidate and his/her ability to get elected, the candidate’s spouse or the candidate’s choice for a vice presidential running mate?
Think about that a bit before you answer.
Spouses may win or lose presidential races, I suspect, far more often than VP candidates. The conventional political blather always speculates that a VP candidate can help a candidate capture votes from a big interest group or a significant state or region of the country. For that reason, McCain, as an example, might want to nominate a southerner with evangelical religious convictions to capture Southern conservative voters. (Does the name Huckabee ring a bell here?)
Truth of the matter is this: No one goes to the polls to vote for a vice president. If you don’t believe me, here’s a test: In 10 seconds or less, tell me the name of the Democratic Party vice presidential candidate in 1988. Heck, I’ll bet you need to think about it to recall who George Bush I’s VP was, wouldn’t you? Be honest.
At the same time, I’m willing to bet you have at least some opinion about or reaction to the wives of Barack Obama and John McCain, and about Hillary Clinton’s husband (especially). And I’m further willing to bet that you’ll ultimately be influenced when you get ready to flip that voting machine lever (or mark the ballot or scan the ballot, etc.) far more by your opinion of the candidates’ spouses than you will about who they pick for VP.
Perhaps that’s only human. Perhaps there’s really nothing wrong with that. Vice presidents rarely need to do anything a fairly competent politician with any experience can’t do with just a little prompting. And should anything happen to suddenly thrust a VP into the top spot while he/she’s in office — well, maybe a good spouse will come to the rescue and carry the VP and the country through it.
Technorati Tags: presidential race, vice presidents, candidates’ spouses, just a guy who reads the papers
I am changing my view of The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, to maybe not the ‘bad guy’ here
I watched only part of his address and Q. & A. session this morning on CNN, but I gained a greater understanding and appreciation for The Rev. Jeremiah Wright concerning the whole moronic political/religious outrage generated by the media and misunderstanding in recent weeks over Wright’s sermons and his role as Barack Obama’s former pastor.
According to The Rev. Wright, his sermons that made such a splash worldwide via YouTube, et. al., were “taken out of context.” That’s what he’s said all along. After listening to him today, I realize what he meant. According to Wright, the most “damning” or controversial statements from the video sound bites traversing the Internet were actually quotations Wright made of statements by the Libyan ambassador. (My apologies if I’ve gotten that source wrong. I wasn’t taking notes and didn’t get it taped/DVR’d.)
At any rate, The Rev. Wright, his character, and his sermons have been extremely badly handled and he has been seriously misrepresented.
As for Obama and all the fears supporters have that Wright’s continued public self-defense will hurt his candidacy — I dunno. I truly think Wright’s constant appearances and public statements are no gift baskets to Obama and his staff. I have no doubt Clinton and her minions will do their best to exploit this in a negative way against Obama. I don’t know whether McCain will do much with it unless Obama gets the nomination.
Frankly, I think the long drawn out warring between Obama and Clinton have submarined the Democratic Party and hurt them in the general election far more than ANYTHING The Rev. Wright has said or done!
Technorati Tags: politics, The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, political sound bites, just a guy who reads the papers
What does our watch battery misadventure say about our ‘consumeristic’ society?
Time today for a big rant about a little thing — finding a watch battery. Are my wife and I the only people who keep wristwatches running long enough to need new batteries? I think not, but maybe that’s true.
We both appreciate having solid, functional watches with digital displays. Many years ago, when digital watches were first invented (yes, we really ARE that old), they were the rage. Everyone wanted one. They could be read conveniently at a glance, and from the start they seemed more accurate and they actually had batteries — they needed no winding!
Not too many years ago, the fashion police decreed everyone was going to return to analog watch displays. Soon, the only people who wanted digital watches were long distance runners, speed walkers, and my wife and I.
Okay, I’ll shorten this story at this point. MOST women’s digital watches these days are less than elegant, looking instead as though they belong around the wrists of lady wrestlers or weightlifters. She has one that’s reliable and still looks “womanly” — it’s not one of those high-priced luxury watches, but it looks nicer than a “sports” watch. And we spent an entire evening driving around this miserable little city where we live looking for a watch battery when her old battery died. We tried the obvious big-box department stores. No luck.
We were headed home after concluding that she had simply kept the watch too many years and was the victim of “planned obsolescence consumerism by watch manufacturers.”
On a whim, we stopped at a place called “The Battery Store” — which we thought probably had mostly car batteries, boat batteries, etc.
They had a huge rack of every sort of watch battery you could imagine. They found one instantly that fit her older watch, installed it within a minute, and we were on our way back home.
I’m not sure what such a quest tells us about the consumer society in which we live. Perhaps it says we face throwing away or otherwise replacing a good watch just because the stores don’t expect us to keep it around long enough to need a new battery? Or perhaps we just were unlucky with her particular model of watch?
It does tell me I know where to look now the next time I need a battery — any battery!
Technorati Tags: wristwatches, wristwatch battery, consumerism, just a guy who reads the papers
What a relief — local conservative willing, able to police political candidate’s faith choices
It was a great relief to me today to read a conservative writer’s column in our local newspaper explaining that Barak Obama’s religious affiliation was done from political expediency. Like all liberal politicians, according to this dummy, Obama chose which church to join based solely on the way that church would turn out volunteers and enhance his standing in his political base.
Of course, this genius pundant has absolutely no hard evidence, not even anecdotal testimony, to support his opinion. He doesn’t, by the way, even call this opinion. He presents it as fact.
I wrote a letter to the editor pointing out 1) the column’s absurdities, and, 2) my objections to this “Heavenly Scoutmaster” using his column to delineate what candidates make what religious choices and why.
Thank God that He chose to send us one so blessed with heavenly insight to guide us all! I was afraid, here in America, that we’d be forced to fall back on making our own choices in matters of faith and religion, based on our own reasons. What a relief to know we aren’t stuck doing something like that in America — we simply need to trust these “conservative Taliban” surrogates to take care of our choices for us.
Technorati Tags: politics and religion, candidate’s faith, Obama and religion, conservative foolishness, just a guy who reads the papers