Toshi's ride pics thread

[Toshi]

here's a funny shaft drive bike from japan:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/trips/japan/vehicles/Images/16.jpg

[splat]

Those Brakes look kinda funny too.

[Toshi]

Originally posted by splat
Those Brakes look kinda funny too.
ah, that's because all of the commuter bikes in japan have a "ring lock", where the locking bit normally lives in the crescent that you see and slides to complete the circle (going through the spokes) when locked/parked. flimsy but easier than toting a cable or u-lock, and when all the bikes are basically the same there's little incentive to steal one

[splat]

SO with that Shaft drive , did it have an internal Multi speed hub ?

[Toshi]

Originally posted by splat
SO with that Shaft drive , did it have an internal Multi speed hub ?
i can't tell. the text on the hub says something like "Original shaft drive technology by Morusti[?]". however, many commuter bikes, including the one i rented in karuizawa, have 3 speed internal hubs, so i wouldn't be surprised.

here's a link that suggests it is possible: http://www.chainless.com/faq.html

[Toshi]

here are new riding pics, none of me riding however:

jibbe night at the skatebarn (http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/humba/skate%20barn%20-%20october%2025,%202003/)

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/humba/skate%20barn%20-%20october%2025,%202003/Images/7.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/humba/skate%20barn%20-%20october%2025,%202003/Images/1.jpg

[Toshi]

here's a cool sequence, definitely not taken by me (of someone in ridebmx):

[the guy took the pic down, too bad]

[hans2]

woa...did he just run and launch himself onto a carefully balanced bike? Or were they both moving?

[Toshi]

Originally posted by hans2
woa...did he just run and launch himself onto a carefully balanced bike? Or were they both moving?
the way i heard it was that the bike was stationary, held in place by a wad of stickers, and he ran at it. crazy.

in more local news, i finally replaced my worn 40t bashring with a snazzy new 36t model:

before:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/humba/bikes%20and%20parts/a%20boring%20bike%20tale%20-%20november%208,%202003/Images/0.jpg

after:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/humba/bikes%20and%20parts/a%20boring%20bike%20tale%20-%20november%208,%202003/Images/5.jpg

[kingLatency]

I'm buying a Nikon 50mm AF 1.8D for my Nikon FE-10. I'll be working with film some now that I take photo at school. Next year I might have access to a dark room too.

:)

[Toshi]

fresh bike pics are to come (even as ski season descends on us, hmm), since i have the following parts sitting in my room right now:

:D

oh wait, the parts:

2 arrow launch tires for the evil
a new protaper for the dbr for matching controls
a 50mm woodman stem for the evil again
new tubes for all bikes, now that i think of it maybe it's time to pull the tires off of the road bike too, any suggestions on 700c meats?
a new 8 spd cassette for the dbr (8 speed xtr FOREVER!)
new chains all around as well, driving across country wasn't good for them
a fresh terry firefly saddle, since wtb has finally stopped making my favorite sst ti model in favor of their newfangled speed v's and such
and finally, and undeniably the coolest thing: 2 forged steel park tire levers. i never knew i needed these until today

:D :D :D

[Toshi]

Originally posted by kingLatency
I'm buying a Nikon 50mm AF 1.8D for my Nikon FE-10. I'll be working with film some now that I take photo at school. Next year I might have access to a dark room too.

:)
cool, i love fast lenses and the 50mm perspective. have fun with it. i actually bust out my 50 exclusively on the road trip that i just returned from (well, interview trip, almost a road trip), but with the crop factor of digi-slrs it's an 80. makes for a nice portrait look tho (look here (http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/trips/ny,%20penn%20state,%20cali,%20new%20orleans%20-%20november%202003/)).

but instead of posting mugs of my friends, here's something of more general interest :D

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/trips/ny,%20penn%20state,%20cali,%20new%20orleans%20-%20november%202003/Images/32.jpg

[kingLatency]

Mmm, Ana's Taqueria. Well, I've shot about 3 rolls with the new lens but don't have any prints yet.

Do you know any easy way to get a D100 for free? :D

[Toshi]

Originally posted by kingLatency
Mmm, Ana's Taqueria. Well, I've shot about 3 rolls with the new lens but don't have any prints yet.

Do you know any easy way to get a D100 for free? :D
come on, get cracking, bucko. we need prints here. heh, why WOULD you want a D100 anyway? ;)

[Toshi]

new evil shots: i did maintenance/updates yesterday :D

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/humba/bikes%20and%20parts/angles%20of%20evil%20-%20november%2026,%202003/Images/0.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/humba/bikes%20and%20parts/angles%20of%20evil%20-%20november%2026,%202003/Images/1.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/humba/bikes%20and%20parts/angles%20of%20evil%20-%20november%2026,%202003/Images/2.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/humba/bikes%20and%20parts/angles%20of%20evil%20-%20november%2026,%202003/Images/3.jpg

sorry about the oversharpening halo on the last one. it's because i took it on the s30. (batteries are dead in my 420ex)

[Toshi]

http://harvard03.ath.cx/~yoko/unicyclists'%20gathering%20-%20november%2026,%202003/Images/12.jpg

rest of pics here on my mom's site (on my server): http://harvard03.ath.cx/~yoko/unicyclists'%20gathering%20-%20november%2026,%202003/

[splat]

Originally posted by kingLatency
I'm buying a Nikon 50mm AF 1.8D for my Nikon FE-10. I'll be working with film some now that I take photo at school. Next year I might have access to a dark room too.

:)

If you are interested , I Have a Besseler 23c enlarger and bunch of other darkroom things I need to sell.

[Toshi]

and yet more bike (if not biking, since i have no one to ride with/take pics of me or vice versa :() pics:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/humba/bikes%20and%20parts/current%20bike%20stable%20-%20november%2027,%202003/Images/0.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/humba/bikes%20and%20parts/current%20bike%20stable%20-%20november%2027,%202003/Images/1.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/humba/bikes%20and%20parts/current%20bike%20stable%20-%20november%2027,%202003/Images/2.jpg

[WTGPhoben]

In response to your email Toshi, not much riding has been done of late, but I've prepared a few excuses:

http://www.phoben.com/tidbits/ridemonkey/moteboard.jpg http://www.phoben.com/tidbits/ridemonkey/tap.jpg http://www.phoben.com/tidbits/ridemonkey/bar.jpg

also, I realized I never posted pics of my new car, so here we go (the cool red glow is natural light)

Old and New Wheels (http://www.phoben.com/cgi/pgal/galbuild.cgi?range=1426&style=gal1)

[splat]

What is the little circuit board for ? looks like a Serial to Parrallel ( and then some ) converter.

[Toshi]

ooh, that's sweet. what's it, a 2000 passat?

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by splat
What is the little circuit board for ? looks like a Serial to Parrallel ( and then some ) converter.

It's a programming board for wireless sensor network nodes. I'm using it to program the little wireless devices that are going to run a wirless gadget I'm designing. Parallel is input (for progarmming). Serial is output (for using the programming board as a central node/docknig station that connects to the pc) learn all about the hardware at www.xbow.com

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
ooh, that's sweet. what's it, a 2000 passat?

it's a 2002, 5spd 1.8T (190hp). pretty zippy. and I got bored so I photoshopped this pic a bit:

http://www.phoben.com/photos/people_and_places/2003/03-08-31/images/IMG_2249.jpg

[WTGPhoben]

Toshi, have you gotten bored of any of your camera toys yet? I'm looking to buy some new equipment, and I believe you have most, if not all, of the things I want.

50mm 1.4 (the pics I took with your 50 are still some of the best I have)
fisheye (because the wall is always a little too close at your back)
remote flash (it's just cool)

[Toshi]

hehe, nope, i'm still using all my lenses, and couldn't live without remote flash. well, i could live with no flash, but direct flash is horrid

[Toshi]

last night my former roommate ken ferry and i decided that it was a great time to revise the website. so it has been done, a new look has finally come. keith, your comments would be appreciated. :D the friends page was the first to be recast in the new style.

note the "Subject" field at bottom -- the point of this renovation was to allow me to tag every single picture with its occupant(s) so that a script can race through the server at a later date, create a database, and automagically generate pages for each subject. in other words, there will be an individual page for every person who has appeared on my website enough for me to remember their name, pretty much :D heh.

ok, here's keith's page for the sampling (the pics are the same, the layout is what's diff, thus the link to html):

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/friends/Pages/135.html

for an example of old layout check out the unicycling page on my mother's account:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/~yoko/unicyclists'%20gathering%20-%20november%2026,%202003/

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
last night my former roommate ken ferry and i decided that it was a great time to revise the website. so it has been done, a new look has finally come. keith, your comments would be appreciated. :D the friends page was the first to be recast in the new style... etc.



Assuming you have as many pics as I do, you have embarked upon a sizeable mission. (I left a text field in my database for tagging pics in exactly this way, but have never had the chance to actually go through and tag 2000+ photos.)

so, comments/criticisms:

first of all, A+ for concept

Layout gets points for slickness and simplicity

some execution suggestions:
-it would be cool to have names/faces linked up right from the beginning. On the main index pages you just have pics, but if the build script laid them out so that the subjects printed out under the picture I think it would be more useful for putting names and faces together.
-Also the main index images are a bit large at 5k apiece for the number of images you put to a page, lower-res or smaller images and fewer to a page would probably be better.
-A searchable text index would also be useful. "I want to find Kyoko, but I don't want to look through the photo index for her face"
-Resizing: when the individual images pages come up, the subject text overlaps with "back to album index"
-set border=0 around the little circular arrow buttons

Questions:
-I don't understand how the drop shadow border around the pictures works. from the html it looks like it is made up of 10 gifs, but how do they resize for each picture?
-why the change to harvard03 from tjclark?
-what does your database datastructure look like?
(mine is [id#][path][src][rank=hits-(# of NO votes)][hits][textkey (field for tagging photos)])

[Toshi]

yeah, it's a beast redoing all this.

hmm, i've experimented with having comments (if not the subject tags) on the index pages, but public acclaim was not widespread.

as for size, everyone cool has broadband, no? :D whoever looks at my page is procrastinating or on a mission to find something anyway...

ah, the subject pages are coming soon! then there will be one page listing every subject, and autogenerated pages containing every picture with that subject will be linked from there. so the subject page could be the searchable text you refer to.

huh, looks fine on my big screen wrt resizing so i'm keeping the template clean :D.

about borders, i just added border:0; to the a style definition in the style sheet linked below. tell me if it still is broken (after reloading the style sheet) k

drop shadow is cool. half is handled by the template i use for exporting which is parsed to html, other half is handled by the style sheet itself. you can check out the style sheet at http://harvard03.ath.cx/PaperMatteResources/paperMatteCombined.css . if you want to see the template i can post that, too, but it's no use unless you use my exporting program which is os x/iphoto only.

why harvard03? well, as you can see on the main page, the server's being used by a couple of my friends. who are mostly '03. heh. so i picked something less me-specific now that i'm not the sole user.

i actually know squat about the database. that portion is entirely the work of others. i'm not too sure how much my former roommate, ken ferry, wrote of it, but he did something to the system at least. plus i haven't generated it yet since i'm still in the process of tagging images and rexporting with the new template (which needs to be done for the database generation script to parse the subject tags).

yay for geekiness

:D
Originally posted by WTGPhoben
Assuming you have as many pics as I do, you have embarked upon a sizeable mission. (I left a text field in my database for tagging pics in exactly this way, but have never had the chance to actually go through and tag 2000+ photos.)

so, comments/criticisms:

first of all, A+ for concept

Layout gets points for slickness and simplicity

some execution suggestions:
-it would be cool to have names/faces linked up right from the beginning. On the main index pages you just have pics, but if the build script laid them out so that the subjects printed out under the picture I think it would be more useful for putting names and faces together.
-Also the main index images are a bit large at 5k apiece for the number of images you put to a page, lower-res or smaller images and fewer to a page would probably be better.
-A searchable text index would also be useful. "I want to find Kyoko, but I don't want to look through the photo index for her face"
-Resizing: when the individual images pages come up, the subject text overlaps with "back to album index"
-set border=0 around the little circular arrow buttons

Questions:
-I don't understand how the drop shadow border around the pictures works. from the html it looks like it is made up of 10 gifs, but how do they resize for each picture?
-why the change to harvard03 from tjclark?
-what does your database datastructure look like?
(mine is [id#][path][src][rank=hits-(# of NO votes)][hits][textkey (field for tagging photos)])

[Toshi]

oh, and i don't know how many exactly i have up on the web, but i have shot 17000+ in the last 1.5 years :D . so maybe 4k are up? who knows. it's at least 25 GB worth (in tiff form mostly) :eek:

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi

huh, looks fine on my big screen wrt resizing so i'm keeping the template clean :D.

about borders, i just added border:0; to the a style definition in the style sheet linked below. tell me if it still is broken (after reloading the style sheet) k

drop shadow is cool. half is handled by the template i use for exporting which is parsed to html, other half is handled by the style sheet itself. you can check out the style sheet at http://harvard03.ath.cx/PaperMatteResources/paperMatteCombined.css . if you want to see the template i can post that, too, but it's no use unless you use my exporting program which is os x/iphoto only.

...



The resizing thing def does some funky stuff with the things at the bottom of the pages. try/images/friends/pages/9.html and just drag the right window border to the left until things start to bunch together at the bottom and you'll probably see what I mean.

With the border thing I was referring to the fact that you get the little box around the round buttons that lets you know it's a link, maybe you wanted it that way, but I preferred the way it was in your previous site (no box) the way to get rid of it is to add border-size:0 to the IMG element in the #nav DIV in your stylesheet (I think. It's definitely the border attribute in the IMG tag that needs to be set to 0 but I'm not sure if the syntax I gave was right for stylesheets. The old fashioned way was just to add border=0 to the IMG tag)

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
oh, and i don't know how many exactly i have up on the web, but i have shot 17000+ in the last 1.5 years :D . so maybe 4k are up? who knows. it's at least 25 GB worth (in tiff form mostly) :eek:

that's a lot of photos. I believe in the last year I've pressed the shutter button about 4000 times. and I have 1432 posted, of which about 100-200 are not mine.

totally unrelated... if someone asked you to shoot soft-core porn for a startup magazine, would you do it (this may or may not have happened to me). If you did do it, would you do it anonymously or not?

[Toshi]

hmm. i am too lazy to fix those things. :D esp since changing html directly is a no-go, and i can't see the results of changing my style sheet because the problem (i do know what you're talking about, borders on that would be annoying) doesn't show up on my box

[Toshi]

ahha you must be hanging out with some sketchy people. anyway, i'd probably do it just for a story to tell.

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
hmm. i am too lazy to fix those things. :D esp since changing html directly is a no-go, and i can't see the results of changing my style sheet because the problem (i do know what you're talking about, borders on that would be annoying) doesn't show up on my box

yeah. here's how it looks on my screen (minus the big red arrows :D):

http://www.phoben.com/tidbits/ridemonkey/toshi_scrnshot.jpg

[Toshi]

and here's how it shows up on mine:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/miscellaneous/desktop%20pics%20and%20screenshots/overlap.jpg

i think you just need a better web browser :P

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
and here's how it shows up on mine:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/miscellaneous/desktop%20pics%20and%20screenshots/overlap.jpg

i think you just need a better web browser :P

I think the millions of users of the latest version of IE for windows would disagree with you.

[Toshi]

pics by subject are working!

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/

i haven't redone the riding pics pages yet, so your entry is rather sparse, keith, but most are well-fleshed out. possibly interesting might be this page:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/artsy.html

and this one:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/bleak.html

:D

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
pics by subject are working!

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/

i haven't redone the riding pics pages yet, so your entry is rather sparse, keith, but most are well-fleshed out. possibly interesting might be this page:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/artsy.html

and this one:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/bleak.html

:D

Artsy pics are hot

[WTGPhoben]

for us photo geeks, it would be really sweet to see the tech info on each pic (shutter, iso, etc...). Do you think you could figure out a way to parse the header of the images and automatically generate a link to the info for each pic? (because that would be awesome)

[Toshi]

two problems with that:

1) i shoot raw, so that info is lost when i convert (well, not at this step) and then save in a different format (at this step -- photoshop doesn't preserve exif under save for web, which i use).

2) all the old images that i'm reprocessing have already lost their exif info both due to the above, and because my old template didn't preserve exif.

so the new template would have its work cut out for it even if it tried to preserve that info. sorry :D

and thanks about the artsy ones. i've always wondered what to do with those ones, not quite good enough or with enough general appeal to be in my favorite pics, which is really more of my-favorite-people-plus-a-few-crowd-pleasers...

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/low%20light%20fun%20-%20march%204,%202003/Images/9.jpg

[Toshi]

as part of my website revamp (dec 2, 2003) the path to the biking pics has changed. now everything is under

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/

sorry for the change, but the structure was getting too messy

:D

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/dirt%20jumping/october%208,%202002%20dirt%20jumping/Images/39.jpg

also of interest to you guys will be the following subject pages:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/Keith%20Berkoben.html
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/Keirse.html
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/Ari.html
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/Thad%20Sze.html
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/Keith's%20friend%20Dave.html
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/Toshi%20riding%20bikes.html

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/dirt%20jumping.html
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/trail%20riding.html
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/night%20rides.html
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/skatepark%20riding.html

and
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/bikes%20and%20parts.html

ah, that's a lot of typing. :D quick stat: there were approx 1004 biking photos, give a take a few for movie thumbnails.

wait, one more thing: http://harvard03.ath.cx/videos/biking has all the movies now. tell me if you get 403: permission denied and i'll fix it

[WTGPhoben]

Is there any way to get photos that were taken together to come up together in the index? It's a little strange how thy're sort of randomly distributed.



Originally posted by Toshi
as part of my website revamp (dec 2, 2003) the path to the biking pics has changed. now everything is under

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/

sorry for the change, but the structure was getting too messy

:D

pic

also of interest to you guys will be the following subject pages:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/Keith%20Berkoben.html
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/Keirse.html
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/Ari.html
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/Thad%20Sze.html
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/Keith's%20friend%20Dave.html
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/Toshi%20riding%20bikes.html

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/dirt%20jumping.html
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/trail%20riding.html
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/night%20rides.html
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/skatepark%20riding.html

and
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/subjects/bikes%20and%20parts.html

ah, that's a lot of typing. :D quick stat: there were approx 1004 biking photos, give a take a few for movie thumbnails.

wait, one more thing: http://harvard03.ath.cx/videos/biking has all the movies now. tell me if you get 403: permission denied and i'll fix it

[WTGPhoben]

oh, and in a fit of procrastination I changed my photo gallery style sheet so now it isn't a black plague upon the rest of my nice white website...

see it here (http://www.phoben.ath.cx/cgi/pgal/galbuild.cgi?style=gal1&range=kp)

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
oh, and in a fit of procrastination I changed my photo gallery style sheet so now it isn't a black plague upon the rest of my nice white website...

see it here (http://www.phoben.ath.cx/cgi/pgal/galbuild.cgi?style=gal1&range=kp)
cool. you have some nice looking pics there. i like the midwest farmhouse silhouette ones :thumb:

unfortunately the arbitrary ordering is what the perl script spits out, so it's what you get :D . it adds an unexpected flair of randomness, it's a positive thing heh

[kingLatency]

Did you guys see the D70 press release? Cool stuff. I'd rather have a D100, but who knows if I'd be able to afford that come buying time.

[Toshi]

Originally posted by kingLatency
Did you guys see the D70 press release? Cool stuff. I'd rather have a D100, but who knows if I'd be able to afford that come buying time.
yeah, i read it this morning on my usual sweep of robgalbraith.com and dpreview.com . sounds like it would be perfect for you since you have f mount glass :thumb:

[Toshi]

in addition to the d70 press release, robgalbraith.com also has a nice story on the first digital asst for national geographic:

http://robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-6450-6561

in other, geeky, news (you listening, keith? :D) i set up sendmail and majordomo on my server. and it was a huge pain. but as a result, i now have my own mailing list, awh (it was something that a few of my friends had asked for, it's hard to stay in contact post-graduation)

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/trail/august%2031,%202002%20ride%20at%20taneum%20creek/Images/26.jpg

[kingLatency]

Originally posted by Toshi
yeah, i read it this morning on my usual sweep of robgalbraith.com and dpreview.com . sounds like it would be perfect for you since you have f mount glass :thumb:

Well, only two lenses, one of which is AI-S, so I'd probably replace it anyways. I can't afford a DSLR (yet) anyways, though, so it doesn't matter. I think I'll buy a DSLR in the Summer of '05. How's that for planning ahead? :D I'd probably be able to afford one this summer, but I'd just be opposed to paying $900-$1300 on a camera.

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
in addition to the d70 press release, robgalbraith.com also has a nice story on the first digital asst for national geographic:

http://robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-6450-6561

in other, geeky, news (you listening, keith? :D) i set up sendmail and majordomo on my server. and it was a huge pain. but as a result, i now have my own mailing list, awh (it was something that a few of my friends had asked for, it's hard to stay in contact post-graduation)


I suppose It was only a matter of time. It's definitely a useful addition to any url.

[Toshi]

you should join the list, keith, it's basically male-geek-talk so far :D

[Toshi]

hey keith, how does one go about finding an apartment around boston? where should i live? i want to work either for fascs or for the med school, so being close to the t would be good. but commuter railin' it would be possible too provided it's not all the way out in worcester or somesuch

rent.com? craigslist? hmm

(and a random japan pic woo)

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/trips/japan/scenery/Images/10.jpg

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
hey keith, how does one go about finding an apartment around boston? where should i live? i want to work either for fascs or for the med school, so being close to the t would be good. but commuter railin' it would be possible too provided it's not all the way out in worcester or somesuch

rent.com? craigslist? hmm

(and a random japan pic woo)

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/trips/japan/scenery/Images/10.jpg

interesting question. I'll ask around.

[WTGPhoben]

toshi, you missed a mother of a snowstorm. Wind did some funky stiff with the snow too...
http://www.phoben.com/photos/people_and_places/2003/03-12-08/images/CRW_2679_RT8.jpg

more pics here:
http://www.phoben.com/photos/people_and_places/2003

top two links.

and on a side note... My new photo-project of the moment is improving my basic skills (exposure and lighting especially... probably getting a decent plash in the near future) so if anyone has any words of wisdom they feel need to be said, I'm all ears.

[Toshi]

link gives a 404 keith. my advice: shoot raw, use a grey card for white balance, and be creative. :D "proper" exposure is sometimes really lame



new news on my front: unicycling pics (http://harvard03.ath.cx/~yoko/unicycling%20-%20december%2010,%202003/)

two tastes

http://harvard03.ath.cx/~yoko/unicycling%20-%20december%2010,%202003/Images/16.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/~yoko/unicycling%20-%20december%2010,%202003/Images/15.jpg

[Toshi]

another keith/random mechanics reading this thread question:

how does one adjust the amount of slop in a chris king front hub? it's not like my old-fangled ones :dead:

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
another keith/random mechanics reading this thread question:

how does one adjust the amount of slop in a chris king front hub? it's not like my old-fangled ones :dead:

It looks real simple (see pdf pg 5 on king site) The whole thing is only 4 pieces + bearings. to adjust, it looks like you just put a 5mm hex wrench in the holes where the skewers go, loosen the thing 1/4 turn, then tighten adjusting ring till it touches bearings and retighten main assembly.

also, link is fixed:
http://www.phoben.com/photos/people_and_places/2003

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
It looks real simple (see pdf pg 5 on king site) The whole thing is only 4 pieces + bearings. to adjust, it looks like you just put a 5mm hex wrench in the holes where the skewers go, loosen the thing 1/4 turn, then tighten adjusting ring till it touches bearings and retighten main assembly.

also, link is fixed:
http://www.phoben.com/photos/people_and_places/2003
ah, cool. i like this pic: http://www.phoben.ath.cx/scripts/cgi-bin/binpic.cgi?1447

because it shows quincy. yeah quincy

and thanks for the king tip. didn't realize they had their manuals up, and would never have thought to stick a 5mm or two into the axle. weird

[Toshi]

any fresh word on the street about the housing deal, keith?

in any case, here are new semi-artsy pics:

vitamins up close (http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/vitamins%20up%20close%20-%20december%2014,%202003/)

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/vitamins%20up%20close%20-%20december%2014,%202003/Images/2.jpg

for the curious: 1/200, f/32, ISO 400, all lighting handled by an off-camera 420EX triggered by an ST-E2.

[Toshi]

this link is also interesting

http://www.bridger.us/2002/12/16/CrashTestingMINICooperVsFordF150

as you may note, i'm not doing much riding lately. swimming, lifting, yes, but no riding. blame oregon and its incredibly rainy climate. instead i futz around with my web server and surf for info on cars :)

how's the passat working out for you btw? i'm currently hot on the prospect/concept of the ford focus svt and toyota tacoma trd, just to show how little i've narrowed down what i want

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
this link is also interesting

http://www.bridger.us/2002/12/16/CrashTestingMINICooperVsFordF150

as you may note, i'm not doing much riding lately. swimming, lifting, yes, but no riding. blame oregon and its incredibly rainy climate. instead i futz around with my web server and surf for info on cars :)

how's the passat working out for you btw? i'm currently hot on the prospect/concept of the ford focus svt and toyota tacoma trd, just to show how little i've narrowed down what i want

passat is pretty sweet. the conti ch95's are a little weak in the snow, but I got some michelins waiting in my garage for when I wear the contis out.

the suggestions I got for housing searches were www.craigslist.com and www.roommateaccess.com I have a friend at work who has switched apartments about every third month in the last year, but she's in europe for a week or so. I'll ask her for her 2cents when she gets back.

I don't see you in a ford focus.

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
passat is pretty sweet. the conti ch95's are a little weak in the snow, but I got some michelins waiting in my garage for when I wear the contis out.

the suggestions I got for housing searches were www.craigslist.com and www.roommateaccess.com I have a friend at work who has switched apartments about every third month in the last year, but she's in europe for a week or so. I'll ask her for her 2cents when she gets back.

I don't see you in a ford focus.
cool. all i need is a job now. :dead:

actually, i think i might be rocking something even less than a focus... my father decided to be esp. parsimonious (after agreeing to buy a car around this past september or so :rolleyes: ), so it looks like i will inherit the beater 1995 lincoln mark VIII. which is HUGE, and suffers from the typical big-american-car floatiness (air suspension, ugh), has an automatic transmission (a disease unto itself), and is generally tacky. hmm. on the other hand, it is rear wheel drive, it does have 280 hp on paper to offset that weight, and there is an active forum at markviii.org ... :D

what it could look like with a set of nice 18"s hehe:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/miscellaneous/random/lincoln18s.jpg

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
cool. all i need is a job now. :dead:

actually, i think i might be rocking something even less than a focus... my father decided to be esp. parsimonious (after agreeing to buy a car around this past september or so :rolleyes: ), so it looks like i will inherit the beater 1995 lincoln mark VIII. which is HUGE, and suffers from the typical big-american-car floatiness (air suspension, ugh), has an automatic transmission (a disease unto itself), and is generally tacky. hmm. on the other hand, it is rear wheel drive, it does have 280 hp on paper to offset that weight, and there is an active forum at markviii.org ... :D

what it could look like with a set of nice 18"s hehe:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/miscellaneous/random/lincoln18s.jpg

if you get a free car that means you have money for a new set of struts... and a nice rack.

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
if you get a free car that means you have money for a new set of struts... and a nice rack.
weird thing is that it's suspended by airbags, altho there are struts too. on the upside, being a full size car, the trailer hitch that fits it has a 2" receiver, so my swanky sportworks will work just fine :thumb:

parents agreed to finance rims, headlight upgrade ('93-'96 mark viii low beams are the worst ever, seriously), and a chip for the engine/transmission. so all that remains for me to do is to get rejected from new york/boston schools, then the deal will be done ;) :rolleyes:

[Toshi]

news of the day: i have decided to see how many digits of pi i can memorize, now that my self-assigned task of going through the entire matlab manual is done :D

current progress:

3.14159265358979323846264338327950

i think.

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
news of the day: i have decided to see how many digits of pi i can memorize, now that my self-assigned task of going through the entire matlab manual is done :D

current progress:

3.14159265358979323846264338327950

i think.

If you're really that bored, I need someone to teach me discreet and fourier analysis. I'll give you a week to learn all the material and then you can fly out and show me how to do it.

Also, find me a 550ex for ~$200 any you'd be my hero.

[Toshi]

heh, no thanks. fourier analysis isn't all that bad :P from what i've seen. this is why theory is better than practice


anyway, i have a new question for you, since you are a sound guy:

what mic setup for reasonable money (~$300 all said and done, including preamp if necessary etc.) should i get for recording myself? this will go straight to the computer through my usb audio box, which has a 1/4" plug, no xlr (which i imagine the preamp would have, i'm thinking of the m-audio audio buddy if condensers are called for), optical, rca, coax.

this would be for mic'ing at a distance -- remember, i'm a classical player, don't want a commercial in-the-bell sound. it's really hard to sort through advice on the internet, most recommend hideously expensive studio mics, and everything else is just about randomly distributed. i've read recommendations for (limiting to about my price range)

sennheiser 421: dynamic, pricey, really that much better than a shure sm57?

beyer m-160. ribbon, dual ribbon actually, hard to find but one's on ebay for $240 or so. actually, now that i think of it, buying a used ribbon mic is a dumb idea. scratch this, i'll wait until i can afford one new, or a royer 121 or somethin' ;)

rode nt1/nt1-a. a cheap condenser, still more expensive than the shure sm57 by a ways, probably too bright but then again i won't be close-micing at all

shure sm57. surely you're familiar with this one :D . i'm worried about it being overly bright. maybe mated with a tube preamp? nice and cheap tho

ok. so please tell me what's up, i'm utterly confused at this point. purpose of this mic will be for audition stuff, but mainly self-analysis of tone color, so natural and flat would be good goals :D

tia.

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
heh, no thanks. fourier analysis isn't all that bad :P from what i've seen. this is why theory is better than practice


anyway, i have a new question for you, since you are a sound guy:

what mic setup for reasonable money (~$300 all said and done, including preamp if necessary etc.) should i get for recording myself? this will go straight to the computer through my usb audio box, which has a 1/4" plug, no xlr (which i imagine the preamp would have, i'm thinking of the m-audio audio buddy if condensers are called for), optical, rca, coax.

this would be for mic'ing at a distance -- remember, i'm a classical player, don't want a commercial in-the-bell sound. it's really hard to sort through advice on the internet, most recommend hideously expensive studio mics, and everything else is just about randomly distributed. i've read recommendations for (limiting to about my price range)

sennheiser 421: dynamic, pricey, really that much better than a shure sm57?

beyer m-160. ribbon, dual ribbon actually, hard to find but one's on ebay for $240 or so. actually, now that i think of it, buying a used ribbon mic is a dumb idea. scratch this, i'll wait until i can afford one new, or a royer 121 or somethin' ;)

rode nt1/nt1-a. a cheap condenser, still more expensive than the shure sm57 by a ways, probably too bright but then again i won't be close-micing at all

shure sm57. surely you're familiar with this one :D . i'm worried about it being overly bright. maybe mated with a tube preamp? nice and cheap tho

ok. so please tell me what's up, i'm utterly confused at this point. purpose of this mic will be for audition stuff, but mainly self-analysis of tone color, so natural and flat would be good goals :D

tia.


if you're going to be picky about tone quality and color, you're not gonig to get too far on $300. I'm not well acquainted with exact brand names, etc. either, but you're definitely gonig to need a condenser, and a preamp is going to be key as you're gonig to need something to supply phantom power anyway. for a man who knows his taping and taping equipment inside and out you should talk to brett from finkfankfunk. I'm sure you can find his generic contact info on his website www.darkfunk.com he has about 1000 email addresses so I wouldn't know which one to give you off the top of my head.

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
if you're going to be picky about tone quality and color, you're not gonig to get too far on $300. I'm not well acquainted with exact brand names, etc. either, but you're definitely gonig to need a condenser, and a preamp is going to be key as you're gonig to need something to supply phantom power anyway. for a man who knows his taping and taping equipment inside and out you should talk to brett from finkfankfunk. I'm sure you can find his generic contact info on his website www.darkfunk.com he has about 1000 email addresses so I wouldn't know which one to give you off the top of my head.
huh, ok. i've emailed him, thanks for the tip.

on the car front, just in case anyone's keeping track, i've ditched the idea of taking over the lincoln. it would look funny at the trailhead ;) esp. with a sportworks on the back. so instead the pathfinder is going to be it, maybe put a detroit locker on the rear and 1" taller tires, but that's it. that would be just enough to have fun, but not enough that i'd get myself into trouble. hopefully.

[Toshi]

so i got into uw med school today, or at least found out today due to mail forwarding delays from our house in washington, empty yet supposedly my place of residence :D. this means that a) i will be able to bike, b) i will be able to ski, at least theoretically.

a + b ==> life is good. i may even have a job, more tomorrow post-interview.

and, lastly, i have coughed up more macro pics, 1 bonus point for the first person to identify this without looking at the gallery title :D :

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/a%20monette%20in%20harsh%20light%20-%20december%2022,%202003/Images/2.jpg

all four pics from the set (http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/a%20monette%20in%20harsh%20light%20-%20december%2022,%202003/)

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi

and, lastly, i have coughed up more macro pics, 1 bonus point for the first person to identify this without looking at the gallery title :D :

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/a%20monette%20in%20harsh%20light%20-%20december%2022,%202003/Images/2.jpg




that's easy... but kinda gross to know that you kiss it every day.

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
that's easy... but kinda gross to know that you kiss it every day.
ah, but what model is it? :confused: :D

[WTGPhoben]

QTVR fun (http://panoramas.dk/d60/index.html)

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
QTVR fun (http://panoramas.dk/d60/index.html)
that is pretty sweet. one can do the same thing with more "normal" 15mm rectangular (vs. circular 8mm) fisheyes, too, just more effort. i use panotools for that purpose, there is a pc version too, big surprise heh.

your darkfunk buddy never replied btw, oh well. i ended up getting a shure sm57 and am going to run it with no additional preamp into my usb audio box, that ostensibly has a preamp of its own. so i went cheap, yes: dynamic mic, no preamp, mono. looking at the prices of the good gear (which really does sound better :() only made me realize that i must get a job before engaging in any such flights of fancy...

[deroyo]

Originally posted by Toshi
ah, but what model is it? :confused: :D
I used to have a Bach 7C...:cool:
Yes I played for 10 years!!!
If your mike was not going through your puter,I would had said an EV/RE-20,really warm sounding mic for a trumpet,actually for any brass.I can only recommend it for live and recording aplication.

[Toshi]

Originally posted by deroyo
I used to have a Bach 7C...:cool:
Yes I played for 10 years!!!
If your mike was not going through your puter,I would had said an EV/RE-20,really warm sounding mic for a trumpet,actually for any brass.I can only recommend it for live and recording aplication.
cool, thanks for the tip! at this point there's a whole list of mics i want to try out, since i can't make heads or tails of peoples' recommendations since they're so varied...

i've pretty much decided to go the two channel only route however (so as to be able to capture larger groups, such as brass quintets), so i think i'll have to check out omnis. do you have any thoughts on those?

ah, the 7C, everybody's first love. i certainly walked down that road, too: 7C, 5C, 3C, Schilke 14, then to my current (for the last 5 years and change) choice, Monette 2 series pieces.

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
that is pretty sweet. one can do the same thing with more "normal" 15mm rectangular (vs. circular 8mm) fisheyes, too, just more effort. i use panotools for that purpose, there is a pc version too, big surprise heh.



is my understanding correct that the difference between the rectangular (or diagonal as I believe most people call them) and the circular fishes is that the circular actually gives you the same coverage but instad of distorting it into a rectangle, it actually gives you a the circular image?

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
is my understanding correct that the difference between the rectangular (or diagonal as I believe most people call them) and the circular fishes is that the circular actually gives you the same coverage but instad of distorting it into a rectangle, it actually gives you a the circular image?
well, the coverage is actually different: with a diagonal fisheye, you get 180 degrees diagonally (ie from bottom left to upper right), at least when shooting on a film camera. thus along the axes of the image itself you won't see 180 coverage. however, the image fills the whole frame with no dead space. with a circular fisheye the image projected onto the film plane (again, smaller digital sensors change things a bit) is circular, with every diameter of that circle corresponding to 180 degrees in real life.

[Toshi]

been itching to pick up a piccolo trumpet, denis or keith? well here's your chance! hehe

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2370103431

(yeah, it's my auction. like it says, i don't play it enough, Bb and C are more than enough to keep me busy and tired these days)

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/miscellaneous/random/scherzer-ebay.jpg

[Toshi]

and now, possibly due to brain imflammation from sickness, i feel like posting (with the new, correct path) my favorite riding pics from months and years past. part 1: night rides

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/night/april%2019,%202002%20night%20ride/Images/2.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/night/august%205,%202002%20night%20ride/Images/9.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/night/august%207,%202002%20night%20ride/Images/20.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/night/august%207,%202002%20night%20ride/Images/32.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/night/october%2014,%202002%20night%20ride/Images/22.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/night/september%2019,%202002%20night%20ride/Images/15.jpg

[Toshi]

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/random%20galleries/trip%20to%20Landry's%20bike%20shop/Images/17.jpg

sunny days at the trailhead:
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/trail/fells%20ride%20-%20july%2020,%202003/Images/1.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/trail/fells%20ride%20-%20june%2019,%202003/Images/7.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/trail/july%2025,%202002%20Fells%20ride/Images/11.jpg

:dead: :monkey:
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/trail/june%2025,%202002%20Fells%20ride/Images/1.jpg ah, the memories ;) or have you lost them?

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/trail/june%2025,%202002%20Fells%20ride/Images/10.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/trail/may%209,%202002%20Fells%20ride/Images/8.jpg

crazy ed sassler:
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/trail/october%203,%202002%20Fells%20ride/Images/9.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/trail/october%206,%202002%20Fells%20ride/Images/22.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/trail/september%2022,%202002%20Fells%20ride/Images/10.jpg

ok, that's it.

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
...

always pics of me falling off my bike... It's almost like you're trying to make me look like a big lanky uncoordinated oaf. <looks at avatar> ... oh yeah, nevermind.

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
always pics of me falling off my bike... It's almost like you're trying to make me look like a big lanky uncoordinated oaf. <looks at avatar> ... oh yeah, nevermind.
ok, for parity

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/biking/night/august%205,%202002%20night%20ride/Images/13.jpg

[Toshi]

Originally posted by Toshi
been itching to pick up a piccolo trumpet, denis or keith? well here's your chance! hehe

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2370103431

actually, you may want to pick up this, my sigma fisheye on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2976632095

aren't my pictures of it purdy? :D

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/miscellaneous/random/sigma-ebay-1.jpg

why all the ebay action: boredom, realization that i don't use this stuff all that often, plus an intense and irrational desire to pour money into the pathfinder.

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
actually, you may want to pick up this, my sigma fisheye on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2976632095

aren't my pictures of it purdy? :D

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/miscellaneous/random/sigma-ebay-1.jpg

why all the ebay action: boredom, realization that i don't use this stuff all that often, plus an intense and irrational desire to pour money into the pathfinder.

uummm, was that "buy it now"? It's gone already, and I totally would have pad $310 for it.

...but, I really should be spending my $$ on a flash. Still waiting for a decent one to sell for less than $300.

PS. I think you sold that lens just so you could take macros of it and post them:D

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
uummm, was that "buy it now"? It's gone already, and I totally would have pad $310 for it.

...but, I really should be spending my $$ on a flash. Still waiting for a decent one to sell for less than $300.

PS. I think you sold that lens just so you could take macros of it and post them:D
yeah, both the lens and the picc went overnight via buy it now. crazy!

actually, the pics of the lens were with the 50mm. yum. just get a 420ex for the flash. the 550 is really big, i'm not sure if you've messed around with it.

[Toshi]

i'm also dumping one of my two 17" lcds :D on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2777684781

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/miscellaneous/random/asd17-ebay.jpg

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
yeah, both the lens and the picc went overnight via buy it now. crazy!

actually, the pics of the lens were with the 50mm. yum. just get a 420ex for the flash. the 550 is really big, i'm not sure if you've messed around with it.

i saw the 540ez, which I assume is similar size. The two things I like about the 550...

1. it can be master or slave
2. 550 has a full manual mode. I don't believe the 420 has that, but you're welcome to correct me if I'm wrong.

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
i saw the 540ez, which I assume is similar size. The two things I like about the 550...

1. it can be master or slave
2. 550 has a full manual mode. I don't believe the 420 has that, but you're welcome to correct me if I'm wrong.
true, true, but without another flash being able to act as master is useless. and yes, manual is only available on the 550ex, but if you really want that you could pick up a 420 and a cheap vivitar (that would only work in manual) for less dinero.

have you read this?

http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/#olderspeedlite

the EZ might not be a good one to go with as it wouldn't do E-TTL. i'd stick with the current 220EX/420EX/550EX lineup.

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi

the EZ might not be a good one to go with as it wouldn't do E-TTL. i'd stick with the current 220EX/420EX/550EX lineup.

right... I was only referring to the EZ for size comparison.

[Toshi]

new years brought with it a healthy storm, which in turn chopped down a fair bit of a power line. this brought a distinct lack of heat and electricity to the region for about 36 hours, maybe a shade less. :dead:

but i had to deliver my ebay goods to the post office, and to do that i needed the addresses, which were only on my email. so i went out for a long drive.

and saw this:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/escaping%20the%20blackout%20-%20january%202,%202004/Images/5.jpg

among other sights. see them all here:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/escaping%20the%20blackout%20-%20january%202,%202004/

also, any motorcycle riders in the audience?

[WTGPhoben]

$303 with shipping.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2976168464

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
$303 with shipping.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2976168464
cool, congrats. i bought mine for $300 shipped tho... :D

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
cool, congrats. i bought mine for $300 shipped tho... :D

but I'm better looking.

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
but I'm better looking.
:dead:

but do you have a cult and a mailing list?

:eek:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/toshi-open/

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
:dead:

but do you have a cult and a mailing list?

:eek:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/toshi-open/

never been big on cults... I prefer communes.

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
never been big on cults... I prefer communes.
but if you are the Charismatic Leader... :eek:

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
but if you are the Charismatic Leader... :eek:

that just means you have to pay the Kool-Aid bill

[Toshi]

these two biking videos are worthwhile to watch:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/videos/biking/ChasingRennie.mpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/videos/biking/samhill.mov

moral: nathan rennie is fast.

[Toshi]

after great effort, and at great price to my hands (thin, waxed thread kills!), the pathfinder now has a lovely stitched leather steering wheel cover:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/wheelskins%20install%20-%20january%209,%202004/

before:
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/wheelskins%20install%20-%20january%209,%202004/Images/1.jpg

during:
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/wheelskins%20install%20-%20january%209,%202004/Images/7.jpg

after:
http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/wheelskins%20install%20-%20january%209,%202004/Images/8.jpg

it cost $40 + about 4 hours of my labor.

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
after great effort, and at great price to my hands (thin, waxed thread kills!), the pathfinder now has a lovely stitched leather steering wheel cover:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/wheelskins%20install%20-%20january%209,%202004/

it cost $40 + about 4 hours of my labor.

spiffy...

in other news: Fisheye came today. too bad it's wasn't a canon mount as advertised. Hopefully it will get resolved easily, buuuut I'm not optimistic.

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
spiffy...

in other news: Fisheye came today. too bad it's wasn't a canon mount as advertised. Hopefully it will get resolved easily, buuuut I'm not optimistic.
ooh, that blows. sham ebay photo outfits are a big problem, yessiree.

btw, the canon 1D (not 10D) has apparently been discontinued as B&H isn't selling it anymore. that, plus the fact that PMAI 2004 is feb 12-15, leads me to believe that a 1D replacement is forthcoming. i might have to spring for that, finally trade up from 1.6x cropping factor.

that, or the motorcycle deal. dieing as a result of another driver is making me less keen on the idea tho.

[Toshi]

as i head off to the library, i thought it might be a good thing to post my reading list. some of you out there might be literate monkeys, no? :eek:

the ones that have harvard call numbers are those that have been on my list for far too long :(

books to read:

juliana says to read books by dick king smitth

Life and death in Shanghai / Nien Cheng

Shadow Of The HegemonÂ_
2001
Card, Orson Scott Â_

Speaker For The DeadÂ_
c1994
Card, Orson Scott Â_

Children Of The MindÂ_
1996
Card, Orson Scott Â_

XenocideÂ_
1991
Card, Orson Scott Â_

Ender's ShadowÂ_
1999
Card, Orson Scott

Shadow PuppetsÂ_
2002
Card, Orson Scott Â_

Ender's GameÂ_
1994
Card, Orson Scott

XenocideÂ_
1992
Card, Orson Scott

Ian McEwan, "The child in time"
WidenerÂ_WID-LCÂ_PR6063.C4Â_C45 1998x

paul farmer, "pathologies of power," "moving mountains"

Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam: A Life in Physics
by John Archibald Wheeler, Kenneth Ford

Peter Matthiessen, At Play in the Fields of the Lord

~W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor's Edge

John D. MacDonald, The Green Ripper

Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Milan Kundera, Life Is Elsewhere

Alfred Kazin, A Walker in the City

Dao Strom, Grass Roof, Tin Roof

~D.H. Lawrence, Women in Love

~Jorge Luis Borges, "The Garden of Forking Paths" from Fictions

tom robbins "even cowboys[ed: cowgirls] get the blues" "incognito" ...?

Armand Nicholi, "The question of God"
Widener 32044060599859

Gene Wolfe, "The Book of the New Sun."
WID-LC PS3573.O52Â_C5 1983
Harvard DepositoryÂ_PS3573.O52Â_C57 x, 1982Â_[Consult Circ. desk for HW97RB.]

Tom Wolfe, "A Man In Full."
WidenerÂ_WID-LCÂ_PS3573.O526Â_M26 1998

Henri Charrière, "Papillon."
WidenerÂ_Soc 2993.36.1, due 09/09/09

don delillo "white noise" and "underworld"

nabokov, "lolita"

christina garcia, _dreaming in cuban_.

_life and death in shanghi_ by nien cheng (a bourgeois woman's
experience in maoist china)

_child of the dark: the diary of carolina maria de jesus_ (a harrowing, but
touching, account of life in brazil's favelas)

carlos castenada's _the teachings of don juan_ (goofy, really)

_lizard_ by banana yoshimoto (i liked _kitchen_ better)

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting , M Kundera

Chopin: The Four Ballades , J Samson
not found.

Far from the Madding Crowd , T Hardy

In the Skin of a Lion , M. Ondaatje

A Walker in the City , Alfred Kazin
not found.

My Legendary Girlfriend , M. Gayle

Bonjour Tristesse , F. Sagan

An Underachiever's Diary , B. Anastas

On Love , A. de Botton

Goodbye Tsugumi , B. Yamamoto

Robert und Clara: Briefe einer Liebe ;Bookends , J. Green

Piano Pieces , R Sherman

The Last-Chance Saloon , M Keyes

The Horse's Mouth , J. Cary

"candide", voltaire

"design patterns", by Erich Gamma (Author), Richard Helm (Author), Ralph Johnson (Author), John Vlissides(Author)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0201633612/002-6098233-4360065?v=glance

richard westfall, "never at rest"

books i've read recently:

David Foster Wallace, "Infinite Jest."
Hilles PS3573.A425635Â_I54 1995, due 7/31/02

Neil Gaimon, "Neverwhere."
Widener WID-LCÂ_PS3557.A3519Â_N48 1996xÂ_[Label mounted on front endpaper: "Limited edition. Number 320 of 500."]

james gleick, "genius"
(only skimmed, same material as "surely you're joking mr. feynman" but not as readable)

Wolfram, "A New Kind of Science."
Wolbach LibraryÂ_QA267.5 .C45Â_W67 2002

Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's Cradle," "Slaughterhouse Five,"
Widener ALB 7333.152
WidenerÂ_WID-LCÂ_PS3572.O5Â_S6 1994
"Hocus Pocus", "Player Piano."
HillesÂ_PS3572.O5Â_H6 1990
LamontÂ_PS3572.O5Â_P55 x, 1974

Neal Stephenson, "Diamond Age," "Snow Crash."
WidenerÂ_WID-LCÂ_PS3569.T3868Â_D53 1995
WidenerÂ_Harvard DepositoryÂ_PS3569.T3868Â_S65 2000xÂ_[Consult Circ. Desk for HXEW5X.]
"cryptonomicon"
"zodiac"
"quicksilver"

"Enders Game", orson scott card

Umberto Eco, "Foucalt's Pendulum" and "Name of the Rose"

Nick Hornby, "About a Boy"

Douglas Hofstadter, "Godel, Escher, Bach"

Philip K. Dick, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", "The Simulacra," and "A Scanner Darkly"
Lamont PS3554.I3Â_D6 1996x

Pat Conroy, "The Lords of Discipline" and "Beach Music"

Steven J Gould, "Full House."
Cabot Science: QH366.2Â_.G842 1996

Steven J. Gould, "The Mismeasure of Man"
WID-LCÂ_BF431Â_.G68 1996

Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon,"
WidenerÂ_WID-LCÂ_PS3569.T3868Â_C79 1999

William Gibson, "Neuromancer."
LamontÂ_PS3557.I2264Â_N48 1994

the davinci code

"fury", salman rushdie

[Toshi]

in riding around the driveway and street just now, i figured a few more tips that help me, at least, to manual more consistently:

1. hold onto the bars with a strong grip. let go of the brakes completely at low speed, give the bars the ol' death grip. at high speed keep just one finger on the rear brake, and keep those other ones tight. somehow i'd fallen into the practice of holding the bars very loosely.

2. keep the arms as straight as possible

3. don't fight anything with the legs, it will just keep you from pulling up the bike, and, once up, from moving as you need to to balance. concentrate on having the legs feel as wobbly as possible, and sink down into your knees. keep them bent, in other words

4. practice looping out while standing still with the brakes off, deathgrip as above. this will improve confidence. don't hurt yourself or else it won't tho :D

little rides like this, and their accompanying chance for pedagogy ;) , are what make having the evil worthwhile. :thumb:

[endtroducing]

That's a great list you've posted, i'll need to start checking a lot of those out myself, Toshi. of those i've read/own:

- Kundera's Unbearable Lightness
- Lawrence's Women in Love
- Borges (I have his collection Labrynths, which includes The Garden of Forking Paths, in addition to a many short stories, essays, and letters)
- Wolfe's A Man in Full (not at all what i expected)
- Delillo's Underworld (actually took a whole class on it in highschool, a Great American Novel Study.)
- Nabokov's Lolita (I enjoyed his Pnin as well)
- Voltaire's Candide (fell in love with his writings freshman year during my hardcore libertarian and anti-establishment days)
- Nearly all Vonnegut's works, less Galapagos and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, and maybe one or two others. Potentially my favorite author.
- Eco's Name of the Rose ( I LOVE that book, was rereading one of my old essay's last night on it actually, on william and jorge's respective views of evil, concluding that, for each other, they were the anti-christ.)

Recently, I've read:
- John Irving's Hotel New Hampshire and A Prayer for Owen Meany (very nostalgic for me. i MISS new england.)
- E.M. Forster's The Longest Journey
- David Browne's Dream Brother, the dual biography of father and son cult rock legend's Tim and Jeff Buckley. GOD this was good. I've since bought nearly all of Jeff's catalog, and am starting in on Tim's.
- David Foster Wallace's Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
- James Clavell's Shogun
- Camus' The Stranger
- Delillo's Mao II

I'm currently amidst:

- Joyce's Ulysses
- Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow
- Dostoyevsky's The Brother's Karamazov
(its going to take a while :))

Books i've bought or checked out, and wait patiently to be opened:

- Yalom's When Nietzsche Wept
- Saramago's Blindness
- Heidegger's Being and Time
- Murakami's Dance Dance Dance
- Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale
- Butler's Kindred
- Sterne's The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy
- Auster's In the Country of Last Things
- Kundera's Immortality
- Keller's Catch-22
- Faulkner's the Sound and the Fury

as for all the books i want to read...well, i'll gone before that could possible be achieved :dead: :D

[Toshi]

thanks for the post. and thanks for mentioning murakami, too! shortly before making this list (which dates from about 1.5 years ago at the earliest) i went through a distinct murakami stage and read all of his books i could get my hands on.

and now all of the books you've mentioned have been added to my list, too. the sound and the fury is one that i've been avoiding forever but feel that i should read...

[endtroducing]

Originally posted by Toshi
thanks for the post. and thanks for mentioning murakami, too! shortly before making this list (which dates from about 1.5 years ago at the earliest) i went through a distinct murakami stage and read all of his books i could get my hands on.

and now all of the books you've mentioned have been added to my list, too. the sound and the fury is one that i've been avoiding forever but feel that i should read...

You're most welcome. i've recently started to try and fill in the gaps of modern "classics" i haven't had the time or inclination to read.

On the Road, Sound and the Fury, Brother's K, Catch-22, Ulysses...

The three i'm reading right now have been daunting me for years. I was supposed to read the Brother's K in high school, but ended up reading Underworld instead. I have started and stopped Gravity's Rainbow on 3 separate occassions. It's hand's down the hardest book i've ever attempted to read (much more so than say, Beckett's Molloy) I'm resolving myself to push through it though without buying one of the companion guides. My ploy is to start structuring my journal entries around my progress. I've just hit my stride in Ulysses and am really starting to enjoy it.

Before you head off to med school is a GREAT time to catch up on reading. :) I took the past year off from school to work, and about all that's kept me sane waiting for next semester to start is keeping my nose in a book every night.

[Toshi]

ah, kerouac is my other obsession! you get props just by your literature choices :thumb: heh

[Toshi]

time to head off to the airport. parting thoughts: "neverwhere" is a fun read (read it on sunday night), and "infinite jest" is awfully thick. if duke is boring i'll get through it. :D

[Toshi]

hmm, the database crash managed to wipe out all my job-talk. well, it's on in any case. i'm driving up tomorrow, start wednesday morning.

:eek:

:dead:

i don't have enough dressy clothes!

[WTGPhoben]

here's some pics I took for a frend's band's website/presskit. sorry the vertical ones still come out small on the site. I'm working on how to fix that gracefully with my batch processor...

(taste explosion link)
www.phoben.com/photos/people_and_places/2003

new equipment in this batch: circular polarizing filter
verdict: really cool effects, but you gotta watch out for the 2-stop shift so you don't accidently shoot really low shutter speeds.

problems in this batch: too much contrast on the balcony shots.
anyone have hints for fixing that?

and some p-shop magic:



http://www.phoben.com/photos/people_and_places/2004/04-01-19/images/doublejesse.jpg

[Toshi]

that picture is scary. to reduce contrast shoot raw and select lower contrast :o: hehe . also, link non-functional

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
that picture is scary. to reduce contrast shoot raw and select lower contrast :o: hehe . also, link non-functional

www.phoben.com/photos/people_and_places/2003

my bad.

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
that picture is scary. to reduce contrast shoot raw and select lower contrast :o: hehe . also, link non-functional

and no more 'you should shoot RAW' cracks. I sucked it up and switched to RAW long (2-3 months) ago... although you are indeed right.

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
and no more 'you should shoot RAW' cracks. I sucked it up and switched to RAW long (2-3 months) ago... although you are indeed right.
sweet. i like the pics. if you buy Adobe Camera Raw you can tweak the raw files even more. i dig it. how is alec doing btw? also, i think the low-angle balcony shot w/sky showing is effective, but they're all standing too straight up. also the rule of thirds off-centeredness is getting a little out of hand perhaps :D

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
sweet. i like the pics. if you buy Adobe Camera Raw you can tweak the raw files even more. i dig it. how is alec doing btw? also, i think the low-angle balcony shot w/sky showing is effective, but they're all standing too straight up. also the rule of thirds off-centeredness is getting a little out of hand perhaps :D

alec is cillin' going to berkley and tryin to decide if he really wants to be a musician.

problem with cameraraw is that I don't have ps7, and I'm not going to shell out $600 or whatever redic. price it is to buy CS. If you know of a cheaper way to upgrade I'm all for hearing it.

as far as the rule of thirds (I assume you're referring to the individual shots), it wasn't deliberate... I had actually planned to crop them so they were only half-faces in the frame, but when I got them on the screen I liked them the way they were so I decided to leave well-enough alone.

[Toshi]

harvard has a keyserved copy of pshop 7 no? or just talk a ua into giving you a disc... ah, ok. if you meant to crop them close that makes sense. just with all the blown out background and a tiny sliver of face...

here are two of my efforts in this vein (the b&w one shot by ari at the boston common movie theater :thumb: )

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/hanging%20around%20with%20ken%20-%20may%2031,%202003/Images/7.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/a%20night%20at%20the%20movies%20-%20may%2019,%202003/Images/3.jpg

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
harvard has a keyserved copy of pshop 7 no? or just talk a ua into giving you a disc... ah, ok. if you meant to crop them close that makes sense. just with all the blown out background and a tiny sliver of face...



keyserved ver. is still 5.5 Maybe Thad can hook me up with 7

I like the BW

[Toshi]

so i start work in about two hours. cool thing is that i have web access in my (hotel) room via my bluetooth cell phone and gprs. lame thing(s) are that i can't get file sharing access to my webserver, and ssh of all sorts doesn't seem to work over gprs. therefore there will be no new website updates until i find an apartment with real internet access. plus 4.4 KB/sec download is a bit slow methinks :eek: :dead:

also lame is that i don't have a laptop. we'll see what hardware the company is going to let me use/what i'll have to buy... hmm.

[Barbaton]

hey all. long time no post. since we're all holed up for the winter and posting pics, here are the two recent arrivals to my house.

http://tsze-linux.deas.harvard.edu/~tsze/images/dscn1062.jpg

[Toshi]

thanks for the laptop info, thad. looks like i won't need one after all. they provided me with a hp desktop. not too bad of a setup, the lcd is only 1024x768 (and analog so kinda fuzzy compared to my adc/dvi apple at 1280x1024) but it's a pentium 4 and has firewire ports.

when i'm on the road the company will simply deal with my laptoplessness. haha :eek:

[endtroducing]

so toshi, i missed if you posted it elsewhere, but what does this new job entail?

[Toshi]

Originally posted by endtroducing
so toshi, i missed if you posted it elsewhere, but what does this new job entail?
(i'm on lunch break now, back in my room)

i'm now a it guy for a hotel chain's corporate office. this makes me employee #7 :eek: . i haven't done anything too interesting, or even mildly interesting so far. but supposedly i will be in for much travel in the future, possibly to colorado next week. to fix things at one of the hotels, of course. but still.

:dead:

[endtroducing]

Originally posted by Toshi
(i'm on lunch break now, back in my room)

i'm now a it guy for a hotel chain's corporate office. this makes me employee #7 :eek: . i haven't done anything too interesting, or even mildly interesting so far. but supposedly i will be in for much travel in the future, possibly to colorado next week. to fix things at one of the hotels, of course. but still.

:dead:

hmm, still sounds pretty cool though, i'm a sucker for most any travel (lots of time to read on the plane?) Oh and they DEFINITELY should be giving you a laptop.

[Toshi]

Originally posted by endtroducing
hmm, still sounds pretty cool though, i'm a sucker for most any travel (lots of time to read on the plane?) Oh and they DEFINITELY should be giving you a laptop.
now that i think of it, it would probably be just as well to not have one ;) . just means i can be less useful on the road, woot.

yes, i'm posting during working hours. on the second day mwahaha. it took this long because i didn't have a computer w/net connection until yesterday night :D . also i'm waiting on openoffice to download.

[Toshi]

some vagrant broke into my car while it was in the public garage. broke the passenger window, stole my jacket yet left the valentine1. :dead:

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
some vagrant broke into my car while it was in the public garage. broke the passenger window, stole my jacket yet left the valentine1. :dead:

that blows. (except for him not stealing the most expensive thing in your car) how's the insurance?

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
that blows. (except for him not stealing the most expensive thing in your car) how's the insurance?
i don't think i'm going to hit the insurance up, it's $135 to replace, not worth it. insurance is the biggest scam of all... :rolleyes:

[WTGPhoben]

28mm lens came today. looks like it's a had quite a bit of use but the glass is in pretty good shape, it came with a UV protector and seems to take decent pics.

Here's it is (if you look closely at the reflection in the lens, you can see how I bounced the flash. I didn't quite get the angle right to get it out of the pic):

http://www.phoben.com/photos/people_and_places/2004/04-01-23/images/CRW_2933_RT8.jpg

one more of the lens and one with it (http://www.phoben.ath.cx/cgi/pgal/galbuild.cgi?range=1456&style=gal1)

the flash is awesome btw, the last pic in the gallery was taken in a totally dark room.

[Toshi]

coolness :thumb: . sell the zoom :D

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
coolness :thumb: . sell the zoom :D

or not. I really like the way it looks with the polarizer, and it's a really handy all-purpose lens.

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
or not. I really like the way it looks with the polarizer, and it's a really handy all-purpose lens.
eh, sell it and buy a s400. i found out my title today when i finally signed my contract, and i am "IT Director" :D hehe. straight from being a UA to this. i also wrote a bunch of html and perl code today. the html works -- i can test this. but the perl is entirely untested. it seems that no one knows how to get access to the webserver... :rolleyes: they even had the hosting company wrong at first. oh well. lazy afternoons + posting to this thread while at work == the new hotness.

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
eh, sell it and buy a s400. i found out my title today when i finally signed my contract, and i am "IT Director" :D hehe. straight from being a UA to this. i also wrote a bunch of html and perl code today. the html works -- i can test this. but the perl is entirely untested. it seems that no one knows how to get access to the webserver... :rolleyes: they even had the hosting company wrong at first. oh well. lazy afternoons + posting to this thread while at work == the new hotness.

what's the dollar figure on this lack of work that you do?

[WTGPhoben]

so the band had a foosball tourney on sat night, and I brought the 28mm along to see if it would fill it's intended role in my camera bag (low light shots indoors without a flash). here's what I got:

http://www.phoben.com/photos/people_and_places/2004/04-01-24/images/CRW_3025_RT8.jpg

and the rest:
http://www.phoben.ath.cx/cgi/pgal/galbuild.cgi?range=1459&style=gal1

makes a heavy P&S substitute, but way better in low light.

Ari might recognize this character

[Toshi]

hehe, sat night foosball tournament. oh wait, i used to do those :dead: (2nd place singles and doubles in quincy tournament, aw yeah)

i shot some frames with a D100 and sigma 12-24 and 15-30 lenses today. if the 12-24 shots look decent i am going to buy that lens (my first zoom! well, since the 70-200 f/4 L) after i get my first paycheck :D

hotness. also i signed a lease on an apartment. feel so grown up, ya know ;)

oh, and one more thing: the cops called, and apparently they caught the guy who broke my window and retrieved my ski jacket. maybe i'll even be able to shake the bum down for the window replacement cost in small claims court if he is not totally broke, we'll see :mad:

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
hehe, sat night foosball tournament. oh wait, i used to do those :dead: (2nd place singles and doubles in quincy tournament, aw yeah)

i shot some frames with a D100 and sigma 12-24 and 15-30 lenses today. if the 12-24 shots look decent i am going to buy that lens (my first zoom! well, since the 70-200 f/4 L) after i get my first paycheck :D

hotness. also i signed a lease on an apartment. feel so grown up, ya know ;)

oh, and one more thing: the cops called, and apparently they caught the guy who broke my window and retrieved my ski jacket. maybe i'll even be able to shake the bum down for the window replacement cost in small claims court if he is not totally broke, we'll see :mad:

a zoom lens? Toshi are you okay? Housekeeping must have put something in that mint they leave on your pillow.

but seriously...
what's the motivation? Just don't have anything to cover those lengths? 12-24 and 15-30 are pretty small ranges as zooms go.

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
a zoom lens? Toshi are you okay? Housekeeping must have put something in that mint they leave on your pillow.

but seriously...
what's the motivation? Just don't have anything to cover those lengths? 12-24 and 15-30 are pretty small ranges as zooms go.
i'm looking for the magic bullet, that is, a wide, sharp non-fisheye lens. unfortunately the 12-24 is _not_ it. the 15-30 beats it soundly in my informal comparison (which will be posted tomorrow since i can't post through my cell phone connection). agh.

maybe i should try out the 17-40 f/4 L. these lenses only are their sharpest around f/8 anyway, so having a fast max f-stop is not essential...

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
i'm looking for the magic bullet, that is, a wide, sharp non-fisheye lens. unfortunately the 12-24 is _not_ it. the 15-30 beats it soundly in my informal comparison (which will be posted tomorrow since i can't post through my cell phone connection). agh.

maybe i should try out the 17-40 f/4 L. these lenses only are their sharpest around f/8 anyway, so having a fast max f-stop is not essential...

then why not buy prime? (god, I sound like you) sigma makes a 20 f/1.8

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
then why not buy prime? (god, I sound like you) sigma makes a 20 f/1.8

also procrastination:

http://www.phoben.com/tidbits/firemouth.gif

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
also procrastination:

http://www.phoben.com/tidbits/firemouth.gif
er, i don't know quite what to say

:eek: :D

yeah, i have thought about going primes. looks like i might have to do that, too. the thing is that even the 15-30 is wider than the decent non-fish primes (of which the widest i'd say is the 17mm tokina at-x pro. the 14mm ones are no good, so i've heard)

also i am thinking tonight that maybe i could get a cheap (under 5k) car instead of a motorcycle. what sports cars fit that bill, eh? might be safer...

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
er, i don't know quite what to say

yeah, i have thought about going primes. looks like i might have to do that, too. the thing is that even the 15-30 is wider than the decent non-fish primes (of which the widest i'd say is the 17mm tokina at-x pro. the 14mm ones are no good, so i've heard)

also i am thinking tonight that maybe i could get a cheap (under 5k) car instead of a motorcycle. what sports cars fit that bill, eh? might be safer...

what kind of shooting do you have in mind for this new not-quite-but-almost-fisheye lens?

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
what kind of shooting do you have in mind for this new not-quite-but-almost-fisheye lens?
i dunno, night shot stuff of buildings? maybe i can get arrested for being a potential terrorist if i keep that habit up :eek:

i have cooled on the idea after seeing how lackluster the lens was in real life btw. sample pics are up, file names should be self-explanatory:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/miscellaneous/an%20informal%20wide%20angle%20lens%20comparison%2 0-%20january%2025%202004/

also have pics of my apartment hunt mentioned a few posts back (from sunday) up

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/apartment%20hunting%20-%20january%2025%202004/

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/apartment%20hunting%20-%20january%2025%202004/Images/0.jpg

[Toshi]

another resolution of a previous thread-topic: company is providing a dell laptop for my use on the road. plus i'm not doing grunt work, coded in perl all day/going to read all tomorrow, really :D . hehe

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
i dunno, night shot stuff of buildings? maybe i can get arrested for being a potential terrorist if i keep that habit up :eek:

i have cooled on the idea after seeing how lackluster the lens was in real life btw. sample pics are up, file names should be self-explanatory:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/miscellaneous/an%20informal%20wide%20angle%20lens%20comparison%2 0-%20january%2025%202004/

also have pics of my apartment hunt mentioned a few posts back (from sunday) up

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/apartment%20hunting%20-%20january%2025%202004/



What ISO did you shoot the test pics at? They're super grainy. It still looks like they werent too sharp, but I wonder how much of that had to do with the lighting.

also, testpic link is broken. I had to find it from the parent

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
What ISO did you shoot the test pics at? They're super grainy. It still looks like they werent too sharp, but I wonder how much of that had to do with the lighting.

also, testpic link is broken. I had to find it from the parent
ya, it's the camera's fault! shot them on the nikon d100 demo unit at the counter, the guy didn't have the 12-24 in canon mount. all were at iso 800. if you look at the sigma 15-30 f/8 shots you can see that decent sharpness was theoretically possible even given the shutter speeds and high iso noise.

makes one glad to shoot canon w/their nice clean cmos sensors, no? :eek:

i think the link might be broken b/c my computer somehow insists on removing commas from filenames before burning cross platform cds? oddness.

[Toshi]

did you read the announcement about the 1D MkII? 8.2 megapixels, 8.5 fps :eek: and that smooth canon cmos look we've all come to love.

http://robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-6451-6636

plus two new zooms, the 70-300 DO (DO being diffractive optics (http://www.usa.canon.com/eflenses/technology/diffractive.html)) and a 28-300L, both with image stabilization:

http://robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-6451-6676

finally, here is the hotel i visited on wed/thurs on business:

http://tjclark.ath.cx/images/trips/estes%20park%20-%20january%2027-29%202004/Images/10.jpg

rest of images here:

http://tjclark.ath.cx/images/trips/estes%20park%20-%20january%2027-29%202004/

[Toshi]

i moved in yesterday:

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/moving%20in%20on%20superbowl%20sunday%20-%20february%201,%202004/Images/2.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/moving%20in%20on%20superbowl%20sunday%20-%20february%201,%202004/Images/5.jpg

http://harvard03.ath.cx/images/daily/moving%20in%20on%20superbowl%20sunday%20-%20february%201,%202004/

[Toshi]

so i thought about riding to work. it's only a mile or two at the most, walkable on nice days. but parking for the bike is a pain in cities, portland is just filled with bums pushing shopping carts around. and altho i doubt any would have an allen set and a proclivity to swipe bike parts i don't want to take that chance. as a result my bikes will be expensive yet pretty room ornaments in my living room :D partially making up for my lack of furniture.

also, now that i'm actually making money, i'm toying with reviving my get-a-private-pilot's license idea... perhaps instead of motorcycle, or in place of superfluous camera-upgrade schemes... hmm. an interesting time this is -- living is more fun when one is not unemployed and living at home.

:D

[Toshi]

here's a fun link:

http://canonusapressroom.com/html/show_all_image.asp?ImageName=EOS%2D1D+MARK+II

also, for those keeping track, i've just about ditched the old idea of getting a pilot's license. too expensive (~$6k + seat time at $75/hr even after completion) for something i couldn't do all that often. so instead i'm going to soldier on and see if i can scrape enough money to get a motorcycle of some sort and this fancy new camera body, once it is actually available to the public...

other mesg of the day: girls suck. i am one bitter old man already at age 22 ;)

[Toshi]

new riding pics for the first time in forever:

http://tjclark.ath.cx/images/biking/skatepark/a%20trip%20down%20burnside%20-%20february%206,%202004/Images/2.jpg

http://tjclark.ath.cx/images/biking/skatepark/a%20trip%20down%20burnside%20-%20february%206,%202004/Images/1.jpg

only these two tho. skating is "riding", right? :D

i only shot two because a) the burnside skatepark crowd is very tough and anti-photo "exploitation" :rolleyes: and b) my d30's autofocus simply doesn't work at night when shooting outside the range of the af assist light on the flash, and with the 135mm mounted up tonight it certainly wasn't cutting it. putting on a shorter lens and getting close really isn't an option in such a big skatepark. i'm kind of sick of shooting people i don't know, i think i'll leave the camera behind next time i head out to the park (tomorrow i plan on visiting three, for instance), and relegate the d30 to urban architecture duty:

http://tjclark.ath.cx/images/biking/skatepark/a%20trip%20down%20burnside%20-%20february%206,%202004/Images/3.jpg

[Toshi]

two days in a row of riding pics, what is the world coming to?

skatepark survey (http://tjclark.ath.cx/images/biking/skatepark/skatepark%20survey%20-%20february%207,%202004/)

http://tjclark.ath.cx/images/biking/skatepark/skatepark%20survey%20-%20february%207,%202004/Images/5.jpg

[Toshi]

and three days in a row of riding. hot damn. today i learned how to ride vert ramps (how to do that turn at the top of the ramp, not how to air out of them, that must wait for a drier day) and how to do rolling 180s on flat ground :cool: . the 180 is definitely my coolest/hardest trick so far hehe

no pics today tho, rainy weather makes my camera shudder

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
and three days in a row of riding. hot damn. today i learned how to ride vert ramps (how to do that turn at the top of the ramp, not how to air out of them, that must wait for a drier day) and how to do rolling 180s on flat ground :cool: . the 180 is definitely my coolest/hardest trick so far hehe

no pics today tho, rainy weather makes my camera shudder

wow, we should neglect you on the board more often. If no-one replies and talks about camera equip for a couple of days, you up and get on your bike.

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
wow, we should neglect you on the board more often. If no-one replies and talks about camera equip for a couple of days, you up and get on your bike.
problem is now i'm really sick. have had lingering cough for weeks, now don't feel so hot at all w/phlegmmy cough and fever. ugh.

[Toshi]

back to the usual routine of non-bike pics

http://tjclark.ath.cx/images/daily/blue%20sky%20architecture%20-%20february%2011,%202004/Images/6.jpg

blue sky architecture (http://tjclark.ath.cx/images/daily/blue%20sky%20architecture%20-%20february%2011,%202004/)

[Toshi]

siggggggnnnnn up for thefacebook.com

:dead:

thesis schmesis

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
siggggggnnnnn up for thefacebook.com

:dead:

thesis schmesis

someday toshi, someday...

[endtroducing]

Originally posted by Toshi
siggggggnnnnn up for thefacebook.com

:dead:

thesis schmesis

I miss the facebook game from high school...

[kingLatency]

So, have you guys been following PMA news? I have. :):)

[Toshi]

Originally posted by kingLatency
So, have you guys been following PMA news? I have. :):)
the 1D MkII is all i care about ;) . but i can't justify 4.5k when i make no money shooting. lots of tasty stuff tho, what do you have your eye on?

also, in case anyone is curious, i found out i can get full coverage for a Suzuki GS500E for $800/yr, or basic for $250/yr. not bad at all, i might have to actually go ahead with this motorcycle thing after all :eek: :dead:

[Toshi]

Originally posted by endtroducing
I miss the facebook game from high school...
what is this "facebook game"?

[endtroducing]

Originally posted by Toshi
what is this "facebook game"?

haha, so infantile...i suppose it can be described as some odd form of virtual spin the bottle....

The long-winded version: In high school when the new facebooks came out each year, you and your friends would inevitably find yourselves bored, sitting about in your dorm rooms, and someone would take out the book, and start flipping quickly through the pages, until the student playing would say "stop." Then the player would choose a number, say 1-6 (i forget) corresponding to the number of columns on the two open pages. Then the student holding the book, would count the number of faces in that column belonging to persons of the opposite sex, and after announcing the total, would ask the player for the numeric choice. The identity of the player's choice was then revealed, and others would giggle or coo, and the player was then required to call his/her choice (using the convenient 4-digit extension below the name and dorm) and introduce themselves. The call is made, then more laughing, some blushing, maybe even some flirting. If the choice is truly reprehensible, you might beg for a do-over, etc, but you are likely peer-pressured in, regardless. Then it's the next person's turn....

the end :dead:

[kingLatency]

Originally posted by Toshi
the 1D MkII is all i care about ;) . but i can't justify 4.5k when i make no money shooting. lots of tasty stuff tho, what do you have your eye on?

That camera seems really freakin' awesome on paper, but I hear the sample images aren't too hot. But I don't think the camera is finished being developed yet. In the end it doesn't matter cause I'll never own that camera, like you said.

I'm not buying a camera. Eventually, long down the road (assuming that I'm still interested in photography), I may get an SLR. So I've been looking at the D70 a lot, with that AF-S 17-70. I don't have the money right now, and I'm not sure I'd want to spend that much even if I did.

I just enjoy seeing all the cool new technology and stuff. What a nerd. ;)

[Toshi]

Originally posted by kingLatency
That camera seems really freakin' awesome on paper, but I hear the sample images aren't too hot. But I don't think the camera is finished being developed yet. In the end it doesn't matter cause I'll never own that camera, like you said.

I'm not buying a camera. Eventually, long down the road (assuming that I'm still interested in photography), I may get an SLR. So I've been looking at the D70 a lot, with that AF-S 17-70. I don't have the money right now, and I'm not sure I'd want to spend that much even if I did.

I just enjoy seeing all the cool new technology and stuff. What a nerd. ;)
i actually think the sample images look just fine :D . high iso noise suppression is especially awesome -- the sample images' 1600 looks like my d30's 400, which in turn looks like compact cameras' 100 ;) . while driving around colorado, slipping on icy roads and such -- pics coming soon -- i kinda semi sorta decided that maybe motorcycling truly might be bad for my health. possibly. hehe. this may mean ludicrous and unnecessary camera gear in the future. or more (any?) nights on the town. who knows.

[WTGPhoben]

Originally posted by Toshi
i actually think the sample images look just fine :D . high iso noise suppression is especially awesome -- the sample images' 1600 looks like my d30's 400, which in turn looks like compact cameras' 100 ;) . while driving around colorado, slipping on icy roads and such -- pics coming soon -- i kinda semi sorta decided that maybe motorcycling truly might be bad for my health. possibly. hehe. this may mean ludicrous and unnecessary camera gear in the future. or more (any?) nights on the town. who knows.

what about 'saving for your retirement''?

~Mom

[Toshi]

Originally posted by WTGPhoben
what about 'saving for your retirement''?

~Mom
haha

there is that, but consider the economics of it: in the grand scale, i'm making next to nothing now. furthermore, i will be making literally nothing for the next four years. during these next four years the parents will pick up the tab, but i'll still have to deal with day to day expenses. therefore any non-investment savings accounts will be drained by petty, stupid stuff. conclusion: it's not worth it to save money at this point in my life.

[Toshi]

stitching is a pain

http://tjclark.ath.cx/images/trips/rocky%20mountain%20national%20park%20-%20february%2014,%202004/Images/0.jpg (http://tjclark.ath.cx/images/trips/rocky%20mountain%20national%20park%20-%20february%2014,%202004/Movies/rockymountainnationalpark.qtvr)

(clicky clicky)

rocky mountain national park (http://tjclark.ath.cx/images/trips/rocky%20mountain%20national%20park%20-%20february%2014,%202004/)

:eek:

[Toshi]

today saw lots of riding action. first i was off to the beaverton ramp park, where the