Note to self

It's been a while and I just wanted to note for myself intended topics for the next few posts: new iPhone and apps that I use; lessens learnt from crawling through a roof space; and, heavy rain and high winds will find the gaps in your roof tiles.

Regarding the last point I'm about to shut down my computer, as last night the extremely heavy rains backed by high winds found a gap in the roof and water ran down the wall behind my computer.  This wall also accommodates other electronics and a bookshelf of expensive text books.  So once I finish this post I'm back to moving everything away from the wall.

Hope you're doing something more interesting this evening.

Lighting a Predator

It's Friday night and Perth is being battered by wind and rain.  I'm fighting off the start of a cold.  So I really didn't feel like going out.

And if I'm staying in there are new toys in my camera bag, a flash (Canon's Speedlite 580 EXII) and a wireless trigger system for said flash (Elimchrom Skyport system), that I need to get my head around.

Soon I was asking the question: what subject should I use for testing the flash?  Well since there is a distinct lack of models around my apartment I had to settle for something a little more disconcerting.  The Predator.  Not an actual predator, but a figure sculpted from scrap metal by a junk craftsman in Thailand.  Thanks to some good friends who bought this for me when they cruised through that part of the world last year.

I'm not going to post a gallery as most of the shots are under or over exposed, as I was experimenting with the light - which is code for not knowing what I'm doing.  After a while I did manage to get the cool shot below.

 

McG

McG, among other things the director of Terminator Salvation, has destroyed the dystopian vision glimpsed at in Terminator 2.  He appears to have a preference for ripping off effects from Transformers and Blade Runner.

Friends

This post isn't about the TV show, but about the people you are lucky enough to have as friends.  But this post is about a TV, The West Wing, and a particular quote.

The West Wing is one of my favourite TV shows, along with Babylon 5, Battlestar Galatica (recent version) and Firefly, it is a show I actually like rewatching.  A few weeks ago I started watching from the beginning.  And the season 1 episode titled "He Shall, from Time to Time..." included back and forth between the President and the Secretary of Agriculture (SoA).  The SoA was not allowed to attended the State of the Union as virtually the rest of the executive branch would be present and should something happen to everyone at the State of the Union there would be a need for someone to run the country.

So the back and forth between these two men was about what the SoA should do if he found himself in charge of the US, the lines were:

President Josiah Bartlet: First thing always is national security. Get your commanders together. Appoint Joint Chiefs, appoint a chairman. Take us to defcon 4. Have the governors send emergency delegates to Washington. The assistant Attorney General is going to be the Acting A.G. If he tells you he wants to bring out the National Guard, do what he tells you. You got a best friend?

Secretary of Agriculture Roger Tribbey: Yes, sir. 

President Josiah Bartlet: Is he smarter than you? 

Secretary of Agriculture Roger Tribbey: Yes, sir. 

President Josiah Bartlet: Would you trust him with your life? 

Secretary of Agriculture Roger Tribbey: Yes, sir. 

President Josiah Bartlet: That's your chief of staff. 

So the quote above got me thinking; the difficulty I would find myself in this situation is having to choose one of several close friends who are smarter than I and who I would also trust with my life as my best friend.

 

Pick me

Canon is running a contest as part of their World of EOS site.  The contest, called Photo Chains, involve adding a photo to the hero chain (you'll need to check out the World of EOS site for more information).  People submit photos on the current theme and everyone (who registers) gets to vote.  And for the current theme of Birds Eye, I submitted a photo.

I was going to do a shameless please pick me post.  But after looking at the competition I don't think that is fair.

I now think I should of cropped the photo I submitted to the action in the middle of the shot, which is what I've done in the picture below.

So if you can be bothered to register with World of EOS and vote please do.  I'd actually prefer you vote the photo that you like the best.  If that happens to be mine, all the better.

Social Media Thingy

I'm starting to figure out what I want to do with my "web presence".  My twitter will be for interesting quotes and things I want to remember.  Facebook will be what I'm doing that maybe of interest to my friends (eg just finished listening to interesting podcast on such and such).  I may even use Flickr again.  But I want everything to be piped to a central location - preferable this website. 

So while I'm not excited about the name "lifestream", I looking forward Square Spaces next feature.  The examples that are on the web now look interesting.

Tick Tock

What's happening to this week.  I blink and it's Wednesday.  Enjoying the extra day off over the weekend (1 June was Foundation Day here in Western Australia) seems like a few hours ago.

Can who ever is speeding the clock up ease off a little bit.  That would be much appreciated.