dave.ofmassdestruction.com

My history with operating systems is fairly simple. When home computers
were new I started out with an Epson computer(!!) that had its own
operating system which was quirky by today’s standards but was quite
nice in its simplicity. I then moved to an intel-driven DOS machine and
had a love-hate relationship with it. I moved to UNIX/Linux in work and
home life sometime later and obviously concentrated fairly heavily on
that until OS X came along.

I got my first Apple mainly to accommodate my photography obsession
because (even still) using a linux machine with photos absolutely
blows. I enjoy OS X but I also enjoy linux/gnome. However, I have
noticed in the last few years that I have slowly moved away from
OS-dependence. Call it what you will – the Cloud, SAAS, whatev. All I
know is that it is incredibly convenient to be able to sit at any
computer and do all the things I would normally do at my home
computer. In fact, about the only apps I use that aren’t cloud-centric
are emacs and my photo-software. Even still, with emacs I mostly use
org-mode for my work and I keep all my org files online. As long as I
have emacs on a machine, I can do my work. But in a pinch, I could use
another editor on those files since they are simply text-files.

That still leaves photos. The only non-standard,
not-practical-in-the-cloud thing I do. I’ve seen the attempts at photo
editors online, I know that one can use online tools to store and
categorize their photos – but none of those services come close to how I
can do it at home with old-fashioned, closed-source, non-standard,
key-on-the-back-of-the package software. Maybe this means there is an
opportunity in the market or maybe it means that camera manufacturers
are behind-the-times… or maybe it means I am particular with my
photos – I’m not really sure.

I’m not sure what this means for Operating Systems – at least, OSes that
aren’t powering “the Cloud” – but it does feel like a trend that would
lend itself to devices that start quickly and get me online. I see this
progress in the direction the iPad has taken us. Whatever your opinion
is on the particular of that one device – the idea that I can have
a small, “instant-on” device that can get me online is incredibly
appealing. I think the future of such devices in grand.

Is it worthwhile to revive a lingering blog? Well, this is probably the third, fourth, or maybe fifth time I’ve done it… so I guess I see something in it. But then, here’s the deal, now that I’ve decided to revive it I am going to go on vacation for two weeks and probably won’t do much on it besides posting some photos of very pretty Ocracoke. The photo of the ferry is from last year’s trip to said island.

Ocracoke is one of my most favorite places. A small barrier island off the N.C. coast, part of the Outer Banks, there is something very special about it because it has cultivated a great community which many other “beach” destinations here lack. For this reason, we find ourselves going there as much as is feasible for a destination that includes a 2 hour ferry ride.

At any rate, welcome back dear reader… if there are any of you left.

I have pleaded to you, my readers, for the S.S. Minnow, a medium-class icebreaker, and a fort – no such luck (thanks for nothing). But here is my chance… our chance…

That dream to own a large seagoing vessel may be a step closer after Malcolm has pointed me to this article about the Navy trying to get rid of a stealth boat and a barge… for free! All I need is a big-ass slip somewhere and S.S. Dave will be a reality.

Look, don’t think you wouldn’t be welcome on S.S. Dave once its mine, no indeed! Help me find this big-ass slip to tie her up and I promise that you will get a cabin of your own! Just think of it!

I think I am going to at least need to name the captain’s skiff after Malcolm, can’t believe I almost missed this one.

Taking a cue from my friend Malcolm, I’ve decided to pick out my favorite photos taken this year (plus I don’t spell “favorite” all funny like Malcolm does). This is never an easy task and its made harder by the fact that I didn’t take as many this year as I have in recent years. I have no idea why I was less productive with the camera this year (especially with some good trave) but I may have to work on a remedy.

OK so here we go, my favs this year in no particular order:

1. This shot came from the Atlanta Aquarium and I love it because of the expression on the girl’s face. She is truly in wonder looking at the jellyfish. Of course, the color version of this is amazingly blue but it lost contrast in her face – when I made it black and white her face popped out and fast became a fav:

2. OK sure, this is actually a triptych and thus three photos… but its one file so its legal. This came from doing a small photoshoot with a friend’s band. The singer has a very animated face when singing and I wanted to capture it… perhaps its a theme with me. I left the shutter slow on a few shots of him (I must have 50 shots of him while trying to do this) because he had a lot of movement that night (I’ve seen him very still some nights):

3. This was taken in San Francisco at the Coit Tower (I always like to swing by there and take in the view of the city). I was walking around the base and saw the coin-operated binoculars staring down. Those things are almost human in their face (theme!). When I got home I made it black and white but it still wasn’t capturing the way I had experienced it. Remembering an old trick for faking an IR look I tried it out and this was the result. I think the IR makes it a little dream-like, adding to the “face”:

4. I was a bit disappointed with myself in my lack of photos in Rwanda. Mostly that was due to being very busy, but still I should have done better. Nonetheless, on a weekend trip to the volcanoes region I did do better than I had in Kigali. Our experience with some kids who climbed up a ridge to visit was one of the most memorable moments. This shot was taken while they were doing a traditional dance and song for us (they just broke out in song – how cool). The main subject in this shot was really into the dance and I was immediately drawn to him:

5. This shot of one of the Ocracoke ferries at sunset is a fav, but further, it was one of my most popular shots on Flickr. I was kinda surprised by that because although I liked it, I thought it too crooked. After its popularity I started to realize that it was really the colors that everyone was responding to – I get that:

6. However, my most favorite shot from that Ocracoke trip was of a jar. Yes, a photo of a jar. I like it so much I printed it on a big canvas, and it looks great that way. Maybe I like it because when viewed large it shows off how sharp this lens is (I am a lens nerd) – or maybe I like the “vintage-ness” I gave it when processing. Mostly, I just love the light. Subtle in places, brilliant in others. I don’t really know – its just a jar:

7. Perhaps the star for me though is my hummingbird shot. Its a star because I don’t consider myself a great nature photographer. That’s OK, I don’t need to be – but it makes my good nature shots more exciting. I stalked this hummingbird from the comfort of my couch – through the window which makes it even more exciting:

There you go – my favs. Thanks for looking.

Holy crap! I have a blog??

Ever since twitter came along (to me) I’ve been writing in 140 characters. Makes for lame blog posts. Oh yeah… there was also those weeks where my gall bladder went renegade, doubling me over in pain, and then the removal of said gall bladder. That kinda took me out of every action.

Last night’s VP debate gave me that itch again though. I think it was when my friend Shannon somehow transcribed this line from Sarah Palin when asked about Iran & Pakistan:

Nu-cu-ler is the be-all end-all of too many people, too many parts of our planet.

I could have heard it 100 times and still not been able to write it down – it confuses my weak brain far too much to even record. Good job Shannon.

So here’s the deal. Our debate process is very broken. We don’t watch debates for debating, we watch it to measure the perceived performance of each candidate. Sure, occasionally a candidate will spill some policy (thanks Joe) but mostly they are just being judged on what we expect as the worst from them.

Today the headlines and articles are all about the fact that Palin didn’t drop any amazing bombshells of idiocy and Biden didn’t take a giant crap on the stage and call it John McCain while using the N word and pissing on a flag. Were it a smarter world I would think that there would be some real analysis of what the candidates said in terms of shedding light on their policies and if the journalist wants more sensationalism they could do some fact checking on things like what the Commander of forces in Afghanistan really said (hint: Palin got it wrong.)

But I guess that’s just not who we are. A shame really.

Just for fun, and to refocus myself on my photo hobby I created a tumblr page for showcase photos. Only my favs will make it on to the new site. I’d sure be flattered if’n y’all came on by for a look-see.

Tomorrow we are heading to Ocracoke, N.C. for a long weekend. I don’t think I’ve been to Ocracoke since a 1 was the first number in my age. That’s a shame as I have always been fascinated with the N.C. Coast, its history, ecology, and culture. And Ocracoke is unique as its only accessible by ferry.

The wonders of the island aside, where we are staying ain’t exactly “wired” – at least when it comes to the introwebs. And I say good. I need to unplug every once in a while. So… see you on the other side.

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I done got me a new car. An Audi A3.

I had my eye on one of these lil’ guys for a while… OK, really since I saw my friend Matt’s – sorry for copying you Matt. So recently I was looking to see if there were any used versions – not because I was averse to buying a new car, but just to see how much money fell off of them when they were driven off the lot. Turns out, a pretty good amount. Mine is a 2007 and only had 7000 miles on it – lucky find.

So here’s the deal – when you buy a used car you don’t have the luxury of getting your first color choice. So I now own a cherry-red car. Its really not what my first choice would have been but its already growing on me.

The best part of the car so far? Gas mileage. I got close to 30mpg this morning going to work in “local” conditions (according to the little display on the dash). Still, its a real shame Audi won’t import the diesel version – turns out, they think we Americans don’t want diesel. Um… I’d have bought one instantly.

Well I must say that I have had my share of criticism over the years – most of it in the old flame-wars that revolved around GNOME or other free software projects – but this one really cuts to the core. Its not really a criticism as much as it is a total rejection of my being.

In responding to the claim that software patents were adverse to innovation and discourage competition, a South African Microsoft manager actually claimed that I do not exist!!

But Paulo Ferreira, the platform strategy manager at Microsoft South Africa, said: “There is no such thing as free software. Nobody develops software for charity.”

(It hurts even more that one of Chelsea FCs left backs is named “Paolo Ferreira”)

Its interesting (or perhaps infuriating) to me that lately Microsoft has been going on and on about interoperability whenever open source is brought up. Using Linux in a mostly Microsoft-based office environment, I can assure anyone that interoperability is non existent with their products.

On Friday I am off to Rwanda. Finally. This trip was supposed to happen… um… back in September I think. Then contracts weren’t signed, paperwork got complicated – other work came up. So the trip was rescheduled for the 15th of Feb. But Dave… its the 20th today! Very true. After all the months of postponement, after we scheduled the 15th and booked hotel rooms, we were informed that we have been kicked out of those rooms to make way for Dubya and his enormous entourage (we’re talking thousands of people here). So great, the President has just been in Rwanda and I’ve got to follow up behind him?? Did he piss them off? Did he say anything untoward to their President? Am I going to have to hear about it?

For the curious. I will be starting work on a project in which we will be building a system that allows health workers to collect public health information door to door via cell phone/pda. They collect this data already on paper and we want to take advantage of Rwanda’s very strong mobile phone network to make the process easier and quicker. I’d tell you more if the funders would only approve an announcement (red tape – mumble mumble). Oh, like everything else we do, this will be open source and the Rwanda Ministry of Health’s to own.

To put it very succinctly – internet access going out of Africa is bad. Very bad. Don’t believe all the hype of all the cool new ways of opening up Africa with the Internet. Its not here yet, and won’t be without some major investment. At any rate, I’ll try to post some while I am there but I doubt I’ll have the patience to put any photos up. Hmmm… maybe I will reacquaint myself with text browsers!