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Personal Technology & Gadgets

HDR photography

Last year in November, Cassie and I visited Bandelier National Monument (funny story, the native Americans were called Anasazi for many years, turns out this was a derogatory term used by other tribes, dirt people, they now refer to themselves as the Pueblo Indians) while we went to Santa Fe, NM. There I encountered a couple of guys with tripods, Canon SLR digital cameras, and the odd habit of taking three identical photos at a time. I asked them if they were using AEB or Automatic Exposure Bracketing on the Canon, and they said why yes. They introduced me to the fun of High Dynamic Range photography. In this technique, three (or more) different exposures (as far apart as possible, like -2, 0, +2) are used to take the same photo. Then in software (I use Photomatix Pro) the photos are combined to produce some fairly startling effects. The interesting thing is that HDR photography can capture situations where the light and dark areas could not normally be captured in a scene at the same time.

Enough talk, here’s some examples of my attempts:

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More after the break, or in the gallery

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Canada Loonie = US Dollar

September 20, 2007, the Canadian dollar traded above the US Dollar for a short period. Compare to an all time low in the 62 cent range 5 years ago.

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Now if only the US would invade just one more country, my Canadian assets could be worth a fortune!

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The tale of Michael Righi: Papers, Please

Looks like the story of Michael Righi, arrested at a Circuit City in Ohio for failing to show ID, has reached a somewhat happy ending.

Reminds me of this story (this site) and this video.

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Personal

Woodpecker

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Personal

Giant bug

Cassie found this giant beetle outside on our porch. I threw a quarter next to it for comparison.

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Personal

Windstorm in the mountains

Got the nastiest windstorm (gallery here) come through and sit on us all night on June 6. Up at Carter Lake, the top winds clocked were 101 MPH, but I think we might have beaten that wind speed (120 MPH from the top of Lee Hill).

At midnight, we saw that our arch over the stairway was gone, and the BBQ and deck chairs had collapsed the railing. The hot tub cover had been ripped off, and I had to go find it. We brought everything in. I slept with earplugs.

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Greensburg story

This is my recount, I’ll be adding pictures and more text in the days and weeks to come.

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Greensburg Before & After

Here’s some photos I took before and after the tornado:

Twilight Theatre (Main Street)

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Greensburg Kansas Tornado

Please check the Gallery for up-to-date photos from Greensburg. I’m currently doing search-and-rescue with canine units in Greensburg, KS. My wife’s family is from Greensburg, and they’re all OK.

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  • Update: 5/07/07 – Back in Colorado, Wife staying a week to cleanup. More pictures posted today.
  • Here’s some aerial views. Taken by a local paper.

  • Update: 5/08/07 – W’s coming to Greensburg Wednesday.
  • Update: 5/09/07 – FEMA threatening to tear down all houses in Greensburg. I’m going back to help clean out, and Melanie Pray (from BMFPD) is joining me to lend a hand.
  • Update: 5/13/07 – We’re back. Many more pictures taken (some Lilly’s, some mine) and posted.
  • Update: 6/10/07 – The Janssen house has been bulldozed. John Janssen is now mayor of Greensburg. Here’s an article in the Wichita Eagle. The plan is to rebuild Greensburg as a green town…. Ambitious and heart-warming.
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Cho bought gun stuff on eBay

Kind of spooky, click here. The seller was oneclickshooting. According to eBay, no ammo was sold, just magazines.