Tim's Reflection Connection

I have had growing concerns about the growing surveillance state in the USSA:  The United Surveillance State of America.  Apparently the Washington Post has them too.

The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.

These are some of the findings of a two-year investigation by The Washington Post that discovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough oversight. After nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.

Source:  A Hidden World Growing Beyond Control

With the ineffectiveness of such unencumbered agency work as well as the unparalleled and unknown true cost of this growing secret "security" dark side, with no oversight, and with the unprecedented deficit, we have a huge problem.  The Republican party is always ranting about reducing the size of government while they are funding the largest top secret buildup of hidden government right in plane sight.  Let's reduce government.  And this is where we need to start.

I do not trust my government at all.

Watch the trailer to the upcoming (Fall, 2010) PBS Frontline Special, Top Secret America at this link. Keep in mind that for a healthy democracy to work, it must function in the public forum. Tyranny lives in the shadows. What is the post USA democracy going to be?

PBS wbesite for Top Secret America.
Follow the story on Twitter @PostTSA
Use the hashtag #topsecretamerica

Related articles:

• Top Secret America: A hidden world, growing beyond control (washingtonpost.com)
• WaPo Reveals "Top Secret America": How Post-9/11 System Is Not Working (mediaite.com)
• Wash Post's series on 'A hidden world, growing beyond control' (americablog.com)
• Top Secret America (slog.thestranger.com)
• WaPO Secret America, site up (warintel.blogspot.com)

Today we went walking along the beach and plopped our beach chairs surf side to enjoy a moment of sunshine and the cool ocean breeze. When I sat down, I noticed I had a glob of tar near the heal of my foot. And since I had forgotten to wear my "official beach shoes," I was going to have a very hard time getting the tar glob off.

While seated I frequently rubbed my heal in the sand. No help at all.

So, when I got home, I Googled "remove tar foot" and saw two suggestions:

• use olive oil and a toothbrush
• use regular white (not gel) toothpaste on a wet washcloth

All of the toothpaste here at the house is gel;  so, I got the olive oil out and the tiny new toothbrush my dentist gave me when I had my teeth last cleaned.  The tedious process took about 20 minutes, but it worked.  Below are the pictures documenting the trauma. Consider this my own personal exhibit of "Crude Awakening" that I blogged about before.

The tar (combined with the beach sand) becomes hard and is completely stuck to the skin.  I couldn't even scrape it off with a sea shell.  It has the dank tar smell.

The Tar Glob Proper

The Tools for the Procedure

Twenty Minutes Later

This is quite the week for tar.  The city of Manhattan Beach is in the process of redoing the slurry on the streets (that black tar goo with little tiny pebbles in it).  They just did the two streets by the house.  It's incredibly messy.  The workers also got black tar on the grass by the side of the house.  Not happy as that oil spill will probably kill the grass.

Oil is gushing freely into the Gulf of Mexico today as BP is trying to cap the well again.  And I just read an article online about the potential of a massive methane gas bubble from all of the methane gushing from the well in the Gulf (40% is methane gas and 60% is oil) rising from the Gulf and causing the extinction of all life on earth as methane gas is deadly.  She claims the sea floor around the gushing well is rising for about a 5 mile radius.  I hope the author is a crackpot.  If not, at least BP was kind enough to only kill all life on one planet in the solar system.

Check out the link at the bottom for a more detailed description of the methane gas theory including a link to the original article.

But the greatest tragedy of all was the realization that I have lived here in Manhattan Beach for about 2.5 years now, and today was the first time I've actually sat out on the beach.  That will be rectified this summer!

Related articles:

• Happy Sunday! The BP spill could trigger a methane explosion, mass extinction (crunchgear.com)

No wonder cancer is rampant in our world today.  Unbelievably, by the time I was born, 134 atomic bombs had been detonated on our planet:

• USA:  87
• Soviet Union:  38
• Great Britton:  9

And, horrifying as it may be, 2,053 atomic bombs have been exploded on the planet through 1998 with over half being detonated by the US.

NPR's Robert Krulwich reports that in 1962, shortly after the discovery of the magnetic Van Allen radiation belts were discovered, the US military exploded an atomic bomb in outer space to see if they could disrupt the Van Allen belt to use it as a weapon against the USSR.  The project, named Starfish Prime, produced an astounding light show in the heavens.

I can think of little that could be so irresponsible and nothing that better demonstrates the evil nature of the military industrial complex that runs this nation.  Those military officials and scientists discover something they do not understand and then want to see if they can blow it up.  This is insanity.

What other lunatic experiments have the unknowing people of the earth been victimized by because of this military experimentation?  I have no doubt that thousands have died and probably will continue to die of cancer as a result of these bomb tests and god knows what else (biological experiments, etc.).

View the interactive graphic of when, where, and by whom the atomic bombs were detonated.  Source:  CTBTO

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Rainbow Bombs (greg.org)
• Exploding H-Bombs In Outer Space (milkandcookies.com)
• US detonated a nuclear bomb in space in 1962 (slashgear.com)
• Mapping Nuclear Bomb Explosions (neatorama.com)

An excellent photo essay entitled Crude Awakening, by Jane Fulton Alt.  Here are two samples...

I eat out a lot, no r-e-a-l-l-y a lot. And one the things that really frustrates me with today's restaurants is portion size and cost. Frequently a dessert will cost about $7 and be of an obscene size, large enough for two people. This actually disgusts me as it promotes eating too much and is wasteful. I've shared my thoughts about this before as I almost always am boxing up lunch for the next day from a full portion size of leftovers.

Last weekend I ate at the Macaroni Grill. I've eaten here before, but this visit was different. The menu had changed. The food was exceptionally tasty, of reasonable portion size, and reasonable price. Dessert was under $3 and also a reasonable portion size.

I was delighted. I shared my enthusiasm with the manager who was glad to hear it, fearing that the new menu would receive a poor response.

This is something I wish all restaurants would do. Congratulations to Macaroni Grill for being the first to do the right thing!

Today I went to Patty Brown Physical Therapy for physical therapy.  I have never had physical therapy before, but the issues with my shoulder are just impacting my basic living to such an extent that I decided I had to do it.  This morning I almost had my mouth in the bowl of cereal because I can't lift the spoon to my mouth.  Getting dressed and showering have become time consuming and difficult challenges.  I can't pull the seat belt with my right arm or shut the front passenger's door.  ENOUGH!

I dreaded the appointment.  If I move my arm/shoulder in various unknowable ways I have a variety of incredibly intense pains, sometimes lasting for up to 10 minutes.  I just knew this was going to hurt like hell.

Patty happened to be my therapist.  She is amazing!  I won't bore you with the details, but the appointment lasted about two hours.  At no time did she or any of her assistants cause me pain.  They were all knowledgable, professional, and genuinely warm people.

Astoundingly, I had immediate results!  When I reached into my pants pocket to get out my phone to input three additional appointments, I realized I could do so with no bizarre physical contortions and absolutely no pain.  This would not have been possible before the appointment.  I would have had searing pain and barely been able to get my phone out.  Tonight at dinner, I could lift my fork to my mouth like normal!

Already, with just one visit, I highly recommend Patty Brown Physical Therapy.  Her office has a positive, friendly energy about it.  The people are all genuinely pleasant, and I think that flows from her inner nature.  I have always believed that the energy of a space flows from those who lead what goes on in that space.  So if you need physical therapy, I recommend Patty Brown.

I've already ordered one in each color!

Click photo to go to photo source.

Well, as you can see, I was very busy working on photos this weekend.  It all started when I found out that people were not only viewing but also comments on my photos on Flickr.  And I had posted very few photos there.  So, I decided to update those with several thousand new photos and tackle coming up to date with my official photo gallery here at tt.us.

I enjoyed working on the photos from Page, Arizona, and from Ireland.  Doing so always brings back great memories from the trips.

So now I need to work on the photos from my fairly recent trip to Thailand and Vietnam.  Hopefully that will happen soon, though I will be spending a lot more time this month traveling and writing for my book project (before my publisher starts to yell at me).

I've included over 600 pictures from my November, 2009, trip to Ireland, in the Ireland Gallery.  Click the image below to enjoy!

My trip to Page, Arizona, back in January, 2010, was filled with amazing places to photograph.  I've finally published the Page Gallery of albums.  This gallery contains my first HDR gallery.  You will want to be sure to check it out!

Click the image below to visit it, and don't forget to view the pictures in full screen mode!

Several years ago I discovered Todd Dominey's SlideShow Pro (SSP), which I use to present my photos here at tt.us.  (Check them out at timtyson.us/photos.)  Over the years SSP has evolved into a really slick, powerful, wonderful tool for managing both photo and video distribution.  As my knowledge and understanding of the various SSP products has grown, I would place this product in my list of Tim's All Time Favorite Digital Tools! It rocks!

In fact, since SSP had an export plugin for Lightroom, it was the deciding factor in my ditching Apple's Aperture and switching all of my photo management over to Lightroom--well, that and the horrendous performance issues Aperture 2 had.  (Now, I understand that a third party export plugin is available for Aperture.  But I haven't tried it.)

But SSP is Flash-based.  This now poses problems because Steve Jobs is having a spat with Adobe, and most people don't foresee Apple mobile products ever making use of Flash.  Sad, but there's nothing I can do about that.

Rather than focusing on the technology issues or the dispute, SSP is focusing on their customers' primary need:  finding excellent ways to share their work.  So they have announced a new component to their fabtabulous SlideShowPro Director:  a photo and video player that is built with HTML5, CSS3, and javascript instead of Flash!  This will allow content to display on the iPod Touch, iPhones, and the iPad!

Here is an overview of the new SlideshowPro Mobile.  I so love SSP!!

Related articles:

• SlideShowPro does HTML5, Flash (blogs.adobe.com)

Every image tells a story.  So, I've decided I should share some of the stories around the images that rotate through the banner images at the top of my blog.  [If you're reading this at blog.timtyson.us, you will not see these rotating banner images.  You have to go to the mirror site at timtyson.us/weblog to see the rotating images.]

I shot this particular image at Horseshoe Bend in Page, Arizona, in January, 2010.  Perhaps in the larger image (click to enlarge) you can see the snow in the distant mountains.  While it was cool enough to wear a jacket, it was not at all cold.

You have to walk about a mile in the desert from the parking area to get to this location.  The view is very, very flat and you simply can't see the Colorado River winding through the desert until you are very close to the edge.  Speaking of the edge...

Taking this shot was terrifying!  I slowly and "intrepidly" inched my way to the edge of the sheer drop off holding my opened tripod out in front of me as if it were a senior citizen's walker.  Though I'm certain I looked ridiculous, I could have cared less!  The air was rather still while we were there which at least reduced my fear of being blown over the edge.

The view is gorgeous.  Photos can't capture this type of grandeur.

This photo was among my first experiments with HDR that has "gone public."  This picture is actually three shots, each at a different exposure.  I then took the three pictures and merged the detail information into one photograph, which gives the photo its distinctive look and level of detail in the brighter as well as darker areas of the scene.

Finally, I have to tell you about the guys, three of them, that were walking up to the edge and shooting--literally within inches.  One guy, twenty-something, just squatted down within 2 - 3 inches of the edge on a slope (downward!) and was shooting away as if there were no way he could possible fall to his death if the sand slid or crumbled.  I simply couldn't stand to watch him!  My knees were about to turn to rubber!

An amazing, beautiful view.  The scale is astounding.

Related articles:

• Beauty of Arizona (slideshare.net)

Mac users:  Do you have the latest versions of iTunes (9.2), iBooks, and the operating systems for your iPhone and iPod Touch (iOS 4) and your iPad (iOS 3)?  If you do, you can do this...

You can easily place a PDF file of anything you can make a PDF file from (web page, documents, images, etc.) on you portable device.

If you make an alias of the iTunes application icon and place it in your ~/Library/PDF Services folder (where ~ = your user account), you can choose to print any document or webpage as a PDF directly to your portable device the next time you sync.

[Simply select the print command and click on the PDF button on the bottom left and then choose iTunes from the drop down list.  When you go to sync your portable device, be certain that, in iTunes, with your device selected, the "Books" tab is selected and you have checked "Sync Books."  Then simply sync your device.  Poof!  The PDF file(s) appear in iBooks on your device.]

I've tried this, and it actually works!  Nifty.

Other little scripts are available to do similar things with various twists.  Check out this link at Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes.

I've been in Long Island for several days and returned home late yesterday.

Today the doorbell rang.  Once again (This is the fourth time!) two Mormon missionaries, young guys in their twenties, were at the door.  I was surprised at what they said as their "come on" line.

"We've stopped by to talk with you about family."

So talking about God just isn't bringing in the sheaves any more, isn't filling the church coffers.  God has been replaced with "family."  What a hoax.

I was very nice.  I told them their church was really working the hood.  I did mention something about peddling hate and not family.

Needless to say, our conversation was brief.

I actually feel sorry for these kids being forced by their religious culture to have to do this.  This isn't evangelism.  It's funding.

Everyone was excited about getting the new Apple iPhone 4.  But seriously, did these people test this device much at all?

First, the issue with the antenna signal decreasing surfaced right away.  My first call on the iPhone 4 fell victim to this problem when it went from a full strength signal to dropping the call with no signal at all.  Steve Jobs tells the world to stop hold the phone incorrectly —basically, don't hold it in your hand, and spend an extra $30 for Apple's new bumpers.

But I am finding other quirky issues with my new phone.

During calls, my phone appears to become confused as to whether I'm holding it to my ear and talking on the phone or whether I'm just holding it in my hand.  (Oops!  I forgot.  I'm not supposed to hold it in my hand.)  When I'm talking on a call with the phone to my ear, the handset appears on the screen, and my cheek presses the keys making the audible key tones we're all familiar with when dialing.  Then the screen blanks out when I remove the phone from my ear and the screen remains invisible and completely non-responsive no matter what I do from that point on.  I have to do several repeated hard reboots (Home button and Power simultaneously) to kill the phone and get it to work again.

During my first call about this issue to Apple technical support, the lady told me to do a complete backup and restore of the phone to correct the problem. Regrettably I got a phone call in the middle of the resyncing process and the resync didn't complete.  I called Apple back to make sure I wasn't going to lose all of my folders, etc.  This technical support lady asked me two questions about my issue:

1. "Are you using a screen protector?"  No, I'm not.
2. "Is your iPhone in a case?"  Yes, it's in a leather case I used for the iPhone 3Gs.

Oops!  Well, there we have it.  Not only must you hold the iPhone 4 "correctly" when placing a call so the signal strength doesn't drop to zero, you can not place your phone in a case or use a scratch resistant film to protect the front of the phone.  Doing the later apparently upsets the proximity sensor.  Oh, and if you want to hold the phone in your hand when placing a call and avoid having to hold it parallel to the orbit of Pluto the former planet, you have to spend an additional $30 for Apple's new bumper.

I've read in the blogosphere that despite Steve Jobs' claims that the new glass surface on the front and back of the phone is stronger than Iron Man's suit, it scratches rather easily.  I've always worn my previous iPhones (I've had them all.) on my belt in a leather case both to protect them and provide easy and continuous access.  I guess I could tie a string around my belt and around the bumper of my iPhone 4 and hope that doesn't disturb the proximity sensor.

I planned to purchase an iPhone 4 for my mother whose purse abuses every object it contains.  Without the phone being in some full-bodied protective case, it will be destroyed in her purse.  I'm sure she's not the only one that runs a roller derby inside her purse.

Another problem I have experienced was corrected by restoring the phone:  people can once again hear me when I use my Bluetooth Jawbone headset.  I could always hear them just fine.

Years ago Steve Jobs was credited with saying that customers don't know what they want until Apple shows it to them.  For the most part, that may have been true at the dawn of the digital era.  But today's tech-savvy customers do have a rather clearly defined sense of what they want and expect from their high tech devices:  continuous advancement without any regression from formerly attained benchmarks in design, function, and reliability.

I've always been a die-hard Apple fan boy, but Apple needs to start doing a better job of "getting it right" before they have to tell their customers they are "using it wrong."

[Update:  Others appear to have this issue too:  Macworld Article ]

Related articles:

• Updates on iPhone 4 Antenna Problem Articles [Apple] (gizmodo.com)
• Updates On iPhone 4 Antenna Problem Posts (gizmodo.com.au)
• Apple iPhone 4 Hit With Class Action Suit (abcnews.go.com)
• Apple Sued Over iPhone 4 Antenna & Reception Problems (macstories.net)

More 100mm macro love

Apple isn't a victim of their own success.  They are badly managed at the distribution and retail levels — abusing their customers to feed their hype-driven marketing machinery.

It starts with my trying to reserve a phone on the date Apple themselves said everyone could place an order.  Their system, probably AT&T's databases, were overloaded and my first attempt to place an order didn't work.  I received a browser message to try my order again later.  I immediately did.

This time I tried to have the phone delivered to my home address.  The order went through!  I got my phone yesterday.

I then got an email saying my first order had also worked and I should pick up my phone at a specific Apple store.  What?  How weird!  But, OK.  Cool.  I could give that phone to the HU, who planned to get one anyway but hadn't placed an order.

My subsequent attempts to order a phone for my mother all failed repeatedly and said I had to go to the Apple store.  The nearest Apple store to her is about a 6 hour drive.  At her age, she won't be doing that.

Yesterday I and the HU went to the Apple store to be sure I could give my phone to the HU.  We were told that as long as we were both there I could.  Cool.

Today I drove by to check out the line.  Apple advertised that they will have two lines:  one for those customers who pre-ordered their phones and one for those who were just hoping to get one.  One line extends from the Mall entrance all the way off of the mall property and all the way down to the golf course at the Marriott.  Literally thousands of people are standing in this line that is probably a mile or more long!

I asked one of the store employees who was near the mall entrance how long the line was for people who had pre-ordered the phone.  He said, in not too pleasant a tone, that he had no idea.  It was all one line.  The store didn't divide the line up until people got to the door of the store.  What???!!!!  So the people that pre-ordered are having to wait even longer because of the people who didn't pre-order?!  That makes zero sense!

He went on to say that if I wasn't standing in the line (currently in the blazing sun) when the store closed, I would lose my reservation.  (A female employee had just told another customer the exact opposite.  Who go the correct information?!) He said that hundreds of people had spent the night in line.

This is insane.  This is inept management.  This is inexcusable.  Sure, it was fun the first time, but Apple has had 4 tries now to get this process right.

I told him Apple had lost their mind and that they could keep their precious little phone.  I wonder who will get the phone I ordered not realizing that the order had even worked?!

This is pure horse pooh!

Just wait until they all get their shiny new devices only to realize that the marvel of engineering, the new antenna system that is the outer edge of the phone, doesn't work so well when you hold the phone with your hand.  But then, who actually holds the phone in theirs hands when they place a call??????

Related articles:

• iPhone 4 has folks lining up in droves at Apple Stores worldwide (edibleapple.com)
• Apple iPhone 4 Release: Lines Grow As Frenzy Kicks Off (PHOTOS) (huffingtonpost.com)
• Hundreds line up to buy new iPhone (washingtontimes.com)
• IPhone 4 sells briskly on first day of sales (cbc.ca)
• IPhone 4 Launch: The Scene From Austin (blogs.wsj.com)
• New iPhone selling briskly as hundreds line up (mysanantonio.com)
• iPhone Lines 2-3 Times Bigger This Year, Stores Are Selling Out (AAPL) (businessinsider.com)

No, really!

I complain so often about AT&T that I feel compelled to say something, anything, good about them when ever I can.  Today I can.

My new iPhone 4 was having connecting issues in the house, even with the MicroCell.  I called the support number the AT&T rep at the AT&T store gave me in case I had any problems.  The first thing that completely and utterly blew me out of the water:  a real live human being that spoke English as his native language answered the phone on the second ring!  But even more than that:  the real live human being that spoke English as his native language that answered the phone on the second ring was the actual tech support guy that immediately and courteously fixed the issue.

Now, ladies and gentlemen:  that's astounding!!!!  But it gets better.

When the phone was up and working with a re-invigorated signal strength, the tech support guy set up a return call for me on a specific time this Friday to make sure the fix solved the issue!  Someone from AT&T's technical support group will confirm the steps we took today worked?!

My god!

Now, that's what I call customer service!

of an iPhone 4!

It arrived at 9:30am at the front door via the stork (FedEx guy).

I unboxed it ceremoniously. It is beautiful, and smart — just like it's father (me, course)!

I turned it on. It asked to be connected to the mother ship. I plugged it into my Macbook Pro. iTunes then displayed my phone number and requested my billing zip code and the last 4 numbers of my social security number. It then said my activation session session had expired. Retry.

After three failed retries, I called Apple support. They told me to reboot my computer. I did. It activated after requiring 3 DNA samples —well, not really, but you are forced to agree to god knows what*. The moment it activated, my call to Apple support on my old iPhone was disconnected.

I then unplugged the new phone from iTunes and replugged it in as directed. iTunes is now installing all of my old iPhone's content onto the new phone.

I must say, and this is really actually very important to me, this is the best product delivery and activation process Apple and AT&T have ever had. I all but went on a safari camping out when I purchased my first iPhone from the Apple store at Lennox Mall. Activating it took hours (almost a whole day)! And each subsequent purchase was fraught with stupendously long lines but better activation times. This one they almost got completely right!

Amazing how long it takes to transfer about 24gb of data to the new phone via USB 2. It's now finished transferring all of my applications and is now working on sending over the video and audio content.

*Apparently iOS 4 users are now sending Apple retina scans, urine samples, blood and stool samples, along with our current location at every breath we take. The mother ship will use this information benevolently, of course. They will ply us with iAds tailored specifically to our personal DNA profile so as to extract as much money from our bank accounts as possible. The power of the tethered device is not to be underestimated!

Oooooooh!  Loooook!!  It's teething already!!

Related articles:

• Preparing for iPhone 4 Launch Day (cbsnews.com)
• Christmas Coming One Day Early? iPhone 4 on 6/23 For Some? (geardiary.com)

Well, my iPhone 4 is supposed to arrive tomorrow!  I can't wait.

I downloaded iOS 4 for my existing phone and iPod Touch to get accustomed to the new operating system.  So far, the thing I like the most is Folders!  My application icons are all grouped in a way that makes sense to me.  Instead of having an insane number of panes through which I had to slide, I now only have 3!  This is a vast improvement.  Now, of course, I want more.  I've become such a visual person; I'd like to choose the icons for my Folders.  :o)

I also understand that a user can opt out of the iAd system, so Apple doesn't collect info about your interests, by visiting http://oo.apple.com ith any device running iOS 4 or later.  You should get a message, "You have successfully opted out.” if the process is working; otherwise, “Opt out not successful.” will appear.

Related articles:

• Apple's iOS 4 Available for Download [Video] (globalthoughtz.com)
• iOS 4 Update (slog.thestranger.com)
• iOS 4 Releases Today (apple.slashdot.org)
• Apple iOS 4 released to widespread criticism (v3.co.uk)
• Apple Launches iOS 4 for iPhone, iPod Touch (wired.com)

The hyper, militant, radical, evil, ultra-conservative, Republican noise machine has reached a new level of shill: stop beating up poor little innocent BP. [Insert a string of vile profanities of your own choosing here.] Listen to these idiots.

At the very least, BP should go out of business. Frankly, I favor the US nationalizing all of their assets. Just please spare Tony a yacht.

Related articles:

• Krauthammer: Barton's apology was "the most politically stupid statement of the year" (hotair.com)
• Michael Tomasky: BP and the GOP (guardian.co.uk)
• GOP Defending BP: Cutting Off Their Heads To Spite Their Necks (alan.com)

This is as much to help me remember this as it is to share the info with all humanoids on in interwebs...

This is the post production process I used when creating the Malaga Cove time lapse shorts.  After importing the footage from the camera into the computer:

1. QuickTime Pro 7 ›› File ›› Open Image Sequence...
2. Make sure images are in their chronological shot order
3. Select the first image and click "Open"
4. Select 24 frames per second and click "OK"
5. After the huge file is created, make sure you are displaying it at 100%
6. File ›› Export ›› Export: Movie to QuickTime movie [bottom left drop down]
7. Select "Options..."
   1. In the Movie Setting Dialogue, ›› Settings...
      1. Compression Type: Apple ProRes 422 (LT)
      2. Frame Rate: 24 fps
      3. OK
   2. Back in the Movie Setting Dialogue, ›› Size...
      1. Dimensions: Current [Make certain it is the full frame size of the original photos if you wish to pan and crop in Final Cut Pro.]
      2. OK
   3. Select "OK"
   4. Name the file and save it.
8. Create a sequence in Final Cut Pro with these settings:
   1. Frame Size: 1440 x 1080 [HD (1440 x 1080) (16:9)
   2. Pixel Aspect Ration: HD (1440 x 1080)
   3. Editing Timebase: 24 fps
9. Import your media and design your project — the fun part!
10. Once the project is completed in Final Cut Pro ›› Export ›› Using QuickTime Conversion...
    1. Format: MPEG-4
    2. Options
       1. Video Format: H.264
       2. Data Rate: I usually use over 4,000kbits/sec [The higher the number the larger the file size but the better the visual quality.]
       3. Image Size: I usually export three different sizes (three different exports): 1920 x 1080 HD, 1280 x 720 HD, and 640 x 360
       4. Frame Rate: 24fps

Related articles:

• Malaga Cove Sunrise (Time Lapse) (timtyson.us)
• Malaga Cover Time Lapse (Noon) (timtyson.us)

The banks were too big to fail.  Google is too big to be anything but evil.

I'm sure everyone has heard by now that the little Google street car that has mapping our world (while very cool, it takes away our privacy) was also snooping around everyone's wireless networks.  If your network was unprotected when the Google street car came by your home or office, Google took your email and password information as well.

Don't tell me the very bright people at Google haven't been doing analysis on the human cognition of password creation.  To the nefarious among us, we are nothing more than data.  I'll never forget overhearing a restaurant dinner conversation here in LA, "Yeah, I like so-and-so, but that's just one data point!"

As far as I am concerned, Google can never be trusted.

Wi-Fi traffic intercepted by Google’s Street View cars included passwords and e-mail, according to the French National Commission on Computing and Liberty (CNIL)."

[Source: Google Street View Wi-Fi data included passwords and e-mail | Security | Macworld.]

This is the second time lapse I shot at Malaga Cover yesterday.  This one was shot at ISO 100 with a 5 second interval and includes a bit of panning.  As you can see from the comment at the other Malaga Cove time lapse, I met lots of interesting people yesterday morning.

So, here is the noon time lapse of Malaga Cove. Don't forget, you can click the full screen button when it starts playing.  You can see the little tiny surfers and the water currents moving about.  The one below is HD: 1280 x 720, so be sure you have your window as large as you can get it before clicking the play button. (If your monitor is too small to play the HD version, you can view the smaller version directly underneath the HD version.)

I'm not exactly sure why, but the HD version plays rather poorly over the internet using MediaBoxAdv; so, I just have it pop up in a separate window for excellent playback.

Related articles:

• First CineSlider Time Lapse (timtyson.us)
• Malaga Cove Sunrise (Time Lapse) (timtyson.us)
• All of the time lapses posted at timtyson.us (timtyson.us)

I mentioned in my post yesterday about this time lapse, that I wasn't able to get a transition from complete darkness to light because I shot this time lapse so close to today -- the longest day of the year, and you can't park your car until 5:00am. At any rate, here is the first time lapse from yesterday.

My face got totally fried!  The breeze was delightfully cool (a bit cold actually before the sun came up), probably in the low to mid 60's.  So I had no idea I was cooking myself!

The cloud action, while not as dramatic as the fog coming in to engulf the cove and then moving out again, was still awesome!  (The camera frame is actually considerably larger than the 16:9 video frame; so, you don't get to see the full effect in this video.  Though what is here is great.)

Technical: Balancing three variables: the exposure time (very dark and then very light conditions in the same time lapse) with an aperture that will provide the best depth of field and sharpness with the shortest possible shot interval so the continuous motion of the waves in the finished time lapse appears as smooth as possible.

I placed my ISO at 400 since I would be shooting in very decreased light in the early morning hours but also in very bright light by noon. The exposure time (at f5.6) is pretty significant when its darker outside but then ran up to 1600 (at ISO 400) when it was noon). So I set my shot interval to be 20 seconds. (My experience has been that in near dark conditions, at ISO 400, the exposure time can be over 20 seconds.  In yesterdays darkest time the exposure was only 2 seconds, but I just now noticed this!  Rats!  I could have done a 5 second shot interval.) Regrettably, once the sun comes up, a 20 second exposure time creates jerky wave motion. But the cloud action is pretty cool.

Therefore, halfway through the time lapse, I stopped and adjusted the ISO to 100 and the shot interval to 5 seconds. So, in the second time lapse I will post from my day at Malaga Cove, the wave action is considerably smoother. Stay tuned for the second time lapse to be posted later.

But, in the mean time, here is the early morning time lapse of Malaga Cove. Don't forget, you can click the full screen button when it starts playing.  You can see the little tiny surfers and the water currents moving about.  The one below is HD: 1280 x 720, so be sure you have your window as large as you can get it before clicking the play button. (If your monitor is too small to play the HD version, you can view the smaller version directly underneath the HD version.)

I'm not exactly sure why, but the HD version plays rather poorly over the internet using MediaBoxAdv; so, I just have it pop up in a separate window for excellent playback.

Related articles:

• First CineSlider Time Lapse (timtyson.us)

This morning I got up really early (3:45AM) to shoot a time lapse of the Galaga Cove along the Palos Verdes Shoreline Preserve. Unfortunately, the area is not open for parking until 5AM; so, as tomorrow is the longest day of the year, I missed the transition from complete darkness to sunrise. It was already fairly light out when I arrived at  5AM. Probably just as well: the cliffs are a sheer, straight drop off, and I didn't want to plunge to my certain death by mis-stepping in the darkness. I placed the tripod just inches away from the edge!

The time lapse was with one shot ever 20 seconds for 7 hours (from 5am until 12pm) as the slider travelled 29 inches. (About half way through I switched to one shot every 5 seconds which is yielding a much smoother time lapse.) Regrettably I could put nothing in the foreground here for a parallax effect. The surf was very active for the summer time, and numerous suffers were enjoying the unusual wave action. Regrettably, the weather didn't do anything too dramatic during the time I was shooting, though the sunlight was varied and some heavy clouds considered coming in but didn't.

I shot this picture of this area several months ago when a thick fog enveloped the cove. I was hoping for something even more dramatic with the fog moving in or out but had no luck this morning.

But this is what the same area looked like today:

At any rate, I had some interesting conversations with a couple of surfers--guys about my age. I learned from one of them that, about 20 years ago, the city purchased the houses on the western side of the road along the Pacific Ocean. They allow the original owners to live in the houses until they die. Apparently the entire hillside is slowly sliding off into the Pacific Ocean. The land, otherwise, would easily be worth tens of millions.

One of the surfers was very into photography. He spoke of the many pictures he has taken over the years at this spot. He said it was very much like the south of France, another place he loves to shoot and surf.

One of the surfer dudes I talked with said the brown in the water indicates rip tides:  where the current is pulling the seashore sand back into the ocean.  I've always heard of these as a child growing up on the Gulf Coast (may it rest in peace) but had never been able to see them as you can in this picture.

As you will be able to see when I post the time lapse, soon, I promise, the weather was glorious beyond description. As a result, I got a sunburn on my face without ever realizing it. I don't think that paradise could be as perfect as this day.

I have frequently posted vituperant remarks about AT&T. The company generally is loathsome. Their 3G network service here in Manhattan Beach is horrid. I can barely get a signal at the house. I frequently drop calls. Incoming calls frequently just go straight to voicemail without my phone ever ringing. LAX rarely even gets 3G service, just the horribly slower Edge network.

But I now have something good to say about AT&T, sort of...

I read a tweet about a microcell for AT&T. I googled it to find out what it was. Apparently, if you have bad 3G reception, you can purchase this microcell that, if I understand it correctly, basically offloads your cell phone calls and data to the Internet.

So now I get a full AT&T cell signal in the house, most of which didn't get a signal at all. And now my cell phone calls and my cell phone data access is offloaded to Verizon's FIOS network. Up to 10 people can place calls simultaneously through my MicroCell "tower" here in the house.

It seems to work well, but I haven't had any incoming calls yet. At least AT&T had a good idea of allowing customers in areas with poor service to set up their own mini cell tower in their homes or businesses.

I'm sure you noticed that my Fitbit tweets stopped for a while.  I'm confident of your concern about my exercise level.  Therefore, I update you:

My original Fitbit died.  It would just turn itself off at random times.  Fitbit was good enough to replace it with no questions asked!  So now, I have a new one.  The regular (daily) updates should have started in earnest today.

As busy as today has been, I still only walked 5,423 steps so far.  Sad how indolent I am.

Related articles:

• Liking My New Fitbit (timtyson.us)