Fall-Line

Like many long time flickr users, I was upset yesterday afternoon when I received a mail from flickr saying my old login is gone (though to be fair, the accounts themselves are untouched) , and I now have to use a Yahoo account to login to the site. I’ve used Yahoo in the past (1998-1999) for e-mail, and I still use their Yahoo Groups services for managing a softball team. The truth is, I dislike their service immensely and would prefer to lead an entirely Yahoo free life.

I’ve had a great time using flickr these last couple of years. They began offering an extremely valuable service to their members when nobody else in the market could compete on features or ease of use. Meanwhile, the climate has changed and this forced account migration has really upset a large chunk of their old school user base. With this in mind, I’m considering switching online photo sharing services….but to what?

The biggest advantage of flickr as I see it, is the established community. I have 8 or 10 contacts on my account, all of which are people I know in the real world, and I’ve never even attempted to search for others. It’s been so easy to share photos with friends and family because of this, and I worry if I’ll be as successful at this with a lesser known alternative. I hate having to explain how to access a new site or service to someone, or worse yet, ask them to sign up for an account just to view something I’ve posted.

Here are the services that I’ll be evaluating in the coming weeks:

• flickr (I know it well, and except for the Yahoo meddling, love it)
• 23
• fotki
• zoomr (this one seems to have the largest and most supportive user base of the flickr alternatives)
• smugmug

I may very well decide that after all this to just suck it up, the Yahoo login isn’t as painful as I thought it would be, or that the other services just don’t offer what I need in a way that I’m comfortable with. I will certainly be paying for at least one of these services in the coming months to support my photo addiction hobby, I just don’t know which.

Of course, I welcome any suggestions based on your experiences with these or other services.

Technorati Tags: flickr, photo sharing

One of my favorite TV shows ever to come out of Great Britain was called the “Peep Show“. It featured a hilariously painful (you know, in that British TV way) dynamic between two bachelors living together, but leading completely separate lives.

It seems that others have paid attention to the brilliant pairing these two make while in character. Apple have recruited them to be the PC and Mac (as in, “Hi, I’m a PC..and I’m a Mac”) on televisions across the U.K.

Watch them here:
http://www.apple.com/uk/getamac/ads/

Technorati Tags: advertising, Apple, mac

This evening, Microsoft and vanishingpointgame.com appear to have thrown a party to celebrate the launch of the Vista operating system complete with fireworks over Lake Union in Seattle. Aparently there was also some text revealed in the firework display which served as the final clue in the vanishing point game. Microsoft and their partners are really getting creative with advertising and media exposure these days, sometimes with better results than others. As far as I can tell, it was a complete surprise to the city and people around Lake Union. Just after dusk I started hearing rumbling noises from outside the house in North Seattle but just thought it was a neighbor with is movie turned up too loud or something along those lines. When I got in the car to go pickup some food, I saw what was really going on.

Unfortunately for me, thousands of other people all over Seattle saw this display and where equally surprised. For an hour or so, the freeway and major streets with a view of the Lake Union area where clogged with gawkers staring skyward. It wasn’t until I got home and started searching that I finally figured out what it was all about. I found some indication of the true meaning of the shock and awe campaign through the flickr community, but still haven’t seen any news or other official reports of the event.

The photo seen here is credit of flickr user veo_.



From the little I got to see if it, it was a pretty nice display.

Technorati Tags: fireworks, Microsoft, Vista launch

The beer can is in for a technology makeover that will shake-up the beverage industry, and it’s being brought to you by a company called Tempra Technology, which has ambitious plans for their cold can technology.

The specially modified cans use proprietary engineering to create a temperature drop that will reduce the I.C. Can contents by a minimum of 30° Fahrenheit in just three minutes. When activated, the all natural desiccant contained within a vacuum draws the heat from the beverage through the evaporator into an insulated heat-sink container. It is this patented vacuum-power which lowers the temperature so dramatically and quickly, leaving the beverage inside cold.

The I.C. Technology is 100% safe non-toxic and environmentally benign (in otherwords, no CFCs or harsh chemicals), because the whole process is the driven by the simple physics of water evaporation. You twist the base which cracks a seal to a vacuum in the can’s base. This sucks creates condensation on the inside liner which is then sucked down into some silica (you know, the stuff in your camera bag) in the base, taking the heat with it.

The average American drinks 22 Gallons of beer annually, and even though this product would demand a large price premium over a traditional can, the convenience factor and bragging rights would make this a must have item. Camping and fishing will drive the initial sales, and as volumes increase more and more uses will be found.

Expect the first cans to show up on store shelves in mid-2007 under the Miller Genuine Draft and Miller Lite labels. These are two beers that I wouldn’t ordinarily purchase for a summer afternoon at home where I have one of those new fanged electric iceboxes. All that asside though, I would LOVE to have a non-toxic, self chilling can (or 6) for those hot summer afternoons at the lake, beach, golf course.. or wherever.

Found via NewTechSpy

Technorati Tags: beer, technology

This is one from the what the hell category. After reading this article, I imagine that anyone who has worked in a grocery store, food supplier or restaurant wouldn’t be terribly shocked to learn about this pilfering of animal flesh. To someone like myself though who has not had the privilege of such employment, this is a humorous surprise.
From Slate.com –

Every supermarket detective—or “loss-prevention specialist,” as many prefer to be called—has an offbeat meatlifting story to share. There’s the one about the lady who seemingly defied the laws of physics by stuffing an entire HoneyBaked Ham in her purse, the man discovered with a trove of filet mignons in his Jockey shorts, or the meth addict who explained that his dealer, exhibiting an atypical benevolent streak, had agreed to accept prime rib in lieu of cash.

Yet most shoppers who use the five-finger discount in the meat aisle are neither so brazen nor so desperate. Carts brimming with groceries, they’ll stealthily slide a single tenderloin or T-bone into a coat pocket, then hit the checkout line alongside their nonlarcenous peers. In this way, millions of pounds of beef, pork, and veal disappear from supermarket shelves each year. Meatlifting is a grave problem for food retailers: According to the Food Marketing Institute, meat was the most shoplifted item in America’s grocery stores in 2005. (It barely edged out analgesics and was a few percentage points ahead of razor blades and baby formula.)

…Story continues at Slate.com

Tags: crime, food

Photos are credit of fotoduet.ru.

The comes from EnglishRussia.com where you can find many more photos and captions in english.

A guy from fotoduet.ru recently took a trip to a Russian space agency near Moscow.

This is where all of the Russian cosmonauts are trained and prepared for their trips in to space, as well as the former command center for the Mir space station.

Many, many more photos and descriptions here…

Technorati Tags: Russia, space travel

I’ve had a few wisps of grey hair since I was about 17 years old, and I’m just fine with that. I’ve been telling myself that grey hair isn’t going to bother me even when it’s more pervasive on my head since it will blend with my light red hair so well that it will hardly be noticable. “If anything, I’ll just look more blonde” I thought to myself.

Yesterday, to my surprise, a co-worker spotted grey on my temples from well across a large conference room. He was a good 25 feet away, and the room wasn’t exceptionally well lit either. All this time, I’ve been thinking that the grey streak I’m developing blended in so well, even I couldn’t really see it. The truth is a little more sobering. I’ve just been telling myself that I couldn’t see it, so I didn’t. Oh well, what are you going to do.. at least I have no realistic chance of going bald!

BTW, I’ve wondered for a while about the disparity in spelling between “gray” and “grey” Here’s the explanation according to wikipedia:

British/Canadian: Grey
American: Gray

Grey became the established British spelling in the 20th century, pace Dr. Johnson and others[49], and is but a minor variant in American English, according to dictionaries. Canadians tend to prefer grey. Some American writers[citation needed] tend to assign wistful, positive connotations to grey, as in “a grey fog hung over the skyline”, whereas gray often carries connotations of drabness, “a gray, gloomy day.”

Wistful and positive seems suitable for the topic at hand, so I’m sticking with my roots and going with “grey”

It also seems relevant to point out that I just noticed that today is my “half birthday”.. if there where such a thing. I’m exactly halfway between my 26th and 27th birthday.

Technorati Tags: aging, gray hair

We where treated to some great hockey last night in Seattle when we saw the Seattle Thunderbirds take on the Portland Winterhawks. The quality of play was great, the fans turned out in force, and the t-birds won it for the home fans. I was pleasantly surprised with the overall experience and will definitely be going to more games in the near future.

The final score was 2-1 in favor of Seattle, but the game was far more exciting than the final would suggest. Lots of back and fourth, 33 shots on goal for Seattle, and a few moments of brilliance.

We sat in the very same section of the arena that I was seated in for the Sonics Game earlier in the week. It’s a cool experience to see two different sports played in the same building in the same week.

Game wrap-up: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2003534272_birds21.html

Final thought: Greg Scott is a bad-ass.

Technorati Tags: hockey, Seattle Thunderbirds

We where sitting back, watching an archived Simpsons episode last night when I heard what sounded like gunfire down the street. While we live in a relatively nice neighborhood, we’re only a couple of blocks away from the lovely Aurora Ave (hwy 99) which is well known for it’s seedy and tumultuous past. I wasn’t completely sure that the sounds I heard where gunfire as there are many other sounds that can be mistaken for it. The almost immediate response of police, fire, and ambulance sirens from what seemed like all directions was a bad sign though.
From the Seattle Times:

One man was killed and a police officer wounded in an exchange of gunfire in North Seattle on Wednesday night.

The shootout — between the man and two Anti-Crime Team (ACT) officers — began about 9:45 p.m. on Aurora Avenue North near North 90th Street, said Seattle police Sgt. Deanna Nollette.

Yeah, that’s 3 blocks from my house..

• The complete story from the Seattle Times
• Follow up story from the Seattle Times
• Story from KING5.com

The King5 story has a quote from a witness stating that they heard at least 10 shots, which is exactly what I heard. It apparently all came to a head right on the street corner where I used to catch the bus downtown.

I’m aware that there is violence all around us in the city on any given night, but it really strikes you in a different way when it’s close enough to hear it from your living room.

Technorati Tags: gun violence, urban jungle

One of the highlights of the recent weather is that my companies corporate Sonics tickets went unused. Apparently our clients didn’t want to brave the “ice” and freezing temperatures. Fortunately for us, the overnight freeze never materialized and we where able to drive home from the game on bare and wet pavement, with temps in the high 30s.
In any case we where treated to a great game.

Cleveland was, as expected, a heavy favorite going into the game but the Sonics are on a mini hot streak right now and played really well. We where sitting center court, row 10 in the lower level so the view was spectacular. It was really a treat to get to watch Lebron James perform his magic, but even better considering that the Sonics managed to contain him when it counted (0 points in the 4th quarter) and come away with a win (101-96).

Game Recap: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2003528326_soni17.html

Thanks to Tony, Carley and Sydney for a great evening.

Photo Credit : RIKRIKA SCHULTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Technorati Tags: Seattle Sonics