Sewing our Pradas

Linda fielded calls from life-long friends Terye and Cathy this afternoon, both of whom noted that my blog hadn’t yet been updated. While both dear friends have been interested in staying up to date on our health issues, I fear Terye and Cathy haven’t been particularly interested in the techie or camera and photo […]

‘Light is the magician’

Linda references the quality of California’s winter light in her blog today. Back in the 80s, while still working at the LA Herald Examiner (may it’s vibrant collective soul rest in a high place in newspaper heaven), I had an opportunity to photograph Helmut Newton, a photographer whose work I much admire.
I knew that he […]

Small victory for the Paperless Project

While Ray Kurzweil is making billions from his advanced grasp of technology, moi is revelling in a minory victory from my own, rather less sophisticated home-brew tech. A while ago I chronicled the Paperless Project, a personal attempt to take control of these little (and not so little) stacks of paper that keep growing around […]

Woo Hoo…

No seizures last night! Went to bed at 10 and woke at 7:00 to find that Linda had slipped from the covers so quietly that she didn’t wake me (her note explaining she was tackling the tough ‘full-Dish‘ circuit). The day is starting well for both of us… though I do miss jogging with Linda…

Ray Kurzweil has a hedge fund

It’s called FatKat, and apparently uses AI to make stock buy and sell decisions, according to the NY Times. The article goes on to discuss hedge funds that use AI and genetic algorithms to find arbitrage opportunities that less sophisticated software might miss. An emerging problem is the ‘black box’ issue: machines evaluate completely random […]

Decisions, decisions…

Reading of Optio’s plight, Roger suggested replacing him with this Lumix model, which features a rotating viewfinder. Amazingly, this 10.1 megapixel Lumix FZ50, featuring a fast Schneider zoom is only $129 more than the Pentax when new. I can imagine saying to Linda, with a straight face, I’ve had to repair the Pentax 3 times […]

Never confuse religion with faith

It heartened me this morning to read, in the Guardian, that the Vatican is considering partially relinquishing its ban on condoms. The church’s ban has weighed heavily on impoverished, Catholic countries (Haiti comes to mind) that contribute greatly to the 8,000 a day who die of AIDS.
Condoms can be used for contraception, condoms can […]

More on Optio

Paul and Greg left comments about Optio: Paul noting that a low angle with conventional digital cameras can make for an interesting picture vs. the more usual mugging that people are wont to do when they know they are being photographed. Greg, ever the curious investigator, wants to know why the camera failed.
Pictured above are […]

My pal Optio is under the weather

So, most people will find this silly, but I’ll bet even some hard-bitten, gnarled, been-everywhere, endured-everything photojournalists will understand my complaint.
Today my Pentax Optio-X stopped working: it’s the camera that’s produced almost all of the pics you’ve seen here recently. I love this camera: it features a brilliant design (IMHO), though it has some techie […]

Woo hoo…

The left side is even better this morning. I almost didn’t realize how easily I walked from the bedroom to kitchen this A.M. Dr. Larson’s diagnosis of edema of the tumor, with treatment of a steroid ‘pulse’ appears to have been correct. There’s more to do, but this is a welcome Thanksgiving present…

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