Author Archives: Steve Mays
Photos: Box ’em up and scan ’em
I shudder to think of the hours I’ve spent scanning photos. In the early days, I scanned one image at a time and was so clueless I scanned at very low resolution. A lot of those poor scans are still on line, but I just don’t have the time (or will) to re-scan.
So I sent about 120 prints off to ScanCafe. I believe the prints wind up somewhere in India where they are “scanned by hand.” Costs 29 cents an image. About $40 by the time I was done. I could not have scanned and cleaned them for that price.
When they’re done they send you a link to a web page where you can review and pick the images you want (or don’t). They they send you a DVD.
I’ll probably try another service, just to compare. Watch this space.
New Predator Mission in MO
News release from office of Congressman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.):
“A new mission will bring 280 military and civilian personnel to Whiteman Air Force Base. The new MQ-1 Remote Split Operation squadron and ground control station at Whiteman Air Force Base, from which pilots will control MQ-1 Predator drone aircraft, is expected to be operational by February 2011.”
Here’s some wikipedia info on the MQ-1 Predator. I assume this means the men and women at Whiteman AFB will have their hands on the joy sticks controlling the birds (which cost 4.5 million dollars each) around the world.
Movies: Jumping with no ‘chute
I assume there is already a list of movies in which someone jumps from a plane without a parachute, but I was unable to find one. If you do, please post a link in comments. Until then, perhaps you can help me compile.
- Point Break – Keanu Reeves jumps out to arrest PatrickSwayze in free fall
- Eraser – Arnold Schwarzenegger throws ‘chute out of the plane and jumps after it. (Not sure about this one)
- Drop Zone – Wesley Snipes drops out of a trap door in an airplane with no parachute. (Ben Krech)
And it seems like one of the James Bond movies did this stunt but I can’t recall which one. And I’m pretty sure there are others. Go!
“The internet: Everything you ever need to know”
This list — by John Naughton– is pretty good. If one of the Learfield Grown-ups came into my office and asked, “So, what do I need to know about this internet thing? Keep it to 10 things or less.”, I’d send him this article. Here are just a few nuggets. I encourage you to read and bookmark the page.
“We’re living through a radical transformation of our communications environment. Since we don’t have the benefit of hindsight, we don’t really know where it’s taking us. And one thing we’ve learned from the history of communications technology is that people tend to overestimate the short-term impact of new technologies — and to underestimate their long-term implications.”
“The trouble is, though, that everybody affected by the net is demanding an answer right now. Print journalists and their employers want to know what’s going to happen to their industry. Likewise the music business, publishers, television networks, radio stations, government departments, travel agents, universities, telcos, airlines, libraries and lots of others. The sad truth is that they will all have to learn to be patient. And, for some of them, by the time we know the answers to their questions, it will be too late.”
“HUXLEY AND ORWELL ARE THE BOOKENDS OF OUR FUTURE — Aldous Huxley believed that we would be destroyed by the things we love, while George Orwell thought we would be destroyed by the things we fear.”
As a tool for a totalitarian government interested in the behaviour, social activities and thought-process of its subjects, the internet is just about perfect.
“Copying is to computers as breathing is to living organisms.”
These snippits make the article seem more negative than it is. That probably says more about me than the list. I especially liked the survey asking folks in the German city of Mainz (in 1472) what they thought about the implications of Gutenberg’s printing press.