All the Pages Are My Days

I've recently come across a number of interesting items that I want to share, but don't have time to write individual posts for each one. Instead, I'll just write a sentence or two about each topic and encourage you to click the links for the full story.

We'll start with this wonderful time-lapse photo of the lunar eclipse from earlier this week:

Time lapse lunar eclipse photo
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If you do anything with digital imaging, you'll want to watch this short video that demonstrates a new technique for resizing images; it's quite unlike anything you've seen before. While the demo explains what's going on at a technical level, at a visual level there's only one word to describe this new technique: Magic!

Image Resizing Magic!
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You think you're commute is tough? Check out how these kids use a 1200 foot high zip-line to cross a gaping chasm to go to and from school.

Scary Commute
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Finally, urban explorer Michael Cook ventures inside the storm and sewer systems for Toronto. He's a masterful photographer, and his images present the subject in a very striking and compelling manner.

Drains of Canada
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So there you go, links to two photo-based stories, and links to two video-based articles; enjoy!

Posted by mike 10:54 PM | Comments/Permalink (0)
Categories: General | top of page

Spookin' the Horses

by Fred Eaglesmith

You're spookin' the horses, they're wild and they're scared,
with that bright colored makeup, and those clothes that you wear,
and I seen you dancing, last night 'neath the trees.

You're spookin' the horses and you're scaring me.

Where the road meets the highway, those bright city lights,
must have shone through your windshield, and got into your eyes,
and I guess you thought that they'd set you free.

You're spookin' the horses and you're scaring me.

You're not tying your hair back anymore,
and you're wearing dresses, like you never before,
and you're driving faster than I've ever seen.

You're spookin' the horses and you're scaring me.

I can hear the gears grinding, where you make the turn,
and up on the skyline, those headlights just burn,
and the horses go running, and my heart just screams.

You're spookin' the horses and you're scaring me.

You're spookin' the horses and you're scaring me.

Posted by mike 3:40 PM | Comments/Permalink (0)
Categories: Music | top of page

Here's a link with more information about the Movable Type 4 upgrade. This upgrade, like the ones that preceded it in prior years, was essentially painless and fairly easy.

First, I backed up my database using phpmyadmin, as described here.

Then I created a new database using Pair's control panel.

The import via phpmyadmin didn't work, though it has in the past when doing previous upgrades. Undaunted, I took the command line approach (the actual user, db and host names have been changed in the listing below):

 
#backup current production database
mysqldump -a -u birdsong_n -p -h db6na.pair.com bs_mt32aug05 > atp.sql

# delete recently created db
mysqladmin -u birdsong_p -p drop  bs_mt4aug07 -h db1nna.pair.com

#recreate db
mysqladmin -u birdsong_p -p create bs_mt4aug07 -h db1nna.pair.com

#restore db from previously created backup
mysql -u birdsong_p -h db1nna.pair.com -p bs_mt4aug07 < atp.sql 

After setting up the database I downloaded the newest version of Movable Type, the 4.01 beta.

After finishing the pre-work, I turned to actual installation. Here's the steps I followed:

• Created a new folder parallel to the existing installation and unpacked the files.
• Edited the config file to set the path and db parameters.
• Renamed mt-static to mt3-static and then copied mt-static from the installation directory to the production folder, alongside mt3-static.
• Visited the new site's control panel, and as expected it churned its wheels for a few minutes and then announced that the database had been successfully updated.

I then made a test posting, and noticed that my page styling was gone. I quickly realized the problem had to do with the renamed mt-static directory, so I edited the appropriate template to reflect the new path and rebuilt the site.

And that was that. Total time, not counting time wasted trying to upload the backed up database? Maybe an hour, plus or minus 10 minutes.

After over 5 years, with just one brief dalliance with WordPress, I guess it's safe to say I continue to be very happy using Movable Type, and I'm excited about exploring all of the new features in Movable Type 4.

Speaking of new features, here are a few things I've noticed so far:

• An entirely new interface, much more polished looking and so far I've been able to find whatever function or feature I've needed.
• Color coded syntax when editing templates! (Why not when editing posts?)
• Live preview: you see your posting with all page stylings; in the past the preview was much more basic and only showed font changes and images. Not a big deal, but a nice surprise.
• Autosave when composing a post; need I say more?

Anyway, I'm off to explore more of the goodies available with this great new release of Movable Type!

Posted by mike 6:20 PM | Comments/Permalink (0)
Categories: Blogging | top of page

If you can see this, at least some part of the site's upgrade to the latest version of Movable Type worked!

Posted by mike 5:38 PM | Comments/Permalink (1)
Categories: Blogging | top of page

If you've never dreamed of visiting Alaska, this photo-essay may change your mind. If it's something you've been meaning to do, you'll want to do it even more after viewing these pictures.

Intrepid adventurer Shaun Lunt spent the summer flying his small Supercub airplane around Alaska and took some absolutely wonderful pictures of his adventures. I've selected 3 from his set of 150 images just to give you a taste; you really want to visit Shaun's site and see all of them for yourself: Shaun Lunt's Alaskan Adventure.

One of the many beautiful landscape shots of Alaska taken while flying.
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Note the environmentally friendly wheel chocks; leave no trace.
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11pm in the land of the midnight sun; looking for place to land for the night.
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You really want to visit Shaun's site to view his entire Alaskan Adventure.

Posted by mike 7:56 AM | Comments/Permalink (2)
Categories: Travel | top of page

In recognition of the problems with violence in the workplace and in our schools, I present:

Things I learned Today:

If someone is venting, and talks about violence in a general way, it's probably not a problem. That is, "I'm gonna teach him a lesson" is probably just someone letting off steam.

If someone is venting, and talks specifically about performing a violent act, you better not ignore it. That is, "I'm gonna wait till he gets home and then I'm gonna ..." means you need to treat this seriously.

If someone has been making violent suggestions in the past, and you're not sure of their true feelings, sound them out. "Say, remember last week, when you were going on about so-and-so ... you were just joking, right?" Look at the previous two points to decide how to respond to the answer to this question.

All knowledge gleaned from the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Though not a group that is focused on school or workplace violence, the NDVH's advice about distinguishing, differentiating and clarifying potential behaviours can go a long way towards resolving a false alarm vs. a tragedy.
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On a more cheerful note, Happy Birthday, Ben! I just found out about this song last night and I dedicate it to you (and the rest of us in the same boat!): Middle Age, by Steve Forbert.

Sample lyric:

MIDDLE AGE

Middle age is diff'rent,
Now you're someone else;
Now you've got some sense
Of how much time perhaps is left.

Middle age is central,
Now you tend to know
Not just where it's been you've been,
But where you'll likely go.

It's another fine song brought to my attention by KPIG.

Posted by mike 6:38 PM | Comments/Permalink (0)
Categories: General | top of page

In the better late than never category, here are a few photos of the storm of July 4th that caused the Lindsborg fireworks to be delayed by one day. These were taken just north of McPherson, and while pretty intense looking, thankfully never developed into a damage causing storm. The images are contrasty, with slightly exaggerated colors as a result of the "direct positive" preset applied in Lightroom (the digital photographer's best friend!)

And of course there are a few more of these storm photos at Flickr.

Posted by mike 10:56 PM | Comments/Permalink (2)
Categories: PhotoBlog | top of page

"One day, the pain would be gone; but never the memory."

That was the last line of a book that I read years ago; unfortunately I've forgotten the name of the book but that in no way diminishes the sentiment embodied by the statement.

UPDATE: As Ben correctly noted in the comments, the book is Arthur C. Clarke's Songs of Distant Earth.

Posted by mike 9:43 AM | Comments/Permalink (3)
Categories: Jerry | top of page

Below are the results of one of my early attempts at lunar photography via a technique known as eyepiece projection. Similar to afocal imaging, eyepiece projection is aided by a small piece of hardware that couples the camera body to an eyepiece and holder which is attached to the telescope. Below the first 3 images are a couple of afocal images of the moon I took a number of years ago.

I'm not very satisfied with the quality of these images, but they do serve as a baseline against which to measure future efforts.

Equipment used included: Skywatcher HEQ5-Pro mount (first night out, so far I love it!), Antares 90mm ("non-vixen") refractor (placeholder achro till I decide on my APO), Meade variable eyepiece projection unit, TeleVue 15 mm and Meade 26mm Plossl eyepieces and a Canon 350D/Rebel XT camera. The scope is 1000mm and f/11; I exposed at 1/15s using ISO 200. This was actually way underexposed; thank goodness I shoot RAW!

Posted by mike 11:33 AM | Comments/Permalink (0)
Categories: PhotoBlog | top of page