Ploafmaster General

I've often heard people describe the sound of an approaching tornado as closely resembling an oncoming freight train. What do you suppose it sounds like if you're already ON the freight train?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azV5bC2br-Q&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&w=580&h=470]

This is terrifying and breathtaking at the same time.
(via wiseacre)

On my iPhone I routinely type "*** wiki" in Safari's search field, where "***" is the subject for which I'm searching. So "beer wiki" returns the Wikipedia entry on Beer as the top search result. Last night, however, I noticed I was redirected to a page optimized for mobile web browsers. Since the mobile page renders differently in standard browsers (or at least on FF 3.5 on my work computer), I took some screen shots. This is what you see after the mobile version of the article loads:



There's pretty much what I've come to expect for a mobile-optimized website but have only, until recently, hoped for on Wikipedia. Even on this initial screen you can see there's a single column, larger text, and better word and line spacing. Instantly more readable. There's also the clearly indicated feedback link since this version of the site is recently launched.

If you clicked on the first link to the standard Beer article you would have noticed that it's a reasonably long entry even on a desktop browser. I can't imagine many iPhone users would enjoy the finger cramps required to scroll all the way down to the Serving section, and it seems Wikipedia's designers/developers felt the same way. After the introduction, the article sections have been collapsed to their headings with handy buttons to expand the content:



After expanding a section the "Show" button changes to a "Hide" button so you can keep the page from growing too long on your small screen:



Overall I'm pretty happy about this considering my heavy use of Wikipedia. My only gripe at the moment, however, is the redirect process. If you visit an article from Google search results, quite a bit of the standard page (including some images) seems to load before the redirect. I could see this getting a bit tiresome if I don't have a 3G signal, and it makes me wish the intercept occurred earlier. I'm not a web developer, so I can't speak to the simplicity/complexity of such a change, but I'll certainly submit it as feedback.

There's an intriguing short read on Slate about the use of plastics in art, and the troubling difficulty of their preservation. We tend to think of plastics as everlasting, but museums around the world have been dealing with the reality that plastics can decay simply sitting around.

Part of why I'm writing anything right now is because I feel like every passing day that I don't exercise my creative muscles I risk their atrophy. I sit at my desk at work and can practically feel my brain calcify, or some other ridiculous biological metaphor that comes with having poor writing skills (even when I DO feel creative).

But mostly I'm writing this because I'm really pumped about my upcoming weekend.

Tomorrow is the last work day of this week for Valerie and me since we get Friday off in advance of Independence Day. We're heading straight up to her mom's house in the evening to have dinner and hang out with her mom and sister for the evening. Then we drag ourselves out of bed before first light and drive up Eisenhower's Interstate to Red Bank, New Jersey. This will be my first visit to my home state since the passing of my father in March last year, and it's been far too long. There is much to be done.

You see, Red Bank celebrates Independence Day with fireworks a day earlier than most places. There's a veritable cannonade of colorful explosions in the sky over the Navesink River, a display to rival New York City (and, indeed, formerly executed by the same people). My step-mom carries on the tradition of hosting a serious party at her house marking the occasion, and there I hope to see several members of my dad's family.

Red Bank is, itself, a treat for me. It's like all the charm of Richmond's Carytown on steroids (with some of the same inherent problems, unfortunately, like greedy landlords). Whether it's Zebu, or The Bagel Oven, or even the played-out and kitschy Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash (comic book shop), I don't much tire of walking along Broad or Front Streets taking in the scenery of my youth. I have to dwell on The Bagel Oven for a moment, too, because it's seriously my favorite bagel shop on the planet. I love me some Cupertino's while I'm here in Ole' Virginny, but even their fine bread pales in comparison to the goods on Monmouth St. The only concern I have is whether I can make up my mind between an egg or salt bagel...

On the 4th itself (Saturday), Valerie and I will travel a little southeast to Sea Girt where Jammie (my mom's mom) lives. She's trying to sell her home and move down south to retire near my mom, but while she's still on The Shore I'm happy for the chance to visit her in the home where I spent half my childhood. We're definitely hitting up The Ice Hut, some of the most glorious Italian Ice around, and who knows? Maybe we'll have pizza at The Squan Tavern if I'm lucky. If the weather is as nice as expected, I'll probably take Valerie down to the boardwalk at night so we can see the other small towns up and down the coast set off their 4th of July fireworks displays.

I also have to make sure, at some point, to procure a proper pork roll, egg, and cheese sandwich on a poppy seed hard roll. If half of that sounded foreign to you, you'll just have to make a trip to the shore yourself sometime. Words fail.

On Sunday we'll start the long drive home, but we'll stop in Delaware to see my brother, Mugs, his wife, Valorie, and our nephew, Donovan. There's even a chance that our newest nephew will be there to greet us...

Those are the roughly-laid-out plans, and here's some needless alliteration for you: family, food, and fun. It'll be a welcome break from the daily soul-suck of work this past month. And of course I'm taking a load of pictures :-)

I have three recent shots of my fair city on my Flickr stream. I'm pretty pleased with how they developed, but mostly I'm excited about trying out Kodachrome for the first time tomorrow. I hope it works out...

Do you ever have a musical act that you totally love but seem to have dropped off the planet? You can't help but move in your chair every one of their tunes plays in your headphones, but you've stopped checking the official website and/or other channels for news long ago because it's been ages.

A number of musicians fit such a bill for me and, the act in mind today is dZihan & Kamien, the Vienna-based down-tempo duo that created one of the finest albums in my arsenal: Gran Riserva. After years gone by with a dearth of news (and no official website) I don't feel that bad for missing the announcement of their first studio album since 2002. It seems that the fellas released Music Matters in late April, and you can stream the whole thing for free on their new website! Sure, it's Flash-tastic, so I can't link directly to the listening page, but hit up the music link at the top of the page, and mouse over the left side of the album listing until the cover for the new album slides into view. And listen. Over and over.

I'm scooting over to Plan 9 forthwith tomorrow after work to see if have this album, and if not, I'm gonna have to see if the official D&K store delivers to The States (the prices are in Euros only). This album is my new jam.

It was really only a matter of time.

The Eastman Kodak company introduced Kodachrome in 1935 and it became one of the most iconic pieces of film ever to run through a camera. The color is rich, the grain is barely visible at large image sizes, and the stability of the processed slides is remarkable. But the processing is the problem - it's a proprietary methodology that's complex and expensive. As digital photography has all but stamped out film, there has been little justification for keeping alive a product with such a small niche that may very well have been unprofitable.

So today Kodak formally announced an end to production. I'm not upset with the company for this - they sure seem committed to continuing film production with their other stock (I mean, they recently reformulated TMax 400 and introduced Ektar, a totally new print film, so, c'mon) - but this surely signals the end of an era.

I've not yet had the opportunity to shoot Kodachrome, but I ordered three rolls today before it's too late. While Kodak believes their stock will last through Fall 2009, I'm less optimistic since I think film buffs and holdouts will try to hoard it before it's too late.

They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, Oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don't take my Kodachrome away

Paul Simon, "Kodachrome," from his 1973 album There Goes Rhymin' Simon

Dude, bro:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDpqQCieKJg&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1&w=580&h=470]
(via yewknee)

So both chambers of Congress have approved of a "Cash for Clunkers" program through which consumers receive subsidies for replacing their older fuel-guzzling vehicles with new fuel-efficient vehicles.

I think this idea, on the surface, sounds great. Get those exhaust-spewing dirty inefficient cars off the road! Everybody buy a LEV or Prius or something! And of course, you benefit the struggling auto industry! YAY!

Except...there's no guarantee that you're helping the environment here. Sure, the old vehicle has terrible fuel economy, but building new cars requires incredible amounts of energy as well. There's ore extraction, chemical treatments, electricity for all the machinery, etc. Does that balance against the pollution from extraction, refining, and combustion of more fuel? Was that even considered by the folks who sold this bill? I suspect this was pushed by the automotive industry to spur new car sales, but I haven't seen anything about a provision limiting the credit to purchases of American cars, so it may end up benefiting Toyota and Honda more than Ford and GM. Maybe it's all about saving money for the consumer? Perhaps, but for drivers that currently owe nothing on their cars, it's highly unlikely that the monthly gas savings will come close to a monthly payment.

Eh...I don't mean to sound so dismissive, but I feel like this is another band-aid idea that makes people think Congress and the White House are doing something helpful when it might only result in a further waste of money without helping that many people.

Paul Armstrong is an incredible photographer. No, seriously - go spend some time digging through his Flickr stream before you keep reading.
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Good? I told you so. Anyway, Paul Armstrong is also hilarious. Case in point: Dear Photographer, a collection of quips initially from Twitter that will, hopefully, grow as time goes by. I'm sure many of us are guilty of at least one of his points, but they're funny none-the-less.

The amount of real-time information on what's happening in Iran following the disputed presidential election from last Friday is encouraging if not a bit overwhelming. Who knows how an event like this would have played out ten years ago without the eyes of the world watching?

If you want to make some sense of what's going on, I recommend the New York Times Lede Blog, where you can refresh the page every so often for plenty of current information. If you want to partake in the deluge of information, unconfirmed and all, you could always take a look at Twitter as well, or at least while people inside Iran are still able to relay information about the situation on the ground.

My heart goes out to those people trying to voice their dissent. The rallies, by most accounts, started and remained largely peaceful until Ahmadinejad supporters around the country started interfering. And now all foreign press are getting shut out of direct reporting even while state-run media outlets sow lies and propaganda in an attempt to paint the opposition as the real problem.

Let's see what happens after this apparent re-count...

The last few regulars remaining no doubt have noticed that my writing has grown spare. I've been posting with low frequency and when I actually do add to the site it's typically been a photograph, a video, or a link with minor annotation.

Maybe it's been an uptick in work (I mean, hey, the workday is prime blogging time) or a general lack of things to say, but I just don't have much in me lately. Not a bad thing, and I'm not upset about it - just some observations.

The funniest part about this is that I've come to such conclusions in the past as well where I feel that my blogging dries up - only to be struck by some diarrheic typing moments later. Whatever. I just had to say something that wasn't "wow, this video is so cool" or "check out my pictures."

Sad and beautiful.

[flickr video=3622918484 secret=da6c566c59 w=580 h=387]

I found out about an upcoming film, (500) Days of Summer, on /Film and this clip just pushed it to the "must see" list for next month:

[yahoo id=13912766 vid=5275322 w=580 h=365 thumburl=[l.yimg.com/a/p/i/bcs...](http://l.yimg.com/a/p/i/bcst/yahoomovies/8954/87209025.jpg)]

I always enjoy reading Amelie Gillette's The Hater on the A.V. Club, but there are occasions where she really outdoes herself.

Yesterday's "The Goop Translator" is one such occasion.

I'm breaking in my first pair of shoes from Camper, a Spanish shoe company that traces its roots back three generations to 1877. Normally I'd pass on shoes from this brand because of the price, but I caught the last pair in my size on clearance from endless.com. My verdict on the Camper Peu Ideal in aged leather? So far, so awesome.

There are two things that I really dig about these kicks. First, the shape of the upper is fairly close to that of the foot itself, so i feel like these shoes fit just right on day one without the need to break them in. I can't imagine how comfy these things will be after a few weeks of heavy wear. Additionally, each shoe has a single elastic lace. This means that technically I can slip these on/off (though I usually have to pop the lace out of the top eyelet to put the shoes on) but, more than anything, it enhances the fit and comfort because the shoe is never too tight on the top of my foot while it stays in place.

Some enterprising photographer hacked up a cheap Holga camera so he could shoot two taped-together rolls of 35mm film. It's a novelty, sure, but I bet it's easier/cheaper for many folks to obtain and process 35mm than it is for 120. The results have the characteristic Holga look (or rather, cheap camera look), but this gentleman who made the mod seems to have managed some nice captures:



You can also see a series of pictures that depict his whole process of loading/sealing the camera. This sort of thing is cool enough to ALMOST make me want a Holga, just for messing around...

Aaaaaand that's a wrap.

I forgot to mention that I have a few of my London shots up. I scanned a crapload last night (mostly color) after receiving it back from Richmond Camera, and I think I have maybe half a dozen that I'm willing to upload, so more to come.

I also have 3 rolls of Tmax 400 left to process myself, so I'll be steadily adding to the bunch over the next week.

Gee, it sure is nice to see Oprah taken down a few pegs (it's long, but it's worth it)...
(via david friedman)

Okay, so maybe it was just London with a little English countryside thrown in for good measure.

I think I've mostly recovered from my west-bound jet lag, so it's an appropriate time to write up my recent vacation (it's also a good way to kill time while negatives are scanning...). Valerie and I returned yesterday from about a week in the United Kingdom. We travelled there particularly to attend the wedding festivities of her cousin Stephen (he and his new wife work/live there, so it wasn't *technically* a destination wedding), but being US residents with crappy American vacation allotments, we decided to make a big trip of it.

Thanks to my overzealous initial planning we lucked out with the flight and hotel package from Expedia. Booking in early January meant that, despite our trip's timing around a holiday weekend, we were able to take advantage of the British Pound around the time it was bottoming out relative to the US Dollar. What this meant in practical terms was a non-stop flight from Dulles to Heathrow on Virgin Atlantic and a stay in a nice 4-star hotel across the street from the Victoria and Albert museum. Our flight was okay, but the hotel was actually quite nice - the nicest hotel in which I've yet stayed in Europe, in fact - and conveniently located a short walk from The Tube.

Before I divulge the details of our day-to-day, I have to take the obligatory tangent to express my love of European rail transportation. While NYC's subway is still my favorite (hard to beat the coverage/fares), London's Underground is a very close second. The trains were nearly always on-time, mostly clean, extensive, and easy to understand. Additionally, all our short jaunts out of the city were quick and simple on the regional train lines.

Anyway, Valerie, her mom, sister, and I took an overnight flight from D.C. to London and arrived too early to check in at our hotel on Friday morning.. So we let our baggage with the concierge, headed back to the tube, and did some mild exploring to kill time. I was caught delightfully off-guard by the enormity of Big Ben and the houses of Parliament when we emerged from the Westminster stop because, really, photographs can scarcely prepare you for just how magnificent such a site appears before your very tourist eyes. The same went for Westminster Cathedral and its scale and beauty. Oh yeah, and I found the memorial for Joule (nerd glory!).

Seeing as a family occasion brought us to the city on the Thames we were obliged to meet up with an aunt, uncle, two cousins, and the spouse of one cousin from dinner on Friday night. At a tourist-y pub called...The Sherlock Holmes. Yeah. The beer was fine enough, but...well...Okay, so after dinner, those of us that weren't retired decided to hit another pub closer to our hotel. That pub was The Hoop and Toy which served up a decent enough collection of beverages, notably Staropramen (from the Czech Republic!!!) and Fuller's London Pride. This was a fun conclusion to the evening, but I should have had more water between pints because...

While the whole squad was supposed to meet up at St. Paul's Cathedral on Saturday morning, I woke a bit dehydrated and aching in the cranium. I went back to my room after a sparse breakfast and some Advil, and not only did the nap take care of my dome, it also conveniently put me on London time. I met the rest of the crew outside St. Paul's around noon and, after a light lunch, I went with Val's immediate family to stroll by Buckingham Palace. Then it was back to the hotel for a short break so I could change for Steven's bachelor party.

I parted ways with the fellas when they left the restaurant for...um...OTHER entertainment, but everything leading up to midnight was quite a night. We all gathered in a private back bar at the Boisdale of Belgravia for pre-dinner pints and conversation. After everybody was either introduced or caught up we moved to an adjacent private dining room where we ordered from a pre-fixe menu. I then proceeded to have one of my best meals abroad. My appetizer was a ceviche of salmon with a chili-oil sauce that I couldn't quite place except that I knew it was delicious. My steak was a dry-aged, grass-fed ribeye that rivaled my filet from my own rehearsal dinner at (the sadly, now closed) Cabo's here in Richmond. My dessert was a burnt lemon and vanilla tart (that is, burnt lemon - the tart was cooked perfectly), but this came after an interlude on the upstairs terrace to smoke Cuban cigars and sip single malt Scottish Whisky.

I passed on the cigar (though I took a puff...soooooooo good), but I did have a healthy dram of Oban 14-year single-malt with a few drops of water to open it up. I never thought I'd say it, but...aw, heck. I liked the Scotch. I took my first London cab ride back to the hotel (very nice cabs in London, actually) and was pleased to find Valerie awake in the lobby surfing the Internet. I finished my evening conversing with my wife...just the way I liked it :-)

Sunday was spent mostly around the cute town of Hitchin to the north of London where the whole family (and overseas guests) converged for a really nice luncheon thrown by the parents of the groom. The entire affair was at the Hitchin Priory, an event space occupying the site of a former monastery dating back as far as the 14th century. Many of us continued to hang out afterward in the town and grabbed a pint at a pub somewhere off the main square...I can't recall the name, though.

On Monday we attended the wedding itself in Little Wymondly. Like the luncheon before, this occupied nearly the entire day. After a short ceremony everybody proceeded to drink, eat, drink, eat, photograph, drink, socialize, and drink. It was the fastest 8.5 hours I've ever experienced with fantastic weather outside, fun conversation with some British relatives of the bride at my dinner table, and an introduction to one of my new favorite cocktails, the Pimm's Lemonade (where by "lemonade" the Brits mean "Sprite").

Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with miscellaneous site-seeing and shopping (including the afore-blogged visit to the Jerusalem Tavern) that included the acquisition of an English-made badger hair shaving brush and some traditional shaving creams. We also had the privilege of meeting up and hanging out with our friend Rebecca Honts on Wednesday for part of our adventures, such as seeing an original copy of the Magna Carta at the British Library.

So now I'm home again, and I return to work on Monday. Transitions like this always suck, but at least I'll have had a long weekend for recovery. The end of my vacation will do little to take away how much I loved London, though. I sincerely wish I could have stayed another week or five...