Aaron Hollman's Blog

Who could forget the horrific images of the airliners that crashed into the World Trade Center during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001? Did you know that this was not the first time a sky scrapper in Manhattan was hit by an airplane?

It is July 28, 1945. America is toward the end of World War II. Lt. Colonel William Smith was piloting his B-25 Mitchell bomber towards Newark airport to pick up his commanding officer. Fog caused poor visibility for Smith.

Unable to see the top of the Empire State Building, Smith brought his plane lower to try to fly below the fog. When he came through, he found himself in the middle of Manhattan, surrounded by skyscrapers.

Reflex allowed him to quickly bank out of the way of several of the buildings narrowly avoiding colliding with them. He dodged one building, then another. Eventually, his luck ran out. Trying to pull up to avoid the unavoidable disaster that was to come, Smith’s bomber crashed into the Empire State Building between the 79th and 80th floors.

Smith and the other two crew members on board the bomber were killed instantly. Eleven other people in the building were also killed and more than two dozen people were injured. The fire that was ignited from the fuel on the plane was extinguished in less than an hour and most of the building was open again two days later on the next Monday.

One of the brighter legacies that lives on from this crash is the Guiness Book of World Records record for the longest survived fall in an elevator. Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver survived a plunge of 75 stories inside of her elevator. Though she had suffered serious burns and serious injuries, she returned to work five months later.

Comments and corrections welcome.

Empire State Building – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Plane That Crashed Into the Empire State Building
Betty Lou Oliver – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oh Hai!

Today’s Wild Wednesday article is not going to be so wild. I’m a little under the weather and thought that I’d use the time that I would normally use to write the article to catch up on some rest. I hope to be back at it and ready to go by next week.

Don’t worry about the rest of the weeks articles, they are already done and should be up at their regular times.

Thanks,

aaron

Note: All work for this article was done using GIMP 2.6.6. on an Intel iMac running Mac OS X 10.5.7.

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As many of you who read this blog know, photography is a hobby of mine. While looking at photography sites to get ideas for pictures, I came across what’s known as tilt-shift photography. I’m not going to go into the specific details of it on the blog, but you can read about what it is here: Tilt-shift photography – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I like the way tilt-shift lenses can make real life pictures look miniature. There are ways to fake this effect in photoshop and with The GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program), the free Photoshop-like program that can be downloaded from: GIMP – The GNU Image Manipulation Program

All of the tutorials I’ve found to fake this effect were written for Photoshop. I have found a way to do the same effect with GIMP. Without further ado, here is the how-to:

Before doing any of this with a photo, make sure you have a backup or copy of the original photo.

1. Open the picture you want to do this effect with in GIMP. (not all pictures work well)
2. Select the Quick Mask mode by pressing Shift-Q on your keyboard. (or by going to Select –> Toggle Quick Mask in the menu bar.) The screen should have put a red layer over your image.
3. Select the Blend tool from the Toolbox.  It will be the icon that fades from black to white.
4. Select your shape from the options that appear. Sometimes Linear works best if you want to keep the whole foreground (or background) in focus. Sometimes Radial works best if you want to focus on just one section of the image.
5. Go back to your picture.
6. Draw a line from where you want the focus to start, outward to where you want the blur to start. This will be a gradual transition when the blur is applied.
7. Change out of Quick Mask mode by pressing Shift-Q again. You will notice that parts of the image were selected from where you drew the line.
8. Go to Filter –> Blur –> Focus Blur in the menu bar.
9. The window that pops up gives you some options. I wish I could tell you exactly what to select here, but it is all dependent on you personal preference and the picture you are trying this effect on. I have found that 10 or 15 for the Diffusion Model and Radius works best for me.
10. Depending on the speed of your computer, this could take a few seconds to several minutes. Be patient, the results are worth it.
11. If you like the image, save it AS A DIFFERENT NAME. You don’t want to overwrite your original image. If you don’t, Control-Z a few times will get you back to your original image.

You can check out other Tilt-Shift fakes I’ve done on my photoblog:

Fake Tilt-Shift Experiment: Las Vegas « Blog Archive « Aaron’s Photoblog
Fake Tilt-Shift Experiment – Monument Valley, AZ « Blog Archive « Aaron’s Photoblog
Fake Tilt-Shift Experiment – Grand Canyon « Blog Archive « Aaron’s Photoblog

Don’t be afraid to experiment with the settings and try different things. There are so many different options to try. For example, pump up the color settings and contrast some to make the picture pop a little more.

Good luck and have fun!

aaron

Do you use to do lists? Do they work for you or do you end up using them for maybe a week then abandon them? I usually end up abandoning them mostly because my schedule is so spontaneous that they don’t work for me anyway. There are times, however, when a to do list would come in handy and be useful. I have even gone so far as to write my own small OS X application called Too Due to keep track of my to do items. Just one problem with that, portability.

I have recently begun to contemplate going back to the old way of using to do lists, pen and paper. In addition to this, I have thought about using not just one to do list, but two. This may sound a little extreme at first, I mean, who needs two to do lists? I do have, what I consider, a very thought out and sound reason for using two to do lists.

The first to do list would be one-time tasks that never repeat, or repeat so infrequently, each time its performed, its treated like a new task. Changing the oil in the car would be an example of this. (unless you drive a lot)

The second list is the one I am focusing on here. I am calling it a Repetitive To Do list. This list would contain all the repetitive tasks for a week that I need to do, much like the chore list that our parents used to have on the fridge for us to earn our allowances for the week. Once a task on the repetitive to do list is done, it will be checked off for that week. Not only does this let you know that that particular task is done, it also gives you a sense of accomplishment by taking one step toward finishing the week.

I like the idea of the Repetitive To Do list and look forward to implementing it. There are a few variations on the list that I can think of to try. They are the following:

• Print out the list then have it laminated. Use a dry erase marker to add tasks and check them off when finished.
• Add twelve more columns, one for each month so that when that month is finished, you can check it off. This will only really work with the laminated list as mentioned above.
• Add an extra column for multi-user use. Put the name of the person who the task belongs to in that column.
• Use different colored dry erase markers for each person.
• Place the list on the fridge for family use. Parents, don’t just use this for kids, be a good example and show them that you have tasks to do as well.

Nothing is set in stone. Use whatever makes things easiest for you.

aaron

Motivational Monday:
Benefits Of A Clean Workspace (A Personal Experience)

Tech Tuesday:
My Review of the Canon PowerShot SX110 IS

Wild Wednesday:
Pimpin’ My Photoblog Edition

History Thursday:
Apollo 11

Food Friday:
Spicy Garlic Shrimp and Pasta

A rather simple dish that has unlimited possible variations. Go ahead and experiment, you almost can’t go wrong.

Ingredients

3 TBSP – olive oil
2 cloves – garlic (minced)
2 dried – chili peppers
salt
1 lbs – dried pasta
8oz – cooked shrimp
Parsley leaves
Pesto sauce

Instructions

In one pan, bring water and pinch of salt to boil. Do not add oil. Once boiling, add pasta and reduce heat. Cook until done.

While cooking pasta, heat olive oil over medium low heat in a deep frying pan. When hot, add garlic, peppers and pinch of salt.

When garlic changes color, add the shrimp and warm until hot, about 3 minutes. Place pasta on plate and add pesto sauce to taste. Top with shrimp.

Serve with breadsticks or garlic bread.

Variation

Substitute scallops for shrimp.

Substitute Italian seasoning for parsley flakes.

Try using Italian salad dressing instead of olive oil.

Adjust spices to suit your taste.

Food Safety

If using raw shrimp, be sure to de-vein and cook until done.

Always wash surfaces that have come into contact with raw meat.

Too much pepper can cause heart burn, indigestion, and ulcers. Use with caution.

Did you see all the news this week about the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing? If not, here is what happened.

Apollo 11 was not the first manned flight to the moon, it was, in fact, the third. How is this possible you ask? The previous two missions, Apollo 9 and Apollo 10 only orbited the moon with no descent to the lunar surface, Apollo 11 was the first to land on the moon.

Launch

Apollo 11 was launched on July 16, 1969 at 1:32 PM local time atop a Saturn V rocket from launch pad LC 39A, a launch pad that is still active today having launched Space Shuttle Endevour last week. The Saturn V carried the Command Module, called Columbia, the Lunar Module, called Eagle and the three astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. (called Buzz) and Michael Collins.

Apollo 11 took twelve minutes to reach orbit at which time it orbited Earth one and a half times before firing the final stage that would propel it towards the moon. Thirty minutes after the final stage fired, the command module seperated from the rocket to dock with the lunar module which was then extracted from the rocket. For the remaining three days of the trip, the modules would stay docked in this fasion until it entered lunar orbit.

Descent

On July 20, 1969, the lunar module seperated from the command module and began its descent to the surface of the moon. Their descent was faster than they had anticipated and as a result, they landed several miles from their original landing site.

The descent was not the only issue they had during landing. As Armstrong piloted Eagle, a couple of warnings flashed as well as a low fuel warning alert. The low fuel warning turned out to be caused by the difference in gravity and was corrected for future lunar missions.

Once landed, Buzz Aldrin spoke the first words from the surface of the moon which were, “Contact light! Okay, engine stop. ACA – out of detent” but it was Neil Armstrong who said the famous quote, ”Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

On the Surface

Six hours or preparation after landing, the two Astronauts began their moonwalk. Armstrong descended first, barely able to make it through the hatch with his EV equipment on. He stood on the landing pad of the lunar module and described the moon dust as a fine powder. He then took the first human step on a stellar body outside of Earth saying, “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind”

The activities on the surface focused more on engineering tasks for future missions and less on research. Armstrong snapped photos of the landing module for the engineers back on Earth to examine how the landing affected it. Aldrin tested different ways to move on the surface to ascertain the easiest way to get around. He eventually found that the loping method of movement was the best.

What little research was done was basic geological research. They collected samples of moon dust and rocks to bring back to Earth. Armstrong took some photos of a crater while Aldrin took a geological core sample to bring back with them. In 2.5 hours, it was all over.

Ascent and return

In just a few hours, it was time for the astronauts to return to the lunar module to prepare their ascent. They returned to the module and lightened the load by jettisoning unnescessary equipment such as parts of their EV suits and old equipment. They would then sleep for seven hours before returning to the command module for the trip home.

Right before settling in to sleep, Aldrin accidentally broke the circuit that fired the ascent engines. At first there was a concern that this would strand them on the surface of the moon, but they were later able to use a pen to fire the engines.

After waking up seven hours later, they fired the ascent engine to return to the Columbia command module where astronaut Michael Collins was waiting. They left behind seismic monitoring equipment and a laser range finder.

After the rendezvous with Columbia, the Eagle lunar module was ejected where it would eventually crash back into the moon. Columbia returned to Earth where the capsule splashed into the Pacific Ocean. The USS Hornet picked up the astronauts and immediately placed them in quarantine, which would last for three weeks, for fear that unknown pathogens could have been picked up from the lunar surface.

After their quarantine, they were declared healthy and released to the general public once again. They were cheered and given parades for their historic mission.

The Future

NASA is using the experience learned from the lunar landings of the Apollo missions to prepare return missions to the moon. It has recently launched the Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter to study the terrain of the moon to look for future landing sites, a task that was previously assigned to the Ranger program in preperation for the Apollo landings. See my previous post: NASA Is Returning to the Moon

Thoughts

I am proud of the accomplishments of NASA and the three astronauts who were part of the first manned mission to the moon as well as the rest of the the people who were responsible for the mission. I am deeply offended by the ignorant who have nothing better to do than to perpetuate conspiracy theories that we have never been to the moon. Shame on them.

Sources

Apollo 11 – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
NASA Apollo 11 30th Anniversary
Apollo 11 Mission
The History Place – Apollo 11

Its Wild Wednesday, that means I can write about whatever I want to and this time I am going to pimp my photoblog so here it is:

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Go to –> Aaron’s Photoblog <– ot oG

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There isn’t much on there yet and not all of the pictures are what I consider to be great, but they are all good. I am going to use it as a reference for me or anyone else who wants to look at the pictures I take. I will keep adding more as I see fit.

Thanks for reading,

aaron

I used to really be into photography. I was a photographer for my journalism class in high school and during my senior year, I was one of two yearbook photographers. I did everything from loading the film into canisters to taking the pictures and then to developing the 35mm film. My camera of choice then, a Pentax SLR so I really got into the manual settings for pictures.

Since that time and the development of the digital camera, I have been on a point and shoot system, using simple, digital cameras. My first digital camera was a Kodak 3.2 megapixel point and shoot that set me back close to $300 — on clearance. I thought I was getting a deal. Recently, my wife and I retired the Kodak and purchased a new one, a Canon PowerShot SX110 IS.

Right away, I loved it. The best way to describe it is as a medium range camera, somewhere between the simple point and shoots and the professional SLR cameras such as the Canon EOS Rebel. Suddenly, I had control over my manual settings once again. I immediately went out and started snapping away, adjusting settings for each shot. I was addicted to photography once again.

At any rate, here is an overview of the camera. New users will first notice that it is light weight and compact, taking up very little space. There is no internal storage on the camera but it does come with a 32 MB storage card, yes thats right 32 MEGA bytes. This card is so small that you can only fit twelve full size pictures on it, but no matter, I was going to buy a larger card anyway. I opted for an 8 GB SDHC card. This card will hold over 3300 full size images, enough to last a while. It is a standard SD card in size, but the HC (High Capacity) allows the camera to write its image data to the card at a faster rate since it is a version 2.0 of the SD card.

Some of the stuff I like:

Battery life

Very good battery life. I went through over 400 full resolution images on the set of batteries the camera came with. These usually aren’t the best batteries in the world.

10x optical zoom

I love the 10x optical zoom. This allows me to get in close on unsuspecting objects, mostly birds, and snap away getting really good shots. This, combined with the image stabilization and the continuous shooting feature, is a win-win-win for me.

Image stablization

This is not just for those with really shaky hands or who move too quickly while taking a shot, it is almost necessary with the optical zoom. While zoomed in on an object, the lense becomes more sensitive to any little motion. The image stabilization takes care of most of this.

Continous shooting

All I can say is, “Thank goodness!” I have no reservations about firing off 20, 30, or even 50 shots a pop while I am trying to get one good shot. Be warned though, this only really works well with a high shutter speed, a low ISO speed and no flash. Once the ISO speed gets above 400, don’t even bother with the continuous shooting. The flash is a continous shooting killer. It takes a few seconds for the flash to recharge so continuously shooting with the flash on shouldn’t be bothered with.

Timer feature

Mostly built for lovebird couples who want to take pictures of themselves doing stuff I don’t want to think about, this feature also has a practical use. It comes with a built in two second timer. This is a great feature I never even considered before using it the other night. If you want to take time exposure pictures, especially night shots, the two second timer eliminates the camera shake from pushing the trigger button. As a result, time exposure images come out much better than the steadiest hand on the trigger.

Multiple presets

If you have no experience with camera settings, this camera is also for you. It contains eight presets ranging from night scenes to portraits with most things you’d need in between. There are also settings that give priority to the aperture setting and the shutter speed. Perhaps the most important preset is the ‘auto’ preset. This is the Jack of all Trades setting that will be good for probably 90% of shots.

Manual settings

Greatly missing the control of the manual settings from my high school days, I was pleased to be able to adjust them once again on the PowerShot SX110. I have taken what I consider to be some great pictures with manual settings. Setting the aperture setting to its lowest level (widest opening) sets a very tight depth of field allowing you to focus on one thing but blurring out the foreground and background; it is a great effect that I greatly enjoy.

Macro setting

This has to be the best macro setting I have seen on a camera. It will focus up to the end of the lense. It is great for those REALLY close up shots.

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Some stuff I don’t like:

Came with 32mb SD card

As I mentioned before, I wish it had come with a bigger card. I think digital cameras are so prevalent now, that people are used to clicking away and not worry about wasting film. Twelve pictures is not going to last someone very long.

No viewfinder

Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I really miss my view finder. I have a real hard time holding the camera out in front of me to take a picture instead of right up to my eye. I also have difficulty finding the subject of my pictures in the view screen when it is zoomed in. At least with a view finder, I could make an educated guess as to where the subject is.

Manual focus

Of all the manual settings I like, the manual focus has to be my least favorable. It is tedious and tiresome spinning the little select wheel and watching the pop-up focus screen trying to focus on the subject. It is also slow. Maybe a small lense focus would have been a better way for Canon to go on this model.

Camcorder feature

If I want a camcorder, I’ll buy a camcorder.

Digital zoom

Here is one of the most confusing and useless features that almost all cameras share. It is there for mainly one purpose, to sell the camera. If I want to digitally zoom in on a picture, I will use one of the many available photo organization applications out there, like iPhoto ‘09. Let me say this clearly: A digital zoom is no different than cropping an image on your computer.

Its not an SLR

‘Nuff said.

Summary and Features

I do recommend this camera to those who think they might want to get into photography as a hobby but are not sure yet or the casual user who wants to have a little more power than with a point and shoot. In fact, this is a good camera for almost every user. If you want to see some of the pictures I have taken, go to my photoblog which is at Aaron’s Photoblog. There are not very many photos there yet, but it will grow eventually.

I have not played with all the goodness or found all the great features yet, but here’s what I can sum up for basic features. If I run across something I think everyone should know about the camera, I will post it as a comment to this post.

Batteries: 2 x AA
Memory: SD or SDHC
Shutter Speed: 15 – 1/1600 seconds
Aperture: f/2.8 – f/8.0
ISO Speed: 80 – 1600
Optical Zoom: 10x
Digital Zoom: 40x (remember what I said about the digital zoom)
Cost: @$270.00 USD
And much, much more.