Friday, 19 December 2014
This trestle went on and on across the opposite floodplain. This was earlier; there was still blue in the sky when I took this….
This afternoon/evening was one of those odd times when the transition in light was from ever-so-light grey through shades of grey to dark grey, lacking any stage that seemed like sunset.
Tuesday, 4 November 2014
I’m used to willing the wood stove that bears this to kick out the heat. When it’s cool in the house (like today), I am usually surprised how long it takes the heat to really radiate into the room, and not just to hover below the ceiling. We’ve reached the point where the floor is still chilly, but the room is tolerable, if you still have your fleece jacket on. The trend is great!
We’re going to have to reorganize the firewood. We’re inundated with pine, most of it too fresh, and what we need is “keepers,” larger chunks of slower burning wood.
On the other hand, once this place gets warm, I just need to keep the fire going and we’ll be fine, and some of that fresh pine may be fine then. Of course, keeping the fire going through the night is pretty difficult without a reload in the dark hours (the firebox is not very large) and some very large chunks of super-slow wood.
Tuesday, 28 October 2014
Coins we didn’t spend in Italy….
Let’s see: 8.2 megapixel camera on new iPad Air2 plus Waterlogue software equals opportunity to experiment….
Love the rogue green blob-ette….
Saturday, 25 October 2014
I once took an economic anthro course that was undergrad/grad, and in this case rather simplistic (IMHO) in the discussions and readings (gotta get the curve to work for the underclass-folk), and the class-members concluded that our society was a society of consumers.
Right or wrong…, well, today, this household, we fit the consumer profile.
Loving this fast, wee, thin, delightful machine, excuse me, tool the JCB says, which should be much easier to read nodding off in bed, ahem.
Thursday, 18 September 2014
That’s the Theater of Marcellus* off to the left, with ruin fragments scattered about this area, framed by later buildings to the right, still in use.
As to wifi, we’re on the TIM team (both words pronounced the same)—with an Italian SIM in our hotspot, so we have data even when walking around (until the battery discharges). Anyway, kudos to the Guru for making technology serve us….
We hear a lot about how much cheaper phone and data packages are in Europe vs the USA, but it seems to me that they pay considerably more for devices and peripherals. SIM card was something like 15€ (that’s high)…, and, geeze, the unlocked phone prices, whew.
* Julius Caesar set aside space for the building and construction began, then he died, and it was five years before the building was formally dedicated, by Augustus. Like other monumental architecture in this city, it was repurposed as a fortress in the Middle Ages. Now apartments are jammed in the upper stories, with the lower sections being…ruins stabilized sufficiently to be foundations. We only walked around the back of the theater this evening; we’ll see what the other side looks like another time.
Tuesday, 9 September 2014
Of course we sat down at 1pm to watch the Apple show. The feed wasn’t there, then it came in with fits and starts with an audio overlay of a Chinese female translator’s voice. So we got the size of the new iPhones, but not the cost. Eventually, by the time Tim got to the New Product, the stream was mostly okay, and the Chinese voice was gone.
Not sure about the strategy of announcing a product starting at $350 that won’t be available until sometime in 2015 (“early”). Struck me as an awfully high price and on balance meager details. However, enough info is out there that the app developers can get busy. I guess that was a key part of the decision….
Wednesday, 27 August 2014
Darn. That bee was hustling!
Just playing with the Sony….
Working with focus location and cropping in camera and after…specs on specs?
Thursday, 14 August 2014
Dill pickle day over at the neighbors. We just watched. Well, I did. The Guru did trouble-shooting on their…connectivity*. [Note the REAL Mason jar!]
* The fine connectivity we had with our me-fi system this spring has given way to less robust service, which the Guru attributes mostly to the leaves on the trees and the increased humidity (if I followed the discussion accurately). Likewise, their satellite dish system is…slowed, I think due to the same variables.
Friday, 25 July 2014
In trying to familiarize myself with new-cam, I checked out the zoom, and discovered (reminded myself) that the backyard is GREEN! This is max zoom from the back door. I like how this Sony handles the color…seems slightly more saturated and true than I seem to expect after working with the other-cams.
Wednesday, 16 July 2014
I’m going to call the New-Cam the DOF-Cam, since it’s sensitive to depth-of-field.