Yosemite - Startrails by Moonlight by SpreadTheMagic on Flickr.
Seems I get more and more jealous of Jeff’s photographs with each passing day.
SR-71 Blackbird by David Low by Shannon Ocean on Flickr.
Sharing the pad with an A-10, F/A-18, and in the back, a Harrier.
A-10 Warthog by David Low by Shannon Ocean on Flickr.
Not sure why the cockpit/nose are slanted down, but this is pretty impressive.
YES YES YES #woolie #monster #star #wars #starwars #elmo #sesame #street by bro_jiggly http://instagr.am/p/VGKjfkBoQ9/
I WOULD SO BUY THIS. My kids would LOVE it. Yeah, my kids.
What?!?
PEBKAC: Protecting the Memory Hub
This column originally appeared in the April 2012 issue of About This Particular Macintosh.
Beginning in 2004, I’ve made a calendar for the coming year featuring our children. For four years, it was just our oldest son. Then we adopted Boy #2, and for three years it was the two of them. The calendar for 2012 now features all three of our sons. I’ve always bought copies for our extended family: the boys’ grandparents, great-grandmothers, aunts and uncle. The calendars are given as gifts at Christmas time, and after the first three years, it became an expectation on the part of the extended family.
My habit has been to curate, throughout the year, an album in iPhoto of possible calendar photo candidates. Often, this is no small task, as we try to take many shots of our three sons. Just after Thanksgiving, I’ll sit down and start sifting through the curated folder. Once I’ve done the initial purge, my wife will sit in and we’ll go through it again, knocking out the ones she doesn’t care for. Then it’s calendar-creating time.
I’ve been pretty happy with the calendar layout and purchasing options Apple offers within iPhoto, and that’s what we’ve used each year.
The 2012 calendar was delayed, due to the nearly three weeks my wife and I spent in Africa at the end of November and beginning of December, as we adopted Boy #3. There were a few “But what about the calendars?” from the extended family at Christmas; like I said, it’s become a pleasant expectation. Rest assured, they arrived the second week of January and have been in full use at the respective households (and places of work) since.
Steve Jobs once famously held up the Mac as the “digital hub”. It was to be the machine you plugged your cameras, iPods, musical instruments, whatever, into so you could work with photos, videos, and music. iCloud seeks to replace the Mac as the hub, and I’m tentatively dipping my toe into using iCloud more, but for me, the Mac still remains my hub. For a Type-A control freak like myself, having something that’s under my control for keeping memories is key. I run my own backups on the Mac, even having backups of the backups. But I’m learning to let go a little more, for the convenience iCloud is supposed to offer.
Whether the Mac or iCloud, what has become apparent is that this simply isn’t a case of being one’s digital hub, it’s become our memory hub. Most everyone’s photos are digital now, and all of my digital photos, most of which never make it to my Flickr feed reside in Apple’s digital shoebox, iPhoto. All of my videos, most of which never end up on Vimeo are stored on there. There’s good reason for having backups of backups. My Mac is where all of my memories are, and I look to secure them as much as possible.
Like many, you’re probably in the same boat, and if you don’t have a comprehensive backup system in place, you need to get one going as soon as possible, lest you take a chance at losing precious memories. Here’s mine:
- nightly backup of the entire Mac to an external hard drive via SuperDuper; after the initial full backup, the script “Smart Updates” the backup drive, only adding or subtracting what’s changed that particular day
- ongoing backup of the entire Mac via Time Machine to a different external hard drive
- weekly backup of SuperDuper-cloned drive to another hard drive
- ongoing backup of the entire Mac via CrashPlan
The only thing I’m not doing that I should is rotating a backup drive off-site. (In case of a fire or some such event.) For now, my CrashPlan backup serves as my off-site protection for the memory hub.
We all have memories on our computers which are important to us: photos of our family; music from our formative years which defined us (child of the 1980s here); that e-mail from a world-famous author that was so encouraging. These things are worth protecting, and while companies like Apple, Shirt Pocket, and CrashPlan are doing what they can to make it as simple as possible, it’s up to us users to get it going in the first place.
My friends often get tired of hearing it from me, but the mantra won’t change: backup, backup, backup!
Post-publication addendum: Since this column was originally published, I have discontinued my use of Time Machine. I use CrashPlan to not only serve as my off-site backup, but now an external drive uses the CrashPlan software to back up a local copy as well.
Second goal of the game, his first as a Squirt: #9, @davisturner!!! (Taken with Instagram at Allen Community Ice Rink)
[vimeo 43955139 w=250 h=106]
Discovering the Kimberley. A taster of the forthcoming documentary. from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.
Edit originally created for my C300 Canon presentation in Seoul but has now become a little teaser of the full documentary that I am currently editing..
The documentary is about this incredible boat trip to one of the most remote but beautiful parts of Australia, focusing on key people who have made the trip including Mike Fletcher, my friend and filmmaker who acts almost as a guide to the journey, Wally & Bev, a couple who are terminally ill and making one last trip together as a couple…
It’s a beautiful awe inspiring journey but very grounded in real people and real stories.
This is not a commercial project but a passion film for me.
Original edit by Sarah Estela with additional work by myself.
Shot on the C300. Damn that camera gives you good looking pics!
Music is from Crimson Wing by The Cinematic Orchestra
Thanks to Mike Fletcher!
A blast from my past. (Taken with Instagram)
Gotta love minor league ball. Right behind the dugout for twelve bucks. (Taken with Instagram)
The United States Air Force Honor Guard Drill Team competes during the Joint Service Drill Team Exhibition at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., April 14, 2012. The Air Force honor guard bested all four of the armed services as well as the Merchant Marine Academy.
U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Perry Aston
These planes hung in my room from the time I was in first grade until my parents moved out in 1995. on Flickr.
They now hang in our son Samuel’s room. He even helped me with the hanging process.
[vimeo 45375440 w=250 h=141]
“I’m fixing our food!”
After having lunch at a hibachi place with Mom, at dinner Samuel decided he wanted to take after the hibachi chef.
WTHR is a pretty nice simple weather app for iPhone that was inspired by Dieter Rams 10 Principles of Good Design.
I’ve been using WTHR, and have it on my home screen. I keep the Weather Channel app on my iPhone, too, but it’s on another screen, and only used now for more in-depth weather research. If I just want to know how scorching it is outside here in Texas, WTHR tells me, and does so beautifully.
The BioLite Camp Stove looks really neat. It is a portable, packable, high-effeciency, camp stove that generates electricity from the heat to also charge your gadgets:
Our stoves cook your meals with nothing but the twigs you collect on your journey, eliminating the need for heavy, expensive, polluting petroleum gas. Quick to light, fast to boil and easy to use. By converting heat from the fire into usable electricity, our stoves will recharge your phones, lights and other gadgets while you cook dinner. Unlike solar, BioLite CampStove is a true on-demand source.
Brilliant! Seriously, for anyone who enjoys the outdoors this seems like a no brainer.
If only I camped more than twice a year. At a place which didn’t have readily available electrical sockets.
I have the best friends. Thanks again, @crridenour! (Taken with Instagram)
LSUverse: The Origin of LSU's Mascot
LSUverse: The Origin of LSU's Mascot
Way back in the fall of 1896, coach A.W. Jeardeau’s LSU football team posted a perfect 6-0 record, and it was in that pigskin campaign that LSU first adopted its nickname, Tigers.
“Tigers” seemed a logical choice since most collegiate teams in that year bore the names of ferocious animals,…
What’s Up Doc? The Animated Art of Chuck Jones is on display in the LSU Student Union Art Gallery through July 29th. The exhibit is on loan from the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity in Cosa Mesa, Calif. The center’s missions are to share Jones’ artwork and inspire creativity in others, no matter how young or old.
I wonder if I should figure out a way to get to Baton Rouge for a day before July 29th…
