The Moon is Ridiculous

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www.FrontPorchColumbus Dot Com
optimism running rampant (at some point)

Have you guys seen the moon the last few days driving to work? It's freaking ridiculous how beautiful it looks. I wish I was not driving to work as there are a dozen Kodak moments. Perhaps some day I'll get up on a Saturday at 6:00AM and take some shots.

Yea -THAT ain't gonna happen!! I'll have to settle for sunset photos.

BTW - American Indians call this the Worm Moon along with Crow Moon, Crust Moon, Sugar Moon, Sap Moon and That Big Freaking White Orb In The Sky Moon.
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Yahoo Movie BUZZ LOG Headlines

'Public Enemies' Trailer Debuts to Big Buzz

This Friday, one of the year's most anticipated flicks, 'Watchmen,' hits theaters. Folks are pumped, but a hot new trailer is stealing some of the Watchmen's thunder. 'Public Enemies,' starring Johnny Depp, recently released its first preview on the Web, and queries on the clip are soaring.

The film, which co-stars temperamental thespian Christian Bale and Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, focuses on the life of notorious gangster John Dillinger. It won't hit theaters until July, but queries on the movie's real-life characters are beginning their climb. "John dillinger mugshot," "dillinger body," and "john dillinger escape plan" all posted gains. Additionally, lookups for "dillinger movie" and "johnny depp gangster movie" shot up the Search box.

Blogs and news agencies quickly weighed in with their own take on the hugely popular trailer. BuzzSugar (no relation) wrote that the trailer got their blood pumping, while the New York Post calls the trailer "phenomenal." Based on its early Search numbers, 'Public Enemies,' unlike its doomed anti-hero, has a very promising future.
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YOU DECIDE 2009!

We all have watched the Columbus Weather Pixie every day working her little tail off telling people how it is outside and what you should wear. I noticed that today and yesterday she had to find her winter coat again. Poor poor Weather Pixie.

So -I was thinking. Perhaps we should send her on a little vacation, a road trip. I think she could use one. Can you do without her in Columbus for a couple weeks? Send her on a world tour? I could look for a stand in while she is gone.

Think of the adventures she could have.

The Columbus Weather Pixie's Spring Break is in your hands.
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I was walking back to work yesterday and as normal had my camera. I snapped a few shots in RAW (not IN the raw) and started playing around. I believe this will enlarge if clicked upon - I'll have to try it

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This is a real interesting video. It is a real time and lasts for two minutes. The Miracle on the Hudson plane thingy including air traffic control and voice from the cockpit. It is amazing how fast 2 minutes can go.

One thing I remember in an interview was they asked Sully if everything was going in slow motion and he said no, everything was going pretty darn fast!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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OH remember my rant about Customer Service? This appeared yesterday on MSNBC

CUSTOMER SERVICE OVERKILL CAN KILL YOU

I'm now pretty sure they read my blog as I was first. BEAT YA MSNBC!

And remember what I said Potbellies does? They ask you "What are you doing today" in a chipper I really really care way.

Here is going to be my defense.

"Hi, what are you having today"

"Roast Beef on Regular"

"mmmmmm that is one of my favorites. What are you doing this afternoon"

"I'm putting my dog down because I just found out I have cancer and have only 4 months to live an no one will take care of him. What are you doing"

Of course I would start laughing then.

that should shut them up for a while.
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Rod

OH - don't get me started on the Common Council meeting I missed. That was Augies last free cheep shot at Main Street. It's sad how the Council can be bullied into voting like deer in headlights because they are afraid of confrontation. They voted AGAINST saving Columbus money.

I'm going to have to have TruthinessInColumbus Government look into this at some point.

Rod

I have a brilliant idea!!

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www.FrontPorchColumbus Dot Com
optimism running rampant (at some point)

I should not even post this because any good photographer is not THAT good - he/she just only shows you the good photos and not the bad ones. For every good shot there are 10 bad ones, at least for me.

But for many years I have wondered HOW a certain photographic look is achieved. Then Monday I went to the Madison Post Office on the Isthmus (did you know Madison is one of only two cities in the world built on an Isthmus . . .what does THAT tell ya?) and there was a display and my mouth dropped open.

So for the last two days I have spent 99% of my waking non-working hours obsessing over HDR with Tone Mapping. The PROBLEM is that I only have one set of photographs to work with. You see for this technique you need a LOT of contrast and if you remember yesterday and the heavy fog . . . . not a lot of contrast for photos.

With that said here is the one and only photo I could use, Shot late Monday just before the Public Enemies meeting and I used my free (now purchased) new software.

Rather amateurish but give me time. You can see where I had to delete advertising off the photo and I really did a poor job but - it's just a practice photo.

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We had Invisible Fence people come out and they gave us an estimate ($1,500) for putting in a fence and training Blake (should take 5 minutes) and Milo (weeks). After the woman left we figured we should TRY to put a collar on Milo. So we picked a nice blue cheap one up and attached it to Milo next.

That is Milo on the right - he looks totally evil doesn't he.

Not one single problem. It's like he didn't care at all. We had tried a harness and he FREAKED out with that but a collar was a non-problem.

The PROBLEM was going to be when Invisible Fence attached a large cell phone to it. Milo would not be able to raise his head off the ground.

As luck would have it adubya said he had a friend that had a Pet Guard business. I was looking around their site and in the testimonials I noticed a last name I recognized, reading further this couple recently moved to Sun Prairie with a Beagle. WAIT A MINUTE!!!

I contacted Strangebrew, my home brew buddy - "is that you?" I asked - "yes it is". Small freaking world and the power of the Innernets.

So we're having an estimate from him. Seems THEIR cat collars come in many different sizes.

Now for my brilliant idea.

Why not have an Invisible Fence at the border between Mexico and America!!!! We could sell pretty necklaces to the Mexicans and when they get close - BAM ZAP- Stunned!!! Not that I'm against Mexicans as they do all the jobs lazy Americans don't want to do but I'm always pro taz-ing anybody. I was disappointed that my friend here at work was not tazed at a Hockey game he went to.

So there ya go. Mr. Obama, build that Invisible Fence.
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Speaking of the new website. A few of you have given articles to me and I'm sort of sitting on them. Reason is I'm planning a media blitz, full page ad's in the USA Today and New York Times (if I can work a deal at under $50) and if I could figure out how to contact the Columbus Journal (they have no email????) I would have something there.

So just hang tight - I know what I'm doing. Remember - I'm the guy that purposely picked a fight over at Imdb to get attention for this place. Yea - you heard that right! Worked didn't it. 360,000 hits can't all be my accident.

As I have always said - life is a big game - ya just gotta figure out how to win it without somebody grabbing your thumb and bending it the totally wrong way backwards and then going to the hospital and waiting for an hour and then having med flight come in at the last second and putting you back on hold as your endorphins start to go away and the pain is kicking in and the Doctor finally comes in after two hours and he is all "How are you with pain" and I'm like "I'm about to find out aren't I" and then finding out what REAL blood curdling wrath of God pain really is all about but only for 15 seconds until relief kicks in and now I can not throw darts but I can bowl better with a thumb that looks more like a Manatee.

So - just hang tight. I have a plan.

Speaking of bad timing - I contacted (or tried to contact) the Principal of the High School asking about writers and I THINK I mentioned this blog. Of course she probably looked at it for the first time Monday.

Probably not the best blog for impressing school Principals.
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Have a great humping day.

Rod

Conflictied Brain Processing (CBP)

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It's new, it's positive, it's Front Porch Columbus dot com

Well - you guys are getting the short end of the stick today. All my tiny little brain can think about is High Dynamic Range Photography and Tonal Mapping. In other words - making photos that look like this.

Oh - I know what you all are saying, "High Dynamic Range Photography and Tonal Mapping" sounds so easy, what up dog!!

But in reality it's not that easy.

You see the one problem a camera has is when you have a very bright spot on an image. Your eyes can adjust to darkness and brightness in an instant but a small camera lens does not have that ability to travel around adjusting. There are filters you can use but they do not work THAT great.

So what you can do is take 3 to 5 photographs of the same photo, all with a different setting. Then convert all 5 into a 32-bit images and then merge all 5 into one photo on top of each other. But since a 32-bit photo is unusable you have to convert them BACK to 16-bit. And other stuff that is hard to explain.

My ultimate goal is to have an entire series of photos of Columbus and have an exhibit at some point at East James Gallery. As soon as I figure out how to do this, CORRECTLY (so far THAT part has not happened yet).

So I'm sitting here trying to write a blog but my brain is working on other HDR-TM problems. It's WAR - It's ON baby!
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Had a meeting about the Public Enemies Celebration July 11th in Columbus. If there are any actors/extras out there that want to partake give me a holler. Also - Picture Car drivers WE NEED YOU. We are thinking of having one place for people to park and talk about the experience - a reunion???

The Celebration will get some advertising and it's sounding rather fun. PLUS there IS the Parade on the 4th. Drivers - give me a holler also.
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ANYBODY that thinks Public Enemies did or will not help Columbus has his head in the sand and is out of touch. And I will make sure people know that! If I don't find a bandwagon to jump on I'll make my own LOL

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Be ready for a little wind tonight - sustained 25-35mph winds with gusts to 50mph. On the bright side all of this nasty warm wet weather will vanish overnight to be replaced with wind chills of -4F. Wonderful. But totally spring-like.
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HEY - it's OK to go to Utah soon. Did you know that there are NO bars in Utah? They only have private clubs that serve liqueur. You need to apply and pay a fee in order to be served alcohol. This is all changing July 1st. However there was strong resistance from Republicans who were demanding that restaurants have 10 foot high walls called Zion Curtains that would hide bartenders from children. The argument was that children would see people mixing drinks would make the kids take up drinking.

Utah - TEAR DOWN YOUR CURTAIN!
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See - I was just reading HDR workflow!! I'm conflicted.

I gotta go!!!

Have a great day

Rod