interesting vid: open-mindedness

http://www.dailymotion.com/user/totocacapouet/video/x8uei4_openmindedness_tech

Ian's Shoelace Site

A colleague at work, who also happens to be called Ian, mentioned this excellent site about lacing and tying shoelaces: http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/index.htm

lawnmower trouble

Ran into lawnmower trouble today. After priming the engine and firing it up, it runs for 2-5 seconds and dies. It sounds like carburator trouble. Some links I checked out in the process, which are worth saving:

• http://en.allexperts.com/q/Small-Engines-Lawn-1746/mower-starts-stops.htm
• http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/85019

Vista wifi troubles

• great thread: http://www.vistax64.com/vista-general/113351-help-dependency-service-group-failed-start.html
• http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/itprovistanetworking/thread/bf4f3d94-09ca-4549-abe1-bfa3aae90458/
• http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/how-to-delete-a-system-file-in-windows-vista/

go to start menu and type cmd in the search bar and open cmd with administrator rights 1.type netsh winsock reset and hit enter....nevermind if it sais something about an error 2.type netsh int ip reset and hit enter.... 3. restart you computer...and the error should be gone and the internet working what you just did was a TCP/IP stack repair

"hot pixels" in digital cameras

After playing around with my new Nikon D90, I noticed that some of my dark pictures have a red spot near upper right corner. It turns out this is a "hot pixel". Further research led me to the following interesting pages:

• http://www.shutterasia.com/forum/showthread.php?s=15d8e681214727cd9818820599fc1f45&t=24484
• pixelfixer - a tool for filtering out hot pixels from images
• good intro to hot pixels

proper exercise technique

Bryan pointed out this interesting link:
http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html

research notes from DSLR hunt

Camera reviews at dpreview.com:

• http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond80/
• http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond90/
• http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos450d/ (Canon EOS Rebel XSi)

Lens reviews:

• http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-S-17-85mm-f-4-5.6-IS-USM-Lens-Review.aspx
• http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/181-canon-ef-s-18-55mm-f35-56-is-test-report--review
• http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/355/cat/all (Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II ...)
• http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/349/cat/31 (Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC Macro)
• http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/136/cat/11 (Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM)
• http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Tamron-17-50mm-f-2.8-XR-Di-II-Lens-Review.aspx (Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8)

Shopping links:

• http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0926INGFS10101163&catid=20222&logon=&langid=EN
• http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926INGFS10082166&catid=26562
• http://www.henrys.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/HenrysItemSearch?type=2&departmentId=10404&categoryId=10852&catalogId=10001&filter=manufacturerFilter:Canon:CANON| (Henry's Canon DSLRs)
• http://www.henrys.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/HenrysItemSearch?keywords=canon&sort=price&type=1&departmentId=&filter=categoryFilter:DSLR%20Lenses:c11802|&imageField.y=15&imageField.x=6&pageNum=2 (Henry's Canon DSLR lenses)
• http://www.henrys.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ItemsDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&departmentId=10404&categoryId=11802&itemID=166701# (Henry's SIGMA 17-70)
• http://www.henrys.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ItemsDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&departmentId=10404&categoryId=11802&itemID=174602 (Henry's Tamron 17-50)
• http://www.henrys.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ItemsDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&departmentId=10407&categoryId=10416&itemID=37135 (Henry's Canon EF 50mm f/1.4)
• http://www.henrys.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ItemsDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&departmentId=10404&categoryId=10429&itemID=233858 (Henry's XSi w/18-55)
• http://www.henrys.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ItemsDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&departmentId=10404&categoryId=10429&itemID=246103 (Henry's Nikon D90 w/18-55 VR Nikon)

Focal length comparisons:

• http://www.tamron.com/lenses/learning_center/tools/focal-length-comparison.php
• http://www.usa.canon.com/app/html/EFLenses101/focal_length.html

Other links:

• http://web500.us/best-canon-lenses-for-canon-digital-slr/

inline images in Gmail

Officially inserting inline images in Gmail is not possible. However, there is a workaround:

Open Google Docs in a new window, open a Word Doc. Insert the picture you want from your computer. This converts it into rich text format. Now you can click on the picture in Google Docs, Copy it, then paste it into your gmail compose screen.

disable AutoPlay

The following page describes how to disable AutoPlay on Windows:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/disable-autoplay-of-audio-cds-and-usb-drives/

flu & fever

I found the following links interesting when I investigated my fever/flu:

• http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Consequences.Fever
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fever
• http://www.cdc.gov/flu/

Improved open-source firmware for cameras

Apparently it is possible to reflash the firmware on some cameras, and replace it with improved, open-source alternatives. See this post for more.

calendar generator

Useful online calendar generator: here

Flash game: Auditorium

Interesting flash-based game: Auditorium

computing (car) mileage

I've been thinking on how best to get an accurate estimate of fuel consumption on my Honda Civic. Here is what I came up with:

• keep a notebook in car
• upon filling up the tank with gas:
• fill the tank all the way up
• note how many litres were purchased; write this down in the notebook, with today's date
• also write down how many kilometres were travelled since last such refueling
• reset the "fuel" distance counter

Figuring out the mileage over the distance travelled since the last refueling thus becomes trivial:

mileage = 100km / distance travelled * litres consumed

This gives you Canadian-style mileage, expressed in litres per 100km.

info for Honda Civics

Interesting forums http://www.8thcivic.com/forums/

and in particular

http://www.8thcivic.com/forums/civic-coupe-sedan/ Also, brochures for my Civic '08 can be obtained from: http://www.hondaalberta.ca/models/6-2008_civic_sedan_brochure.html

fix for slow mouse scrolling in Total Commander

http://www.ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?p=144994

As the above post indicates, the slow scrolling in Total Commander (and likely most other Windows' listboxes) can be fixed by:

Deactivate smooth scrolling for listboxes in control panel/system/advanced/bla. 

200 useful Macbook key shortcuts

http://www.usingmac.com/2007/11/21/mac-os-x-leopard-200-productivity-booster-hotkeys

my site for collecting quotes

http://sites.google.com/site/mkalisiak/quotes

Anatomy of a Stump Speech

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2008/02/26/GR2008022600417.html

high-altitude ballooning in near-space

http://natrium42.com/halo/flight2/

High altitude ballooning is an emerging hobby, since price of GPS and communications equipment has gotten quite low. It is an excellent hobby for people fascinated by space flight and telerobotics and has many learning aspects — from systems design to electronics design to software engineering. There is also an exciting risk factor, namely, that you could lose your precious electronics if something malfunctions. In this project, many of my interest and knowledge areas came together. Also, I have verified that the Earth is indeed round and that space is black. — Alexei Karpenko