Tag: geek

Keystone B-1 16mm Movie Camera

Vintage Cameras Over the past year or so, I’ve been putting together a collection of vintage cameras. I don’t view them as any kind of “investment.” I enjoy cleaning them up and making minor repairs when they need them. They look neat, too. A few of them aren’t really fit to be used any more, …

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Search Engine Bot Verification Woes — Repost

Another article from the 2008 version of my web site continues to receive inbound traffic. I repost the article here in hopes that someone might still find it useful. Again, the information is at least four years old. The Original Article Along with many of you, I have read several articles about "proxy hacking" and …

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Get rid of those YouTube EMBED tags — Repost

This article originally appeared on my web site in October of 2008, before I had it set up as a blog. I keep seeing links to the original page pop up now and then, so I’m going to republish it here and redirect the original link structure to this posting. Keep in mind that this …

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More Lightning with CHDK

2012-09-07 morning lightning 0595

I recently downloaded a slightly different motion detection script for my camera that seems to do a great job catching lightning flashes. I had been hoping for some good lightning opportunities on several occasions, but the storms disappointed me. The morning of September 7th turned out to be just what I needed to check out …

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Thunderstruck: Lightning Photography with CHDK

Lightning has always been a source of fascination for me, even as a child. I was never one to be fearful of thunderstorms. Watching a good lightning display is something that I really enjoy. Flashes of lightning are very ephemeral. Blink your eyes or turn your head and you might miss an impressive sight. As …

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New 3D Model for Google Earth: Binny’s Beverage Depot in Champaign

Google Earth screen capture of Binny's Beverage Depot in Champaign

The latest 3D digital model that I created has gone live in Google Earth (and in their 3D map view, available with the Google Earth plugin for Mac & Windows users). Here’s a screenshot of the model from Google Earth: This model represents Binny’s Beverage Depot‘s newest location, in Champaign, Illinois. I still haven’t been …

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HDR Photographs in the Cemetery

Composite image of 7-exposure image stack.

I stopped at a local cemetery the other day to take a few photographs before the sunlight vanished. I took a few regular photos, but what I really had in mind was getting exposure brackets for HDR photos. One of the standard photos turned out fairly well, particularly when desaturated and having the contrast tweaked …

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Back to Building Virtual 3D Models

813 W University Ave Model

Until yesterday, I hadn’t uploaded a building model to Google’s 3D Warehouse since 11 March of this year. I couldn’t quite recall when I created my first 3D model, but my blog reminded me that it was in July of 2009. I have several models in various states of construction. Some of them will require …

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My First 360° Panorama Attempt

Panoramic photos have always intrigued me. The techniques used to take such photos have changed with the introduction of high-tech digital photography and processing capabilities. I decided to try my hand at a full-range panorama. Prairie grass near Urbana Dog Park in USA I took 53 sets of 3 photographs each for this project. I …

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17th Annual Linux Journal Readers’ Choice Awards

Dan's GNOME desktop

When I consider how much time I spend in front of a computer monitor, I find it odd that I don’t really write much about computers here on my blog. I’ve been using computers in some fashion since about 1978, and I’ve formed some opinions about operating systems and applications during the intervening years. Greg …

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