Miles’ first time kayaking solo – Kauai 2010. So serene – this is my happy place. Would return at the drop of a hat, any time.
Geocache Europe
No, I’m not heading to Europe – just happened to notice this curious phenomenon when tracking one of our travel bugs recently – geocache placements completely blanket Germany, France, Spain and Italy, then drop to near-zero as you head East toward Belarus and Ukraine. Almost certainly related to the relative lack of tourism to those areas.
Click for larger version.
Expoobident
In 1960, trumpeter Lee Morgan recorded an album with the bad-ass title “EXPOOBIDENT,” an adjective which I take to mean some combination of excellent, expedient, and faboo. I kind of started saying it a lot over the past few years, not sure why. Today Miles asked what it meant, and of course it was tough to explain. Googling, found that expoobident.com actually already exists – a placeholder site for jazz reference. Only almost all of the text on it is lorem ipsum. Which just goes to show how impossible it is to find a good domain name these days.
Miles Stomping in Puddles
In Sept. 2013 I re-uploaded a bunch of old video to a new YouTube account, and found that the quality of the uploaded versions has been dramatically improved over the “old” YouTube. Hated to lose all of the old view counts, but it’s worth it for this much bump in quality.
This was originally posted in 12/08; revisiting it here just because it’s so much fun.
Heath Ceramics
On the way to a hike at Tennessee Cove today, stopped in at Heath Ceramics to find tile to cover an ugly old fireplace. Everything in that place is gorgeous. Starting with these vases.
At Heath Ceramics
Ziso Universe
Many kids have a secret world they keep in their heads. It often starts very early, then slowly fades from interest as they grow up.
Miles’ was called, at first, “Nowhereland,” but at some point the name suddenly changed to “Ziso.” Not sure why. The Universe of Ziso was the topic of so many family walks and car trips throughout his early childhood – we’d pass the time by asking him “What are schools like in Ziso?” or “What do people eat in Ziso?,” and he would either make things up on the spot or pull things out of this vast internal encyclopedia he had constructed in his mind. To him, Ziso was a web of interconnected factoids, characters, strange physics, animals, personalities, jobs, edibles, transportation networks, and relationships.
Miles had a job in Ziso – as head archivist at an organization that studied a long-past Zisoan war. And he had a son in Ziso (but no wife). His son’s name was Uber (whom he himself had birthed!). Uber was just a couple years older than real-world Miles, making him a perfect alternate-universe analog for himself. Zisoans only eat goo puff balls, which are large orbs that grow on trees, filled with a gooey protein. Zisoans only go to school when they feel like it. Zisoans have everything they need and don’t use money.
Vimeo vs. YouTube for GoPro Footage
Owning a GoPro camera is a total blast, but having to deal with the ultra-high-def footage and non-standard frame rates it generates forces you to think of details you might not have had to think about before. And beyond that, of course you want to show off all that pixel clarity. Watching one of your clips on the desktop is a jaw-dropping experience; watching it again after it’s been uploaded to the web is comparatively disappointing. But hosting the original files on your own server isn’t a very nice option either.
After spending the day with a GoPro on my head at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk yesterday, tried uploading one of the clips to both YouTube and Vimeo, and you can check them both out below for sake of comparison (try both of them full-screen).
Here’s the Vimeo version:
Double Shot, Santa Cruz Boardwalk w/GoPro Helmet Cam from Scot Hacker on Vimeo.
Since Vimeo is known for having the highest quality, it’s no surprise that the Vimeo version has less pixelation and more retained detail. But I’ve got seven clips to upload, and have to “wait for my week to reset” before I can upload more high-def footage, unless I spring for the “Plus” version at $10/month. Otherwise I have to wait for Wednesday to roll around if I want it free.
And here’s the YouTube version:
I don’t mind paying for services that provide quality, but $10/month is kind of steep for me, given how seldom I’ll need this ability. Hrmm, what to do.
Intro to Python Programming
For the past week, I’ve been mulling an offer to write another book (“Intro to Python Programming” for Penguin Press). It’s been more than a decade since my last book, and I’d really enjoy the opportunity, but am trying to get better about saying “no” to things, stop pushing myself so hard all the time, and to start having “margins of life” to enjoy like normal folk.
After a lot of thought, I just politely declined; can’t face the prospect of six months of deadlines and lost weekends. At one point, an offer like this would have seemed like part of living a juicy life; now it feels like just another thing that distracts from it. Hoping it was the right decision.
Kauai 2013
When we experienced Kauai for the first time in 2010, I was so blown away – and found the experience so transformative – that I spent three days writing a blog post about it when we returned.
Just returned from a 2nd trip, but no way am I going to do that much writing again, even though I’ve got just as much to say :) Instead, just spent a day combing through 2,000 photos (mine, my wife’s and my father’s), and whittled down the set to around 200.
For best results, click the full-screen slideshow option.
A few highlights:
Kilihiwai Bay
Scot and Miles, Kauai 2013