Years 2009-2012 Breningstall.com

Waiting in line at the bagel shop and looking for something on Best Buy

It's surprising how poorly some major retailers have implemented their websites for example. Take Best Buy, for example. Today I went to their site and searched for "printer," then organized the results by price. Instead of getting some budget printers to choose from, the top results were a list of printer cables. Next came an infinite list of printer cartridges. Realizing this wouldn't work, I searched around on the mobile site (I was using my phone) and found a narrow results option. I tried narrowing by category, and was given a choice of "computers" or "office" among the categories, but no printers. Realizing that most new printers being released today were wireless, I did a search for "wireless printer" and eliminated the printer wires from the results, bringing the total down a manageable 75.

Protecting Your Passwords and Your Privacy | Facebook official statement on employer requests to review user accounts

In recent months, we’ve seen a distressing increase in reports of employers or others seeking to gain inappropriate access to people’s Facebook profiles or private information.  This practice undermines the privacy expectations and the security of both the user and the user’s friends.  It also potentially exposes the employer who seeks this access to unanticipated legal liability.

The most alarming of these practices is the reported incidences of employers asking prospective or actual employees to reveal their passwords.  If you are a Facebook user, you should never have to share your password, let anyone access your account, or do anything that might jeopardize the security of your account or violate the privacy of your friends. 

statement continues www.facebook.com

Hayes Carll - Wish I Hadn't Stayed So Long (live video)

Hayes Carll - Wish I Hadn't Stayed So Long

Live at Het Huis Verloren
2007-02-17

In Self-Immolations by Tibetans, Signs of New Turmoil | New York Times

Communist Party leaders have also introduced a “monastic management” plan to more directly control religious life. As part of the plan, 21,000 party officials have been sent to Tibetan communities with the goal of “befriending” monks — and creating dossiers on each of them. Compliant clergy members are rewarded with health care benefits, pensions and television sets; the recalcitrant are sometimes expelled from their monasteries.

At some temples, monks and nuns have been forced to publicly denounce the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader whose name is often invoked by self-immolators. The freedom of movement that allowed monks to study at distant monasteries across Tibet and four adjacent provinces has been curtailed.

read full story www.nytimes.com

Interview with Fake Chuck Westfall - Aputure Blog

Fake Chuck Westfall- the most insightful Canon spokesman to date- has descended from on high to answer questions in an interview with Aputure Blog. Below you can find two of the questions. Click on the link below for the full interview.

Who is Fake Chuck Westfall and why should we trust what you say?

Why should you trust what I say?? Why do you think that NASA has their own direct private line to my office at Canon USA? Why do you think that I have an Above Top Secret security clearance at Area 51? I’m not called the “Canon Camera Guru” on the Internet for nothing. There’s a reason for that. And I don’t think I have to explain that to you. You seem like a smart guy, or else you wouldn’t be doing this interview with me. So I’m sure you can figure it out...

What inspired this blog? You seem to put a lot of time/effort into each post.

I and many others in this industry got frustrated with Canon more than 3 years ago around the time of the great 1D Mark III debacle. Many ancient civilizations had foretold a time of great upheaval at Canon which would occur in our lifetime during the coming of the new age of Aquarius. And I think that’s what we started experiencing back then. It was a major change in our collective consciousness at Canon. Everyone got fed up with the way Canon Inc. were handling a number of issues, and I took it upon myself to start my blog and let the world know what was going on at Canon. You’ve just witnessed EOS making a serious comeback in this industry, and so far you’ve just seen the beginning. Do you think it’s a coincidence that this is happening in the year 2012?

read full interview www.aputure.com

Top 10 Lessons of the Iraq War - By Stephen M. Walt | Foreign Policy

Lesson #1:  The United States lost. The first and most important lesson of Iraq war is that we didn't win in any meaningful sense of that term. The alleged purpose of the war was eliminating Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, but it turns out he didn't have any. Oops. Then the rationale shifted to creating a pro-American democracy, but Iraq today is at best a quasi-democracy and far from pro-American. The destruction of Iraq improved Iran's position in the Persian Gulf -- which is hardly something the United States intended -- and the costs of the war (easily exceeding $1 trillion dollars) are much larger than U.S. leaders anticipated or promised. The war was also a giant distraction, which diverted the Bush administration from other priorities (e.g., Afghanistan) and made the United States much less popular around the world.

read more www.foreignpolicy.com

Hayes Carll "It's a Shame" (live)

I love this singer.

Hayes Carll - It's a Shame (live)

Live at the Saxon Pub

All dead Mormons are now gay. Discuss.

Hand-holding a digital camera at slow shutter speed

I like a lot of what Thom Hogan writes but I don't agree with his column today. Today's column is addressing complaints from users about the focus on the Nikon D800, Nikon D7000 and other high pixel density cameras. In Hogan's opinion, the reason for focus trouble on hand-held shots is two-fold:

1. Users of the D7000 are not taking into account the crop multiplier of the D7000, which turns a 200mm lens into a 300mm equivalent, requiring faster shutter speeds.
2. Users are older and their hands are less steady than back in the 1980's. He writes, "They've lost muscle mass and sometimes fine coordination, but that happened so slowly that they are probably wrong when they think they can still do what they did 30 years ago."

My hands weren't big enough to hold an SLR in the 1980's. I will say that I have noticed a dramatic difference in the quality of shots between photos taken with a film SLR and a digital camera at 1/30, to 1/125 second shutter speed, particularly with any shots containing subtle motion. Quite frankly, the blur on digital camera photos is ugly- and with the super high pixel density cameras such as the Canon 7D or the Nikon D800, it only gets uglier. Image stabilization may help, but I'm not sure how much- in my experience, it's often light motion blur that is causing the problem and image stabilization won't assist in that case.

The adjustment I've made in my own shooting is to be more cautious about shutter speeds. Whereas with film I wouldn't hesitate to shoot at 1/60 second (sports aside), on digital I find I have to make a concerted effort to try to keep the shutter speed up around 1/200 second if there's any possibility of movement in the picture whatsover.

That's what I do as a general principle anyway- occasionally, I will deliberately shoot action at around 1/15 second for a more artistic effect.

[Hogan hasn't introduced permalink to his blog yet but if you're looking for this article at a later date it will be with March 22, 2012 in the archives.]

Chinese Lawyers Chafe at New Oath to Communist Party | New York Times

“The oath itself is full of contradictions,” said Pu Zhiqiang, a lawyer who has represented Lu Qing, the wife of Ai Weiwei, the rebel artist who was detained without charge in two secret locations for 81 days last year. “Lawyers swear loyalty to the party and to the sanctity of the law? We all know that the party’s interference is often the reason why the law can’t be implemented.”

via www.nytimes.com