"Lunch" network

I've been invited (by one of the founders I think) to join the "Lunch" network. Anybody familiar with it?
I'm not terribly interested in Facebook or Myspace, but this might be different.

Small Canons

I'm not the only one in love with the small Canon pocket cameras. They have amazing picture quality and yet are no larger than some mobile phones.
Taken with one:

Pressure sensitive keyboard

3D printing, now in steel

3D printing, now in steel, post. Kewl.

What I like

I've realized that what I love the most on Earth is beautiful women and good coffee.
And cameras.
Maybe I should open a high-quality coffeeshop with pretty waitresses dresses in the legal minimum. And rent out cameras to customers to photograph the waitresses and sell them prints for a buck a piece. (They'll show the prints to friends, who'll then come to the coffeehouse.)

Actually years back in Copenhagen, a really nice high-end burger restaurant started up which had uniforms for the waitresses with super-mini-skirts. It was heavenly.
Later they changed it to leggings, and when I asked why, it was because some of the waitresses got fed up with customers trying to see up their skirts.
Isn't it silly? A look does not hurt. So hire some waitresses who like being looked at. A good view is a premium quality for a restaurant, and that includes the internal view. I'm perfectly willing to pay a couple bucks extra to be served by scantily clad gorgeous waitresses. (And if they are pleasant too, they'll earn really good tips.)

Probably Copenhagen wouldn't be the best place for it though. For one thing it's cold half the year, and for another, feminism is strong in Denmark, sadly. Even if you get the perfect staff, there's bound to be public protests about how the place "degrades women". A Mediterranean city would probably be a better bet.
(I suppose we'd have to throw in a couple of hunks in shorts and half-open shirts.)

A lens primer

A lens primer article. Pretty informative for beginners unfamiliar with exchangeable lenses.
Though a bit imprecise that he consistently uses the term "entry-level" for a reduced-frame (APS-C) camera (Nikon D90, Canon 50D etc), and "pro-level" for a full frame camera (Canon 5D, Nikon D700 etc). True, the size of the sensor is roughly related to the level and price, but these are not official terms, and for example the Nikon D300 is definitely a pro-level camera even though it has a reduced frame sensor.

Here's another good basic article on what lenses are.

Netflix is secretive

Netflix is secretive, article. Pretty interesting, finding one of their sorting warehouses is like Finding Waldo for adults. Really well hidden, on purpose.

Netflix (and, I imagine, the UK equivalent, LoveFilm) is a huge business. And I can understand why. So far I have not been tempted to replace my DVD rental with over-priced and time-limited online rental services (I've watched exactly one rented movie via my Apple TV). But it's hard to imagine this will not have changed dramatically in ten years time. One way or another. The PO and scratched discs are simply unnecessary expenses.

Ponce de Leon

(Get in super-size.)

Iceberg

TC gal found this "cool" picture.
I guess if they are normal where you live, you get used to icebergs like anything else, but it is picturesque.

My guess is, though, that the photographer has used a long telephoto lens (which compresses perspective), and the iceberg is a lot further away than it looks on the picture. The reason being that nine/tenths are under water, so the water must be very deep where it is.


------------
By the way, it's excellent that the web gives an outlet for all the great pictures which were limited before by shelf space.
Admittedly, it also makes obvious why being a photographer is not exactly the most financially promising career these days: digital technology has made it possible for anybody can carry a Elph or a Coolpix camera to call himself a photographer, and to sell the pictures for whatever price he likes. For example I hear that Time paid $30 for the use of this cover picture illustrating the "new frugality"... if that is not illustrative...


By the way, it's a highly interesting article. One of my friends who runs a huge porn site told me that years ago they paid $25 per picture, now the price is more like $1 per picture (which is typical). It's supply and demand. Just because the site could pay a lot more, and some photographers are finding it hard to make ends meet, does that mean that the site should still pay the old prices when lots of photographers are willing to sell much cheaper?)

Giving up my iPod for a Walkman

Giving up my iPod for a Walkman, article.
"My dad had told me it was the iPod of its day. He had told me it was big, but I hadn't realised he meant THAT big. It was the size of a small book."

... Well, one has to admit it's a stone-age model. The last Walkman I bought ten years ago was hardly bigger than the tape, and looked really nice.

Photographing is not a crime campaign in UK

"Photographing is not a crime" campaign in UK, article.

Camera/projector

Nikon has made a camera with built-in projector. I can see how that can be useful, for example for a quick show of pictures you've just taken at a family party.

Pablo Reinoso design

Pablo Reinoso design.

Moon publicity

I hope this either is a joke, fails, or gets outlawed.

Book sequel

Here's a good one from aforementioned show Gavin And Stacey. It had me rolling on the floor.
We cut to a quiet middle class home. Two women (stable characters) are sitting reading. One of them are reading this book.
She closes it with finality, and they have a brief chat about the satisfaction of finishing a book. The other woman is reading the Satanic Verses, and she says it's tough going.
Then the first woman says: "well, I think I'll get cracking on the sequel." And she picks up this book. She says "Same author... he's had a terrible time of it."

Sappy rainbow

I don't normally pass along sappy inspirational crap, but the happy ending of this one speaks to me... (warning, link not Safe For Work.)

Wine label banned

[Thanks to Jim.]

Wine label banned, business booms, article.

ATM theft

If your card is apparently confiscated by an ATM machine, beware of this scam. Very clever.

Chilluns going

[Thanks to Mad Cap Elron.]

A man was walking in rural Florida, and he saw a toddler playing by the river, when sudden a crocodile leaped out of the water, snapped up the child and was gone in flash.

Shocked, the man ran to the nearest house where a middle-aged man with a straw hat was sitting on the porch smoking a corn pibe.

Short of breath, the man told about the sight he'd just seen by the river. The man with the hat took his pibe out of his mouth and regarded him for a moment. Then he turned to the house and yelled: "Maw! See? I told ya sommin was gittin' those chilluns!"

Frozen milk

[Thanks to Ian.]

Anybody figure out how they do this?
At first I thought it was time-frozen picture of thrown white liquid, but now I'm leaning towards a latex-substance which is then dried. But how they get it in the splash formations, I can't figure.
... No, some of it is drops in the air, so part of it must be time-freeze. But I don't think all of it, you couldn't control it.

Gavin and Stacey

I'm watching the second season of Gavin And Stacey (US link and UK link), and it just keeps going.

It's technically a sitcom, but it's one of those news spawn of the Golden Age of television where you don't really know what you have. It does not have that age-proven formula for sitcoms where even if you don't understand the language, you can hear from the rhythm when you're supposed to laugh. You know: set-up... response... punch line.
No, this is something new. It could be real life, except it's just damn funny. Warmly recommended!

Two sides x2

[Thanks to Ian.]

Two car salesmen were sitting at the bar.

One complained to the other, "Boy, business stinks. If I don't sell more cars this month, I'm going to lose my ass."

Too late he noticed a beautiful blonde sitting two stools away.

Immediately, he apologized for his bad language.

"That's okay," the blonde replied, "I can relate; if I don't sell more ass this month, I'm going to lose my car.

-------------------

A couple had been married for 50 years.
They were sitting at the breakfast table one morning when the wife says, 'Just think, fifty years ago we were sitting here at this breakfast table together.'
'I know,' the old man said. 'We were probably sitting here naked as a jaybird fifty years ago.'
'Well,' Granny snickered. 'Let's relive some old times.'
Where upon, the two stripped to the buff and sat down at the table.
'You know, honey,' the little old lady breathlessly replied, 'My nipples are as hot for you today as they were fifty years ago.'
'I wouldn't be surprised,' replied Gramps. 'One's in your coffee and the other is in your oatmeal.

Spotify online radio service

Through The Lens pointed to Spotify, which is a an online "radio" service which seems to work even better than Pandora. You can choose music and sequence, and it does not seem to be limited to some countries unlike Pandora (last I checked). I wonder how they got around all those legal barriers? Or if they really have. For a while there I could use Pandora in UK, but that was blocked later.

So far, I'm impressed. Right now I'm listening to a CD I'd heard about but never had a chance to hear, a 1994 collection of covers of songs of one of favorite Danish bands in the seventies. I'd never expected to find a reasonably rare Danish item in a second after my first search.

Update: it seems that Spotify, refreshingly, is started in Europe or UK. And not yet available in North America. See comments for more info.

There, I fixed it

A friend forwarded these. With a little detective work (I'm so clever), I found out there's a source site. Or at least a "hub" site, since they don't take the pictures themselves.

JustEat

For those in the UK and who like me don't like cooking, I can recommend Just-Eat.

I was really getting tired of pizza, and in time too, I don't want to end up like Marlon Brando in his late days (a smaller artist in status, but a much larger one physically). And that web site has helped me find healthier and more varied alternatives. For example the best-quality chinese take-out I've found yet. Lovely stuff. And an Italian which don't just deliver pizzas, but also salads and high quality pasta dishes. Yummy. At either of those places (unlike pizza) I can order food enough for three days too.

And I've been losing weight. A couple weeks ago I tried some old shorts that I absolutely couldn't close last year. They fit!

More chillun's speak

*** On the first day of school, a first-grader handed his teacher a note from his mother. The note read, 'The opinions expressed by this child are not necessarily those of his parents .'

*** A woman was trying hard to get the ketchup out of the jar. During her struggle the phone rang so she asked her 4-year-old daughter to answer the phone.. 'Mommy can't come to the phone to talk to you right now. She's hitting the bottle.'

*** While taking a routine vandalism report at an elementary school, I was interrupted by a little girl about 6 years old. Looking up and down at my uniform, she asked, 'Are you a cop? Yes,' I answered and continued writing the report My mother said if I ever needed help I should ask the police. Is that right?' 'Yes, that's right,' I told her. 'Well, then,' she said as she extended her foot toward me, 'would you please tie my shoe?'

*** It was the end of the day when I parked my police van in front of the station. As I gathered my equipment, my K-9 partner, Jake, was barking, and I saw a little boy staring in at me. 'Is that a dog you got back there?' he asked.
'It sure is,' I replied.
Puzzled, the boy looked at me and then towards the back of the van. Finally he said, 'What'd he do?'

*** While working for an organization that delivers lunches to elderly shut-ins, I used to take my 4-year-old daughter on my afternoon rounds. She was unfailingly intrigued by the various appliances of old age, particularly the canes, walkers and wheelchairs. One day I found her staring at a pair of false teeth soaking in a glass. As I braced myself for the inevitable barrage of questions, she merely turned and whispered, 'The tooth fairy will never believe this!'

*** I was driving with my three young children one warm summer evening when a woman in the convertible ahead of us stood up and waved. She was stark naked! As I was reeling from the shock, I heard my 5-year-old shout from the back seat, 'Mom, that lady isn't wearing a seat belt!'

*** While walking along the sidewalk in front of his church, our minister heard the intoning of a prayer that nearly made his collar wilt. Apparently, his 5-year-old son and his playmates had found a dead robin. Feeling that proper burial should be performed, they had secured a small box and cotton batting, then dug a hole and made ready for the disposal of the deceased.
The minister's son was chosen to say the appropriate prayers and with sonorous dignity intoned his version of what he thought his father always said: 'Glory be unto the Faaather, and unto the Sonnn, and into the hole he goooes.' (I want this line used at my funeral!)

*** A little boy opened the big family Bible. He was fascinated as he fingered through the old pages. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible He picked up the object and looked at it. What he saw was an old leaf that had been pressed in between the pages.
'Mama, look what I found,' the boy called out.
'What have you got there, dear?'
With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered, 'I think it's Adam's underwear!'

*** A little girl had just finished her first week of school. 'I'm just wasting my time,' she said to her mother. 'I can't read, I can't write, and they won't let me talk!'