US Airways Flight 1549 comes down in Hudson River, New York | NowPublic News Coverage
From this and other reports it looks like Joe Public was on the Internet with this story well ahead of the traditional media.
For some time, people have been predicting the end of “20th century news media” (for want of a better term). They might be right.
When I got my Canon 400D a year ago, the intention was to have a minimal travel camera that had the option of having some more sophisticated accessories for less portable times.
To be honest my initial purchase of the camera and a 28-135mm lens (along with the “kit” lens of 18-55) has been excellent value and I’ve taken lots of pictures with it in the last year or so.
The biggest limitation turned out to be the built in flash. There were three occasions in as many weeks recently when I’d wished I had a “proper” flash to light up a larger area, and so I decided into invest in a flashgun. After much deliberation I went for the top of the range Canon 580EX II and the external mounting bracket.
There whole combination is fairly weighty – I wouldn’t like to drag around a 1D with that lot – but it does elevate the 400D into being a pro-looking camera that I can use anywhere.
I also want to increase the zoom options for the lens, both at the wide and telephoto ends of the scale.
For the wide end I’m looking at the Canon 10-22mm or the comparable Tamron.
For the telephoto end there are a couple of options but not much that’s a good compromise between price and performance. For the longer zoom I really want Image Stabilisation, and Canon’s near-silent USM makes a big different in usability and feel.
Most likely option is the 70-300mm IS USM, though another option is to go with their new 18-200mm lens which would make a fantastic travel lens (just take the one).
This church at 16th and P streets in Washington DC is Foundry Church. It was funded by Henry Foxall,an Englishman who lived much of his live in the USA around the late 1700s.
I look this photo a couple of weeks ago on a visit to the city.
Henry Foxall was my 6th-Great Uncle.
My job took me to the RSA Conference in London this year where the theme of the conference was the life and work of Alan Turing. This painfully shy genius helped turn the tide of the Second World War from a cold hut at the now famous site of Bletchley Park.
As part of the theme, Bletchley provided an Enigma machine as well as a number of other variations, some of where were in use as late as the 1970s.
The collision, of course, is that the Enigma messages were sent via morse code. Thinking about being able to send and received encrypted messages – just random strings of letters – and the whole process of using the machine to code and decode them, gives a whole new level of respect for the difficulties in communication just 60 years ago.
By the time I publish this, I’ll have sat my Foundation Licence Examination to become a Licensed Amateur Radio Operator.
Several years ago, the rules were relaxed so that a Morse Code test was no longer a pre-requisite, and also made it possible to progress in sequence through various levels. The old school are up in arms because the price of entry is now much lower – the “riff raff” are joining in. And I can see some of their point: various stories of abuse of the airwaves abound, and seem to be more common since the changes. But in today’s world of instant gratification, the 5 months I’ve had to wait since deciding I wanted to become licensed still seems something from the last century.
I’m not sure the changes have made things easier to become a ham – you now have to work you way though a series of 3 examinations to be able to get all the privileges, but it does mean that lots of people will only progress to the first level.
So why I am bothering?
Well, first of all, it’s interesting technology. Secondly, it fits in with some of the stuff I’m doing with Hampshire and Berkshire 4×4 Response. And most importantly, it gives me the opportunity to play with New! Shiny! gadgets.
Random Acts of Reality is the blog of a London based paramedic, and is usually worth a read. He claims his site is the number one search result on Google for “womble porn”. And he’s right.
Bizarre!
Computer Security, my professional field, has hit the headlines over the last few weeks. The loss of 25 million bank records by the British government is remarkable for the scale of the loss, and the ease with which it happened. But I think the importance of is has been driven (no pun intended) home by Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson.
Clarkson, in his usual tactful style, commented that he couldn’t see what the fuss was about, and published his own bank account details in the newspaper. Details here.
Predictably someone used them to create a direct debit from his account – to a charity, rather than themselves.
An interesting point here is that the bank clearly acted upon instructions other than those of the account holder, which me wonder how carefully banks check things like Direct Debit mandates. Not very, I suspect. Will they cough up the money that was stolen as a result of them acting on false instructions, or will they blame Clarkson for being a loudmouth?
The good thing to come out of this, hopefully, is people realising how serious this is!
11 “Don’t-Tell-the-Wife” Secrets All Men Keep
How many are YOU guilty of?
And isn’t the world a better place for it?
Christmas is about Santa Claus, Reindeer, mulled wine, turkey with all the trimming, presents for the people you love, and crap songs on the radio.
So why do the Americans insist on wishing each other “Happy Holidays” instead of just admitting that December 25th has nothing to do with Christianity apart from the catholic church moving their religious festivals to coincide with pre-existing festivals in northern Europe.
Merry Christmas to you all, and best wishes for a happy, healthy, wealthy and wise 2008.
I’m going to offend someone with this, but surely we need to recognise that in the 21st centry, religion does more harm than good.