BW high dynamic range.

Not sure I'm in love with it.

A funny thing happened on the way to breakfast.

Today, Mr S. and I were going to check out that town Port Costa. This meant finding a breakfast place somewhat near. You know how I love my weekend breakfast.

We decided on an okay chain in Clayton which is typically a magnet for seniors. Which is always a bad sign. But we were getting a late start - so we were settling.

Since we didn't know the area, I was trying to get one of my three GPS apps to give us direction. It was hard getting signal there. So, we pulled into a neighborhood because it can take a few minutes to gain a one. After we got google maps up, we thought we were on our way. But off in the distance I could see this mess of a house.

Whaaaat the hell is that - I said. It was after one o'clock, and I was starting to get crashy. Still we stopped to see what the hell was going on with this house.



There were sculpture animals everywhere. Even on the roof. At first the whole thing was a bit of sensory overload.



But here and there was some interesting stuff. Like a giraffe.





They had a zoo section.







You can see here just how cluttered the place was. The owner was super nice. I guess they must get people who stop all the time. But wow. From a distance, that whole thing just looked like a mess.

The world in sepia.

Oh wait. That is just the real world. HT SFist.

"This shot, snapped today by djhexhector, shows a thirsty vineyard crying out for rain and fruit in Healdsburg."

It is going to be a rough, rough, summer for those who want things to live. Sure, in the day it's been a pretty nice winter. But, we've had way more freeze warnings this year, which is unusual.

So, it's just not the lack of water, but the frost that comes in night after night and just ravages stuff. It is just really dry in Cali.

A lot of days, my hair is just floating in space because the moisture levels are so low in the air. I've already started preparing my house for fire season. Which sucks, because I'm still sitting on a cord of wood. eep!

Turkeys attend church.

Even the turkeys are voting Santorum. Hey, they can't cast a ballot can they? I mean - I used to know how the world works. Now, not so much.



This last photo really isn't needed. I just kinda liked the 3D-ish nature.

Eye Roll.

Postal Service to suspend closures during election season.

"The U.S. Postal Service plans to suspend its planned closure of processing facilities and post offices during the November election season in response to concerns from state officials that the delivery of absentee or mail-in ballots might be lost or delayed in the shuffle."

First it's a delay due to tax season. Then an election season. Then, it will be tax season again.

If I'd have known the world was going to turn out this way - I would have taken a completely different path in life. First, I would have worked for Antioch. Then when I put in my 30 days of service - I would have worked for the post office. Oh wait. Why would I even work at all?

Clearly I am the biggest sucker alive.

Scuttlebutt sounds like a condition you should have someone look at.

Don't they know they have to keep the market up until facebook goes IPO? What will California do?

Stranger with a strange tree.

As someone who has bought super crappy houses - you sort of look at every house as if you would have to rip something out. Big ticket items like trees are the first thing you take into account. So, I thought I was pretty familiar with the sorts of trees we had around here. Palm trees - really expensive to rip out. Mostly because of dumping.

I've never seen a tree like this. I don't even know how you would rip a tree like this out, if you had to. It blocked the whole view of a Chrysler300. And not from just one favorable angle. It blocked the entire view of the car.

Still.. it's a funny looking tree. Made funnier by someone tagging it. I might have to go back and get better shots, because it's just that funny.

I thought this was kinda interesting.

I've been spending a little time out in San Mateo lately. So, I've had to travel across the San Mateo bridge. On one side of the bridge I'd seen these cranes and this new structure they were erecting. I thought it was geometrically interesting. I'd never seen anything like it. So, this weekend we went to investigate.

Mr S. pulls right on the property. There weren't any signs posted not to. I popped out and walked about a hundred feet to the middle of this pond. I liked the structure reflecting off the water.

As soon as I got my camera up, in the distance I could hear "excuse me". And in my peripheral vision, I could see about three people walking towards the car where Mr S. was.

Now if you've ever been shut down photographing and filming - you start to develop all of these ways to get the shots you want before you are kicked out. So, I just kept taking photos pretending I didn't hear the woman. She kept calling for me. So after I'd gotten a couple of shots - I walked up to her. I was sure this might be my first no trespassing ticket, or she'd try to force me to delete the shots. She only delivered the predictable "you can't photograph here". I was done so I didn't care. But I did ask her what that thing was. Which turned out to be a natural gas power plant. I thanked her for being so nice when she kicked me off the property. I was nice. She was only trying to do her job. Everyone was cool. And really - you can find out a lot of information if you are just chill with the people.

When I get back to the car (escorted), Mr S. was talking to one of the construction dudes who was there for backup. I assume. After he realized we weren't terrorists, it seemed like he would have spend a lot longer talking to us. He wanted to talk about the structure. He kept getting called on the radio, but he kept talking to us. It was only when they started calling him so many times we parted ways. He also gave us a few new places to go photograph stuff. Like out by Crocket, and Portacosta. Which made me happy I didn't get all shitty on them. Because there really weren't any signs posted that said I couldn't do what I did.



It did make me wonder though - how many of these things they are building. It was actually relatively small. I bet the whole plant could fit on maybe 5, 10 acres.

After all, this could alter my feelings about green cars and crap.

HDR today.

I've been trying to figure out High Dynamic Range for a year or two now. I've found it incredibly difficult.

I try. Give up. Try. Give up.

It takes some experience to figure out what will even be high dynamic rangeable. And if you will even be able to stitch 2 or more shots on top of each other.

I got stuff that was at least postable today.

Pictures I should have posted.

So jealous.

Have you seen this Global Rainbow stuff?

How did they get permission to do that?! I have a really powerful laser pointer, and I stopped using it a couple of years ago because of the tards who shine lights on aircraft.

You should really go see the photos over on laughingsquid too. Here.

It isn't a political thing.

You've probably all have heard by now about the Volt line being idled for 5 weeks.

For as much as I bitch about alternative energy stuff - I don't mind the cars. I mean, I don't get it. Transferring the pain of oil prices onto an electrical grid that is only "mostly" reliable. Made more unreliable by adding cars who have to charge for hours. If this economy was healthy and growing, that would become a huge problem.

I also don't believe that more than a niche group will be willing to wait for hours to fill up your car. Which is also why I am absolutely against subsidising them.

Right now you go to the gas station, fill up your car within 5 minutes, and you are on with your life. We used to be a mobile nation. Still, I do think the concept is kind of neat. When I saw these inductive charging pads at CES this year, I kinda went... hmmmm. Maybe.

But then, maybe I was biased because it had a lighted circle like an Xbox - and I can become a real tard when that happens.

I do find it interesting that it's been a couple of months since CES, and I didn't see anyone blog about these things.

A couple of days ago Mr S. turned to me and said "some days I like to pretend there are two Elon Musks". I turned to him in my "oh, let's hear this" kind of way.

He says - on one hand there is the good Elon Musk who is almost a science fiction hero who builds rockets. And on the other, there is the douchey Elon Musk who sucks up taxpayer dollars for cars that no one wants.

I can't say I disagree. Those Tesla's were mildy interesting before the government got involved. They seemed a little cheaply built. But, that is all better now. Thanks to you taxpayer.

Huh, thats weird. That Syria thing is all over. Never mind. You can all go home now .

It feels like Iraq all over again.

I was a little surprised to see the market get so excited over the "alleged" Saudi pipeline attack today. I've already stated in previous posts that a pipeline disruption anywhere will result in an oil spike. But, after watching the videos coming out that show the oil fire over on ZeroHedge - I felt a little set up.

For example - the Homs Syria pipeline that got blown up on Feb. 15th could be seen from space. Barely anyone reported on it. Source.



I've been trying for three weeks to figure out exactly what the deal is with Iran and Syria. Every day I think I will be able to formulate a post about it, but my opinions keep shifting.

In regards to Syria, at first I couldn't believe people were turning a blind eye to what is going on there. Humanitarily, things are as bad as they get. However, as time went on - I started to shift a little.

Like when I read that Occupy was sending reporters to the city. It immediately made me suspicious. As well as every single video that isn't shot on the street, has the same exact doctor in it. I am not going to list his name because I don't want that kind of traffic. I know it is a small city, but I never see any other nursing staff or medical staff. This bothers me. It reminds me of the beginning of the Iraq war, there were all these reports coming out that Iragi's wanted to be saved. There even was this one specific blogger that became really popular. I can't remember the name now.

I've just sat back and watched because Mr S. reminded me of my bitterness of how the world treated us in Iraq. We were just occupiers. I hate to see the stuff happening in Syria, but I just don't think we can do any good there, and all that goes bad will be blamed on us. I'm pretty sick of it.

And scene.

What a shock to wake up to this. I never could get a face on shot of him. I tried for a while. It gave me the impression he was less comfortable with the camera than his media persona would have you believe.

Because there just aren't enough peen pictures on the internet.

The non-profit organization sent college students 55,000 QR coded condoms.

I told you - one day QR codes are going to be big. Here and here. I just didn't imagine they would be stuck on condoms. Is this on the wrapper? Or the condom itself, I wondered. Because guys don't need a QR code to show you their peen.

I'm curious though, if it's all crooked - does it screw up the QR code?

This is the craziest shit I've ever heard. And, I've heard a lot of crazy shit.

We all know Stockton California is preparing for bankruptcy, right? I wasn't even going to comment about it, because it isn't news that governments over promised benefits. Yet, when I heard this last night - I actually had to center myself. I took a shower and just stared into space I was so stunned. And, I live not all that far from Stockton, so, it surprised me that I hadn't heard this information before. Good job on keeping secrets Stockton!

At a minute twenty, the reporter says "Among it's financial mistakes, the city only required one month of service to be eligible for retiree health benefits for life".

Yes. For life.

The city deficit is about 35 million, but the liability for retiree health benefits in 450 million.

Her skin is paper thin.

Welcome Cappy readers! Make yourself at home. There is enough here to satisfy absolutely no one. But, hopefully you will find something that at least piques your interest.

If I'd known I could get a Cappylanche by just posting unnecessary close up's of bunny parts, this blog would be completely different.

It's like shooting fish in a barrel.

"Abound Solar, given a $400 million Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee for a project expected to create 400 permanent jobs, receives private financial backing through an investment firm founded by a fundraising bundler for President Obama." Source.

Oooooooh wait. Correct that. Instead of "create 400 new jobs" - it should read "lays off half of staff".

"LONGMONT —Abound Solar on Tuesday cut 180 jobs — nearly half of its workers — at the company's production facility along the Interstate 25 Frontage Road near Firestone. " Source.

Almost like clockwork I tell ya.

Feb. 27, 2012, 12:03 p.m. EST
Investors eye renewable energy as oil prices rise
Jefferies Clean Tech Conference attendance up; crude tops $107.

With crude oil topping $108 a barrel and average retail gasoline costing nearly $4 a gallon at the pump, analysts and clean technology company executives said renewable fuel is becoming more cost-competitive.

Maybe they will be able to save some of them. Maybe.

The consumer is next.

This morning when I saw these headlines, I had to ask myself - if headline 1 and 2 are true, how can headline three be true? Headline 1 and 2 should be making the consumer feel anything but confident.

After the market crash in 2008, I absolutely grew to respect the consumer confidence numbers. If consumer confidence is down, basically, the market goes down. If I trust the numbers on the way down, I have to trust them on the way up. Right?

The other market indicator I grew to fear is the Baltic dry index. Most directly, the index measures the demand for shipping capacity versus the supply of dry bulk carriers. From Wiki. During the 2008 crash, we had all these ships floating around filled, with no place to offload them.

So at the beginning of the year when the Baltic dry index fell for 27 days in a row, those of us who watch this stuff felt a little panicky. Source.



Here is a longer horizon chart, because I hate those guys who just provide a small snapshot to reinforce their position. You can see we have seen a small uptick in the last couple of weeks.



Some people say that new ships have come on line and this is why the index is down. It takes roughly 2 years to build a new ship. However, with durable goods now falling so sharply - you can see that if it takes them a month or two to compile the data, it would roughly coincide with the fall from December to January. What becomes frightening is January to February.

So, I would expect to see by next time the consumer confidence numbers comes out, who is right. I think the consumer is lagging this time, and good weather is making everyone feel happier than they should be.

Can that be legal?

My newest obsession.

Ramen.

A few weeks ago we were trying to find a breakfast place in San Mateo. A block before we'd gotten to the one we'd chosen - we saw they had just opened an Ajisen Ramen house. Every time we made it up to San Fransisco we'd go to the one in the mall.

Now I will go to pretty much any crappy event on the peninsula, because there is an Ajisen near by.

Oh, no, he, didn't.

Santorum says he doesn't believe in separation of church and state.

"WASHINGTON - Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum said Sunday that he doesn't believe in the separation of church and state, adding that he was sickened by John F. Kennedy's assurances to Baptist ministers 52 years ago that he would not impose his Catholic faith on them."

I'm sure all of the other religions are going to be completely fine with this. /sarc

I agree.

Ron Paul supporters crash GOP Event.

A few years ago, you would have never found me at a Ron Paul rally. I would have rolled my eyes. But today I found myself at such an event. I'm calling it that because I didn't know this was a GOP event until last night. I wouldn't even call myself a Ron Paul supporter, except for the fact that the GOP candidates are just about the most demoralizing group of misfits I've ever seen.

Mitt Romney - the Arnold Schwarzenegger Republican. Santorum - WTF Santorum? I'm an atheist - so...the whole party loses me with Santorum. It isn't that he is religious - every one pretty much is. I respect other peoples religion, but he doesn't respect my lack of it.

Newt - that guy isn't serious. He is a tool.

So where is someone like me suppose to go? I don't really fit into any of the groups. Mr S. has been telling me for years that I am a "small l" libertarian. I consider myself conservative, but I don't align with them either. There is a lot not to love with Ron Paul too.

Unlike the tea party who just wants you to get off their lawn and leave them alone, I align more along the lines of - get off my lawn unless you have weed. And then only if you have a responsible job. Otherwise, get the EFF off my lawn. I just don't care what people do in their personal lives. At all. As long as you aren't affecting me -it's none of my business.

So when I heard there was going to be a Ron Paul rally - I had to go. Not to participate, but to see what the turn out would be.

Turns out, there were almost as many Ron Paul supporters than conservatives. Which is not saying a lot. This is California. Yet, there were much more of them than a lot of the tea party rallies I went to.



Oddly, I wasn't the only misfit. When I saw this guy with the International ANSWER sign, I thought there was going to be some conflict. Normally I trash these guys to no end. His whole presence confused me. And him, apparently. Mr S. talked to him outside and he seemed fairly clueless. He was a socialist on one side, and a Ron Paul supporter on the other. I'm not sure if he knows even what international answer is all about. You can see the youtube video here.



They really outnumbered Newt supporters. (The Newt supporters are the ones holding the signs with gas pumps.)



The hotel even called in the police to make them go outside. They weren't really being disruptive - but they were being loud, and this was a hotel after all.

One of the event-coordinators told Mr S. that she thought the Ron Paul "supporters" weren't even really Ron Paul supporters, that they were instead Occupy Wallstreeters carrying Ron Paul signs just to disrupt the event. But Mr. S and I saw no actual evidence of that.

Eventually they decided to go stand on an overpass in highway 101. You can see them in this video with a little commentary from me. If I would have been didicated enough I would have gotten you shots of Newt, and Cain - but I wasn't. So I didn't.

I'm in a phase.

I haven't talked about this in a while. My hatred of my photos. It's honestly psychotic. I can go, fill up a card - download them and hate every single one. Things ease after a couple of hours. Usually.

For instance I was at a car show this weekend, and the guys aggravated me so much. They cram these cars in there so tight. And the lighting is effed up. They have two colors of lights in the ceiling! Apparently.

A guy was talking to me about a boat with a pretty nice paint job. He seemed unhappy they didn't have the other set of lights on. I assumed he was talking about the white lights - because I was already in a shitty mood over the yellow lights. Outside he said - this boat is beautiful! With the right kind of cars - it doesn't matter much. The show this weekend seemed to have all the wrong sorts of cars.

So, you guys didn't get any photos. Then if I wait too long, it isn't new stuff any more.

Seen.