Equipment Crew- Part III

[aclockworkoi]

Ya, it took me a second, but I'm on the same page now. At least the same book.

Obvious troll grows more obvious as they hit page 3.

[Keetman]

Obvious troll grows more obvious as they hit page 3.

I went to check it out, but then my computer exploded with the longest paragraph I have ever encountered.

I've seldom said "TLDR" and meant it.... but I had not one desire to waste brain cells there.

[AttyGuy]

It's what's for dinner.

[keyboardworkout]

[KBKB]

I got a good chuckle out of that one.

[KBKB]

I saw an Arizona Black Rattlesnake while hiking the Barnhardt Trail on Sunday. I've lived here for over a quarter of a century and this is the first time that I've seen this type of rattlesnake.



Here's a photo of an alcove leading to a seasonal waterfall:



One of my hiking companions scouted ahead while I messed about with my tripod. When I caught up with him, he told me that I had to get a shot of these pincushion cacti:



I took this photo from near the spot where we turned around.



I made this panorama from 33 separate exposures. Eleven three shot brackets were blended together which resulted in eleven pieces that were adjusted and then combined into a panorama in Photoshop. I was using an ultra-wide angle lens at its widest setting too!

[Wildtim]

Kinda sad I'm not in here for most of a week and I only have three pages to catch up on.


Hey Keet!

I've brewed on and off sine college. Got pretty serious about it the last couple of years in my old house, then we moved and my stuff got put away and I had a whole house full of projects to do so I hadn't brewed a batch until just this summer.

Well.... there are definitely some issues. It isn't necessarily cheaper and that's certainly not a reason for doing it.... the kits aren't cheap, the equipment isn't cheap, and once you figure time into it...well, you're almost definitely at a loss. However, its a neat process and its fun to make the different flavors/styles to see how the process is done. The wait, however, is a drag. You do all that work then have to wait weeks....then you do more work to bottle it.... only to have wait more weeks. My buddy and I have spent about 18 years hanging out doing one thing or another....mostly just finding a reason to drink a few....seemed like this was as good of a venture as any.

The biggest problem I see as far as the process goes.... is that we have very quickly made a lot of beer. Now, I can go through some product, especially in the summer, but I don't see any particular reason to increase my intake....nor does my liver. So.... I'll have to pace myself!

Very true I like it because I just can't bring myself to pay 8+ for a premium six pack very often but I like better beer. However having fifty to a hundred bottles of great tasting beer sitting around is very dangerous as I tend to drink them. a 30 of macrobrew will last me a couple of months a batch of good homebrew or microbrew doesn't sit around that long.




I've also picked up a new hobby lately that has me trying to lose some weight and get faster. I tried a fencing class and love it, especially the historical stuff like longsword and rapier. Any other fencers in the room?

[jdforsy]

OK I've made some pretty good progress on the basement remodel. The framing on all the walls is finished in the gym portion. We're going to have to play musical machines to find the best layout.



Here is looking the other direction where the dark horse power rack, deadlift, and DB area will be.



I spent most of today moving all the gym stuff over to the finished area so I can start framing the rest of the basement. I'm pretty pleased with the progress for only a few weeks. I'm really hoping to have all of the walls done by the end of the weekend.
DSC00491.jpgDSC00492.jpg

[deadwoodgregg]

That is going to be a nice area jdforsy.

[matrix563]

saw this at the dump, shame

[Stasher1]

saw this at the dump, shame

That's pretty common now. Without giving away too much, I've been competing with a scrap dealer on lots of older fitness equipment. He's been buying up everything (especially selectorized equipment) just to scrap it all. Pretty damn irritating, actually.

[Cleveland33]

That's pretty common now. Without giving away too much, I've been competing with a scrap dealer on lots of older fitness equipment. He's been buying up everything (especially selectorized equipment) just to scrap it all. Pretty damn irritating, actually.

I've always thought about that - so many of the ****ty old selectorized equipment that people practically give away (or ultimately pay someone to haul away) has to have a decent amount of scrap value

[irongrandpa]

I've always thought about that - so many of the ****ty old selectorized equipment that people practically give away (or ultimately pay someone to haul away) has to have a decent amount of scrap value

The highest I've seen scrap prices around here is .12/lb. ,right now it's between .06 - .08/lb.

[Mech6]

The highest I've seen scrap prices around here is .12/lb. ,right now it's between .06 - .08/lb.

For steel. Not sure the weight stacks would fetch that. They're iron usually.
Copper (and even better, brass) is where the real money is. I have a trunk full of old plumbing I have to go scrap. And a 20lbs box of old MIG end pieces with that (also copper).

[Cleveland33]

For steel. Not sure the weight stacks would fetch that. They're iron usually.

there still has to be a decent amount of steel in those multi gyms. Not saying you're gonna get rich

[Mech6]

there still has to be a decent amount of steel in those multi gyms. Not saying you're gonna get rich

If I ever see one of my racks at the dump, I may cry a bit.

[dumb.bell]

Is anyone aware of a current 10% off coupon for bodybuilding.com?

[RemainDieHard]

Is anyone aware of a current 10% off coupon for bodybuilding.com?

Got tired of searching the forums so I joined a closed FB group. PM coming your way.

[Northernmoris]

Got tired of searching the forums so I joined a closed FB group. PM coming your way.

I did the same thing awhile ago.

[KBKB]

2nd page bump!

Here are a few recent photos:

This is an electrical power substation that we passed on our way to and from a climbing area that we visited on Sunday. I did two (easy) leads that day. Anyway, this photo was stitched together from 18 different shots. When photoshop was finished with the stitching, it looked weird - the power lines bowed upwards instead of sagging down the way they're supposed to. I learned a bit more about how to use the Adaptive Wide Angle Filter on this one. When I was done, photoshop complained about saving it because the file size exceeded 4GB. (I managed to save it by turning on compression.) A full size JPEG export ended up being 17MB!



This is one of my first attempts at IR photography. This shot was taken while hiking the Pine Creek Loop on Saturday:



Here's the same shot in color, without the filter that only passes IR light:



Here's a sunrise shot from Friday's hike:



A few more hike photos...

[Synthetickiller]

Awesome pics. On spread, unfortunately.

4gb is massive for a picture. Were these raw pics, originally? Heck 17mb for a jpeg is monstrous. I gotta know, what's the res?

[KBKB]

Awesome pics. On spread, unfortunately.

4gb is massive for a picture. Were these raw pics, originally? Heck 17mb for a jpeg is monstrous. I gotta know, what's the res?

Apparently, I managed to get it down to 3.8GB. That's the size of the TIFF file saved by photoshop containing all the layers that I might want to revisit should want to make further edits. I deleted the layers from the original import which Photoshop then stitched together, so it's not as big as it could have been.

As you guessed, it was composed using RAW files, each of which (for that camera) are around 20MB in size.

The resolution of the full size image is 9190x4671. You can find the full size version here: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/54687984 . If you look at it at full size, you'll see some problems with it. Some of the things that should be straight and vertical aren't always either straight or vertical. Also, there are some small gaps in some of the wires, probably due to the way it was stitched. I fixed the ones that I noticed during my editing, but after looking at it later on, I found more problems. Looking at it just now, I just noticed some blue fringing (chromatic aberration) that could be fixed. These problems can't be seen when viewed at a lower resolution though.

[SmokinJoe87]

Amazing shots, KBKB!

[keyboardworkout]

44 year old mother of six shatters beer mile world record.

Chris Kimbrough runs four laps, drinks four beers in 6:28.6.

http://www.runnersworld.com/general-...e-world-record



Official Beermile.Com Rules

1. Each competitor drinks four cans of beer and runs four laps on a track
(Start - beer/lap, beer/lap, beer/lap, beer/lap - finish).
2. Beer must be consumed before the lap is begun, within the
transition area which is the 10 meter zone before the start/finish
line on a 400m track.
3. The race begins with the drinking of the first beer in the last meter
of the transition zone to ensure the comptitors run a complete mile
(1609 meters).
4. Women also drink four beers in four laps (past rule lists only required
ladies to drink three beers).
5. Competitors must drink canned beer and the cans should not be
less than 355ml (the standard can volume) or 12oz (the imperial equivalent).
Bottles may be substituted for cans as long as they are at least
12 oz (355 ml) in volume.
6. No specialized cans or bottles may be used that give an advantage
by allowing the beer to pour at a faster rate. ie "super mega
mouth cans" or "wide mouth bottles" are prohibited.
7. Beer cans must not be tampered with in any manner, ie. no
shotgunning or puncturing of the can except for opening the can by
the tab at the top. The same applies with bottles - no straws or
other aids are allowed in order to aid in the speed of pouring.
8. Beer must be a minimum of 5% alcohol by volume. Hard ciders and lemonades
will not suffice. The beer must be a fermented alcoholic beverage
brewed from malt and flavored with hops. For an abbreviated list of valid
beers and exceptions, click here.
9. Each beer can must not be opened until the competitor enters the
transition zone on each lap.
10. Competitors who vomit before they finish the race must complete
one penalty lap at the end of the race (immediately after the
completion of their 4th lap). Note: Vomitting more than once
during the race still requires only one penalty lap at the end.

* It is strongly recommended, when attempting official records, to tip the empty beer can or bottle over your head at the end of a chug to verify an empty vessel.

[aclockworkoi]

Hers is impressive and I could come no where near that, but crazy, one of the men's records is a sub-5 minutes

[Synthetickiller]

Apparently, I managed to get it down to 3.8GB. That's the size of the TIFF file saved by photoshop containing all the layers that I might want to revisit should want to make further edits. I deleted the layers from the original import which Photoshop then stitched together, so it's not as big as it could have been.

As you guessed, it was composed using RAW files, each of which (for that camera) are around 20MB in size.

The resolution of the full size image is 9190x4671. You can find the full size version here: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/54687984 . If you look at it at full size, you'll see some problems with it. Some of the things that should be straight and vertical aren't always either straight or vertical. Also, there are some small gaps in some of the wires, probably due to the way it was stitched. I fixed the ones that I noticed during my editing, but after looking at it later on, I found more problems. Looking at it just now, I just noticed some blue fringing (chromatic aberration) that could be fixed. These problems can't be seen when viewed at a lower resolution though.

What resolution monitor are you using? I ask because if you're using something at 1080p or lower, upgrade.

I had two 30" 1600p (may they rest in peace) and I now have triple 27" 1440p & while I have to zoom, I can see the misalignment without zooming (looking at the original 17mb file). I'm not sure what your set up is, but once color accurate 4k and 5k (5k > 4k for numerous reasons, not just more pixels) monitors hit the market, that'll be a great option for you.

In the mean time, the 1400p korean monitors (see ebay), are about $300ish & with the correct color profiles (I can help you with this), they look FAR FAR better than any of the Samsung/LG/Apple 1440p monitors on the market & don't suffer from the horrible build quality (yep, Apple's is at the bottom for too many reasons, but the main being a gap between the glass (WHY GLASS?!) and the screen, creating false images, shadows, reflections & too many things to even get into).

I'm not a pro photo guy, but I know computer hardware, lol.

[alicejohny]

You guys ever tried air tools? I found the perfect ones, you can also check them out freely.

[KBKB]

What resolution monitor are you using? I ask because if you're using something at 1080p or lower, upgrade.

I had two 30" 1600p (may they rest in peace) and I now have triple 27" 1440p & while I have to zoom, I can see the misalignment without zooming (looking at the original 17mb file). I'm not sure what your set up is, but once color accurate 4k and 5k (5k > 4k for numerous reasons, not just more pixels) monitors hit the market, that'll be a great option for you.

In the mean time, the 1400p korean monitors (see ebay), are about $300ish & with the correct color profiles (I can help you with this), they look FAR FAR better than any of the Samsung/LG/Apple 1440p monitors on the market & don't suffer from the horrible build quality (yep, Apple's is at the bottom for too many reasons, but the main being a gap between the glass (WHY GLASS?!) and the screen, creating false images, shadows, reflections & too many things to even get into).

I'm not a pro photo guy, but I know computer hardware, lol.

I'm using two Dell U2412M monitors. Resolution is 1920x1200. I probably should upgrade at least one of them to 27".

I use an X-Rite ColorMunki to calibrate the color from time to time.

[BIgOrange865]

I have an interesting job development gentlemen.

My current employer has offered me a temporary on call position to help for the next few months. I will be starting my new position next Monday.

My question is whether I should consider working nights and weekends doing my current job to "help" them and how much pay increase I should ask for. If I am not a full time employee for them they wouldn't have to pay benefits and such. He contacted me tonight by text and asked if I would be interested. I replied with maybe and we would have to talk in the morning.

I appreciate all comments and any insight into an offer similar to this.
Thanks everyone.

[aclockworkoi]

Is it something that is directly billable to their clients? When I did similar work for my previous employer I charged around 50% of their bill rate, minimum two hours pay, and a daily fee of two hours even if I didn't do any work. Keep in mind this is computer work so that equated to 75-150/hr depending on the client.