The Unreasonable Man

So the FCC has taken four years to decide on the file for TV stations that, after 9pm one evening, showed this scene [link] (see it on YouTube) of a woman’s naked buttocks. The FCC says that this semi-nudity is “within the scope of our indecency definition because it depicts sexual organs and excretory organs – specifically an adult woman’s buttocks.”

Total fine: $1.4m. That is almost $30,000 per station. Here is the official document (a PDF). The FCC says after a lengthy analysis that “the material in this episode was explicit, dwelled upon, and shocking, pandering and titillating”.

Huh? Pandering? Titillating? Shocking? Buttocks? In 2008? I am really reading this in 2008, not 1938? In the USA, not Iran or Saudi Arabia? Yes, ‘fraid so. The gap between Iran and the USA is narrower than the gap between the USA and modernity, it appears.

Of course such censorship silliness usually has the opposite effect to the one intended. An indeed, a million and a half people have by now viewed the offending buttocks on YouTube.

(By the way: since when are buttocks “organs”?)

With all the talk here about operating systems (grossly oversimplified summary: Windows bad, Mac good), do not discount Linux. My second office desktop machine is an Ubuntu 7.10 box - and I just equipped it with that excellent thin Apple keyboard:

This OS really work very well. Linux is solid, and it is smooth for consumers - good graphics, excellent device support: it even works great with an Apple keyboard (you can set the keyboard to “Apple” and it recognises most special keys). I use Linux on a PC with low-end embedded graphics chip so I cannot use all the smooth effects, but when you can. the desktop looks as cool as a Mac’s.

Linux is almost as smooth as MacOS - what makes Linux a specialty OS is the lack of commercial applications. Yes, there is a great office suite (OpenOffice.org), great standard apps, good desktop integration - but no Photoshop, Canon DPP, and so on. So I use the Linux desktop for writing, browsing, email: all the standard PC things.

My wife has a Linux PC - she is fine with that, and it does everything she needs. Reliably, without the need for me to intervene.

And all at $0.

I took a while to discover what to do to get pics off my Canon 5D onto the Mac. When I connect it, nothing. Nothing, that is, until I open iPhoto. And that automatically converts the raw images to JPG. Without asking me or giving me option.

So thanks very much - but no thanks. There must be a way to tell iPhoto to butt out. I sure do not want it to manage my photos. How do I tell Leopard to instead open Finder or Digital Photo Professional when I connect my 5D?

I read about Air Canada flight 848 (a flight I have taken a number of times before) whose copilot had an aparent breakdown and started shouting for God.

You have to wonder what would have happened if the Captain, aided by other flight crew, a soldier who happened to be on board, and several doctors, had not been able to restrain his colleague. With cockpit doors sealed against intruders, would the rest of the passengers and crew have had to just listen while the plane went down?

Just goes to show nothing is simple.

I have to wonder: when atheists have psychotic episodes, whom do they talk to?

A news release from Oakville police today said two interesting things. One was that 2007 to 2006, traffic deaths “were up over 100%, from 13 to 24 deaths”. A simple maths error: 24/13 is about an 85% increase. And perhaps the population has increased, so the actual increase is lower. More importantly, 12 or 24 deaths out of millions of drives: that sort of variation is not likely to be significant.

The other said that traffic deaths in 2008 were 400% 2007’s number. I probed a little, of course. I asked whether 2008’s deaths had been predetermined, and who would they be?

It turns out that what the police mean is that Jan 1-25 in 2007 had no deaths, and Jan 1-25 in 2008 had four deaths. That, the Unreasonable Man knows, is not a 400% increase: it is an infinite increase. But it means little - like saying “deaths at lunchtime this year have decreased from one to zero, which is a 100% decrease. Police did a superb job!”.

I helped the sergeant with his numbers. But should we not all have basic math knowledge? I think statistics should be taught at school as a compulsory subject.

Meanwhile, the police are very busy tonight. Missing teenager, convenience store next to my office robbed by four armed robbers, and much more.

My Mac is still a great toy - and very enjoyable to use. I just upgraded it from 1GB to 4GB - major difference since I edit photos.

I am evidently 25 again, because I have no “it’s different so I do not like it” feelings. Oh sure, there are things that the PC does better (inline navigation with keyboard shortcuts for example), but that is nothing compared to the joy of using a computer that is well thought out. And UNIX (BSD) based. And it shuts down in about 5 seconds and starts in about 20. That alone makes it infinitely better than a Windows PC. And that alone is worth $1500 where a normal PC would cost two thirds that. That, and the great “Made in California” design.

Reality distortion? No: Vista is reality distortion. Vista is unreliable, and by the time SP1 comes out I will have put up with it for almost a year. Not acceptable. Vista is rubbish and Outlook is a pig. And office, and that asinine new ribbon interface: more and more I think Microsoft has totally lost it.

In case you want to know: 1600 ISO, f/2.8 at 1/125th second. Click for larger size.

“Your beauty is beyond compare, with flaming locks of auburn hair; with ivory skin and eyes of emerald green. Your smile is like a breath of spring; your voice is soft like summer rain; and I cannot compete with you, Jolene…”

A guilty pleasure: and I readily admit it. I am listening to, and enjoying, “Jolene”, by Dolly Parton.

And “Spanish Train” by Chris De Burgh. The great thing about being 49 is that I do not have to apologise to anyone for listening to whatever music I damn well want to!

When using flash in dark situations, you need to balance the ambient light with the flash, or you get those horrid flash pictures with all-black backgrounds. To do this, you use “slow flash” on a Nikon, or just use Av, Tv or preferably M mode on a Canon. And you need to use high sensitivity to avoid long exposure times.

The sensors in modern Canon cameras are great for those low-light situations. Normally I would shoot at 400 or 800 ISO, in “M” mode, perhaps at 1/30th at f/4. Focusing separately (using the “*” button, set with C.Fn04) with a single focus area.

But even 1600 ISO can look good. A real-size detail from a shot of some students at yesterday’s class shows some noise, of course - click to see it:

But that is full-size, and you would only see this when printing very large - larger than letter-size. For 1600 ISO - that is amazing.

The full shot (reduced to 1200 pixels wide) is here. It was taken with a bounced speedlite at 1600 ISO, F/4.5, 70mm, 1/60th sec, “M” mode, on a 24-70 f/2.8L lens. 1600 ISO: Is that quality amazing, or what!

And do you see the chair on the left: no grain visible because of the texture.  Tip: you can shoot sandy beaches at any ISO you like, because the material itself is, well, grainy.

I am The Unreasonable Man - or at least An Unreasonable Man. It is therefore not surprising that I am opinionated, and that my opinions can be, well, unreasonable. But let’s not mistake them. I do not dislike Britain, as some people may think. I spent my formative years there. I went to school and university there. Britain has many wonderful things going to it - for example its culture, literary abilities, cars (I drive a British car!), its desserts, and its humour.

Woman walks into a bar; bartender says “what can I get you”.

She says, “I’ll have a Double Entendre, please”.

So he gives her one.

I do dislike certain aspects of Britain, however. Like its officiousness. Its government’s tendency to build a nanny state. And its current willingness to suspend civil liberties for no good reason. And in that, I believe am not being unreasonable. Nor was George Orwell unreasonable.