5 Photo Exercises
by | posted in: On Creativity, Photography, Stimulus and Production, The Tools | 1

Did you get a new camera at Christmas?

If you did, maybe you’re still learning just how that camera works.  I know, when I got my first digital camera it took weeks of fiddling around to get comfortable with it.  Not only that, but, since I hadn’t really been a photographer in the first place, there was a lot I didn’t know.
I’ve upgraded since then, and even then, I’m sure my camera has features that I haven’t even tried.  And, I have to admit, lately, I haven’t been doing a lot of shooting in any case, so I’m pretty rusty.  Back in the old days, when I was relatively fresh to working in the IT world, a wise supervisor told me that the best way to learn something was to have a project that required what I was learning.  It’s sound advice.  Having that project automatically set goals and directed my educational efforts.  Learning a new camera is the same as any other technology.  So, what project to start?  Well, how about a project-like alternative; Five Photographic Exercises to Learn What Your New Camera Can Do from Digital Photography School.  (Don’t panic because the link takes you to a “school”, the exercises are free.)

These five exercises are meant to run you and your camera through some basics which will get you familiar with your new toy and, hopefully, brush up your basic camera skills at the same time.  You may even be able to run through them all this weekend, but I recommend that you take your time and really follow every step of the process carefully.  That way you’ll get the most out of it.
And, then when you’re done, think about doing a 365 Project, where you take a photo or self portrait every day for a year, like I did with my first camera.  Or, maybe, the less-intimidating 52 Project, which is the same thing but just one photo a week, instead of one every day.  At least one fellow photographer said that took the pressure off her when she did it.

Anyway, that’s two things you can do with your camera, whatever kind it is, this weekend and year!
See you next Friday!

Make a Planet
by | posted in: On Creativity, The Tools | 1

I’ve got nothing this week, so I’m offering a world.

My wife and I have been sick the past week or so, which has left me with not a lot of mental bandwidth for my regular posts and writing.  Also, my attention span is short, but at least I find that I’m more easily amused.  One thing that amused me probably a little too much this week was Oskar StÃ¥lberg’s Polygonal Planet project.  It comes in two forms; downloadable, which you can find along with a description of the “game” at the link, or playable-in-browser, which is here.  The premise is simple, really, you basically build or customize your very own little planet with ice caps, and plains and forests, and even cities.  All through the use of some very simple tools and pointing and clicking.
I spent a little time playing with the one on-line.  It’s fun, once it finally loads, which does take some time.
It’s worth the wait, though.  There aren’t people running around on the planet you create, but the water flows and it even has its own, little moon orbiting around it.  It’s oddly peaceful to watch slow turn on its axis once you’re done editing, as night flows into day, over and over.
One word of advice that’s not clear; if you want to remove something that’s there, right-click on it instead of left-clicking.

Anyway, if you’re sick like me, and not up to full capacity, it’s a fun diversion.  Honest.

“Hey Siri!”
by | posted in: Red Herrings | 1

Who’s afraid of artificial intelligence?

So, the week before Christmas, my wife and I finally upgraded our sad, old iPhone 4 and 4s to shiny, new iPhone 6s.  (That’s an iPhone 6 for her and me, not a single iPhone 6s, just to be clear!)  Ever since, we’ve been walking around shouting “Hey Siri!” at our respective phones.  It’s actually kind of funny.  And, I’m glad that I found Siri after I married my blushing bride, or I’m afraid I’d end up like Joaquin Phoenix in Her.  Seriously, the voice-recognition and the intelligence built into this software is pretty amazing.  Of course, when I read that Apple had a deal with Wolfram Alpha, I understood why the improvement was so incredible from the last version I’d seen.
In any case, we’ve been exploring the limits of what Siri can do.  Of course, I cheated and looked up a couple guides to get the inside scoop as fast as possible.  Here are four I liked:
First, at TechRanker.net, there’s How to Use Siri.  It’s a good guide and pretty comprehensive, including step-by-step information on how to turn on the “Hey Siri” function.  If you use no other guide, use this one.  I especially like the hint to associate my wife’s contact with the nickname “wife”, so I can now just tell Siri to send my wife a text while I’m driving.
Next, there’s Secret Siri Commands over at imore.com  They didn’t add much that the first guide didn’t have, but it did call my attention to Siri’s ability to flip a virtual coin for me.  I’m sure I’ll be using this to make important life decisions soon.
There’s also the Siri Tips and Tricks at BGR.com, which added a couple things, like the command for taking a selfie and some other app-related hints and suggestions.
Finally, there’s the amazingly comprehensive site dedicated to Siri, Siri User Guide.  This is the site that clued me into the fact that they were using Wolfram Alpha.  For the non-geeks, this may not mean much, but Wolfram Alpha is the single most impressive natural language “answer-engine” so far in the public domain.  This is what lets you ask Siri actual questions and get significant answers.  And, as an IT professional, it is what provides me with the best advice I can give to the Siri novice; just talk to Siri like you would a person.  Of course, that’s what Apple wants you to do in any case, but, really, just ask Siri questions like you would anyone else.  I think you’ll be surprised with the results!

Anyway, for those of you who don’t have Siri, you can still enjoy Shit Siri Says, which is funny no matter who you are!

 

Starting Your New Year
by | posted in: Marginalia and Notes from the Editor, Red Herrings | 1

So, here we are, the first day of a brand, new year!

Honestly, it’s a pretty arbitrary demarcation of time.  I mean, it doesn’t even really sync up with any significant natural phenomena, like a solstice or anything.  So, really, the whole idea of a “new year’s resolution” is pretty random.  What’s so special about the “new year” and why make resolutions about it?  Still, you know most of us do it, to some degree or another, even me.  This year, I’m going to try and journal more, as I mentioned in my annual birthday missive.  But, maybe you want something more fun to resolve this year?  Well, luckily, I have another annual ritual around here.  Yes, that’s right, it’s time again for me to shill my Amazing New Year’s Resolution Generator!

Hey, don’t scoff!  One year Comedy Central linked to that!
Well, anyway, it tends to be heavily slanted toward kissing strangers and drinking tequila, so it’s not so much a New Year’s Resolution generator as it is a mischief generator, but it’s still free and something to do while you drink on New Year’s Day while you nurse your hangover.
Have a great new year, y’all!

Christmas Music for Free
by | posted in: Red Herrings | 1

Yes, free Christmas music.

Normally, I share this sort of thing well in advance of Christmas, but, well, time got away from me.  Still, I love Christmas music of almost any kind and everyone loves things that are free.  So, combining the two is my way of spreading some holiday cheer!
For a number of years, Stereogum would gather free MP3s from various indie bands that had a Christmas theme.  They stopped doing that in 2011, but the music is still up, if you don’t mind something a bit long in the tooth: 20 “New” Indie Rock Christmas MP3s for 2011 You can download them and burn them all to a CD for easy playing in your car.

Or, if you’re looking for more variety today as you open presents and celebrate the holiday, which, incidentally, is my favorite holiday of all, check out the Accuradio selection of free, streaming Christmas music.  There’s “stations” there with a ton of different themes, including every variation on “traditional” that you can imagine.  There ought to be something there for everyone.  And, again, free, so there’s that.

Enjoy, and I hope you have a very, merry Christmas!

Star Wars Fun and Games
by | posted in: Red Herrings | 1

The new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, opens today, and, in honor of that, I thought I’d share some Star Wars related links.

The first, which I hope is fun for everyone with a website, and who remembers the original Star Wars, Episode IV, A New Hope, is the Star Wars Crawl Creator. Do you remember the giant, yellow text “crawling” through space at the start of that movie?  Well, it was the first time we’d seen anything quite like that.  It was, if you’ll pardon the over-used expression, iconic.  And, now, if you follow that link, you can make your own!  Maybe I’ll use it in a promotional video one day, or find a way to use it for the 404 page on this site.  Until then, though, go ahead and mess around with it for yourself.  It’s fun!   There are other games and apps there, at the official Star Wars website, and all the ones I looked at were free.

The other thing I’ll link to is a bit more esoteric, but also fun.  At least, if you’re a word nerd like me.  It’s the William Shakespeare’s Star Wars Sonnet Generator.  Yes, that’s right, it’s a webpage that lets you answer four, simple, little questions and then spits out a Shakespearean-esque sonnet about, well, Star Wars.  It’s funny and more fun than it sounds.  Honest.  Go ahead and give it a try!

And, then, of course, hit the movie!  I’m personally seeing a matinee, quite probably as you’re reading this very post!
Have a happy Friday and weekend!

 

It’s My Birthday
by | posted in: About The Author | 2

Yeah, it’s my birthday again.

I’ve survived another lap around the Sun, mostly in spite of myself and due to the grace of God.  I almost didn’t bother with a birthday post, because I mostly think of my birthday as just another day, but, it’s sort of gotten to be a tradition with me to make this post every year, so, here I am.  Honestly, it seems kind of impossible to me that I’ve survived this long, but, according to the actuarial tables, I can still expect quite a few more years on this crazy planet. Which is a good thing because, in spite of being statistically middle-aged, I come from fairly long-lived stock and there are so many things still undone in my life.

I can’t say that it’s been the easiest year, but, then again, it sure hasn’t been the hardest year I’ve ever had, either.  I still work too much and need to take more vacation, which I will starting next week, actually.  I still haven’t done as much photography as I’d like, or written as much. Neither here nor on Diary of a Network Geek, which is my other, “original”, blog.  In fact, I barely keep up with my regular Friday posts!  And, my flashes sat so long on the shelf with batteries in them that I almost lost them to corrosion!  I’m already making plans to fix that this coming year and I hope to share the results with you, or at least links to it, here.  I don’t know about the writing, though.  It takes so much uninterrupted time to write and I never seem to have that any more.  Maybe when I retire I’ll finally get around to writing the great American science-fiction novel.
As always, my relationship with my wife, Sharon, makes everything else I do have more meaning, though I wouldn’t say that I live only for her.  And, while she’s managed to work on her general health and fitness, I haven’t yet.  That’s something else that needs to change, at least according to my cardiologist!

One of those two domains I mentioned last year, FindMyDecorator.com and FindMyPhotographer.com, is up and running.  So, if you’re a photographer trying to make the transition from amateur to professional, at least sign up for a free account on FindMyPhotographer.com and see if we can’t help drive some traffic your direction.  I have invested in a teach-yourself WordPress programming and development course that I’m slowly working through, so I plan to improve the design and functionality over there this coming year.  And, of course, I plan to help my darling wife get her site, The Organizing Decorator, up to snuff, too.  (In fact, toward that end, I’m gifting myself an annual subscription to Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom this year!  It’ll improve my photos and it comes with training so I can make the most of it!)

And, of course, my birthday wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t mention all the other famous people who had the good luck to be born on this particular day. Famous people like Frank “Chairman of the Board” Sinatra, Jennifer Connelly, Bob Barker, Gustave Flaubert, who is the author of Madame Bovary, the painter Edvard Munch, and Wells Fargo founder, Henry Wells. Not to mention, Mike Pinder of the Moody Blues, Tim Hauser of Manhattan Transfer, Dickey Betts of the Allman Bros, jazz musician Grover Washington Jr, and former mayor of New York City, Ed Koch.
All heady company to be sure, but for whatever reason, it tickles me the most that I share a birthday with Frank Sinatra. I guess it’s because he was such a unique and original character who really fought against and beat some long odds to become an amazingly famous, generally well thought of personality. I can only hope to do the same, one day.
Also, I think it’s interesting to note that on this day in 1896 Marconi first demoed radio and, again on this day, in 1901 made his first Trans-Atlantic transmission. (Though, of course, all right-thinking people know that Tesla was really responsible for those first advances in radio.)
And I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the computer mouse made its debut just four days before my birth! How crazy is that? The mouse, which makes graphic interfaces so practical and easy to use, is actually four days older than I am!

This coming year, my wife and I are going to try an experiment to see if it improves our life; the Five Minute Journal.  If you haven’t heard of this, it’s pretty simple.  Every day, this journal asks you to list things that you’re grateful for and a few other positive prompts in the morning.  And, at night, it asks you to think about what would have made the day better.  Everyone who’s done it says that it really helps them be more positive, which both my wife and I would like to be.  Hopefully, next year I’ll be telling you what a success it was!
And, I think I’m going to start a Five Year Journal, too.  It would only be a few more sentences each day and it may be the start of a longer, more interesting journaling adventure for me, which I hope will help me take a longer view of my everyday life.  (And, yes, it’s also inspired by Samuel Pepys, the most famous diarist of all.)  And, I hope, that all that prompted journaling will help me jump-start my writing in other places, too.  Only time will tell!

So, in any case, there it is.  Things are going pretty okay.  We’re a bit deeper in debt than we’d like but we can still manage to pay our bills comfortably and still have a little fun.  I have high hopes for the coming year as both my wife and I get our health in better order and we start really living more intentionally.  Not just me, but both of us.  I really think this is going to be a good year.
You know, after forty-seven of them, you’d think I’d gotten the hang of living sooner than this, wouldn’t you?  Well, according to my father, the first fifty are really just getting you ready for the best parts.  I hope he’s right!

Thanks for hanging out with me on this ride so far and I look forward to the coming year!

FanFic
by | posted in: Markets, Stimulus and Production, The Infinite Library, The Tools | 1

No, I’m not writing it, but I’m not knocking it, either!

I know a lot of people do look down on fan fiction, mostly because it traditionally hasn’t been the best quality.  In fact, back in the old days, when I first was trying my hand at writing, it was very much denigrated and no one really wanted to admit that they wrote “fan fic”.  It was, after all, problematic in a number of ways.  For one thing, it was never going to get published.  No one who’d created a fictional world was ever going to let someone write in it, uninvited, and then make money from the effort.  Even if authors were okay with it, publishers wouldn’t be.  Secondly, it was difficult to share with fellow fans.  This was back before the internet, after all, and we had to exchange it all in person at conventions.

But, things have changed.
For one thing, there is the internet now.  And, you can write and share your fan fiction on many sites, like FanFiction.net.  For another, with some small tweaks which are easily accomplished via today’s modern word-processing software, your work might actually be publishable.  Don’t think so?  Well, the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy started out as Twilight fanfic.  But, with some name changes, it was converted into something salable.  (I’ll let you form your own opinion about quality!)
And, fanfic is even more legitimized by Amazon’s Kindle Worlds service, which lets you write in one of their licensed worlds, for publication.  And, those licensed worlds include some relatively big-name settings, like G.I. Joe., Veronica Mars, and The Vampire Diaries.

So, if you still have stories in you after last month’s NaNoWriMo effort, even if they are drawn from your favorite commercial setting, you should go ahead and write them!

 

Manuscript Submission Tools
by | posted in: On Creativity, The Tools, Truth and Consequences | 1

If you finished your NaNoWriMo novel last month, you may want to submit it for publication.

Here are tools that can help, via the Bookbaby blog.
First of all, know that these aren’t all free and all require a bit of work!
The first tool is Submittable.  It is free for “submitters” (ie. writers), actually, and has tools for keeping track of not only what you’ve submitted and to whom, but any awards and accolades you may have achieved with your writing.  You do need to sign up for an account, of course, to track your submissions and so on, but that’s about it.  The only down-side is that publishers must have a paid account to receive your submissions from this site.  You can read more about Submittable here.

The second tool is Duotrope.  This is a paid service, which currently runs $5/month after a 7-day trial.  They bill themselves as a more professional resource for serious writers.  One of the more interesting features, I think, is all the tracking and statistical details they claim to offer.  I don’t think I’d recommend this for the casual writer, like me, but for anyone who really wants to break into print and work towards being a professional writer, it seems like a viable option.  Their FAQ has more details.

Finally, Chris Robely at Bookbaby recommends just keeping a simple spreadsheet.  I have to admit, it’s the easiest thing to do.  And, if you use something like LibreOffice, it’s free.  It’s what I used when I was writing and submitting on a regular basis.  Not that I had that many things to keep track of, but, still, you get the idea.  I got the basic format for my spreadsheet from an article in the Writer’s Digest Writer’s Market, which is still the definitive source for potential publishers in my opinion.  I used to also recommend the Writer’s Market Companion, but it’s apparently been superseded by The Writer’s Market Guide to Getting Published.

So, think about that while you’re recovering from last month’s NaNoWriMo.  Also, consider reading Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, while you’re at it, so you can revise your manuscript before sending it off.

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