I would like to put forward this auction as the most ridiculous and tacky thing I have ever seen for sale on eBay.
It’s up on dpreview.com now. Haven’t read the review yet, but skipping ahead, the conclusion isn’t that promising:
So then, Canon took an already great camera and gave it a better screen, better viewfinder and a flash hot shoe, and made it a bit prettier to boot. They then put inside it a sensor that is noisier than its predecessor, meaning that – for the most part – the resolution increase simply isn’t reflected in the output, thanks to the need for stronger noise reduction. It’s certainly a better camera in most respects, but the improvements are about ‘features’ not ‘picture quality’, and we’d hoped for a little more from Canon this time around.
When they talk about “improvements” they’re judging against the S3 IS, so anyone who’s still running an S1 IS will likely see a huge improvement, but S3 IS users can probably keep their wallets in their pockets.
This guy’s photos are incredible. When you’ve had a look through, check out his bio.
I got the Falcon back today, all fixed and shiny and new at the back. The only problem is the back looks brilliant, so now I’ll have to polish the whole car to make it look non-stupid.
The weirdest Thriller remake I’ve ever seen. I just don’t know what to make of this.
Riders and teams have already started preparing for the 2007 RACV Energy Breakthrough. The Kid and I saw a few of them practicing around the circuit yesterday.
The official “What is the Energy Breakthrough” article on the website describes the event:
The BREAKTHROUGH is an exciting program designed to provide opportunities for students, teachers, parents and local industry to work together to design and construct a vehicle, a machine or innovation in technology that will represent an energy breakthrough.
The program encourages participants to examine and use the latest technology while considering its impact on the environment and the way people live locally and globally. The RACV Energy Breakthrough isn’t just a once-a-year event!
School groups work throughout the year to design, build and test vehicles or machines within detailed specifications. It requires a team effort and an across-the-curriculum approach. These groups then bring their vehicles and machines to Maryborough in November, for a huge celebration in which they can demonstrate and trial them in action.
In essence, school teams compete against each other using either pedal powered recumbent bikes (as in the photo above) or super economical petrol/human hybrid vehicles. There’s no real energy breakthrough actually happening; it’s more about giving kids who will be vehicle engineers in 10 years time a place to start thinking about design, power and the kinds of tradeoffs required to balance vehicles against environmental cost.
For the town it means an influx of several thousand teenagers, most of them drunk, and a whole bunch of cash. All the carnie folk come to town as well; there’s a big fair on the Saturday night with rides and the usual sideshow stuff.
I had a minor car accident this morning. Got hit from behind. I was in a 40km/hr zone (roadworks) and a dog walked across the road in front of me. I gently braked and moved left and suddenly got a huge whack in the back from the Nissan Pulsar behind me. He locked his wheels on the damp road. His damage was pretty bad. The Falcon looks ok, but I the fuel filler cap doesn’t line up with the rear quarter panel any more, so it might actually be worse than it looks. I’m sure the panel shop will find out; I’ll take it in tomorrow morning. Photos on flickr.
On Saturday night (amid 787 hoopla), Boeing had all of the 787 airline representatives at the Museum of Flight. At 7:07 PM, an Omega Air Refueling Services 707 landed in front of the crowd. At 7:17, an AirTran 717 landed. This continued until 8:17 when an Air France 777-300ER landed. In the end, the 707, 717, 727, 737, 747, 757, 767 and 777 were lined up nose-to-tail on the taxiway.
Clay Shirky’s opening provocation for Supernova 2007 is brilliant (as expected; he only ever does “brilliant”). His take on the internet, community, love and 1300 year old Japanese shrines.
I measured the distance from work to my lodgings in The North Wing last night, and it was 5.6km — and that was the long way, heading up to the top of Forest Road and all the way down. I figured that was an easy walking distance, especially considering I could take a few shortcuts via the bike path and make it even quicker.
This morning I did that walk, and it took just a shade over an hour to get to work. That included stopping at the service station on the corner to chat to my old friend Brian Betts who was there filling his car.
Who said what?