Harry Wolff

Tips For Buying a Tripod

Harry — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:17:49 +0000

Who knew buying a tripod could be so complicated?

For the past hour I’ve been trying to track down some good information on what makes a good tripod well, good. I started off with the preliminary Google search for ‘tripod’ which didn’t exactly pull up too many winning results. I poked around CNET’s reviews of tripod’s but their interface can confuse and irritate, which it did for me at this occasion.

My second search I let Google help: I typed ‘tripod’ into the Google search bar and waited to see what was the second suggestion. Turns out ‘tripod reviews’ is searched almost as much as ‘tripods’. Looking through that search results page didn’t seem to be much of an improvement until I saw two highlighted video results. One linked to a video hosted on Vimeo. It was so good that it spawned the creation of this post, and my inclusion of it here.

So if you’re in the market for a new tripod, or interested in what to look for when buying one, take about five minutes to watch this video and learn what’s important.

Tips For Buying a Tripod: Product Reviews: Adorama Photography TV

Week of Links 008

Harry — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 14:25:47 +0000

Think the Answer’s Clear? Look Again – Medical Statistics
Who knew medical statistics could be so interesting? I certainly didn’t. Did you know Academy Award winners are likely to live longer? Interesting stuff in this here article. Have a read.

Arcade Fire – “We Used To Wait” Video
You’re going to need Google’s Chrome browser for this to work right, but when it does it’s pretty damn cool. For their music video Arcade Fire has called on technology know-hows at Google to create an experience that is custom tailored to each and every one of us. Pretty damn cool. Go look!

What’s the definition of ‘obsolete’? Check online
This is sad because it marks the end of an era. For a variety of reasons the Oxford English Dictionary may no longer print and sell its 20-volume printed edition – it’s just cheaper to keep it online. At least you can score one for saving trees.

Blizzard says they’re waiting for James Cameron for their Starcraft Film
I’d go see it. If there’s anyone who could pull off a Starcraft movie, James Cameron is certainly one.

The Future of Screens, Circa 2014
Watching this video I can’t help but pause and reflect at how advanced our current technology already has become – and how easy it will be to create the technology exhibited in this video. Sure it may not be cost-effective to mass produce these devices yet, but the technology is certainly already available. Absolutely amazing.

Unhearit Gets that Song Out of Your Head with a Catchy New One
This is a cool idea for a website although some of the songs played to help you ‘unhearit’ are decidedly worse than what is playing in my head. Ah well.

Cee Lo Green – FUCK YOU (Official Video)
This video has already gone viral and with good reason: it’s hilarious. Definitely NSFW but wait till you get home to watch – it’s very much worth it. Great song and video

Stephen Hawking: “Big Bangs Happen”
I really love the simplicity of this quote. Covers all lose ties as neatly as they are frayed. Awesome.

Radiohead-Approved, Fan-Shot Concert Movie Released
If you’re a big Radiohead fan – which I am – then you should definitely check out this video. Radiohead fans took and compiled hand-held footage of a Radiohead concert and it came out looking really good. Go look!

The Basic Guide to Troubleshooting Common Windows PC Problems
I haven’t dug through all the information contained in this link, but if you are a Windows novice I heavily recommend you take a few minutes to peruse through this article. From the looks, it’s jam-packed with awesome information.

Web packets in flight
Ever wondered what was going on behind the scenes when you watch a YouTube video? This video provides a nice and easy-to-follow animation of the technology that powers and operates YouTube. Check it out.

Freak Out Your Coworkers With Google Docs Konami Code
You have to do this inside of an open Google Doc window, but it’s really funny once you see what happens. I plan to do this as soon as I can to an unsuspecting friend.

The Best and The Worst Project

Harry — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:16:59 +0000

A little while ago I wrote a post that had an idea for a list of ‘best things’ and ‘worst things’. It was a quirky idea based off then-recent observations of my over-use of the phrases ‘the best!’ and ‘the worst!’.

What’s interesting to me is the fact that those phrases haven’t gone away. Although the frequency in which they’re said has decreased, they seem to have crept into my daily way of talking – and I’m not alone. I see and hear other people using those phrases – ‘the best’ and ‘the worst’ – all the time now, leading me to believe that I’m not unique in their use and far from being their creator.

For those who know me I am a computer enthusiast and programmer. I have recently decided it was time for me to learn a new programming language, namely Python. I’ve been reading a lot of theoretical books on how to program Python, however there is something that can’t be taught without actually programming.

To that end, the past two weeks I have taken to my computer terminal and created my first Python program. Its use is directly related to what I was talking about in the beginning of this post: a list of ‘best’ things and ‘worst’ things. I used the web framework web2py along with general Python code to create my application.

Despite the late nights of code that frustrated me to no end, I had a great time learning Python and web2py, along with programming in general. I may write an additional post detailing my experience of delving into the Python and web2py world of web-based programming, but that will come later rather than sooner.

Right now it is my extreme pleasure to introduce you to a very early alpha version of my web-application. It’s hosted on Google’s App Engine for free, which is awesome, and is still far from complete. Let’s count this version as version 0.5.

Without further ado:

The Best and the Worst Project

Update: My friend on Facebook reminded me to explain some things that I forgot to mention. She asked “so, is it basically like a greatest hits compilation, of best and worst stuff? do we write in stuff that we think is the best/worst, or phrases containing those words?“. My response was as follows:

Basically you write your entry, and end it with ‘the best’ or ‘the worst’ depending on the type. This release is a very early version, mainly just to preview the technology behind it. Later one’s will be prettier and contain more explanation. Also I am not going to save anything entered or created on this version…so have fun and play, click the voting arrows, and let me hear more feedback!

Week of Links 007

Harry — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:38:06 +0000

How to make a famous Sci-fi/Fantasy writer happy
Best thing of the week. By far. You won’t be able to beat it. Seriously.

20 Things I’ve Learned From Traveling Around the World for Three Years
I’m envious of this man’s past three years. It’s one thing to be able to travel the world, it’s an entirely different (and better) thing to be paid to do it. Some of the things he’s learned are also quite heart-warming and encouraging: maybe there is hope for us after-all

New 747-8 Flies With One Million Pound Cargo
This is something you just don’t see everyday. And really, just watching it isn’t all too impressive either. But imagining and remembering that on board the plane is over 1-million pounds of weight, and it still is able to fly, is truly amazing. What will man do next?

Legend of Miyamoto
If you’re a fan of Nintendo, or video games in general, you will love this video. My hat is off to the creators of this video and to my friend who tipped me off to its existence.

Jimmy Fallon’s Got Talent: Impersonations
Did you know that Jimmy Fallon is great at impersonations? No? Take a look and see him embody the likeness of other great persons.

Drink till you drop
I’m trying this out right now: drinking 2-3 glasses of water before I eat. It seems to be working: I feel more full and satiated in my meals without having to eat as much. I say give it a try.

Icons of the Web
This site may be a little confusing at first but once you understand what it’s doing it’s really cool. Basically it’s making a graph of the top million web sites on the internet and scaling their icons according to how much traffic they received in early 2010. As you can see Google takes the Gold with distance to spare.

The World’s Biggest Drum Machine
It’s a YouTube video and pretty self-explanatory. From the creators of the music creation software Reason.

Yahoo now officially powered by Bing in US, Canada
As a geek this makes me sad. The Yahoo search engine is, for all intents and purposes, gone. R.I.P. Y!.

YoYoFactory Present: Jensen Kimmitt 2010 World yoyo Contest 1A 1st Place
The things this man can do with his yoyo are absolutely ridiculous: I wish he could teach me. In any case, click through and let your jaw drop with awe.

Call phones from Gmail
This is real cool. I tried it and it works. And you know what happens when I try things!

Whoops! The 10 Greatest (Accidental) Inventions of All Time
Fun read only for leisure, nothing amazing or important contained therein. Still fun. Did you know Play-Doh was invented by accident? Wow!

Birthrate Is Lowest in a Century
My kids are going to have such a small kindergarden class. Lucky for them.

Blockbuster filing for bankruptcy next month? Probably.
This is really sad. Everything I loved from my child hood is going away. What’s next, no new episodes of TMNT?

Future Rock Band
And this YouTube video is a nice way to round out this week of links. I would love to see a making-of video but this one serves nicely enough. On that note, I really want to play this Rock Band game, like tomorrow.

If you like what you see here then share it with your friends!

John Cleese on Creativity

Harry — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:24:32 +0000

This video was too good to pass on posting. It’s as much for you as it is a reminder for me: it takes time and space for creativity to flourish. Nothing much more, nothing much less.

No related posts.

General Site Update

Harry — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:23:43 +0000

Hello everybody. Three things I’d like to make note of today:

1) Long overdue for an update, my About page has now been revised with more current and relevant information. With the new edit I hope I – the person – will be more understandable from the position of a stranger, and more accessible. I figure it never hurts to have more friends, so why not present myself in a friendly and approachable manner? I am particularly partial to the Care Bear picture I took at the end of the page. Let me know your thoughts in this post.

2) I’ve rearranged the display of my content somewhat. I’ve moved the links to my archived posts to the bottom of the page, added a neat calendar widget, and changed up the top navigation bar to post topics that I update more frequently.

3) I’ve added a small Google AdSense block on the right side of my blog for two reasons: 1) I would not mind making money off my blog and writings and 2) I want to gain experience and understanding of how Google AdSense works.

Aside from that I hope you enjoy reading my words. They take me some time to write, but hopefully you’ll enjoy reading them for a lot longer.

P.S.: That door knob picture is by me. Hope you like it .

Week of Links 006

Harry — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 17:58:43 +0000

The Rise of Text Messaging
This page contains a neat infographic on how text messaging has progressed since its inception in 1992. For many texting has been around since the dawn of time, however I can still remember my parents chiding me for sending too many texts. We’ve come such a long ways.

Joaquin Phoenix’s I’m Still Here Trailer
Don’t know if you remember that period of time when it seemed that actor Joaquin Phoenix had lost his mind. Well in case you forgot, he’s made a mock/documentary about his escapades with avant-garde art. Trailer looks weird as sin.

Asexuality documentary
This is just all kinds of interesting and awesome. Click through to the link to watch the trailer. Really, really cool.

Black Swan Trailer
Upcoming movie from Darren Aronofsky (director of The Wrestler and Requiem of a Dream). Stars Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis and looks absolutely riveting. Of note is that Aronofsky didn’t write the screenplay for this movie, something that he usually does alongside directing.

Lady Gaga’s Poker Face read by Christopher Walken
The title truly explains all you need to know. Click through for some excellent “Oh! Oooh, ee, oh!”

Nikon D3100: The First DSLR With Real Video Autofocus
To say I want this is an understatement. Sexy time is now.

Yogile Simplifies Group Photo Sharing
I’ve been wanting something like this for a long time. Yogile allows you to create a photo gallery that allows anyone to add to. Perfect for those events where multiple camera’s are taking pictures and you need to get all the pictures together.

Ultraviolet light reveals how ancient Greek statues really looked
This is perhaps the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time, something that you really want to take a look at. Just because it’s ancient history doesn’t mean it still ain’t the coolest thing you’ve seen this week. I would have never thought to guess that the old Greek statues were even painted, I thought they were purposely and stoically left plain. In a word, awesome.

James Patterson Tops List Of Highest Earning Authors
In case you’re curious, this is the list of the highest earning authors. Top three are James Patterson, Stephenie Meyer (of Twilight), and Stephen King – in that order. J.K. Rowling rounds out the list at number 10.

Make Your Own Stuffed Crust Pizza
I won’t lie, I want to do this right now. Helloooo gluttony!

Boomer Thinks He’s A Small Dog

Harry — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:54:21 +0000

The newest dog to the family, Boomer, thought he was a small dog the other day. Somehow he didn’t quite fit in the small dog’s bed.

What a lovely calm day

Week of Links 005

Harry — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 20:42:02 +0000

Skip the Ads on YouTube by Refreshing the Page
Very useful tip to keep in mind if you’re in a rush or very impatient.

And Of Course, Here’s The Twitter Movie Trailer
If you’ve caught the first two parodies of the Facebook movie trailer this is a nice third to round it out. Very funny if you use twitter – and in general.

Sega’s Office Pranks – Aaron’s Desk
The description on the page sums it up better than anything else, “Aaron went on vacation for 3 weeks and we had some fun with this desk – maybe too much fun.” Gave me a nice feeling of nostalgia.

Lighter Weights and Longer Repetitions Build More Muscle
Straight from the page, “A study of 15 young men suggests that higher repetition on lighter weights is the route to gaining strength.” I particularly love the quote on the page, “Rather than grunting and straining to lift heavy weights, you can grab something much lighter but you have to lift it until you can’t lift it anymore.” Gotta love that feeling of sublime lethargy.

thought / music = language (on the radio)
I’m halfway through listening to the new Radiolab episode myself and I can personally attest to it being “characteristically terrific”. I don’t care who you are or what you’re interested in, I’m very confident you will love the hell out of this podcast.

Creators of “Auto-Tune the News” Score Comedy Central Pilot
Great win for ‘the internet’ (can you even say such a thing?). But seriously, it’s good to know that web produced content isn’t doomed to stay locked into that medium forever. Good going guys.

Five Rules For How To Make Things Go Viral
If you’re interested in making viral videos then it won’t hurt you to take some advice from Jonah Peretti, CEO of BuzzFeed, a website whose whole business is built around watching and predicting on viral trends on the internet.

If Facebook, Twitter, And Foursquare Were A Part Of Soap Operas
Pretty clever marketing campaign. A little too overdone in my opinion, but clever nonetheless.

Freakonomics Trailer
If you read the book then you’ll definitely get a kick out of this trailer. When I first heard about this movie project I was skeptical, but after watching the trailer, and seeing who the directors are, I’m very excited. Seeing a book brought to life on film is always wrought with apprehension – the worst fear being that the movie will completely insult the prior book. This doesn’t look like it’ll be the case.

Steve Wozniak Will Appear On The Big Bang Theory
Title says it all. Be sure to read the first reader comment, which appears to be from Steve Wozniak himself. He writes, “I did manage to pass on my wife’s suggestion that Sherman should learn to drive by using 6 GPS’s at once, as I do.” That’s something I would love to see both Sherman and Steve performing.

Writing to Capture an Emotion

Harry — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:41:19 +0000

This morning I woke up with a smile on my face and sunlight sneaking its way past my curtains. Laying on my back, I watched the curtains twitch and slightly move due to the air conditioner blowing against them. There was never quite enough pressure to fully move the curtain, but watching it twitch and giggle from the tickling air was fun enough.

Opening the curtains to begin the day is exhilarating: I always seem to forget the brightness mornings bring. I don’t hold it against myself – the nights are so dark it seems impossible that sunlight would ever return. Even when I wake up in the middle of the night – at 6am – dawn has only just begun to poke its head around the corner. It basks everything in an eerie blue-red glow that I can only describe as the nighttime-daytime hand-off.

And then it’s time to revel in my morning ritual of breakfast tea and morning music. Sipping on the freshly made pot of green tea, while listening to music (that illuminates my surroundings in unnatural sheen of joy), is the moment of the morning that I relish without abandon. For as I sip my tea, and listen to my tunes, I peer aimlessly out the window and rest while awake. I enjoy life as I have been taught: loving and dwelling in all that makes me happy.

For it is these simple pleasures that make the days past while keeping a smile on my face. The time I take to sit and sip my tea is one that nobody can give me. It’s a pleasure that I must take for myself, one that I must protect and appreciate while occurring.

Of course it would be far too easy to gulp down my tea and run out the door, never giving my mind a second to wake-up to the day and its new intricacies. This seems to be the modus operandi that society at large seeks to impress on its members. The get-up, get-going attitude that wears you out before you’ve even begun lunch.

Life isn’t a marathon, we’re all gonna cross the finish line the same way. It seems pointless to rush to the end, knowing full-well what will happen. Why not enjoy the scenery as it passes?

And that’s what I try and do. Each morning, with my hot pot of green tea, and me.

What an absurdly slow, boring day.