Beutelevision

by Thomas Beutel

U.P. 844 videos for April 20, 2009, Sacramento to Oakland

Newcastle Tunnel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z3Nd3CmJso

Yolo Causeway:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8LZDA5fUUw

Davis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFcB4gPwLEg

Elmira Junction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLiMwnFIgqY

Martinez:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysC4fZALNVg

Richmond:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXd71-Sr9pc

Emeryville:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFSD7cMUVm0

When Memes Collide – Apple is Expensive vs. Windows is Vulnerable

I always get a kick when the Apple is Expensive meme trotted out as a reason to consider less expensive alternatives. How ironic it is that on the very same day there is news of massive computer infiltration and document loss. The article doesn’t mention the operating system of the computers that were compromised, but I do have a guess.

memes-collide

A look in the mirror – Safari 4

I just installed Safari 4 and the first thing it did was to show me my top sites – the 12 sites that I go to most frequently. My initial reaction was “Weird!” and then “I need to get out more often!”

Here is a fuzzy pic of what I saw:

my top sites in Safari 4

Download is available at http://www.apple.com/safari/

Just a post to test Zemanta

I’m trying out Zemanta using the Firefox plugin and just seeing how it works.

Image representing Zemanta as depicted in Crun...Image via CrunchBase

San Francisco: Much Sun, Little Rain

San Francisco is known for it’s fog, not it’s sunshine, but that’s mostly in the summer months, mid June to the end of August. Right now in January it should be raining, but we have gotten precious little rain this January. As evidence I present you with my solar panel production, which shows a remarkably sunny month:

As you can see, many sunny days, but we need the rain.

For-Profit Do-Gooders

Economist magazine has a great article on for-profit activism and mentions both 1BOG.org and Virgance.

1BOG helped me get a solar panel system last year and I’m am still delighted with how well the whole process went. Thank you again 1BOG and congrats to you and Virgance!

Switching From Halogen to LED Lamps

Jeremiah Owyang switched out a high wattage halogen lamp with an LED version that is only 3W. The LED bulb is expensive, but it will save much more over its life.

Just another example of how to use less energy withiout sacrificing quality of life.

The Model 271

I’m always interested one term can mean different things – polysemy – and now we have the Model 271 in the news. The Model 271 is the type of shoe that was thrown at our President as a sign of disrespect of him and of our country.

Interestingly, the Model 271 is also:

How many Model 271’s do you know of?

How to Backup Only Purchased Music in iTunes

I was asked recently how to backup purchased iTunes music, and after trying the normal backup function, I discovered what everyone already knows – that iTunes wants backup everything, including movies and TV shows. While I appreciate that Apple wants to backup all purchases (see bottom of How to backup up your purchases for a complete list), I just wanted to backup music.

With a hint from Macrumors, I found a way to do it. First create a smart playlist as follows:

Purchased audio smart playlist

Select this playlist, then press the Burn Disc button at the bottom right. Burn it as a data disc so that it saves all of the track data as well.

3-D Printed Netherlands Train Station in N-Scale

Jeroen used Shapeways.com to print a three dimensional model of a train station. He has photos and a description of the pieces he received and how he is putting it together.

I am totally jazzed by the possibilities of creating 3D models and having them printed like this.