Random bits of info

So I'm using rsync to get music from my Mac to the SD card in my Samsung Intercept. I don't want all my music, I want to pick and choose. I'm using the following as my rsync command: rsync -hrltvz --modify-window=1 --exclude-from=exclude-from-file My exclude-from-file looks like this: - *.m4p - *.wav - *.DS_Store + Blue October/*** - * The final - * tells rsync to skip everything. The only thing that is copied over is the Blue October directory and everything under that directory. Any .m4p, .wav, and .DS_Store files are also excluded. To add a new artist for syncing I just add a line + artist/*** to the exclude file.

I was trying to rsync some iTunes music to an SD card from my Mac. All was working well but all the files were being synced each time. Turns out it's an issue with a Microsoft(FAT32) formatted card, which my Samsung Intercept has. Answer was to add --modify-window=1 as an rsync option. Solution here .

:<<MULTILINECOMMENT echo "foo" echo "bar" this="variable" MULTILINECOMMENT

Concatenate using || and string in side single quotes: SELECT col1||' string goes here '||col2 AS msg FROM tbl WHERE col1=10

SELECT round(CAST (random()*10 AS numeric),2) AS rand_no;

Had to redo my Mac recently and started having problems with ssh to a Juniper firewall. I could ssh into the firewall but would be dropped 30 seconds later. Took me a while to get the search terms right but eventually found this post explaining the situation. The problem was I had a custom ssh config file in ~/.ssh/config and had ServerAliveInterval set to 30(ServerAliveInterval=30). Had to add an extra rule for the firewall and set that value to 0.

So I got the 70-200 f4 lens and got a chance to shoot one of the boys soccer games last week. I'm definitely getting more keepers but it's not just a result of the lens. I spent some more time studying what you need to do for sports photography and figured out I was doing some things wrong. First, I need to shoot in AI Servo focus mode which has predictive autofocus. Combine that with drive mode in continuous shooting and you should be able to get more in focus shots with moving subjects. That seemed to help quite a bit. I've always shot in continuous drive mode but didn't use AI Servo focus. I also set the shutter on 1/250 so I'd always freeze the action. The mistake I made was turning off the IS. I figured it would save some battery life because I was getting low and thought(I don't know why) it might slow the autofocus a bit with a moving subject. Problem is I forgot that the lens on my camera fully extended is a 320mm lens, hence some blurred shots. I'll...

I ended up with the 70-200 f/4 IS USM. I figured in the end the f/4 should be good enough for shooting soccer outdoor and may even work for indoor if there is enough light. The boys don't play indoor yet but they may someday. Hopefully I'm covered. There were a bunch of things that went into my decision: 1. Build quality of 70-200 L lens is outstanding from what I've read. 2. 70-300 f/4-5.6 has a focus ring that rotates during AF which can cause issues if you have a hand on it when it's focusing. I could see that being an issue. 3. 70-300 f/4-5.6 has a front rotating element which makes using polarizers next to impossible. 4. photozone.de results for 70-200 are amazing. According to those tests the lens is excellent throughout it's range and across the entire image 5. I figured you only live once and I was fortunate enough to have the mondy to get it so why not. It will be here on January 20th. I'm excited to try it out.

This is actually getting to be fun. The more I look, the more bargains I am discovering. Apparently the 55-250 and the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 USM IS are pretty highly thought of lenses that don't carry a large price tag. The 55-250 is $255 brand new. The 70-300 comes in at $550. So that gives me some more thinking to do and options to consider. My big concern would be if these would work well for shooting my son's soccer games. Not sure how the AF works on these regarding sports. I'll have to look into it some more.

One of the things I've wrestled with in the past is whether or not I want to start a little photography business. This would obviously be something on the side where I shoot after work or on weekends. I almost got going a few years ago but never quite pulled the trigger. I did a senior photos shoot for a neighbor and they loved the results, or so they told me :). I thought that would get me started but I never put any effort into getting more business. Here I am a couple of years later with a renewed spirit for taking photos and that question popped into my mind again. The big reason it did was that I used a friends 28-70 f/2.8 lens this fall and loved how the photos looked. I decided I wanted one for myself. Well, if I'm going to spend that kind of money then I should try to make some money as well right? For me, the answer is wrong. I just don't want to give up my free time to take photos for someone else, then process them, then print them, then meet with the person to g...