charging, charging, charging…

Before I leave for a trip, I always pre-charge all of my batteries. This is about half of what I normally charge. I can’t wait until everything is inductive or parasitic!

I hooked my MacBook Pro to a Panasonic 58″ 3D plasma display today and fed it a 3D video in the form of side-by-side video content. The good news is that the display showed a perfectly good 3D image when told to expect side-by-side content (yay!). However, there was a problem with my stereo 3D video: for some reason, all of the 3D content was pushed way back past the stereo window. The only way this would happen is if the left and right video content were diverged; upon closer inspection, it was obvious that this was the case. (read more »)

• Gaaaah! RT @adamnash Fun — The ten greatest optical illusions: http://bit.ly/bOdUhf #
• Testing Boomerang for Gmail. Looks cool. http://www.baydin.com/boomerang4gmail/ #
• Wow — these are laugh-out-loud terrible! "Microsoft's 9 All-Time Worst Ads" http://ech.cc/aC601k #
• I had to switch back to an ergonomic keyboard. Got the Kinesis Freestyle. Working well so far… http://yfrog.com/3d310pej #
• So glad Apple didn't make Quicktime 7 incompatible with recent Mac OS X versions. I can still do video stuff. #
• It took more than 5 minutes to find the place to order 3D lenticular prints from the Fuji W1 / W3. http://ech.cc/3dprints #
• Howard Hall turned me back on to Pandora. Its classical selection is getting better. #
• Try to order some 3D prints from seehere.com, Fuji's provider for lenticular 3D prints. I have yet to succeed. #
• @viennateng You should hire this bassist for your next show. http://ech.cc/9nzlFr #
• After declaring email bankruptcy in June (http://ech.cc/9vf2Hz), I am back up to 300 messages in my inbox already. #
• @leyanlo If you pull really hard, the cables just come apart. Magic! in reply to leyanlo #
• What's the cleanest, most fully-featured Mac OS X Twitter client that doesn't use Air? #
• Why is it easier to script Quicktime movie creation from still images on Windows than it is on Mac OS X? That is wrong! #
• Congratulations to @tonywu for his win in this year's BBC / NHM photo contest! http://ech.cc/aFOcBB #
• Lunch with Ziv Gillat of Eye-Fi (thanks for the intro, Alex!) #
• @leyanlo Don't do it! I was just kidding. in reply to leyanlo #
• I liked a YouTube video — Dancing hands pa pamericano (baile de manos) http://youtu.be/RTJANr7SCeU?a #
• I liked a YouTube video — Nokia N96 Bruce Lee Limited Edition http://youtu.be/WiBA0lS_lwg?a #
• "Escaped Crocodile Blamed For Deadly Plane Crash" Hope this never happens on a flight I'm on! http://ech.cc/dCs2da #
• I'll bet all of orchestra members were like, WTF?? http://youtu.be/ICp-1YLKegM #
• @gillat nice to meet you, too! will definitely plan for more time next time! in reply to gillat #
• @Laurens_deGroot Free Public Wifi: http://ech.cc/caVzVu in reply to Laurens_deGroot #
• FS on eBay: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX7 Digital Camera 10.2MP Dark Blue http://ech.cc/d0hLqo #
• FS on eBay: RIM BlackBerry Tour 9630 (Verizon) CDMA and GSM global http://ech.cc/aLegwD #
• FS on eBay: Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse http://ech.cc/bvnbqg #
• FS on eBay: "Screaming Turtle" iPod Touch, 3rd generation, 64GB (still under warranty) http://ech.cc/bc3SX9 #
• @adamnash Whaa? You're bidding on eBay? Why didn't you make an offer before it hit eBay? http://ech.cc/drovW2 in reply to adamnash #
• Having friends bid on one's eBay auction just seems wrong. #
• @adamnash I did. I'm just going to mail the thing to you. :) in reply to adamnash #
• I'm not beyond marking unsolicited mass email from acquaintances in Facebook as spam. #
• Rookie move. ..http://yfrog.com/63ktlqj #
• Anyone want to rent a 5GB/month Verizon MiFi for the next 8 months for $65/month? (no contract) #
• RT @dweekly: Dear Yahoo, please die in a fire. http://bit.ly/9hSqfT #
• OK, Pam is off of VPN on my MiFi. I can use teh Internets again! #
• There are Asian women everywhere right now in SF. All the Asian men must be inside playing Starcraft 2! #
• Boogie boarder fatally bitten by shark in Santa Barbara (Friday, Oct 22) http://ech.cc/algaVf #
• Vegans of NYC, buy filters! (but not bottled water, because they are evil) http://ech.cc/aKUYwb #
• I'm championing the "T-shirt and cargo pants" look at the symphony. #
• Philip Zimbardo just walked by us. I had him as an occasional guest lecturer at Stanford. #
• Wow, the vibe on the streets of SF is crazy. I hear something happened in the world of sports. :) #

There are 4 Macs in my house. I use two of them for work and one as a server and media center for the occasional video or TV show (the last Mac is Pam’s). All of my media is stored on a NAS box that supports just about every protocol out there, and since every computer in the house is a Mac, I use AFP to connect to it. A few weeks ago, the Mac Mini that acts as the media center and server started slowing down. All Finder actions were sluggish, and opening folders started to take a few seconds (even on local disk). Opening folders and files on the NAS box (connected via AFP) suffered the most, and the Finder would sometimes take 30 seconds or more to return. Sometimes, files in networked folders would never show up, leaving folder windows empty (and spinning). Obviously, streaming video files from the network became impossible to do.

Meanwhile, access to the networked files from all of the other Macs in my house was as snappy as ever. In fact, I started copying files from the NAS to the Mac Mini by mounting both volumes from a third machine and copying between them (using AFP) — terrible, I know.

On a whim, I unmounted all networked volumes on the Mac Mini and re-connected using SMB. Problem solved — everything is now as fast as it used to be. Why is it that 3 machines (Mac Pro, Macbook Pro, iMac; all running Mac OS X 10.6.4) connect just fine to my NAS box using AFP, but one (Mac Mini Server running Mac OS X 10.6.4 Server) must be connected via Samba for suitable performance?

I’ll suspect that I’ll never know.

Tonight, I tried copying a Parallels 6 virtual machine from one machine to another. I was greeted with the message, “The virtual machine cannot be used because its files are corrupted.” OK, maybe there was a problem with copying over the network. I copied again, and received the same error. There is no option to actually try to recover the VM; the only options are to “remove” or cancel.

There is an easy fix: you simply have to remove the virtual machine from your list of VMs and re-add it. The easiest way to do this is to click “Remove” when the error message presents itself and double-click on the VM again. Parallels then asks you (correctly) whether the VM was moved or copied, and starts up without errors.

Nice error handling, guys.

Fuji’s product page for the FinePix REAL 3D W1 lists a “High-resolution 3D Print System” which W1 owners can theoretically take advantage of for ordering 3D lenticular prints.

I tried to order a couple 3D prints today, and I’d bet money that Fuji barely ever sells any 3D prints. (read more »)

• I wish I could process more dead blue whale images for you all to see, but I am exhausted. Good night! #
• Lunch at Smugmug with Chris MacAskill. Incredible lunch, and great work ambiance! http://yfrog.com/9ds5qj #
• @corbosman Cor — we talked about you. When you come visit, we'll be sure to go see them. :) in reply to corbosman #
• Just a walk down the street… past a bunch of companies that make the things I use daily. http://yfrog.com/j1g5dj #
• I'm amazed: Americans don't know that "texting" and SMS are the same thing. #
• @ganbe Well, a whale isn't a fish. The smell is somewhat different. :) in reply to ganbe #
• @mvdegruy you "blowing it" is probably hitting a home run for mere mortals! #
• @choccobo Well, one text/SMS is preferable to lots of ringing. And "nite" > 11pm. :) in reply to choccobo #
• Help us choose Raja Ampat's 2011 park tag (see some incredible photos and marine-related design) 90 mins left to vote! http://ech.cc/b1GcKZ #
• I am still being hit by the prl_cc.exe issue in Parallels / Windows. Amazed that it hasn't been fixed yet. #
• Why doesn't CaltrainDroid have the full schedule? It definitely makes it less useful. #
• I liked a YouTube video — The Mp3 Experiment Seven http://youtu.be/kVuVhcdQs0k?a #
• I liked a YouTube video — MovieReshape: Tracking and Reshaping of Humans in Videos http://youtu.be/zXSj4pcl9Ao?a #
• I'm finding it hard to be productive at night these days. #
• Dinner with Howard and Michele Hall (@uwfotog) in SF! #
• 10 out of 10 calls to AT&T iPhone dropped after < 30 seconds (in rush hour, San Francisco). Yay! #
• Wow — a rare chat from Mal, which is on the Bob Barker doing trials for next year's anti-whaling campaign by Sea Shepherd. #
• RT @davidkosmos: Ever wondered what it's like to be an underwater photographer? Interview w/ @echeng http://ech.cc/cdc3bl #
• @choccobo cancel tv. I've not had a tv connection for 7 years now, and it has been great! in reply to choccobo #
• @choccobo wanna buy my Sony TX7? Selling. :) in reply to choccobo #
• Pam, putting on makeup: "It's like a fat suit for your eyelashes." #
• My sister! "Professor earns Gabriel dissertation prize" http://instapaper.com/zXy0tqr1D #
• Photography clients who don't understand photography http://ech.cc/dBojO2 #
• I liked a YouTube video — Mirage Boardshort 2 – Feature Video http://youtu.be/ZlZPmABrLu8?a #
• Pam bought me a new notepad. I love it! http://yfrog.com/2c2o1jj #
• The World According to San Francisco http://ech.cc/968vFi #
• Pam's second gift of the week http://yfrog.com/5jz0fwj #
• Go, @schrep! http://ech.cc/bj7qvP #
• One of the most disturbing human vision failures. Dislike!! http://ech.cc/bkBbxA #

A bunch of stuff for sale. (read more »)

I went to see a talk by His Holiness the Dalai Lama this morning with Pam, Laurel, and Howard and Michele Hall, who flew up yesterday and spent the night. The talk was at Maples Pavilion at Stanford University, which wiki says holds 7392 people, and it was sold out.

As is typical for any gathering of thousands of people, there was quite a bit of noise in the auditorium as we awaited the beginning of the event. People were talking to their seat neighbors, talking on the phone, etc. Shortly after 9:30am, a procession of a monks, suits, and the Dalai Lama walked onto the floor of Maples. The entire auditorium immediately went silent, and everyone stood up at the same time. And when I say “immediately,” I mean it — it was probably 5 seconds, at most. I had never experienced anything like it.

David Smith just posted an interview of me in the online photography magazine, Small Aperture. There are a few of my (current) favorite photos that go along with the article.

Shark bite! Lemon shark at the surface (Negaprion brevirostris). Bahamas “lemon snap.”

I found these old images while looking through my shark library yesterday. Ahh, the good ol’ days… (read more »)

A 6-month old blue whale fetus lies in the rocks at Bean Hollow State Beach

Yesterday, I drove down to Bean Hollow State Beach (just south of Pescadero Beach at (37.227072, -122.410529 to see the dead 80-foot blue whale that washed ashore last Tuesday. Scientists found at least three fractured vertebrae and hemorrhaging in the whale’s belly, concluding that she may have died as a result of a strike from a large boat. A 6-month old fetus was ejected at some point during the last moments of the whale’s life and was found not far from its 75-ton mother. The baby was pure white — beautiful, really, and a stark contrast to the black rocks upon which it rested. (read more »)

Happy Columbus Day!

Here is my first attempt at flash-fried shishito peppers (I found them at the local farmer’s market). I am happy to report that they were every bit as tasty as the ones I had in Japan!

I’m taking the Caltrain from San Francisco to Mountain View (for the first time in many years). A one-way trip costs $6, and a day pass is $12. To drive, it would cost me about $5.70 in fuel (each way) without factoring in wear on my car.¹

It took me 24 minutes to walk to the train station, and I had to wait 10 minutes for the train to leave. It will take me 5 minutes to walk to my destination when I arrive. That’s a total of 39 minutes.

Driving to Mountain View in morning traffic takes between 45-75 minutes (on the short side, if I commute with Pam).

If I take the train, I get to work or read or listen to music on the way down. I get 50 minutes of walking in per day, and I avoid the (small amount of) anxiety from fighting through traffic. But I’m not sure it’s worth it… and if Pam and I both took the train, it would cost $24 per day², which is more than 2 times the cost of driving.

• "the entire chicken is smashed and pressed through a sieve—bones, eyes, guts, and all. it comes out looking like this." http://ech.cc/dDq7Mw #
• @SCANDI_DIVETEAM Solved it by switching to the new Twitter interface. Old Twitter interface was minutes behind. in reply to SCANDI_DIVETEAM #
• Update: my talk at Stanford on Tuesday will be in room 200-105 in bldg 200 @ 7:30pm. http://ech.cc/d6ImCy #
• Does anyone have a HDV camcorder I can borrow for a couple of days? :) #
• Feeling very appreciative of my friends, given my last minute plea for help. Thank you!! #
• If you are coming to my talk, you may want to leave time for parking. Oval is packed! #
• I am constantly impressed by people who misspell my last name in emails..after they have typed in my address and last name in the To: field. #
• It was fun to talk to the Stanford Photography Club tonight. There were a handful of members who were really engaged! #
• @tmbg41 @scuttlefish I'd love to get in touch about your new ocean gallery! How do I get in touch? #
• Heading over to Twitter HQ to check out the space. #
• Home Tweet Home http://yfrog.com/n2l4nyj #
• Pathetic pro apps support from Apple. "Ars reviews the 12-core 2010 Mac Pro" http://instapaper.com/zJ2rigp1w #
• More sources claim 2011 Verizon iPhone. http://ech.cc/b9LcGD #
• The new Facebook Groups feature is great! http://blog.facebook.com/blog……4691727130 #
• RT @uwfotog: Behind the scenes of "Jaws", shark conservation from Ron & Valerie Taylor: http://bit.ly/dpMat9 & http://bit.ly/cwFwOc #
• Soon: Intel's 3rd generation X25-M SSD (up to 600GB). Chance of Mac support of AES-128? Zero, I'm guessing. http://ech.cc/aPvIAb #
• @dweekly added questions to your Google Doc social experiment! http://ow.ly/2PGdc #experiment #gdocs in reply to dweekly #
• Nooooo!! "Singapore Airlines to Allow Cell Phones, Texting In-Flight" http://ech.cc/9fSCbu #
• $274 to add a second set of extra visa pages to my passport. Expensive! #
• Address Book on Mac OS X 10.6.4 and Google just decided to duplicate all of my contacts. Nice. #
• One way to make out-of-tune music even worse is to whistle out-of-tune on top of it. #restaurantfail #
• @GadgetComa Been using Google sync for a long time. No sync solution works across all of my devices. I just chose one and suffer. in reply to GadgetComa #
• I'm determined to get 8 hours of sleep tonight. #
• @tonyylu Select all, then archive. That's what I did! in reply to tonyylu #
• Trevor just learned the hard way that every city in CA has a "1131 El Camino. " #
• Picking up packing materials from Patchen at Public Glass http://yfrog.com/mrkeutj #
• @choccobo Hack your thermostat so it has a +2 offset. in reply to choccobo #
• Open Studios at Redstart Design. Come see my photos and their jewelry! http://m.google.com/u/m/d0HCYP #
• @alexkingorg I think the 3rd party solution is a stand-alone camera. :) in reply to alexkingorg #
• Hardy Jones: Does Cutting Nets Free Captive Dolphins? http://instapaper.com/zmzbjjo1j #
• I smell like dead whale . #
• I will be at Redstart Design at around 12:15pm — late for Open Studios today due to dead whale! #
• Next person who shows up to Redstart Design for Open Studios today and mentions this tweet gets a free print! #

The carcass of a dead 80-foot blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) in northern California. Scientists suspect the whale was struck by a large boat before beaching itself. The whale ejected a fetus before she died. The fetus was on the beach not far from the mother.

Pam’s sister used a photo I took and added a key element…

• Disable political ads (and other categories) in Google Adsense: http://www.dailypaul.com/node/142851 #
• Does anyone have suggestions for a place for photography near Mountain View that has lots of depth? (multiple subjects at diff distances) #
• @choccobo Still brainstorming! Probably go to Stanford Rodin garden… in reply to choccobo #
• Just hung my aluminum print at the SF Open Studios main gallery. Space 162b #
• Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac OS X features the Ribbon toolbar. #pass #
• Craap. I hit some link that took me to the end of a Kindle book, and now it always asks me if I want to sync there. No! (can't undo) #
• OCZ's HSDL: A New Storage Link For Super-Fast SSDs http://ech.cc/b1V2hj #
• Anyone used mrsimcard.com for iPhone pre-paid micro-sims in the USA? (for a friend) http://ech.cc/bhHivR #
• Does anyone have a 3D TV I can come play with? :) #
• Facebook revs Photos — finally! Congratulations everyone! http://blog.facebook.com/blog……2670242130 #
• And just like that, summer in San Francisco ends. #
• Whaa? I can't ignore friend requests anymore in Facebook? If I say I don't know them, they can never ask me again? #
• See pretty underwater pictures from Indonesia! Vote for your best one — we need opinions. Thank you! :) http://wetpixel.com/voteraja #
• I liked a YouTube video — Dream Phone, Refocus Image, Flip and more – Tech Dose!! http://youtu.be/vTsrn8c5mV4?a #
• Photoshop's new PhotoBomb tool: http://ech.cc/cpiP4V #
• @choccobo We need video of you hula looping. in reply to choccobo #
• @gilesshaxted Paper.li looks very interesting! Trying it out… #
• Looking for a way to get an RSS feed from a paper in paper.li #
• Mini DisplayPort to DVI-I adapter: bought one for <$8 on Amazon, shipped. Works as well as the $29 Apple version. http://ech.cc/aB23OZ #
• TOO MUCH COFFEE!! #
• Dell 24" U2410 has DDC compatibility with Color Eyes / Spyder 3. My 30" 3008WFP does not (lame). #
• Reading failblog is often the humor highlight of my day. http://failblog.org/ #
• Emiko Omori's new film, "Ed Hardy 'Tatoo the World'" will be playing at Mill Valley Film Festival, Oct 9/10. Tickets: http://ech.cc/dfU964 #
• My little short, "Shark Bite GoPro!", is up as the latest DiveFilm HD video podcast. Thanks, @marylynnprice! http://ech.cc/bRpuUz #
• DiveFilm HD is currently the #1 Sports & Recreation Podcast on iTunes. Congratulations, @marylynnprice! :) #
• BlindType acquired by Google, Android typists grin uncontrollably. http://ech.cc/9lR4SU #
• I liked a YouTube video — Cebu Pacific FAs dancing http://youtu.be/Lqh8e2KYIrU?a #
• 3D craze moves on to toothpaste! http://yfrog.com/mwjetwj #
• Just ran into Caroline at Target (from EPNY days)… +2 kids! #
• @choccobo you need to try paper.li if you follow all twitter feed links. in reply to choccobo #
• Well, we needed somewhere to hang the peppers… http://yfrog.com/j99oapfj #
• Best quote from the BBQ: "Am I on fire?" #
• Lame: I have to shut down my Mac Pro every day because some USB device is conflicting with Mac OS X sleep. #
• @choccobo no way. in 3 years, a new 2TB drive will cost $40! in reply to choccobo #
• @manukumar I used to be afraid of WD, but have switched back to them recently. WD Caviar Black for speed, or Green for cooler operation. in reply to manukumar #
• Bumped into @dweekly at Palo Alto farmers market! #
• @adamnash bumped into your parents just now. I was forced to school your dad on marine biology. #
• @sharonnash I need to introduce you two to Pam. She is fascinated with @adamnash, and probably would enjoy meeting his parents! in reply to sharonnash #
• @adamnash Your parents and I agreed that you might be "magnetically challenged." See you soon? I'm in MV most days now… in reply to adamnash #
• About to announce my talks / upcoming shows via my (low-traffic) photo mailing list. Join, if you're interested! http://eepurl.com/cT31 #
• How can my api-driven Twitter apps be more up to date than Twitter.com? (I see tweets in my clients that aren't on the web version) #

Come see some of my aluminum underwater photography prints at Open Studios SF next weekend (October 9-10, 2010). I’ll be sharing space with my good friends Mandy and Sara at RedStart Design (375 Alabama St., Suite 100). They create beautiful jewelry.

Some of my work at G2 Gallery in Venice Beach, LA

I’ll have small prints for sale in addition to the large, limited edition prints. See you there!