All posts by Dona

Online Bulletin boards

Rant, , ,

Gah — I hate online bulletin boards. People on them forget how to be civil to one another and race to see who can scold a new poster for not reading the entire thread (or searching for an answer) before asking a question.  I imagine the folks doing the scolding are people who were once scolded for the same action.

Another tactic some veteran users like to do is pick apart someone’s post by asking them to define certain words or phrases used. In real life, do these same people listen to someone talking about their love of the color blue and then say something like, “Define ‘I really like the color blue’. Do you like cerulean blue or is it sky blue you are gushing about?” Gee, can’t someone profess to like the color blue without having to go into detail?

I think it has to do with pecking order. Some people feel better about themselves if they put other people down. Then if the person being put down complains, the putter-downer either accuses the put-downee of being too sensitive or misinterpreting their earlier comment or being not open to challenge. Perhaps they really feel that way, but I doubt it.

I should know better than to post in online forums, because no matter that I’ve been posting in online forums longer than some of the members in forums have been able to type their names I’m often considered a “n00b” because I’ve only posted one or two comments in the couple of forums to which I still belong.

Eye-fi — Not ready yet

Photographs, Technology, , ,


We were this close [imagine me holding up my thumb and forefinger about a centimeter apart] to buying an Eye-fi explore for our Ireland trip. It sounded ideal:

  1. It uploads photos from your digital camera to your photo site of choice
  2. It geo-tags the photos so you don’t have to do that

However, on further investigation, it is not “certified” (whatever that means) to work outside the US. And there are huge gaps in the areas that are already mapped.

It seems they are using a newish technology called Skyhook to map areas, and Skyhook is faulty. I downloaded their toolbar called Loki and clicked “find me”. It put me a mile or so away from where I actually am. Then when I chose to map my real location, I was asked to find my mac address. I’m too lazy to find my mac address. And, if I weren’t too lazy, what security / privacy issues would there be if I gave out that information?

I thought that Eye-fi used satellites like most other mapping devices. I’m very disappointed and won’t be spending $130 for a 2 GB card.

Back to birding – maybe

Birds,

I need to get back to birding. I mean really birding. Not just the incidental kind of birding I’ve been doing for nearly two decades.

I’ve not been on many real bird walks with real birders — once I went to Huntley Meadows with a bird group and that was educational. I’m over my reluctance to be around people who can identify birds faster than I can (I used to not allow myself to add a bird to my lists if I didn’t ID it myself). I think that being in the company of other birders would be good for me in a couple of ways. I’d certainly learn a lot more about birds than by learning on my own. Being in the company of like-minded people is always a good thing.

I’ve subscribed to a few birding weblogs and the adventures that people are having make me want to be out having adventures too, instead of reading about other people’s adventures.

I think I’ll look into joining a local birding group. I think Montgomery County has one.