Free Hyde from Isis

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You may remember my entry about MacBook soft folding cases last month, in which I posted a video review of my new Isis Roach cover. Shortly afterward I got an email from Taylor Shupe of Isis, saying, I came across your video critique today and was super stoked that you took the time to do that. In fact, I would like to send you a free Hyde case and keyboard jimmy for your personal use.

How awesome is that? The Hyde case arrived last week. Unlike the Roach it’s actually got straps on the inside top, along with improved heat dissipation, and the faux leather gives it a definite touch of class. I had it on my MacBook for two days before I decided to go back to the hemp Roach; the leather texture and “green giraffe” inside were not my thing — but Amy liked it. So her MacBook is now Hyde-encased. I did keep the keyboard jimmy, which makes my keyboard soft and silent while keeping stuff — like cat hair — from getting into the tiny gaps, without slowing down my typing speed.

Here are some detail photos of the case:

Isis Hyde Isis Hyde Isis Hyde Isis Hyde Isis Hyde Isis Hyde

Thanks, Taylor! Those of you who want in an Isis Cover for your Mac, go here.

Caturday!

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Today’s cat photos come courtesy of my lovely wife Amy, who caught Pandora in a yawn while lounging about on her bedroom blanket:

Cirrocumulus over DC

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This has been a nice week for being outside, what with Fall approaching, temperatures dropping a bit, and the sun being out. Here are two nice photos of cirrocumulus clouds over DC landmarks which I snapped with my phone while walking home on Monday afternoon:

Peace Monument, Cirrocumulus, Capitol Washington Monument and Cirrocumulus

Caturday!

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Due to lots of work and a bit of travel, I have posted only infrequently as of late, and there have been two weeks of no cat photos, so I hope this entry makes up for it, with a picture of Pandora in a blurry mid-meow. I will be bringing her to the vet soon for a checkup and claw trimming (I tried trimming her claws myself and was unsuccessful) but due to shoulder pain I will be unable to use her carrier, so I got a Kittywalk stroller. We’ll see how she likes it next week.

IMG_3351 IMG_3372 IMG_3367 IMG_3357 IMG_3356

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“Grapes”

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Seen at the “Soviet Safeway” on 17th St NW. There’s at least two things wrong with this photo:

Those Aren't Grapes

Hanna Timelapse

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All through Saturday I had a script fetch an image from the WJLA sky cam every 30 seconds to catch Tropical Storm Hanna’s progress as it passed over DC, then combined the image sequence into a movie with some loops for background music. Kennedy Center is at lower middle right. I do wish the office staff would turn that webcam back towards the National Mall, though; it’s not quite as recognizable as DC otherwise.

Stuff I Will Not Do With Twitter

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After some soul searching, I have come to the conclusion that I will never engage in the following activities on Twitter, and repent of all times in the past that I may have purposefully or inadvertently done any of them:

  • Mass-follow thousands of people hoping they will follow back and click links.
  • Use an RSS-to-Twitter app to flood the stream with links to weblog entries. (If I want people to visit my blog, they can subscribe to my feed.)
  • Insta-link to threads I want you to Digg/Mixx/Prop/Buzz/Reddit/Thumb/Arrow/Fave up.
  • Stream my iTunes playlist.
  • Use Twitter as a frontend to my Flickr photo stream.
  • Draft whole blog entries in multiple consecutive 140 character bursts.
  • Beg for money.
  • Retweet other people’s tweets.

I might occasionally post a Twitter link to something particularly notable on my site, but I feel shouldn’t cross-pollinate my content or hammer the stream with multiple automated posts from third-party services. Those of you who do engage in some of these practices on Twitter in moderation, please do not regard this as a negative judgment on your activity. This is just an informal code of Twitter conduct to which I will hold myself in order to better serve the ends of my online presence.

Parting Shots from NJ

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And now, just a few more photos from our Labor Day weekend:

Amy and King Friday

Amy Four Squares Union Water Sphere

At top, Amy found King Friday in a closet. So this is where he went after Mr. Rogers’ sad passing and the subsequent fiery destruction of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe: the harsh, real world of the suburban sprawl. At lower left, Amy explains how Four Squares works on the playground of her childhood school. And at lower right, I could not leave New Jersey without a picture of The World’s Tallest Water Sphere, shot from the parking lot of a Union County strip mall, one of many which give the state its distinctive local flavor.

Timelapse: Sunset From a Bus

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We were riding a bus back into New Jersey Saturday evening when we saw the sunset. I took out my camera, but the sun and moon are always a lot smaller than your average point-and-shoot can resolve decently, plus the ride was too bumpy and the light too dim to get a good photo or standard video at full zoom. Instead I decided to go into Continuous shooting mode, hold down the shutter button, and got a series which I could later put together into this video, cropping each frame so the sun was as close to center as possible. I repeated the video four times to make up for the series not being long enough, added some mixed loops from Garageband, and voila, artsy sunset timelapse video.