Tuesday February 6, 2007 5:00 am Lethbridge Sunrise 7:57 Sunset 17:34 Hours of daylight: 9:37

A. Morning Musings

5:00 am It is - 4 C at the moment with a "high" of -15 C forecast by tonight.

Here are the news.

CBC Headline: Gunmen in Iraq Army Uniforms Seize Iranian Diplomat

There are conflicting reports at the moment. Iran is claiming the diplomat was kidnapped by Iraqi soldiers under orders from the US military. American reports deny this and say they have no knowledge of the kidnapping. In the last few years we seem to have entered a new era in news reporting. There was a time when, if a news item was broadcast, then one could pretty well assume it was factual. Now we report events as they occur and when there are wildly different interpretations of what is actually occurring. The latter may be more timely, but it requires a different attitude on the part of the receiver - one that recognizes that the reality of the situation is unknown at the time, and may remain so for some time to come.

Canadian Headline: Harper to Give 'Mini-throne' Speech on Anniversary as PM

PM Harper will be giving a speech later today where he is reputed to emphasize what his party has accomplished in its first year in power and outline what it plans to due in the coming months leading up to a possible election. Much of the latter is likely to be about the environment as the government has been criticized for its lack of action in this area. This item is indicative of another new trend in media reporting - getting the story before it occurs. We live in a frenetic haze.

Australian Headline: (from The Australian): Howard Turns Up Pressure on US Over Hicks

PM Howard has criticised the US handling of an Australian citizen held in Guantanamo Bay for the last 5 years as a possible terrorist suspect. In my mind this raises the much broader issue of the international legality of all Guantanamo Bay prisoners. My sense is that the US has acted outside of international law, but that it is unilaterally claiming that international law needs to be revised to meet existing conditions. Overall there seems to be some concern about this by other countries, but there has not been much real action, either politically or by the general world public.

From rear window	South patio
Both images taken at 11:35 am

B. Plan

Immediate
Technology	Review & edit iPhoto files for 2006	1 hr
	Continue reading & making notes for "iPhoto 5"	3 hr
	Digital photography - learn about using the various manual settings	1 hr
Literature	Continue reading "The Big Why" by Michael Winter	1 hr
Later
Technology	Read manual for cell phone
	Make notes for chap. 4 of "Switching to the Mac"
	Burn backup of images onto DVD
Mathematics	Make notes for "Mathematics: A Human Endeavor" ch 1
	Read "Fearless Symmetry" chap 9: Elliptic Curves
Model Trains	Add ground cover to oil refinery diorama
	Continue assembly of coaling tower
	Follow tutorial for version 8 of 3rd PlanIt
	Purchase DCC system
History	Read Watson "Ideas"
Philosophy	Read & make notes for "Breaking the Spell"
GO	Complete reading "Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go"
Puzzles	The Orange Puzzle Cube: puzzle #10
Major Goals
Technology	Become proficient with iPhoto software
	Review & edit iPhoto files for 2006
	Become proficient with cell phone
Model Trains	Become proficient with 3rd PlanIt software
	Install DCC on model train layout
GO	Learn to play GO at something better than a beginner level
Drawing	Learn to draw!! (I keep saying this, yet I have yet to put a pencil to paper).
Mathematics	Continue to play with mathematics.
Literature	Continue to read Literature
Bird Watching	Continue to engage in bird watching activities.

C. Actual/Note

6:00 am As I feared, I put on a few pounds while in Edmonton. I am back where I started, at 192. Now to get serious (again).

	Technology 12 February 6
Technology Notes
7:20 am I am now about to begin making notes for chapter 4 "Composing Brilliant Photos" of "iPhoto 5", which I read yesterday. Here is my concept map for chapter 4 "Camera Meets Mac", using MindManager: Here is my map for chapter 5 "The Digital Shoebox":   SUMMARY of the session: 10:10 am A very good session! While making the above notes, I also tried out the various features within iPhoto. I now feel that I have control over the organization of my photos. However I still have substantial work to get the photos for 2006 organized.

10:20 am I had an opportunity to put what I Learned over the last few days regarding manual settings for my digital camera when we spotted a blue jay in our backyard. Here are 4 images:

out of focus: branch in foreground is in focus	in focus: the spot focus missed the branch and caught the bird
in focus: spot focusing, shutter priority 1/100	in focus

There are two separate issues. One is the method for focusing. I now have that set for spot focusing at high speed. The second issue is exposure. I quickly rotated the mode to shutter priority and set it at 1/100 sec as the blue jay was constantly moving. The camera then determined the aperture.

Here is a digital zoom of the lower left photo with photo enhancing:

I have definitely moved up a notch in my ability to get a decent photo under difficult lighting and movement conditions. I am delighted.

D. Reflection

9:30 PM It has been a long time since I have completed all of the items in my morning plan table. Perhaps I am getting more realistic about what I am likely to do in a day.