George Burgyan

Another cycle with computers

Posted by George Burgyan | Jun 24, 2017 | Apple | 0 |

The general rule-of-thumb with computers in my house is that when Ennie’s needs are no longer met with the current set of computing devices she’s using I upgrade mine and she gets what I was using in the past. I guess this doesn’t sound completely fair, but it does work pretty well for us since I’m the heavier user of the computers in the house. Honestly, by the time she’s looking for a speed bump, so am I. Both of us get an upgrade at the same time. In the past couple of days she was starting to do photo editing on an old MacBook air from something around 2011 or so. This was more than a bit painful on the old beast. The fan has been spinning for well over 24 hours as the poor machine catalogs 20 years of our digital life. Besides just cataloging the photos, using and editing them will be painful as well. Today was the day to do the upgrade dance once more. The one really good thing that I’ve found with Apples is that they tend to last well. The fact that a computer that’s six-years-old is still working well enough that only photo editing is starting to trip it up is pretty good. Not just that, but it’s been running on the same install of OS X since around 2013 or so. So tomorrow:...

Subscription Software

Posted by George Burgyan | Jun 23, 2017 | Just Me, Technology | 0 |

The general thought from most of the internet is that the very idea of subscription software is vile. For some reason, I’m not in that same camp. I have a couple of different bits of software that I pay for as I go and I’m not at all pissed at it. The two biggies I can think of are Adobe Creative Cloud and Jet Brain’s suite of software. In both cases I get updates quickly. I’m also happy to pay for people to develop software that I get value out of. Honestly, in the case of Creative Cloud I know I wouldn’t have paid the huge price that it was being sold at when it wasn’t a subscription. But I’m using more of the suite than I thought I would have before I got it. With IntelliJ from JetBrains, hell, I’m more than happy to give money to people that make my life so much easier at work and home. I guess it’s the idea that I don’t mind paying money to people that make stuff I consider good. I want them to keep up the good work; if they don’t get paid, I don’t get the fruits of their labor. I also like the way that most of this stuff winds up being tons of incremental updates instead of the annual big-bang release. In any case… I guess...

Word Police

Posted by George Burgyan | Jun 22, 2017 | Featured, Just Me | 0 |

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but there was an instance a few days ago that really set me off A document someone was working on was reviewed by some activists. In this doc was something along the lines of: “We were blinded by [something] and failed to see the ramifications of it.” Their comment was that this was an ableist statement since it could offend blind people. It’s around this time I basically blew up. – = – So let’s take a step back. Shit, you can’t take steps because you may set off folks who...

Capitol Reef

Posted by George Burgyan | Jun 21, 2017 | Trip 2017 | 0 |

Coming back from a side-trip into the heart of Capitol Reef (which included a bit of dirt for the bike to chew on) I started to ride into a thunderstorm. I was thinking of taking more side trips, but they warned of flash flood risks so I wisely opted out. For a few moments, there was a break in the clouds lighting up the cliffs ahead of me. The dark clouds of the storm lie ahead of me, waiting. I’m happy I didn’t camp there that...

Mobile virus scanner

Posted by George Burgyan | Jun 20, 2017 | Uncategorized | 0 |

All I have to do is read stuff like what was just posted on Ars to double down on my overall disdain of Android. When I’m working on my phone or tablet I don’t want to even think about viruses or malware. People talk about how you can configure Android to be just the way you want. My response is I just want it to work and not worry about how people are trying to steal my identity. People complain about Apple’s “walled garden.” Sometimes, however, walls like those might not be the worse...

More on the chopping block

Posted by George Burgyan | Jun 19, 2017 | Just Me | 0 |

Does anyone out there want a Sony FDR-AX53 or a GoPro Hero 4 Black? The Sony was replaced by a Panasonic GH5 and the GoPro by a Sony FDR-X3000. The Sony will come with 3 batteries and an extra charger. The GoPro comes with a pile of batteries and a charger and a bunch of mounting hardware. Sony: $600 (New without extra batteries or charger $850) GoPro: $150 (New without extra batteries or charger $300) Any...

“Sorry about the shitstorm” — does that card exist?

Posted by George Burgyan | Jun 18, 2017 | Just Me | 0 |

Asking for a friend (seriously, I did not cause any shitstorms recently)… Sometimes, through action or inaction, you wind up causing a shitstorm. It exists in almost all fields. If I crashed Amazon (yes, it happens — with startling regularity, unfortunately) I would be looking for that card. That type of thing. There needs to be a card like that. And I would sent it to the guy that’s causing the present (not Amazon in case you’re curious) shitstorm and tell him to sign it and send it in...

Fremont Solstice – Part 1

Posted by George Burgyan | Jun 17, 2017 | Leica, Photography, Seattle | 0 |

The Fremont Solstice Parade happens every year here in Seattle. This year is the 29th annual parade. I snagged an official press pass this year. Ennie told me I should just sign up for it — so I did. Then I took something like 3000 pictures. I took out the Panasonic GH5 with the Panasonic/Leica 12-60 f/2.8-4 lens along with the Leica M10 with a collection of lenses. I mounted the 50 f/1.4 Summilux Asph and left that lens attached for the duration of the event. As I was scrolling through the pictures I stopped on this one. This...

Author: George Burgyan