Leftovers from Chicago

As I haven't been shooting much recently and my last photo-post was a long time ago, I dug out some of the older street shots from one of the first days with my brand new camera.

These kids were playing improvised drums in front of the Art gallery. They were surprisingly good, although not best of friends all the time. :-)

Moving on towards the Millenium Park and the Bean, I spent most of the time shooting people who were taking pictures themselves. Nothing spectacular, but it was interesting at times...

I especially appreciate the geometry on the last one. While on this shoot, I met a pro photographer who earns his living by shooting movie crews in Hollywood. He had the very same camera and lens as me, so we chatted for a while and among other things he said it truly was an excellent choice to hone one's skills. Made me happy. :-)

A note, all the photos seen today were digitally manipulated. Mostly contrast/brightness and color level tools were used, as the originals were rather misty and boring for my taste. The weather sucked that day. I was pleasantly surprised about how easily a major improvement could be made. And as a cherry, a mighty schoolbus on the way back...

Free stuff in your local church!

No, really! Go and get it, don't believe anyone trying to stop you...!

(Bruce Schneier reported this cool story.)

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JACKSONVILLE, Ore. — A pair of hoax ads on Craigslist cost an Oregon man much of what he owned.

The ads popped up Saturday afternoon, saying the owner of a Jacksonville home was forced to leave the area suddenly and his belongings, including a horse, were free for the taking, said Jackson County sheriff's Detective Sgt. Colin Fagan.

But Robert Salisbury had no plans to leave. The independent contractor was at Emigrant Lake when he got a call from a woman who had stopped by his house to claim his horse.

On his way home he stopped a truck loaded down with his work ladders, lawn mower and weed eater.

"I informed them I was the owner, but they refused to give the stuff back," Salisbury said. "They showed me the Craigslist printout and told me they had the right to do what they did."

The driver sped away after rebuking Salisbury. On his way home he spotted other cars filled with his belongings.

Once home he was greeted by close to 30 people rummaging through his barn and front porch.

The trespassers, armed with printouts of the ad, tried to brush him off. "They honestly thought that because it appeared on the Internet it was true," Salisbury said. "It boggles the mind."
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Wow, I'm speechless. People are morons. Of course, free stuff is the meaning of life, and what teh intarwubs says is always true. I hope everyone who took anything will be persecuted as for burglary.

Ladies and gents, please welcome psionics!

Slashdot reports that "OCZ Technology is putting their neural impulse actuator (NIA) into mass production for shipping next week. The device, aimed at gamers, works by reading bioptentials. 'These include activities of the brain, the autonomous nervous system and muscles — all of which are captured using embrace sensors located on the NIA's headband, amplified and sent to the PC via USB 2.0.' Users of the NIA will be able to control their in-game movements using only the power of mind. The device is priced at around $600USD." (Overclock3D reports a price of $300.)

Wicked! I can't wait to try this baby out. :-) Also, the number and coolness factor of applications I see of this technology as it matures, is uncanny... And wait till teh_pwnerer gets his hands on this! "liek i can pwn n00bz with me brain now lol!!!11 gg kthx"