Category: Technology

Views of science and technology from around the world

Sunday (04-November-2012) — New Jersey

Hurricane Sandy Aftermath: Day 6 — Power Restored.

I am happy! Power to the house was restored yesterday. When I woke up this morning, power was still on and the house was warm. With the time change, the sun was just coming up through my bedroom window rather than getting up in the dark. I’m thinking of having a Sunday roast chicken dinner with lots of garlic.

With the power restored, I restarted the backup of my server and image collection. I was finally able to start reviewing and process images from the New Mexico trip. One teaser image is of Noah’s Ark from the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

The Drobo disk array where I store my images started beeping. The error message told me the storage space was nearly full and that I needed to add some bigger hard drives. We will see how long this takes, and hope that the power stays on for the upgrade to process. I followed the instructions and did a hot swap of the 2 TB drive with a yellow light with a 3 TB drive. After many, many minutes I finally got a message that the new hard drive was recognized — but that the Drobo disk array will require ~38 hours for the data protection process to complete. In the mean time I am making other backups. I am looking forward to the Seagate 4 TB hard drives becoming available at a reasonable cost. With these I could double the size of my image collection.

Noah's Ark. Albuquerque 2012 Balloon Fiesta Final Day. Nikonians ANPAT 12. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VRII lens (ISO 100, 155 mm, f/7.1, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)
Noah’s Ark. Albuquerque 2012 Balloon Fiesta Final Day. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VRII lens (ISO 100, 155 mm, f/7.1, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)

Friday (02-November-2012) — New Jersey

Hurricane Sandy Aftermath: Day 4 — Power Still Out.

Before the power can be restored, there is a lot of cleanup work that needs to be done. One of the transformers that went down has been leaking oil for several days. It is not known if the oil contained PCBs. A PSE&G truck was sent out to put absorbent down to clean up the oil. Unfortunately, at least one driver (in the last image) had been giving the PSE&G worker a hard time because he wasn’t being allowed to drive through the oil and under the downed power lines. The PSE&G folks are working 16 hour days to restore power and need to be acknowledged – not hassled.

Transformer Oil Cleanup. Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 4. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Transformer Oil Cleanup. Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 4. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Transformer Oil Cleanup. Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 4. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Transformer Oil Cleanup. Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 4. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Transformer Oil Cleanup. Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 4. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Transformer Oil Cleanup. Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 4. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Transformer Oil Cleanup. Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 4. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Transformer Oil Cleanup. Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 4. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)

Thursday (01-November-2012) — New Jersey

Hurricane Sandy Aftermath: Day 3. Power Still Out.

Power went out again. PSE&G says it could be a week or more before everyone has power restored. I’ve moved back into my RV (White Ram). I should have enough diesel and propane for several days. I also have about 40 gallons of water. Before I retired, the Safeway stores in PA closed and I bought a lot of food for an emergency. Looks like I will get to use it.

Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)

Three-Years Ago (22-August-2009) — New Jersey

Gone to See North America Road Trip. Day 01: New Jersey.

White Ram – My New Home. Three interior images of the “White Ram” My new Roadtrek RS Adventurous RV as I prepare to drive to Anchorage, Alaska to attend ANPAT 9 with my fellow Nikonians. All images taken with a fish-eye lens and thus the spaces look bigger than they really are! For the exterior view when I took delivery check out 15-August-2009.

Fish-eye View from the Rear of the White RAM. Road Trek RS Adventurous RV. Image from the rear, taken with a Nikon D300 and 10.5 mm fish-eye lens (ISO 200, 10.5 mm, f/2.8, 1/15 sec). (David J Mathre)
Fish-eye View from the Rear of the White RAM. Road Trek RS Adventurous RV. Image from the rear, taken with a Nikon D300 and 10.5 mm fish-eye lens (ISO 200, 10.5 mm, f/2.8, 1/15 sec). (David J Mathre)
Fish-eye View from the Rear of the White RAM. Road Trek RS Adventurous RV. Image from the front, taken with a Nikon D300 and 10.5 mm fish-eye lens (ISO 200, 10.5 mm, f/2.8, 1/15 sec). (David J Mathre)
Fish-eye View from the Rear of the White RAM. Road Trek RS Adventurous RV. Image from the front, taken with a Nikon D300 and 10.5 mm fish-eye lens (ISO 200, 10.5 mm, f/2.8, 1/15 sec). (David J Mathre)
Fish-eye View from the Rear of the White RAM. Road Trek RS Adventurous RV. Image of the cockpit, taken with a Nikon D300 and 10.5 mm fish-eye lens (ISO 200, 10.5 mm, f/2.8, 1/15 sec). (David J Mathre)
Fish-eye View from the Rear of the White RAM. Road Trek RS Adventurous RV. Image of the cockpit, taken with a Nikon D300 and 10.5 mm fish-eye lens (ISO 200, 10.5 mm, f/2.8, 1/15 sec). (David J Mathre)

Monday (20-August-2012) — New Jersey

Packing Day. Semester At Sea Fall 2012 Voyage.

Everything packed and ready to go. I tried to pack light, but still ended up with a suitcase weighing just under 50 pounds, and a Think Tank “Street Walker – Hard Drive” camera/computer bag at 35 pounds. I am going with a lighter camera kit for this trip, but added several 1.5 TB Seagate external drives with my photo library. As the trip proceeds I will mention items I forgot, and wish I had with me, as well as items I took and never used.

The camera kit for this trip includes the following: 1) Nikon D800 camera  with a 16 mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens, a 17-35 mm f/2.8D wide angle telephoto lens, a 50 mm f/1.4G lens, and a 70-300 mm f/3.8-5.6 VR lens; 2) Nikon 1 V1 camera with a 10 mm f/2.8 lens, a 10-30 mm VR lens, a 30-110 mm VR lens, and a FT1 adapter; 3) Leica X2; and 4) Leica V-Lux30. For all of the cameras I have chargers, extra batteries, and extra memory cards. One nice thing is that both the D800 camera and N1V1 camera use the same battery. I also have a small Gitzo travel tripod and a SB-910 flash. I plan to do most photography when off the ship with the lighter Nikon 1 V1 camera and the Leica X2 cameras. I always have the Leica V-Lux 30 with me, and now the camera in my new Nokia Luma 900 smartphone. I have never really used the camera in a smartphone before, so it will be interesting to see what type of images I can get.

As mentioned above, I am traveling with a copy of my entire image collection with the plan to spend time key-wording images. I still use both Lightroom and Media Pro as my digital asset management (DAM) databases. I am curious about the DAM that Camera Bits (Photo Mechanic) will be releasing this year.

Travel Kit. Suitcase and ThinkTank "Street Walker - Hard Drive" camera bag. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (ISO 200, 6 mm, f/3.6, 1/60 sec + flash) (David J Mathre)
Travel Kit. Suitcase and ThinkTank “Street Walker – Hard Drive” camera bag. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (ISO 200, 6 mm, f/3.6, 1/60 sec + flash) (David J Mathre)