2x Telephoto Lens from Digital Concepts is Horrible

If you are ever tempted to purchase a 2x Telephoto lens as an add-on to Canon Powershot S5 IS, then don't get the one from Digital Concepts. Better yet, save up money and get one from Canon.



Recently I was browsing through Amazon.com and looking for telephoto lens for my Canon Powershot S5 IS. One particular from Digital Concepts was for sale via D B Roth for $24.99 plus shipping cost. Meanwhile, Canon TC-DC58B lens is $103.96.

After I received the lens from D. B. Roth, the test shot result with new lens was horrible.


In this shot above, without using the new lens, fiber from background's fabric is uniform and in focus through out the photo.


With the new lens addition, only center part of the photo is in focus and outer area is very blurry. It gets worse as further away from the center.


Update: The quality of this lens is so bad that the seller, D B Roth, has refund my money in full without even wanting it back!

from: DB Roth (dbroth.cs@gmail.com)
to: Tian
date: Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 1:45 PM
subjectRe: Return Request / Amazon Order # 002-4431303-xxxxxxx

Dear Customer,

We are sorry to hear about this issue. Please discard of the item as we have now issued a full refund back to your account.

Kind regards

Michael
DB ROTH

Pillows at Steinmart

Cylindrical & spherical pillows at Steinmart.

Sunset Point Glory Holes' Glory

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Fireworks at Gallup, NM

It has been five years since I last drove to Gallup, NM to purchase fireworks. The Latvian and I left Phoenix, Arizona bright and early to make this 10-hour round trip pilgrimage to New Mexico. It was during the same trip five years ago that inspired me to start HanziSmatter.com.

We stopped in Bubba's Fireworks stand, which is a giant tent located in a dirt lot just north of King Dragon Chinese Buffet on Highway 491.

What is interesting about fireworks is that all of them are made in China. Even the patriotic American tanks in Stars and Stripes:



And World War III may start right here on the folding tables between China and US:





Some of the packaging are just mundane, like this Widow Maker:



Excalibur:



and National Treasure:



some are humorous and sliding towards the offensive side:


Can You Handle It? shows a large Black woman with her hair in curlers jumping out of a burning building while three firemen with looks of horror on their faces trying to catch her.


One Bad Mother-in-Law illustrates the harmonious family of a stereotypical White trailer trash.


500 Gram exploits urban blacks on low-rider bicycles displaying their assault rifles. The front man appears to have strong resemblance of Easy-E from N.W.A., Niggaz With Attitude.


Hustler, Warning: shoots flaming balls. Get it? Flaming balls.

My personal favorites are fireworks shaped to be beer mugs and bottles to entice idiots to hold them in hands:





and same time the warning labels tells them not to:



And little suicide packs from boys and girls:




What Boys are Made of, with matching What Girls Want:



Even Britney Spears is endorsing them:



Nothing says Perfect Silence than after you have blown your ear drums:

HOWTO: Optimize The Daily Show Embedded Videos

One thing I am annoyed about The Daily Show embedded video option is its restriction on video's size.

For example, Boing Boing recently posted about Jason Jones visiting the New York Times on their site using the default HTML code supplied by The Daily Show/Comedy Central.



The width of Boing Boing's main column is set to 500 pixels, however the video does not fully utilize this space, rather it leaves a rectangular void.



The problem is caused by the video's default width & height setting within its HTML code, which is set at 360x301 pixels.

Also, most of the HTML code supplied is irrelevant and has nothing do to with video's function.



To optimize this, only HTML code needed is within the embed tags.



By changing the values in width & height fields, video is able to fulfill maximum column width.



In this case, the video's size increased to 400x335 pixels from its original 360x301 pixels:

Mullet at Last Chance

Last Chance is a dump store specializing in selling rejected merchandise from high-end retailers at much lower prices.

Of course with lowered prices, the clientele's fashion sense is also lowered.

Geese Trapping at Chaparral Park

I volunteered yesterday (as well as last week at McCormick Ranch) to help Arizona Game and Fish Department and City of Scottsdale to trap Canada Geese at Chaparral Park.



This is part of urban avian study sponsored by State of Arizona including Arizona State University, Game & Fish Department, and City of Scottsdale. By learning about the movements and population growth of the urban geese, park staff will be able to determine the most effective way to manage their presence in Scottsdale parks. These geese were first trapped, neckbands and ankle bracelets with serial numbers attached, then released.

First we lured geese into traps (which I personally helped to build) with bread like what Mike Rabe of Game & Fish Dept. is doing here.



then volunteers would push them into one of the traps placed on grassy area



Once a group of geese are inside the trap, four panels are secured with plastic zip-ties. Each panel barricade is made from two pieces of 10 ft long 1/2" diameter electric conduits bent into 6.5 x 4 ft rectangular frame with fishing net lashed in between.



Some of the geese stayed on Chaparral Lake's island needed some encouragement from volunteers in kayaks.



Once the geese have been round-up, the banding process is fairly fast.



First, determine the goose's sex by squeezing its butt ("Is that a goose in your lap or are you just happy to see me?")



Second, attach neckband, ankle bracelet, and record tracking information,




Then let them go,



Some domestic geese were at a wrong place at a wrong time and they were released without any tags.



No animals were harmed during this and previous trapping.


Photo album links:
Geese round up at Chaparral Park (Flickr & Picasa)
Geese round up at McCormick Ranch (Flickr & Picasa)