So I finally fulfilled a delayed plan and flew out to the east coast to visit friends and sightsee. Stops were made in NYC and Boston, and I gave Amtrak’s express train between the two a test (verdict: fast). It was good, as always, to spend some time in cities other than Chicago, noting the differences. I tend to develop a chip on my shoulder about the places where I live, so I try not to pass too much judgment, but it was a good feeling to come back. I was getting sick of crappy modern architecture, and missed my Intelligentsia.
Speaking of Boston, I recently discovered an awesome new blog, The Big Picture, hosted by the Boston Globe, which covers exceptional journalistic photographs. Be sure to check out the Martian Skies post for moving images of dust devils on the surface of Mars.
One of the most unusual devices in the digital camera world right now is the Casio EX-F1. It’s kind of a weird hybrid: a six megapixel still camera that also shoots high-definition video. Neither of those qualities are exactly spectacular (or all that impressive, really) but they’re just the setup.
In addition to its normal video modes, the camera also has three high-speed modes that take it beyond the run-of-the-mill consumer videocam: It’ll do reduced-resolution video at 300, 600, and 1,200 frames per second. Needless to say, the EX-F1 is going to revolutionize YouTube:
Find many videos in the same vein by searching YouTube for “EX-F1.”
Commentator (and Chicagoan) Dennis O’Toole had a spot-on piece on All Things Considered tonight. He managed to bring together the global hops shortage, Obama, PBR, and a knock on hipsters all in one brief piece. Give it a listen.
In related beer news, Larry Bell (of Bell’s Brewery) is growing some of his own ingredients now, to deal with the aforementioned shortage, and there’s probably going to be more of that. There will need to be if America’s craft brewing industry is going to keep growing at 12% annually. Other brewers are branching out (hedging their bets?) and going in to the hard liquor business. It’s a busy time to be brewer!
So a week or two ago a friend issued a challenge to me: Take some pictures every day, and post one online. He’d do it too, and the two of us would get to enjoy each other’s work, as well as get a little picture-taking practice. I roped in a couple more people who I thought would be interested and so did he, and so now there are seven of us.
Some days coming up with an interesting subject is a challenge, but usually once I get my camera in my hand and start walking around a scene will present itself. I’ve been posting my photos to a Flickr photoset. I’m also flexing my tiny HTML, CSS, and PHP muscles to create a site to see all the pictures taken by the participants on a given day. It’ll be at http://www.breadandsoup.net/dailyphoto/ once it’s done. (There’s something up there now, but it’s not finished.)
From the You Learn Something New Every Day dept: The ultimate sources—the headwaters, if you will—of two of Chicago’s biggest players in the good-things-to-drink market are located on the same block. Intelligentsia’s roasting plant and Goose Island’s main brewery are both on the 1800 block of Fulton Street.
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