Ducks in Pool -- Spring is Here!

Ducks in Pool

This morning when I went into the kitchen to get some coffee, I looked out into the back yard and saw the ducks swimming in the water that collected on my pool cover. Every spring for the past four years, a pair of Mallard Ducks spend several weeks swimming around my pool, presumably before they go nest someplace. The ducks in my pool are reminisce of Tony Soprano's ducks, although I don't think I'll end up in therapy once the ducks leave, nor will I be building a duck ramp for them into my pool. Nonetheless, seeing the ducks every spring is fun.

Tony Soprano's Ducks from YouTube

Mountain Biking the Grotpeter Trail

Iron Horse Maverick 4.2 on Grotpeter Trail

On Saturday, I went on my first bike ride of 2010. My last outdoor bike ride was in November 2009. It was a great day to go out and ride. I rode from my house to Castlewood State Park and entered the Grotpeter Trail. The total climb for the ride was 509 feet and the total descent was 456 feet -- a good workout! The trails are well maintained and busy depending on when you go riding. The trails are shared by bicycles, hikers, and horses, which left lots of evidence for me to avoid on the trail. 

Example of the trail

Sportypal Track of Ride

My bicycle is an Iron Horse, Maverick 4 series (basically a 2007 model). Here are the specs from the 2007 catalog:

FRAME 4" TRAVEL XC DUAL SUSPENSION, SINGLE PIVOT WITH SEALED BEARINGS, 1-1/8" ZERO STACK HEADTUBE, REPLACEABLE DERAILLEUR HANGER, INTERNATIONAL DISC BRAKE MOUNT 

REAR SHOCK FOX VANILLA , 6.5"X1.5" 

FORK ROCK SHOX DART, 100MM TRAVEL 

CRANK FSA DYNA DRIVE 

R. DER SHIMANO ALIVIO 

SHIFTER SHIMANO ALIVIO EZ-FIRE 

BRAKES SHIMANO DEORE MECHANICAL DISC, w/6" rotor F. HUB ALLOY DISC, 32H R. HUB ALLOY DISC, 32H 

RIM WTB FREEDOM MTX 2.4 

Howto Make Video From ...

YouTube Video I recorded (Click for YouTube Link)

Recently, a person posted about the video above on my YouTube account, "How do you film this?" I thought I'd take the opportunity to explain how I did it. 

First, you need an Aiptek A-HD Pro 1080P High Definition Camcorder (Silver). This is a great 4.8 oz video camera that is less than $200 at WalMart and just over $100 at Amazon (check out the link). I travel frequently, oftentimes overseas, and have the habit of breaking inexpensive digital cameras. My longest lasting camera was a Casio Exilim, which survived many trips and several falls on the ground, finally meeting its end in Indonesia. Last year, I purchased a Kodak EasyShare camera that could should HD video at 720p. I liked this camera and its video capabilities; however, this camera met its end in Germany after a fall on the ground -- it literally busted apart and I put it back together piece by piece to remain functional for a couple more months but ... besides my penchant for dropping cameras in odd locations, the several Casio Exilims and Kodak EasyShare cameras that I owed were first and foremost still-shot cameras with the ability to shot video. The Aiptek A-HD Pro is first and foremost a video camera capable of still-photos. As a result, the Aiptek A-HD is adequate for still-photos but does not excel at them or have the same sorts of features that a dedicated point and shoot camera would. For instance, my biggest complaint with the Aiptek A-HD is the shutter lag, that is, the wait from pressing the button until the photo is actually taken. The Aiptek A-HD is not suited well to take action still-shots. On the other hand, it is excellent for video. Plus the camera has great features for a relatively low priced camera, such as video in and out, 1080p HD Video at 30fps, 720p HD Video at 60fps, and still shots at 5 mega-pixels (2592x1944), 3x optical zoom lens. There are no doubt reviews of this camera on the Internet. The camera also comes with a remote control, HD component video out cables, SD composite video in cables, and a mini tripod. Video and still photos are recorded onto a SD/MMC card. As I said before, for its price and features, it is a great camera that takes good video and good still photos. Its compact size and belt case make it easy to carry with me on trips.

Second, with this camera and its SD composite video input, it is easy to record a game on the Wii or any other video device that has SD composite video output. All that is needed to capture video is to plug the output from the device into the camera's input. However, a video game also needs to be played and the 2.4" LCD display on the Aiptek A-HD is not really adequate. Solution, get a Y-Adaptor Splitter and connect the video output to the television and the camera.

Splitter Cable Connection Wii Output to Aiptek A-HD and television

Once the Wii (or other composite video source), the Aiptek A-HD, and the television are connected, you are ready to record and play the video game. Once you have the video captured on the SD/MMC card, the video is ready to be edited and or uploaded to YouTube. All in all it is pretty easy to do and the quality is adequate. Have fun.

Haiti Update from Rev. Glenn Merritt

Rev. Glenn Merritt Meets with Marky Kessa and Revenal Benoit

To Discuss Disaster Plans

Yesterday, Rev. Glenn Merritt returned from his fourth trip to Haiti since the earthquake in January 2010. Glenn noted that in comparison to previous trips, people are out and about on the streets more and that commerce is taking place. With over 1 million people displaced by the earthquake, the top priority in terms of relief is shelter. After shelter, hygiene and sanitation is the second most important priority. In his phone interview he discusses some of LCMS World Relief and Human Care's plans to provide temporary shelter to assist people in Haiti. He also noted plans for two assessment teams sent by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Haiti to help fine tune the relief plans. President Kieschnick accompanied Rev. Glenn Merritt for a portion of his trip to Haiti.

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Haiti Update Audio Interview with Rev. Glenn Merritt

Sidney and President Kessa standing near 

the LCMS World Relief and Human Care Disaster Sign

Rev. Glenn Merritt LCMS World Relief and Human Care

Videos Presidents Kieschnick and Kessa passing out Arch Books to children

Provided courtesy of LCMS World Relief and Human Care and Concordia Publishing House

Chilean Lutheran church assesses damage, plans post-quake response

From the LCMS World Relief and Human Care Website:

Many streets in Chile are closed because of the danger of buildings falling down and the huge amounts of debris that fell during the Feb. 27 earthquake. Photo courtesy of Miguel Luis Allamand Aldunate.

As he travels to areas hit hardest by the earthquake and tsunami, Rev. Carlos Schumann, president of the Confessional Lutheran Church of Chile (IELCHI) sees tremendous destruction but also opportunities to pray and share the Gospel with hurting survivors.

“We have a lot of work here in evaluating the situation and determining what steps we should follow,” Schumann said in a March 3 e-mail to LCMS World Relief and Human Care's Rev. Carlos Hernandez.
One Chilean Lutheran pastor lost his home in the Feb. 27 disaster that killed more than 800 people and left some 2 million people homeless. LCMS World Relief and Human Care continues to monitor needs in Chile and stay in close touch with the LCMS partner church.
“God's timing is not ours,” said LCMS World Relief and Human Care Executive Director Rev. Matthew Harrison. “God's ways and thoughts are never ours. But all trials and struggles happen that He may 'conform us to the image of His Son' (F.C., S.D. XI.48). The need in Chile is enormous. And we will come alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ as they reach out to their neighbors in Word and deed."

Schumann is traveling with an IELCHI assessment team to communities served by Chilean Lutheran pastors, including in Santiago, Vina del Mar, Valparaiso, and Quilpue. The IELCHI president said the church plans to focus on “small localities that have, comparably, suffered much more than the large cities and which have been forgotten and overlooked by the TV cameras.”

The LCMS partner church plans to provide for immediate urgent and basic needs, both material and spiritual, and also assist with long-term rebuilding efforts.

Plans are in the works for Rev. Dr. Jorge Groh, regional director for LCMS World Mission in Latin America and the Caribbean, to visit Chile March 12 as LCMS President Gerald Kieschnick's representative to the Chilean Lutheran church to help evaluate the opportunities for post-disaster ministry and to encourage the leaders and members of the IELCHI. LCMS World Relief and Human Care tentatively is planning to send a two or three-person team to Chile under the direction of Rev. Glenn F. Merritt, director of Disaster Response.

The LCMS partner church is small, including five pastors, 200 members, three missions, and two schools with 900 students.

On behalf of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, LCMS World Relief and Human Care (the mercy arm of the LCMS) is working cooperatively with LCMS World Mission (the mission sending arm of the LCMS), LCMS congregations and districts, and U.S. and international partners to provide immediate and long-term relief for the people of Chile and Confessional Lutheran Church of Chile (IELCHI). Learn more about the LCMS' partner/sister church, the IELCHI, on their Web site at www.ielchi.cl.

Dogs Catching Treats in Slow Motion

I came across this commercial for Pedigree dog food on YouTube. It shows dogs catching treats in slow motion (shot at 1000 fps). Interesting to see all the body movements the dog goes through to catch the treat.

Kid Safe Internet: OpenDNS for the Home

A few months ago (back in December), Google rolled out Google Public DNS and it encouraged people to use it for a faster Internet experience. This was the first time for many that the term DNS became a household word. DNS stands for Domain Name System (click for Wikipedia Entry). DNS is sort of like a phone book for computers on the Internet. It looks up the web address that you type in and turns that into a number computers can use to locate the website. For instance, when you type "google.com" into your web browser address bar, DNS turns that into the number 72.14.213.147. If you enter that number in your web browser, you will go to Google's home page. Without DNS, we would have to type in a series of numbers for every web page that we visited -- sort of like looking up the name in a phone book and punching in the number on the phone.


So why would you want to use Google's Public DNS or another service like OpenDNS? 


The two basic answers to this question are speed up your Internet experience and improve security.


A third answer is available if you use a service like OpenDNS (http://www.opendns.com) -- web filtering. This is a great option if you have children at home who have access to the Internet. Both of my kids have Nintendo DSi's that can access the Internet. The Nintendo DSi has a web browser built by Opera on it. My nine year old son likes to search YouTube and Google for funny videos like boys making funny noises or things blowing up, etc. It isn't too hard to imagine him typing in something "innocent" and receiving a picture or video that is completely inappropriate or downright nasty. Or he might hear something on the playground at school or on the bus and type it in ... next you know, something you don't want the kids exposed to is on the screen. While every parent should supervise their kids on the Internet, it isn't possible to do it every moment -- especially if your kids have a portable device that can access the Internet. OpenDNS solves that problem for our family. If the kids accidentally (or purposely) type in something inappropriate, the web page is automatically blocked based on criteria my wife and I set. All in all there are about 50 different categories that can be blocked ranging from academic fraud (paper mills) to gambling to lingerie to sexual themes. In addition to these sorts of categories, OpenDNS automatically blocks illegal activities and malware. 


OpenDNS has two basic options that will interest the home user: the free account and the $9.95 per year (that's right -- per year) Deluxe account that gives you more customizable options. Besides the "custom" option, where you decide by selecting from 50 categories what to block, there are four basic pre-set options: High, Moderate, Low, and None. High level filtering: Protects against all adult-related sites, illegal activity, social networking sites, video sharing sites, and general time-wasters. Moderate filtering: Protects against all adult-related sites and illegal activity. Low filtering: Protects against pornography. None: Blocks nothing, but still offers the benefits of faster DNS service and malware protection, etc. With the Deluxe version you can add Whitelisted sites, etc. My house uses the "Moderate filtering" option with some minor customization.

Examples of Blocked Ads and Pages

(Note Nasty Banner Ads Blocked)

One of the best things about OpenDNS (besides its price) is that it requires no special software, etc. Instead, you change the settings in your router to point to the OpenDNS servers. This provides protection to any computer, even guests' computers, in your house. So you don't have to worry about your children's friends coming into your house with their computer or portable Internet device and downloading the latest album or movie leaving you to get in trouble with the RIAA or a large fine to pay for piracy.

Example of a Blocked Webpage

The Internet offers many wonders but also many dangers for the family. It is great to have a tool like OpenDNS for the home to help keep your family safe from bad and dangerous things on the Internet. Another advantage is faster Internet surfing, protection from Malware and illegal activities. Considering you can use it for free, go give OpenDNS a try.