Three more viewpoints... Video Cam locations

What is it about video cards that they love to fail and make serious noise... One at home and one at work... The one at work sounded like a sad cow for a while... it was very hard to concentrate.. so just when I was going to go in and replace it it shuts up.... sleeping cow.... this afternoon... woah.... who woke the cow? Now the one at home is back to making noise.... not enough yet for me to have to replace it. Yet.

Day before yesterday I was telling you about locations to put your GoPro on a balloon... and how the shorter the arm was the less chance it would droop due to slippage of the clamp on the smooth metal... Well here are a couple of shots from videos showing 1. 2ft arm from the back of the burner frame 2. 2ft from the side of the burner frame and 3. on a 5ft arm clamped out the back of the burner frame..

1. Out the back... see the whole basket plus outside the basket. Close flyby of DebBee.

And a minute or two later...way above...

Nice View Huh...

2. 2ft arm off the side of the burner frame. During Fiesta just launched and spun around...you can see the passengers and 2/3rds of the outside. Its angled a little high though.

Up with the rest of the guys... Hi there!

And a little closer.. this was much closer than it looks....

3. 5ft pole out the back... nice view.. little jiggly and caution on the landing or flinging about... TAB out there. Full basket view and if the angle on the cam was a little lower you could see the bottom of the basket too.

Great View...

Enchanted Diamonds is chasing us.... Over Unser heading up.

Well that was fun... I have also attached cameras to the throat of the balloon.... I will locate some of those and show you too.. its a pretty freaky view though.

here are some links.... amazingly all close to each other... it is a good day for interesting things on the net you didn't know about... woooo

This was when it was fun and not insanely expensive to walk into a theater...

http://www.neatorama.com/2013/07/30/Shocking-1950s-Movie-Gimmicks/

This cracks me up....

http://www.neatorama.com/2013/07/30/Women-Use-Designer-Goods-to-Ward-Off-Female-Rivals/

And if that didn't crack you up this will crack you up...

http://www.neatorama.com/2013/07/30/Top-Misquoted-Song-Lyrics/

And... No kidding... funnier...

http://www.neatorama.com/2013/07/30/Sayings-20/

Off I go!

Streamlining....

Yeah... so not going there....

If you try someone will just chuck something in the way.... knocking you down just to get slightly ahead of you or just because they don't want to do it... or get it off their desk. I love asking a simple question and getting an answer I didn't ask for and another question. Freakin ridiculous.

I'm about done...

Let go find some fun pictures.... hmm....

Nope Sorry.. no good pictures... just the FAA junk yard next door.... Its like that neighbor that had a couple of old cars out front... yeah..... like that..... only bigger.

This is kinda fun... tone mapped Isotope Park sign... I like it.

Someone needs to cut back.... and quit dumping your garbage on the mesa! Damnit!

Did have one more cool shot of the signs at the Isotopes Park....

I have to say that the park looks great... Inside and out... Even sitting in the rain was all good.

They need to get better foot long hot dogs though... I had a regular hot dog the first time and it was good... the long dog.... yuck!

Well... as my brain has fled.... here are some links...

GPS/again....

http://lifehacker.com/most-popular-car-gps-unit-your-smartphone-960832986

Amazing kindle kick butt...

http://gizmodo.com/amazons-updated-kindle-app-is-a-tiny-f-u-to-apples-ap-966633304

Funny.....

http://www.neatorama.com/2013/07/30/Hilarious-Wedding-RSVP-Form/

And...Very funny!

http://www.neatorama.com/2013/07/29/Albuquerque/

Video capture.. Short Vs Medium

I have a four set of videos to edit. On the first two I used short arms... then on the second two I put a short and a medium arm attached to the GoPro's.

You can directly see the difference. And I know what the full extended 2 foot arm looks like. You get the wide wide view... a lot of rounding of the horizon, also it distorts the size and closeness of some things. You get the distortion with short arm too but not as bad.

So the short was about 6 inches.... medium was about 1 foot... and long was 2 foot.

The pros of the short is that the clamp wont slip no matter what.. the medium had to be tightened down but didnt shift... where the long arm had to be clamped on a pipe clamp to stop it from slipping.

Thats why I am toying with the short and medium... because I cant find anything except full locking clamp to secure the long arm onto the burner frame of the balloon. It has to be quick on, quick off.... see my problem..

Well, here are two shots showing to difference..

Short arm first....

and medium arm...

So now you can see it... In the first.. you can get most of the basket and contents..LOL.. and some of the outside....

On the second you can see the whole basket and contents as well as half the screen of outside... Its an awesome view.

I even have a longer arm but with longer than 6 inches the chances of hurting someone on landing go up... with the flexi arm the Pilot can yank it down out of the way if necessary.. on the two food fixed arm you cant and on the longer 5 foot arm there is no way to do anything but chuck it over the side if you get in a hard landing situation.

Choices...choices...

I think I want to put the super long arm on for the next flight.... it would be fun to use it again... been a while.

If I have time I will get some views of the other arm lengths pictures... Oh... these are stills from the videos.. not pictures... that's how good the GoPro is with quality of picture.

Hope that gave you some information on lengths and arms and views..

Links...

Its a Doozy... I use it... hah......

http://www.neatorama.com/2013/07/29/Why-Do-We-Say-Its-A-Doozy/

This just keep s me saying ..ouch ouch ouch ouch...

http://gizmodo.com/holy-crap-look-how-fast-this-nikon-pro-can-teardown-a-953774757

Sadly even if I complete a task I still feel like it was not enough.... hmm

http://lifehacker.com/regret-for-wasted-time-is-more-wasted-time-952521693

This might be interesting..... and difficult..

http://lifehacker.com/six-unconventional-scientific-ways-to-be-happier-948843276

More Photo fun

Day 2 of ballooning.. Its been a long time since I have gone out two days in a row for ballooning and I was not flying.. whew.... exhausted... really... and the day isn't over yet.... YIKES!

Keith and Eric flew some folks from the UNM Lithography center... they were fun... Got some good pictures and I hope some good video to play with... I have posted about 51 shots on my website...

http://invisibleblack.zenfolio.com/p292701191

As much fun it is taking pictures of the balloons and the people... and also trying to tweak them.. which is hard for early morning days with a lot of golden hour color... which kinda over blows the tone mapping...I like to look for the out of the ordinary shots..... kooky.. weird.. of just odd... so here is what I came up with today..

Lets focus in on the tie off rope... yeah...

Time for an examination........

Signs you should pay attention to.... Accessable!

I did say read the signs.... 

Close up of the deflation chatterer...

And the last but not least..... PLAY IT SAFE!

What a day..... Thanks everyone.... you make the day great!

Links you might be interested in...

Yeah... watch that warming stuff...

http://io9.com/heres-what-that-melting-north-pole-really-is-941914942

This I think would get me in trouble too easily...

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/you-won-t-believe-what-this-camera-turns-your-photos-into

And under the you sell some things to some people... yeesh! I lived there for a while.. well not in L.A. But we got their smog.. they just moved it to Riverside.

http://www.neatorama.com/2013/07/27/Smog-in-a-Can/

Also very helpful during ballooning... especially at Fiesta time..GPS!

http://lifehacker.com/five-best-car-gps-units-927206201

Well... soon to be off to the AAAA Isotopes game.... I am going to be one tired person tonight.

Things left in the sandbox of the desert.

Off ballooning this morning. It was a lot of fun hanging out with lots of fun and fantastic people.

Since I was out supporting and I'm not 100% able to do heavy lifting due to my tennis arms tennis arm...I did the normal "right handed" stuff and take a load of pictures and video. I hung a GoPro off of two balloons on short stands instead of the longer arms I wanted to see what the field of view was for just four inches. It turned out pretty good. Not as wide as I like but there isn't any worry about the camera drifting or drooping. I may have to go find an 8 inch post to set the cams on. That might be just right. BUT!! I did get two great flights on video. I will have to work on them when I have time and its cooler in the computer room. It will be fantastic to work on both. I may have to keep the speed down and just clip a minute here and there since it was so nice.

Here are some of the outtakes of my camera shooting craze... what I found around me while waiting for the balloons to get in the right place.... gosh... you would think they would emote better and also hold a damn pose!

Reflections......

Saturated desert sand.... some places almost 4 inches of rain.  Sandlot!

Cool Rio Rancho manhole covers

Colors are coming out everywhere.... Greens everywhere....

Toblerone.....

Keep throwing them at me.....

Dont drink and fly....

I get a kick of trying to find that real.....out there shot..... 

Tomorrow if the weather holds I am going out again and see if I can find some more....way out there things...

Have a great day!

Links.

This is a good idea. I like the idea that you can transfer files outside the need for a computer... I would rather it not be so oddly shaped. just a dual ended bar would have been better but what do I know.

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/innovative-u-transfer-usb-drive-lets-you-move-files-without-a-computer

Lets just say they can confuse an issue while trying to un confuse an issue... PHOTONS!

http://gizmodo.com/lumens-and-lux-light-words-explained-in-a-single-image-933223282

Tweeting.... hmmmm........ you would think that people would either leave well alone or find out if people what a change.... gee.. lets just .... I dont have the time...

http://gizmodo.com/tweetdeck-just-got-worse-and-twitter-blames-google-932378381

This is all good advice if its possible to do... limits to what is needed or might be needed.. I think I can drive myself crazy just thinking about it again....

what to get rid of or how to get to one desk..... and .. where do I put my computer towers where they are out of the way but where I can reach them.... yeah..... tough huh... Oh.. and dont kick your computer tower.. they dont like that..... plus more dust and dirt will get in them faster nearer the ground.... but the do stay cooler there... until the fans clog with dust and dog hair......we call that a conundrum

http://lifehacker.com/5641578/top-10-ways-to-organize-and-streamline-your-workspace

Video Editing syncing Yeesh!

I put two cameras on my balloon this last weekend. They were not lined up quite right. There was a lot of overlap.

Due to that I had to overlap the video as best as possible and also sync the two cameras.. yeah.. the program wont do it for you...

So the process I have is. load the video clips for one camera...re-size and center...load the second cameras video clips.. re-size and center.. then go along and bring each of the clips together the best possible.

Not bad so far... now to adjust each of the videos to be in sync liniarly ... which is next to impossible and I do it with the sound track...

WOW... just lost the computer... power supply just died. Looks to be the connector in the back... Okay... back to the video... so... syncing.... yeah....

Once its synced then there is the trimming of the beginning and end... then setting the speed ration and sizes for each track ( and you better not screw up the sync on the tracks ) once that is done you add fades and title and soundtracks.. muting the sounds from around since in the beginning the cameras are right next to the fan..woo loud.  Saving every so often is the best way because it something crashes your screwed and have to start again.. all over again... Done editing... okay.. now processing into a MP4. After that is done and depending on your computer and video card the rendering can take a long time... Finished... go watch the video before closing the program.

Even at this point the processing can screw up and its goes all to hell... and you start again.... sigh... I understand why company's charge so much for editing videos.. its a lot of work.... glad I like doing it and having fun with the video...

I just finished this.. just watched it .. its great but at one point it looks like I am sitting in the middle of the road for ages.. im not but it looks that way.... I wonder if I post it will I get some bad comments...

I put a disclaimer on my videos because of this... the camera set at 170 degrees and also the speeding and slowing down of the video make it look very 1. dangerous 2. low 3. too fast. 4. too high 5. too close.

Since I am a fair day flyer and always keep very aware of safety and rules I hate that it looks bad at times.. but no way around it with these cameras. If you see something in my videos that looks unacceptable... its the video.. not the flying... ask me if you want to.. tell me what you see... ( happened last night ) I commented on a video and the wrong video was linked... looked bad.. very bad.. had to pull it down.. apologize and reset the video... not happy about that. Resetting the video... I will apologize ...no problem.

So there you go..... I have not decided if I am going to upload the video or re-edit it to pull out the "parked int he road ( not )" section.

Wow.. lots of typing... here are some links

This goes on the back up. have a back up

http://lifehacker.com/how-can-i-reduce-the-risk-of-data-corruption-and-loss-o-923595543

Always keep an eye on the background of your pictures... yeah...

http://lifehacker.com/censor-barcodes-when-sharing-pictures-of-your-mail-923711677

Cool speakers... unnecessary but hay..

http://gizmodo.com/since-when-are-logitech-products-so-pretty-912521110

And this is pretty cool!

http://www.neatorama.com/2013/07/26/Placing-Literature/

Various things.. and Securing Your Data

So.. there I was.....

                  Searching.... it was a dusty, drifty day.... Ohh. not so good... Hmm... How bout...

      Hunting... with wet dust flinging right into your face in that stinging pushy way grit gets when you chew a mouthful of sand... I looked for that lost data... I examined a red rock... crusty in my fingers... it crumbled... not there I said.... damn!

Looking around more... I spied and pulled out and piece of weathered paper from a crack between two basalty lookin stones... its was an envelope... kinda lookin like a bill... you know..with that little clear window in its.. cept this one had been busted out.... Opening it and shaking yesterdays files out of it... not there either....

Turns out hunting for missing videos in the desert is just about the dumbest thing to try... well.... I think looking for them in the river might be a little harder.. due to havin to hold your breath... but thats me...

What the heck was I saying.... Oh yes.. I now remember! Agast! Avast ye! Oh yes.. um.... I went looking for a video because someone on facebook wanted to see some Racer speed maneuver videos.... and I had a great speed video of a launch at speed. about 1000fpm and also a descent at around 1600fpm but it was gone.... then I went looking for others and found those missing too...

I may have found them.... Okay I found the video I was looking for but not sure whats now missing and whats on file... So I have to compile them and then find the edited files.. and then upload them... Going to be fun..... Ultra NOT!

I will post it as soon as it loads....   Here are some fun pics...

Isotopes game short pano..... Look at this one... Oh this is with the Samsung phone... and look at this one... same phone .. different angle....

See... weird huh!

Had a great time with the great AIBF family... Fun game... I GOT A HAT!!!! No really... Its up on my hat shelf at work now....

Driving home today I was able to stop and take this wonderful picture of the city...........

mmmmMmmmm hmmm hmmmm...... Yeah.. big storm coming out in.... well.. from everywhere.

Here are some links for the interest of you......

I must drive people up the wall all the time...

http://lifehacker.com/avoid-the-false-uncertainty-and-other-aggravating-thi-895665768

This I have to read deeper... most interesting...

http://lifehacker.com/this-graphic-shows-you-quick-home-improvement-projects-888093974

Wow... this was interesing too.....

http://gizmodo.com/12-rules-of-internet-897870759

DRIFTING!!!  Some things better to do on the water than a parking lot... with a ship!

http://gizmodo.com/what-happens-when-the-us-navy-does-a-donut-in-the-pacif-895762600

PS.. I didnt stop.. I was.... lying!

Painful days

Had to take the day off work to get to the docs. What was a snafu on medication can turn ugly quickly Plus it would seem that I have tennis elbow on my tennis elbow so got scolded for that as well. Med change and admonishments later I didn't get home until after 3pm. Worn out, tired, in pain... I limped up the steps.... damn.. we don't have steps..... dragged.. dragged my aching bones across the threshold.... No really... it sucked that bad..

Tomorrow is going to be a load of fun ( NOT ). Im supposed to not use my left arm but I am supposed to take care of it with Aleve only. Statement was... "stop using it". So.. Along with that pain I have a lot of training due. Its gonna be a long one.

Since then Its been find something to eat that will stay down.... and if we are sitting at the table... so is the dog.... ask me what this is about?

I have some pictures around here that I thought were nice... I just tone mapped em a bit....

Ship rock from the poop deck...

Patturns In The Sky... in the sky..

And another balloon under new management now...

Flags...

Unedited ( except tone ) fields....

ZAK

The Standard Line Up... now turn to your left....

The Burque.... West Siiiiieeeeeed!

Well that's all I could come up with in this fog of pain I am in... Foofy!

Here are some somewhat interesting links.... it was a thin search..

This is a very interesting link but very sad to think of some one digging around... as I would feel if someone wanted to dig into the Arizona in Hawaii...... sigh

http://io9.com/a-submarine-graveyard-has-been-found-off-the-coast-of-881555427

Really>?  Really!... Please....

http://boingboing.net/2013/07/23/nsa-we-lack-the-capability-to.html

And again... Really? Really!..... Gravy Train....pathetic!

http://boingboing.net/2013/07/19/never-let-your-remote-control.html

And.... to spoil your dinner completely.... if you think 5 seconds is ok.....

http://gizmodo.com/the-five-second-rule-will-make-you-sick-and-maybe-dead-880976235

No more 5 seconds.. maybe 3....

ScreenShot!

One of the things Power Director is good for is taking screen shots from the video stream.

Here are a few taken in order of the run from yesterdays flight. It was a lot of fun. I have yet to have time to process the video and this is from only one camera.. and they both worked too... amazing. About 17gig of video. youch!

Shot 1.

As we launched.. what should have been a light wind moving us South West at 3mph we went directly south East. So I started spinning and increased the heat and spun upward ( that's why you can see the chase vehicles ) two rotations and up to an altitude where the winds moved us North and slightly west.

Shot 2.

At an altitude that we are moving West towards the two balloons off to the left there. It was a 1/2 mph speed wind.. too damn slow.. so we went up higher to see if we could move faster..

Shot 3.

Up up and away... For some reason I tracked on a course that I have done twice before. It was very strange... very very strange... I mean.. really... by about 50 feet we were on the same track same height.

Shot 5.

Stopped for  the second time on Northern. Checking the center-line for accuracy before hopping up onto the berm above. Rio Rancho Road line stripers do a good job.

Shot 6.

Brought to you by Richard Nixon...

Shot 7.

Landed and safe and sound. Moved off to the nearest clean area to lay out the envelope so it didn't get poked. Still covered in dust though but that's part of flying in the desert. I am not patting him on the head.. I am protecting his head from banging on the burner just in case... Not that that happened.... just being careful.
Never know what he would do if he banged his head.... never know.... really...

Shot 8.

Ya NEVER KNOW!!!

It was such a fun day.... And next weekend I get to go help him out... Cant beat it...

If you have never been ballooning... you DO NOT know what fun you are missing! If you want to come learn to crew and crew..... come out.. let me know... Oh.. and crew fly free all the time. Oh Yeah!!!!!!

Carab-Links!

Way too many links today that are interesting...

Dont break your flash / thumb drive

http://lifehacker.com/use-a-flexible-usb-adapter-to-avoid-breaking-flash-driv-869148452

And you ask me why I like flying balloons.. cause this is ugly...

http://jalopnik.com/the-ten-scariest-aircraft-landings-caught-on-video-866278053

Bug eyed!

http://gizmodo.com/disneys-new-algorithm-turns-any-photo-into-a-3d-wonder-872804707

Wooooo... paint!

http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/22/fresh-paint-windows-phone-8/

There are so so so...so...many links out there that are interesting... Im going reading.

Have a fun evening!