Rambling Randomly

Video Blogging Week 2011 - 2

2011-05-04T07:15:00.000-04:00

Julie and I spent 10 days in Alaska two years ago and this is video of Bald Eagles that we saw when we were in Whittier on Prince William Sound. The views and the birds speak for themselves!

Holding a camera still while in zooming in or following a bird is difficult.

Video Blogging Week 2011

2011-05-03T16:18:00.000-04:00

I made this video as a video scavenger hunt for my son-in-law (the one responsible for video blogging week)for him to find his Christmas gift. Each beer had a portion of a map that told him how to find his gift. I should have videoed him wandering the house to find the beer and then his gift. Maybe next year.

Music by Mannheim Steamroller

Video Blogging Week

2010-04-13T22:07:00.003-04:00

My son-in-law has declared this to be Video Blogging Week so I had better get one up. I don't think I'll get one per day as he will but it gives me the chance to learn some software. It is not much more than several clips put together but it was fun to shoot back in July. The next one will get a music track... I hope.

Cash for Clunkers

2009-08-01T13:56:00.001-04:00

In observing the reaction of various media and political types I’ve revaluated a couple of theories I’ve held about certain persons or groups of persons.

It seems to surprise certain people that when you create an incentive to do something, people will do it; and when disincentives are created people discontinue certain behaviors. Take smoking for example, for years we’ve been told it’s harmful yet the rate of smokers really didn’t change that much until the era of huge tax increases that were levied bringing the cost of a pack to over $5.00.

I spent many years as a smoker and never quit because of personal health concerns. The birth of my first child and the ‘cost’ of a pack is what finally gave me the incentive to quit. I can recall that I would say things like, “When cigarettes get to .75$ I’m going to quit.” It took a daughter and $1.25 a pack to do it.

As we’ve seen in a number of areas in the last year or so there is a number, a cost, at which people will stop doing things, it took $4.00 a gallon for people to slow down buying pickup trucks and it has taken heavy taxation on cigarettes to cut down on smoking. Last I heard the number of smokers is about half of what it was.

I have generally believed that most of these people, these politicians who did not seem to understand that if you increase the cost of something you will decrease its activity and if you reduce the cost, or subsidize the cost you will increase its activity were simply mendacious. They understood the reality of economics on activities but choose to ignore it based on their desire to… whatever they were promoting to enhance re-election.

As I said I’m not so sure any more. The number of politicians and media persons who have expressed what seems to be pure surprise at the public’s reaction to this program is actually frightening. I would prefer mendacity to ignorance. At least those who are dishonest know better.

Train Video

2009-07-26T07:30:00.000-04:00

In my first attempt at posting this I had made a movie that was too much for the Web. This one is still fairly large, 9mB, but I think I can post it. It is how I spent my Sunday, a week ago, July 19, waiting for one of the most recognized steam engines in the country. This is also my first movie.

Test Post

2009-07-26T07:13:00.001-04:00

This is a test, if it was a real post you might be thinking.