Catch Up Post

Its been a little while since I've caught up over here and that's a shame. Especially since I spend a majority of my online social media time on Google properties already (and Blogger is a Google property) but it seems like Blogger's been kind of forgotten about in the move towards more dynamic and interactive socialization.

Anyway, starting off with a couple of stylized photos from recent weeks. Both were snapped and then processed in an iOS app called Superphoto that has a ton of cool filters that it was worth the couple of bucks.

Some more photos that are far better and more amazing via Twisted Sifter.

I had a short Twitter argument with a deranged Hillary supporter by the name of Maggy. Go say hi, she's super fun and not totally insane at all. Nope, nope, nope. See how many tweets it takes for her to dismiss you as an idiot BERNIEBRO. I got it in 4! And then she blocked me because I can't bend the knee for Hillary. No wait, that's not quite true, I WON'T bend the knee for Hillary.

I am part of the #BernieorBust movement. I will not be voting for Donald Trump nor will I cast my vote for Hillary Clinton. They are, in large part, two sides of the same richer than fuck and don't give a fuck coin. I cannot support either of them because they are beholden to the 1% and couldn't be bothered to give two shits about the lower and middle class (functionally the same thing these days).

The argument that Bernie supporters MUST support Hillary Clinton is a complete fail on the part of the DNC and Hillary Clinton. Parroting Bernie's positions on issues isn't going to fly, not when she scampers back to Wall St. for more money at every turn. And we're supposed to actually believe her bullshit when she says she'll reign in the Big Banks? No, sorry, Hillary, we're simply NOT that stupid and the insults and smear and attacks aren't helping either.

Neither is the deafening silence from the Clinton campaign in the wake of yet another seriously fucked up primary event, this time the bogus convention in Nevada run by a Clintonista, supported by Barbara Boxer's lies and then propelled into the news machine by a complicit and bogus media "presence" (that apparently wasn't even present).

Yeah, sorry. #NeverHillary #NeverTrump #BernieorBust #FeeltheBern

In other election news, Rachel Maddow's chosen sides and chosen poorly. She's no longer an objective news source as she's very clearly decided that Hillary Clinton is and should be our next president and that's that and we should NOT question her or her surrogates when they sodomize the democratic process over and over again. Nope, we Bernie supporters should get ready to support Hillary except that's not really acceptable to a vast and ever-increasing number of us.

Anyway, what else has been happening? I've been making a whole bunch of time lapse videos with my SJ4000 "NoPro" action cam. This one is of the Wednesday evening regatta off Indicators (near Cowells and the wharf) in Santa Cruz.
I have a whole bunch more on my channel if you feel like checking more out. And some surfing videos as well. Here's one of the walk down from West Cliff to Cowells and then out into the surf. Or click this link to the same video and jump ahead to the paddle out about 2 minutes in.

Its no surprise that I absolutely love Santa Cruz and love living here. And with the weather starting to get better and better, the time off from work is that much more awesome! This weekend saw my youngest son and me out catching waves together. I still need to get my older son more involved but he's not a big fan of being cold and wet and we've been having some trouble finding booties that fit (and don't cost $60).

And this next weekend is Memorial Day and the weather is forecast to be excellent which means I'm going to get out and surf until I can't surf anymore!

Recap Time

Used SuperPhoto on a photo to make this awesome watercolor.

I'd thought about possibly trying to do a monthly recap here but just going back a few days of my G+ posts makes that kind of unfeasible. So I think maybe I'll do a recap of the best posts from the last week or so, give or take.

In honor of Alan Rickman's untimely death the other day, I watched Dogma (full movie on YouTube) last night for the first time in years and it was still very funny (though, as noted by a friend, a little too clever for its own good).

Politics
Netflix Founder Drops $100 million to Join Billionaire Crusade to Privatize Our Public Schools 

I went to a Donald Trump rally and saw a man wearing a plastic bag as a shirt. (with images, tweets) - this is both fascinating and really pretty disturbing and doesn't even include the newest addition to the Chucklehead Sideshow that is Trump 2016, the Freedom Girls (warning, link is to a YouTube video I can't help but believe is performance art but is apparently real)!

MMA/UFC Links
Nik Lentz issues "non-negotiable" demands to BJ Penn

The Conor Ultra Super Mega Hype Train Rolls On - Coach: After 'warm-up fight' against Rafael Dos Anjos, Conor McGregor could make a run at the UFC welterweight belt. Conor will get destroyed by RDA and any dreams he has of multiple titles will be pounded out of him. And, for the record, Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar both have fully legitimate beefs with the UFC capitulating to McGregor's bullshit demands. Defend your new strap or give it up.

And, lastly in mma news, Chris Weidman is 'really happy' he lost to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194

IKEA Kura double decker playhouse - epic makeover time!

Ned Overend is the Champion Cyclist Who Never Grows Old - a great article about a guy who was kicking butt on the trails when I was a kid and is STILL kicking butt on the trails today! The article includes some good training tips (HIIT yo!).

New Word:
Testimoney - paid for testimony, duh!

New Recent Videos:
Heavy Surf Pounds Its Beach
Washed Out Stairs to Its Beach
SUP Surfing Fall and a Not Fall
Some of the Big Swell Hitting Santa Cruz
A Coupla Waves in Cowells

Videos I've watched:
Santa Cruz Tsunami Up Close 2011
Ice Cube, Kevin Hart and Conan Help a Student Driver
AK-47 Underwater at 27,450 fps
Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue
Carp Attack [Carpe Diem]
Lego Mindstorms Bridge Layer

See ya in around a month or so!

A Rare YouTube Posting

Cyclelicious posted this many months ago, his daughter had been listening to it and it caught him so he shared it with the world. I heard it again tonight at the supermarket and wanted to listen and watch it again. It is, in a word, lovely. Enjoy. Prolly best at full screen so my wonky columns don't get in the way.

Why We Need Government-Run Universal Socialized Health Insurance

Found via Amy's Google Reader Feed. Makes sense to me and not just because I need health insurance, no really, that's not the only reason. We need universal healthcare because it is the right thing to do for all Americans and will, in the end, save lives AND money (regardless of what the fear mongering owned by the insurance company party of NO reps would have you believe).

YouTube to Your Desktop/Device

A friend at one of my schools asked me, because I'm a geek, whether I knew how to download videos from YouTube and then strip the video to be left with an mp3. At the time, I did not, but I flexed my Google-fu and figured it out in pretty short order. It was easy enough that I thought I'd share it with you all.

These instructions are for Mac-based downloading and stripping but the PC version is similarly straight forward so it should be easily adaptable.

1. Find the video you want to download on YouTube or other video sites (I've not tested it on Vimeo or other spots though so YMMV).
2. Copy the URL and paste it into the box at VideoDownloadX (warning, I got two pop ups on the page). Change the suffix on the to be downloaded file to flv (very important).
3. Download the appropriate application for your OS on Vixy. They do have an online converter but I wasn't able to get it to digest my paste URL properly.
4. Once you have the Vixy.net Converter Desktop application, open it up and browse to the downloaded flv file (you did remember to change the suffix, right?). Load it in, select the end product you want (mp4 for iPhone/Touch, mov for desktop or mp3 for just audio) and let it rip. You should end up with a clean file.
5. Import into iTunes or your player of choice and enjoy.

I tested this process out with a sweet video of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones song Kinder Words and it worked like a charm. Great song and a pretty good video too.

Note, in doing this you are almost certainly stepping across the ethical DRM divide with the exception possibly being live performances. So, do this at your own risk.

YouTube is Killing Teh Intarwebs!

The iPhone video threat: Can networks keep up?

The iPhone now accounts for my mobile web traffic than any other device in the US and it is #2 globally. And a huge proportion of users are using their unlimited (suuuh-weet!) data plans to spend hours and hours downloading and viewing YouTube videos.

I am not one of them as I probably go to YouTube less than twice a week and usually the only time I do go is to demonstrate how freakin' awesome the iPhone is. Yes, I did watch alot of YouTube this weekend but that's because of UFC 83 and my deep and overpowering need to see Matt Serra get the snot beaten out of him by GSP.

The article details some pretty amazing stats. More than 9 billion videos were served up in 2007 and YouTube alone consumed as much bandwidth as the entire internet did in 2000. Think about that for just a second and then pick your jaw up off the floor.

The issue isn't stopping YouTube, its making YouTube less of a bandwidth sink and suck. YouTube should look into incorporating BitTorrent technology to spread the bandwidth suck down. Or companies (and school districts) will continue to just block the site altogether which sucks because there's some superb content to be found.

Presenting My First MTB Video

I came away with some good lessons from my first ever mountain bike mounted video recording yesterday afternoon with Nande. The most important is to set the camera for faster recording. And some decent footage that I've put to music and am uploading to YouTube as we speak.

The best part, in my estimation, is Nande playing "rabbit" and running out in front of me for a good portion of the ride.

Anyway, here's the video for your enjoyment. Let me know what you think. As usual, YouTube's compression algorithms have made the video alot smaller and alot less viewable. I think I'll upload my own local copy and replace the one below. YouTube makes it easy to get online but I am never very happy with the product they produce, too grainy, blotchy and hard(er) to watch. I uploaded the larger version over on NorCal Bikers, don't know why the title page is posted beneath the vid though.

Pure Interpretive Dance

I don't know if this is art, but I like it!

Tags: video, dance, baby, interpretive

More Backyard Laughs

Here's Grady being a goofy and hilariously funny little boy.

Hey, leave me a comment if you're having trouble getting YouTube to serve up the video. I can't get it to load on my end right now and its kind of annoying me.

Tags: youtube, funny, Graydon, my funny boy