NorthStarNerd.Org

Upper Mississippi River / 30th Wedding Anniversary Tour

In two days, my wife of 30 years and I will start our wedding anniversary bike tour. Leaving from Prescott, Wisconsin near Minneapolis and St. Paul, we will bicycle approximately 500 miles over the next week along the upper Mississippi River, with a short side trip into the Amish country of southeastern Minnesota. Our trip along the Father of Waters will reach as far south as Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Other trip journals seem to indicate that if one ventures farther south along the Mississippi River, the roads actually move away from the river, and the cities get much bigger (not fun for cycling).

You may read my daily trip journals via the Crazy Guy on a Bike Portal. We will be bicycling May 18 through May 25th. (please consider posting wedding anniversary best wishes on our Crazy Guy guest book!)

• http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/UpperMississippiRiverTour

My wife will also be blogging about our trip:

• http://superiorfootprints.org/upper-mississippi-river-cycling-tour/

Even better, the advance forecast shows that the looooooong Winter has ended. Temperatures should range between lows around 50, to highs of 80 degrees. Our plans are to camp 1/3 of the time, stay in motels 1/3 of the time, and also use WarmShowers.Org for the first time (another 1/3 of our nights). 

Believe it or not, we will be camping the actual night of our 30th Wedding Anniversary! Wish Molly and me Happy Trails! We will end the ride at our daughter's house in suburban Minneapolis. As we cycle up, she will be hosting a anniversary BBQ. Sweet!

The Biking Photographer ... A Rolling Photoshoot at 12mph

As a photographer, I am only an amateur, but I have one BIG advantage over many of you with similar proficiency taking pictures, I ride my bike! Sound like a strange statement? It isn't! While most of you plan a photoshoot at home, and then drive to a location, I experience the world with all my equipment at 12 mph from the saddle of my road bike while taking 20 to 40 mile rides.

Whenever I mount up, I have the following equipment in addition to cycling gear: My Canon SX40 and a monopod. With these two items I am able to both get a nice workout, but also stop whenever a photo opportunity presents itself. The monopod is important because it allows me to zoom in on all kinds of items, without having to worry about holding a heavy camera motionless given the weight of gravity. All of this gear will be with me when I cycle the 2,000+ mile Grand Gaspe Tour later this Summer!

The Biking Photographer's Rolling Photoshoot! (click to expand images)

   

Yesterday evening was a good example of how I use these tools in conjunction with a bike ride. Two hours before sunset, I decided to ride down to the Duluth harbor entrance. While cycling towards canal park, from two miles away it became obvious to me that the setting sun on the ocean freighter anchored in the open lake, and the two lighthouses which sit upon the end of the canal piers would be aligned nicely and have the "golden hour" light upon them.

Once the decision was made to take this photo, it was just a matter of biking until I found the best angle. In fact, I jumped off my bike twice and took photos before I got the one shown below (my favorite ... click to view at full size).

 

Here is the monopod strapped on to my bike day bag which allowed me to both zoom in and hold my camera steady enough such that camera shake was eliminated (tired arms).

Here is one more example from ten days ago. While biking up the North Shore of Lake Superior near Split Rock Lighthouse, I spotted a small waterfall shooting out from a cliff into the lake. There was a rockly island in the distance, and given the deep blue sky, a perfect photo opportunity. However, the key fact is later in the day I discovered from a worker at the near bye state park that the small waterfall which I had photographed only appears a few times per year ... including during the snow runoff from the Spring melt (the day I was bicyling). From the highway at 60 mph one would never see the small waterfall, yet from the bikepath at 12 mph ...

Here is the scene in question. Click to view at full size.

Finally, the link to my Flickr photosteam!

Creating your personal iOS and Android Magazine: Silicon Lakeshore!

With yesterday's Flipboard app upgrade, it is relatively easy to create a curated magazine. The next question you should ask yourself is why? If delighting your customer is important, here is the answer:

• Focus! A Flipboard magazine allows a narrow focus. Curation is relatively easy.
• Metrics! Once created, your Flipboard allows you track readership and shares. 
• Non Facebook! While Facebook sites are useful, if your organization does not fit the Facebook profile (leisure / consumer), a Flipboard magazine allows you to reach out to your customers in a manner which is comfortable, relevant (remember focus), and private.

Assuming you are curious, here is how the Flipboard magazine process works. The first few screenshots show my own magazine, Silicon Lakeshore (Technology with an outdoorsy twist from the shores of Lake Superior.), followed by the creation and editing process. The editing screenshots were taken on my PC. All other images are from my Google Nexus 10.

Click Upon any Annonated Screenshot to View at Full Size!

Reading Your Magazine via Flipboard (via iOS or Android App):

 
_______________________________________________

 
_______________________________________________

Flipboard Magazine Creation Process (via a Google Nexus 10)

 
_______________________________________________

 
_______________________________________________

Flipboard Magazine Management & Editing Process (via a PC)

 
_______________________________________________

 
_______________________________________________

 
_______________________________________________

Please consider subscribing to my Flipboard magazine:

• Silicon Lakeshore: Technology with an outdoorsy twist from the shores of Lake Superior.

A Burst of Scarlet for Supper!

It's been a good week for the birds. This Pileated Woodpecker joined us for dinner. While it ate ants, we had chicken!

In addition the Goldfinches returned to the Northwoods today. Perhaps Spring is finally here. Just a touch of snow left in the yard! However, the Buffleheads are still stalled out down at Brighton Beach (Lake Superior). They should be up to the Canadian sub Arctic by now. All the lakes are still socked in with ice from this point north.

Click to view any image at full size (my Flickr Photostream)

-------------------

 

Creating a Dual Boot OS Digital Camera

Do you think of your camera as a mechanical device, or a computer? The answer to this question should be a computer. Although your camera may have mechanical components and mirrors for the actual process of taking a picture, what drives your device is software.

• Better software yields better photographs
• Low quality software means bad pictures

In the computing world, we techies / nerds often create "dual boot" systems with multiple operating systems. Is it a surprise that cameras now have the same capabilities? By performing a hack on your camera, the end result will be a device with many more features (for less money) than the manufacturer had intended!

Surprisingly, performing the hack is not too difficult for Canon cameras. Better yet, unlike the world of PC hacks where your changes often mean you enter the world of no return (i.e. mistakes could mean an unresponsive computer), with CHDK (Canon Hack Development Kit) your hack is installed on your SD card. Thus, the hack runs off the SD card, and by performing a normal camera power on process, you boot to the factory operating system / defaults!

My camera is a Canon SX40. By performing the hack I acquired some of these benefits:

• Extended the shutter time for 15 seconds to 32 minutes
• Acquired the ability to perform time lapse photography
• Acquired the ability to take motion triggered pictures of lightning strikes
• Extended the aperture, exposure, ISO options (useful for night time photos)

Normally I would have to purchase a much more expensive camera to acquire these options. If you have a Canon camera, explore this web site (CHDK Downloads) to determine if a hack exists for your specific model. Finally watch this YouTube video from BigNate84 on how to install the CHDK hack. I would also recommend this YouTube playlist from Fatdragon100 which has additional information about the Canon sx40 hack process.

I would recommend watching BigNate's video twice. The first time you view the video, just absorb the content without performing your hack. When you watch the second time, use pause and play and perform your hack. In total, if you are cautious like me, the process should take you about two hours. The hack in terms of commands invoked is very short, but it's always best to work through content like this slowly!

Happy hacking, and remember ... your camera is a computer!