Sitemeter Says The Problem Is OUR Fault

Here is one of the reasons Sitemeter gave for the crash of their code:

1 - IE Users viewing pages - There was a problem with users who placed their SiteMeter tracking code outside of their HTML Body Tag. Because of the changes we made this created a failure for visitors viewing sites using Internet Explorer 7.
This is horse shit. On my blogs AND my web site the code is ENTIRELY inside the body tags (or was.) So if they believe this then they are saying that we caused our own headaches. To hell with you Sitemeter. Stop blaming others for your failures.

Your biggest failure was installing new code and then walking away not knowing if the code would work or not. It didn't and it took you 12 to 18 hours to fix it. Shame on you.

Here's the page where they stick it to the users of their code.

When you go to this page you will notice that they turned comments OFF. They know no one is happy with them right now or like me agree with the cause of the failure.

Update: August 5, 2008. Sitemeter has removed the above statement at their blog and replaced it with a more detailed explanation of their crash. It's honest and factual. It doesn't blame the users but themselves. I love to say it: I told you so!

Sitemeter Crashes Web Pages

If you use Sitemeter to keep track of your visitors it may be crashing your site. I use Windows XP with the absolute latest updates and Internet Explorer. Sometime this afternoon (August 1, 2008) any web page that had Sitemeter would crash. Be aware. I can't say what the cause is and I can't get to the Sitemeter web site because it's pages also crash. Is it Sitemeter? Is it Internet Explorer? Is it Windows XP? I have no idea. So far only one web site that uses Sitemeter will load into my web browser and that is the digitaljournalist.org site. Why they don't crash and every other Sitemeter site does is the big question.

City Daily Photo

The web site City Daily Photo has a monthly theme and this month it is metal. Well nothing says metal in southern California like the auto. Many owners take great pride in their metal and customize them. Then there are those owners who really believe that the road is theirs and theirs alone. The photo above shows what happens when two such owners meet in space and time. CRUNCH. Customize junk metal.

Combine Old Wth The New To Capture The Very Small

This fellow is only one inch in wing span (approx). I used my Nikon D40X with a manual Nikkor Micro 55mm lens to capture him. Set camera on manual and adjusted aperture and speed until I got the result you see. He was on a glass pane in our front door with the late afternoon sun back lighting him. The glass was dirty and I wasn't trying for anything great but I wanted to see how well the old and new worked together. The focus was the hard part. I slowed the speed down so to use a high aperture but I still had difficulty keeping him in focus. Below is a photo of the creature resting on the pane of glass.

Big Cameras With Big Lenses Require Big Photographers

We Love The Fireworks

No Picture Taking. Phooy! Click, Click.

Can't take photos in the Broad Building. What nonsense. What's Mr. Broad's motive?

This no picture taking has gotten out of hand. Every show that comes to the LACMA is off limits to photography. How are they going to stop it? You have a cellphone with a built-in camera? Click, click. A small digital point-and-shot? Click, click. Even with a digital SLR it's just point and shot. Camera does the rest. Click, click. I can have the camera hanging from my shoulder. Click, click.

Instead of banning photography embrace it. Have a contest for the best photo of an art showing. See what kind of photos you get of people interacting with the art. You just may learn something. Click, click.

Great Park Ballon

Went over to the still under construction Orange County Great Park to ride the ballon. It's tethered to a 400' cable it but still allows for great views of the park and surrounding area.

The park is on what once was a USMC air station, El Toro. The park has been years in planning and it doesn't look it. It's a dump. They've let all the existing structures go to hell and haven't really done anything other than a storage lot for RVs. The base housing east of the station has been replaced with new housing but that doesn't do anything for the park either.

The ballon ride was officially closed due to construction surrounding the ride. They were giving rides to invited guests only, mostly employees of the city of Irvine. For me that meant no ride but the ride officals let me go up anyway. Big thanks to them.

The construction that caused the closure of the ride was for the 27.5-acre Preview Park. The park has been under construction for years and all they've got to show for it is a preview park that's also still under construction.

Check here for more photos I took of the ballon: http://www.lagunabeat.com/2008/05/up-up-and-away-almost.html

Los Angeles Times/Goldberg Festival Of Books

The Goldbergs were everywhere. The rumor is that there are maybe a hundred more Goldberg writers and artists. All related somehow. Only four were represented at the festival. We believe the LA Times put a limit to the number of Goldbergs that could participate. Otherwise God knows how many would have been at the festival.

The sisters: Linda Woods (Left in the picture). She's the artist. Could be the only Goldberg artist. Karen Dinino is the writer. They were signing their books - JOURNAL REVOLUTION and Visual Chronicles: The No-Fear Guide to Creating Art Journals. Their blog is here.

If you can't tell which picture is of the sisters then as Tod would say "You are a . . . " Sorry the word has been copyrighted by Tod and only he has the use of it. If you are confused don't worry we all are. Read on to discover the location of the real Tod.

The brothers: Tod Goldberg (Left in the picture.) Tod is a writer and a teacher. I think it's best that you experience Tod rather then me trying to describe his work. Check Tod out over here. If you're reading this a year after the event then go directly to Tod's account of the 2008 Festival of Books.

Tod's brother, Lee, is a screenwriter as well as writer of mysteries. Lee can be experienced at his blog.

Not only were Tod and Lee signing books but Tod participated in two panels. They (The LA Times) actually let Tod moderate one of the panels, Crime with an Edge. (Correction he moderated both panels.) Mad magazine couldn't have selected a more unfit person. Turns out he was very good. Tod does know his shit. He steps in it enough. That said if you could get past the FUCK word his comments were insightful and . . . oh forget it. It was an interesting panel because of Tod. The panel included: Christopher Goffard, Rob Roberge, and Mark Haskell Smith.

Note to the Goldbergs. You use Typepad and I still can't figure out how to sign-up and leave comments. I've decided that is probably a good thing.

Note to Tod: I'm glad you were busy at 10am on Saturday because I had Shelly Jackson all to myself. Unfortunately she doesn't like tall, blond, blue eyed good looking types. She prefers short, tubby guys with hairy backs. I gave her your phone number.

It should be noted that UCLA is probably the ONLY location that can hold the book festival. It looks the part. No other location saids books like it. Please do not change the venue. I promise the Goldbergs will behave if you keep the book festival at UCLA. You can also ignore Tod Goldberg's demand that you install an escalator at the Janss Steps.

Los Angeles Times Festival Of Books - Three

Saturday was way to hot. Sunday was just hot.

Plently of writers. They're all rock stars to us.

From the top:

Lisa Lutz.
Mary Lou Henner.
Robert Crais.
T. Jefferson Parker.
Michael Connelly.
Joe Wambaugh.

There were many, many more writers. For book lovers, and we count ourselves as one, this is as good as it gets. This is the second book festival for us. We missed the first eleven. Can't wait for number 14.

Los Angeles Times Festival Of Books - Two

Saturday was way to hot. Sunday was just hot.

Plently of writers. They're all rock stars to us.

Plently of book publishers. There is something for everyone.

To many crazies handing out you name it.

Except for Disneyland I've never seen so many families. Could be the price of admission - $0.00. This is good. Very good.

Far to many signs declaring "Absolutely no photography." Boring.

$5.00 lemonade. The stuff probably had plently of sugar. In which case you just got more thirsty and wanted more lemonade. What a racket.

Los Angeles Times Festival Of Books - One

Saturday was way to hot. Sunday was just hot.

Plently of writers. They're all rock stars to us.

Plently of book publishers. There is something for everyone.

To many crazies handing out you name it.

Except for Disneyland I've never seen so many families. Could be the price of admission - $0.00. This is good. Very good.

Far to many signs declaring "Absolutely no photography." Boring.

$5.00 lemonade. The stuff probably had plently of sugar. In which case you just got more thirsty and wanted more lemonade. What a racket.

Los Angeles Times Festival Of Books

The crowds at the festival were large. LA loves their books. For two days in April writers are rock stars.

Just as the book lovers showed up the sun and heat made an appearance. It stayed hot all day Saturday and should make a repeat Sunday. Water was needed and plently was abailable at $4.oo a bottle.

Samy's Camera NO More!

I purchased a camera from Samy's Camera last August. When I purchased the camera I was given a card that allowed me to get 300 free prints.

I used it once last December for 125 prints. It worked OK. Then today I went in to get 122 prints made and was informed you could only get 25 prints in a month. In short they changed the rules. Just like the credit card companies.

The card is good for one year. That means I could go once a month starting today and get a max of 125 prints because I have only until August.

Screw Samy's Camera. Never again. No mater how desperate I am I will never use Samy's Camera.

Must Visit Blog - Good Photos

This is not my first attempt at recommending a Photoblog but it is the first time I have done it with a posting.

The blog is View From The Tundra. The photographer, name unknown, lives in Minneapolis. And he states that Minneapolis and St. Paul, the Twin Cities, are two of the most under-rated cities in the US. I agree but does he have to broadcast this statement of fact. It's getting way to crowded. Expecially the burbs.

Like me he doesn't give a bunch a techie info just good photos. The reason I'm letting everyone know this at this time is the photo he posted of the St. Paul Cathedral. Take a look for yourself. Sunset over Cathedral of St Paul

Whale Of A Wall

This post is our unoffical contribution to the Picture of the Day monthly theme photo. This month it's Mural or Graffiti.

The current whale mural is the third version at this site. The first whale mural was painted onto the white wall below the current whale wall. That first version was the first whale mural that Wyland did.

A few years later Wyland (He uses his last name only.) reversed the painting with the whales pointing toward the sea. Then the owner of the lower wall, for whatever reason, painted over the second version.

Wyland, just prior to the lower wall being painted white, had purchased the building that the current wall mural is on. The owner of the lower wall wanted the same building and may have painted over the whale to get even with Wyland. Whatever.

Wyland, after remodeling the building, created the current mural. It's made up of hundreds of porcelain tiles. Each tile is hand painted by Wyland.

The photo is made up of three images. We used Elements 6 Photomerge Panarama utility to create a single image. You can click the image to see a larger version.

You Wish

We think they ran out of the number 3.

It's The Photographer Not The Camera

Some photographers believe they need the most expensive cameras in order to do good work. This photographer demonstrates that this isn't the case. He's using a Canon G9 PowerShot to take time-lapsed photos of a parade in Laguna Beach. He hopes to make a short and quick film showing the entire parade going by in a flash.

But Mom It's Just A Big Toy Why Can't I Play On It?

No Place To Eat Near LACMA

There was only one location where we could get something to eat that was near LACMA and that was a small diner that specialized in hot dogs. Why are there so few good resturants near LACMA? Like none.

This place has been closed for quite a while. Why?