ShowMeBlog

Green screen

  I am getting a 9 foot by 15 foot green screen today. 

“Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a special effects / postproduction technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together, used heavily in many fields to remove a background from the subject of a photo or video - particularly the newscasting, motion picture and videogame industries. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production. This technique is also referred to as color keying, color-separation overlay (CSO; primarily by the BBC^[2]), or by various terms for specific color-related variants such as green screen, and blue screen - chroma keying can be done with backgrounds of any color that are uniform and distinct, but green and blue backgrounds are more commonly used because they differ most distinctly in hue from most human skin colors and no part of the subject being filmed or photographed may duplicate a color used in the background.^[3] It is commonly used for weather forecast broadcasts, wherein the news presenter appears to be standing in front of a large map during live television newscasts, though in actuality it is a large blue or green background. When using a blue screen, different weather maps are added on the parts of the image where the color is blue. If the news presenter wears blue clothes, his clothes will also be replaced with the background video. A complementary system is used for green screens. Chroma keying is also used in the entertainment industry for special effects in movies and videogames. The advanced state of the technology and much commercially available computer software, such as Pinnacle Studio, Adobe Premiere, and dozens of other computer programs, makes it possible and relatively easy for the average home computer user to create videos using the "chromakey" function and easily affordable greenscreen or bluescreen kits…” 

 

 

 I am not sure that I have the lighting and software to make it work but I am going to give it a try.  So you can expect a YouTube video soon if it works.

  Green Screen Tips, Tricks and Materials – Chromakey Tutorial

Pat Buchanan

  I am no fan of Pat Buchanan. 

“Patrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan ( /bjuːˈkænɨn/; born November 2, 1938) is an American paleoconservativepolitical commentator, author, syndicated columnist, politician and broadcaster. Buchanan was a senior advisor to American Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and was an original host onCNN's Crossfire. He sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1992 and 1996. He ran on the Reform Party ticket in the 2000 presidential election.

He co-founded The American Conservative magazine and launched a foundation named The American Cause.^[1] He has been published in Human Events, National Review, The Nation and Rolling Stone. He was a political commentator on the MSNBC cable network, including the show Morning Joe until he was indefinitely suspended during early January 2012 and fired the following month. Buchanan is also a regular on The McLaughlin Group…”

 

  I do watch “The McLaughlin Group” each week and have been for years.  I enjoy his point of view on the show.  I often do not agree with him but I enjoy getting his views.
  He got fired from MSNBC because of the content of a book that he wrote.  I do think he is anti-Jewish and racist but that is not the reason to fire someone.
  He is crying and carrying  on about being blacklisted and how the left is trying to prevent his point of view. 
  Well the right started the blacklisting of anyone they do not like.  They been trying to blacklist gay people and get them off of TV for years.  They try to attack everyone they do not agree with and get them off of TV.  Now the left has started trying to do the same thing and their first real “victim” is Pat Buchanan. 

  I can not feel sorry for him because I am sure he would have been first in line to ban Anita Bryant from doing Florida orange juice commercials.  And that was in 1979.  That is how long the right has been attacking people that they do not agree with and trying to blacklist them. 
  The right was also the people behind the Hollywood blacklist and that was in the 1950s!

 
  I think Pat Buchanan should be on the air.  His positions should be heard and discussed. 
Not matter what your views there should be a place for them to be discussed.
  The right does not agree with that at all…  Now it looks like some of the left is taking the same position.  
  A free exchange of ideas is good for America.

Bondage and semen-filled spoons from elementary teacher!

“Los Angeles (CNN) -- A Los Angeles elementary school teacher allegedly took bondage photos of more than two dozen students in his classroom, including some with suspected semen-filled spoons at their mouths, investigators said Tuesday.

The young students "didn't realize they were victimized," Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Dan Scott told CNN Tuesday.

"They thought they were being blindfolded and gagged as a game," he said. "And they were rewarded with cookies or spoons full of sugar (but) they did not realize the spoon contained semen."

The photographs also showed "a large 3-inch cockroach that would crawl on their face," Scott said.

Mark Berndt, 61, was arrested on child molestation charges at his Torrance, California, home Monday and is being held pending $2.3 million bond in a Los Angeles County jail, according to Sheriff's Lt. Carlos Marquez…”  

 

    You see these stories and you think it can not be true.  You must have read the story wrong or something.  You have to read it again.  Then you can not believe that someone could get away with doing something like that and you can not believe that someone would be so stupid.
    The guy was a teacher for 30 years!  How many times must he have done this and how many victims over the years must there be?
     You got to wonder how is it that no one found out about this in the past?   You would think that a kid would go home and say the teacher tied me up or something and warning bells should have been going off big time.
    
      There has to be some high tech answer to things like this now days.  How about a webcam in each class room that runs 24/7.  Each parent of a student in that classroom should have access to that video 24/7.  Plus a few others should have access.  School administration and school security.     

Are schools making kids sick?

  CNN has a story “Are schools making kids sick?”  Because of the Republicans schools are cutting staff.  The Democrats and the left is worrying about the lost of teachers jobs.  Many are worried about less school security.  But I do not hear much about the lost of jobs of the people that keep the schools clean and take care of maintenance.
  Hell, you got the Republicans calling for getting rid of the janitors and hire the kids to clean schools!

  It is crazy.  Schools need to teach but they need to be safe and healthy.  They should not make kids sick.
 

  The government, YES the government, needs to be spending money to make schools safe and healthy and places to learn.

  Plus cleaning up schools and building new ones will create jobs.

  The right wing Republicans are pushing us in the wrong direction.

  If we need to increase taxes to keep kids safe and healthy then we need to increase taxes.

   If you been reading my blogs over the years you know I love to go to a casino a gamble.  I buy a lottery ticket from time to time.
   When the issue of casinos and the lottery first came up in Missouri I said “no” to the idea UNLESS the profit could be used for schools.  Well the people that wanted the lottery said that there would be so much money coming in that schools would be made out of gold.   There would be tons and tons of money for schools.  So much money that the schools would not know what to do with the money.
   What happened to all that money?   Just from the lottery money it would seem like it would be easy to pay for everything.

National ‘motel kids’ problem

  I just read California chef feeds children for free on CNN. 
The “hero” Bruno Serato feeds more than 300 children each night in Anaheim, California.  
 
  We should not have hunger in America.  But most of all we should not have children in the United States going to bed hungry.

  NPR has some information on Hunger in America. 
 
  I suspect that politics is part of the problem.  I am sure the evil empire (the Republican Party) will say that we can not afford to feed American children.  I am sure the evil empire will say well they need to get a job.  The evil empire will say that the problem is that we give foreign aid to other nations.  I am sure that the evil empire will say it is all the wet back Mexicans here in the United States. 
  The Republicans will say if we would just cut the taxes on the rich people that somehow that would feed the children. 

  We have so many problems here in the United States that we need to work on.  I just do not see how we can get anything done with the evil empire in Washington.
 
  To tell you the truth I did not think about the problem of “motel kids” but I am sure that is a real problem. 
  Thank God for people like Bruno Serato.

Newt Gingrich wants to do away with child labor laws

  Republicans want to do away with labor unions we all know that…  New Gingrich not only wants to do away with unions he wants to do away with child labor laws.
  Not only do Republicans want to do away with labor unions but everything they have given the United States and the world.  
 
 

“(CNN) - Newt Gingrich proposed a plan Friday that would allow poor children to clean their schools for money, saying such a setup would both allow students to earn income and endow them with a strong work ethic.

Speaking at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, the former House Speaker said his system would be an improvement on current child labor laws, which he called "truly stupid."
"It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in child laws which are truly stupid," Gingrich said. "Saying to people you shouldn't go to work before you're 14, 16. You're totally poor, you're in a school that's failing with a teacher that's failing."

Gingrich then proposed a system he said would help those students rise from poverty.

"I tried for years to have a very simple model. These schools should get rid of unionized janitors, have one master janitor, pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work; they'd have cash; they'd have pride in the schools. They'd begin the process of rising."

Gingrich pointed to successful acquaintances as examples of the benefits of beginning a job early in life…”

 

  He would “allow” poor children to clean the schools.  Yes if you want an education and a lunch at the school you would have to clean the school.
  I am sure sure that kids are going to do a good job of cleaning the school. 
  His plan would also do away with a few good jobs.  That is going to help us all I am sure.  Do away with professional trained janitors and let children used hazardous chemicals.  The children can make sure the floors and stairs are nice as slick with hazardous chemicals. 
  I am sure that children will know about proper storage of chemicals that are a fire hazard.  I am sure little children can run one of those power floor buffers just great.  They will not hurt themselves nor will they damage the floors. Most of all I can not wait to see those kids buffering and tearing the hell out of the gym floors. 

  I know Newt has had three or four wives.  He does not have any children does he?
  I am sure that “poor” kids working as janitors are going to feel a lot of “pride.”  Talk about bullying problems now…Just wait until you got poor kids working at the school cleaning the floors and the toilets.  

  He does not want to improve education.  He wants to get kids to drop out and quit school.
Newt Gingrich could the Republican with the highest IQ, that is running, and he might be the best debater but he is a poor excuse for a human being.
  Shame shame on Newt Gingrich.  Newt go set in the corner with a the dunce cap on your pointed head.

Earth–Time Lapse View from Space

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

 

  I keep having people send me the link to this video so I am just going to post the view here.

 

Time lapse sequences of photographs taken by Ron Garan, Satoshi Furukawa
and the crew of expedition 28 & 29 onboard the International Space Station from
August to October, 2011, who to my knowledge shot these pictures at an altitude
of around 350 km. All credit goes to them.

 

Music: Jan Jelinek | Do Dekor, faitiche back2001
w+p by Jan Jelinek, published by Betke Edition
janjelinek.com | faitiche.de
Image Courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory,
NASA Johnson Space Center, The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth
eol.jsc.nasa.gov
Editing: Michael König | koenigm.com
Shooting locations in order of appearance:
1. Aurora Borealis Pass over the United States at Night
2. Aurora Borealis and eastern United States at Night
3. Aurora Australis from Madagascar to southwest of Australia
4. Aurora Australis south of Australia
5. Northwest coast of United States to Central South America at Night
6. Aurora Australis from the Southern to the Northern Pacific Ocean
7. Halfway around the World
8. Night Pass over Central Africa and the Middle East
9. Evening Pass over the Sahara Desert and the Middle East
10. Pass over Canada and Central United States at Night
11. Pass over Southern California to Hudson Bay
12. Islands in the Philippine Sea at Night
13. Pass over Eastern Asia to Philippine Sea and Guam
14. Views of the Mideast at Night
15. Night Pass over Mediterranean Sea
16. Aurora Borealis and the United States at Night
17. Aurora Australis over Indian Ocean
18. Eastern Europe to Southeastern Asia at Night

Veterans Day

 

 

  When I was in high school (De La Salle) we were a 55 c ROTC school.  We were in uniform every day.  A 55c school did more ROTC than a normal high school that had an ROTC unit.

  We also marched each year in the Kansas City veterans day parade. 
Other ROTC units were taken by bus downtown for the parade and then by a bus back to school.
  Our school battalion (500 students) marched from the school to the start of the parade site and then marched in the parade and then at the end of the parade we marched back to the school.
 
  We carried M1s except for officers that carried swords (they also were issued carbines).

  Before the start of each school day we had formation in front of the school for the entire battalion and the colors were raised with sound to the colors etc.  It sent chills up and down my spine every day.
  Each Friday the second half of the day was for a full dress parade in Parade Park which was across the street from De La Salle. 

  De La Salle was a Catholic all male high school taught by the  Christian Brothers. 

I do not have any video or even still photos of the weekly parade so here is a video from the United States Military Academy to give you an idea of what the weekly parade was like.  West Point however has about 1,300 (college) cadets and we had 500 (high school) cadets.

 

 

 

Is corporal punishment appropriate?

Do you believe corporal punishment by parents is appropriate for children?

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55582

No  37%

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Total votes: 88003

 

New word for me: Haboob

  I am 70 years old and I learned a new word today.  It is haboob.
CNN had a video and it said “Monster haboob rolls into Texas.”  I was thinking what the hell is that?  A band of hobos marching into Texas? 

“A haboob (Arabic:"هَبوب", "strong wind") is a type of intense duststorm carried on an atmospheric gravity current. Haboobs are regularly observed in arid regions throughout the world. They have been observed in the Sahara desert(typically Sudan, where they were named and described), as well as across the Arabian Peninsula, throughout Kuwait, and in the most arid regions of Iraq.^[1] African haboobs result from the northward summer shift of the inter-tropical front into North Africa, bringing moisture from the Gulf of Guinea. Haboob winds in the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, Kuwait, and North America are frequently created by the collapse of a thunderstorm, while haboobs in Australia may be frequently associated with cold fronts. The deserts of Central Australia, especially near Alice Springs are particularly prone to Haboobs with the sand and debris reaching several kilometers into the sky and leaving up to a foot of sand covering everything in its path. The arid and semiarid regions of North America – in fact, any dry land region – may experience haboobs. In the USA, they are frequently observed in the deserts of Arizona, including Yuma and Phoenix,^[2][3] as well as New Mexico and Texas.^[4] During thunderstorm formation, winds move in a direction opposite to the storm's travel, and they will move from all directions into the thunderstorm. When the storm collapses and begins to release precipitation, wind directions reverse, gusting outward from the storm and generally gusting the strongest in the direction of the storm's travel.^{[5][6][7]…”}