The Online Photographer

Coming Up on TOP

We'll start off next week with a little gem of an essay by regular (if infrequent) contributor John Kennerdell about the generational shift in style among photographers. That's Monday.

I've been meaning for a while to dig at least partway into the stack of books awaiting review, and since I'm feeling so rested and revived by my trip, it seems like now I might have the energy for that. I hope, also, that I can get to a peculiar little test I've had planned. I asked B&H Photo to send me a Sigma 60mm lens and a NEX-to-Contax adapter. Meanwhile, I bought an old Zeiss/Contax 60mm "C" Macro lens off Ebay. I can probably predict that my "review" of the two dissimilar 60's will not have enough charts 'n' graphs and bits of corners and centers of images to satisfy some Internetizens, but it will be my first experience with an adapter for the NEX and I'll at least talk about what the two very different lenses are like to use. I also have a new Micro 4/3 camera here to try.

So, next week, some book reviews, and within the next couple of weeks, a lens test or two.

...Among other things, of course.

Mike

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lith: "What, no bag posts? This is an outrage!"

Home Again...

...Now what are these socks doing sitting on the phone?

Oh yeah.

Coming right up: Ctein.

I had a lovely short vacation—I don't mean to brag, but I have to say I'm related to some really wonderful people. My cousin Chris lives in Colorado, climbs mountains for fun, runs or kayaks before breakfast every morning, and recently bought a Sprinter-based camper van in which she plans to explore the country. Since she and I are within a few months of each other in age, and grew up together as fast friends, I guess this means I can no longer use age as the reason why I get tired after a 10-block walk with the dog.

I'm trying to remember if Chris's picture has ever appeared on TOP...I know she appeared once in one of my columns on Luminous-Landscape. A few years have gone past since then.

And I was pleased to learn that my cousin Mary Milne's husband Bob, a longtime IT professional who worked for IBM for many years, actually checks out TOP now and then! It turns out we share a few geeky interests in common, including cameras and coffee (everyone seemed very interested in the NEX-6). I'm looking forward to trying to win another convert to home roasting. It'll be fun to try, at least.

The trip turned out to be fun and easy—the Milwaukee-to-Muskegon trip is so easy it's almost like they invented it for me personally. Drive on to the boat on one side, drive off on the other. But here's something that I find really funny. On the way to the terminal from the Lake yesterday, I asked Suri for directions to the "Lake Express Ferry." She innocently guided me to the point on land which was closest to the actual ferry, which of course was still out on Lake Michigan at the time. To end up where I actually needed to end up, I needed to ask for directions to the Lake Express terminal.

Computers know a lot more than we do, but it's always wise to keep in mind how relentlessly literal they are.

And speaking of knowing a lot, in the learn-something-new-every-day dept.: you know how all the men in the Old West all had big bushy mustaches? Turns out it was to help protect their lips from getting sunburned. Never knew that before. Fun fact I learned on my summer vacation.

'Kay, back to work now.

Mike

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Gone Fishin'?

Unfortunately, it looks as if TOP will not update for a few days. I'm going to Michigan to visit my cousin. I had hoped to update the site from my iPad, from the road. I should have gotten started working out the bugs earlier, though, because when I tried to make it work last night, I couldn't. Too late to troubleshoot now; and I assume I'll have no luck doing so once I'm away from the Mothership (the iMac, a.k.a. TOP World HQ).

Did you know they make tiny computers you can carry around? Word. They fold up like a book and are no larger than a thick fashion magazine. Well, an annual issue. They are called lapdogs or something like that—something with "lap" in it, and nothing to do with reindeer herders or Amish families. I will have to query the Financial Dept. to see if the enterprise can invest in a Remote Unit—now that the kid's in college, I can travel.

Theoretically.

I am actually not good at traveling. Not good at all. My father loved to plan trips, and did a great job of it—he called himself "The Tour Director." I suspect that I'm the sort who needs a tour director...and I probably would be even if I hadn't assumed the role of one of the tour-directed throughout childhood.

For instance, this morning, getting ready to go, I lost my socks. I laid out clean socks last night, and this morning I had them in my hand, and then they were gone. I looked all over. Yes, even in the microwave. No socks. So I had to go down in the basement where the laundry machines are and scrounge for another clean pair. And then when I sat down here to write this—well, the socks are sitting on top of the phone. Why is that? How did they get there? I'm sure I have no idea. I must be involved, in some way.

All that took ten minutes and cut into the time needed to consume my Kona. I'm now at T minus sixteen minutes and probably won't make it out of the garage on schedule. Luckily, I have planned some slop time to account for such distractions. I am disorganized, but I am experienced at being disorganized.

You can imagine what it would be like when I travel. Passport? What? I once missed a plane in the Boston airport and had to wait six hours for the next one—which I then missed because I had forgotten to reset my watch to local time. That, in a nutshell, is what it is like when I travel.

I would need a companion. A competent companion.

The NEX-6 with its adequately sharp lens is in the Billingham 225 (which has no lapdog slot, by the way, a shortcoming). I have cards, the charger, and an extra battery, and am idly wondering what item necessary for successful photography I could have forgotten; I'll discover what it is as soon as I am no longer able to retrieve it.

Lee Friedlander published a book (a book! I forgot to pack the Kindle!) about a sculptor, whose name I cannot retrieve from the mainframe at present, who had to be accompanied whenever he left his house. The reason was that he would take whatever turn in the road looked the most interesting or beautiful, until he was thoroughly lost and had no hope of finding his way back home. Someone had to go with him whenever he went anywhere or he would disappear for days on end.

I can relate.

Sorry to leave you abruptly like this, but, like herpes, MacArthur, Springtime, and the rains, I shall return.

Mike

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TOP Notes

Unfortunately I've not been feeling well, so I'm going to have to take a few days off. (Ctein is off this week too.) TOP will return in a few days. Sorry for the interruption in service; we shall return.

—Mike, TOP Household Staff

P.S. I have seen the Globe and Mail article that mentions us, so no need to send me more tips about it and links to it. Thanks though!

Have a Nice Weekend

Want some movie suggestions? I found this nice list of "rom-coms" that has some good ones—it has a few of my favorites on it (although I couldn't stand Say Anything). Maybe I'll watch Annie Hall again. It's been a while. The list's #4 pick is my brother Charlie's #1 favorite romantic comedy, and it has my #1 at #34.

And don't forget the Belmont tomorrow!

I'll be taking Saturday off as usual. Coming up on Monday we have a great article by Ken Tanaka about a wonderful and perhaps somewhat overlooked contemporary photographer. Thank you for reading; see you on Sunday.

Mike

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Patrick: "I suppose such a list a supposed to generate a little discussion, but man, he's got some real clinkers in there, namely, number 15 and 16 should not be on the list. Your own number 1 (his 34) should be top five. Here is the properly ranked top 5:

1. The Apartment
2. Groundhog Day
3. The Lady Eve
4. About a Boy
5. Eternal Sunshine/Princess Bride (tie)."

How Affiliate Websites Work

I got a bitter and cynical complaint yesterday (which I didn't publish) about all the positive camera reviews on TOP. I thought it might be an opportunity to explain how all this stuff actually works. I know a lot about this subject, having made all or part of my living from this for eight years now. I'm one of a relatively few people who manage that.

TOP Is Planning to Grow

"Pardon our dust," the signs always say. Under construction; getting bigger and better. It'll be nice when it's done. Be patient!

And now it's our turn.

This is to announce that TOP is planning to get bigger and better. We're going to try to move to new digs. We've outgrown our old space and need more room, and the constraints have put a clamp on our activities, our creativity, and Yr. Hmbl. Curmudgeon's relative position on the happiness/grumpiness graph line.

You can help! I'm going to begin by converting the next print sale to a Kickstarter campaign. I'll have more news later this week about the goals and how we're going to get there. I'm talking to my banker tomorrow.

Up, up and away! Nothing ventured, etc. Pardon our dust, but change we must.

—Mike, TOP Head Strategist and Relocation Coordinator

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Roger Bradbury: "But I though TOP World Headquarters was in a hollowed out volcano. You haven't filled it up already? I suppose all those minions must take up a lot of room, though.... :-]

"Seriously though, I realised the other day that I don't buy photography magazines very often, because they have very little I want to read. The same old tat where I don't learn anything new. At TOP, I want to read nearly everything, and I'm always learning new stuff. So, improvements? Embiggened? Betterer? Works for me! Also, I think it would be good for you to employ a minion, even a part time one."

Blog Note

AWOL: I didn't go fishin' yesterday, but I had to take the day off. Don't know why...other than that now and then you just need a day off.

Commentary: Monday didn't set a numerical record for comments on a TOP post, but it might have set a record for the number of substantive comments. Just about 170 as of this writing.

Clearly a topic of considerable interest to photographers. We will present Ctein's take on Photoshop CC two weeks from today.

Where this stuff comes from: Every writer, I suspect, has had the experience of something seeming to "pop" from his or her head, as if unbidden.

One of the hardware stores where I shop has a handicapped parking space right in front of the front door, sidewise, meaning the cars park parallel to the storefront and not perpendicular to it. As I was leaving the hardware store yesterday, a big pickup truck screeched into the handicapped parking space and a big, burly guy with hair in some of the wrong places hopped out of it and went striding purposefully into the store.

As he passed me, I said, "Funny, you don't look handicapped. Or are you just a moral cripple?"

That second sentence came from nowhere. Sent by God. Was not something I was thinking of saying. Just popped out.

Fortunately, there was a slight pause between my first and second sentences, and the guy had passed me by the time I said it, so I was no longer facing him. And I don't think he heard me. A good thing, because if it came to blows I don't think I would prove to be the faster runner.

Happens sometimes when I write, too. But in that case it's seldom dangerous.

Mike

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Michael Forte:

bill: "Thanks for speaking out for the handicapped of the world. I'm a spinal cord injury. But these rude ABs (our term for the Able Bodied) folks annoy the hell out of me/us when I can barely manage 50 feet or am 'wheelin' it' and can't find a space with them all blocked by a big, burly, hairy armed delivery guy and his truck taking five spaces AARRGGGGHHH. I wish I could recommend that everyone say something in these situations but it could be hazardous to your health.

"Glad you took a day, we all need one now and then. Hope it was a good 'un!

"And if you are one of the folks who are 'only here for a few minutes, so park HC' think about us who sigh and drive on 'cause we need the space."

Stan B.: "Amazingly—I had just finished reading this post, right before coming here...."

Mike replies: That falls into my regular category of Learn Something New Every Day at TOP, only sometimes it applies to things I'd rather not know and wish I didn't.

BrianW: "There's a historical precedent, both for the parking misuse and for Mike's quip."

Mike replies: That's funny, but shh, don't tell the anti-Apple crowd.

The funniest/most pathetic handicapped parking story I ever knew about firsthand was a guy I worked with who had spina bifida. He needed an electrified cart to get around the building with indoors. Like a very small golf cart. When the company moved in to a much larger, more luxurious building, the factory entrace had steps he couldn't negotiate, so he was presented with a corporate handicapped parking pass and his own specially-designated handicapped parking space right next to the front door, on ground level. But when he tried to park his electrified cart next to the front door at night, they decided it didn't look nice parked in the reception area...so they forbade that, and made him park the cart way in the back of the factory, in the shipping department where he worked. The upshot was that after he got the special handicapped parking space (which he had to use), he had to slowly and painfully walk more than the length of a football field every morning and evening to get to and from his cart.

He never ceased complaining about this, and management never did anything about it.

And Now, Hebrew!

You might remember (well, if you've been around here a while) my post "Great Photographers on the Internet," the first post that went viral and helped establish TOP. It's been translated into a number of different languages over the years, mostly with my permission.

Now, Ronen Frieman has published it (again with my permission) in Hebrew!

Mike
(Thanks to Ronen)

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Dennis: "That post is all the more brilliant because of the comments made in reply to it. The people who don't get it just reinforce the humor. I love the next-to-last (as of right now) comment that ends: 'You have made yourself look like a fool, in my opinion, with just one post.' How perfect!"

Judith Wallerius: "Not only do I remember, but that was also the post that initially brought me to this lovely place. Has it been seven years already? Time flies when you're having fun :-) "

Bloviation Alert

...The "Which Lenses" post is now complete. It does go on a bit. But then, today is Saturday, so maybe you have the time.

Mike

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G'day

TOP is off on Saturday, for regular housekeeping...as in, you know, the cleaning of the actual physical house. I hate doing it but I like having it done.

We will do much more about this business of the post-1995 photographers. I'm working on a samplings post. Thanks for all the responses.

It's always fun to research photographers I haven't heard of. And what do you know, look what I came across—a "Random Excellence" photographer from way back in 2008, Hin Chua, has a lot of new pictures in the set called "After the Fall." (I thought it was a new project at first.) It's a type of photography you probably know well, but unusually well done. None of the pictures taken alone does a whole lot for me, but somehow taken altogether the set becomes meaningful. Take a relaxed, extended look.

See you Sunday.

—Mike, Organizing Apprentice and Journeyman Housekeeper Ordinaire

UPDATE from Hin Chua, Monday a.m.:

Dear Mike (and everyone),

Thanks for posting my series again! Hopefully two posts in six years doesn't consist of TOP overexposure! Mike, when I started getting into photography in 2005, your columns on photo.net were a regular reference for me; I've always valued them.

Embarrassingly enough, the current 'After the Fall' work on my website dates to about early 2010, which means I have about three years of work yet to show the general world. As William notes, yes there are hundreds of images involving thousands of miles of travel that quite rightly didn't make the cut. Whatever they say about keeping your website updated as a best reflection of oneself is true, and I've been too guilty of that. I have to admit in public the current sequence looks a little long in the tooth and will be better for the new photographs.

But the site will be updated this year, and the long-term goal is a book. I'm clearly working at a slow, deliberate pace here. And hopefully in a year or two I'll get my act together and kick it up a gear ;-)

Best,
Hin

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William Barnett-Lewis: "Thank you for the link to the Hin Chua 'After the Fall' series. I've done a fair bit of that style of work, though rarely at his level. There are a number of delightful 'surprise' images there that tickled my personal photographic aesthetics. The best thing about it, though, is that it's a carefully edited and presented series—there were, doubtless, many more images taken than presented. To look at even an extended series such as his is a relief in a world where most people seem to think uploading everything on their SD card is all they need to do. This is, at least for me, why it works even better as a whole than even the individual well done images do. There is as much care in the crafting of the series as in the crafting of the images themselves."

Mike replies: Agreed.

Softie: "'None of the pictures taken alone does a whole lot for me...' I beg to differ. Some of those pics in 'After the Fall' are among the finest compositions I've seen in years: particularly the stack of concrete pillars with the graffiti heart."

Tiny Update

First, Ctein's regular Wednesday column will appear tomorrow—late for obvious reasons. This week he'll talk about printing "Castle Eilean Donan" from yesterday's Print Offer.

Speaking of which, Ctein tells me that all the order confirmations have been sent. If you emailed an order during the sale period yesterday but haven't gotten a confirmation from him yet, he asks you to contact him immediately at ctein@pobox.com.

Thanks again to everyone who participated. Yesterday was an exciting day!

(Oh, and remember my promise: the next sale—of three of my own pics, all by popular demand from TOP posts and camera reviews [including the mysteriously popular scarecrow], printed by Ctein—will be a two-digit sale, with no print over $99. That will be including shipping. I ain't forgot you, my brothers and sisters with the skinnier wallets*.)

Mike

*This might be TOP's first Notorious B.I.G. reference. Cf. the lyrics to "The Ten Crack Commandments."

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Jeff Glass: "Shouldn't that be 'Ctein-y Update'?"

TOP Comment Policy Change

I'm really extremely sorry about this, but henceforth I need to make people fill out a CAPTCHA box when commenting. I've held off as long as I thought I could. [See new Update below.]

I'm painfully aware that this is not ideal. "We apologize for the inconvenience" is such a stock phrase that it's almost white noise now, but...I'm sorry. I apologize. For your inconvenience. I know it's inconvenient.

The reason is that the spam filters are just not working well enough any more. I don't know what happened, but for a number of weeks now I've been getting large numbers of "real" comments mixed in with the spam, which means I have to laboriously comb through all the spam (and there are tremendous amounts of it) to save the actual reader comments buried therein. In addition to the regular comment moderation, it's just an onerous amount of labor. I figure people come here to read the posts, and this is just stealing too much time from productive work.

If this doesn't solve the problem, I'll have to make you register in order to comment. I really, really hope we do not have to go that far.

Sorry... (<—sincere apology).

—Mike, TOP Comment Moderator and Keeper of the Peace

P.S. May I just add that I loathe spammers with an unspeakable passion. They should all have their gonads cut off with machetes, and I say that as an avowed nonviolent pacifist.

UPDATE 2:30 p.m. Monday: Great news! (I hope.) I just heard from TypePad, and they are in the process of retiring TypePad Anti-Spam and switching to a premium outside spam-fighting service called Impermium. This is the Anti-Spam programming used by Engadget, Major League Baseball, CNN, ESPN, Wired, The Washington Post, and tumblr., among many others. I'm told the new system should be implemented "very soon."

So, hopefully, the CAPTCHA inconvenience will prove to be very temporary for all our commenters. And thanks to everyone for all your input, kind comments, and continued support. —Mike

Original contents copyright 2013 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Featured Comments from:

nige: "Blunt machetes...."

Jeff Grant: "Will this really help? I have been inundated with spam of late. The amount has increased from maybe 40 to up to 1000 daily.I hope that it settles down soon.

"And while I'm at it, that Captcha box is one of the almost illegible ones. I have seen some lately that are eminently more readable. Any chance of a change?"

Mike replies: Yes, the latest wave of spam appears to be giving the programmers fits. I've been patiently waiting for this particular wave to pass but it just keeps getting worse.

And no, I don't have lots of options as to what I can do about it. I'm limited by the TypePad template I use.

Greg: "I'd be curious for a poll on this because for me, I'd much rather register than having to go through CAPTCHA. I would suspect that most commenters here are people who are long-time commenters who are basically registered already. And this isn't to say one can't register through a nom de plum if they need some relative sense of anonymity."

Ken Ford: "Mike, I am a part of the moderation team for a very large music forum. We've found the majority of the spam problem comes from human shills— CAPTCHAs really only help at registration and can pose real problems with legitimate posters when overused. Don't be surprised if you see a formidable drop-off in comments; I'd personally rather see a registration scheme, it's less intrusive on the comment process."

Mike replies: Well, not so far—I woke up late today (worked till 4 a.m. yesterday) to find 61 new comments.

Rest assured, though, that I am watching carefully, listening to peoples' opinions, and working toward a solution. I'm waiting to hear back from TypePad with their recommendations, too.

Johan Grahn: "As an avid reader I admit to having no idea whatsoever how much work it is to moderate comments. Probably a lot more than I can imagine. And I really like the fact that 99.9% of the comments are good. I might not agree but they are very reasonable. And I don't have to filter them myself. I don't see silly nerd battles. So do whatever you have to do to keep the civil tone that is the signum of this site. It's a major factor that makes this site the number one site on photography. At least on this planet's internet. I want to continue to visit your friendly 'living room' and listen to all your intelligent, wise and beautiful guests! I second the motion to use a simple math question. It is easier to read than the other way. Maybe try that to begin with and see if it works."

Mike replies: The amount of work varies. It can go from quite light to pretty amazingly time-consuming (like it is today). I, too, enjoy the comments—I obviously don't get much from reading the posts, since I write them, but I almost always learn from, and am entertained by, many of the comments.

Another downside for me is that all the nastiness you don't see, I do see. But these days that mainly comes from newcomers who aren't familiar with TOP or our "tone." And there aren't all that many of those. They take a lot of time, cumulatively, because I need to be courteous to them in case they are actually nice people temporarily disguising themselves as a-holes. Sometimes, unfortunately, they are, indeed, just a-holes. :-)

I was going to give you a recent example, but why expose you to it? Goes against the grain.

Peter Filtness: "Mike, Whatever it takes to read and comment on TOP...it just hit me how often I read TOP and how many magazines I no longer buy. I now only subscribe to TOP (as of today) View Camera magazine and Birds Australia, so you're in good company...keep it coming...."

Mike replies: Thanks Peter, I'm trying!

Robert P: "Hello my name is Mbeke Ombwonyke, I have recently been given your details from a mutual colleague. It has come into my possession $60,000,000 which I am having in a bank account here in Nigeria but am unable to leave the country. If you could esteemed colleague send me your bank details I will assure you 50% of this transaction which will be converted into vintage Leica M cameras and then smuggled out of the country by camel mule. When arriving at your house, you only have to untake the cameras from the camel mule and place them on ebay and our mutual wealth will be assured. I look forward to helping us in this matter. Your ever present camel friend Mbeke."

Mike replies: [Homer Simpson voice]: Mmmmm, Leicas....

A Followup: Office Space

The other day I went on at some length (too much?) in this post about my office space problem, and the interesting way in which it thoroughly resists every potential solution. My enthusiasm at the time was for adding a second story to the garage, even if it would be expensive.

Well. I had a builder here yesterday (I'm getting two old windows replaced), and since he was here anyway I spoke to him about it. He said there's no way the city would issue a building permit for a two-story garage next to a one-story house. Not a question...no way. His rough estimate for the project as I outlined it to him was fifty to a hundred thousand dollars anyway. The estimate I got for adding a second story to the house was eighty. These are numbers way out in the wispy realm of the theoretical for Yr. Hmbl. Ed., even for TOP World Headquarters.

But maybe that's for the best. Think of what happens to many other mighty enterprises when they build vast gleaming headquarters buildings. A few years pass, and Chrysler is no longer headquartered in the Chrysler Building, the Sears Tower is no longer the Sears Tower, and Hasselblad has to vamoose from its ultramodern HQ. And come to think of it, my mentor at the publishing company I used to work for got let go not long after she bought herself a proper set of office furniture. So maybe a larger office would be a signal of hubris that would bode ill for the fortunes of the Internet juggernaut that is TOP, which, let's face it, does not actually yet have a very robust history of stability and prosperity.

In other words, looks like I am going to have to muddle along with what I have. Well, it's been workin' so far.

Mike

CODA: I do thank everyone for all the suggestions, but, honestly, I really have considered and rejected every alternative. I have no room for an outdoor shed, cannot afford to waterproof the basement (I've gotten estimates), know myself well enough to know I just wouldn't visit an offsite office often enough, absolutely cannot reconfigure the room arrangement of the house, cannot use the garage, etc., etc. I'm stuck with my 11x11" space, and that's that. Lucky to have that much I guess.

Fortunately, new cabinets, tables, and shelving should help a lot, and I can write off the cost.

Original contents copyright 2013 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Featured Comments from:

JackS: "I have always found it cheaper to buy an existing house with the configuration you want rather than altering the house you are in—even after including the cost of moving. The cost of most home alterations is very difficult to recover when reselling, unless you do all the work and place very little value on your time. Of course, variables such as loving your location, not caring about resale values, and having piles and piles of picayunes can alter the home-alteration decision-making process. (YMMV)."

Marshall: "For what it's worth, that switch to new furniture and significant rearrangement can create enough change to be truly reinvigorating. I hope that is the experience you have with the project."

Brief Updates

1. I got an email from Maude Schuyler Clay, who confirmed that the Eggleston portrait is hers. She's traveling, though, so her note was brief.

2. I hope to write the NEX-6 wrapup on Wednesday. It might have flaws, but it won't be fiction.

3. So here's what I'm jazzed up about at the moment. I mentioned in the "Ask Mike" post my difficulties with the size of my home office. It's as near as makes no difference to 11 feet square, making a grand total of 121 square feet of floor space. I'm so jammed in I literally can't buy a flatbed scanner because I have no place to put it. It really has been a problem, although I understand completely if nobody cares but me. :-)

In the Comments, reader Thomas Turnbull suggested adding a second story to the house. I've actually already looked in to that, and the bottom line is that any way I slice it, it would cost about twice the value it would add to the house. No can do.

But then I got a related bright idea...I have a detached two-car garage. I wonder how much it would cost to add a second story to that?

I was just out there in the dark with the measuring tape. The garage is 20.5 by 22.5 feet, making about 440 square feet after subtracting the thickness of the walls. That would be more than twice as much floor space*! If I'm careful with the design, I could have a scanner and a little studio space, and I wouldn't have to site the printer in the living room. Woo-hoo. Luxury. It would require no plumbing, and the stairs could be outdoor, patio-style stairs leading up to a door. If I did some of the work myself and don't get too carried away with details, it might even be possible.

It'll probably still be too expensive, but I'm going to look into this. Hope!

Mike

*Innumeracy joke. It's ~3.6 times as much.

UPDATE by the cold light of dawn: I don't think this would work. Now that I look at it more carefully, the garage is just sticks on a slab.  And the roof structure, which I was thinking could simply be raised, doesn't allow for any clearance at all, so the second story would have to a be a full seven or eight feet. Actually, to get a usable second story, the whole shebang would probably need to be rebuilt from the foundation, all new. I'd probably be into the project $50k if I was into it a dime. Too rich for the likes o' me.

Plus, the resulting hulk would blot out of the sky, and would overpower the scale of the house and the lot, which is adequate but modest. And the next occupant of the house would be left wondering what in the world to do with the space...they'd probably find themselves with one very fancy attic.

We translate it to "The best-laid plans of mice and men / often go awry," but don't forget that the original Scots is "The best laid schemes o' Mikes an' Men, / Gang aft agley."

Well, maybe that's not quite right!

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TOP links!

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dwross: "As the saying goes: I feel your pain. That was my situation for years, except the dedicated small bedroom was an improvement! Before that, I had a corner of every room in the house staked out. Then...I don't know how much of a lot you have, or your setback requirements, but I was able to remodel my detached garage into a studio/darkroom and attach it to the house with a pretty foyer, and then build a new detached garage. Heaven (except the long walk with the groceries!)"

Mike replies: Good for you. Glad it worked out.

As I've replied to various commenters, the situation really is a puzzle. Here's the lowdown:

• Can't move. I can barely afford this place, don't have time to do all the work of moving house, and besides, if I were going to move anyway, would I really want to live in Waukesha?
• Can't add a second floor to the house. It's the best solution physically, but it would cost $80k and add only $40k to the value of the property.
  
• Can't use the garage itself. It's not winterizable because it's on a slab (and in Wisconsin, you don't get away with partial winterization). Plus it would leave the house with no garage, affecting resale adversely, plus there then wouldn't be enough room for the cars.
• Can't build on top of the garage for the reasons listed above.
• Can't use the basement. It floods.
• Can't apportion additional space inside the house because of the layout. It would require major remodeling and still not be ideal.
• Can't expand into the yard because of setback laws and lack of room. It's a very small lot.
• Can't rent office space elsewhere because then I'd never get the work done. It's not only convenient but necessary to work from home.

I've thought and thought about this, but there really does appear to be no possible solution except the current one: deal with the 11x11-foot office!

Lynn: "Have you looked at creative ways to maximise the small space—for example, look at the way boat cabins, camper vans, and even some clever kitchens are fitted out. Lots of innovative ideas. Maybe the scanner can be on a spring-loaded high shelf that comes out and down on cantilevered arms by just pulling on a handle...or modify the idea of a slide-out pantry so the stuff you need is neatly tucked away until you need it. Can you use parts of the wall cavity to increase the depth of cupboards?"

Mike replies: You know, that really might be the most sensible idea of all. Just resign myself to the fact that this space is all I get, and make the best of it. I could have cabinets and shelving built in on three walls and parts of a fourth, and then just commit to staying neat and organized. It would be the cheapest option—I could probably get it all done for six or eight thousand dollars—it would negatively impact the value of the house the least (for the next owner, it would just be the home office, plain and simple), and you're right, if I'm smart and plan carefully I could probably give myself all the space I need.

Well, not enough space for a tabletop to take illustration pictures. But most of what I need.

Rick: "Mike here is an ides of sorts to give you some ideas maybe."

Mike replies: Wow. That is really cool stuff.

Happy Easter!

TOP will be off tomorrow in honor of the holiday. With warm wishes to you and your family, whether you're celebrating or not, wherever in the world you are. And as always, thanks for reading!

All best,

Mike

Patience

I lost about two-thirds of today's post because I forgot to save it. (I could swear TypePad used to auto-save.) Don't ya hate it when that happens? Laborious reconstruction in progress. Patience.

Reminds me of a story. When I taught high school we had a film-loading closet where the kids put their film on to reels and into the developing tanks. Naturally I didn't go in there with them—I'd have them practice a few times out in the light and then when they went in to load real exposed film they were on their own. Sometimes when things didn't go right I'd have to stand at the door and talk them through it. Try again, back up, start over. Stick with it. Some of you remember how it was.

Anyway, one time, one student's frustration spiraled* out of control. She came out of the film loading room as mad as a cat out of the bath. First I got a torrent of complaints, and then she said, "And I kept looking at those letters on the wall. WHAT is that word?!? PATT-EYE-ENCE. PATT-EE-ENCE. What the hell does that mean? WHAT is that word?!?"

I had spelled out the word "PATIENCE" on the wall in glow-in-the-dark tape.

I tried to break it to her gently....

Mike, TOP APES (all-purpose editorial slave)

*You see what I did there.

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psu paranoid: "The first time I ran a roll of B&W film it took me forever to get the thing on the reels. The dark closet was in the art room of the high school and they had a record player there that was playing a single side of a Doors album on repeat. I believe I heard 'Light My Fire' play five or six times before I got done. In retrospect I can't believe I stuck with it.

"Oh, also, I write blog posts in a text editor on my Mac and paste them to the website as I go so I always have a local save. Call me paranoid."

Mark Sampson: "Never did this myself, but at least two of the people I trained over the years managed to load the paper backing of a 120 roll onto the reel, leaving the film on the darkroom floor. But each of them only did that once."

Blog Notice

Very interesting 24 hours here. I've been offline most of that time, not by choice. I've spent maybe 7 hours total on the phone with Apple Tech Support. It started with some email problems, and led to a discovery of some completely unrelated problems—discoveries which may well have staved off later catastrophe. The big problems are apparently all solved now, knock on wood, but the email irregularities continue.

Two tiny morsels of cheap advice, even though I realize a great many of my regular readers are far more computer savvy than I am: never buy anything from Apple without AppleCare (those guys are really great) and always, always, always back up!!! (Note that I do not splatter a page with exclamation points lightly.) My backup drive saved my bacon big time today! OS 10.8 allows you to switch between two separate backup drives, which I'll be implementing soon.

I hope to have TOP up and running again tomorrow sometime, with Ctein's overdue Wednesday column. Be aware that I am not receiving all of my email yet. The email problems will persist for at least another day and possibly through the weekend. If you've been trying to get in touch with me or have been expecting a reply—or just wondering about the radio silence—my apologies! We're a-workin' on it.

—Mike, learning IT crumb by crumb

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A book of interest today:

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albert w erickson: "Mike, for those of us who live and die with our Macs, we would appreciate understanding your computer issues so as to avoid them in the future. Please write about the issues as well as the solutions. Thanks."

Mike replies: Pretty simple really, Albert, just scary...Disk Utility showed a corrupted system and couldn't repair it. So I had to erase my hard drive, download a new copy of the latest operating system, and reinstall my data from the backup drive. It's called a "clean install." Happens to lots of people, at least occasionally. At least I'm told it's not uncommon, whether with PCs or Macs.

It all went smoothly, but, understandably, I went from being very blasé about my backup protocols to being completely dependent on them for all of my data, including my 20,000-file digital music collection and all of my digital photographs.

That's an interesting experience. Remember that Time Machine is essentially unverifiable...you set it up, keep an eye on it to see that it's not complaining, and then essentially trust that it's doing its job. I do take certain precautions...for instance, I buy a new backup hard drive about every two years and put the old one on the shelf. My local tech tells me that hard drives need to be turned on once or twice a year to prevent freezing, so the old ones literally have a "limited shelf life." But I do it not for the sake of the shelved drive but mainly to insure that I have a new, late model drive keeping my backups. And I don't use the backup drive for anything else at all...just backups. My current one—the one that saved me yesterday—is a 2 TB OWC Mercury Elite Pro.

If you want to see what's up (assuming you're on a Mac, I know even less about PCs), just run Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility > Verify disk. (I am very much not an expert, but I have a slight advantage in that if I say anything dumb, a more knowledgable TOP reader will no doubt quickly step in and correct me.)

My local tech tells me that OS 10.8 (Mountain Lion) will allow you to swap out one hard drive for another and keep two physically separate sets of backup data. For maximum security you swap the two every so often and keep the off-duty one in another location. I doubt I'll go that far, but he told me he's seen several instances of a client's data being completely destroyed by a single fire. (This makes sense when you consider the photographers, Carleton Watkins and Jacques Lowe chief among them, whose archives have been lost to disaster—Carleton in the San Francisco Fire and Jacques in 9/11.) I've bought a second hard drive and plan to make a second backup in the future.

We discovered the problem during the process of troubleshooting the mail problems, which everyone agrees are on Apple's end, not mine. As we were waiting for something to happen, I was questioning the tech support supervisor about when I should buy a new computer, and I described some of the problems I've experienced with my computer lately. He said, "That shouldn't be happening. Let's just run Disk Utility so I can see what error messages you're getting." That's when one thing led to another.

The email problem still isn't fixed, but we're still working on it.

John Whitley: "Speaking as someone with years of experience avoiding disasters due to good backup policy, I'll offer this advice: Always keep at least three copies of any critical data. One is your 'working copy' on your computer, along with two other copies. Your backup process must be tested—can you access the backup when needed? Without this verification, you don't yet know whether you have a working backup.

"As the costs of disks have dropped, I tend to prefer full-disk bootable backups on small 2.5" bus-powered USB or Firewire drives. These work well and make it trivial to store one backup copy safely off-site. On OS X, software like SuperDuper! and Carbon Copy Cloner allow for great ease of use with this sort of process. The downtime in the event of a disk crash or other data loss is minimal with this setup. The last time I had a crash, I booted from the most recent backup, ordered a replacement drive and was working again in minutes.

"It's important to note that a 'cloud' or online service such as Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. only ever counts as one copy. Even if the provider nominally keeps backups, you have no visibility into what single points of failure ('SPOFs' in industry lingo) may exist in their processes. That also includes events such as catastrophic business failure, not just technological events. Use online storage wisely, but don't consider it to be magic."

HD: "One is none, as my colleagues mock me for saying perhaps one time too often. And two backups in one location is also none. One backup stays offsite, so short of an earthquake.... On Macs, Time Machine is a good tool, and SuperDuper has gotten me back up and running with only minutes of downtime on a number of occasions. Bootable backups are wonderful. Then there's the question of making sure that the backups work regularly, and are not corrupted (and that you're not silently losing pix). Drobos and the like start looking inexpensive."

Mike replies: What's a Drobo?

Murray Davidson: "The first time you lose serious data should be your last. May I direct all you grasshoppers to an entertaining and supremely educational site on the subject of backups? Read, embrace and achieve enlightenment."

Links

There's always something new about this blogging business. Another first, the other day: I was contacted by a photographer who complained that TOP had used his photograph—of a 1937 Jaguar—without his permission.

I try to take rights issues seriously, so I went looking for it. I did do a few posts recently about cars, but I couldn't remember posting a picture of an old Jaguar.

I couldn't find it anywhere.

I have a poor memory in some ways. I suffer from what I jokingly call "proper noun aphasia," for one thing—an inability to remember names. It's not that the names aren't in there, it's just that they take a little while to percolate to the surface when I want them to. But I have a very good visual memory. If I'm trying to remember a person, what pops unbidden into my mind is an image—the name takes some effort, and a bit more time, to recall. I often do research for my posts visually, using Google image searches; I often surf the web visually too, going from one image search to another.

So I tried that. I just Googled "1937 Jaguar" and did an image search, thinking that, if I'd seen one of the pictures recently, I'd recognize it. Sure enough, there it was—one picture jumped out at me as one I'd seen before:

So once I knew what I was looking for, then I could go chase it down on the site.

Guess what? It turned out to be a hyperlink in a comment.

That got my dander up a bit. Here's what I wrote back to the fellow who complained:

That image isn't posted on my site. It's a hyperlink. The hyperlink takes readers to your page, where you have made the picture viewable by the public. The picture is not viewable or visible on my site, only on yours.

There is no infringement with hyperlinks; anyone may link to whatever they want to on the Web. With certain rare exceptions (for instance, if the page that is linked to is illegal), hyperlinks are permissible without restriction. This is perfectly in accordance with standard, widespread World Wide Web custom and also with the law—the right to hyperlink freely has been upheld by the courts on several occasions.

Thus, there has been no infringement on your rights and there was no need or requirement for us to secure your permission—neither common courtesy nor legality requires it.

I will remove the link to your picture because you have requested it, purely as a courtesy to you, but I suggest you familiarize yourself with the way the Web works; you really have no right whatsoever (nor any reasonable cause) to make such requests.

But it turned out that the fellow wasn't being obnoxious. He was quite polite in response, thanking me for the explanation. He's just new to the Web and still learning what's what, that's all.

I do tend to forget—there are always beginners out there. Not everybody already knows everything.

Trends
So, in the spirit of not assuming that everybody already knows everything, a few words about links on TOP:

What we mostly do in our posts are informational links, and affliliate links. An informational link can be anything—a link to an illustration of what's being talked about, to a citation that supports a premise or a claim, or simply to a site where more information is given.

An affiliate link is quite different. That's a link to one of the site's affiliates—usually, to a product you can buy. And which, if you buy it, pays me a small spiff. When you see a line like "I have two Micro 4/3 lenses so far and I'm thinking about getting a third," that's what that link is all about. (In that case the link also informs you as to which lens I'm talking about, so it's sort of a tease as well.)

Posts about new equipment might have a lot of affiliate links, but I generally don't hit those too hard. I just try to imagine what would annoy me if I were reading another site, and try to avoid annoying you.

Recently, however, a new trend has revved up. I now get offers almost every day to do "sponsored links" or "paid links" on TOP. That is, someone will pay me to write a post about their product or to put a link to their product or site in the text of one of my posts.

Well, I never do that. There has never been a sponsored or paid link on TOP. Affiliate links, yes, but I make all the decisions as to what those will be. Sometimes a link might look sponsored, but that's usually just because I'm doing somebody a favor, not because they're paying me.

Judging by my mail, though, there must be an awful lot of posts and links out there in the far-flung wilds of the Web that are only there because someone bought them. This is probably only going to get worse as time goes on, and as more people learn that there is money to be made in the trenches of e-commerce.

Mike

[UPDATE: The original version of this article contained a fake link that I thought would be a good way to make a point—it was a link that I fell for prior to Christmas, and I thought it would be interesting to see if other people would fall for it too. A bit later, however, I had a "what were you thinking" moment and decided I was not being half as clever as I thought I was. So I 86'd it. Sorry to those whose comments were thereby "orphaned."

Sometimes, the editor needs an editor. —Mike the Ed.]

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Outage

5:45 a.m.: We're having intermittent but persistent phone-line problems here at TOP World Headquarters—the line keeps going dead, causing a cascade of Internet outages. An AT&T technician is supposed to be arriving between 8:00 and noon.

And I might finally be getting close to relaxing the clenched tightwad muscle sufficiently to spring for cable Internet. We just signed up for AT&T UVerse a couple of months ago, providing a searing 5 mbps connection speed. Which is better than the .25–2.5 mbps we'd been limping along with before. But only if it works.

I might be able to get Ctein's column posted in between outages, but maybe not. I compose in the TypePad interface, and when the 'Net goes down, so does the interface...frequently taking bits of unsaved work with it. Combined with the hinky Bluetooth of my new (and soon to be old) wireless keyboard, which has regular seizures, it's like trying to work with hypermanic monkeys in the room. Who knows when I'll even be able to get this posted.

The meantime might find me actually doing something positively antediluvian: working on the computer offline! Wow. Take me back to the '80s and '90s.

—Mike, TOP Head of Housekeeping and
All-Purpose Radar O'Reilly

UPDATE 9:45 a.m.: Well, I have to give AT&T props for punctuality. They were out here by 9:00—two trucks, no less—and in 45 minutes had replaced all the phone lines in the house with new cabling. Everything seems fine again, but I'll keep my fingers crossed. Can't wait till the new keyboard gets here (note to self: never throw old keyboard away until you're sure the new one works).

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