Girl Guide Broken

Sunday afternoon and I am dispatched to pick up Jemma from a Brownies camp.  The camp was held at the Baden Powell Scout place at Samford.


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As I approached the hut where they had slept I was met by a beaming Jemma who burst forth holding out her hand. She reached me and was showing me her plaster encased finger as the leadership team, apparantly caught momentarilly off guard, had all decided to exit the building at the same moment and had discovered to their detriment that the door was narrower than required for such a hasty exit. Having reorganised them selves they prceeded to call out as they ran toward me. "It's all right Mr Thomson". "She's OK". "there's nothing to worry about". I guess not realising that they were dealing with me. A parent who might have been somewhat concerned if said finger was completely missing. Jemma managed to step forward and put them out of their misery by pulling the plaster caste off and demonstarting that it was just a fake.

A Walk in the black forest part one

 A rainy Saturday afternoon saw twelve of us pile into three vehicles to travel to Belbird Grove for a 15km walk through part of Brisbane Forest Park.  As we drove in the Vito, we received a phonecall to say that Ian's car had broken down.  We caught up with him at a service station at Kenmore and the problem was immediatly obvious - it was a Land Rover and it was raining.

 After cleaning the lens we got this photo. 











This photo gives a good idea of the atmosphere
















The last infocus photo for 15km

 It rained rained and rained.
In preparation, I had gone shopping for a rain coat and new Dunlop KT26 shoes.  I was looking for one of those fancy breathable light weight spray jackets but had to settle for a low cost substitute.  Which turned out to work pretty well.

The KT26's though turned out to be great shoes for the walk.  Light weight and big chunky tread.  The path was quite steep (both up hill and down) and these shoes gripped well.  Of course our feet were saturated and at one place we had to walk through a river shinn deep and I am sure in contravention of all manner of flood safety advertising.  I got no blisters and they were comfortable.



 


It was dark and rainy all the way.
My head torch was not really up to the job.  I had it on my forhead below the rim of my hat.  It lit up the underside of the rim of the hat, killing my night vision.  In the end I found it easier to walk with the torch off.  Next time I need to have the torch somewhere else - On chest? On top of hat?

Speaking of hats.  A hat with a brim all the way round keep the rain from running downmy neck and into my rain coat.  This meant I did not need the hood of the rain coat.  A lot less constricting.

We stopped for a snack.  Ian had brought Hummus and Megan had biscuits.  You had get your hand to your mouth before the rain dissolved the food.

A worm.  Another feature of the walk were toads.  Some people trod on them, kicked them or had them kicked at them.









On Sunday, Megan and Cybele went for a second walk.  This photo just confirms something

AVCHD HD Video Editing Programs

Anzac day and I took some video with my Sony HDR-CX110E Camcorder.  This camcorder records onto SD cards in a format called AVCHD.  The files have a .MTS extension.

The problem is that my existing Adobe Premiere 6 (>10years old) and Premiere Elements 4 (not quite as old) do not know about the AVCHD format.  Some time back I purchased for real money the Serif Video editor X3 but performance was a bit ordinary and each time I tried to use it, I gave up.  Now with a bigger faster computer I tried it again and it sorta works.  Crashed a couple of times but I am learning save often and move the mouse slowly.  Complete one operation before starting another.  So I figured time to see what options exist right now.

Serif Movieplus X6     $AU56.26 (as at 19-OCT-2012) 

This is the program that I am currently using.
It's OK. 
It is stable and reliable.  There are some things (ripple delete in particular) I find a little odd and I guess in my mind I compare it to the old Premiere 6 that I use as a bench mark.
However it can do - Lots of video tracks, chroma key, scale and distortion of overlay video and jpegs, titles are easy.



Windows Movie Maker
Free

An intensely disappointing program.  I am surprised Microsoft are not embarrassed to have their name on it.

See http://thomsoneu.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/windows-movimaker-glitch-rendering-avchd.html
For a frustrating problem.
BTW as far as I can see you can not superimpose video OR still images.








Zwei-Stein  Free
But would not install.  Gave up.

Virtual Dub
http://www.virtualdub.org/
Downloaded and installed 1.9.11 but does NOT know about AVCHD.  Google reveals others searching too.  We need to send the author back to college. 

EDIT STUDIO  $US49
http://www.mediachance.com
Claims to be able to do multicam editing but in the tutorial it clearly states that you have to align the tracks yourself.  At least they are honest!

MAGIX MOVIE EDIT PRO  $99AUD
http://www.magix.com/gb/multicam-editing/
NO MULTICAM
Claims to do AUDIO synchronisation of the video tracks.  Ah not so quick.  Even though the claim appears prominently on the above page along side pictures of the movie edit pro 'box' you actually have to buy the more expenside 'professional' version known as Magix Video Pro X5.  For about $500 $600 AUD.  Cripes I hate the marketing hyperbole


Videopad $39.95
http://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/index.html
and apparantly you can transfer it from one computer to another.  Limited to two transfers per year and they run a program to detect if you are using it on two computers simultaneously.
Apparantly an Aussie program.
Bit anoyed that it shows up as freeware when you search on google.

Avid Studio $120

http://shop.avid.com/store/product.do;jsessionid=DE5BE3BDD94D9BFCC3299724C065A319.ASTPESD2?product=307190015825088
Note: Avid Free Dv has not been available for ages and yet it shows up on various web sites proporting to list video editing programs.


AVS Video Editor  $US59

Appears free but .....
its not.
Once upon a time a bought an AVS license but it appears the licence is for one computer.  YOU CAN NOT TRANSFER it to another computer.
However they have kindly reactivated the license and I have edited and uploaded two videos to you tube.
http://youtu.be/bjcoTfv2TmM
BUT
Can not select mutliple items on the time line.  Very frustrating.  For example lets say I have loaded 80 clips and want to delete 50 of them.  One at a time.  There is a AVS forum post http://forum.avs4you.com/posts.aspx?lng=ENG&t=3242 where someone has asked this question and been told "no".

LIGHTWORKS

http://www.lwks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45&Itemid=184
the free version does NOT do AVCHD and the paid version isa per year subsription of ~$50 to $100 as I recall.

VSDC

http://www.videosoftdev.com
They appear to have a free and paid version.










Adobe Premiere Elements
$99

Adobe Premiere $US799

Magix 60GBP, 80GBP, 100GBP


Serif MoviePlus Starter Edition
Free but I had to give them my email address which since they already have, I figured no big deal.
Warning#1 look out on installation.  It wants to install one of those dreaded toolbars.
During install it wanted to d a reboot.  I was a bit disobedient and put that off.  Then it wanted a key so I gave it the one I had been given during the download process and got a whole pile of errors.  Time for a reboot.

It's all locked because they want 5pounds  for the codecs.  They say that they are available for 14 days for free but I do not know how to make that happen.

End of evaluation
















Movieplus X3 For Comparison

 











Sony Vegus Movie Studio
Many versions and options from $45, $95, $125, $195, $599

Anzac Day 2012

I was very proud that today all the kids were marching in Anzac day parades.  Marcus, Chris and Dan marched in the city.  Jemma Marched at Oxley.  Megan was with Jemma and these photos are of Jemma taken by Megan.


There is some video below of the boys marching in the city

 Everyone lined up at the shops.











Look left look right.

Bands with bag pipes tend to march over anything in their way,  In this case the traffic seemed to cause them to pause

 The only thing that can stop the traffic on a main road is Anzac day march.  Basically the cops turn up and stop the traffic and the cars just wait until the march is over.  No permits.  No paperwork.  No council fees.
 

 Jemma and the guides marched




























And a surprise entrant was Oxley state school










Men with wooden guns stood guard

 A nice girl makes a speech

The guides watched (undercover)









Old heros remembered their mates and the reast of us give thanks for the sacrifice they made.










Marcus marched in the Brisband Grammar band.  The band went round twice.


And Chris & Dan marched with the Boys Brigade.  At the start you will see Dan carrying the number "2" for one of the groups marching and Chris carrying a banner for HMAS Melbourne.  Then after they have done that duty, they marched as a group with the Boys Brigade.  When the march was over, we went to Subway where blow me over if a Boys Brigae leader was operating the till.  (You wondered why we filmed in Subway didn't you).

Ebay Virus Anyone

This looks like a virus to me.

Today when I went to ebay, this popped up.  Asking me for Creditcard number and PIN.  I don't think so.

Drive in

It may surprise you but there is still a drive in in Brisbane.  Amazing!

It is run by a church as a mission project.  I was kind of wondering how they intended to convert us and was somewhat worried as we queued at what was once the entry gate and a I sure well meaning woman was talking to each car.  I thought we might be subjected to the "brother are you saved" speech.  By the time I reached the gate I was slightly annoyed by the seemingly irrelevant delay that I had been subjected to.  Turned out she was trying to entice drivers into purchasing a discount voucher for the cafe.  I figured that was Megan's domain and so shut down the conversation.  I suspect that disappointed the lady but....

The first movie was "Tangled".  Targeted at the kids it is a Disney retelling of the Rapunzel story with the usual Disney replaces the evil absent parent undertones.  Eventually Rapunzel engages in some teenage rebellion, sneaking out against her 'mothers' wishes.  later, in true Disney style, we discover her mother was not really her mother.

At intermission, Dan wanted to see the projector.  I did too so we walked up to the snack bar and there in all their glory were three dark windows facing the scree but either they were perfectly clean or the projector was hiding elsewhere.  Having gotten close to the freezer, Dan loaded alternate targeting coordinates into his navigation system and lost interest in the projector.  I on the other hand was intrigued and embarked on a quest to discover the location of the projector.  Maybe it was above or behind the snack bar and so I walked toward the screen turning back from time to time but alas no luck.

As I got closer to the front row, I observed what looked like a milk delivery van that was strangly glowing.  Ah ha I figured someone had loaded a mega video projector along these lines but was I in for a surprise.  Two 5000 lumen Epson office projectors.  One for the adds and the other for the video.  The operator simply opened one door at the back of his van to determine which one hit the screen.  Talk about low tech.  The audio was switched by un plugging RCA connectors and replugging to the new source.  I think he needs a two in 1 out HDMI switch with separate audio.  Anyone...

I had a brief discussion.  Seems they have paid $500 for a license to show movies in public on church property provided no charge is made for entry.  I guess they then just nip down to the DVD shop and pick up a DVD.  Before the Brisbane flood they had been operating as a commercial cinema and it was costing a fortune with ~40% going to Disney.  They even needed a government grant to break even.

It appears that the mission objective mentioned above is a training exercise and so the main objective is to get people to buy from the cafeteria so as to give the cafeteria staff someone to play shop with.  I gather they now manage that objective without government money.  Turns out that as a result of the Brisbane flood that the government funds dried up as they were redirected to food recovery.  We contributed about $30 to the effort buying a family pack consisting of two adult sized burgers and two kid burgers, fish & chips, and another box of equally unhealthy stuff (more chips) that I drowned in BBQ & tomato sauce along with a 1.25litre bottle of Ginger Beer.  I was allocated one of the burgers and it passed muster.

The second movie was .... Hmm it had Julia Roberts in it and Tom Hanks and it appears that Tom lost his job and had to be retrained and went back to college.  It was very slow and boring.  For a while, I used my phone as a modem and surfed the net.  Paul produced a DVD player & screen and set it up in the Vito.  He then filled the vito with small children and closed the doors.  At one stage I made the mistake of opening one if the doors and the vito started to leak small children.  I reported this to one of the parents who though I meant that the kids had wet their pants but it achieved the same result as the parents dragged themselves out of their camping chairs and went in search of the wayward kids.  Our neighbour Chris had brought a bottle of red and so I sat beside Megan and sipped away on the red and worked myself through some cheese cake that Megan produced.

The movie finished and by this time there were several kids in the back of the ute so I ran a hay ride wonderng if going up and down over the waves of bitumen was likely to make any of them sea sick.

We all came home happy (even though the movies were pretty ordinary)

I hate the new blogger interface

Just to make sure that My Google is aware.....
Behind the scenes, Google has implemented a new interface to blogger.
I do not like it!
I absolutely hate it!

Church Working Bee

Frank and Chris heped at the church working bee.  Some elderly gentleman (not Frank) had the ladder and was about to climb up and do the gutters.  I suggested that Chris should shimmy up.

So I held buckets while Chris scooped out the leaves.  Then others would exchange the full bucket for an empty one.

Chris had brought his whipper Snipper and trimmed up the lawn edges. 

Emerald mining trip 2

Tuesday, Flew to Emerald.
Wednesday drove two and a half hours North to Carbora Downs Mine.

Stayed at "The Mac Village" at Coppabella
It is basically a hotel for mine workers.  You can not just rock up and get a room.

The big white roof is the cafeteria

I stayed in the bottom centre block with the green grass.

My room was down here on the left about half way

The place is huge.  Several swimming pools and gyms, sporting fields

And talk about food.  A huge buffet cafeteria.  On the first night we had steak with vegies and if you did not like that you could have pasta or salad or all three.  Followed up with sticky date pudding, custard, cream, jelly, ice cream.  On the second night it was pork spare ribs, roast pork.  All things pork.  Breakfast was bacon, sausages, spagetti, baked beans, mushrooms and eggs (fried, poached, scrabled) or if non of those suited, a little sign on the table said to ask the cook to do them anyway you like perhaps an omelette.  I guss if you have been staying there for a year you may want a special but for me the food as presented was great.

Inside the room was just like a motel room.  Split system ac,  bar fridge and a bottle (presumably for water) and a couple of glasses.

A TV with about 30 channels.  I surfed but unless you were into sport, there was nothing really to watch.  Behind the TV was the bath room which sported a toilet and a shower.

It was all impecably clean until I made the mistake of walking in in my boots.

This is me at the mine.  We were doing an upgrade on the Kubota control system.  This system monitors everything from methane gas levels, exhaust, water, engine temperatures, doors closed and so on and does not allow the vehicle to start or move unless it is safe to do so.

Safety was the word of the day (well after the F word).  We had to wear hard hats, safety glasses, steel capped boots and have gloves on our person.

Franks trip to Emerald

Adrian (from work) and myself flew to Emerald today.

Megan drove us to the airport.

Tomorrow we are going to a coal mine to look at some equipment that we built (but did not design) to see if we can adjust its operation to suit their conditions.

It was a good flight on Virgin and we got a sandwich (as opposed to nothing which was what I was expecting).

Probably no internet for us at the mine as apparantly they are somewhat protective of it

Blended Worship

<p>We are having "blended worship".</p>
<p>Today Megan and Paul Koning are organising it.</p>
<p>From time to time I also get the 'privilidge?' to organise one of these services.</p>
<p>I find them hard to organise and I worry that the congregation are not on board with the idea.

The difficulty starts I think that we have not communicated what blended worship actually is.  This may follow from us collectively not having worked it out.  I know that I personally am unsure.

I have some ideas.  Blended worship was born when it was decided to wind up 'family worship'.
So blended worship may have appropriated some of the ideas of family worship.
- parents and kids worshiping together.

Five bucks for Mr Google

Well it seems that I have filled my 1GB allocation of memory generously provided by Mr Google and so will now have to contribute $5 per year to his coffers.

Or is it Mrs Ms Mss Miss Mer Google.  Important in these days of ppolitical correctness.

$5 apparantly gets me 20GB to store my photos.  My worry is what if I forget to pay it one year.

Camp Fire Dinner

Our next door neighbour - Chris ( near tree) lit a camp fire in his back yard.  We brought over sausages, steak and wombok salad and sat around and watched the fire.  So relaxing

Easterfest 2012 The Palace 4

Easterfest 2012 Red Frogs Rave Party

Our venue, The Palace, has the privilege of hosting the Red Frogs Dance Party / Glow Party / Rave and it is going off.