I'm just waiting to see if I pass out. Long story.

Mal ,'Heart Of Gold'


Natter 58: Let's call Venezuela!  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Sophia Brooks - Apr 29, 2008 3:50:16 am PDT #3954 of 10001
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here

I'm with jesse- I feel like I really, really don't know how to do CPR because I learned in health class in 9th grade. And I am 34.

I have called 911 for people, when I worked in a grocery store. Someone once had a heart attack in front of me and I called 911 while the other people were sort of flapping an flailing. They thought I was weird, but I was right next to the phone, and other people were holding the guy up.

Also, I am really frustrated right now, because I am trying to watch the fall Out Boy "beat it" video, and I'm trying to make it bigger than that little player, but I can't find a way. I want to flail, but I can hardly see the video when it is that small.

Here if anyone sees a way? [link]


hippocampus - Apr 29, 2008 4:04:05 am PDT #3955 of 10001
not your mom's socks.

I fell in a responder category for a long time because I had CPR/First Aid/WSI and a raft of other certs. Didn't think that I would know what to do when something happened, but the opposite was true - even though there was a nurse present (YAY NURSES) when a woman had a seizure at our local sandwich shop, and it had been yonks since my certifications expired, my brain just went all flowchart: "First responder? Check. Ok, someone calling 911? No? Then call. People crowding in for a look? Suggest politely that they move back...." it was good.


Jessica - Apr 29, 2008 4:11:10 am PDT #3956 of 10001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

I lurve my Flip! Except they still haven't fixed the annoying audio problem that the last Quicktime update caused, but Apple shares most of the blame for that.

I don't think I'd use it to shoot a film (unless I was specifically going for a low-budget verite video diary kind of look) because the fixed lens *is* really limiting, it won't fit onto a real professional tripod/dolly/etc, the video it records is encoded with a proprietary codec, blah blah blah. Also take into account that he's edited the two versions together into a single video file, meaning that they now share the same relatively low resolution & frame rate, as well as the same optimized-for-online-viewing codec, which wasn't true of the footage that came out of the cameras. So it's not quite as true a comparison as he makes it seem - the HD footage could be printed to 35mm film and projected in a movie theatre and look pretty decent. You could not do that with the FlipVideo footage.

That said, it's absolutely perfect for home movies because it's so compact. And the "flip" aspect is brilliant - I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to put baby pictures on my parents' computers only to realize I've forgotten the #%(!#$( USB cable.

Two improvements they could make would be a slightly wider lens - to get the same shot with my still camera and the Flip, I have to hold the Flip a couple of feet back - and a better mic, because the built-in one is complete crap. It will pick up the voice of the cameraperson just fine, but anything *in front* of the lens, like, say, the thing you're POINTING THE CAMERA AT is basically a lost cause unless you want to spend time in post futzing with the levels (which for a 40-second baby video, I really don't).


Shir - Apr 29, 2008 4:41:02 am PDT #3957 of 10001
"And that's why God Almighty gave us fire insurance and the public defender".

I just discovered the other meaning of degradable.

English may be one weird language, but I can see the logic of it. Sometimes. If I close one eye and blinks really fast, you know.

(Remind me to tell you sometime the story about "Shir using "nail" as a verb". It's a funny one).


Ginger - Apr 29, 2008 4:53:09 am PDT #3958 of 10001
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda

the movement to compression only feels like the happy, slappy...hey, no risk here!approach to life saving.

Apparently there's some research that it's as or more effective for heart attacks, because constant compression is the important thing. If it's something else, like drowning, you do need rescue breathing.


§ ita § - Apr 29, 2008 4:54:56 am PDT #3959 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Something that was stressed during my CPR training--this "more harm than good" you're afraid of doing? They're dead. How much worse can you make it?

I mean, the best person at giving CPR gives CPR until someone better shows up. A corpse with cracked ribs isn't any more dead.


Jesse - Apr 29, 2008 4:55:10 am PDT #3960 of 10001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

Yeah, today's great so far. I was dawdling at home, unconcerned about being late for work, when I remembered a 9 o'clock meeting. Oops. So then of course I got stuck on the train. And then my computer took forever to get started. @@


SuziQ - Apr 29, 2008 4:58:07 am PDT #3961 of 10001
Back tattoos of the mother is that you are absolutely right - Ame

Ya know what is great about shifting jobs within the same company? When the folks you used to work with come begging for your expertise. Ahhh, yes. I do have a brain. Would you like me to use it for you? Let me consider that request. I'll get back to you. Eventually.


Frankenbuddha - Apr 29, 2008 5:03:09 am PDT #3962 of 10001
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"

Saw Eddie Izzard last night, and, surprise, he was fabulous. Dress-wise he's butching it up this tour, but he did have a snazzy top coat that looked like a circus ring-master's.

I must saw, the man has energy and stamina. I don't know how he goes for near two hours of non-stop talking (and lots of movement) without so much as a drink of water. My mouth was parched just watching him (though that may also have been the glass of red wine I had with dinner prior).


sumi - Apr 29, 2008 5:04:09 am PDT #3963 of 10001
Art Crawl!!!

Baby Bernie