In March 2002, I wrote the first version of a commentary article about the reasons to avoid flying. I have been updating it periodically ever since, to reflect the unfortunate evolution of the TSA’s “security theatre” hassles and the equally unfortunate deterioration of airline service.
Last May, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report on their audit of the TSA’s SPOT program (PDF). SPOT is a “behavior detection” system that supposedly trains officers to recognize the distinctive signs of terrorists. The report presented the first cost-benefit analysis I have seen for any aspect of TSA operations.
The authors must have struggled to avoid explicitly declaring the SPOT program a useless waste of over $200 million per year, lacking evidence of either scientific validity or effectiveness. But that’s what they concluded, though in far more tactful language. The report also includes the official response from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the TSA’s parent bureaucracy. That response unintentionally summarizes everything that’s wrong with both the DHS and the TSA.
When I started to update the old article to include this audit, I realized that it had become a ponderous collection of patches (rather like TSA screening). It also expressed several hopeful ideas that now seem naive and outdated. I had hoped that the new Obama administration would reform the TSA. But as with too many of Mr. Obama’s policies, his approach to the TSA seems indistinguishable from that of his predecessor.
I had also believed that if enough people refused to fly, the airlines and the TSA would be forced to make improvements. But the airlines’ response to the economic meltdown in 2008 rendered this notion irrelevant. If fewer people fly, the airlines merely shrink their routes, planes, and work force to fit the reduced demand. And I had concluded some time ago that simply refusing to fly was impractical for most people, including myself.
So I replaced the old article with an entirely new one about why flying won’t get any better. I explain why I have concluded that the TSA is impervious to reform: Even if it provides no actual security, it is nonetheless useful. I discuss why I believe the “War on Terror” is counterproductive. And I suggest an approach to flying that might be more practical than avoiding it entirely. I won’t deny the outrage and cynicism, which I think is justified. I particularly hope to make you look at these issues in ways you might not have considered.
For now I will continue to avoid flying, and look forward to enjoyable road trips (I have one planned for the autumn). But I suspect that I’ll eventually be flying again— and trying very hard to follow my own advice.
The calendar on my wall says it’s July. But whoever is in charge of the weather here in supposedly-sunny Southern California seems to have forgotten to turn the page on their calendar. With June Gloom and its persistent leaden sky making local photography less than appealing, I’ve continued to make improved versions of my earliest digital images with Photoshop CS5. (As a solo traveler I prefer to avoid the summer crowds and premium prices, so I’ll wait until autumn for a possible road trip.) The more I use the new Photoshop, the more I like it.
This time it’s some places near Sedona, including Slide Rock Park, Jerome, and the Sinagua ruins section of the “Indian Country” page. Again, since I did a rather thorough job of selecting the pictures back in 2005, I didn’t find any overlooked gems to add. But the new versions really do look a lot better. And I have a new vertical variation on Winter Trees and Mountains taken at the Getty Center in January.
Earlier this month I upgraded to Photoshop CS5, the latest (and greatest?) version of Adobe’s industry-standard photo and graphics software. I had shirked my obligation to Adobe by skipping the previous version (CS4) because it didn’t seem compelling enough to justify the price of the upgrade. But CS5 looked to have enough improvements to be worthwhile.
A Photoshop upgrade would normally inspire me to go out and take a batch of new pictures to test it. But the notorious June Gloom overcast has made this a less than inspiring time for photography here in Southern California. So took out the collection of raw files I brought back from Sedona five years ago, sorted through them in Bridge (Photoshop’s companion program for viewing and sorting image files), and made new versions of some of them.
Adobe claims that the new Camera Raw raw converter provides improved reds and yellows, so pictures of red rock country seemed appropriate. Sedona was also the first place I visited with my then-new Canon Digital Rebel XT. I originally processed these pictures with the RawShooter Essentials raw converter and Paint Shop Pro 8. At the time I was disappointed at the inability to adequately reproduce the intense colors I saw in Sedona.
The new versions are much better impressions of the vibrant red rock desert. But the ability to work in color spaces with a wider gamut (range of colors) than I had five years ago may have contributed as much as the new raw converter. The improvement is particularly noticeable in the pictures of a late-afternoon visit to the Chapel of the Holy Cross, where the combination of sunset light and the natural red rocks was probably too saturated for the tools I had in 2005. I did a rather thorough job of winnowing the pictures originally, so I didn’t find many overlooked gems when I went through them this time. But there was one nice “new” picture from one of my walks on the Bell Rock Pathway. Aside from Sedona, I’ve also added a “new” picture of ferns and flowers that I wasn’t able to process satisfactorily when I took it in 2006.
So far, CS5 indeed looks like a worthwhile improvement over CS3. The new “content-aware” spot healing and patch tools can magically remove objects and leave behind an astonishingly natural background interpolated from surrounding pixels, just as Adobe claims. But not always— those tools produce stunningly inept results often enough to serve as a reminder that the “awareness” is merely an algorithm that’s sophisticated but ultimately imperfect. Changing the tool width, or perhaps moving the brush in a slightly different pattern, might suffice to restore the magic when that happens. Adobe Camera Raw is getting ever closer to becoming “Photoshop Lite” that can produce “final” images without the need for the rest of Photoshop. Also welcome are numerous large and small usability improvements to Photoshop and Bridge that make using this complex software much more pleasant.
The only real annoyance is that Bridge insists on automatically opening the 64-bit version of Photoshop. On 64-bit Vista and Windows 7 systems, the installer installs both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The 64-bit version is preferable in theory: It can access more memory, promises a bit more speed, and is the Way of the Future. But it’s incompatible with the 32-bit plug-ins I use. Eventually I’ll have the opportunity to buy new 64-bit versions of the plug-ins, but for most of them the developers are still “investigating that possibility.” So I use the 32-bit Photoshop, and that’s what I want Bridge to open when I click on a thumbnail. The only workaround I’ve found is to open 32-bit Photoshop before starting Bridge.
I’ve completely rewritten the Travel Photo Essay on Joshua Tree National Park, California. Along with new and improved versions of all the images in the previous edition, I added five new pictures.
I’ve also made new versions other pictures, as part of a continuing effort to replace the scans I did in the early days of this Web site. These notably include Mountain Aspens on the Scenery page; and Meditation Garden on the Fine Art page, to which I’ve also added a new “abstract” detail of a tree with very colorful bark.
And finally, I’ve updated A Bestiary of File Formats to reflect the current status of JPEG 2000 (support is now included in Photoshop CS5) and Microsoft’s JPEG XR (which doesn’t seem to be gaining any traction after three years of “evangelism”).
Ted Marcus’ Virtual Light Table has been on the Web for eleven years. It’s exciting to look through the log summaries each week and see so many people from all over the world visiting my site, along with the astonishing variety of search queries that lead them to its pages. It’s even more exciting when some of those visitors order prints or image licenses!
I’ve reworked the Travel Photo Essay on the “most Hawaiian island” of Molokai. The pictures are all new scans of the negatives (on Fuji Superia 400 film), significant improvements over the ones I originally made in 1999 and 2001. To go with the rewritten text, I added three new pictures. This is the latest installment of my ongoing project to update the oldest scans on this Web site. You can get an idea of the difference that makes on the updated Then and Now page. I also changed the picture on the home page representing the Scenery gallery to the newly-scanned version of Ojai Orchard.
I recently replaced my five-year-old computer. It’s been quite a project inventorying and reviewing all the software I’ve collected— some of which was developed or installed on my first PC, a 12 MHz 286 machine I got in 1990— and then reinstalling everything I decided to keep. I also had to find replacements for software that won’t run in 64-bit Windows. Although I’m still getting used to Windows 7, I think it represents a genuine improvement in the “user experience” (as Microsoft puts it) over XP— but with one notable exception. The user interface is attractive, modern, and “neat,” in a way that XP definitely was not. My Macophile friend Roger says it’s “getting more Mac-like,” which I suppose is a compliment.
Many things are just different enough to be annoying, presumably until I’m fully used to them. One intentionally persistent annoyance is “User Account Control” (UAC). It’s a security measure that debuted in Vista, to protect Windows from malware. Anything that threatens to “make changes to this computer”— essentially anything that modifies files in the “Program Files” or “Windows” directories, or updates certain sections of the Registry— requires administrator approval. UAC interrupts whatever you’re doing, beeps, darkens the screen, and pops up an ominous dialogue box asking for the authorization, which involves entering a password. Installing software is the most common reason for provoking a UAC alarm. But some seemingly innocuous things, like running a program that measures the CPU temperature or even changing the screen refresh rate, can also set it off. (Windows 7 seems to automatically set a 59 Hz refresh rate for LCD monitors, at least for the two I’ve set up. It wasn’t noticeable, but LCD monitors work best at their native resolution and refresh rate. I manually reset them to 60 Hz, over the objection of UAC.)
UAC probably can provide useful protection, at least in theory. If it interrupts you when you’re not installing software or doing anything unusual, you might be able to stop a virus from doing damage by refusing to authorize it. But in practice it’s like so many “security” measures in this Age of Terror, which significantly burden every legitimate user but are a comparatively minor impediment to the bad guys. The TSA’s so-called “airport security” might be the worst example of this unfortunate phenomenon. You can disable UAC, although the process for doing so is accompanied with horrific warnings about the devastating consequences. I can only wonder how many people decide that the risk of those devastating consequences is more acceptable than the continuing annoyance of UAC.
The new computer is a custom-built system from J&N Computer Service. They built my previous two computers (in 2001 and 2004); and I’ve found them consistently honest, knowledgeable, and reliable. If you’re baffled or bored by numbers and technical specifications, you’d really be better off with a major brand like Dell, HP, or Toshiba. J&N is an excellent place to buy a computer if you have enough technical interest and knowledge to make informed (if not obsessive) choices about specific components, but you don’t want the hassles of assembling the hardware and installing Windows yourself. They provide knowledgeable and accessible technical support, and their sales people can actually offer useful advice about choosing components and configurations.
The major applications I run are Photoshop and Finale (Finale does for music notation what Microsoft Word does for text). Those programs will ravenously devour as much processor power and memory as you can feed them, and then scream for more. But their use of 3-D graphics is trifling compared with the games for which today’s video cards are designed. I don’t play computer games at all. So I chose an Intel Core i7-860 quad-core processor— my first Intel CPU, after 20 years with AMD and Cyrix— which meets the “need for speed” without breaking the bank, and 8 gigabytes of RAM (thus the 64-bit operating system). But I got the basic version of the Asus P7P55D-E motherboard, rather than the more popular “Deluxe,” “Pro,” or “EVO” versions that support multiple fast video cards and overclocking for high-performance gaming.
I also scrimped on the video card. When it comes to gaming performance, the nVidia 9500GT is like totally lame, dude. But it’s just fine for Photoshop’s graphical acceleration and Windows 7’s slick “Aero” user interface. And just about any video card will provide similarly sufficient performance for the 2-D graphics required for photography. (I actually ordered an even more anemic 9400GT, but the fine folks at J&N took pity on me— or, more likely, they were out of 9400GTs— and gave me a free upgrade. That’s apparently not unusual. Their Web page describing the Asus A8V Deluxe motherboard I chose for my 2004 system mentioned built-in wireless networking. This originally was a feature of that motherboard, but I was well aware that Asus had inexplicably removed the Wi-Fi by the time I ordered it. After the computer arrived, I sent J&N an e-mail suggesting that they update the Web page. They responded by sending me a Netgear Wi-Fi card.)
A brand-name computer with a Core i7-860 will invariably include a high-performance video card, since most people who buy it want the high-end processor for gaming, or perhaps for high-definition video. Such a machine would be overkill and a waste of money for the usual Web surfing and office applications, which actually aren’t very demanding of processor power. It will also have an assortment of “crapware”— trial versions of Microsoft Office, the Norton or McAfee virus/malware suite, and a lot of other stuff that’s far less useful. That’s there mainly to provide extra revenue for the computer manufacturer through “partnering” agreements, though it may coincidentally be convenient for people who would buy the software anyway. But if you prefer other software— such as the free OpenOffice.org and Avast! anti-virus— it just wastes disk space and causes annoyance when it periodically nags you to buy it.
Conversely, J&N simply installs the version of Windows you chose, with the latest available drivers for the motherboard and video card you chose, and then thoroughly tests everything before shipping it. They can also handle special requests, such as dividing the hard drive into multiple partitions of specific sizes to simplify management and backup. That’s just not possible when you buy a brand-name computer at retail. If that’s the sort of thing you’re looking for, J&N can provide it. And by the way, I have no connection, financial or otherwise, with J&N Computer Service. But as a satisfied repeat customer, I can highly recommend them.
Spring arrives today in the northern hemisphere. In Japan, cherry trees blooming with “clouds” of flowers are synonymous with the season. Japanese flowering cherry trees have spread around the world, along with the Japanese springtime tradition of celebrating the blossoms.
The trees bloom for only a few weeks, which is why Buddhism regards the flowers as symbols of the transience of life. So when I drove past the South Coast Botanic Garden (on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, southwest of Los Angeles) last week and saw the sign announcing “CHERRY BLOSSOMS NOW,” I had to go there with my camera. The result is a new Travel Photo Essay on cherry blossoms at the South Coast Botanic Garden, with six new pictures.
I’ve reworked my review of Paint Shop Pro (PSP), the image editing software I used until 2005. I no longer use PSP, for the reasons I discuss in some detail, but I try to keep the review up to date because it gets quite few visitors. Last month Corel updated PSP to version “X3” and renamed it Paint Shop Photo Pro. I also corrected some minor errors in the Getty Center Travel Photo Essay.
The Toyota soap opera (affecting my 2009 Corolla) continues. They’re talking about yet another recall, this time for power steering problems. I have been reading occasional complaints in automotive forums about “wandering” and hard-to-control steering at high speeds, but I’ve never noticed any problem. The Corolla has a new electric power steering system with a somewhat unusual feel that takes some getting used to, which may be a factor in the complaints.
More troubling is the head of Toyota’s North American operations testifying to Congress that he can’t be sure the current recall fixes will solve the acceleration problem. It also appears that the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, which regulates the auto industry, lacks the technical ability to investigate problems with electronic accelerators, even when it’s willing to investigate (as it apparently was not during the Bush years).
And then there’s Akio Toyoda reciting an apology straight from the heart (of his committee of lawyers), admitting with suitably feigned sincerity that an emphasis on growth had “confused” the company’s priorities. It’s an impressive circus of political grandstanding that does nothing to answer the question of what the risk actually might be. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who had earlier stated that Toyota owners should stop driving their cars before immediately retracting the statement, told the Congressional committee that the cars were not safe, before immediately retracting that statement. Very helpful.
I’ve added a new Travel Photo Essay on the Getty Center in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. It’s one of the twin museums operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust. But “museum” really isn’t an adequate description of either one of them. The architecture of the Getty Center’s campus is its own work of art, complementing the collection of paintings, sculpture, and furniture. But there’s also a garden that’s a piece of “installation art,” along with an amazing view of the entire Los Angeles basin and the surrounding mountains and ocean (at least on on one of those extremely rare days when smog or foggy haze doesn’t shroud everything). The other Getty twin is the the Getty Villa, a reproduction of a first-century CE Roman villa in Herculaneum that appropriately houses a collection of Roman, Greek, and Etruscan antiquities. In both places, the surroundings are as fascinating (and artistic) as the collection.
I visited the Getty Center early in January, on an exceptionally clear day. (You’re most likely to have such days in Southern California during the winter, just after a storm all too briefly sweeps the air clean of both smog and the foggy “marine layer.”) The buildings and the Central Garden are, of course, fascinating to photograph. The new Travel Photo Essay includes 25 pictures, which I believe is more than on any other page on this Web site. Winnowing the images down to even that number was quite a challenge. (And contrary to the impression you might get from the article, I did spend time in the art galleries, most notably the temporary exhibition of drawings by Rembrandt and his students and the complementary exhibit of paintings by Rembrandt and his contemporaries. I just didn’t find compelling photographic opportunities inside the crowded pavilions.)
So now it’s time to start planning and looking forward to this year’s solo road trips....
Except that the 2009 Corolla I bought just over a year ago, with that purpose in mind, is one of the millions of Toyotas recalled for a problem with “unintended acceleration”— the engine inexplicably racing even when the driver’s foot isn’t on the accelerator pedal. My car has been to the dealer for the official repair, a piece of metal inserted behind a spring in the accelerator pedal. That’s supposed to prevent two plastic parts from binding and jamming the pedal. It’s certainly an easy and expeditious fix, but does it really correct the problem? I don’t know.
Some engineers doubt that a sticky pedal is the real cause. The cars use a “drive-by-wire” system: Rather than the pedal mechanically operating the throttle, it signals its position to a computer that sends commands to the throttle. So there are potentially limitless possibilities for glitches: Interference with the signal from the pedal to the computer or from the computer to the throttle, or perhaps bugs in the computer’s software. Is the problem such an unusual combination of circumstances that Toyota’s engineers haven’t been able to duplicate it? Or do Toyota’s executives know all about it, but they’ve chosen to cover it up instead of acknowledging and correcting the problem? I don’t know.
I do know that Toyota’s slow, conflicting, and prevaricating response to the growing concern has severely tarnished, if not irreparably destroyed, their formerly sterling reputation for quality and reliability. Having owned Toyota cars for over 23 years, I’m beginning to feel like they’ve abused my loyalty and betrayed my trust. Toyota’s executives now seem to have become infected with the American affliction that makes them abandon customer loyalty, quality, and integrity in favor of arrogance, growth, and greed. That adds plausibility to the theory that they know exactly what the problem is, but they chose to “deny and lie” after calculating that defending the occasional lawsuit would be more “cost-effective” than fixing millions of cars. Again, I just don’t know.
The most frustrating thing is that I have no way of assessing the risk. My best guess is that whatever the risk actually is, it’s probably insignificant compared to, say, drunk or cellphone-gabbing drivers. But without any facts, I just don’t know.
Until I heard about the the recall, I was entirely satisfied with the performance, comfort, and quality of my car. Yes, it’s probably still safe and reliable, but there is now enough doubt to demolish my former confidence and satisfaction. Especially since the car had been recalled once before, to fix a faulty air intake that could affect the power brakes. The solution would be simple if I were sufficiently wealthy: Dump the dodgy Toyota and buy a new Honda or Hyundai. But I can’t afford to do that. Or maybe I can’t afford not to do that. I just don’t know.
Happy new year!
I’ve added a new Travel Photo Essay on the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine, one of Los Angeles’ lesser-known gems. Tucked away near the west end of Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades, just north of Santa Monica, it’s a little lake that the yogi Paramahansa Yogananda dedicated in 1950 as a place for people of all religions to meditate and find tranquility. Even if you’re not religious or interested in meditation or spirituality, it’s worth a visit. It’s a pleasantly restful (and very photogenic) escape from quotidian stresses.
I also replaced the Windmill Reflection on the home page— which had been there since I started this Web site in 1999— with a colorful picture of Flag Reflections. That windmill is at the Lake Shrine, and I took the picture during my first visit there in December 1995. Because the weather turned dull and gray soon after I arrived, I didn’t have enough pictures for a Travel Photo Essay. So I put the windmill on the Fine Art page. When I went back to the Lake Shrine last month, there was abundant sunshine. (Southern California has about an equal chance of being warm and sunny or wet and cloudy at the end of December.) Now that I have a proper home for the reflected windmill (along with 16 new pictures), it was time for another picture to represent the “Fine Art” link on the home page.
I’ve been taking advantage of the seasonal darkness to rediscover the joys of scanning film, continuing my ongoing effort to upgrade my oldest scans. I have updated the Travel Photo Essay on the Big Island of Hawaii with four new pictures and improved versions of many of the others. I also added a new Fine Art picture, Bricks and Flower.
I have finished reworking the San Diego section. I added three new Travel Photo Essays and a new menu page, and revised the three older Travel Photo Essays (Old San Diego, New San Diego, and Balboa Park). The “island” of Coronado, formerly part of “New San Diego,” now has its own page.
The two entirely new Travel Photo Essays are La Jolla and Architectural Landmarks. They include 23 new pictures, plus the eight I had temporarily placed on the Scenery and Fine Art pages.
I revised the articles on DNG and the Bestiary of File Formats to reflect Adobe’s and Microsoft’s latest efforts to “evangelize” their respective proprietary standards for camera raw files and general digital imaging; and made assorted minor updates to other commentaries and Links and Reviews.
Rather than offering generic “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings,” I’ll specifically wish everyone (chronologically): Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Hanukkah, Io Saturnalia, Blessed Winter Solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, and/or Happy New Year. And remember that prints of my pictures make excellent gifts!
Last month I visited La Jolla, a picturesque coastal enclave 19km north of downtown San Diego. As the people at work consistently asked me when I got back, “Why La Jolla?” I had neither the time nor the inclination for a lengthy solo road trip, and I definitely did not want to fly anywhere. I wanted a great “staycation” close to home, and San Diego is my favorite place for that. La Jolla was a part of San Diego I had never visited, and pictures I had seen of it suggested good photographic opportunities. That’s why.
La Jolla would seem an odd choice for a solo vacation. The main seaside resort area called “The Village” is known for luxury hotels, pricey shopping, fancy restaurants offering dinner specials for two, and beaches and cliffs meant for sunset strolls. It has all the ingredients for a couple’s romantic getaway, although the main beach park is also quite popular with San Diego families.
Surprisingly, that wasn’t a problem. Nobody charged me a “single supplement” to enjoy scenery that mostly does live up to the guidebook hype. And I even tried some of the fancy restaurants for late weekday lunch, when they’re not crowded and thus more welcoming to a “party of one.” Because I went in autumn and during the week, I found a reasonably-priced hotel with an ocean view room. And as a final pleasant surprise, the 177-kilometer drive home to suburban Los Angeles on a Friday morning took exactly two hours. 65mph (105km/h)— and 39mpg (6L/100km)— the entire way on the notoriously congested 5 and 405 freeways. It surely was one of that day’s hundred million miracles.
Despite unseasonably overcast and foggy weather that the forcasters completely missed, I brought back enough new pictures to require extensive reworking of my current set of San Diego Travel Photo Essays. While I work on that, I have temporarily put five pictures of La Jolla’s coastal highlights at the top of the Scenery page. I also temporarily added three appropriately “artsy” images to the Fine Art page: A fragmented reflection of a 1920s-vintage hotel in the windows of a modern bank building; the brick steps of the War Memorial on Mount Soledad; and a detail of the science-fictiony campus of the Salk Institute.
I finally finished the last Travel Photo Essay from my June road trip. Around San Luis Obispo includes 20 new pictures and covers Morro Bay, the little semi-ghost town of Harmony, the very scenic wine country around Paso Robles, and Mission San Miguel Arcángel.
I updated the Scanning 110-Format Film (and Kodachrome) article to include information about a new film holder for certain Nikon, Canon, and Epson scanners that a reader brought to my attention. I’ve also added some helpful information about working with scans of old negatives. I also updated the Some Pocket Instamatic Resources article to discuss the apparent demise of 110 film. When I sent an e-mail about it to Kodak’s customer service provider, the response I received said that they’re still selling the only 110 film. But it doesn’t seem to be available anywhere.
I updated The Joy of Solo Travel?, mainly in response to the increasing number of readers who reach the article through search queries relating to solo travel for men. Oddly enough, nearly all the other “hits” returned by such queries are actually about solo travel for women. And I made some minor updates to an article about “staycations” that I wrote a year ago.
Ted Marcus’ Virtual Light Table made its Web debut on 18 April 1999.