Individual (25-59): $2100
Family (same household): $2850

Senior (> 60 as of 04-01-09): $1900
Junior/College (16-24): $1500

Foursome Special: $8000

Corporate (Primary): $2100
Corporate (Secondary): $1650

All rates include green fees, use of the practice range facility, and golf carts.

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We'll see.

© iacas for NSLog();, 2008. | Permalink

I don't care much for politics, and I never really have. I understand the importance of being involved in the decision-making. I had a lot more free time in 2004, so I took the time to educate myself a little bit beyond what people said and what commercials I'd seen (admittedly few, given the power of TiVo…).

This time around, I haven't really had the time or opportunity to do the research. Perhaps this post will kick that off for me - I have a month. I do think it's interesting that we're either going to have a black president or a woman vice president.

I don't care about Palin or Biden. The vice presidency doesn't seem to matter much at all, though I realize Cheney may have changed that. And even if the VP matters, they're not going to go against the express desires of the President, so for me it comes down to the two men: McCain and Obama.

Historically, I've sided with Republicans. I don't care for the heavy religious angle they seem to apply to everything, and I support Roe vs. Wade, stem-cell research, and a few other things, but I side with Republicans when it comes to smaller government, gun control, and the "family" as a unit. I couldn't care less if gay people want to marry each other and I think more should be done to separate church and state.

I'd register as a Libertarian except then I'd not really get to vote in the primary elections - and I'm a bit leery of the extreme Libertarians who want almost no government. Given the paragraph above, it really sounds like I'm a Democrat. The Republican Party has completely failed at the "smaller government" deal.

My wife is similarly conflicted. Her family's fairly staunchly Republican (and religious), and teachers tend to vote for Democrats. No Child Left Behind is an absolute, horrid disaster.

And yet I still can't get behind Barack Obama. I couldn't care less about his race - just as I didn't care about Hillary's gender - but the man doesn't seem to say very much. He has plans, but I've never really heard anything concrete about them. He's for "change" - but any Democrat coming in after W's eight-year term would bring "change" to the White House. What kinds of change? What goals does he have? Will we be within two years of having cars that run without any gasoline at all after his second term in office?

Perhaps I've just missed the specifics, but I watched the debate, and while McCain seemed to be more specific, Obama seemed vague. He's a great speaker, and no doubt a lot of people have rallied around that, but while Bill Clinton possessed similar skills, I always felt he was talking about an actual plan, not just a vague concept.

I voted for Bush in the last election, or rather, I voted against John Kerry. He did not strike me as the kind of guy I wanted leading this country - which is saying alot given my low opinion of George W. Bush. My opinion of W has since sunk, along with the rest of the country, to all-new lows, though, and that's a knock on John McCain. However, I do think he's realized the errors of the Bush administration - whether out of necessity or actual philosophical disagreement I don't care - and will not behave as Bush has the past eight years.

So right now, I find myself squarely caught in the middle. I'm not so much asking for help here, but I do welcome any comments you might have. This post was written extemporaneously, but I think it captures the central parts of my current feelings on this election. I'll be doing more research going forward, and your comments may help to steer that research.

© iacas for NSLog();, 2008. | Permalink

Woohoo!

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I do think this is one of my best photos ever, but in sharing that thought with a friend the other day, I said "that's pretty pathetic." It was a comment laced with "if this is your best ever, and it's not very good, well then your body of work must be really terrible." Never one to take a compliment well, I have a hard time giving myself compliments too. Instead I prefer to focus on the ways I can improve. It's a tactic that's far more efficient than focusing only on the things that are good about something, but less than the ideal: recognizing both what's good and bad.

And really, that's almost how I approach my whole life. Terrible with compliments, always looking at what I can improve about myself, never really taking much pleasure in the positives, but still somehow enjoying most of each day with the people I love and who love me.

© iacas for NSLog();, 2008. | Permalink

© iacas for NSLog();, 2008. | Permalink

To Our Developers

We have decided to drop the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for released iPhone software.

We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don't steal our work. It has happened before. While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others.

However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone's success, so we are dropping it for released software. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released.

Thanks to everyone who provided us constructive feedback on this matter.

Good news all around. You can argue "too late," but you can't argue "too little."

© iacas for NSLog();, 2008. | Permalink

Kiddo has a contest in which she can write a poem, take a photograph, paint or draw, etc. and win prizes. I'd love for her to be able to take a photograph to enter the contest, but the theme is completely insipid: "Wow." What the heck kind of theme is that? I'm tempted to tell her to take a picture of her mom and submit it upside down.

© iacas for NSLog();, 2008. | Permalink

I also told JDD that my ideal viewfinder and AF layout would consist of only five points.

Seen below, we have the 50D viewfinder, the 5D viewfinder, and the 1D Mark III viewfinder, each as shown to us by Canon. Note that the 50D, a crop sensor camera, uses the same autofocus screen as the 5D Mark II, yet despite costing half as much, features nine cross-type AF points. The 5D Mark II has only one cross-type AF point, along with six invisible ones. The 1D Mark III, needless to say, has a lot of sensors, and many are cross-type:

Below the three released cameras, I've drawn my own AF points and focusing screen (using this image of mine). My ideal layout would have the rule-of-thirds lines drawn on, with a cross-type AF point at each. I'd have a center AF point, surrounded by six invisible "helpers." And quite frankly, that's all I'd need. My requirements are lower than those offered by the 50D! I require less AF points than the 5DMII but more that are cross-type.

If I could really have my way, pie-in-the-sky style, I'd add the four AF points shown in red to really complete the package: nine AF points, five of which are cross-type, with six invisible AF assist points, positioned appropriately along the rule-of-thirds lines. Instant winner.

If you can think of a single reason why this "optimal" layout is worse than the one Canon will ship with the 5D Mark II (or which you can currently find on the 5D), you're more a more clever man than I. I've considered that lenses might not let in enough light at f/5.6 to reach out to the rule-of-thirds corners, but I don't quite buy it - not given their proximity to the cross-type sensors on the 50D.

In the end, Canon, I have a three-letter question for you: WTF?

I'm with JDD: the AF decisions made for the 5D Mark II are stunningly stupid from where I'm sitting. At the very least, why not give us nine cross-point AF points like the half-the-cost 50D?

© iacas for NSLog();, 2008. | Permalink

• Added histogram to the right side.
• Resized box and comments area to accommodate histogram.
• Added the category and tags to the left-side "Image Info" area.
• Re-enabled the "Paged Archive" add-on.
• Added photoblog to three photoblog site(s).

I'd really like to get my site into wider circulation, so if you have a moment, subscribe to the feed, visit daily, and tell your friends.

Pretty please?

Oh, and the "Desktops" section of this site got a small update recently, too.

© iacas for NSLog();, 2008. | Permalink