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The U.S. Open kicks off tomorrow at Chambers Bay. Let's hope the contestants have a better ride than the one across this bridge:

I remember being shown that video in school. I think we were learning about resonance, and the winds just happened to produce a frequency that matched that of concrete (or something like that, and I'm too lazy to look it up, or not:1). Any way, a pretty crazy thing.

1. That's often the stated reason, but the real reason was "aeroelastic flutter." [↩]

I've built a very quick "Smile" plugin for Amazon's Smile service. http://t.co/5AYL4yeSpT is the URL to download it and try it out.

— Erik J. Barzeski (@iacas) June 8, 2014

After a few prompts… it's now on GitHub: https://github.com/iacas/safarismile.

I'm looking forward to someone taking my barely working quickie "good enough for me" extension and turning it into something worthy.

I have a Canon 5D Mark II that we've used to make some pretty nice videos. I have a Sennheiser EW 112p G3 Wireless mic system with two transmitters and two lav mics1.

The setup works great for the videos we've done so far: short instructional videos and the like. I've even done some multi-cam stuff with iPhones as second and third cameras.

But we're looking to branch out and have more than one speaker talking, and thus, want each person to have their own microphone.

So… the question I have right now is this: What do I need to mix two channels of audio with the current setup? I don't need eight channels, but if we can pay a little more and get four channels instead of just two, cool. I don't even care if the mix goes into separate tracks, the same track, or even right into the camera.

I've looked around a bit and a lot of the mixers seem to be XLR input based, while the Sennheiser receivers output via 3.5mm output.

So what do I need to buy?

1. We only have one receiver, currently, and would likely need to buy a second. [↩]

The Terminal • furbo.org.

Almost all you need to know to become a power user.

I've deleted some, because I've punished myself enough reading them again.

I don't miss my 23-year-old self. Not one bit. And there's still more of him around than I wish, though thankfully that's just me being hard on myself.

Sorry, Jamie, Gabe, Daria, Erika, Jen, Kati, and Annie. Heh… Yeah.

Six Colors: How I rip DVDs and Blu-rays

I don't know how I missed this, but Craig calls it his "magnum opus" on the Terminal: The Terminal • furbo.org.

The Top-Secret Food That Will Change the Way You Eat

More protein than beef. More omegas than salmon. Tons of calcium, antioxidants, and vitamin B. In their secret R&D lab, the scientists at Beyond Meat concocted a plant-protein-based performance burger that delivers the juicy flavor and texture of the real thing with none of the dietary and environmental downsides.

I don't care what my burger is made of so long as it tastes and feels like a burger.

I think Apple is still on the high-est ground of any other company, but they have lost the "high" ground they once occupied.

Apple has lost the functional high ground – Marco.org and his follow-up: What it’s like to be way too popular for a day – Marco.org.

And a few days later, The Functional High Ground | Bitsplitting.org. A bunch of stuff here: Michael Tsai - Blog - Apple’s Software Quality, Continued.

Is there a great utility out there which will easily allow you to watermark a video on OS X?

I'd like to watermark some video before uploading them to YouTube. Obviously I can do this in iMovie or Final Cut Pro, but I'm looking at more of a batch utility.

The videos are .avi files from a Casio camera (high-speed video of golf swings).

I'd like to get a good set of kitchen knives. The $50 set I have had for nearly 15 years is starting to show its age.

I'd like:

• Six to eight steak knives.
• A paring knife.
• A bread knife.
• A chef's or carving knife (for quartering chickens).
• A sharpening or honing blade.
• A pair of kitchen scissors.
• Possibly a santoku.
• Possibly a filet knife.
• Possibly a vegetable knife or some other specialty knives.

That's between 13 and 18 knives or so.

Amazon has a few sets, but I don't even know what brands are good. Chicago Cutlery is easy to find, but seems mid-level at best. There are sets like this one at Williams-Sonoma for $369.

I don't really have a price range in mind. It seems I'll be spending between $100 and $500. I appreciate a good amount of heft, and solid knives that hold an edge. I don't know whether that means ceramic, carbon steel, or whatever.

I don't really even care too much about how well the set matches.

I'm willing to buy from just about anywhere, though we have an Amazon Prime membership so perhaps there is best.

Any thoughts?

It's everywhere… and always has been. Gluten Free!

Whatever, man.

xkcd: Location Sharing