Author: Allen

How often do I use my camera’s zoom? I wrote a script to find out.

While picking up a camera lens cleaner today, the camera shop guy showed me a better camera than the old one I use. It could take better pictures, including low light, and use interchangeable lenses so a super zoom could be added.

But, zooming was manual. Right hand holding the camera, left hand controlling the manual zoom on the lens. Plus, you had to remove the lens cap and manually extend the lens before you could even take a shot.

As nice as it would be to have a better camera, the way I take photos (often with my camera in my right hand, while my left hand has a beverage or video camera), the thought of doing the extra work every time I wanted to snap a photo is not desirable.

Most of the time, my camera is off, with the built-in lens cover protecting it. I power it on, the cover opens and lens extends and I am ready to take a shot within a second or two. How many photos would I miss out on if I had to do more work every time I wanted to take a picture?

As to the zoom, I created (with help of ChatGPT) a script to scan through my photos and tell me how many unique zooms it found. If I rarely zoomed, the number would be low. If I often zoomed, it would be high.

Unique Focal Lengths Found: 76 in 2204 photos

In a specific folder of photos form one visit to California Adventure, I had 76 different zoom levels. But, this isn’t truly what I want to know. For instance, if 99% of the time I turned on the camera and zoomed in maximum, and the other 1% of the time I just turned it on and did nothing, it would show 2 zoom levels — even though I actually used the zoom 99% of the time.

More work on this script needs to be done. A few interacting with ChatGPT later, and now I have one that shows me a formatted listing, from most-used to least-used focal lengths, along with their percentages:

Scanning photos in 'CaliforniaAdventure2022'...
2204 photos scanned.
Unique Focal Lengths Found: 76
        44/5:  1858 ( 84.30%)
       184/5:   104 (  4.72%)
    9069/500:    28 (  1.27%)
  14549/1000:    16 (  0.73%)
    2693/100:     8 (  0.36%)
   10541/500:     7 (  0.32%)
    5873/200:     7 (  0.32%)
  12103/1000:     7 (  0.32%)
  16583/1000:     6 (  0.27%)
    5839/250:     6 (  0.27%)
    6381/500:     6 (  0.27%)
   13693/500:     5 (  0.23%)
  24453/1000:     5 (  0.23%)
    9189/500:     5 (  0.23%)
   10693/500:     5 (  0.23%)
    3289/100:     5 (  0.23%)
  25639/1000:     5 (  0.23%)
  10051/1000:     4 (  0.18%)
   15229/500:     4 (  0.18%)
  20211/1000:     4 (  0.18%)
  19393/1000:     4 (  0.18%)
      983/50:     4 (  0.18%)
    2479/250:     4 (  0.18%)
  13319/1000:     4 (  0.18%)
  27857/1000:     3 (  0.14%)
    6711/200:     3 (  0.14%)
  26487/1000:     3 (  0.14%)
    3163/100:     3 (  0.14%)
  10317/1000:     3 (  0.14%)
    3401/200:     3 (  0.14%)
    2877/200:     3 (  0.14%)
  25233/1000:     3 (  0.14%)
  23713/1000:     3 (  0.14%)
  22669/1000:     3 (  0.14%)
    6449/500:     3 (  0.14%)
  22013/1000:     3 (  0.14%)
  17671/1000:     3 (  0.14%)
    5797/500:     3 (  0.14%)
    7709/500:     3 (  0.14%)
    1579/100:     2 (  0.09%)
   10393/500:     2 (  0.09%)
    3679/250:     2 (  0.09%)
    2167/200:     2 (  0.09%)
  22337/1000:     2 (  0.09%)
    2099/125:     2 (  0.09%)
  19131/1000:     2 (  0.09%)
    6977/200:     2 (  0.09%)
    7801/500:     2 (  0.09%)
    4099/200:     2 (  0.09%)
    2037/200:     2 (  0.09%)
   12419/500:     1 (  0.05%)
       151/8:     1 (  0.05%)
   12039/500:     1 (  0.05%)
      753/50:     1 (  0.05%)
  15983/1000:     1 (  0.05%)
    2328/125:     1 (  0.05%)
  15237/1000:     1 (  0.05%)
   14951/500:     1 (  0.05%)
  26057/1000:     1 (  0.05%)
  16379/1000:     1 (  0.05%)
    1739/125:     1 (  0.05%)
    1778/125:     1 (  0.05%)
  11847/1000:     1 (  0.05%)
  16179/1000:     1 (  0.05%)
    2876/125:     1 (  0.05%)
   9499/1000:     1 (  0.05%)
    4983/250:     1 (  0.05%)
      241/25:     1 (  0.05%)
      293/25:     1 (  0.05%)
  13037/1000:     1 (  0.05%)
    7443/500:     1 (  0.05%)
    2712/125:     1 (  0.05%)
  28343/1000:     1 (  0.05%)
  12363/1000:     1 (  0.05%)
    1361/100:     1 (  0.05%)
  12627/1000:     1 (  0.05%)

I’m guessing that the 84% is the time I just turn on the camera and take a photo. This tells me that 16% of the time, I mess with zoom.

It does seem like going to a camera with manual zoom is not something I want to do, since I do use the feature enough for that to be a step back.

#TheMoreYouKnow

I’ll be adding this script to my GitHub with other photo scripts I’ve been working on, shortly. You can find work-in-progress ones here:

https://github.com/allenhuffman/ShowDatesInPhotos

How to completely solve DisFan social media drama

There has always been, and I expect will always be, people who just like to complain, argue and start fights. Distancing yourself from those types of people may make your life much better — unless, of course, you are one of those people.

Online bickering is nothing new. It existed in the 1970s/1980s on bulletin board systems. It existed later on text-based information networks such as CompServer, GEnie, and Delphi. It existed on graphical networks such as AOL, MSN, PC-Link, etc.

It existed on the Internet on newsgroups, then later web message boards, and the trend continues with social networks like Facebook, Twitter, etc. Any platform that allows user responses, such as video comments on YouTube, will have this.

Watching the latest drama unfold about certain YouTube video posters just reminds me of the same type of drama in the usenet groups from almost thirty years ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

YouTube has its own level of drama, with nitpickers nitpicking Disneyland video bloggers, and other nitpickers nitpicking Walt Disney World video bloggers. Meanwhile, over on Twitter, several sites are constantly bashed and accused of being click-bait sites. One of them even has a legacy dating back to the early years of Disney fan podcasting, so you’d think that would give them some leeway in later generations of media. I guess not.

If you are caught up in the griping about Disneyland YouTubers right now, posting your thoughts in other videos, REDDIT threads and elsewhere, try this simple tip to improve your life:

Don’t watch them, and unsubscribe if you are subscribed.

It’s a simple as that. Let people who enjoy the content enjoy it, and move on with your life. Nothing is gained by griping about something you don’t like. Only other gripers care. The rest of us just move on and enjoy life.

Try it sometime.

It works great!

Theme Parks & Disney galleries updated

Some of the recently updated galleries still need more/better sorting, but the first pass has been uploaded. There are still some other galleries yet to be added, but I expect to get around to them next.

The most recent updates are to Universal Studios Hollywood, Knott’s Berry Farms and Disneyland Resort. The Disneyland photos include Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge and Pixar Pier, both of which were new to me. (Though we did see Pixar Pier under construction in an earlier visit.)

The Walt Disney World gallery will soon be regenerated to match the layout of the others.

I also have a batch of ultra-low-light photos to add taken inside queue areas for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and Sleeping Beauty Castle. There also will be a batch taken inside Kockturn Alley, revealing many details you just cannot see with your eyes.

If you enjoy browsing this photographic “history” of the parks, you can drop a coin in the tip jar on your way out 😉

Photo library update status…

Work continues on generating new versions of the non-Disney Theme Parks photo gallery and the Disneyland Resort photo gallery. There have been updates to the JAlbum program I use for the gallery, so I expect I’ll be redoing the gallery again soon to make use of some new features.

Meanwhile, I have gotten back to updating my Trips page (formerly listed as “About” in the menu). By using dates found in photos I have taken, I am trying to come up with a list of all the dates I was at various parks. Who knows … maybe you were at one of those parks on one of those days and might be somewhere in one of those photos.

I also plan to try to remember all the various digital cameras I have owned since the original Epson PhotoPC I bought in 1996. Some I kept for years, and at least one I used only for one trip then got rid of due to its inability to take good pictures inside Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion 😉 Unfortunately, unless the camera model is stored in the JPG photos (which some cameras do), I don’t expect to be able to come up with a complete list.

For what it’s worth, my current camera is a Canon G5X. It’s an old, discontinued model, but still serves me well. I still have my previous Panasonic Lumix camera as well, due to sentimental reasons.

Thanks for dropping by …

New photos being added: Knotts, Uni Hollywood, Disneyland

I have had some photos waiting to be sorted for years, and I am finally getting around to it. I wrote a program that helps me sort photos based on their GPS coordinates, which made something that used to take several nights take about half an hour. I’ll share a post about how it works later.

Look for new photos from Knott’s Berry Farms, Disneyland Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood to be added as soon as I get them uploaded.

OpenAI’s new chat bot creates the menu for a Star Wars themed steakhouse

If you have been sleeping under a rock, like I have, you may not know about the ChatGPT AI chat bot. It can do some mind blowing things, such as generate programming code in different languages (even COBOL and BASIC), or look at code and “fix” it.

It can also write scripts, poems, and more.

My co-worker asked it to generate the menu for a Star Wars themed steakhouse, and this is what the AI came up with:

Here is a possible restaurant menu for a Star Wars themed steakhouse:

Starters:

  • Tatooine Tatters: Fried potato strips with spicy dip
  • Mos Eisley Mozzarella Sticks: Breaded and fried mozzarella served with marinara sauce
  • Jabba’s Jambalaya: Shrimp, sausage, and rice in a spicy sauce

Entrees:

  • The Force Filet: 8 oz. filet mignon grilled to perfection
  • The Dark Side Ribeye: 12 oz. ribeye steak cooked to your liking
  • The Rebel Rump: 14 oz. rump steak topped with sautéed mushrooms and onions

Sides:

  • Dagobah Swamp Fries: Crispy french fries with garlic and herb seasoning
  • Endor Forest Salad: Mixed greens with cherry tomatoes, croutons, and balsamic vinaigrette
  • Kashyyyk Coleslaw: Shredded cabbage and carrots in a tangy dressing

Desserts:

  • Naboo Nougat: Vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce and toasted almonds
  • Hoth Hot Chocolate: Rich and creamy hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows
  • Yoda’s Yams: Baked sweet potatoes with cinnamon and brown sugar glaze

Drinks:

  • The Empire’s Elixir: Bourbon, whiskey, and beer
  • The Rebel’s Refreshment: Gin, vodka, and rum
  • The Jedi’s Juice: Tequila, triple sec, and lime juice

Specialty Cocktails:

  • The Skywalker: Bourbon, honey, and lemon juice
  • The Darth Maul: Vodka, red bull, and grenadine
  • The Yoda: Midori, pineapple juice, and lime juice

May the force be with you as you enjoy your meal!

Can you imagine what this technology will be like five years down the line?

Disney California Adventure Winery $16 pineapple rum cocktail

At the Sonoma Terrace at Disney California Adventure is a $16 (as of 10/2022) pineapple rum cocktail. It’s 10% alcohol, and packs more of a punch for the money than any other drink in the park (beyond something the real bars at Lamplight Lounge or Carthay Circle could make, of course).

And, it’s a bit unique — from Hawaii and not available many states. If you are looking for it, here it is:

https://koloarum.com/rum/hawaiian-pineapple-passion-rum-cocktail/

I cannot buy it anywhere here in Iowa, but your state may have it.

Disneyland 2018 vs Disneyland 2022 – introduction

In the not-too-distant future (but probably not next Sunday, A.D.), I plan to write out my thoughts about the Disneyland of 2022 versus the pre-COVID Disneyland of 2018. For those that go all the time, the changes are incremental. Stay away a few years, and the changes are huge.

From the introduction to mobile ordering, to the need for using a phone for “everything” (even getting to view World of Color at DCA), a current visit to Disneyland is vastly different than one just a few years ago.

And I don’t expect to even discuss price increases, since anyone old enough knows this is not a new thing, and we’ve talked about them for decades.

More to come…

So that casino at Walt Disney World is finally happening?

Click-bait headlines are exclaiming that a casino is coming to Walt Disney World. Whether this is accurate or not isn’t important, but it did bring back memories of something my father told me long ago.

My dad was taken to Disneyland shortly after it first opened in 1955. In the 1970s, he took me to Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. Because of that, I can say there was a time when I had visited every Disney park in the entire world!

But I digress.

In the days before the Internet, Disney rumors were far more sparse. You really didn’t know anything unless you read it in a book, or you knew someone who knew anything. And, somewhere, my dad had “learned” that the space-age Contemporary Resort had been built to have a casino. Disney, doing a casino? That will never happen.

I grew up in Houston, and after I got my first computer modem (kids, ask your parents), I started frequenting the bulletin board systems (BBS) in town. One of the users was a guy who had worked at Magic Kingdom for a number of years doing behind the scenes stuff.

I exchanged many messages with him, asking him all kinds of questions. “What do the Presidents look like up close?” “How does xxxx work?” He explained things to me that I wouldn’t be able to confirm until a decade later after I got access to Internet (news groups like alt.disney.disneyland and rec.arts.disneyparks and, later, personal home pages on the World Wide Web).

One story he told me had to do with Madam Leota in the Haunted Mansion. I expect I knew it was a projection, but he told me something about air being blown to keep dust out from in front of the projection (true?), and that the lens was special with edges to keep the sides in better focus or something. A decade later, I think it was the Persistence of Vision magazine that contained some of this same information. I bet if I did some web searches right now I could find out if either of those sources were correct.

But not everything he told me was correct. Or, if it was, it never amounted to anything. He mentioned they had been wanting to do a similar Madame Leota effect for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, except it would be to project a giant octopus or something. I don’t remember anything else, except the term “angel hair” was part of it — to this day, I still don’t really know what that meant. I envisioned it as some kind of substance you could fill a glass sphere with and project on.

None of this is important, of course, but he, too, had heard about a casino at the Contemporary.

Over the years, Disney has made steps to fight against casinos coming to the area. There’s really no reason to believe Disney would ever do anything like a casino.

But then Pleasure Island happened, and none of us ever expected Disney to compete against Church Street Station by opening up a whole bunch of night clubs!

All of this to say that … if it does come to pass, at least we can change this crazy unsubstantiated and unlikely rumor from CLEARLY FALSE to OH I GUESS ITS TRUE. Even if one has nothing to do with the other.

Until next time…