The DeadTaco Portfolio

Read the Pre-Review first if you want my initial thoughts about this camera.

I’ve been using the Canon T1i extensively over the past week.  At first, I was having a hard time taking decent shots due to lousy weather conditions, but it was a beautiful day today and I finally had a chance to really get down and dirty with the T1i.  Pretty pictures at the bottom.

Some things to note:  I am not a professional photographer, but am a photo hobbyist/enthusiast.  The T1i is designed for someone in my category, so this may be a good thing.  My previous Digital SLR was a Minolta Maxxum 5D 6.1mp, so you may see me comparing the two cameras on a few points.  Also, I read the Canon T1i manual from cover to cover, so I would be well prepared to go over every aspect of this camera and make sure I am using it properly before thinking about reviewing it.

I strongly recommend reading dpreview.com’s first look at the T1i to get a really good idea of how the camera looks and it’s capabilities.  While they don’t have a hands-on review at the time of this writing, they have a great rundown of every part of the camera.  EDIT:  I found that they do in fact have some sample photos of their own, viewable here: http://www.dpreview.com/previews/canoneos500d/page13.asp

So let’s get to it.

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At my old job, we did whatever it took to save the company money, and this ended up as extra cash in the employees’ pockets in the form of bonuses.  One way we saved thousands of dollars was to set up a Linux server, and kept our Windows 2003 server simply for file storage.  We installed open source software such as GIMP and Inkscape on ten workstations, and in the end, it saved us over $14,000 for the first year.

You could literally save over $7000 per new employee or software upgrades by utilizing open source software.  This isn’t including a Linux operating system.  I realize that it is difficult to integrate Linux into the mainstream operations of a business since few people know how to utilize it (or are simply afraid of it), but there is other software that could still save thousands for a company. 

In this economy, I would figure that companies would swoon over the idea of free software versus spending thousands of dollars.  If you are such a company or just an everyday computer user, then you should check out this excellent list of free software alternatives.

http://www.nothingbutsoftware.com/blog/2008/11/8-linux-apps-to-save-you-money/

I know the link above mentions that this is all Linux software, but many of these programs have Windows versions as well (Gimp, Blender, and OpenOffice are a few good examples).  I have personally tried most of the software in that list, and can say they are downright awesome.  The average person who uses Photoshop can find GIMP to be just as powerful, and free.  Now you don’t need to pirate…er…buy Photoshop if you’re doing basic to moderate photo editing.

Also, check out this rocking site:  http://www.osalt.com/

You can find free alternatives to almost any program out there, for both Windows and Linux alike.

Save a few bucks during these bad times — it may be good for your sanity.  Now to work on an open-source oil product…

Some of you may recall that a few months ago, I posted naked pictures of Tasha on the forums.

For those of you reading this blog who are unfamiliar with Tasha, she is an AI script that I wrote for Starsiege Tribes.  She answers questions, talks about different things, insults people, and even plays the game.  The problem is that most of the younger kids who play on my server only talk to Tasha about one thing — Sex.  It would figure, though.  Seems to be the sort of mentality you get in online games.

I decided to make these kids happy by posting nude pictures of Tasha here on DeadTaco.com in all her glory.  She isn’t wearing ANY clothes, and she has some very dark skin.  These pictures will be familiar to the Forums crowd.  I am reposting them for the newer tribes players who need naked pictures of the chick they are talking to in the game.  Click the pics to enlarge them.  Enjoy.

Oh baby, she's hot! I mean this literally. She's running two massive heat-reducing fans just to keep her cool!

She doesn't love long walks on the beach (she has no legs), she hates talking on the phone (there's an ear issue), and she loves cake. You should see her in lingerie.

If you want to talk to a very old version of Tasha, just click here.

Boring, yes, but there have been quite a few concerns about the new forums that I figured I’d respond to:

• We need a quick reply box at the bottom of each topic.

Agreed.  I am going to be adding this.  Unfortunately, this requires some programming so it may take a day or two.

• It would be nice to have the last 10 posts show up somewhere so we can see the latest new posts.

I will be adding this to the very bottom of the forums.  Again, this will take some programming to accomplish, so give it a few days.  Remember, you can click the ‘View New Posts’ button at the top-right of the forums to see all new posts since your last login.

• The colors are ugly.

I may go back to the old blues and grays style that I had at the old forums, but they were getting a bit old.  We’ll see.  Hey, at least I added a nice, shiny Taco logo to the main forums page

I’m moving the forums over from SuddenLaunch so I can maintain them here instead.  This way I have full control over them, plus I can make them look sexy.

The forums will be located at http://www.deadtaco.com/forums (eventually that will change to forums.deadtaco.com, but this hasn’t happened yet).  Now I can integrate the main page with things going on at the forums.

The migration is getting there.  It’ll take anywhere from 3 to 6 hours from the time of this post for the conversion to complete.  You may have been mailed with a new forum password, but this won’t become active until tomorrow.

I recommend that you don’t post at the other forums at this time, either.  If you do, your post won’t get transferred over.  If the transfer fails (which is 50% probable) then we’ll just move back to the old forums for now.  Stay tuned!