Recently in Information Category

This is my yearly report of what crime was reported on a day in Montgomery, Alabama. My original tally was for a Thursday in late June, so I'll keep with that just to minimize variables.

On Thursday, June 19, 2008, there were:

11 Vehicle Burglaries
21 Burglaries
5 Vehicle Thefts
9 Thefts
2 Robbery
1 Domestic Violence Assault
1 Assault

reported in Montgomery, Alabama (est. population 202,000).

The estimated value of goods stolen on this one day total $85,789 with an additional $3,910 worth of damage to personal property (vehicles, homes) in the commission of these crimes. Total damages/loss from crimes committed on this day: $89,699. These are just the reported crimes, for one day. Assume those numbers are a representative sample and multiply out those numbers over the course of a week (~$627,893), a month (~$2,735,820), or a year (~$32,762,560) as it pleases you. The real picture might be slightly better or slightly worse, but the picture is ugly anyway you slice it. This is simply a tally of the crimes reported in the Montgomery Advertiser Montgomery Crime Reports section.

Shows that I watch on a regular basis currently:

Ax Men
Tougher in Alaska
Ice Road Truckers
Top Gear (and Fifth Gear)
Kenny vs Spenny (and Ed vs Spencer)
The IT Crowd
Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares
Hell's Kitchen
The F Word
Attack of the Show
Boston Legal

I was contemplating how much filter factor (light cutoff) I get with a cheapo Quantaray Circular Polarizing filter that I inherited when I bought my Canon 50mm f1.8 second-hand. It finally occurred to me that I could switch over to M (Manual) mode on my camera, aim it at something, dial in an exposure (I happened to set it to '0'), then drop the filter over the lens and watch the exposure level indicator ( -2..1..0..1..+2 ) adjust (usually downward) and note how many stops the exposure dropped. The camera focuses and meters through-the-lens (TTL) (and thus through-the-filter), so it takes this into consideration anyway when metering a scene.

For my 52mm Quantaray Circular Polarizing filter, the exposure drops 1 1/3 stops. I'd been working with the filter on most of the time, not realizing that I was losing 1 1/3 stops unintentionally, turning the "nifty fifty" f/1.8 effectively into a f/2.8. Oops, lesson learned, check your filters out.

I got a Canon Rebel XTi (400D) several months back and I'm immensely enjoying expanding my knowledge and horizons. I moved to the XTi from my 3.3MP Sony Mavica MVC-CD300 workhorse point and shoot camera. Despite being quite comfortable with the Sony (and its limitations) I have frequently said that I felt like a complete beginner again when staring through the viewfinder of my Canon.

I was contemplating all the different settings on the XTi that can be chosen for each shot the other day and I decided to toss them in a table:

A little math reveals: 61,749,528,383,550,522,560,348,160,000 combinations! That's 61.8 octillion (a trillion quadrillion or a billion billion billion (those outside the US refer to this to a quadrilliard))! Another way to look at this is 6.1x10^28, estimates of the number of atoms in the observable universe range in the 10^77 to 10^79 range. Those are some big, big numbers! No wonder I feel like a beginner again. Not all the settings will make a viable or desirable image, but there is the big picture math on the issue.

A typical photographer (me) usually only changes a couple of these at a time and usually through a limited range of the settings for each option, so it's not as impossibly complex as it looks. As with all technology, I look forward to seeing where this technology goes in my lifetime. The Canon Rebel XSi is out next month with even more options...

I am searching for more information on Mary M. Carmichael (1833-1848) who is interred in Pratt Cemetery in Prattville, Alabama. She posthumously made the local news headlines recently when her headstone was recently located by Tillie Jones being used as a ramp up the stairs at a private residence in Prattville. The last accounting for this headstone was in 1916 and no one realized it was gone until 1995. Her brother's headstone (Dougal Carmichael) remained in place in the cemetery.

This past Founder's Day, July 20th, 2006, the headstone was put back in the cemetery during the yearly graveside ceremonies. Of particular note, it is interesting that Mary and later her young brother Dougal Carmichael are both buried in Pratt Cemetery, which is a small cemetery located on a hill above downtown Prattville. Most of individuals interred in the cemetery were notable citizens of Prattville or business or family relations to the Pratt family. There doesn't seem to be much information on Mary M. Carmichael recorded publicly, so I thought I'd put this information and request online to see if it catches any family or genealogy researchers who might have more information. If anyone has any additional background or information I'd be happy to hear from you and record the information for history's ledger.

The headstone reads:

Two articles from the Prattville Progress:
Pre-ceremony
Post-ceremony

I read about the "next generation" of job posting/searching sites and in particular was interested in one, mkt10.com, which purported to be taking a new, more effective approach to matching potential employees with employers. They've got a nice site with some basic Web 2.0 (AJAX) functionality, but when I tried to use the site, I started having problems. From my e-mail I (unsuccessfully) attempted to send to them:

I keep getting trapped in dead ends in your interface while trying to fill out the questions in "Step 2."

Please consider making your user interface more user-friendly by offering at least a "None" and "Other" option at each decision point with a chance to further explain the "Other" response. Forcing people to choose bogus responses to questions that aren't applicable or answers that aren't correct only muddies the waters of your database.

For instance your "What standards/methodologies did you follow" question lists a selection of standards and methodologies that I haven't used. I can't indicate "none of these" or "I have used Six Sigma" and am forced to stop answering your questionnaire completely (i.e. you lost a potential customer/user) or I can choose a bogus answer in order to continue to the next question.

Your site seems very interesting, and I'd like to list myself on it, but when I get stuck on the question flow with no way out, I'm just going to abandon my efforts to use your site.

This is a basic user interface design. You should never force a user to enter invalid data in order to successfully navigate your interface, it invalidates your data and frustrates your users. You should also always leave a user an easy way to opt-out or pass on optional questions, not force them to choose a provided, default answer when it is not applicable.

I tried to use the "Contact Us" link on their website to provide this feedback, but the e-mail address ( admin.mkt10@mkt10.com ) linked from there bounced my mail back with the following error message:

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

admin.mkt10@mkt10.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
PERM_FAILURE: SMTP Error (state 12): 550 5.7.1 Requested action not taken: message refused

Oh yeah, you should also make sure you "Contact Us" link works so people can provide feedback. I hope this is just a beta site that is still under development. It looks promising, but has a couple significant road blocks to fix before it is ready for prime-time...

job search opportunities engines posting resume career employment employer employee candidate userinterface user interface annoyances bad design ineffective feedback broken navigation optional mkt10 mkt10.com cuttingedge cutting-edge new hot web2.0 ajax

I couldn't find any information about the tomb-like sarcophagus on top of the Steiner-Lobman building at the east corner of Commerce Street and Tallapoosa Street in Montgomery, Alabama (Live.Local Map). Does anyone know of any definitive information or sources that cover what (if anything) is located in the container on the corner of the roof of this building?

steiner lobman steiner-lobman building roof monument truth story legend lore folklore montgomery alabama usa sarcophagus casket coffin tomb pink query funeral funerary funerial news history myth mythology saga tradition ossuary burial