Motorized Camera Slider

I'm a bit of a nerd.  I know it and I'm not ashamed.

Recently, I watched a video on YouTube that was a compilation of time lapse videos.  The video was gorgeous from beginning to end.  It wasn't something that you could just stop half way through.  The most amazing thing about time lapse videos is seeing a lot in a small span of time.  No one wants to watch grass grow but when someone figures out how to cram 3 weeks worth of growth into one smooth 5-second video no one can look away.  So many cool things are happening around us all the time but at a snail's pace.  Time lapse shows us a new way to look at things.  It reawakens our sense of wonder.

One thing that made this time lapse video stand out above the others that I've seen was camera motion.  About 30 seconds into the video, it hit me.  "How do they do that?!"  I quickly answered my own question as I realized that in order to add smooth camera motion (pan, tilt, or slide), one would need a motor to control the motion.

My mind started running, but before I inadvertently reinvented the wheel I jumped on YouTube once again and found a video of an inexpensive DIY motorized time lapse camera slider.  Thanks to this fellow nerd and his willingness to share his design, I feel both empowered to build my own motorized time lapse slider as well as find and proudly wear a winter coat with a large fur-lined hood.

First, there was a trip to Lowe's to pick up the angled aluminum for the main rails, the all-thread for the dive shaft, and a bunch of various pieces of hardware for the legs and connections.  I already had some leftover flat bar aluminum from another project.  I built my wheeled camera platform completely from random materials that I already had.  I did have to buy a universal ball joint camera mount, low-speed electric motor, and AA battery pack from Amazon.com.

I also still need the gearing.  Unlike this guy, I'm not going to connect my electric motor directly to my drive shaft.  I'm going to gear mine down.  In the video he says that his motor turns at 24 revolutions per minute (rpm).  Mine turns pretty close to 28 rpm.  The all-thread I'm using is 5/16" so it has 18 threads per inch.  My slider is 4' long, but will only have a camera travel distance of about 3.5' or 42".  That means I have 756 threads of camera travel.  At 28 rpm, it would take exactly 27 minutes (00:27) to complete the camera motion.  That's not enough time to get the kind of time lapses I want to get.

This video is full of examples of the duration of time I would like to cover with my time lapse videos.  I'm looking to cover about 2 hours.  That would allow me to capture sunrises, sunsets, celestial movement, substantial work being performed, etc.  27 minutes just couldn't quite get that.  This guy's slider is shorter than mine and so he has even less capture time than that.  I think that I am going to buy a 16-tooth pinion gear and a 72-tooth spur gear.  These are used on hobby remote control cars so they're durable, readily available, and cheap.  By fastening the spur gear to the drive shaft and turning it with the pinion gear on the motor's output shaft, I am able to slow the drive shaft down to 6.22 rpm.  At 756 threads of available camera travel. it will take 2 hours and 1.5 minutes to get from one end to the other.

Another difference in our designs will be that I will have two tripod mounts, one on each end of my slider.  It will allow me to mount it in a wide range of different positions to capture motion going up, down, sideways, etc.  It will have legs just like the one pictured here so that it can be used on any flat surface, but with the added tripod mounts I can set it up anywhere.

I'm looking forward to the finished product.  I've got other things going on, so it's not a "front burner" project or anything.  But, I'm sure I will get it all put together soon so that I start setting it up and capturing some cool video.  Of course, you'll know when I have some because I'll be posting some stuff on here.

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Living Under a Rock

Do I live under a rock?

What sparked this question to myself was that recently I rented a movie from Redbox.  I was going after a very specific movie so there was no perusing the catalog.  I was just going in for the kill. It had been quite a while since I had rented a movie.  Maybe a year?  After paying for my rental, I had the receipt sent to my email address from the machine.  Along with the email containing the receipt, they also sent me an email welcoming me to Redbox since I had never used that email address before with them.  It included  a code to use next time for a free rental.  This prompted me to look through their catalog on my phone to find a potential "date night" movie that my wife and I could watch together.

What I found was a huge list of movies that I had never heard of, didn't recognize, and was completely unfamiliar with.  That's a relatively new development for me.  Does anyone else have this issue?  I was stumped and had no clue as to where to even start to choose a movie.

Back in the day, this would have never happened to me.  I would have seen previews from other movies that I had rented or watched in the theater.  I would have seen commercials on broadcast television about upcoming movies.  I would have heard about movies from co-workers and friends.  So, what's different now?

We have a Roku box, a Netflix subscription, small children, and a moral compass.  The combination of these apparently equals a complete ignorance of current entertainment choices.

We don't watch broadcast television for a few reasons.

1. There isn't really anything appropriate for our small children to see that also interests Jodi and me.
2. The shows the children like can be seen on Netflix on demand.
3. Netflix has multiple seasons of most TV series shows that keep me and Jodi entertained for months due to our limited window to watch.

Since Netflix keeps us entertained, we don't ever rent movies any more nor do we ever consider watching one in theaters.  So, we have essentially cut out every available outlet where we would normally be subject to receiving exposure to movie trailers or advertising.

To be quite honest, the only news I get is when I search for news on Google which I do a couple times a week just to keep in touch with what is happening politically.

I find it interesting that with these new media tools developed by technology and entertainment innovations, I have actually become less solicited, less aware, and less informed.  Hmm.

Photo credit: Julie Dawn Fox @ juliedawnfox.com

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Fascination With The End of the World

We Americans are no stranger to movies about the end of the world, but I find it odd when there are so many different apocalyptic films at one time in theaters.  It seems that America has had an insatiable appetite for seeing different depictions of one of three plot scenarios:

1. A tale of the world coming to the brink of destruction only to be saved by some unlikely hero.
2. A tale showing the world being detroyed by some uncontrollable force(s) yet following the lives of a surviving minority.
2. A post-apocalyptic tale of survivors of some world-destroying event.

In short, people want to see the before, during, and after of the earth being destroyed.  And, maybe it's not just America.  Maybe everyone everywhere enjoys being entertained with stories of cataclysmic destruction.

Well, one must look no further than the Bible for such stories.  For example, Noah and his family were the only survivors of a global flood (Genesis 6).  This flood dramatically and violently altered the landscape not just by drowning it, but by radically eroding it and depositing massive amounts of sedimentary layers burying both land and sea creatures.

There are many differing theories on biblical eschatology, yet the common denominator is that there will be a measured destruction of the earth (2 Peter 3:10) and that there will be a new earth (Isaiah 65:17, 2 Peter 3:13).

But, one doesn't have to be a Christian to be fascinated by the concept of a detroyed earth.  Evidently, as the presence of all these summer blockbuster movies pictured here that are currently in theaters would suggest, everyone is interested in experiencing a future loss of life as we know it, as long, of course, as we can experience it on the big screen.

The big difference between the two groups as it concerns the subject at hand is that while non-Christians may seek entertainment in theaters watching the almost, during, or aftermath of the destruction of the earth and chalk it all up to fiction and fantasy, Christians know that the destruction is inevitable, though the cause will be different.  It won't be a race of extraterrestrials come to claim property, flesh-eating zombies looking for a meal, or a Lex Luther looking for power through global dominance.  Regardless, the world will end.

Now, don't go using this as some excuse not to recycle or to run up a bunch of debt you have no intention of paying off.  No.  We are stewards of this earth.  And, it's our job to be responsible with it as well as with our finances.  Yes, the Bible talks a lot about that, as well.

I know what some of you are thinking.  You're like "what a Debbie Downer!"  Well, there is good news.  There may not be a non-fictional man from planet Krypton watching out for you or a gang of half-men-half-turtles in your local sewers or a group of mutant teenage do-good-ers living in some mansion at the ready to thwart humanity's newest nemesis.  But, there is a Savior.  There is One who laid down His life, paid our debt, overcame death, and offers us eternal life on His merits.  No fictional character has ever even attempted that.  His name is Jesus.  And, you can read about Him in the greatest comic book ever written, the Holy Bible.

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Chemical Poisoning

For six days before Memorial day weekend begun, I felt terrible. Every day, at some point in the day I would become tired, my lower back would ache as if I were feverish, and I would have, at minimum, a slight headache. I thought that I was getting sick at first, but it didn't get any worse. Then again, it seemed to not get any better.

Finally, on the sixth day, I had enough of feeling bad and decided to ask my wife what I should do. (I should have started with this, but whatever.) She almost immediately asked, "Have you been eating or drinking anything new lately?" And, it hit me. During this same time frame, I had bought a couple boxes of Propel.

I had bought these before and didn't have any issues with them, but then after looking at them, I realized that I had purchased Propel Zero this time instead of the regular Propel. Oops. I immediately stopped using them in my water and by the end of the night felt better. The next day, I woke up and felt great again.

I was only using the flavor packets because it helped me drink more water. I chose Propel because it was the only water additive packet that used real sugar as opposed to all the others that boasted "no calories" but chose to poison ythe consumer rather than fatten them up a bit. See, I have a bad habit of going for very long periods of time without drinking anything. I'll get a massive headache and then can't remember the last time I drank anything at all. I'm sort of a camel that way, but without the humps of water on my back to actually keep me going in a healthy way.

Since then, we watched the documentary The Beautiful Truth. I enjoy watching good documentaries and this was definitely one of them. Although, I hate to hear that my favorite foods are really loaded with toxins. And, that the reason I like them so much is because of the addictive qualities of their brain cell killing additives. :-(

Still, I recommend that everyone sees this film for the information as well as for the entertainment. Oh and don't drink Propel Zero. It's poison.

Here's the ingredients: MALTODEXTRIN, CITRIC ACID, SODIUM CITRATE, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), SUCRALOSE, SILICON DIOXIDE, NIACINAMIDE (VITAMIN B3), ACESULFAME POTASSIUM, CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA (TO PROTECT FRESHNESS), CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE (VITAMIN B5), VITAMIN E ACETATE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), CYANOCOBALAMIN (VITAMIN B12).

Interesting Note: Blogger's built-in spell check is assuming that I have spelled nine of these words incorrectly because they don't exist as words in their database. So, I'm not the only one who doesn't recognize them. I wonder how many of these chemicals in the future will be found proven to cause serious health risks.

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Global Go Team

Recently, Jodi and I joined the Global Go Team. They're a missions group made up mostly of young couples from our church. They are a non-profit organization that seeks to help those who couldn't otherwise meet the basic necessities for survival. I won't go into too much detail, since the video and the website do that for me.

Which brings me to my next subject, the video. I was asked to put together a 3 to 5 minute video that summarizes the projects that the team has already accomplished or are in the process of. It was a lot of fun to do, and I feel privileged to be the one that gets to make them. But, as you know, it takes a village. Nate and Cristi Harris, two other Global members, managed to compose the beautiful soundtrack that really carries the feel of the entire video. Esther Hawkins gave it a professional sounding touch with her naturally melodic British accent as the voice over. Deoin Bedell graciously allowed us to invade his recording studio to record both the soundtrack and the voice over. His skill in mastering the audio is nothing short of amazing. And, finally, I wrote the script (with some plagiarism from Global's website), directed and edited the video.

The people that helped the most, though, were the ones who did double-duty and performed both roles of Mom and Dad, while the actual Mom or Dad was preoccupied with the video's creation. These unsung heroes are Jodi Felton, Torrie Bedell, Scott Hawkins, and Nate and Cristi Harris (who took turns recording their respective parts of the soundtrack so that one could be with their children). These people made the video possible just as much as the ones directly involved. Thanks, guys.

So, without further blabbering, here is the much anticipated video. And a link to the website which will have the video on it soon.

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Theft by Deception

I don't think that I've written a blog this short since I started blogging. I've wanted to write one about this subject for a long time, but what was taking so long was that I knew that it wouldn't be a short one. I'd fill the World Wide Web full of my opinion and rantings and no one would even begin to attempt to read it knowing that they would be bored out of their skull long before they even finished the introduction. Even now, I'm losing some of you. So, being sensitive to my impatient fast-food culture blog readers, I'll keep it very short.

A few years ago, I watched a video online called Theft by Deception. In short, it takes you through step-by-step of how it came to pass that American citizens were expected to pay a tax on the money that they earned. By exploring not just the current tax code and regulations but also the tax code and regulations before revisions were made since the birth of the Income Tax in 1913, it shows you exactly how the federal government imposed an unconstitutional tax on the American people. But, even the federal government knows that it's unconstitutional and therefore illegal. So they made great efforts to conceal the fact that the tax code and regulations themselves don't say anywhere that regular citizens like you or me are required to pay any income tax. Yeah, you heard me correctly. There is no law, code, or regulation that requires an American citizen to pay federal income tax if they live and work with only a domestic income from within the borders of the United States.

Have you ever seen the law that requires you to pay federal income tax? I KNOW that you haven't because it doesn't exist. Don't you think that it's ridiculous that you have probably payed a tax year after year in blind faith that you are required to do so. I bet you have some questions and I'm sure that you have some doubts, but rest assured that all those questions can be answered simply by watching the video. It's long, but very worth it as it helps the regular person better understand how the tax law is constructed, how it functions, its original intent, and its current intended purpose. Watch it.

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Volition

Around a week ago, I followed a link posted by a friend on facebook to a short film. Somewhere it had said, "preview the movie." So, I thought it would be a normal movie preview and be a couple of minutes long. It turned out to be 15 minutes long. It wasn't a movie preview. It was a short film. It's called Volition.

It was very powerful. I recommend that everyone watch it. I was so moved by it, in fact, that I didn't hesitate in purchasing a copy.

Later that evening, I received a personal e-mail from a couple thanking me for purchasing the movie and supporting their cause. The movie arrived at the end of last week and we've already watched it again. The movie was professionally packaged complete with artwork. The packaging to ship the movie to me, on the other hand, was a simple bubble mailer that had both my and the return addresses hand-written. It's neat that we bought a movie straight from the people who made it rather than some large corporation that only sold it for another corporation.

On the DVD were some bonus features that included the original promotional video advertising a video contest. Apparently, Volition was one of the finalists in the 2008 contest. The prizes consisted of dollar amounts to go out to the finalists to go towards their next film. It was really awesome. Also in the bonus features were the 10 movie trailers for the 10 finalists of 2008.

What an awesome concept! It's called the Doorpost Film Project. Their website can be found here. But, most importantly, the short film ,Volition, can be be viewed for free right here. Watch it!

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Movie Review: The Other Boleyn Girl

Last night, Jodi and I watched The Other Boleyn Girl. It was worth the watch if for no other reason than the interesting history lesson. We weren't aware of which English King it was being portrayed in the movie until about halfway through when someone called him Henry and it became clear that it was Henry VIII (Henry the Eighth). The one that was married so many times that history has written several silly songs about him. However, watching the movie is no laughing matter. Neither was reading about the rest of his life and family's lives on the internet afterwards.

I'll try not to spoil the movie just in case any of you out there will actually watch it. But, seeing how it is historically correct, some of you may already know what happens. I'll just talk about what isn't in the movie, for the most part. The actions of Henry VIII caused England to break away from the Roman Catholic Church. Later, he became a Protestant and created the Church of England. His successor, his son from his fourth wife, King Edward VI, took the throne and died shortly thereafter. This left the throne to his daughter from his first marriage, Mary Tudor. She became Queen Mary and brought the Church of England back to Catholicism. This brought many persecutions to the Protestant community and to emphasize her feelings about how much she detested Protestants, she ordered 300 of them to be burned at the stake. Thus she became known as "Bloody Mary."

Queen Mary died within a couple years and that left the throne to Queen Elizabeth I. It's terrible to read about all the many beheadings, stake burnings, and tortures that were so readily used in England. And this is just among the nobles! When the Queen isn't even safe from a public beheading, you know that none of the common people are. It's no wonder why the Pilgrims risked sickness, disease, and the challenges of an unpopulated land by piling on a boat and shoving off not long after all this.

For the movie review, I would give it one thumb up and one thumb down. The movie is full of terrible choices made by everyone. It's full of power-seeking, manipulating, lying, cheating, murderous characters. Sadly, it is historically accurate. Which is where the thumbs up comes from. I enjoy movies that teach history and incite interest in it by accurately representing it while telling a story. But, I'd rather watch a movie with a lot less adultery, a lot more action, and would it kill someone to get some comic relief around here?

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Our relaxing weekend

My wife and I are busy people. Sometimes, we get so caught up in busy-ness that we actually have to schedule and plan a relaxing weekend. And even other times we have to pick up and leave town to stay relaxed for any amount of time. (sidenote: Earlier I said "busy-ness". This was very much on purpose. I wanted to stress the "busy" part and I also did not want to confuse the reader into thinking that I own a business. That time I meant business like bizness. Or maybe bidness if that's how you pronounce it. I just would like to clarify that I can spell and that public schools in Missouri may get a bad rap, but they get the job done. Are we clear on this? Good. I new yall id getit!)

So, we packed up and headed for the bluff. Poplar Bluff that is. It may be 182 miles from Springfield, but if that's what it takes to have a good reason to not work, then it's a short trip and a small price to pay. We started out Saturday morning by waking up dark and early. Yes, I said dark. And my wife decided for us to sleep in, so we did. Who's gonna argue their way out of bed with a hot blonde? That's right. Nobody. One cookie for you. So, we left a little after the time we originally intended on arriving there, but that's okay. We got there and relaxed for a bit and then ate and relaxed some more. We then went and rented some movies and got a driving tour of Historic Downtown Poplar Bluff. Then, we ate at a five-star chinese restaurant. Gabe and I went bowling while Jodi did Becky's hair. (my scores: 179, 141, 228, 192 I'm awesome) Then back home for a relaxing movie Thank You For Smoking. Up late watching Iron Chef. Sleeping in Sunday and following it with a Sunday afternoon drive through Mingo National Park and Recreation Area. Then, more relaxing until we finally took the relaxing drive home. Here is a good picture I got of Jodi relaxin'. Have I said 'relaxing' too much for one blog?

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A good movie choice...

We rented a good movie last night and I thought that I would officially recommend it by writing a personal review. The movie is Brick. It's one of those independent films that carries a recommendation on the cover from one of the well known film festivals of which the name escapes me. Maybe Sundance? Anyway, I found it to be an excellent movie. It starts out in the middle of the movie and then backs up to show you the events leading up to it. It catches up to it rather quickly (maybe 20 minutes in) and then the movie gets thrust into action from there. I won't ruin the movie by discussing any of it's plot so don't worry. But, I will say that the movie has a somewhat unique style. It is written in a "Cloak and Dagger" mystery/action/thriller style. You know the movies where a crime takes place and someone takes it upon themselves to solve the mystery. Well, this movie is quite the same. There's a drug lord, the rebellious "muscle", the big money drug sellers, the punk street gang, and various other powerful groups. What makes this movie unique from the others that fall in this category, though, is that this movie takes place in a high school. All the characters are purposefully written to be ridiculously adult-like, super-serious, cunningly intelligent, and melodramatic. It's interesting to see a movie where they take all these qualities and tie them into a movie entirely made up of teenagers. The ridiculousness isn't lost on the writers, though. They don't seriously think that life is like that in high school. They prove this by adding in some humor amidst all the drama in strategic places making fun of itself in a way.
Overall, it's highly entertaining with some great twists and some edge-of-your-seat mystery thrills. A great rental! Check it out.

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A day in the life of...

I've never just written about my day, so I thought that maybe I could take you through a tour of a day in the life of me. Here we go...
I woke yesterday morning at about 4:00 am in a terrible state. I had a bad cramp in my left calf muscle and since it woke me up it took me about 30 seconds before I could wake my brain up and discover the source of the intense pain. Once the cause was determined I quickly took the old soccer cramp routine and the pain subsided slowly but surely. I went back to sleep after this and then shut off the alarm the first time it went off at 5:45. Inevitably, I overslept and woke up at 6:40 which was just enough time to jump out of bed, throw on some clothes and go to my Leadership Academy class, but when I "jumped" out of bed I almost hit the floor face down when my left leg just gave out. I don't know what I was doing in my sleep with my leg, but it was paying retribution to me in the morning. I was limping around like I didn't even have a left leg and decided to just go back to sleep. I would've only got in a half day of class anyway since yesterday was the big day we were to find out the sex of the baby. So, I played hookie. I spent some time in the living room stretching before I took Jacob to school and got my leg back to somewhat normal. When I got back home I threw a blend of French Roast and Sumatra coffee beans into the grinder and then had a couple cups of the wonderful outcome of the water that ran through it. Then, Jodi and I made sushi. We're getting pretty good at it, too, I might add. After getting ready, we left to go pick up Jacob and went to the ultrasound appointment and saw a boy on the screen. YAY! We spent the whole time between the ultrasound and the doctor's appointment calling friends and family to tell them the news. Doctor Williams confirmed that everything was perfectly normal with the baby at the appointment. After we got home Dustin showed up and brought the computer that he was giving me and a bonus computer for parts and a really nice Sony shelf home entertainment stereo system. So, after we filled my living room with free electronics and then ate some Frito pie for dinner we went to the park for a couple hours and let the kids play. We got home about 8:45 and got Jacob to bed and then I had a chance to play with my new toys for a while before we laid down to eat sushi and watch V for Vendetta. Finally, off to sleep. What a day! I love my life!

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