One of my first cooking jobs was at a place called Coachlight Inn. It was an amazing place to cook at because the cooks worked right out in the resturaunt. There were tables in front of and in back of the cooks staion. The cooks staion had a huge Broiler, a nice size saute station, a Microwave and then Refrigerators under the workstation. There was a shelf that ran the length of the sation that the plates were placed on as they were ready to go and the food was plated. At each end of the sation were holders for the plates with springs below them that clean plates were stacked on. It was a great setup and who ever thought it out did their home work cause it worked great.

One advantage to this setup was seeing how the customers were progressing through their salad so you had a good idea of when to plate their food, if it was ready. But also, if you ever dropped a steak (It does happen), you were busted big time, so you didn't drop any steaks.

One night, the busboys were placing about 4 tables together right behind the workstaion in the middle of the resturaunt. This would happen every now and then, but not very often. At about 7:30, this one guy came in and set down at one end of the table. He looked, well, very plain. He had thick glasees, a pale complexion and a ratty looking suit on with a thin black tie and a white shirt. Just plain as all get out. I'll call him Fred. Maybe 1/2 hour later a few more people showed up, but they didn't sit next to Fred. In fact they sat in the middle of this long table. Ok, nothing wrong with that. Now as soon as they showed up, these people started ordering Drinks like crazy. Fred was drinking Ice tea, alone. He smiled at the people and a few of them actually spoke in his direction every now and then. More people slowly showed up and the table finally filled up, with probably 25 people or so at this long table.

Salads were served and the food order was finally brought to us. The owner of the resturaunt probably loved this bunch, for they pretty much had the cream of the crop off the rather expensive menu. Lots of Brooiled lobster with steak and prime rib combinations. Shrimp Scampi aplenty. Even a nice round of appetizers before hand.

What was a bit odd about that night was that the rest of the Dinning was rather slow. So it was easy to kind of keep trrack of what transpired at this long table. Also, I have long enjoyed seeing people and trying to figure out their relationship was with one another. Most of these people were dresed very nice. I was told that a few of them had showed up in a Limo. Much talking and drinking went on. As the liquoir flowed they became louder and laughter ensued.

Except for Fred. He basically sat there at the end of the table and smiled. He seemed to enjoy what was happening at the table, but he really wasn't part of the table. He sat there quietly and drank his Ice tea. He didn't partake in the salads or the Appetizers. His hands were interlaced as he sat there quietly. He finaly got his meal, a Hambuger Loaf, the cheapest thing on the Menu.

They finally quit eating and the plates were cleared and then a cake was brought out. It had apperently been Fred's last days at his jobs and his coworkers were throwing him a going away party. Many of the people left right after the song had finished for Fred. Here he sat with this huge cake in front of him and only one person stayed long enough to eat a piece of cake. It was sort of sad.

Then the Lady finished her cake and actually came down to Fred and shook his hand and sad Good bye to him and few other things. It dawned on me that she was the only one. No one else hardly even looked his way as they left. Then the really odd thing happened.

The waitress walked over to Fred and presented him with the check He reached for his wallet and paid cash. Then the waitress boxed up the cake and gave it to Fred and he left our building.

Fred had paid for everything these people ate and drank. Everything. I didn't find out what the bill was but it was sizable. He paid to have his own going away party. Amazing.

From the Ottawa Citizen

U.S. justice officials are crediting a Canadian police officer's investigative smarts — and expertise with beer — for cracking a major child-pornography case that led this week to a 36-year prison sentence for a Maryland man.

In what U.S. district attorney Rod Rosenstein called an "awe-inspiring" international probe by Canadian and U.S. investigators, 47-year-old Timothy Malcolm Beers pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to produce child pornography, sexually exploiting two girls aged three and five, and possessing "a large collection" of illicit materials showing the sexual abuse of these and many other children.

Beers, a resident of Bowie, Md., also agreed to pay $75,000 to each of the two identified victims, and faces supervised release for life if he survives his lengthy jail term.

The key to solving the case was a Toronto police officer's online discovery two years ago of a child-porn photograph in which a particular brand of beer could be seen in the background, according to a 13-page plea agreement obtained by Canwest News Service.

The officer — Det.-Const. Warren Bulmer — was working as part of a global network of investigators, including the RCMP and Interpol, that seeks to identify and rescue the young victims of Internet child pornography.

The breakthrough in the case came in May 2007 when Bulmer gained access to illegal photos being shared electronically by members of a child-pornography ring.

"These images had been intercepted from a public area of the Internet," Bulmer told Canwest News Service on Friday.

"There were clues in those images. One in particular had what at first looked like some sort of can or cup. I did some work on that image, enhanced it to the point where I could read enough of the label. And it turned out to be a beer can."

The image-enhancement software showed that one of the adults involved had been drinking "Black & Tan" — a brand of beer produced by Yuengling, a 175-year-old Pennsylvania brewing company.

Bulmer did some research on the firm and discovered that Yuengling's distribution area was "very tight" — only about 12 states in the northeast corner of the U.S.

"And there were only six where Black & Tan was even distributed," said Bulmer.

After an alert was issued to child pornography investigators in those states, a detective assigned to an Internet-crimes task force in Maine discerned another clue in the photograph — an unusual, "Disney brand" pair of child's eyeglasses that could be traced to a limited number of ophthalmologists in the area.

A prosecutor and FBI agent in New York closed the loop. They tracked down a Maryland ophthalmologist who prescribed a pair of the Disney glasses to a girl he recognized as one of the victims in the photo.

The girl's father turned out to be Beers' former neighbour — and his co-conspirator in producing the pornographic scenes shot with Beers' camera.

"Then the FBI got involved," recalls Bulmer, "and eventually they kicked down this guy's door in Maryland."

Warrants executed at the father's house in Annapolis, Md., led detectives to Beers' home.

The images transmitted to Canada and elsewhere were traced to Beers' computer.

He was arrested last August, and the plea agreement negotiated in the months since then resulted in Thursday's sentencing at a U.S. district court in Baltimore.

The prosecution of the girls' father is ongoing.

"The international law enforcement effort that saved two little girls in Maryland from ongoing sexual abuse is awe-inspiring, and it has become a source of admiration and inspiration at national seminars focused on combating child exploitation," Rosenstein, Maryland's top prosecutor, said in a statement announcing Beers' sentencing. "Thanks to their extraordinary commitment and exceptional investigative skills, the discovery of a photograph in Canada led to an arrest here in Maryland and the rescue of two victimized children."

He expressed gratitude to the RCMP and Toronto Police Service, singling out Bulmer for kick-starting the cross-border probe by noticing that "a beer can in the photographs appeared to come from the northeastern United States."

The head of Maine's task force on child pornography, Sgt. Glenn Lang, said the case was a "great example" of Internet policing and "underscores the importance of agencies sharing information."

Bulmer said Beers' arrest and sentencing has left him "relieved and happy," adding that the plea bargain means prosecutors "didn't have to put those victims through any type of court proceeding, because that's our No. 1 concern — the children — which is why we look for them in the first place."

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

I hijack this blog for my own self serving interest, ok, ... maybe I haven't done it in a while But this is something I need to work out - Tripods.




As you may or may not know I have a photoblog. And as such, I take a lot of Images. Some good, some great, but some are an amazing disappointment. I shall show some examples and try to figure out why what happened happened.


These first four images are taken at night or late dusk. I used a tripod on them as I did the last image that went wrong. I was careful with all the shots, took my time, double and triple checked my settings, carefully pushed the shutter, and with some very little cropping - success:










This is not the result I was hoping for - Blurry, almost out of focus. Something was moving when this photo was shot - But what? I set the tripod on top of my car, parked. The tripod appeared to be still. I took my time, set up the shot very carefully slowly pushed the shutter button - But this was the end result:



What was the difference?

The tripod. I used the round black tripod on the first four shots. A small, but extremely stable tripod that allowed for some freedom as far as moving the camera into the angle I wanted. It was really the first time I had used it. It used to belong to my mother. In fact all 3 of these I inherited from her. The problem with the last shot I do believe is I used the black very adjustable 3 legged tripod. It is basically a flexible wire setup and very easy to get the camera to the angle I need for the shot, but I believe the end result screams at me - lose the tripod. I'll hang onto it for day shots, maybe, but no more night shots with that puppy. (by the way, there were 4 other shots taken with that same flexible tripod I had to literally throw away. They were much worse than what I displayed here.)

Formula one racing Images From the Big Picture -

Wet and Dry


The Singapore Grand Prix

A few cars waiting to be shipped.

Interesting Rides.

And this has nothing to do with any of those.