Our usual gang met in late October. Once again, we had the use of Ralph's overhead projector, and I brought in my laptop to demonstrate some software. But before we got started, I read a column from InfoWorld's Brian Livingston about Windows XP. Brian has written the best-selling Windows Secrets books for many years; he makes money by being one of the first authors to describe each new release of Windows in detail. In his column, however, he says that the design and privacy issue flaws in XP are so serious that he won't use XP himself, and he won't write a book about it! That's a pretty strong criticism of XP. Brian's reasons seem valid to me; I urge prospective XP upgraders to check out his columns on the subject.
The press of business has kept me from writing up these meeting reports, so I have combined two reports into one.
August: Do it Yourself Video
I recently bought an Intel Pro PC Camera. It's a peripheral for your PC, not a stand-alone camera. It's digital- no film. It can take still images, so you can use it as a portable camera in conjunction with a laptop, or as a webcam. Even better, it can also capture continuous live video, so you can use it for video teleconferencing and for digitizing videotapes. It works with Windows 98, 98 SE, and Windows ME.
It comes with plenty of software for those uses and others, and it even comes with some video-based games. I demonstrated it at the chapter meeting in August; the write-up is located elsewhere in this issue of Sacra Blue.
We're continuing our tradition of door prizes. Yurs Tru Lee won this month; perhaps you'll win in a future month!
Anonymous Oxymoron of the Month: "Microsoft Works"
September: Do it Yourself Alien Planets
Once again, I was the featured speaker at our September meeting. I demonstrated a beautiful commercial program for creating photo-realistic images of landscapes, planets, and oceans. A review of that program, Vue d'Esprit, is located elsewhere in this issue.
Hays Fisher: A Photographic Exhibit
After we finished playing with Vue d'Esprit, member Hays Fisher mentioned that an exhibition of his real photographs is currently on view at the Lester Farms Bakery in downtown Dixon. I hope that Hays will bring some of his photos to one of our meetings; until he does, you'll just have to stop by the bakery to see them. The exhibit is on during normal business hours through November 25.
And the Winner Is...
Terry Cook was this month's lucky door-prize winner. Terry is a soil analysis consultant and has been a chapter member for several years. This is the second time that he's won the door prize. Congrats, Terry!
Upcoming Meetings
Our October meeting will be held as usual on Wednesday, October 24, at 7:00 p.m. in the main meeting room of the Davis branch of the Yolo County Public Library on East 14th Street in Davis.
As we always do, we will be holding one meeting on a special date in early December instead of holding two meetings in late November and late December. So mark your calendars: we will meet on Tuesday (not Wednesday!), December 4, at 7:00 p.m. in the main meeting room of the Davis public library.
Kurt Waters won the door prize in October; perhaps you will win the prize at our next meeting!
—
Tim Feldman
