Thanksgiving With SWMBO - Part II

As the insufferable Dr. Ian Malcolm so infuriatingly states in Jurassic Park: "Life Happens".

And thus is solved the quandary of what to serve for Thanksgiving Dinner with SWMBO.

The answer: "Clear Liquids for the next three days".

You may recall that Last December (2008), SWMBO's Oncologist observed her as being in the next thing to total systemic collapse as the consequence of 9 continuous weeks of weekly Infusions with platinum and other poisonous chemicals. She spent the better part of a week in the Hospital, completely missing Christmas and New Years.

This year promises to be even less respective of Holiday Plans for SWMBO.

This afternoon about 3pm SWMBO called me to ask for transportation to her Oncologist's office, and then to the hospital. She has been experiencing sever abdominal pain since Monday, and when she first went to see her doctor he prescribed for her ... powerful pain killers.

When she told me that two days ago, she was still able to drag herself to the doctor, so I only learned about it in our regular weekday evening phone chat. I expressed surprise that he did not make a determined effort to learn the cause of the pain, but other than that kept my big mouth shut. Hard to believe, but true.

Today, the Tyelonol-3 quit working.

We got to the Doctor's office around 3:30. The Doctor palpitated her abdomen, bring expressions of 'discomfort'; noted some bloating, and announced that the cause of her pain was either (1) a side-effect of the chemotherapy, (2) an unknown bacteria infection, or (3) Diverticulitis. Whatever the cause, he recommended that SHE check into the hospital for more tests, observation, rest and hydration, close personal care and initial treatment with antibiotics and pain killers.

SHE didn't want to do that, but became convinced when she asked him to define her alternatives.

The Doctor said:

"You go home, get worse until you become entirely dehydrated, experience blackouts, and become so incoherent that you can't say NO to the hospital."

So they put her in a wheelchair, wheel her to the hospital, and at 4pm check her into a private room in the new wing ... which is so new that the variable light-level controls haven't been hooked up to the lights.

Glaringly bright lights illuminated the room while the attentive (but harried) staff in the FULL hospital tend to her.

SWMBO hurts.

Give her a gown, and some privacy to change out of her street clothes.

Take huge amounts of blood from both arms. (There is a reason for this, which sounds something like "double blind checking for possible contamination of the blood sample; we want to make certain that the bacteria we find comes from inside you, not from your skin, my hands, or any other possible source of contamination".)

SWMBO hurts.

After two hours, a new technician comes in to poke another needle in her arm, in a new place. She installs a temporary shunt into which she can plug a saline drip, the prescribed antibiotics, and pain killers. Then she goes away.

40 minutes later, SHE buzzes for the nurse to ask please, I need water and the anti-biotics and something to make the pain go away. The nurse takes her entire medical history back to 1968.

SWMBO hurts.

Finally about 8:15 pm the nurse returns with a handful of medical gear-stuff:

• Injecting a pain killer into the shunt, she announces that this can be given to her "once every hour ... if needed"
• Sets up the saline solution to drip into her arm
• Isn't real sure what antibiotic will be added to the drip but "we'll get something to you real soon, hun."

The pain killer finally started to take effect, and her eyes grew heavy. I had to leave to go pick up my own prescription, which I had planned to get on my way home from work.

So SHE will be in the hospital on Thanksgiving, taking only "clear liquids" (fruit juices, broths, water, jello, etc.) for the next day or two. Chances are that she only 'may' be well enough to leave the hospital on Saturday.

Actually, the initial diagnosis of Diverticulitis (which is the acute stage of Diverticulosus ... which she already knows is an unrelated malady ... the two conditions together are called Diverticular Disease) may be the real answer here.

I experienced Diverticulitis 5 years ago, and it was agonizing. It felt as if someone were jabbing a red-hot poker through my left side; it doesn't throb, or ache -- it is a very sharp, localized pain which does not lend itself to ignoring no matter how tough you think you are. All you can think of is: "Please, someone, make the pain go away!"

I'm not attempting to diagnose, but if what SHE is feeling is as she described, I know how that dominates your attention ... for hours, or days, and it only gets worse as it goes untreated.

But if that is the cause of her severe discomfort, at least she can be assured that it is treatable by antibiotics, and there are many standard pain killers which either dull the pain, or make it so that you really just don't much care. The original treatment takes a week to ten days to resolve the pain issues, and the better part of a month before the antibiotics actually kills the infection and allows you to get back on your feet.

I sure hope it's 'only' Diverticulitus.

Stumble It!

What's next? "'War Surtax"

Lawmakers Propose 'War Surtax' to Pay for Troop Increase in Afghanistan - FOXNews.com

Two congressmen (Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the purse string-controlling House Appropriations Committee; and Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee) are calling for a tax on 'the wealthy' to pay for the War on Terrorism in Afghanistan.

"If we have to pay for the health care bill, we should pay for the war as well ... by having a war surtax," Obey told ABC News in an interview that aired Monday. "The problem in this country with this issue is that the only people that has to sacrifice are military families and they've had to go to the well again and again and again and again, and everybody else is blithely unaffected by the war."

Surely the military families have borne the greatest burden in this and in any war, but the idea of a surtax (based on Income Tax returns, and only for a select group of tax payers) is new.

No, the idea that "the wealthy" should bear the greatest tax burden is far from new. They already do, and politicians find it easy to play the Class Card when proposing new taxes.

What is new is the Congress now feels it safe to attack "the wealthy" in a tax over and beyond the income tax ... which "the wealthy" now pay an overwhelming majority of what becomes income for the Federal Government.

Congress once was called upon to vote whether or not to end "The War on Terrorism", but were either too cowardly or too shame-faced to actually put their vote where there mouth is. Now they have found a new way to attract unlikely allies in their continuing campaign to end American participation in the necessary -- but unpalatable -- war.

The Wealthy.

But what's even worse is the attempt to justify new taxation based on the assumed inevitability of the National Health Care bill.

Now we can be just like The Brits: Subjects, not Citizens.

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'The Science Is Very Clear' -Ed Begley

'The Science Is Very Clear' - Video - FOXNews.com

Ed Begley, Jr. (who played a hippie in the 1982 file Eating Raoul) recently appeared on the Fox News Channel in an interview concerning Global Warming.

Apparently, Begley is vigorously "Green" and believes that the information on "Climate Change", including that it is the result of human actions, is definitive.

That's not the whole story, though. The aging actor was very careful to say that we should "get our information from the scientists, not from actors or television interviewers". Also, he refused to state that the issue "has been settled".

Click on the video for an amusing example of an interview which starts out civilized, quickly descends to over-talking each other, shouting, finger pointing and name calling.


This interview was conducted after the recent revelations that Climate Scientists who supported the "Climate Change Is A Result of Human Activity" concept have been found to be collaborating in a gigantic hoax to skew the reported data in order to support their theory.

(See interesting articles from The Smallest Majority: announcement of the hacking of email files from climate researchers, and a more recent video interview of a "professor of Meteorology" at MIT -- recorded BEFORE we got a look at the smoking-gun email correspondence. For balance, see here a November 22, 2009, AP article claiming that Global Warming impacts sped up, worsened, since Kyoto.)

It would be interesting to know what Begley thinks of the whole Climate Change thingie in view of recent developments.

We may agree that Peer Review is a good way to evaluate scientific announcements.

However, the reliability of the check-and-balance process is undermined when the peers are in cahoots.

Stumble It!

Thinking about Thanksgiving with SWMBO

SWMBO endured another "Effusion" on Wednesday, which (according to her Oncologist) means that her auto-immunity system is -- to coin a word -- "Trashed" for seven to ten days. This will be the case every 3 weeks after each effusion.

So that rules out T-Day with the family. Hers, or mine. We can't take a chance of mingling with people who, however valued and loved, may be hacking up The Lugie of Death or otherwise communicating whatever communicable disease they may harbor.

They can catch The Common Cold, and suffer nothing more than a minor inconvenience. For her, the same germ/bacteria/virus may, even in its least virulent form, put her in the hospital for weeks. Or worse.

So we are a Party of Two for the Turkey-Day Restaurant, which will take place at the oh-so-exclusive venue of Chez SWMBO.

Last year we had Spaghetti. Or was that the year before?

We have also celebrated this Day of Thanksgiving with Pizza, Smoked Salmon and Camembert Brule' (Cheese wrapped in Croissant dough and over-cooked, also known as Camembert En Croissant when we remember to take it out of the oven after a half-hour), and Cheerios on the Half Shell.

Okay, I made that last one up. In truth, we had a big Ham Roast. But that doesn't sound as adventuresome, does it?

This year we are thinking about a much more controversial dish: Turkey.

For the two of us, it makes no sense to buy a 12 pound Turkey. We'd just have to throw most of it out. Besides, I don't like Stuffing and neither of us like "dark meat". I note that Fred Meyers stocked their freezers with Turkeys on Saturday, so there is a nice "Breast Meat Only Turkey" available if we get there before they're sold out, so we'll probably buy five pounds of frozen Turkey Breast and consider ourselves Real Americans. I'll wear a wide-brimmed, tall black hat with a buckle in the front, and SWMBO will wear lots of petticoats and a frilly bonnet tied under her chin.

As if!

What's an appropriate dinner for two in isolation?

Actually, we don't much care. In one way, it's just another Thursday, except that we have a four-day weekend to spend together.

In another sense, we want to share a National Day of Thanksgiving with the rest of our country, if we can't share it with our family. We both have so much to feel thankful about. If you are a regular reader of The Trials of SWMBO, I don't have to tell you about it; you already know.

Ultimately, though, it doesn't matter what version of Gluttony we chose. The main thing is that we enjoy the company of each other. The most important thing is that while we are stuffing our bellies, we can be planning another Thanksgiving together.

And another, and another, and another ....

PS: SWMBO's latest evaluation shows that her Blood Oxygen is up and her tumor "has gone from 3.6 to 3.2". Neither of us knows what this means, or what the measurement is. But we are assured that it is an improvement.

We'll take what we can get, be it a medical evaluation, or another Thanksgiving Day together.

And of course, there will be Häagen-Dazs® Vanilla Bean Ice cream -- or what's a Heaven for?

Stumble It!

Russian cannibal who ate his mother given lighter sentence

Russian cannibal who ate his mother given lighter sentence by judge who says 'he was starving, he needed to eat' | Mail Online

A cannibal who killed and ate parts of his mother had his sentence reduced by a judge who said 'he needed to eat'.
Sergey Gavrilov secured reduced time in jail after confessing: 'I did not like the meat very much. It was too fatty. But I was so hungry, I had to eat it.'

The 27-year-old was given a lenient prison sentence because the judge said he was starving and needed to eat after spending all his money on vodka.

Yes, what you just read is the lead to an article which made news in England. Even The Brits consider this irrational behavior on the part of the Russian Judiciary.

We have just established the boundaries of what The Brits consider "acceptable".

Some of us may think that this compares unfavorably with the British policy which forbids possession of firearms by private citizens. Or the right of self defense by whatever means available during a Home Invasion.

[sigh]


"A Modest Proposal":
Here's the implication. If you're a British Subject (they don't have "citizens" any more), and you're attacked in your home by a drunken "Yob", your best defense is to slice off some muscle tissue and eat it. Better if you cook it, of course. I recommend saute with virgin olive oil and a little garlic. Wash it down with a nice Chianti.

Then call the cops.

When the Bobbies learn that you ate human flesh, they will be so distracted they will forget that you used your Public School Cricket Trophy to bash his head it. No weapons charge!

Of course, you face the risk of having used a knife to butcher the poor, deprived innocent Yob. But with any luck, they will be impressed by your determination not to bother National Health Service after the innocent Yob has bashed your head it with your own Cricket trophy.

...

Reading this over, I don't see a Down Side.

Do you?

Stumble It!

Abort Health Care Reform

"Abort Health Care Reform" from "The Smallest Minority"
(Friday, November 20, 2009)
In his indefatigueable drive to examine in excruciating detail the "Health Care Reforms" of President Obama, Kevin Bacon scores another Major Hit in the "A-Zone" of the Obamacare Bill.

A "UK Expat now living in New Zealand " commenter described as "Phil B." describes his personal experiences with Socialized National Medicine (Obamacare in the UK) in prolific and turgid prose.

It's not a pretty picture, and it bodes ill for the American of Socialized Medicine.

Go there, and read the whole thing.

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Mister Rogers Speaks

Can you say "You can't make a weak man strong by making a strong man weak" children?

I knew you could.

H/T "Smallest Minority", "The greatest middle class in the face of the earth (11/19/09)
Actually, that quote probably was not correctly cited as originating from Abraham Lincoln. According to "The Quotations Page", it was part of an extended quote by William J. H. Botcker:

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatreds.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
William J. H. Boetcker, 1916 (often attributed to Lincoln)

This is from a pamphlet published by Boetcker called "The Ten Cannots", according to (the often egregiously erroneous) Wikipedia.

It's a shame that the quote was cited as according to Abraham Lincoln; it undermines the veracity of the thought.

However, taken together "The Ten Cannots" should -- and perhaps would, under other circumstances -- provide us with some guidance, some perspective, in regards to the wisdom of mandating (as Rep Rogers says) that 85% of us should be penalized for the (unproven) benefit of the other fifteen percent.

I'm not saying that I don't agree with Mr. Rogers; I'm only saying that if you're going to support your political/social/cultural position by quoting A Great American, it would be wise to choose the Great American who actually said it.

(BTW, here is a link to the Mister Rogers YouTube page. You may here find other opinions with which you agree. Or not.)

PS:

Here's a one-minute quote of Mister Rogers, speaking to an almost empty house about Democrat health bill cuts $500 billion from critical Medicare services.

This is important to me because, in three months, I will turn 65 years of age. This weekend I received a letter from Social Security Services Administration advising me that I should register for Medicare "three months before your 65th birthday". That's tomorrow for me, folks. (November 23, 2009 + 3 months = February 23, 2010.)

Obamacare is famously said to be designed to save health-care monies by cutting services to Senior Citizens. I'm on the cusp, this is ALL I have to look forward to for my future health care, and I'm pissed.

If this doesn't seem sufficient reason to be outraged by , perhaps you should consider the words of Pastor Martin Neimoler:

In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me --
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Stumble It!

How low can he go?

Townhall.com::Blog

President Obama's "Strongly Disapprove" vs "Strongly Approve" poll difference has reached 14% - "a record" according to Kevin McCullough's Town Hall Blog.

McCullough based this comment on a recent Rassmussen Poll on Obama's "Presidential Job Approval".

Stumble It!

ShieldsUP!

GRC�|�ShieldsUP! — Internet Vulnerability Profiling��

ShieldsUP! is a useful tool which collects no cookies and does no harm to your computer, but tests your internet connection to determine vulnerabilities (such as unshielded ports, etc.) The tests are free, you need not subscribe, they don't know who you are except that they do have your IP address and any information they can derive from that.

(You don't know what information is available from your IP address? Good reason to check it out. You don't know what your IP address is? I do. Go to the end of this website, scroll up half a screen, and check the little sign the danasoft.com mouse is holding up.)

It takes a while to run some of the tests, but in non-prime service hours I ran the full port test in 68 seconds. Result: all of my ports were found to be "stealthed", as opposed to "closed" or even (shudder) "open". That is, if someone tries to ping me the port pretends that I don't exist and doesn't even attempt to respond ... which some 'closed' ports may do.

My protection is from Norton Internet Security, a subscription service which I renew annually. It includes Norton Antivirus and Firewall protection. I recommend it highly, it's worth $45 $69.99 before $30 rebate a year to me.

You may not be interested in this, but it's a very Geek thing to do, don't you think?

Stumble It!

Dems alarmed as independents bolt - Alex Isenstadt - POLITICO.com

Dems alarmed as independents bolt

Mounting evidence that independent voters have soured on the Democrats is prompting a debate among party officials about what rhetorical and substantive changes are needed to halt the damage.

Following serious setbacks with independents in off-year elections earlier this month, White House officials attributed the defeats to local factors * and said President Barack Obama sees no need to reposition his own image or the Democratic message.

Since then, however, a flurry of new polls makes clear that Democrats are facing deeper problems with independents -- the swing voters who swung dramatically toward the party in 2006 and 2008 but who now are registering deep unease with the amount of spending and debt called for under Obama's agenda in an era of one-party rule in Washington.
______________________________________

A few thoughts for the Democrats among us:

1. If the independents are dissatisfied, how must the Conservatives feel?
2. Democrats can't survive without the Independent vote. Time to pay attention to independent polls.
3. Hey, Democrats! Lose the Socialist program, start working on bills of less than 2000 pages and 2 trillion dollars. This would be a big, BIG help if you're really serious about the 'transparency' and 'hope & change' thingies. We hope you won't change us beyond recognition, okay?
   
4. Americans are proud of America. This would be better supported if our President didn't feel inclined (sorry for the pun) to bow subserviently to foreign rulers. How many 3rd World people want to immigrate to Saudi Arabia or Japan anyway, huh? Show a little backbone, Dude!
5. For our president to pubically appease Communist Radicals (Saul), native terrorists (Bill), and Home-grown America-Haters (The Rev) are not examples of the America that most Americans wish to be admired. Why can't the Pres change his ways and pay public homage to patriotic Americans? This would present a more consistent image of traditional American Values, which would be less confusing to people of other countries. If we aren't demonstrably ashamed of our country, and the people who made our country great, maybe people in other lands can understand why we are proud to be Americans. Most everyone else in this country is on track with this program, why shouldn't our President synchronize with American Pride?
6. Colgate sells toothpaste by telling the world about the benefits of its product. Shouldn't the American President sell America in the same way?
7. * "Local Factors" are local in the same way that Americans are local: we are all Americans, and should be marketed as an admirable, coherent product with universal appeal. Wall Street gets this; Madison Avenue gets this. Why can't our President understand this? When Local Factors demonstrate dissatisfaction, a smart CEO pays attention. When he doesn't, his company goes down the tube. This is almost as fatal to a government as it is to a business corporation. The difference is that a President has four years to prove his worth, while a corporation is only as viable as the next stock-holder meeting -- which is an annual event. Perhaps we should hold Presidential Elections more frequently?
   

You couldn't run a successful business the way Obama runs the greatest nation in the world.

Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned, by the man who has never been the Chief Executive of a business.

Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned by the electorate?

Stumble It!

Liquor Store Clerk Shoots, Kills Suspected Robber

Liquor Store Clerk Shoots, Kills Suspected Robber

WILMINGTON, Del. - A liquor store clerk shot and killed a suspected robber overnight in Wilmington, police said.

Up to three men wearing masks entered the Favors Liquor Store on Walnut Street around 9:30 p.m. Guns were allegedly pointed at the clerk inside, and money was demanded.

Police said the 55-year-old clerk soon pulled out his own gun and started shooting.

One suspect was hit, dropped his .22-caliber gun, stumbled 40 feet outside of the store and died. Police don't know if the clerk's gunfire might have struck the other hold-up men, who fled.

Stumble It!

Hartford vs New Orleans; 1-0

The USS Hartford, a submarine based in Groton, Connecticut, collided with the USS New Orleans, a Navy amphibious ship, on March 20 in the Strait of Hormuz. It caused a fuel leak and minor injuries to 15 sailors.

Go, Navy!

Stumble It!

The Birdman of Vermont

Police Say Vermont Man Stole Bus, Posts Joy Ride on YouTube
Jake Rehm stole a half-million dollar bus from his former employer and took his girlfriend on a multi-state joy-ride. Apparently, he just wanted to share the grandeur of the fall colors with his GF and his birds. *

"It was inspired," Jacob Rehm, 38, said outside court Tuesday. "I felt inspired."

The vehicle's owner, Lamoille Valley Transportation, was not amused. Neither were authorities, who charged Rehm with theft of services, operating a vehicle without owner consent and trespassing. Neither was a judge, who ordered a competency evaluation for him

Rehm, a former bus driver for Lamoille Valley, took the bus from the company's depot Nov. 2.

Accompanied by friend Natalie Page, 38, he headed south toward Allentown, Pa., but turned around somewhere in Connecticut after he realized the $200 worth of diesel he had bought wouldn't get them to Pennsylvania and back. Police caught up with him in the northern Vermont town of St. Johnsbury after the company's owners were told he had been seen driving through a schoolyard waving at children.

And he took a video, which he posted on YouTube.

* Starting with a shot of guinea pigs and caged parakeets, in the last shot of his video Jake is shown cuddling with one of his no-longer-caged birds ... kissing it ... and then tucking it back into his shirt.

No word yet on whether the bird will take the full ride a la Burt Lancaster, but Jake is obviously riding for a fall.

PS:
On his YouTube video, Jake posted the following comment:

I am here going to set up some rules, for all who watch this vid and want to respond: THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU TO SHARE NEGATIVITY, NAME CALLING, ETC. THIS IS A WHOLESOME, POSITIVE FORUM. WHATEVER YOU LITTLE PUCKASSES WANT TO SAY OTHERWISE, KEEP IT IN YOUR PIEHOLES OR SAVE IT FOR YOUR DIARIES. Only interesting, or civilized feedback is welcome (don't make me have to say it to you personally). Peace & Love, JS

Jake, I think you're going to experience enough "negativity" over the next few years to last you for a lifetime.

Next time you take the bus .... "Leave the Driving to US", eh?
______________________
Personal notes to Jake:
Dude, you are "Jake Rehm", not "Jack Kerouak". You're fifty years from Easy Rider. Also, you're not Ken Kesey, you're not a Merry Prankster nor did you steal the Majic Bus.

As much as we admire your 60's style hippie free life style, you have given it all up to spend the next few years in the pokey.

Oh, and when you get out? Your girlfriend won't be waiting for you. And neither will your guinea pigs and your parakeets.

Bummer, Dude!

Stumble It!

SWMBO UPDATE: November, 2009

At the ARPC match last weekend, many people approached me to inquire how SWMBO is doing.

I think I have come up with almost the perfect response to these well-meaning inquiries:

She's doing about as well as can be expected, under the circumstances. But she misses her friends, going to matches, spending time on the range, and shooting.

She wanders around the house muttering "I've got to shoot something."

I assume she means targets, but in any case I'm safe. I robbed all of her .38 Super ammunition months ago so I could shoot matches.

She has lots of .38 Special ammunition left, but I'm still safe; those are reserved for her Home Defense guns. She's too proud to shoot Revolver under any but the most dire situation.

Stumble It!

Geeks With Cameras

You've got to have the right camera ...


... if you want to get the right pictures.


Upon recomendation from SWMBO, I'm kinda looking at the Samsung TL220 at $299. The Samsung TL225 costs another $50, but the price difference doesn't include features I want. (They include PAL video format, for example, which are only useful outside the U.S.)

Both Samsung cameras cost more than I want to spend, but if I were certain that they include all of the features I want, I would be willing to pay the extra buck$.

As the saying goes: "The thrill of paying a low price is undermined by the disappointment of low quality".

Or perhaps more accurately: "Some people will by anything if they can get a bargain price; others will pay a higher price to get what they want."

But the bugger of the deal is, it doesn't tell me specifically that the video includes sound, or whether you can zoom while filming video. The good news is that there seems to be a 20 minute limit on the video length, while the Canon A1000IS seems to limit videos to 3 minutes.

Number of Recording Pixels
Still Image: 3,648 x 2,736 (Large), 2,816 x 2,112 (Medium 1), 2,272 x 1,704 (Medium 2), 1,600 x 1,200 (Medium 3/Date Stamp), 640 x 480 (Small), 3,648 x 2,048 (Widescreen)
Movie: 640 x 480 (30 fps/30 fps LP), 320 x 240 (30 fps) available up to 4GB or 60 minutes per clip, 160 x 120 (15 fps) up to 3 minutes per clip

No, I don't understand the seemingly contradictory specifications, but I'm not buying until I can work it out; it seems to me that the lower (15fps) density should provide a recording time than the higher (30fps) density.

And again, I don't know if either of the mentioned cameras allow zoom-while-recording in video mode.

Unfortunately, I can't find a reliable authority which can provide all the detail specifications I'm looking for. I would go to a camera store, which now-days seem to offer digital cameras at least as frequently as they to traditional 'film' cameras, for help -- except my experience in brick-and-mortar stores seem to demonstrate that:

1. the prices are almost invariably much higher than internet sales;
2. they don't provide any better customer service than do internet stores;
3. they are no more knowledgeable about digital camera specifications than are available online.

So I'm still looking for a real authority, who can answer my questions about the available digital cameras.

I was spoiled by the HP camera, until it died on me. With a little fiddling, I can still get it to work. Unfortunately, HP no longer makes or sells digital cameras, and their customer support is non-existant.

Apologies for the digression here from my usual USPSA-themed articles. Oh, wait ... I spend more times on politics and cultural themes than I do on shooting themes, don't I? Perhaps I'm less geekishly one-dimensional that I thought. Anyway, the purpose of my interest in photography is mainly involved with shooting USPSA matches with gun and camera, both.

At the last ARPC match, I had the best intentions of filming the New Shooters so they would have a record of their first match. The demise of my camera stopped that, just as my inability to find my bifocals stopped my ability to hit targets consistently.

I definitely have to get back to Open Division! Both in firearms, and in cameras.

Stumble It!

Looking for a new Digital Camera

My HP R967 camera has bit the dust. Died. Given up. Failed to Function.

Whatever description you choose, it is no longer usable. The battery latch mechanism is no longer functional, and it just doesn't work.

This is the third HP camera which I have bought, but which broke for one reason or another.

My first HP (R767) was made unusable by my carrying it in my hip pocket on an extremely hot day. The display screen was electronically (though not physically ... I think) shattered. The viewfinder still works, but I can't see the image I'm recording. Well, it was unable to capture high-density photos .... every picture I took came out a little grainy, and the color was distorted toward the blue end of the spectrum.

The second HP (R867) was drenched when a bottle of water was dumped in the camera bag ... in which the camera was being carried ... during the 2007 Croc Match. After I dried it out, I discovered that videos are all captured in a 'reverse color' format.

This third HP (R967) will no longer hold the battery in place. I can't do a thing with it, it's totally dysfunctional. Too bad; it had some features which I liked (including the ability to zoom while recording videos).

I've wasted a lot of time searching for a replacement compact digital camera on the Internet, and in desperation I'm asking my readers if they can recommend a replacement. It's no good looking for a new camera from Hewlett-Packard. Apparently, HP no longer makes or sells digital cameras of any description.

Here's a list of the features I'm looking for:t

• Must not only take still pictures (preferably 10-12 MP density), but also be capable of recording video (motion) with sound.
• Must record videos in MP3 or similar format; I don't want QuickTime videos.
• Price Range: under $400.
• Must be able to zoom while recording Video .
• LCD (or similar) display should be over 2"; would prefer to also have a view-finder but this is not a deal-breaker.
• Still photo options must include delay, should include burst, and should include date/timestamping.
• I don't care much about "face recognition technology", but it should be able to shoot into the sun without color distortion.
• Should have a 'sports' or other stop-motion "high-speed capability to take still photos without blurring the image.
  
• Highly prefer SD-chip memory capability; I have several of them and replacement, while becoming increasingly inexpensive, would be inconvenient. I already have a battery recharger which is designed for this kind of flat battery. (I would include photos if I had a working camera.)
  
• Highly prefer "HP R07" rechargeable battery type, because I have several and spare batteries are expensive.
• Zoom lens is, of course, a 'given'.
  

Bottom line: I want a compact digital camera with both still and video (with sound) capabilities that I can afford and will give me some unique options when filming videos.

In other words, I want my old camera, but I can't find one. If you own, or know of a camera which fits all of these criteria, I hope you will let me know.
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UPDATE:
I finally found one on AMAZON - another used HP R967 for under $200. I bought it.

But I'm still disenchanted with HP Digital Cameras. I've gone through too many to be phlegmatic about their durability, and I would rather have something that is a but more robust. This new/used R967 is only a stopgap.

The request still stands: if you are aware of a compact digital camera with the capabilities I've described, please let me know.

I really want a good camera for taking pictures of USPSA matches.
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Stumble It!