Kodak Looses It's Edge In Printer Wars

Kodak states that they offer the lowest printer ink replacement costs in the industry. Well that has become a slight of hand move at this point as their costs on ink have risen considerably over the past 6 months and continues to rise on a regular basis. Yes the cost of their ink is still slightly lower than their main competitor, HP, but only by a couple of dollars. Why we say that it's slight of hand is because you can buy a comparable HP printer that will produce better quality prints for much less money than a Kodak. The cost difference more than offsets the difference in ink costs between the two companies. We have been using Kodak printers for the past three years exclusively. Prior to that, we used mainly HP printers and have used printers from all of the manufacturers with the exception of Brother. HP has always won our picture print wars in the most stringent tests even comparing their prints to Kodak and Fuji photo labs. HP has either won or tide against Fuji photo labs but always beat everyone else. (We still maintain all our prints from our public tests). We have never found Epson to win any test and Canon is a great competitor but their costs are still to high and we do not like their deceiving Green advertising.

Grant you, we have real issues with Kodak, we have had very bad experiences with their customer service and consider it worthless. We like their top end point and shoot camera's but find the competition to produce better products. We still own Kodak's first printer made for the recent industry wars but it no longer works that well. We are actually on our third printer from Kodak and the quality overall is average. The prints are outstanding, it's the durability that comes into play. We still have numerous HP printers that still work as well as the day we bought them 5 years ago. As you can see, we are unable to say this about Kodak printers. Our next printer? Sorry Kodak, we are back to HP. Our next top end point and shoot? Canon is the clear winner for us. Even in the camera wars, at some point we have owned them all. Our choices are Canon, Fuji and Nikon. We will give Sony camera's their due, but they do not lend themselves to what we demand. Just about all cameras are made in China except Canon. At least the top end Canon's are still made in Japan with top notch manufacturing that you can count on.

TTC MIA?

Well we have been MIA for a few months as we have moved and opened a new studio to boot. We have a lot to post and have steadily been writing articles but have not had the time to get them posted. This is now changing. We are back and will soon start flooding the site once again.

Education, The Next Revolution and Evolution

Some months ago we started a series on eduction. We left off with what we envision as the next evolution and next revolution in education. It started with a conversation with a very close and dear friend in Philadelphia working on a part of what will become the next revolution and evolution in education. My friend has proposed that camera's be put into city schools in an effort to limit and or control both the amount of violence and deaths going on in that city's schools. My concerns on this are the invasion of privacy issues in such a move. He held fast to his position and was trying to sell me on the idea that anyone could log onto a web site and check in on their son or daughter in the classroom and see what was going on. That's when it struck me. This is a potential educational tool. The ability to log into a classroom and view everything that is going on? The implications are nothing short of amazing when you look at the big picture.

As we went into these discussions, we came up with the idea that children could go home with a CD or DVD of the days major lessons as they were recorded during that day. Major changes on how one could go about preparing for one's homework or test. Then we came up with that should someone miss a day or two of school, they could always catch up by getting the video for that day and viewing it at home. The talks kept growing as to the many ways that video in the classrooms and the schools could benefit everyone. In talking with a friend in the social services sector about this, the concepts were very sound. What does one do with children on suspension or those that have been kicked out of school? How do they further their education? What of those who are severely sick or incapacitated? Could they benefit by logging onto a school web site and learning the lessons on line?

In this modern day of rising prices, cost cutting, cut backs and ever increasing fuel prices, would it make sense to start having classes in the home? The amount of days a student now goes to school is being cut down to it's bare minimum to address these costs now. Well let's look at the real potential here. There is no reason why we can't take the best of the best teachers from around the country and have them teaching students over the Internet while the children are home. Questions can be saved for a few days of school each week or each month that can not be addressed on line. Other teachers can be on standby at home for student questions or extra instructions where needed. The amount of teachers required nationwide can be dramatically decreased. Schools can be closed most of the school week or month cutting transportation costs, electric, heat / air conditioning, and food expenses as well. Payrolls would also be dramatically cut as well as benefits for teachers.

The quality and consistency of education can be brought up to all new levels at the same time. We would be able to use the absolute best of the best teachers to educate all of our children. This would require a major new investment in our Internet infrastructure which we need in this country anyway. Areas not marked for present and or future improvement would now get all the latest updates. The costs for increasing this infrastructure are easily offset by the savings in reduced educational and related expenses. I can hear all the teachers and those who depend on their living through the educational system screaming now as most of your jobs would be lost. Well there are plenty of jobs in other fields no? Welcome to the future. There is no reason not to go this route as the only arguments will come from those who will be displaced from their present jobs. The proposals have already been submitted in Pennsylvania. And now they are also entered here. So spread the word.

Orange, The Color of The Anti Green Movement. Treaties of Common Sense

Reduce, reuse, recycle. The mantra of those who have never taken the time to question the validity of what they regurgitate. The first question to ask is, “if recycling is such a great idea, how come it has not been practiced throughout history”? Why have not our forefathers taught us the wisdom of recycling? The answer is very simple. It's not a sound idea nor is it sound practice. In fact, recycling costs more than raw materials. Much more. Keep in mind that when you go to the store and look at a ream of paper. Recycled paper costs much more than regular paper. Why? The government offers all kinds of incentives and tax breaks for companies that produce recycled goods. Tax money is given to corporations to finance part of the operations. The government does NOT do this with companies producing the same goods that use raw materials, so recycled goods should be by far cheaper. But they are not. In fact, producing goods from previously used materials is considerably more expensive and uses much more resources than producing goods from raw materials.

Wait. Producing goods from previously used materials uses more resources? Yes they do. If more resources are being used to produce goods from used materials as opposed raw materials, then how sound is the practice and how green is it really? Are we being duped? That depends on who you ask. Ask those with a financial interest in duping you and the answer is of course no. My own children kept coming home regurgitating the mantra of reduce, reuse and recycle. So I took them to the store and showed them products made of recycled materials and their cost compared to goods produced using raw materials. In every case, the goods produced using raw materials was much cheaper. They no longer sing the mantra of the lunatic fringe.

Do major corporations really buy the green movement? Not a chance but they have to play the game all the same. Want proof? Go into any store and the proof is staring at you on every shelf. Why do we need so much packaging? Why is laundry detergent or any detergent sold in bottles? If companies really wanted to be green, all they would have to do is ship in containers of their products and you would just go in and pour into your own container what you need and pay for that. No extra packaging, waste and garbage for the landfills. The same with foods and just about everything else. The waste is everywhere. So do you really think there is a green movement? I don't.

So why orange for the anti green movement? We go over to Ireland for that. On Saint Patrick's day, the Catholics wear green in commemoration of Saint Patrick. The Protestant's wear orange as they do not recognize Saint Patrick. It's been a fighting tradition for quite some time. So we have borrowed our color from Ireland for our anti green movement. It's not religious, it's not political. It's just common sense.

First Shots of the Civil War, Gloucester, 2011 Re Enactment

Instead of the county putting on the last muster civil war days this year, the county instead did a first shots of the Civil War in Virginia. Those first shots were fired right here in Gloucester County against the ship, the Yankee back on May, 7th, 1861. The re enactment, planning staging and organization were top notch. Gloucester always does an incredible job of putting on events. Some of the best around bar none. What always bothers me is the lack of advertising the county does. How many people knew about this event? The amount of people who showed up was relatively low in my own opinion. A number of people we polled were there for the beach and went around the show anyway. The amount of people who could have been there would have been much higher if promotions were properly done. Did anyone notify the local radio station? Did the county post anything in any of the papers? We tried to work with the county at the beginning of the year to get all the dates for county events and we had planned a spectacular on line calender, but the county never got back with us......so....

Guess they could always claim it's not in the budget. Free advertising and promotions not in the budget? What? Didn't pay the phone bill? Please. On the one hand, we applaud the county for yet another great event, and on the other hand fault the county for NOT taking advantage of getting the word out more. We know that newspapers offer free listings of county events as do TV stations and web sites, such as ours. But you have to work with us and let us know. Nuff said on that note. We have the Gloucester Main Street Association putting on the concert with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra in June. We will post more soon along with a rare video of a past performance.

Civil War, Music Of The South, From The Last Muster This Past Summer

Here is one of the video's we shot this pasty summer at the Last Muster of the Civil War held at the Historic Courthouse.

Coleman Bridge Opening, Video

Here is a video we shot last fall while at a concert in Yorktown. It's a nice view of the Coleman bridge while it is open with a Navy ship going through. The background music from the concert is the Super Jazz Band.

Over The Hill Antiques, Just A Fun Place To Shop

Over The Hill Antiques located at the Stagecoach Market along route 17 north, just 9 miles past the Coleman Bridge is just one of those fun places to shop and look around. This place has all kinds of antiques and collectibles for just about any pallet. Open Saturday and Sunday from 8:30 AM until 4:00 PM. Call for weekday hours. You can visit them at their new web site at www.OverTheHillAntiques.com

Virginia Waterman or Farm Use License Plates, Where To Buy Them

Virginia Commercial Waterman or Farm Use license plates are a hard commodity to locate in this area. We have found a source of high quality plates for sale that are made of metal and the lettering is high quality vinyl designed to last through the toughest weather conditions. Produced by L and D Dezign located at the Stagecoach Antique Market here in Gloucester. L and D Dezign is open every weekend from 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM. Weekdays by appointment. If you have a need sooner than the weekend or can't make the trip because you live to far away, you can contact L and D Dezign by calling 804-832-3490. Shipping arrangements can be made to send the plates anywhere. Price in the shop is $25.00 per set. Other states can be made as well.