tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46301517847591208562011-12-12T19:52:56.095-06:00I once asked, "Who am I?" The answer I got was the question "Who do you want to be?" While what we do is not who we are, here you will find my thoughts on the things that I do; birding, photography, writing, and technology.Eric Brierleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178552099106329713noreply@blogger.comBlogger141100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630151784759120856.post-29892607152753286122009-10-18T17:25:00.002-05:002009-10-18T17:28:38.164-05:00

Those of you following my blog will have noticed a dearth of posts recently. Well ... I've decided to refocus this blog and start a couple of others too; a photo blog, a business and technology blog, and this one. Over the next few days some of the posts here will move to the new sites, and this blog will concentrate more on my thoughts, opinions, and approach to actively creating who I want to

Eric Brierleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178552099106329713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630151784759120856.post-30731948091696307102009-02-26T13:11:00.003-06:002009-02-26T13:14:55.553-06:00

Today I'm a guest blogger at Birdchick Blog. Stop by Sharon's excellent site to read my article about banding Northern Cardinals.

Eric Brierleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178552099106329713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630151784759120856.post-39332802873371221782009-02-23T17:13:00.005-06:002009-02-23T19:42:09.677-06:00

This may seem obvious, but when I go birding I like to see birds. Going places where the birds are really helps to achieve this goal. It is even better when the birds are somewhat used to having people around. Botanical gardens and parks are great places to bird (used here as a active verb). One of my recent discoveries is Aquarena Springs in San Marcos Texas. It is now known Aquarena Center, an

Eric Brierleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178552099106329713noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630151784759120856.post-34800559460272046072009-02-17T12:02:00.002-06:002009-02-17T12:04:14.833-06:00

In the classic view all companies go through three stages. Each stage is determined by who runs the enterprise: the entrepreneur, the accountants, and finally the lawyers. It is my contention that organizations are at their most nimble and innovative during their entrepreneurial stage, a dynamic and exciting time for everyone involved.The bell curve shows the rise and fall of almost any

Eric Brierleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178552099106329713noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630151784759120856.post-40104711611685758022009-02-15T19:50:00.006-06:002009-02-15T20:41:30.841-06:00

This weekend, Friday through Sunday, was the Great Backyard Bird Count. I counted at my condo that looks out over Shoal Creek in Austin on Friday, and two places in San Antonio on Sunday. We are in the middle of a multi-year drought here and the birds numbers and species counts are down.Hermit Thrush, 2/2007, by Eric BrierleyFriday, 2/13/2009, Austin, TXTurkey Vulture - 2Killdeer - 1Rock Pigeon -

Eric Brierleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178552099106329713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630151784759120856.post-5490375535203344102009-02-14T14:24:00.017-06:002009-02-16T16:24:17.847-06:00

Simply stated, Gilb's Law says:"Anything you need to quantify can be measured in some way that is superior to not measuring it at all."This applies to building a house, learning to improve estimates, improving performance, and even monitoring the visitor and page statistics of your blog.The old saw says "measure twice, cut once". I've found this to be an elemental truth. Imagine framing a house

Eric Brierleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178552099106329713noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630151784759120856.post-70351465983164675042009-02-13T12:09:00.005-06:002009-02-13T15:03:53.398-06:00

Recently I overheard someone complaining about their computer software. Oh wait, that was me. Why do we have so much poorly designed and implemented software?At its most fundamental a computer, or the computer software, is nothing more than a very obedient machine. It always does exactly what it was told to do. The First Law of Computer Programming states:A computer is only as smart as its

Eric Brierleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178552099106329713noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630151784759120856.post-85801532935577486522009-02-12T13:22:00.015-06:002009-02-12T16:09:08.313-06:00

Don't you just love computer programs that profess to know what you want to do better than you do? Neither do I. Okay, I'll say it. I have a love-hate relationship with Microsoft Word.When I'm writing I don't want my word processing application to do things for me. Don't assume that because I typed a hyphen at the beginning of a line that I want to start a bulleted list, or that I want change the

Eric Brierleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178552099106329713noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630151784759120856.post-72617551198840870972009-02-12T10:11:00.009-06:002009-02-12T16:10:02.292-06:00

Last week my friend Wesley Twittered about his first computer. It got me thinking about one of the first computers I used, so I replied to him about the DEC PDP 11/70. I also recalled a skill I developed at that time to convert octal (base 8) to binary in my head. More on that later. Here is what the control panel looked like for many PDP systems.Photo credit: WikipediaThe PDP family of computers

Eric Brierleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178552099106329713noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630151784759120856.post-12743001820986023712009-02-10T22:35:00.011-06:002009-02-12T16:11:40.618-06:00

I have always loved to watch thunderstorms. Being in the middle of a multi-year drought makes it even more enjoyable. This one was stunning. I could hear it coming from the west, sounding like an approaching train. Out of my east facing sliding window it was dead calm. The rain line passed right overhead. At one time it was pouring rain on the west side of the condo and not on the east. The

Eric Brierleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178552099106329713noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630151784759120856.post-33345009389810944122009-02-09T15:31:00.011-06:002009-02-12T16:11:59.724-06:00

What can I say that others haven't said already? Monte Montgomery is amazing. Guitar Player Magazine listed him as one of "The Top 50 All-Time Greatest Guitarists". He also won the SXSW award for best acoustic guitarist 7 years in a row. If you don't know about Monte you need to "discover" him now.Listen to the following YouTube post. That's right, don't watch it, just listen. You will hear what

Eric Brierleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178552099106329713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630151784759120856.post-66616520565727724922009-02-08T20:49:00.010-06:002009-02-12T16:12:13.617-06:00

Really, just three steps. Not as trivial as they may sound, they are:1 - Take your camera2 - Take pictures3 - Learn from your good and bad picturesOrder is important here. If you don't do step 1, then you can't do step 2. Likewise step 3 depends on step 2. It is that simple. Well okay, not really. Let's take a closer look using "depth of field" as an example.The first step may be obvious, but how

Eric Brierleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178552099106329713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630151784759120856.post-55825764496510457462009-02-07T16:14:00.018-06:002009-02-12T16:12:27.329-06:00

Water presents a number of challenges and creative opportunities for digital photography. It is a subject that yields images that you can't see with the unaided eye. I've been rediscovering how perceptions and captured images of water change based on the light conditions and shutter speed.In search of inner balance, and some photographs, I visited the Zilker Botanical Gardens in Austin today.

Eric Brierleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178552099106329713noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4630151784759120856.post-8115896089232632009-02-06T14:20:00.008-06:002009-02-12T16:06:35.375-06:00

Recently I witnessed the quintessential peak of efficient design. Lest you think otherwise, this is not about evolution and other competing theories of existence. This missive is about one of the most amazing machines I have had the pleasure to use. I am still a bit fuzzy on the matter of the 'intelligence' behind this modern marvel.I was feeling a bit peckish and in need of some chemical

Eric Brierleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178552099106329713noreply@blogger.com0