Just a quick check-in this time around on some recent changes, an upcoming addition, and a couple of good ideas...First good idea: Donate your eclipse glasses to Astronomers Without Borders. Unless you plan to be around in 2099 for the next eclipse over Ontario, consider donating your eclipse glasses to this worthy cause. “Eclipse glasses that meet the ISO 12312-2 safety standard, are safe to reuse,” says Town of Pelham Communications Specialist Leah Letford. Find local spots to drop them off here, or drop them at the MCC’s information desk, or the Fonthill or Fenwick branches of the Lincoln Pelham Public Library.
Second good idea: Stop whatever you’re doing—even reading this sentence (well, wait until the end of the sentence)—and set your phone’s camera app to save both JPEG and RAW files for each image you take. You will profusely thank me in another year or two or maybe five, when HDR—High Dynamic Range—screens become commonplace. These displays allow for an incredibly more vivid and astonishingly bright image, but the most jaw-dropping results are obtained from RAW image originals, not lowly JPEGs, no matter how good you think a JPEG looks today. The RAW standard (or earlier versions) has been around since the turn of the new century, but has been pretty much the exclusive domain of professional photographers and smartypants amateurs, which latter category aptly sums up my own shooting. I’ve owned pro and semi-pro photography gear for decades, and around 2002 or so finally made the switch to a full-fledged DSLR that was capable of shooting this newfangled thing called a RAW image. Trouble was, back then there were very few ways to display the full range of the image information recorded. Well, by happenstance the other day I realized that a new Mac laptop I bought last year was capable of displaying HDR images in their full glory. So I’ve spent a fair number of hours lately going back over nearly 25 years of digital photos to find the RAW ones. It’s hard to describe what a leap this is. I’d say it’s at least as gobsmacking as the difference between a print from an old Instamatic and one from a top-end 35mm SLR. I’d even go so far as to say that it’s almost equivalent to the difference between black and white and colour. It truly has to be seen to be believed. So, find that setting on your phone that allows you to save RAW files (even my ancient, 2019 entry-level Pixel 3a has the capability), and bide your time for (1) HDR screens to become widespread, and (2) A more consumer-friendly means to convert RAW files into HDR images (currently Photoshop is my preferred go-to, and that costs a few bucks in subscription fees).
Some recent changes around town: As their regular customers will likely already know, it looks like Peter Piper’s Pubhouse has closed. The restaurant’s Facebook page is silent on the matter, and owner Peter Moore has politely declined to comment for the time being, but a handwritten sign on the door mentioning a temporary closure has been up for a week, and unconfirmed word has it that a rent increase may have been the final straw. I enjoyed Piper’s from the day it opened and I’ll be sorry to see it go if matters can’t be worked out...Moving to new digs: The Travel Cafe is moving into the former One of a Kind location on Highway 20 in Fonthill. The very short-lived furniture store opened just last November, and never really got off the ground.
Watts that, you say? Next week we’ll be welcoming a new addition to our stable of fine columnists: Andrew Watts, the Wainfleet resident of frequent letter-writing fame, with his column “Watts Up.” Andrew has a long and storied history as a mariner, working around the globe, and I hope that we’ll get to hear some of these tales in between his trademark roasts of municipal planning decisions gone wrong. Variety is the spice of life there, sailor!
Cranked up: The MCC power transformer saga continues, with a new unit set to be installed today. PelhamToday has learned that in a move unheard of by anyone familiar with the situation, the Town of Pelham actually owned the transformer that went kaput back at the beginning of the month. That’s right, it was Town property, not Hydro property. What no one can understand is why the Town, under the council and mayor that developed the MCC, would buy a device that Hydro would have provided—and it was apparently second-hand, to boot. Many questions remain to be answered, and a report on the fire and fiasco is being prepared for council’s review at their next meeting.
And that’s a wrap: Is the sun really here to stay? They’re talking rain on the weekend, but fingers crossed for Monday. See you next time.
