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Digital Photography White Balance Tips and Tutorials

logged by Anthony at 8:16:34 PM Link

Moose has come up with a new way to graffiti. You clean the image you want, not paint it.

Moose, public-spirited graffiti artist, cleans up

He has devised a brand of street art which not only livens up city streets, but removes grime in the process. His method is to take any dirty inner-city wall or pavement, place a template over it and scrub the concrete clean, revealing an image as sharp as any spray paint which fades with time.

logged by Anthony at 7:55:05 PM Link

While I have no great interest in getting a GMail account, there has been a great deal of talk about them on the web. Keith Robinson has posted an article asking What's The Big Deal With Gmail.

Well my guess is the big deal about GMail is that it is currently by invitation only, and somehow being recognised by the world's leading search engine make people feel important. Just like appearing first in the Google Rank and the new web sites forming that work on membership by referrals only.

logged by Anthony at 11:03:37 PM Link

You can read Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities in weekly serialized form, which I might add sounds very appealing as it would be a great way to manage time but still get some quality reading in. Via rebecca's pocket

Discovering Dickens - A Community Reading Project

With this project, we invite you to reenter the world of serial publication and of family reading circles. Stanford is once again proud to share with you many of the fine holdings of its Special Collections, as well as to invite you to share in Dickens’ lively meditation on the human and the historical – words that ring startlingly true today, though they were written 145 years ago.

logged by Anthony at 11:01:50 PM Link

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logged by Anthony at 9:48:49 PM Link

The Australian Government does not know how to listen. Their "environmental" policy is a clear example of how not to do things.

It started with a glimmer of hope.

Prime Minister John Howard is expected to reveal a $500 million plan to encourage the private sector to develop energy technologies that release low levels of greenhouse gases today. Source ABC News

Then the reality hit.

In summary from most significant to lease significant

• $1.5 billion to reduce the cost of petrol
• $500 million to encourage the private sector to put $1 billion into research
• $100 Million to develop commercial renewable energy
• $75 Million to develop house hold renewable energy.

More...

logged by Anthony at 6:58:37 PM Link

If you want to take the Woodlands Walk you had better go very soon. While we were there we noticed they had a lot of trees at the start with red tags, indicating they will be knocked down for the Gungahlin Drive Extension. I guess you have to make way for progress. Hopefully they we recreate the walk with a modified route, this shouldn't be too much of a problem.

logged by Anthony at 9:08:06 PM Link

This is a book we have had for some time and we are getting back into again. We went of a few walks but after the Canberra Bushfires and with most of the National Parks closing we haven't been for awhile. If you are looking for local walks suitable to take children along this is an excellent book. It includes estimates of time (Note: we take about twice as long when our children walk with us), Directions from the Canberra PO, difficulty rating and a written guide as to what to expect on the walk. Each walk has about a one to three page write up.

Seekbooks.com.au

logged by Anthony at 12:27:02 AM Link

We went for a walk around one of the sides of Black Mountain today. I was a great bush walk in the middle of Canberra. The only distracting part was the constant sound of traffic from Glenlock Interchange. The walk took a little over an hour for me and my family. We saw a number of Kangaroos and Wallabies. There were a number of hills to climb and if you want to take the walk I would strongly suggest that you take the Left path from the carpark and follow the path clockwise. This would have short sharp hill climb followed by a long winding decent, instead of the long winding accent we had. From 25 Family Bushwalks In and Around Canberra

logged by Anthony at 12:19:50 AM Link

Wonderland is a thriller that presents a Pulp Fiction or Sliding Doors treatment of the "Wonderland" murders in LA in the 1980's. It follows the two accounts of the events that let up to the murder of four people on a street named Wonderland. The Movie is OK, and includes some high profile actors, like Val Kilmer, Lisa Kudrow, Christina Applegate, Carrie Fisher and Dylan McDermott from The Practice. Given the art gore movie last week, Chopper, this was just a little bit too much of the same (the gore bit is saved for the end). I need a comedy to pick up my interest again.

More information at IMDb
Buy the DVD from Chaos Music HMV.com.au BuyQuick.com.au Amazon.com

logged by Anthony at 10:00:36 PM Link

A software tool to edit EXIF data in photos. This allows you to embed a description within the image so that it will not be lost. And other information such as GPS etc.

PhotoComment 1.0

Also Exifer download and review - EXIF image viewer and editor from SnapFiles

logged by Anthony at 10:11:39 PM Link

This site will take an image and make a compatible .ico file for use as a Favicon.

Check out Chami.com FavIcon from Pics

logged by Anthony at 10:06:37 PM Link

A virus, called Cabir, has been found on Mobile phones. Cabir infects the Symbian operating system that is used in several makes of mobiles, notably the Nokia brand, and propagates through the new bluetooth wireless technology that is in some new mobile phones.

Via ABC News Further information at Symantec epoc.cabir

logged by Anthony at 10:05:26 PM Link

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.

It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.

That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.

On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. "Really?" she heard whispered. "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!" and, "I didn't know others liked me so much." were most of the comments.

No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another. That group of students moved on.

Several years later, one of the students was killed in Vietnam and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature.

The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin. As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. "Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. She nodded: "yes." Then he said: "Mark talked about you a lot."

After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher. "We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it."

More...

logged by Anthony at 11:51:49 PM Link

Tim Berners-Lee the father of the web, to whom we all owe a great deal, recieved the first $1.25 Million Millennium Technology Prize.

W3.org

logged by Anthony at 10:02:06 PM Link

A lawyer was riding in the back of his limousine when he saw two men eating grass by the road side. He ordered his driver to stop and he got out to investigate. "Why are you eating grass?" he asked one man. "We don't have any money for food," the poor man replied. "Oh, well, you can come with me to my house," instructed the lawyer. "But, sir, I have a wife and two children with me!"

"Bring them along!" replied the lawyer. He turned to the other man and said: "You come with us, too."

"But sir, I have a wife and six children!" the second man answered. "Bring them as well!" answered the lawyer as he headed for his limo. They all climbed into the car, which was no easy task, even for a car as large as the limousine.

Once underway, one of the poor fellows says: "Sir, you are too kind. Thank you for taking all of us with you."

The lawyer replied: "Glad to do it. You'll love my place, the grass is almost a foot tall."

logged by Anthony at 11:27:15 PM Link

If life seems a little too busy for you look at this page to take a new reflection. I've linked to the music page just pick a setting and check it out.

Positive pause

logged by Anthony at 11:22:34 PM Link

Cheaper by the Dozen is a comedy about a family of extra large proportions. That is all you can say about having twelve children. Tom Baker played by Steve Martin is a college football coach (university gridiron to us aussies). When the family grew to four they moved out of the city and Tom gave up his big league coaching ambition. Well now after many years he is offered the opportunity to coach his old school team in the top division. So the family moved into the city, at the same time Tom's wife, Kate, is offered a book deal with a book tour for three weeks. Now the chaos beings as Dad tries to coach a top league team and still run an extraordinary large family. There is lots of physical comedy, that makes it a great family movie.

More information at IMDb
Buy the DVD from Chaos Music HMV.com.au Amazon.com

logged by Anthony at 9:18:41 PM Link

Chopper is the nick name for Mark Read one of Australia's criminals. The movie is an art movie about his life. I didn't really want to see this movie but these things happen and the movie met my expectations. The characters main plot device is to stab or shoot each other and then apologise while going for help. It one scene Chopper is stabbed a few times but then hugs his attacker. While the movie had some artistic scene compositions the art aspect was degraded by blood spurting scenes.

More information at IMDb

logged by Anthony at 7:50:40 PM Link

At Work I am having to fill a vacancy (Finance Clerk - if you are interested)  and I came across this site in my ICAA Charter Magazine. This really is an excellent reference site for ideas on interview technique and rating applicants. It might even be useful for applicants to get an understanding of how to answer questions. Government of British Columbia - Manager's HR Toolkit

logged by Anthony Yager at 12:07:58 PM Link

While on a road trip, an elderly couple stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch. After finishing their meal, they left the restaurant and resumed their trip.

When leaving, the elderly woman unknowingly left her glasses on the table. And, she didn't miss them until after they had been driving about twenty minutes.

By then, to add to the aggravation, they had to travel quite a distance before they could find a place to turn around in order to return to the restaurant to retrieve her glasses.

All the way back, the elderly husband became the classic grouchy old man. He fussed and complained and scolded his wife relentlessly during the entire return drive.

The more he chided her, the more agitated he became. He just wouldn't let up one minute.

To her relief, they finally arrived at the restaurant..

And as the woman got out of the car and hurried inside to retrieve her glasses, the old geezer yelled to her,....... "While you're in there, you might as well get my hat."

logged by Anthony at 10:56:25 PM Link

Finally, there is a story about using waste to satisfy demand for another product that uses non renewable resources. Not just using waste to create new products. A researcher is hoping to be able to use plastic bags to make steel. As both are made from Carbon, and at the molecular level there is little difference. This would not only clear up waste plastic bags but also reduce our consumption of coal to produce steel.

Source Sydney Morning Herald

logged by Anthony Yager at 12:55:10 PM Link

A company in the US has developed a DVD player with a subscription service that allows users to play back DVD with offensive scenes edited out. So people can watch a movie without violence, language, and sex scenes. I do not have a problem with the idea of censorship in this issue as it is all about self censorship. However movies house and directors are looking to ban the product as it distorts the artistic product they produced. From an artists point of view I can see how they feel offended. Their movies were created with certain scenes in them to express the story. Some movies however you would have to say have the extra scenes added to get higher ratings so maybe there needs to be a middle ground where they all work together to develop a product with the directors/producers input to allow the true value of the movies to be retained.

Source ZDNet Australia

logged by Anthony Yager at 11:21:32 AM Link

The Last Samurai is a last century war movie. Tom Cruise, plays Nathan Algren, a US military advisor hired to train Japanese troops to kill rebel Samurai. After a spectacular demonstration of who incompetent the troops are with so little training, it is no surprise the initial force is defeated. Nathan is captured and held prisoner. While captive he learns the way of the Samurai and fights for their cause.

A good classical war movie.

More information at IMDb
Buy the DVD from Chaos Music HMV.com.au Amazon.com

logged by Anthony at 9:22:34 PM Link

Italy it trying to stop the desecration of its popular national food the Pizza.

It an attempt to reign in the varieties produces for mass markets and return to the traditional varieties it has developed guidelines to pizza production.

To obtain "guaranteed traditional specialty" status the pizza must conform with the following

• be round
• no more than 35 centimetres (14 inches) in diameter
• no thicker than 0.3 centimetres (0.1 inches) in the middle
• with a crust of about 2 centimetres (0.8 inches)
• the texture must be soft, elastic, easily foldable,
• the dough must be rolled out manually
• baked in wood-burning ovens that can reach the required temperature of 485 Celsius (905 Fahrenheit)

The norms also specify what kind of ingredients must be used.

They recognize only three types of real Neapolitan pizza:

• Marinara, with garlic and oregano;
• Margherita, with basil and mozzarella cheese from the southern Apennines;
• extra-Margherita, with fresh tomatoes, basil and buffalo mozzarella from Campania, the region that includes pizza's hometown, Naples.

Source CNN

logged by Anthony at 11:08:49 PM Link

Noiseworks - Greatest Hits

1. No Lies
2. Take Me Back
3. Welcome to the World
4. Love Somebody
5. Burning Feeling
6. Touch
7. Simple Man
8. Voice of Reason
9. In My Youth
10. Freedom
11. Miles and Miles
12. Hot Chilli Woman
13. R.I.P. (millie)
14. Take You Higher
15. Let it Be (live)

Buy the CD from Chaos Music HMV.com.au Amazon.com

logged by Anthony at 2:52:11 PM Link