:: In a Small Dark Room ::

:: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 ::

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

:: Mez 23:47 [+] ::
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Links to my Online Photos
Because of my health problems and other related suckers-up of time, I don't know whether I'll be putting up more links and displays in this image blog, though I'm trying to keep up a few entries in my general blog, Hello Cruel World.

Link to my Flickr Photos
I'm putting most of my photos up on my 'pro' (paid) Flickr site account, Sketches by Mez (www.flickr.com/ photos/ sketchesbymez). There are collections of my scanned historic family photos — a bunch from World War II, including the Japanese surrender in the Philippines, and earlier, right back to the early 1900s — as well as sets from my 2005 trip to Tasmania, visits elsewhere, hospital stays, Pyrmont and my general imaging.

Outside Flickr, there's a couple of Tabblo pages I've experimented with (www.tabblo.com/ studio/ person/ Mez). This site gives a way of creating a picture layout and display, rather than Flickr and many of the other online galleries, which are like slotting your images into an existing plain 'album'. You can use the Tabblo layouts to publish a paper book (also possible with Blurb, and in different ways, Lulu [e.g., my blog books], and CafePress [blogbook vol 1]), ≈ other users create image displays designed for online, or at least screen-based, viewing.

There's also my 'hub blog' here on Blogger, Sketches by Mez, which is just a place to collect together links to my other blogs, image displays and other online presence.

Labels: books, flickr, links, self-publishing, tabblo

:: Mez 09:40 [+] ::
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Testing HTML text colour samples
Purple/Indigo/Violet colours for text & such in templates


Sample TEXT for colour comparison XXX — 443266
Sample TEXT for colour comparison XXX — C3C3E5
Sample TEXT for colour comparison XXX — F1F0FF
Sample TEXT for colour comparison XXX — 8C489F
---
Sample TEXT for colour comparison XXX — 692DAC
Sample TEXT for colour comparison XXX — 9D538E
---
Sample TEXT for colour comparison XXX — 484452
Sample TEXT for colour comparison XXX — F8F2DA
Sample TEXT for colour comparison XXX — C7AFBD
---
Sample TEXT for colour comparison XXX — 4C50A9
---
Sample TEXT for colour comparison XXX — AF4FA2


Taken from sample colour schemes at www.colorcombos.com

And from elsewhere

Sample TEXT for colour comparison XXX — 4B0082
Sample TEXT for colour comparison XXX — 8A2BE2
Sample TEXT for colour comparison XXX — 6600FF

Now trying the non 'font' declaration version of changing colours, using whatever this editor does to change text colour.

(Note: I checked the HTML codes and they're hideous! But it is possible to extract the RGB values for the different text colours in the sentence above.)

Labels: colours, HTML, references, resources, web రెసౌర్చెస్

:: Mez 15:19 [+] ::
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Down by the River

Exultations & Difficulties
exultationsanddifficulties.blogspot.com
Martin Stannard's Blog-Zine
Saturday, April 23, 2005
River Photos, Paterson, New Jersey USA (January 2005)

These photos were taken … on a day when the city was shrouded in a deep winter fog. The river seemed to disappear ... The trees reflected on the mirror surface of the water … and the colors were so subdued that the effect is almost black and white.

Images and Text © Mark Hillringhouse, 2005

Labels: nature, pix

:: Mez 14:37 [+] ::
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A Friday Cat-blog Illustrated Interlude
RECHARGEABLE CAT � Lolcats %u2018n%u2019 Funny Pictures - I Can Has Cheezburger?: "RECHARGEABLE�CAT"

Labels: cats, humour, pix

:: Mez 03:11 [+] ::
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Smoky Moon
Raph’s Website — The smoke does help some things (26 October, 2007)




Full-size 1280 x 780 pixels

"this is the moon over Rancho Bernardo tonight. You can see where there is an absence of lights right below the hills; that is where the fire came through."

Labels: city, nature, pix, skies

:: Mez 13:51 [+] ::
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Shadows of Motion – Ocean Beach

Shielded with smoke, bedazzled by mirrors
Originally uploaded by Mezza.

Labels: Australia, beach, pix, sand, Tasmania

:: Mez 23:00 [+] ::
...

Catalina Flying Boat & Man

Catalina Flying Boat Fam3_14-5-flyboat-man
Originally uploaded by Mezza.

Old-style flying boat plane (PBY Catalina) that can also land on solid ground with the wheels. I think it's Ron standing by it. There is a framed photo (which I think another family member has) showing his father standing by a similar aeroplane.

For many years there was a Flying Boat Base at Rose Bay in Sydney Harbour, and my childhood home was under the flightpath of the large Catalinas coming in to land. We were some floors up in a block of flats, and at night sometimes they were so low I could see the people behind the lighted windows in the passenger cabin. My memory is they flew to Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands.

The base closed down a few decades back, but has since reopened for much smaller planes. They run a more local service, e.g. to the Hawkesbury River, and probably joy flights around the Sydney area. I saw a similar small plane in Strahan, Tasmania (see TAS_4212).

Labels: aeroplanes, airplanes, black and white, history, monochrome, pix

:: Mez 12:06 [+] ::
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om …

omega.jpg
Originally uploaded by Doctor Swan.

'omega' by Doctor Swan

A simple purity of vision

Labels: pix

:: Mez 01:15 [+] ::
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Tabblo: Manila after the Rain
Link to www.tabblo.com Manila after the Rain: A Tabblo
Manila at the end of World War II — Photos taken by an Australian sailor

Flickr link
Originally uploaded by Mezza.

Testing this as another way to use my images. In this case, displaying wartime family photos in an album page style like the one around at the time they were taken.

Labels: history, pix, tabblo, war

:: Mez 20:33 [+] ::
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Tabblo Test — In the Depths of the City
Link to www.tabblo.com — In the Depths of the City: A Tabblo


In the Depths of the City: A Tabblo Test (Flickr version)
Originally uploaded by Mezza.

"By night, and under cloudy skies, still I strive to see what joy in perceptions may happen yet to pass across my ken."


Testing this as another way to use &/or display my images

Labels: city, pix, tabblo

:: Mez 02:03 [+] ::
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New Year's Eve Fireworks in Sydney
Video taken from my rooftop here near St Vincent's hospital.
Google Video version

Midnight fireworks over Sydney harbour for New Year's Eve (2006/2007). Rather dark & blurry, I'm afraid, but I like the atmosphere. Seen from the roof of a block of units in Surry Hills, close to the party scene around Oxford Street and Taylor Square, and with lots of other blocks of flats around, nearly all with parties of people on their balconies. Taken with a Canon A80 (original size 320 x 240).

YouTube Version

Labels: Australia, celebrations, city, fireworks, Sydney, videos

:: Mez 17:37 [+] ::
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Party Night in Town: New Years Eve 2007 (IMG_5503)

Party Night in Town: New Years Eve 2007 (IMG_5503)
Originally uploaded by Mezza.

Labels: city, pix

:: Mez 11:20 [+] ::
...

ITemplate File Toast — Hope I can fix it
Haven't done anything to it, but the template file has been damaged (a chunk of the end is missing). This may have to do with the beta-Blogger shift going on.
I have other urgent things to deal with, but did a quick fix. Hope everything looks OK now.

Sorry.

If you're desperate http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif<ahem>, have a look at an 'emergency backup' photo blog, smalldarkroom.blogspot.com, or my photos on the Flickr site at flickr.com/photos/87756698@N00.

Alternatively, feast on other photos, such as those of Ingeborg Tyssen (tysseneye.net)

Or search out others at Luminous Lint (www.luminous-lint.com), or www.photogravure.com.

:: Mez 12:16 [+] ::
...

It isn't summer yet (more than a month to Christmas)
Crisp black gumleaves have floated down onto Sydney's ocean beaches, with dusty ashes and embers.

A Multimedia Newspaper Report
www.smh.com.au/ multimedia/ ringoffire/ index.html

Photos from general people of scenes around the Blue Mountains fires
www.smh.com.au/ ftimages/ 2006/ 11/ 22/ 1163871454375.html
www.smh.com.au/ ftimages/ 2006/ 11/ 22/ 1163871453791.html
www.smh.com.au/ ftimages/ 2006/ 11/ 22/ 1163871450834.html
www.smh.com.au/ ftimages/ 2006/ 11/ 22/ 1163871454187.html


Preview
Originally uploaded by Mezza, using fd's flickrtoys.

Pictures from staff photographers
www.smh.com.au/ ftimages/ 2006/ 11/ 22/ 1163871450823.html
www.smh.com.au/ ftimages/ 2006/ 11/ 22/ 1163871450828.html
www.smh.com.au/ ftimages/ 2006/ 11/ 23/ 1163871526028.html
www.smh.com.au/ ftimages/ 2006/ 11/ 23/ 1163871526026.html
www.smh.com.au/ ftimages/ 2006/ 11/ 23/ 1163871526030.html
www.smh.com.au/ ftimages/ 2006/ 11/ 23/ 1163871526082.html


This is the westering sun seen behind Anzac Bridge, which is just down the hill from us.
www.smh.com.au/ ftimages/ 2006/ 11/ 22/ 1163871451200.html

Fighting fires
www.smh.com.au/ ftimages/ 2006/ 11/ 22/ 1163871451202.html
www.smh.com.au/ ftimages/ 2006/ 11/ 22/ 1163871451500.html
www.smh.com.au/ ftimages/ 2006/ 11/ 22/ 1163871451054.html

:: Mez 23:13 [+] ::
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Kitty v Porn: Another Grain on the Balance Pan
Janet Lafler & Matt Austern have cats they call Randy and Oliver:



(lafstern.org/matt/cats.jpg)

From Matt Austern's Home Page (lafstern.org/matt)

Labels: pix, కాట్స్

:: Mez 22:05 [+] ::
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:: Mez 22:33 [+] ::
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coming and going - catblogging ella snoozing ( April 15, 2006)

:: Mez 05:07 [+] ::
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To match with the green apple, here is a quince

I love eating quince raw slice by raw slice—the knife is my favourite quince treatment. All of the quince's unique smell is retained. The sound of the knife going through the flesh is something I enjoy, as is holding the fruit in my hand. It is a wonderful feeling fruit, having a quite human skin.

The mouth-feel of raw quince is wonderful, too, if you like it (and I love it).

On cold days, though, there's nothing to beat baked quince and oatmeal with cream.

from Medlar Comfits, by Anna Tambour.

:: Mez 03:28 [+] ::
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Crest Theatre 20051203 (on Flickr - Photo Sharing!)

It's not really that difficult, although it took me a while to get the hang of it. On automatic settings, you will usually overexpose neon (because the camera reacts to all the darkness around it), and you won't get the rich colors. So now I use shutter speed priority mode. I usually start at ISO 200, 1/80 of a second (which was the setting for this photo), and then re-shoot it once with a faster shutter speed, and once with a slower shutter speed, just to make sure I get one shot that comes out well. — tspauld (Tom Spaulding)

:: Mez 16:56 [+] ::
...

Tasmania 2005 (Some photos from my holiday to Tasmania, a Flickr Photoset - work in progress). I'm not sure if I should break this down into smaller sub-sets, such as all the ones taken around Macquarie Harbour and Strahan, all the ones around Hobart and those around Devonport, plus a set of ones taken while travelling between the three main places I stayed; or breaking them down into landscapes, cityscapes, seascapes, plants, places, people; or whatever.

I will have to find a different place to store the video clips I also took with the digital camera.

By Sea between Sydney & Tasmania (A Flickr Photoset - work in progress) This will include both the journey down and back, scenes of Sydney and Devonport as well as of the ship itself and sea-scenes from it.

:: Mez 18:37 [+] ::
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Is this what was needed in major-league bulk supply in the banana plantations before Cyclone Larry hit?

From http://www.bananabunker.com

I am making no other comment at all. Whatsoever. Not even about the date.

:: Mez 19:35 [+] ::
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Girl from Ipanema
Originally uploaded by neloqua.

Check out the other bird photos here.. Some really lovely ones.

Labels: flickr, pix

:: Mez 20:20 [+] ::
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composed
Originally uploaded by Vanita.

Vanita, Vanitas, Vanitatas?
How pre-Raphaelite. Considerable gorgeousity, especially in the textures.

:: Mez 19:46 [+] ::
...

No. I haven't put any of the photos from my time in Tasmania here yet. I've loaded quite of a few them up to flickr.com, but not by any means the majority yet, or sorted. Here's a link to the set page (www.flickr.com/photos/87756698@N00/sets/1529859)



The first batch was a chunk of nice scenes that would make good desktop backgrounds for computers, but only at 640 x 480 size, I'm a bit thingy about trying to leave some kind of ID on them so if people use them there's an acknowledgement (I do try to put something so that you can find the original &/or the originator of photos here.)

So many other things to do, I haven't had the time & energy to do much sorting, labelling & heavy uploading.

:: Mez 20:39 [+] ::
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qofd - Quizzical Kitten (breakfast)
www.flickr.com/photos/37649656@N00/100492554

Wild Neighbors at Dharma Bums (another type of cat)
newdharmabums.blogspot.com/2006/02/wild-neighbors.html

Nadar - on the beach static.flickr.com/21/98422655_e1a77384ba_b.jpg



This rather remnds me of some of my Ocean Beach photos from the west coast of Tasmania — the dark sand, wide beach, mountains in the distance up the coast beyond the mist of spray above the waves.

Have I posted them here? Must check how many of my Tasmanian photos are up here.

:: Mez 20:17 [+] ::
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The Photography Channel

The Digital Journalist - A Multimedia Magazine for Photojournalism in the Digital Age
Changing the Face of Power: Women in the U.S. Senate Gallery - The Digital Journalist

Angry Monkey Photography

and also one of my favourite amateurs, as seen in the sidebar, from top left pixel, the Daily Dose of Imagery

:: Mez 13:14 [+] ::
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Buddha in the Banyan

wat phra mahathat,
originally uploaded by iamtonyang. (on Flickr)

:: Mez 00:40 [+] ::
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Cleek: Monday Cat Blogging (Monday, January 23, 2006 at cleek.blogspot.com)

:: Mez 02:52 [+] ::
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Green Girl
Originally uploaded by singingpixel.

From the "floraporn" group at flickr.com

There's some rather nice pix in there.

:: Mez 21:17 [+] ::
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Due to much clamour & wails of despair & loss from the thronging crowds of my distressed blogfans, <ahem>, I am just dropping this note in to say that this hiatus is just one of those gaps that strike blogdom. I have every intention of continuing — there is even some material I've been collecting in my blogpile for entries. "Life" tends to get in the way sometimes (& sleep & all that other stuff).

:: Mez 15:24 [+] ::
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Good News on Restoration of Hilton Memorial

UPDATE 2008
Even better news, on the 30th Anniversary, 13th February, 2008, they restored the plaque to a stele or pillar back on the footpath. With all my changes and troubles this year I haven't been on that part of George St, so I only saw it in December 2008 while I was doing Christmas shopping, without a camera. I'll try to put up a picture of it.


Hilton Memorial (IMG_3924a-crop)
Originally uploaded by Mezza.

Hilton Memorial (3924a-crop)

"To the memory of Alec Carter, Arthur Favell and Paul Burmistriw, two city council garbagemen and a 1st class police constable, who were killed here as a result of a bomb explosion on 13th February, 1978. Forever in our thoughts. Your workmates."

Hilton Memorial (3924a-crop480),
originally uploaded by Mezza.

Restored memorial plaque to the 3 dead in the Sydney Hilton Bombing, after major refurbishment of hotel.

"To the memory of Alec Carter, Arthur Favell and Paul Burmistriw, two city council garbagemen and a 1st class police constable, who were killed here as a result of a bomb explosion on 13th February, 1978. Forever in our thoughts. Your workmates."

Labels: anniversaries, Australia, history, memorials, pix, Sydney

:: Mez 21:35 [+] ::
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Yahoo's Kitten pictures search result (currently about 636,876).

Aussie Google's kitten image search result (currently about 339,000)

If you add up all the cat pictures, or maybe all the cute kittens and puppies and dogs and cats (other mammals?), would there be more pornography or them?

:: Mez 18:55 [+] ::
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flickrzen.blogspot.com - a collection of someone's favourite images from flickr.

"Flickrzen spotlights exceptional photographs, be that subject, technique or rarity, found on flickr"

:: Mez 02:49 [+] ::
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Catseyes at the Zoo
At the Zoo on Yahoo! News Photos: "A Siamese cat looks out at Arab Gulf tourists at Jordan Zoo near Amman July 13, 2005. Many Arab Gulf tourists visit Jordan during the peak of the summer season. REUTERS/Ali Jarekji"

Caged Eyes

The resigned gentleness of the leopard I saw in the cage was in sharp contrast to the fires of napalm, yet its orange fur and basic nature called it a great predator. One of the most disturbing stories I have read is With Folded Hands by Jack Williamson, about a race of androids that imprison humanity in a cocoon of safety and idleness. All the captive generations descended from the one leopard father have been resting with folded forepaws for too many years, their world stolen from them by human curiosity.

:: Mez 01:11 [+] ::
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Giancarlo Zema Design Group Innovative Semisubmerged Architecture Studio
In partnership with the SAS Ltd Semisubmerged Architecture Studio Head Office in London (UK) - www.sas-projects.com

:: Mez 03:03 [+] ::
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A female orb weaver spider wraps up a dragonfly in its web in Sopchoppy, Florida, USA. (The Sydney Morning Herald: Snapshot gallery)

:: Mez 16:27 [+] ::
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excellent
Originally uploaded by Doctor Swan.

Well, it's certainly quite good :)

I love Doctor Swan's photos of nature; beautifully composed and shot. His/Her vision is close to what I'd like to be able to do, so perhaps that's why I respond to it so strongly.

:: Mez 00:15 [+] ::
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shroud
Originally uploaded by Vanita (Grave photoset).

Buried my mother on Friday, 3rd June, 2005.

:: Mez 23:22 [+] ::
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Happy Furry Friday - prayer
Originally uploaded by Britta_585.

Two black velvet paws on textured cloth (with apologies to Dario Argento)

An Ennio Morricone~Dario Argento Trilogy
Morricone, Ennio
Price: $16.95
Audio CD
Product Description Includes music from: "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage", "The Cat O' Nine Tailes" [sic], "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" and an Interview between Dario Argento, the Maestro of Horror, and Claudio Fuinao about the trilogy.
16 Track total (Including Interview)
Footlight Store: 113 East 12th St. NY, NY 10003
New Hours: Monday-Friday 11-7, Saturday 10-6, Sunday 12-5
Phone: (212) 533-1572 Fax: (212) 673-1496 E-Mail: info@footlight.com

A Fistful of Dario
www.mediaroach.com/fistfulofdario
Welcome to A Fistful of Dario: The Dark Cinema of Dario Argento, my tribute/homage web page
Links page

Cinequest Tribute
www.cinequest.org/2000/guide/dario.html
Dario Argento: Master of the Macabre

Alan Jones
International Film Journalist
www.alanj.dircon.co.uk/Argento.htm
Dario Argento
(Alan reports all things Argento related on the darkdreams.org Dario website run by Nick Dawe)

Dario Argento: Master of Horror
www.houseofhorrors.com/argento.htm

Dario Argento: Master of the Macabre
www.giallo.dsl.pipex.com/main.html
Quentin Tarantino adores him. Clive Barker wants to be him. And John Carpenter directed 'Halloween' in homage to his work.

Master of Colors
www.argento.vervost.de

GoreZone
www.gorezone.net

Horror-Web
horror-web.com

Caged Eyes
The resigned gentleness of the leopard I saw in the cage was in sharp contrast to the fires of napalm, yet its orange fur and basic nature called it a great predator. One of the most disturbing stories I have read is With Folded Hands by Jack Williamson, about a race of androids that imprison humanity in a cocoon of safety and idleness. All the captive generations descended from the one leopard father have been resting with folded forepaws for too many years, their world stolen from them by human curiosity

:: Mez 02:05 [+] ::
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Lady Kira - a photoset on Flickr with a lovely black cat in it.

:: Mez 01:51 [+] ::
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was ist das?
Originally uploaded by Britta_585.

mmm ... can think of several possibilities

:: Mez 01:45 [+] ::
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Sorry, haven't been able to get into writing anything much except relating to the elbow-deep drifts of forms & legal documents that needed to be fixed up by this week or a large chunk of the house of cards laughingly known as my life will lose its insubstantial grip on reality, or at least a working facsimile of same.

Some forms still demand a typewriter. I was able to unearth my old Spanish manual (not Manuel) one. With working ribbon. Ha! Bureaucracy foiled again.

:: Mez 18:15 [+] ::
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HPIM0872.JPG
Originally uploaded by haiyan.

HPIM0872.JPG — one of those

:: Mez 21:55 [+] ::
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Still working on the method to not have lots of pictures on this home page. Dunno. It looks like most people DO have something like that.

I'm quite fond of the look of the layouts where you have a scrollable row or column of thumbnails, with another space on the page to display the full-size image of the thumbnail image you click on. Unfortunately they seem to depend on using frames. I really dislike HTML frames.

So, here's a portfolio of different moods, showing Sydney Town Hall and the World Square Tower that spoilt the original view of its outline against the sky from all along York Street. This is a sample preview of one.

:: Mez 05:16 [+] ::
...

Shame that this has gone missing now.


P0002542
Originally uploaded by RickMacMerc.

NOT MINE
I'm still working out what this one is. Several possibilities. Kinda pretty, tho'.

:: Mez 13:48 [+] ::
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I had originally hoped to put links to separate album pages on the front blog page, so that loading the main page would be quick, but that isn't how most of these services work. At least something is getting up online anyway.


Dusk at Railway Square, with Central Station clock tower 

:: Mez 05:45 [+] ::
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Pyrmont - Harris St - traffic under Fig St overpass, with footbridge 

:: Mez 05:44 [+] ::
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Pyrmont - work rooftop view south - St Benedict's church with palm, grass & rooftops 

:: Mez 05:42 [+] ::
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Pyrmont - work rooftop view north - Sydney Harbour Bridge beyond Scar City on sunny day 

:: Mez 05:40 [+] ::
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Pyrmont - work carpark north - grass, asphalt, airconditioner, shadows 

:: Mez 05:39 [+] ::
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Pyrmont - work rooftop view south - Scar City, with World Square & beyond on a sunny day 

:: Mez 05:37 [+] ::
...

Using Hello Picasa

Here are some of the first images from my back-up "cheap" digital camera. It is an Oregon Scientific DS6628: a credit-card sized, 8mm thick (~5mm over most, this thickness includes the lens, which sticks out), with a 1.3Mb CCD. The settings are basic, being on, off & close-up. You can also choose 640x480 or 1268x1025 images. It has a built-in internal 16Mb memory or can take SD format memory cards. I did get the model where you can attach a flash. See some details at www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1059105601.html


Pyrmont - work rooftop view south - with dish & ventilator on a sunny day 

:: Mez 05:35 [+] ::
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Midwinter on the Main Range in the Snowy Mountains.
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/18/1097951603237.html

The steep faces of Sentinel Ridge and Watson's Crags offer the finest skiing Australia has to offer. Unrivalled scenery, zero crowds and no lift queues (then again, no lifts either, and a hell of a hike back to the top ... )
Photo: Andrew Martin
Also see: www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/19/1097951677187.html and
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/20/1097951735119.html, or

NOTE: If you're looking at Michael Meryment's photo of the waterfall at Kanangra Walls in this gallery, check the person abseiling about halfway down the photo, on the right ( www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/18/1097951604775.html).

Explanatory story re SMH collecting these.
www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/18/1097951590937.html

In Sydney suburbs --
St Ives: www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/20/1097951743850.html
Dobroyd Head: www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/20/1097951742774.html

For some reason there is a suburb called Dobroyd Point, near Haberfield or
Leichhardt, in Sydney which is not at all near the peninsula on the harbour called Dobroyd Head, near Clontarf or Balgowlah Heights!
Here is an aerial photo showing Dobroyd Point, the suburb, and you can see that the view between the heads shown in the photo above is round quite a few corners from
it, and well beyond the city buildings seen in the background.
www.airviewonline.com.au/stock-photographs/photodetails.asp?ID=2228
(This bush scene brought back memories of working for my Biology thesis, and here is
some of the stuff from the Sydney University SOBS as it is more currently:
www.bio.usyd.edu.au/hochuli/article.htm ,
and
www.bio.usyd.edu.au/SOBS/RESEARCH/FACILITY/JOHNRAY/Johnray.html )

This shows you something about Dobroyd Head, from a visitor's perspective.
www.stuharris.co.uk/apple_oz/spitman/spitman.html
He doesn't mention Clontarf Beach being the site of an early attempted political
assassination, where a mentally-unbalanced Irish migrant called Henry O'Farrell shot the then Duke of Edinburgh (Alfred -- see www.wordiq.com/definition/Duke_Alfred_of_Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ) on the first Royal Visit to Australia in 1868 -- see www.shoalhaven.net.au/~cathyd/history/prince.html. Fortunately, the bullet bounced off his braces. We swiftly pointed out Henry was visiting from Melbourne, but despite his obvious derangement, he was fairly summarily tried & executed.

Am fond of the story that goes with this picture of Cox Bight on the South
Coast Track, Tasmania: www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/19/1097951665813.html

Been here! www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/19/1097951666139.html
(Part of a longer story of mine.) And here:
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/19/1097951678102.html (see also
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/20/1097951740480.html for a different
view). And this one scarcely touches the wonder & beauty of Barrington Tops
-- www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/20/1097951734794.html.

These are something I had to take when I was visiting Western Australia. It's a sight you can't see from the Eastern States -- very few of the water lakes are big enough to not have anything on the horizon, though if Lake Eyre in the centre-south (the lowest point on mainland Australia), usually just salt flats, is full after a flood year it might be possible.
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/19/1097951676988.html
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/19/1097951677368.html
Oops: Looks like at certain angles in the geology you can get the effect. But it's rare <ahem>, e.g. Stockton Beach, Anna Bay (I believe this is near Newcastle, NSW)
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/19/1097951678108.html

These show the more common effect:
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/20/1097951743386.html
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/20/1097951729789.html
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/20/1097951742843.html


Restoring Faith in Humanity, One Story at a Time
www.heroicstories.com/

:: Mez 21:29 [+] ::
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Goldsbrough- view_0571.JPG
Originally uploaded by Mezza.

Anzac Bridge & Blackwattle Bay from Goldsbrough Mort

:: Mez 04:29 [+] ::
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Goldsbrough-Roof_0621a.JPG
Originally uploaded by Mezza.

Lamp post on the highest level. On the roof of the Goldsbrough Mort building,

:: Mez 04:21 [+] ::
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Goldsbrough-Roof_0555.JPG
Originally uploaded by Mezza.

Testing the possibilities for photoblogging from flickr. May tell you the sad story of Goldsbrough Mort later.

It's been a long & painful night, and I think I'm almost tired enough to sleep now.

:: Mez 04:11 [+] ::
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This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

:: Mez 01:30 [+] ::
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Obsidian Wings re Outsourcing Torture (Extraordinary Rendition)
Obsidian Wings update on Torture Issue

:: Mez 13:59 [+] ::
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An archive of photos related to the whole Apollo project:  www.apolloarchive.com/apollo_gallery.html
Sitting among a bunch of restless children on a hard wooden floor at the back of the midwinter-cold school hall, with the B & W 16" TV on the stage, after waiting through a long delay, it was very difficult to hear or see the transmission.  Luckily by then my parents had TV of their own (before would watch at my grandmother's) and we could all watch the replay together on that night's news.
Now I have seen the Full Moon exhibition, with photos up to life-size, and have the book Full Moon, by Michael Light, Andrew Chaikin (Alfred A. Knopf, 1999, ISBN: 0375406344) Light took NASA's master negatives of photos taken by Apollo astronauts and scanned them electronically, there's an essay by Chaikin. 
 
Apollo Lunar Surface Journal: www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj - a good resource to argue against the 'moon landings were faked' idea.

www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/apollo11/one_giant_leap.html Memories of the Parkes connection with the first human landing on the Earth's moon (as fictionalized in film The Dish)

www.honeysucklecreek.net Memories of the Honeysuckle Creek-Tidbinbilla (aka Honeybilla)  — near Canberra  — connection with the first human landing on the Earth's moon.  They did the first bit, before Parkes took over - the last-moment crisis in The Dish is true. Order your DVD! (The DVD contains the audio of the comms loop at Honeysuckle and Net 2 (the NASA tracking station network) synchronised with the video of the first 30 minutes of the Apollo 11 moon walk.) 
www.retroweb.com/apollo_retrospective.html A personal look back at man's first voyages to the Moon, from the perspective of a young teenager at the time.

:: Mez 20:53 [+] ::
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Some nice Sydney photos, in an alternative online photo space      
Albums - Sydney: The Inside story; Sydney Scenes

 

:: Mez 00:45 [+] ::
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They've changed Blogger around again. Updated & refined parts of the system & code, added several new bits & pieces, revamped interface. Might make the image blog this is intended to be a bit easier. I've been looking at some of the photo blogs around as an alternative, or to link to from here, but many of them are designed for mobile phones with inbuilt cameras.

Will be interesting to see if the new camera with 4 megapixel images creates a different or better effect than the 1.2 megapixel one once the images are resized down to fit online better.

Have also been piecing together a few spaces to upload images into. After the latest health scare (looks like was a false alarm) I'm concerned to try & leave some sort of public, acessible memorial for myself -- as well as the little one for Christopher I've put up, with its photos & writing. [Chris' Memorial Site]

:: Mez 02:55 [+] ::
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Long story. In short, bought new camera: Canon Powershot A80, an updated, higher model of the A30, which I've only had since October 2002.
Main Canon page for A80: web.canon.jp/Imaging/psa80/index-e.html (

Australian Canon Products page for A80: www.canon.com.au/products/cameras/digital_compact_cameras/powershota80.html

The major change is that this model takes 4 Megapixel images instead of 1.2 Megapixel ones. Online, I would still be putting up resized & 'optimized' images on album pages.
What I might try to do is put up one full-size of each taken of the same subject, just for comparison.

:: Mez 16:03 [+] ::
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Life's busy. Well over 9000 digital images now.
Am gunna havta do some definite deciding of what sort of themes might be practical to have online, since it's getting rather impractical to consider the entire collection.
Another issue is that the autonumbering is only 4 digits (i.e. up to 9,999) so we'll have to consider what happens when the numbers 'turn over', like on car odometers.

Friend is asking me to supply him with some of my 'take same photo from same place over time' type images so he can track how the CCD in the digicam is changing with time & use. (Well, 'deteriorating' is the word he uses.) He's pretty impressed at how well the Canon Powershot A30 is holding up. Am rather hankering after, say, A70, which is, I think, 3 megapixel image where A30 is 1.3 Mpx
Seen the news about Kodak discontinuing 35mm consumer cameras in "developed" countries? Also Advantix cameras. Not linking at present, 'cos I saw news on Yahoo, and they don't keep their links static for long.

Meanwhile I think the US Mars Rovers have 12 Mpx CCDs onboard, and they're putting them into panoramic views, which are going to be chunky to download. But I want them.

:: Mez 02:04 [+] ::
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Welcome to 2004.
Oh dear. It's been a while since I posted anything here. Am still working on photos. There are now over 8,800 of them. Lots of editing needed. Am also setting up place with space to keep them online.
The computer is mostly working. The other personal working-out of stuff is partly done, but there's more to be fixed before things are cleared up.

You may wish to check out the various ramblings on the other blogs (also mentioned below), viz, Hello Cruel World OR Another Dark Little Corner
There are still some problems with the images on Chris' Memorial Site, but many pictures are fine, and the rest works OK, if you're interested.
SMH has done a few things with reader's photos - will have to link to them for you.

:: Mez 00:55 [+] ::
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Earlier post of Knowledge and Certainty: The Danger of Knowing for Sure (Jacob Bronowski)

:: Mez 18:49 [+] ::
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uh-oh
bed nooz from elsewhere ... was trying to re-upload some photos to Chris' Memorial Site, where some of them are looking rather odd because of some sort of image error. Got message about me reaching the limit of the space available. They may have changed the amount available, since I haven't added very much to the site, and indeed deleted quite a bit of old stuff some weeks back. Will have to perhaps look at another area to store things in. The net is morphing into a much more commercialized place. I gloomily suspect that it'll go the way of so many other money-captured opportunities.

Computer back working, but as with every time it's changed or fixed, a whole bunch of stuff isn't working or needs a bunch of faffing about to get back into proper order.

:: Mez 14:19 [+] ::
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Sorry for gap, but it will continue for a bit. Having computer disconnection situation. Also concentrating on getting some important non-world-problem-solving (but self-problems-solving I hope) stuff done which takes quite a bit of time & concentration I can't devote to this.
If this stuff gets fixed by the end of the year (or even sooner!), it'll be a huge load of stress off me.
Then I'll just have to find something different to worry about instead :)

:: Mez 18:20 [+] ::
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Last Weekend (August 23/24) there was a Big Blow on over a lot of New South Wales & even down to Victoria. Some people's power was cut off for several days (I think by now it's mostly restored). Not that long after a major blackout in the USA & part of Canada next door, and also a power outage in London during an afternoon peak hour that caused a lot of disruption.
Some parts of Sydney Harbour saw a fair bit of destruction of moored boats. I deliberately caught a ferry from a different wharf to get to work so it would go past a few marinas that my usual ferry trip doesn't. Wanted to take photos if there were any spectacular images. Luckily (?) that section survived pretty well - a deeply sheltered inlet.
On the way, though, I did take a few general scenic shots and passed 5,000 images.

Also, while tidying, sorting, cleaning out the house of my late partner, I found a camera with film in it. Got it developed & printed. Includes pictures of some of our trips together. Will put a couple of the images up on Chris' Memorial Site when I can. It was his birthday a couple of weeks back.

:: Mez 04:09 [+] ::
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As the old Chinese curse was said to wish, we're in interesting times. This tiny patch has undergone a few upheavals itself. Not as spectacular as the recent multi-city, two-country blackout in north-eastern North America.
The nice blogger support staff re-loaded (very Matrixspeak) an old copy of my Hello Cruel World template (good), but they loaded it into this blog instead (ungood in newspeak). Did create an interesting effect, since this "dark room" became quite light really.

Had to save the HCW template from here to my machine & then try to re-load the darkroom template from an original saved copy. First few times it didn't work, but now looks OK, except that it's the old darkroom template. The only major changes in the new one was experimentation with different colours, so no huge loss of time, effort, functions & beauty.

Old HCW template is, however, missing a lot of the extra features & stuff I'd added in. Am not sure whether to spend time bringing it back up, or whether to just work on the new template (which would no longer then be temporary new one). Hello Cruel World is still presently in the new style. They both have good parts, am hoping to preserve as much as possible of them.

:: Mez 16:28 [+] ::
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Sigh. If 'tain't one thing, it's another.
Now have lost/deleted Hello Cruel World template after spending mucho time modifying it to my liking.
Naturally, I had a backup saved of the original unmodified version, but don't think there's one of the new improved one :(

I've substituted one of the NewBlogger templates temporarily, as without one at all, you can't publish any new posts.
So, if you're looking at Hello Cruel World , just admire the content ("personality"), rather than trying to be swept away by the colour & movement & general gorgeousness of the thing :)

:: Mez 03:20 [+] ::
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Yay! Archiving now works! After trying many different things, was only able to get it to find the archive files by putting them in the same folder/directory as the main archive files (use different names to distinguish blogs). A pain. May mean the 'permalinks' (see earlier post) are working, since they can now find the files, so I've re-instituted them.

Number of digital images is now nearly 5,000. Apparently the digital cameras tend to wear out, especially the charge-coupled device (CCD) that captures the image. Unlike analogue film cameras, where ones over a hundred years old can still be working. Hoping this one holds out a fair bit longer, but you _do_ tend to take quite a few more images than when using film.
Trying to use rechargeable batteries, but they're lasting a very short time, and at the moment, I don't seem to e able to charge them back up enough to make the camera work, even at full charge. Am using newer types that aren't supposed to have that 'memory' effect the Nickel-Cadmium ones do, but that doesn't seem to make a difference.

Altho' I'm a little sloppy with other backups, I'm making sure that very soon after downloading from the camera to the computer, I burn the images to a CD. So many people who lost their homes & belongings in the bushfires tried to save their photos. Building up a fair collection now. The size of the archive now does make it tricky to select ones for uploading to web (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it).

:: Mez 01:45 [+] ::
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OK. Yuh.
It's looking for the right file now, but I think it's looking in the wrong place. I told it where to look in the "Settings" section of the "editing your blog". I made sure using the separate FTP program that the directories/folders and files were there in the right place.
So, what is the problem!?! Sigh. There are rather more important things I should be doing - even if it's just knitting up a square for the cold & poor.

:: Mez 01:03 [+] ::
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"That trick never works!"
Well, done some tweaking on Archive part of Main Template. Am hopeful.

Happy Birthday to Christopher
He would have been 50 years old on August 3rd.

There is nothing. There is no God and no universe, there is only empty space, and in it a lost and homeless and wandering and companionless and indestructible Thought. And I am that thought.
And God, and the Universe, and Time, and Life, and Death, and Joy and Sorrow and Pain only a grotesque and brutal dream, evolved from the frantic imagination of that same Thought.
     Mark Twain (after his wife's death) - letter to Joseph Twichell

Archive that, mate.

:: Mez 00:56 [+] ::
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Looks like archiving is still problematical. Will have to investigate. Not right now, tho'.

:: Mez 13:27 [+] ::
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There are some quite lovely pictures in these. I have one in the Autumn Gallery and one in The Big Wet, other photo galleries on the www.smh.com.au site.

Winter Wonderland
SMH Readers' photos of winter, not just in Sydney, but around the State of New South Wales
www.smh.com.au/photogallery/2003/07/28/1059244543291.html

Winter's Tale
A gallery of images from The Sydney Morning Herald's award-winning photographers.
smh.com.au/photogallery/2003/07/18/1058035193595.html

:: Mez 13:39 [+] ::
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There are now two of my photos on the Sydney Morning Herald website, as well as parts of my writing appearing in Margo Kingston's Webdiary & some of my letters in their Letters to the Editor page.

A Sydney Morning Herald (www.smh.com.au) readers' gallery of photos of Sydney in a heavy rainstorm
Harris Street, Ultimo (Sydney) in Rain

A Sydney Morning Herald (www.smh.com.au) readers' gallery of photos of Sydney in Autumn
Bats in the Sydney Domain

Details of non-photographic, writing-type bits are on The Rambling Blog (Hello Cruel World)

:: Mez 20:55 [+] ::
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Whew, this is going to take a lotta work. But, as important, it will take up a bunch of space too. Might have to put different sections on different servers. The theory of hyperlinking will, of course, mean that it shouldn't really make any difference.

Wondering if it's more efficient to work through one theme over all the different directories over time, or to work through chronologically sorting & adding different images to each theme as I come to it. Anyway; bedtime.

:: Mez 03:18 [+] ::
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You may be able to see a [link] or a [+] at the end of each post. This is supposed to be a way for you to link to a specific entry in the blog, rather than just link across to the blog as a whole, then have to search for a particular piece you wanted. You shouldn't be able to see them at the moment, so this message may be unnecessary.
[Note: this is of course making the rather large assumption that you would actually wish to put a link to this. Stranger things have happened.]

This linking is not working properly at present. I suspect it may be because of the problems with the archive files, since the posts are identified by their place in the archives. Because of this, I've tried to hide the links until they do work again, to save people the annoyance of trying to using them & getting errors.

:: Mez 03:02 [+] ::
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These look nice but links don't work properly -- probably because of earlier problems with complete non-appearence of archives. Think we may have to wait for the effluxion of time to accumulate new ones. But for now, you can see all the entries back to the beginning in November 2002 just by scrolling down this main page. By the time the earlier entries drop off the bottom of the page, there should be a working archive link to them. Thinking positive here.

If it looks like the site is working properly now, I might be able to start working again on getting the pix online. There are now over 3,750, so culling will be a fair job. They are stored in chronological order to make backing up & tracking down images simpler, but for display I want to sort into several themes & series in different directories before I then shrink/optimize them for web display & put the sets into separate pages. Well, that's the plan. Will see how it goes.
The world, after all, is a poorer place without being able to experience My Art <g>.

:: Mez 03:04 [+] ::
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Well, we'll see how the jury-rigged running repairs go.
Hold on, it's gunna be a bumpy night.

:: Mez 01:54 [+] ::
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Good ol' blogger says it can't find my files. Think I'll have to scrub up & go in 'live'. Does this make me like Neo in The Matrix?

:: Mez 21:14 [+] ::
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The Hello Cruel World main blog has disappeared, (The Dark Side is Taking Over!) but you can still reach the archives - once you find a place to reach the archives from. :(

:: Mez 19:08 [+] ::
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Vaulting ambition has overleapt, by the looks of it.

I can't see the 'main' blog on this site "Hello Cruel World".

If you are looking for the Hello Cruel World entries part of Vandaljewels, try the link below, and once you are there you can connect to other parts using the other dated archive links
Removed: Didna werk
I will have to go in & raise a bit of dust to fix up the problems. Times like this I miss my old platoon, they'd provide some covering fire while I move up on the flank. <ptang!>

:: Mez 18:50 [+] ::
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"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away"

We are now in New Blogger

:: Mez 23:06 [+] ::
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The number of my digital photos is now above 3,000, so will need to do at least some pruning. Would also like to arrange them in some order for 'publication' here.

At the moment they are kept in simple chronological/numerical order, divided into dated directories, with some sorted into topical subdirectories underneath, eg texture, trees, Sydney Harbour, Pyrmont, the countryside, etc.

The total includes a small number of 'movies' made with the camera -- less than twenty -- but don't know if anyone would be interested in seeing these.

:: Mez 14:31 [+] ::
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Hey. Looks like computer is back working again [I should say that quietly in case "they" hear.]. I tried quite hard to break it, & succeeded for a while, but goldurnit, mah very good friend 'A' slapped it around a bit, then threatened to slap me around a bit if I fiddled with it again (in lieu of superglueing the case shut).
Let's see how it goes.
Hmmmm. Google, hey???

:: Mez 20:27 [+] ::
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Meanwhile, Not Very Good Thing is happening -- might just be in steps towards Wonderful New Miracle Computer. Am "upgrading". Actually, friend is getting gorgeous new hot-damn! hard-core, hubba, hubba type computers (Why do they all start with 'h'? Do you think it's something to do with gasps or excited exhalations?). Friend's ... umm ... , well, another friend is getting his motherboard, groovy graphics card, etc., and I am getting the other friend's hardware, plus some new kit from recent computer markets. Most of it is sort of working.
Except.
The drive with all the photos on it (and all my stored writings, etc.).
But DON'T PANIC.
There are a few backups (as mentioned). Also, drive itself shouldn't be damaged, just getting it all set up & recognised. (Remember, cars & TVs were probably (almost) as bad as this in their earlier days.)

:: Mez 23:24 [+] ::
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Nasty things happening with computer, including the classic "cup of tea spills over keyboard" incident. Am taking my digital pix on CompactFlash card into photo place to get them put onto CD, in case Really Bad Thing happens with computer. Also copying CDs & leaving them in different places as 'off-site backup'. Sigh.

At least a few things happening elsewhere in life. (And some good rain!)

:: Mez 21:25 [+] ::
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Well, January 2003 looks like something of a repeat of the bushfires around Christmas 2001. Horrible destruction & fearful scenes in Canberra.
Map 1; Map 2
Over 400 homes lost in one area in one day (& 4 dead people). Every year in Australia we lose about 4,000 homes & 200 lives to non-bush fires.
That's 10% of the annual property loss & 2% of the annual lives lost in one day (less than 0.3% of a year).

Lord knows how many lifestock & wildlife.

The historic & still currently well-used Mount Stromlo Observatory & its workshop where we were building our contribution to the Very Large Telescope.
Links: astsun.astro.virginia.edu/ ~rjp0i/ mso/; skytonight.com/ news/ 3307161.html?page=1&c=y (update at skytonight.com/ news/ 3307536.html?page=1&c=y)

Meanwhile people are blaming the bush & those who care for it, after firstly cutting off resources to properly manage it, & allowing builders to put houses with no defences right in amongst it. Why are so many people so instinctively, thoughtlessly, destructively vicious?

So many people weeping over the loss of their prized life memorials: certificates, keepsakes, family photos. I have been saving my digital photos onto CDs, and want to store them outside the home. Will also have to work on getting some of the older things uploaded. With luck they won't evanesce away in a company breakdown.

No photos yet. But am working on updating 'treebark' with new stuff & adding some other -- happier -- pix soon.

:: Mez 20:05 [+] ::
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Keep on holding on. Will get there. Am starting back to work after a long illness, & trying to fit lotzastuff in. Energy level still not great. Brain as well as body also slowed down.
Year 2002 has been pretty wretched. Signs not too good for 2003, but there's always hope...

:: Mez 23:23 [+] ::
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Have found an even better way of making thumbnails & galleries. Am working on producing a bunch to upload. Will take a while yet.

:: Mez 19:11 [+] ::
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The Sydney Morning Herald has asked people to send in their photos of the effects of the current drought, including some recent dust storms, here is the gallery so far: Dust & Drought (smh.com.au/photogallery/2002/11/14/1037080844505.html)
[Update: dead link]

:: Mez 23:46 [+] ::
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Also check out the specialized 'treebark' series of photos.
I found someone else interested in the subject, so put them here where she can check them out.
You might like them too.

Note: On my browser this page comes up with a warning about providing potentially unsafe information to an ActiveX control. I certainly haven't put anything malicious into it, & am unsure what it refers to. If you have any information about this problem & how to remove it without harming the page or people using it, please let me know.]

:: Mez 16:19 [+] ::
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Web Gallery - Christmas 2001 bushfires from Sydney

:: Mez 02:52 [+] ::
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If all goes well, pictures should be able to be seen from or in here ... eventually.

:: Mez 01:36 [+] ::
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