There’s something about getting out in nature with the challenge of capturing some of the amazing beauty that you see. The quietness and stillness of waiting for the perfect moment for the shot, scoping out an area for the best vantage point and then seeing the way that the light changed a scene over a few hours.
Here are a few the lessons learned for Improving Your Landscape Photography
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Improving Your Landscape Photography
The Bathroom Diaries
The Bathroom Diaries scours the globe to rate the worlds’ toilets. Few would visit a country without some advanced information, yet our tender bits are exposed to uncharted territories with no help or assistance. At our most vulnerable, we are blind. Well, no more.
Dubai Puts a New Spin on Skyscrapers
Dubai Puts a New Spin on Skyscrapers - In skyscraper-crazy Dubai, tall isn't enough. In a design to be unveiled today in the oil-rich emirate, David Fisher, an Italian-Israeli architect, has dreamed up a 68-story combination hotel, apartment and office tower where the floors would rotate 360 degrees. Each floor would rotate independently, creating a constantly changing architectural form.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Fun with clouds!
Clouds can be funny - The color of a cloud tells much about what is going on inside the cloud. Clouds form when relatively warm air containing water vapor is lighter than its surrounding air and this causes it to rise. As it rises it cools and the vapor condenses out of the air as micro-droplets. These tiny particles of water are relatively densely packed, and sunlight cannot penetrate far into the cloud before it is reflected out, giving a cloud its characteristic white color.
Fun with Clouds!
Friday, May 18, 2007
Da Vinci's Guide to Healthy Living
Leonardo Da Vinci, considered to be one of the greatest creative minds of all time, lived a good life. His talents led him to be supported and befriended by many of the most powerful men of his time. He wasn't just one of history's greatest artists, he was also one of history's greatest engineers and he was much admired, not just for his huge intellect, but also for his handsomeness, his physical strength, and his singing voice. He also had a heart, his love for animals the reason for his vegetarianism. He died at 67 years of age, which in 15th century Italy probably equates to 90 now.
Da Vinci's Guide to Healthy Living
50 Ways To Increase Your Productivity - lifehack.org
Here are 50 Ways To Increase Your Productivity and add hours to your day!
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Top Ten Myths of Divorce
Discussion of the most common misinformation about divorce - the
Top Ten Myths
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
LILEKS (James) :: The Bleat - Disneyworld
It’s Disneyworld. The happiest, smiling-est, hottest, sweatiest, standing-in-lineiest place on earth. This year’s motto: “The Year of A Million Dreams”.
Where Do You Fit?
Where Do You Fit?
Do you cringe when your cell phone rings? Do you suffer from withdrawal when you can't check your Blackberry? Do you rush to post your vacation video to your Web site? The questions below allow you to place yourself in one of the categories in the Pew Internet Project's Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users.
9 Little Known Ways To Sleep
Can’t sleep? Try these snooze tips you may not have heard before.
9 Little Known Ways To Sleep
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Monday, April 30, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
Thursday, April 05, 2007
MS07-017 Security fix and Realtek Soundcard
With the release of MS07-017, there have been reports of Windows XP SP2 systems with Realtek audio cards experiencing the following symptoms:
When you start a computer that is running Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2, the Realtek HD Audio Control Panel may not start.
Additionally, you may receive the following error message:
Rthdcpl.exe - Illegal System DLL Relocation
The system DLL user32.dll was relocated in memory. The application will not run properly. The relocation occurred because the DLL C:\Windows\System32\Hhctrl.ocx occupied an address range reserved for Windows system DLLs. The vendor supplying the DLL should be contacted for a new DLL.
This problem occurs when the Realtek HD Audio Control Panel (Rthdcpl.exe) by Realtek Semiconductor Corporation is installed.
If you have experienced this issue, the fix is to apply http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935448 after application of both MS07-017 and MS07-008. This Hotfix is currently not available via WSUS/SUS and will require a manual install.
Ugh!
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Monday, April 02, 2007
Top 20 Historical Myths
Here are 20 of the most common historical myths, which have misled and misinformed people for years, decades, or centuries.
read more | digg story
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
PICTURES : Most Dangerous Roads in the World, Part 3
"Since our last installment in this highly popular series (Magnificient Tunnel Road, November 2006) we have received many tips and pictures of the roads that are no less intimidating, and in some cases just as dangerous."
read more | digg story
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Top 5 Impossible Structures
Here are some of the impossible structures, though they appear to be impossible for construction but they are made possible. These pictures have not been edited.
read more | digg story
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind
Much of what we don't understand about being human is simply in our heads. The brain is a befuddling organ, as are the very questions of life and death, consciousness, sleep, and much more. Here's a heads-up on what's known and what's not understood about your noggin.
read more | digg story
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
PICTURES: You think your job is bad??
Pictures that make you say I'm glad that is not my job!
read more | digg story
How thieves hack into an ATM -- slideshow
Full sequence taken from security camera, with explanation
read more | digg story
Monday, March 19, 2007
Ten Photos Taken at the Right Moment
Some lucky photographers often catch unexpected moments - sometimes appropriate, sometimes inappropriate, and often hysterical. Other times photographers catch moments just before something happens, or as it happens. Here's a collection of ten such photos...
read more | digg story
Sunday, March 18, 2007
PICTURES: Beautiful Air Scenes of Africa
Some of the most stunning pictures you might ever see!
read more | digg story
Thursday, March 15, 2007
How Pi Works
Pi is an extremely interesting number that is important to all sorts of mathematical calculations. Anytime you find yourself working with circles, arcs, pendulums (which swing through an arc), etc. you find Pi popping up. We have run into Pi when looking at gears, spherical helium balloons and pendulum clocks.
read more | digg story
The Longest Waves in the World (Pics + Video)
Twice a year, between the months of February and March, the Atlantic Ocean waters roll up the Amazon river, in Brazil, generating the longest wave on the Earth. The phenomenon, known as the Pororoca, is caused by the tides of the Atlantic Ocean which meet the mouth of the river. This tidal bore generates waves up to 12 feet high for over a half hour.
read more | digg story
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Top 30 Strangest Deaths in History
For example...Death by Drowning at Lifeguard Party and Death from Holding a pee in. Enjoy.
read more | digg story
Friday, March 09, 2007
MUST SEE Photo series: Extreme Things on Earth
This series of incredible photos include the largest seed on earth, the longest residential building, Largest Quicksand, Largest Flower / Parasite, Deepest Cave, Largest impact crater, Lowest Elevation, Windiest place, Highest Elevation, Hottest place, Wettest place, Smallest Park, Tallest water fall, Thickest Ice Sheet, and Most populated city
read more | digg story
Re-imaging History: Altered photos you thought were real
A picture is worth a thousand words, and Photoshop and similar tools have made it easier than ever to make those words fib. But while computers enable easier and better photo manipulation, it is hardly a new phenomenon. Here is a sampling of some of the more famous altered photographs from the last century.
read more | digg story
10 of the Most Awkward TV Interviews
Going all the way back to Barbara Walters in 1981, and as recently as last month, this list presents the most awkward interview moments of all time.
read more | digg story
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Nine Laws of Physics That Don't Apply in Hollywood
In general, Hollywood filmmakers follow the laws of physics because they have no other choice. It’s just when they cheat with special effects that we seem to forget how the world really works.
read more | digg story
Monday, March 05, 2007
Flickr Photo Pool of Yesterday's Full Lunar Eclipse
Photos of yesterday's lunar eclipse.
read more | digg story
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Amazing Skydiver Jumps Out Of Plane And Into Another
Watch as this skydiver jumps out of a plane and then catches up to another falling plane and gets in...
read more | digg story
We can identify "mystery faces" just 6 pixels wide!
How good are humans at identifying faces? Amazingly good, even with only a few sparse pixels' worth of information. Very cool, and very cool pics.
read more | digg story
13 things that scientists can't explain
13 things that do not make sense. Includes the placebo effect, dark matter, the wow signal and other mysteries that scientists have yet to explain.
read more | digg story
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Top 10 Worst Marketing Gaffes, Flops, and Disasters
10) McDonald's: "I'd Hit It" 9) New Coke 8) Honda's Asimo Falls Down Stairs: "Any third-grader with a circuitry board can make a dancing robot, but only Honda can make one that walks up stairs and falls on its space skull. For now, ED-209 must remain but a dream."
read more | digg story
Near realtime free satellite images of the Earth
The MODIS satellites gaze back at the Earth constantly circling and snapping high res images of our world. You can see what they've been up to for the last couple days and download high res versions that are in the commons and ready for you to use for whatever you like.
read more | digg story
See How Easily You Can Create HDR Photos (Ultimate guide)
Collection of HDR photography tutorials and techniques with some amazing examples.
read more | digg story
Monday, February 26, 2007
PICTURES: World's Wildest Intersections
Western drivers are understandably confounded and rightfully annoyed, when faced with such traffic-routing masterpieces as these
read more | digg story
Sunday, February 25, 2007
101 Amazing Earth Facts
We live on a sphere of extremes and oddities. In fact it's not really a sphere, but it is a wild planet, mottled with deadly volcanoes, rattled by killer earthquakes, drenched in disastrous deluges. But do you know which were the worst?
read more | digg story
Saturday, February 24, 2007
How to Live 25 Hours a Day: 61 Time-saving Tips
The average person spends less than 7 hours of their day productively. The remaining time is typically wasted, leaving you overwhelmed and stressed. Here is a comprehensive list of tips and tricks to help you manage your time more effectively.
read more | digg story
Friday, February 23, 2007
PICTURES: Construction of the World's Highest Bridge
The Millau bridge over the River Tarn in the Massif Central mountains is more than 300m (984ft) high - taller even than the Eiffel Tower. With its concrete and steel pillars soaring high above the morning fog in the Tarn Valley, the construction makes a spectacular sight.
read more | digg story
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Anti-Virus, Malware and Hijack Information
What to use ? Up to you, but there is lots of information out there as well as loads of free tools and online scanners. Read on...
Start with the Anti-Virus Software Review and then check out AV Comparatives for independent comparatives of Anti-Virus software. CyberNet also has an interesting list of comparisons and ratings.
Super Antispyware has a free version as has Active Virus Shield. Spybot Search and Destroy is another freebie (or donation-ware, anyway).
Need help with malware removal ? Try Geeks To Go or Wilders Security for lots of good information.
Of course some products posing as Anti-spyware are rogues - check the Spyware Warrior for more information on these.
Looking for an online scanner ? Try...
1. Panda ActiveScan
2. Kapersky Online Scanner
3. Trojan Scan
4. Virus Total
5. Jotti's Malware Scan
Going heavier into HijackThis ? Help is at hand at HijackThis Quick Start
and Bleeping Computer also have a guide and tutorial on using HijackThis to remove Browser Hijackers & Spyware.
And just to conclude with, here's a neat little security baseline overview from Windows Secrets.
Be careful out there!
APOLLO ON STEROIDS: Behind the Scenes with NASA's New Moon Ship
With the iconic Space Shuttle nearing retirement, the pressure is on NASA to design a new manned vehicle — one that will deliver us safely to the lunar surface by 2020 before building a lasting lunar base. From ensuring safe launch to getting the vehicle back on the ground, here's a look at the toughest challenges facing the spacecraft's engineers
read more | digg story
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
The Most Annoying Things About Windows Vista
There's lots to like in the newest version of Windows. Vista's look is stunning, the OS should be more secure, and finding things is often easier. But Windows wouldn't be Windows without those aspects, big and small, that just drive you nuts with frustration. Here's our list of Vista features that just make us wonder, "What were they thinking?"
read more | digg story
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
PICTURE incredible satellite image of Mt. Etna vocanic eruption plume.
You can see how the plume traveled accross the atmosphere.
read more | digg story
Monday, February 19, 2007
PICTURES: Pictures of the World's Weirdest Accidents!
Here are various pictures, from various car accidents, that are just plain weird cool none the less.
read more | digg story
George Orwell: 12 Writing Tips
George expressed a strong dislike of totalitarian governments in his work, but he was also passionate defender of good writing. Thus, you may want to hear some of George’s writing tips.
read more | digg story
Saturday, February 17, 2007
HOWTO drop an egg four stories without breaking
A video showing how to safely drop an egg from 4 stories or more without breaking.
read more | digg story
Paraglider sucked up to 30,000 feet - and survives!
A German paraglider survived lightning, melon-sized hail, minus 50-degree temperatures and oxygen deprivation after a storm system sucked her to an altitude higher than Mount Everest.
read more | digg story
If You're Alive in 20 years, you may be able to Live Forever
Human Immortality: A Scientific Reality? From the moment of birth, we begin the battle against death -- against the inevitable. Statistics say that a newborn child can expect to live an average of 76 years. But averages may not be what they use to be
read more | digg story
Friday, February 16, 2007
D-Weather Australian Weather Monitoring
D-Weather is your personal Australian weather monitoring utility for weather conditions in Australia ! It automatically retrieves the current conditions, daily outlook, detailed forecast, international forecast, and weather warnings for Australia. D-Weather also provides you with access to rain radars, satellite images and MSL Charts. Also included is support for SAPI (Microsoft Speech Engine), which will allow D-Weather to read the weather to you!
read more
Also...Black Stump Weather
How to Ace Your Job Interview: 88 Surefire Tips and Tricks
Job interviews can be highly awkward, stressful, and subjective. Here is a comprehensive resource to ensure you impress the interviewer (and avoid all the common pitfalls). Looking for work? You and thousands of others. What can you offer that they can't? Well, hopefully you know that or will learn as you search. Your job search is a project in itself, with various stages. Here are some tips to get you to your goal of a great first job.
read more | digg story
AMAZING What the hell happened photos
Collection of WTF photos -- busses, planes and trains in strange configurations.
read more | digg story
Friday, February 02, 2007
Daylight Savings
I love Daylight Savings- wish we could just move all the clocks forward (at least) an hour permanently. I hate mornings, so I couldn't care less if it was dark until 9am.
Seems to me like it's getting way too complex though trying to align all the times everywhere. Historically only parts of Australia have observed DST at various times but is it what the people want? Western Australia made a snap decision this October to implement DST in early December (thanks for the computer chaos!!) after not participating previously - they even have their own Political Party.
Now I hear that the USA is moving DST forward this year by three weeks - more chaos! Microsoft have dedicated an extensive resource to the topic as well - all I can see is headaches and abuse from customers whose appointments are an hour out of whack. Israel have an even more complex problem as it is tied to moving religious festivals.
For more info on DST look on Time and Date - the Black Stump Time page also has more references.
Just turn 'em forward an hour everywhere at the same time and leave 'em, I say! Who cares about the curtains fading in Queensland....
Enjoy the Sunshine!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Google Reader
For my RSS feeds I used Bloglines for quite a while but I switched over to Google Reader some time back now. I still like Bloglines neatness and compactness but I like the integration of Google Reader with other Google things I use. It also has some pretty good features in it's own right too, of course.
One particularly neat feature (for someone like me who runs a directory web-site featuring new sites regularly) is a really easy way to highlight more sites of interest than I would normally have time to do. Using Google Reader it's just plain simple to tag and share an item of note - I've integrated this into the Black Stump What's New page - you'll see it positioned just below this weeks new sites. Click on the Read More link for another page with (not surprisingly) more information about each post. You can go directly to each post also if you wish.
I hope this is of value to you - I know I'm a bit of a Google tragic (although I still use Yahoo Mail in preference to Google Mail for general use) - I just think they're pretty damn good at most of what they do!
Happy Surfing!
(note I've also put the link to the Google Reader sites in the side bar of this blog so you don't have to go via The Black Stump site if you don't want to - it's just there on the right)
...and, uh, oh yeah, there's an RSS feed available too....here
Friday, January 12, 2007
Get Smart
Managed to get hold of the DVD Set of the entire series of Get Smart. I loved this show when I watched it in the sixties and seventies but it's been a while. This series was really big in Australia and most kids my school knew most of the dialog. (after all, the episodes got repeated to death in afternoon TV slot but got butchered to death). I'm really looking to forward to watching them in sequence and in entirety!
What puzzles me (would you believe it?) is they have only been released via the Time Life website and they'll only ship to USA addresses. What the....!! Lucky I have some friends in the good old USofA to send it down under! But, don't despair fellow Aussies - it appears that it will be available in Australia in February via Time Life Australia - pricing and box configuration unknown but supposedly the same content as released in the US.
This set is superb. Yeah, talk about the corny (but o-so-funny) dialog and the often repeated (but highly anticipated) lines and jokes. Don Adams and Barbara Feldon are even better than I remembered. And let's not forget The Chief. The DVD set has been re-mastered and looks sensational on wide screen TV. Sadly, Don Adams passed away in 2005, but "#99" lives on and gives a lot of the intro commentaries to the episodes on the DVD set.
Brilliant. Yup, I've concluded this is my favourite TV show of all time. I'm up to Episode 20 already, I have 118 to go...would you believe it ?
...and Loving it! (sorry about that, Chief!)
Sunday, January 07, 2007
VHS to DVD
Summer holidays are here, time to clean up the house and get rid of all the accumulated rubbish one (or, more precisely, one's family) collects over a year or two. Rummaging through lots of old home Videos (that's not the rubbish, by the way, to me anyway) I decided it was time to save all this stuff on new media before the VHS tapes disintegrate.
Surprisingly easy these days and, happily to report, all my VHS tapes going back to 1987 were still OK - I'm sure they left a bit of dust and residue behind but it all looked Ok when played back on DVD. The end result is a new library of home DVDs (and a backup copy) and the original VHS tapes which I've now packed away with the Master DVDs and stored in a constant temperature environment.
What did I need to do the job ? Not a computer, that's for sure! I experimented in the past with Video Capture boards and Studio software but it takes waaaay too long to render bulk amounts of tapes. At the start of this exercise I briefly flirted again with this stuff but still, no thanks.
Moved on to a combo VHS/DVD recorder - a Panasonic ES35V to be precise - as the name suggests it has both functions in the same box - incredibly, this machine could not do the job for me. I say incredibly because I'm thinking its probably one of main reasons anyone would buy this type of machine - but you can't edit the tapes as you copy them! What a load of hooey. Now, I'm not suggesting anything wrong with Panasonic here, folks. I've been using Panasonic VCRs from when they first came out (was it in 1979?) and they've always worked extremely reliably - anyway, the lack of the edit feature was a major downer but probably "mea culpa" for not researching this up front - don't assume...
Bit the bullet and bought a dedicated DVD recorder - this time a Panasonic DMR-EH55 attached to an existing SJ400 Panasonic VCR - could have used the ES35V but my wife already stole that for her use elsewhere in the house. The EH55 has 160GB which is ample storage space (bit more than 640K anyway).
After cabling machines together (easy) play video in VCR, hit record on DVD and edit away. I finished up loading all the tapes on the DVD recorder (they're all still on it), carved them up a bit further and hi-speed copied them onto 8x or 16x DVDs. You just need to get everything in the sequence you want and copy as close to (but under) 2 hours worth of viewing. 2 hours is the limit if you want roughly the same quality on a standard (non Dual layer) DVD.
Quality is good and because of the hi-speed transfer I was able to make a backup copy very quickly as well.
Just do it before it's too late. The Black Stump Guides page has few more good sites for tips on Digital editing. See also the DVD section.
Surprisingly easy these days and, happily to report, all my VHS tapes going back to 1987 were still OK - I'm sure they left a bit of dust and residue behind but it all looked Ok when played back on DVD. The end result is a new library of home DVDs (and a backup copy) and the original VHS tapes which I've now packed away with the Master DVDs and stored in a constant temperature environment.
What did I need to do the job ? Not a computer, that's for sure! I experimented in the past with Video Capture boards and Studio software but it takes waaaay too long to render bulk amounts of tapes. At the start of this exercise I briefly flirted again with this stuff but still, no thanks.
Moved on to a combo VHS/DVD recorder - a Panasonic ES35V to be precise - as the name suggests it has both functions in the same box - incredibly, this machine could not do the job for me. I say incredibly because I'm thinking its probably one of main reasons anyone would buy this type of machine - but you can't edit the tapes as you copy them! What a load of hooey. Now, I'm not suggesting anything wrong with Panasonic here, folks. I've been using Panasonic VCRs from when they first came out (was it in 1979?) and they've always worked extremely reliably - anyway, the lack of the edit feature was a major downer but probably "mea culpa" for not researching this up front - don't assume...
Bit the bullet and bought a dedicated DVD recorder - this time a Panasonic DMR-EH55 attached to an existing SJ400 Panasonic VCR - could have used the ES35V but my wife already stole that for her use elsewhere in the house. The EH55 has 160GB which is ample storage space (bit more than 640K anyway).
After cabling machines together (easy) play video in VCR, hit record on DVD and edit away. I finished up loading all the tapes on the DVD recorder (they're all still on it), carved them up a bit further and hi-speed copied them onto 8x or 16x DVDs. You just need to get everything in the sequence you want and copy as close to (but under) 2 hours worth of viewing. 2 hours is the limit if you want roughly the same quality on a standard (non Dual layer) DVD.
Quality is good and because of the hi-speed transfer I was able to make a backup copy very quickly as well.
Just do it before it's too late. The Black Stump Guides page has few more good sites for tips on Digital editing. See also the DVD section.
Happy copying!
Saturday, December 30, 2006
2006 Lists and Rankings - Does nothing happen on December 31?
The world seems to have gone mad this year with list and rankings of just about everything - some of the yearly "review and recap" sites I've been listing on the BlackStump News page for the last 6 or 7 years. But now, too many! So I'm going to list them here instead.
Here goes...
ResourceShelf Archive for Year End Wrap-Ups
TIME Person of the Year
Top Movies (U.S.) of 2006 & Year End Motion Picture Box Office Reports (International)
Another List of Lists
Year in Review 2006 Quizzes
The Panda Software virus yearbook 2006
Top American TV Moments of 2006
50 best Defense Tech posts of 2006
BoingBoing's most-trafficked posts of 2006 (and all time)
Worst Vlogs of 2006
Search Bloggers On Their Most Popular Posts & Stats For 2006
The 10 Best Books of 2006
Billboard 2006 Year in Music
Top Search Terms Of The Year (Google, AOL, Yahoo, Lycos, MSN)
Ask.com Top Searches of 2006
I'm sure there'll be many more (after all, it's only December 30 - does nothing ever happen on December 31???)
To finish this thread here's another list of lists from Bob Drudge at Refdesk
Happy 2007!
Pete
PS ...and for those interested in the Bushfires...some still burn, although many were doused when we had a wonderfully cold and wet Christmas. But the season is still young and we have another 3-4 months of severe fire alert weather.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Zoho Wiki, Bushfires and Warnie
I wrote about Zoho some time back in June and again in October.
Worth mentioning them again, not only because they produce excellent - and mostly free - goodies, but they just launched their latest offering, a Wiki. Free, of course!
An update on the Bushfires - they continue unabated - over two weeks now and some 750,000 hectares burnt out. Look in the previous couple of posts for the sites to look at for up-to-date info. And another hot one today, 35C.
Still no rain, and moving to Level 3 water restrictions in Melbourne on January 1 (which basically means water can be used outside for only 8 hours per week and no lawns watered etc). Some sports are shutting down mid-season as grounds are too hard and dry and cricket pitches can't be watered.
Speaking on cricket, it must be noted that Australia just won The Ashes back from England - "the" most important cricket trophy worldwide - and the bad news today that Aussie Legends Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath are retiring. Bummer!
Keep 'em spinning Warnie!
Friday, December 15, 2006
Bushfires still raging in Victoria
Well, here we are a week later, the fires are still burning and not much rain in sight.
The NASA Earth Observatory has some photos from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite.
Keep on hoping!
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Bushfires continued
The mercury hit 38C yesterday and peaked at a bit above 42C in Melbourne today - the fires are still burning.
Here's another site from the Department of Sustainability and Environment showing the Statewide Fire Situation map.
And here is Today's Fire Update.
Here is an historic Bushfires Photo Gallery and a few photos of the current fires.
The weather is cooler tomorrow, 20C, but will it rain ??
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Bush Fires in Victoria
* Photo courtesy Skynews
Some of you will know that I live in Nillumbik Shire which is a semi-rural area in the city of Melbourne, state of Victoria in Australia.
Melbourne is generally well known for its skittish weather as it is situated at the southern end of mainland Australia (hence, winds from the desert/outback north are damn hot and winds from the icy Antarctic south are damn cold) and wind changes bring huge variations in weather conditions. One of most common jokes is that if you don't like the weather, then just wait half an hour!
Anyway, we in Melbourne (and Victoria, and lots of Australia) are in the grips of probably one of the worst droughts in history. Bad enough are the growing water restrictions due to the falling water storage levels, but right now it's the bush fires which are the major concern. Huge fires are already burning and today its predicted to hit 37C in Melbourne and higher in country areas.
The Country Fire Authority site has a lot of information and a summary page of current fires. You can also keep up to date via Google News.
Unfortunately (in this context), summer has just commenced and what we are currently experiencing may occasionally have happened in the past towards the end of summer every couple of years - what lies ahead over the next 3-4 months has the potential to be quite horrific. Ugly.
Good luck everyone, be prepared!
Friday, December 01, 2006
Photosynth Technology Preview
This one might worth a peek - something new from the Microsoft Labs - Photosynth. It's a technology preview which they reckon is a few steps short of a beta - so...up to you if you think it's worth the effort!
As they say it's a...
"...taste of the newest - and, we hope, most exciting - way to view photos on a computer. Our software takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and then displays the photos in a reconstructed three-dimensional space, showing you how each one relates to the next.
In our collections, you can access gigabytes of photos in seconds, view a scene from nearly any angle, find similar photos with a single click, and zoom in to make the smallest detail as big as your monitor."
Have Fun!
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