Should anyone come accross this site in search of a Photoshop script to generate the output required for Pixaria. Then you may have found the right place!!

On this project page you can learn about the script, download it and find instructions for setup and use.

I have updated my homepage photo today and I have a reason for announcing it! Apart from the fact its a cool shot of a racing yacht that got stuck on the rocks during last Sunday’s race…. it is also a picture that I edited using the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Beta 4 software. If you have not seen or tried this software yet, you should give it a go. The features and performance are outstanding and I can see that it will be a fantastic part of my workflow from download-to-print/web when the final product is finally released. As I will be receiving a free licence, I am keen to learn as much about it now as I can because other than the hefty image manipulation I dabble with that would require the full Photoshop app, I would say that Lightroom does 97.5 % of what any photographer needs and it’s very very slick.

Check out the latest release and details of the software on the Adobe Labs Website.

Anyone that reads this website may know that I co-own a yacht called Mystere with ‘me-mate-Dave’! As it happens, he recently cut his hair but I have a feeling that this may have been him recently trying to forge a new career as a musician!

I would just like to point out that I have had a very uncomfortable day in 35degC with blazing sunshine… the thunderstorms at home look much cooler!!! And now on to the point of this post…. One of my friends from overseas has managed to discover my secret! This is terrible news really as I can no longer use my ‘Media Powers’ to avoid the toilet except for some of the benefits he has highlighted in the post linked above! Can you guess which ones?

I have to point out though, that his photo of me is out of date… I have recently shaved the moustache and as a result look much younger!!

What I can’t figure out though, Allan is…. ‘Why did that film come straight to mind??’… I had never even heard of it!!

It is apparent that I have been a lapse lately with most of my hobbies and interests for the last couple of months. This site is not regularly updated, I have not been out with my camera (though it is getting plenty of use!), I haven’t sat and used my computer for any length of time and finally… I haven’t been out sailing much. What could be the problem? Well I have some answers….

Having just bought a new house, I have been very busy with a bit of renovation. My computer is on the verge of meltdown (it keeps hardware resetting itself). And most importantly… its summer… and its time to be outside whenever possible… not sure how this explains the sailing!?!?

My mind is starting to yearn for some techie things again now and so the building of my custom ‘Digital Darkroom’ will be taking a step up within a week or two. If only I could fix the computer!!!

As I have not written to this site in a long time, it seemed like fun to actually take up on Gringod’s Wikipedia Meme… so …

1. Go to Wikipedia.
Done.

2. In the Search box, type your birth month and day (but not year).
May 16

3. List three events that happened on your birthday.

• 1568 - Mary Queen of Scots flees to England.
• 1866 - Charles Elmer Hires invents root beer.
• 2005 - Sony officially unveiled its PlayStation 3 game console during an E3 conference.

4. List two important birthdays and one interesting death.

• Birthday: 1953 - Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor
• Birthday: 1966 - Janet Jackson, American singer
• Death: 1990 - Jim Henson, American puppeteer (b. 1936)

5. Post it.
Done.

As far as memes go… this is actually quite an interesting one!! Give it a go… I will pass it on to anyone!!

A panoramic stitch made from 5 portrait images of the Colloseum in Rome… where else??!

Thanks to a link from Gringod, I downloaded the ‘New Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet for Windows XP’ from the M$ website. This great tool finally gives you control of the colour profiles installed on your system and switching between different profiles for different tasks is a simple matter of selecting what you want.

The real benefit for me came in the added bonus side effect of the tool overcoming an issue with the ATI X800 graphics card installed in my system. By reading the ‘Readme’ file after installation (something I never do but may start now) I discovered that it is possible to use flags on the application. By altering the application to start with a /L flag, the tool will load up the default profile in stealth. This shortcut could then be placed into the startup folder to be run when logging in to Windows.

I was keen to try this because I have been having a long term problem with the ATI drivers. My calibration tool has a profile loader that will load the profile when the computer starts but the ATI drivers would then override the proper profile with something akin to nothing! I discovered a year ago that I had to remove the profile loader from startup, wait for Windows to load then use the loader. All would be well with the LUT (Lookup table) and I could continue as normal… this was a complete pain though and now that this has been solved on my PC, I am quite pleased!!

• From the M$ site, the tool has the following features;
• • Install and uninstall ICC color profiles
  • Inspect, rename, and compare two different color profiles
  • View a 3D graphics plot of color profile color gamuts
  • Associate color profiles with devices such as printers, monitors, and scanners
  • Apply custom color gamut adjustments to one or more displays on the fly
  • Set up display calibration reminders at intervals you specify

My 2006 chili challenge has begun. This will involve growing everything needed to create a selection of chilli based products! Ideas of the cusp include chilli ketchup, chilli mead and general chilli dip!

Yesterday ‘H’ and I sowed a selection of seeds in the new virgin propogator. Other than the tomatoes which should be sweet and juicy, the rest of the seeds belonged to some heavyweight heaters as shown here!

The next stage of the challenge will begin after germination.  Place your bets now as to what might make it to the land of the living and check back in a couple of weeks for an update! 

Having been completely oblivious to the fact that the world reknowned exhibition was in the wee island of Guernsey, it was lucky that one of my cultured friends let slip he was going yesterday. All plans were put on hold… well shifted around… and we went for a look at the WPOTY yesterday afternoon!

The amazing thing to me was the number of entries that had been taken on digital cameras. The quality of the prints was excellent too. Perhaps the most interesting point is that anyone can enter and stand a chance of being one of these top winners. We have everything we need on this island as far as subjects go. If only I could work on having enough free time to research and photograph something worthwhile… seagulls anyone?!?!

I actually finished this book a long time ago but have not properly started to read another yet. This is quite unusual in itself as I would normally have probably read a few books by now! I guess you just get all read out and need a break sometimes!

This Jeremy Clarkson book is a collection of articles that were written over a few years. This means the chapters are short and very readable. Each day you can read something totally different but with the classic humour of Jeremy guaranteed! If you are the type of person that watches Top Gear and can appreciate the unique outlook, statements and opinions, you will enjoy the book!

Bye Bye, Mac! After 14 months of fun and karting to work, it is now time for me to part ways with Mac, my Mini! After the initial difficulties that I had with the garage and warranty, he has run perfectly every day since. There is a sense of guilt on my part as I never held up my end of the bargain with him. You see, I promised to get the small bits of rust fixed but I never got further than the driver’s door and scuttle panel. I promised that he would have an upgraded engine and I even promised to add a new stereo to replace the factory standard unit. Sorry Mac, I just didn’t have the time to do it! With my larger plans for a vehicle restoration project, its time to get a ‘normal’ car again.

This is the moment when I was going to announce the purchase of a Mitsubishi Shogun that was to be my protest against all the 4X4 protesters out there! It was going to be my symbol of defiance against those that are clearly scared when they see one coming and feel the need to spout off about mothers and school runs! It may (probably would :-D) have gone off road but I would have kept it shiny on the road just to show that I dont like it dirty (you know what I mean Leigh)!! I was looking forward the pub arguments and the games of chicken that I was clearly going to win against all the Fiestas and Saxos out there!! The problem is, this is going to have to wait a while. When I went to pay for the Shogun, I found something else entirely… and I’ll be picking it up at the end of the week!!

If you have a keen eye, you may have noticed some very slight changes to the design and features of the site. Over the last few days, I have been upgrading the backend and cleaning up my old code. The site is now running on Wordpress 2.0 and I am pleased to report that there were only a few issues with the upgrade. Luckily, everything seems to be working as normal (Please let me know if it isn’t :-)).

The theme for this site has had a big overhaul and has seen a 50% reduction in file size… not too bad. This includes the new elements I have introduced such as the new style menu on the right and the post navigation you can see when you view an individual post. The best news is that it still passes validation. For my next tricks the new gallery will be opened as soon as I figure out how it all works and the media pages will be seeing some cool features and content when I have finished writing my next plugin!

‘Someone comes to town, someone leaves town’ is one of Cory Doctorows newer books and it certainly follows in the same pattern as his previous works… i.e quite strange! It must be said that I am a big fan of Cory’s books and have been for a few years because of the warped cyberpunk storylines. This particular book was bought for me as a gift by my friend Aidy. It is a signed hardcover and will fit nicely on the shelf alongside the other Doctorow books that I own. Thanks again Aidy!!

Cory has a very good writing style and the story flows from the pages easily keeping you interested in what is going to happen next. The only time I got confused was towards the end when the chapters seemed to be muddled up… I am quite certain they were meant to be that way so I just kept reading! If only it had gone on a few more pages to explain what happened… I hate having to use my own imagination for things like that!!

If you want to read the book but dont want to support the author financially </guilt-trip>… hop along to Craphound where you can download it in many formats under the Creative Commons licence. If you have never read a Cory Doctorow book before, you should try it… you might like it!!

Finally managed to get through the 4,000ish pages of this rather expansive story. I have to say that it’s a relief to finally be at the end but I ‘m pleased I got there. The last few chapters are by far the best and it would have been a shame to miss them by stopping the story short. Although the idea was absolutely excellent, it was sometimes difficult to keep pushing my way through the pages as it seemed very repetitive and drawn out. The volume of information and seperate storylines was mind boggling and very well controlled but I felt it could been a little more concise… perhaps some of the longer descriptions could have been shortened to keep the momentum up. Knowing what I know now, I would still read these books… but I dont think I will read them again as it is possible to do with some!

It does have to be said that Tad Williams has created what can only be described as an epic adventure, so if you like the idea of rich, powerful characters trying to live forever at the expense of the pain and suffering of children… read the books! In fact, if you like the idea of a small band of heroes coming along and saving, the world, the children and more besides, you should read the books to! It certainly caters for all tastes and is guaranteed to provide you with all the emotions of the spectrum!