Roaches and Valentines
Posted on February 13, 2011 - Filed Under Humor, News, Personal
Hi Oz! Since I know when you read this it will already be Valentine's Day where you live, I thought I would share this little tidbit with you from Yahoo News. 🙂In what is described as the perfect Valentine's Day gift, New York's Bronx Zoo is offering the chance to name a Madagascar hissing cockroach after that special someone in your life."Flowers wilt. Chocolates melt. Roaches are forever," the zoo said on its website about the name a roach gift, which was also billed as a limited Valentine's Day offer. More than 1,000 people chose the cockroach option for their Valentine in the first 24 hours of the offer this week, a zoo spokesman said. The recipient of the present gets a certificate explaining that there is a special insect living at the zoo with his or her name on it. The $10 (6 pounds) donation for the gift will go to helping preserve wildlife and forests in Madagascar, according to the zoo, which has some 58,000 Madagascar specimens that need names. The Madagascar is the largest and noisiest variety of cockroach.Think it's something Perth Zoo would like to do? 🙂 In any case, Happy Valentine's Day!
New EH Holden design shirts
Posted on January 25, 2011 - Filed Under General, Inspirational, News, Personal
Gday Boz finally I did another 2 EH designs, one is more a graphic and the other a bit grungy (and just in time for Valentines day too lol). Both are based on the front view of the 1963-64 EH Holden that I drive.
EH holden T shirt graphic
EH Holden T shirt grungy
Maryland Rails to Trails
Posted on December 30, 2010 - Filed Under General, Personal
Hi Oz! I thought you'd like to see a Maryland Outdoors edition that talks about railroad lines that have been converted to trails!Man Quits Job, Makes Living Suing E-mail Spammers
Posted on December 27, 2010 - Filed Under General, News, Technology
Hey Oz You know how much spam I get and how much extra work it makes for me...So this headline from My Way really caught my attention!Daniel Balsam hates spam. Most everybody does, of course. But he has acted on his hate as few have, going far beyond simply hitting the delete button. He sues them. Eight years ago, Balsam was working as a marketer when he received one too many e-mail pitches to enlarge his breasts. Enraged, he launched a Web site called Danhatesspam.com, quit a career in marketing to go to law school and is making a decent living suing companies who flood his e-mail inboxes with offers of cheap drugs, free sex and unbelievable vacations. "I feel like I'm doing a little bit of good cleaning up the Internet," Balsam said. From San Francisco Superior Court small claims court to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Balsam, based in San Francisco, has filed many lawsuits, including dozens before he graduated law school in 2008, against e-mail marketers he says violate anti-spamming laws. His many victories are mere rain drops in the ocean considering that Cisco Systems Inc. estimates that there are 200 billion spam messages circulating a day, accounting for 90 percent of all e-mail. Still, Balsam settles enough lawsuits and collects enough from judgments to make a living. He has racked up well in excess of $1 million in court judgments and lawsuit settlements with companies accused of sending illegal spam.
Outdoors Maryland: Island Crusader
Posted on December 14, 2010 - Filed Under Environmentalism, General
Hi Oz! I thought you'd find this little movie about Maryland and an Island in the Chesapeake Bay interesting!EH Holden Shop
Posted on November 30, 2010 - Filed Under General, Inspirational, News, Personal, Technology
EH Holden gift shop Hi Boz as you know I own a 1964 EH Holden sedan, and have for a while been looking for a tshirt with an EH on it and as you know I finally designed my own blue EH logo and put it on the net so other EH owners could buy one if they desired then after getting an enquiry about a yellow one I made a few alternative colours well...... finally I did it, I got my act into gear and set up an EH shop with all kinds of stuff (ok gifts) in it. From t shirts (or is that tee shirts, maybe t-shirts ?) to clocks, cups, caps, even undies and other apparel. So now I have a variety of coloured logos; blue, yellow, green, red, white, black, and grey (silver if you use your imagination) and now I am wondering do I need orange and purple lol so i reckon I know where I am going shopping for all my Christmas and birthday presents now 🙂 what colour would you like? PS thank you for your help 🙂 seeing as you did most of the work 🙂 oh nearly forgot the Shop is here EH Holden gift shop
EH Holden gift shop
C is for Cookie
Posted on November 26, 2010 - Filed Under Humor, News, politics
Oz I know you told me about this but I wanted to share this with others. Now I don't know anything about this man or his politics, but I couldn't blame him for wanting peace and quiet, and these journalists wouldn't give him any, even when he was about to hold a press conference with them in 30 minutes. What is funny about this video, is how all he wanted was to eat his cookie, and he repeated it to the point where you start to doubt they are talking to a grown man. It ends up sounding pretty funny, but in the end the joke was on him, he lost his job! Now I have a feeling that people may carry a bag of cookies around with them and every time someone asks them something they'd rather not talk about they will grab one and say "I'm trying to eat my cookies!" ~BozHuge (world) Government in the Name of Global Warming
Posted on November 2, 2010 - Filed Under Environmentalism, News, politics
"Poor Al Gore, global warming completely debunked, by the very internet he invented." ~Jon StewartWA Hot Rod and Street Machine Spectacular 2010
Posted on August 28, 2010 - Filed Under Inspirational, News, Technology
g'day boz Yesterday I went along to see the WA Hot Rod and Street Machine Spectacular 2010. I like to look at it as a photo opportunity, all those colours, shapes and textures. The cars are really well presented and range from classic hot rods and old street machines to futuristic looking ones (and motor bikes too) plus some that I would call "daily drivers". Of course I am always on the look out for something inspirational for the EH (but not to over the top like the stretch limo one), just some thing neat and classy looking (cheap would help too lol). I will admit this year I seemed to struggle with the photos, there is always the tough lighting giving unwanted highlights, reflections particularly of the dome roof, the crowd (the fish eye really lets you get close so that no one can walk in front of you and adds an artistic lean too 🙂 ). Plus one of lenses started acting odd grrrr (maybe I need to upgrade and get the Pentax 18-55 weather resistant lens or the 16-50 DA* f2.8 weather resistant lens 🙂 ). It is always nice to wander around the car park afterwards too as there are a number of custom cars or original looking old cars that are worth a photograph or two.
WA hot rod and street machine spectacular 2010
My top 100 Beatles songs?
Posted on August 27, 2010 - Filed Under General, Humor, News, Personal
g'day Boz, you may have heard that Rolling Stone magazine has just released their list of the top 100 Beatles songs. Now i do like the Beatles, I have all the Albums, and listen to them on many an occasion but I dont feel I am obsessive, although I do know some stuff about them and their songs. Anyway, I have been trying to work out how on earth anyone manages to put the Beatles songs in any kind of order. OK things like the most number ones, or best selling would be easy, but when non tangible things enter into the equation, like preferences, feelings, even culture or upbringing, things that influence our lives and the way we think, how can you make a list. I find I have a lot of favourites and for different reasons. Some are fast, like Helter Skelter or the early stuff that is great to dance to or sing a along with, there is the soft stuff, like Julia or Long Long Long, Yesterday, Here comes the Sun. Some are different (for want of a better description lol), the beat in All you need is love changing from 3/4 to 4/4 throughout the song, the joining together of two songs and making it one in A day in the life, Strawberry fields with its sped up first bit but normal speed second bit, stuff played in reverse. I can relate to Act Naturally 🙂 except They are not putting me in the movies I guess. Some of the words make you think and wonder, Words are flow out like endless rain into a paper cup, or i am the egg man, I am the walrus, Some are just fun, Yellow submarine, Octopuses garden, when I am sixty four. I cant even say the Beatles had a style, they may have started out as a teen rock and roll group, but they diversived incredibly (i wanted to say heaps, but that would be bad English i guess 🙂 ). With 4 guys writing and 4 guys singing, I guess it helps. um I get the feeling i could keep this blog going for ages and eventually end up listing all the Beatles songs hehehe, there are so many to mention, Rocky raccoon, Revolution, Here comes the sun king, Things we said today, Its only love, Get back and the list goes on. This may explain why in 2004 Rolling Stone had Hey Jude (8th) as the only Beatles song in the top 10 of the 500 greatest songs of all time, the list was updates in 2010 but the top 10 didnt changed, so how come it isnt number 1 on the Beatles list or why wasnt A day in the Life in that list?, maybe I am not the only one who finds it difficult to put the songs in order 🙂 so which is my favourite Beatles song? I guess the next one i am going to listen too 🙂 oh this is their top ten by the way 1. "A Day in the Life" 2. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" 3. "Strawberry Fields Forever" 4. "Yesterday" 5. "In My Life" 6. "Something" 7. "Hey Jude" 8. "Let It Be" 9. "Come Together" 10. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"The Australian Elections Taiwanese Style
Posted on August 23, 2010 - Filed Under Humor, News, politics
Oz I thought you might enjoy this. Good luck Australia, counting your votes!at last a tripod
Posted on August 9, 2010 - Filed Under News, Personal, Technology
G'day Boz as you know I have recently been encouraged to replace my old and broken Slick tripod (and I only had it for 30 year and you think it would take a bit of bouncing around in the back of a 4WD ute going down rough tracks) so after a few weeks of research and looking around shops, I bought one, oddly enough from the shop I went into in the first place (sigh I could of saved myself a few weeks research and driving around) I ended up with a Manfrotto 055XPROB, aluminium tripod with a horizontal centre column, which is a bit tricky, but looks useful, especially when getting right down to the ground. It will also extend to taller than me, which is very handy. But most important I tried it with my heavy lens and camera in the shop and it was very stable. I went for a pan and tilt head, an 804RC2 Basic Pan Tilt Head with Quick Lock, probably a bit smaller than I need for the heavy lens, but will be fine for all my other lenses. And, after spending all that (it was a bit expensive i thought) I forked out a bit more for a cable release, of course these days they are electronic. I thought I would get a Pentax one, but as too often happens, the shop didnt have one, however one salesman who was a fellow Pentaxian suggested I could buy the same as he uses, believe it or not a Canon Remote Switch RS60 E3, but hey it works and thats what matters :). So after I get home and have a bit of a play, fiddling with this and that, and waiting till it got dark. It was time to take it out into the backyard with the pentax 10-17 fisheye on it and try a shot or two. The first one was way to short an exposure and came out black, but the second showed a bit of promise.
fisheye night sky
A House Made Completely of Legos!
Posted on July 23, 2010 - Filed Under General, Humor, Technology
Oz, A house of legos!Geomorphology of Uluṟu
Posted on June 9, 2010 - Filed Under General
Oz!
I came across an article discussing how Uluru (Maybe we can see that another visit?) came into form.
He hypothesizes that the relief of the ancestral Uluṟu was brought into existence by an initial cataclysmic depositional marine transgression and a subsequent erosional regression. Following this event, perhaps only tens of years, or maybe hundreds of years later, huge amounts of precipitation began to weather the newly formed and fresh relief, leaving a record of vast holes, ribs, and numerous other features found all over Uluṟu’s surface. As the precipitation continued, a huge inland lake formed and filled the area to a depth of tens of meters. Water sapping eventually caused the arkose to weather at and around a linear horizon 35 m above ground level, producing huge open-mouthed caves. As the process of equilibrium began to set in, a more permanent lake depth of around 3–6 m was established. Since the area all around Uluṟu is quite flat, potential energy in the form of large waves easily etch out the flared, concave-out slopes in the same manner as the flared slopes found at Fort Rock (Oregon). Wave attack is also responsible for the undermining of rock at Uluṟu’s base and may have been a catalyst for the wave-like features themselves. At a later stage still, the climate changed so dramatically, that the once humid, tropical climate of central Australia became a dry arid desert with limited rainfall. As a result, the lake eventually dried up, but not without leaving its permanent reminder both on the face of Uluṟu, and under the ground in terms of huge clay deposits.Read more how he came to this conclusion, HERE
Australia Bound
Posted on June 9, 2010 - Filed Under General, Personal
Look out Oz! My daughter and I bought our tickets to come to Australia! See you LIVE and in person, in September!
~Boz
Roadside America
Posted on June 7, 2010 - Filed Under Personal
In memory of our trip to Roadside America in Pennsylvania, I thought to share this video on our blog!Pacific Islands Islands Defy Sea-Level Rise
Posted on June 3, 2010 - Filed Under Environmentalism, News
Well what do you know. AGAINST all the odds, a number of shape-shifting islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean are standing up to the effects of "climate change."For years, people have warned that the smallest nations on the planet - island states that barely rise out of the ocean - face being wiped off the map by rising sea levels. Now the first analysis of the data broadly suggests the opposite: most have remained stable over the last 60 years, while some have even grown. Paul Kench at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and Arthur Webb at the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission in Fiji used historical aerial photos and high-resolution satellite images to study changes in the land surface of 27 Pacific islands over the last 60 years. During that time, local sea levels have risen by 120 millimetres, or 2 millimetres per year on average.More at New Scientist
Doesn’t Al Gore Know that Divorce is Bad for the Planet?
Posted on June 1, 2010 - Filed Under News
After 40 years, Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, plan to separate. This is preposterous! Doesn't Al know that divorce leads to more consumption on the planet? According to Green Tech:As if the burden of divorce weren't bad enough, people with failed marriages can be blamed for global warming, according to a study by Michigan State University. Divorced couples use up more space in their respective homes, which amounts to to 38 million more rooms worldwide to light, heat and cool, noted the report. And people who divorced used 73 billion kilowatt-hours more of electricity and 627 billion gallons of water than they would otherwise in 2005. Dissolving a marriage also means doubling possessions, from the lowly can opener to the SUV. The report, however, did not estimate how many more natural resources the children of shared-custody parents consume by getting birthday and holiday gifts twice. Nor did it count the greenhouse gases spent to shuttle kids between their pair of energy-hogging households.Just another example of Al Gore telling us all how to live and not able to do what's best for the planet himself. 🙂
Peel Zoo
Posted on May 30, 2010 - Filed Under Personal
Hi Boz (this is 2 in a row lol) Just thought i would share some photos with you 🙂 . I went to Peel zoo on Saturday, its just over 100ks and took almost an hour and a half, but an easy drive down the Mitchell freeway, Kwinana freeway and the new Forrest Highway. The zoo is a small zoo of mainly birds, but there are a lot of different types, from fancy pigeons to exotic parrots and lots of Australian birds too plus kangaroos and some farm animals, ducks, chickens etc. There is a large walk through aviary with heaps of birds and no wire in the way, great for photos here are a few
Major Mitchell cockatoo
ostrich
Sun conure
CombineZP
Posted on May 24, 2010 - Filed Under News
Hi Boz thought I would tell you about a program I came across it stacks photos with shallow depths of fields (like macro photos) and produces a photo that has a great depth of field so I gave it a whirl and found out it worked great
dead beetle
