angora

Amazing Circles

2008-01-22T10:45:00.001-08:00

Enchanting effects can be achieved using the "Amazing Circles" technique to distort photos, particularly when you start with a photograph that has interesting elements.

Purple Coleus
Originally uploaded by angora bunny

Purple Coleus Amazing Circle
Originally uploaded by angora bunny

Lone Tree at Sunset
Originally uploaded by angora bunny

Circle of Tree at Sunset
Originally uploaded by angora bunny

The Q10 Editor

2007-12-02T13:16:00.000-08:00

The Q10 editor is a full-screen editor that can be a great tool for writing -- particularly for writing your first drafts without distractions. It is free, tiny, and runs on Windows or under Wine (Windows emulation on other operating systems, like Linux).¹ It's small enough that you can fit the application and your documents on a USB stick. It's easy to use, and everything is located in one simple help menu, accessed with .

The typewriter look and feel is one of the things that attracts writers to this application. The default settings it comes with include a typewriter sound effects from the Amélie movie (for both keystrokes and carriage returns), and the default font is courier -- the classic, mono-spaced font. The settings offer plenty of flexibility and you can set them to match your own preferences. With the customizable colour palette, you can set your colour combination to white text on a black background, black text on a white background, yellow on black, or anything in-between. You can also choose whatever font you like and alternate sound schemes, or turn the sound off completely. Q10 is available in multiple languages, with or without the spell checker.

As an added bonus, it gives you current statistics including your ever-changing word count (as well as characters and pages).

There is a easy-to-set alarm² for writing sessions and word wars. Or, for word count goals, you can set the global target and Q10 will keep you updated as to what percentage of that goal you have achieved so far. There are also four partial counts that you can use for your own purposes, setting them to whatever quantity and units you need (words, pages, lines, paragraphs, characters or non-spaces).

For example, if you were participating in NaNoWriMo and it was the last week, you could set your daily goals using partial counts and track your progress. Assuming you are working towards the standard NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words, your desired word count for each weekday of the last week would be:

Monday 45,333
Tuesday 45,000
Wednesday 46,667
Thursday 48,333
Friday 50,000

To do this, you'd set your Global Target to 50,000 (Ctrl+T). Then set up the counters in your preferences (Ctrl+P) for Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu. Then set the counters to the number goals using Ctrl plus the number. E.g., for Monday, press Ctrl+1 twice, then enter 45,333 words (Twice, because the first instance sets the partial count to your current location).

Here are some screen shots to illustrate how this would work (click on images to see larger sizes). First, how you set up the names of the partial counters in preferences:

Next, here is a screen shot with white characters on a black background. In our example, we've written 2 words of our ~1,667 daily goal. When we achieve Tuesday's goal, it will show as 0, but right now we have 1,665 words to go, so it shows that amount in the negative. We're two words past Monday's goal, so that shows a 2:

Here we are at the same word count, on a white background, and with the alarm set to 30 minutes:

Q10 provides bookmark functionality through the use of Notes -- any lines starting with ".." are considered notes. Using Ctrl+H invokes the "Notes list", and you can quickly jump to your note locations throughout the document. These lines are not included in the final word count, so those who want to make sure their chapter headings are not included in the final word count, can do so by utilizing this feature.

One more tip -- Q10 can be set to open the last document by default when it starts up. Once you've got more than one document though, you may want to set up a file association for your Q10 files. Rather than use .txt as the extension, you can an extension such as .q10 (so long as this doesn't clash with anything else on your computer). This way, your existing TXT text files can still open up with the existing editor they are set to (such as Notepad or Wordpad), but your new writing files will open up with Q10.

Here is the link to the Q10 website, where you can download this application and try it out for yourself: http://www.baara.com/q10/

¹ To get Q10 working in Wine on Ubuntu or a Debian-based Linux, see the directions for installing WineHQ on this page: http://www.winehq.org/site/download-deb
² Caution: The only crash experienced in testing this application was when the alarm was on. You might want to check out the "auto save" feature before this one.

Flowers on Flickr

2007-12-01T14:26:00.000-08:00

Adblock

NaNoWriMo 2007

2007-11-29T22:30:00.000-08:00

To my friends who don't know what NaNoWriMo is:

"NaNoWriMo is an annual (November) novel writing project that brings together professional and amateur writers from all over the world."

The focus is on completing a 50,000 word novel. Isn't that a bit short for a novel? Well, yes, but you don't have to stop at 50,000 words. Plus, this is a first draft -- you can always edit and expand it into a larger novel. The emphasis for NaNoWriMo is on meeting your word goals, and some use this popular mantra:

"November is for writing; December is for editing."

For writers who find themselves constantly bogged down in minutiae or self-criticism, this can be a valuable exercise. A list of published novels that started as NaNoWriMo projects can be found on their website.

Finding others who are also reaching for the same goal also adds to the experience; making way for word wars, competitions between geographical areas, and plotting your own progress alongside other people, areas or your genre of choice. The forums and chat areas of the NaNoWriMo site encourage this, as do the numerous groups on Facebook. Regional areas schedule events including: kick-off parties, writing sessions at local coffee shops, and even all-night writing sessions.

Another advantage to participating is the pep talks: This year's were from: Tom Robbins, Naomi Novik, Sue Grafton, Neil Gaiman, Deanna Raybourn, Sara Gruen, Julianna Baggott, and Garth Nix. (One of the forums had an active thread titled: "Society for the Defense of the Serial Comma.")

Congratulations to all the other
NaNoWriMo 2007 winners!

Kettle on Trangia Stove

2007-09-15T11:24:00.001-07:00

Kettle on Trangia Stove
Originally uploaded by angora bunny

This is a great little stove for camping. It is:

very easy to use
quiet
less dangerous than a lot of the alternatives:

sturdy base with pots and pans that fit perfectly; great stability and nothing to precariously balance
simple construction -- less parts to misplace or break down -- no need for a maintenance kit
burns without pressure, so safer

packs up relatively compact and light (there's also a mini version if that suits your expedition better)
environmentally-friendly and not difficult to find fuel

Alcohol burning stoves may take a bit longer to heat up and do not burn as hot as some other fuel types. However, these aren't really drawbacks. The extra time isn't unreasonable and gives you time to do other prep work. Without the really high heat, and with the simmer ring, there's less chance you'll have to eat burnt food.

Finding fuel is easy in North America. You can use denatured alcohol / marine stove fuel, methylated spirits / methyl hydrate / methanol, isopropanol / isopropyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol / ethanol / grain alcohol - so even alcool or everclear (but obviously this is more expensive). You can even dilute with water to make a small amount of fuel last longer.

Since Mountain Equipment Co-Op didn't carry the set that includes the Trangia kettle, the one pictured above is a Chinook Timberline Tea Kettle (seen in the catalog at Chinook Technical Outdoor and available online at stores such as Great Adventure Company). It is a sexy, 24 fl. oz. kettle, and folds down nicely into its storage sack. The mesh basket for making herbal or loose leaf tea is included.

Links with more information:
- Trangia website
- Flickr Trangia Group with recipes, photos and shared memories
- How to Use a Trangia Camping Stove on WikiHow
- Video of How to Use a Trangia Camping Stove
- Stove Fuel Comparison
- Trangia has a translated list of international fuels so you can see what to look for in other countries. The link is on this page.

There are also other accessories available for this stove, including a gas burner in case you want/need an alternative to the spirit burner. See the Trangia website or your local outdoor store.

UNESCO, 7 New Wonders of the World, World Heritage Sites

2007-07-08T12:39:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, July 7, 2007, a list of the seven modern human-built wonders of the world was announced by the website New7Wonders. The final results were tallied from voting by about 90 million people casting votes online, by phone and by text message, over a year and a half:

• The Colosseum in Rome
• India's Taj Mahal
• The Great Wall of China
• Peru's Machu Picchu
• Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid
• Petra in Jordan
• Brazil's statue of Christ the Redeemer

UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, has confirmed that they are not linked to this campaign in a news release on their website. The results of the above vote are limited to those with internet access. In contrast, much scientific and educational research goes into the selection of sites chosen for UNESCO's World Heritage Site.

For a more extensive list of the wonders of the world, see the full World Heritage List.

Flickr Functionality - Search & Replace Descriptions, Seen Referrer

2007-06-10T09:31:00.001-07:00

Scripts can be awfully handy if you use Flickr to post your photographs.

An easy way to utilize these tools is via Greasemonkey, a Firefox extension. Add this to your Firefox web browser, and then add the scripts mentioned below. The extension page on Firefox is here.

Add Referer Into Comments lets you easily add the referer into comments you leave on other people's Flickr photos, letting them know where you saw their photograph. For example: "Seen on my Flickr home page" or "Seen in Teal".

The second handy script I'm going to mention today is very useful for editing the titles and/or descriptions of your photos in batches. "Title + Description Batch Tools" is best described in the Flickr Discussions here, and accessed here, along with other scripts by Steeev.

Noodles and Asian Supermarkets

2007-06-06T08:25:00.000-07:00

The store shelves here are filled with many different kinds of noodles from many different countries, often with bad or entirely missing English translations. So, sites like this one very useful: http://noodleson.com/review/. Why miss out on delicious food, just because you don't know what it is? [grin]

The wide variety of products covered includes Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesian noodles, as well as those made in North America. Reviews are comprehensive and include the directions & ingredients listings in English, along with a picture of the prepared noodles. The quality and spiciness ratings are useful.

Sure, preparing these types of prepackaged noodles isn't very difficult, but often following the directions will give much more pleasing results than not! Not all noodles are straightforward either. If you had never seen these Japanese noodles before, for example, you might find the packaging somewhat perplexing: Otafuku Sauce Yakisoba.

Asian supermarkets are rising in popularity in North America. According to Macleans Magazine, the Galleria Supermarket in Toronto opened in 2003 with a Korean clientele in mind, but now 40 percent of its shoppers are from outside the Korean community. (Article on Macleans website and scanned version on Galleria website.)

Hopefully, this will lead to improvements in packaging and labelling. Some are easy to figure out, like Nong Shim's Potato Noodle Soup, with it's clear English name and picture of a potato. However, other packages have no English at all! So it's great for adventuresome noodle-lovers to have websites with pictures and helpful text so they can figure out what it is that they've bought. =:3

WARNING! Prepackaged noodles have way too much salt in them. Often the included noodle package has nearly 100% of the daily recommended intake of sodium! Be sure to check the portion size too. The better noodles have the vegetables packaged separately from the soup mix and/or hot spices and/or liquids to be added. With these, it is easy to adjust how hot you want the noodles to be, and how much sodium you want to include. Usually the amount of salty soup mix can be safely cut to half a package or less.

An added advantage is that you can save the unused portion and use it with unflavoured noodles and other vegetables or seasonings of your choice later. This doesn't work with the noodles prepared in an included cup or bowl though -- A common method in that case is to make the noodles as directed, then pour off half the soup and fill back up with hot water.

Sempio's Honey Rice Black Vinegar looks attractive and sounds interesting on their Korean website, but without an English version, one might look to translation websites for a translation. Sure, "apple concentration misfortune" sounds more interesting than "apple juice," but some of these wordings just make it seem much less appetizing.

Some say there are too many websites and blogs that feature reviews -- Cases like this though, show that there are still areas that need more coverage.

OpenOffice Dictionary

2007-05-15T12:17:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was helping someone with OpenOffice and the question of dictionaries and language tools arose. Since this information isn't obvious, I'm posting it here.

First of all, if you aren't already familiar with OpenOffice,

"OpenOffice.org 2 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose."
http://why.openoffice.org/

More information about all the pieces is available here:

	Writer – a word processor you can use for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book.
	Calc – a powerful spreadsheet with all the tools you need to calculate, analyse, and present your data in numerical reports or sizzling graphics.
	Impress – the fastest, most powerful way to create effective multimedia presentations.
	Draw – lets you produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations.
	Base – lets you manipulate databases seamlessly. Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, all from within OpenOffice.org
	Math – lets you create mathematical equations with a graphic user interface or by directly typing your formulas into the equation editor.

Now, on to the part that wasn't obvious... If, when you install OpenOffice, you tell it your country of origin and indicate that you use something other than US English, the required dictionary is not automatically installed. Fair enough. However, there is no warning about this, and the spell check simply behaves as if there are no errors discovered in your document (i.e., it doesn't use the installed US English dictionary either).

If you are using a language other than English (US), you need to do the following:

"To install a new dictionary, call "File -> Wizards -> Install new dictionaries" in OpenOffice.org. Then exit and re-start OpenOffice.org, including the Quickstarter (if used)."
More info here: http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Dictionaries

Not difficult; just not obvious.

Beautiful Sunset & Sunrise Photos from Around the World

2007-05-12T21:45:00.001-07:00

Pink Sunset Down the Road
Originally uploaded by angora bunny.

Here is a lovely Flickr group that has sunsets and sunrises from all over the world:

Sun

The photos are also posted in threads broken down by country, so you can view and compare by country.

Also, since it is such a very high volume group, you may want to try another way to view the photos -- through Flickr Leech:

http://www.flickrleech.net/group/52242317293@N01

New Slideshow Format on Flickr

2007-05-08T14:27:00.001-07:00

Circle of Fire
Originally uploaded by angora bunny.

A new slideshow format has just been introduced on Flickr. This new format has:
- larger photos
- titles + descriptions
- photos on a black background

The speed now only has slow, medium and fast, so it is not as adjustable as before. It would be nice if the size was adjustable too. Viewing a slideshow at a large resolution setting is ... not fast.

Here's an example of the new slideshow format:
Circle Set

Acts of Kindness

2007-04-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

Something more positive to read than the news: Acts of Kindness

New on Flickr - Collections

2007-03-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

Flickr has a new way to organize photos now - Collections. You can put your photos into collections and create mosaics:

See my Collections page.

Creation, a Video

2007-03-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

"Creation" is a video by Rhyl Donnelly on MySpace.

Nice work, and I like the music. =:3

Closing Tabs in Firefox 2

2007-03-15T07:46:00.000-07:00

If you want to change the location of the close buttons for tabs in Firefox, type

about:config

in the location bar, then change to a number from 0 to 3 as follows:

Display a close button on the active tab only
Display close buttons on all tabs (Default)
Don’t display any close buttons
Display a single close button at the end of the tab strip (Firefox 1.x behavior)

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.tabs.closeButtons

Snowshoeing was Fun!

2007-03-13T07:35:00.001-07:00

Guess Where I Am!
Originally uploaded by angora bunny.

... But, I am back home now and will get some photos up soon.

Cheers!

No, not the Bee's Knees, the Bee's Toes!

2007-02-28T10:25:00.000-08:00

Those interested in photography, and particularly macro photography, should find this interesting. This photo of a bee's toes appears on Digital Photography Review's Nikon D80/D70/D50/D40 forum here along with some other really great photos, and also in the photographer's uber macro photo gallery. Very cool!

If you are looking to purchase a new digital camera, be sure to check this website: www.dpreview.com. It has reviews of all the latest cameras, as well as useful tools for selecting and comparing cameras by features.

Daffodils

2007-02-27T13:00:00.001-08:00

Orange and White Daffodil
Originally uploaded by angora bunny.

Here is one of the daffodils that I mentioned earlier. The orange colour is very sunny and warm. However, it is not to be confused with cheesies, cheese doodles, or cheesy poofs! =;P

See more of the flowers in the Allan Gardens set.

Speaking of Cold Weather...

2007-02-27T07:06:00.000-08:00

The cold weather hit us later than usual this year and seemed to catch up with a vengeance. But, it was still nice to know that we weren't the coldest place in the country. In some parts of Canada, the weather this February hit lows below 40 degrees Celsius (or Fahrenheit =:3). For example, in Manitoba, temperatures of -41.9C (-43.4F) in Fisher Branch and -41.7C (-41.1F) in Winnipeg were recorded (February 5).

That's before windchill. Temperatures with windchill taken into account reached -53C (-63.4F) on Sunday, Febuary 4th. BRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! Winnipeg Free Press, February 5, 2007

A note on Wind Chill...

Wind chill is the cooling our body feels when the impact of temperature and wind are combined -- An important thing to take into consideration when planning and dressing for your winter activities!

The way that the wind chill factor was calculated used to be quite different in Canada and the US. Luckily, dissatisfaction with the old (inaccurate) formula in both countries resulted in a cooperative work of the Meteorological Services of Canada (MSC), the US National Weather Service (NWS) and several other members of academic research to build a new scientifically sounder formula.

Read more about wind chill at these links:

Wind Chill Explanation, the Weather Network
Calculate your own Wind Chill, Environment Canada
Minutes to Frostbite, Environment Canada

The coldest wind chill recorded in Canada was at Pelly Bay, Nunavut, on January 13, 1975, when 56 km/h winds (a wind chill factor of 3,357 watts/m²) made the temperature of ‑51 C feel more like ‑92 C.

Another way to feel warmer -- go read Jack London's "To Build A Fire" or see the documentary film film on Inuit/eskimo life showing as part of the First Peoples exhibit at the ROM. The former shows the importance of building a fire in -75F (-59C); the latter has people changing in -85F temperatures. This should make you feel warmer in comparison.

Time for a hot cocoa!

Cold Weather Activities

2007-02-27T07:00:00.001-08:00

Pink Tulip Close-up
Originally uploaded by angora bunny.

When the temperatures hit minus 30 or so, here's a lovely thing to do -- If you are lucky enough to have an indoor garden near you, head over and enjoy the beauty of the plants. Tropical greenhouses are a great choice -- viewing the palm trees and cactuses, while seeing the snow floating down behind them is very pleasing indeed.

On a recent trip to the Allan Gardens Conservatory, I was happy to see the bright, springtime colours of some of the flowers, particularly the tulips and daffodils. What a way to brighten your day! =:3

See more of the flowers in the Allan Gardens set.

Another Creative Take

2007-02-26T11:34:00.003-08:00

Big Ol' Round Cactus
Originally uploaded by angora bunny.

"Big Ol' Round Cactus" is also part of the Studies - Colour & Effects set.

Studies in Photography -- Colours & Effects

2007-02-26T11:34:00.001-08:00

Amaryllis with Creative Colours
Originally uploaded by angora bunny.

"Amaryllis with Creative Colours" is part of a new photo set for Studies - Colour & Effects.

Yellow Flower (Abutilon)

2007-02-26T11:13:00.001-08:00

Yellow Flower (Abutilon)
Originally uploaded by angora bunny.

See the Allan Gardens photo set for more photographs taken at the Allan Gardens Conservatory in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Derbyshire Wallabies in the Peak District of England

2007-01-20T23:16:00.000-08:00

Here is an article about this topic over on the BBC.

The Peak District is the name given to a picturesque, upland area of the Midlands of England. Read more about the Peak Distrct on WikiTravel.

Mayhaw Jelly

2007-01-14T07:53:00.000-08:00

A cousin of mine in Louisiana sent me some Mayhaw Jelly for Christmas. Never having had mayhaw jelly before, I went looking for a description on-line and found this one on Emeril's website:

"The mayhaw tree is a relative of the rose family and it produces berry fruit that ripens to pink, orange, and red in late April and early May. The berries are about the size of the end of your little finger and they perfume the air with an unmistakable scent that smells like a combination of pear, apple, rose, and a hint of citrus all rolled up into one."

(Source)

This item goes on to say that the they taste as they smell, and that this taste is reminiscent of childhood for mayhaw jelly lovers. When I tasted it myself, I had to agree with this description -- the taste is very mild and yet distinctly unique. It also managed to remind me of my childhood, but in a different way, as it reminded me of the cranberries we had growing up -- of watching Mom make jelly, and Dad make cranberry wine. Good memories!

If you'd like to obtain some of this jelly yourself, here is a link to Springhill Jelly, in Pollock, Louisiana.

Thanks again, Keith!

Harvard Planner

2007-01-13T02:40:00.000-08:00

The best time management tools I've come across are Harvard Planners (http://www.harvardplanner.com/).

On their website, see how you can save 10 days each year, and why Harvard Planners are better than other organizers.

It doesn't take long to fall in love with these organizers and to realize their many advantages over PDAs, PIMs, and current software applications. Some of the features seem so logical once you get used to them, you'll wonder how you ever did without them.

PROS:

available in formats that suit your organizational style: Journal page per day, or one of the weekly formats (Elite left/right or International bilingual top/bottom)
each format also has monthly and yearly page overview planning pages too, for longer range plans
there is enough space for all of your events, appointments and tasks, and all can be seen at a glance
optionally, can be used to track business and personal items discretely
every item can be easily tracked with the space provided for file numbers, delegation, time and expenses
rescheduling within a time period, and deferring/carrying forward to other periods is simple to do, without rewriting
never runs out of power or crashes =:3
many useful additional organizational tools are included (these vary by format): Meeting, Planning & Control Log; Action Log; Contact & Communication Log; Finance Budget & Performance forms, Expense & Cheque Logs; Business, Mission & Personal Objectives forms, as well as space on each period page to state ojectives and evaluate; Project Scheduler; Note & Tabular Report pages for taking freeform notes (with divisions that make it useful to organize your notes and line up tabular data); graph paper; and a ruler (in/cm)
lots of space for contact management -- some have a pull-out address book with world atlas; plus space in the planner for an address book and separate clients & useful numbers, and business contact lists
power users can choose the binder format and order additional tools and forms that suit their style, as well as a hole punch that fits in the binder
feeling of satisfaction when physically pulling off the corner tabs (the ones with two sets are best -- can use one for the passing of time, and one for periods where all your tasks have been completed) -- nothing quite compares on software applications!

CONS:

None.

No, I don't work for them -- I just highly recommend these planners. Everyone I have recommended them to has been very appreciative. If you haven't already, check them out.

World's Most Sensible Computer Mouse

2007-01-13T02:12:00.000-08:00

This Connectland Retractable Mini Optical Mouse (English translation) (Model S-MS-051-SILV, 6 button, 1 wheel) is great! It works ergonomically and the placement of the buttons is very intuitive. Rather than laying the buttons on the sides, where one's hands rest asymmetrically, the buttons commonly used for forward and back are on top of the left & right mouse buttons. It is a shame this style of button hasn't caught on, because it just makes sense.

The size works well for notebooks and should fit all but very large hands. It does everything a good mouse should -- smooth moves, well-behaved wheel, coloured lights for forward & backward motion -- beautiful!

In fact, this mouse is so great I would replace my desktop mouse with it if it weren't for the retractable cord.

EverNote to keep your notes organized...

2007-01-12T21:14:00.000-08:00

"EverNote is a free note-taking application for users of all desktops, laptops and tablets." It appears to be a very promising product, with a few drawbacks.

PROS:

store all your notes in one central place, and link to all your supporting files (documents, spreadsheets, websites, images, etc.)
each item is automatically assigned a type, and you can also add your own custom categories so that you can organize your notes however it works best for you, e.g. by project
ability to clip items from documents, images, e-mails, or the www, and have the source link automatically pasted along with content for you in EverNote
ability to create freeform notes using digital ink and index them for searching using
quick searching

CONS:

still seems rather immature, with glitches to be worked out (for example, web clipping was working from *most* applications, but not all)
could really use some skins -- for an application that is this potentially useful, you might spend a lot of time staring at it and it NEEDS to be customizable
navigation feels clunky -- could benefit from quicker access to monthly calendar from time band to jump to specific dates
needs tooltips! not all icons are intuitive

EverNote is definitely worth checking out. It sounds like it will have a larger user base in future -- consider the following article:
Fujitsu to feature EverNote on Notebooks and Tablets