Some of my mom's plants:
I also had blue and red light bulbs that I played with one night:
I plan on having a couple of these printed for the walls in my apartment. I'll get around to it one of these days...
Monday, August 27, 2007
Some Macro Photos
I decided to scan some negatives that I've had for a while as a test run for the scanner. Mainly macro photos that I'd taken a while back. Here's a little selection...
Some of my mom's plants:
I also had blue and red light bulbs that I played with one night:
I plan on having a couple of these printed for the walls in my apartment. I'll get around to it one of these days...
Some of my mom's plants:
I also had blue and red light bulbs that I played with one night:
I plan on having a couple of these printed for the walls in my apartment. I'll get around to it one of these days...
New Scanner: CanoScan 4400F
I finally picked a new scanner. I had my mind set on this one by Canon but was overwhelmed by its size when I finally checked out. It has the capacity to scan 35mm film, slides, and 120 size film.
I'd originally thought about getting into medium format photography using my Yashica 12 TLR. The large negative format offers the ability for some really detailed pictures as this page shows, but it's also more expensive than 35mm film. Working life and living in Toronto means that I have less time to walk around and take pictures so I haven't really done much in terms of photography.
I decided to scale back and settled for this smaller scanner. It's limited to 35mm negatives and slides but offers the same resolution. I also like the film holder that comes with it. It's easy to load and it holds the film pretty flat.
The scanner also automatically scans each frame individually and shows a preview. You can then select the frames that you want scanned and have them saved to a directory. It works pretty well and the scanning speed is reasonable.
I haven't really looked into using it with linux so I have to boot into Windows to scan photos. The one thing that I don't like about the system is that you have to select an application to load the pictures into after scanning. The system comes with ArcSoft photo editing software so I selected it just to get it to work. I didn't use the software really because I'm used to editing photos in GIMP now. I tried getting the Canon scanning toolbox to load the scanned images into gimp directly but kept getting a .dll error. It's annoying but not that big of a deal.
Overall, I find the scanner works pretty well. I'm going to get a lot of use out of it since I have two bulk rolls of 35mm Kodak Tri-X to use...once I get around to taking some pictures on a regular basis.
I'd originally thought about getting into medium format photography using my Yashica 12 TLR. The large negative format offers the ability for some really detailed pictures as this page shows, but it's also more expensive than 35mm film. Working life and living in Toronto means that I have less time to walk around and take pictures so I haven't really done much in terms of photography.
I decided to scale back and settled for this smaller scanner. It's limited to 35mm negatives and slides but offers the same resolution. I also like the film holder that comes with it. It's easy to load and it holds the film pretty flat.
The scanner also automatically scans each frame individually and shows a preview. You can then select the frames that you want scanned and have them saved to a directory. It works pretty well and the scanning speed is reasonable.
I haven't really looked into using it with linux so I have to boot into Windows to scan photos. The one thing that I don't like about the system is that you have to select an application to load the pictures into after scanning. The system comes with ArcSoft photo editing software so I selected it just to get it to work. I didn't use the software really because I'm used to editing photos in GIMP now. I tried getting the Canon scanning toolbox to load the scanned images into gimp directly but kept getting a .dll error. It's annoying but not that big of a deal.
Overall, I find the scanner works pretty well. I'm going to get a lot of use out of it since I have two bulk rolls of 35mm Kodak Tri-X to use...once I get around to taking some pictures on a regular basis.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Yummy Curry...
For some strange reason, I've had frequent hankerings for curry over the last few weeks. I finally got around to making one tonight...my first Curry.
I found this recipe on the food network's site (a great resource btw) and modified it slightly. The store near me didn't have any fenugreek seeds so I left them out. I had some green chilis in the fridge so I used 3 small ones instead of the scotch bonnet (probably a good idea anyways). I didn't have a lot of fresh thyme, the little plant I have on the balcony doesn't seem to grow very fast (I think it needs a lot more sunlight). I added a bunch of oregano instead. I also used bouillon cubes in hot water instead of the chicken stock and added potatos and a green pepper just because...
I followed the cooking instructions and let it stew for about an hour and a half. I made some basmati rice with a pinch of garam masala to go along with the curry. It was a long wait and I got pretty hungry. It was worth it though...not the best curry I've ever had, but pretty good for a first try. I'll have to keep the recipe in mind and try to find ways to make it better. It'll be a good dish to have in the winter.
I've always looked closely at the pictures in food magazines and tried to see how they were set up. I decided to take some pictures while waiting for the food to cool off a bit. With a compact digicam, it's hard to get a really short depth of field, so I used gimp to simulate it. Here's what the dish looked like:
I may make a habit of taking pictures of some of my culiary creations...see how creative I can get.
I found this recipe on the food network's site (a great resource btw) and modified it slightly. The store near me didn't have any fenugreek seeds so I left them out. I had some green chilis in the fridge so I used 3 small ones instead of the scotch bonnet (probably a good idea anyways). I didn't have a lot of fresh thyme, the little plant I have on the balcony doesn't seem to grow very fast (I think it needs a lot more sunlight). I added a bunch of oregano instead. I also used bouillon cubes in hot water instead of the chicken stock and added potatos and a green pepper just because...
I followed the cooking instructions and let it stew for about an hour and a half. I made some basmati rice with a pinch of garam masala to go along with the curry. It was a long wait and I got pretty hungry. It was worth it though...not the best curry I've ever had, but pretty good for a first try. I'll have to keep the recipe in mind and try to find ways to make it better. It'll be a good dish to have in the winter.
I've always looked closely at the pictures in food magazines and tried to see how they were set up. I decided to take some pictures while waiting for the food to cool off a bit. With a compact digicam, it's hard to get a really short depth of field, so I used gimp to simulate it. Here's what the dish looked like:
I may make a habit of taking pictures of some of my culiary creations...see how creative I can get.
Book Review: The Weather Makers, Tim Flannery
I've been reading a lot lately. The latest book is "The Weather Makers" by Tim Flannery. I'd heard a lot about this book so I finally picked it up.
It's a really good read and Flannery's writing style is very informative and the topics are organized well. The book is divided into five parts: Gaia's Tools, One in Ten Thousand, The Science of Prediction, People in Greenhouses, and The Solution.
The first part deals with the Gaia idea brought forward by James Lovelock that our planet is one large organism that we and all other life on the planet are part of it. It's an interesting idea that has some merit. Once you start looking into the mechanisms of nature, it's easy to see how everything is interconnected and how plants, animals, and people both affect and are affected by the weather.
He goes on to an explanation of the structure of Earth's atmosphere and how greenhouse gases affect the overall temperature of the planet. A key chapter in this first part of the book deals with the carbon balance on the planet and how plants, soils, and the oceans store carbon. He also explains how coal, oil, and natural gas are a form of long term carbon storage. The rapid rate at which we are consuming these fossil fuels means that we are transferring carbon from these carbon storage media to the atmosphere through combustion and the release of CO2.
As I understand it, the major problem is not that this transfer is taking place, but rather the rate at which carbon is being transferred leads to a relatively rapid increase in the Earth's temperature resulting in a rapid change of climate systems. This rapid change means that biological systems (arboreal forests, rain forests, savannas, etc.) do not have enough time to adapt to the changing climate. Consequently, a significant portion of animal and plant life on the planet most likely face extinction. Another problem with the rapid rise of Earth's temperature is that it brings instability into the climate systems that can lead to the disruption of the Gulf Stream, changes in rainfall patterns, more extreme weather in some parts of the globe, and milder weather in others. It's too complex a topic to describe here, and in any case, Flannery does a better job at explaining it than I ever will.
The book also takes time to explain the rigorous peer review system for publishing climate change data. There are several review stages done by hundreds of scientists so any published scientific data about climate change should be taken seriously because it has the consensus of a large group of scientists. Flannery also takes the time to explain predictive methods and how they are used to get a good idea of possible outcomes of a 2 to 5 degree Celsius increase in the average temperature of the earth. The picture doesn't look good for the majority of the world, but places like Canada and Russia will likely benefit from the warmer climate in terms of increased agricultural production, milder weather, and an expansion of more hospitable land.
Other sections of the book deal with the naysayers of climate change and how propaganda is used to cast doubt on the scientific studies and findings. This issue is not new, it's a dirty method that's been sued before and will likely be used again wherever massive corporate profits and public interests diverge.
Flannery does offer up solutions to reducing CO2 emissions but the information is already well known and he doesn't offer up anything new. He mentions hybrid cars and the french compressed air car that I wrote about in an earlier post. Solar, wind, and wave power all also have a role to play in replacing fossil fuels as renewable energy sources.
Apart from the science of climate change and the politics surrounding it, there are some nuggets of information about the wonders of nature including this frog that changes it's stomach from a digestive organ to a brooding chamber for it's young.
In terms of the climate change topic, it seems to me that the forces of government and corporations will be to slow to react to the growing danger of climate change unless the public exerts pressure on both parties. There is a lot of debate still going on even in the face of volumes of scientific information dating back at least 3 decades. The poeple muddying the issue will be successful in delaying any seriuos reduction of CO2 emissions unless the worldwide public gets more informed as to the nature of the problem and what it takes to solve it. Getting more aware and informed can begin with reading this book.
It's a really good read and Flannery's writing style is very informative and the topics are organized well. The book is divided into five parts: Gaia's Tools, One in Ten Thousand, The Science of Prediction, People in Greenhouses, and The Solution.
The first part deals with the Gaia idea brought forward by James Lovelock that our planet is one large organism that we and all other life on the planet are part of it. It's an interesting idea that has some merit. Once you start looking into the mechanisms of nature, it's easy to see how everything is interconnected and how plants, animals, and people both affect and are affected by the weather.
He goes on to an explanation of the structure of Earth's atmosphere and how greenhouse gases affect the overall temperature of the planet. A key chapter in this first part of the book deals with the carbon balance on the planet and how plants, soils, and the oceans store carbon. He also explains how coal, oil, and natural gas are a form of long term carbon storage. The rapid rate at which we are consuming these fossil fuels means that we are transferring carbon from these carbon storage media to the atmosphere through combustion and the release of CO2.
As I understand it, the major problem is not that this transfer is taking place, but rather the rate at which carbon is being transferred leads to a relatively rapid increase in the Earth's temperature resulting in a rapid change of climate systems. This rapid change means that biological systems (arboreal forests, rain forests, savannas, etc.) do not have enough time to adapt to the changing climate. Consequently, a significant portion of animal and plant life on the planet most likely face extinction. Another problem with the rapid rise of Earth's temperature is that it brings instability into the climate systems that can lead to the disruption of the Gulf Stream, changes in rainfall patterns, more extreme weather in some parts of the globe, and milder weather in others. It's too complex a topic to describe here, and in any case, Flannery does a better job at explaining it than I ever will.
The book also takes time to explain the rigorous peer review system for publishing climate change data. There are several review stages done by hundreds of scientists so any published scientific data about climate change should be taken seriously because it has the consensus of a large group of scientists. Flannery also takes the time to explain predictive methods and how they are used to get a good idea of possible outcomes of a 2 to 5 degree Celsius increase in the average temperature of the earth. The picture doesn't look good for the majority of the world, but places like Canada and Russia will likely benefit from the warmer climate in terms of increased agricultural production, milder weather, and an expansion of more hospitable land.
Other sections of the book deal with the naysayers of climate change and how propaganda is used to cast doubt on the scientific studies and findings. This issue is not new, it's a dirty method that's been sued before and will likely be used again wherever massive corporate profits and public interests diverge.
Flannery does offer up solutions to reducing CO2 emissions but the information is already well known and he doesn't offer up anything new. He mentions hybrid cars and the french compressed air car that I wrote about in an earlier post. Solar, wind, and wave power all also have a role to play in replacing fossil fuels as renewable energy sources.
Apart from the science of climate change and the politics surrounding it, there are some nuggets of information about the wonders of nature including this frog that changes it's stomach from a digestive organ to a brooding chamber for it's young.
In terms of the climate change topic, it seems to me that the forces of government and corporations will be to slow to react to the growing danger of climate change unless the public exerts pressure on both parties. There is a lot of debate still going on even in the face of volumes of scientific information dating back at least 3 decades. The poeple muddying the issue will be successful in delaying any seriuos reduction of CO2 emissions unless the worldwide public gets more informed as to the nature of the problem and what it takes to solve it. Getting more aware and informed can begin with reading this book.
Walkabout around Toronto...
I was hoping to go sailing at a regatta this past weekend, but plans fell through. I didn't bother showing up because I didn't really have a ride. So I decided to go wandering around downtown Toronto on Saturday.
I started at Kensington Market, which starts west of Spadina and north of Dundas. I ran into the Chinatown festival on my way there. It was a little too crowded for my taste and it didn't seem like much of a cultural experience for me. I stopped briefly to check out some food deals that they had on the street...BBQ Pork on rice for $2 was a good deal, but didn't seem that appetizing.
In any case, another block onwards and I was in Kensington Market. It's a neat place that's different from the big buildings and business suit areas of the downtown core. It's got an alternative artsy feel to it...some strange people too. The small fruit markets are nice and there are a couple of army surplus stores as well as some safety clothing/equipment shops...you could probably find a good deal if you looked hard enough.
I stumbled onto a gem: The House of Spice. The strong smells hit you as you step in the store. They've got almost everything to suit your culinary needs. I thought I might find some Filipino spice mixes like sinigang and tinola mixtures, but they didn't have any. Lots of other stuff though. I ended up buying a pack of bay leaves (I didn't have any at home) and a loose leaf mix of Masala Chai. Reasonable pricing. It's good to know there's a place like that around town. Here are a couple pictures of the place:
I kept wandering around the neighbourhood looking for a decent place to eat...there were some interesting looking places but none of them appealed to me at the time. I just kept on walking and taking pictures along the way. Here are some interesting shots:
The art gallery of Ontario is in the neighbourhood too. I stopped in because there were a couple of exhibits I was interested in. One was an exhibit by Chuck Close, an artist who does some wacky and large portraits of people. For this particular exhibit, he used Daguerreotype photographs as a base and painted his portraits from there. Interesting exhibit, he collaborated with a poet to have some verbage alongside the images.
The other exhibit I was interested in had to do with modert art from India. I found them unremarkable to be honest, and the exhibit itself was modest. The other two exhibits on display had to do with medieval art pieces that were mainly christian artifacts and some First Nation artifacts. The latter was interesting but not very informative with captions such as "Bowl with a Beaver" and "Frog on a bowl". Overall, I may have spent 20 minutes in there, but not much more than that. It was a nice way to cool off a bit, but not worth the $15 admission fee...
After that, I found a place that sold shawarmas...unfortunately my excitement faded after I payed $6 dollars for the combo that just included a drink and the shawarma wasn't traditional. The handwritten sign offering Motza Ball soup for $2.50 should have been a clue, but I was already pretty hungry.
I thought about walking across town to check out some camera stores on Queen St. E, but decided against it. I was starting to get tired...been walking for around 4 hours by that point. There was lots going on around town that day...here are some pictures from the walk to the subway station:
I was pretty tired when I got home. I had a small bite to eat, drank lots of water, and then settled down for some reading. It was a good day...the weather could not have been better. I'll have to decided on another part of the city to check out.
I started at Kensington Market, which starts west of Spadina and north of Dundas. I ran into the Chinatown festival on my way there. It was a little too crowded for my taste and it didn't seem like much of a cultural experience for me. I stopped briefly to check out some food deals that they had on the street...BBQ Pork on rice for $2 was a good deal, but didn't seem that appetizing.
In any case, another block onwards and I was in Kensington Market. It's a neat place that's different from the big buildings and business suit areas of the downtown core. It's got an alternative artsy feel to it...some strange people too. The small fruit markets are nice and there are a couple of army surplus stores as well as some safety clothing/equipment shops...you could probably find a good deal if you looked hard enough.
I stumbled onto a gem: The House of Spice. The strong smells hit you as you step in the store. They've got almost everything to suit your culinary needs. I thought I might find some Filipino spice mixes like sinigang and tinola mixtures, but they didn't have any. Lots of other stuff though. I ended up buying a pack of bay leaves (I didn't have any at home) and a loose leaf mix of Masala Chai. Reasonable pricing. It's good to know there's a place like that around town. Here are a couple pictures of the place:
I kept wandering around the neighbourhood looking for a decent place to eat...there were some interesting looking places but none of them appealed to me at the time. I just kept on walking and taking pictures along the way. Here are some interesting shots:
The art gallery of Ontario is in the neighbourhood too. I stopped in because there were a couple of exhibits I was interested in. One was an exhibit by Chuck Close, an artist who does some wacky and large portraits of people. For this particular exhibit, he used Daguerreotype photographs as a base and painted his portraits from there. Interesting exhibit, he collaborated with a poet to have some verbage alongside the images.
The other exhibit I was interested in had to do with modert art from India. I found them unremarkable to be honest, and the exhibit itself was modest. The other two exhibits on display had to do with medieval art pieces that were mainly christian artifacts and some First Nation artifacts. The latter was interesting but not very informative with captions such as "Bowl with a Beaver" and "Frog on a bowl". Overall, I may have spent 20 minutes in there, but not much more than that. It was a nice way to cool off a bit, but not worth the $15 admission fee...
After that, I found a place that sold shawarmas...unfortunately my excitement faded after I payed $6 dollars for the combo that just included a drink and the shawarma wasn't traditional. The handwritten sign offering Motza Ball soup for $2.50 should have been a clue, but I was already pretty hungry.
I thought about walking across town to check out some camera stores on Queen St. E, but decided against it. I was starting to get tired...been walking for around 4 hours by that point. There was lots going on around town that day...here are some pictures from the walk to the subway station:
I was pretty tired when I got home. I had a small bite to eat, drank lots of water, and then settled down for some reading. It was a good day...the weather could not have been better. I'll have to decided on another part of the city to check out.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Book Review: It's The Crude, Dude, Linda McQuaig
Linda McQuaig is a canadian journalist who currently is a columnist for the Toronto Star. I've always found her articles interesting and usually agreed with what she had to say, but not always how she said it. I think sometimes a little less attitude can carry a message farther, but that's just me.
In any case, as the title suggests, McQuaig's book "It's the Crude, Dude" is about oil. The book, naturally, begins with the invasion of Iraq and examines the reasons that were given for the invasion. She then goes into an explanation of the oil resources in the middle east and how profitable the Iraqi oil can be given the current levels of demand for oil.
She builds a strong case that the reasons for the invasion of Iraq was more about the control of a very valuable oil resource and how that resource can be used as a weapon to control not just the middle east, but other regions of the world. The book gives a detailed picture of history of the oil industry and correlates it with the political histories of the countries involved.
It gives a history of the oil business and its growth into its current massive state, includes the history of attempts at unity by the oil producing third world countries through OPEC and the Arab league, and illustrates how profitable the business can be for both parties. Along the way, though, McQuaig takes a detour and gives an account of the development of the SUV as subsidized and highly profitable product for the North American automakers in the face of the influx of Japanese cars that are more efficient on gas, more reliable, and of higher build quality.
While I liked the content of the book, I don't necessarily like McQuaig's writing style. Even the title itself seems a little juvenile for the topic. That shouldn't take away from the content though.
Here's a short list as to why I think people should read this book:
Personally, I liked this book for several reasons. There's a lot of history that I didn't know, particularly about Venezuela's leadership in the formation of OPEC and as a catalyst for the oil producing countries obtaining better trade deals from the oil companies. I now have a deeper understanding of the economics of the invasion of Iraq as well as a new appreciation for what it would mean if we did find an alternate renewable energy delivery method capable of competing with oil. (Wind and Solar energy can currently compete with oil as energy sources. Storing and then delivering the energy for transportation is still a bit of an issue).
This book is definitely worth the read. You can find it here or here...or even better, step into a library and borrow it.
Here's a more detailed review of the book.
In any case, as the title suggests, McQuaig's book "It's the Crude, Dude" is about oil. The book, naturally, begins with the invasion of Iraq and examines the reasons that were given for the invasion. She then goes into an explanation of the oil resources in the middle east and how profitable the Iraqi oil can be given the current levels of demand for oil.
She builds a strong case that the reasons for the invasion of Iraq was more about the control of a very valuable oil resource and how that resource can be used as a weapon to control not just the middle east, but other regions of the world. The book gives a detailed picture of history of the oil industry and correlates it with the political histories of the countries involved.
It gives a history of the oil business and its growth into its current massive state, includes the history of attempts at unity by the oil producing third world countries through OPEC and the Arab league, and illustrates how profitable the business can be for both parties. Along the way, though, McQuaig takes a detour and gives an account of the development of the SUV as subsidized and highly profitable product for the North American automakers in the face of the influx of Japanese cars that are more efficient on gas, more reliable, and of higher build quality.
While I liked the content of the book, I don't necessarily like McQuaig's writing style. Even the title itself seems a little juvenile for the topic. That shouldn't take away from the content though.
Here's a short list as to why I think people should read this book:
- To get a better understanding of how the invasion of Iraq came about.
- It has a good account of the history of the west "spreading democracy" in the middle east.
- It offers a good explanation of why the west, and particulary the US, is so hated in the middle east.
- It contains an insight into Hugo Chavez that you'll rarely see on mainstream news (the man is quite the character with some really good ideas).
- It tells you exactly how you are getting ripped off if you buy an SUV.
- You think you're getting ripped off at the gas pump, but not quite exactly sure how.
- Reading a book is infintely better than watching tv.
Personally, I liked this book for several reasons. There's a lot of history that I didn't know, particularly about Venezuela's leadership in the formation of OPEC and as a catalyst for the oil producing countries obtaining better trade deals from the oil companies. I now have a deeper understanding of the economics of the invasion of Iraq as well as a new appreciation for what it would mean if we did find an alternate renewable energy delivery method capable of competing with oil. (Wind and Solar energy can currently compete with oil as energy sources. Storing and then delivering the energy for transportation is still a bit of an issue).
This book is definitely worth the read. You can find it here or here...or even better, step into a library and borrow it.
Here's a more detailed review of the book.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Google Tools
I've been reading about Google's Adsense and wanting to give it a try in the hopes of making some money off of this blog. I applied for it the other night and the application went through. I think pretty much any site will get accepted unless there are a bunch broken links or the site content is pretty foul. There's a ton of fine print to go through. I skimmed through it and basically I'm not allowed to click on the ads on my page and I'm not allowed to direct page viewers to the ads visually (through fancy flashing arrows and the like), verbally (asking people to click on them), or through the code (forcing viewers to click on something before viewing content).
I'm not sure exactly how Google picks out the ads to display. I tried looking for a setting where it would only display ads for canadian outfits, but couldn't figure it out. I'll have to do a little more research some other time.
I'm looking forward to seeing how it all works. Who knows ? Hopefully I'll make some pocket money for a coule pints here or there...
Another neat little Google tool is Google Analytics. I recently signed on the other night and am starting to see the results roll in. It's pretty amazing. All you really do is insert some javascript code in you blog template and Google uses it to track interaction with your page. Again, I'm not sure how it all works, but the numbers it collects are neat. Here's a sample of my dashboard:
There's a lot of data in the underlying layers and it's presented in a neat fashion. It could be pretty useful for some web designers, but I have it mainly because I'm interested in how my blog is being viewed. Again, who knows where this will end up, but it's a neat piece of technology.
I'm not sure exactly how Google picks out the ads to display. I tried looking for a setting where it would only display ads for canadian outfits, but couldn't figure it out. I'll have to do a little more research some other time.
I'm looking forward to seeing how it all works. Who knows ? Hopefully I'll make some pocket money for a coule pints here or there...
Another neat little Google tool is Google Analytics. I recently signed on the other night and am starting to see the results roll in. It's pretty amazing. All you really do is insert some javascript code in you blog template and Google uses it to track interaction with your page. Again, I'm not sure how it all works, but the numbers it collects are neat. Here's a sample of my dashboard:
There's a lot of data in the underlying layers and it's presented in a neat fashion. It could be pretty useful for some web designers, but I have it mainly because I'm interested in how my blog is being viewed. Again, who knows where this will end up, but it's a neat piece of technology.
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