Nut allergies – a Yuppie invention – Los Angeles Times
January 12, 2009
Joel Stein makes points familiar to all skeptics in this opinion piece. Want to become even more skeptical than you already are? Go here. I double-dog dare ya.
Nut allergies – a Yuppie invention – Los Angeles Times.
10 Things You Won’t See After the Recession – Business Center – PC World
January 12, 2009
Mike Elgan of Computerworld makes a good argument for his list. I disagree about the installed base of landline phones but I could be wrong and he might be right. And this was written before CES and the announcement of the Palm Pre. Consider that U2’s Bono bet $100 million of his own dollars that Mike is wrong about this one.
10 Things You Won’t See After the Recession – Business Center – PC World.
How the City Hurts your Brain
January 12, 2009
As of 25 year resident of NYC I read this article with more than a casual interest. Some research appears to show that urban life can impair our basic mental processes. This seems oxymoronic while sitting on the D train watching women apply eye make-up at 7:30 am as the subway car lurches into Rockefeller Center, but sobering when you realize it applies equally to everyone.
Here’s one conclusion I didn’t need a scientific study to confirm: “A tired brain, run down by the stimuli of city life, is more likely to lose its temper.” Tell me something I don’t know.
For the complete article go here How the city hurts your brain – Boston.com.
hugin – Free Panorama photo stitcher
January 12, 2009
Here’s an easy to use cross-platform panoramic imaging toolchain based on Panorama Tools.
With hugin you can assemble a mosaic of photographs into a complete immersive panorama, stitch any series of overlapping pictures and more.
To download the software, go to the site here.
George W. Bush: Idiot-In-Chief
January 5, 2009
From a list compiled by the AP:
Dogs of War – 1,000 Feral Dogs in Baghdad
January 5, 2009
In Islamic culture there is no history of keeping dogs as pets, they are considered unclean animals. The idea of having a pet dog, as opposed to a working dog, is seen as a recent, Western notion and is embraced by very few. There are no dog shelters or rescue groups in Iraq. When the population goes hungry, the dogs starve.
Now there is the problem of the feral dogs, seen as disease carriers and a direct danger to children and the elderly. In Baghdad 13 people died in August 2008 in the capital after being attacked by dogs and the only controversy is over how to eliminate them. Currently, rifles (above) and poisoned meat are the preferred methods.
(Source.)
ImageFuser: Combine Multiple (Bracketed) Exposures
January 5, 2009
ImageFuser is a graphical front end for the Open Source Enfuse software available from Panotools. Mac downloads here, Windows downloads, here. See the panoramic example below:
Enfuse is a command-line program used to merge multiple exposures (bracketed exposures) of the same scene and merges them together to form a uniformly lit scene.
It produces an image that looks very much like a tone-mapped image (without the halos). But it does not require the creation of an HDR (High Dynamic Range) image, so it’s much simpler to use and allows the creation of very large multiple exposure panoramas.
ImageFuser is a GUI for these Open Source tools:
- Enfuse http://enblend.sourceforge.net,
- Align_Image_Stack http://hugin.sourceforge.net and
- ExifTools http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool
Free Documentaries at SnagFilms.com
January 5, 2009
There are brief commercial interruptions but the Beta of SnagFilms.com offers, as promised, a large selection of excellent document on their site via streaming video. Watch HBO, National Geographic, PBS, Network and Independent documentaries on your desktop now!
With all the new distribution models coming into play these days, you can almost hear the yelps of the former moguls of the film-multiplex chains amidst the baying of the coyotes and the hot, dry wind on the plains. And the rest is silence.
A Visual Guide to Most Awesome Ways to Take a Photograph
January 5, 2009
Point, shoot and … what? From amazing architecture to abandoned places, sometimes the subject is at the center of compelling photography – but at other times the types and approaches take the proverbial cake. These fascinating photography techniques take the art of image-making into entire new dimensions.
Some photographers seem to freeze, slow, or speed up time. Others rotate our views in dizzying directions elevate our views to dazzling heights. Featuring eye-popping works from 3D, panoramic and high-speed to infrared, HDR and tilt-shift photographers, here is a visual guide to ten of the world’s most awesome ways to take a photograph.
For the complete article on the WebUrbanist site, go here.
30 Excellent WordPress Video Tutorials from Six Revisions
January 5, 2009
WordPress is one of the most popular publishing platforms currently out on the market. It’s free, highly-customizable, and very easy to install and use. Because of its popularity, you’ll find a wide array of resources that discuss WordPress development, administration, as well as plenty of user guides to help you get started quickly.
In this article, we take advantage of the merits of learning by way of watching video tutorials and screencasts. Video tutorials allow you to learn by following along with the instructor in real-time – a format that’s very effective for many people.
You can use these video tutorials a couple of ways: to learn about WordPress yourself or to send to your not-so-technology-inclined clients as a reference to help them get started. You’ll find the tutorials organized into several topics that include theme development and customization, site administration, beginner’s tutorials, and using some WordPress tools.
For the complete article and links, go here.