Cool Picts

You can still get cool pictures...

... without spending $500+
It helps to have a computer though. With the help of free paint programs (Gimp, Paint.net) you can still get cool pictures without having to lug around a giant camera.
Below was the original.

Sometimes you can make a bad picture good just with a few minutes on the computer. It might take an hour messing with all the features of a paint program to learn what you want to do, but once you've done it once, it doesn't take nearly as long to make a nice photo that will make you all happy like.

Rotating or cropping an image can make the biggest difference in a photo. The nicer the camera the easier it is to crop it without it becoming blurry. Next comes hue, saturation, and brightness. Making a picture just a little brighter with deeper colors can turn a sad panda into a cool lookin' picture of a sad panda!

Next, blurs, brightening a section, rendering cool stuff like rays, and adding lens flare can make a picture that looked like it was taken by a point and shoot (which it was) into a nice picture from a high end camera.

(I'm not trying to say good cameras aren't good, I'm just saying
that the high end cameras are more than what most people need. It's like putting a cake in a box. and then shaking it... all you get is splattered cake.(hmm, I think I'm getting my metaphors messed up.)

Ok, I'm done being nerdy, now you can get back to work. ☺

Annoying-ness

Getting tired of IE's constant popups that say things as confusingly as possible and then tell you things you already knew? (specifically the one on blogger comments that always pops up)

Can't figure out how to get rid of it? About ready to switch to Firefox or worse... Google Chrome? (Google is trying to take over the world with it, that's why its worse.)
Well WONDER NO MORE!! You can get rid of it in JUST 8 EASY CLICKS!

1. 1. Hit the alt key to bring up IE's menu bar.
2. 2. Click the "Tools" button.
3. 3. Go to "Internet Options" at the bottom.
4. 4. Pick the "Security" tab
5. 5. Open "Custom level..."
6. 6. Scroll down to the "Miscellaneous" catagory and find "Display Mixed Content" and click "Enable"
7. 7. Click "OK"
8. 8. And Click "OK" again. (that button isn't obvious at all is it)

And you be done!

It can make some sites less secure but the chances that you lose something because of it is almost impossimable. ENJOY!

(my posts are starting to sound like infomercials.)

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! Oh, wait. Nope. Nope. There's not. (Unless you comment... (hint hint))

Google Earth.... literally.

Google knows just about everything now... Where you live, what's in your refridgerator, and even includes pictures of your house with you mowing your lawn so people know what you look like. The newest privacy leak is Buzz. If you can find the name of someone... anyone....

You can follow them and see all of thier posts and sometimes thier email... without them even allowing you to. As soon as you post something on Buzz; anyone can find it and then have any of the names of the people who commented on it.

Noramlly I don't really care about stuff like this, in fact I don't plan to do much about it other than this post, but it seems strange that a company as large as Google would give your email address and all of your "buzzes" out to anyone who randomly types in your name. The only thing that can help is that it lets you hide your email address and the people who follow you

(tutorial found here.)

I'm not saying Google is evil... afterall, I'm using it right now to post this. :P

It just seems strange that they would share with the world my email address and all the people I frequently contact.

If you've seen a way to keep everyone from seeng all your buzzes or have any thoughts... (including not abandoning facebook quite yet) Leave a comment.

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Spending money

Aaaahhhh spending money to go up and down a mountain, get really cold, and get really sore. How could you possibly use your money more wisely.

And of course who couldn't love GIANT pointless stickers that advertise things you didn't even know could exist.

MMMmmmmm... sea kitten sticks.

Newbury....Quotes 18

It was a book to kill time for those who like it better dead. -Dame Rose Macaulay

Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled
through snow. -Jeff Valdez

The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, then having the two as close together as possible.

-George Burns

It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find
one at the end of your arm.' -Sam Levenson

There it was, hidden in alphabetical order. -Rita Holt

When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know
whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not guilty.' -Theodore Roosevelt

Misquotations are the only quotations that are never misquoted. -Hesketh Pearson

Biography lends to death a new terror. -Oscar Wilde

All power corrupts, but we need the electricity. -Unknown

There is nothing more demoralizing than a small but adequate income. -Edmund Wilson

Newt

To celebrate a slight bump in visits I decided to reward the occasion with a blog post and a picture of fireworks.

However, as much as I want to take the glory, I know that this couldn't have happened without you.

Thank you.

New York

Since Joe, and Joe have a boat. I figured I should join in.

However I didn't really want to go the sailboat route so I thought I'd go a different one.

By building a (drumroll) BIKE BOAT!!! (A pedal boat only a bike.)

So far all I have is the plans and a bike. But maybe, just maybe, if I'm not too lazy. I might actually build it.

If any one wants to add some modifications or look at the 3D version using google sketchup;
here's the file,
and google sketchup is here.

Newark

Because I have been so regular in posting, many viewers voted on the latest poll.

Out of an incredible number of 7, 4 of you decided it best to

"Quickly eat it before someone else did."

Congratulations, I believe that this was indeed the best thing to do with such a bug.

"If I saw the above insect in my house I would most likely:

Quickly eat it before someone else did 4 (57%)

Snap a photo, then smash it 1 (14%)

Snap a photo, after you smashed it 1 (14%)

Feed it to the cat 1 (14%)

Scream and run 0 (0%)
Call for help 0 (0%)
Let it outside 0 (0%)
Snap a photo, then let it outside 0 (0%)
Give it to a friend 0 (0%)
Smash it with a book 0 (0%)
Smash it with a tissue 0 (0%)
Smash it with my hand 0 (0%)
Grab the killing jar for future mounting in my collection 0 (0%)
Pin it to a mounting board while it’s still alive 0 (0%)
Capture it in a jar with a lid until it died 0 (0%)
Post it on my blog with a funny caption 0 (0%)
Post it on my blog with a survey. 0 (0%)
Capture it with ventilation and feed it for long-term observation 0 (0%)
Using the previous, film a documentary with it in the starring role 0 (0%) "

New

Strange things happen when it's late....