Because of things in the ‘real world’ (as in, focusing on the treeware product before I can focus on cyberspace), there hasn’t been much time to post as regularly as I would like.

But I do have a few odds and ends…

For one, the photo at left has been donated to the Peak FM’s Christmas draw for the General & Marine Hospital Foundation; in this case, the actual photo is a framed 13×18 (or thereabouts) print (Peak FM morning guy John Nichols sez more about it here). Now, the only thing, the print is not signed; if you’re the happy winner on Dec. 24, bring it by the E-B office at some point and I will sign it – and also note that it is print one of 10.

The photo is one of a series of pics I’ve taken over the years with the grain terminals lit up by fireworks; if you want to see more, you check out my Fire & Grain photo gallery on my Facebook page (the photos, by the way, are for sale…)

A story you’ll note in tomorrow’s edition of the E-B,, written by reporter Shawn Giilck, is the ongoing efforts by the Citizens for Public Infrastructure to get information on the town’s involvement with the grant approval for the Pretty River Academy; it’s also noted in the story that Collingwood councillor Norman Sandberg responded to the group’s founder Lorne Kenney’s second freedom of information request as a “conspiracy theory” and that the councillor would distribute the FOI request to whom he saw fit (i.e. Pretty River Academy).

There’s a reason politicians shouldn’t be involved in requests under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy – and Norm just proved why. There’ll be more on this one in Friday’s paper…

My first real web design project is showing some success. Coding a website can be a lot of work. Getting content to display correctly in all web browsers, since different browsers interpret CSS code differently, can be a frustrating process. But overall I am satisfied with the result of my efforts so far. My brand new home page is pretty much finished and live on the internet now > www.elindse.com. I have probably spent more time designing the graphics than anything else. I didn’t want it to be one of those pages where all the links are just underlined text. The design process is a combination of Photoshop, Fireworks, and Dreamweaver, although the imagery of the nav-bar buttons was done in Rhinoceros. The buttons all work but only the “My  Blog” has a viewable target, the other buttons work but the pages they link to have not been created yet.

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot,
I see no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot *

 * Traditional Guy Fawkes Night rhyme

The beginning of November started with a bang, in fact with many bangs as lots of fireworks and bonfires were lit all over the UK.  The reason is Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire Night, as it also known, which is celebrated every year on the 5th of November across the United Kingdom.

The tradition dates back to 1605 and the thwarted ‘Gunpowder Plot’ of Guy Fawkes and his cohorts, who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament (seat of the British government) in the capital London. Ever since, the day the plot was discovered and intersected, November 5th, has been celebrated around the country (and the British diasporas) with the ‘playful’ burning of effigies, lighting of bonfires, fireworks and eating of special foods – such as treacle toffee, baked potatoes and toffee apples.

The biggest celebration in the country takes place just a few miles from Brighton, in the town of Lewes, which is just a 20 minute journey by train.

This is one of the most famous places to experience Bonfire Night in the UK and much excitement was evident amongst the new students as they began to hear details of what takes place.

Each class was advised and guided on how to get to Lewes and where to stand to get a good view of the street processions and firework displays. This advice was especially for those students who were travelling independently of the school’s planned trip. The amazing photos, shown here, come courtesy of Linh Thi Kieu who visited Lewes with her friend that night.

It is advisable to travel around Lewes in just a small group, as there are so many people out on the streets. It is generally better to move about in a group of two or three people, maximum four.  Ambitious types choose to move in a larger group but often find that they lose each other in the crowds.

The procession starts at about half past five and at this time of year the sky is already dark, and the air cold and crisp. One hopes that it doesn’t rain at this year, and this time we were blessed with clear, dry weather.

The procession has various different groups that dress up in all sorts of costumes, from smugglers, Victorians, Red Indians… and there is always have a hand made model or effigy of Guy Fawkes himself to be burned on the bonfire at the end.

After watching this spectacular procession, with the smells of lit fire torches and sweet burning wood in the air, everyone then follows the herds of people to the nearest or biggest bonfire.

Then the fireworks begin, with their incredible explosions of colour… and when these are over the remaining crowds can stay warm whilst watching the burning embers of the bonfire.

There is no doubt from all their feedback that the students had a fantastic time in Lewes.

The next thing on our seasonal calendar is Christmas. I do love this time of year.  It’s just so festive!  You can expect the weather to be cold and crisp and so its scarves, hats and gloves, coats and boots ready for the weather.

Hope you enjoy the photos, until next time folks…

I’ve taken an introductory course in Human-Computer Interaction, and as part of it, I need to create paper prototypes of an IPhone app. We folks considered actually doing it on paper, as our instructor suggested, and decided it’ll be way too much of a pain. We found these rather useful links which told us how to use Adobe Fireworks for creating iPhone mockups.

First on is the link to download a trial version of Adobe Fireworks, or buy it, if you so wish. Here.

Then this toolkit by folks at Blogspark, where every element you need has been redrawn as a vector so that you can edit it to your heart’s content, copy-paste, drag-drop… here.

And finally, this video explaining how to go about making iPhone mockups using the toolkit. Here.

It’s really really easy. Even a total noob like me, who has no idea of what looks good and has no experience of designing goodlooking things on the Net could come up with rather slick-looking iPhone screens. It’s great that there’s a framework like Fireworks which is designed explicitly for web prototyping. Fifteen minutes into the video, and you should be able to figure out most things on your own.

Damn awesome. I’m using Fireworks much more often now.

4th World Pyro Olympics 2009 - Germany

4th World Pyro Olympics 2009 - Bonifacio Global City

Psalms 119:18

Open my eyes that I may see
wonderful things in your law.

Taken using a Nikon d90 (18-105mm)

| F16 | ISO 250 |

Photos taken on November 21, 2009

http://www.returntothepit.com/concert.php?date=2009-09-20

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Some Images:

fireworks at Pawtucket RI … fireworks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gax0VJMhBuo&hl=en

Related : canon dslr1

Saturday, 17 October 2009 was Diwali.  That didn’t mean much to me early in the day, it wasn’t until after dark that all the fireworks started!

I thought all day about how I wanted to approach D and get him to admit to, get him to talk about, his infidelity.  Since I still didn’t have any real proof, I felt that I would, once more, have to lay things out for him and ask him for an explanation.

I spent a portion of the day out shopping, mostly for food, as I planned to make a nice meal for us, with wine, not only for relaxation purposes, but since I was very tired and still somewhat in shock, I was having a difficult time getting up the anger or whatever it is that is necessary for me to confront someone.  It was a long day and evening.  D was uncommunicative and didn’t seem to appreciate the nice meal, but I probably drank more than half the bottle of wine, and then started in on the Scotch Whisky while doing the washing up!

The evening was wearing on, and eventually, D went upstairs to use his computer.  By then, the fireworks were in full swing and the evening was mild, so I went out to sit in the back garden and watch.

When D came back downstairs, I heard him call my name and then he came out the back door into the dark, asking me if I was ok.  I told him I was just fine, and asked him to stay outside with me for a few minutes.  I took him by the hand, he tried to resist, but I held onto his hand and asked him to come and watch the fireworks with me.  He came out onto the grassy lawn with me, and I asked him if he remembered the last time we’d stood out in this garden watching fireworks?  It was New Year’s Eve, we had some of our own fireworks and enjoyed ourselves – we were happy.  He agreed that it had been a happy evening.

I then asked him ‘what happened to us?’  He seemed mystified as to what I was asking him.  So I then asked him, ‘what happened to you about six weeks or so ago that has made such a great change in your attitude to me?’  He still seemed to have a difficult time understanding what I was getting at!  I tried to lay it out for him a little more clearly:  you’ve stopped telling me you love me, you’ve stopped calling me ‘love’ or any other endearment, you won’t hug or kiss me and you avoid my hugs and kisses.  It all seemed to have started at about that time and I wanted an explanation as to what was going on.

Oh, NOW he was getting the idea, but I basically got a little bit more of what he’d given me in mid-September.  He was confused, he needed time to think, things had changed, he wasn’t sure how he felt about the marriage (at least he admitted to that finally), and then he basically repeated that cycle as I tried to get him to explain himself a little further.  He wouldn’t though.

The conversation ended with me telling him that he was going to have to give me a better explanation, and he’d better start thinking about it NOW.  I also told him that, whatever was going on, if there was any hope of saving our marriage, I was willing to work on it if he was.  He was somewhat non-committal during the whole conversation.  And he went back into the house to watch TV!

I took a shower and went to bed.  He joined me a little later and not a further word was said between the two of us.  He was snoring in no time flat.  My mind was spinning with the next part of my plan, and I suppose it was about 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning when I decided I wasn’t going to be able to sleep that night and might just as well try to sleep on the sofa…with access to my computer…ready to implement the next part of the plan.

The Winter Olympics begin in Vancouver on February 12th 2010.

The Olympic torch left Greece and arrived in Victoria BC on 30th October.  Since then it has travelled by relay across the country. First North to Dawson City in the Yukon, then through Yellowknife in North West Territory. It then travelled way north to Alert in Nunavut, the most northerly, permanently inhabited settlement in the world. The torch was carried through Quebec,Labrador and Newfoundland before arriving in Nova Scotia.

Last night it came to Lunenburg. There was great excitement in the town and almost everyone turned out to see the flame arrive.

This is a very safe little town, but  the police turned out in force! I think all of the police cars in the area were in the town.

Coca Cola being one of the main sponsors led the torch bearers.

The girls on the truck were handing out  fluorescent coca cola bottles. They were great light sources for the evening.

Eventually one of the torch bearers arrived.

And ran up Lincoln Street towards the Harbour.

Jeff and I walked down to the the waterfront, where the entertainment had already started.

We listened to a great group called Air Traffic Control, followed by a choir from the local school.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, despite the weather. We’d had almost summer weather all week, only for it to change about 6 pm.

The Olympic torch was brought across the harbour in the Chockle Cap.

Here is our local news report on the event.

http://southshorenow.ca/videos/events/index43.php

My own video wasn’t so successful, but you can hear a grand rendition of  ‘Oh Canada’ -the Canadian National Anthem. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s way better than ‘God Save the Queen.’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUqAFAd9JoI

We walked to the golf course to get a view of the town from that side and watch the fireworks display.

The rain was at its heaviest by now, but it didn’t dampen the spirits too much. This was as wild a Friday as it gets in Lunenburg.

The torch will now be relayed back through the rest of Canada to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Over 1,000 communities like Lunenburg will have the chance to celebrate in their own ways.

Bleedin’ good game with huge amounts of gore. L4D2 is packed with a great campaign that you can play with up to 4 of your friends online. Took me about three days to complete on normal with me and my friend, and two bots. After we completed it, we went back and had fun doing some steam achievements. This game can never get boring with the multiplayer Versus and the new Scavenge gamemode. Both gamemodes also include lots of steam achievements that are challenging and fun, and usually contain good tactics too.
Had great fun getting the extra achievements and playing the minigames in the Dark Carnival.

Here’s some images I got from the dark carnival campaign, the last picture is just for the lol’s.

Special thanks to my mate Mistic for playing through the entire campaign with me.

I’ve trying to imagine the process by which the star of this video and his friends came to think this was a good idea:

As you can imagine, I failed.

Disney's California Adventure

We had the wonderful opportunity to spend the day at Disneyland today and experience all the new attractions that Christmas time brings to Disneyland (as well as some completely BRAND NEW).  We began the day by going to California Adventure and walking around to enjoy the decorations, grab a coffee and hot coco at Boudin’s, and ride on California Screamin’! Great way to wake up in the morning.  We then trekked over to the main Disneyland park to catch one of the first shows from the *NEW* Disney Princess, Tiana on the showboat on the river.  The show was spectacular and got everyone excited for the upcoming ‘Princess and the Frog’ movie!

Princess Tiana and the Frog Prince

After watching that show, we hopped on the Haunted Mansion, which is always decorated completely holiday themed out and SPOOKTACULAR!! There were many shrill screams heard throughout the ride as well as an intense search for hidden Mickey’s. After being scared enough for a while, we headed on over to It’s a Small World which was completely redone to show the holiday spirit, and was enjoyed by all.  My favorite new part in the ride was the gorgeous different Christmas Trees in the different ‘countries’ throughout the ride.  The attention to detail was amazing, and we couldn’t help turning our head back and forth to try to catch all the details on each side of the slow boat ride!

It's a Small World Holiday

The night ended with the most fabulous display of fireworks I’ve ever seen (Disney seriously tops themselves every time I go) and a flurry of snow on Mainstreet!!!!  It was truly a magical night, absolutely perfect.  I CANNOT wait to go back and experience it all again!!!

Sleeping Beauty's Winter Castle and Fireworks!

4th World Pyro Olympics 2009 - China

Great Wall of China

Genesis 18:18

Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.

Taken using a Nikon d90 (18-105mm)

| F16 | ISO 250 |

Photos taken on November 21, 2009

Saturday, sees the switching on of the christmas lights in Chichester (they’re LED and eco-friendly noless). The city will be a hive of activity all day; if you’ve got little uns they can have their piccy taken with real, live reindeers who will be outside Marks & Spencer in East Street (actually, I believe children of all ages can have a photo with the reindeer), shops will be bedecked in their festive guises (we’re getting the snow spray out this year!!), the mayor of Chichester will be switching the lights on at 5pm, street entertainers will be entertaining the shoppers and the whole thing wraps up with a mahoosive fireworks display, last year it sounded like the Royal Artillery were practicing on the cathedral green.

The free Park & Ride shuttle service also commences it’s seasonal service on the same day, see yesterday’s blog post for more info, which eases the frustrations of parking in an incredibly old city.

Oh and if you’re a member if Qype, we have a downloadable discount voucher which is valid until the end of Nov, so you can pick up a few glittering Christmas presents and save yourself a few pennies on the same day.

Bestest

Allie xx

Lately we have been clinging on the last remains of Summer with unusually warm days and balmy evenings. There were people sitting outside to eat dinner at the restaurant next to my flat only last week! However, the weather has been clasped by an icy chill just in time for bonfire night, and I, for one, am truly grateful for it. Bonfire night is associated with wrapping up warm, freezing-cold noses and not being able to feel your toes, it just wouldn’t be the same if everyone was enjoying a glass of Rose without so much as a jacket on.

To help ease the effects of the cold, I like to bring a thermos of something warming and delicious to enjoy whilst watching the fireworks. It’s just too early for mulled wine, but I find mulled cider a perfect alternative for this time of year. Enjoy!

Mulled Cider-Serves 4

1 litre good quality dry cider

2 cinnamon sticks

4 whole cloves

½ teaspoon ground allspice

Pinch of ground nutmeg

4 tablespoons runny honey

1 orange, sliced

Calvados (optional)

Pour the cider into a large pan and stir in the honey and spices. Heat gently and simmer for 10 minutes. Do not allow to boil. Add the sliced orange and remove from the heat.

Serve warm in mugs or bring along in a thermos flask. For extra punch, add a little calvados before serving.

By Emily Jonzen

As I sit down to write this article, it is the evening of 5th November, and beyond the window, all manner of crashes, flashes and bangs fill the air. Some investments seem to have been a bit like that in the last six months or so. Some meteoric rises that look like they will never end, some flashes of brilliance that have been sinking, ever so slowly, and, a little longer ago, Lehman Brothers, who just went bang! I am minded of my youth, and the likes of ‘Jumping Jacks’ which would jump erratically, this way and that, with no-one knowing which way they would go next.

I think markets may be in a ‘Jumping Jack’ phase at the moment! Then, there was the ‘Catherine Wheel’ that needed to be nailed to a tree or fence or something nice and woody: pinned too hard, and it would spin slowly, or not at all; too loosely and it would whoosh around at a frantic pace then fly off at a tangent and die. When the economic nail is just right in the world tree, then markets spin along – in their cycles – just as we like them. The current ‘loose nail’ of low interest rates was supposed to help things get spinning, and did at first, but it seems like the gunpowder is a bit damp now, and after an early surge, things haven’t really started firing up again. Some time next year, things may start to burn, then possibly overheat again, and the Government of the day may start to nail the economy a little more tightly, by raising interest rates. We shall see.

Fireworks theme over, time to focus on what has done well, and might do well in the future. Now that there has been a rally in many traditional asset classes, many people are looking for the potential opportunities going forward. Something that fits into both the excellent past performer, and the possible star of the future, is gold. The price of gold has increased by something of the order of 50% in the last year, and one of my favourite funds is up by 85% over that period. Many may say that it is therefore time to sell, but I have seen comments in the last week, suggesting that the gold price could increase by another 50% in the next 12 months! If stock markets fall, then gold has been a traditional place of safety. If world economies take off, then the demand for gold – for industrial uses or for jewellery – could take off too, fuelling price rises. In that case, so too would the demand for commodities, which could continue the bull run in their prices, that started just under a year ago.

One last favourite of mine, which ticks the ‘alternative asset’ box, and also that of an ethical and environmental investment, is forestry. There has been a reasonably steady demand for timber, and, depending on the end use, returns have generally been between 5% and 8%. There are several funds that enable investors with average means to get some exposure to this asset class, thereby spreading their investment risk, and purchasing assets that are growing in a literal sense.

Finally, some folk extol the virtues of fine wine, as an investment. But in the light of the forthcoming festive season, I can think of a better use. Until next year, cheers, and have a happy and peaceful time.

David Foot

My fellow photographer, Kit Jacinto with her family and I meet up at The Fort around 7pm today to witness and of course to document this year’s pyroolympics.

The show was scheduled to start at 7pm with Germany then followed by China. But the weather wasn’t cooperating, the rain though tolerable never stopped.

The organizer had to delayed the opening for an hour hoping that the weather would be a little nice, but since it didn’t show any sign of  improvement the show proceeded anyway.

The theme this year is musical pyrolympics. Its more fun seeing the fireworks with its assorted magical colors accompanied with a classical music or a trance rather than hearing the loud bang, ka-boom, or ka-blam associated with fireworks.

The fireworks as always were awesome. We had a nice spot and with our camera protected from rain, we were able to get great shots. I’ll upload the pictures very soon.

Just a little observation regarding shooting fireworks, shoot as many as you can already during the first few minutes because after a while there will be a lot of smoke and it will dampen the colors of the fireworks.

The pyroolympics will run every Saturday until December 19, for details check http://www.worldpyroolympics.com. It’s a nice photo opt and a great time to hang out with friends and family.

Ljubljana and Lake Bled – July 24th, 2009.

So I wake up, chill out, and head down the road to a cafe for breakfast with my american hostel buddy. Before heading back, packing the bag and going to explore Ljubljana.

I take the bus in, and go straight for the Dragons Bridge. And my first impressions and now placed in the gutter as this part of Ljubljana is amazing. Its a gorgeous little bit of the city. The Bridge itself is small, no traffic and two dragons protecting it. With the castle in the background and river below, its pretty special.

Dragon Bridge, Ljubljana.

I make my way through some markets and head to the Furnicular, to head up to the Castle. Its not a long wait, and its not long before we’re making our way up to the top of the hill. The hill is basically the centre of the town. And you get a pretty splendid view of the surrounding area. Despite the gloomy look of the majority of the city.

Ljubljana from the Castle.

I walk around the Castle, its courtyards are free, and the buildings you pay to go in. Being on a tight schedule, I opt to just walk around, then head off down to the city below. Its a pretty green walk down to the bottom, with plenty of vantage points of the city.

Chilling on the walk down.

I get down to the bottom of the hill and cruise around. There are these cool little markets around, so I go off and explore them. Before hitting a Mariachi Band and stick around and watch them do their thing y’all.

Mariachi El Ljubljana.

I get in a hurry and go off to get my bag, and head to Lake Bled. I get to the station, and call up the hostel (they have free pick up). However upon the guy arriving, he says “I can’t take you cause we’re full. I’ll drive you to town and you can get a room there”. Oh just fricking great. I spend the next 30-40 minutes searching for hostels and just staying at the first one I find. It’ll do the trick.

I go for a walk down to the Lake and it is pretty impressive. A bright, glacier blue lake that is just waiting to be dived into. There also seems to be some sort of Festival going on with lots of stalls and market shops around.

First view of Lake Bled.

I go around the corner to the supermarket to get some food and a cheap beer or 3. And on my way back I run into Clare and Georgie (two girls I met at Cesky Krumlov). We finish off the beers and head off to have some pizza at Rustic Pizza. Even though its slightly pricey, the pizza is unbelieveable. By far the best I have had (until I get to Italy). And goes down pretty well.

We go grab a jumper as its getting cool – before heading down to the Lake to watch the fireworks and get into the spirit of a festival – that is drink copious amounts of alcohol and have a good time. We grab some Mojitos to go, and beers before seeing the whole lake being flood with light.

Thousands of candle lit egg shells.

The whole lake is being covered in little egg shells with candles in them. The photos do not at all do them justice at all. Something  that you don’t see every day, but literally mind blowing.

The candle lit egg, in a plastic beer glass. All class guys.

We drink some more, and wait around for the fireworks, over the castle and monastery on the lake. Which go off pretty well. Before going to a pub and drinking some more beer. Its a pretty early night -there isn’t a lot of ‘bars’ here. But it is a pretty fun night.

Fireworks over the lake.

Fireworks on the Lake.

I heard loud bangs as I sat at my desk last night, but I wasn’t scared because I recognised the sound as that of fireworks. I looked out my windows, but could see nothing, so I proceeded to stroll around the office and quickly found the display bursting over the rooftops of the buildling behind us.

I raced to get my camera, but I only had my Samsung L830 that I keep in my purse. Even so, I switched off the flash and proceeded to click away. I think I needed a shorter exposure, but I didn’t have time to fiddle about.

I really should be processing the wedding photographs, but, well, this is something a little different. Anyway, through a bit of post-editing, I have managed to salvage a few pictures tonight that look interesting and this is one of the best, so I’m posting it here.