- I would love to see what happens with Lightroom’s price now that Aperture’s price has dropped. #
- My guess is that Adobe either introduces more features from Photoshop to justify the higher price, or they drop their price as well. #
- How the MPAA Might Enforce Copyright on the Internet http://tinyurl.com/2754zn #
- Apple releases second major update to Mac OS X Leopard http://tinyurl.com/2vu46z #
- I love Allway Sync. Have been using it for over a year, it works perfectly. http://allwaysync.com/ #
- Neil Gaiman To Release Free Novel http://tinyurl.com/27ay9u #
- Bridge Wreck: 1925 http://tinyurl.com/ytmtoz #
- Weird Signs, Part 9 http://tinyurl.com/2brc7w #
- Citrix Keeps Open Source Xen Promise http://tinyurl.com/2y77mk #
- New York: 1933 http://tinyurl.com/32x7zt #
- A Tree (Clone) Grows in Manhattan http://tinyurl.com/2mxeot #
- Lock-In http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/02/lockin.html #
- New York to Paris: 1908 http://tinyurl.com/2sfar9 #
- John McCain, set to music: insane http://tinyurl.com/3a654v #
- U.S. Customs Seizing Laptops: I call it theft and invasion of privacy http://tinyurl.com/2qxqgl #
- A lost laptop, a $54 million lawsuit http://tinyurl.com/3azn7u #
- The Submarine Cables – A Complete Guide to the 2008 Internet Outage http://tinyurl.com/2jgvtq #
- Apple TV update goes live with high-definition rentals http://tinyurl.com/2nus9v #
Seems quiet, but it's not
I’ve been helping Ligia launch her re-designed personal site over the past several days. While my own site may seem a little quiet (except for the regular Condensed Knowledge posts), I’ve been quite busy behind the scenes.
Ligia has been working on her own line of greeting cards since January. She makes them by hand, from scratch, using only sheets and strips of paper and glue as her materials. Having seen her do the work, right here beside me, I can tell you it’s painstaking, slow and hard. I fear for her eyes if she keeps going like this. All that meticulous work is bound to have an effect. It takes her about a half hour to 45 minutes to craft a single card. It’s hard to understand why it takes that long until you sit there and watch her at work. You can’t argue with the results though. They’re beautiful.
She’s really excited about the cards, and has asked for my help in setting up a little shop on her site so she can sell them. I helped her do just that, and modified her site design to allow her to post nicely-sized photos of the cards. I’m happy to say her site is pretty much done now, and yes, it’s open for business. I made the store within her WordPress install, using the existing options, without extra plugins. Simple is better in my book.
The cards are priced from $2.95 to $4.95. It doesn’t take an accountant to figure out that $5 for three quarters of an hour isn’t optimal pay, but this is a labor of love for her, and I support her in that. She’s not going to get rich selling the cards, but she wants to make people happy with them.
Being the enterprising little woman that she is, she’s already gone into downtown Bethesda and walked around to find stores that might pick up her cards and sell them there. (It’s more than I’ve done for my own photography, and I’m ashamed to admit that.) She found three stores that wanted to keep samples, and she’s going to find out soon whether they’ll be interested in buying first batches.
Wish her luck, and if you like one of the cards, pick it up for your special someone.
Thanks!
Condensed knowledge for 2008-02-11
- Toshiba develops high-performance physical random number generator http://tinyurl.com/39rfqr #
- It’s a MIRACLE! [holding hands up] http://tinyurl.com/2w7b8f #
- MarySlim: Multimarine Composites’ wave cleaving Very Slender Vessel http://tinyurl.com/2jd8gh #
- Places to Go: 1941 http://tinyurl.com/2muwxl #
- A Practical Education: 1913 http://tinyurl.com/2qo5oq #
- Google is secretly praying for the Microhoo deal to go through http://tinyurl.com/2u8t8u #
- Sony Ericsson announces XPERIA X1 Slider-phone http://tinyurl.com/3bdobd #
- Whale Season, Maui Ecotourism http://tinyurl.com/3d294s #
- Hollywood Physics | Popular Science http://tinyurl.com/34ne3s #
- KCNN: Legal Risk Module: Great advice for bloggers. http://tinyurl.com/2m3gvy #
- People keep telling me to stay out of politics http://tinyurl.com/2u47zu #
- Starbucks drops T-Mobile, offers free Wi-Fi from AT&T http://tinyurl.com/26ybkj #
- Been There: Navigating and Negotiating Baja http://tinyurl.com/2d3plr #
- AOL: The ideal Microsoft deal-breaker for Yahoo? http://tinyurl.com/2mztrp #
- National Parks in Peril http://tinyurl.com/33nou8 #
Condensed knowledge for 2008-02-10
- Illustration: Felix Lorioux’s Puss In Boots http://tinyurl.com/2fozqm #
- Don’t Smoke, Visits Saloons: 1910 http://tinyurl.com/2lyl2s #
- Would love to post bigger sizes to Flickr, but I’m worried about image theft. #
- Most of my photos can only be appreciated at large or original sizes, but if I post them at those sizes, they will get stolen. #
- It’s not just Flickr. If I post my photos anywhere on the web at larger sizes, they will be subject to image theft. #
- @adriennea Thank you for posting the Obama video! Just wrote about it on my site. http://twitter.com/adriennea/statuses/695415322 #
Barack Obama for the win
I felt compelled to post this after watching Barack Obama’s “Call to Renewal” speech, given on 6/28/06 in Washington, DC. I’ve supported Sen. Obama for the last few months, and after watching this, I know I want to see him as president.
Obama is the kind of man that appeals to my heart and mind. He is a highly intelligent person who takes the time to think through issues that matter. He wants to find the common ground between the various faiths that exist in this country, and to unite us under common moral and ethical goals instead of using the popular (and disgusting) method of “divide and conquer”, employed by most politicians nowadays.
There is nothing moral or ethical in polarizing people’s points of views and creating large gaps in beliefs, which discourages plurality and discussion toward the common good. Yet most preachers and Republicans do it. It’s a filthy practice which has people voting for certain questionable candidates simply because their churches or local leaders endorse them.
I’m going to ask you to handle this election differently. I want each of you reading this to make up your own minds about who you’ll vote for. Speaking as a Christian, that’s the way God would have it. That’s why He gave us the privilege of free choice.
If you’re concerned about faith and how Barack Obama handles his, then please watch this video. He talks in no uncertain terms about religion and politics, about his own faith in God (yes, he’s a Christian), and about the many hot-button issues tied to religion (like abortion) that are at the forefront nowadays.
I would love to see Sen. Obama be our next president. There is such a precedent-shattering contrast between him and our current administration…
Obama can express himself, he can think, and he is a logical, rational person who makes me confident that he will be able to handle difficult situations and make the right choice. Plainly put, Obama is a leader.
Raoul Pop 