tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19455764376847605902024-02-07T04:04:57.045+01:00Exploring my LifeThis blog is about my thoughts and impressions of life. It's a mixture of personal thoughts and photography tutorials.theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-30615486392708625502016-12-25T21:59:00.000+01:002016-12-25T21:59:20.542+01:00Religion explained in simple terms<p>
In recent years, I have been thinking and reading a lot about religions that exist in today's societies or have existed in the past. My motivation for this research is to gain a deeper understanding of how religions work and how they come into existence.
</p>
<p>
Especially the origins of religions are hardly ever taught in schools. The main problem with discussing origins is that the observer has to take a view point outside a particular religion. Such thoughts usually contradict the teachings of religions that are based on an eternal God with no beginning. Therefore, the start of a religion is usually claimed to be a particular creation story that is defined within the religion itself. A perfect circular reference. My point of view is that of an outsider. This is the only point of view that allows one to talk about all religions in a fair and objective way.
</p>
<p>
This posting is my attempt to summarize and define religious terms in simple words. My definitions are based on ideas and thoughts of religious scientists and scholars such as <a href="http://rezaaslan.com/about/">Reza Aslan</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins">Richard Dawkins</a> and others.
Feel free to disagree with my definitions and tell me about it in the comments. Since this is a sensitive topic for many people, please keep discussions at a respectful level.
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>God(s):</strong> A God is a human like being outside the observable universe. Humans can never explore or experience God directly.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Belief:</strong> The desire of humans to communicate with a God and/or the desire to have a higher being who guides ones life. Often, a belief is coupled with a feeling of submission to a particular God.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Prayer:</strong> A personal conversation with God. This can either be a monologue or a group activity. Usually, a response from God is not expected.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Religion:</strong> A predefined <em>language</em> that allows one to communicate with one God (or a group of Gods). Usually, people of one group/tribe share the same religion. People who "speak" one religion have the desire to spread their religion among other people. On the one hand, a shared religion has the power to connect otherwise independent groups of people. On the other hand, two different religions can justify hostility towards a group with another religion.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Evolution of religions:</strong> Usually, one religion does not completely replace an existing religion when it emerges. It rather merges with pre-existing religions or adopts pagan rituals. This is very similar to evolution found in nature or evolution of human languages.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Prophets:</strong> A (usually male) human, who claims to be able to communicate directly with God in order to create new rules for his tribe or group of people. Very often, a prophet creates a new group rather than leading an existing group. The motivation behind the claim of divine origin of his words is that people tend to question godly rules less than those set up by a human being.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Scripture:</strong> A collection of written stories, rules, practices and guidance related to a particular religion. Usually, scripture is written many years after a religion was started or a prophet initiated a new religious movement. Very often, scripture claims divine origin to discourage modifications by humans.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Heaven:</strong> After death, a religion very often promises a believer to join God in paradise. The model of a heaven both motivates the believer to lead a faithful life and also helps cope with another person's death.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Politics and Religions:</strong> Throughout human history, religions and politics have been in symbiosis. In pre-democratic times, a divine justification for a political ruler was desired (e.g. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_the_Grace_of_God">By the grace of god...</a>). How could a simple citizen question a ruler approved by god? But also, religious leaders very often have a political agenda. Secular states try to separate religion and politics due to the many problems that arise when religions and politics work together.
</li>
</ul>
<p>This list of my personal definitions is far from complete and I do not give justifications for my points. As time permits, I will try to elaborate on these definitions in future posts.
</p>theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-22964356605792841622012-09-29T20:51:00.000+02:002012-09-29T20:51:03.531+02:00Long Distance Bus from NanJing to HuangShan<p>One of the most difficult things to plan when traveling in China is find long distance buses. This is especially true if you do not speak Chinese. There is an online <a href="http://www.jslw.gov.cn">bus search tool</a>. But unfortunately is is Chinese only.</p>
<p>We wanted to book a bus from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing">NanJing</a> (南京) to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huangshan">Huang Shan</a> (黄山). There are only a few results you get when using <a href="https://www.google.at/search?q=nanjing+huangshan+bus">Google</a>. So, I'll share the details about the bus we finally took on our trip.</p><a name='more'></a>
<p>
We knew there had to be some buses to the scenic area in HuangShan. On the internet we only found some old websites about connections. None had current timetables. We asked at the hotel, but unfortunately they couldn't help us either. However, they told us that it is possible to buy bus tickets at all NanJing stations for any bus departing from the city. We got to the closest station and asked for the first bus the next day (we actually had the hotel staff write down what we wanted to ask in Chinese). There turned out the be a direct bus leaving in the morning:
</p>
<code>
Bus Number: KK8008<br />
Date: 2012-09-07<br />
Departure Time: 09:45 a.m. <br />
Departure Station: NanJing South Station (南京南站)<br />
Destination: HuangShan Scenic Spot (黄山景区)<br />
Price: 97.0 RMB
</code>
<p>
The south bus station is in the same place as the high speed train station. If you want to know how to read a Chinese bus ticket, I scanned ours in and tried to translate most fields:
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWBqeml4KFfQQa6JOPgCa27pCYOn6iKUX7KxrkMfhK8VvxPq3yzmgF5FMHGokPxcKbznaUdnywoww9XNG3-GDc4U1hTWeGLvorpzGYZAIqCxdo8oR2GLJ5gdIT7vcRJkwZbXlx4Y-uasI/s1600/china_busticket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="213" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWBqeml4KFfQQa6JOPgCa27pCYOn6iKUX7KxrkMfhK8VvxPq3yzmgF5FMHGokPxcKbznaUdnywoww9XNG3-GDc4U1hTWeGLvorpzGYZAIqCxdo8oR2GLJ5gdIT7vcRJkwZbXlx4Y-uasI/s320/china_busticket.jpg" /></a></div>
<p>Once we had the ticket, the rest of the trip was easy. The bus station is connected to the subway system and we found the gate easily. The trip to HuangShan was a 5 hour non-stop trip with one short restroom break.</p>
theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com1Nanjing, Jiangsu, China32.060255 118.79687731.629638999999997 118.16516299999999 32.490871 119.428591tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-73963504176264219022012-09-25T21:06:00.000+02:002012-09-27T18:44:54.892+02:00Booking train tickets in China<p>This article explains how you can search a train in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China">China</a> and buy a ticket.
</p><a name='more'></a>
<b>Buy them at the train station in advance</b>
<p>In China it is not possible to buy train tickets more than 10 days in advance. Also, it is quite complicated to buy them abroad. However, you can buy tickets at any train station in China, therefore just get your tickets once you have arrived in China.</p>
<b>English at the ticket office</b>
<p>
Most staff at ticket counters do not speak English, but people are willing to help. So either ask someone in the queue to help you (more and more young Chinese people speak English) or be prepared with written details about your trip. In major towns such as Beijing there is often a dedicated counter with English speaking staff.
</p>
<b>How to find your train</b>
<p>
There is an <a href="http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains/">online train search</a> tool in English which lets you search for any train. If you want to be sure the guy at the ticket office books your the right train, you should write down all the details in Chinese and show it him (or learn how to speak Chinese). Note the train number, time and date, which is written in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_alphabet">Latin script</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_numerals">Arabic numbers</a>. For train station names, also write down the station name in Chinese signs which can be found using the previously mentioned search engine. Maybe <a href="http://translate.google.at/#auto/zh-CN/">Google Translate</a> can be a valuable help.</p>
<p>
For example, if you want to book the train G16 from ShangHai to BeiJing, on September 13, you should write down the following:
<code>G16, 上海 -> 北京, 2012年09月13日</code>
</p>
<b>Buying the ticket</b>
<p>The person at the counter will enter your train into his or her computer and will show the train on a screen before purchase. Be sure to check if that is the right train. Foreign people will need a passport when purchasing train tickets. Also, most ticket counters will not accept credit cards, so be sure to bring enough cash.
Finally, you will receive your train ticket(s). There is a nice <a href="http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains/ticket-service.htm">website</a> that will explain what is written on the ticket.
</p>
<b>When to buy the ticket</b>
<p>
For long distance trains or trains that do not run on an hourly basis, I'd suggest buying them as soon as possible. For other trains (e.g. local trains), it is usually sufficient to get your ticket just before the trip.
</p>
theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-44721021524551632042009-09-01T14:14:00.003+02:002009-09-01T14:30:18.152+02:00How to fix a missing uninstall button in Windows XPI often have the problem that I cannot uninstall some programs in Windows XP. The programs are listed in the "Installed Programs" dialog, but the <span style="font-style: italic;">uninstall</span> button is missing. Today I found a workaround how to re-enable this button:<br /><ol><li>Open the registry editor (Run: regedit.exe)</li><li>Navigate to <code>HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products</code></li><li>Then locate a subkey where <code>ProductName</code> is equal to the program to fix</li><li>Within that key, find a path that starts with <code>C:\Windows\Installer</code> followed by a GUID (e.g. {0A869A65-8C94-4F7C-A5C7-972D3C8CED9E}). Most of the time you will find this value in the <code>ProductIcon</code> value</li><li>Copy the GUID to the clipboard</li><li>Then navigate to <code>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall</code> and check if there is a key with that GUID.</li><li>If there is no such key, simply add a new key by right-clicking on the Uninstall-Key and paste the GUID (including the { and } characters) as its name. You do not need to add any additional keys or data.<br /></li><li>Now the un-installation should work as intended</li></ol>I found another explanation on the web that said that sometimes there is a <code>NoRemove</code> key in an existing <code>Uninstall</code> entry. This value must be set to 0.<br /><b>Note: Use all of the above at your own risk!</b>theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-81888700004032195892009-05-19T07:43:00.003+02:002009-05-19T08:07:20.517+02:00Multilingual DVB-T Experience for FreeLast week we got ourselves a new DVB-T stick. Unfortunately the software that was provided with it only allows to watch TV in German, even though an English audio stream is attached on some programs.<br /><br />Even free programs like <a href="http://www.progdvb.com/">ProgDVB</a> do not allow changing the audio channel to a foreign language - they want you to buy the Pro version which has this feature enabled.<br /><br />But I found one program that allows DVB programs to be viewed with all audio streams enabled: <a href="http://www.videolan.org/vlc/">Video Lan Client</a>!<br /><br />Newer versions have a DVB-T access module plus GUI that enables full access to DVB television. The only thing I haven't found so far is a channel list editor that works. Nevertheless the only thing you need to enter is the frequency and bandwidth of the program you want to watch. It should work with most USB DVB-T sticks on the market.<br /><br />From the <em>Media</em> menu select the <em>Open Capture Device...</em> item. Then select <em>DVB DirectShow</em> option from the <em>Capture mode</em>. Now enter the correct frequency of your provider and set the bandwidth. You can either copy these settings from another DVB program or look them up on the internet.<br /><br />Now you can select a program stream via the <em>Playback</em> menu. I noticed that the default settings do not enable deinterlacing. This can easily be changed from the <em>Video</em> menu. Finally, the most important setting for me is in the <em>Audio</em> menu where I can set the <em>Audio Track</em> to any available stream.theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-29566563196693780502009-04-16T09:52:00.013+02:002011-12-30T08:43:17.380+01:00How to use Manual Exposure on Canon EOS CamerasThis tutorial teaches you how to use the manual exposure mode or "M"-mode on any Canon EOS camera. I will show some examples from my Canon EOS 400D but the techniques should stay the same across different models.<br />
<br />
Why would you want to shoot in Manual Mode when you have automatic modes (P/Av/Tv) that can handle almost any light situation automatically? Because they can do it only "almost". Sometimes the light in a scene is too difficult for the light meter. At other times, you want to get the exact exposure of a scene every time. Then you should consider turning your mode wheel to the "M"-mode.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Exposure Basics</span><br />
First, I will talk a little about the basics of <span style="font-style: italic;">exposure</span> of cameras. The three factors that control exposure are:<br />
<ul><li>Shutter Speed - how long you expose the photo (e.g. 1/200)</li>
<li>Aperture - How much light you allow through your lens (e.g. F/8.0)</li>
<li>ISO sensitivity - amplification of the light on the sensor (e.g. ISO 100)</li>
</ul>Changing one of them will affect the exposure of the photo. If you change another factor, you can compensate or amplify the first change.<br />
<br />
<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihUJgpzw8MQ5IGgaUCJu_R94EvTSA2Vv22klL-6w_C-fPpFaLeel-t-3kmhHHTx0uaf3yCYHAwQ98cYECEWy-Qjc-b9y2VScpopRfZWy9mdw5fi7z2tNcog0IjD1u2Y5sxMzNsJVSJbqY/s1600-h/t200.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihUJgpzw8MQ5IGgaUCJu_R94EvTSA2Vv22klL-6w_C-fPpFaLeel-t-3kmhHHTx0uaf3yCYHAwQ98cYECEWy-Qjc-b9y2VScpopRfZWy9mdw5fi7z2tNcog0IjD1u2Y5sxMzNsJVSJbqY/s200/t200.JPG" alt="1/200 at F/8.0" title="1/200 at F/8.0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325200319067785362" border="0" /></a>To make this more clear, I will explain it by using an example. Let's say the light meter tells you that the scene you are looking at requires a setting of 1/200s at F/8.0 using ISO 100. The picture on the right was taken with these exact settings.<br />
<br />
<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcGW0WOUwS18t7CNCvpovquI_JOGVwtwRa0eNFcpJvqeVRA7UABzSVFoNPizXlubefKAvrG65FI1KQ210M8VH5d4jJbFEDWeW3wOALW8xC5AvStlm1rqFgt8aXHqXwxxs75f04qC4a6WE/s1600-h/t400.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcGW0WOUwS18t7CNCvpovquI_JOGVwtwRa0eNFcpJvqeVRA7UABzSVFoNPizXlubefKAvrG65FI1KQ210M8VH5d4jJbFEDWeW3wOALW8xC5AvStlm1rqFgt8aXHqXwxxs75f04qC4a6WE/s200/t400.JPG" alt="1/400 at F/5.6" title="1/400 at F/5.6" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325200754372983490" border="0" /></a>If you do not want to have a shutter speed of 1/200s, it is possible to set it to 1/400. As you only will have half the exposure time then, you need to compensate to get the same amount of light in your photo. You can either do this by increasing the ISO to 200 (double the sensitivity) or open up the aperture by one stop to F/5.6.<br />
<br />
The two pictures above were made with the described change of the aperture. The second image looks almost the same. By opening the aperture, you will have a more shallow depth of field though.<br />
<br />
The following exposure/aperture settings will also produce an correctly exposed photo:<table><tbody>
<tr><td>Time:</td><td>1/25</td><td>1/50</td><td>1/100</td><td>1/200</td><td>1/400</td></tr>
<tr><td>Aperture:</td><td>F/22</td><td>F/16</td><td>F/11</td><td>F/8.0</td><td>F/5.6</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The table only shows one-stop increments. Most cameras support 1/3 stop increments, so there are 2 more possible combinations per entry. For more information take a look at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-number">F-Numbers</a> on Wikipedia.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Reading the Histogram</span><br />
The most important measurement tool for the manual mode will be the <span style="font-style: italic;">histogram</span>. It tells you the exact distribution of tonal values in your photo. This means you can determine if your image is correctly exposed (you can find more information <a href="http://blog.sduffyphotography.com/2008/02/05/reading-histograms/">here</a>). I will not go into detail about how a correctly exposed histogram should look like because this depends pretty much on the scene. What is important is to recognize and under- and overexposed image.<br />
<br />
<center><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY6ix8lwiuWueDb9Tt_AMPqijw2lJ9sGFLqp5ZXegJ_J9vAjGuB4RMdPj-_2fNyo-ng2RXn1UXSXkn6Zrj3fA7zEOpdatvINxd8QOfrYyteFl3AGlfh3nNocrHjUzFagAnaMSjFAnzcGo/s1600-h/hists.jpg"><img style="margin: 5px auto 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 350px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY6ix8lwiuWueDb9Tt_AMPqijw2lJ9sGFLqp5ZXegJ_J9vAjGuB4RMdPj-_2fNyo-ng2RXn1UXSXkn6Zrj3fA7zEOpdatvINxd8QOfrYyteFl3AGlfh3nNocrHjUzFagAnaMSjFAnzcGo/s200/hists.jpg" title="-2 / 0 / 2 stops exposure change" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325286817918251506" border="0" /></a></center><br />
The picture above shows an underexposed, correctly and overexposed version of the photo. As you can see, the underexposed image lacks all high tonal values. The overexposed version does look quite OK in the histogram, but the high tone values start gathering at the brightest value. This leads to 100% white pixels in some areas.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Manual Exposure</span><br />
Now you know all the basics that you need to know in order to operate your camera in manual mode. All you need to do is to set set the initial exposure and then work with the histogram until it looks right to you.<br />
<br />
In order not to start with a random guess about correct exposure values, it can help to set the camera into Program mode (P) and copy the suggested values to manual mode. Also, the camera shows the light meter in manual mode. The light meter is the bar that reads <tt>-2..1..0..1..2</tt> and has a blinking bar. Try to get the bar to stop below 0 (you need to half-press the shutter button to get it to work).<br />
<br />
Then you can adjust your settings by changing either the exposure or the aperture value. Canon cameras support 1/3 stop increments. So when your image is underexposed by one exposure value (EV) or stop, you need to open up the aperture by 3 times 1/3 steps or increase the exposure time by 3 steps (double the exposure time).<br />
<br />
On the Canon EOS 400D you can change the exposure time by turning the wheel next to the shutter release button. The aperture can be changed by simultaneously pressing the <tt>Av</tt> button next to the screen and turning the wheel.<br />
<br />
To check your photo's histogram, take a picture and show the picture on your camera. Now press the <tt>DISP.</tt> button until the histogram is shown on the screen. The histogram has four gray vertical bars on it which are spaced at one-stop increments. This means that if you change the exposure time by one stop, the whole histogram will shift by exactly one bar. This is very useful to estimate how much you should change your settings.<br />
<br />
Bar number 2 from the left is the 18% gray bar. This means that your camera will try to balance your picture around that exposure in auto mode. To verify this, you can take a shot of a clear blue sky or a white wall in auto mode. Then you should see a large peak of the histogram exactly there.<br />
<br />
Now change the settings of aperture, exposure time and ISO as you like. When you have found the correct settings, you can take as many pictures of the same subject at the same light as you like. No matter what disturbs the camera's light meter, you will not get under- or overexposed photos.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">When to use Manual Mode</span><br />
I use manual mode in the following situations:<ul><li>Night shots<br />
<li>When using an external flash (in order to balance between flash and available light)<br />
<li>Difficult lit indoor scenes, especially with backlight<br />
<li>changing lights that do not affect the subject directly</ul>But you can find out for yourself when to use the manual mode. Whenever you get wrong results for a type of subject, start to think about going manual. <br />
<br />
Do not forget to switch the camera back to an automatic mode afterwards. It's too easy to forget that the camera will not set the correct exposure automatically. This can ruin some shots if you don't think about it.<br />
<br />
If you have any questions or find some parts of this tutorial not understandable, please leave a comment! I'll try to clarify it for you then.theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-62126243446259604502008-12-30T20:57:00.003+01:002009-01-26T13:31:25.182+01:00My Photo on the Cover of the Book Throwing Stones<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2606399895/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3022/2606399895_3473200258_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2606399895/">Cow with bended Horn</a><br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/theowl84/">theowl84</a></span></div>A few months ago I received an email from a publisher from Australia who was interested in putting my picture of a cow on the front cover of a book. <br /><br />I let them use the photo for free and asked them to send me a copy of that book. Last week I got a copy of the freshly printed book <a href="http://www.mickdawson.com/Purchase.html">"Throwing Stones"</a> by Michael Dawson where the cow has found its place in a collage on the front cover.<br /><br />The book is tag-lined "Throwing Stones will change the way you think, and think about religion and underwear". I'm pretty excited reading it in order to find out what it's all about. Then I'm probably write a blog entry about it.<br clear="all" />theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-75265645994722909652008-11-16T11:07:00.006+01:002008-12-30T20:59:57.686+01:00Selling Photos on ShutterstockLately I started selling my photos at <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/?rid=224758">Shutterstock</a>. This was actually one of the first microstock sites I signed up to but I had to wait a long time until my initial reviews got accepted. They have a entry policy that requires you to upload 10 pictures and no less than 7 of them must be accepted.<br /><br />Now I am a submitting member on that site and downloads are rushing in. In my first week I made more than 10 downloads with only around 30 pictures online already. I'm expecting to see these number increase in the future.<br /><br />In the meanwhile I'd love to see you browse through or even buy my pictures :)<br /><center> <span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Sans-Serif"><br /> <b>My latest images for sale at <a href=http://www.shutterstock.com/?rid=224758>Shutterstock</a>:</b><br><br><br /> </span> <script language='javascript'>var shutterstock_table='';</script><br /> <script src='http://www.shutterstock.com/mini_gallery.js?s=224758&t=l' language='javascript'></script><br /> <script language='javascript'>document.write(shutterstock_table);</script> <br /> </center>theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-39803267531542554612008-09-28T17:30:00.007+02:002008-09-28T17:58:22.827+02:00Make Money with your Photos<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 2px;"><a href='http://www.istockphoto.com/theowl84' target='_blank'><img src='http://www.istockphoto.com/images/referral_badges/languages/english/125x125_blu.gif' border='0' alt='View My Portfolio'></a></div>It's been a while since my last post. That's partly due to my work and studies but to a new use of my photos as well. <br /><br />After being on <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/theowl84/">flickr</a> for a little more than a year now, I started selling my images on various stock images sites. Why? Because you can make real money there and if you are seriously into photography, you need to make some money to afford all the equipment. <br /><br />How does it work? You need sign up and take a short test to prove that your photos are ready for stock. This means that you can't sell your snapshots on stock-photo sites. It's all about pictures that sell. And only things that will be used can also be sold. <br /><br />Just take a local newspaper or magazine and browse through the pages and read where the photos come from (e.g. ©iStockphoto / Photographer). I hardly see any newspaper that does not use stock photos. They are a lot cheaper than paying a photographer take the images on demand. But they give you only some idea what it means for an image to be a good stock image.<br /><br />Once you've started uploaded your first image, you will need to wait for 7 to 10 days until it has been reviewed. This means that some woman or guy somewhere in the world will have to look at your photo and check if that picture is compliant to the rules. This means no noise, no company names or logos, no artifacts and loads of other reasons that would make your image not useable. Don't be disappointed if your images get rejected. I have not yet exceeded the 50% approval rate so far which means I still need to learn and improve.<br /><br />So, if you like to enter the world of stock photography the doors are open. Everyone is accepted and there is a fair competition with those already in the business. The only thing that counts is that your image can be used by someone out there!<br /><br />Of course, if you like to buy on of my images, just use the following link and license your copy...<br /><center><a href='http://www.istockphoto.com/theowl84' target='_blank'><img src='http://www.istockphoto.com/images/referral_badges/languages/english/150x39_blu.gif' border='0' alt='View My Portfolio'></a></center>theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-54261139720174017002008-07-05T19:09:00.004+02:002008-07-05T19:29:59.272+02:00Losing my Sense of Taste for a DayLast week something strange happened to me. After eating loads of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasabi">Wasabi</a> and Chili, I woke up the next day without any taste from my tongue. <br /><br />I realized while having my breakfast because the chocolate syrup didn't taste as sweet as usual. It still took some time until I fully recognized my loss of taste.<br /><br />So if you ever wondered how chocolate tastes when you can't taste, I can tell you it's boring. And because I lost all my other taste senses, it didn't taste bitter either, just like an tasteless paste. <br /><br />The good part about chocolate is that it has a very good smell, so smelling it makes you remember what it tastes like, so you imagine the taste. This does not work with salt for example. I tried a little bit with the tip of my tongue. Normally it's quite intense when tasted pure, but for me it had less taste than a few grains of sand. <br /><br />For lunch I had salad with many ingredients. Again, I know what most things taste like, so I imagined the taste and really thought I had little bit of my sensuality back. But I rather blame my memory for that, again. <br /><br />The evening was even worse. I had potato wedges with tomato ketchup. If I didn't know ketchup before, I would be wondering why people love this viscid cream so much. At least it had a slightly sour taste when swallowing. And that taste came from my palate. I didn't know you can taste with the roof of your mouth... but it's true. <br /><br />I better skip the part about how beer tastes without a taste, and even water <i>tastes</i> horrible without any sense of taste. Yeah, not tasting has some kind of anti-taste. Probably water has some taste that cancels out this anti-taste to taste neutral... who knows.<br /><br />Luckily, the next day I slowly regained all my senses and now this temporal disability has vanished. But it left some great impressions on me and I want to summarize those for you:<br /><ul><li>You judge a lot about food by it's smell and your imagination about how it could taste.</li><li>You only fully realize how wonderful the sense of taste can be when you lose it</li><li>Never eat too much of Wasabi unless you intend to have the same experience I had :-)</li></ul>theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-49952282894708863812008-06-30T14:14:00.006+02:002008-09-28T17:57:38.140+02:00Focal Length Calculation for a DSLR Camera<div style="float:left; margin-right: 10px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2209042204/" title="Canon 400D with a Vivitar 400mm Lens by theowl84, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2001/2209042204_2af0ccabe7_t.jpg" width="100" height="75" alt="Canon 400D with a Vivitar 400mm Lens" /></a></div>As I'm studying for a subject concerning cameras at university, I have to used a formula for calculating the required focal length to fill the sensor with an image. And I thought this formula could be quite practical for you as well.<br /><br />That formula is<br /><blockquote>f = d * I / (I + O)</blockquote>where <span style="font-style:italic;">f[m]</span> denotes the required focal length to picture an image with the width of <span style="font-style:italic;">O[m]</span> on the sensor with the width of <span style="font-style:italic;">I[m]</span> when the object is <span style="font-style:italic;">d[m]</span> away from the camera.<br /><br />For my Canon EOS 400D camera with a sensor dimension of 22.2mm x 14.8mm a sample calculation could look like this:<br /><br />I would like to picture an object that is 20cm wide and 1m away from my camera. So I set <span style="font-style:italic;">d = 1m</span>, <span style="font-style:italic;">O = 0.02m</span> and <span style="font-style:italic;">I = 0.0148m</span> (sensor width). <br />Inserting into the formula from above this gives me a focal length of <span style="font-style:italic;">f=0.0689m</span> or 69mm.<br /><br />This formula is valid for all cameras (just find out your sensor dimensions) and all lenses.theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-9146840003301630202008-06-15T22:12:00.001+02:002008-06-15T22:12:51.315+02:00Red Hot Chili Peppers<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2575755224/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3066/2575755224_7c75de8da1_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2575755224/">Red Hot Chili</a><br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/theowl84/">theowl84</a></span></div>My home grown chilies start to grow bigger and bigger, the first are bright red already. Soon others will follow. I'm planning to sell some of them on eBay as I can't handle the huge amount of them on my own. <br />So in case you want to try some or grow them yourself, just mail me and I can send you some exemplars.<br clear="all" />theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-23443329628003281042008-05-03T16:43:00.005+02:002009-05-19T08:07:55.312+02:00Software Update for Nokia 5310 Version 5.81Today I updated my Nokia 5310 phone to the new 5.81 version. As I have read that there may be some problems with it I thought I'd report about my experience on my blog. <br /><br />To find out what version is installed on your phone, type in <code>*#0000#</code> using your keypad. I had the 3.6 version installed. So I downloaded the latest version of the <a href="http://europe.nokia.com/softwareupdate">Nokia Software Updater</a>. After a reboot it detected my phone connected via the USB cable. <br />I took the hint to backup the phone settings seriously. You can do that via the phone menu. Go to the Setting->Sync and backup->Create Backup submenu. <br /><br />Then I started the update which ran automatically without problems. 10 minutes later the phone rebooted and requested the PIN code. Unfortunately all my personal data were deleted. So I had to restore the data I backed up before. That worked quite fine and I didn't loose any contact info or calendar settings.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What's new?</span><br />So far I found the following new options and functionalities:<ul><li>I can now add Java programs to my favorite's list.</li><br /><li>There is now a quick dial function. Just press one of the keys from 2 to 9 for 2 seconds.</li></ul><br /><b>Update: </b> The newest version is V 09.42 which can be installed just as easy. I haven't found any major improvements yet (except for a new status bar when loading things).theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-11779829460219084602008-04-28T10:45:00.002+02:002008-04-28T10:46:42.359+02:00Dark Cloud<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2448540572/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2314/2448540572_775ed05791_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a> <br /> <span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2448540572/">Dark Cloud</a> <br /> Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/theowl84/">theowl84</a> </span></div>What's more interesting than a dark cloud on a all sunny day. This one passed the sun and cast shadow over the whole place. I got my camera out just in time to catch this wonderful moment.<br clear="all" />theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-58868233299436217122008-04-05T09:36:00.004+02:002008-04-05T11:31:22.261+02:00Cokin Filter System on my Canon EOS 400D<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUS6CwGySg57Z06s3FXQx-lpsbMDxg3YhcS_O11XE1P3AoWY9M8Ddw44CSwVPqNBAsXTfmzt30ww2L5lcJ8YpD8K-9Oif_0QmkyPct_Or6d1VeUlrvlQuuQQNoM1quv2wq8n08k8A6D64/s1600-h/cokin.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUS6CwGySg57Z06s3FXQx-lpsbMDxg3YhcS_O11XE1P3AoWY9M8Ddw44CSwVPqNBAsXTfmzt30ww2L5lcJ8YpD8K-9Oif_0QmkyPct_Or6d1VeUlrvlQuuQQNoM1quv2wq8n08k8A6D64/s200/cokin.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5185662129286937378" /></a>My newest purchase for my Canon EOS 400D camera is a part of the <a href="http://www.cokin.co.uk/">Cokin Filter System</a>. It basically consists of a filter holder and an adapter for 58mm lenses. The filter holder can hold a variety of filters. The set I got from eBay consisted of 7 filters including stars, blue color, pastel and others.<br />Later, I bought a much desired gradient filter and closeup lens (+3). Compared to the price of individual screw in filters, Cokin filters only cost a fraction if you buy them on the used market as most of them only consist of a glass plate with some printing on it.<br />I'd like to give you a review of the filters I have got. It may help you decide if you want to buy the same for your digital or analog camera. I will continue this list as I gain more experience and probably more filters.<br /><br /><b>Diffractor Galaxy (42)</b><br />This is a very odd filter that adds rainbow like beams to point light sources. The effect is rather strong and I think it destroys more of the image than adds to it.<br /><br /><b>Star 4 (57 A)</b><br />This filter adds nice star effects to your image. You can rotate it and use it for point light sources like street lamps at night.<br /><br /><b>Parallel (58)</b><br />This works similar like the star filter but only creates stars with two beams of light. You can also use it for point light sources like this <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2333756392/">image</a>.<br /><br /><b>Spot-Orange (66)</b><br />This is an orange glass with a transparent circle in the middle. I have not found suitable scenes where to use it yet.<br /><br /><b>Coef. + 2 BLUE (80 A)</b><br />This is a blue filter that makes the colors the image. I made some wonderful images with a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2332394693/">cloudy sky</a>.<br /><br /><b>Pastel 2 (87)</b><br />This filter makes the picture look much smoother, almost like a painting. I found it best for closeups and the effect destroys the image on wide angle scenes. But for <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2345824128/">flower pictures</a> it really adds a lot to the image.<br /><br /><b>Close-up +3 (103 A)</b><br />This is a classic closeup filter that allows you to move your camera closer to objects.<br /><br /><b>Gradual G1 Grey (120 A)</b><br />This filter is a gradual gray filter. You can use it to make the sky darker than the foreground which helps you a lot when it comes to correct exposure in high contrast outdoor scenes. You could do this effect on your computer when shooting in RAW but for JPEG images you get best quality when using this filter. The filter is color neutral and you can rotate the filter holder to adjust the effect.theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-8839904038713938972008-03-14T15:44:00.006+01:002009-05-15T08:20:42.237+02:00Reviving an old Eumig R 2000 projector<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyBYm6CL-VoN7LfOGBHGIccqnSikgz_SyM20rbbvWJhmF0Z23rriTm54PT1DB75t59ZhT_aKFK3yhXh7XkTogrcWu5jd4uIXLQ53zwGogY9trKQ1gperRsdKAxuoX_WZFtDb5coYpiDAQ/s1600-h/IMG_3440.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyBYm6CL-VoN7LfOGBHGIccqnSikgz_SyM20rbbvWJhmF0Z23rriTm54PT1DB75t59ZhT_aKFK3yhXh7XkTogrcWu5jd4uIXLQ53zwGogY9trKQ1gperRsdKAxuoX_WZFtDb5coYpiDAQ/s200/IMG_3440.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177608457902697554" /></a>A few weeks ago I was carrying out the waste when I found something strange in the waste room. First it looked like a television, but when I took a closer look it turned out to be something different. It was a 8mm film projector.<br /><br />I couldn't resist taking it into my flat and take a closer look. I plugged it into the power plug and turned it on. The lamp was still working and a motor was transporting the non-existent film. But there was some flickering on it's screen.<br /><br />It must have stood somewhere for ages, so it was quite dusty. I started cleaning it and also opened it's case. It was quite a surprise when I found out that you can flip it's mirror outwards so you can watch movies on both the internal screen as well as the projection on a wall. The only thing it didn't have was sound.<br /><br />As soon as this day I ordered a 8mm movie on eBay, the cheapest I could find as I just wanted to try it out. A week later I had the movie.<br /><br />But how to get the movie into the projector? I failed feeding it at first. So I thought: "Maybe I need to rewind it". So I transfered the movie onto another film roll and tried again. I had quite some troubles getting the film through all the rolls and gears inside the projector. But finally I succeeded and had to find out: the movie was upside down. So maybe it was all right the way it was before. I retransfered it to the original film roll and tried another time. This time the projector accepted it and started showing the pictures on the screen. Hurray!!!<br /><br />Later that day me and my girlfriend made ourselves a movie evening with 5 minutes of film. It was the Max and Moritz movie, part 1. As the projector is a silent one, we played a Ennio Morricone CD in the background. What an amazing experience for a guy who grew up knowing the television only.<br /><br />As I never intended to watch movies on this device, I had the idea to sell it on eBay later on. But before I did, I came to a flea market and started talking to a dealer there. He said, that a few minutes earlier a guy wanted to buy a projector like mine. Before he could write down my number, that guy came back and I talked to him directly. <br /><br />A week later that same guy came to visit my flat and took a look at the projector. And he actually bought it. So I sold my projector which didn't cost me anything.<br /><br />Summing up I avoided that the projector would have been disposed in an inappropriate way, I had some fun playing around with it and I made some money selling it. I wish things like that would happen more often to me.theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-2074035085342717302008-02-21T06:15:00.004+01:002008-02-21T15:57:05.237+01:00Total Lunar Eclipse<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2281254124/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2145/2281254124_6c288654a6_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a> <br /> <span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2281254124/">Total Lunar Eclipse</a> <br /> Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/theowl84/">theowl84</a> </span></div>This night there was a big show on the sky. A total lunar eclipse over Graz, Austria. But when I got up at 3 a.m. I was very disappointed. There were clouds all over. So I went back to sleep until shortly before 4 am. Again, I went to my window and looked outside. I could see the moon, but only a slice of it. Then it disappeared.<br />A few moments later it was back on the sky. All clouds were gone and the moon turned red. That's what I wanted to see. I kept taking pictures for more than one hour until the earth moved away and the sun touched the moon again.<br />Interestingly, as soon as the moon started to reflect the sun's light, the clouds were visible again.<br clear="all" /><br />This was one of the days where I was happy to have my <i>Canon EOS 400D</i> camera with all the lenses I have got. For this picture I used the <i>Vivitar 400mm f/5.6</i> with and without a 2x Minolta Teleconverter and my <i>Canon EF 28-105mm USM</i> lens. I needed to set the ISO to 800 most of the time as I the earth turns very fast when using a 800mm lens.theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-63298771108672345072008-02-10T09:57:00.001+01:002008-02-10T10:08:54.973+01:00My Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2251061090/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2257/2251061090_40b076205a_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a> <br /> <span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2251061090/">Beautiful Sunset on Schlossberg</a> <br /> Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/theowl84/">theowl84</a> </span></div>I was asking myself if I really need a fixed focal lens and if so, how much it should cost. After almost a month I decided to get myself a <a href="http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/camera/lens/ef/data/standard/ef_50_14_usm.html">Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM</a> lens. I didn't want to get the cheaper f/1.8 as I read that it's build quality isn't that good. And in addition to that I already have a 58mm filter, so the f/1.4 was a perfect fit there. Another plus was the USM focus, which I am used to from my <a href="http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/camera/lens/ef/data/standard_zoom/ef_28~105_35~45_usm.html">Canon EF 28-105 USM</a> lens. I don't want to miss that anymore.<br />So I decided to go for that lens. As it isn't that much cheaper on the used marked, I got mine from Amazon. <br />Last weekend I went on a photo trip with my <a href="http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/camera/dslr/data/1995-/2006_eos-kiss_dx.html?lang=us">Canon EOS 400D</a> and my new lens. I tried it out in various situations. And I have to say, I am impressed by it's sharpness, how fast it is in both light and focusing speed and when using it with the 400D's x1.6 crop factor, you can use it for almost any situation.<br />The thing that I love most about it is that it allows digital zooming on my computer. As almost every pixel is sharp, it's no problem cropping the picture to about 10% of size and still get a good quality picture.<br />If you like to view more of the pictures I've taken with the lens, take a look at my <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/theowl84/tags/canonef50mmf14usm/">flickr</a>-page.<br clear="all" />theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-22586775813508970952008-01-27T16:44:00.000+01:002008-01-27T16:55:32.405+01:00It's raining satellite dishes today<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijNOMAmeFwUZwskPMlgSiOqucuICIXup21jNCzF9ZxevDVPc5ZGD2UyPceVIIrXmuR8eJR5ML3YWyQVNGOV9h9R8YxjFcnymAJT2UlvHLDWz9o3RGFSJhQcz__JQOaRG6w41NUHVejptI/s1600-h/IMG_2212_small.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijNOMAmeFwUZwskPMlgSiOqucuICIXup21jNCzF9ZxevDVPc5ZGD2UyPceVIIrXmuR8eJR5ML3YWyQVNGOV9h9R8YxjFcnymAJT2UlvHLDWz9o3RGFSJhQcz__JQOaRG6w41NUHVejptI/s200/IMG_2212_small.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160184638797060178" /></a>On Jan. 27th 2008 there was a stong storm in Graz, Austria. In the news you hear from fallen trees and people getting hurt. <br />When I looked out of the window this morning, a satellite dish was just dropping down from the forth floor of the building I'm living in. I don't think it will work anymore. I brought it inside, so the owner can at least pick up the remainings of it.theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-12195746237901996442008-01-24T15:56:00.001+01:002008-01-24T15:58:00.221+01:00Vandalism on Hans Kloepfer<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2215900549/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2048/2215900549_4ec748f858_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a> <br /> <span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2215900549/">Vandalism on Hans Kloepfer</a> <br /> Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/theowl84/">theowl84</a> </span></div>Today I was walking on Schlossberg in Graz. I realized the green head before but today I also took a picture from it. <br />It's so sad that there are people destroying the most beautiful things. This head used to be black, but now somebody has spray painted it green. There are also other statues destroyed in the same way near this place.<br />When I took this picture an old woman started talking to me about what she'd do to prevent this: she'd place police men with bats and guns everywhere. While she admitted that shooting the perpetrators isn't the best choice, she suggested beating them.<br />Well, I don't think that this is the right treatment, but I do not have a good alternative neither. The best thing would be giving young people something better to do or at least make them realize that there are valuable things that shouldn't be destroyed.<br clear="all" />theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-83318272904151241352008-01-07T22:24:00.000+01:002008-01-07T22:26:44.290+01:00Sample Picture taken with Nokia 5310 XpressMusicAs some people have asked me to show them some pictures taken with my Nokia 5310, I'll post some here.<br />For the beginning, here is one I took in a park in Graz:<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2121772971/" title="Augarten Park by theowl84, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2105/2121772971_e888ca8f8a_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Augarten Park" /></a>theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-53155698653921780732008-01-06T15:39:00.001+01:002008-01-06T15:40:29.927+01:00Rokkor 50mm/f1.7 meets Canon 400D<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2166159091/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2091/2166159091_70703faff6_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" > <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2166159091/">Rokkor 50mm/f1.7 meets Canon 400D</a> <br /> Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/theowl84/">theowl84</a> </span></div>This week I got my lens adapter to be able to attach the old Minolta lenses that we have at home with my Canon EOS 400D. I got it for about EUR 30 at eBay. It was cheapest in a shop in Hong Kong.<br />It works quite nice. I can attach all MC or MD lenses (with manual focus of course). It also features a correction lens, which is important if I want to focus to infinity.<br />I did some tests with the MC Rokkor - PF 50mm f/1.7 lens. It performs great when wide open and the object isn't far away. For infinity I do have to stop it down a little - but for these ranges I do have other lenses.<br />The only negative side is that I do have to focus manually, which is quite tricky with the lens wide open.theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-9714684119720606932007-12-25T07:59:00.001+01:002007-12-25T08:00:27.289+01:00Merry Christmas<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2133432335/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2419/2133432335_cf64154862_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" > <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theowl84/2133432335/">Christmas Tree HDR</a> <br /> Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/theowl84/">theowl84</a> </span></div>Merry Christmas 2007 to all of you and your loved ones.theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-2520397998901243292007-12-10T18:41:00.000+01:002007-12-10T18:52:37.555+01:00Mango Lassi RecipeMy girlfriend and I have a favorite drink: <span style="font-style: italic;">Mango Lassi</span>. Maybe you want to try it as well, so here is the recipe.<br /><br />First, all you need is to pour these ingredients into a glass:<br /><ul><li>Natural Yogurt (without sugar and flavor)</li><li>Mango Juice</li><li>Brown Sugar</li><li>Milk</li><li>Brown rum (you can skip it if you don't like alcohol)</li></ul>Fill the glass up to 1/3 with yogurt, 1/3 of milk and 1/3 Mango juice. Then just add a spoon full of sugar and a little rum. You can vary the amounts of each ingredient if you wish. Now stir until everything is mixed together.<br />It's best when still cold and freshly prepared. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1945576437684760590.post-38508861693942038252007-11-25T13:12:00.000+01:002007-11-25T13:23:51.201+01:00Dead Body Forecast<blockquote>The weather on Sunday will be clouded in some areas, with 9 degree in the morning and up to 30 degree in the afternoon.</blockquote>A message like this doesn't really catch anyone's attention. Unfortunately this kind of news won't either:<br /><blockquote>A parked car bomb exploded in a crowded area near a medical complex in Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least nine people and wounding more than 30, officials said. [<a href="http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2007/11/25/1120160-car-bomb-kills-9-in-baghdad">Newsvine</a>]</blockquote>I heard this news today on the radio just before the weather report. The reporter used the same voice tone for the forecast as for the killings.<br />It struck me quite a bit: we've become so used to people dying in Iraq that it's nothing special anymore. Like the monthly car bomb - a never ending series. I guess when a bomb kills only one person in my country, there will be reports about it all day long.theowl84http://www.blogger.com/profile/13389929931380273586noreply@blogger.com2