Twice in the last weeks, I have had reason to look at the photo book publishing site Blurb. When I was last there, I noticed the Blurb for Good menu item. Essentially, if you create a book and have designated a charity, you can set the price of the book and 100% of the profits go to the charity. Given the work I did with the United Way of the Alberta Capital Region last year, I noted that employees of Microsoft had developed a photo book to support their local United Way organization.
I sent an email off to Blurb to inquire whether this was available in Canada and they confirmed that it is.
Recognizing the strong community of photographers in Edmonton and environs, I started thinking about whether there might be interest is some such project here?
My concept so far is pretty simple … If there is some interest, we would first have to select and gain agreement of a charity — they need to actually be part of the application so Blurb is sure the dollars are going to a non-profit at the end. We would then have to establish some guidance or … as to how we would like to do this. For example, I was thinking I would prefer to minimize the judging — I would prefer to set a goal of (say) 50 or 100 images and invite photographers to submit their chosen image. There are some other characteristics we would have to consider. We might also consider whether we want a specific theme to the overall book or …
Would you be interested in contributing to such a project? Would you be willing to help organize such a project?
Please leave your thoughts/comments. I will integrate the feedback received into a further blog post.
Thanks.
Last night, my partner and her friends engaged in the 9th annual squeak tournament. A couple friends and I engaged in an alternate activity – a scotch tasting.
We travelled through a few brands – starting with those lightest in colour first. A Glenfiddich was first up. Described in the Whiskey Bible as a real “40 watt bulb”, it was a good start to the evening. I had a little Glen Breton left – a whiskey made in Cape Breton that has been involved in a number of court cases. Whether something happened to it sitting in the bottle, it performed very poorly last night. Very sharp indeed and not an enjoyable drink. Funny that I have enjoyed the rest of the bottle over time.
Next, we went to a 12 year blended bottle – Chivas Regal. It demonstrated that a blend can in fact stand up to and be better than a single malt. It was nicer than either of the prior two choices.
The competition stepped up a bit then with a 16 year old Lagavulin, an Amrut and a whiskey maker’s edition of a Macallan. The Amrut was cask strength so just over 60% alcohol vs. The 40% more typical of whiskey. For me, the strength of alcohol was too much and took away from my enjoyment. It really is a very nice sipping whiskey. The other two were just fine and a very enjoyable end to an evening.
Photo:
The photo was taken in a flower pot in my back yard this afternoon. With a lens baby and a macro ring, I like the strong graphic imagery of this one.
I’ve been using the wi-fi iPad for a couple weeks now — since it was officially released in Canada. As it happens, I have also changed employment and given back my work lapto. So, the iPad is now the only tool for on the road.
I continue to be impressed with the functionality of the iPad for reading documents, browsing, the web, etc. The touch screen and the typical interaces with the software make this a simpler task than the keyboard/mouse combination. There are some sites where one cannot scroll within pop-up windows and others where one can. So, there are some situations where I must revert to the desktop.
I find composing posts to this wordpress blog to be quite difficult. I think partially that may be due to the specific theme I am using but it really shouldn’t matter. So, using the wordpress app for the iPad and then accessing the actual site through the safari browser, I can just about do a complete post. In fact, I must create a draft post first on the desktop to get an image with an appropriate thumbnail for the post. Not a good solution — each post takes three ‘touches’ or just one from the desktop.
I am moderately annoyed that the iBooks application still doesn’t have books for sale in Canada. As I also have the Kindle and Kobo apps on the iPad, it isn’t a huge issue. This is really one of the strengths of this device — the flexibility.
Photo:
This crocus image was taken in our yard in the spring of 2010. I used a Lensbaby with a macro +10 ring on it to get the extreme closeup. The Lensbaby naturally is focussed only in a sweet spot and, with the macro ring, the depth of field is very small — less than 1/2 cm in this case.
A few impressions of Oslo Norway.
A great transit system for a city of some 1.5 M. There are 6 underground train lines, surface tram lines and a good bus system. There is both a high speed and normal speed train to the airport.
Karl Johan Gate (see picture below) is a multi-kilometer pedestrian mall downtown. A number of the side streets are also blocked for the first block back from it. A very nice feature for a livable city.
Nature is left beside roads and sidewalks. Walking from the train station to the university campus each day, the grass was not planted an manicured for the most part. It looked like the path had just been dropped through the woods with very natural vegetation left. Very nice.
It is expensive in the restaurants etc. A waitress from Sweden said she made twice as much working here as at home. Houses seem to start around $1M with condos for about one-half that. The very nice area on the water that is called Aker Brygge is at least double for the condos. It is a bit like the False Creek development in Vancouver but only 5 stories high.
Photo:
Looking down Karl Johan Gate in Oslo to the royal palace.
I have been trying to write this post for 2 days. This is the third try. Suffice to say, I have been reminded that when your document is in the Internet cloud, you should save periodically as you can lose it all if you lose your connection to the cloud! And, the WordPress app for the iPad has some challenges – it is good but sometimes doesn’t permit simple things like copy and paste.
Interesting duty-free at the Oslo airport. There is a duty free as you arrive. So, locals get of the flight and immediately go into the duty free! In a country with significant taxes and where many fklights are international (small country) this must be a real advantage.
There is a great high speed train from the airport downtown. After a 24 hour elapse time trip, it was great to just sit for a rapid 20 minute trip through rolling green countryside.
I visited the Fram museum today – chronicles the Arctic and Antarctic explorations of Norwegian explorers. Did you know that some of the islands in Canada’s Arctic were transferred from the Norwegian government to Canada in 1925!! Some amazing stories.
Photo:
Enroute, I spent a few hours in the Heathrow airport outside London. This image is from my families visit to London a few years back. Heathrow is still an expensive place to visit.
I continue to use my iPad — trying to understand the good, the bad and the ugly. So, far there has been no ugly and I am only starting to get some thoughts on what could be bad.
One of my primary interests in the iPad is as an e-reader. My choice went to the iPad (over other options like the kindle or sony or the many other choices) because of it’s flexibility. With the app framework, we see there is already a kindle app and a barnes/noble abb etc. Plus, the app framework enables the reading of other kind of content — whether web content through an RSS feeder or specialized magazine or … content. My thought was this platform offers a bit more flexibility in what is and will be a very dynamic field.
One example of the unique kind of content is the recent edition of Wired. This is one of the first examples of the potential for digital, serial content. There is a good review of the current magazine version here. As you can read in the review, this one issue of one magazine is around 500 mb.
Clearly, even a 64 GB iPad will be filled before long. My started up with over 1/3 of it taken up just with music from iTunes. My planned usage is for this device to be a travelling back-up device for photos during vacations etc. So, I am thinking I likely only have about 20 GB for all app, e-reader, etc. content.
What is an appropriate long-term strategy to keep content that one wants in the future? I guess one can only choose to keep it in iTunes and then re-load it to the iPad if/when you want to look at some older content. As the review above notes, the current Wired example is not searchable and nor can you share or save just portions of the full content. Now, Wired is likely not something to be kept … but there will be content that is worth keeping for future reference. Anyone with great thoughts on the strategy or approach?
Photo:
Trees have been slow to bloom with the coolness of spring here through May.
I received the iPad on Friday last week. With a rainy and snowy weekend, there were good opportunities to try it out.
My take away so far is likely not much different than many. It is a good device for reading especially off the internet – things like newsfeeds etc. I find I can skim through news feeds, Facebook status updates, Twitter etc. Much more quickly than with a mouse and keyboard combo.
I find the typing to be really tough. I am normally a touch typist but now must do 2 finger to avoid huge errors.
I am travelling to Oslo Norway later this week. It is a very short trip and I am debating taking just the iPad. We will see.
Photo:
This image is of a window in a hotel in Tromso Norway from a visit there a number of years ago.
Tags: iPad
Summer can be a fleeting thing in western and northern Canada. Last week was a prime example … +30 C to start the week but closer to +3 C to start the first “summer” long weekend. We can only hope for a turn around!
The annual meeting of the International Arctic Buoy Meeting will be held in a couple weeks in Oslo — just prior to the IPY Final Conference. The IABP coordinates the deployment of weather, ice and oceanographic buoys throughout the Arctic ocean. Today’s map of Arctic sea ice shows that the ice extent in the Arctic right now is lower than it was at this time in 2007 — the year of the minimum sea ice recorded in the Arctic. It is a very interesting development — particularly in light of the results that suggest that much of the remaining ice is thin — thinner than perhaps we know. Read the comments of University of Manitoba professor Dave Barber.
Sea ice in Canada’s fragile Arctic is melting faster than anyone expected, the lead investigator in Canada’s largest climate-change study yet said Friday — raising the possibility that the Arctic could, in a worst-case scenario, be ice-free in about three years.
We will have a challenge at the IABP to find ice that is suitable for us to deploy our instruments.
Photo: Actually taken a couple weeks back, this was taken as the late snowfall melted from some of the early spring flowers in the yard. Vignetting intentionally applied in photoshop to draw attention to the focus of the image.
I was taken back 30 years today by the program Inside the Music. And taken back in a very pleasant way. They had a program on Fraser and DeBolt — I hadn’t heard this vinyl since the 80′s when the record player was replaced with the first generation CD player. Their first album (and there only were two) was released in 1971. Watch this video at youtube to see just what they were! They employed sounds and rhythyms much more common to 20th century classical music than to “folk” music. Some dissonance; off-beat rhythyms. A little Stravinsky mixed with ….
Thanks to CBC for reminding me of some outstanding art. I may have to go buy a record player and get the vinyl out of the box. Close to 1000 albums still resident in my basement waiting for the grand resurrection!
Photo: Taken in downtown Edmonton, AB in 2006; image of graffitti on a wall.
I went to the the movie Exit through the Gift Shop tonight at the Garneau Theatre. A fascinating film. With a subtitle of `The World`s First Street Art Disaster Movie,`you know it won`t be a run of the mill film. It tells the story of a French guy who stumbles into the world of street art — and stumbles into it with an endless amount of film and time. He participates with and films many rather famous street artists. This film is actually made by one of the more famous — Banksy.
I was most struck by how little (i.e. essentially nothing!) I knew of this whole movement of street art. I was struck by how it was possible to miss completely the significance of some of the artists. They have a very real recognition that there are is different than most other art in one significant way at least — their art is transient; it will be defaced and destroyed as people clean the graffitti up. And yet, it is truly art. I was struck by the recent statements by Edmonton`s police chief (as reported in this story in the Edmonton Journal) that graffiti is a crime. Maybe it is … but maybe we need to find a way to include such `transient art`within a community that wants to be world class.
After the movie, we went to Dadeo`s for a bit of dinner. It is most certainly worth a visit if you haven`t been there. Sweet potato fries are now on many menus in the city … but theirs are still the best to my taste.
Tags: movie restaurant
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