This is great, here you can find 43 uses for WD-40 that you probably didn't know before.
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Jars of Clay (yes they are still around!) started a campaign called Blood: Water Mission, which is an organization that is working on building wells in areas of Africa affected with AIDS. The website here is really well designed and has a map and photos of completed wells, along with news articles about them helping. Their '2 Weeks of Sacrifice' is a great idea to raise some money without dipping into your savings account.
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The changing weather in our world has cheese makers worried. According to the cheese makers in this article, the taste of cheese is changing due to changes in weather and because of that, changes in plant life around the fields. This isn't the first product that has changed due to the weather, and i'm sure its just the start of a long list.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
Finally a post!
Phew, its been while since i've had a chance to post on here! The past week has been a big up and down week, lots going on.
Saturday we had a great formal cocktail party at my friend Matt's house. He has an amazing back yard, which I plan on using as inspiration for mine next year. Then Sunday I shot dirtbike races in St.Thomas, which turned out really good even though it started with a dust storm which lead into a constant drizzle of rain. Here are a couple shots that I like:
More here
I also shot my first house working for OBEO Tours, which was a disaster. The house looked like an industrial building and some rooms were just too small to get good photos. Then it was raining while i was trying to shoot the outside, and part way through the inside the power went out. Great first gig. The people were really nice tho. Oh and I was stalked by a gang of white geese and a dog that I couldn't decide if it was going to be nice or going to kill me....made it interesting.
And then today Dani's car finally gave in while she was driving to work. Almost overheated and leaking coolant all over the place, so my morning was spent going to get it and taking it to a shop then home while trying to keep the engine cool. So now we're in the market for a new used car.
Sounds like a great week eh!
Saturday we had a great formal cocktail party at my friend Matt's house. He has an amazing back yard, which I plan on using as inspiration for mine next year. Then Sunday I shot dirtbike races in St.Thomas, which turned out really good even though it started with a dust storm which lead into a constant drizzle of rain. Here are a couple shots that I like:
More here
I also shot my first house working for OBEO Tours, which was a disaster. The house looked like an industrial building and some rooms were just too small to get good photos. Then it was raining while i was trying to shoot the outside, and part way through the inside the power went out. Great first gig. The people were really nice tho. Oh and I was stalked by a gang of white geese and a dog that I couldn't decide if it was going to be nice or going to kill me....made it interesting.
And then today Dani's car finally gave in while she was driving to work. Almost overheated and leaking coolant all over the place, so my morning was spent going to get it and taking it to a shop then home while trying to keep the engine cool. So now we're in the market for a new used car.
Sounds like a great week eh!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Gold from God?
While eating lunch yesterday at the Market after Presence, I was talking with some people about whether religious people believed in devine gifts, as in stories of 'a diamond falling from the sky' (literally), or 'gold dust falling from the ceiling of a room'. These are supposed stories from Christians who were "looking" for a gift from God. Which brings about the question, Would God really show himself in the form of riches to someone? If you pray hard enough does this mean a block of gold is going to appear infront of me so that I never have to worry about money again? If i say 'God, if you really exist, show me yourself', will He really just be like *POOF* and there it is? Why would He even think he needs to prove Himself to us? You'd think that if people looked around and actually saw, i dunno, THE WORLD, that would be proof enough?
Then there was a story about someone's tooth filling being suddenly turned to gold. I almost laughed at this one. I could see God doing this one tho. Its kinda like 'haha, you wanted a sign of wealth, good luck getting that sucker out!'
But why do some people think that stories like this are truth? I think it could be some higher people in the religion who think 'Ok, if we say that you'll get rich by coming to our church, we'll get the people in', so they start stories?
I dunno, just trying to understand.
Then there was a story about someone's tooth filling being suddenly turned to gold. I almost laughed at this one. I could see God doing this one tho. Its kinda like 'haha, you wanted a sign of wealth, good luck getting that sucker out!'
But why do some people think that stories like this are truth? I think it could be some higher people in the religion who think 'Ok, if we say that you'll get rich by coming to our church, we'll get the people in', so they start stories?
I dunno, just trying to understand.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
August 9 Links
Here is a great site about Branding. It includes articles about how to successfully brand your new company and more. There are also quotes about branding and links to watch commercials.
A good quote from the site:
"It is a pretty recognizable brand name. Originally it was "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web" but we settled on "Yahoo"." - Jerry Yang
http://www.historyofbranding.com
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So for one of the coolest sites I've ever seen, check this one out:
http://users.telenet.be/kixx/
You may need firefox for it...i dunno if it'll work for Explorer. I'd suggest going to this site and just watching in awe with nothing else going on until its done. I don't even know how they do this. Just wow.
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Heres a cool link for those people who are always comparing Bible verses in different versions, here is a new site that you'll love. It splits the screen with whatever two versions you want to compare, verse for verse.
http://onlineparallelbible.com
.
A good quote from the site:
"It is a pretty recognizable brand name. Originally it was "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web" but we settled on "Yahoo"." - Jerry Yang
http://www.historyofbranding.com
---------------------
So for one of the coolest sites I've ever seen, check this one out:
http://users.telenet.be/kixx/
You may need firefox for it...i dunno if it'll work for Explorer. I'd suggest going to this site and just watching in awe with nothing else going on until its done. I don't even know how they do this. Just wow.
---------------------
Heres a cool link for those people who are always comparing Bible verses in different versions, here is a new site that you'll love. It splits the screen with whatever two versions you want to compare, verse for verse.
http://onlineparallelbible.com
.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
What I learned From Ribfest
After being in the London Ribfest this weekend, being either scorched by the heat or dampened by the rain, there were a few things that I saw happening that really changed my mind about people in general. The weekend overall wasn't as big of a success for me that I had hoped. But now I am seeing why. Here are some things that I saw happening this weekend:
1. People would rather waste money on fortune tellers than on art (or anything else more essential). For the first 2 days we were set up beside a palm/tarot reader. This made for an interesting experience as we saw people pay upwards of $35 for a 'reading' done by a mother/daughter team (and sometimes the father jumped in as well, giving me the idea that ANYONE can do this). People actually were lining up for this. Besides totally blasting my opinion that people didn't overall believe that crap, I can't believe that someone would pay that much for 10 minutes of possible entertainment. Its totally absurd. I think next year I'm going to ditch the whole art thing and set up a fortune telling tent to bring in the cash. I mean from what I saw, anyone, no matter how uneducated you are, can 'read' palms and people will pay.
2. While sitting in my tent, just waiting around to chat with people, I got to hear how many people can do what I do. This is probably one of the most fun parts of the festivals for me. Now that digital cameras are the big thing, everyone EVERYONE is a professional photographer. It doesn't matter that I spent 2 years in school, the thousands of dollars I have in camera equipment and hours shooting to get the perfect shot. The people coming into my tent with their $300 camera most commonly exclaim "Oh I could take that shot" or "My 4 year old nephew has a photo better than that". Its taken a good deal of patience to not just jump up and yell at them. Fine, you think you can do better? Why aren't YOU here then??? I'm quite happy that these people don't buy anything since they have no concept of art.
3. I can't put a full post just complaining about people, so this is my compliment area. I think everyone should thank the volunteers who worked the festival, either picking up garbage or helping out crazy vendors. From being there all weekend, seeing the same people endlessly emptying garbage, i have to give them credit for sticking it out. They did an excellent job and I never saw garbage on the ground or a overfull garbage can. I also saw two boys helping out a crazy old vendor for at least 30 minutes while he yelled at them and ordered them around like they were his slaves, and yet they helped without complaining. Good job people.
4. Now lastly, on the topic of garbage, I'm going to say that Ribfest has got to be the most environmentally unfriendly festival in the city. Every rib vendor used styrofoam containers for their ribs, resulting in thousands of containers being used and thrown out right away. I am really appalled by the amount being thrown out. Maybe next year they can think of something else, like maybe using paper plates for the 90% of the people who stay and eat at the park. Paper breaks down faster than styrofoam and doesn't take up as much room in the garbage. Think hard about the environment that you're hurting for the future kids, Boys and Girls Club!!
1. People would rather waste money on fortune tellers than on art (or anything else more essential). For the first 2 days we were set up beside a palm/tarot reader. This made for an interesting experience as we saw people pay upwards of $35 for a 'reading' done by a mother/daughter team (and sometimes the father jumped in as well, giving me the idea that ANYONE can do this). People actually were lining up for this. Besides totally blasting my opinion that people didn't overall believe that crap, I can't believe that someone would pay that much for 10 minutes of possible entertainment. Its totally absurd. I think next year I'm going to ditch the whole art thing and set up a fortune telling tent to bring in the cash. I mean from what I saw, anyone, no matter how uneducated you are, can 'read' palms and people will pay.
2. While sitting in my tent, just waiting around to chat with people, I got to hear how many people can do what I do. This is probably one of the most fun parts of the festivals for me. Now that digital cameras are the big thing, everyone EVERYONE is a professional photographer. It doesn't matter that I spent 2 years in school, the thousands of dollars I have in camera equipment and hours shooting to get the perfect shot. The people coming into my tent with their $300 camera most commonly exclaim "Oh I could take that shot" or "My 4 year old nephew has a photo better than that". Its taken a good deal of patience to not just jump up and yell at them. Fine, you think you can do better? Why aren't YOU here then??? I'm quite happy that these people don't buy anything since they have no concept of art.
3. I can't put a full post just complaining about people, so this is my compliment area. I think everyone should thank the volunteers who worked the festival, either picking up garbage or helping out crazy vendors. From being there all weekend, seeing the same people endlessly emptying garbage, i have to give them credit for sticking it out. They did an excellent job and I never saw garbage on the ground or a overfull garbage can. I also saw two boys helping out a crazy old vendor for at least 30 minutes while he yelled at them and ordered them around like they were his slaves, and yet they helped without complaining. Good job people.
4. Now lastly, on the topic of garbage, I'm going to say that Ribfest has got to be the most environmentally unfriendly festival in the city. Every rib vendor used styrofoam containers for their ribs, resulting in thousands of containers being used and thrown out right away. I am really appalled by the amount being thrown out. Maybe next year they can think of something else, like maybe using paper plates for the 90% of the people who stay and eat at the park. Paper breaks down faster than styrofoam and doesn't take up as much room in the garbage. Think hard about the environment that you're hurting for the future kids, Boys and Girls Club!!
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Today's Stuff
I am always browsing the internet for cool photos, either just to see them or to get ideas for new projects. Anyway I came accross these ones today, and they are a few years old, but still are pretty cool to see. This is from a sand storm in 2005 in Iraq:
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For those times when you're completely bored at work and you need something to spice up a good 15 minutes, check out http://readymech.com. All you need is a printer, some tape and a high level of boredom and you'll get these fun critters to play with!!
----------------------
The New Rules of Website Creation:
(taken from this site)
1. Build: Build and they will come. If they don't what have you lost? Lose quick. Lose cheap.
2. Listen To Users: They will tell you what they like, what they hate and what they want.
3. Don't Market: Don't spend money or time on expensive advertising.
4. Product Is All: Spend money and time on making your product/service as good as you can (this, of course, is marketing but let's not quibble).
5. Ignore The Business Plan: The goals of business plans (e.g. raising capital) are not your goals. Flexibility is much more important.
6. Be Aware Of Competition: Don't be totally insular. Obsess about your customers but don't forget to keep an eye on potential competitors and what they're doing better or worse than you.
7. Self-Publicise: You know more about your business than anyone else so you're the best (and cheapest) person to promote it. Take every opportunity to tell your world about what you're doing.
8. Utilise User Passion: If you show you're listening to them, they will willingly talk about you and promote you. For nothing. Faciliate this in every way you can.
9. Be Frugal: If you don't spend, you don't burn through your cash and therefore retain more of you business in the long run. Equally importantly, frugality makes you focus on the essence of the issues at hand.
10. Have Fun: If you don't love what you're doing, you won't exude passion for it and you're unlikely to do it remarkably well.
----------------------
For those times when you're completely bored at work and you need something to spice up a good 15 minutes, check out http://readymech.com. All you need is a printer, some tape and a high level of boredom and you'll get these fun critters to play with!!
----------------------
The New Rules of Website Creation:
(taken from this site)
1. Build: Build and they will come. If they don't what have you lost? Lose quick. Lose cheap.
2. Listen To Users: They will tell you what they like, what they hate and what they want.
3. Don't Market: Don't spend money or time on expensive advertising.
4. Product Is All: Spend money and time on making your product/service as good as you can (this, of course, is marketing but let's not quibble).
5. Ignore The Business Plan: The goals of business plans (e.g. raising capital) are not your goals. Flexibility is much more important.
6. Be Aware Of Competition: Don't be totally insular. Obsess about your customers but don't forget to keep an eye on potential competitors and what they're doing better or worse than you.
7. Self-Publicise: You know more about your business than anyone else so you're the best (and cheapest) person to promote it. Take every opportunity to tell your world about what you're doing.
8. Utilise User Passion: If you show you're listening to them, they will willingly talk about you and promote you. For nothing. Faciliate this in every way you can.
9. Be Frugal: If you don't spend, you don't burn through your cash and therefore retain more of you business in the long run. Equally importantly, frugality makes you focus on the essence of the issues at hand.
10. Have Fun: If you don't love what you're doing, you won't exude passion for it and you're unlikely to do it remarkably well.
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