Well, well, well… the new release of the WordPress App for Apple iOS is good! I’ve used it several times now to manage comments and post replies. I’m even composing this entire brief post on my iPod Touch! The app doesn’t “hang” now and I’ve not had to reset my Touch; that’s the way it ought to be and should have been from the beginning. Thanks, WordPress, for fixing it!
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Apple iBook G4. Credit: Apple Inc.
Someone donated a cool little Apple iBook G4 (ca. 2006) to our Friends group. At first the recipients thought it was dead. Turning it over to me resulted in a functioning computer ready for sale to benefit the group.
A cautionary tale is, however, in order:
Once I got the notebook booted I started looking around on its hard drive and checking the machine’s applications. Nice: Mac OS-X ver. 10.5.8. All of the Apple basics. Very good. Wi-Fi access — hmmmm…… what’s this in the Safari browser? The former owner’s Gmail account… OPEN! And her Amazon.com account login! Gad!! Between those two things, plus the identity information she failed to remove from the Mac, I could have purchased no end of items and produced no limit of trouble for the goodhearted Ms. K. Yikes! Thank goodness the Mac wasn’t sold to some bad guy!
I instantly logged out of Gmail, erased the browser history, cleared her identity information. Ideally the hard drive should have been formatted but, with no OS installation discs, that would have reduced the used computer’s sale value to near zero. Clearly, however, the former owner’s level of risk has been vastly reduced through the little bit of work I did in her stead.
And if the Friends can’t sell the little Mac, I hope to buy it!
I’ve paid good money at a “photo-sharing” site for a place to display, market, and protect my images. Their stock page templates suck. So I’m still lookin’.
I actually like the free photo blogging theme offered here, at WordPress. Though it will only display one photo per post, it does offer protection against “click and grab” abduction of my pictures. It does not offer protected galleries and some of the features of the pay site.
As usual, if you take the best features of two or more sites you’ll get something that’s really good. {sigh}
Here’s the URL of my WordPress experiment: http://guilfordphoto.wordpress.com
W00066279.jpg was taken on January 11, 2011 and received on Earth January 12, 2011. The camera was pointing toward RHEA at approximately 59,938 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters. Sister moons are seen above and to the left of Rhea; the bright line is an edge-on view of Saturn's ring system. This image has not been validated or calibrated. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. Levels, contrast, and brightness adjusted by James Guilford.
It seamed like it might be fun to toy around with brand-new raw images just received from the Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn. I must say I didn’t do much with the image. Still, it was fun to see details emerging from a formerly soft, gray picture as I made adjustments to the image. I’m away from my home office so I used GIMP instead of Photoshop but I’m sure to play with pictures like this more often in future!
I just learned WordPress released an updated version of their Apple iOS iPod and iPad app. Customers write the update corrects several serious and frustrating issues that plagued earlier releases. So I’ve reinstalled the app and we’ll see how it goes. Third time’s the charm?
It's a beautiful day at Hinckley Lake though the partial ice covering says its waters are very cold. This Sunny January 2, 2011 was a good day to be out but not a good day to remain out.
Visiting my mother at her home over Christmas holiday, someone began remarking about the many birds that were visiting her feeder… including one large pigeon. The more they described the bird, the more I had to see it. From the window I saw a very sizable bird that was not a pigeon at all but a Cooper’s Hawk! The visit wasn’t for a meal of seeds but likely for a snack of sparrow. The hawk, perched on a tree limb, hadn’t caught anything; it soon hopped down to the ground just below our window, then took flight, disappearing amongst the trees.
Today I received a phone call at the office and, pacing while talking, I gazed blankly out the window then snapped into focus. To my surprise a hawk was perched upon a brick wall but 10 feet away! At first I thought it was another Cooper’s Hawk but began to think that this one may have been a Sharp-shinned Hawk; they can be tricky to tell apart and I’ve only begun to recognize them. Today’s bird, however, was eating. Holding some unfortunate, tiny kill to the wall with its talons, the hawk stripped bits of flesh off and gobbled them down.
I find the raptors to be among the most beautiful birds both in their appearance and their flight. They also happen to be among the fiercest predators around. It’s hard for me sometimes to reconcile the two aspects: beauty and slaughter. It is, however, their nature and they must eat to survive.
Unfortunately, though my camera was in the room, I was on the phone. By the time the call had ended and I looked out the window again, the hawk had finished its meal and taken flight.
I had vegetarian chili for lunch.
Snow covers the tables and chairs of a bistro in Hudson, Ohio.
Most times we really enjoy our electric heat pump. It does a good job of heating and cooling our little old condominium, requires little maintenance, and seems to cost less than heating with gas. But (you knew that was coming) there are times when it just can’t cut it. When the outside air temperature falls much below 19 degrees (F), the heat pump and its auxiliary “electric furnace” can barely keep up. When the temperatures fall closer to zero, we lose ground and the house grows colder. Electric space heaters help but can’t (shouldn’t) be left unattended. The fireplace works but requires regular attention and can’t be left unwatched and can actually result in net heat loss due to the need for leaving the damper open. She Who Must Be Obeyed froze in the house last year and decided something must be done — we would purchase a word stove insert and make a permanent conversion of the fireplace.
Based upon the measurements of our condo’s manufactured fireplace, the folks at Country Stove Patio & Spa immediately recommended two models and we quickly decided upon the “Lopi Republic” by Travis Industries. We paid our deposit, scheduled an installation date, and went home.
The Lopi Republic Stove Arrives
November 24 rolled around quickly and our installers had a break in the cold, wet weather. Good thing, too, as they had to climb to the top of the roof, remove the chimney cap, and run a new liner down the chimney. Fortunately there were no obstructions and the liner dropped straight down and into the fireplace. A new cap was installed and the outdoor work was complete.
Stove insert aligned with fireplace opening in preparation for installation.
Muscling the little stove into place wasn’t easy. Fortunately the installers were both strong and experienced and had the 380-pound, cast iron wonder in the house and on the hearth with no damage to house or stove. The damper was removed from the flue, the stove eased into the fireplace, and the stainless steel liner attached to the stove.
Installer checks position of stove insert.
Facing trim and support legs were attached and the job was done. The narrative makes the job sound quick and simple though entire process took several hours of nonstop work by two skilled installers. The end result is, I think, an improvement — I actually prefer the look of the little black stove over the former fireplace. She agrees.
The finished installation of wood stove insert.
On December 3 I spent a day off firing up the stove for the first time. It’s a recommended process meant to provide a final curing of the stove’s finish. The manufacturer warns that, while non-toxic, the fumes produced can be irritating and open windows, even leaving the premises are recommended. Bring the stove slowly to high heat, keep it there for a couple of hours, and that should be the end of the unpleasantness. It was smelly in the house that day but neither I nor cat Tasha felt inclined to leave. In fact, Tasha quickly realized the benefit of a wood-fired stove: soothing heat without the risk of popping sparks flying into the room!
The first fire, a very hot one, attracts Tasha the cat with its quiet heat.
Today and tonight promise to be the coldest of the season and the temperature here never rose above the mid-teen degrees (F) today. We’ll be using the wood stove tonight to warm us as we lounge in the living room and will be able to head off to bed leaving the fire to safely burn out on its own.
Thing is, it burns wood at an alarming rate compared with the tiny fires we built for mood. We need to store lots of firewood!
PhotonStopper 