nite shooting

Just upgraded to a new camera this w/e, maily with the hope for better night shots but when I look at this I am still faily impressed what a Fuji A291 can do if you hold it steady enough.

Not shown: how many shots tossed before I got this one.

claim to fame

The power of the Creative Commons mark - this is now featured in an online story. Am I killing the stock photo market with the CC mark? I am torn as to this. Perhaps I am but what would stop someone with no ad budget from taking a $99 digicam and grabbing the same picture?

I guess if they were not in MN, that would be a first problem....

C'mon, Be Happy

-------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Thatcher,

I have been a loyal user of your 'Always' maxi pads for over 20 years and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the LeakGuard Core or Dri-Weave absorbency, I'd probably never go horseback riding or salsa dancing,and I'd certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach in tight, white shorts.

But my favorite feature has to be your revolutionary Flexi-Wings. Kudoson being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxipads be aerodynamic. I can't tell you how safe and secure I feel each month knowing there's a little F-16 in my pants.

Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? Ever suffered from the 'curse'? I'm guessing you haven't. Well, my time of the month is starting right now. As I type, I can already feel hormonal forces violently surging through my body. Just a few minutes from now, my body will adjust and I'll be transformed into what my husband likes to call "An inbred hillbilly with knife skills."

Isn't the human body amazing? As Brand Manager in the Feminine-Hygiene Division, you've no doubt seen quite a bit of research on what exactly happens during your customer's monthly visits from 'Aunt Flo'. Therefore, you must know about the bloating, puffiness and cramping we endure, and about our intense mood swings, crying jags, and out-of-control behavior. You surely realize it's a tough time for most women. In fact, only last week, my friend Jennifer fought the violent urge to shove her boyfriend's testicles into a George Foreman Grill just because he told her he thought Grey's Anatomy was written by drunken chimps. Crazy!

The point is, sir, you of all people must realize that America is just crawling with homicidal maniacs in Capri pants... Which brings me to the reason for my letter.

Last month, while in the throes of cramping so painful I wanted to reach inside my body and yank out my uterus, I opened an Always maxi-pad, and there, printed on the adhesive backing, were these words: 'Have a Happy Period.' Are you f_ _ _ kidding me? What I mean is, does any part of your tiny middle-manager brain really think happiness - actual smiling, laughing happiness - is possible during a menstrual period? Did anything mentioned above sound the least bit pleasurable? Well, did it, James?

FYI, unless you're some kind of sick S&M freak, there will never be anything 'happy' about a day in which you have to jack yourself up on Motrin and Kahlua and lock yourself in your house just so you don't march down to the local Walgreen's armed with a hunting rifle and a sketchy plan to end your life in a blaze of glory.

For the love of God, pull your head out, man! If you have to slap a moronic message on a maxi pad, wouldn't it make more sense to say something that's actually pertinent, like 'Put down the Hammer' or 'Vehicular Manslaughter is Wrong', or are you just picking on us?

Sir, please inform your Accounting Department that, effective immediately, there will be an $8 drop in monthly profits, for I have chosen to take my maxi-pad business elsewhere. And though I will certainly miss your Flex-Wings, I will not for one minute miss your brand of condescending bullshit. And that's a promise I will keep.

Always.

Best,

Wendi Aarons

Austin , TX

HP mini PC $500

Hewlett-Packard is rolling out a new small, lightweight laptop computer aimed at the education market.

The 2133 Mini-Note, offered at a base price of $500, will have a nine-inch screen, weigh about 2 1/2 pounds and have an aluminum case. Because of its small size, the computer will have a smaller keyboard, but it will still be about 92 percent of the size of a typical one.

By Troy Wolverton
Mercury News

This sounds like the PC I have been waiting for, small, lightweight and cheap - also, Windows is an option which suits me fine. I would prefer Apple make one like this (remember the Duo series?) - but some time soon I will just buy the best of this type from whoever makes it. Google's 'cloud' and OpenOffice.org are quickly removing any major differences between the big two.

Classmate PCs $300 !

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Intel Corp. unveiled new features for its line of low-cost laptops for schools Wednesday, adding bigger screens and more data storage capacity as the chip maker ratchets up its rivalry with the One Laptop per Child organization, which sells a competing machine.

Intel's new Classmate PCs - slated to go on sale in April for between $300 and $500 - reflect the company's growing efforts to sell computers equipped with its own chips to schools in developing countries, a battleground for technology companies because of the millions of people there just coming online.

[...]

via Wired