I’m hoping for third time lucky. The first time I attempted project 365 I managed to get through about half way, the second never took off properly. Since then I’ve gotten a new small camera and some more lenses to play with. I’m first going to just try and get into the habit of taking a photo everyday without worrying too much about the quality. I hope that eventually, it will give me a chance to start tackling those photography techniques that I have avoided because of lack of knowledge.
I went for an evening photo walk with some friends this evening. We’re planning to put together a piece for a photography/multimedia exhibition over the coming months. It’s early days, but it’s great to be thinking creative. There’s something very motivational about working in a group. The ability to bounce about ideas, get some feedback on your work and learn little tips and tricks is fantastic. I’ll be able to use all that precious knowledge and file it away to inspire me in the future. I always find that getting started is the toughest. Once you start, be it taking photos, drawing, or even writing, you remember why you loved it in the first place. It’s been a bit like that with my attempt at NaBloPoMo this month. Now that I’m thinking about writing up my thesis, I’m finding a good flow. Writing has started to come easier. I’ve just learned that I should start, or at least think about starting a blog post early in the day. When it comes to the time where usually I’d be sitting watching some evening telly, I can whip out the laptop and blog away. Well, anyways, I think we’ll be out and about Sunday morning early. This time to catching the rising sun instead of the setting one.
The lads are flying through their nuts and seeds. In the image above, you can just see the peanut dispenser. I also have a 500ml bottle that is filled with a mixed seeds. Now that all the lads have figured out how to use the bottle they are flying through the stuff. At a 500ml bottle a day, I’ve run out of my big bucket of seeds. I don’t know where to buy them cheap enough in Dublin, but I don’t want to interrupt their feeding routine. Anyone know how I can get them to slow down? Or where you can buy large quantities of seeds that are relatively cheap?
Fashionings.com have likened this Fleet Ilya handbag to something medieval. While it does distract from the otherwise potato sack jumpsuit, I wouldn’t call it just medieval. I see more of a steam punk influence to this. What caught my attention was the wearer. If Rihanna can appear in New York wearing something decidly steam punk, does that mean that other items are going to be brough into the main-stream? I for one would love to see kids wearing goggles, strapping their elbows with elaborate pads, and bringing back spatts.
If you’ve spent more than a couple of days using the Internet as a communication medium, chances are you’ve used an emoticon. One of these :) or maybe a more old-school :-) Email originated around 1965 when people who shared the same computer terminal needed to leave messages for the next person that would be using the same machine. Over the next 10 years computer to computer and email over a network came in to play. Followed closely by mailing lists, usenet, message boards, and instant chat. It wasn’t until around 1979 that the first emoticon came into play -) which represented ‘tongue in cheek’. Some people even used :-) as ‘tongue in cheek’ where the colon represented teeth. It’s strange really, because when I look at :-) I can only see a little smiley face. The teeth, tongue, and cheek are much more obscure. Surprisingly it took several years for the paradigm to shift to a smiley. What spurred on this change were the flame wars. These arguments were regularly being triggered in message boards by people misunderstanding another users intentions.
A while back, when I joined twitter, I found myself quickly throwing in a :) or a :( to qualify my intentions. Sometimes I want to make sure that someone knows that I am making a joke and not being rude. More and more however, I can’t help but go back and remove the smiley and rephrase. I’ve started to feel like smilies are somehow an extension of geek speek and therefore something to be avoided. Good grammer and a clear argument are key to getting your point across. Of course, they always were, but with 140 characthers it seemed pretty difficult. I guess that over time, I’ve learned how to formulate more short and concise thoughts. I can’t imagine discarding the :) or the :( but I have noticed that I am slowly editing them out of my online vocabulary.
I was on videojug this evening trying to learn how to make a kaleidoscope for a multimedia installation that I have in mind. I had been talking about the history of the Internet and the origins of emoticons in my lecture today. When on videojug, I got sucked into watching a video of Stephen Fry talking about the Internet. I liked what he had to said about the Internet being a city. When you get there, you get drawn to the entertainment and the flashy side of things. Over time you learn about the libraries and museums and become a local. He says that leaving would be like leaving the earth. Earlier in the day I had been talking about how, although a lot of the technologies like email, message boards, and chat are around for 30 + years community was one of the key things to it’s growth. After Stephen, I started watching the series that videojug themselves have made. There are a couple of animated pieces. Things like ‘How to get the IT department to do their job”, and how to ’speak geek”. The following was my favorite. Probably because I can relate, or admit to using a lot of the phrases they are giving out about. It’s called “How to upgrade your webslang to web 2.0″
For the past while, I’ve been feeding birds out on our balcony. Over that time, I have bought, grew, and acquired all sorts of different shrubs and flowers. The birds’ diet has been expanded from peanuts, to mixed seeds. I recently started giving them cookies that I bake with oddments about the kitchen, like oats, maple syrup, and all sorts of nuts that are on the verge of going off. It’s been a good way to use up all those ends of packets of dry seeds or nuts. I use a lot of nuts in baking. Similarly, I’m enthusiastic about including seeds in my diet, but I always seem to loose the taste for a particular type half way though. Too much of one thing I guess. Bundling all the ends and odds into some tasty cookies is a great way to finish them off. We usually eat a few, and then when they are chewy, they’re perfect for the birds.
I think a combination of a more varied diet and a safe looking habitat has been key to attracting more and more of the little guys over the past while. I’ve been spotting a group of a dozen young House Sparrows, two Blue Tits, and three or so Pigeons. The Pigeons wait around until the little guys arrive and polish off the scraps that land on the balcony floor. The House Sparrows usually come in the morning and the evening. I wasn’t sure if there were two groups, or if was the same flock in the evenings. I think they’re usually the same, with one or two stragglers, as the behavior between the main group is quite consistent. I’ve learned a lot about the little guys; they’re not as placid and fearful as I had imagined. They go crazy for the cookies, followed by the seeds, then peanuts. Boy, do they fight for their preference. Those that are stronger get their pick, the others either go for the peanuts or wait around until the larger ones have had their fill. The Blue Tits are interesting too, up until recently they only came when the coast was completely clear. Now, one will edge his way in, and if there aren’t too many competitors, he will ruffle up his (significantly smaller) body and stand his ground. He even managed to scare away one of the female House Sparrows this week. I’m going to continue feeding them throughout the Winter. It’s surprising how cheap you can pick up a large amount of mixed seeds suitable for wild birds at garden centers. I’d encourage anyone to do it. The little guys will appreciate it, and you will be surprisingly entertained.
