Stuff

It has been quite a while since the last time I wrote something here.
My work is keeping me rather busy. Last week was my 1st anniversary with GE. Nothing special of course, but it did give me some things to reflect on.
One of those things is that I'm still not used to the way people communicate where I work now. It seems less straight forward, so regularly I need top have lengthy discussions, and even arguments before we find out that actually we are on the same page. Having been there for a year now, it seems that is still happening.

On the good side, we actually got a bonus this year! That's quite something since I haven't had any form of bonus for 5 years, despite exemplary performance prior to GE. I decided to use it to o somewhere far away again ^_^.
Actually, I also was planning to buy a new lens. Unfortunately car issues prevented me from doing so. My Nissan had a rubbing brake, and the garage established that the piston almost fell out of the caliper! Having damaged the brake disc, this meant replacing discs and pads on the front as well, on top of the brake caliper that needed to be replaced, totaling a bill of 330 GBP (I decided to do an oil change as well while I was at it, but at over 40GBP I won't be doing that again!).
Then I decided to start using my Celica again. Having been too lazy in selling it (and thank god for that because with my luck with cars I need at least one if not more backup cars!!!). In any case, it had been standing still for 5 months or so, so had to jump start it. Then I wanted to do the brakes on that one, but decided to first check the coolant. And as expected the garage in Sneyd park that I used to use, had not replaced the coolant like I asked them at the time! The coolant was rust brown and muddy, so I spend a whole day flushing the whole engine, cooling system, and cabin heat system! Then, after spending 12 hours on the internet trying to find out if Halfords' advanced coolant (red) was compatible with Toyota's 4 life coolant (also red) I managed to restore the cooling system to normal operation. As a side note, the engine never over heated on me (touch wood). Then I followed with an oil change which turned out to be quite necessary!
The weekend after I decided to change the brakes myself. I got some parts from ebay to find that the front pads did not fit. I thought this was a fault of the seller. But not so. turns out the celica can have another set of pads (I;m talking non-GT4 Celicas here, which would otherwise make 3 different sets). So after a trip to halfords, I tried the new pads, and guess what: no fit! So what the hell is going on???
I did some research (again 12 hours minimum behind a crappy pc) and found the right brake pads. They're not celica's though... Turns out my Celica has twin pot calipers like an MR2, and MR2 pads would fit perfectly!
I've ordered new pads on ebay and am waiting for those to come in. Hopefully this weekend I can complete the work on my Celica. Then I get it in for an MOT check before the current one runs out. If it passes without too many issues (Im still expecting 100-200 GBP to get it road worthy, which hopefully I can do myself.).
If it does pass, I will start modding it slightly. Nothing too flashy. A standard Celica spoiler (they're small and subtle), and some light changes internally (again nothing flashy, just brightening things up). And maybe this summer I will have the dent in the back repaired! It does need a grill n front of the radiator. Originally it doesn't have anything there, but I think it is wise to put some aluminium mesh in front of it. It'll look good too!


hold on... I ran out of beer. be right back...



Back...

Last weekend I finally received new print paper. It took a long time to get, as I ordered it at the beginning of January, but last week it finally arrived. The paper is at 330gsm extremely thick, and at 30 meters rather long! Needless to say it does not fit the spindles on my printers. However, a stanley knife can easily cut off A3+ pieces. The paper is very bright and glossy and seems to partner very well with my Lyson Daylight Darkroom ink set. I printed out this picture of a bald head eagle (which I took in Holland last x-mas). And wow! simply stunning! the print I have in a warm tint, and is slightly darker than the pic you see here, but boy, am I blown away! You know, sometimes I'm even amazing myself!



Hopefully soon I can make some time to post more of my images of last winter...

Something sad now. Today I received an email from one of my respected ex-colleagues Martin, from Airbus. he was so kind to inform me of something very sad. One of our mutual colleagues, Leigh, has passed away over the weekend. Apparently Leigh had a severe asthma attack from which he did not recover. Leigh has been a great colleague. Always eager to help, and a social friend. He also tried to help me get a position with Airbus China in Tianjin. Our thoughts are with his family and friends, and I wish them lots of strength in these tough times. Rest easy my friend.

Your details are on the internet...

Dear all,

It's unbelievable, after all those events where governmental departments and banks are loosing more and more private details, you would imagine they get it right for once, wouldn't you?
No...
No such luck.
Recently someone somehow managed to get hold of passport details of just about everyone on the planet! Yeah, everyone. Didn't believe it myself, until I checked it out personally.

This website provides details of just about everyone on the planet.
Try if your details are on the website too. I found mine!
I have already notified the owner of the website and informed him this is a breach of my privacy, and if he doesn't remove my details within 24hrs, he will have to defend himself in court.
I'm truly furious!

Hacked

Recently I found my number 1 favourite website Sushicam got hacked.
I've been following Sushicam for many many years and always enjoyed the posts. This last hack wiped out over 2 years worth of posts. Some of it can still be salvaged, but like most things that get destroyed, it will never be like it was. Jeff is going through the hard process of rescuing the lost data. At least he still has all the photos he took (obviously they are not stored only on the website).
I never understood such behaviour. WHat use is it to hack into someone's website and totally destroying it? I don't get it... If it was to gain money or wealth, at least it is understandable (though I would still find it unacceptable), but just breaking things that are not yours, purely because you can, that just doesn't make any sense at all! It's pure vandalism, and there is nothing for anyone to gain from it.
It's a real shame that people have grabbed the internet to continue their pathetic criminal activities. Unfortunately several countries in the EU (and maybe outside the EU as well), now want to invest in internet connections in Africa as well. They think that internet is a primary need! Don't they realise that a large portion of internet crime originates from that very continent? ow more stupid can you get? What happened to food and water? what happened to schooling and education? Don't they need that more? Why spend my money on something that is a luxury? Why spend money so that even more criminals can hack into websites to destroy them, or steal from you???

No mr prime minister, you can NOT have my tax money to invest in internet in a continent where it will support criminal activities.
Considering that I have been victim of fraud on average twice per year for the last 3-4 years, I think a better investment would be to take that money and invest it in police, and health care in our own country.

Rude behaviour

Recently I read an article in the electronic news paper from Radio Nieuws Wereldomroep, a Dutch news service meant for those abroad.

The article was talking about shame for fellow Dutch people abroad. The person who wrote the article was talking about how she saw dozens of Dutch families returning from their holiday in France, visiting a restaurant where they cut queues, leave their children running around screaming and demolishing the place without correcting them on their behaviour, and how those people produce more decibels wherever they are, without any consideration for other people in their vicinity.

It's an interesting article, because I can kind of relate to the story. However, the story seems to limit itself to behaviour of Dutch people abroad, specifically tourists. And quite frankly, it seems that all foreigners abroad behave rudely on holiday. We all have seen the shows on the English tourists, but the Dutch and Germans are just as bad when it comes to holidays.

In the story the writer seems to indicate that expats generally adapt themselves to their environment. Although I am an expat myself, and have been living in the UK for over 8 years to date, I am not so sure if I consider myself "adapted". The Brits still can get on my nerves from time to time, and I still swear quite badly on occasion. But when I return home to visit my friends and family, I find how rude Dutch people can actually be.

I admit that I surely have adopted some "proper old-English decency" over the years, but most of the differences between how I behave now compared to when I first came to England, I'd like to write down to "growing up".

As such, I would have to say that from my personal point of view, the Dutch in Holland have regressed in their decency. Where, from my point of view, the Dutch used to be just direct and blunt, they now appear rude, intolerant and disrespectful! People no longer walk to each other to ask a question, instead the question has to be shouted from the rooftops! Why is this necessary? Is it really necessary for the rest of the world to know what person A wants to ask person B? My parents raised me to walk up to the person and ask, in an acceptable level of decibels person B my questions. If people are now just too lazy to walk up to the other, why not just pick up your flashy mobile phone and call your counterpart at the other side of the room to ask your question? That way at least I will not be bothered!

Another point is interruptions. Whenever I am having a conversation with someone, it being on the phone or in person, I expect people not to interrupt me or the other person. What's more, is that I expect that the other person does not interrupt his/her conversation to have a discussion with someone else! My brother can be quite bad with this.

Similarly I do not appreciate it when I am in the middle of a story, and the other person interrupts me and starts telling his/her own story. This has happened at work as well, and I am pretty hard on those who do so. Again, this is something I was taught by my parents and I will definitely teach my kids the same!

Another thing I do not appreciate is starting off any response with a very loud mouth when the person feels indignant about what I say or do. As if the number of produced decibels is a measure of success in winning the argument! To give you an example: once I was at home, MY home, standing over the toilet, emptying my bladder, when my brother barged into the bathroom shouting on the top of his lungs "You are disgusting! You should sit down when you pee!!!". We are talking 105 dB here! So I tell him very strictly that he should not act so indignant, and moreover, it is my F-ing house and I do what I want in my own home!!! Now what did he do wrong here? He should have come to me afterwards and suggest that sitting down on the toilet would be a better way of peeing for those and those reasons. Then I would say, fair enough, I will consider that. Now his argument is out of the window because he did not respect the fact it was my own home, and of course, he used decibels to win the argument rather than logical reasoning. Remember David and Goliath? Same thing…

However, I notice it everywhere now. People prefer to communicate in decibels and try to dominate a conversation. People shout, swear and horn in when driving. A few years ago, people even had the rudeness not to let anyone step out of the train, and rushed inside to get a seat! Well, think again idiots! If the passengers leaving don't get a chance to get out, you don't get to have a seat!

By all means, I'm not claiming to be a saint. Far from it! I still have my own quirks and still can spit out some rude language, mostly in traffic. And readers of my blog will undoubtedly know I can react rather indignant, if not outraged with particular situations.

But I think that when the Dutch population can actually learn some decent behaviour from ME, I think it is time to get worried…

Something totally different now:
An interesting discovery has been made recently in the Indian ocean. It appears that an Arabic shipwreck has been found on the bottom of the sea, containing the most valuable marine "treasure" ever. In fact, the quotation marks can be removed because the treasure actually contains many thousands of gold and silver coins, priceless Chinese ceramics and jade artefacts, etc etc.

This article form the BBC gives some more insights in the discovery. As you can see form the pics, the finds are rather astonishing. They also prove that there was trade between the Chinese Tang dynasty, and the middle east way before people originally thought.

Creative

As you will all see now, I have updated my website slightly It's far from perfect, but it will do for now.
At some point I hope I can have the header image rotate through other images. That would be cool.
Content and layout stayed pretty much the same. Until I find some really flashy gadgets to have 3D animations for cycling through links etc, i think this will be just fine.

More creative news: I am in the process of making a photo book of some of my images. Sounds difficult? Well, actually it's not.
There are many online providers that allow you to download a software package for generating your personal photo book.
Some providers are better than others. At the moment I am working on a book using Blurb . The package is actually very extensive, and I suspect quality is good from what I saw online. Price isn't bad at all, but varies depending on what you want.
However, I will use Blurb purely for proof printing. Because I found another provider called Asuka . These guys are real pro's! They allow you to work in either sRGB or Adobe RGB. They work very simple, as they give you a basic template for Photoshop, and that's it. Creativity is up to you. This also has a drawback, e.g. when you don't HAVE creativity... In this case, Blurb is a better option because the amount of templates is quite staggering. There is some flexibility for creativity in Blurb if you want to use your own templates, but it involves tricking the software package. Very simple and low risk, but maybe not the neatest solution...
Once I finished my Blurb book to satisfaction, I will create one using Asuka. Now Asuka is actually for professionals. They expect you to work as a professional photographer and ask for proof. Well, i don't have any, but I managed to convince them I am, so they allowed me to register (yep, only "pro's" can register successful with these guys). However, I have to say, from their services so far, I am well impressed! After successful registration, I got discount vouchers for my first books. Now, you should know that you will be needing these vouchers as their prices are rather steep, and I mean, inflation stimulating steep! After 50% discount, a 40 page book will still cost as much as 45-50 GBP depending on the finishing. Now the finishing is amazing. Pages can be laminated or varnished. Although the laminated pages look impressive, they also feel a bit tacky. It's like the laminate provides protection in case your book is sexually arousing if you know what I mean...

Anyway, it will be a slow process at the moment, and I will keep you posted on progress...