Thailand flood: Watching Google.org Crises Response.

I never knew this service even existed, and I must think everyone of us in Thailand are watching this right now, to see the flood coming in graphical detail is quite frightening… The ground floor of a colleagues’ home is now under water, so he is now having to move into a hotel for the time being.

Looking at the map it looks like our outskirt home will be hit as well, but I am hoping that the area where our house is, is high enough to avoid the worst of the flood, nothing is certain until it hits.

http://www.google.org/crisisresponse/thailand-flood-2011.html

Everyday we are seeing it creeping closer and closer to the City Centre, nothing is certain now, Bang Yai and Bang Bon have already been hit, it is just a matter of time and the skills of the authority now.

Worth a visit: yowayowacamera.com

I am convince everyone who has a camera, even mobile phone camera have at least once tried a levitation / flying photo, or in plain English taking a photo while your subject is in the air after a jump. I was doing my usual browsing this morning, and ended up at digitalrev.com (can be informative and very funny ‘camera’ site), they had this short youtube vdo on trying to imitate the levitation / flying photo from this yowayowacamera.com site.

Several photos are fantastic, and totally believable (you’ll need to scroll through her album). the key being all the essential limbs are in focus (fast shutter speed) and try to hide the effect of gravity from all the parts (including clothing) as much as you can. She was kind enough to also give the detail on how she took all of her photos, definitely worth a visit.

When I win the lottery :)

Canon had just announced their latest professional DSLR, 1D X. Looks like I can either find a second job, or start buying the lottery again (looks like the latter will win out :)

The flooding of Thailand 2011.

Dear Matt and Marcella,

For the past couple of months Thailand have been suffering from a terrible flood, we have seen its devastation slowly coming from the North affecting millions of people along the way, in Ayutthaya the flood have been reported at three to four metres deep!

As of today it is now knocking gently on Bangkok’s door. Bang Yai has just been hit and that isn’t that far from our home in the out skirt of the city, on the news we see homes literally being drown, the ground floor have totally disappeared under the water.

The next couple of days will be critical for Bangkok, there are whispers that the surround provinces are suffering more than it should because Bangkok is being protected. The major river of our country is Chao Phraya River and it runs right through Bangkok, but because Bangkok is the capital city ‘they’ have limited the flow of the water so that it goes around Bangkok rather than through it, meaning the surrounding provinces have to suffer from the flood longer than they should. Of course there is no way to validate this claim, just only that Bangkok is still dry while the other provinces are drowning.

The headlines are saying, “Nearly 270 dead, 8 million affected, and over 3 Billion USD worth of damages” and the ending is nowhere in sight. Several industrial estates have been totally wiped out, my thought was not only for the people who was suffering, but looking to the future, who will invest in Thailand now? Without jobs the future beyond this flood looks so much bleaker.

Here is a picture of the affected area, those blue patches are certainly not lakes just area that are being affected by this flood.

This map was updated on the 17th of October 2011, it is coming to Bangkok, the general feeling is that the authority may not be able to stop the water entering Bangkok, so people are preparing. Tesco, Big C and others superstores’ shelves are empty, cars are being moved up high, people are moving their ground floors belongings to the second floor.

This is a tough time for most, lets hope it subsides soon.

Blogging from my bed...

Just downloaded this Blogger app, looks interesting...

He just walked through the door clutching his butterfly pillow... Decided to let him crash on our bed, it is half term n all :)

I wonder how this post will turn out from an iPhone :)

(5 mins later: looks alright but no ability to move the pic around is a bit restrictive, but a useful app none the less).

Conversations: Matt and us.

Matt:     “I need go to the toilet”.
Gio:      “Ok, what do you need to do?” (meaning number 1 or number 2)
Matt:     “I want mix pee pee and poo poo together Mama”.
Gio:      lol :)

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It was time to leave for school...

Me:      “Come on Matt, time to go we are late”.
Matt:    “Ok Papa (in a loud voice)”.

(Gio follows behind us)

Matt:    “Mama you stay”.
Gio:     “Why baby, can’t I come?”
Matt:    “No Mama, you are too big! You stay!”
Gio:     lol :)
Me:      [Laying dead on the floor :)]

(Gio is now eight and a bit months)

Surprisingly no anger this time (stolen spare tyre).

My 5 years old Fortuner have spent more time standing still than on the road since we’ve moved into the city, and with the new job with a position car meaning the Fortuner has even less of a chance to run wildly on the open roads.

Anyway, it is well known that Fortuner is a soft target for spare tyre theft, as it hangs (in plain sight) under the boot of the vehicle. This past Sunday we drove the Fortuner to our home at the out skirt of the city, Gio noticed there was a unsymmetrical trapezium shape hole in the rear bumper... WTF, was my first thought, how on earth did that happen, even upon closer inspection I was still baffled on how it could have happened and not for a second did I realised that the spare had gone!

Did I back the car into a horizontal ‘this is Spata’ spear? Or was it just a simple case of a vandalisation? Anyway, it quickly went to the back of my mind and didn’t think much of it, and at around lunch time we drove back to the condo in the city.

In the same afternoon I took a taxi to take Matt to his Little Gym class, and on the way back as the taxi was stopping at the condo there was another Fortuner right in front of us, naturally I was focusing on his rear bumper... Then it hits me literally like a bolt of lightening. “Oh %^#& someone stolen my spare tyre”!




There was no anger, just very annoyed that the thief actually drove through the security guards, and had the time to remove the spare tyre without being spotted by the security guards. How did I know that it happened in the parking lot? Gio went down to look more closely and found the missing part of the rear bumper, it was still there in my parking spot.
 



After Gio found the plastic part, she went to verbally complaint to the management, they sat down and watched the CCTV feed, however the CCTV proved little use as they can only go back one week.

The day after I had to go to the police to log the case (this is a normal procedure in Thailand), not hoping for any compensation but will submit a letter to the condo’s management, just to let them know how disappointed we are. I was later told that another Fortuner also had his spare tyre stolen exactly in the same manner and probably at the same time as mine.

Love this photo: Chris Farley.

I came across this photo several weeks/months ago, felt in love with it pretty much immediately. The subject of a sorrowful pensive comedian (clown) is certainly isn’t new, but for me this must be one of the best.
 
The emptiness of the ‘tall’ back wall, with its bland washed out colour of grey, feels like a perfect amplifier of Mr. Farley’s mood that is so clearly projected from his facial expression.

There is a slight hope in sunlight rushing through the gap in the curtain, behind Chris the wall is unnaturally lustrous. The hanging fag from a mouth that simply just ‘couldn’t bothered’ and the dull gold crown together with a generic white vest was absolutely perfect for a tired mournful king.  

Placing Mr. Farley right at the bottom and in the middle of the composition, I could feel the heaviness of anguish that he is carrying upon his shoulders (pushing him down, being swallowed out of the frame), cutting him off just slightly below his chest just forces me to concentrate on the subject even more, no clutter, no other lines to consider, no shadows to draw my focus, no colours to pull me away from the lifelessness objective of the photo.

I believe he died of a drug overdose, I have always loved some... liked most... and didn’t care for a few of his work. I remembered I was shocked when the news broke. I like comedy and I was hoping he was going to make all of us laugh for a lot longer, much longer.


-------------------------------------
Source: I think I first discovered this photo on Chive (not sure though), but decided to find the source of the photo, hoping to find the photographer’s name or something , to give it the credit where the credit is due. Decided to Google Image ‘Chris Farley’, it came up on page 11, after a couple more click the trail went cold at reform.lt. The trail went cold here because this site has nothing but photos after photos in one never ending page (love it), couldn’t find a search option after scrolling endlessly for a few minutes I gave up, will try again later :)

Marcella, you are such a mover :)

Dear Marcella,

Your mother had a Dr. appointment earlier on this week (11.10.11), unfortunately he didn’t do the ultrasound this time so it was just a normal physical check up. I managed to arrive late but luckily didn’t miss anything important this time, the Dr. said you have already turned, so your head is now South instead of North (that is the politest way I can put it, lol), so it won’t be long now (yippp pppeee).

If you ask your mother what is the one thing she remembers when she was carrying you, I have no doubt she will say that you were a beautiful dancer, forever moving that way and this.

Sometimes while you turn you’ll hit a sensitive spot that makes her wince, and every time that happens, almost always everyone in the same room would jump, although she was in discomfort she would always have a huge smile on her face :) Tonight I’ll try to catch you on film when you decide to have your little dance.

Lots of love,


Dad.

Probably quicker than a heart beat (new camera).

Three years ago with Matt’s arrival I got the green light to get a new camera, that resulted in the D90 which was later stolen, now the opportunity had arisen again (thanks Marcella :), but this time the decision isn’t so clear cut.

On the table are, SLT A77, D7000, D300s’ replacement and Nex7, don’t ask me why Canon isn’t on the list for a APS-C sensor based system, it hasn’t been on my list for quite some time now. Anyway, the indecisiveness is a real pain, back and forth like a four way see-saw in my mind, several times as soon as I was happy with my decision something caught my attention and the whole see-saw starts all over again.

The top of the list is A77, so why the see-saw? SLT system, losing a bit of light somehow bothers me, I know that it shouldn’t as the IQ should really be the final point, but now in choosing the lens apart from the focal length multiplier one will now have to calculate the real f. (minus half stop) for the aperture as well is just a little too much for my liking. Apart from that the real thing that bothers me is the pixel density, 24MP on an APS-C (affects low light performance) is way above my need.

So why is the A77 on top of my list? Every review on the net seems to indicate that the AF is insanely fast and accurate, this is so important to me, of course I am still waiting for my most trusted reviewer, dpreview. Apart from the AF, and on the same level of importance would be the low light performance, I would put myself in a ‘passionate’ amateur slot, so a bit of noise would be fine but again this is ranked very high on my list (many will now say why not go with the Nex5n? I already own an Nex5 and really wanting something with more manual control).

D7000 ranked second, but purely on an emotional side, this camera is over a year old, if I have to wait I would rather wait for the D300s’ replacement, but who wants to wait for something that could still be nothing but a drawing on some line manager’s desk.

I am a normal consumer, I am not taking some high roads here and will admit that silly little things that shouldn’t matter does matter, like in the example above buying a year old system is an obstacle in my mind. The other thing is new tech. I fully appreciate that new tech. does not mean better results (our individual ability is probably the most important variable here), but if there was a chance to try it, I would, did not hesitate to get the Nex5 as soon as it came out in Thailand.

Looks like the problem would be over with another site that I trust, sonyalpharumors, well, rumour is a rumour but this site is pretty much spot on most of the time. Looks like an off shoot of the A77 is in the pipeline if it turns out to be identical to the A77 but with lower MP, this would easily stop the see-sawing for good, even if I have to wait (and pine like crazy) for six months I would.

Nothing to do but wait and go back to enjoying the still very capable Nex5 :) haa haa haa, greed and gluttony is a terrible thing, tech. is more addictive than narcotics :) Now perish the thought of Nex 6.5, identical the Nex7 but with lower MP, I swear I just saw the see-saw creeping again… haa haa haa, only kidding.