I know there seems to be a rash of charity bike rides around at the moment but I am doing Paris – London this weekend to raise money for MapAction – the charity I volunteer for. Funds raised pay for maps and consumables that we make during disasters such as earthquakes and floods. Please make a donation however small.
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/MidsummerMeridian Read the rest of this entry »
The problem is how to get an old HP ScanJet 3400c (c. 2000) scanner working with a MacBook running OS X 10.6.7 Snow Leopard. Annoyingly I did all this once about 6 months ago but since my Mac got nicked and I didn’t make any notes I’ve now got to remember how to do it all over again. Read the rest of this entry »
I keep coming across amazing tilt shift images. If you’ve never heard of this, it’s a photographic technique for creating a shallow depth of field (using lenses or digital post-processing) and can be used to turn a suitable photo into a fake miniature. There are many ways to do this using the digital post-processing route – many people do it in Photoshop, there are also online tools (e.g. Tilt Shift Maker). I thought I’d have a go at doing it in Aperture. Read the rest of this entry »
OK, so it’s not the most daring of overland journeys ever undertaken but then it’s not a journey most people would ever have to do overland. The Ryanair flight should’ve taken 135 minutes and cost £80, we did it in exactly 48 hours at a cost of £500 per person. Read the rest of this entry »
Night O is the deviant branch of standard orienteering. Tonight it involved navigating around Hampstead Heath in the dark and the pouring rain with nothing but a headtorch and a compass. Now, I’ve been orienteering since I was a teenager and I love it but until tonight I’d never done a night event. Navigation skills are really put to the test since you can’t see more than 5-20 metres away (depending on the power of your headgear … more on that later!). Techniques that normal orienteers use sparingly in daylight become essential in the dark – pacing, use of handrails and catching features for example. Read the rest of this entry »
