With two well-deserved Oscar nominations under her belt, Samantha Morton is one of the most-respected actresses in the world. She hasn't parlayed that acclaim into box-office success, but that's fine - she prefers the freedom of indie movies anyway. But these days, big-name stars are trying to muscle in on the indie action, hoping to gain some cred and grab a nomination come Oscar time. Morton takes these "slumming" celebs to task in a Guardian interview, singling out a certain Oscar-winning Aussie actress.
more - http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/23/anglophenia.jsp?bc_id=582
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Vista Sp1 Beta Released
Microsoft has finally released a private SP1 beta build for Vista. It is yet to be made to the general beat tester community. As of now it is only an invitation-only testing.
As usual lot of tweaks and refinements have gone into the build. The system is made to work faster than before and the list of Vista certifier softwares has increased 10 fold.
Some key benefits are:
* The standalone service pack will include all languages. It can update all PCs running Windows Vista, regardless of language.
* Componentization brings benefits such as the ability to uninstall updates in any order more reliably.
* Windows Vista contains a significant amount of files shared with Windows Server 2008 and therefore benefits from the continual improvements made during the Windows Server 2008 development cycle.
source - http://rajanz.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/vista-sp1-beta-released-private/
As usual lot of tweaks and refinements have gone into the build. The system is made to work faster than before and the list of Vista certifier softwares has increased 10 fold.
Some key benefits are:
* The standalone service pack will include all languages. It can update all PCs running Windows Vista, regardless of language.
* Componentization brings benefits such as the ability to uninstall updates in any order more reliably.
* Windows Vista contains a significant amount of files shared with Windows Server 2008 and therefore benefits from the continual improvements made during the Windows Server 2008 development cycle.
source - http://rajanz.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/vista-sp1-beta-released-private/
Monday, September 24, 2007
All the digg-style aplications - how many?
There ate so many dgg-style sites in the internet, it is pointed to 384 digg clones here
Saturday, September 22, 2007
40 free ways to get started with your own blog
Here are 40 free ways to get started with your blog.
Danga Software Powered
GreatestJournal.com - Based on the same software as LiveJournal, offers free voice posts, 1GB of photo hosting, and space for up to 2,000 user icons.
InsaneJournal.com - Another site based on the Danga software that runs LiveJournal, offers free and paid accounts, paid benefits are only enhancements.
JorunalFen.net - Runs on the Danga platform, very much directed towards various “fandoms†(i.e. Harry Potter, various Television shows) and is meant for users 18 and older.
LiveJournal.com - One of the most well known of the blogging hosts. Offers multiple account types such as ad-supported and paid. The center of a few controversies recently.
Themed Blog Sites
Blogabond.com - A site dedicated to travel blogs with map integration and more.
BlogCheese.com - A video blogging website.
BusyThumbs.com - A blog site specifically for your text messages and camera phone images.
Freevlog - Designed for video blogging and completely free.
Trippert.com - Create and share blogs of your travels.
Ufem.com - Blogging site specifically geared towards women. Offers multiple themes and plugins.
Word Count Journal.com - A new blogging format that is also part challenge. Write one word on the first day, two words on the second day and so on, at the end of the year you’ll have written 66,795 words.
Xanco.com - Another moblogging site for you to share all your mobile communications with friends and family.
WordPress Powered
Blogetery.com - Offers multiple templates, anti-spam, free sub-domain and more.
BlogRox.com - Runs on WordPress and offers 50MB of free online space.
Blogsome.com - Based out of Ireland, this site uses the WordPress MU platform, large choice of themes.
Edublogs.com - WordPress powered blogging for educators.
WordPress.com - Not only can you install WordPress on your own sites, you can use the same software on their site and save yourself all of the technical work.
Various Platforms
Blog.com - Offers free blog hosting with unlimited bandwidth for their free package, more benefits for paid members.
Blog Ladder.com - All blog entries show up on the main ladder as well as inside your own blog.
Blogger.com - A great starting site to get a taste of blogging, very easy to use.
Blogr.com - Allows you to blog, host photos & videos, and podcasts.
BlogSpirit.com - European based blogging site, offers 30-day trial and subscription thereafter, but offers quite a bit of storage.
Blogster.com - Offers free image hosting in addition to free blogs.
BlogYx.com - Blogging site with extras such as chat boxes so you can interact with your readers.
Bloki.com - Lets you build a blog site and even open it up for collaboration.
Bravenet.com - Free blog hosting with RSS feeds and more.
ClearBlogs.com - Free blog hosting and offers templates, friends only posts, IP-Banning and more.
Etribes.com - Based in Europe, allows you to create all sorts of websites including a blog.
Multiply.com - Mixes blogging and social networking, with photo galleries and more.
Netcipia.com - Free blog and wiki for private or public display with 2GB of storage.
Open Diary.com - Offers unlimited storage and posts, low cost subscription rates for advanced features.
ShoutPost.com - A platform for creating blogs with a focus on generating traffic.
SoulCast.com - Have something you want to talk about, but want to say it anonymously? This may be the blogging site for you.
Squarespace.com - Lets you build your blog with numerous themes, also allows you to add other site features.
Terapad.com - Offers blogs as well as features such as an integrated store.
Tooum.com - Fully integrated blog and forum which allows for seamless discussion between the two.
Tumblr.com - A blog platform with a focus on allowing media-rich posts.
Weebly.com - Allows you to create a site and blog, free hosting and change designs on the fly.
Windows Live Spaces - Free blogging with your MSN account, only drawback is readers have to have an account also.
Vox.com - Part of the SixApart family of blogging sites, very much geared towards the personal journal types of blogs.
Xanga.com - Part social network, part blogging, all free.
Yahoo 360 - Part of your Yahoo account and features easy publishing.
Zoomshare.com - Free blog hosting with 250MB of free storage.
Save the planet by eating peanut butter: How Peanut Butter helps the planet
One of the daily decisions we all face is what to eat. How do we eat well and in a way that’s good for the environment — and at the same time have meals that are easy to fix and taste good?
One food that fits all this is the simple Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. According to the PB&J Campaign website:
* Eating a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich instead of a grilled cheese or chicken sandwich saves 2.5 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. That’s almost half of what you’d save if you switched to a Hybrid car.
* The same sandwich will save 280 gallons of water since growing peanuts takes less water than livestock.
* Growing peanuts also takes less land than animals — so your sandwich could help preserve 12-50 square feet of land from being used for cultivation.
I bet you didn’t realize that eating three Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches could have the same environmental impact as switching your showers to a low-flow shower head.
This is the type of information we want to share. How can we change our daily habits to have less environmental impact in ways that fit our busy lives? This one is simple. Eat more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Plus, they taste good and cost less.
In addition to being better for the environment, they’re also very healthy as long as you don’t eat too much. According to WebMD, peanut butter is high in fat, but those fats are relatively healthy ones. Everyone needs some fat in their diets — just not too much — and over 80% of the fats in peanut butter are the healthy kind.
According to the WebMD article, “It is hard to believe that something so wonderful could also be good for you.” Peanut butter “is chock full of good nutrition without those unhealthy trans fatty acids. The only limitation to enjoying peanut butter is the two-tablespoon portion size”
But what about all the fat and the less-healthy oils that sometimes get processed into commercial peanut butter? Does that make it bad? According to Leslie Bonci, director of sports nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, that isn’t always the case. “Fresh ground is not necessarily better,” Bonci says. “The fat and calorie content are pretty much the same whether you grind your own or buy commercial peanut butter.”
Again, according to Bonci, the serving size is 2 tablespoons.
One food that fits all this is the simple Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. According to the PB&J Campaign website:
* Eating a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich instead of a grilled cheese or chicken sandwich saves 2.5 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. That’s almost half of what you’d save if you switched to a Hybrid car.
* The same sandwich will save 280 gallons of water since growing peanuts takes less water than livestock.
* Growing peanuts also takes less land than animals — so your sandwich could help preserve 12-50 square feet of land from being used for cultivation.
I bet you didn’t realize that eating three Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches could have the same environmental impact as switching your showers to a low-flow shower head.
This is the type of information we want to share. How can we change our daily habits to have less environmental impact in ways that fit our busy lives? This one is simple. Eat more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Plus, they taste good and cost less.
In addition to being better for the environment, they’re also very healthy as long as you don’t eat too much. According to WebMD, peanut butter is high in fat, but those fats are relatively healthy ones. Everyone needs some fat in their diets — just not too much — and over 80% of the fats in peanut butter are the healthy kind.
According to the WebMD article, “It is hard to believe that something so wonderful could also be good for you.” Peanut butter “is chock full of good nutrition without those unhealthy trans fatty acids. The only limitation to enjoying peanut butter is the two-tablespoon portion size”
But what about all the fat and the less-healthy oils that sometimes get processed into commercial peanut butter? Does that make it bad? According to Leslie Bonci, director of sports nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, that isn’t always the case. “Fresh ground is not necessarily better,” Bonci says. “The fat and calorie content are pretty much the same whether you grind your own or buy commercial peanut butter.”
Again, according to Bonci, the serving size is 2 tablespoons.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Top 10 microformats Resources for Web 2.0 Developers
microformats has been only two years old, yet it has brought significant changes in a relatively short time.
What is it, actually? According to microformats.org, “[microformats is] designed for humans first and machines second, [they] are a set of simple, open data formats built upon existing and widely adopted standards.”
Enough with the fluff, let’s see how it actually works, microformats in action:
Arie Kusuma Atmaja nampang gitu lhoh
Flickr picture source
The above picture is me browsing to the LinkedIn profile of one of Indonesia’s renowned Ruby on Rails experts, Arie Kusuma Atmaja. The overlay window that contains these semantic information is not a LinkedIn feature. Rather, it is the easily usable, cross-browser Microformats Bookmarklet by LeftLogic. Go on… try it if you haven’t!
As you can see, the mere act of clicking the bookmarklet shows you some important facts about Arie (or any microformats-enabled you’re currently at). In case of a microformats-enabled resume page like in LinkedIn, it shows you where he works, when, education information, and related stuff. For fun comparison purposes only, my LinkedIn profile has more detailed information than his, hehe ;-)
The best part is not only that the information is human-readable, but it can also be extracted and processed automatically by machines or software. The primary distinguishing trait of a microformats-enabled HTML page is that it has semantic meaning. A microformats processor can know the difference between a name, an e-mail address, a street address, a job, a university, and so on; while in plain HTML, all you can infer are things dealing with paragraphs, tables, lists, and so on.
Making microformats-enabled pages aren’t hard at all, actually it is very easy! It’s even much easier than CSS.
To see how simple it is, let’s see a snippet of a real-world microformats, still courtesy of Arie:
Most of the above snippet is just HTML. The microformats part is simply the class=”something“ convention. Simple, and it gets the job done. :-)
Some more commonly used microformats specifications include:
* hCard for people and organizations
* hCalendar for calendars and Events
* hCalendar for calendars and Events
* VoteLinks and hReview for opinions, ratings, and reviews
* XFN for social networks
* rel-license for licenses
* rel-tag for tags, keywords, and categories
* XOXO for lists and outlines
* …and more…
Despite all these specifications, “who uses it?” is a good question. It turns out, there has been many, and more and more sites are adopting it. LinkedIn with hResume is one example, along with Google Maps, Yahoo, Flickr, and all these cool guys have been using them. Why shouldn’t you?
Interested? Here are some stuff to get you started:
1. Online Tools
1. Microformats Bookmarklet by LeftLogic
A handy microformats explorer bookmarklet. Useful also if you’re on the go and you want to check out some microformats. No need to install anything fancy on the computer.
2. Operator Firefox Extension
Microformats explorer extension for Firefox. Whether you’re a web developer or simply want to check out this latest technology, this is a very useful tool.
3. Tails Firefox extension is another microformats Firefox extension
4. Almost Universal Microformats Parser is a useful web-based tool to parse microformats.
2. Tutorials and Resources
1. Microformats, what they are and how to use them, by Smashing Magazine
2. Microformats Tutorial by XFront
This is a very extensive tutorial. The complete tutorial package including the example files is a 13 MB download! :-)
3. How to Use Microformats by Vitamin Features
4. Introduction to Microformats by WhyMicroformats.com
5. The Big Picture on Microformats by Digital Web Magazine
6. Another by Digital Web Magazine: Microformats Primer
7. Back to the future: Mozilla Firefox 3.0 Does Microformats
Read/WriteWeb’s articles also touched microformats-related stuff quite often.
3. Microformat Parsers
1. Mofo Ruby Gem and Rails Plugin
Of course, this is Ruby on Rails blog! Mofo is a microformats parser for Ruby and it also doubles as a Rails plugin. Check out Chris Wanstrath’s post for more information.
There are also microformat parsers for other languages:
2. Sumo is a microformats parser for JavaScript
3. hKit is a microformats parser for PHP
4. Microformats Parser is another parser for PHP
5. Microformats Parser for Python
6. Hpricot Ruby Gem
Found a bizarre microformat or inventing your own? No problem, Hpricot comes to the rescue. Parse any HTML-ish document as you see fit… More info available from this RedHanded post.
7. scrAPI is another Ruby library for parsing HTML that can be useful for processing microformats.
4. References
1. Microformats.org
“Official” web site of Microformats. You can read everything about microformats, current specifications and newly proposed specs.
2. “Microformats: Empowering Your Markup for Web 2.0″ Book by John Allsopp
This is the first book dedicated to, and is a comprehensive guide to, microformats. It explores why, in Bill Gates’s words, “We need microformats”; how microformats work; and the kinds of problems microformats help solve. the book covers every current microformat, with complete details of the syntax, semantics, and uses of each, along with real-world examples and a comprehensive survey of the tools available for working with them. the book also features case studies detailing how major web content publishers such as yahoo put microformats to work in their web applications.
3. Brian Suda’s microformats cheatsheet
For people who likes it quick and done, this is perfect. It lists microformats properties by format and also lists each format and the hierarchy. This includes elemental microformats, compound microformats and some of the standard design patterns used.
4. Dave Child’s microformats cheatsheet is another good reference
5. And more cheatsheets on microformats.org wiki
6. Gleaning Resource Descriptions from Dialects of Languages (GRDDL) is a recently approved W3C Recommendation that can be used, among others, for extracting semantic information (including microformats) from HTML pages.
Feel free to add more resources as you see fit, in the comments! :-)
What is it, actually? According to microformats.org, “[microformats is] designed for humans first and machines second, [they] are a set of simple, open data formats built upon existing and widely adopted standards.”
Enough with the fluff, let’s see how it actually works, microformats in action:
Arie Kusuma Atmaja nampang gitu lhoh
Flickr picture source
The above picture is me browsing to the LinkedIn profile of one of Indonesia’s renowned Ruby on Rails experts, Arie Kusuma Atmaja. The overlay window that contains these semantic information is not a LinkedIn feature. Rather, it is the easily usable, cross-browser Microformats Bookmarklet by LeftLogic. Go on… try it if you haven’t!
As you can see, the mere act of clicking the bookmarklet shows you some important facts about Arie (or any microformats-enabled you’re currently at). In case of a microformats-enabled resume page like in LinkedIn, it shows you where he works, when, education information, and related stuff. For fun comparison purposes only, my LinkedIn profile has more detailed information than his, hehe ;-)
The best part is not only that the information is human-readable, but it can also be extracted and processed automatically by machines or software. The primary distinguishing trait of a microformats-enabled HTML page is that it has semantic meaning. A microformats processor can know the difference between a name, an e-mail address, a street address, a job, a university, and so on; while in plain HTML, all you can infer are things dealing with paragraphs, tables, lists, and so on.
Making microformats-enabled pages aren’t hard at all, actually it is very easy! It’s even much easier than CSS.
To see how simple it is, let’s see a snippet of a real-world microformats, still courtesy of Arie:
Most of the above snippet is just HTML. The microformats part is simply the class=”something“ convention. Simple, and it gets the job done. :-)
Some more commonly used microformats specifications include:
* hCard for people and organizations
* hCalendar for calendars and Events
* hCalendar for calendars and Events
* VoteLinks and hReview for opinions, ratings, and reviews
* XFN for social networks
* rel-license for licenses
* rel-tag for tags, keywords, and categories
* XOXO for lists and outlines
* …and more…
Despite all these specifications, “who uses it?” is a good question. It turns out, there has been many, and more and more sites are adopting it. LinkedIn with hResume is one example, along with Google Maps, Yahoo, Flickr, and all these cool guys have been using them. Why shouldn’t you?
Interested? Here are some stuff to get you started:
1. Online Tools
1. Microformats Bookmarklet by LeftLogic
A handy microformats explorer bookmarklet. Useful also if you’re on the go and you want to check out some microformats. No need to install anything fancy on the computer.
2. Operator Firefox Extension
Microformats explorer extension for Firefox. Whether you’re a web developer or simply want to check out this latest technology, this is a very useful tool.
3. Tails Firefox extension is another microformats Firefox extension
4. Almost Universal Microformats Parser is a useful web-based tool to parse microformats.
2. Tutorials and Resources
1. Microformats, what they are and how to use them, by Smashing Magazine
2. Microformats Tutorial by XFront
This is a very extensive tutorial. The complete tutorial package including the example files is a 13 MB download! :-)
3. How to Use Microformats by Vitamin Features
4. Introduction to Microformats by WhyMicroformats.com
5. The Big Picture on Microformats by Digital Web Magazine
6. Another by Digital Web Magazine: Microformats Primer
7. Back to the future: Mozilla Firefox 3.0 Does Microformats
Read/WriteWeb’s articles also touched microformats-related stuff quite often.
3. Microformat Parsers
1. Mofo Ruby Gem and Rails Plugin
Of course, this is Ruby on Rails blog! Mofo is a microformats parser for Ruby and it also doubles as a Rails plugin. Check out Chris Wanstrath’s post for more information.
There are also microformat parsers for other languages:
2. Sumo is a microformats parser for JavaScript
3. hKit is a microformats parser for PHP
4. Microformats Parser is another parser for PHP
5. Microformats Parser for Python
6. Hpricot Ruby Gem
Found a bizarre microformat or inventing your own? No problem, Hpricot comes to the rescue. Parse any HTML-ish document as you see fit… More info available from this RedHanded post.
7. scrAPI is another Ruby library for parsing HTML that can be useful for processing microformats.
4. References
1. Microformats.org
“Official” web site of Microformats. You can read everything about microformats, current specifications and newly proposed specs.
2. “Microformats: Empowering Your Markup for Web 2.0″ Book by John Allsopp
This is the first book dedicated to, and is a comprehensive guide to, microformats. It explores why, in Bill Gates’s words, “We need microformats”; how microformats work; and the kinds of problems microformats help solve. the book covers every current microformat, with complete details of the syntax, semantics, and uses of each, along with real-world examples and a comprehensive survey of the tools available for working with them. the book also features case studies detailing how major web content publishers such as yahoo put microformats to work in their web applications.
3. Brian Suda’s microformats cheatsheet
For people who likes it quick and done, this is perfect. It lists microformats properties by format and also lists each format and the hierarchy. This includes elemental microformats, compound microformats and some of the standard design patterns used.
4. Dave Child’s microformats cheatsheet is another good reference
5. And more cheatsheets on microformats.org wiki
6. Gleaning Resource Descriptions from Dialects of Languages (GRDDL) is a recently approved W3C Recommendation that can be used, among others, for extracting semantic information (including microformats) from HTML pages.
Feel free to add more resources as you see fit, in the comments! :-)
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Google Presents
Building on an ongoing theme, it’s only fitting that I mention google office’s new presentation app. Unlike word processing and spreadsheets, I make power point slides fairly often, so I was pretty into the idea of a google-based replacement. The great thing about making slides online is that there’s not need to transfer them from one computer to the next (transferring slides sucks, since on Macs and PCs they may look different). Plus if you collaborate on a presentation (as I often do) everyone can edit the slides online. In fact, you can even gchat while both looking at the slides. Also google office provides automatic back up and version history. The key drawback of using google presentations though is that the app pretty much blows. It’s just nowhere near Powerpoint. For one, it doesn’t automatically resize text, the one things that makes using Powerpoint super fast. It’s true that Apple’s Keynote doesn’t do this either, but the google program doesn’t even let draw lines and boxes or edit themes. This is particularly frustrating since I was able to import existing slides that contained objects I couldn’t edit or create from scratch. I was also surprised I couldn’t embed content using google video (or google images). Putting video in Powerpoint is risky, so this seemed like a potential major selling point. There was also no way to select multiple objects. Anyway, here’s my sample presentation. You need a google account to view it, and also it doesn’t show up correctly in Safari. Hopefully this app will get a lot better real soon.
Read another blog: fresh-seafoods
Read another blog: fresh-seafoods
Collecting Antique Postcards
Antique postcards are a wonderful way to learn about the past. Often the only way to see pictures of old buildings, street cars, expositions, or sports and other pastimes, is on a postcard. A collector of postcards usually specializes in a theme: perhaps a particular location or mode of transportation, or a sport or pastime, or in advertising cards. Trains and old sports stadiums are very popular, and fetch high prices. Postcard collectors are often referred to as deltiologists (from the Greek meaning a collector of small pictures or writings).
At the turn of the 20th century, postcards were extremely popular. It is said that visitors to New York's Coney Island mailed 200,000 postcards in a single day in 1906. At the height of their popularity, over a billion cards were sold every year.
Vintage postcards can be found in several places. Flea markets, antique shows, or ephemera (paper) shows often have tables. Auctions are a good place to look for postcards. In the United States there are many postcard clubs which often have public shows
The same dealers often move from show to show. Some dealers will bargain with you, and others won't. Most dealers give a discount for large purchases. You might want to shop around when you are at a show, because prices of the same postcard might vary with different dealers. There is a wide range of prices of postcards, from as low as a few dollars to more than 50 dollars; the price of the postcard depends on the subject, condition, and scarcity of the postcard.
You may choose to overlook the condition of a card if it is scarce or you need it to add to a collection. You may or may not be interested in the stamp on the postcard. Most postcards are printed on cardboard, but materials such as leather, wood, and even metal have also been used. There is a incredible variety of topics depicted on postcards. There is everything from disasters to greetings (not just holiday greetings but also greetings from a particular place). German "Gruss Aus" cards are very popular.
There have been several artists that have made their living creating pictures specifically produced for postcards. Popular "signed" artists include Ellen Clapsaddle (1865-1934) whose cards show delightful children, and Frances Brundage (1854-1937) among others.
The idea of sending postcards became popular in 1861 when H.L. Lipman from Philadelphia began to privately print cards with the front left blank for a message, and the back left for the address. These cards could be mailed once they had a stamp. Companies quickly realized that printing messages or pictures on the backs of "advertising cards" was an inexpensive way to advertise their products. The US government issued its first postal card in 1873. These were mostly used for advertising. It was the Chicago World's Fair that started a frenzy of sending picture postcards.
The pioneer era of picture postcards was from the 1893 Columbian Exposition to 1898. At that time US Post Office cards could be mailed for one cent, but privately printed cards cost 2 cents to mail. Postal cards were government issued and had pre-printed postage, but postcards were privately printed and required stamps. The backs of cards were "undivided backs" and intended only for writing the name and address. Many of these cards have writing on the front below or along with the picture. These cards are often called souvenir cards or mail cards. Charles Goldsmith, using government postal stock printed several sets of official souvenir postcards for the Columbian Expositions and these were extremely popular. Pre-1900 postcards are rare though.
The Golden Age of Postcards was from 1898-1915. The printing and coloring on these cards were high quality. The passage of the Private Mailing Card Act of 1989 allowed private postcards to be mailed for one cent. The back was still undivided, until 1907 when the requirement for undivided backs was dropped, and the left side could be used for a message. In 1915 World War 1 brought an end to the golden age of postcards.
Many postcards from this era were printed in Europe, especially Germany, which allowed good printing quality. The cards were hand colored, and sometimes the colorer used his imagination. Sometimes a printer would add or subtract an object to make the picture look better. It is not uncommon to find two cards with the same scene except for some object is missing in one of them. For this reason collectors must not assume that old postcards show historically correct images.
Antique postcards are a wonderful peek into the past. Although images are often not historically correct, they give us a picture of what has been (of what people wore, and what they did, and where they did it, and what was important to them) that we often can't get anywhere else.
Tracy Crowe loves looking at old postcards
For information about antique collectables, visit http://antiquecollectablesinfo.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tracy_Crowe
At the turn of the 20th century, postcards were extremely popular. It is said that visitors to New York's Coney Island mailed 200,000 postcards in a single day in 1906. At the height of their popularity, over a billion cards were sold every year.
Vintage postcards can be found in several places. Flea markets, antique shows, or ephemera (paper) shows often have tables. Auctions are a good place to look for postcards. In the United States there are many postcard clubs which often have public shows
The same dealers often move from show to show. Some dealers will bargain with you, and others won't. Most dealers give a discount for large purchases. You might want to shop around when you are at a show, because prices of the same postcard might vary with different dealers. There is a wide range of prices of postcards, from as low as a few dollars to more than 50 dollars; the price of the postcard depends on the subject, condition, and scarcity of the postcard.
You may choose to overlook the condition of a card if it is scarce or you need it to add to a collection. You may or may not be interested in the stamp on the postcard. Most postcards are printed on cardboard, but materials such as leather, wood, and even metal have also been used. There is a incredible variety of topics depicted on postcards. There is everything from disasters to greetings (not just holiday greetings but also greetings from a particular place). German "Gruss Aus" cards are very popular.
There have been several artists that have made their living creating pictures specifically produced for postcards. Popular "signed" artists include Ellen Clapsaddle (1865-1934) whose cards show delightful children, and Frances Brundage (1854-1937) among others.
The idea of sending postcards became popular in 1861 when H.L. Lipman from Philadelphia began to privately print cards with the front left blank for a message, and the back left for the address. These cards could be mailed once they had a stamp. Companies quickly realized that printing messages or pictures on the backs of "advertising cards" was an inexpensive way to advertise their products. The US government issued its first postal card in 1873. These were mostly used for advertising. It was the Chicago World's Fair that started a frenzy of sending picture postcards.
The pioneer era of picture postcards was from the 1893 Columbian Exposition to 1898. At that time US Post Office cards could be mailed for one cent, but privately printed cards cost 2 cents to mail. Postal cards were government issued and had pre-printed postage, but postcards were privately printed and required stamps. The backs of cards were "undivided backs" and intended only for writing the name and address. Many of these cards have writing on the front below or along with the picture. These cards are often called souvenir cards or mail cards. Charles Goldsmith, using government postal stock printed several sets of official souvenir postcards for the Columbian Expositions and these were extremely popular. Pre-1900 postcards are rare though.
The Golden Age of Postcards was from 1898-1915. The printing and coloring on these cards were high quality. The passage of the Private Mailing Card Act of 1989 allowed private postcards to be mailed for one cent. The back was still undivided, until 1907 when the requirement for undivided backs was dropped, and the left side could be used for a message. In 1915 World War 1 brought an end to the golden age of postcards.
Many postcards from this era were printed in Europe, especially Germany, which allowed good printing quality. The cards were hand colored, and sometimes the colorer used his imagination. Sometimes a printer would add or subtract an object to make the picture look better. It is not uncommon to find two cards with the same scene except for some object is missing in one of them. For this reason collectors must not assume that old postcards show historically correct images.
Antique postcards are a wonderful peek into the past. Although images are often not historically correct, they give us a picture of what has been (of what people wore, and what they did, and where they did it, and what was important to them) that we often can't get anywhere else.
Tracy Crowe loves looking at old postcards
For information about antique collectables, visit http://antiquecollectablesinfo.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tracy_Crowe
Digital Scrapbooking - The Wave Of The Future
Digital scrapbooking is one of the newest trends in the scrapbooking hobby. Scrapbookers are using the computer in many ways to enhance their scrapbooking pages, or create their pages entirely on the computer.
Some people use the computer to enhance their photos and scrapbooking pages. With the rise of digital photography, many scrapbookers are editing their photos on the computer before putting them in the album. They are removing red-eye, blurring out distracting backgrounds and enhancing the color of their photos. Some scrapbookers are even printing their own photos at home. Doing this allows you to customize the size of the photo to fit perfectly onto your page.
Some scrapbookers use the computer to make elements for their traditional scrapbooking pages. They will create journal boxes, titles, enhancements and more on the computer, then attach it to the page. The most common use of the computer along these lines is to create titles and text boxes for the page. This is because you have a huge variety of fonts and colors to make your text when using the computer. There is even a type of software on the market today that allows you to make a text out of your own handwriting. This will allow you to save time using the computer to create your text without losing the personalized factor of the page including your own handwriting. You can create stunning titles on the computer, using thousands of fonts.
The biggest trend in digital scrapbooking is to create your page entirely on the computer. Using digital pictures, or scanned pictures and scrapbooking software, you can create stunning pages entirely on the computer. These pages will look a lot like the paper pages you see everywhere. One of the benefits of creating your pages on the computer is that you can share them with friends and family, no matter where they live. If grandma and grandpa live two states away, they can see the grandkids\' latest page with the click of the mouse. Not only that, but digital scrapbooking is a lot less time consuming than traditional scrapbooking. You can create pages much quicker and if you make a mistake, you just delete and start over. You have not wasted expensive supplies or ruined priceless photos.
If you are going to enter the field of digital scrapbooking, it is important to purchase a photo-quality printer. If you are going to want 12 x 12 albums, there are printers made specifically to hold 12 x 12 paper. Make sure whatever paper you are printing on is acid-free. You do not want your pages fading with time. Consider printing on photo paper, as this will let your pages look like a traditional photo.
Since digital cameras are becoming the norm, so will digital scrapbooking as the industry develops. You can do many things on the computer that you might not be able to do on paper. Don\'t think that digital scrapbooking will replace paper scrapbooking, though. The camaraderie that women feel when they get together to scrapbook will be lost on the computer, so paper scrapbooking is going to remain popular.
Some people use the computer to enhance their photos and scrapbooking pages. With the rise of digital photography, many scrapbookers are editing their photos on the computer before putting them in the album. They are removing red-eye, blurring out distracting backgrounds and enhancing the color of their photos. Some scrapbookers are even printing their own photos at home. Doing this allows you to customize the size of the photo to fit perfectly onto your page.
Some scrapbookers use the computer to make elements for their traditional scrapbooking pages. They will create journal boxes, titles, enhancements and more on the computer, then attach it to the page. The most common use of the computer along these lines is to create titles and text boxes for the page. This is because you have a huge variety of fonts and colors to make your text when using the computer. There is even a type of software on the market today that allows you to make a text out of your own handwriting. This will allow you to save time using the computer to create your text without losing the personalized factor of the page including your own handwriting. You can create stunning titles on the computer, using thousands of fonts.
The biggest trend in digital scrapbooking is to create your page entirely on the computer. Using digital pictures, or scanned pictures and scrapbooking software, you can create stunning pages entirely on the computer. These pages will look a lot like the paper pages you see everywhere. One of the benefits of creating your pages on the computer is that you can share them with friends and family, no matter where they live. If grandma and grandpa live two states away, they can see the grandkids\' latest page with the click of the mouse. Not only that, but digital scrapbooking is a lot less time consuming than traditional scrapbooking. You can create pages much quicker and if you make a mistake, you just delete and start over. You have not wasted expensive supplies or ruined priceless photos.
If you are going to enter the field of digital scrapbooking, it is important to purchase a photo-quality printer. If you are going to want 12 x 12 albums, there are printers made specifically to hold 12 x 12 paper. Make sure whatever paper you are printing on is acid-free. You do not want your pages fading with time. Consider printing on photo paper, as this will let your pages look like a traditional photo.
Since digital cameras are becoming the norm, so will digital scrapbooking as the industry develops. You can do many things on the computer that you might not be able to do on paper. Don\'t think that digital scrapbooking will replace paper scrapbooking, though. The camaraderie that women feel when they get together to scrapbook will be lost on the computer, so paper scrapbooking is going to remain popular.
Article Source: scrapbooking blog
Monday, September 17, 2007
3 DOORS DOWN LYRICS
\"Here By Me\"
I hope you\'re doing fine out there without me
\'Cause I\'m not doing so good without you
The things I thought you\'d never know about me
Were the things I guess you always understood
So how could I have been so blind for all these years?
Guess I only see the truth through all this fear,
And living without you…
And everything I have in this world
And all that I\'ll ever be
It could all fall down around me.
Just as long as I have you,
Right here by me.
I can\'t take another day without you
\'Cause baby, I could never make it on my own
I\'ve been waiting so long, just to hold you
And to be back in your arms where I belong
Sorry I can\'t always find the words to say
But everything I\'ve ever known gets swept away
Inside of your love…
And everything I have in this world
And all that I\'ll ever be
It could all fall down around me.
Just as long as I have you,
Right here by me.
As the days grow long I see
That time is standing still for me
When you\'re not here
Sorry I can\'t always find the words to say
Everything I\'ve ever known gets swept away
Inside of your love
And everything I have in this world
And all that I\'ll ever be
It could all fall down around me.
Just as long as I have you,
Right here by me.
And everything I have in this world
And all that I\'ll ever be
It could all fall down around me.
Just as long as I have you,
Right here by me.
My another blog: http://komzalexa.blogspot.com/
I hope you\'re doing fine out there without me
\'Cause I\'m not doing so good without you
The things I thought you\'d never know about me
Were the things I guess you always understood
So how could I have been so blind for all these years?
Guess I only see the truth through all this fear,
And living without you…
And everything I have in this world
And all that I\'ll ever be
It could all fall down around me.
Just as long as I have you,
Right here by me.
I can\'t take another day without you
\'Cause baby, I could never make it on my own
I\'ve been waiting so long, just to hold you
And to be back in your arms where I belong
Sorry I can\'t always find the words to say
But everything I\'ve ever known gets swept away
Inside of your love…
And everything I have in this world
And all that I\'ll ever be
It could all fall down around me.
Just as long as I have you,
Right here by me.
As the days grow long I see
That time is standing still for me
When you\'re not here
Sorry I can\'t always find the words to say
Everything I\'ve ever known gets swept away
Inside of your love
And everything I have in this world
And all that I\'ll ever be
It could all fall down around me.
Just as long as I have you,
Right here by me.
And everything I have in this world
And all that I\'ll ever be
It could all fall down around me.
Just as long as I have you,
Right here by me.
My another blog: http://komzalexa.blogspot.com/
Friday, September 14, 2007
New free blogging site - create your very own home page
I've just found new free blogging site - blog hosting site. There are only 6 members now, but I see some good feutures on the their home page. I think I will try it to create my another blog )))
Harry Potter Halloween Costume
If you would rather be a young Harry Potter this Halloween then here are the materials you will need: one large brown or blue cape, a long piece of wood to make a wand, some face make up to design your lightning bolt and some glasses. For the cape you can either use a robe or just buy a large piece of blue or brown material and fasten it around your shoulders. You should be able to find some inexpensive glasses at the dollar store, just make sure they are large frames and fit you comfortably.
Next, design a tshirt with the following text "I must have lost my Invisibility cloak if you can see me! Help me find it!" and wear it
Or get some simple face painting materials and draw a nice lightning bolt on your forehead. If you have long enough hair, frizz them up a little to make it look as though you've just fought against You Know Who and are just escaping! For your wand, you can use any small enough branch that you find on the ground, just decorate it as you see fit using feathers or other materials you have on hand.
Next, design a tshirt with the following text "I must have lost my Invisibility cloak if you can see me! Help me find it!" and wear it
Or get some simple face painting materials and draw a nice lightning bolt on your forehead. If you have long enough hair, frizz them up a little to make it look as though you've just fought against You Know Who and are just escaping! For your wand, you can use any small enough branch that you find on the ground, just decorate it as you see fit using feathers or other materials you have on hand.
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