Cape Fox Professional Services is partnering with Lee Parks for 'Total Control' Course, adding to the course to the Marine Corps Traffic Safety and Recreational Off-Duty Safety Program. The course will be taught on West Coast Marine Corps Bases. (PRWEB Apr 2, 2009)

Read the full story at http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2009/04/prweb2290384.htm

I keep bumping on this issue often in certain shooting conditions. Yesterday under a rush of shooting from a Cessna Skyhawk 3,500 feet in the air, I made a couple mistakes when quickly taking cockpit pictures using the pop-up flash. I kept my D700 in aperture priority (A) mode. I forgot to make the flash mode to "slow", otherwise it sticks to 1/60 shutter speed no matter what. This blew away the blue of the sky. Ideally what I should be doing is:

1. Always keep the flash mode to "slow" and dial in flash exposure compensation to -0.7.
2. When popup flash is needed, switch to shutter priority (S) mode and select any speed upto 1/250. If there is too much light, lower the ISO. If the situation is very urgent, just use program (P) mode and shift if necessary.

Many photographers scoff at the P mode since it makes a $$$ DSLR work like a point and shoot. I am guilty of being such a snob until yesterday. A camera is a tool and every feature can be used to the benefit of making an image as best as possible. Time to grow up.

So, I am now set with a refillable cartridge kit coming next Monday. I plan to print a lot in a few weeks but there is always the worry of the printer's waste ink sponges to be full soon. The waste ink counter can be reset using a combination of keys, but the sponge replacement is supposed to need a lengthy surgery on the printer (unless taken to an epson center and spending $$$).

I was looking for a painless workaround, and the closest I found is as follows:

http://www.continuousink.info/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4149
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/pavelnemo/Epson2100NemoMod?authkey=7QzJC-KLLdk#
http://www.wasteink.co.uk/waste-ink-mods/epson-2100-wibox-mod/

So basically I need to pull out the waste ink tube from the right side and attach an exit tube to it which will lead the ink to an external container. Sweet.

I started a photoblog a month back after being convinced by my good friend Francesco. The idea was to think of photography at least once a day and post a favorite image in fairly big size (900px). We both started liking the pixelpost framework a lot for its clean looks and ease of tweaking. So much so that we had to consider making it as a portfolio website as well. The obstacle to make pixelpost work like a static portfolio was the inability to view image sequences within a category or tag. In the browse page, you can see thumbnails under respective categories but the category information would be lost once an image is viewed large.

After a day of tweaking code I managed to pass the category and tag parameters between the browse and image pages. So under normal conditions without any specific category or tag it will behave like a chronological sequence, but if we pass a category and/or a tag they will be honored by the image navigation links. As an example, browse page that shows only images with tag=portfolio: http://joydutta.com/photoblog/index.php?x=browse&pagenum=1&tag=portfolio

This can now serve as my online portfolio page. If you click any image thumbnail, the tag will be passed so the image sequence will only be within tag=portfolio. For example, see the navigation links: http://joydutta.com/photoblog/index.php?showimage=16&tag=portfolio

If in the browse page with tag=portfolio you click on a category, the collection will be narrower as expected. Now, both the category and tag information will be passed on when you click a thumbnail and the resulting sequence will honor both. For example, see the thumbnail links: http://joydutta.com/photoblog/index.php?x=browse&category=3&pagenum=1&tag=portfolio

Pixelpost rocks.

I just got the bill from the hospital for the ER visit of Priti a month back. I took her for a quick thumb x-ray and glad I did because it was indeed a fracture which Priti refused to believe.

So now the bill says I have to pay $50 in all, which is reasonable. But then I looked at the actual bill amount and nearly choked. $2000 for one x-ray ! Ok, it is probably a bloated amount and the insurance pays less than that. But to think of someone without adequate insurance going to a hospital or ER - I just can't imagine.

Consumers Can Save up to $700 on X-Treme Brand Electric Bikes and Electric Motorcycles (PRWEB Mar 30, 2009)

Read the full story at http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2009/03/prweb2269894.htm

Dealer LOGIX� Express is a new version of the Dealer LOGIX sales process, designed to increase service drive revenue. (PRWEB Apr 6, 2009)

Read the full story at http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2009/04/prweb2203054.htm

Cheap Public Liability insurance for motorcycle clubs. (PRWEB Apr 3, 2009)

Read the full story at http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2009/04/prweb2296814.htm

For a limited time only, Hastings Direct is offering reduced prices on all car insurance policies bought directly through the company during their Spring Sale. (PRWEB Mar 26, 2009)

Read the full story at http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2009/03/prweb2264954.htm

Today I managed to lock myself out of my 2005 GL1800. I was in a hurry at Palo Alto airport before a flying trip to Napa valley with Vaibhav and Pooja, so I did something I never would normally do - putting my jacket in the trunk. Now I typically just pop the trunk using the key fob while the whole lock system remains locked. The moment I shut the trunk lid I realized what just happened. To add insult to injury, I also recalled that the spare key was in an inside pocket of the jacket. Darn !

My fellow CA2Q chapter winger Susie gave some suggestions but that was for a GL1500. I wished she could come for a rescue but she was at Mesquite NV on a rally. It almost looked like I had to tow the bike when as a last resort I did a google search from 3500 feet in the air. I landed on Steve Saunders goldwing forum where a neat electrical solution is outlined: GL1800 trunk lockout fix

What a relief after an awesome flight. My roomie Piyush brought a bicycle allen key set which had the 6mm hex key I needed, plus some picture hanging wire. I had to borrow an adjustable spanner from the airport fueling guy and the seat came off without much fuss. Initially I thought the red wire in the 14-pin grey connector block is the target but it didn't work. I read through the page and found that for a 07 model the blue wire was to be connected to battery +ve to unlock the trunk. It worked !!! Very valuable lesson learnt before my long trip. I am going to keep a 6mm allen, an 11mm crescent spanner and a wire in one of the unlocked compartments.

"Expand your horizons by fitting your late- model European or Japanese dirtbike with a Giant Loop Saddlebag," writes Cycle World magazine. Finally, off-road touring motorcycles have a way to carry all their essential gear for multi-day trips without sacrificing the performance of their dirt bikes. After more than a decade of development and testing, the Giant Loop Saddlebag throws down a real solution to awkward loads, broken racks and sub-frames and gear that simply isn't up to the demands of long-distance off-road riding. No racks, mounts, braces or sub-frame modifications required. (PRWEB Mar 11, 2009)

Read the full story at http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2009/03/prweb2219704.htm

Revamped site features dealer inventories as well as private-party car ads from the southwest metro and central Minnesota areas. (PRWEB Mar 12, 2009)

Read the full story at http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2009/03/prweb2211714.htm

TrackdayMag.com continues to make it easy for riders to fill their "need for speed" with an expanded calendar of over 1,000 track day events and the most user-friendly track calendar on the web. (PRWEB Mar 13, 2009)

Read the full story at http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2009/03/prweb2229514.htm

Consumers Can Save up to $700 on X-Treme Brand Electric Bikes and Electric Motorcycles (PRWEB Mar 30, 2009)

Read the full story at http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2009/03/prweb2269894.htm