Drove Your VRX AMBULANCE Lately?!!

I think this news should win the "You gotta be kidding!" award!

No, I am NOT kidding ;)

Heading in our local newspaper today...

Cars registered as ambulances to save cash!

The news item went on to report:

Motorists are claiming their vehicles are ambulances to save hundreds of dollars in registration fees.

The problem is particularly bad in Otago, where 230 ambulances are registered, nearly as many as in Auckland, where there are 10 times as many people, the Otago Daily Times reported today.

A Matter-Of-Fact-Spoke-Person of the New Zealand Transport Agency media manager Andy Knackstedt said he believed there were only 40 genuine ambulances in Dunedin.

He believed, but he is NOT sure; there might be MORE? ;)

"I guess it comes down to people's willingness to falsely register their vehicles." DUH!

The REAL Wellington Free Ambulance (WFA) provides free to the patient, ambulance services in the Wellington Region of New Zealand.

Eye Dotting In Wellington

According to Hung Kuen Net...
 
New Southern Chinese Lions must be blessed by a traditionally ceremony called the Hoi Gong (开光 eye opening/dotting).

Traditionally a new lion should not be used if it hasn't gone through the Hoi Gong ceremony.

According to the tradition if the lion is used at any kind of event without being blessed or awakened it will bring misfortune and bad luck.

"Dotting the Eye" refers in particular to the Chinese tradition of painting in the eye of the Chinese lion before the start of the lion dance to awaken the spirit of the lion.

Hoi Gong is a traditional ceremony to bless and awaken a new lion or in a more traditional concept bring down the spirit of the lion from the heaven and give it life. In other words this ceremony signifies the existence or birth of a new lion into the world.

New dragons and lions...

The WCSCC (Wellington Chinese Sports and Cultural Centre) Cultural Group have a very active Dragon Troupe.

傻瓜机 - Camera For The Dummies?

Many moons ago, when the first auto focus compact camera hit the market; Chinese consumers coined this "auto everything" point-and-shoot camera, 傻瓜机 (shǎ guā ji)!

Translated, 傻瓜机 literally meant "Camera For The Dummy" ;)
Just like the very successful "For Dummies" series of instructional / reference books, the P&S compact cameras enjoyed immerse popularity!

But unlike "For Dummies" books where you actually learn to do or operate something, the shǎ guā ji taught you nothing; after all; it is just a point and shoot where you just point it at your subject and click the shutter to get a technically perfect picture!

Mind you, not all point and shoots are shǎ guā ji; there are advanced version of the shǎ guā ji, the like of Power Shot G series which are popular even among the pros.

Unlike the "everything auto" of the shǎ guā ji, the "advance" family of P&S came with various adjustment and setting, just like their larger brethren; the DSLR.

Funny Royal Wedding Pix NOT!

One of my friend in Singapore point me to this "The most Hilarious picture from the #RoyalWedding "

This picture is at http://twitpic.com/4r3mes.

Personally, I don't find this funny at all; this is yet another case confirming that "Camera Sometime Lies" ;)

Our Royal Morning Tea

From Life.com and I quote:

"On Friday, April 29, 2011, England's Prince William and Catherine Middleton were married in front of their families, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and -- via TV and the Web -- more than a billion new, utterly thrilled friends.

It was the most-watched royal wedding in history, and here, as the couple embarks on a marriage that has captivated much of the globe, LIFE.com presents a look at the newlyweds' big day: the dress, the guests, the first kiss, the glamour, the rapturous crowds, the fashions, and everything else that helped make the event, well, something like a fairy tale."You don't have to be a royalist to appreciate good pictures! Go take a look!

Another great photo site for really good photo-journalistic shots is The Big Picture at Boston.com!

Stolen Camera Finder !!??

I came across this interesting site today!

This programmer by the name of Matt Burns has written a search engine that lets people find their stolen camera!!

Can that be done?

I learn that your digital photo's EXIF data actually have your camera's serial number embedded in it!

According to Wikipedia:

Exif was created by the Japan Electronic Industries Development Association (JEIDA). Version 2.1 of the specification is dated June 12, 1998, and the latest, version 2.3 dated April 2010, was jointly formulated by JEITA and CIPA.

Though the specification is not currently maintained by any industry or standards organization, its use by camera manufacturers is nearly universal.
The metadata tags defined in the Exif standard cover a broad spectrum:

• Date and time information. Digital cameras will record the current date and time and save this in the metadata.
• Camera settings. This includes static information such as the camera model and make, and information that varies with each image such as orientation (rotation), aperture, shutter speed, focal length, metering mode, and ISO speed information.
• A thumbnail for previewing the picture on the camera's LCD screen, in file managers, or in photo manipulation software.
• Descriptions and copyright information.

Correct ISO Setting

Recently I noticed many young, novice photographers like to set their ISO setting to "Auto"; when I asked why, they cannot give me an answer because to my horror, most of them do not know what ISO is about or for what purpose!

They, without realising that; the right ISO can make your photo and the wrong ISO can ruin it!

Before we go on, fast rewind 35 years to the good old days when I was using film to cover news jobs as a photojournalist.

That time, our standard shoot everything film was the Kodak Tri-X 135-36; which came in ASA 400.