First year - 1ºC - Thursday 29 April 2010

Summary of the class:

- Directions

- Reading test: Mr. Bean

- Listening: revision.

- Vocabulary: food

- Grammar: countable and uncountable nouns.

Organic Vegetables: Choko tendrils and leaves.

I have a choko vine in my garden. My sister Rose came and harvested the young tendrils and leaves. A quick stir fry in garlic oil, and you have a plate of organic vegetable.

http://ann-mythoughtsandphotos.blogspot.com/2009/12/photo-hunt-curve.html

http://annkschin.blogspot.com/2008/11/memories-of-mum-and-gardening.html

For more interesting stories of the choko, click this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chayote

You will be able to buy them in Thai markets. Choko plants grow by them self, there is no need for fertilizer or pesticides. You can harvest the fruit. This is indeed the dream plant for people who are conscious about the sprays that farmers use.

Three Month Report

I'll be putting together a summary of what has transpired over the three months since this project got underway, comment on the technical progress, other findings of interest, and also the marketplace activity surrounding the use if instant film materials now being offered or proposed.

Water guava: Jambu Madu: Thai Rose apple

In Borneo, we called this kind of guava, water guava or Jambu Madu. It is very sweet and juicy. My parents had a couple of trees and we used to have buckets of the fruits. Some times we dipped it in salt or the sour plum powder.

These two photos were taken in my Uncle Albert's garden in Miri. If you see carefully at the green guava photo, you can see the red ants. I was stung badly while I was photographing the fruits. Apparently the ants had a function, they pollinate the flowers. Without them, there will be no fruits.

About ten years ago, Singapore started to import the Thai rose apple (chompoo). There are several varieties of rose apples, with the most common in Thailand having a light green green skin. They were very expensive and grace the fruit baskets in hotels.

I lamented the times when I didn't appreciate the buckets and buckets of fruits we had from our trees. To be honest, I had so much of them as a kid that I don't really fancy them. I bought some Thai ones for nostalgic reasons. Just as well my kids and the water engineer didn't like them.

First year - 1ºB - Wednesday 28 April 2010

Summary of the class:

- Reading: The London Eye

- Vocabulary: city / town

- Speaking: your town

- Pronunciation: Towns and cities in Britain

- Reading test: Mr Bean

- Revision of present continuous: neighbours

- Vocabulary: giving directions

Note:

There is no class on Monday

-

Fourth year - 4ºA - Wednesday 28 April 2010

Summary of the class:

- Abbey: Country music

- Listening, writing and speaking: Complaints and letters of complaint.

Note:

For those of you who go to Edinburg, enjoy your trip!!!

There is no class on Monday.

Homework:
Write a letter of complaint about the topic suggested in the workbook or one of the topics on the copy

Fourth year - 4ºD - Tuesday 26 April 2010

Summary of the class:

- Reading test

- Vocabulary: food and cooking


- Reading: bad waiters


- Speaking: experiences in restaurants

First year - 1ºB - Monday 26 April 2010

Summary of the class:

- Song: Lemon Tree





- Pronunciation: -ing forms.

- Present continuous: it's a party

- Brainstorming: London

- Present continuous / Present Simple

Fourth year - 4ºA - Monday 26 April 2010

Summary of the class:

- Vocabulary: food and cooking

- Reading: bad waiters

- Speaking: experiences in restaurants

- Reading test.

- Vocabulary: Food and entertaining.

Fourth year - 4ºD - Thursday 22 April 2010

Summary of the class:

- Writing: an article.

- Grammar: mistakes.


- Phrasal verbs: crosswords


Homework: Write an article about one of the topics suggested in the book

First year - 1ºC- Thursday 22 April 2010

Summary of the class:

- Revision of present continuous.

- Brainstorming: London.

- Grammar: present continuous and present simple.

- Reading: The London Eye.

- Vocabulary: places in the city/town

- Speaking: your town.

A boy's birthday cake

My friend Janet made this cake for her son's birthday. She is very clever and makes beautiful cakes and cooks delicious food.

Chinese wonton

I love food, and I love flowers. I have decided to devote this site to these two loves of my life.

This is a bowl of simple wonton soup. It is healthy and a light soup.

The wrapper or skin can be bought from any Asian food store. Buy the round shape ones for dumplings.

Fillings: Mince pork or chicken, onions, a little chopped chinese greens or cabbage, garlic, one egg, salt and oyster sauce, sesame oil. Mix thoroughly.

put a dollop of filling on to the middle of the wrapper.

brush edge with water, and seal the edge by crimping.

Drop into a pot of boiling water with some cooking oil. When the wrapper turns white, take it out.

Serve with clear soup or chicken soup.

Garnish with chopped spring onion, and/or bean sprout, Green vege,

Enjoy, this is no gourmet. Just a simple home cook food to warm your heart especially on a cold winter's evening.

(You may deep fry the wonton, use less filling is you are deep frying)

Trend 2010 Hairstyle

Hairstyle 2010Hairstyle 2010Hairstyle 2010Hairstyle 2010Hairstyle 2010

Lil Kim.. Oh Let's Do It (Freestyle).. hmmm

This is in my opinion the best Lil Kim has sounded in a long time... I wish it were longer but I'm always happy to hear some new music from one of my favorite Female MC's not to mention a sexual icon to my youth when I was in Middle and High School.. lol

I'm Single. Had To Cancel That _________like Nino...

I need to make this ring tone.. yeah yeah it's been out fo a week or two now but I was in the mood to hear it and this is my blog... YEAH I"M SINGLE...


B

What is PCR?

Here is a link that explains PCR and what it is used for. You probably have an idea of how important it is in forensics, as DNA evidence, by watching NCIS and in medicine and research. PCR uses disposables and reagents, along with film.

PCR stands for polymerase chain reaction.

If you are interested on how I proposed to incorporate this with photonic (photo) technology, click here.

Gel based electrophoresis and PCR require various types of equipment, the simplest being a charged tank that can often be about 4x5 inches of gel or larger that works a lot like what we used to refer to as chromatography. All of this happens, usually, in a lab. C.B.S Scientific is a company that sells this type of equipment.

The results, like this, need to be recorded somewhere. An ordinary piece of film can be used, or some digital image capture device. Gel based electrophoresis isn't always very contrasty so the recording medium needs to have sufficient greyscale in order for the results to be easily interpreted.

From the ad copy: 667 film is designed for use in electrophoresis, photomicrography, photomacrography, oscillography, computed tomography, ultrasonography, and nuclear medicine. 667 is also used in preparation of real estate ads and for instant documentation in law enforcement, insurance, building construction, and architectural design.

ISO 3 Direct Positive Paper from Harmon Announced

This is interesting and something I want to try in a view camera - Harmon's new Direct Positive paper.
ISO 3 sounds a bit slow, let's see, that's about 4 and a half stops slower than Velvia 50 - I can deal with that, maybe not for action shots, but with the big Aero Ektar, f2.5 at 7", this could be a lot of fun.  Now to figure out from who and how to order it.

About two years ago Harman and Polaroid were discussing moving sheet film to Harman's UK plant: Here's what I picked up online


April 18th, 2008, Mobberley, Cheshire UK and Minnetonka, MN, USA -- HARMAN technology Limited and its monochrome brand, ILFORD Photo and Polaroid Worldwide have been in discussions about ILFORD Photo taking on production of Polaroid's black and white professional instant sheet film. Despite their best efforts, together the prospective partners have determined that they can not find a commercially viable way forward.

HARMAN's Chairman and Managing Director, Phil Harris said. " The processes involved in the manufacture and assembly of professional instant sheet film products are very demanding and it would require substantial investment to re-establish them at HARMAN technology's site in Cheshire, England. When compared with current and projected sales for the products, it was clear that such an investment could not be justified."

Phil Harris continues: " While we had hoped to work together on continuing the production of instant sheet film, it is cost prohibitive to meet the declining demand. As a company, we are saddened that such an inspirational form of expression will disappear, but we will always remain staunchly committed to the long term future of monochrome photography in all its facets and we will continue to do everything we can to support it".


Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

Another Speed Graphic - chopped for WA

This Speed Graphic (Anniversary type) had a bad mechanism so it got chopped down and shortened to accept a 65mm Super Angulon.  I still have not found a rangefinder or any finder I can use with it.  The leatherette was stripped off, and the baseboard got a leather cover.

I chose the Anniversary because the bed has a bigger drop, and, the focusing rail has more usable space inside the linked, bendable area.  This makes it possible to use this lens without a picture of the bed in every image.

to a commenter

Buno Mainak said...
"good,intense,tight but cliche.overused words and images crowd together....we want sum freshness from ur pen,dear"


Your constructive criticism
Does not help me grow.
I am a rodent size person
With a whale size ego.

Treat this as an entreaty
from a much pampered friend.
If you like it, exaggerate.
If you don't, pretend.

The cure for a dried coater

The Polaroid print coaters that you might find that have all dried out can apparently be saved.

The ingredients in the coater consist of zinc acetate, acetic acid, and methanol.  I had no methanol, but tried using one dropper-full of isopropyl rubbing alcohol 91%, plus one drop of acetic acid (indicator stop bath - be careful with that stuff), which I put into the container, as you see.

After a few minutes the wonderful perfume scent we remember returned, and apparently the acetate dissolved from its hardened state, producing the sticky spreadable consistency that you would expect. Glacial acetic acid might be better, along with methanol. We don't want our prints to turn purple. Unlikely. This concoction seems ok also.

On the left, a New55 dark sleeve with some exposed film in it newly attached to the metal clip from an Old 55 sheet sent in by one of several helpful people. More progress.

First year - 1ºB - Wednesday 21 April 2010

Summary of the class:

- Mr Bean

- Reading: Neighbours

- Grammar: present continuous

- Speaking: present continuous

- Song: Lemon Tree

Important: The exam on Mr Bean will be next Wednesday.

Fourth year - 4ºA - Wednesday 21 April 2010

Summary of the class:

- Writing: an article.

- Grammar: mistakes.

- Phrasal verbs: crosswords

Homework: Write an article about one of the topics suggested in the book

Does It Thrill You When Somebody Sweats You?

 I mean is there a age limit on this juvenile antic? I'll be 30 in 8months and certain shit I've outgrown... If I'm not interested in a person I'll be quick to let them know up front.. I hate leading people on... I also feel like if U tell somebody your interested in them they kinda want you to chase them... What the F*%@#....

In The Great Words Of @Cediepee "Who Does That?"


It's to much arse in the world to be sweating over one person like seriously... :(


I guess the rules of dating  are always changing and I guess I'm a stick in the mud.... I just didn't know there were several obstacle courses you had to go through in order to get to the prize.. LIKE HELL... I'm not trying to wife yo ass..or put a ring on it.... well atleast not right in the beginning... I mean come on ladies if a guy is interested no sex, just casual dating, go out, see a movie etc.. blah blah blah you give them hell.. LET me come through with a bottle of Mascoto and some condoms and we f*#@ing... SMH.. Them the niggas you should have sweating you...


I Love Attention Don't get me wrong but I'm a serious minded person and If I feel like I can build something with somebody I'll give them the green light and it's popping.. Although if I'm not ready to get "involved" I'll be upfront and let the person know as well...I don't lead people on or have ulterior motives.. but again I guess I'm a cornball.. lol

Anyway to the people who get off to people sweating them I hope you don't miss out on something good..

B

Blanco Quote 3;

A Piece of Ass is just that a piece of ass.. It should never come in between brothers..

Ciara Feat Ludacris - "RIDE"....

Wow her body sick wit it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In my Florida Evans voice "DAMN, DAMN, DAMN"...

B

Fouth year - 4ºD - Tuesday 20 April 2010

Summary of the class:


- Sebastian's presentation: Obama

- Verbs followed by infinitive or -ing


- Listening: coming-of-age rituals



- Things that annoy me: speaking and listening

First year - 1ºC - Tuesday 20 April 2010

Summary of the class:

- Speaking: present continuous. A party

- Speaking. There was / were and prepositions of place

- Pronunciation

- Song: lemon tree




- Speaking: neighbours

The primary test camera in the lab

Once in a while I get asked what cameras we have, so here is a shot of the venerable and trusty Speed Graphic that I use the most.  This is the Pacemaker Speed Graphic, and it has a focal plane shutter, a Kalart rangefinder, a modified tilt-swing front standard, a graflok type back, and various lenses. The one shown is a Schneider Xenotar 150mm f2.8 mounted in a Copal No. 3 shutter.  Yes, this is a big bright eye.

One of the great things about the Speed Graphic is the focal plane shutter. This allows you to mount any lens with or without a shutter and make a picture with it. Or, you can put a pinhole on it.  There are hundreds of lenses that you can get for free that will produce Holga-like images using a camera like this.  Many of the followers of this blog already know about Speed Graphics, but some might not have yet.

Speed Graphics are very versatile and inexpensive. You can mount various Polaroid and Fuji backs, rollfilm backs, and even sheet film! That was a joke.  The famous Polaroid 545 back is the one that takes Type 55 and has built in rollers to burst and spread the reagent pod. That back fits in these cameras.

There are thousands of spare parts for it in every country. You can focus on the ground glass. Or, you can use the rangefinder and one of two viewfinders. The bellows extends far enough for closeups, and the bed tilts down for wide angle lenses and for some tilt.  With a smaller standard lens, it all folds up into one solid box and strap handle that you could fight your way out of a mod riot with.  People always look and smile at it, and it reminds them of old movies.  It looks complicated but you can fix virtually anything on it yourself.  In the old days, people converted it to an enlarger.  Today, new uses for testing reclaimable Fuji negatives are being explored with it.

If I was only allowed one camera forever, if I had to choose, the Speed Graphic would be it.

It had a huge influence on the design of Polaroid cameras like this converted 110a (left) that now accepts Type 100 Packfilm. These are everywhere and many are still in use. Notice the exposed rangefinder on the Polaroid camera which is a lot like the Kalart on the Speed. The original 110 Polaroid actually used a Kalart rangefinder.

Yesterday I was musing about the possibility of chopping a Fuji Instax camera which is finally available cheap to fit on the back, and be able to shoot integral film with a big lens.

Gang Starr.....A Hip Hop Legend

One of the all-time greatest wordsmiths in hip-hop history, Gang Starr's Keith Elam — a.k.a. Guru, for "Gifted Universal Rhymes Unlimited" — passed away Monday. And while Guru and his partner in Gang Starr, DJ Premier, never enjoyed huge pop success, their impact in hip-hop both collectively and individually is immeasurable.

When word spread on Tuesday about Guru's death, his peers and fans took to the Internet to pay tribute.

"420 gonna be in honor of the big homie Guru ... respect the foundation ... Light one up for the legend," Snoop Dogg tweeted.

The Roots' ?uestlove tweeted, "In my 10 greatest voices in hip hop, Guru was easily top 5 ... Smooth. velvet. will be missed. RIP Guru ... Back when we first took getting into the industry seriously, Gang Starr's Daily Operation LP got us thru 1992."

"1 of our hip-hop soldiers was lost 2day," Fabolous tweeted. "Tho he in the physical has passed, his spirit & music will live forever #RIPGuru #ForeverYoung."

"R.I.P. Guru," DJ Kay Slay wrote. "Real dude and lyricist. My condolences to the family and friends."

"A hip-hop legend. RIP") Nicki Minaj wrote.

The Young Money MC's sentiments were echoed by two other rap stars from Queens, New York: G-Unit's Tony Yayo and A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip.

"Damn just woke up and heard Guru passed away. R.I.P. to a 'Legend,' " Yayo tweeted.

Perhaps most heartfelt of all, Q-Tip wrote: "From Allah we come to Allah we return. R.I.P. Keith GURU. A great man, poet, and I'm proud to say friend ... 23 yrs. Damn!"

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1637438/20100420/gang_starr.jhtml

Dorothy Height... 1912-2010

Triple Dip!

YUM!

Click here for a tasty treat!

Top Rated Hairstyles 2010

Hairstyles make a vast difference in the look of an individual. From the shaggy appearances to the decent looking charm, hairstyle plays a very big role. There are numerous hairstylists around the world who pitch in fresh new ideas in the hairstyle industry and introduce new styles every year, especially for hairstyles 2010.2010 has been a good start for this arena and has introduced sexy

First year - 1ºB - Monday 19 April 2010

Summary of the class:

-Prepositions of place: speaking practice

- Reading: Gosforth Hall Hotel

- Listening: a ghost

- Grammar: there was / there were

- Practice: there was / there were

- Silent letters

- Holidays: revision of past tense questions.

Fourth year - 4ºA - Monday 19 April 2010

Summary of the class:

- Verbs followed by infinitive or -ing

- Listening: coming-of-age rituals

- Things that annoy me: speaking and listening

- Speaking: traditions.

The Sky is Bluer

After 9-11 we noticed an immediate improvement in the color of the blue sky which became vivid, saturated and absent contrails and haze, when all air traffic was halted.

The air cleared at the Beijing Olympics, getting better through the course of the games as traffic was halted, and on the last days, the skies were the clearest anyone could remember.

In the last four days of this April week, high altitude air traffic over the Northeast is reduced due to the Iceland volcano and cancellation of flights to parts of Europe. Today we witnessed the same vivid blue skies unlike any we have seen since 9-11. No contrails or haze, just fluffy white clouds among a perfect blue. We saw people with their eyes skyward.

Air travel has become more expensive, uncomfortable, crowded and unpleasant. One can imagine a time in the not-too-distant future when the price of oil is about $250 a barrel, and an air ticket to from London to Boston is about $2500.

How blue will the sky be then?

Andreas Rentsch - T55 process

In this unusually poignant video with the work of Andreas Rentsch, the trans-formative and often uncontrollable properties of film are part of the magic we all experience and appreciate, here revealed in an unexpectedly purposeful way.

A special Thank-you

Aaron is just one of the several who have sent various forms of castoff and expired materials to greatly accelerate the New55 Project at Soundwave Research Laboratories, Inc.

It is quite exciting to see "New55Project" on a UPS label (yes I know I should get out more).

We got a lot of those metal clips too and that has been a real time saver because we would otherwise have to have a tool designed and made to produce this trivial part. The current design idea is to use a piece of plastic and not a metal clip.  One mock up uses folded Fresca can aluminum and ordinary staples which pass right through and hold the film sheet nicely!  But Fresca cans are too thin, really, and produce a sharp edge.  Can't have that.

A wonderful insight occurred when we opened up some really moldy leaky 55 from Lou and found the metallic silver on the negative shiny and bright and the negative colored like exotic marble from mold.  Suddenly dawn broke over the cerebral cortex and we realized we could make a simpler system and eliminate a lot of parts.

That receiver sheet is still a mystery.  I grilled and interrogated everyone I could collar at this weekend's PHSNE photo show and old gear extravaganza and came up with some ex-Pol people but none who knew the slightest about receivers.  It is almost like the core to all of 55 was based on this one technique that we know is in broad daylight,  in several patents, but which one?

Type 690 film available

For those with passport, license, company ID and other equipment that is labeled :Use Type 690 Film" we have an even better film choice, IMO, than before - repackaged FP-100c. It is being sold somewhere here at a not bad price.

Several naive people have thought that this was somehow deceptive - as if "orange flavored" or "New55" means real orange juice or Waltham Polaroid T55.  It cannot be.

You might get the same film in the Fuji packaging for a little less cost if you shop around, which you may want to do if you want to reclaim negatives -  then the short-dated stuff appears to have a slight edge in the reagent streaking department.

Here is a link to the discussion on Flikr. Contrary to the few who misunderstand, it is of course comforting to realize that there are enough industrial, education, business, government and scientific users of material such as "690 type instant film" so that that Fuji can justify its continued production.  Bureaucracies everywhere spec out "type 690" and have it in their systems. "Art and hobby photographers" need to understand that.

But I think, and sincerely hope, you realize this is great news - a smaller marketplace populated with various rebrands and some new brands such as TIP, is a sign of health and interest, and maybe even profitability.  Somebody went to the trouble of getting this high quality material into a channel that was empty, which means more people will get it, the manufacturers will benefit, and we will too, as instant photography regroups.  Polaroid as we knew it is gone - if you think 690 Type Film is somehow fake, then you might not want to keep calling all those Fuji FP100c and Instax images on flikr "polaroids" any longer.  TIP isn't Polaroid either, nor is New55.  Over and out.

KAT STACKS IN THE HOT SEAT.. LLS...

Michael Kirchoff's Images

I think in useful contrast to the previous figure studies, these dramatic, moody and dominating images of Russian architecture by Micheal Kirchoff are also good examples of the versatility and manipulability, if I can use that word, inherent to the 55 aesthetic.

There are images from the glass-plate era that I viewed in Nizhny-Novgorod once, by Karelin, that document a more classical straight-on view of this  kind of subject matter, well-corrected in the style of Italian Renaissance linear perspective.

Kirchoff's images are far more immediate than Karelin's and much more engaging and successful. Yet they are serious, I think, abstract, and drew me in to imagine myself in Kirchoff's place.

Add these wonderful images to our assertions and reasons for field processable analog materials of the future.