I have started a digital photography blog at http://dougs-photography.info/WordPress/
which will contain tips and techniques for choosing a digital camera, photo printer, taking photos, and making money by selling your photos.
Check it out.
New Photography Blog
June 30, 2007 at 6:05 pm (digital camera, digital photography, photo printer, photography, taking photos)
Hardware Problems
June 20, 2007 at 3:02 pm (Fortunetown, MSN Messenger, Pantip, Thai Culture, Windows Stupidities and How to Fix Them, continuous reboot, hardware failure)
The girls at Thai Culture Publishing have been having a hard time lately, as one of their computers started acting strangely, constantly rebooting during the initial loading of Windows.
This is a sign of the Blaster worm, among other things, so I decided the best way to fix this would be to remove the drive, put it in an external box, and run a virus scan on it.
However, I am in Ottawa, Canada, not Bangkok. So I told Pad to go the next day and buy an external drive box for a 2.5″ disk drive at Pantip or Fortunetown.
Next day, she told me via MSN Messenger video conference that she now had a box. Now the challenge became the removal of the drive from the laptop chassis.
Pad is not knowledgable about hardware, and her English comprehension is not 100% yet, having essentially taught herself English in the last 12 months or so. She has trouble understanding the difference between “in” and “on”, for example. I told her to unplug the cables and power cord from the laptop, turn it upside down, and place it on the desk. Seemed like a simple enough command, but I was wrong.
She unplugged the cables and power cord, then picked up the laptop, and opened the top drawer of the desk.
“NO!” I yelled, and she closed the drawer and put the computer back on the desk.
“Pick up the laptop, turn it over, and put it ON the desk upside down.”
She opened the top drawer again.
“No, Pad,” I said, “ON the desk, not IN the desk.”
Finally she understood, “Oh, OK, Doug, now I understan’,” and she put the computer on the desk right side up.
“Now flip it upside down, Pad.” And she did.
OK, first step accomplished.
Then I told her to look at the bottom of the laptop case, and look for the icon of the hard disk drive. These icons are impressed into the plastic, and there are five of them, for memory, CPU, hard drive, battery, and modem.
She said, “OK, I find it already.” She then used a small screw driver and undid the Philips screw, then could not get the cover off. Her husband, Gen, came over to help, picked up another screwdriver and started removing the screws that hold the case together.
“NO!” I yelled, “Gen, yud! Yud!“
He stopped, and I told Pad not to let him undo any more screws, it was just the one for the hard disk cover that we wanted. So then they tried to pry the cover off, and suddenly it popped off, landing on the desk.
“OK, Doug, finiss.”
Great, except I could see in the web cam video that this was the memory, not the hard drive. So I told her that, and said, “Put the cover back on and look for the icon of the hard drive.”
It took 3 or 4 minutes to fit the cover back in (“Difficul’, Doug”) and screw it in. Finally she went looking for the hard drive icon.
“OK, Doug, I see it.”
Once more attacking it with the small screwdriver, she undid the screw, and popped off the cover, and there was the CPU exposed. Sigh.
One more round and she found the hard drive.
To make a long story longer, she finally got the hard drive out and installed in the external disk box. While she was assembling the box, I asked her, “Sanuk, mai?” (Is this fun?)
“Chai, Doug, now I like boy.”
Next day she took the laptop back to the office and the girls succeeded in installing Windows, which is quite difficult for people who can’t read English all that well.
As a result of this episode, I have added a section to the Windows Stupidities site to tell people to uncheck the option for automatic restart on error. It’s called My System Continuously Reboots, and is located near the bottom of the contents menu.
Resources to Learn English
June 15, 2007 at 8:16 pm (Thai Culture, Thailand, bright people, learning English)
I have been researching English learning resources lately, as I have some Thai friends who need some help. I have consolidated what I have learned so far here:
http://www.ebooks-international.com/Languages/LearnEnglish.html
The Thai people I know fall into two categories, as far as education goes: those with a university or college education, and those who quit school at age 10 or so and had to work.
Some of the brightest people I have ever met have only 4 years of schooling. They can add and subtract but cannot multiply or divide and do not understand fractions, decimals, and percentages. One lady (age 29 with two children and two ex-husbands) that I know well was a waitress a year ago. In the past year, she has taught herself English, how to use a computer, and how to run a business with several employees and a half a dozen major customers.
Another lady took 2 years at a technical college, financed by a government student loan. She created a multi-page web site using Notepad to code raw HTML. That’s not something I would do, it’s too difficult. When I asked her why, she said she wanted to understand exactly how HTML worked.
However, none of these people speak English very well. The university-educated can read better than the others, but they invariably write poorly and often speak poorly.
Hence my research. Hopefully it will benefit you or someone you know.
Most Expensive Ferrari Ever Sold
June 9, 2007 at 5:10 pm (Felipe Massa, Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen, automobile auctions, car auctions)
I found this article very interesting, as I have done some research on car auctions:
Most Expensive Ferrari Ever Sold
by Mike Bartley
The popularity of the Ferrari is known the world over. The Italian carmaker is known not only for building good looking cars with high performance but also for the price that these vehicles fetch. In fact the company’s cheapest model has a base price of $150,000. When it comes to expensive cars, Ferrari just set a record for the most expensive Ferrari ever sold.
The sale came at an auction held in the marque’s Italian assembly facility. Hosting the auction are the Canada-based RM Auctions Inc. and the trusted Sotheby’s. The auction saw 33 classic Ferraris being auctioned off. The most expensive of the lot is the 1962 TRI/LM Testa Rossa Spyder. The said classic race car fetched a price of 6,875,000 euros or about $9.275 million. While the car became the most expensive Ferrari ever sold, it is not the most expensive car sold in an auction. That distinction belongs to a 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royal Sports Coupe which was sold for $11 million.
The Testa Rossa Spyder is said to be the world’s most famous race car since it was used by Ferrari in the 24-hour Le Mans. The dominance of the car of the said prestigious racing event spanned from the late 1950s to the early 60s. The car sold at the auction for the record price is the last of its kind which is one reason why the price reached more than $9 million. The particular model is the last Ferrari race car to have its engine in the front and it was driven by Phil Hil and Oliver Glendebien at the Le Mans in 1962. Aside from that particular car, the auction also sold classic Ferrari cars which earned the Italian car manufacturer more than $46 million.
Other Ferrari cars sold during the auction, which would put to shame any production vehicle even if equipped with Kleen Wheels accessories, includes a 1953 Ferrari 340/375 MM Berlinetta Competizione which fetched a price of 4,235,000 euros. The said classic Ferrari is the second most expensive Ferrari sold during the auction. Another classic car sold at the public sale is a 1970 Ferrari 512 S which was sold for 2,640,000 euros. A 1953 Ferrari 340 MM Competition Spyder was sold at the auction for the price of 2,310,000 euros. Another Ferrari classic which was sold at the auction is a 1966 Ferrari Dino 206 SP which was sold for a whopping 2,420,000 euros. Another expensive Ferrari car sold is the 2003 Ferrari F2003-GA Formula 1 Grand Prix Car which was driven by Michael Schumacher during his stint with Scuderia Ferrari. The car was sold for 1,540,000 euros or almost $2 million.
Of the 33 cars that were auctioned, only one car was not sold and it was a 1987 Ferrari F40 Prototipo.
Aside from the mentioned cars, Ferrari also auctioned off different car-related merchandise like a 2005 Ferrari steering wheel which was sold for $85,000. Compare that to a brand new Chevy Aveo which has a starting price of $9,455 and you will see how expensive Ferraris are. The Italian car manufacturer also auctioned off a 2004 V10 engine which was sold at $62,000. A matching 2004 engine cover was also sold at the auction which fetched a price of $12,500. An autographed Schumacher helmet was sold for $30,000 while a racing suit worn by the German Formula One driver fetched a price of $28,000. Current Ferrari Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen’s racing suit was also auctioned off and was sold for $8,500. And perhaps the oddest things auctioned off were a set of Felipe Massa’s under-clothes which was sold for $775.
About the Author
Mike Bartley, 49, is a professional automotive journalist domiciled in Irvine, CA. He travels from one state to another to cover the hottest auto shows, racing events and automotive revelations. His penned compositions cover press releases, reviews, and suggestions. Where the auto action is, that’s exactly where you can find Mike.
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For more information on Car Auctions, go to http://www.maximize-income.com/Auctions-Cars/
Software Testing
June 3, 2007 at 11:49 am (software QA, software quality assurance, software testing, testing concepts)
For many years before I retired, I was involved in software testing and quality assurance of software applications. Frequently, I was the manager of a test team of 5 to 8 people. I have now put my experiences into a web site, called QA and Software Testing Concepts, which also has basic definitions, as well as some jokes and true stories about failed testing.
Help with Learning Photography
June 2, 2007 at 8:58 pm (landscape photography, nude photography, photography, portraits, taking photos)
Here is a good place to learn about digital photography: how to take portrait photos of babies, children, old people, etc. How to take killer landscape photos, travel photography, how to sell your pictures, how to take nude photos and glamour photos.
