I made this one for a friend in Argentina, whose birthday it is on Monday. Despite the post office worker's ignorance of where Argentina was, I think it will get there. Whether it's on time is another question.

• Homemade Greeting Cards

Not a real one obviously. Where would I find a Hippo?

This is a water saving device. Quite simple and effective. It saves you 3 litres of water every time you flush. Besides savings, I think this is a terrific environmental coup.

Mine is happily settling in. Soon I'll replace the cistern cover and let it get on with its job.

• Hippo the Water Saver

Got an email saying that SUSE 9.2 is available. I'm still running 8.2, so I think I may upgrade. My only concern is my Netgear MA521 Wireless Card on a 2.6.x kernel.

Would recommend you get the upgrade as opposed to the full version. It's the same, just without hard copies of the manuals. You do not need a previous version to use the upgrade.

• Information @ SUSE
• SUSE Online store @ Holborn Books
• Linux Emporium

Just a minor change which shouldn't affect most people, unless you are trying to link to the same item in multiple countries.

The problem was that the cache file was being written with no regard to which country. Therefore, your cache file would always represent the first country you used it with.

So update to this if you want multiple country, same item functionality.

Patches

• Use this patch against a fresh MTAmazon.
  MTAmazon.snowblink.20041024.patch
  MD5: 74818d6cb403844bcd54bde09a4b29a8
• Use this patch if you have applied the previous one.
  MTAmazon.snowblink.20041024.incremental.patch
  MD5: e331170ce96bd9323dd65b9701192182

Usage

Install

'How do you spell it again?' she asked.
'Oh,' they chanted together, 'just the way it sounds.'
-- Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks

What are they talking about in the quote above? A particular word I shall reveal at the end of this post.

In an effort to improve my vocabulary, I am writing down words and their definitions. Words that I encounter in books, magazines, online, on tv, etc.

However, that doesn't guarantee the word goes into the old noggin. It requires multiple exposures to the word in different contexts. One thing that helps this is to look up the word in several dictionaries. The other part that poses a problem is usage; word choice, as Lostgal puts it. Once you know the word, you have to be able to pull it out of your proverbial hat whenever you speak or write.

This requires a different part of the brain to comprehension. You have to make a conscious effort to not use your old staple. It helps to test yourself in both spelling and definition of your new words.

I would like to learn more about how we learn. Particularly languages. Techniques used for foreign languages can be equally applied to your own.

How do you accrete (yeah, that's one of my new words in use) new words?

• A Word a Day
• Dictionary.com
• Wikipedia
• Urban Dictionary
• Online Etymology Dictionary

Word being discussed in the quote: Onomatopoeia

I have been playing with Skype for the last few days.

It is a free voice over IP system: internet telephony. It works on a number of platforms: Linux (hooray!), Mac, Windows, and PocketPC. You will only have to pay if you want to call a non-Skype system, eg. a landline.

Sometimes a little choppy. Sometimes a little echoey. I would still recommend you take a look.

I remember a Reverend who would write correspondence daily after lunch. It could be a quick one or two lines, but he would still write. I try to practise that habit with email, but I think actual writing is more satisfying.

Last week, I sent off a few postcards (all in envelopes) to three separate continents. I like the idea of people receiving hand written notes and cards in the post. I'm amused by the fact that I could have sent emails to all but one of the recipients.

I also ordered some Waterman Havana and a new converter for my Parker 75 from The Writing Desk. Both arrived in a little box marked 'Fragile' on Saturday. I think I'll be writing more, now I have this plush brown.

Cornwell is a master of writing compelling historical fiction. I've read many of Cornwell's Sharpe novels, depicting the Napoleonic wars. It was on this basis that I picked up this book many years ago. An alternate Athurian tale, much more gritty and real.

The story is told from the viewpoint of Derfel Cadarn, one of Arthur's captains. Now an old man, he writes his version of history: The story of the Warlord Arthur. This is not T. H. White's Arthur, nor Malory's. There is no "Sword in the Stone", "Lady of the Lake", or "Quest for the Holy Grail". Cornwell's Arthur is the bastard son of Uther Pendragon. We see him as a real man who has to make hard decisions, which are sometimes fatally wrong.

Cornwell has thought through his Britain. Christianity is not all pervading. Merlin is a druid. Saxons are a very real threat. He realises that chivalry was more recent concept. The "knights" aren't running around with heavy armour and pages. They fight with shield walls, and kill fast, in any way they can.

This is our generation's Arthurian Legend.

This is one of the headshots I took for my actor friend Adrian. His Spotlight portfolio needed updating; the last one I did for him was a few years ago.

I was thinking it might be interesting to do portraits for my non-actor friends too, updating them every year or so. Perhaps a photographic life project worth pursuing.

Is there something about seeing things upside down?

One of the exercises in the drawing book is to copy something upside down. As you cannot readily identify what you are copying, the right side of your brain is engaged.

Reading the Tao of Photography, I noticed that he talks about shooting upside down on a Hasselblad.

I wonder if seeing things upside may help you see potential photographs better.

On this occasion the solution was to squeeze Tom Hanks into the little bit of available light by sitting him on the floor and getting him to look up. He thought the whole thing was wildly funny - I think his amusement comes across in the picture. --- Jane Bown on Tom Hanks

Many photographers could learn from what Jane Bown has done in this book. Most of the photographic books I own will show the photograph, and maybe the date and location.

Jane Bown has written an introduction letting us get to know how she shoots and her photographic history. Each photograph is accompanied by a little explanation or story. Of course, the photographs themselves are wonderful. At times, I had to check the name by the photograph because she often captures a new facet of the person.

An inspirational book.

petrichor (PET-ri-kuhr) n.

The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell.

I like words like this. Words which you didn't even know existed, for feelings you thought were exclusive to you.

(via A Word a Day)

I recently bought a Moleskine sketchbook as a present. It was so lovely, that I bought one too. It's not been touched yet, as I want to complete my drawing book first.

I have always decorated my notebooks with a Bone trading card. I haven't many left of shiny series 2, so I thought I'd move on to the Dragonslayer series.

I will be buying more of these notebooks for future trips, as they are just the right size for travelling.

• Moleskine Italy
• Moleskine US
• Moleskines @ The Writing Desk
• Moleskines @ Mojo London
• moleskinerie - site for moleskine lovers (via Ana)