Jigsaw

Jigsaw

Jigsaw of rocks. This one is stacked too nicely though.



Jigsaw puzzles were originally created by painting a picture on a flat, rectangular piece of wood, and then cutting that picture into small pieces with a jigsaw, hence the name. John Spilsbury, a London mapmaker and engraver, is credited with commercialising jigsaw puzzles around 1760^[1]. Jigsaw puzzles have since come primarily to be made on cardboard.

There are also three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles. Many of these are made of wood or styrofoam and require the puzzle to be solved in a certain order; some pieces will not fit in if others are already in place. Also common are puzzle boxes: simple three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles with a small drawer or box in the center for storage.

Another type of jigsaw puzzle, a kind of cross between 2-D and 3-D puzzles, is a puzzle globe. Like a 2-D puzzle, a globe puzzle is often made of cardboard and the assembled pieces form a single layer. Like a 3-D puzzle, the final form is a three-dimensional shape. Most globe puzzles have designs representing spherical shapes such as the Earth, the Moon, and historical globes of the Earth.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

Interlocking Rocks

Interlocking Rocks

We adventorously entered this cave to see what's in there. Well, Some large rocks that interlocked with each other and an end that leads to an exit at the other side. The thought of that small crack will tighly close up all the gaps between the rocks longers as we snapped out Canons off.

Cutlery

Cutlery

The whole tray of cutlery that had just been washed in the Beechworth Bakery. I had though that a black and white, messy cutlery will be quite provoking.

Cutlery has been made in many places. In England, the industry became concentrated by the late 16th century in and around Birmingham and Sheffield. However, the Birmingham industry increasingly concentrated on swords, made by 'long cutlers' and on other edged tools, whereas the Sheffield industry concentrated on knives.

At Sheffield, the trade of cutler became divided with allied trades emerging such as razormaker, awlbladesmith, shearsmith, and forkmakers becoming distinct trades by the 18th century.
Before the mid 19th century when cheap mild steel became available due to new methods of steelmaking, knives (and other edged tools) were made by welding a strip of steel on to the piece of iron that was to be formed into a knife or sandwiching a strip of steel between two pieces of iron. This was done because steel was then a much more expensive commodity than iron.

After fabrication, the knife had to be sharpened, originally on a grindstone, but from the late medieval period in a blade mill or (as they were known in the Sheffield region) a cutlers wheel.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

Waterfall Show

Waterfall Show

Close this tap and the waterfall will stops. Who's kidding? This tap is used to control the flow to the river or dam I believe.

Holding Us Up

Holding Us Up

This rusty screw is what holding the wooden bridge together. Not easy to accept that yeah. For me, I like the details of the wood fibre that was produced when the hole was cut.

Loosening rusted screws, soak overnight in lemon juice. A tissue wrapped round the area keeps the juice where it can do its work - - Dave Edmunds

Rusty Bolts. When trying to free bolts that had gone rusty I found that a drop of Coca-Cola helped loosen them. I had to try it a couple of times, but the phosphoric acid in it ate away a lot of the rust, letting me get it off once it had dried. -- Bill Walker New Mexico. .

Rusty Bolts: If you are trying to remove a very rusty bolt, and you don't have wd-40 or anything like that to loosen it, then you can use Tabasco sauce. Just shake a small amount on the bolt and wait for a few minutes then you should have no problem taking it off. -- Gerry gapobnospam@accesswave.ca 8 Jul 2002

Rusty Screws. If you are trying to remove a very rusty screw, use the tip of a very holt soldering iron to heat the head of the screw. The heat should expand the screw head and loosen the rust. -- Andy Baxter, London England

(courtsy of thetipsbank.com)

Rusty Perspective

Rusty Perspective

Rusty Perspective shows the vertical perspective but also the perspective of the rusty screw. Notice the diagonal going holes to the right. Oh yeah, this is from a bridge near a location where we were lost during our last club's outing.

Rocky Bottom

Rocky Bottom



These rocks are so beautifully placed. Along the river, under the holey tree trunk and topped by some dry grass. The image has been post processed into black and white with sepia filter.

So Long Chairman Mao

So Long Chairman Mao

That's one big statue of him in his hometown. It is erected in the Hunan province of ShaoShan. Not too fr away from Chang Sha. That day was his birthday anniversary. Tons of people had come to et off fireworks and some even pretended to be him and walk around shaking people's hand.

Regarded as one of the most important figures in modern world history, Mao is still a controversial figure today, over thirty years after his death. He is held in high regard in China where he is often portrayed as a great revolutionary and strategist who eventually defeated Chiang Kai-shek in the Chinese Civil War, and transformed the country into a major power through his Maoist policies. However, many of Mao's socio-political programs such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution are blamed by critics from both within and outside China for causing severe damage to the culture, society, economy and foreign relations of China, as well as enormous and unnecessary loss of lives, a peacetime death toll in the tens of millions.
Although still officially venerated in China, his influence has been largely overshadowed by the political and economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping and other leaders since his death.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

Famous Red Little Thing

Famous Red Little Thing

Who cares of such an old, greasy thing. Well, I love it cause it's so dirty and dusty. Almost anyone who had watch hollywood action/ comedy movie will know this. The scene when the cars hit it and allthe water will burst out. Die Hard even use it to almost bring down a heli.

The concept of fire plugs dates to at least the 1600s. This was a time when firefighters responding to a call would dig down to the water mains and hastily bore a hole to secure water to fight fires via bucket brigades or, later, via hand pumped fire engines. The holes were then plugged with stoppers, which over time came to be known as fire plugs. This is the source of the colloquial term fire plug still used for fire hydrants today. After the Great Fire of London in 1666, the city installed water mains with holes drilled at intervals, equipped with risers, allowing an access point to the wooden fire plugs from street level. [1]

(courtesy of wikipedia.comm)

Tangled Nest

Tangled Nest

While walking back from the mountain, there was tangled object hanging from a tree looking like a nest. I think that it was tied by someone with an itchy hand. Framed the composition, checked exposure and aperture, take a photo, notice that it had great contrast and walked away. This photo was processed with a Velvia look. More saturated colours and vignette at the corners.

A nest is place of refuge built to hold an animal's eggs and/or provide a place to raise their offspring. They are usually made of some organic material such as twigs, grass, and leaves; or may simply be a depression in the ground, or a hole in a tree, rock or building. Sometimes available human made materials such as string, plastic, cloth, hair, paper, etc. may be used as well.

Generally each species has a distinctive style of nest. Nests can be found in many different habitats.

Nests are built primarily by birds, but also by mammals, fish, insects and reptiles.

They may have some or all of the following zones: attachment; outer decorative layer; structural layer; lining.

Some birds will build nests in trees, some (such as vultures, eagles, and many seabirds like Kittiwakes) will build them on rocky ledges, and others nest on the ground or in burrows.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

Log Raiser

Log Raiser

This phenomena puzzles me. Why do they put wood logs below all these growing trees? Won't it make the trees less stable? Well, not to care about why is it, but caring on how had I processed this photo. A Velvia preset was applied for this picture which makes the saturation to be deeper and a bias towards the green and the blues. A vignette is also prominent in the picture.

Velvia was introduced in 1990 and quickly replaced Kodachrome 25 as the industry standard in high-definition color film. It had brighter and generally more accurate color reproduction, finer grain, twice the speed, and a more convenient process (E-6). Kodachrome 25 fell out of popularity a few years after Velvia was introduced, and Kodachrome 64 and 200 have followed more slowly. Many photographers credit Velvia with ending the Kodachrome era.

Velvia has the highest resolving power of any slide film. When shot with an excellent lens, a 35 mm Velvia slide will hold detail equivalent to 22 or more megapixels of image data.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

Recycle & Reuse

Recycle & Reuse

Who says that China citizens do not know how about the 3Rs. In this picture alone, they had recycle the old woven chair to become a rubbish dump and reuse the fruits skin as the rubbish.
Someone living here must be loving banana and oranges until there is not enough space in their rubbish

Recyclable materials, also called "recyclables" or "recyclates", may originate from a wide range of sources including the home and industry. They include glass, paper, aluminium, asphalt, iron, textiles and plastics. Biodegradable waste, such as food waste or garden waste, is also recyclable with the assistance of micro-organisms through composting or anaerobic digestion.

Recyclates need to be sorted and separated into material types. Contamination of the recylates with other materials must be prevented to increase the recyclates value and facilitate easier reprocessing for the ultimate recycling facility. This sorting can be performed either by the producer of the waste or within semi- or fully-automated materials recovery facilities.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

Ventilate

Ventilate

"It's so humid! Let's on the aircon". Opps, no aircon available. Taken in a university complex, the old wooden style window which had been fitted on the brick house complete with hung clothing made such a nice classic scene.



The word Window originates from the Old Norse vindauga, from vindr "wind" and auga "eye." "Vindauga" is still used in Icelandic, as well as some Norwegian dialects to mean exactly the same thing: window. It is first recorded in the early 13th century, and originally referred to an unglazed hole in a roof. Window replaced the Old English eagþyrl, which literally means "eye-hole," and eagduru, "eye-door". Most Germanic languages however adopted the Latin word fenestra to describe a window with glass, such as Swedish fönster, or German Fenster. Notable exceptions to this, apart from English, are Danish and Norwegian, with the English word window closely resembling the words vindue and vindu respectively. This is probably due to the Scandinavian influence on the English language by means of loanwords during the Viking Age. In English the word fenester was used as a parallel until the mid-1700s and fenestration is still used to describe the arrangement of windows within a facade.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

Beheaded

Beheaded

Broken lamp by the roadside with no one ever taking a second look. I find that the position of the head, the body and the body's shadow fell nicely. The photo was post processed to give an antique, overly warm sepia look.



In countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, UK and the northern part of the US, street lamps are burning an average of 4000 hours per year. Considering that the average wattage of a lamp is around 150 watts, considering that a 100,000 inhabitant city contains about 18,000 lamps, such a city spend around 11 giga watt hours (11 billion watt hours). Considering that producing 1 kWh implies the emission of 340 grams of CO₂ (average in Europe), the streetlights of such a city are responsible for the emission of 3700 tons of CO₂ in the atmosphere per year.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

I'm So Free

I'm So Free

Taken at Sand's Restaurant, Jakarta, it's reception hall features a large tree with lots of tiny bird cages. Shooting at wide open aperture (due to low light too) to get shallow depth of field, I look through my tiny 350D viewfinder to manually focus on this cage. The photo was then post processed to become black and white. After editing the photo, I really feel how free and "uncaged" I am.



Pet birds face numerous challenges in captivity. Most birds fly, which puts them at risk of impacting ceiling fans, stoves, and other hazards. Even birds with their wings clipped may eat hazardous substances, chew on cords, or gnaw at furniture. As many pet birds are not domesticated and still retain their natural instincts, they sometimes can be unpredictable. Their small size makes housing them in cages a convenient solution to these problems.

The newest trend in the market is cages made of solid stainless steel. Large parrot cages made of stainless steel can cost thousands of dollars and will actually outlive a powder-coated cage by 5 to 6 times.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

The Saucy Shoe

The Saucy Shoe

This is my shoe, after i had stepped on a pool of water which was "camouflaged" by seaweed. The seaweed made me think that the surface was hard and therefore I had stepped on it. This is the result of it. I had taken this shot to remind me how dirty my shoe was. Thanks to my mum who helped me wash my shoe. Really appreciate it mum.

Men's shoes

Men's shoes can be categorized by how they are closed:

• Balmorals - the vamp has a V-shaped slit to which the laces are attached; also known as "closed lacing." In England, the balmoral is known as the Oxford. The word "Oxford" is used by American clothing companies to market shoes that are not Oxfords, such as rubber-sole bluchers.
• Blüchers - the laces are tied to two pieces of leather independently attached to the vamp; also known as "open lacing." In England, the Blucher is known as the Derby shoe.
• Monk-straps - a buckle and strap instead of lacing

Various other closings exist but are less popular such as side-elastic closings.

Men's shoes can also be decorated in various ways:

• Plain-toes - have a sleek appearance and no extra decorations on the vamp.
• Cap-toes - has an extra layer of leather that 'caps' the toe. This is possibly the most popular decoration
• Wing-tips - The toe of the shoe is covered with a perforated panel, the wing-tip, which extends down either side of the shoe. Wing-tips can be found in both balmoral and blucher styles. In England this is called a brogue.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

Sticks

Sticks

This picture was taken in Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. The new and modern airport sports almost all glass panes around the airport. These glass panes were supported by the stainless steel rods that interconnect with a huge frame. The image was processed to give a starking high contrast between the shiny and dull steel running around the pictures.



Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport was the main airport in Guangzhou, China, until August 5, 2004, when it was replaced by the identically named Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, some 17 kilometers away.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

Supper Inn

Supper Inn

This is the famous Supper Inn restaurant in Melbourne. It is located in Chinatown. Visitors normally have to wait for at least 15 min in the narrow stairway to be able to get a seat. The speciality of the restaurant is the porridge or congee. There is one old waiter who is very polite and dress very neatly too.

Supper Inn
Restaurant	Melbourne
Credit Cards: All major cards Open: Dinner daily Price: Low Score (/20): 14 Reviewed By Sue Dyson and Roger McShane	Phone Number: +61 3 9663 4759 Address: 15 Celestial Avenue (off Little Bourke St) Melbourne, Victoria, 3000 Country: Australia Food Style: Chinese
This is one of our favourite haunts in Melbourne. It is a place we are drawn to time and time again. Amid the apparent confusion and noise there is an underlying professionalism here which ensures that all diners receive the attention they require.The congee here is exceptional! But we also like a range of other dishes ranging from the freshest possible oysters to the hot pots to the quail. If you are adventurous, the duck tongues are also lovely.

(courtesy of foodtourist.com)

Broken Antique

Broken Antique

Well, that is my previous frame less spectacles which had served me well for the last 4 to 5 years. Yes, a long time but I love it. It finally broke and to some of my friends, a real relieve. The spectacles was made from component of titanium and it can bend well without breaking. The fashion at the time I bought it was to have a very slim and thin arms while now, the fashion is to have the frame thick and bold. The photo was added with noise blended with colour burn in photoshop.

Modern glasses are typically supported by pads on the bridge of the nose and by temples placed over the ears. Historical types include the pince-nez, monocle, and lorgnette.

Glasses frames are commonly made from metal, horn or plastic. Lenses were originally made from glass, but many are now made from various types of plastic, including CR-39 or polycarbonate. These materials reduce the danger of breakage and weigh less than glass lenses. Some plastics also have more advantageous optical properties than glass, such as better transmission of visible light and greater absorption of ultraviolet light. Some plastics have a greater index of refraction than most types of glass; this is useful in the making of corrective lenses shaped to correct vision abnormalities such as myopia, allowing thinner lenses for a given prescription. Scratch-resistant coatings can be applied to most plastic lenses giving them similar scratch resistance to glass. Hydrophobic coatings designed to ease cleaning are also available, as are anti-reflective coatings intended to improve night vision and make the wearer's eyes more visible.

Polycarbonate lenses are the lightest and most shatterproof, making them the best for impact protection. Polycarbonate lenses offer poor optics because of a low Abbe number of 31. CR-39 lenses are the most common plastic lenses, due to their low weight, high scratch resistance and low transparency for ultra violet and infared radiation.

Rimless

Rimless and semi-rimless glasses are common variations that differ from regular glasses in that their frames do not completely encircle the lenses. Rimless glasses have no frame around the lenses; the bridge and arms are mounted directly onto the lenses. Semi-rimless (or half-rimless) glasses have a frame that only partially encircles the lenses (commonly the top portion).^[2]

Glazing

Spectacle lenses are edged into the frame's rim using glazing machines operated by ophthalmic technicians. The edgeing process begins with a trace being taken of the frame's eye shape. In earlier days the trace was replicated onto a plastic pattern called a Former. Nowadays the process is patternless and the shape is sent to the edger electronically.

The lens, in the form of a round uncut, is positioned in the correct manner to match the prescription and a block is stuck to the lens and that block fits into a chuck in the edgeing machine. A diamond coated wheel spins and the edger replicates the frame's eye-shape to the uncut. A 'v' bevel is applied to allow the edge of the lens to fit into the frames rim.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

M&Mymss

M&Mymss

This picture was taken on my study desk at home. I had my white study lamp on at the time of shooting. The colourful M&Ms create a pleasing colours to the eyes and of course gives the tendency to lick your monitor. The M&Ms packaging give even light to the chocolate inside. I was eating lots of this before my final year exam.

M&M's are small, sugar-coated, milk chocolate candy pieces popular in many countries around the world. They are produced by Mars, Incorporated.

The candies were originally made in six colors: red, orange, yellow, green, brown, and violet. (Peanut candies were made in the same colors, except violet.) In 1949, Violet was taken out of the mix and was replaced by tan. Red was eliminated in 1976^[1] because of health concerns about the red dye amaranth (FD&C Red #2), a suspected carcinogen. Despite the fact that M&M's did not contain the dye, red M&M's were removed to satisfy worried consumers. By 1987, the public had forgotten the scare, and the red candies were reintroduced. They currently contain Allura red AC (FD&C Red #40). In 1995, tan was replaced by blue.

The most popular (and the most common) M&M's are milk chocolate and peanut (with a layer of chocolate between the peanut and the candy shell). Several variations exist, but are harder to find: mint chocolate, dulce de leche, toffee, crispy, almond, peanut butter, white chocolate (with and without peanuts), and dark chocolate.

M&M's, one of the most popular candies in the United States, are based on the older British product, Smarties. Forrest Mars Sr. saw soldiers during the Spanish Civil War eating chocolate pellets that were coated in sugar to prevent chocolate from sticking to their fingers. After the rights were purchased by Americans Forrest Mars Sr. and R. Bruce Murrie in 1939, they had to reintroduce them to the domestic market with a different name because there was already a candy product sold in the U.S. under the name Smarties. To identify their new brand, they combined the first initials of their last names: M & M. M&M's were first sold in the United States in 1941. By World War II, American soldiers were given the candy by the United States Army because they were a convenient snack that traveled well in any climate; soon after this it was marketed to the public. M&M's soon became a hit because, in those times when air conditioning was not usually found in stores, homes, or the automobile, melting chocolate candy bars were a problem; but with M&M's, the candy coating kept the chocolate from getting messy.

In 1954, Peanut Chocolate Candies were introduced, while the M&M's brand characters and the famous slogan "The milk chocolate that melts in your mouth, not in your hand" were both trademarked.

In 1993, Mars ran a promotion in which consumers were invited to vote on which of blue, pink, or purple would be introduced. Blue was the winner, and with the removal of tan, it was added in early 1995.

In 1996, Mars introduced a new M&M candy: the "M&M's Minis." These candies are very small and are usually sold in small plastic tubes instead of bags. A video game, M&M's Minis Madness, was also eventually released, based on this candy.

In 1998, the "Crispy M&M's" were released. These are slightly larger than the milk chocolate variety and feature a crispy rice center.

In 2002, Mars ran another vote to add a new color from 3 choices. Once again, the general public were the voters. The 3 choices were turquoise, pink and purple. This time, purple won.^[2]

In June 2004, M&M's were spotlighted in the media when Mike Melvill, who flew a weightless suborbital arc in SpaceShipOne the world's first private piloted space flight, opened up a package of the chocolate brand when he reached the border of space (100km) in order to demonstrate weightlessness as the candy floated in the cabin. Melvill chose the candies because they were both colorful, therefore showing up well on camera, and because once the g-level increased, if they fell into any of the controls they could be easily crushed and not interfere with the mechanisms (and maybe M&M refers also to his own initials). The stunt was totally unauthorized. Melvill stated that he never told his bosses that he was planning this.

In April of 2005, M&M's ran the "mPire" promotion to tie in with the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith movie release. M&M's were offered in a dark variety for the first time.

In the summer of 2005, Mars added "Mega M&M's" to the lineup. These candies are 55% larger than the traditional M&M's and are available in milk chocolate and peanut varieties. Most of the colors for Mega M&M's were also changed to less-bright colors—teal (replacing green), beige (orange), maroon (red), gold (yellow), brown (same as regular M&M's) and blue-gray (blue)—to appeal more to adults. In the fall of 2005, the mPire promotion ran again to coincide with the DVD release of the Star Wars movie.

In 2006, Mars offered eight new flavors of M&M's via online sales. The flavors were All That Razz; Eat, Drink, & Be Cherry; A Day at the Peach; Orange-U-Glad; Mint Condition; AlmonDeeLicious; Nut What You Think; and Cookie Minster. The first five have a white chocolate and milk chocolate center with a flavored shell. The two nut flavors have an almond or peanut center with white chocolate and candy shell. Cookie Minster has a crispy center with dark chocolate and a mint flavored shell. The company also released a Crispy Mint variety in Australia. Also in July 2006, the dark chocolate M&Ms reappeared in a purple package with the Green female M&M (see trivia section, below, as aphrodisiac urban legend) as the mascot. In 2006, the company also trialed white chocolate M&Ms as a tie-in with their Pirates of the Caribbean promotion.

In 2006, M&M's could be ordered and purchased online with custom phrases, replacing the traditional "M" on each M&M, excluding the Special Edition Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean designs. Released around Christmas, these phrase M&M's were meant for holiday greetings. Also, the M&M's could be chosen from 17 custom colours.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)