Friday, March 16, 2007

Google Image Ripper

I found this little utility and it works very well. I tried it and did a few searches and it pulled a wide range of pics, some safe for work and some not. If you are like me, this is a handy little tool to have access to. I also tried to incorporate this into my site and it worked.

"The Google Image Ripper which gives you a page of full-sized images grabbed from Google Images results. Just enter a search term and image size (for some reason you can’t just view all sizes), and Image Ripper takes all the search results from Google Images, grabs the actual photo they point to, and displays them on a long single page (pictures along the right). Google Images’ thumbnails often do a very poor job of helping you compare images, so this inelegant solution gives you everything you need to know, just the facts."


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Thursday, March 15, 2007

Day and Night Shots



I took most of the pics during the day and night off the Robert E. Lee bridge over Tredegar street. It gave me a good vantage point to shoot Downtown Richmond from the West Side. I hope that everyone enjoys the pics. Shots 1 - 21 were taken here as well as 36 - 48 were shot here as well. The Night shots of the city were made from those sets.


Some of the Day shots were taken on the East Side of the city in the Church Hill region and i took a great percentage of them from Jefferson Park. Shots 20 - 34 were taken here and also the Rich Pan 2 & 3 were made from those shots.



You can go and see all the pics at this link: Pic Page




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Our Website

I have updated the Website ton ight with some new stuf and also the Pic Page as well.

Go an take a look at it...

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Wednesday, March 14, 2007

My New Bike...



Gary Fisher Wahoo Disk

Here are the specs:
Main frame
Gold Series 6061 T6 internally and externally butted aluminum Genesis Geometry
Fork
RockShox Dart 1 w/preload 100mm travel
Headset
Aheadset semi-cartridge
Crank
Shimano M341 42/32/22
Pedals
Alloy platform
Front derailleur
Shimano Acera
Rear derailleur
Shimano Deore
Shifters
Shimano EF50
Cassette
Shimano HG50 11-32 8 speed
Front wheel
Shimano M65 disc hubs Bontrager Ranger Disc rims
Rear wheel
Shimano M65 disc hubs Bontrager Ranger Disc rims
Front Tire
Bontrager Jones XR 26x2.25
Rear tire
Bontrager Jones XR 26x2.2
Front brake
Shimano M465 mechanical disc
Rear brake
Shimano M465 mechanical disc
Handlebar
Bontrager Crowbar Sport 25mm rise
Stem
Bontrager Sport 10d
Saddle
CRZ+ HC Sport - 2006
Seatpost
Bontrager Sport

I purchased it from Agee's Bicycle
11020 Midlothian Turnpike
Richmond , VA 23235-4710 804-794-6754
I am very pleased with their service and I have to bring the bike back in one month for a Tune-up that is free of charge. They were very nice and considerate to me and very helpful in purchasing this bike.



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300 Spartans Vs. Iran (Persia)


I went to the movies last night and I saw The 300. It was an incredible show!! I remember going to see The Lord Of The Rings and thinking that this was amazing what they did with CGI (Computer Generated Images). Well, The 300 Have upped the bar on that note. The battle scenes were amazing and the backgrounds looked like it was a comic book. All other shows of this genre will and should be jugged by this movie.

Now, this being a “true" account of a battle that took place circa 480BC, you have to take this movie with "a grain of salt" as the saying goes. Persia, what is now called Iran, has taken offense to this movie.


In an article written by the BBC; "Javad Shamqadri, a cultural advisor to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said it was "plundering Iran's historic past and insulting this civilization". He branded the film "psychological warfare" against Tehran and its people. But Iranian culture was strong enough to withstand the assault, Mr. Shamqadri said."

If we got pissed of about every movie or book that written about the USA and our wars and culture, we would have waged war on every freaking country especially France for making insults about us. I mean, if they get pissed about getting their asses beaten by a little island country some 2400 years ago, I just wonder what they think about the movie “Alexander” which showed the Macedonian general easily conquering the Persian Empire.

Is it our faults that 300 men killed 70,000 + of their best warriors and that they were finally beaten and pushed back after the full force of the combined Greek forces lead by the Spartan army. They are just having issues dealing with the Sanctions that are going to be placed on them and the world’s displeasure with their testing and going forward with their Nuclear program. The are just lashing out any way they can to make the USA look like the Evil Empire.

I mean, come on guys, It is a FREAKING MOVIE and it was a comic book before that and then 2400 years ago, it was happening! All anyone has to do is go and look up about the Spartans and you can see and read about it. I looked it up on Wikipedia and it told the story, but in much greater detail than what the movie went into. Are they going now try to get pissed at the owner(s) of Wikipedia? Will they say that "psychological warfare" is being wagged on them by that website also? It is free information that is most likely taught in Greece because it is part of their history.

When a movie about our on Civil war comes out, we don't get all pissed off at the producers for making an adaptation and their perception of that event. We don't say that someone is wagging a new war on our history and running a “SMEAR CAMPAIGN” on the North or South. We are not trying to Smear the good country of Iran, but merely trying to make a few dollars to line our pockets with. This is America, The land of the Free and the home of the Brave! We all love to make money and it if a few toes are stepped on, well it happens...


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Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Panaroma Shots of Richmond...







I took over 40 shots to make the Panorama pics. I used a program called Panaroma Maker 3.0 It takes the guess work out of making photos like these. In the past, I have not had much luck with the program. Last night however, I think that I found the technique. In my photo series, I left enough of an overlap between the photos to allow the program to integrate the photos seamlessly with no odd angles between the buildings.

I took the pictures with my Sony Cybershot 5.1 M/P with a 12x Optical Zoom and a 5x Digital Zoom using a 512 Sony Mem Pro card. I went around to different sides of the city to get the shots. I will post most of them on my PicPage this week.

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Night Shots in Richmond...

Well, I took about 45 shots today of day and night shots of Richmond Downtown. I will be editing them soon and posting them on the Blog!!!
I am off to sleep!!

RMStringer
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood
over questions of reality and illusion.
I know this: if life is an illusion, then I
am no less an illusion, and being thus, the
illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I
love, I slay, and I am content.
(Robert E. Howard, Queen of the Black Coast, Weird Tales, May 1934)



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Ambient Massive - There Is Grace In Their Feelings

. Instruments used were: Kurzweil 2000vx Microfreak' Maschine 2 Wavestate Deepmind 12 Virus Ti2 Monotron and various VSTi synths. Releas...