H€adlines & D€adlines

Concert Pianist Has a Clean Image

Pointing out stories you might have missed: A university cleaner in Glasgow has become a concert pianist after a webcam caught him having a go on a grand piano. Aleksander Kudajczyk put down his mop and gave a spellbinding performance of Chopin compositions to an empty room. Kudajczyk, 28, who arrived in Britain six months ago, had landed a job cleaning Glasgow University's law department. He saw no need to mention the fact he had studied at one of Poland's finest music academies. But the unwitting public performance in Glasgow University chapel so enraptured his on-line audience that he is now playing to packed venues. Soon after, he was offered the chance to play concerts at the chapel and he has also been entertaining crowds at Glasgow's West End Festival.

FOOTNOTE: To see Jane Barlow's picture of the pianist and to read Jim Gilchrist's heart-warming report, go to Scotsman.com. Jim's report was the best of many versions in the international media, and he pointed out ``at the moment, however, he continues to work as a cleaner - this week's recitals were voluntary and unpaid''.

Light Entertainment

A Memorable End To The Shortest Day

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Melbourne, Thursday, 5.05pm. It's a good thing I always have a camera with me. I was walking to my car this evening and noticed the sky had an interesting glow. Not spectacular, just mildly interesting. Right? So I took the camera out, took a couple of frames and turned away. I put the lens cap back on, put the camera into its bag and snapped it shut. Closed the back door and got into the car.

Melbourne, Thursday, 5.07pm. Even before I could put the key in the ignition, I half-turned to get hold of my seatbelt. I blinked in disbelief as I realised how rapidly the sky had changed. Got the camera out again and took this shot. There was literally two minutes between the first frame and this one, because I checked my watch and verified it on the image properties.

Melbourne, Thursday, 5.08pm. This time I waited, because the rays of the sun - which had already sunk beyond the horizon - were turning into a golden war bonnet. This time, there was only a minute between these frames. The total time elapsed was less than four minutes, from start to finish. And there's a special significance to this sequence, because today's the winter equinox, the shortest day of the year. What a privilege to be able to capture it in this way.

Song Sung Brew

Every Garden Grows One

What's better than pizza and beer? How about pizza beer? Chicago-area real estate broker Tom Seefurth says he has created a pizza-flavoured beer. Seefurth brews beer and ale at his home in Campton Township. His pizza beer started as a brewing experiment. He added tomatoes, oregano, garlic and basil to one batch and calls the result Mamma Mia Pizza Beer. But do you ask for a pint or a slice?

On The Straight And Arrow

Where Are We, Mate? In Los Angles?

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

No, I haven't rotated the image above, or tinkered with it in any way. I just thought I would walk under this huge neon sign and shoot it. Does this image force you to look twice? The angled neon sign, to a multi-level car park, is rectangular, about a couple of metres high and six or seven metres across. The blue arrows show the ``in'' lanes and the red circle shows the ``out'' lane. It's a viewpoint that challenges your perspective (and your powers of perception) because there is no ``normal'' point of reference for the eye.

Now look at the second frame, below. It's taken from further back and gives you a couple of points of reference - the street lamp and the floodlit building. All of a sudden, your brain can place the neon sign in perspective. I guess you could say it's a bit like a visual jigsaw puzzle.

Star Tech

Time To Get Your Kicks, Soccer Fans

Every Wednesday, I have the pleasure of reviewing a site for my weekly Blog Cabin column which appears in all three editions (Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane) of mX newspaper. This segment appeared in yesterday’s paper.

``Would you please review my blog, Nearpost’’ - Email received from Eamonn Flanagan, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.

Q: Where do you find a good soccer blog? A: At the back of the ``Net''. There is definitely a ``woo-hoo'' factor to this Canberra blog. It is creatively presented and the high-rotation editorial mix embraces several timely news flashes alongside interviews, special columns, viewpoints, interesting photo selection and subtle touches of refreshing humour.

To wit: The end-of-week snippets are called ``Friday Short Shorts.'' And there's the story of Pete, a competitor in Canberra's Church League. After two all-in brawls, there are some hefty bans imposed and Pete's tongue-in-cheek comment is: ``It's God's way of telling us we're too old and should know better.''

Then there's the yarn about the Cardinals, an under-10 side accustomed to heavy losses, whose players and coaches are ecstatic with a 2-2 draw. Another gem is the tongue-in-cheek narration of how Ian Shaw, Capital Football's technical director, nearly (yep, nearly) played against the late George Best.

It's a gutsy effort, ramping up a soccer blog in a country whose citizens were only recently galvanised by the late nights and early mornings of the 2006 World Cup. But that's the beauty of blogging. If the folks in your own city or state or country aren't reading your blog, there's a whole world out there that could be. Nothing speaks to the global sports community like soccer.
This is a site with personality. It is a stirling example of the fact that a good blogger simply needs a clear focus. Eamonn Flanagan, who presents this site, said that two months ago he didn't even know what a blog was.

The editorial mix belies the fact that it's a newbie blog. All it needs is slightly tighter editing.If you missed the kick-off, log on now to keep track of the score. When it comes to judgement, I’m not sitting on defence.

Trivia Pur$uit

We all remember the raspy voice and the great comic legacy of the late Philadelphia-born comedian and actor W.C. Fields (1880-1946) but his real name was William Claude Dukenfield.

Open, Sesame

Like R. Kelly, I Believe I Can Fly

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

I guess I was looking for a different aviation image. I didn't want a stock-standard, side-on fuselage shot. The Royal Australian Air Force F-111 is a swing-wing fighter with updated avionics and this one was sitting on a tarmac under a lead-grey sky. The open canopy gave me something to work with and once I'd decided what I wanted, the shot composed itself. In all honesty, I don't think this frame would have worked so well under a clear blue sky.

Soy Source

You Must Cedar Point Of This Story

A Japanese company will sell soy sauce that has aged for three years in the world's largest wooden soy sauce barrel. ``World's No 1 Wooden Barrel Soy Sauce'' - cured for three years in a barrel 9m in diameter and 9m tall - will be sold online by Fundokin Soy Sauce Co. The giant barrel can hold 5.4 million litres of the salty sauce, and was made by hand in 2002 using 400-year-old cedar trees from Canada. The wood helps give the sauce a desirable fragrance, colour and taste, the company said. The big-barrel sauce will cost $10 for a 500ml bottle.

Swearing-In Ceremony

McEnroe Was Such A Well-Heeled Champion

After I posted the earlier picture caption about my gardening boots (see below) I remembered a great ad slogan for Nike, back in the days when John McEnroe was carving up every opponent on Wimbledon's historic grass courts. I was a tennis writer at the time and jeepers, it was a great era to be reporting a sport I had played since I was a kid. I guess I got to see the golden era, the rivalries between McEnroe-Borg-Connors, Navratilova-Evert-Graf, Lendl-Becker-Edberg at close quarters. Of course, the most outspoken was the superbly talented McEnroe. And the Nike slogan was so simple yet so memorable: ``John McEnroe swears by them''.

Sole Mates

Anyone Looking For My Foot Prince?

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

I've got an old pair of Nikes that I keep outside the house because, well, because every bloke has to have an all-purpose pair of shoes, right? The soles are generally caked with mud, because I use the Nikes as my gardening boots, my all-purpose footwear, my multi-faceted shoes. I also spend a fair few hours raking up the many millions of leaves (you think I'm kidding?) from the plane trees on our nature strip. This morning I noticed one of the Nikes was on its side and surrounded by many of the wind-blown leaves. Of course, I had to share the shot with you.

Star Tech

Okay, So We Get The Picture

I had an interesting question on the weekend from that livewire blogger Bart.

``How do you format your photos in your posts? Do you link to a separate locale? And how do you get the little copyright blurb in there? I've seen others do this, not always with copyrights. Some pictures I'd like to caption separately and I have no clue how.’’

My photos are also saved as jpeg files, and I only ever upload low-res versions of the original hi-res files. When I’ve written my post and I’m ready to upload a picture, I simply click on the coloured ``Add Image’’ icon. Then I choose the alignment I require and tick ``Left’’ if I want the picture to align on the left-hand side of the post, or ``Centre’’ if I want it in the middle, or ``Right’’ if I want it to appear on the right. Then I tick the Size icon. I use ``small’’ if I need the little dinkus that appears with the Gizmo Machismo posts or the H€adlines & D€adlines segments. But if I’m just posting a normal picture, I tick the ``large’’ box.

Then you just need to click the ``Browse’’ option and select a folder or desktop, depending on where you’ve saved the image you need. Tick the precise image you require and hit the ``Upload’’ box. As I mentioned in a Star Tech segment on 29 April, the picture will appear in a default position up the top of the post.

To drag the picture to its intended position, simply click on it to activate the element, then drag and place it. To enlarge the image, just click on it to activate the element. Then click on any of the toggles that outline the picture and enlarge to whatever width and depth you choose.

As for the ``copyright'' lines I use under my pictures - they are typed in normally. Then I highlight the text and click the ``Centre Text'' option, click B for bold text. You can also display it in a different typeface/ font and size by clicking and choosing respective options from the pulldown menu.

Gator Aid

Sorry, Officer, We Were Just Playing Snap

An alligator raised in the basement of a house in Buffalo, New York, is headed to a new home in a more gator-friendly place, Florida. A former Buffalo couple who operate a reptile sanctuary in Tampa moved the 2.5m gator. It's illegal to keep an alligator in New York state, but officials say the man who raised the gator won't face any charges because he turned himself in. He had built a pond in his basement for the reptile.

H€adlines & D€adlines

Email Is The Queen's Crowning Glory

Pointing out stories you may have missed: The Queen has her own email account - but she does not actually type her emails herself. She dictates them. The 81-year-old monarch, who also has a mobile phone and an iPod mini, revealed her email address at a recent Buckingham Palace garden party. At the end of a conversation with Elizabeth Saltzman, editor of Vanity Fair, the journalist said: ``We must keep in touch''. What followed was rather unexpected. ``Absolutely,'' agreed the Queen. "Here, let me give you my email address.'' Saltzman, stunned, replied, "Good lord, you use email?" The Queen did not miss a beat. "Oh yes," she continued, "but I don't actually write them - I dictate them all, of course."

News source: Telegraph.co.uk.

FOOTNOTE: Click the link above to The Telegraph and you’ll see an intriguing pointer that says, ``Send Her Majesty an email by leaving a comment here. When Spy finds out the Queen's email address, we'll forward your message to her.’’

Trivia Pur$uit

The QE2 was built at the John Brown shipyard on the Clyde in Scotland and was known only as "Job number 736" until she was officially launched by the Queen in September 1967.

Someone's Stringing Us Along

Arty Approach Is Really Crafty

Photograph copyright: MELANIE McMAHON

As you can see, I'm not the only one in the family who enjoys using a camera. My Pentax K100D has been known to disappear in the hands of certain other members of the clan as well. I like this shot because of the rich colours, the variety of shapes and the fact that there are so many points of reference on which the eye can alight. These pink plastic containers with their many compartments are part of a bracelet-making set that was sitting on a table in our family room. In all honesty, I don't think I could have composed this frame any better.

Kart Blanche

Formula One Star Sells Go-Kart For Charity

Britain's new Formula One star Lewis Hamilton is selling his go-kart on eBay. Offers for the customised McLaren Mercedes kart shot up to 16,000 pounds ($US32,000) after he won the US Grand Prix last weekend. Hamilton, 22, wrote on eBay: "It is brand new with only one careful owner and this kart was customised for me. It is pretty fast, just how I like it. For anyone who aspires to be a Formula One driver, this is for you."

The kart is worth about 2000 pounds ($US4000) and the proceeds will go to baby charity Tommy's. The successful bidder will collect the kart from Hamilton, who has promised: "I will give you some tips on handling this beast when I see you."

Gizmo Machismo :)

Short Circuit Halts Russian Robocop

A Russian Robocop hailed as the first member of a revolutionary new crime-fighting force broke down on its first day after rain caused a short circuit. The 2m egg-shaped robot on four wheels was unveiled by city authorities in Perm in a blaze of publicity, but it was only on the streets for a few hours before experts had to be called in for repairs. Heavy rain leaked through and damaged its circuitry. Just for the record, the robot is a prototype and has video cameras and sensors which relay pictures and data to police stations across the city.

Under A Brooding Sky

A Dark Day In Melbourne's History

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

I was at work this morning when I got a call from a colleague who was just on his way in to the office. ``Do you have your camera with you?'' he asked. I sure did. He told me to come downstairs and get some shots because, as he put it, ``the light is really unusual.'' I raced down without bothering to get my coat and scarf and there I was in my shirtsleeves while everyone else was in overcoats and gloves.

It really was an eerie sky, but I thought nothing of it. I only spent about five minutes taking photographs in a light, mist-like drizzle. Then when I got back to my desk, we heard about the shooting in the city that left one person dead and two people in serious condition in intensive care. As I write this post, police have identified the gunman who carried out the cold-blooded shooting. For latest updates, go to Herald Sun.com.au.

H€adlines & D€adlines

We’re A Bit Rusty When It Comes To History

Pointing out stories you may have missed: Since the story of the 1957 Plymouth Belvedere was flagged a few months ago, my attention was arrested immediately. I think it’s been a memorable weekend and I’m not fussed about the fact that Miss Belvedere was not exactly in pristine condition when dug out of the concrete vault. I don’t care that the car wouldn’t crank; I’m fascinated instead that chrome was still visible around the doors and front fender, and that workers were able to put air in the tyres. I got a shiver down my spine when I saw that the American flag was unfolded to reveal that it was in pristine condition. Now I just want to see whose estimate, 50 years ago, came closest to guessing Tulsa’s population in 2007. The best comment came from Pittsburgh car enthusiast Dave Stragand, who said, ``It's our King Tut's tomb. It's like a fairy tale."

News source: Napa Valley Register.

The Door To Nowhere

Jim Morrison Would Not Have Approved

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

The person who gave us the pithy saying ``When one door closes, another opens'' obviously never saw this door. It really is the door to nowhere, in every sense of the word. The hand-made, intricately-carved door is actually mounted on a wall in a friend's home. It goes nowhere, yet I guess it leads to many things. And this stunning light (below) is another feature of the home. Obviously it sheds light on many matters!

Monday Update: I've just received an email from the owner, who has been one of my closest friends for 25 years. He told me that when he bought it from a warehouse in Ahmdeabad (western India) a decade ago, he was told that it was from Patan (the interior of Gujarat state, with trade links with ancient Arabia). It was estimated at the time that the door was 250 years old. In his words, ``The legend has stuck.''