hannah

I live in Coburg and burglary is rife here. If you have recently moved to the inner suburbs or plan to, look out. The burglars here are flat out pinching your stuff to buy drugs despite the buying power of the dollar.
It is never too early to prepare for the almost inevitable.
The best way (apart from door locks) to keep your valuables safe is with secret rooms and compartments. So what about the ipad? This thing is so desirable that it has a "find my iphone" security feature in case it gets stolen.
I do not want to have to use the "find my iphone" feature, so I got myself a cloak of invisibility for the ipad.

Nothing to see here foul burglar! Even I hardly ever look on this book shelf and yet what's this?


Just another hardback reference tome I reckon.


TA DA!


This is the Fieldfolio ipad case which is an ipad case made from the same material as a cloth-bound book. This is such a good idea I would have wanted one even if I did not know the maker. It has cut outs for all the ports and switches as well as the camera.



My ipad is the ipad2 but it turns out that the case fits the new ipad as well, as the manufacter delightedly explains.

I really like mine and am considering putting library stamps and Dewey numbers on it for extra disguise.

Here is a site I made for Eliza Allender: Bulleen Massage . It uses cmsms which makes highlighting the current page really simple as it outputs an unordered list in which the current page element is assigned a currentpage class. You add that to your stylesheet with a background colour and bingo.

There is another pudding recipe in our family. This one was made by my Grandma/Mary. It is made in a dish rather than a cloth and I have not attempted to make one this way before. I think this makes a large pudding.

Dry

Sieve
Plain Flour 250g
Self Raising Flour 60g
Salt 1 tsp
Mixed Spice 1 tsp
Cinnamon 1 tsp
Nutmeg 1 tsp

rub into the above
Butter 125g
Suet or Butter 125g (suet is grated)

then add
Breadcrumbs 250g fresh

Brown Sugar 375g
Raisins 375g
Sultanas 375g
Currants 375g
Shredded almonds 60g

Not Dry

slightly Beat
Eggs 6

add
Milk 1 cup
Brandy or Rum 2 tablespoons
Treacle 1 tablespoon
Bicarb Soda 1 tsp dissolved in dessert spoon of water

turn liquid ingredients into dry and mix thoroughly

leave mixture overnight

boil (steam) in a dish for 5 hours

steam on Christmas day for 2 1/2 hours


I will report on my success or otherwise.

You may like to read the recipe of expat Englishman Paul Denyer who describes his method precisely.

This blog has a new address http://hannahtraveldiary.blogspot.com/. The old address should redirect here after a few seconds. There will be dead links in some cases. Not that this should infuriate multitudes of frequent readers.

Meanwhile, Gab has a new blog. She writes at length here http://australiana.tumblr.com/. She has written a bit there about her current academic work on Islanders in QLD among other things.

This is a repost. I was not clear enough about the instructions in Dec '04

2 oz tinned pineapples 57g
1/4 lb dried peel 113g
2 oz glace cherries 57g
1/2 lb crumbed bread 227g
3 tbsps brandy or sherry
1/4 lb currants 113g
1/4 lb dates 113g
2 oz almonds 57g
2 oz chopped figs 57g
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp carb soda
1/4 lb plain flour 113g
1/2 lb sultanas 227g
1/2 lb raisins 227g
1/4 tspn nutmeg
1/2 lb brown sugar 227g
5 eggs
1/2 lb butter 227g

1lb = 454g = 16oz


All of the fruit is chopped and the bread crumbed.
Cream butter and sugar and add brandy/sherry ( is it both? I prefer sherry). Add eggs to the mixture.
Then add dry ingredients all together.
Put the pudding mix in the centre of a large square of calico and pull up the sides and tie with string on top. Allow enough string for hanging.
Boil for yonks: maybe 3 hours to cook.
Hang.
Wait for yonks and yonks. The pudding can hang for a couple of months.
Boil in the cloth for maybe 1-2 hrs before serving.

When you serve it, flambe with hot flaming brandy in a darkened room.
Brandy Custard is perfect with this as is ice cream.

**Edit**
Women's Weekly have a recipe over at ninemsn for Boiled Christmas Pudding that improves the technique by putting the brandy with the dried fruit and leaving that overnight. They flour the cloth too. They open the cloth and scrape at the pudding before storing again, I'm not doing that.

Christmas Cake

3/4 lb seedless raisins
2 oz prunes
2 oz dates
3/4 lb currants
1 lb sultanas
1/4 lb glace cherries - halved
1/4 lb candied peel - chopped
2 oz blanched almonds - chopped
1/2 lb butter
1/2 lb brown sugar
1 tbsp black treacle
1/2 lb plain flour
1/4 tspn salt
1 tspn mixed spice
6 eggs
1/2 wineglass sherry or brandy
1 tspn carb soda
1/2 dspn hot water

Toss cherries in flour. Cream butter and sugar and stir in treacle. Sift flour with salt and spice and divide into 3 portions. Mix 1 portion with fruits, peel and nuts. Separate eggs. Beat yolk into creamed butter mixture gradually, adding 2nd portion of flour at same time. Fold in fruit and flour mixture and brandy into creamed fat mixture. Whisk egg whites until stiff and fold into mixture with last portion of flour. Add carb soda dissolved in the hot water. Turn into 8" square cake tin, greased and lined with greaseproof paper and tied round with 2 larets of brown paper. Hollow out cenre of mixture lightly. Bake in centre of slow oven, 300F (150C) 1 hour then 270F for 3 - 3 1/2 hours.

I told you already about autostitch. I have found it does a better job than the software that came with my camera. I notice they have a commercial product now as well as an iPhone app!. I have a couple more tips for the keen user.
If the program is running out of memory, you might be able alter the system memory settings. This did not fix my problem and I had to reduce the size of the jpeg files I was starting off with somewhat. The final image was still big at 9524 pixels across.

Another difficulty I was having involved the program not being able to detect which images to join. Probably because there was not enough overlap. It is possible to make the program more likely to join images in some cases by reducing the "SIFT Image Size" scale value. In my case from 25% to 20%. This photo shows how this allowed the program to blend images that did not match well. This is what I wanted in this case. Doing this followed by some tidying with a rubber stamp tool allows you to create a stitch you would otherwise have had to do using photo editing software.
If your camera has a stitch-assist mode, autostitch can work with those files. The idea is that the camera will lock the exposure, iso and aperture so that that the brightness at the joins will be even. Manually setting these is also fine.

Thunderbird allows you to save all attachments in one go. The way to do this is to right click in the attachments pane and select "save all". Sometimes this option is greyed out and you will be upset at being forced to save 20 jpegs individually. Getting this option back involves clicking on a blank part of the attachments pane to deselect all files. Then you can right click again to see the save all option. Sometimes this is not enough and you will need to close the email and go back in. Maybe a few times. I am using Thunderbird 2.0.0.23 which I recommend strongly.

This error is rare so maybe somebody will need this.
I removed the Dell connection manager software from a new Dell E-series laptop because I could not figure out how to use it. The wireless connections program that comes with Windows xp is pretty good. In order to use it I had to take off the Dell Connection Manager software first.
It worked for a bit but then we got this error message:
"The Dell Wireless WLAN Card is still disabled. Use the Dell Wireless WLAN Utility to enable it."
The wireless card had been disabled and there was no way to enable it again. The switch on the computer did not fix it.
Here is what fixed it (this morning at least).

1. Start Device manager Start>Run>devmgmgt.msc and uninstall the Wireless adapter. The PC should detect it again. Flick the wi-fi switch if you need to.
2. The Dell Wireless WLAN Utility is a service so stop it and disable it in services.msc

Make sure that windows' "wireless zero configuration" service is started. You might need to opt to use windows to manage the connection in the wireless adapter properties in network connections in control panel.

I do not regret removing the dell connection manager as it was unnecessarily complex. I could not even figure out how to connect to an access point.

I had some trouble at a client with RRAS on SBS Windows Server 2003 recently. I could not find the fix by searching and had to work it out. Poor me.
The Problem. VPN connects but the network you are connecting to is not reachable. You cannot ping any internal addresses and you cannot contact your email server or share drives. No traffic goes over the VPN.
In my case, I could ping an internal address for the first 30 seconds or so only after the VPN was connected.
By running ipconfig /all on the RRAS server, I could tell that the ppp adapter was getting an IP and then losing it 30 seconds later. It was assigning itself an APIPA address. These are always in the 169.254.0.0 range and since this is not going to be the range of a LAN, the LAN is not going to be available.
The fix in my case was to go the the General tab of the properties window for the server in Routing and Remote access and enable this computer as a router for LAN and demand dial routing. I think the idea is that the VPN adapter is another network interface that needs to get traffic from the DHCP server.
I think the problem might have been originally due to the server not having a statically assigned IP when I ran the wizard. Instead it was getting one from DHCP running on the same machine.

I needed to re-format an 80GB laptop drive in a usb enclosure. I wanted to use it with my car stereo which is a pioneer DEH-P4050UB that can read fat32 USB drives. The normal method of formatting a fat32 drive in xp only works to 32GB. There is a workaround using a program available here http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm. The trick involves giving the drive a letter in disk management WITHOUT FORMATTING and then running the application (donationware). It worked for me when I deleted the existing NTFS partition first and then followed the steps.

UPDATE
This was actually a mixed success. The Pioneer DEH-P4050UB head unit does not provide enough power for the USB drive. If i use one of those usb cables with the additional usb plug for extra power and plug that into a USB hub, then it works fine. I need to run power to the glovebox or else use the cigarette lighter socket all the time.

I set up Small Business Server 2008 recently and found that Remote Workplace access was not automatically granted to users. Should your users see the message "no computers are available" when they log in to Remote Web Workplace, you need to grant them remote access to their PC. On the server this is done via the SBS Console in the Users and Groups section. Double Click the user and then click "computers". You will be able to add a tick to allow remote access for one or more computers.

My collarbone has healed well following the crash I had earlier this year. I mentioned that I was using my injury time to scan my parents' slides. I have now scanned a couple of thousand of these images and I would like to jot down the steps for successfully scanning slides using this scanner. I hope somebody will save some time and impress a potential mate by reading these tips.
I use the Nikon Scan 4.0 software that was included. It may be possible to scan straight into Photoshop but I like the Nikon software for its nice big levels/curves tool which is what I use most.
Here are the settings.

• Digital ICE turned on. This is scratch removal and works really well (not on black and white film). I don't think it affects image quality adversely at all.
  
• Digital ROC (Restoration of colour) turned off. I scanned hundreds of slides before I realised that this setting is mostly no good. It works well for certain kinds of shots sometimes such as portraits. Mostly, this tool messes with colours in a bad way. Perhaps it is trying to boost skin tone in inanimate objects. Leave the stupid thing off.
  
• Digital GEM off. This can reduce graininess so you might want to use it.
  
• Digital DEE turned off. I think this boosts detail in shadow. I think it makes photos look less natural. I would maybe use it on a terrible shot where I had some important detail obscured by darkness and not otherwise.
• Autofocus on. I assume this is best.
• Auto exposure off. I think this setting overexposes cloudy skies among other things. Fix the brightness once the scan is done instead.
• Maximum resolution. Always. I paid heaps for these pixels.
• Bit depth: 8 bit instead of 14 bit. JPEGs can only be 8 bit per channel (24 bit). I do my scans at 8, fix the colours in Nikon Scan and then save to JPEG straight away. If I scan using 14 bit, I have to save as TIF (or NEF). This is not too bad as Photoshop can read these images (identifying them as 16bit). After editing, Photoshop can convert to 8bit (Image>Mode>8 bits/Channel). This is the best way to preserve gradients and prevent banding but it makes no discernable difference for my purposes so I don't bother. The 14bit/channel TIFs are massive so you can brag about your 120MB Images.
• Choose Kodachrome if applicable. Otherwise your shots will be blue (and you will too).
• Analog gain off unless you have something grossly underexposed.
  

After scanning slide with the above settings. Use the Curves tool on the Tool Pallete fix the colours and contrast. This is easily done by choosing each colour channel in turn and setting the white point at or just to the right of the Histogram mountain and the black point to the left.
This might be all you need to do.
More work is needed for old film. If there is a tinge to the colours, fix it by pulling the 3 colour curves up or down and if you want to change the brighness, grab the curve for all channels (RGB). Add saturation (a little bit can look natural) by pulling up the chroma curve. I like to use one anchor point only on the curves as this tends to preserve relative levels of brightness.
Please leave comments if you have questions or corrections.

This is a picture by my dad from the early 70s scanned using this procedure.

From Old Slides and Negs

It's been a while since the last post. Apologies, but we have been driving around a himalayan desert where people mostly spend their time moving rocks with their hands (more on this later). Needless to say, there was no internet.
Since the last post we jetsetted our way to Varanasi - one of Indias most holy cities. It is where Hindu people wash away their sins in the River Ganges, as well as burn bodies next to it. We saw a fair bit of both which was an amazing experience, the choking smoke of burning bodies however, was somewhat overwhelming. Dead holy men and children are not burnt, but placed in the river to wash downstream. It's funny in Australia if I saw a big old man's body floating down the river I would freak, but not here. The one we saw was very close to the bank where people were washing, so they just splashed it so it would move away. Wierd. It was unbearably hot in the this crazy and dirty city, so we next headed to the western Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh. Shimla is a lovely hill station which was the summer capital of India when the British were in power. It is very clean, cool and full of wealthy Indian tourists. We wandered here for a day, then hired a jeep to take us north to the above mentioned desert area - Spiti. The drive was through the most spectacular valleys, but separating jeep from 50 metre cliff was often very little, so there were more than a few nail biting hours. Fortunately we had a very safe driver called Kookie who seemed to know all the tricks when it came to any stand off with buses coming in the other direction on a cliff road as wide as one car. We always won! That is not to say the buses rolled off the edge instead of us, but lots of yelling behind closed windows and exaggerated hand gesturing ultimately resulted in the other car/bus backing up to within an inch of the edge and us squeezing past. The drive was worth it however. We saw spectacular glacial and river valleys, jagged snow covered peaks and some of the most incredable cliff top monastaries. This area used to be part of a western Tibetan kingdom, and so Buddhism developed here over 1000 years ago. There were some artistic treasures hidden inside very plain looking mudbrick monastaries, some on jagged rock cliffs about to collapse. Each of the monastaries was attached to lovely, but very poor and basic villages. The people looked far more Tibetan/Chinese than Indian and were so friendly. Their lives seem so hard though, living and working in a rocky, mountainous desert where the only water comes in the form of snow. They carry their children on their backs and move rocks to create fields for potatoes and beans, or to clear roads after landslides. But it is mostly untouchables from the south of India who risk their lives to build the roads.
We have lots of photos that give you a better picture.
Heading towards Rishikesh tomorrow where we will start our 9 day Kuari Pass trek. Am looking forward to the peace and slow pace of walking for a while.


Boat trip at dawn on the RIver Ganges in Varanasi


Collapsing Ghat by the river




Can you see the dead body?


A cool relief in the moutains. Bhima Kali Temple at Sarahan.




We met these ladies when we went for a walk near Chitkul. They told us to sit down and then shared dried apricots with us.


Eating a lunch of aloo and parantha by the river. We are not far from the Chinese border, so we were soon joined by some friendly police to see what we were doing.


The view down from the edge of the road.


Buddhist prayer flags at Nako


Cute kids in Kibber. "One Photo, One Photo!"


Dankar Monastary


Yaks. Alistair loves Yaks!


School children lining up in the morning. Kibber.


Kee Monastary


The view from the roof of Kee


Shimla


I still hate them.

We have made it to Bundi - our last stop in Rajasthan. I felt quite sad leaving Udaipur, it truly is a most beautiful city, as you will see in the photos. But as soon as we arrived in Bundi I was happy. All the people are so friendly and say hello without wanting to sell you anything. I feel like we know half the people in the town already!! There was one guy who reckons he remembers Michael, Jackie and Alex from 10 years ago! (PJ Michael??)
We ventured up to the ruined fort this morning in the 40 degree heat and pushed open one of the 5 metre high fortified gates to get in. I felt quite excited about exploring the ruins until we saw crazy monkeys leaping from walls to trees with arms and tails outstretched. I was just imagining them leaping onto my face. We armed ourselves with stones and sticks and made our way to the highest point of the fort, only to be met by a guard dog (glad I had my stick). It's not very touristy here!
So mum was right about the monkeys. They are revolting and scary!! We saw a whole lot yesterday and exclaimed "oh, how cute, look at the baby" and then one of them hissed and chased us like out of the movie Outbreak or something. Not cool!
I enjoyed a delicious lassi today. With saffron, pistacchio, raisins and cardamon. Yum Yum!


Udaipur Sunset


Daily washing at Lal Ghat outside our very expensive hotel!


Udaipur City Palace


A jewel of a Shish Mahal in Dungarpur Juna Mahal


Dungarpur Juna Mahal


Very artistic!


How good would a disco be in here!!!


Couldn't resist having breakfast, lunch, and dinner here for three days!! Our hotel in Udaipur - Jagat Niwas


The view at dinner time


Hindu Temple at Chittaurgargh


Don't let their cuteness fool you...


Bundi


Al getting his hair cut. Best cut ever for 70c!!


Note the stick. Waiting at the top is the guard dog, but we don't know that yet!


The Fort. You can't see them, but the monkeys are EVERYWHERE!!!

A small village near Jaisalmer. The kids were so lovely and we kept saying "Namaste" to each other really loudly. The goats had HUGE ticks on them, so I was delighted when one of the lady's grabbed one and put it in my arms!!



The boys chasing our jeep as we left. They are wearing school uniform - a 5km walk to school each day.


Alistair's camel


Alistair riding the camel into the dust storm, with the singing camel man dinking a ride



Doing it tough in our Jaisalmer hotel room


They like bread


Gadisagar


Mehrangarh Fort, Jodphur


Alistair enjoying yet another great audio tour


The Brahmin area - the blue hue of the whitewash is a chemical that keeps away the termites


Cute in Mount Abu


The Mewar Festival in Udaipur where unmarried women pray to the goddess Gangaur for a good husband.






The view from our hotel room in Udaipur - early morning (no, Alistair did not take this photo)


Scary at City Palace Udaipur