New, looking old – more classic cars
Thought for the day….” It is better to be looked over than overlooked” (Mae West).
“If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, then you will get results”.
Lucky timing with the camera recently and a case of being in the right place at the right time. There has been a rally of Ford Model A cars in the Otago region recently, and I just happened to be at the village of Cardrona when the cars were also there. Over 4.8 million Model A cars were made between 1927 and 1932 , the car being a replacement for the famous Ford Model T. One version of the car even featured a V8 engine. Prices ranged from USD 385 up to USD 1400. Interestingly, it was the first car to feature safety glass in the windshield.
Two of the cars are seen here, outside the famous Cardrona Hotel. Originally a gold-rush village, it now sits at the base of a ski resort. A disused (gold) mineshaft can be seen inside the hotel bar. From here, to the left of the photo, the road climbs up the Crown Range, reaching a height of 1119m, before descending towards the tourist town of Queenstown. Due to the bad light that day, the photo was converted to black and white, then changed to sepia, to give it a 1930s look.
and another photo….some of the 20 000 plus runners in the Stockholm marathon…
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The meaning of life ?
Thought for the day…” Success is when preparation meets opportunity.”
With all the problems in the world (climate change, recession, unemployment, malaria, Syria etc……) it is surprising to read that scientists in the USA in Portland University have been busy working on perfecting a coffee maker that will work in zero gravity (zero G) conditions in space. I may be missing the point here, but one, are there many people travelling in space? and two, could these same scientists have worked on something more useful?? Hopefully this ‘research’ was not paid for by taxpayers’ money.
Off to the small town of Arrowtown in New Zealand for the photo today. The town was previously a historic gold mining town once had more than 7000 residents, who were attracted by the lure of gold in the nearby Shotover and Arrow rivers. The Shotover river turned out to be one of the richest gold-bearing rivers in the world, and it is still possible today to pan for gold in it. The photo was taken late evening, when the day trippers from the nearby tourist mecca of Queenstown had returned and had left Arrowtown in peace again. A colour photo was converted to black & white, then to sepia, and the contrast was increased.
and a photo from the archives…..carnival time in El Salvador.
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Variations on a Theme. Same same but different
Thought for the day….” Same, same, but different”.
“It is fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure” (Bill Gates)
Off to Paraguay for the photos today, and to the capital Asuncion. This landlocked South American country was once a Spanish colony until 1811. The money is called the Guarani and the capital, Asuncion is home to about 500 000 people. Despite being the capital, Asuncion is not a fun place for tourists, as it has few great sights but does have a lot of broken houses, decay and abandoned buildings. Paraguay is a poor country, and it certainly shows in the capital. Paraguay has the honour of holding the world record for the largest barbeque, when 30 000 diners attended the record-breaking attempt.
Those who have travelled in Vietnam will no doubt have seen and heard the phrase “Same, Same but different”. Today’s photos, actually the same photo, started out as one photo, but was given the photoshop treatment. The first photo was the original colour photo, almost as it came out of the camera…..
But then changed in Photoshop into a black & white photo, then converted to sepia to give it an old fashioned look, before editing it so that just the yellow chair and box remained in their original colours. Finally, add the frame and bob’s your uncle…..
Same, same but different, as they say.
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Helsinki duo – Two from Helsinki, Finland
Thought for the day…” The difference between genius and stupidity is…..genius has limits”
” The secret of getting ahead is getting started (Mark Twain).
Two photos today from Helsinki, capital of Finland. Helsinki is one of those cities that you have to discover, for there is a lot that is not obvious on arrival. For one thing, Finland is number one on the world for coffee consumption per capita, and the coffee is good, strong and available everywhere. (Try ‘The Roastery’ on Alexanderkatu for some really good coffee). And to go with the great coffee….some Fazer chocolate (although Karl Fazer was actually originally from Germany). It is also the only city in Finland to have trams and a subway (metro) and is said to have the world’s most northerly metro station. The language is horribly difficult for a foreigner, in winter is is very cold (-25 is not uncommon) and also dark for most of the day, but to make up for this there are some excellent sports facilities, wonderful architecture, good eating places, and the feeling that you have left Europe behind and have crossed into Russia (like when you see the Russian Orthodox churches in Helsinki, with their onion domes). Indeed, parts of Helsinki look so much like Russia that Helsinki used to be used instead of Russia when making films (such as ‘Gorky Park’) until the city council decided that it was not a good idea and stopped promoting it. And if you explore the indoor markets, then you may find things like bear meat for sale as well as the more common reindeer and moose meat. But perhaps give another tradional (but popular) Finnish sweet, salty liquorice, a miss. The city has about 53% women (versus 47% men), and after Reykjavik, Iceland, is the world’s most northerly capital city. More trivia….it was the first country in the world to give women the vote and also the first country to make broadband a legal right for citizens.
and another photo out of the archives….taken just a couple of hundred metres from the previous photo, but months apart….a new photo converted into Black & White, then converted into Sepia to give it the old-fashioned look.
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New, looking old – Not the Quality Spa Resort Hotel, Norefjell.
Thought for the day…’ Life was much easier when Apple and Blackberry were just fruits”.
“Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day”.
The world gets more crazy. Apparently, the Brightwater Wastewater Treatment centre (which is called a sewage works to you and me), near Seattle, USA is now promoting itself as the perfect place for weddings. Advertising on its Facebook page, it lists the things that it can offer for your perfect wedding….lots of parking, dance floor and full catering. Renting the sewage works costs USD 2000 for 8 hours. Apparently, there is no smell.
A photo from the Finnish capital of Helsinki for the photo today. It started as a colour photo, but was then converted to black and white and then finally to Sepia, to give it an old look. On the skyline is the Lutheran cathedaral, and below that on the left is the Helsinki town hall. Much of the centre of Helsinki Iincluding the Lutheran Cathedral) was designed by the German architect, Engel and has a Russian style. Indeed, parts of Helsinki look so much like Russia that in the 1970s and 1980s it was used as a copy of Russia when making films. With faster trains to Russia now, then there are many more Russian visitors, as well as day trippers from Sweden who arrive on the overnight ferries.
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New, looking old – Not the Quality Spa Resort Hotel, Norefjell.
Thought for the day….” Better to be a star rather than a spark. Sparks are for the moment, stars are for the future”.
“Talent is the key to success, but you have to find the door”.
Update on the story about the refund from Air France. I cancelled an air ticket with AF, and understood that the actual ticket was not refundable, as the conditions stated, but asked Air France to refund the taxes. Things like departure taxes had not been incurred, as I had not travelled, so I expected a refund of these. After many many emails to Air France, and to some very unhelpful customer ‘service’ departments, then finally I got a refund, minus a 20 euro ‘administration fee’. Still very unhappy with Air France because I had to write so many emails to them, but at least I have got most of the taxes back. So the moral of this story is that even if the airline says no in the beginning, then keep on at them as they ARE supposed to refund the taxes.
A new photo made to look old for today’s picture. The shot comes from the museum at Ballarat in Australia, and started off as a colour photo, then was converted to black & white and finally was given the sepia touch to make it look old. It was just a matter of waiting for the tourists to disappear out of the scene then an easy job to capture this scene, which could be from the 1800s but is actually quite recent.
Age of Steam – Not the Quality Spa Resort Hotel, Norefjell.
Thought for the day….” Pull the string and it will go wherever you wish. Push the string, and it will go nowhere at all”.
“Success finds a way, failure finds an excuse”
Many people outside of Scandinavia have an idea that Sweden is modern, clean and efficient, with a well-developed social system. Once you spend a little time there, and start to read the newspapers and watch TV, then you soon realize that Sweden is far from that image. Immigration is a problem (there were riots again recently in the suburbs of the Swedish capital, Stockholm), with discrimination against immigrants increasing. Swedes tolerate foreigners, but they do not accept them. That is one reason that many immigrants are confined to certain areas of the larger cities. You can see people sleeping on the streets, and even in the very centre of the Swedish capital, there are large numbers of beggars on the streets. The number of people going through the rubbish bins in the cities shows that things are getting much worse. The newspapers reveal stories of people sleeping in hospital corridors due to shortages of beds, waiting lists for operations and pensioners not receiving sufficient money for a good standard of living. As for technology, Sweden is far behind some countries. Some shops will not even accept credit cards, and the Swedes still demand paper forms and photocopies for almost everything official. As for cleanliness, tourists are now surprised to see just how dirty parts of Sweden are. The city centre in Stockholm is dirty, with rubbish, graffiti and general grime. Public works seem to have been cut back far too much, and you keep noticing areas of decay and neglect. Whereas Sweden might once have been something of a model to the rest of the world, it has changed, and it has changed a lot. Some things have remained good, like maternity and paternity leave and benefits, but overall, Sweden has slipped a long way. Stories of Swedish trains halted due to snow and ice, recent bus strikes and increased bankruptcies also show things things have gone wrong in Sweden. It is no longer a model society.
New made to look old for the photo today. The photo is of a preserved steam train at Uppsala, Sweden on one of its weekend runs. The original photo was taken in RAW, then converted to black & white, then changed to sepia. Quite an impressive piece of machinery and nothing in the photo gives a clue that it was taken in 2013 instead of 1930.
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Photo of the Day Tuesday 23 April – Not the Quality Spa Resort Hotel, Norefjell
Thought for the day….” Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else, you are the one that actually gets burnt”.
” The only difference between a rut and a grave are the dimensions”.
The first photo is said to have been ‘the view from the window’ which was taken in 1826 by Joseph Niepce. The exposure for this photo lasted 8 hours !! Fox Talbot is credited with inventing the photographic negative in 1839. The first colour photograph was taken in 1861 by James Maxwell. The first digital camera came around 1973, and made a photo of 100 pixels X 100 pixels. There are 12 Hassleblad cameras on the moon, they were left there in order that more lunar rock samples could be brought back to earth.
And another photo out of the archives…taken a time ago, but showing the old town in Funchal, Madeira.
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Photo of the Day Saturday 12th January 2013 – Not the Quality Spa Resort Hotel, Norefjell.
Thought for the day…” If you think that a minute goes by very fast, then you have never been on a treadmill”
“Life has no remote, get up and change it yourself”
The average temperature in Helsinki, Finland in January is minus 10.3 degrees Centigrade. The coldest ever recorded there (in 1987) was -34.3 degrees C. Cold !! At around -4 degrees the sea freezes, although the Baltic Sea has a lower salt content, so it freezes from about -2 degrees. The photo today started as a colour photo, then was changed to Black & White, and then converted to sepia. Works very well, as did the long exposure. Nothing to do with the cold, but Finland hosts the annual world wife-carrying competition, where contestants carry a wife over a 250m course with hurdles. An Estonian couple holds the ‘world record’ with a time of 55.5 seconds. The next competition is on July 6th.
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Happy not to be working at the Quality Spa Resort, Norefjell.
jeritilley 