There we were, coming down the steps to get to the Tyne a few days ago, and in the bushes was a blackbird gorging itself on berries. It ignored us, even when I got my camera out (most animate things take flight when that happens). The first two shots weren't very good, but everything came together for the third attempt.
Berry in beak, head clear of branches, framed and in focus.
It holds the berry in its beak for a couple of seconds, and then, in one sudden movement, gulps it down whole. I can't remember having seen this before, let alone this close.
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Today I removed 28 years-worth of accumulated dust from inside the bathroom scales. Now it's (almost) as good as new. You can actually see the scale as it rotates! I have yet to check its accuracy against some known weights. Perhaps the best
I also submitted a write-up of our summer adventures on the Thames, with some photographs, to the BCF Word, the quarterly magazine of the Boaters' Christian Fellowship. That makes it sound as if I wrote it, but I didn't. Jan did. I merely tweaked it slightly and added the photos. Is 1800 words too many?
10 comments:
Wow! - thanks for great photos of my favourite bird ;-)
Carrie (nb Blackbird)
Lovely photo. Enjoyed the alliteration. What's a bitmap?
H.S.
That close-up is fab - the sort of photo I dream about taking.
1800 words sound about right for adventures on the Thames - any less jut won't do it justice :-)
Sue, Indigo Dream
Carrie, glad to be of service.
H.S., I needed a word for "photograph" beginning with "B" and was pleased to come up with "bitmap". As I understand it, it's a computer image where each pixel is defined by one or more binary digits (or bits). I don't know how that differs from any other sort of computer image.
Sue, thanks. It was only when I looked back at the photos I realised I'd caught it pretty well perfectly. We'll see if all 1800 words make it to the mag unscathed!
Thanks for the fun update. FYI the term bitmap refers to a non-compressed image. There's a simple mapping from bits in the file [or memory] to pixels in the image. Contrast with lossy compression [jpeg] or lossless compression [gif/png].
Re bitmap: I wish I hadn't asked!
H.S.
Re bitmap: I wish I hadn't asked!
H.S.
Glad to hear my wedding present is still functioning - although I hate to think what the 28 yrs of dust is made of. Mature parmesan?
Is that you, David?
I can confidently predict, after over two decades of weighing people on regularly calibrated scales, that your old bathroom scales will read significantly under.
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