I was trying to determine some informtion about my my DVD drive , but Windows only gave me some generic information. I asked my son for help and he sent me to Everest Home edition. I downloaded the free software, ran it and it told me everything I needed to know plus a complete diagnostic report on my while system. More information and download.

An injured Acehnese girl, who lost her entire family when a tsunami hit the region last week, wipes her face as she takes a rest at a hospital in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia. (AP/Binsar Bakkara)

The recent tsunamis have created a disaster of staggering human proportions. It is a deeply tragic situation. In the midst of the sadness and suffering, you can make a difference. You can help by donating to the agency or organization of your choice.

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Soon after I was up and running with WordPress, my blog software, I wanted to change the look of the page. I found some helpful links to guide me in the process.

I found some information on CSS at Nuclear Moose.

I found the following VERY helpful tutorial on how to change the look of a WordPress blog .

I needed a good color chart and found a great one at Visibone.com.

If you want to make some simple changes to the look of your basic WordPress blog, the last two links should be especially helpful.

The Epson P-2000 may be the first truly practical and well-designed compact photo storage/viewer unit for photographer’s who want to download their memory cards on the go. As an added bonus, it supports movie and audio files.

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Christmas jigsaw puzzle. Help Santa come down the chimney.

Down Christmas Lane, a collection of “old fashioned” Christmas images.

Ski Island. Oklahoma. Photo copyright (c) Jim Doty, Jr.

May the joys and blessings of this season be with you now and throughout the coming year!

Snow and ice has hit our part of the country. 207,000 people in our county are without power and over 300,000 state wide. Melissa’s surpervisor called this morning at 5:25 AM to tell her to stay home, the medical clinic would be closed due to the weather. That was a nice surprise so Melissa had an unexpected day at home. At 9 AM our children who live across town called to tell us their power is off.

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Every day people come to my primary website wanting to know which is the better camera, the Canon 20D or the Nikon D70. The answer for most people is that it really doesn’t matter. Let me explain why.

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My son Jared sent me this link to the Pictures of the Year. Take a look!

My son has been after me to take Omega-3 fish oil. The following article explains why. It is quoted verbatim from About.com.

“Fish Oil and the Heart, From Richard N. Fogoros, M.D., Dateline: April 15, 2002

“Three new studies add strongly to the growing evidence that consumption of fish and fish oil supplements can reduce death from heart disease.”

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I have been a big fan of Imagematics software for some time now. This will be a brief review since you can read the details about the products at the Imagematics website. My endorsement is very simple. It is my favorite software for taking still pictures and creating web ready “movies” and slide shows. Imagine the “Ken Burms” movie effect where the camera pans across the scene, but it is add done with still pictures. Or create photo albums online where the photos change like pages turning in a book.

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The recently announced Canon 1Ds Mark II is an extraordinary, 16+ megapixel camera with a 35mm sized imaging sensor. The January 2005 issue of POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY magazine calls it “the new benchmark for image quality in a portable SLR”.

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Rachel. Photo copyright (c) Jim Doty. Jr.

My original photo blog is here. I will be copying some of the posts from that site to this one. These will be back dated to the time of posting on the original blog. In the meantime, feel free to browse the old site.

Welcome! This is the new location for my photo blog, launched December 9. I’ve copied a few older articles from my old photo blog. The primary emphasis will be photography with random reflections on other topics. My photo website is JimDoty.com.

Swimmer. Photo copyright (c) Jim Doty. Jr.

The Canon 20D, the replacement for the 10D, is now available. If you have the 10D, should you upgrade? If you have Canon autofocus film cameras with EF lenses, is the 20D a good way to go digital? Is this a good time to get a 10D at a reduced price?

Read my comparison and suggestions here.

Photo copyright (c) Jim Doty, Jr.

Today I got back my photos from sorkeling in Moorea (an island 12 miles west of Tahiti). The snorkeling was fun. The photos were disappointing. In fact, there isn’t a single one that I want to scan and post here. There didn’t seem to be much point in posting a photo and saying “Those little yellow flecks are fish.” Maybe it wasn’t QUITE that bad, but close.

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It looks like Canon has another winner with the Powership S70 digital point and shoot camera. DP Review gave it a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED rating, their highest, in a review posted earlier this week.

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Photoshop Elements 3 and Adobe Premiere Elements

The best image editing software under $100 just got much better, and Adobe has released a “lite” version of their superb movie editing software, Adobe Premiere. More good news, AMAZON and ADOBE are giving BIG rebates for purchases through November 1.

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The Pacific Ocean and Point Venus, copyright (c) Jim Doty, Jr.

I am in Tahiti.

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Upper Tahquamenon Falls, Michigan. Photo (c) Jim Doty, Jr.

I came across MSN’s “TOP TEN FALL FOLIAGE SPOTS”. Some of the choices on MSN’s list are classics (VT and NH). Others are surprising. MSN’s list is here.

My top ten list would look different.

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Composite image. Copyright (c) Jim Doty, Jr.

I had asked Andrea if I could use her photo on a promotional photo and she said sure “as long as you don’t put my face on a horse”. So I took her literally and didn’t put it her face on a horse. I DID put her face on a lioness in Photoshop. In case you are wondering, it IS ok with Andrea that this image is posted here.

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Our daughter, Janae. Photo copyright (c) Jim Doty, Jr.

Photo copyright (c) Jim Doty. Jr.

Symptoms: one sore right foot, one very sore left ankle, one very painful left achilles tendon, sore left thigh, one scraped knee, two scraped elbows, very sore ribs on the left side, bloodshot eyes, small lumps on the head, and one very big smile.

Obvious diagnosis: Taking pictures again in Rocky Mountain National Park.

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Sunflowers, northeast Colorado. Photo copyright (c) Jim Doty. Jr.

I am on the road. Photos are here.

It was rumored, now it’s official. The new Canon 20D looks like an impressive successor to the 10D. The sensor is 8 megapixels. It still has the same 1.6x field of view crop as the 10D. I was hoping for a bigger sensor so my wide angle lenses would give me a wider field of view than on the 10D.

Start up time is much faster, it shoots at a maximum of 5 frames per second vesus 3 fps on the 10D, and it has a bigger buffer.

DP Review has an excellent 11 page preview here.

When you refer to your computer mouse, you probably aren’t thinking about a living, four-legged, furry critter. My son went to do some work on his computer one evening and found a very young and small mouse happily sprawled out and warming itself on a power block plugged into a power strip. My son and daughter-in-law decided the mouse was too young and cute to kill, so they captured it and turned it loose at the back of their yard. He went back to work at the computer.

Early the next morning, he again headed downstairs to the computer and there was the same mouse, back in the house and warming itself again on the same power block. (Notice the ignored mouse trap, baited with peanut butter.) Once again, the persistent mouse was captured. This time it was taken for a car ride and turned loose at a city park.

And what happens in the unlikey event the mouse finds its way back again? It will be deemed worthy of a proper home and they will keep it.

SEQUEL – August 14

A day after posting the above, I received the following photo and note from my brother-in-law.

“Ours wasn’t so lucky.”

The Perseid metor shower goes on all month, but peaks the evening of August 11-12. It is usually better after midnight. Look high in the northeastern skys about 45 degrees above the horizon.

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