The last iPhoto?

iphoto-9.6From what I’ve read, it appears that Apple plans to move away from its glitchy photo manager and into a new app. Apparently the new app wasn’t ready in time for the Yosemite operating system release, so iPhoto had to be tweaked for one last time, to be Yosemite-compatible.
I used the Yosemite version of iPhoto to make the slideshow below … book covers I’ve done with my literary friends, the Colombos. Seems to work properly.

The music bed is sampled from from this outstanding source.

Michio Kaku tells engaging stories

There are so many to choose from! I’ll pick a couple of short ones, the first with a possible happy ending.

And here’s a scary one, as we creep up on Halloween …

These are brief examples. You can find full length lectures, too. His subject matter is wide-ranging.

Yosemite has landed on my desktop

There are still lots of bugs and performance issues.
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I am running MacOS X Yosemite sooner than I thought I would, because I am introducing a friend who is new to Macs to the system. We agreed that he may as well learn on the latest system, so I have installed it to learn what’s new.
Before you take the plunge, it would be worth watching this cautionary tale …

I have ordered RAM upgrades for Danica’s laptop and older iMac. They will have 8 and 6 Gigs respectively. So far, 6 Gigs is running Yosemite on my old iMac and performance seems fine, much of the time. It would still be best to wait for version 10.10.1
So, the free OS upgrade isn’t really free, but that’s life as we all know it, n’est ce pas?

Mark Carney agrees with Naomi Klein

Oil companies are overvalued, because most of the world’s reserves cannot be burned. Climate change agreements will see to that. So sayeth the former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, now Governor of the Bank of England.
Bad news for our petrodollar, oil-patch government and anti-environment policies.

Remembering Graham Taylor

Our friend and colleague Graham died suddenly in May. Today, his widow Marguerite and daughter Gillian brought friends and relatives together at the Gabardine Restaurant on Bay Street, to remember a talented, sweet guy.
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Fifty years in Canada had no effect on Graham’s identity as a proud Yorkshire Brit. Appropriately, the gathering honoured his English heritage. The best fish and chips I’ve ever had were served, along with fine English cheeses and smoked mackerel. I don’t see how it could have been better. Continue reading

Info graphics done well

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Yang Lui draws my admiration for the tightness, economy and clarity of this series of info graphics comparing men and women. Colour, composition and proportion are masterful, too.
The “messages” are stereotypical but they are clearly expressed and leap over barriers of spoken language. Or do they? Could we do without the little word cue “self-image”, for example? Would everyone know that the figures are looking in a mirror and not, say, at a sign or a poster?

Old GAS, new GAS

Gerrard Art Space is a collaboration of artists who were working out of a building at the corner of Woodfield and Gerrard Street East until they decided to move a couple of blocks east to 1475 Gerrard East.[link goes to map]
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The old location will become an art pop-up store until its future takes shape. Meanwhile, the new GAS headquarters is taking shape and plans for an opening party are posted in the window. Saturday, October 25th. 8p.m. – 11p.m.

Joni pitches in for diabetes run


My sister Joni lives in Salmo, BC and she was asked to take a photo of Sebastien Sasseville as he makes his Canadian cross country Outrun Diabetes trip. He started on Signal Hill in Newfoundland and he’s already as far as Salmo in the Rockies … a remarkable achievement but one I had not heard about until Joni informed me.
Characteristically, Joni did more than she was asked to do, making a whole video rather than just a photo.

Mac OS X Yosemite: I will wait a bit.

Yes, it’s free and yes, there are some new features that look interesting, but I want to monitor the bug reports before I jump in. There may be problems connecting to non-Apple devices like printers, for example.
sneaky-peeky
I also want to know more about the personal data Apple collects from me through the new OS … and how to turn it off if it seems too intrusive. The Spotlight search service has been overhauled in a major way. Maybe Apple’s snooping is harmless or even beneficial, but data collection is “on” by default, rather than “opt-in” as it probably should have been.
Funniest favourite quote from a review:
“iPhoto is still here, waiting to gum up your photo library and piss you off.”
You know what he means, don’t you, Anna?