Zahids Blog

I taken Pics in the last days – please tell me if you think they are good:

Photo Collage
This is a simple and easy gift that will be greatly appreciated by friends and family. It can be a specific theme, or just all about the people you love. I have given photo collages to many of my family and friends. If you frame the photo collage, it can actually make for an interesting piece of pop art.

One of my favorite things to do with photo collages is to focus around a famous quotation. I will search online for quotations that fit the theme I am going for (mothers, family, friends, babies, etc.). Once I pick the perfect quotation, I print it out on a decorative piece of scrapbooking paper. This becomes the center of my collage. The other photos are then arranged around that quotation, and it makes for a fun, personal, and thought provoking work of art.

For a detailed step-by-step guide, read “How to Make a Photo Collage.”

Photo DVD Slideshow
If your computer has a DVD burner, it is likely that you have the software to make a DVD slideshow. Although it is not always highlighted on the packaging, most DVD burning programs allow you to make a slideshow with photos and music, which can be played on any DVD player.

The program I use is called “MyDVD,” but most DVD software programs do have a slideshow feature. To create a slideshow, you will need to pick between 20-40 photos. This is usually the amount of photos that fit within the constraints of a single song. You can also do several slideshows, each with different music.

You can even add a slideshow at the end of a DVD with home movies on it, or vice versa. For my mother-in-law's birthday, we made her a DVD slideshow with tons of family photos. At the very end, we added a video of my husband and our son singing “Happy Birthday.”

This is an especially great gift for family who live out-of-town. It is cheap to ship and a way to keep in touch.

Photo Magnets
Everyone loves magnets! They can be stuck on the refrigerator or dishwasher at home, or for those work in an office, they can be stuck on the filing cabinets for a great way to personalize your office space.

Photo magnets are a fun gift and easy to make. First, you need to decide on the size. You can use a regular 4×6 snapshot or you can use a wallet size photo. The process is similar, but slightly different for each.

For a 4×6 photo-

First, have the photo laminated. You can buy at-home laminating materials, or you can take it to somewhere like Kinkos, where they will do it for you in a machine.

Second, buy magnetic tape that has adhesive on the back. You can cut it into strips to fit the photo. Cut one strip for the top and one strip for the bottom.

Finally, adhere the magnetic strips to the photo, and you have a photo magnet.

For a wallet size-

First, I recommend buying a pack of business card shaped magnets with adhesive backing. These can be purchased at most office supply stores. I recommend Baumgarten's Business Card Magnets, which come in a pack of 25. Next, you can laminate the photo if you would like. It does make for a longer lasting gift, as it will not get smudged. Peel the adhesive paper off of the magnets, and stick it onto the photo, cutting off any excess.

Placemats
This is a great gift for families with small children, as they can easily be wiped clean. Young children also love looking at photos. I recommend making a set of four.

First, buy a colorful poster board and cut it into four rectangles.

Next, cut your photos into fun shapes and glue them to the poster board pieces. You can even embellish with stickers, magazine cutouts, and glitter.

Finally, have the placemats laminated. A copy place like Kinkos will usually do this for relatively cheap.

Digital Scrapbook
If you are not a crafty type, this is probably the perfect photo gift idea for you. Creative Memories offers a free download of a program that allows you to scrapbook digitally. The templates are pre-designed to match whatever themes you download (each theme has to be downloaded separately, but all are free). The templates are arranged by the number of photos you would like to put on a page, and also have boxes for you to type in titles or journaling.

Making a scrapbook using this program can be done relatively quickly, even within an hour. Plus, you do not need to shop for any of the supplies. Once you have finished your scrapbook, they send it to you in the mail.

Visit Creativememories.com for more information.

Want to see inside other workplaces? You’re not alone. Glassdoor users are actively uploading photos of  all types of offices giving a real look into more than 500 companies to date.  On Glassdoor, you can now see specific company coffee bars, games rooms, work stations, gyms, all the way to assembly facilities for major manufacturers…you name it. We wanted to share some highlights from photos uploaded  in just the past three weeks since the Office Photos feature launched.

For example, does your office have a putting green? NetApp does. NetApp shows off their fun side and that they may test your concentration skills with a quick game of golf at their putting green and sand trap.

The Fireman’s Fund Insurance employees on other hand may challenge you to a game of hoops at their outside basketball hoop.

Or, AT&T may test your creative side during a training session.

Keep the photos coming – oh and by the way, there’s a $500 prize for the Glassdoor user with the coolest picture. Here’s how you can share photos of your workplace and get a chance at winning some cash.

244280 Commentshttp://www.synthtopia.com/content/2010/06/16/gorgeous-ghost-synth-photos/Gorgeous+%27Ghost+Synth%27+Photos2010-06-17+03%3A03%3A57synthhead

AMHERST, N.H. — A crowd is expected at a school board meeting to discuss the district's yearbook policy after photos were published of two students charged in a fatal machete attack.

The Souhegan Cooperative School Board is meeting Thursday night in Amherst.

Photos of seniors William Marks and Quinn Glover appeared in the yearbook.

Glover struck a plea bargain with prosecutors in exchange for his cooperation and pleaded guilty to felony charges of robbery, burglary and conspiracy in connection with the October death of Kimberly Cates, of Mont Vernon. Marks has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other charges.

The husband of Kimberly Cates wrote to school officials saying the decision to publish the photos was disrespectful.

This is a Music Blog

The files posted on this blog are for sampling purposes only. We post a track, and if you like it, go out and buy and album or a concert ticket. That's how it works. If you represent the copyright holder on this material and believe a file has been posted in violation of your copyright and you would like a file removed notify us here.

We Talk About New and Local Music!

If you would like to send a CD for review or tell us about your band contact us here. Or you can email one of us personally.

Sound on the Sound is:

Josh Lovseth (Seattle)
joshATsoundonthe…

Founder, Executive Editor, Photographer, Site Administrator

Abbey Simmons (Seattle)
abbeyATsoundonthe…

Founder, Managing Editor, Photographer

Noah Sanders (San Fransisco)
noahATsoundonthe…

Song of the Day Curator, Contributing Writer

Phil Bouie (Seattle)
philATsoundonthe…

Live Reviewer, Contributing Writer

Brittney Bush Bollay (Seattle)

Contributing Photographer, Live Reviewer, Canadian Music Columnist

Brady Sprouse (Seattle)

Album Reviewer, Contributing Writer

Chona Kasinger (Seattle)

Contributing Photographer, Live Reviewer

from: Jacques Weblog

I have taken some Images in the last weeks – please tell me when you like them:

Source

PLAYBOY Magazine has announced that it is cancelling its proposed photo spread “The Girls of the Intifada” that was to feature naked Palestinian lovelies from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The Los Angeles chapter of the B'nai B'rith had denounced the feature, saying that it justified terrorism and hate. The B'nai B'rith was tipped off about the feature by a PLAYBOY insider, who leaked a piece of doggerel that was going to be used to illustrate the photo spread:

We are the girls of the Intifada!
To all Jews we're definitely nada!
We'll yield not an inch of land
But there's one catch –
Only selfless Muslim martyrs
Shall colonize our snatch!

PLAYBOY editor-in-chief Philboyd Studge denied that the venerable magazine, which debuted in 1954 with a nude Marilyn Monroe as its “Sweetheart of the Month,” had any intention of making light of the tense situation in Israel with light-hearted verse.

“The reports that we intended to caption the photos with patently offensive, nay, anti-Semitic poetry are nonsense,” Studge said.

Hugh Hefner, the founder and nominal publisher of PLAYBOY, was unavailable for comment. His daughter, Christie Hefner, the president of Playboy Enterprises, issued a terse statement saying that she supported Studge and was sorry for any aspirations against Israel the feature might have caused. No criticism of Israel was intended.

Studge said that PLAYBOY never intended to entitle a proposed spread of girls from the Middle East as representing the Intifada. He believes that an internal trickster was responsible for the rumors.

“I tell you, it's not even decent doggerel, let alone poetry,” an irritated Studge complained. “The metonymy, is so meretricious…. How could anyone believe it was authentic PLAYBOY doggerel, ferkrissakes!”

Studge had been an editor at the New Yorker, were her oversaw the stories of a stable of writers including John Cheever, E.L. Doctorow and Kurt Vonnegut. He also briefly worked as an editor at Doubleday, where he was exhausted by epic editing sessions of William Safire's BrobdingnagianCivil War-themed historical novel Freedom. His exhaustion drove him back into the magazine biz.

Tapped as the fiction editor at PLAYBOY in the late '80s, Studge eventually was named editor-in-chief in 1999. Hired originally hired to bring “class” to a magazine more synonymous, during the Reagan Era, with ass, Studge has toiled to reclaim the cultural cache PLAYBOY Magazine had enjoyed in the 1960s, which it squandered a decade later, as part of the fallout from the mid-'70s Pubic Wars (not to be confused with the 17th Century “Beaver Wars” Century).

An anonymous source at the Playboy Building in Chicago said that Hugh Hefner's attempts to mediate the dust-up carried little water. The basic thrust of Hefner's attempt at negotiation, an offer to run a countervailing “Girls of the B'nai B'rith” was rejected out of hand as “preposterous.”

“Do you think the defamed want to be further defamed by the defamer,” the source said, characterizing the attitude of the Anti-Defamation League official who handled the imbroglio.

The Playboy Philosophy & The Western World

Liz Smith was the latest to address the controversy. A friend of Hugh Hefner's, she asked his opinion of the Middle Eastern situation during a general discussion of the publisher's own Playboy Philosophy in its sixth decade. It's Hefner's contention that his philosophy changed America, and thus the Western World. As he seeks new markets for PLAYBOY and its offshoots, the online Web Site and its cable programming, he has become a proselytizer for the worldwide benefits of the Playboy Philosophy loosening up the tigher-assed corners of the world.

Smith was careful to avoid any mention of the “Girls of the Intifada” ruckus, but the issue definite was addressed. Hef blamed the problems in the Middle East squarely on religion.

“One of the problems with organized religion is that it has always kept women in a second-class position,” the PLAYBOY publisher said. “They have been viewed as the daughters of Eve.”

Speaking as to how the puritanical Muslim countries have put into effect extraordinary means to control their sexuality of their women, Hefner said that they must realize that, “Sex is the driving force on the planet. We should embrace it, not see it as the enemy.

As for the rift between the Muslims and the Jews, he contends, “We're separated by our myths.”

Did Hef think he was going to heaven or hell when he died, seeing as that for the past 50-odd years, he has lived in his own version of heaven-on-earth.

“I've always felt I was on the side of the angels,” he concluded.

She is known for her disdain of photographers and Twilight star Kristen Stewart confirmed her position on a promotional trip in Australia on Sunday.

PHOTOS: Kristen Stewart’s Memorial Day Weekend Salute

The 20-year-old was spotted smoking a cigarette on her hotel balcony in Sydney — and RadarOnline.com has all the photos.

The woman behind Twilight’s Bella Swan babe was not impressed with the lensmen attention and delivered a one finger salute.

Later, Stewart and co-star Taylor Lautner went out for a jet boat cruise on Sydney Harbour.

VIDEO: Watch The Latest Twilight: Eclipse Trailer

After docking, Stewart had another run in with the paparazzi.

“She was just in a bad mood because of the photographers,” one fan, who asked for a picture but was refused, said. “She sprinted along the wharf trying to get away.

HOT PHOTOS: Twilight's Robert Pattinson Poses In Cannes

“She was swearing at them and tried running into a restaurant, but the door was locked.

“She was saying, 'Stop taking my picture'.”

VIDEO: Oprah Compares Twilight Phenomenon To The Beatles

Stewart reportedly dropped her sunglasses while trying to evade the cameramen, but they were picked up by a member of her personal security detail.

• EXCLUSIVE: 'Survivor' Producer's D-Day, Murder Charges Expected On Monday
• EXCLUSIVE: Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson — Friends Again

Which Colorado newsmakers earned the long weekend? It's time for our weekly look at the week's biggest winners. Don't forget to check out our list of losers as well.

Bill Ritter: As the chorus of outrage over the BP oil spill grows louder every day, it becomes increasingly difficult to criticize the Governor for implementing tougher regulations. Even political opponents who have spend the better part of the last year and a half slamming Ritter for regulating the industry have suddenly warmed up to the idea of regulations on drilling.

Jared Polis: Polis has shown leadership in Washington this week, helping to broker a compromise deal on the repeal of the Don't Ask Don't Tell law. Additionally, he continues to endear himself to his constituency by publicly backing the medical marijuana community. This week, he wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urging him to prevent banks from discriminating against medical marijuana dispensaries

Kyle Orton: Calls for the Broncos to trade last year's starting quarterback seemingly began as soon as the team drafted Tim Tebow in the first round of April's draft. It would have been easy for Orton to respond with indignation, but Orton has proved the consummate pro. The veteran has said all the right things at the Broncos' passing camp over the last two weeks, and continues to be entrenched as the team's starting QB. Time will tell whether that's a win for Orton, but his no-drama approach in the wake of some controversial front-office moves must be refreshing for Broncos fans.

from: Hughstons Weblog