For a long time I have resisted the temptation to write about politics. Personally, I hate politics, it always looks as if everyone has a secret agenda and whatever you want or decide, someone else will put a stop to it. Yesterday I attended a meeting in support of Ukraine’s EuroMaidan movement. A movement that we now know has had the Ukrainian government topple and the president scrambling to save his greedy ass.

For about 2 and a half years I have blogged on this site with a (then) modern software package. All went well, nothing wrong, but recently (about a week ago) I have upgraded this to the latest version of their program. As a result of this, the site now uses a responsive design, meaning you can see this site on your “device” meaning iPhone, iPad, Android or any other type of tablet and enjoy it with an appropriate layout. The top menu might change its appearance as well as some other elements. All depending on the device you are using to see the site.

This has taken some time to get it right and as a result, the emails going out to subscribers of the blog have gotten mixed up. It seems that you now get emails about “new” posts a few weeks old! Since this is Google’s Feedburner doing the job, I expect this to resolve itself in the next few days or weeks. There is nothing wrong with the site and it is not trying to spam you, it is just a bit mixed up in the dates, it seems.

In the mean time, enjoy the posts, even the older ones!

This post contains pictures of a more personal nature. If you’re not used to that, don’t read this.

On January 18, 2013 I felt a bit strange. Now you’ll tell me that that’s no surprise, but this time it was. For a while already I had been warned by my doctor that my blood pressure was a bit too high. High Blood pressure comes with risks. One of the risks is stroke.

A very good friend of mine in Holland had been in coma after a stroke since a week before Christmas and had just woken up. Not in the best of shapes either. No walking, no talking and worst of all, apparently no memories either. He had had a severe stroke due to, among other things, high blood pressure.

For a long, very long time I was convinced that Windows Live Writer stripped the EXIF data from my photos. So I tried some plugins (PhotoMetis) that will read the EXIF data and paste it below your pictures as a title. Not the best solution either. I like to show the title as *I* decide, not the way some plugin decides to write it.

So, like many, I searched the internet, arrived on the social Microsoft forum, where there is a latest message that the developers “will look into the issue”. The message dates from somewhere in 2008. Not the best of promises. Nothing appears to have been done, no more messages about the issue anywhere. So, either it has been resolved, or nothing has been done. As I saw no EXIF data, even in the latest version of WLW, my thoughts were that nothing had been done.

Ok, it’s not often I write about the more technical side of photography, even less about the computer part of it. Whoever takes digital pictures of has scanned his paper pictures of even the negatives will have found himself in this situation.

Hard Disk Full

Hmm, definitely not the best situation to find yourself in.

Many people have come across this problem with the Garmin Etrex series. After about a year of normal use, the rubber band around the Etrex is coming loose. Not just because it has been in a warm car or has been left in the sun. I live in Winnipeg, and hot weather is not part of the climate here.

So, my rubber band came loose. First a little bit, then a little more and then completely loose. Well, loose… The gooey, sticky glue of the seal between that rubber band and the plastic housing of the Etrex simply kept sticking to my hands.

At some point it was not possible to touch the %^&* thing without having to wipe my hands afterwards!

So I decided to do something about it. 5 months after the first symptoms.