Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Tribute to Blinky
On the weekend I found out that a friend of mine, Lee "Blinky the Shark" Rizor, passed away last week due to complications from the flu. We had exchanged emails just the day before, and he had mentioned that he'd been ill with the flu but felt he was getting better.
The sudden passing took me quite by surprise and I was more than a little upset at the news. He was a larger than life character with a very strong personality. Hard to believe that something like the flu can take away someone that full of life.
Blinky was very prolific in several newsgroups I frequented, mostly to do with computer and photography related topics. I recall when I first started using linux he helped me on many occasions and on many more since.
In the last year we discovered our mutual interest in photography and exchanged many emails about equipment, macro photography methods, sharing photos and critiquing each other's work. He was a retired TV cameraman who worked and lived near Hollywood.
His USENET alias of Blinky the Shark arose when he read somewhere that some sharks can't/don't blink. Many people on USENET don't use their real name for privacy reasons. I have know him for years as Blinky, and only recently learned his real name.
It sounds strange that you can meet someone through USENET, never know their real name and never meet them face to face, yet still be so affected with news of their passing.
Farewell Blinky. We'll miss you.
Monday, 2 February 2009
Links
Photography:
Photography-on-the.net - fantastic resource for photography equipment and photo sharing
Flickr - online photo management and sharing. It's where I host my photos these days. My Flickr page is http://www.flickr.com/photos/troypiggo
Strobist - learn to light with off-camera flash on your DSLR
deviantART - an art, not just photography, community. My dA page is http://troypiggo.deviantart.com/
Shoot-In - a friendly photography exercise started on rec.photo.equipment.35mm
Astronomy:
Ice In Space - Australian-based amateur astronomy resource, knowledge-base, and photo sharing
Cloudy Nights - astronomical community
Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA
Astronomy viewing
Vic Menard's Collimation Technique
Useful Formulae for astro-related things, such as critical focus zone, auto-guider rates etc
Astronomy software:
Astroplanner beta
Narrowband imaging:
Richard Crisp's site
Clipping masks screencast by Ken Crawford
Bob Franke's PhotoShop method
Fleming Astrophotography
Astro Anarchy
Weather:
Weather Underground
SkippySky Astro-weather Forecast
Weather.com.au
WeatherZone
News:
News.com.au
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Lorem Ipsum
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.