Out to Space

It is a day work of adjusting web portfolio. This new version is viewed better with 1024×786 screen resolution.

One task is ticked off before the big trip to Thailand. However, there is major hiccup with the equipments. The 18-70 mm lens has decided not to work. It has been to the service with the same problem twice since it was accidentally dropped last year. It is likely to be the time for a replacement. No time to decide and no money to spend.

Finally, I have got an web portfolio.

Special thanks to Lokesh Dakhar for Lightbox 2, a wonderful javascript that let browsers beautifully show the images.

I cannot remember how long ago I have not googled myself until last night. Amongst the usual associate and photography sites, one surprising result is from Google Books. Thanks to this new beta version of Google search engine, I have found my first photograph published in a book.

Apparently, one of my good old rainbow lorikeet photographs is an illustration in a scientific book, Extinction & Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Bird by David W. Steadman. I gave the permission to use the image in the book two years ago but thought that the author was not going to use it because I had not heard from him since. So I forgot about it.

Although the black & white version in the book blanches the colourful feature of the couple from the original web version and, in fact, they are not captive animals as captioned, I feel honoured that it is a part of an epic research of birds in the region.

Sprinkled across the tropical Pacific, the innumerable islands of Oceania are home to some of the most unique bird communities on the planet, and they sustain species found nowhere else on earth. Many of the birds that live in this region are endangered, however; many more have become extinct as a result of human activity, in both recent and prehistoric times.

Reconstructing the avian world in the same way archeologists re-create ancient human societies, David Steadman—a leading authority on tropical Pacific avian paleontology—has spent the past two decades in the field, digging through layers of soil in search of the bones that serve as clues to the ancient past of island bird communities. His years of indefatigable research and analysis are the foundation for Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds, a monumental study of the landbirds of tropical Pacific islands—especially those from Fiji eastward to Easter Island—and an intricate history of the patterns and processes of island biology over time.

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Dr. Steadman came across the image through the Web as well as I discovered the book from the same channel. It is a wonderful world of the Internet.

For a good cause, I decided to fast for the occasion of Phuket Vegetarian Festival and Stilgherrian was also loosely on board. During the Fast, we were not supposed to consume any meat or animal products. So, no favourite steaks, fish, eggs, dairies or alcohol for just over a week. To be very strict, you have to purify the mind as well as the body by wearing white, meditation and so on. I did not go that far. It is not too hard to find vegetarian food in Sydney but to get a strict vegan dish is a bit tricky.

If I was back in Thailand, where the cult become mainstream, the vibe would help me get through the period and I would feel cleansed at some level. Here, it brought me back the questions about living in the modern world as we try to make sense of everything these days.

• On the surface, it is definite healthier not to have something to block your artery. But does that lift your spirit off the ground if the deed is focused just on yourself?
• In developed societies, we are bombarded by trillions of different products trying to get our attentions. How could we find what we really want and need without them telling us so?
• In every religions, limitation of choice is one of the path to enlightenment. Why do we consume everything what we have in front of us so quickly?

Any answers?