this is the video that inspired me,,

In 2000 artist Noah Kalina started taking a photo of himself every day . In August 2006, he put together a nearly 6 minute video of these photos, chronicling over 2300 days, up on YouTube. It has since been viewed over 8 million times and has spawned a number of imitators (though it should be noted that some of these immitation videos were in progress before Kalina put his video on the web). What Kalina and others did always struck me as a good idea and a really interesting way to visually track the changes in our outward appearance. I started on a project of my own to take a daily picture of my face after seeing Kalina’s YouTube video, but I quickly found out that taking a picture of yourself every day can be a major pain in the butt.

A new web site, Daily Mugshot, plays off Kalina’s idea and offers tools that make it easier for people to track their own daily photographic evolution. Founder Keith Gould was clearly as intrigued as I was by Kalina and says he was inspired by him.

“The Daily Mugshot began when I came across a dude who took a picture of himself every day and turned it into a video. He had taken pictures of himself every day for years, and the video was amazing. I thought: I want to do that too,” says Gould on the Daily Mugshot site.

The site launched in closed beta last November and is still very much a work in progress. In addition to offering an application that allows users to take a photo of themselves with a web cam and archive it, the application also issues reminders when it is time to take a photo, and creates an embeddable widget slideshow of your pictures similar to Kalina’s video. A gallery on the site shows of these slideshows and allows people to comment on them.

For now the only way to get pictures into the app is via web cam, but Gould is working on adding upload functionality to the site.

While Daily Mugshot likely doesn’t have broad appeal and has limited use as a social network (Gould is planning to add some social features to help people keep track of specific mugshot users), it is a useful application for anyone who wants to create a daily picture chronicle. Gould created the site as a fun side project because he was inspired by a YouTube video and wanted to make the process of emulating Noah Kalina as painless as possible, and I think he’s succeeded.

Located on the southern bank of Melbourne’s Yarra River, Crown offers a brilliant combination of state-of-the-art technology, unsurpassed luxury and non-stop excitement. Crown has something to meet every need and match every mood. With 500,000 square metres of beautifully appointed space spanning two city blocks, Crown delivers an inspiring and exceptional range of choice. World class shopping and dining, luxurious and indulgent accommodation, dynamic gaming areas and exciting live entertainment are just the starting points for any exploration of Crown.

Crown offers some of Melbourne’s finest and most cosmopolitan dining overlooking the Yarra River and city skyline. From masterful Japanese cuisine at the award winning Koko and authentic Chinese dishes at Silks to traditional Mediterranean food in the sophisticated yet casual surrounds of Breezes and modern French cuisine at the brasserie by Philippe Mouchel you’re spoilt for choice at Crown.

Experience a wide range of prestigious brands including Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Prada and more. Lifestyle apparel includes French Connection, Guess, Beach Culture, just to name a few, all within a short stroll of each other. If you appreciate elegance, adore good design and live for style, you’ll love shopping at Crown.

Crown Casino is one of the largest and most dazzling gaming facilities in the southern hemisphere. Crown offers an incredible array of gaming options in a vibrant and sophisticated setting. The main gaming floor of the casino stretches for more than half a kilometre and includes a series of smaller themed rooms designed to match the way you want to play. From the discreet and exclusive atmosphere of the Mahogany Room to the glamour of the Teak Room and the exciting colour of the West End, Crown delivers an unparalleled gaming experience.

Opening in 1998, Melbourne’s only IMAX Theatre has quickly developed into a world class facility. With 478 seats and the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest 3D screen, IMAX Melbourne has attracted over 3 million customers since its inception.

The theatre is located within the Melbourne Museum in Carlton, a 10 minute walk from the Melbourne city centre. The Museum is positioned just behind the Royal Exhibition Building (the only world heritage listed building in Australia) and runs between Rathdowne and Nicholson street. IMAX is positioned on the Rathdowne street end.

IMAX Melbourne screens a wide variety of specially made large format films, many in stunning 3D. With the ability to be both informative and spectacularly entertaining, IMAX offers an experience that is unsurpassed.

Open every day of the year (except Christmas Day) films usually screen on the hour, every hour from 10am to 10pm. The exception to this is when special digitally remasted feature length films are screened (see below). Please check session times using the Session Time search function.

Since 2005 the IMAX Theatre Melbourne has also offered IMAX versions of feature length mainstream films that have been digitally remastered into the IMAX format. These films (some of which are also converted to 3D just for IMAX) are screened on the biggest screen in Victoria. Once you have your first IMAX Experience you’ll never go mainstream again! Trust us……SIZE DOES MATTER!

via IMAX Melbourne – Theatre profile.

The Fountain of Wealth (Chinese: 财富之泉) is listed by the Guinness Book of Records in 1998 as the largest fountain in the world.^[1] It is located in one of Singapore‘s largest shopping malls, Suntec City.

During certain periods of the day, the fountain is turned off and visitors are invited to walk around a mini fountain at the centre of the fountain’s base for good luck. At night, the fountain is the setting for laser performances, as well as “live” song and laser message dedications between 8pm to 9pm daily.^[2] It is situated in such a way the fountain is the hub of the shopping mall.

via Fountain of Wealth – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

via WD TV HD Media Player.

What’s in the box…

About the WD TV HD Media Player

Full-HD 1080p video playback and navigation
Spectacular picture quality of HD video and crystal clear sound clarity of digital audio
Includes remote control to navigate your entertainment choices using animated HD menus

Collect without limits
There’s no limit to the size of your media collection; just add more USB drives for more space.

Simultaneously access two USB devices
Two USB ports on the player let you connect two USB devices and access them simultaneously

HDMI and composite video connections

Includes free media conversion software
ArcSoft MediaConverter™ 2.5 — a fast, easy-to-use application that converts photo, video, and music files into formats optimized for use on the WD TV HD Media Player

Ultra-compact design
Fits easily into your entertainment centre

The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium is a outdoor sports stadium currently under construction on Olympic Boulevard in inner Melbourne, Australia. Once completed, it will play host to Melbourne Storm (NRL) and Melbourne Victory (A-League) home games, aiming to fill in the gap in the city’s sporting infrastructure for a state of the art, purpose built rectangular stadium ideal for soccer and rugby. In line with most Australian cities, Melbourne’s largest stadiums (the MCG and the Docklands Stadium) have oval fields best suited to Australian rules football and cricket, though they have both been used for soccer and rugby many times. The new stadium will feature a distinctive “Bioframe” design, with a geodesic dome roof covering much of the seating area, whilst still allowing light through to the pitch.

via Melbourne Rectangular Stadium – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Location Melbourne, Australia

Size 36 hectares

Opened 1846

From Royal Botanical Garden – Melbourne

From Royal Botanical Garden – Melbourne

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne are internationally renowned botanical gardens located near the centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on the south bank of the Yarra River. They are comprised of 354,000 square metres (35 hectares or 87 acres) of landscaped gardens consisting of a mix of native and non-native vegetation including over 10,000 individual species. They are widely regarded as the finest botanical gardens in Australia, and among the best in the world. However, the gardens are also noted for their historical contribution to the introduction of invasive species.

The Royal Botanic Gardens have a second division in the outer Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne, some 45km south-east of the city. The 363 hectare Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne have a focus solely on Australian native plants, and feature an award winning special section called the Australian Garden, which was opened in May 2006.

The Royal Botanic Gardens are part of a larger group of parklands directly south-east of the city, between St. Kilda Road and the Yarra River known as the Domain Parklands, which includes;

* The Royal Botanic Gardens

* Kings Domain

* Alexandra Gardens

* Queen Victoria Gardens

via Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

From Puffing Billy

Lakeside Station is situated on the Puffing Billy Railway in Melbourne, Australia. It was opened in 1944 to serve Emerald Lake Park, the popular picnic and recreation reserve opened during World War II. It originally consisted of a short platform on the Up side of the line adjacent to the then (now former) park entrance road. It had a nameboard with red flag, but no shelter.

Lakeside today is a Staff Station with passing loop and island platform with waiting shelters. A Booking Office and Refreshment Room is across the track on what was an earlier single-faced platform. There is also a dead end storage siding beyond the Down end of the platform.

From Puffing Billy

Posted in Australia, Places to see ]]> http://jigesh.wordpress.com/2009/04/09/lakeside/feed/ 0 Jigesh http://jigesh.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/puffing-billy-railway/ http://jigesh.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/puffing-billy-railway/#comments Mon, 06 Apr 2009 02:57:00 +0000 Jigesh Desai http://jigesh.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/puffing-billy-railway/ ]]> From Puffing Billy

From Puffing Billy

The Puffing Billy Railway is a narrow gauge 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge heritage railway in the Dandenong Ranges near Melbourne, Australia

The railway was originally one of four narrow gauge lines of the Victorian Railways opened around the beginning of the 20th century. It runs through the southern foothills of the Dandenong Ranges to Gembrook. Being close to the city of Melbourne and with a post-preservation history spanning over 50 years, the line is one of the most popular steam heritage railways in the world, and attracts tourists from all over Australia and overseas.

The Puffing Billy Railway is kept in operation through the efforts of volunteers of the Puffing Billy Preservation Society, although intensive year-round operations necessitate a small band of paid employees to keep things going behind the scenes.

The railway aims to preserve the line as near as possible to how it was in the first three decades of its existence, but with particular emphasis on the early 1920s.

Operations are centred on Belgrave, which houses some of the offices of the railway (other offices are located at Emerald) as well as the locomotive running shed and locomotive workshops. It is also the base for track maintenance operations.

Most trains start from Belgrave and travel to Lakeside or to the terminus at Gembrook, and return. The railway operates every day of the year except Christmas Day, with at least two and up to six advertised services departing Belgrave each day. One service each day has the option of first-class carriages and lunch.

A semi-regular service is the Dinner Train, which usually departs Belgrave on a Friday or Saturday evening and travels to Nobelius Siding, where the passengers disembark and have a sit-down dinner in the converted packing shed of the former Nobelius Nursery. After the meal, the passengers rejoin the train for the return journey to Belgrave. Savouries and drinks are served on the train.

A popular feature of a ride on Puffing Billy is sitting on the ledge of the open-sided carriages (see picture).

There is a narrow-gauge railway museum near Menzies Creek station.

From Puffing Billy