Face Value

I’m sitting here, reading a few posts, exchanging emails, just wasting a few moments as you do and I’ve been inspired to write a little something on how often we do, or don’t take things at face value.

two seperate cases:

First, there is the story that’s doing the rounds atthe moment about a Redback Spider catching a small snake. i first saw it here and then it came through on the usual email chain letter train. I even reposted the link on my facebook account, figured it was pretty interesting. But I took it on “face value” and didn’t think to question the veracity of the story. However someone else did and I soon got an email from a friend, ‘it’s not a Red Back, it’s a Black Widow, and therefore American” (I’m paraphrasing BTW)

That made me think, “what’s the difference?”

So I went looking, first I followed the original blog story back to it’s source, and unfortunately it didn’t go too far and seeemd to be an unacknowledged repost even then. I read other peoples comments on the stories, and came up with a couple of things that could be checked. The type of Snake, and the type of spider. Someone mentioned the possibility that it was a South African snake, an Aurora House Snake so I checked out both the snake and the spider. The spider, it’s a tough call, could be A Redback, a Black Widow, a Button Spider, or one of many variants on the genus Latrodectus. The snake though, note that distinctive orange strip seen clearly in the picture below…

Spider Eats Snake

So a bit of research, and a story, that on ‘face value’ seems legit, is suddenly quite probably not an Australian story at all, and the spider is in all likely hood not a Redback, but another similar spider of that genus.

but what of the other side of the coin, the inability of some to talke something at ‘face value’.

This is my second point. Even in the comments for this spider story I saw people write “It’s a fake, it’s a photoshop”. If yuo surf/stuble about the web as much as I do you’ll notice it seems to be the catch cry of a jaded generation. So used to things being faked, they can’t accept occasionally that marvelous things can and will be caught on camera. That nature is often more beautiful, or more spectacular than one could ever imagine.

Sometimes you do just have to enjoy the image beforeyou, take it as you see and, and not cry ‘photoshop!” just because you’ve never seen soemthing like it before. hell it doesn’t have to be nature that’s weird…. tell me what you think of this. yes, it’s a crap post, but yet the ONLY comment asks… “photshopped?” I mean come on. A dodgy photo taken on a wet day of some idiot’s stupid car, why the f*** would anyone BOTHER! (of course you could say the same about the car in the photo.)

Anyway, to all you who cry “photoshop!” take a moment to enjoy things at face value. open your eyes to the world a bit. and if a photo is a clever photoshop fake, applaud the clever SOB who pulled it off.

Work Wanted

I’m looking to branch out a bit, in particular I’m looking for something that’s not tied down to little old Adelaide. In particular I am looking for work doing IT or Audio Visual support at Expos and Conferences.

If you are involved in organising a conference and want someone on hand who can make sure everything goes smoothly for delegates, please contact me. My rates are very reasonable and I have over 12 years experience in education IT support and AV. I also have a background in live mixing, having worked for a number of local bands such as The Seen, and The Gaskats and more recently The Phonics.

DVDs

I am a bit of a collector, and DVDs are one of my little money holes. A few years ago I setup a little database to catalogue and track my DVDs, including who I have lent them to.

I’ve just finished moving that database to this site, and was quite relieved to find that something I hadn’t touched in 2 years was so straightforward to update and move. It’s a nifty little bit of code, and I’m sure others will find it useful too. it’s just called DVDDB, by GlobalMegaCorp, hell their name itself makes me want to use it 🙂 Anyway, friends can feel free to join up on my database and list DVDs, borrow DVDs etc.

Now I’m getting a bit organised again in regards to my webs, I will add new DVDs to the database, probably going to put my collection over the 300 mark. The link to the databse is over on the right, near the bottom. or click here.

Get me back to France!

After my short trip to France last year, I really want to get back. Even more so because my mum has now moved their permanently AND she is getting married there in July!

chatillon postcard

Things have been really tough financially this year though, so my savings are a meagre $700 out of an estimated $4000 that the trip (including airfares) will cost me.

So… live vicariusly through me, sponsor my trip to France and i’ll send you a special photo taken just for you. Hey I’ll even include your name in my book of photos which I’ll be self publishing when I return!

What’s it all about?

Why do we need yet another blog, and who is this Gomisan person anyway?

I’ve been running a variety of websites for some time now, fansites, gaming and technology news, and even live webcam sites including a blog for my aquariums. However I don’t have the time or energy to devote to a Fansite anymore, and the bandwidth costs can get outrageous if the site takes off.  I tried my hand at Gaming and technology news and for a while it was fantastic, I even scored some major scoops and got a few freebies to review, but the work involved in keeping on top of the gaming world is too much for one person, and add Gadgets and tech into the mix and you’re asking for burnout.

That’s what happened really, I burnt out on some fantastic sites that just got too much to handle,  and weren’t bringing in a revenue stream to make them worthwhile. So I turned to specific interest sites, stuff that was near and dear to me and didn’t require the latest news around the clock, just dedication to a single cause. Except when I wasn’t feeling so dedicated to that subject the sites suffered and atrophied.

Now I’m in the mood for something new, but it needs to be broad enough that I can wax lyrical about whatever is on my mind. Sure I may get the occasional piece of tech news, or I may review some nifty gadgets but that’s not all this site will be.
Hopefully, over time the site will take on a definite flavour, and who knows, it may even attract some readership. But I’m making no promises, no guarantees of updates. Just a place I can post stuff of interest to me.  I may rehash some old content from other sites too. Hell I may just point all my domains here. We’ll see.

I hope you enjoy what you read here. I hope you find stuff interesting, and maybe even funny. Above all, if you are reading my site, I’d love to hear from you. Comments are welcome, feedback always appreciated.

cheers
Gomisan