terça-feira, 20 de dezembro de 2005

Calvin & Hobbes



Calvin and Hobbes was a much-loved comic strip where Calvin (the kid) imagined that his toy tiger (Hobbes) was his best friend, and talked to him (although it is open to different interpretations). Then they would go on adventures, and discuss life, and that. It finished about ten years ago, with a happy ending. Both the characters remarked on how the world was full of possibilities, and sledged off into the snow. This is a doctored strip that was distributed around the Internet as though it was the genuine last episode (although this was not its author's intention).

In it, Calvin appears to have been prescribed Attention Deficit Disorder drugs ( a contentious point in America, where many unruly or hyperactive children seem to be prescribed them as a matter of course. The commonly-perceived effect of ADD drugs is that they leech a child of any character or enthusiasm about the world). Then, at the end, as Calvin has stopped imagining, Hobbes in effect dies, and becomes just a stuffed toy again. Many people have read a broader meaning into it beyond that of it being purely a comment on ADD drugs: that the loss of our imaginations and belief in the endless possibilities of the world is an inevitable part of crossing from childhood into adulthood.

It is the saddest comic strip ever.


Via Escrever para o boneco

quarta-feira, 14 de dezembro de 2005

segunda-feira, 12 de dezembro de 2005

Projecto Tampinhas!



Estes são os vários logotipos para votarmos num até 17 de Dezembro, e, claro, aderirmos à Associação Tampa Amiga

sexta-feira, 9 de dezembro de 2005

Mas o que é isto?

Tigres, leões e outras espécies protegidas, como linces e lobos brancos, estavam a ser abatidos a tiro em Badajoz, muito perto da fronteira com Portugal.

Eram safaris ilegais para milionários, organizados por uma rede que está a ser desmantelada pela Guardia Civil. Numa operação que ainda não terminou. Feras africanas a 100 quilómetros da fronteira.

Nesta herdade da província de Badajoz, a Guardia Civil encontrou um leão e dois tigres, um deles morto a tiro. Compravam os animais em jardins zoológicos para mais tarde organizar caçadas ilegais, um negócio milionário. Por enquanto, há sete detidos.

Na aldeia vizinha, há tempo que os 700 habitantes ouviam rumores sobre actividades suspeitas, abates de lobos brancos e linces, duas das espécies mais protegidas da Península Ibérica. As cabeças eram oferecidas como troféus e os corpos queimados para não deixar rasto.

A vedação, electrificada e muito alta, chamou a atenção do Serviço de Protecção da Natureza. Dizem que por um lobo branco pagava-se 30 mil euros, cerca de seis mil contos.

O tráfico de fauna protegida está a aumentar em Espanha, só no ano passado foram recuperados mais de 1.800 animais ameaçados, a maior parte répteis.

Via SIC Online, onde há um filme para ver, mas não me atrevo,
e , sempre extraordinário!

quarta-feira, 7 de dezembro de 2005

The Digital Audiophile's Toolbox

So you want to be an audiophile? Great, but you need to realize this is an elite designation and that joining the ranks will take work. The key is having the right tools, and not all of those listed here are easy to figure out, at least not the first time you use them.

First, let us pause for two major caveats, as this article examines only software for producing high-quality, portable (as in put them on your iPod) digital recordings. This is no doubt sacrilege to bona fide audiophiles, for whom analog still rules supreme. (See the second part of this special report, "Hi-Fi, Meet the IPod," for a closer look at this issue and how new technologies may one day bridge the gap.)

The lack of a hardware review may also irk some. You can't have great sound without high-end speakers, specialized speaker cords and the like. This is a dangerous world to tread with a wallet and scant knowledge, as this list of overpriced, useless gear points out.

Still, the gap between low-end digital recordings and high-end digital recordings is so vast -- and the means to fix the worst failings so well within the bounds of average folks on a budget -- that a look at just digital music software is justified.

The first thing you'll have to throw out is expectations of a tidy and simple user interface. Sure, the layout in iTunes is less daunting, but that's because Apple Computer's program offers fewer choices. Specifically, it fails to offer the options that give the highest likelihood that your prized digital music library won't be made obsolete by new formats five years down the road.

The other thing you'll come to realize is that no single program does everything well. Sadly, the software that's best at playing your music using your computer isn't necessarily the best at managing a music file's "tags," which are the text strings that contain the song's name, artist, album and other information.

I've tried to keep the list simple while at the same time casting a wide net. Here's what you need:

CD ripper: This is the program that scans your music CD and converts the tracks to a file that can be stored and played on your computer or iPod. The most versatile and accurate program is, without a doubt, Exact Audio Copy, or EAC. The free software goes to great lengths to ensure that scratches and other imperfections on the surface of your CD don't result in pops or scratches in the audio files it rips.

It also works well with the Lame encoder, which I'll get to in a moment. Configuring EAC can be daunting. I found invaluable help online.

Lame encoder: EAC uses this open-source software to convert songs on a CD to MP3 files. I recommend the MP3 format because it's available as an option on just about every device and most software you'll ever come across.

There are many different versions. The current stable version is 3.97, beta 1. (Don't be put off by the "beta" designation. I've been using the software for weeks and it works fine.)

Download version 3.97, beta 1 (alternate download sites are free-codecs.com and Softpedia), unzip it to its own folder (for instance, C:\Lame) and make a note of its location. You'll have to know where it's located when you configure EAC.

Once you've got EAC configured to use Lame, you're almost there. The only thing left to do is tell the programs what settings you want to use. I recommend using a sound-quality setting that's a notch higher than the standard, and to tag your music using an older and a newer format. Don't worry if this sounds confusing -- all you need to do is open EAC and choose Compression Options from the File menu. From there, look for an empty box just to the right of text that says "additional command line options." In that box, paste the following string:

-V 0 --add-id3v2 --pad-id3v2 --tt "%t" --ta "%a" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" --tg "%m" %s %d

Media player: You've now completed the hardest work. Of course, to listen to music on your computer, you'll need a jukebox or media player program. My favorite is Winamp. By downloading plug-in software called ml ipod, you can also use Winamp to manage your iPod. Unlike iTunes, ml ipod allows you to move songs from your iPod onto your computer, which is useful for backing up your valuable collection.

Tagging software: Finally, to make sure files in your music collection contain the correct information about the song's title, artist and album name, you'll need a tagging program. I like MP3 Tag Studio.

Tags are strings of text that live inside an MP3 file so you can organize thousands of songs by a single characteristic -- for example, a genre such as jazz. If you've ever suffered with an iPod that shows three different entries for the same artist (for example: "The Who," "Who, The" and "Who"), chances are that inconsistent tagging is to blame. MP3 Tag Studio is free and it has features that will remove extra spaces from tags and rename files based on tags.

Wired

quinta-feira, 10 de novembro de 2005

Erotismo Inteligente na Publicidade










O bom uso das nossas mentes perversas! ;-)

quinta-feira, 6 de outubro de 2005

quinta-feira, 29 de setembro de 2005

Vicios...





http://www.websudoku.com/

é um de muitos sitios!

quinta-feira, 22 de setembro de 2005

Photoshop























Há pessoal com uma paciência!! :-)

Espectacular!

http://www.photoshopcafe.com/samples.htm

Viagens de Sonho 2





























India

http://www.indiatravelog.com/

Viagens de Sonho


Vamos lá sonhar!


Cambodja

http://www.angkorwat.org/

Comer bem, viver melhor

http://vegweb.com/

http://www.veganchef.com/

http://www.ivu.org/recipes/regions.html

Live Wildlife in Botswana






http://205.188.130.53/ngm/wildcamafrica/

quarta-feira, 21 de setembro de 2005

segunda-feira, 19 de setembro de 2005

Ilustração:




Onde, claro, tudo tem direitos de autor, mas o mestre é incontornável :-)

terça-feira, 16 de agosto de 2005

Quotes - Maya Angelou

"The honorary duty of a human being is to love."

It would be nice

Estou sempre à espera que apareças, ou melhor, com a esperança de te ver..
Gostava de te ver..

Surprise me.. it would be nice...

O dia-a-dia e o esforço consciente

Viver todos os dias dá-nos cabo da vida..

Os “barulhinhos” do dia-a-dia, aqueles que ficam no fundo dos nossos ouvidos bem para lá do seu tempo, obrigam-nos a um esforço consciente para estarmos bem com quem amamos..

E os ruidos continuam.. O esforço consciente não dá em nada, sai “torto”, às vezes esforçamo-nos demais para que tudo seja perfeito.. Queremos todos os dias ter um “momento”..

É dificil amar.. às vezes queremos dar tanto, fazer tanto, que quando as coisas não correm como se espera... e estragamos tudo.. mal-entendidos.. é lixado..

O dia-a-dia, nós.. nem sempre as coisas saiem como se deseja.. mas para o que serve, amo-te..

quinta-feira, 11 de agosto de 2005

Achei piada a isto.. Se calhar...

Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)


Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99 If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience…I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you imagine.
Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you
Sing
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss
Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own..
Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen…

terça-feira, 9 de agosto de 2005

Refugiados

O site do Alto Comissariado para os Refugiados, onde agora temos o Guterres (sim, o gajo que foi nosso Primeiro Ministro...) como Alto Comissário...
Enfim, vamos lá ver se para isto ele tem jeito...
A quem quiser mais informação e puder dar uma ajuda (aos refugiados, não ao Guterres), aqui vai o site:

http://www.unhcr.ch/


Da minha parte, mais não seja, obrigada pela atenção!

Courage

"One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest."
Maya Angelou

quarta-feira, 27 de julho de 2005


Cheetah Conservation Hopes Pinned on "Ambassador" Cat

Leon Marshall in South Africa
for National Geographic News
June 17, 2004

A cheetah called Byron was received like royalty this week at a school in a sprawling black township on the outskirts of South Africa's capital, Pretoria. The pupils at the Kguagelo School called him a prince. Their choir sang, and they read a poem they had written for him.

Also known as the "cheetah ambassador," the tame animal is frequently taken to schools and to meetings with farmers and local communities as part of an initiative to win people's hearts and minds over to the cause—and ultimate survival—of this fleet-footed big cat.

Once roaming throughout much of Africa and Asia, today only some 12,000 cheetahs are believed to be surviving in the wild—almost all of them in patches of east and southern Africa. Many of them are trying to live on farmland, where they frequently come into fatal conflict with humans.

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is listed as endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Treaty.

As human populations expand and development consumes more and more of the cheetah's natural habitat and prey (mostly gazelles), the feline's fate looks dark.

Cheetah Ambassador

Byron, the princely ambassador for cheetahs, is playing a vital role in an ambitious plan to conserve and restore cheetah populations in southern Africa.

At his numerous outings to schools and farming communities, people are encouraged to get up real close with one of nature's most accomplished predators. They are allowed to stroke Byron's soft body fur and tail in the hope that the hands-on experience will open their eyes to the animal's extraordinary beauty and inspire them to support the cheetah's cause.

With the indifference typical of cats, Byron takes all this human contact in his stride, alternatively sitting up regally or flopping nonchalantly on his side while purring contentedly.

But changing human attitudes toward cheetahs ...

para ler o resto:

in "http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0617_040617_cheetahs.html"

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Conselhos para poupar água

Vamos lá pessoal, não custa nada, antes pelo contrário!..

http://www.esec-alfredo-silva.rcts.pt/pouparagua.htm

Maya Angelou

"There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing."