A lovely Dew Drop, welcoming Spring. I took the photo this morning.
I modified it using Topaz Adjust (Crisp preset).

PS: My date/time settings have been wrong! I took this photo September 1 and posted this the same day… not on August 31. Hopefully all corrected now.

I’ve just downloaded the latest Topaz Labs filter. It’s called B&W effects. This particular effect is called High Contrast 1 (detailed).
I like b&w photos and have printed many such photos in years gone by. The ease of digital photography has taken away the magic of working in the darkroom to get just the right effect. I’ve tried a lot of filters in my miscellaneous computer programs to manipulate my digital photos… I’ve been looking for something to produce good b&w’s… here’s hoping Topaz has come up with a winner
This building is one I pass every time I go to Sydney. I don’t know anything about it except that it’s been there a long time. If it was a kid’s cubby house then it would have been fantastic fun for the kids!

“So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.” 1 Corinthians 15:58 NASB

Be like a postage stamp – stick to one thing till you get there! – Josh Billings.

From: http://dailyreadings.net/

Ramchandra Baghel was the son of a poor farmer from a small village in the infamous Bastar area. Given to the vice of alcohol addiction, the father had leased his farmlands. The habit resulted in the family losing their own lands and Baghel’s father was forced to work as a daily wager on his own land. Today, Ramchandra has been able to buy back his forefathers’ land. He also supplements his earnings by working as a driver, ferrying school children in his run-down jeep.

The youngster who could have been held in the shackles of poverty rose to attain a respectable position in society instead. This would not have been possible without the support of his beloved Dadaji and Dadiji. This old couple, not his biological grandparents, happens to play a similar role in the lives of around 4000 children in the tribal areas of Chhattisgarh.

Jayant and Jayshree Kothe, more famously Dadaji and Dadiji, belong to Nagpur, but decided to help those who really needed it after attaining the age of retirement. This took them to the notorious Abujhmar plateau in 1998. “The place has such a difficult terrain that it was impossible to work there,” says Jayashree. This led to a detailed study of the needs of the various people around the region. And, finally they decided to make Dantewada and Bastar areas of Chhattisgarh their base. Later, they formed Bhartiya Kushta Nivarak Sangh, an NGO that has its presence in over 80 villages.

“An abandoned police station in Halbaras village in the Naxal-infested area was turned into our home. Today, the building also houses an ashram, a school and a laboratory equipped to screen people for sickle cell disease, a condition very common among the tribals of the area,” informed Jayant. The ashram also provides shelter to more than 25 needy children, whom the elderly couple has accepted as a part of their family.

The goodness of the couple also benefits the other children in the villages. More than 200 kids are fed with nourishing khichdi, consisting of pulses like tur, moong, masoor, groundnuts and grams. The improved nutritional profile of the children has meant that malnourishment has been practically eradicated in the village. Those who did not attend school were told to come to the ashram for a couple of hours to study.

The decade long efforts of the Kothe’s have finally borne fruit with the villagers as well as the government supporting their activities. The fallow land near the ashram would soon be turned into a park with financial aid from the villagers. Identifying the need for it, the government has assigned the couple with the task of screening more than 25,000 tribal children for sickle cell disease.

They have started spreading their aid to the villages in Maharashtra as well. Already started operations in Melghat, they would also be providing support to villages like Deori, Istari and Yedmagondi in their home state.

All sorts of recognition and achievements fall short for the couple as the highest reward for them is having thousands of children to call their own. The couple is in the city with some of the children from the ashram for an exhibition of handicrafts made by tribal people from Bastar ranging from bell metal, wrought iron, wood work to the famous Chapa Kosa sarees and dress materials. The money earned through sale of these items would go the BKNS’s Halbaras ashram.

From: Giving ‘em a new lease of life – The Times of India.

Israeli researchers trying to unlock the secret of longevity studied a population of Ashkenazi Jews who have lived to at least 95 and found their eating and lifestyle habits are no better than those of the general population.

In fact, men in the long-lived group drank slightly more and exercised less than their average counterparts.

The findings are published in the online edition of Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. …

read the rest at: Longevity is due to genes not lifestyle, study finds.

Related articles

• Living to see 100 is just luck, not lifestyle (telegraph.co.uk)
• “Longevity genes,” not healthy lifestyles, are what help you live to see 100 [Longevity] (io9.com)
• Very Old Don’t Always Have Healthy Habits (webmd.com)

SOMETIMES survival can be a simple equation. The difference between life and death for a frail child in Somalia can come down to being fed a peanut-based paste that costs less than 40 cents a serve.

Plumpy’nut – each sachet of the nutritional supplement weighs only 92 grams – is Red Cross aid worker Hilary Floate’s not-so-secret weapon in the war on famine. And amid a litany of bad news from the East African drought and conflict zone, it is good news everyone can relish. …

read more:  Small ‘weapon’ makes big difference in war on famine.

Related articles

• VIDEO: On the frontline of Somalia’s famine (bbc.co.uk)
• Bono Discusses Relief Efforts With Local Somalis Before U2 Show In Minn. (huffingtonpost.com)
• Pope urges end to ‘indifference’ over Somalia famine (telegraph.co.uk)

I was up in Sydney this past weekend and was very delighted to see a small flock of black cockatoos in my friends’ trees. These cockatoos are not often seen around Sydney. I see them more down my way in the Southern Tablelands. This flock allowed me to creep quite close and take lots of photos… a good experience!

Image via Wikipedia

Now here’s one for you!

British intelligence has hacked into an al-Qaeda online magazine and replaced bomb-making instructions with a recipe for cupcakes.

via MI6 hackers hit terrorist website with cupcakes.

Related articles

• MI6 attacks al-Qaeda in ‘Operation Cupcake’ (telegraph.co.uk)

One fun thing I do these days is mess around with my photos. I’ve taken thousands over many years and mostly they sit on my computer and are hardly ever looked at. I need to change that… and have been doing so by using my photos as the basis for photo art. Sometimes the result looks fabulous… but they are still only on my computer.

I’ve been looking at ways to print them and make cards, and so make some money. I’d also like to print and mount some of my nicer arty pixs and see if they would sell. See sample below: