My Wee Blog

I have studied the video and this is how I think he did it.

He used the same technology as the BBC use for weather forecasts – green or blue screens.

After watching the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMIzR6GNAXw – use full screen mode) there are some give aways.

The cable from the tv set is not visible through the clear stand that holds the balls yet his trousers are visible when he walks behind the balls – suggests that the cable goes no where or more likely to pass through the green screen.

Derren is wearing all black which stops any “haze” caused by the green screen. In this instance I think he may have used a blue screen, look at the left hand side of the white base that holds the balls, note the blue tinge also look at the shiny reflection on his shoes – blue tinge.

Also watch Derren’s foot movements when he approaches the balls, he makes a lot of side step movements and sliding of feet – suggesting he is conscious of knocking or bumping into the screen behind him.

Finally note he didn’t guess the bonus ball – if he had there wouldn’t have been enough time to get all of the balls in place and set up.

Now I might be wrong, but this is possible and quite easy to do.

Is it you or somebody else?

You see there are thousands of website owners out there who are potentially sitting on a “time bomb” when it comes to their domain name.

These website owners actually are not the registered owners of the domain name for their website, it is their web design company or hosting company.

The problem is that if you are not the rightful owner of the domain name for your website you have no control over the domain name.

It is quite common for some unscrupulous web designers to register their clients’ domain names in their own name. This basically gives the web designer a hold over their client.

• This means if the client wants to move host or designer the web designer could refuse to transfer the domain name or charge a hefty fee to do so.
• If a client falls out with their web designer, the designer could shut the site down in a matter of hours.
• A web designer could sell the domain name to one of his client’s rivals.
• All domains owned by a web designer are assets. This means if the web designer sells their company the domain names can be passed with the company. Alternatively if the web designer goes into liquidation, the administrator could sell all the domains held to raise funds.

To check who owns your domain name simply visit www.easily.co.uk and enter your domain name, select the extension and then click search. On the results page just click on the info icon against the relevant extension. The details for the domain name will appear on the screen.

Hopefully you are the registered owner.

I have just been reading about the horrors of Chinese Tattoo Designs – some quite scary stories.

It just goes to show though how people are very trusting of others. Those poor people thought they were getting a tattoo that meant one thing when in fact it was another.

I also downloaded the free mini guide and it is a must read for anybody who is thinking of getting a Chinese Tattoo – really sound advice and tips to make sure you don’t get caught out.

While looking for somewhere to go over the May Bank holiday weekend, I stumbled upon a new website called 360ni.com.

It has justed started and looks very promising with new entries being added daily. It is an independent guide to Northern Ireland with some great photographs as well.

This is what Northern Ireland needs as the NITB website just seems to be a slideshow and that is it, plus it seems to be out of date as well.

Good luck 360ni and hope it works out for you.

As a National Trust member in Northern Ireland I recently received some literature about the pictureyourself.org.uk website.

Basically, it is a competition where you take photographs of yourself on National Trust property or of National Trust property and upload them to the competition website www.pictureyourself.org.uk.

What a great idea I thought, so off I went to the website and as I went to register I clicked on the terms and conditions and couldn’t believe what I was reading.

Here are the terms and conditions of entry taken from https://pictureyourself.org.uk/terms.php

Your contributions

If you submit any material to us, you agree to grant The National Trust a perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide, non-exclusive licence to use your contribution in all media. This includes the right to copy, edit, publish, grant sub-licences and exercise all other copyright and publicity rights over the material. If you do not want to grant these rights, please do not submit your contribution to us.

You warrant that the materials you submit are original and that you have the right to grant the above licence. You waive all moral rights in the materials for the purposes above.

By submitting your contribution you acknowledge and confirm that all models used in your contribution have provided consent to have their images published on the www.nationaltrust.org.uk/pictureyourself website and to be used in further publications both online and offline in printed material.

By submitting my image I would give the NT full copyright and all rights relating to the photograph. This means that the NT could do what ever they wanted to do with the image. They could sell images onto a third party for hundreds or even thousands of pounds and I wouldn’t get a penny from it.

No professional photographer would ever sign away the copyright of their photograph. So why should the National Trust impose such conditions on the general public who haven’t got a clue about what the above extract means.

Imagine if somebody took a photograph of a complete stranger say a man holding hands with his mistress on a romantic getaway, (his wife thinks he is away on business), at a NT property and submitted it without understanding what “consent of model” means (after all model consent and model releases are terminology normally associated with professional photographers) and then suddenly that photograph appears in numerous magazines and journals. I wonder what comeback that complete stranger would have, after all the photograph was taken on private property and published without his consent – did he sign a model release form?

It would seem that the national trust may have been inspired by the previous owners of the domain name (http://www.windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk/projects.pictureyourself/pictureyourself.about.htm) – at least the previous owners recognised that the copyright stayed with the person who took the photograph.

One has to ask why do the NT need to have such terms and conditions. Their wording implies that the NT Trust want complete ownership of the images so they can do what they want with them without having to consider the person who took the image.

If you want to take a photograph on National Trust Property for commercial purposes, you have to PAY for every hour you are on their land, sign a contract and give them a percentage of any money you make from that photograph.

On the other hand, they are quite happy to take photographs from unsuspecting members of the public and strip away any rights the person who took the photograph normally has.

Here is the link to an article about the competition at the website of the PR company employed by the NT – http://www.bluecubeinteractive.com/work/picture-yourself-in-northern-ireland/

Also this is the link to the website of the professional photographer who is on the judging panel – it discusses what the different types of license they offer and what they mean: http://www.scenicireland.com/licence_info/

Something for you to think about, why were these onerous conditions buried in the middle of a number of paragraphs of terms relating to the use of the website. Why didn’t they get a page all of there own?

Interestingly ScenicIreland has many many images of National Trust properties on it as well, just do a search for Castle Ward and over 400 images are returned.

Finally I just love this quote from Maurica Lavery who is Marketing and Communications Manager with The National Trustthe – see the judges page (https://pictureyourself.org.uk/judges.php)

“I am really excited by the potential for great images that this competition will bring. Join in.”"

I was fortunate enough to be invited along by The Mullahead Ploughing Society to take some low altitude aerial photographs of the event on Saturday 28th February 2009.

The site is vast with over 150 entrants competing in various ploughing classes. From the traditional horse ploughing right through to the modern reversible plough, something for everyone.

It has to be said that the main attraction for many is the Tractor Pulling, this has grown over the years into an event almost of its own.

Here is a view of the main tractor pulling arena:

Here are some more photos of the competitors in action:

This Massey shot past the 70m mark with ease.

You can view more photographs and purchase prints of the event by visiting the Mullahead Ploughing Section over at a AWeeClick.com – GET £5.00 OF YOUR ORDER AT AWEECLICK.com BY USING THIS VOUCHER CODE – Mullahead

For more information on Tractor Pulling in Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland visit the ITPC website.

See How I Took These

Here at myweeblog we have teamed up with accommodationoffers.co.uk to offer you some of the cheapest hotels in Belfast.

Most of the deals available are discounted rates for the room, not per person which makes it very cheap for a family visiting Northern Ireland. These cheap hotel deals are truly great value for money.

Take for example the Ramada Hotel Belfast, a 4 star hotel located just outside of Belfast City centre – you can get up to 67% off a double room that sleeps a family of 4. Price includes breakfast and the full use of all of the leisure facilities.

Check out all of the Cheap Hotels in Belfast that Accommodation Offers have.

Cheap Hotels And Accommodation

We have been busy designing a new website called AccommodationOffers.co.uk/a>

Elevated Aspects have launched their latest product Aerial 360 Virtual Panoramic tours. Most people have seen the standard panos taking at eye level, but these are truly amazing.

They are taken at heights of up to 84 feet above the ground and the feeling is really strange when you spin down and look at the ground.

The example Elevated Aspects has produced is of The Motte And Bailey at Dromore, County Down. The detail of the mound is unique in that you are actually looking down on to the mound.

Within the panoramic there are several examples of how different things can be shown, example a house for sale, a plot of land. In addition there are “Hot Buttons” that when clicked on display pictures, maps, videos, webpages and loads more.

The aerial 360 virtual panoramic service provided by Elevated Aspects is the only one of its kind in Northern Ireland that can produce quality panos at such high heights above the ground.

I have been busy writing a new website called Aerial Photography Northern Ireland – it is designed to educate people about the various types of aerial photography that are available in Northern Ireland.

It describes the various types and more importantly the benefits and disadvantages of each system. Traditionally in Northern Ireland, the main type of Aerial Photography available has been using full size aircraft, now with the introduction of other various types available, namely by Elevated Aspects Aerial Photography, people have choice.

Arguably the person who is commissioning the aerial photo wants to choose the appropriate type. For example, a construction company will want a close up shot of a warehouse they built, so a low level aerial photo would be best. Using this method results in a photograph that shows not only the roof but also the walls. Conventional aerial photography from a plane normally results in the roof of  building taking up most of the photograph.

The Law And Photography From The Air

Many of the methods used to take such aerial photos are governed by rules and regulations imposed and policed by the Civila Aviation Authority. For instance an aircraft that is used to take aerial pictures MUST be flown by a pilot who holds a commercial licence, if the photos are for commercial gain. It is illegal for a pilot who holds a private pilots licence to take aerial photographs that are for for commercial purposes.

Likewise an aircraft used for aerial photography must have two people on board, the commercial pilot and the photographer. It is illegal for a pilot to take commercial photographs whilst flying an aircraft.

Costs of Aerial Photography

The Aerial Photography Northern Ireland website also has an important section on costs and how to roughly calculate the cost of an aerial photograph.

As you can see from the above paragraph, it takes two people to take aerial photographs, the pilot and the photographer plus the hire of the aircraft and the photographers time in post processing of the photos.

For further information visit the website which will be officially launched at the end of August 2008.