Yourls self hosted shorturl service
Just discovered a self-hosted php/mysql url shortening tool – Yourls – which is giving me some ideas about a shorturl/permalink service for the museums sector, prompted when Flickr wouldn’t let me either post the full link to an image on the Imperial War Museum collections database, nor let me post a bit.ly or tinyurl shorturl.
Anyway, this is just a test to see how it works, and the WordPress widget to automatically post to Twitter (a bit crazy testing it with a domain the length of catchingtherain.com of course!).
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Imperial War Museum panorama
Another experimental panorama, this time at the Imperial War Museum. Most of the main attractions are set as highlights, but Microsoft Silverlight is very frustrating in that it doesn’t allow users to hover over something in the scene and find out more. In fact it’s not very good at displaying information at all – I’d have thought it would at least show captions from the titles and descriptions that you set!
Wait a little while and it should automatically go through the highlights, or just click on the thumbnails to the right (again, there must be something not quite right with a piece of software if you have to give people guidance on how to do the basics!)
I’d suggest opening full screen for maximum impact, or see the original on photosyth.net
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Streamcombe Farm, gourmet B&B, 370 megapixel panorama
We went down to visit our friends Karen & Ian over the Bank Holiday weekend. As we went to leave it was glorious weather imaginable and it was a wrench to get away, but I had to quickly pop up the hill and shoot an experimental panorama, which I’ve stitched and uploaded using Microsoft tools for the first time.
If you don’t have Microsoft Silverlight you’ll have to install it, but it’s easy (just click on the button) and I think it’s worth it!
You can see the full version here, or better still click on the full-screen button to the right of the [-] & [+]
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Cheery cherries at Kew
A test of the Android WordPress application and postings from my mobile. Neat!
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A Day At The (Horniman) Museum
I was recently prompted to pay a long overdue visit to the Horniman Museum, round in Forest Hill, south east London. So last Sunday morning Oliver and I set off for the day.
Wow, it had changed incredibly since my last visit, back in the days when I was working on plant uses in the Centre for Economic Botany at Kew (my first job at Kew). With brand new galleries, a new aquarium, and the temporary travelling exhibition Myths and Monsters (from the Natural History Museum team) it proved to be a great day out.
Myths and Monsters
Even the old natural history galleries, where one is rather fittingly invited to ‘step back in time’, provided some engaging displays; for examples skeletons of apes and early man, together with moulds of brain sizes, give a stark reminder of how we have evolved. Somehow these rather erudite displays seem suitably complemented by the over-stuffed walrus
which takes pride of place in the middle of the gallery.
At the Horniman the theme of culture is a constant one, and we found ourselves watching videos of brass shields being made in Benin, looking at mummies from Egypt, and gazing at the most amazing displays packed full of musical instruments of all shapes and sizes (with a nice little side room where you can try some out, though not the expensive guitars, much to Oliver’s disappointment!).
I shouldn’t forget the gardens. It was hardly the best time of the year to visit a garden, nor was the weather on our side, but it’s good to see that they have just got nearly a million pounds of Lottery money to carry out an extensive refurbishment, including rebuilding the bandstand (from where you get amazing views looking north over central London).
He’d hate me for saying this, but whether it was the stepping back in time, the change in surroundings, or simply a rare chance for us to spend one-on-one time together, Oliver was transformed from ’12 year old going on 18′ into the studious scholar, to the point where half the time he was telling me what things were!
Just goes to show the power of museums of all shapes and sizes, and you don’t get much wider a range of exhibit than the Horniman – well worth a visit, with a wide appeal to everyone.
Check out their website and their Facebook page
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Paris 26 Gigapixels – gigapixel image of Paris
I’m always wary of technology for technology’s sake, but not only is this a fantastic technical feat and a high quality image, it’s also delivered via a rather slick interface …
Gigapixel image of Paris from http://www.paris-26-gigapixels.com
Paris 26 Gigapixels – Interactive virtual tour of the most beautiful monuments of Paris.
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