Love to Lead Question 17 (Just for fun)

Ok so no prises for this question it's just for the fun of it, but why not?

Question - Is Global Warming a Media Myth?

My answer - Prophecy or Scare Mongering?

It’s always difficult these days trying to pick the fact from the fiction from the news. Sad to say even the BBC news waters down it’s facts so much it is hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. I’m sure if you asked them or any of the news papers they would tell you it is what their customers (we) want; that facts alone are boring. That may be true, certainly a hyped up story sells better than a cold report of facts alone but when it comes to really important stuff how do we actually know what to believe?

I get really annoyed when the press take it upon themselves to make up facts. A example of this was reported on the BBC1 lunchtime news only a couple of weeks ago. They showed us images of Hawthorn in flower. It was the middle of April and they were claiming this was a sign of global warming because the ‘nick name’ for this plant is the May Tree. This plant would probably been given this nick name over a thousand years ago when the temperatures in this country were certainly cooler than today. As kids my sister and I used to comment on what a silly name this plant had seeing as it nearly always seemed to flower in April! I’m sorry to say this was so long ago that no one had heard of global warming. OK so we do live in the South East where the climate is warmer but this was a really poor example and one that made me wonder how many other examples put up by the media were also rubbish.

The facts that I think we can take for granted are that our annual temperatures do appear to be getting warmer. Winter snow when I was a kid was something we could look forward to, now it is just a brief possibility. The south East of England has always been the driest part of the UK and yes we do seem to be having more ‘droughts’ but I think this is more due to the increase in demand for water here than the lack of rainfall.

One a global count I cannot say so I have to rely on what ‘experts’ tell me. It has been shown that as the Earth wobbles on its axis changes in global temperatures do occur causing ice ages and droughts every few thousand years and may be that is all this is. I think there might be something in that but I don’t think that is the entire story. As a species we do cause an increasingly large amount of pollution and I can’t see how we could expect to get away with that and think the world will just cope.

Unfortunately global warming is such an important subject we can’t afford to take chances. Get it wrong and ignore the warning signs and the damage we create for the future could be catastrophic with no way of putting it right. Act now to combat it and we could help prevent that. If it turns out later that the climate changed for natural reasons well, hey, nothing lost but in the mean time we learned to be less polluting.

Media hype in my opinion is undermining the campaign for us to clean up our act. There is a good work of fiction on this subject by Michael Crichton called ‘State of Fear’. Even though it is in itself total fiction it successfully highlights the need for us to separate fact from fiction in the media.

Thanks guys

Well I didn't win the lap top, infact, despite your support, I came last. Hey ho, I guess I'm just not that good at putting together an argument. Thanks to all of you who voted anyway it was a bit of fun.
The Love to Lead team have decided to continue posting questions for debate even though there are no prises to be won so I shall probably continue to get stuck in. I bet I win it now! This weeks question is about Global Warming. I've not composed my answer yet, might not get around to doing it until next week now as we are off for the bank holiday weekend, but I will answer the question. In the mean time why don't some of you have a go as well. The only stipulation is that you must have a blog site that has been up and running for 6 months to enter. Why? Don't ask me, it's just the rules.
Just click on the title of this blog post to go to the Love to Lead site.

11 Tips for Better Candid Photography

I came across the Digital Photography School's blog today and read this great article about taking candid photographs. If you like photography this article is really worth a read.

Happy Dog

Brac had another visit to the vets this morning. This time for his annual booster jabs. While he was there the vet took another look at his foot. She was so happy with the speed it appeared to be healing she gave me the all clear to take him out for GENTLE walks. Provided his foot was booted up of course. After my initial relief I suddenly started to feel paranoid. I live in North Kent where flints are everywhere and I am now worrying that he will go straight out and do it again. "Come on, this is silly." I say to myself but it's a nagging thought. I eventually settle for the most boring piece of playing field where the grass is well kept and very flat to take him for his first taste of freedom in nearly two weeks. Brac didn't seem to mind the lack of scenery and simply couldn't wait to take flight. His disappointment at the end of the walk when I told him to get back in the car though was palpable. I'm sure he thought he might have to wait another 2 weeks before the next one.

Love 2 Lead Question 16

The Question - Is Commercialism Destroying The Blogosphere?

My answer - You Can’t Stop Evolution

If commercialism is destroying the blogshere then it is only because there is a ready market for it. If bloggers really wanted to keep blogs personal and non commercial they would not include AdSense on their pages. OK so I know a lot of blogs don’t carry Google Ads but there are tons that do. Myself included.

As for whether the blogshere is being destroyed by it that depends on your point of view. I agree that overly commercial blogs are not worth bothering with so I just ignore them but if blogging is to survive it has to evolve. Blogging is evolving very fast, just as the internet did in the first place, and still is. That should be seen as a healthy sign. If it didn’t evolve it would destroy itself by becoming obsolete.

Ok, so maybe we could control it’s evolution in some way by banning commercialism? Yes, that might work but the most likely effect would be to simply slow its evolution down. That could even turn it into something that too few people want and so once again, destroy it. Evolution is most effective when it is not artificially tampered with.

If there is enough support for purely personal blogs it could be that the blogshere simply splits. Who knows, anything could happen. I actually find that quite exciting, don’t you?

So to sum up…Watch this space!

Adendum....this is the final question from the Love to Lead team and so my last chance to win a lap top. If you have found my responses interesting over the last few months please vote for me here at the Love to Lead site.

Brac - A Long Road but We're Heading in the Right Direction

Brac went for a check-up at the vets this morning to make sure his paw was healing properly and the infection was in check. Unlike most dogs, Brac loves the vets. He want to make friends with every vet and nurse and if possible, lick their ears out. Smart dog, he knows who he needs to keep on his side. Just as you and I should never seek to make a enemy of our dentist Brac knows to keep in with the veterinary staff.

He got a big thumbs up from the vet and I was told it was healing better than expected. Great, I'm thinking, another few days and we can start going for walks again. Wrong. Despite it's progress we will still need to wait between 2-3 weeks before I can take him for a walk. Poor dog, he lives to run and have fun, and he having to be turned into a couch potato. I must say though, he has been extremely good about it. I thought he would have been climbing the walls with frustration by now but instead he is turning into a complete sook, lapping up as much pampering as he can get.

PS. Little tip for anyone else dealing with a foot wound on a dog. Cotton baby mittens make excellent dressings, once the wound has stopped bleeding, held in place around the cuff with a small amount of cohesive bandage. They keep the wound clean while still allowing the air to circulate. As they are cotton you can boil wash then in a saucepan. Primark sell packets of 4 mittens for 50p. Of course, if your dog goes outside you will need a waterproof covering so I use a Mikki boot which is a specially made dog boot but you could probably improvise on this too.

Safe Haven for Donkeys

In this country donkeys generally have it lucky. OK there are always some sad cases to be found but by and large they lead a cushy life...that is, at least when you compare them to many donkeys living in countries such as Israel. I won't go into too much detail here because the web site says it all and I would urge you to click on the link above or the image to visit it. I warn you, you won't want to believe the stories.
There is a positive side to all this, a lady called Lucy Fensom has set up a charity to rescue and look after some of these animals but she needs our support. The web site lists a variety of ways in which anyone can help and it's not just about cash.
Take a look at the web site and meet some of the donkeys...they would certainly love to meet you.

Brac Update

Well today is the day of the Newham show and as expected 'hope-along' and I are at home.
I mentioned he was being really good at not chewing his bandage. Well he is but this is a border collie we are talking about here and no body ever told him he couldn't lick it! Thursday I gave him that hide chew he has in his mouth in the photo thinking it would help prevent him getting bored. Small hide chews he eats no problem but big ones are worth hanging on to so he wouldn't eat it, just kept walking around the house with it in his mouth. Not quite what I was hoping for. Yesterday he lays down with it on the front door mat. I put some honey on it to start him licking it with a hope that he will then start to chew it and sure enough he gets really into the honey. Satisfied I go to my study to do some work. The licking noises continue and I feel pleased with myself for my small success. 2 hours later I go to get a cup of coffee. He is dosing on the mat not doing anything. I leave him be. Lunchtime arrives, he follows me into the lounge, I don't notice anything different. After lunch I go to bathe and redress his foot only to discover his bandage is soaking. I look at the chew, it's untouched. He had been laying there licking his foot and spent all morning in a sodden bandage which was otherwise undisturbed. On inspection of the cut I notice the beginnings of some puss showing. Signs of infection. Hey Ho...off to the vets, where I am told that a few hours in a sodden bandage would indeed have been enough to allow unwanted bacteria to take hold. He's now on antibiotics and under strict instructions not to so much as sniff his foot. He has now started eating his chew instead.

Love 2 Lead Question 15

Question - Should Gay Couples Be Allowed To Adopt?

My answer - The needs of the child outweigh the rights of the potential parents.

Let’s get this clear from the outset. I’m not a homophobe although I’m sure there will be people who will disagree. Once again, I have to speak as I feel which will no doubt ruffle a few feathers. I’m not out to upset anyone but the question has been asked.

I do not think it is right for gay couple to adopt. There, I’ve said it. Now for my reasons.

Initially it won’t make any difference to the child but how will things be for them once they start school? Chances are once the other kids understands about their parents they will use it as an excuse to pick on them. Kids can be cruel and anything that makes one kid especially different from the rest is likely to be a trigger for teasing or worse.

I never fitted in at school because my parents thought that pop music was bad for us kids so we were fed a diet of classical music. Nothing wrong with the classics but it meant I couldn’t join in with the conversations my piers were having and so I became branded as being different. That led to teasing and later relatively mild bullying.

If something so minor can prevent a child fitting in how much more would having gay parents cause problems? I accept that this, with time and it becoming more common, would eventually be less of an issue but why should any kid be placed in that position? Do we really want our children to play the martyr now so that future kids will accept gay parents as normal? We must remember that the babies placed with gay couple won’t have had any say in the matter.

My other reason is more old fashioned. All primates, including humans, learn their parenting skills from their parents. In a similar way we also learn our family and relationship skills from our parents too. If we agree that you are either born heterosexual or homosexual how will this effect the child’s understanding of how to make a relationship work if the child is heterosexual?

You could argue that the same applies to heterosexual couples who go through a divorce when the kids are small or that have a violent relationship. Children do go on to repeat the lives of their parents in a high number of cases. Some situations, such as a break-up of a marriage, cannot always be avoided but when a situation can be avoided I think we owe it to the children to do just that. For this reason it’s not just gay couple who I feel should not adopt but single people as well. The adoptive family should be as near normal as it is reasonable to expect even though, I accept, there is no guarantee it will stay that way.

I do understand that some gay couples desire children just as much as non gay couples but the needs of the children do need to be put first even though this may be a very hard thing to do.

Bad News for Brac

For most, the obedience season is well under way and Brac and I are entered in our first show of the season at Newham this Saturday. His training over the winter months has really come on and he is as enthusiastic as ever. Everything was looking good for this weekend until yesterday. I took him for a walk as usual and just as we were on our return home he cut his paw on a flint.
The cut was right on his main pad on a back leg and about 1.5cm long. It bled quite a bit but at the time he was not particularly bothered by it and quite happy to finish the walk home without the slightest limp. Having cleaned and dressed it he then decided he was only going to walk on 3 legs as if I had amputated his back leg at the hock! This morning I changed the dressing and the cut has stopped bleeding but was weeping a little. I think it is unlikely to heal sufficiently for the show and it will certainly be a few weeks before I can allow him to continue with his agility training that he loves. Still, he's a good patient, he's quite happy for me to treat his foot and he doesn't chew his bandage so I don't have to make him wear a lampshade!

Our next show isn't until the 12th May so he's got plenty of time to recover...fingers crossed!

The Sun No Longer Shines For BlueSoleil

Being a Nokia phone owner I have come to rely on being able to synchronise my phone with my PC as an easy way of keeping my contacts and calendar up-to-date. When I got my first bluetooth phone this job was made even easier once I purchased and installed a bluetooth adapter or dongle on my PC. The dongle came with BlueSoleil software which I installed (I didn't know it at the time but with Windows xp I didn't require this driver as it has it's own but hey, hindsight is great). All worked well and every so often the Bluesoleil software would prompt me that there was a newer driver that I should upgrade to. Nothing strange about that and the upgrades were easy enough until last week. Once again I had a prompt when I turned on my PC that there was a newer version of the Bluesoliel driver available that I should download. I did. So far nothing different from before until I go to run the software. I get a pop-up window that tells me that the licence cannot be verified so the software will only run in evaluation mode with a limit of 5mb of data transfer. Initially I ignore it thinking it will go away next time I start my PC. It didn't and the pop-up returns each time I log on. I hate anything not working properly on my PC and I especially hate unhelpful pop-ups. I go to the web site which initially appears to be accusing me of using a counterfeit dongle. Digging further reveals my dongle insn't counterfeit (I knew that) so I send the company an e-mail asking what the problem is. The reply in a nutshell was that this upgrade isn't free but has to be purchased! There was nothing to warn me of this when I upgraded. I was then told that I could simply go back to the old version if I didn't want to pay £14 to upgrade so that's what I did. The result...everytime I logged on I got prompted to upgrade! There was no obvious way to stop this pop-up. As I said, I hate unhelpful pop-ups. This is my PC and I want to be in control of it. So enough was enough. I have now removed Bluesoleil completely and have re-installed the dongle using the Windows driver which works fine. No pop-ups and no fees! "BluSoleil...you may have been considered to have had the best bluetooth software but you've shot yourself in the foot on this one as I'm sure I won't be alone."

Full of the Joys of Spring

Isn't this just a fantastic time of year? I love the spring. Everything seems so fresh. I get up in the mornings and look out on my garden that seems to change daily as the plants push into new life. My cherry trees are in full bloom and the wisteria will soon follow. Birds are singing and sorting out territories. I even have a pair of collared doves nesting in one of my trees right opposite my bedroom window. I hope they stay but they are facing quite a bit of hassle from a pair of magpies who originally were nesting in the neighbouring tree but were chased of by the collared doves!

Blue tits, starlings and sparrows are also nesting in my garden and I am waiting to see if the blackbirds return to a bush they nested in last year. Like the doves, the starlings nest site is also under contention. Not from magpies but squirrels who occupied the nest box over the winter and have been reluctant to give it up. Starlings are quite tenacious though and are quick to move in once the squirrels leave to forage. Arguments between them are common but my money is on the starlings.

I'll let you know who wins.

Original Photographic Art & Photography by Sally Jane

Looking for something to brighten up a wall? Something that is a little different from the normal run of the mill prints you find in high street shops but that won't cost the earth? Visit my web site at www.sally-jane.com and see my photographic art gallery. All prints are signed by me, the artist and sent out mounted and ready to frame. The gallery subjects include landscapes, flowers, architecture and animals. There is also a monochrome gallery for black and white or sepia images. Prices vary depending on size but start from as little as £18 plus postage and packing. Mount sizes are cut to fit standard size frames but special sizes can be catered for if required.

Love to Lead Question 14

Question - Does The World Need Disease To Control Overpopulation?

My answer - Well if it does it’s not working.

Disease and predation are the two factors that normally prevent a species becoming over populated. If they fail then there is a third and final control point…starvation. Humans are not predated on and medical advances are getting ever better at preventing premature deaths. The result is that we have over populated the world. So does this mean we will eventually starve?

I was once quoted by one of my uni lecturers that there are more people alive today than have ever lived! By that he meant that if you add up all the people on this planet who have ever lived but now deceased they would not outnumber those that are currently living. When you think about this it is really quite frightening. The lecture was on environmental sustainability. China got tough with its people by restricting couples to just one baby. This seems harsh to the West but even with this system having been in place many decades now their population is still growing.

Bird flu threatened to become a global pandemic and it would not be unreasonable to expect we were due for something like that but the risk of this appears (touch wood) to have subsided. In the past plague has hit the human population hard but it has not been seen for hundreds of years. Strangely enough Scientists still do not know what the plague was or why it hasn’t been seen in modern times so perhaps that will remain a mystery.

I think the question is a little behind the times. The world is overpopulated as disease has largely lost its grip on us. Any pandemic that kills enough humans to restore the balance would knock out so much of our infrastructure that the world economy would crash. Many otherwise healthy people would then probably starve anyway because food supplies would suffer. The great plague of 17thC killed a 1/3 of the population of the UK, that’s 20million by today’s standards. Now imagine that occurring across the entire world.

We all want to live, and we are doing that very well. Those who are able want to have children and we consider it our right. We all know the world is over populated but which one of us will volunteer to do anything about it? Disease is unlikely to provide the answer and we wouldn’t want it to. There are no acceptable answers. Perhaps the Chinese have come closest to the right idea after all.

Give a Pet a Home

RescueDB.com is a web site were there are details of hundreds of abandoned animals that need a new home. Don't think it's just dogs either. They have everything from Gerbils to Horses. RescueDB.com is a voluntary run web site that advertises the plight of these animals on behalf of other rescue organisations all over the country. If you know of an animals that needs a new home or you know of someone looking to give a home to a pet this is the web site for them.

The web site also has a auction page where you can bid for pet related paraphernalia. All proceeds go to help run the charity.
Go on...give it a look...you might find the friend of a lifetime.

Love 2 Lead question 12

Question - "Is Art More Valuable than Science?"

My answer - "I never considered them to be mutually exclusive."

Science is with us whether we embrace it or not. It is everything.

Art is man made. It’s a figment of our imaginations; a form of expression that probably predates language.

Art is not dependant on science nor science on art but they manage to live side by side without conflict and can even compliment each other. Fractals are a good example of science and art.

I am an artist but I am fascinated by science. I mainly use Photoshop as my medium. If it had not been for some very clever scientists developing the computer software like that would not exist.

I have to say I fail to see the point of the question. To me it is a bit like asking what’s better, a potato or the colour green?

A Little Canine Humour

This was sent to me as an e-mail from a friend. I liked it so I thought I would share it with you all.

A newly discovered chapter in the Book of Genesis has provided the answer to "Where do pets come from?".

Adam and Eve said, "Lord, when we were in the garden, you walked with us every day. Now we do not see you anymore. We are lonesome here and it is difficult for us to remember how much you love us."

And God said, "No problem! I will create a companion for you that will be with you forever and who will be a reflection of my love for you, so that you will love me even when you cannot see me.

Regardless of how selfish or childish or unlovable you may be, this new companion will accept you as you are and will love you as I do, in spite of yourselves."

And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam and Eve.
And it was a good animal.

And God was pleased.

And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam and Eve, and he wagged his tail.

And Adam said, "Lord, I have already named all the animals in the Kingdom and I cannot think of a name for this new animal.

And God said, "No problem. Because I have created this new animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be a reflection of my own name, and you will call him DOG."

And Dog lived with Adam and Eve and was a companion to them and loved them. And they were comforted.

And God was pleased.

And Dog was content and wagged his tail.

After a while, it came to pass that an angel came to the Lord and said, "Lord, Adam and Eve have become filled with pride. They strut and preen like peacocks and they believe they are worthy of adoration. Dog has indeed taught them that they are loved, but perhaps too well."

And God said, "No problem! I will create for them a companion who will be with them forever and who will see them as they are. The companion will remind them of their limitations, so they will know that they are not always worthy of adoration."

And God created CAT to be a companion to Adam and Eve.

And Cat would not obey them.

And when Adam and Eve gazed into Cat's eyes, they were reminded that they were not the supreme beings.

And Adam and Eve learned humility. And they were greatly improved.

And God was pleased.

And Dog was happy.

And Cat didn't give a shit one way or the other.

Dangerous Dogs or Dangerous Owners?

I have just watched the Tonight program on ITV which was all about the failings of the dangerous dogs act and the recent amnesty in Merseyside. Typically enough, this program, like all the others I have seen on the subject, has completely missed the point. No one ever seems to ask the question "Why are these dogs the way they are?" Instead there is this big label placed on the breed or breed type as if it was something genetic. Well it's not. The dogs that have attacked people did so because they had been brought up and trained by either violent or incompetent owners. Until the law focuses on the owners and not the dog breed it will always be a shambles. I have known several pit bull type dogs that have been totally loving and gentle. They are not my preferred breed but I have nothing against them. The problem is a large proportion of them are owned by people who either want a dog to boost their macho image or want one specifically for dog fighting. What hope have the dogs got?

Dogs only know what we teach them. Placing the blame on the dogs is a cop out when it is the owners or trainers who must take all the blame. These people should be banned from ever owning a dog again.

I felt really sorry for the families in the program who had their innocent dogs removed from them on the suspicion of them being pit bull type breeds. OK so they got them back after a lengthy court case because they were able to prove they were well trained and safe but the law dictated that these dogs had to remain muzzled and on leads when ever they were in public. How ridiculous is that? Some perfectly safe dogs are now to be treated like they're insane. One of these dogs was an American Bulldog, looks like a boxer but the size of a mastiff. Such a dog would require loads of exercise which it simply can't get on a lead. Keeping a dog well exercised is one way of reducing its stress. The other problem with keeping dogs on leads is that dogs are more likely to attack if they are on a lead than if they are free. This is because when a dog is on a lead it feels trapped so if something happens that unnerves it instead of being able to get out of the way and avoid confrontation it is forced to defend itself.
I know, without a doubt, that I could raise a pit bull type dog from a puppy in such a way that it would be as trustworthy and friendly as any other dog.
The dangerous dogs act was written by people who clearly didn't understand dogs and were too frightened to lay the blame where it deserved to be...at the feet of the owners.

Love 2 Lead Question 11

Question - Is Immigration Destroying National Identity?

My answer - What National Identity? I think we’ve destroyed that for ourselves.

It seems to me that being British is simply not PC. These days it seems we have to be European to be good citizens. But even that isn’t enough. We are now being encouraged to be culturally neutral so as not to offend anyone.

Immigrants are bearing the blame for this but it is really their fault? Are they the ones clamouring for us to change or are we just so scared of upsetting them that we are forcing the changes on ourselves. Let’s face it, the immigrants came here because they wanted to be here. Doesn’t that suggest that most of them liked the place as it is, warts and all? OK, so we do hear about a minority of immigrants that try to upset the status quo but I’m not sure this is reflective of the majority of them.

England has been invaded but immigrants since man first managed to float a boat. It is what has made us who we are so why should we suddenly start worrying about it now? What I believe upsets our population more than the immigrants is having policy makers forcing us to change our ways in order to fit in with our new neighbours. There is so much emphasis these days on keeping tags on everybody’s ethnic background so ensure that no one group is being discriminated against. Schools are discouraged from holding religious assemblies unless they are multi faith. Children are being prevented from wearing any religious symbols in school. Police forces have to discriminate against white European applicants in order to encourage more applicants from ethnic backgrounds. This is all crazy and does not help integration, quite the contrary, it gives us something to rebel against.

Although I don’t think we should fear genuine immigrants I do think we need to deal with illegal immigration swiftly and more effectively. Once a decision has been made to deport this should be done without hesitation. Those that are granted entry into the country should then be welcomed into the welfare system and helped to find employment. Once our immigration policy is seen by the world to be fair and decisive there would be fewer false applicants as we would cease to be seen as the soft target we currently are.

Embracing multiculturalism has made this country strong in the past but enforcing multiculturalism with tear it apart in the future.

Love 2 Lead Question 10

Question - Will Copyright Pirates Kill Television?

My Answer - Wound it yes, kill it no.

There is no two ways about it, copyright theft is a crime just like shop lifting. It’s no good trying to justify it by saying they can afford it or it’s just a drop in the ocean. Theft is theft. If we engage in any kind of copyright theft we have to admit to ourselves that we are criminals. Small time maybe but still guilty of a crime. The only difference is we haven’t been caught …YET. It happens because it is all too easy, like taking biros from work. But that doesn’t make it right.

Will it bring down the industry? No, I can’t see that. Losses from pirating may seem significant on paper taken in isolation but when they are measured against overall profits it’s not generally a problem provided the industry in healthy. If the industry is already ailing then pirating can certainly add to the coffin nails. Let’s face it, most people are going to want to watch the genuine article on their wide screen TV, not some hacked off copy on a tiny portion of their PC screen.

Once again I know this won't be a popular answer but I have to tell it as I see it and not simply try pandering for votes.

Pet Portrait Gift Vouchers

I am now producing gift vouchers as part of my pet portrait range. These make ideal presents especially when things have been left to the last minute. The gift vouchers can be for any amount and will be valid for 12 months from date of issue. Each gift voucher will be presented in one of the many cards available on the web site. Please specify which card you would like when ordering. For further information visit the web site at www.sally-jane.com or contact me direct on 07956 448690.

Love 2 Lead question 9

Question - Is Euthanasia Fundamental To A Civilised Society?
My answer - Civilisation?..no – Humanity?..probably yes

Basically the question needs re-phrasing. As it is, the answer has to be NO. Humans have been living in civilised societies for thousands of years generally without practicing euthanasia. So unless we are now going to reclassify the term ‘civilisation’ euthanasia isn’t and has never been fundamental to it.

However, if the question was “Is Euthanasia Fundamental To Humanity” I would have a different answer.

If a pet is terminally ill and suffering from its illness most owners would have it put to sleep. It is considered the ‘humane’ thing to do. We take the word humane from ‘human’ and yet we do not apply it to humans. If a human is terminally ill and suffering greatly they have to endure their plight until they eventually die. Can this really be right?

I think the main reason that euthanasia against the law in this country and many others has its roots in religion. It is against our Christian beliefs either to take our own lives or the life of another. Common law was based on the commandments and until about the 1960’s it was illegal to attempt to commit suicide in this country. Things are changing slowly and terminally ill people are often allowed to die in certain circumstances but this still isn’t euthanasia and still allows extended suffering.

In some cases I believe people should be allowed to be euthanized. Were a terminal illness or condition is causing so much suffering the person has no will to go on living they should have the right to choose. However, I feel strongly that no person, whether doctor, nurse or other carer, should be forced to administer any lethal treatment to that person if it is against their beliefs. Any such decision should also be authorised by an independent judge to avoid playing into the hands of people like Harold Shipman.

I have watched 2 close members of my family die from cancer. The last couple of weeks of their suffering is imprinted on me. I cannot say if they would have chosen euthanasia if it had been offered, I can only guess but I can say that what I witness was not humane.

Obedience Season Begins

Well it's March and the Dog Obedience Season is once more approaching. Cruft starts next week and I have many friends competing. I wish them all luck, their dogs are certainly working well.
As for me, I have a stack of entry forms to sort out and send off. Brac has worked well in training over the winter, I just hope we can hold it together in the ring.
I plan to be more organised this year both in terms of getting my entries sent off in time and remembering to turn up at the stay rings in time. Having said that, I'm sure the year won't be completely free of mistakes on my part. I am only too well aware that if Brac had a better handler he would be a Crufts contender himself. Still, it's a learning process and great fun for him and me so we will just have to keep trying.
Good luck to my friends at Crufts, I'll be gunning for you.

Blog to Lead: Hurrah!!

Blog to Lead: Hurrah!!

Love 2 Lead Question 8

"Can Money Buy Happiness?"

It depends what you mean by Money and how much. It also depends on which side of the fence one is viewing it from so I know there will be people who will argue fiercely against my views. I accept this and they may be right.

When I initially thought about this question I was going to post any answer in the ‘No’ camp but having studied my argument and looked again at the exact wording of the question I had to switch sides. You will see why. The article below is as I wrote it, I just inserted this paragraph afterwards. Remember as you read it I was trying to prove a ‘No’ answer.

Money is just a possession that has no value in itself. It has to be converted into something useful. Money to someone stranded on a dessert island would be completely useless.

There are two types of possessions. Necessities such as food, shelter and clothing; and luxuries anything else that is not either essential to survival or necessary to help us obtain the necessities. I.e. a car is not a necessity as we cannot eat it (although I guess you could use it for shelter) but it may be necessary to have for providing transport to work so we can afford the necessities. In this example it would not be a luxury but a second car probably would.

Happiness depends on us having the necessities in sufficient quantities to keep us healthy plus also having love and companionship of friends and family and sufficient rest. If money provides these things then you could argue that money has bought happiness but not all culture use money.

Having a large excess of money after providing for the necessities will not provide a large excess of happiness. It seems to me there are plenty of miserable rich people in the world. I would guess the percentage of miserable rich to the percentage of miserable people (above the subsistence level) generally is about the same. It’s only when people cannot provide for themselves or their loved ones that the levels of misery really increase and this is normally due to either drought or war, not a lack of money although these people are often poor.

But…can giving money away not bring happiness?

Many people gain a feeling of happiness by giving money to needy charities such as Oxfam or directly to people they know are in need. Doing this certainly gives me a warm feeling of happiness until I then realise that there are thousands of needy causes and should I not give to them all? I can’t afford to give to them all so then I start to feel despondent again. The more I have to give the more inadequate I feel about my ability to give. Shindler never felt truly happy about his ability to save Jews in the war because he always knew there were more that needed his help. His own selflessness caused his unease. I am not trying to place myself with such a great man but if he didn't gain happiness through his amazing acts of charity then I have no hope by donating a few pounds here and there.

OK so what about the recipients, are they not receiving happiness?

Certainly to a degree, but why were they in that position in the first place. Giving money frequently only treats the symptoms and does not provide a cure. Of course, if it is to get someone out of debt it can be the cure provided they are then able to stay out of debt. If on the other hand it is money given to help feed victims of famine then it only treats the symptoms and unless the money is used to find a sustainable source of food there can be no real happiness only starvation or constant need.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying giving money to charity is a waste, it’s just not always the solution to unhappiness.

Some forms of unhappiness can only be eased by companionship and no amount of money will help. Loneliness or grieving for the loss of a loved one for example. Depression caused by a loss of self worth can effect both rich and poor equally. There are many such examples but you get the idea.

I guess the answer to the original question is not so easy to define. I have already shown there are instances in which it can provide happiness to a degree so the answer has to be ‘Yes’, but I don’t think it is necessary for happiness and it certainly can’t guarantee it.

PS My response to the previous question (7) earned me a 3rd place so I'm well chuffed.

Blog to Lead: Blogging Hoodies...

Blog to Lead: Blogging Hoodies...

Love 2 Lead question 7

Question - “Is hate a stronger emotion than love?”

My Answer - I would like to say “No” but…really I have to say “Yes”.

Let’s face it. If love was the stronger emotion there would not be so much war and genocide in the world.

• Genuine love does not cause us to blow peoples brains out, drop bombs on them or fire bomb villages.

• Hate can transcend generations even centuries but love dies with us.

• Humans can hate people they have never seen so much they would kill or be killed for it. Few people have ever been credited with being capable of loving anyone they have never seen enough to die for.

I do, however, believe there are more people in the world motivated by love than there are people motivated by hate, thankfully. I also believe this is the only reason we haven’t completely destroyed ourselves…as yet. But, as the world population continues to rise and the worlds resources continue to deplete, I’m sure it is only a matter of time before hatred strikes one final blow.

Happy Birthday to Us, Happy Birthday to Us!

It's my birthday today so I am determined to have a great day. But, it's not just my birthday. I share it with my husband except he was born a couple of years before me. It's quite neat really as it means we can never forget each others birthday. Added to that, our dogs birthday was yesterday.
All total trivia, I know, but I thought I would share it anyway :-)

Love to Lead Question 6

Question - "Are Computer Games a Waste of Time?"
My Answer - "Yes...most of the time...but they can still be fun."

OK they do have some useful aspects as well but most of us play computer games purely for entertainment and then wonder where all the time went.

“So what are the benefits?”

• They help stimulate the brain and improve reaction times. All computer games work on some sort of response versus reaction to some degree. The computer provides you, the player, with a stimulus to which you, the player, respond. The speed and accuracy of your response is then measured by your relative success in the game. When we start a new game our initial success with it will be limited but as we play we generally improve. Thus showing that our speed and accuracy is improving to the given stimuli.
• Computer games can also help with hand/eye coordination. Controlling a mouse or joy stick accurately takes practice. However, it could be argued that this form of hand/eye coordination is only useful for playing games. Maybe but it probably does help people who need to use a joystick in their work. Many surgeons, for example, these days use a joystick type control during keyhole surgery.
• PC games can help relieve boredom for people who are immobile for whatever reason.
• Some PC games include an educational element mainly for children to help them learn to spell or add up etc.
• Flight Simulator apparently can account for a small amount of your flight training time if you are studying for a private pilots licence in the States. Personally being both a private pilot and past user of Flight Sim I really can’t see the benefit. I always crash in Flight Sim. Some of the instrumentation is quite good as a training aid but there are far better computer based instrument training aids on the market that are not games.

“So, with all this long list of reasons upholding the usefulness of computer games why do I still believe they are a waste of time?”

Because 99% of computer games are played either purely to pass time or because the players are so addicted to playing them they would rather do that than do anything useful. I’ve been there, hooked on playing Doom. I know what it’s like and how quickly it eats up not just your spare time but the time you really should be spending on important stuff.

You could argue that playing a computer game is no more a waste of time than reading a novel. To some extent that is true but the difference is a novel has an end whereas computer games can go on indefinitely particularly if you keep re-playing them to try and improve on a previous score.

Am I a humbug? Probably but I will still admit such games are often fun and can give you quite an adrenalin rush at times.

Google Toolbar Notifier

Up until recently I have totally trusted the Google brand but the bubble is at risk of bursting. The last toolbar update brought with it a spurious little program called GoogleToolbarNotifier.exe. It came with no explanation and the only reason I knew it was there was because it would keep asking to be allowed to accept a connection from the internet. I run Zone Alarm and only allow programs I fully trust or understand to have internet access and hardly any are allowed server rights. As I didn't know what it was for I kept denying it access but it would regularly ask every morning when I turned the PC on and again in the evenings around 7pm ish. Seemed very suspicious so I researched it on the internet and found a few interesting sites that suggest this program works in the background when you run Internet Explorer preventing other search engines setting themselves as your default. Apparently you can opt to turn this feature off but it doesn't fully stop this program working. I think this is a bit of a cheek by Google however, I don't run IE, I use Firefox, a much better program and I have two search engines set up as tabs one is Google and one Windows Live, although Google has always been my preferred search engine. Both work fine but Google toolbar Notifier still seems to want to talk to 'big brother'. I have now blocked it for any internet access in Zone Alarm so end of story but it has dented my faith in Google.
See related links for more info.
http://quarterbacks.org/GoogleToolbarNotifier/GoogleToolbarNotifier.asp
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2006/07/google-is-your-default-search.html
http://blog.outer-court.com/forum/72159.html
http://www.webmasterworld.com/google_toolbar_tools/3079923.htm
There are many more.

Where's the music gone?

I thought it was time to remove the music from the front page in case some people found it annoying. Don't worry though, it's not gone completely. If you want to listen to it again click on my archive for March 2005.

Lynx Viewer

This is a very useful web site if you build your own web pages. It allows you to see your pages the way search bots see it. All you do is type your url into the search field and it displays your page as it would be seen by the robots. Anything that is not visible to you is not seen by them. Load up your home page and then see how easy it is to navigate round your site. If you can't easily get from one page to the next and back again because your links are hidden in images then neither can the search bots. This system easily shows up problems that might otherwise get overlooked. You do have to prove you own the site before it will work but that is simply a matter of creating a blank page with a given heading and uploading it. It's totally free and recommended by Google. Just click on the logo or this blog title.

Monochrome Photography

In these days of quick digital photography it is easy to forget about what happens after you press the shutter release. For many, the images are simply stored and viewed occasionally. Some people go to the trouble of straightening their images and removing red eye but that frequently tends to be the end of it. For me, the click of the shutter is just the beginning. Playing around with my images once I get them on my PC is where the fun kicks in.

You might think it strange in a world where colour is taken very much for granted that anyone would want to remove it but monochrome photography still has a very significant place among any photographers skills. Have you ever had one of those photographs that are well composed and sharply focused but for some reason simply don't work? Chances are it's the colour in the image that is distracting. Try removing it and see how it works then. Colour doesn't always add interest to an image, sometimes it can simply clutter it up.
The image I have shown here was created with a timed exposure and a moving torch to produce the light trails. I then played around with it in Photoshop removing the colour and adding a gradient map which partly inverted the brightest values in the image. It was a bit of fun. If you would like to see more of my images just click on this image to go to my monochrome gallery.

It's official - Dogs are good for you

According to a report on the BBC Dogs are good for our health. Pet ownership in general is apparently beneficial to our health as they help reduce stress, heart rate and blood pressure, but dogs are particularly good probably because owning them involves taking them for walks. Perhaps now dogs will become available on the NHS :-)
Owning any kind of pet is also good for children according to a related report on the BBC. Children who have been exposed to pets at a young age are less likely to develop allergies and Asthma. I firmly believe in pet ownership for children, it teaches them not just about animals and how to care for them but gives them a sense of compassion and responsibility. OK, so most parents end up with the lion share of the looking after but I still think it's worth the effort.

No Hope For Rusty

Despite being convicted of failing to care for their Labrador 'Rusty' by allowing him to get so overweight he could hardly walk, the Benton brothers were still allowed to keep him. In an interview after the court case they were claiming that they had not done anything wrong. Anyone with half a brain could clearly see they had been neglectful to allow the dog to reach this state. If they cannot see why they have been found guilty how can they learn from this sufficiently to be able to give Rusty the care he needs? Clearly they won't and the dog will continue to gain weight until he dies. They admitted he had hip dysplasia leading to arthritis and used this as an excuse for him not being able to walk. Surely this makes controlling Rusty's weight even more crucial? The brothers were also reported as saying in the Times that they could not get rusty to stick to a diet! Well that really says it all. After all, who is supposed to be in charge? I'm sure Rusty doesn't prepare his own meals and certainly does not look agile enough to raid the fridge!
There are no excuses here and I personally believe that as these two men cannot accept they have done anything wrong they should be banned from keeping any more animals, ever.

For further info go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/6256349.stm and watch the inverview!

Crazy Clothes Sizes

Over the last few years something very odd and very annoying has been happening to clothes sizes. My weight and shape has not changed in 20 years but 20 years ago my 25" waist required a size 10 skirt (UK size). I even still have a some size 10 skirts bought all those years ago that still fit me perfectly, one of which was from Marks & Spencer. Size 10 skirts were easy to get hold of and so buying clothes was never a problem and generally an enjoyable experience. Times have changed and now it appears that I have to buy a size 6 to get a skirt that is the same size as an old size 10. Size 6 skirts are as rare as hens teeth and usually only part of a petite collection for women under 5'3". I am nearly 5'5". Shopping for clothes is now a thoroughly depressing experience as I can never get the clothes I like in the size I require.
Marks & Spencer do a size 6 in their short (petite) range but I searched the whole of the Bluewater store and only found one skirt of that size in the shop. This is one of their main branches. Marks & Spencer on-line say that a 25" waist is a size 8 but they obviously haven't measured them.
Next do a size 6 in their petite range and had quite a few skirts of this size in their Bluewater branch however, their size 6 skirts were still too big! Come on guy's, I'm not a freak! I am the correct weight for my height according to medical guidelines. I feel like I am being penalised for NOT being overweight.
The worst offenders so far are Rohan. Their size 8 skirts have a 30" waist although they are supposed to be 24" according to their size chart. Their comment to this when I complained was to say they like their clothes to have a 'comfortable fit'. I don't know about you, but I find clothes decidedly uncomfortable if you have to have loads of waist band gathered up under a belt. Rohan do not cater for any smaller sizes.

Dangerous Dogs?

The sad news about the 5 yr old girl that was killed by a pit bull terrier a few days ago was really tragic. I can't begin to imagin the grief that family must be going through. Tragedy aside though, I get really annoyed at all the media hype about amending the Dangerous Dogs Act. The act was a shambles in the first place particularly as there is no such recognised breed as Pit Bull Terrier. It is a mongrel breed and so difficult to legislate against. In any case, the 'Pit Bull' is not the one to blame here. I have known many well mannered so called 'Pit Bulls' owned by sensible dog minded, owners. All dogs have the potential to inflict harm on humans and the larger and stronger the dog the more serious that harm might be. What stops them is the way they are handled and trained. OK so some breeds may have a more aggressive tendency but that just means they need to be owned by the right people. Unfortunately the kind of people that own 'Pit Bull' often are the kind that shouldn't own a dog at all. Anyone who trains a dog for fighting or badger baiting, as some pit bull owners do, should be banned for life from ever owning another animal of any description. The owner of the dog in question had already been warned about his animals behaviour but clearly failed to deal with it. He apparently has been arrested now, lets hope he is prosecuted. In my opinion if having trained a dog to fight and it then goes on to kill someone you should be prosecuted for man slaughter.

So that was 2006?

It seems to have gone in the blink of an eye but I guess we all say that as we get older. What matters is what we manage to achieve. Strangely enough I ended up achieving things I hadn't thought of but those I planned fell by the way-side. I intended to do more gliding this year but all I did apart from a few local flights was one cross country where I landed out in a sheep field.
Brac and I won a hole bunch of rosettes in Obedience but only one first place when I was aiming for 3. Still, not bad but we're going to have to work on that next year. I did however compete at Crufts, something I shall certainly remember.
I started a new career as a Pet Portraitist, not something I had given any consideration to in advance, but something that really seems to be taking off.
I also discovered and got in touch with some relatives I didn't know I had thanks to my genealogy research.
I don't go in for making resolutions at New Year but I do think it is good to set goals. My goals for next year will certainly include building up my Pet Portrait business and qualifying out of Beginners at Obedience but if I am going to be able to sit here this time next year and look back on my achievements with satisfaction I need not just to set the goals but to define a strategy and that is often my weak point.

Taking Better Pet Photographs

Taking pictures of our pets is almost as popular as photographing family members. For many of us, our pets are a part of our family so maybe that's not so surprising. Chances are you have loads of photos of you pets but how many of them are good enough to frame? Do any of them really show your pet at his or her best? Most photographs of animals fail for a few simple reasons. If you would like to be able to take better pet photographs then visit my web site where I am publishing a series of free fact sheets. I will be explaining how you can take really good pet photographs without any specialised equipment (save a camera) and have something you can put in a frame. The first two fact sheets are available now and further fact sheets will be added over the next few weeks so keep checking back. If there is anything you would particularly like covered or need explained in more detail leave me a note here or send me an e-mail from my web site.

Last Minute Presents

I've been a bit quiet on the blog side recently but that is because I have been kept busy with a last minute rush for Pet Portraits as Christmas presents. Not that I'm complaining, it's great to be able to do this. It gives me a real buzz creating something that other people will cherish and hang on their wall. I get to meet like minded people - animal lovers - and some really great pets like this little Cairn Terrier. She was a real character who was not too impressed with being photographed and I don't blame her as it was a dismal day and blowing a gale. Despite this she came up trumps when she stared right into the lens as if to size me up just before legging it!

Customised Pet Greetings Cards

When ever I create a pet portrait I always create a greetings card to go with it. A sample card is given free with the portrait and further card can be ordered at any time. Most of these cards are also available for general sale. These cards can be printed with any message inside or simply left blank. Each card looks like a watercolour painting. They make great congratulations cards for anyone involved in either dog or horse competitions. View a gallery of the cards available by clicking here. Or click on the title of this blog for more information.

Brac - Jumping for Joy

Well it's been over a month since I talked about my baby so I felt it was time to give him another mention. Not that he's achieved anything of note recently. Here he is doing one of the things he loves most...jumping. Be it a park bench or a fallen tree, he wants me to send him over it. Yes, that's right, he won't just help himself. He actually wants to be sent. Part of the pleasure appears to be working to orders. It's a border collie/working sheep dog thing. They have been bred to serve their owners and if they can do that whilst also having fun then life for them is complete. There are exceptions to this however. Get him anywhere near an agility ring and he will help himself. Take your eye off him for 2 seconds and he will be on the sea saw or running through a tunnel. He'll make up a course all by himself and wonder why the hell I'm not keeping up!

He's just as keen when it comes to obedience training although, slightly more controlled. I'm sure I could do heel work with him all day and he would still be looking for more. The one thing he can't stand is sitting on the sidelines waiting his turn. He a 'doing' dog and patience really isn't his strong point. It is this zeal for life and enthusiasm in all things that makes him so lovable.

File Back-up & Syncronization

Anyone who has had a hard drive failure, or had a lap top or other data gathering peripheral stolen, will know the value of keeping up-to-date back-ups of all important data and images. The trouble is backing up data manually can be a real pain so many of us tend to get sloppy about it and do it on a kind of peace meal arrangement. It becomes particularly difficult when you spend a long time working on files or keep going back to them to make changes because then you have to make sure the file that is backed up is the most recent. It's time consuming and boring to say the least. What is needed is a efficient piece of software that not just backs up files but synchronises them automatically. GoodSync is a fee piece of software that does just that. It's easy and reasonably straight forward to use. You can back up everything or just individual files. They can be backed up to virtually any location and can be made to run automatically or manually as you wish. I wish I had installed this a long time ago but now I've got it set up my back-up worries are solved.
Click on image for a better view of the screen shot.

e-mail Address Encoder

If you have your e-mail address published as a live link on your web site (assuming you have one) chances are you are being swamped by spam e-mails. I know I have been! Well, thanks to West Bay Web Internet Publishing that may be fixable. I say maybe because I have only just found out about them and it may take a while before I realise the effectiveness of this. What they offer is a free service whereby you type in you address and it provides you with an encoded version as a source code. Copy this code and use it to replace the e-mail address in your web site html code. It will look the same but it is apparently unusable by spamming programs.

Click on the title of this blog post to go direct to the web page in question.

Planet Earth clips

If your a fan of naturaly history programs as I am then no doubt you will have been watching the Planet Earth series on BBC1. If not, or if you would simply like to see some of the footage again, the BBC has collected a large selection of the footage into individual clips that you can watch on-line. Clicking on the title of this blog post will take you to the web page. You will need a broadband connection and the latest version of Flash player (v8) installed to view them properly but it's well worth it.

Bookmark Icons

Ever wondered how you can get your web site to show those neat little icons in front of the url in the browser search bar or with the page title when the page is bookmarked? The 'blogger' logo on this site for instance that is sitting in your browser search field. Well if you are prepared to fiddle a little you can have your own one on your web site too.

First you will need a small program that creates icons. I use a piece of free software called PixelToolbox that quickly creates icons from any jpeg image on your hard drive. Save the icon to your local web site file as "favicon.ico".

Now open up your web editing software and display your index page. You will need to go into html mode to edit the code.

Copy this piece of code -

link rel="shortcut icon" href="/Images/pet-portraits/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" /

This code will need to be placed into the head section on your web page. I.e. after the opening head tag and before the closing head tag. This section of code must be enclosed with <>. (I could not include the opening and closing brackets with the code because Blogger would not allow it.)

If your icon file is not in your images file then you will need to go to your properties dialogue box to locate the file or type the path direct into the code.

Save your page and up-lode it together with your icon and hey presto, your icon should appear in the search bar when displaying your site.

Genealogy

Researching family history is becoming more and more popular and with the internet, increasingly easy to do. I have been researching mine and mu husbands for about 18 months now and it has certainly proved interesting. OK so I not discovered any rich relations or famous ancestors but it has still been facinating to see how family traits have been passed down through the generations.

Going back as far as 1837 is easy as that is the date that all birth, marriages and deaths were registered and held centrally. Once you know the persons name and have a rough idea of the date on any of these events you can look through the indexes to get the reference number of the certificate you require. Then it's just a matter of sending off for it and waiting for it to arrive in the post. The result is that most family historians end up with quite a pile of BMD certificates often with a few mistake ones as well. It is likely that different historians will be after the same record if their trees overlap. For this reason I have decided to create a blog site to list the details of all the certificates I currently hold. This way, anyone can visit the blog and search on a surname to see if a relevant certificate is listed there. The site will also allow other historians to add details of any certificates they hold so that eventually it could hold details of hundreds of certificates.

I hope this site proves useful but if you have any suggestions as to how to make it better please do say.

Brugge

We've been off on our flying travels again this weekend, this time to Brugge, Belgium. Our aircraft is currently having it's engine rebuilt so we were not able to fly ourselves. Instead with hitched with some friends of ours who had spare seats going. Paul, my husband, took the right hand seat in a Robin while I deserted him for a Squirrel helicopter. Well, a girl likes to travel in style!

We landed at Ostend and got the train into Brugge, all very quick and efficient. A short taxi to the hotel and we were ready to explore. I would thoroughly recommend Brugge as a destination for a weekend. The cobbled streets are flanked by 16 & 17 C building and threaded through with a canal system that gives it the feel of Amsterdam. The people are extreemly friendly and helpful and the place generally has a happy & relaxed atmosphere. Restaurants are plentyful although bars are not so obvious, and when you do find them, they are generally very packed.

This is a mecca for chocoholics. You will be spoilt for choice here. Cheese, salami, lace & tapestry are also sold abundantly here. Shops are open on Sundays so plenty of time for buying. Other passtimes include, museums, galleries, cannal trips, carriage rides and if you are energetic, a climb up the town hall bell tower pictured here.

Working Sheepdog?

Brac (pictured) achieved his first step on the road to fame and fortune today by taking part in a photo shoot for an advertisement. Advertising worming pills! If the images are accepted his picture will be in veterinary practices all over Europe. I have to say (even though I am biased) he took to it like a duck to water and I was very proud of him. He is, of course, used to posing for me (as here) but never before under studio conditions.

Search Engine Optimization

I've been doing a lot of research into search engine optimization (SEO) recently to try to boost my web site ranking. You can of course spend a fortune hiring the services of a professional to do it for you but I much prefer doing these things myself. This can sometimes be a mistake but I'm going to go there anyway. I have, however, just been given a big helping hand in the form of a free 56 page e-book called Search Engine Secrets. If you click on the title above it will take you to a web site offereing SEO services. You are presented with a pop-up window where you can register to be e-mailed the e-book. It will prompt you to also register for a free 25 minute councelling service but you don't need to complete this to get the book.
A friend of mine recommended it to me and sure enough the book is full of useful tips. It is easy to read and the steps that are recommended in the book are generally quite straight forward to implement. It doesn't guarantee over night success but it will certainly point you in the right direction.

SpeedFan

I have recently installed an extreemly useful piece of free ware called SpeedFan on my system. This programme not only displays the S.M.A.R.T. data from your hard drives as well as the temperatures throughout your system but it also gives you controll over the spped of your fans in many instances.
My PC tower is enclosed (as many are) in a specially built cupboard in my PC desk. Specially built to hide but not cool my system and I was becomming increasingly concerned that my hard drives were cooking. Especially as my previous hard drive had died probably due to this problem. I was advised about this piece of free ware but, being rahter security concious, I was a little reluctant to download it. I eventually did and it was really easy to install. I instantly had acess to the temperature data for my CPU, Motherboard, both hard drives and the ambient case temperature. The S.M.A.R.T. infor for both hard drives was also very reassuring as by checking it regularly you can tell in advance if there is any likelyhood of a hard disk failure.
The only downside was that I now knew my hard drives were cooking running at 64 degrees C when they should have been at 36. At least I was able to do something about it by adding another fan and rearranging them so thay had more space. They are still about 5 degrees too hot but much cooler than before.
If I hadn't installed SpeedFan I would have been non the wiser until one of the drives burnt out.
If I had one complaint about the produce it would be that the help file seems to assume you are totally computer jargon savvi but I would still recommend this to anyone who wants to avoid a disk failure.

Obedience

For dog handlers in the South East of England the open obedience season has come to an end unless you want to travel that is. From now on it's just Limit shows (indoor shows that are limited to a certain number of entries). Any wins at these shows do not count against your dogs ranking. These shows are a way of keeping in practise through the winter months but as they are indoors, usually in community halls on slippery floors, rather than outside on grass, the dogs perform very differently. Brac, pictured here at Crufts, slips all over the place on slippery floors where as some dogs cope very well. He also thinks that working in a community hall is his excuse to mess around and not take anything too seriously. For this reason I am not entering any Limit shows this year.
So how has he been doing during the open season? Not bad but could do better! He is a very stylish dog but not particularly accurate. Very keen but tends to be slightly ahead of the action which causes him to make mistakes. I mustn't forget the he did make it to Crufts as a 'Special Per-beginner' and came joint 7th out of 35 dogs. He did win16 rosettes this year but only one first place in a pre-beginners round at the beginning of the season. He needs to win twice in Beginners to graduate up to Novice. Hopefully he will get that next year.

If you are interested in Obedience Dog Handling visit the Obedience web site at www.obedienceuk.com

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Pet Portraits

Pet Portraits by Sally Jane

I am now creating pet portraits which are proving to be very popular. They are created from digital photographs that I take myself and have the look of a real painting once completed. Prices start from £40 for a mounted print ready to frame. With each portrait I also create greetings cards that can be purchased either with the portrait or at any time in the future.

Clicking on the image will provide you with a better view.

For further information visit my web site for further information at www.sally-jane.com/photographic_art

Other pieces of digital art work are also available including landscapes still life portrait commissions.