For Sale: My Photos At Dreamstime.com

My photographs, they are up for sale now at Dreamstime.

I have always thought that it was tough to get into this business of selling pictures online. It was not until I read a comment from someone saying that he was doing it with nothing more than his Sony Xperia. A Sony Xperia: that's a smartphone isn't it? Well, I have a Canon Superzoom a Powershot SX530HS; that should be good enough. But is it? So, the only way for me to find out is to upload a test (sharp and with minimal noise) photograph to Dreamstime and see what happens.

An voila, my photo was approved 5 days later.

Running Google+ App On Android-x86 (Virtualbox)

I have finally found a use for my Android-x86 (Version 4.3) system, running under Oracle Virtualbox on my computer. I have had it installed for something like 3 years without actually using it all this time.

The problem with Google+ desktop running within my desktop web browser over the last couple of days - that's what prompted me to try out the Google+ app on Android-x86. This is what I always see every time when I access Google+ on my desktop web browser over the last few days:

I get a similar error message with Google+ Mobile too. I am aware of some changes that Google is making with Google+, but getting a broken link is the least of what I would expect. After all, aren't they a leading technology company these days ?

DroiHealth Alternative That Works

Having problems getting the DroiHealth app working with your new band smartwatch? Do give the FitHealth a try. It works for me anyway. I am quite sure the two apps have identical DNA since they were developed by the same developer zhwuba.

The Lone Asian Glossy Starling

A black coloured bird with blood-red eyes - that's the Asian Glossy Starling.

Rather common in my neighbourhood, but of late I tend to find them darting across overhead at high speed rather than perching nearby around my home. TV antennas and electrical pole appears to be their favourite places if they do come by visiting. You can always hear them when they do.

Extended Entry Marker (Jump Break) And The 'Save' Button

Google's Blogger calls it a "jump break". But Raven/Raven+ calls it an "Extended Entry Marker". What it does, anyway, is to show a summary of your blog post at your Blogger blog's homepage, while providing a link, "Read more >>", to your entire post, which your audience can read in its entirety if s/he so desires.

A Bug

I always include a "jump break" in every one of my blog post. Problem is, I always do it as the last thing after composing my post (sometimes even after publishing it) mostly because of my absentmindedness.

There is this problem with the Raven/Raven+ editor - it does not enabled the 'Save' button (if it was disabled previously) after inserting a "jump break"/"Extended Entry Marker". This is rather annoying as I then have to insert a 'junk' character to enable the 'Save' button, then delete this 'junk' character before saving my now modified post. A prime target for getting this bug fixed here.

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Must be my lucky year 2016. I mentioned that I had a new avian visitor last September. A few weeks later in mid-October, I had another one - an Asian Brown Flycatcher. I was excited, obviously.

Taking a snap shot of this bird was easy. A rather bold bird, it greeted me by flying closer towards me when I was out and about at my backyard. It flew away briefly when approached, but it then flew back towards me a few second later. I suppose there must have been something about me that had piqued its interest. The closest it got to me by the way was about 8 feet away - an ideal distance for taking closeups of small birds.

Integrating Google's API Client Library Into The RavenPlus Source Code Repository

There is this problem with us programmers. We will not complain and will happily chug along when confronted with the toughest programming challenge ever. But when it comes to documenting our work, we will make excuses, drag our feet and create various alibi. I remember this joke that I've heard about programmers some 20 years ago:

"if it is so hard to write, it must be even harder to describe"

Yes, we programmers understand this perfectly. But still there should be no excuses for not documenting one's work; and this is something that I should bear in mind - always.

Unfortunately, I do get sloppy sometimes. Case in point:

I briefly mentioned that I might be integrating the "Google API Client Library for Python version 1.2" into RavenPlus some 11 months ago. Well in the end, I actually did.

Problem is now I can't remember why I made this decision. I can faintly recall problems I had between 'py2exe' and the newly installed libraries needed for Google OAuth2 authentication (most of them is installed, by default, in the '.egg' format).

Is this the main reason? I can't remember. If only I have written the reason down earlier - somewhere.

New Sub-Directory

Integrating the Google API Client Library for Python into RavenPlus is rather simple. All I did was to bung it under the blog publishing sub-system of RavenPlus at 'zoundry/blogpub'. Naming the new directory as 'blogger' seems appropriate and all Google Blogger's OAuth2 related modifications in RavenPlus (by me) are placed here and below its sub-directories; and this includes the picture uploading capabilities to Google's PicasaWeb ('zoundry/blogpub/blogger/gdataExtend' is where the modified gdata API resides).

The directories 'apiclient', 'oauth2client' and 'uritemplate', circled in RED in the picture above, are from the Google API Client Library itself. As mentioned previously, I only used a subset of this Client Library from Google.

Zebra Doves - From Hatchlings To Fledglings

A pair of Zebra Doves nested on one of my many bougainvillea plants last month October 2016. A well chosen site in my opinion with shelter from the sun and rain (courtesy of my front porch) and my dog out front keeping the stray cats at bay. The nest was well placed too at about 7 feet high off the ground. Like most bird nests it is made of twigs, with size measuring about 3" across - looks a bit undersized compared to the parent bird, in my opinion. The gaps between these twigs however made the nest look rather 'half-built'. But still, it did get the job done; it managed to raise 2 chicks.

Zebra Dove Hatchlings

Owing to its 'half-built' appearance, I didn't realised that the nest was ready until I saw a Dove sitting in it one day. Eggs had been laid a few days earlier without me knowing - I can't see because of the nest's height.

About 11 days later this is what I saw - a baby Zebra Dove:

I think another chick is partially visible, hidden by the twigs that made up the nest (under the beak of the parent Dove if you look closely).

microSD And My Canon Powershot SX530 HS

The manual to my Canon Powershot SX530 HS only recommends SD, SDHC or SDXC memory cards. Because of this, I would have preferred either an 8GB or 16GB SDHC Class 10 memory card.

But I had a Superbuy.my RM30 e-voucher, and the only branded Class 10 memory cards that cost less than RM30 are from Kingston (Kingston microSDHC 8GB Class 10) and SanDisk (SanDisk Ultra microSDHC UHS-I 16GB Class 10). These are microSD and NOT SD sized memory cards. A rather limited choice there at Superbuy.my. I could have chosen one of those unknown but cheaper brands SD sized memory cards but I didn't want to risk it. Miser pays the most - I always remember this saying.

microSD+SD Adapter In Digital Camera

The question now is: will any of these microSD memory cards coupled with an SD adapter work in my Canon Powershot SX530 HS camera?

Break Fluid Spilt Onto My Car Alternator

Shucks! I hope I didn't damaged anything. It wasn't may fault; I was just doing my regular monthly/bi-monthly car fluid level inspections. I couldn't see the break fluid level so I decided to take off its tank cover. To my horror, some break fluid spilt out when the cover was removed. It spilt again, because of that piece of plastic float in the tank, when I screwed the cap back on. Non got onto the paint work luckily, since I've read that break fluid is an excellent paint stripper. But I have some break fluid spilt onto the exposed wires of the alternator coil and the belt that drives the alternator.