Another month, another around the web post. The post where I list blog posts and contributions scattered across the internet. You will notice I’ve been reading a lot and thus written plenty of book reviews.

Reading By Candlelight

Book Review: Library of the Dead – Glenn Cooper
Book Review: The Death of Sleep – Anne McCaffrey & Jody Lynn Nye
Comic Review: Batman Huntress – Cry for Blood (DC)
Book Review: Gardens of the Sun – Paul McAuley
Book Review: Death or Glory – The Last Commando by Michael Asher
Book Review: Digital Fortress – Dan Brown
Book Review: The Assassins Gallery – David L. Robbins

Small Business Tech

The neglected websites

Social Matters

The pressure of social networks in the business world (part 1)
The pressure of social networks in business (part 2)

The Internet Protectors

Have you shot yourself in the foot?

Lindsay Browning posted “If you could be someone else, who would you be?”. I recommend you all read it, it’s a great post. I decided I would post a similar post, but instead about “being the best you can and who are really are – wherever you are, whatever the circumstances” and written it from my viewpoint, about what that means to me.

I’ve helped others over the years when nobody cared, I try to empower, even when I’ve a lot to manage myself. I’m no saint, others do far more than me, but staying true to my values regardless of circumstances or communication medium is important. It’s still something I’m working on, learning to master. Making sure others don’t take advantage of your nature is key as your help isn’t always the appropriate route for support.

When communicating online I often still see people using caps lock, exclamation or question marks in excess and they fail to notice they are letting themselves down. Forgetting manners in emails, forums or wherever you are isn’t a sign of superiority or status. Politeness isn’t a sign of weakness. Raising a voice doesn’t convince me of a view or make me submit to an agenda I don’t agree with. Voicing opinion is important, dialogue greater and quiet action without seeking praise more so. I’d rather someone act as they would offline, rather than what the peserve is required. Though if someone is an arse, they are an arse and I will quickly break communication or ignore.

There shouldn’t be confusion between offline and online worlds, and how you treat others. Both are real and online is an extension of communication. Struggling with different personas is a waste of being the best you are, it eats away at your potential. In business, social networks, forums etc not allowing your true personality and nature to ooze out is a waste and not a weakness. When I offer to help whatever the communication medium, it’s not a just a gesture, but a commitment not taken in haste. I’m purely trying to be the best I can, whatever the technology.

In work I’ve stood up for what I believe in, at risk to my own safety to protect others and never complained. I’ve worked twelve days in a row back to back, double shifts, not leaving a site at night to support others, because I believed the people in my care at the time deserved that level of support. Please don’t put your safety at risk, that was my own risk I took in a dysfunctional organization, I don’t recommend or advise you do the same. I don’t wish to sound vain with those examples given, just trying to put a view into context. The point being action speaks louder than words and if few people or nobody notices, does it matter? You know what you achieved.

Sometimes I communicate too much, possible even by writing this article. Though sometimes I don’t care what others think, because it’s who I am.

“being the best you can and who are really are – wherever you are, whatever the circumstances”.

This post was inspired by Tracey over at QuietPaws. I recommend you visit the QuietPaws blog.

Tracey wrote about her second-hand book experiences and finds. I thought I would write about my own passion for old books and second-hand book shops. Though first I have to point out the majority I’ve visited in the UK, if not all in recent years are not disabilities friendly. In the effort to cram as many books on the shelves, aisle space is sacrificed and thus movability, including not being able to move wheelchairs around a shop.

My passion probably started seventeen or so years ago. I remember my first two favourite shops well, one in Camberley in Surrey and the other Farnham in Hampshire. Walking down the aisles amazed by the history surrounding me, the out of print gems, forgotten treasures and yes the cheap prices.

My first two purchases might have been an 1884 edition of ‘the canterbury tales’ for £8, along with a 1951 print to read on my travels. Both of which I still have. A few years back I brought a 1895 print of ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ for the expensive price of £3, probably cheaper than a new edition in a high street shop.

Though a gem isn’t just about finding a book of interest at a great deal, but also discovering authors from yesterday and enjoying the writing styles of days gone by. I’ve read old books whose storylines have not been stimulating, yet each page a joy to read, due to the writing skill of the author.

I must also point out my unresolved issue with the covers of old books. I’m a vegetarian, practically vegan these days, so some old book covers are disturbing. Luckily most I own are paperback, such as my old paperback books on historic events or periods of history, themselves often written half a century ago. I tend to find these history books more densely filled, not bite size chunks that today’s reader would expect.

Second-hand book shops also enabled me to build collections before the internet was main stream for niches such as time travel. Books out of date, not reprinted in decades, but still a good read. Spending time in a second hand book shop is an experience itself, not knowing what you may discover.

I know there are online projects such as project Gutenberg that have been around for years and they have their place. Yet an actual printed book is a different experience. You unplug, sit back, you let the world go by whilst you enter another world. You find yourself carrying one of these gems around and when delayed it’s on-hand.

Second-hand book shops are in decline in the UK and have been for many years. Rising high street lease costs and reduced demand took their toll long before Amazon and ebay were popular. I find myself keeping an eye out for charity shops on my travels to help fill the void, but it isn’t the same.

One of my favourite second-hand book locations though has to be at Winchester cathedral in the UK. During the summer months, around the side in an archway you can discover boxes of books, with a box to leave your money, a rarity in this day and age. I lived in Winchester for a few years and Sunday strolls around historic grounds, beautiful countryside and quiet lanes and old pubs were always enhanced with a stop by the boxes of books.

I can’t forget to mention the added bonuses to old books. The written notes from loved ones giving a book as a present, a signature and date of a previous owner or the occasional bookmark used decades ago. A book given with love and fondness, a book well used and still today often decades later cherished by its current owner.

A kindle reader, ipad or a brand new book just isn’t the same.

Back in April I decided to start a webcam project and gave myself an amazing budget of zero pounds. The objective is to capture outdoor images and one day compile them into a video to share. I’m now one and fifty image captures into the project and thought it was about time I wrote about it and my experiences.

My objectives for this project are:

• Firstly to capture the changes over a long period of time, show the seasons and perhaps changes not noticeable daily.
• This project being an introduction project to automated image capture. Seeing if I enjoy the project, what I learn and perhaps one day putting together a more expensive and comprehensive project.

Now as I had an outstanding budget of zero, there were obvious limitations. I don’t own any expensive webcam gear or have available boxes to make outdoor units. This project was put together with what I had lying around.

The Setup

So as you’ve probably guessed I plugged an old webcam into a computer. The computer itself isn’t dedicated to the task, so if I’m playing a high performance game I close the software. Every time the computer starts webcam software loads and captures an image, plus further images every thirty minutes the computer is on. The webcam itself was secured to a cpu bracket turned upside down and placed on a book.

I ran into expected limitations using cheap webcams. Other than adjusting the ‘nozzle’ of the webcam to improve general focus, the next step were drivers. I managed to find new drivers for my webcam. I discovered it was a rebranded webcam and even though the ‘rebranded seller’ didn’t have new drivers, the original manufacturer did.

Below are my settings for outdoor webcam image capture. Trying to take into account captures at anytime of the day, so not optimizied for one specific period. This means there will always be trade off in quality.

It’s a cheap webcam and the image was never going to be great. The are never going to be as good as a standalone digital camera.

For the actual image capture I’m using an impressive piece of free software called Yawcam. It is jam packed full of features. I configured it to load with a preview window, capture an image every thirty minutes to the local hard drive and chucked it into the Windows startup folder.

Problems

I noticed if I didn’t tell the yawcam preview window to load at startup a very dodgy pinkish image was captured. Also we have a lamp near the webcam and if it’s on during the night and the main light isn’t, again a bad image is taken. Plus as the webcam is not secured, then I expect movement over time.

Conclusion

One hundred and fifty images have already been captured and so far it’s interesting to watch the weather changes. As the webcam isn’t on 24/7 I’m missing out on the daylight cycles though. The image quality is extremely poor, especially as we are all used to high res images these days.

It has got me interested in putting together a image capture project with a budget! Especially with a more expensive capture device, possible a digital camera instead of a webcam. However for now I will leave this project running and perhaps one day will share here a video showing changing seasons.