As I contemplate the purchase of a house, I’ve been giving some thought to what kinds of furnishings I’ll need to make into my home. For my dining room table, I think one of these will suffice. I have no idea how much they cost, but I suspect I won’t be getting one anytime soon with my current job. 
Zooomr, a new photo sharing service
There’s a new photo sharing service out there called Zooomr. They are currently giving out Zooomr Pro accounts for free simply by setting up a free account, publishing a photo, making a post in your blog, and leaving a comment in this post at their site. So here is my post!
Edit: It was just pointed out to me that they spell their name with three Os, not two. (That’s stupid.)
My Nerd Score
I was expecting to be a little higher, actually. It’s probably because I’m not a Linux guy and just use Windows and occasionlly a Mac when I have to. Take the Nerd Test yourself to find your Nerd Score.
More macro photos
Okay, here are some photos of things other than a spider. You may use these images as you wish, but please give me a credit if you use them publicly or for a project of some kind. I maintain the copyright on all photos on my site unless stated otherwise. Please leave a comment if you have something to say about them!
This first photo is of an unusual mushroom that is growing under a small ornamental tree in the front yard. Not sure what type this is, but it looked kinda neat up close.
More photos…
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A new spider friend!
By popular demand from one of my visitors, here is the first of two posts showcasing a few more recent photos. 
This post will be just the new spider that’s made her/his home outside. As with the previous post, clicking on the image will take you to the full-size version which shows far more detail than the small thumbnail version. If your browser automatically resizes large images, be sure to view the actual size to see a lot of amazing detail. Also as with the previous set of images, you may use these as you wish, but please give me a credit if you use them publicly or for a project of some kind. I maintain the copyright on all photos on my site unless stated otherwise. Please leave a comment if you have something to say!
Sometime last week, a new Yellow and Black Argiope moved into the yard. It’s strange that I went my entire life thus far having never seen one of these spiders anywhere, and suddenly I’ve seen two of them within a couple months. This one is definitely different than the last based on the shape of its body and head. The body is much larger than the first spider, and the head is flatter. I think this one is female, but I’m not certain. If you look closely at the photo, you can see a fine strand of silk coming out of the spider’s spinneret.
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Fun with macro photography
I recently bought a new digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 7600, and have been really impressed with its macro capabilities. Here are three of the photos I’m really happy with. Clicking on each image will take you to a really large version of the image in the camera’s native resolution of 3072×2304. I JPEG-compressed the hell out of them to have mercy on my bandwidth; the original images are much sharper. I’m releasing these images into the public domain, but if you use them for anything, I’d appreciate a credit. If you like these photos, please leave a comment!
The first is a black-eyed susan from our front yard. I liked the depth of field that I got from this shot.
More photos…
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Be careful what you ask for
This is one of the most amusing signs I’ve actually seen in person. (Most are Photochopped images found online.)
As an aside, these gas prices suck.
Funniest movie summary ever
This is, quite possibly, the the best movie summary ever! Warning to the kiddies out there: the page contains a few naughty words.
I guess I should warn anyone who hasn’t yet seen Star Wars Episode III that you might actually want to skip reading the linked page since it could be considered a plot spoiler. (Pssst… Anakin becomes Darth Vader. Ooops! Did I blow the surprise ending? Silly me.)
iPAQ hx4700 gets Windows Mobile 5.0!
In a move that surprised the heck out of me, HP has announced they will actually offer an upgrade to Windows Mobile 5.0 for a few of their current Pocket PC models — including my hx4700! Given the track record they’ve had with upgrades for previous iPAQs, part of me will still believe this when I see it, but I’m thrilled to see this announcement! And Dell is offering the same upgrade to their X50 series Axims, which is nice since that’s what we use in the office. Thanks HP and Dell!
Update: According to HP, due to “third-party driver delays,” the Windows Mobile 5 upgrade for the hx4700 series has been delayed until the first quarter of 2006. Raise your hand if you’re surprised by this. I could probably count the number of hands raised right now and never leave the single digits…
Spyware screenshot
This is a screenshot from a system I had to clean of spyware a few weeks ago at work. (Click the thumbnail for the full-size image.) You’ll note that not only does the system have three different spyware search toolbars installed, its home page has been hijacked, and it’s also running DateManager and PrecisionTime from the assholes at Gator Claria Corporation. Before I could make this screenshot I had to remove some other spyware in order to get the system stable enough that Explorer (and Internet Explorer) wouldn’t crash on startup.
![Screenshot thumbnail image [PNG, 400×300, 21.4 KB]](http://www.beauvais1.com/images/spyware_toolbars.png "Click for full-size image in a new window [PNG, 1024×768, 90.3 KB]")
Thank you, Microsoft, for making it possible for garbage such as this to install itself via Internet Explorer with little to no help from the unsuspecting user. That’s very kind of you since so many people are out there who would otherwise be unable to install this wonderful software. And an extra special thank you goes out to all the companies who are creating the garbage; I appreciate the job security that you provide me with!