Flickr recently launched a new stats feature (Flickr Stats) which summarises the total number of views received over the last day/week/forever and includes a time trend. It is quite addictive for view junkies like myself. I get to see the total number of views, and how these views came about (eg through flickr, some search engine, or whatever). Sadly, I note that there have been a total of two (2) views which have come through this blog page. I guess that is a reflection of how often this blog is read, sigh.
Sometimes it yields surprises too. The accompanying photo, "installation art", was taken some time back and had been getting zero views per day for the longest time. Then just a few days ago, it hit 256 views over 2 days! I was mystified. Apparently the views came through the Yahoo! Singapore home page but by the time I found out and got around to check, the page had presumably been updated as I could not find my photo there.
I suppose such links are the reason why a prevous photo on Ayam Penyet (if you want to see this photo, go to my Flickr page :-) and look under the "Food" set) also had a sudden jump in views. It is still my second most viewed photo on Flickr, after my photo of Sleeping Smee.
But both photos have mostly reverted to their previous low activity status. Such is the fleeting nature of internet fame!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Self-Published!
Ok, I admit it. I have jumped on the self-publishing bandwagon. It started off innocuously enough, with photobooks based on my travels to the US and Mexico. This was done using QOOP, an on-line publishing dot.com which is linked to Flickr. QOOP also provides for blog publishing - only not from Blogger. I was disappointed...
Then I discovered Blurb. Blurb is another on-line publisher and it allows printing from Blogger! All I had to do was download the software, and "slurp" my blog into the book. So I tried it out. In practice, it was more difficult than I anticipated. The software is reasonably easy to use but this version is in the beta stage and so it crashes frequently - extremely irritating ! Nonetheless one persevered...
The blog book took some time to do. I added photos, formatted pages, inserted an extra entry (which I never got around to doing the last time). Changed the font size, page by page (now you know why it is not the most user-friendly piece of software).
So I decided to switch course and did a short little book of cat poems and photos. This had the added advantage of letting me try out the Blurb service without incurring the higher costs of my blog book. My cat book is primarily a photo book with little poems (called "catteral") thrown in because I wanted to talk about the cats. Sent it off and about a month later - voila! It appeared on my doorstep, thus:
Need I say I am enraptured by my own creative product? Blurb promises "bookshop standard" printing, and I agree that it delivers. Forgotten were all the irritations, the times when the font size would not change, the times when the desired page format was not available...
I printed two copies of the book, one for myself and one for an appreciative reader. Well, my mother is not really an appreciative reader (she does not think much of the poems) but she rather likes the photos of our little darlings and she took it immediately. The total cost of printing and publishing: about US$40 or about US$20 per book. Pretty expensive, but this is (as my mother likes to say) a very limited edition!
I have since finished my blog book (whilst waiting for "Catteral" to arrive) and sent it off for printing; on the computer now is my travel journal for Siem Reap. With 2 books under my belt, I am now becoming more adventurous in terms of layout and colour schemes. And definitely there will be one other interested reader for this book!
Then I discovered Blurb. Blurb is another on-line publisher and it allows printing from Blogger! All I had to do was download the software, and "slurp" my blog into the book. So I tried it out. In practice, it was more difficult than I anticipated. The software is reasonably easy to use but this version is in the beta stage and so it crashes frequently - extremely irritating ! Nonetheless one persevered...
The blog book took some time to do. I added photos, formatted pages, inserted an extra entry (which I never got around to doing the last time). Changed the font size, page by page (now you know why it is not the most user-friendly piece of software).
So I decided to switch course and did a short little book of cat poems and photos. This had the added advantage of letting me try out the Blurb service without incurring the higher costs of my blog book. My cat book is primarily a photo book with little poems (called "catteral") thrown in because I wanted to talk about the cats. Sent it off and about a month later - voila! It appeared on my doorstep, thus:
Need I say I am enraptured by my own creative product? Blurb promises "bookshop standard" printing, and I agree that it delivers. Forgotten were all the irritations, the times when the font size would not change, the times when the desired page format was not available...
I printed two copies of the book, one for myself and one for an appreciative reader. Well, my mother is not really an appreciative reader (she does not think much of the poems) but she rather likes the photos of our little darlings and she took it immediately. The total cost of printing and publishing: about US$40 or about US$20 per book. Pretty expensive, but this is (as my mother likes to say) a very limited edition!
I have since finished my blog book (whilst waiting for "Catteral" to arrive) and sent it off for printing; on the computer now is my travel journal for Siem Reap. With 2 books under my belt, I am now becoming more adventurous in terms of layout and colour schemes. And definitely there will be one other interested reader for this book!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Orlando joins the family
We have a fourth cat in the house!
Just before I went to Siem Reap, my mother found a little orange kitten in the driveway. Rather, she heard it squealing as it got caught between the gate post and the electronically opened gate. She ran out, picked it up, washed it, fed it and then we put it up for adoption.
My friend expressed interest. My mother was quite happy when her landlord said no. Another friend was interested - but her mother gave it the thumbs down. Then my sister's friend expressed interest, and with no obstacles in the way, my mother started coming up up with flimsy excuses.
So we decided to keep him. Here he is, small, orange and extremely curious about black objects with protruding parts being stuck in his face. He is an audacious, confident little kitten! He gets on well with Winky and Dinky, jumping on them, wrestling with them, edging them out of the way when it's time to eat. And they tolerate him doing all these things! Amazing. My sweet tempered boys indeed.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Day 4: Farewell to Angkor
Our short visit to Siem Reap was indeed a memorable one. I managed to reduce the level of my ignorance about the history of the Indo-China region. It is also sobering to think that of the great Khmer empire, little remains today except these ancient monuments, which had been lost in the jungle not so long ago.
It is difficult to judge from Siem Reap the overall progress of modern Cambodia. After all, Siem Reap is very much the showpiece for tourists coming to Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge also continue to cast a shadow of Cambodia's history. Just before our visit, the announcement was made that the Khmer Rouge former head of state Khieu Samphan had been arrested for his part in the genocide of so many Cambodians.
But for a country which had been ripped apart by war, and which was known primarily for its killing fields, the towers of Angkor Wat enable Cambodia to present a new face to the world. This is a country making a new beginning.
It is difficult to judge from Siem Reap the overall progress of modern Cambodia. After all, Siem Reap is very much the showpiece for tourists coming to Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge also continue to cast a shadow of Cambodia's history. Just before our visit, the announcement was made that the Khmer Rouge former head of state Khieu Samphan had been arrested for his part in the genocide of so many Cambodians.
But for a country which had been ripped apart by war, and which was known primarily for its killing fields, the towers of Angkor Wat enable Cambodia to present a new face to the world. This is a country making a new beginning.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
