Margaret Thatcher's Legacy


Steven Pam Photography
420 Victoria Street, Brunswick
P.O. Box 33, Brunswick West VIC 3055
Phone (03) 9940 1434 - Fax (03) 9381 0700 - Mobile 0412 206 437
www.stevenpam.com.au

Wednesday 4 May 2005

Hi,

If you've been a subscriber to my newsletter for a while, you will have realised by now that I like silly headlines. I expect one day someone will explain to me that there's more wisdom in using headlines that are relevant to the topic of the newsletter, but until that happens...

Actually, I came across Margaret Thatcher's name while researching things that happened on this day or week in history. And it was on this day 26 years ago (1979) that Maggie was elected. Certainly a historical moment, being the first woman PM of the UK and all that (and the longest-serving British PM of the 20th century). Possibly more lasting, though, is the memory of her - errm - achievements, like blowing the crap out of Argentina, large-scale unemployment, increased wealth inequalities, and the incredibly unpopular poll tax.

While we're talking ancient history, I also discovered that on May 9, 2000, dpreview.com posted a review of the exciting 3.3 Megapixel Olympus C-3030Z digital camera... only US$800 with a 16MB memory card and 3x zoom lens. (The current 7.1 Megapixel C-7070 sells for about US$470 with a 32MB card and 4.1x zoom lens)

Remember, I do welcome your feedback, so if there are parts of the newsletter that you think are rubbish, let me know! Likewise, if there are parts that amused or interested you, or would like to see more of, of course I want to hear about that as well.

In this issue:

  • Water out of thin air
  • A few recent snaps
  • 'Snail Mail' faster than ADSL broadband

 

Water out of thin air

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Interior DesignEx trade show. It's surprisingly interesting to go to trade shows that are outside your own industry or area of expertise.

At photography trade shows, for example, I find that I've seen a lot of the stuff - and if it's new, I've probably read about it on the internet anyway (of course the chance to catch up with colleagues is worthwhile, as are - sometimes - the seminars).

But at a 'foreign' trade show, you get to see all sorts of things that you think are cool. For example, at DesignEx, I came across this water cooler for the office. It looks pretty much like any office water cooler - only without the bottle (yes, they could have been more creative with their industrial design - and they definitely could have tried using a professional photographer to do their product shots!) - but there's no bottle! Yes, it takes water from the air, filters it, and chills it. There's even a hot tap for tea and coffee.

The machine can make about 26 litres a day at 50% humidity (about the average in Melbourne) and costs $2500 to buy or $28 per week on a four year lease-purchase plan. And no more 15 litre water bottles at ten bucks a pop!

Save water and impress your friends at the same time. Want one? Call Wally at UTC global on (02) 9310 7899. And don't forget to tell him I sent you (although it probably won't do you any good!).

 Atmosphere H2O water fountain

A few recent snaps

Shelf by Anton
Detail of a shelf by Anton Gerner Furniture.
The deadline was tight on this one! The designer was waiting for the artwork so that the cards could be printed in time for the DesignEx show. Anton took advatage of our rush service and the shots were delivered less than an hour after the shoot.
Derrin Nauendorf
Singer-songwriter Derrin Nauendorf asked me to do some new shots for publicity. It was raining on the day we shot so we'll be getting together again soon for some outdoor location shots.
Kingston Your City
Cover for Kingston Your City.
I can't believe someone would go and put a couple of parking signs in my shot like that...

'Snail Mail' faster than ADSL broadband

A group of Israeli Geeks with way too much time on their hands have found that a Giant African Snail (Achatina fulica) harnessed to a 'chariot' with DVD 'wheels' was able to maintain a data transfer rate of some 37,000 Kbps - about twenty-five times faster than an average ADSL connection.

The only catch, of course was getting the snail to transfer the data to the correct location. For the full story (and how they managed to get the snail to go where it was supposed to) see here: http://www.notes.co.il/benbasat/10991.asp

Thanks to my brother, Andrew (who claims to be one of the top 1000 geeks in the world - a point you would be unlikely to dispute if you've read his resume) for this one.

Hey. Who do you know who works in advertising, graphic design or PR; owns a small or medium sized business; or is responsible for marketing in their organisation? Please forward this message to them so they can learn about the joys of my silly rants, too (and so that I can get to work with more cool people like you).

Has one of your cool friends or colleagues forwarded this message to you? You can now get your very own copy. Just send an e-mail to news@stevenpam.com.au with subscribe as the subject. Or sign up at www.stevenpam.com.au. You can unsubscribe at any time without hurting my feelings.

Oh, and I hate spam just as much as you do. I will never pass your e-mail address onto anyone without your explicit permission.

OK, I'd better go.

Ciao,



Steven Pam
Steven Pam Photography