There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies.

C.A.R. Hoare
3 Notes
M5 J25 (Taunton) Northbound on Flickr. Today I’m sharing a much more recent photo, which at the time I wasn’t that fussed about but looking back I think it’s actually not bad. This is the first time I was out with a “proper” camera, my Canon 450D that I recently purchased. Taken from a small bridge over the South-bound carriageway I was here for about 20 minutes snapping on the way home from work. A good combination of low ISO and long shutter speed has left me with the motorway just lit enough to see the road markings and barriers, with a nice set of light trails over the top.

M5 J25 (Taunton) Northbound on Flickr.

Today I’m sharing a much more recent photo, which at the time I wasn’t that fussed about but looking back I think it’s actually not bad.

This is the first time I was out with a “proper” camera, my Canon 450D that I recently purchased. Taken from a small bridge over the South-bound carriageway I was here for about 20 minutes snapping on the way home from work.

A good combination of low ISO and long shutter speed has left me with the motorway just lit enough to see the road markings and barriers, with a nice set of light trails over the top.

Courgette and Aubergine Pasta

We are on a bit of a healthy eating spree at home, so here is a recipe for you to try that I make that’s healthy and tasty. For those who are following a diet plan such as Slimming World you’ll be happy to know it’s all “free food” as well!

Ingredients

1 Courgette Cubed
1 Aubergine Cubed
1 Large Onion Diced
1 x 400g tin Chopped Tomatoes
300g whole wheat penne pasta
1 tbsp Tomato Purée
1 tbsp Olive Oil (Slimming World Healthy Extra)
1 tsp Mixed Herbs
Salt & Pepper to season
60g grated mature cheddar cheese (Slimming World Healthy Extra)

5 mins prep
15 mins cooking
Serves 4

Method

Cook the pasta according to the instruction in a large saucepan. Meanwhile add the olive oil, onion, aubergine and courgette to a large lidded frying pan and cook on a medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes to soften. Remove the lid and continue to cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato purée, mixed herbs, salt and pepper and simmer for 9 minutes. Drain the pasta, add to the sauce and mix thoroughly. Serve and top with the grated cheese.

Tip: make this up in advance, eat some and freeze the rest. Reheat in the microwave when you need it!

Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.

Martin Golding

5 steps to shooting with vintage lenses on your Canon digital SLR

This is the first article in a series I plan to write about digital photography with vintage lenses, so where better to start than a 5-step guide on how to get started?

Shortly after buying my Canon 450D I was keen to start expanding my lens collection, however my budget didn’t stretch to buying a bag full of prime lenses so I started looking in to the possibility of using older lenses. These older lenses were built way before the advent of auto-focus and apertures so there is a little bit more work involved but once you get the hang of them the quality of the results can be outstanding for the price.

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10 Elements of a Perfectly Optimized Page

Gareth Owen writes a great article that explains in simple terms exactly what you should be adding to your web pages to add quality and perk the interests of your favourite search engines at the same time.

I shall be saving this link to reference back to over the coming months for sure.

Most good programmers do programming not because they expect to get paid or get adulation by the public, but because it is fun to program.

Linus Torvalds
1 Notes
This made me giggle, an old one but definitely glad I saw it again. Courtesy of StumbleUpon. Keep up to date with all my StumbleUpon finds.

This made me giggle, an old one but definitely glad I saw it again. Courtesy of StumbleUpon. Keep up to date with all my StumbleUpon finds.

9 Notes
Frozen Spider’s Web on Flickr. This weekend we had our first hard frost of the year, which made a perfect reason for me to get outside and test out some of the news lenses I’ve acquired over the last week. This photo was taken with a Jupiter-37A which is a 135mm f3.5 on an M42 screw mount. This particular lens dates from around 1991 so it’s over 20 years old and yet to look at you could mistake it for brand new. I’m having great fun with my collection of vintage lenses and the Jupiter-37A is quickly becoming one of my favourite, with a beautifully engineered 12 blade aperture that closes down in a near perfect circle. Using these old lens with their manual focus and apertures has taught me much more in a few weeks about taking photos than years of digital AF point and shoot. I’m planning to share some of what I’ve learned later this week when I finish writing up my beginners guide to shooting with vintage lenses.

Frozen Spider’s Web on Flickr.

This weekend we had our first hard frost of the year, which made a perfect reason for me to get outside and test out some of the news lenses I’ve acquired over the last week.

This photo was taken with a Jupiter-37A which is a 135mm f3.5 on an M42 screw mount. This particular lens dates from around 1991 so it’s over 20 years old and yet to look at you could mistake it for brand new.

I’m having great fun with my collection of vintage lenses and the Jupiter-37A is quickly becoming one of my favourite, with a beautifully engineered 12 blade aperture that closes down in a near perfect circle.

Using these old lens with their manual focus and apertures has taught me much more in a few weeks about taking photos than years of digital AF point and shoot. I’m planning to share some of what I’ve learned later this week when I finish writing up my beginners guide to shooting with vintage lenses.

Windmill, Gran Canaria on Flickr. Today I bring you a photo from my 2006 holiday to Gran Canaria. This shot of a traditional windmill was taken up in the hills away from the usual tourist spots and commercial delights of the coast. We were lucky/clever enough to book a car while we were over there and took the opportunity to tour the island on our own terms, rather than being at the mercy of our tour operator or even worse being victim of the sporadic public transport network. Our holiday was probably the worst we’ve been on, but only due to bad luck and not due to the holiday itself. While we were there for two weeks we only had a few days of sunshine, although we were grateful for that as the heat in the sunshine was unbearable at times. My partner (now wife) got ill a few days into our trip and spent over a week stuck in the villa, limiting our enjoyment somewhat. When she did finally get better it then rained for two days! Perhaps the Canaries were trying to tell us something. Our previous trip to Fuerteventura had been perfect, so maybe next time we will try that again or maybe even Tenerife?

Windmill, Gran Canaria on Flickr.

Today I bring you a photo from my 2006 holiday to Gran Canaria. This shot of a traditional windmill was taken up in the hills away from the usual tourist spots and commercial delights of the coast.

We were lucky/clever enough to book a car while we were over there and took the opportunity to tour the island on our own terms, rather than being at the mercy of our tour operator or even worse being victim of the sporadic public transport network.

Our holiday was probably the worst we’ve been on, but only due to bad luck and not due to the holiday itself. While we were there for two weeks we only had a few days of sunshine, although we were grateful for that as the heat in the sunshine was unbearable at times. My partner (now wife) got ill a few days into our trip and spent over a week stuck in the villa, limiting our enjoyment somewhat. When she did finally get better it then rained for two days!

Perhaps the Canaries were trying to tell us something. Our previous trip to Fuerteventura had been perfect, so maybe next time we will try that again or maybe even Tenerife?

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