A simple animation / puzzle

 
More than anything, this is just an experiment to see if I can host this a simple animation / puzzle on my "Digital Media Magik" site… but then use it elsewhere — like here. You get about 25 seconds to stare at it before the solution will reveal itself.


How many People appear in this image ???

Looks like it works !
Contact me if you have a rational explanation for this (or just cheat and "look at the answer" that was submitted by a genious friend of mine who commented on this posting).
 

It's great to be alive !!

… no, I didn't just survive some sort of death-defying event; I just feel like "It's great to be alive on this Sunny day in July!!" — on this my 57^th birthday — even though (at least so far) it's rainy and drizzly outside my window. I just know it's going be a great Sunny day… especially when I see it that way.

On the left is a recent picture of "Mr. K, on my birthday" (actually created via the Digital Media Magik described here), on a trip we took last weekend to my sister's place in Ontario for an extended family party. We had such a great time visiting Nanci, seeing my aunt Marion, Karina, Nanci's daughter Miranda and her husband Ralph (visiting from Australia for the first time in way too long), celebrating the recent birth of Nanci's first grandson + the proud parents, and — of course — I created this Flickr snapshot album (or SlideShow) to capture all the festivities. On the trip up and back we (traveling with Jillian and her beau) stopped in Niagara Falls and totally enjoyed the scenery — including fireworks; see my Niagara Falls Flickr album (or SlideShow) for details.

One of the highlights of the trip was the couple of hours we spent at St. Jacob's market — home of the Mennonites — shown in the panorama on the right. In the market, near where I took that panorama — shown here in "360 ° rotation form", I also captured these enduring sounds of "Amazing Grace" (on YouTube) of Fernan Enriques playing his Pan Flute and woodwinds of the Andes. I also bought two of his CDs "for my birthday". And as if that wasn't enough YouTube for the day … a friend sent me this Happy Birthday (Beatles) reminiscence.

I am indeed a very happy, almost-aging baby-boomer, on this, my day — my 57^th birthday, July 24^th, 2008.
 

Independence Day

 
I've been wondering what it would take to incorporate animations as part of a blog posting, so what better time to try that out than today — America's birthday — the 4^th of July, 2008 !!

The animation on the left is much taller than the others because it is designed to show the fireworks rising up and then "exploding in air". Using a Table with a ROWSPAN=2 lets me keep it on the left, separated from this text — on the right and above all the other animations, below. Nice. For real fireworks from this year check out (on YouTube) the fireworks finale that we saw tonight at Nara park in Acton, Ma.

For me, this year, there is a completely different aspect to "Independence Day" — not so much because of this day per se but rather because for a few weeks now I've been working on a plan for my own independence — my new venture which I've registered as "Digital Media Magik". The company logo (on the right) is for now only a place holder; I'm sure it will completely change as my vision for this new enterprise solidifies.

The driving force for this enterprise is my resolve to follow my passion. I have long been keenly interested in how people can use web technologies to express themselves fully — to communicate their passion, and to establish their own identities in cyberspace. There are lots of companies geared up to use these technologies for corporate interests; my goal is to bring this capability to everyday people throughout the world. Using digital photography, multi-media presentations, StoryBoards, music, slide shows, video, graphics, animations, voice, and etc… my goal is to help others express themselves and bring joy to all the people who are special in their lives.