Gary Spedding's General Blog

2009-09-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

2009-09-05T07:58:00.000-07:00

2009-08-29T09:42:00.000-07:00

2009-07-28T17:33:00.000-07:00

2009-07-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

2009-05-24T15:52:00.000-07:00

2009-05-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

2009-05-24T11:14:00.000-07:00

New Ad with Photoshop Edits

2009-05-19T06:06:00.001-07:00

2009-05-10T12:52:00.000-07:00

Another Host Upload

2009-04-30T05:06:00.000-07:00

AnotherPostForForumUpload

2009-04-21T05:41:00.001-07:00

2009-04-19T17:38:00.000-07:00

An Image for a Forum Upload

2009-04-19T11:28:00.001-07:00

Delaware protects Companies and KY Protects Employers

2008-10-24T09:33:00.000-07:00

Best place to incorporate a business is still Delaware - Corporate shield difficult to cut there.

But KY (according to a lawyer we recently dealt with) is the worst state for protecting employee rights. You can be fired in KY just for turning up looking a bit dishevelled or because your employer just got sick of seeing you. That is not right.

What are the KY lawmakers and Politicians going to do about it?

Alltech loses its Qualified and Respected Brewer

2008-10-22T10:47:00.000-07:00

TEXT TEMPORARILY REMOVED UPON REQUEST OF ONE OF THE PARTIES. IT WILL BE RESTORED LATER. COMMENTS REMAIN.

A Floating Frames Effect In InDesign

2008-09-17T09:16:00.001-07:00

It has been awhile since anything new here on InDesign. I thought I had presented this at another of my blogs but cannot locate it. How easily we forget things these days.

Anyhow a neat effect. I learned about this type of effect from an Australian blog site (Nick Hodges) back in the InDesign 2.0 days. The effect floated frames to create a staggered or "shattered" look to the underlying picture. Almost like a set of mirrors containing parts of a picture and then staggered so the image was no longer whole but offset. His original is still out there. Called Picket Fences. It was accomplished in InDesign and Illustrator. Problem was it won't work as written (maybe since the apps. were updated?).

So I contacted my now good friend Jeff Witchel (Adobe ACE) and he solved it in part directly in InDesign and published the idea in Layers Magazine (on-line) calling it a "Floating Frames..." effect. I then found a neat tip from a Claudia (last name forgotten) on the InDesign Secrets tip of the week series which enabled me to go one better than Jeff. And that is no mean feat as Jeff is truly Aces at InD and Ai. But I try to acknowledge all sources of inspiration here. [Edited: Claudia McCue "Same Image, Multiple Frames" - InDesign Mag. #7 Aug/Sept 2005. Jeff's Tutorial was called " Image Panels Floating over a Ghosted Image"]

Here is a link to one of Jeff's Tutorials: http://www.layersmagazine.com/indesign-window-brochure.html The Image Panels Tutorial was published in print form in the Layers Mag and followed on from questions I had on this linked tutorial and the Picket Fences approach. See the Layers magazine back issues for access to this article.

While I don't explain it as well as, say, Jeff here is the idea and followed by an example. The example (not an endorsement just a neat poster idea I found and lifted from some website) is not staggered but it could be as each of those planes above the picture contains that part of the picture below it. So you can move and offset for some interesting effects. You get the idea.

My Picket Fences Steps in InDesign

Open a New Document and make a frame of defined size (e.g., 40p0 x 25p0).
Place and Fit to frame a full image/photo – e.g., a panorama or extended picture.
Lock the picture layer if desired and Create a New Layer.
Over the top of the main photo make a strip frame (or circle as desired). Decide how many strips you want 3, 4 or 5 and make frame to the right size so that, ultimately, all will be accommodated in the size of the main frame below. Example, make a bit less than a quarter or a fifth the width of the main frame to allow some space between adjacent frames and make just a bit shorter than the height of that main frame. (For e.g., for five strip frames make 7.5p0 wide and about 23p0 tall for the frame size example in step 1).
Unlock and copy the main frame picture and do a “Paste Into” into the narrow frame you just made. DO NOT SCALE TO FIT THIS COPY.
Do Edit > step and repeat to make copies of the narrow frame and placed picture. Example, step repeat 4 to make a total of five frames. Set Horizontal offset to a desired spacing (e.g., 8p0 for starters - or adjust frame positions afterwards). Vertical offset should be 0p0. Remember to lock and unlock, as needed, the lower main picture frame. Set and align the frames so they fit appropriately with equal spacing across the main picture. Select and move them or use (if possible) the alignment palette.
Now using the Direct Selection tool, shift-click each image (in each of the narrow frames) and then using Alignment controls (Control Palette or Align Palette), align first the top edges and then the left edges of the images within the separate frames. The image will now appear as contiguous segments of the image below scanning from left to right.
Select each narrow frame separately (or together) and apply strokes, drop shadows, corner effects as desired.
Select each frame separately and move up or down and re-size to fit within the main picture frame. Apply different blend modes, transparencies and edits as desired.
The result should be a series of staggered image portions over the main picture to create a stunning visual. Once happy with the result, merge layers or lock and save as appropriate to further editing needs. TRY WITH ELLIPTICAL FRAMES TOO FOR VARIETY.
The beauty of this is that the background image can be selected and edited (bevel edges, reduced transparency, etc.) and the individual frames can all be ALT copied to make separate or duplicate images over the background (apply different blend modes etc). Possibilities are endless.

Gary Spedding, January 31st, 2007.

Further edit: I just found Nick's site and a link to his original is here: http://www.nickhodge.com/blog/archives/2155

Nick had been ill but at one point was going to get back with me on this but ended up not doing so. Though interesting that there was a comment very recently at his page. Did not say if they could do it or not. If anyone can do it the way Nick did I'd be very happy to hear about it. It does look like it was a compatibility issue lost in later versions of the applications though (either or both Ai and InD). AND it is easier now to just do it in one application!

Cylinder Distort Plug-in for Photoshop and Illustrator

2008-03-04T05:07:00.000-08:00

I just reinstalled Creative Suite and decided to revisit a couple old plug-ins (mainly used in CS days) for Photoshop and Illustrator. These plug-ins, still available and very inexpensive, called the Cylinder Distort plug-ins are from Telegraphics.com. I installed into PS and Illu CS3 and find they work in these later versions . It did take a bit of time figuring out how they work but I have it down now (be happy to share the info with any interested parties).

While CS2 and CS3 versions of these apps can do the same kind of effects (especially Illustrator) there might be use for them still in CS3 but they might be useful for those still in CS. I p[ost two examples (quickly done) -one from Photoshop (the Blue pair) and one from Illustrator (much nicer and better). Enjoy!

Using Type on a Path with Objects in InDesign

2008-02-02T05:51:00.000-08:00

InDesign again goes one better than Illustrator.

Did you know that the type on a path tool can use objects as well as (instead) of text to paste on a path? A little known fact I think. I found just one reference to this embedded in another web Forum but have tried it out with the usual "wow" factor response.

Draw an ellipse (because of corner effects this is not as neat with squared off shapes) and select the obect you want painted around the path. Copy that object (edit>copy) and then select the text on a path sub-tool and set on the path. Ctrl paste as many times as needed to fill the path. Use paragraph justification>all lines to get even spacing. You can then double click (or menu select) on the type on a path tool and apply the many options (skew, rainbow, gravity) available for text - even flipping objects to inside the path. This you cannot do in Illustrator (only there with text itself).

As usual you can apply different fills and strokes (and gradient strokes and gap fills - see postings below) - the only drawback is that you must direct select each object separately as you cannot do a shift select more objects at the same time. By the way this method gets you around the fact that you are limited in what shapes of strokes you can actually add to the strokes presets panel itself.

Further to last post.

2008-01-16T14:00:00.000-08:00

From the last Illustrator to InDesign post. One of the coolest things is to apply different gradients to the stroke (if dotted or slanted style) and the gap fill. See examples below. Click to expand size to show details. Note how cool and smooth they are. Go forth and multiply!

Using Illustrator Gradients in InDesign - WOW!

2008-01-15T18:40:00.001-08:00

WOW! You probably already knew or had heard about this but I gotta share this neat trick here. This comes from downunder and is far out! Mike McHugh (InDesign guru from Aussie-land) had this on a Creative Sweet TV episode that I just unearthed. I suspect Mike is a bit of a Monty Python freak based on his crazy humor but check his site out and this following item.

You cannot save Illustrator Gradient swatches for use in InDesign. Or can you?
Simply draw out a few squares in Illustrator and apply separate gradients to each then copy over to InDesign - the Grad swatches appear in the Swatches panel - Cool!

Best way to save that I found (- there are probably other neater ways -) these for use in other InDesign docs is to create a snippet of that first InDesign doc and locate (Mike says in Bridge) on desktop. When you want to apply grads to InDesign artwork just drag the snippet into the document and select and delete the objects. Don't worry the gradients will still be in the swatches panel.

Another cool feature here (not pointed out before) is that you can apply the gradients to the fills and the STROKES easily. Thicken the stroke and see the application of two different gradients to the object. I drew one object quickly (actually in Illustrator - then copied over an uncolored object to InDesign and applied the release compound path operation to be able to select the different parts and apply the gradient directly in InDesign instead of Illu.) Example (not perfect - see the edges) shown shows what can be done.

This is also a neat way to apply gradients to strokes/thin lines-shapes to leave smooth shapes- something not easy or possible in Illustrator.

Kudos’s also to the team at WatchandLearn.com who had a video awhile back on how to do the gradients with cylinders created in Illustrator. That was cool - to me - too!

Hope this wows you as much as it did me. If so, enjoy playing with it.

Cool stuff! Gary.

Cool Scripts for Adobe Illustrator.

2008-01-13T07:11:00.000-08:00

http://js4ai.blogspot.com/2007/11/new-script-sharpen-edges.html

Neat set of scripts at this site for Adobe Illustrator users. Many I have not explored yet but Text Tweak and Sharpen Edges are quite neat. On text tweak you will need to experiment and jot down some settings as there is a wealth of opportunities here.

On sharpen edges use filters not effects to stylize the round corners!

Layers Tip of the Day - InDesign Handles Corners in Dashed Strokes Like Illustrator Can't

2007-12-02T18:32:00.001-08:00

Layers Tip of the Day - InDesign Handles Corners in Dashed Strokes Like Illustrator Can't

From: Layers magazine [info@layersmagazine.com]

Adobe InDesign CS3 Tip – InDesign Handles Corners in Dashed Strokes Like Illustrator Can't

Jeff Witchel shows us how to create neat corner effects in InDesign - even better than can be attained in Illustrator. Check out this daily tip as well as other from Jeff over at Layers magazine.
Tip provided by Jeff Witchel, Adobe® Certified Training Provider. AdobeAce@comcast.net

Spiral Text Transform Tutorial by ~jerrydmills on deviantART

2007-11-18T17:07:00.001-08:00

Quoted from http://jerrydmills.deviantart.com/art/Spiral-Text-Transform-Tutorial-70112569:

Spiral Text Transform Tutorial by ~jerrydmills on deviantART

deviant ART

Spiral Text Transform Tutorial by ~jerrydmills

Jerry posted more on this at his site.

Illustratorworld.com :: View topic - Spiral/circle text radiating out

2007-11-18T08:51:00.000-08:00

Illustratorworld.com :: View topic - Spiral/circle text radiating out

Here is the link to the Illustrator World Forum on this topic.

Neat New Illustrator Type Graphics

2007-11-18T08:43:00.001-08:00

New Neat Illustrator Type Graphics Covered on Illustrator.com Forum.

Check it out! Here is an example as to what can be done - just the tip of the proverbial iceberg!

appclinic - graphic design tutorials » Post Topic » AppClinic 88 - Make a Grid of Frames out of One in InDesign

2007-11-07T14:19:00.000-08:00

appclinic - graphic design tutorials » Post Topic » AppClinic 88 - Make a Grid of Frames out of One in InDesign

More neat stuff from a newly named site.

Farewell to Michael Jackson - The Beer Hunter

2007-09-09T11:39:00.001-07:00

Goodbye Michael - you will be missed by many.

A couple Images Created in Photoshop.

2007-08-06T11:20:00.001-07:00

We just added an Alcolyzer to the Picture - extending our services.

I post a couple images to illustrate a technique I learned in Photoshop and that were requested by a participant in a Forum to which I contribute. Feel free to ask how done if desired.

Gary.

Incredible new Photoshop Action from Panos.

2007-08-06T04:58:00.000-07:00

Check out Panos' site for the incredible new action. Keep the right time with Panos.

Photoshop Design and Step and Repeat - REPEATED!

2007-07-26T07:44:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of talk about Step and Repeat functions in Graphics apps lately. Here is my take on Step and Repeat - REPEATED! The repeats are done three times here to fill all spaces. For details I direct you to Veerle's web site: http://veerle.duoh.com/blog/comments/creating_a_page_curl_in_photoshop/

Go to her home page and look for thread on this topic. I had posted the original question on this. Generated a lot of response and some neat things to be accomplished with this method. Other neat ideas at her pages too.

Seeley Media Training

2007-07-16T10:07:00.000-07:00

Seeley Media Training

Justin Seeley now has Gradient Mesh - A Podcast Site for Adobe Illustrator Tutorials. Check him out!

It Takes All Sorts to Smoothly Make the World Go Round

2007-07-15T12:13:00.001-07:00

Fused Shapes Plus

2007-07-07T14:43:00.000-07:00

Finally got to figure out how to fuse these complex path shapes made in Photoshop. It is a bit finicky and requires recoloring using the live paint bucket in Illustrator but here it is.

The Pictures - see post immediately before this one.

2007-07-07T12:14:00.001-07:00

Photoshop and Illustrator Workflows

2007-07-07T12:13:00.001-07:00

The designs posted above were inspired by a question on a recent Creative Suite Forum. They were made using paths created in Photoshop and then cross flowing into and out of Illustrator. Very powerful creativity here. Interested readers can ask how they were made and I'll be glad to show you.

Why we Brits let you Yanks win the war

2007-07-04T14:12:00.001-07:00

On this 4th of July I am happy to be living in the USA with my family. When I lived in Canada, many moons ago, I read (I think in their TV Guide - about 1985) a very humorous piece entitled something along the lines of: "Why we Brits let you Yanks win the war". I wish now that I had kept that article - funny as it was. Does anyone know of it? Better yet does anyone have a copy of said text or a reference to it? I'd love to know.

Thanks for any assistance.

Gary.

NormanStiff.com

2007-06-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

NormanStiff.com

Great (Photoshop expert) Designer. Check him out today.

Windstream DSL should be called Molassesstream?

2007-06-29T12:33:00.001-07:00

Anyone else having very slow DSL speeds from Windstream? On my 1500kbps I routinely get 50-150 (tops) kbps and that is with DAP accelerator! Now they want me to consider doubling my speed for a fiver extra a month. You can only make a zero sum game go quantum mechanically faster!

Any others having the same issues?

dave cross online

2007-06-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

dave cross online

Here is a link to Dave Cross' (Pshop expert) Blogsite. I post it because I tried to get in touch (through a posted comment at his site) with Mr. Cross (he used to have a link to E-mail him but it has gone - for possible reasons as to why read on) regarding his connection with the apparently soon to be defunct Illustrator Techniques magazine. I suggested he might not post my comments - he moderates what is posted - but could get in touch via E-mail if he wished. Stick to Photoshop Mr. Cross. Wonderful stuff there - then leave Illustrator to Illustrator Experts.

A lot of people are up in arms and all in a quandary as to what will happen to their subscription monies for IT magazine and no one at the organization seems to concern worth a damn. No response from them at all despite many posts on their own Forum site. No disrespect but an opinion Mr. Cross? You are so good at giving opinions on Photoshop - how come so quiet on the IT issue?

PanosFX.com - Paper Cube map

2007-06-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

PanosFX.com - Paper Cube map

Neat New Free Photoshop Action from the Wonderful Panos.
Check it out today.

Example from NAPP Forum Posting

2007-06-20T17:45:00.000-07:00

This is what I posted with a neater twist on the "Cubist Art" jobs from Photoshop.

Modification to Corey Barker's Multi Box Design Tutorial
Forum members - my first posting. This week I learned a method to create pseudo-3D effects on pictures and find it a similar approach to the one just posted in the Video's section by Corey Barker - The Multi Box Design. I stole Corey Barkers image (I beg forgiveness) to try out my method and made it a bit more complex by doing the multi-layer approach that Corey suggested. It is based on the little known/used 3D transform filter. Here is an example: Also I posted my brief details on how to do this at http://www.spedsblog.blogspot.com/ if anyone is interested. Though you can add many of Corey's steps to enhance this ever further.Modification to Corey Barker's Multi Box Design Tutorial

Forum Entry

2007-06-19T06:16:00.001-07:00

The figure is for a non-competition Forum entry. Needed a "space" for it (no pun intended).

Photoshop Cubist or "Shaped Art" pictures

2007-06-19T06:16:00.000-07:00

Here is something I learned to do in Photoshop just the other day. You can make psuedo-3D pictures by using the little used filter 3D transform.

Cubist or shaped art pictures. Instructions.

1) Open a picture>Create New Layer>Go to Filter>Render>3D Transform. Create shapes as desired – single or multiple (overlapping – leave no spaces between the shapes).
2) (Note: 3D Transform plug-in is no longer pre-installed but is on the Goodies CD for CS at least. The CS plug-in will work in CS2 if placed into CS2 plug-ins folder.)
3) Once shapes are drawn in the menu window you will use the Trackball to rotate the “combined shapes” into the shaded faces view (otherwise they are invisible after clicking OK). The shapes now sit on top of the picture (obscuring the image beneath).
4) Transform, size and move the shape(s) over the desired portion of the picture. Then set Blend Mode to Multiply so that the image shows through the shapes.
5) Control Click the shapes thumbnail to select. Activate the Background/picture layer and Ctrl J the selection to its own Layer.
6) Turn off the Original picture layer.
7) Create new layer and fill as desired (then move down the layers stack if necessary) to reveal the cubist art version of the picture above the new fill-layer.
8) The shaped portion of the image layer can be reselected and then can be stroked using the Layer Styles blending options or embossed etc. Change blend mode to create neat effects also. As usual, endless possibilities.

Got English?

2007-06-16T08:23:00.001-07:00

I very recently got into a bit of an issue on a Artists' Forum regarding the poor spelling I see from folks in many walks-of-life who need to make that first proverbial first-impression. While not picking on the artistic community in particular I did want to point out something important. That is, if I ask for your services to create an advertisement for me I'd like to know that it will not will not embarrassingly be riddled with misspellings as your introductory blurb or portfolio might well indicate could be the case.

I do a fair job, after retraining, in writing today. Though I do not claim to be expert or master of this vast subject. (I had gotten used to just short note-taking and did lose the ability to create coherent sentences as a result at one point.) I do endeavor to keep learning and I have a book to recommend here.

"When you Catch an Adjective, Kill It: The Parts of Speech, for Better and/or Worse" by Ben Yagoda, (2007), Broadway Books, NY. ISBN: 13-978-0-7679-2077-3.

Adjectives, Adverbs, Articles, Conjunctions, Interjections, Nouns, Prepositions, Pronouns and Verbs - are all there - My Oh My! It is a delightful read and an educational one too. Brush up on your English and see why my title is dreadful for it's overuse as a "slogan".

More fused logo examples

2007-06-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

Here are some better Fused Logos- see earlier posting for details. I am reaching out for advice from Illustrator experts on how to make these even better. These are some of my more advanced and best efforts.

Tony Soprano - The Teflon Don

2007-06-11T04:30:00.000-07:00

So it ended pretty much as it began - last night's final episode of the acclaimed hit series "The Sopranos".

Many fans likely did not want to see the demise of Tony nor of his family - personal and business clan alike. But after surviving so many issues his nine-lives must be close to being filled by now.

Once again though, like at the end of every season, we see Tony Soprano brush off the water and/or blood and march on for yet another dawn. Sure they are going to be under more austere circumstances (Carmela learn to live with it!) but a spin off movie can use the remaining story-line and the excellent cast of characters to bring this to a complete closure and still leave fans happy.

After all they did leave us wondering what happened in the final moments. The dream scene was in there for a moment, the sinister implications of someone being out for Tony (or the others), the botched attempt to park the car by Meadow leading to a possible explosion at the cafe with only her surviving?. I am sure a movie will address this and tie up all the loose ends. It is now wide open. It is also a way for each and every fan to let it end their way.

Good job and good luck. My bit on the Sopranos.

Police wasting time with minor speeding offences - Chase Emergency vehicle blockers instead.

2007-05-19T07:39:00.001-07:00

Too much police time and effort is wasted in chasing down minor speeding ticket cases.

However, the number of instances I see of folks who deliberately get ahead of or in the way of Emergency response vehicles IS GETTING OUT OF HAND. The rule to get out of the way does not mean speed ahead even faster than the Ambulance or Fire Truck. Have a police officer ride along with one of the stun-guns that stop vehicles dead and use it to catch these offenders. After all it might be you or your family member that the emergency responder is on the way to. Often times some idiot is on the cell phone and not concentrating (another reason to ban cell phone use in moving vehicles - why do you folks need to be plastered to a phone 24/ anyway?).

On another point - why do the police insist (especially in the dead of night - waking us all up) of screaming sirens as they speed to a crime scene. Don't you think many crooks escape from such "warnings"? Surely flashing lights would be enough warning (at night) for the innocent to get out of the way. Cops slow down at intersections where a stray vehicle at night might be headed in the cross lanes - then get there with all lights (not sirens) blazing. Getting close to the "crime scene" proceed with stealth - maybe "case closed" values would go up. Aha - now there's a thought.

Creating "Fused Text Object Logos" in Illustrator.

2007-04-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

One of the things I enjoy doing is playing with the Adobe Creative Suite Programs: Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. I am by no means a designer or an illustrator but I learn much from excellent blog and podcast sites out there and a few individuals with whom I am in contact.

I found designs similar to the ones above and probed around for how best to do this. No one had really covered it on the web, nor in any books I have seen thus far. I did learn how to do the above though in Illustrator from a Mark Irons and then modified it so it would work best for me. So thanks to Mark for getting me started on this and to others who indirecctly taught me how to play with Illustrator. As I do not think it has still been covered in detail anywhere else I outline the steps here for anyone interested in learning how to do it. [Note this is one way to do it - I am, to repeat the statement above, not a designer nor an Illustrator expert so there may be a much simpler or better way(s) to do this. I also apologize if someone has covered it in detail already.] But, if you like the idea here is a way to do it.

Starting with a new document, type the words you want (adjust font and size as desired)and then draw out and position the "background" object (or objects). Ellipses or squares etc., work well with no fill and a thick or thin stroke as desired. [It will work with multiple shapes - so creative possibilites are enormous - practice and play!]
Reselect the text and convert to outlines. Type>Create Outlines. [Cannot now edit the text so make sure it is correct before outlining.]
Duplicate the text. I do Edit>copy, then Edit>Paste in Front to get the copies perfectly aligned. (Mark Irons had a way to do it differently - probably more technically correct - but I could not master that particular way of doing it.)
With text copies still selected go Object>Path>Offset Path. Set point size (10 usually at high end) and can set joins (e.g., round) as desired. (Again play with this.)
Open Pathfinder Pallet (or work from menu) and click Merge button option to merge the text outlines. Then set fill to none and stroke color and size as desired.
Now deselect the text and select that background object (or objects). Go Object (menu)> Path>Outline Stroke. Set fill to none and stroke as desired.
Shift select the text (stroke outlines) along with the outlined stroked-object and click the Add to Shape Area option button on the Pathfinder pallet shapes modes options. This will fuse-merge the text stroke outlines and the object srokes (as seen in my rather simple examples).

Now for more flexibility. You can select all and go Object> Expand (appearance) and Object>Ungroup (optional or if necessary). Each individual letter in the words can now be Direct Selection tool selected and different colored fills, effects and strokes applied. The possibilities are indeed endless. Enjoy!

I make no pretenses that the way I have described the above might be more involved than needs be but the above is my way of giving a little back to the community. I have reaped great ideas and rewards from the free postings of many artists so I hope the above can inspire others who are more on the novice level (as indeed I am). Let me know if it works for you or if further instructions are needed to help you get started doing these potentially neat "logo-type" designs. Also please share your ideas as to how it can be done better or, better still, modified to create even more wonderful effects.

Praise for "The God Delusion"

2007-04-28T14:14:00.001-07:00

I finally completed my reading of Richard Dawkins' major best selling book "The God Delusion". [Houghton Mifflin, Boston, NY, 2006, ISBN: 13:978-0-618-68000-9]. In spite of my critique on his over use of "needless to say-isms" (see my very first posting at this new site) I enjoyed the book enormously and realize just how desperate, in the US, the Creationism vs. Scientific debate about "Life, the Universe and Everything" has become. I recommend every leader and intelligent person read this book, regardless as to their beliefs, as it promotes some of the greatest thinking there will ever be on this planet. There is still a place for Biblical principles - but my own struggles with this topic have been enormously relieved and I have been enlightened through the reading Dawkins' wonderful book.

As a biologist I was trained at a time when his first major work: "The Selfish Gene" was published. Boy has he come a long way since then. Douglas would approve and George Carlin too, whose wonderful skit appears on page 279 wondrously summing up in one paragraph what Dawkins is telling us in his 400 page treatise. Start with this statement (from Carlin) and I think a lot more less intellectual types would also begin reading about "The God Delusion".

President George Bush Got One Thing Right!

2007-04-28T14:14:00.000-07:00

It cannot be said that George W. Bush got everything wrong in his Presidency. He has very likely been the promoting cause of more conversations than any other extant US President in history. His gross ineptitude will earn him the title the greatest clown and buffoon of all US Presidents. Fame and Glory for him too.

Needless to say - Right on the nail Eric Cundliffe.

2007-04-26T08:56:00.001-07:00

I am reminded of my Ph.D. mentor as I read a very neat book and a key thing Eric Cundliffe taught me when writing my dissertation. I am reading "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins and, in general, enjoying his writing style. There is one thing nagging at me though about his writing style. There are multiple "needless to say...." statements. Guess what? If it is "needless to say" then why say it? This is one thing Eric taught me, some 23 years ago, and it struck a chord with me. So while I enjoy your work, Prof. Dawkins if it is needless to say then indeed needless to say - why say it?

This should also get the Oxford/Cambridge crowd going at it as Eric was Cambridge and Dawkins Oxford.

First General Blog Post

2007-04-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

I have a couple of more specific blogs in existence out there. One for promoting issues dealing with alcoholic beverages and the testing thereof and the other: "BigBullyWatcher", for dealing with consumer issues and complaints and general moans and groans. However, there is sometimes a need or desire to make postings that don't fit these two categories. So, here we are with a new site where I will post general comments on a variety of interests and issues and that I feel just need, from a personal perspective, airing somewhere. See how it goes.

I'll post some titles of neat books and articles that one might not generally easily find as well as other topics of interest to me and that might be of interest to others. I'll let my readers know when comments on the other two "topic- areas" are posted on the other sites without hopefully getting too controversial of this "personal" site. Enjoy and join in the blogging fun.