within the last few weeks, i’ve received several questions about the “copyright tags” that i put in my photos, so i’ve decided to assemble a short how-to.

most of you probably think you need fancy image manipulation programs like photoshop, but it’s actually quite simple - all you need is a piece of paper, a pc&printer (if you don’t want it to be hand-written), and a pair of scissors. :-)
see for yourself:

[view photos: how to place copyright tags on your photos]

the motive for this practical course is dagmario, a little zwetschkenkrampus (plum krampus) that i got from kathrin. it also prooves that he’s still alive and well.

some additional hints:

• choose a high aperture (f-number) for maximum sharpness of both the copyright-tag and the motive.
• you can individually set the size of the tag by moving the paper closer to/away from the camera.
• if you don’t have three arms, a tripod is worth a lot!

i think there aren’t many occasions in which botanists are recognized as the ones with exciting stories to tell.

dr. dallas mildenhall, a botanist from new zealand, recently held a speech about his job, and he is definitely one of those.
he’s one of just a handful of forensic palynology experts around the globe, who are analyzing pollen and spores to help solve criminal cases in court.
after talking about his job in general, dr. mildenhall presented some cases which he had collaborated in/worked at: age determination of antique furniture, tracing drug-dealing routes, investigating import fraud, up to murder.
he had some very interesting things to talk about!

if you like the tv-show CSI and get the chance, i recommend going to one of his lectures.

[view photos: forensic palynology speech]

i felt “funny” yesterday, and soon traced the feeling to an unusually high heartbeat rate.
when i put on a pulse monitor, i saw that i had a resting pulse rate of 120.
decided to keep an eye on that, and the readings were quite …entertaining, actually:
in intervalls of about 20 seconds, my pulse went something like this (not a lot of change in activity): 120 - 100 - 80 - 120 - 90 - 110 - 100 - …

eventually, it settled back down to 85…