I have been to the toothfairy

To get rid of my only wisdom tooth.

She really is a fairy… Thanks to her magic powder (aka Lidocaine) I did not feel a thing when she injected me the real anesthetic. After that it was just a matter of pulling for half an hour and sewing me back…

The Health Insurance apparently will not cover this as I am not yet 65, but at least I got to keep the tooth. Will post a picture of it soon.

There it is, in all its g(l)ory… I better rest now… Anesthesia is wearing off and a dull pain is mounting up…

Wind

I’ve taken a LOT of wind last weekend in Oostende, going around to take this pictures. The least you can do is to have a look at them.

LolCats!!!

I discovered yesterday this fantastic internet phenomenon of taking pictures of animals and adding funny caption to them, most often in a degenerate, gangster-rapper-like form of English language.

Here’s one example:

It has been hard to get back to work after seeing the first few, yesterday.
In between the piccies I also found a funny movie posted on youtube:

So go here for moar funny pictures.

A New Digital Camera?

After only a few months with the DMC TZ-3? Yes.

It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s a great camera, its seamless 28-280mm zoom is fantastic, but… there is always a but with me… the noise introduced by the chip messes up everything, I feel like my old nikopn gets better pictures after all, plus in darkness without a viewfinder the large LCD screen is a pain to use. I am pondering now on a big step, that is, to get a real SLR body with a good lens to start with.

Nikon, since I still love the little coolpix, plus the fact that my father has one so we could share lenses and stuff.

Probably the d40, or the d40x if I can cough up the cash.

The only thing I don’t understand is whether the lenses works as in 35mm film cameras, or the 18-55mm is really more of a 24-70mm. Anyone who can tell me more?

Giraffe, Babbuini, e Impala: Parco Nazionale dell’Akagera.

Il giorno dopo natale, ci si sveglia prestissimo (h 5.00) x mettersi in viaggio verso l’estremita’ orientale del paese, al confine con la Tanzania. Qua e’ situato il Parco nazionale dell’Akagera, una splendida riserva naturale ricca e diversa come habitata, che ha sfortunatamente risentito del rientro degli esuli tutsi dopo il genocidio. Visto che infatti parecchi di loro non avevano i mezzi x acquistare un pezzo di terra altrove, il governo ha concesso loro (volente o nolente) di occupare meta’ circa del l’akagera, dimezzandone la superficie a 1250 Km2 circa. Buona parte del territorio restante e’ occupato da laghi e paludi, dunque non attraente x contadini o allevatori.
Della guerra risentirono anche le popolazioni di animali, specialmente la megafauna erbivora sterminata dall’esercito invasore (che ad oggi regna il paese). I pochi leoni superstiti vennero invece sterminati dai nuovi allevatori xke’ minacciavano le mucche che pascolavano (illegalmente) nel territorio del parco. E vabbe’.

Alla fin fine, cio’ che si vede oggi e’ solo un pallido ricordo della ricchezza di qualche anno fa. La reintroduzione, sia essa forzata o naturale dall’adiacente Tanzania, e’ lenta. X me comunque, questa prima esperienza nella savana e’ stata eccezionale, e pianifico di ritornarci, possibilmente x dormire li’ qualche giorno e cogliere gli animali all’alba.

Kibuye – Trip to il nido dei chauve-souris.

Perdonatemi x il titolo tetraglotta, ma in questi ultimi giorni le lingue si confondono nella mia mente.

Ecco qua uno slide show del viaggio in barca. Dalla guest-house Bethanie siamo arrivati sino all’isola Napoleone, cosidetta x via della forma che ricorda il cappello dell’omonimo condottiero/imperatore francese.

x il momento metto solo lo slideshow delle foto. a piu’ tardi x un resoconto piu’ dettagliato.

from: here to: eternity

Anatomy of a Balloon Animal

I am stealing this post from the beautiful Streetanatomy blog:

Hello Kitty, kiss your 4$$ Goodbye

I hope that removing the image I linked from here to this post of mine, traffic on this website will not be driven any longer by people looking for the pretty jap-cat… Let’s see if it works…

DMC-FZ18 Reviews, finally!!!

I have finally found some reviews of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18. Here, and here. I am sold. I am ordering it as soon as I can from the US, together with a DMC-TZ3 for my lady. I still can’t understand why prices in the EU are so outrageous, with the TZ3 costing 400 Euros and well below 300 US$ on the other side of the pond. Even counting in taxes, it still makes no sense.

Stay tuned for my next pictures, probably starting with my trip to Rwanda at year’s end.