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Books Writing

Book branding: An O’Reilly Adventure

When the bottom fell out of the dot-com a few years back, software consulting and internet companies weren’t the only industries impacted: computer technology book publishers, who enjoyed a huge surge of business at the height of the dot-com era, also suffered, sometimes drastically, when the good times stopped rolling. It wasn’t uncommon to hear […]

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Books

Digiterati

For someone who has mainly read the O’Reilly animal books, Adobe Photoshop CS and Digital Photography: Expert Techniques have been a completely different experience. Both books are beautifully produced, rich with graphics and using the glossier paper that is typical with highly graphic publications. However, like the animal books, both are rich in detail with lots of examples and […]

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Photography Writing

A touch of spring

Yesterday and today were perfect days to herald in a gentle Spring, and I was able to photograph several early flowers, including magnolia, snow drops, and, of course, daffodils. The magnolia and snow drops will wait till tomorrow; for today, in what is becoming a Burningbird Spring tradition, the first of the daffodils and the […]

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Books Plants

Of found gold and ghost orchids

After the orchid photos last week, a friend recommended that I check out the The Orchid Thief, by Susan Orlean. As serendipity would have it, Mike Golby just wrote a fascinating essay on the movie version of the book, Adaption, and the topic of passion, Gibson and otherwise: We all have our desired Ghost Orchids and, damn it, we […]

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Writing

The wall dog

Dale Keiger talks about a recent visit with his 83 year old father: He keeps a gun, a Walther PPK automatic, by his bedside, with a round in the chamber. On my last visit, I asked about this, suggesting it was a dangerous practice, even though he keeps the gun’s safety on. A loaded clip was one […]