twogreys

Thanks eveyone for your replies. I do not work near a linear accelerator - as far as I know - nor do I have one at home! Good to know plasma tv's are ok. thanks again.

Good afternoon everyone. I am thinking about buying a plasma tv, but - there's always a but - I have just read that they have a strong magnetic and electrical fields within a radius of about six feet. Neither of these strikes me as being particularly healthy for our Greys. Now I am having serious second thoughts. Any thoughts/opinions would be appreciated. If I am merely repeating a previuos question, my apologies, though I have looked and have not seen anything about this.

It is such a shame that St Georges Hall is built back to front. I am surprised that you did not mention the Anglican Cathedral, a very impressive Gothic pile, or the Metropolitan Cathedral, which in my opinion, is even more breathtaking than the other. The very shape, and the stained glass lantern, which, when the sun is on it, lends the interior a remarkable ethereal atmosphere, especially as the inside is open and airy. A truly remarkable structure.

There is nothing wrong with the photograph. You have merely discovered that macrophotography has limitations, and the major one is a distinct lack of depth of field, and that it is measured in millimetres, and the greater the magnification the shallower the depth of field. All this means in practice, is that you need to be very picky as to where you focus. As a matter of interest, when magnification reaches 10x, it ceases to be macrophotography, and becomes photomicrography. I have said in a post before, that a when a photograph looks right to you, the photographer, it is right. If your photography is for yourself, then the only opinion that matters is your own. However, as you gain more experience, you will find that you are your most pitiless critic.

If you take a peek at the underside of the tail, the female will/should have a pronounced "V" of white at the base of the tail. The male lacks this. If this is common, this is a quick -and cheap - way of determining the sex of your parrot.

The President of Guyana, a country about the same size as Britain - where I live - has contacted my government offering to "give" their rainforest as a global resource (sorry about the terminology) to combat "climate change". Individual opinion on this subject is irrelevant, conserving and protecting this huge expanse of rainforest most certainly is not. I intend to write to the Prime Minister (the head of UK government), and to my local Member of Parliament (MP) urging them to accept this offer with alacrity. It is surely worth several millions in any currency to protect this ecosystem. It would be marvellous if every member of this forum would do the same, and, at the same time, lobby their own elected representative to urge their own government to support this remarkable and unique offer. Write to: The Prime Minister The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP 10 Downing Street London SW1A The rain forest of Guyana will thank you all for your support.

Going Postal; Making Money; Guards!Guards!; Reaper Man; Witches Abroad - all Terry Pratchett. The Book With No Name by that well known author Anonymous. Area 7 by Matthew Reilly.

If anyone has read Terry Pratchet - Discworld to which I will freely admit a serious incurable addiction - you will know that the Unseen University Librarian is an Orang Utan.

Yet another. Possibly not the right forum, if not, my apologies. A Russian Commissar was giving a lesson on Communism to a peasant. "If you had two bicycles", said the Commissar, you would give one to your neighbour, wouldn't you". "Oh, yes" replied the peasant. "If you had two cows" said the Commissar, "you would give one to your neighbour, wouldn't you". "Oh, yes" replied the peasant. "If you had two pigs" said the Commissar, "you would give one to your neighbour, wouldn't you". "Oh no", said the peasant. "Why would that be" asked the Commissar. "Because I have two pigs" said the peasant.

Funny that... Here in the UK voters have discovered two identical highly dense elements named Blairite and Brownium. Blairite manifests itself through high religious morals, preferably Roman, but any will do, coupled with an intense hypocrisy. Brownium is characterised by profligacy with public funds, seizure of the high moral ground, and the idea that the answer to all ills is to tax them out of existence. All politicians should be jailed as soon as they are elected. This will save time and money in the long term.

I do not live in the US, but I am appalled at this bill. Politicians are not just on another planet, but in a different universe. Banning the import of wild birds - any species - or any other species of wild creatures - deserves wholehearted and unstinting support. This bill needs stangling now. If you think it would help, I will gladly add my UK voice to your protest.

Peaches is almost 4 and she still digs, mostly when she is between us on the couch. She will tuck herself close to either my wife or me, put her head down and scratch away.

I agree with Tari. Vincent started plucking his chest feathers about five months ago, just after we bought a new large cage for him. We took him to our vet to rule out any physical cause, and thankfully it was not any illness or parasitic cause. We sprayed him with aloe vera regularly and showered him regularly, still do, and, difficult though it was, we mostly ignored his plucking, and this seems to have worked, as his feathers are growing back.

I agree with Tari. Vincent started plucking his chest feathers about five months ago, just after we bought a new large cage for him. We took him to our vet to rule out any physical cause, and thankfully it was not any illness or parasitic cause. We sprayed him with aloe vera regularly and showered him regularly, still do, and, difficult though it was, we mostly ignored his plucking, and this seems to have worked, as his feathers are growing back.

Last post by dblhelix. Could not agree more. .end

ps to last post... Like dblhelix, I enjoy "digging into the details", particularly when it comes to digital photography, as I am fairly new to this medium. I come from a film background, becoming qualified in the 1980's, when "affordable" digital imaging was merely a twinkle in someone's eye, and I think this helps somewhat. I still use my film cameras, by the by. I still take great care (I am not suggesting for one moment that no-one else does)in composition and exposure, as with film, you only get one chance, unlike digital. I do very little post-shot processing, preferring to capture the image I am looking for in camera, another hang-over from film. After all, with digital, if you do not like the result it is possible to delete the image, and, if possible, depending on the circumstances, re-shoot. (A great advantage!) Not always possible, I will agree in advance. The main thing, I think, is to enjoy your photography, irrespective of the medium. Now the question is, how deep would you like to delve, dblhelix? I think we could discuss this subject almost forever! I look forward to your reply, and lots of interesting discussion.

Vignetting in digital cameras is due to the photoreceptors being slightly recessed in pits - the photosites - to prevent crosstalk. As a result, those photosites at the edges of the sensor are bad at collecting oblique incident light. The light misses the photoreceptors. To counteract this tendancy, convex microlenses are fitted onto each photosite, and this helps capture oblique incident light and channel it to the photoreceptors. There are a couple of ways to create vignetting deliberately - with a mask on the lens, post shot processing with Photoshop or similar, or by mounting say a lens designed for 35mm format on a monorail camera (Linhoff, Sinar etc.) and this will produce a circular image fading away on all sides, insofar as a circle can be said to have sides. Spot on with chromatic aberration. However, lens flare is caused by specular highlights, and is non image forming light bouncing about in the lens and camera, and reaching the sensor/film. If you shoot with a flash into glass, mirror or the television, the light will be bounced right back, causing flare.

hi everyone Would like to add to previous post. The vignetting dblhelix mentioned is not a function of the lens, but an inherent characteristic of the sensor. Whether CCD or CMOS, a digital sensor, unlike film, is not good with oblique incident light. If you want a wide angle shot, then the amount of acceptable vignetting is a personal choice. If the result is right to you, the photographer, then it is right. Not everyone likes the same picture, whether it be oils on canvas, watercolour on paper, or a photograph. Lastly, I personally like the photographs of your Greys, you have captured their beauty, intelligence, curiosity and their sheer zest for life.

I see nothing wrong with these photographs. A couple of points. Always focus on the eye(s), and remember that because of the size of the sensor any lens will effectively be 1.5x longer than the focal length engraved on the barrel, unless it is a lens designed for APS size sensors. If I could comment on dblhelix, I think you may be a bit confused. Lenses work best in the mid-f stop range, that is, about f8, f11, although with today's highly corrected lenses this may not be an issue. Dead right about the depth of field, though.

Nikki is a lucky Grey. She has a caring, loving companion.

We have full spectrum daylight lamps throughout the house, and they are on all day, even in summer (pause here for the usual grumbles about the English summer, like you know its summer, the rain is warmer). A bit odd to begin with, as they are the low wattage type and are blue not orange.

Bit late for this one, I know, but if you are using a DSLR and the light is a bit dim, hike the ISO up as far as your camera will allow. Mine own can go up to 3200 ISO, so maybe yours can too. This is a full five stops more than 100 iso.

Our two Greys call to us constantly, there is a conversation going on all the time - with hello's, come on thens, and a wide variety of whistles, chuckles and what I can only describe as cackles. To the casual observer or to those unlucky enough not to live with one (or more) of these remarkable birds we must seem totally gaga, and they would wonder where they put the butterfly net, just in case.

My wife as she was going out one day, popped into our Greys's room to say she was going out, and ended my saying "I won't be long". Peaches looked at her and said "you would say that, wouldn't you". No-one had taught Peaches that phrase.

My heartfelt sympathies go to you. Harley will live on in your memories and in your heart.