Mundane Musings Archives - Page 7 of 13

My top 10 iPad gripes

It is heavy and does not lend itself well to being held in a single hand due to the smooth metal back – I remedied this by ordering a silicon rubber sleeve.
Safari for iPad does not offer search within a page. This can also be remedied by following the instructions here
Screen should have been widescreen a 16:10 ratio is pretty much it these days. The widescreen option in the setting sucks!
The look of apps like the address book, calendar and iBook is cheesy and not customizable
Takes longer than expected to charge but on the flip side has a long battery life
The built in Photo frame application is so basic that it will not even allow to set time between photos. Tapping will pause the slideshow but that is it!
No printer support even in iPhone OS4 Will have to wait for iPhone OS4 for printer support (my accountant needs printed receipts of all purchases)
Missing apps – Clock, Calculator, Weather, Stocks, I know that substitutes are available for free or very cheap but still….

OK! that is a list of just 8 and that said I absolutely love using my iPad. I use it most for reading, browsing Flickr and at times for viewing video using Air Video. Apple in past has heard its consumers so hopefully most of my gripes will not be there in next versions of the apps. The one which I am really doubtful about is getting a widescreen iPad but hey! one can always wish…..

I have listed my gripes – what are yours gripes about the iPad?

Vulture on stilts!!

Secretary-bird - Sagittarius serpentarius

As we drove towards the Central Serengeti plains a head bobbed up from behind a rising – I immediately exclaimed – Vulture!! But as the bird continued to come towards us it became apparent that the bird was taller than any vulture I know of, as the legs came into view they were more like that of a Stork or a Crane. This was my first encounter with the Secretary-bird. Continue reading has 2 more pictures…

Lake Manyara: GPS trails, Geotagged photos and more….

Grey Crowned Crane - Balearica regulorum

Lake Manyara was our first game drive destination on our 9 day travails through Tanzania. After landing at Nairobi we traveled for nearly 7 hours before we could reach here. Even though we were very tired the abundance of birdlife and wildlife made up for everything. Continue reading there are 20 more pictures!!

My top 10 tips for photographers traveling to Tanzania

Carry a good bean bag, Even with a small lens your wrists can get tired pretty soon and tripods are not very useful inside a vehicle.
Do not overlook taking wide angle shots – carry a good wide lens – a 10-20mm Sigma is a nice starter lens.
A 400mm lens is mostly reach enough, you will not miss much if you do not have a longer lens – but do carry your big guns if you can.
Do not ignore the birds there are plenty of them in Manyara, Serengeti as well as Ngorongoro.
Use the biggest vehicle you can find and afford and do not fill it – have one photographer per row of seats.
Pick up cans of Insect repellent sprays, they will be there in your rooms, wear full sleeves shirts. Avoid wearing blue and black – the Tsetse flies can be very irritating though the Serengeti ones are not disease carrying.
Learn the Swaheli words for the common animals – the guides and drivers keep up a constant chatter on the radio and won’t share unless you specifically ask.
Do day long game drives – unlike in India they are allowed in Tanzania and most resorts will give you packed breakfast as well as lunches.
Rhinos in Ngorongoro are always very far off – get hold of a friendly Ranger who has the authority to go on “Ranger only” tracks and somehow convince him to take you in his vehicle.
Carry enough storage cards for your camera and also spare batteries – you will certainly shoot more than you anticipated. Do not delete pictures in the field.

And this last one is a general tip for travelers using Kenya Airways – board early. Kenya airways has a monopoly in the sector and treat passengers like shit. You may want to read what we went through while flying back

It’s a Hammerkop

So you have been waiting for the first image from my trip to East Africa. I could have put in many other dramatic things like the Lion, Rhino, Cheetah or the Hippo but I felt that those mammals are rather cliched. So I decided to put a common but unique bird Read more about the Hammerkop

The anniversary of blah!

“Aren’t you two bored of each other?” The question took me by surprise! No it has never occurred to me that I will get bored of Swati, but then perhaps I am too naive when it comes to marital relationships. For me this is one relationship where things are in black and white without any intervening gray shades. The question however did make me ponder as to why it should be raised at all and I cringed. Today I don’t want to wade thru the dissatisfactions of others trying to find why I am not… Heh! even writing that sounds pretty stupid. The day marks 16 years of being married to Swati.
I quoted Kaifi Azmi on our 10th anniversary

Dil me sanam ki soorat
Aakhon me aashiqui de
Mere khuda mujhe tu
Ek aur zindagi de

And that still holds true!

Ironically 7 years ago I did write Till boredom do us apart… and I have titled this as anniversary of blah simply because the 16th anniversary has no traditional gifts associated with it – so don’t try to read too much into it 🙂

Among more mundane things – no special plans for the day we may go out for dinner but the excitement is about getting everything ready for our Friday departure to Tanzania for 9 days!!

Rikki Tikki Tavi – Indian Gray Mongoose

Lip smacking good!!! — Lip smacking good!!

While the Indian folklore is full of tales about how the mongoose is the fiercest enemy of the snake and is generally looked upon as the good guy, the tale which really endeared me to the mongoose was Rudyard Kipling’s short story Rikki Tikki Tavi in his novel Jungle Book. Continue reading Rikki Tikki Tavi – Indian Gray Mongoose

How was it done? This way…

This is a photograph! [Explored] — This is a photograph!

Another picture and a picture of the setup after the link

Photographing Butterflies – A mini HowTo

Dark Blue Tiger [Explored] — Dark Blue Tiger (Tirumala septentrionis)

When my above butterfly picture made it to Flickr explore, making the count of my butterflies in explore to five I got a couple of request for writing a HowTo about capturing good butterfly pictures. I am not claiming to be an expert in butterflies nor do I assume that I have taken exceptional pictures but after having taken a second look at the pictures I posted to Flickr I realized that a few things were common to most of the pictures. This is more of a list to tips and tricks than a complete HowTo

Continue reading, more photographs inside