I used to title "walking on the beach" of theYear 2008 Calender Project
Aside from the beautiful view of the ocean and the great people watching there are many benefits of walking on the beach. Walking in sand requires a greater effort than walking on a hard surface. Your muscles and tendons will work harder as your foot moves around. Experience in Maldives.
Don't forget that one of the many benefits of walking is that walking is relaxing so don't forget to stop and pick up a pretty shell, look for porpoises playing in the surf, and notice the always changing colors of the water and the sky.
hold me close mum!
Hold me close, under the sun.
and let Gods blue and whites soothe your eyes,
like this is all a dream.
Hold me close, under the sun.
You can kiss my neck a little, if you like.
Or better yet, walk my silk shirt off my shoulders.
and let Gods blue and whites soothe your eyes,
like this is all a dream.
Hold me close, under the sun.
You can kiss my neck a little, if you like.
Or better yet, walk my silk shirt off my shoulders.
Flickr Explore Tips and Tricks
joined flickr for almost a year, and have 61 pictures on Explore. I once strategically made a few of mine to show on Explore... although I can't force them to get up there, I do have a pretty good idea how it works. Here are some pointers and cruel truth about it:
#1. Faves, Comments, and Views are basically the things that account for the positive score (interestingness) that count towards Explore.
#2. Adding to groups account for negative points (interestingness penalty) .
#3. Source of views/comments/faves matter; and the person who views/comments/faves your picture also matters.
#4. Repeated comments from the same person are not worth as much as comments from different sources, if not actually penalizing the shot itself. Think about it, some people use certain pictures to carry on discussions. Explore has to screen those out...
#5. Joining many groups, and leaving the groups and rejoining tactics simply don't work... trust me it doesn't. This shot on the right was submitted to too many groups after Explore dropped it the first time, and it never made its way back regardless of how many views/comments/faves I got afterwards. It just lost too much grounds to be covered.
Now that pretty much sums up the basics of the scoring system... note that if you place your shot in too many groups to begin with, your shot better gain a huge flow of traffic and faves, or else it will never cover the lost grounds and make its way up to Explore. How do you get the views/faves without adding to too many groups you say? Yea that's what makes it difficult... I'll sum up a few points here:
A). Sex sells. It's universal... a picture of a very pretty person will definitely have it easier than a picture of your living room. But beware, R rated pictures that are marked would probably be removed, or you may be penalized...
B). If you're a female with a pretty picture as your icon, congratulations... you'll have an easier time than me, or Joe next door... :) Flickr is pretty much web 2.0... and it's a social network. Like I mentioned above, since views and faves matter, you might notice that certain types of people get it easier than others due to obvious reasons.
C). Your subject matters. Some subjects have it easy because they draw people to click on the thumbnail to view a larger size. Our curiosity always gets us, because a bigger picture and the full details are just a click away.
D). Pictures with really eye popping effects or stunning visuals or jaw dropping elements always work. People would also generally fave those shots because they'll want to be reminded of the originality or the technique. Be generous and share the details behind your shots, because it helps others and also provide your viewers a platform to discuss, resulting in comments.
E). Get your shot technically right - Have it properly exposed, color balanced, focused correctly, etc. I don't think we need to go too far on this topic, I'm sure you all know this is important.
F). Be truthful to yourself. If your shots really aren't as good as those up there on Explore 500, maybe you need to improve before trying to push them up on the list.
G). Build up your contacts and social network, because those who like you or appreciate your shots would usually be kind enough and come back and view your latest work, and possibly earn your more views/comments/faves.
H). Yes, there appears to be a time zone on Explore. Afterall flickr is a worldwide network. From what I've heard, it is based on Pacific time zone, but I find flickr updates many times every day and so it probably doesn't matter when you submit your shot really.
I). Don't underestimate your tags, descriptions, and titles. They are the fields that allow your shots to be found when people use the search feature. That's one good source of allowing people to find your shots among thousands and thousands of pictures uploaded to flickr every second. Also, keep your pictures well organized, and navigation-friendly.
Finally, let me add one last thing to wrap this up... Flickr is about Photography, please be kindly reminded of that. Although I know you all want your shots to be listed on Explore or gain some publicity, it's also very important that Explore maintains the level of quality. So far I think it's got a very good algorithm in picking interesting shots. If you really want to make your way there, here's basically what you should do:
Improve your photography; learn how to positively critique; learn how to LISTEN to comments and critiques you receive; learn to appreciate great work of art; generously, nicely, kindly, and genuinely comment on others' work; be original, work hard, and enjoy the process.
Al Qaeda in Maldives - International Terrorism Monitor
(To be read in continuation of my earlier paper of November 11, 2007, titled "MALDIVES: SEQUEL TO MALE EXPLOSION---AN UPDATE" available at http://www.saag.org/papers25/paper2452.html)
The "Threats Watch", a well-known US group, which, inter alia, closely monitors the various Internet sites known to be or suspected to be associated with Al Qaeda and disseminates its observations, has carried an alert titled " Ansar Al Mujahideen Targets the Maldives" .The text of the Alert is available at http://threatswatch.org/rapidrecon/2007/11/ansar-almujahideen-targets-the/. It is reproduced below:
Ansar Al Mujahideen Targets the Maldives
A previously unknown group called “the Media Section of Ansar Al Mujahideen” posted a teaser video today on a well-known Internet forum associated with al-Qaeda that promotes an upcoming full-feature package called “Your Brothers in Maldives are Calling You!”
The teaser lasts 1 minute and 49 seconds and features clips recorded inside a Wahhabi mosque during the October 6, 2007, standoff between approximately 90 masked militants armed with swords and iron rods and 100 government soldiers on Himandhoo island. The tiny island, which belongs to Alif Alif atoll, lies 50 miles to the west of Male’, measures only 750m across and has a population of 583 residents. It is known as a hotbed of Wahhabi activity and, according to multiple intelligence sources, was a major transit point for South and Southeast Asian militants traveling by boat to fight in Somalia in the Fall and Winter of 2006.
The standoff occurred at the unregistered Dhar-al-Khuir Mosque on October 6, 2007, which was harboring at least two members of a cell that orchestrated the country’s first Jihadist terror attack. The attack, on September 29 at a popular tourist drop-off point in Male’, injured 12 foreign nationals and, according to police investigations, was funded by Islamic NGOs in Pakistan and the UK. Although the NGOs have not yet been named publicly, knowledgeable Maldives observers suspect the Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq NGO, the charitable wing of the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
When fully released, the video will mark the first al Qaeda messaging product that features the Maldives. It is likely a call for foreign recruitment and financing for the local terror cell, which is believed to have grown considerably in the past year. The Maldives is believed to fall under the purview of Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Comorro who is wanted for the 1998 East Africa embassy attacks and is believed to be hiding inside Somalia.
Interestingly, the teaser appears to be an indigenous product. It was seeded in 3 file formats (WMV, MP4 and FLV) and 4 sizes across 23 sites, including rapidshare.com, zshare.net, megaupload.com, badongo.com, and archive.org. The archive.org location appears to be the master distribution point and is registered to a false e-mail address “walad99@spambog.net.” It also contains documents with keywords related to travel and tourism, which is the main source of income for the country and the main issue of contention for Maldivian militants.
2. My comments on this worrisome development are as follows: In 2002, a 28-year-old Maldivian national named Ibrahim Fauzee was arrested in Karachi, Pakistan, and taken to the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba by the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on suspicion of his having links with Al Qaeda. As his interrogation did not confirm this suspicion, the FBI sent him to the Maldives. He lives in Male and is subject to regular police surveillance. The reported expansion of Al Qaeda's arc of jihadi operations to the Maldives should be of concern to India, Sri Lanka, the US, Singapore and the international maritime community as a whole. The Maldives has many uninhabited islands, which could be used by Al Qaeda not only for training jihadi terrorists, but also for mounting a major act of maritime terrorism against American ships visiting ports in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore and against the US naval base in Diego Garcia. Al Qaeda has suspected for a long time that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, who allegedly orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist strikes in the US, and Hambali of the Jemmah Islamia were kept by the US intelligence in Diego Garcia before they were flown to the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba. KSM was arrested in Rawalpindi in March, 2003, and Hambali in Ayuthya in Thailand in August, 2003.Even though there have been periodic reports of Al Qaeda planning a major maritime terrorism strike, it has not been able to mount a successful act of maritime terrorism after its attack on a French oil tanker (Limburg) off Aden in 2002. India has to be specially concerned not only over the possibility of an Al Qaeda-mounted operation in ports in South India, but also over the possibility of attacks on indian ships and military personnel visiting the Maldives.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com)
The "Threats Watch", a well-known US group, which, inter alia, closely monitors the various Internet sites known to be or suspected to be associated with Al Qaeda and disseminates its observations, has carried an alert titled " Ansar Al Mujahideen Targets the Maldives" .The text of the Alert is available at http://threatswatch.org/rapidrecon/2007/11/ansar-almujahideen-targets-the/. It is reproduced below:
Ansar Al Mujahideen Targets the Maldives
A previously unknown group called “the Media Section of Ansar Al Mujahideen” posted a teaser video today on a well-known Internet forum associated with al-Qaeda that promotes an upcoming full-feature package called “Your Brothers in Maldives are Calling You!”
The teaser lasts 1 minute and 49 seconds and features clips recorded inside a Wahhabi mosque during the October 6, 2007, standoff between approximately 90 masked militants armed with swords and iron rods and 100 government soldiers on Himandhoo island. The tiny island, which belongs to Alif Alif atoll, lies 50 miles to the west of Male’, measures only 750m across and has a population of 583 residents. It is known as a hotbed of Wahhabi activity and, according to multiple intelligence sources, was a major transit point for South and Southeast Asian militants traveling by boat to fight in Somalia in the Fall and Winter of 2006.
The standoff occurred at the unregistered Dhar-al-Khuir Mosque on October 6, 2007, which was harboring at least two members of a cell that orchestrated the country’s first Jihadist terror attack. The attack, on September 29 at a popular tourist drop-off point in Male’, injured 12 foreign nationals and, according to police investigations, was funded by Islamic NGOs in Pakistan and the UK. Although the NGOs have not yet been named publicly, knowledgeable Maldives observers suspect the Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq NGO, the charitable wing of the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
When fully released, the video will mark the first al Qaeda messaging product that features the Maldives. It is likely a call for foreign recruitment and financing for the local terror cell, which is believed to have grown considerably in the past year. The Maldives is believed to fall under the purview of Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Comorro who is wanted for the 1998 East Africa embassy attacks and is believed to be hiding inside Somalia.
Interestingly, the teaser appears to be an indigenous product. It was seeded in 3 file formats (WMV, MP4 and FLV) and 4 sizes across 23 sites, including rapidshare.com, zshare.net, megaupload.com, badongo.com, and archive.org. The archive.org location appears to be the master distribution point and is registered to a false e-mail address “walad99@spambog.net.” It also contains documents with keywords related to travel and tourism, which is the main source of income for the country and the main issue of contention for Maldivian militants.
2. My comments on this worrisome development are as follows: In 2002, a 28-year-old Maldivian national named Ibrahim Fauzee was arrested in Karachi, Pakistan, and taken to the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba by the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on suspicion of his having links with Al Qaeda. As his interrogation did not confirm this suspicion, the FBI sent him to the Maldives. He lives in Male and is subject to regular police surveillance. The reported expansion of Al Qaeda's arc of jihadi operations to the Maldives should be of concern to India, Sri Lanka, the US, Singapore and the international maritime community as a whole. The Maldives has many uninhabited islands, which could be used by Al Qaeda not only for training jihadi terrorists, but also for mounting a major act of maritime terrorism against American ships visiting ports in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore and against the US naval base in Diego Garcia. Al Qaeda has suspected for a long time that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, who allegedly orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist strikes in the US, and Hambali of the Jemmah Islamia were kept by the US intelligence in Diego Garcia before they were flown to the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba. KSM was arrested in Rawalpindi in March, 2003, and Hambali in Ayuthya in Thailand in August, 2003.Even though there have been periodic reports of Al Qaeda planning a major maritime terrorism strike, it has not been able to mount a successful act of maritime terrorism after its attack on a French oil tanker (Limburg) off Aden in 2002. India has to be specially concerned not only over the possibility of an Al Qaeda-mounted operation in ports in South India, but also over the possibility of attacks on indian ships and military personnel visiting the Maldives.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com)
4th UM Flickr meet
the 4th flickr meetup was a great success thank's to all that made this event a successful one...
Congrats to the winners of the 1st UM photo challenge
Congrats to the winners of the 1st UM photo challenge
Dear grandma
Dear Grandma, I remember
When you were there for me
Dear Grandma, I remember
Your smile was a joy to see
Dear Grandma, I remember
The wonderful dinners I had
I remember how you cared
You dried my tears when I was sad
Dear Grandma, I remember
All the wonderful things you gave
You would let us play around
You would always be there to wave
Dear Grandma, I remember
All your loving care
Helping when I was sick
You were always there
Dear Grandma, I remember
That you are there for me yet
Always a comfort to me
Dear Grandma, I wont forget
When you were there for me
Dear Grandma, I remember
Your smile was a joy to see
Dear Grandma, I remember
The wonderful dinners I had
I remember how you cared
You dried my tears when I was sad
Dear Grandma, I remember
All the wonderful things you gave
You would let us play around
You would always be there to wave
Dear Grandma, I remember
All your loving care
Helping when I was sick
You were always there
Dear Grandma, I remember
That you are there for me yet
Always a comfort to me
Dear Grandma, I wont forget
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