The Tenth Dr. Who's Sonic Screwdriver

My friend just came back from UK for his Wedding and being a good friend, he got me some stuff. Hee hee hee. Anyway, these are Dr. Who's Sonic Screwdriver from two different toy companies.

First things, first. I hate Doctor Who. They are so boringly British and with so many actors playing the Doctor, it soft of gets confusing. I mean, even looking at their boring faces, I am sure the show is the same too. Well, not until I caught the lastest (the tenth) incarnation Dr. Who played by David Tennant which made piqued my interest.

So now, whenever I can, I will watch the episodes with him in it. And his assistant/sidekick, Billie Piper looks sexy as hell. Ha ha ha ha. Ahem.

The sonic screwdriver is a tool for the Doctor to open any lock, repair things and even being an offensive weapon. In essence, the sonic screwdriver is very much an icon for the Doctor. Like claws to Wolverine, like Tricorders to Star Trek, like lightsabers to Star Wars, etc. Well, you get the picture.

Anyway, after getting the sonic screwdrivers, I did some comparison. According to the Wikipedia, the Character Creations version of the toy is more robust to the original prop (but larger) that they bought the molds to reproduce it for the show. So now, I am holding an actual prop and it belongs to me! Muahahahahah! Maybe I should ask him to get me more when he goes back again.....

[Top] Here are the two sonic screwdrivers, the top is by Wesco and the bottom is by Character Creations.
[Bottom] Character Creations version comes with an interchangeable UV ink pen (wrapped) and a small notebook. Because of the size of the box, my friend had to ditch it for the flight home.

[Top] A closer look at CC's interchangeable pen tips
[Bottom] Size comparison. According to WIKIPEDIA, CC's sonic screwdriver is very accurate

[Top] Wesco's smaller sonic screwdriver only has a white LED while CC's is a UV LED.
[Bottom] You can't see much detail but the UV light picked up many signs on the ringgit note.

[Top] Remove the square piece that hides the screw, unscrew it and slowly pull the business end to reveal the whole electronics. The circuit board is located after the three LR44 batteries. As for the speakers, it is a small one located near the base of the tip, just after the round part.
[Bottom] You need a small screwdriver for this. Once its removed, you will need to twist the tip until it is loose. There gently knock the other end until the small black rubber hose that holds the three LR44 batteries slides out.

A 1995 Toshiba DK16

I was at a customer's place today and was troubleshooting
their Toshiba PBX. They have bought this system for a
very long time due to the amount of dust inside. Well,
this goes to show that a Toshiba PBX lasts for a very
long time before it starts to break down a little

Corny Soya

I know they're trying to get more people to drink soya milk
by mixing it with different flavours because in the original
flavour, if you drink too much, you sort of get sick with
that soya taste. I wonder what other flavour they have

How to take children mugshots

Since Kristine is about to go to "school", I was ordered to take some ID photos for her (or else) so that we can save some money compared to being taken at the studios. Not only that, we cannot predict on how she would react in a proper studio, so, its best to try the DIY method first.

Anyway, here are some basic tips which I find it useful when I started portraits long ago. Ha ha ha ha

Step 1: Make sure the subject warms up to you. Do not make the subject too comfortable or give them any form of sugar. Or else they will move too much and you will end up with a lot of blurred images. And waste hard disk space.

Step 2: And when you need to take photos, try not to use flash or else everyone else can see things like dimples, acnes, etc. Try to take in a natural light and never do close-ups. You can use software to create close-ups.

Step 3: Do not threaten the subject or else they will refuse to smile or worse, cry. This will spoil the whole day and you will be force to use the expensive services of a professional studio.

Step 4: Never direct or force the subject to smile, turn their heads and so on. This would create a very "forced" look.

Step 5: When you're coaxing the subject, never let a third party interfere as this would confuse the subject. And never let them stand behind you either as you can "accidentally" kick them and this would also spoil the whole day. You will still have to fork out for professional services.

Step 6: You must always be ready and wait for the subject and not the other way round. Always plan ahead on what everyone needs to do before the shoot so that last minute changes would not create images like these.

Step 7: Be sensitive to the subject's needs. Take as much break as possible so that the subject would never look tired.

Step 8: Make a few jokes and tell funny stories to calm the subject

Step 9: Slowly, they will warm up to you and this is where you can start taking photos. Do not let the camera make clicking or whirring noises that will distract the subject. Just be as quiet as you can.

Do's and don't's of basic potraiture
1. Do not direct the subject. Instead, tell them what you want them to do or, what needs to be done
2. Never ever tell them to smile. You can obviously see the results
3. Do take as much candid shots a possible for possible blackmail in case the subject refuse to cooperate