Category: Misc
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Synchronized Fireflies of the Smoky Mountains
Just saw my first summer fireflies within the past week or two. They come out, here in East Tennessee, sometime in June. Now that July has arrived, so have they, in full force. This fractal picture I drew may be stylized, but it does depict the way these beautiful insects cluster around vegetation. In the…
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Fractal Art: More from Gary Matthews
The response to my Star Gate picture, posted the other day, has thrilled me. Thumbnail at the right — or visit the original post here. Nothing, however, thrills me more than the many requests I’m getting to see more of my fractal art. There are quite a few more images, some of which strike me as sufficiently…
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The Gary Matthews Fractals
Digital art. I’ve long been a sucker for it. Lately I’ve been trying my hand at fractals, a particularly fascinating type of digital art. For me it started simply as puttering. Before I knew it, my hard drive was bursting with images. Some better than others. But all of them fun (for me, at least). Here’s a sample:…
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Google Plus: Track Posts and Comments
Youâve written a wildly popular post on Google Plus. People are talking. Lots of reshares, including some by social-media heavyweights whose followers greatly outnumber yours. You shared it first, perhaps, as a link to your blog, with a terse summary. You shared it again as a standalone article, with a great cover photo. Again with a…
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Charmian Matthews: “influencing, rosy” mom!
Thinking of you, Mom, this Mother’s Day. And every day! Hard to believe I’m just three years younger today than you were when you died, in 1991, at 68. Too soon! But what an impact you made — on the world, on me, on everyone who knew and loved you — in those years. Your full name was “Minnie…
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Heron Now! a magic photo moment
Not every critter associated with the Knoxville Zoo resides there in an official capacity. There’s a large gray heron I’m pretty sure nests on or around the zoo property. Apparently in the wooded buffer that surrounds the exhibits. UPDATE: More bird magic! See below for my mourning dove image capture! The heron hangs out at the Chilhowee…
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A Knoxville Springtime
With winter receding, I spring to my camera to catch the first flowers. Although Cheri and I work hard at surrounding our house with flowers, the biggest and best displays involve no work at all. They just happen, courtesy of our trees: a Bradford pear along the street, and two large apple trees at the…
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More Fancy Fonts and Special Characters
Brighten your social-media posts with fancy fonts and special characters! Like this: â±á©ïŹĄá á© â±OïŹĄâá and ÏââŻÂąážŻÎ±Ć âĐœÎ±Òα¹âΔÒáč§. As ever-more publishing migrates to social platforms like Facebook and Google Plus, the apparent lack of formatting options becomes confining indeed. On Facebook we have essentially none. Google Plus users are lucky: There we at least have boldface, italic, and…
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Google Comments Unleashed
What’s the most important new resource for bloggers and web designers, now that link images appear full-width on Google Plus? Most articles focus on increased website traffic, since these highly visible images click through to their target links. That’s indeed important. Even more important, however, in my view, is the fresh incentive this gives to…
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Fifty Years of Fasting
I almost didn’t notice! This year (2014) is the fiftieth year I’ve participated in the annual 19-day Fast for members of the Baha’i Faith. The milestone nearly slipped past me. The Fast spans March 2-20, and it was just yesterday — the 16th — that I did the math and realized it’s now fifty years.…
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Google Plus displaying full-width link images
The Google Plus social network apparently has just begun displaying link images as full-width photographs — not simply as thumbnails. [UPDATE: From Saturday, March 15 through Monday, March 17 — the Ides of March through Saint Patrick’s Day — Google Plus links reverted to the old-style thumbnail images. As of today, March 18, they are…
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My Favorite Superhero: Lois Lane!
âWho’s your favorite superhero? Mine is Lois Lane! Let me also suggest that Tika Sumpter be the first black actor to play Lois. She’d rock the part! (But I’m jumping ahead: Read on!) Now that superhero science fiction is blockbuster-movie fare, with A-list stars lining up, I no longer downplay my lifelong love for the…