Here’s the image wrap cover in the flesh. This is my first attempt at this format.

It was a good day yesterday. Two deliveries, three books – one extra copy of Veni Vidi Pici Vol. 1 and two copies of Cinta Bali. There it is in its image wrap cover form. I thought this meant soft cover, but it’s a hard cover, which I like. They really make a superb job of the printing and binding. There’s nary a thing to criticise.

Here’s the shelf now. I must make edge labels for them.  Note the slip case for the first white one. It’s a $21 option.

I’ve just had a call from DHL. Another delivery tomorrow. That’ll be the Japan books. Thick and fast.

Later: yet another delivery! Another copy of this book arrived at midday – that makes three copies. I only ordered and paid for two, so that’s a bonus. I had a lot of hassles with this order, inability to log in, being told my files haven’t uploaded two or three times, having to upload again and again. I deserve this free copy.

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I’m also looking forward to going to the post office to collect another new camera this morning. What, another one? Yes, ‘fraid so. It’s a bit special, this one. It’s a Sigma DP1 Merrill.

This is the version I’m getting, with the top mounted optical viewfinder, a $150 extra.

Strange name you say? Yes, an American guy called Bob Merrill invented a different type of image sensor called a Foveon sensor. The Japanese company Sigma bought the US company and now are the sole producers of this type of camera, and they named the models after the inventor.

The thing is, the design of the camera is a bit clunky compared to the big names – no image stabilisation, slow writing to the card, slow to clear the buffer, slow autofocus, poor battery life.

But! The fixed 35mm 28mm equiv. lens (it’s not a zoom) is supposed to be absolutely superb, the equal of Leica, flawless across the frame. And the images it makes have a richness of detail and colour like no other digital camera produces. I’ll post samples soon.

It just means you have to operate the camera like a film camera – assume you have limited shots, hold the camera dead steady, work slowly, carry a spare battery (which I ordered).  More to come.

Why did I buy? They used to be $999, too expensive for what you got, but there’s a new model out so they’re discounting the old model to $699. I took the bait.

Later: it arrived and it turned out that there were two batteries in the box to start with. My added battery ($15) makes three. That’s OK, they are very small and light, so I’ll carry them with me. It’s too dull and wet to take photos today. I’ll try another day.

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ABC News this morning:

The White House says Barack Obama authorised the mission earlier this year and is believed to have been carried out by several dozen special forces troops.

Wow, they must have been crowded around him. Did they use a stretcher? Was he sick?

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The latest addition takes shape. I assume it’s going to be a cafe/restaurant. It was a very dull afternoon. My house is behind it, to the left of the spindly pine tree. The pub is just to the left.

If it’s a coffee place, they’re going to shake up the existing Italian cafe that I criticised a few days ago. Ciao.

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Speaking of exciting, I got a flyer yesterday addressed to me at this address from iiNet – “Upgrade to iiNet Fibre.” If it’s addressed to me, then I must assume fibre is available here. Wow. They say plans start at $24.95 $49.95 per month, and I know the installation cost for the interface boxes is around $800, I think. I’ll check it out.

If the fibre comes right to my house, I’ll be able to thumb my nose at Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull who is trying to restrict fibre to nodes nearby, using the existing copper wires for the final connection.

Fibre all the way to the house (ftth) = potential 1Gb/s. Using the copper wires (fttn) = 100Mb/s or less. Good one Malcolm. You are crippling Australia to save money.

This is the typical approach – oh, we can’t afford it now, we’ll do a sub standard job and maybe fix it later. Like the three lane (2+1) bridge over the freeway at Warwick, forever restricting Reid Highway to one lane each direction. One lane! For a major highway in Perth! Fools.