posted by Mark S. Hoochuk Lead Designer on February 26, 2010 2:17 PM as News
Killer Whale Attacks Trainer At SeaWorld Orlando. Confusion Caused By Conflicting Reports And Rumors.
Story Starts To Become Clear As Witnesses Descriptions Piece Together What Happened During Deadly Whale Attack After Show.
An Online Video Of The Actual Event Is Not Available
Confusion and a rush to find a video ruled the net yesterday and today as people around the world wanted to learn more about a trainer fatally attacked by a killer whale at SeaWorld. Several conflicting reports from authorities, SeaWorld, and witnesses left the world wondering what exactly occurred. The Orlando Sheriff Department was first to state the trainer fell into a tank and drowned. Several hours later SeaWorld stated she was attacked by the whale who she had just finished doing a show with. Confusion continued as several witnesses gave conflicting accounts of how events unfolded. After many stories circulated, the partial information from each has made it more clear what really took place and why.
The conflicts in the witnesses versions of events appears to have been a result of the different vantage points of spectators above and below the surface and at what point during the attack each particular witness noticed what was going on. Piecing the information together its clear a long attack, lasting many minutes, occurred where the victim was drowned while in the thrashing jaws of the whale, who continued to swim fast and jump with her body in a firm, but not mauling, grasp. Below is a report based on all known vantage points of witnesses.
Stunned audience members watched in horror as 17 year veteran trainer,Dawn Brancheau, 40, was attacked and killed, at SeaWorld Orlando Florida, by the lead star of the show Tilikum (stage name Shamu). The two had just finished a show and the trainer was shoulder deep in water rubbing the animal and rewarding him with fish. Suddenly, the animal was seen to violently drag the woman under by her pony tail that was floating in the water. The whale went into deeper water where it gained a more firm hold on her body at the midsection while swimming around underwater. As it past by the underwater viewing area the woman's body was seen to be in the mouth of the animal. Several witnesses, from both the above and below water view points, described the attack as violent, with a severe thrashing back and forth above and below the water and also during a jump in the air. The woman's shoe was flung off. Shortly after the attack started spectators shouted to other trainers to let them know the whale took the woman under. Alarms sounded and spectators, who had yet to leave after the noon time performance, were hurried out of the area. Other trainers were seen grabbing nets and responding as best as they could. It is unclear if any of them entered the water but its doubtful.
At one point the whale jumped from the water with the trainer in his mouth getting the attention of many people above the surface. Many thought this is where the attack started having missed the whale dragging the woman under. Other trainers tried to coax the animal, with the woman in it's jaws, into a special secure area of the tank equipped with a platform used to raise the whales from the water. Raising the whale out of the water would make it nearly helpless and render it much less a threat to those trying to rescue the woman. They were only able to get the whale on the platform after many minutes had passed. Rescue squad members arrived to find the woman still in the whales mouth while trainers struggled to finish raising it. It was a few moments after the whale was lifted out of the water that he was seen finally releasing the woman from his jaws. She was unresponsive as a rescue team tried to save her life. She was killed by a combination of drowning and trauma injuries contrary to rumors she was eaten by the whale.
Shamu is used as a title more than a name. It is used to describe the star of the show, the largest whale performing, . The whale's actual name, Tilikum, is a name well connected to death. This is the third death of a human to take place in this whales various tanks. In the first event, It took part in a fatal group attack on a woman trainer in Canada, in 1991, when she slipped into the tank. In 1991 a man hid in the park until dark and then entered the tank with Tilikum in an apparent attempt to take friendly swim together. The man was found nearly nude on Tilikum's back in the morning. Although the man had injuries, it was ruled a death by hypothermia.There is no doubt the whale was physical with the man but at what point and to what end is unclear.Some people have felt it very probable the whale would not let the man leave before the water temperature killed him.
The event has sparked a controversy over several issues. Some of the questions asked included, why was a known killer animal still performing, what will be done to the whale, why was the trainer in the water with the whale in conflict with park policy, to name some. The main opinion most share is to stop making wild animals performing prisoners and leave them alone. One question raised a particular interesting point that has yet to be answered, why the tank was not equipped witha stunning device such as electric shock or sound waves to help end an attack. One man who wished not to be identified said " Its amazing the attack went on so long and nobody was equipped or trained to stun or kill the animal to save a human life.You would think with the history of these animals, and especially Tilikum, they would at least have some kind of plan".
A long time ago...........in a web far far away....there were free services like Net Zero, that promised free internet for life (they just failed to mention whose life they meant), and Efax free faxing online for life (again the life part was undefined), and many other ad supported services we could use to build our own online empire. Gone are they, succumbed to the dark side they did. When web 1.0 crashed many for life services lost their lives. We have all come to raise an eyebrow when we see the words "for life". In most cases it means death is around the corner for the company making the claim. Beware the web hosting service giving out accounts for life for a one time fee of $10.99. Chances are they are on the way out and want to get as many sign up fees as they can in a month and then poof, out of business with your money. If that's not the plan it will be soon as one time fee lifetime memberships have always ended in doom.
Enter Open Source For those that don't know the new free world of web 2.0 is called Open Source and they have more room to use the free for life designation without the stigma. Open Source software offerings are programs offered free to use, free to own, free to copy and redistribute, free in all ways without a catch. No ads, no spyware, and the source code is open. You can play with the source and make a new program from the old and sell it (pay Joomla, Wordpress, Drupal, that are altered by a company with better features). Development teams make these programs and other developers get on board with the project and a Open Source program goes global with many developers offering input free to improve the free software. Others help in detailed and extensive support forums. The results usually mean a solid and productive free program for all to use and thus improving the internet. The average users should have at least three or four Open Source programs installed. If not, your really missing out and probably paying a good dollar for something you can get free, yes, for life. Below you will find out why you need to get in on Open Source software?
What Can Open Source Software Do? In short, anything. There exist hundreds, perhaps thousands of free programs that do many tasks that pay software does. Here are my picks for the top offerings and a review of what they do and how they compare to their respective pay counterparts. i did not put a number like top 10 as I will add to this post as i have time and as new offerings become available.
Gimp- a free image editing/authoring software that is nearly as powerful as Photoshop. Granted Gimp has some major things missing that Photoshop has but most are on levels the average user won't need anyway. Gimp does not support CMYK the popular professional printing color mode of images, most of us use RGB mode and so does Gimp. Unless your printing professionally you won't need this. Gimp does not save a history of your actions. Photoshop lets you store every step you take in making images in files and share them. This is cool but um... I can just copy the image. Its great to learn how advanced images are made by downloading action files. Again, not needed for the average web user. Gimp does not have the video and scripting support in Photoshop but once again, who in the normal world is scripting images and editing video frames in Photoshop? If you need to make transparent background images, image maps (images with separate links all over), transparent images, artistic and detailed original creations, graphics for websites, banners, animated gifs, and more at a professional level, Gimp is for you and will save you the huge price of Photoshop. The cool drop shadows, inner shadows, flares and lighting, blending and filters, are all there. Gimp is on the move and changes often with new support and plug-ins popping up all the time. It now has a video support plugin. Its a solid image software to have in your arsenal if Photoshop is out of reach or if you don't need professional printing and images scripting abilities but just advanced image authoring ability. Very useful for webmasters needing pro image quality free. No doubt the software would sell for hundreds if it were not Open Source and sell well. Get it here free.
Open Office- I put Gimp first because image software is more popular with the new generation of web users who need pro images for Myspace pages and the like but I truly think that Open Office is by far the best of the Open Source offerings for three reasons; one, more people and businesses need a solid and complete office software suite and Open Office is just that. Two, Microsoft charges companies a fortune in license fees to provide Office to every employee work station, Three, its made and supported by Sun Microsystems a reliable and able provider. Granted, Sun is now Oracle and the plan they had for Open Source gaining them a bigger share of the pro support markets and pay versions of Open Office failed, Open Office is still a solid, professional Office suite that offers the same programs as a full version of Microsoft Office. It has a version of; Excel, Power Point, Paint, and more. Its based on the old Star Office software that Sun purchased over ten years ago. Its the one Open Source program that can actually out perfom its pay rival. It can open, edit, and save most Microsoft Office documents even some that even Microsoft can't, like damaged files! It can export documents in PDF, make web pages, databases, and many very advanced applications similar to Office. It certainly does more than make a good resume or flyer. Get it, learn it, share it. While Office holds 80% of the market the price and ability of Open Office will certainly take a bite out of that number now that its been around, its growing, and the economy demands cuts.
Wordpress- If you need a website with edit ability and a focus on content than there is no better resource than Wordpress. By far, the best content management system (CMS) for the new user. You can get it free and even get free web space to run it on. There are thousands of free templates and you can have an original design made without as much difficulty as other CMS software. Hundreds of free website systems are available but Wordpress is the one that works best for new users as its popularity indicates. Less complicated than Joomla or Drupal, it lets the common person add content with ease in an automated system based on blogging. Wordpress, by design a blog software, makes posting blog articles a breeze and that means you can post more text faster. Google loves text and its no surprise that Wordpress websites do well on Google as they are often filled with rich text content. It has thousands of plugins for such tasks as ecommerce, image galleries, forms, video/audio, and more. Get it free and try out the many free templates and plugins. The more you play the faster you will learn it. In no time at all you will master your website with one of the best CMS systems around for websites that actually produce results for the owner.
Firefox- Everyone uses Internet Explorer and many have a slave like devotion to it thinking "hey, its Microsoft stupid". The truth is Microsoft learned a few tricks from Firefox, the free browser that actually does way more than IE and can be expanded to taste using hundreds of free and pay add ons. Firefox was the first to master tabbed browsing, a true effort at private browsing, and expandability. There is no doubt among most designers and developers as to what browser is best, Firefox is fast, secure, and offers really cool plugins to match any need. Designers can use advanced code tool kits, social web surfers can use a social kit, privacy freaks can surf in a stealth mode developed by Navy intel, media lovers can download Youtube videos and others, music fans can gather all kinds of tools to gather all kinds of music. Firefox is a legitimate contender to rival, and I hope, one day to surpass IE. Since I discovered it I have not touched IE for anything but cross browser compatibility checks. Since its free and the organization that created it supports everything I do; a free and open web, privacy, security, free speech, a rich web experience for all, whats not to like. Try it out and shake off the illusion that Microsoft is best at everything. You will find Firefox a nice change if you give it a fair chance to overtake your old habits developed on IE. The virus protection, security features and download management are better than IE but the real feature is how natural this browser feels after a short time using it. After a few weeks of cutting my Fox to the shape that fit me I could never go back. Its just my browser in every way and feels so right. Firefox is a browser that is an extension of the user.
Thunderbird- the brother to the browser is the email client to replace Outlook. From the same people who bring you Firefox comes a great email client that's free to own and use. Like Firefox it has many themes and plugins to form your email client the way you want. You own it, source code and all, so customize it your way. It is auto configured to work with GMail so plugging in your Gmail is a snap. I have used it for years and never think 'is there a better way" like I did with outlook. Its the right amount of grown up without to much sophistication. Fast to load, easy to use, has all the tools needed to make rich HTML emails for fun or for business. Save templates you make, download or buy. Great spam and virus protection and a intuitive interface that requires no learning.
Inkscape- I have moved Inkscape up on my list as the needs of web users have changed. Inkscape is the free version of Adobe Illustrator in that it makes advanced vector graphics. As mentioned in the Gimp review, today's web user needs to have a vector image of themselves to use in forums and chats, on websites and social sites. In addition, as self managed websites come into play more and more webmasters need graphics authoring for websites. Can't afford to plunk down a few hundred for a graphic designer or to get and learn Illustrator or Corel Draw? Inkscape is the free way to start learning Graphic design on a professional level and producing your own web graphics. Make buttons, images, art, icons, and all the wonderful things we use graphics for.
Clam Win-while it lacks live protection Clam Win does a deep scan and removal of some of the most hated viruses online. Its always good to have more than one fighter in the ring once the attack is on and Clam Win is a formidable fighter to have in your corner. It can catch what some pay anti-virus software miss.
This post is under construction. Please feel free to contact me with Open source additions I missed or information I missed (Gimp vs. Photoshop:)
posted by Mark S. Hoochuk Lead Designer on February 09, 2010 2:01 AM as Website Design Tutorials
Make An Image With Invisible Background
You have a better chance of finding the fountain of youth than good information on making simple transparent background PNG images and graphics you can use on your website, at least when I search for it. I am sure many good tutorials exist but I can't find them. In this tutorial you will be directed to download Gimp, a free image editing/authoring program that is open source. Gimp is a powerful software tool that is a near to a free version of Photoshop as you will find and its open source license means you really own it, more so than software you pay for. In fact, you can redistribute Gimp on your website (can anyone say good content), you can alter the source code, add to it, even re-brand and sell it if you add additional features like pay versions of Joomla and Drupal. Try doing that with something you buy from the big names in software. Many online image services use Gimp as the engine to allow visitors to edit images on websites (can you say even better content). Get The latest version of Gimp here.
The first step in this tutorial is to get the free Gimp software, there are several versions and it is well supported. Gimp uses python to drive its extensive effects and filters and you can pick up plugins made by independent developers. Like Photoshop, Gimp is very complex and has deep layers of functions and features. The things you can do to existing images and images you make from scratch run into the millions with all the possible combination's of effects, filters, and adjustments. The best way to learn Gimp is experiment with the different tools and filters. This works for some while others need definitive directions. Playing around is how I learned many image editing basics. Then I back it up with tutorials and books, both e-books and print. Also, take advantage of the many free video tutorials available on YouTube and many other video websites. If your going to do edits on your site or on your space on social sites Gimp is the tool to do it with.
A Good Video Example Of Taking Out The Background Of A PNG With Gimp
We will use Gimp to remove the background of an image and then save it in a transparent PNG mode. These types of images work great in situations where the image will be used in a fixed division (floating) or in a script generated image slider like the ones found in Jquery and Moo Tools.) There have been many very creative uses for these transparent images in websites that can give a site a neat effects, like the floating feedback/contact button (see mine floating on the right), that are popular right now. Transparent PNGs can be used as a method of design expression for an entire site that uses fixed image elements. Layering theses images and combining them with script effects is a popular design method that allows animations without Flash.
Time to rock. I assume you have installed Gimp and have the image you want to use open in it. I have started with a simple white background image to show you the basics. Removing a solid color background is easy with the magic wand that can automatically make the cut lines. More complex mixed color backgrounds will be hard to auto select. You will be better off using the path tool to draw the cut trace like the video above shows. This takes time but it allows for precise cuts when the auto select can't do it. Cutting out backgrounds on complex images can be tedious but with practice you will develop a useful design skill you will need if your going to do web editing.
Step one- go to layers - transparency - then click add alpha channel. This puts in a transparent background under the original image.
Step Two- select the magic wand/fuzzy select tool and click anywhere in the solid background. This will separate the image from the background with outlines
Step three- go to edit - cut- and execute the cut. That's it, now your image is sitting on a transparent background. You can trim the empty areas down to make the image smaller for the web.
Now you must save it as a PNG to display the transparency.
I hope this helps you understand what you need to make your own original transparent PNGs totally free. In addition, you get Gimp, the great Photoshop like image tool you own for life free. Remember, you can redistribute Gimp freely so feel free to offer it for download on your site and share it with family and friends. The more popular Gimp gets the better the support and growth. By all means donate to the Gimp project. No doubt Gimp is worth at least a few hundred. Donating a small amount leaves you far ahead.
The next design tutorial will be a more complex image using the path tool to make the selection.
posted by Mark S. Hoochuk Lead Designer on February 05, 2010 9:12 AM as Best Free Templates
Some really good free website templates are available out there right now and they are far from shabby and boring. Its just a matter of doing the leg work to find them. I hope to make that leg work easy by bringing the best of the best together in this post for easy download. You can use some of the other post on this blog to find free tools to make the updates to these templates and free software to load them onto a free host, also listed in this blog. The resources exist online to build a website yourself, in a professional manner, totally free. If you have the time the web has the tools.
Times have changed and so has the quality of free resources online. Free templates are no exception. Well coded W3C compliant templates that look amazing are waiting for you. You can use these with professional design service to save hundreds on original design. Most designers can brand a template to look original. Templates are a re smart move for small budgets and if your worried about having the same site as another, don't. I have surfed heavy for over a decade and only seen this a few times and its been years since the last time. Not surprisingly, it was Jane Fonda's website that used another sites design theme without permission. She gave credit and kept the design to this day. Go Jane, go.
Open Office
Wordpress
Fire
Thunder
Ink
Clam Win
