There are two main types:
Type I - a star orbiting around a white dwarf star which is very dense and small. Matter is pulled off the bigger star and falls onto the small dense one. Eventually there's too much matter on the dense star which causes it to collapse. On the rebound it explodes, completely destroying the star.
Type II - a very big star runs out of fuel and collapses. On the rebound, the outer parts explode, destroying the star.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
THE SECRET OF "DOING WITHOUT DOING"
It is not your action that makes things happen, it is
your intent. You can reduce the need for action to a
very minimum by allowing yourself to focus on what you
desire until you feel the positive energy begin to
move within you. This energy is not based on doubt,
fear, anxiety, worry or need. If you focus on what you
want instead of what you don't want, you will know
when it is time to take action. And when you do, it
will be effortless. Doors open and the entire universe
will conspire to assist you in your desire.
Put simply, you should take no action on anything
until you have visualized your desire and made it real
enough in your mind that your next action (step),
whatever it is, seems like the most logical step.
How can you know the next logical step? Here is the
test that you can give to yourself before taking any
action. If you focus on what you desire and still feel
overwhelmed or anxious, then you are not ready for any
action. You know you are ready when it feels like the
next logical step is effortless. There is no effort,
no strain, and no pain.
What we want to do is to use the leverage of energy,
the same leverage of energy that creates everything in
the universe. However, we are so caught up in the
reality of WHAT IS, that we feel we must create
everything through mental effort and physical activity.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
How to Effortlessly Attract the
Wonderful Things In Life
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Have you ever seen people who seem to have all the
wonderful things in their life without much effort? It
almost seems like they have an advantage over everyone
else. Then you see the people who work the hardest
usually have the least. That doesn't seem fair does
it? But that's the way the universe works.
Unfortunately, those who work the hardest usually
have the least because they haven't learned the
leverage of aligning their energy. They are going
about creating their lives the hard way. They are
trying to use their actions to create what they want.
We have also been programmed that in order to have
what we desire we must work hard. How many times have
you heard - "No pain, no gain." The implication is
that if you want to make something of yourself, you
must work hard. The message is clear - if you are not
hurting or struggling, you are not moving forward.
But here is the truth - anytime you are struggling
you are miscreating. Anytime you feel pain or
struggle, your magnetic point of attraction is
directed to that which you do not want, rather than to
that which you desire. Read it again!
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Action is the *Last* Step
in the Creation Process
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Actions are necessary, but they are the last
component of the creation processes. Actions cannot be
used effectively to initiate results, because
initiation is the function of BEING, then thought,
then action.
Remember, the creation of anything is through your
vibration. Everything vibrates, and it is by that
vibration that we harmonize and attract experiences to
ourselves. So before you act or do anything, first ask
yourself, how am I vibrating? How do you tell? You
tell by how you FEEL. Your feelings show you your
vibration. How you feel determines what you attract.
When you use the process of creating by only focusing
on what you want instead of what you don't want, you
will see that the universe will provide a different
set of circumstances for you that requires much less
action. This puts you in a state of "doing without
doing" or action without effort.
your intent. You can reduce the need for action to a
very minimum by allowing yourself to focus on what you
desire until you feel the positive energy begin to
move within you. This energy is not based on doubt,
fear, anxiety, worry or need. If you focus on what you
want instead of what you don't want, you will know
when it is time to take action. And when you do, it
will be effortless. Doors open and the entire universe
will conspire to assist you in your desire.
Put simply, you should take no action on anything
until you have visualized your desire and made it real
enough in your mind that your next action (step),
whatever it is, seems like the most logical step.
How can you know the next logical step? Here is the
test that you can give to yourself before taking any
action. If you focus on what you desire and still feel
overwhelmed or anxious, then you are not ready for any
action. You know you are ready when it feels like the
next logical step is effortless. There is no effort,
no strain, and no pain.
What we want to do is to use the leverage of energy,
the same leverage of energy that creates everything in
the universe. However, we are so caught up in the
reality of WHAT IS, that we feel we must create
everything through mental effort and physical activity.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
How to Effortlessly Attract the
Wonderful Things In Life
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Have you ever seen people who seem to have all the
wonderful things in their life without much effort? It
almost seems like they have an advantage over everyone
else. Then you see the people who work the hardest
usually have the least. That doesn't seem fair does
it? But that's the way the universe works.
Unfortunately, those who work the hardest usually
have the least because they haven't learned the
leverage of aligning their energy. They are going
about creating their lives the hard way. They are
trying to use their actions to create what they want.
We have also been programmed that in order to have
what we desire we must work hard. How many times have
you heard - "No pain, no gain." The implication is
that if you want to make something of yourself, you
must work hard. The message is clear - if you are not
hurting or struggling, you are not moving forward.
But here is the truth - anytime you are struggling
you are miscreating. Anytime you feel pain or
struggle, your magnetic point of attraction is
directed to that which you do not want, rather than to
that which you desire. Read it again!
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Action is the *Last* Step
in the Creation Process
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Actions are necessary, but they are the last
component of the creation processes. Actions cannot be
used effectively to initiate results, because
initiation is the function of BEING, then thought,
then action.
Remember, the creation of anything is through your
vibration. Everything vibrates, and it is by that
vibration that we harmonize and attract experiences to
ourselves. So before you act or do anything, first ask
yourself, how am I vibrating? How do you tell? You
tell by how you FEEL. Your feelings show you your
vibration. How you feel determines what you attract.
When you use the process of creating by only focusing
on what you want instead of what you don't want, you
will see that the universe will provide a different
set of circumstances for you that requires much less
action. This puts you in a state of "doing without
doing" or action without effort.
HOW TO BANISH ALL FEAR
There's this common, well-known truth that "what you
focus on expands." It's simple math. The more you
focus on the things you want, the more of those things
you manifest in your life.
The reverse is also true. The more you focus on the
things you don't want, the more of those things you
manifest in your life.
The problem is that 9 out of 10 people live within a
"Matrix of Fear" where they're programmed to be afraid
of everything, including success, failure, health
problems, money problems, relationships -- and the
list is endless.
In addition to what's going on in their personal
lives, most people add to their personal fears by
getting caught up in global dramas as well.
Unfortunately most people give up their power to
create their lives the way they want. Instead, they
are *unconsciously* creating their lives exactly
opposite of the way they want them.
They manifest their fears through their intense
feelings of worry and fear about things that *may*
happen!
So of course, they live a self-fullfilling prophecy
and they *DO* happen!
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Everything - everything - starts with a thought.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
It works that way with any thoughts you have, because
thoughts are creative - especially when you energize
them through strong feelings and emotion.
That's how you *get* what you focus on. This is
important to understand because you can never be
successful if you focus on what you don't want or fear
will happen.
When people focus on what they fear, they
unconsciously create what they don't want on an
individual, local, national and global scale. This
fuels more fear - - and the cycle of "Negative
Manifestation" continues.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Please pause for a minute and think about this.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
It's critically important for you to understand that
your THOUGHTS are the *cause*, and your LIFE is the
*effect*.
Yet almost everyone gets worried or fearful based on
the *effects*, and that's how their fears become the
*cause* for more negative things to manifest.
The answer is to monitor your thoughts. Specifically,
I suggest you do the following:
Keep a Positive Mental Focus - No matter what!
Want to know how you can eliminate an enormous amount
of fear in your life? It's very simple. Stop watching
TV and reading the newspaper.
The media is a contrived industry that profits off
making you worried, fearful, scared and anxious. The
more THEY can get you into this state of mind - - the
more YOU have to keep watching or reading to keep up
with the latest events.
The more successful they are at keeping you coming
back for more - - the more MONEY they get from
advertisers who pander to the mindless audiences that
are in this perpetual trance.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
WAKE UP from the trance! Tune out. (Don't tune in.)
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
This one idea can eliminate an enormous amount of
fear, stress and anxiety in your life. Stop watching
TV and reading the newspapers. Instead, focus on the
positive aspects of your life.
Let this be your motto - "No news is good news". It
works for me and has made a major change in my life
and my ability to create what I desire.
Also, don't listen to others who are coming from fear
and living in negativity. If you do, you are using
YOUR creative powers to help THEM manifest what they
fear.
Keep your focus at a pure level. The minute you allow
a competing desire (such as a fear) to have power, at
a *minimum* that delays or throws your conscious
desire or true intention off course. More than likely,
it will cancel it out.
You can think of this like launching a rocket. Let's
call it your "Rocket of Desire". The launching power
is feeling excited about having what you want.
However, if after you launch your Rocket of Desire
you say, "But I am not sure I can do this" or "I am
not sure will this will work out", you've taken your
rocket that was moving with great speed toward your
goal and you've cut back the power. The end result is
your rocket went from soaring towards your goal to
crashing into the ground.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
That's how your worries and fears push away the
things you want.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
If you unconsciously send up other rockets based on
your fears, you're cutting the power you sent to your
Rocket of Desire.
You can launch your rocket so it flies faster and
higher, and has more impact if you eliminate as much
worry and fear as possible from your life. Instead of
fear and worry, keep your focus only on experiencing
your desires coming to you quickly and easily.
It is very simple - the more you focus on the things
you want, the more of those things you manifest in
your life.
focus on expands." It's simple math. The more you
focus on the things you want, the more of those things
you manifest in your life.
The reverse is also true. The more you focus on the
things you don't want, the more of those things you
manifest in your life.
The problem is that 9 out of 10 people live within a
"Matrix of Fear" where they're programmed to be afraid
of everything, including success, failure, health
problems, money problems, relationships -- and the
list is endless.
In addition to what's going on in their personal
lives, most people add to their personal fears by
getting caught up in global dramas as well.
Unfortunately most people give up their power to
create their lives the way they want. Instead, they
are *unconsciously* creating their lives exactly
opposite of the way they want them.
They manifest their fears through their intense
feelings of worry and fear about things that *may*
happen!
So of course, they live a self-fullfilling prophecy
and they *DO* happen!
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Everything - everything - starts with a thought.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
It works that way with any thoughts you have, because
thoughts are creative - especially when you energize
them through strong feelings and emotion.
That's how you *get* what you focus on. This is
important to understand because you can never be
successful if you focus on what you don't want or fear
will happen.
When people focus on what they fear, they
unconsciously create what they don't want on an
individual, local, national and global scale. This
fuels more fear - - and the cycle of "Negative
Manifestation" continues.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Please pause for a minute and think about this.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
It's critically important for you to understand that
your THOUGHTS are the *cause*, and your LIFE is the
*effect*.
Yet almost everyone gets worried or fearful based on
the *effects*, and that's how their fears become the
*cause* for more negative things to manifest.
The answer is to monitor your thoughts. Specifically,
I suggest you do the following:
Keep a Positive Mental Focus - No matter what!
Want to know how you can eliminate an enormous amount
of fear in your life? It's very simple. Stop watching
TV and reading the newspaper.
The media is a contrived industry that profits off
making you worried, fearful, scared and anxious. The
more THEY can get you into this state of mind - - the
more YOU have to keep watching or reading to keep up
with the latest events.
The more successful they are at keeping you coming
back for more - - the more MONEY they get from
advertisers who pander to the mindless audiences that
are in this perpetual trance.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
WAKE UP from the trance! Tune out. (Don't tune in.)
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
This one idea can eliminate an enormous amount of
fear, stress and anxiety in your life. Stop watching
TV and reading the newspapers. Instead, focus on the
positive aspects of your life.
Let this be your motto - "No news is good news". It
works for me and has made a major change in my life
and my ability to create what I desire.
Also, don't listen to others who are coming from fear
and living in negativity. If you do, you are using
YOUR creative powers to help THEM manifest what they
fear.
Keep your focus at a pure level. The minute you allow
a competing desire (such as a fear) to have power, at
a *minimum* that delays or throws your conscious
desire or true intention off course. More than likely,
it will cancel it out.
You can think of this like launching a rocket. Let's
call it your "Rocket of Desire". The launching power
is feeling excited about having what you want.
However, if after you launch your Rocket of Desire
you say, "But I am not sure I can do this" or "I am
not sure will this will work out", you've taken your
rocket that was moving with great speed toward your
goal and you've cut back the power. The end result is
your rocket went from soaring towards your goal to
crashing into the ground.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
That's how your worries and fears push away the
things you want.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
If you unconsciously send up other rockets based on
your fears, you're cutting the power you sent to your
Rocket of Desire.
You can launch your rocket so it flies faster and
higher, and has more impact if you eliminate as much
worry and fear as possible from your life. Instead of
fear and worry, keep your focus only on experiencing
your desires coming to you quickly and easily.
It is very simple - the more you focus on the things
you want, the more of those things you manifest in
your life.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Who is She?
When you came into the world, she held you in her arms.
You thanked her by wailing like a banshee.
When you were 1 year old, she fed you and bathed you.
You thanked her by crying all night long.
When you were 2 years old, she taught you to walk.
You thanked her by running away when she called.
When you were 3 years old, she made all your meals with love.
You thanked her by tossing your plate on the floor.
When you were 4 years old, she gave you some crayons
You thanked her by coloring the dining room table.
When you were 5 years old, she dressed you for the holidays.
You thanked her by plopping into the nearest pile of mud
When you were 6 years old, she walked you to school.
You thanked her by screaming, "I'M NOT GOING!"
When you were 7 years old, she bought you a cricket bat.
You thanked her by throwing it through the next-door-neighbor's window.
When you were 8 years old, she handed you an ice cream.
You thanked her by dripping it all over your lap.
When you were 9 years old, she paid for your tuition lessons.
You thanked her by never even bothering to practice.
When you were 10 years old, she drove you all day, from circus to
picnics,from one birthday party to another.
You thanked her by jumping out of the car and never looking back.
When you were 11 years old, she took you and your friends to the
movies.
You thanked her by asking to sit in a different row.
When you were 12 years old, she warned you not to watch certain TV
shows.
You thanked her by waiting until she left the house.
Those teenage years
When you were 13, she suggested a haircut that was becoming.
You thanked her by telling her she had no taste.
When you were 14, she paid for a month away at summer camp.
You thanked her by forgetting to write a single letter.
When you were 15, she came home from work, looking for a hug.
You thanked her by having your bedroom door locked.
When you were 16, she taught you how to drive her car.
You thanked her by taking it every chance you could.
When you were 17, she was expecting an important call.
You thanked her by being on the phone all night.
When you were 18, she cried at your high school graduation.
You thanked her by staying out partying until dawn.
Growing old and gray
When you were 19, she paid for your college tuition, drove you to
campus, carried your bags.
You thanked her by saying good-bye outside the dorm so you
wouldn't be embarrassed in front of your friends.
When you were 20, she asked whether you were seeing anyone.
You thanked her by saying, "It's none of your business."
When you were 21, she suggested certain careers for your future.
You thanked her by saying, "I don't want to be like you."
When you were 22, she hugged you at your college graduation.
You thanked her by asking whether she could pay for a trip to the
States.
When you were 23, she suggested a match for you.
You thanked her by telling your friends it was ughh!.
When you were 24, she met your fiance and asked about your plans
for the future.
You thanked her by glaring and growling, "Muuhh-ther, please!"
When you were 25, she helped to pay for your wedding, and she
cried and hold you how deeply she loved you.
You thanked her by moving halfway across the country.
When you were 30, she called with some advice on the baby.
You thanked her by telling her, "Things are different now."
When you were 40, she called to remind you of an relative's
birthday.
You thanked her by saying you were "really busy right now."
When you were 50, she fell ill and needed you to take care of her.
You thanked her by reading about the burden parents become
to their children.
And then, one day, she quietly died. And everything you never
did came crashing down like thunder.
"Rock me baby, rock me all night long."
The hand who rocks the cradle...may rock the world".
Let us take a moment of the time just to pay tribute/show
appreciation to the person called MOM though some may not say it
openly to their mother.
There's no substitute for her. Cherish every single moment.
Though at times she may not be the best of friends, may not agree to
our thoughts, she is still your mother!!!
She will be there for you...to listen to your woes, your bragging, your frustrations, etc.
Ask yourself..... have you put aside enough time for her, to listen to her "blues" of working in the kitchen, her tiredness???
Be tactful, loving and still show her due respect though you may have a different view from hers.
Once gone, only fond memories of the past and also regrets will be left.
You thanked her by wailing like a banshee.
When you were 1 year old, she fed you and bathed you.
You thanked her by crying all night long.
When you were 2 years old, she taught you to walk.
You thanked her by running away when she called.
When you were 3 years old, she made all your meals with love.
You thanked her by tossing your plate on the floor.
When you were 4 years old, she gave you some crayons
You thanked her by coloring the dining room table.
When you were 5 years old, she dressed you for the holidays.
You thanked her by plopping into the nearest pile of mud
When you were 6 years old, she walked you to school.
You thanked her by screaming, "I'M NOT GOING!"
When you were 7 years old, she bought you a cricket bat.
You thanked her by throwing it through the next-door-neighbor's window.
When you were 8 years old, she handed you an ice cream.
You thanked her by dripping it all over your lap.
When you were 9 years old, she paid for your tuition lessons.
You thanked her by never even bothering to practice.
When you were 10 years old, she drove you all day, from circus to
picnics,from one birthday party to another.
You thanked her by jumping out of the car and never looking back.
When you were 11 years old, she took you and your friends to the
movies.
You thanked her by asking to sit in a different row.
When you were 12 years old, she warned you not to watch certain TV
shows.
You thanked her by waiting until she left the house.
Those teenage years
When you were 13, she suggested a haircut that was becoming.
You thanked her by telling her she had no taste.
When you were 14, she paid for a month away at summer camp.
You thanked her by forgetting to write a single letter.
When you were 15, she came home from work, looking for a hug.
You thanked her by having your bedroom door locked.
When you were 16, she taught you how to drive her car.
You thanked her by taking it every chance you could.
When you were 17, she was expecting an important call.
You thanked her by being on the phone all night.
When you were 18, she cried at your high school graduation.
You thanked her by staying out partying until dawn.
Growing old and gray
When you were 19, she paid for your college tuition, drove you to
campus, carried your bags.
You thanked her by saying good-bye outside the dorm so you
wouldn't be embarrassed in front of your friends.
When you were 20, she asked whether you were seeing anyone.
You thanked her by saying, "It's none of your business."
When you were 21, she suggested certain careers for your future.
You thanked her by saying, "I don't want to be like you."
When you were 22, she hugged you at your college graduation.
You thanked her by asking whether she could pay for a trip to the
States.
When you were 23, she suggested a match for you.
You thanked her by telling your friends it was ughh!.
When you were 24, she met your fiance and asked about your plans
for the future.
You thanked her by glaring and growling, "Muuhh-ther, please!"
When you were 25, she helped to pay for your wedding, and she
cried and hold you how deeply she loved you.
You thanked her by moving halfway across the country.
When you were 30, she called with some advice on the baby.
You thanked her by telling her, "Things are different now."
When you were 40, she called to remind you of an relative's
birthday.
You thanked her by saying you were "really busy right now."
When you were 50, she fell ill and needed you to take care of her.
You thanked her by reading about the burden parents become
to their children.
And then, one day, she quietly died. And everything you never
did came crashing down like thunder.
"Rock me baby, rock me all night long."
The hand who rocks the cradle...may rock the world".
Let us take a moment of the time just to pay tribute/show
appreciation to the person called MOM though some may not say it
openly to their mother.
There's no substitute for her. Cherish every single moment.
Though at times she may not be the best of friends, may not agree to
our thoughts, she is still your mother!!!
She will be there for you...to listen to your woes, your bragging, your frustrations, etc.
Ask yourself..... have you put aside enough time for her, to listen to her "blues" of working in the kitchen, her tiredness???
Be tactful, loving and still show her due respect though you may have a different view from hers.
Once gone, only fond memories of the past and also regrets will be left.
The Story of Tiny Frogs
There once was a bunch of tiny frogs,.. who arranged a running competition.
The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower .
A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants...
The race began...
Honestly: No one in crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower.
You heard statements such as:
"Oh, WAY too difficult!!
or
They will NEVER make it to the top."
or
"Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!"
The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one...
... Except for those who in a fresh tempo were climbing higher and higher...
The crowd continued to yell
"It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!"
More tiny frogs got tired and gave up...
...But ONE continued higher and higher and higher...
This one wouldn't give up!
At the end everyone else had given up climbing the tower.
Except for the one tiny frog who after a big effort was the only one who reached the top!
THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it?
A contestant asked the tiny frog how the one who succeeded had found the strength to reach the goal?
It turned out...
That the winner was DEAF!!!!
The wisdom of this story is:
Never listen to other people's tendencies to be negative or pessimistic...
…cause they take your most wonderful dreams and wishes away from you., the ones you have in your heart!
Always think of the power words have.
Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions!
Therefore:
ALWAYS be… POSITIVE!
And above all:
Be DEAF when people tell YOU that YOU can not fulfil YOUR dreams!
The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower .
A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants...
The race began...
Honestly: No one in crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower.
You heard statements such as:
"Oh, WAY too difficult!!
or
They will NEVER make it to the top."
or
"Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!"
The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one...
... Except for those who in a fresh tempo were climbing higher and higher...
The crowd continued to yell
"It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!"
More tiny frogs got tired and gave up...
...But ONE continued higher and higher and higher...
This one wouldn't give up!
At the end everyone else had given up climbing the tower.
Except for the one tiny frog who after a big effort was the only one who reached the top!
THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it?
A contestant asked the tiny frog how the one who succeeded had found the strength to reach the goal?
It turned out...
That the winner was DEAF!!!!
The wisdom of this story is:
Never listen to other people's tendencies to be negative or pessimistic...
…cause they take your most wonderful dreams and wishes away from you., the ones you have in your heart!
Always think of the power words have.
Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions!
Therefore:
ALWAYS be… POSITIVE!
And above all:
Be DEAF when people tell YOU that YOU can not fulfil YOUR dreams!
Things to say if caught sleeping at your desk
Face it, we all feel sleepy the moment we enter the office premises. But what if your boss caught you sleeping at your desk? Here is what you can tell him:
• "They told me at the blood bank this might happen."
• "This is just a 15 minute power-nap as described in that time management course you sent me."
• "Whew! Guess I left the top off the White-Out You probably got here just in time!"
• "I wasn't sleeping! I was meditating on the mission statement and envisioning a new paradigm."
• "I was testing my keyboard for drool resistance."
• "I was doing Yoga exercises to relieve work-related stress."
• "Damn! Why did you interrupt me? I had almost figured out a solution to our biggest problem."
• "The coffee machine is broken..."
• "Someone must've put decaf in the wrong pot..."
• " ... in Jesus' name. Amen."
• "They told me at the blood bank this might happen."
• "This is just a 15 minute power-nap as described in that time management course you sent me."
• "Whew! Guess I left the top off the White-Out You probably got here just in time!"
• "I wasn't sleeping! I was meditating on the mission statement and envisioning a new paradigm."
• "I was testing my keyboard for drool resistance."
• "I was doing Yoga exercises to relieve work-related stress."
• "Damn! Why did you interrupt me? I had almost figured out a solution to our biggest problem."
• "The coffee machine is broken..."
• "Someone must've put decaf in the wrong pot..."
• " ... in Jesus' name. Amen."
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Positive Brainwashing
Brainwashing is a term perceived in a negative way by most people. But you know what, I think our brains could actually do with a bit of a washing sometimes!
You see, everyone comes into this world with a clear mind, and a belief that everything is possible. All is positive and well. Remember as a child, you could do and become everything, without any boundaries!
As we grow up however, we pick up beliefs, fears and limitations from our surroundings and peers that gradually form the person we are today. A lot of these beliefs unfortunately are negative and as we build our lives they limit us in our actions and being. Very often they therefore contribute to unhappiness or feeling unfulfilled in our lives and business.
It can be the smallest -- seemingly harmless -- remark from a mother like “just let me handle that, you are no good at that” that can convince you that you are not good at a certain task. A teacher who calls a pupil “the clumsy one” can do more harm with this remark than he realizes when repeated often enough. With every remark the belief is harnessed further in the child that it indeed is clumsy. Even though a remark is said with a smile or with the intend to be funny, it still leaves a legacy in the belief system.
This programming of course doesn’t stop at adulthood, it keeps influencing people in all stages of life. We are being influenced by our parents, kids, partner, friends, colleagues, television, newspapers, magazines and so on. Sometimes positive, but very often in a negative way. No wonder we limit ourselves in so many ways! Belief is the key to your success. If you belief you can do something, you can. If you belief you can’t do something, you will be right too.
The good news is: we can “reprogram” our mind and replace our negative, limiting beliefs for positive contributing ones. Positive brainwashing is what I like to call it! This can be done by the use of so called “affirmations”. An affirmation is a positive self talk statement, stated in the present tense that covers a goal you want to achieve and that ‘overrules’ negative beliefs towards that goal.
An example is “I easily do 10 sales calls a day”. Or “I am an excellent negotiator”. By stating this positive affirmation regularly during your day, you will achieve the goal you have set for yourself easier. This positive self talk helps your mind to overcome beliefs that you have about yourself, that limit your success and actions. Compare our mind with a computer: when you change the input, the output will change accordingly.
So if you have the limiting belief that you are no good in public speaking (probably because of negative experiences in the past) you can actually reprogram your mind by stating the following affirmation: “ I am an excellent public speaker. I love to speak for huge audiences and people love to hear me talk”. By affirming this belief over and over, you actually start to believe it and your mind will find a way to make this statement a reality. At some stage, you might decide to do a course in public speaking, or someone might ask you to speak at some kind of seminar, which forces you to work on your speaking skills. Somehow, this positive affirmation help you to reach the ‘goal’ you have set for yourself, and open doors for you that would normally would have been kept closed. And this works for virtually everything. Belief, and it will happen.
Imagine standing for a big river, with a heavy stream. You have to cross it, but you don’t think you can actually do it. Your belief is keeping you from crossing, although you physically should be able to do it easily. It just looks too hard! Then someone else comes up from behind you, and without thinking starts crossing the river and gets to the other side. His belief was positive, and he knew he could do it. The interesting thing is that this will probably influence your belief: “if he can do it, I can do it too” and you will then cross the river without any problem at all. Similar things happen when a group of people is introduced to the phenomenon of fire walking. At first a big group of people will say that there is no way they will walk on fire. Until…other people with higher beliefs go first, then all of a sudden everyone else rushes over to do it as well.
So think about YOUR beliefs, and try to discover which belief are actually holding you back from reaching your full potential in your life. Then, one by one, start eliminating these beliefs from your system. Formulate a positive affirmation that counters your negative belief, and re affirm it daily. Write them in your diary, on your bathroom mirror, next to your computer; anywhere you see it often and say the affirmation out loud as often as possible. You will be happily surprised by the results!
You see, everyone comes into this world with a clear mind, and a belief that everything is possible. All is positive and well. Remember as a child, you could do and become everything, without any boundaries!
As we grow up however, we pick up beliefs, fears and limitations from our surroundings and peers that gradually form the person we are today. A lot of these beliefs unfortunately are negative and as we build our lives they limit us in our actions and being. Very often they therefore contribute to unhappiness or feeling unfulfilled in our lives and business.
It can be the smallest -- seemingly harmless -- remark from a mother like “just let me handle that, you are no good at that” that can convince you that you are not good at a certain task. A teacher who calls a pupil “the clumsy one” can do more harm with this remark than he realizes when repeated often enough. With every remark the belief is harnessed further in the child that it indeed is clumsy. Even though a remark is said with a smile or with the intend to be funny, it still leaves a legacy in the belief system.
This programming of course doesn’t stop at adulthood, it keeps influencing people in all stages of life. We are being influenced by our parents, kids, partner, friends, colleagues, television, newspapers, magazines and so on. Sometimes positive, but very often in a negative way. No wonder we limit ourselves in so many ways! Belief is the key to your success. If you belief you can do something, you can. If you belief you can’t do something, you will be right too.
The good news is: we can “reprogram” our mind and replace our negative, limiting beliefs for positive contributing ones. Positive brainwashing is what I like to call it! This can be done by the use of so called “affirmations”. An affirmation is a positive self talk statement, stated in the present tense that covers a goal you want to achieve and that ‘overrules’ negative beliefs towards that goal.
An example is “I easily do 10 sales calls a day”. Or “I am an excellent negotiator”. By stating this positive affirmation regularly during your day, you will achieve the goal you have set for yourself easier. This positive self talk helps your mind to overcome beliefs that you have about yourself, that limit your success and actions. Compare our mind with a computer: when you change the input, the output will change accordingly.
So if you have the limiting belief that you are no good in public speaking (probably because of negative experiences in the past) you can actually reprogram your mind by stating the following affirmation: “ I am an excellent public speaker. I love to speak for huge audiences and people love to hear me talk”. By affirming this belief over and over, you actually start to believe it and your mind will find a way to make this statement a reality. At some stage, you might decide to do a course in public speaking, or someone might ask you to speak at some kind of seminar, which forces you to work on your speaking skills. Somehow, this positive affirmation help you to reach the ‘goal’ you have set for yourself, and open doors for you that would normally would have been kept closed. And this works for virtually everything. Belief, and it will happen.
Imagine standing for a big river, with a heavy stream. You have to cross it, but you don’t think you can actually do it. Your belief is keeping you from crossing, although you physically should be able to do it easily. It just looks too hard! Then someone else comes up from behind you, and without thinking starts crossing the river and gets to the other side. His belief was positive, and he knew he could do it. The interesting thing is that this will probably influence your belief: “if he can do it, I can do it too” and you will then cross the river without any problem at all. Similar things happen when a group of people is introduced to the phenomenon of fire walking. At first a big group of people will say that there is no way they will walk on fire. Until…other people with higher beliefs go first, then all of a sudden everyone else rushes over to do it as well.
So think about YOUR beliefs, and try to discover which belief are actually holding you back from reaching your full potential in your life. Then, one by one, start eliminating these beliefs from your system. Formulate a positive affirmation that counters your negative belief, and re affirm it daily. Write them in your diary, on your bathroom mirror, next to your computer; anywhere you see it often and say the affirmation out loud as often as possible. You will be happily surprised by the results!
Five Great Mysteries of the Universe
1. The Missing Universe
Everything in the universe is either mass or energy, but there's not enough of either. Scientists think 96% of the cosmos is missing. They have come up with names for the missing stuff - "dark energy" and "dark matter" - but that doesn't really tell us anything about them. And it's not as if they're not important: dark energy is continually creating new swaths of space and time, while dark matter appears to be holding all the galaxies together. No wonder cosmologists are searching for clues to their whereabouts.
2. Life
I know you think you're more than a sack of molecules, but why? Next time you see a tree, ask yourself why that is alive when your wooden dining table is not. The phenomenon we call life is something that biologists have almost given up trying to define - instead they're investigating ways to make different combinations of molecules come alive. Bizarrely, the best hope is similar in chemical terms to laundry detergent.
3. Death
Here's the flip side: in biology, things eventually die, but there's no good explanation for it. There are hints that switching genes on and off controls ageing, but if our theory is right, those switches shouldn't have survived natural selection. Then there's the argument that an accumulation of faults does us in. However, there are plenty of whales and turtles who seem to age ridiculously slowly - if at all. Of course, if we can work out why, that could be great news for future humans (if not for the planet).
4. Sex
Charles Darwin might have fathered 10 children, but he couldn't understand why almost everything in biology uses sexual reproduction rather than asexual cloning - sex is a highly inefficient way to reproduce. We still don't know the answer. The suggestion that sex's gene shuffling makes us more able to deal with changing environments seems plausible, but the evidence is scarce. At the moment, sex only seems to exist to give males some role in life.
5. Free Will
If you want to keep your sanity, look away now. Neuroscientists are almost convinced that free will is an illusion. Their experiments show that our brains allow us to think we are controlling our bodies, but our movements begin before we make a conscious decision to move. Some researchers have already been approached to testify in court that the defendant is not to blame for anything they did. A scary legal future awaits.
Everything in the universe is either mass or energy, but there's not enough of either. Scientists think 96% of the cosmos is missing. They have come up with names for the missing stuff - "dark energy" and "dark matter" - but that doesn't really tell us anything about them. And it's not as if they're not important: dark energy is continually creating new swaths of space and time, while dark matter appears to be holding all the galaxies together. No wonder cosmologists are searching for clues to their whereabouts.
2. Life
I know you think you're more than a sack of molecules, but why? Next time you see a tree, ask yourself why that is alive when your wooden dining table is not. The phenomenon we call life is something that biologists have almost given up trying to define - instead they're investigating ways to make different combinations of molecules come alive. Bizarrely, the best hope is similar in chemical terms to laundry detergent.
3. Death
Here's the flip side: in biology, things eventually die, but there's no good explanation for it. There are hints that switching genes on and off controls ageing, but if our theory is right, those switches shouldn't have survived natural selection. Then there's the argument that an accumulation of faults does us in. However, there are plenty of whales and turtles who seem to age ridiculously slowly - if at all. Of course, if we can work out why, that could be great news for future humans (if not for the planet).
4. Sex
Charles Darwin might have fathered 10 children, but he couldn't understand why almost everything in biology uses sexual reproduction rather than asexual cloning - sex is a highly inefficient way to reproduce. We still don't know the answer. The suggestion that sex's gene shuffling makes us more able to deal with changing environments seems plausible, but the evidence is scarce. At the moment, sex only seems to exist to give males some role in life.
5. Free Will
If you want to keep your sanity, look away now. Neuroscientists are almost convinced that free will is an illusion. Their experiments show that our brains allow us to think we are controlling our bodies, but our movements begin before we make a conscious decision to move. Some researchers have already been approached to testify in court that the defendant is not to blame for anything they did. A scary legal future awaits.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
20 things you didn't know about Windows XP
You've read the reviews and digested the key feature enhancements and operational changes. Now it's time to delve a bit deeper and uncover some of Windows XP's secrets.
1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Whereas previous versions of Windows were coy about how long they went between boots, XP is positively proud of its stamina. Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs start button option, and then type 'systeminfo'. The computer will produce a lot of useful info, including the uptime. If you want to keep these, type 'systeminfo > info.txt'. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).
2. You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run... and type 'gpedit.msc'; then select User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care -- some may stop your computer behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).
3. You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation' in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.
4. XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word 'hide' and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.
5. For those skilled in the art of DOS batch files, XP has a number of interesting new commands. These include 'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers' for creating and watching system events, 'typeperf' for monitoring performance of various subsystems, and 'schtasks' for handling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the command name followed by /? will give a list of options -- they're all far too baroque to go into here.
6. XP has IP version 6 support -- the next generation of IP. Unfortunately this is more than your ISP has, so you can only experiment with this on your LAN. Type 'ipv6 install' into Run... (it's OK, it won't ruin your existing network setup) and then 'ipv6 /?' at the command line to find out more. If you don't know what IPv6 is, don't worry and don't bother.
7. You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from the command line by using 'taskkill /pid' and the task number, or just 'tskill' and the process number. Find that out by typing 'tasklist', which will also tell you a lot about what's going on in your system.
8. XP will treat Zip files like folders, which is nice if you've got a fast machine. On slower machines, you can make XP leave zip files well alone by typing 'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll' at the command line. If you change your mind later, you can put things back as they were by typing 'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll'.
9. XP has ClearType -- Microsoft's anti-aliasing font display technology -- but doesn't have it enabled by default. It's well worth trying, especially if you were there for DOS and all those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat. To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select ClearType from the second drop-down menu and enable the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome login screen as well, set the registry entry HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/Control Panel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.
10. You can use Remote Assistance to help a friend who's using network address translation (NAT) on a home network, but not automatically. Get your pal to email you a Remote Assistance invitation and edit the file. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a NAT IP address, like 192.168.1.10. Replace this with your chum's real IP address -- they can find this out by going to www.whatismyip.com -- and get them to make sure that they've got port 3389 open on their firewall and forwarded to the errant computer.
11. You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As... and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.
12. Windows XP can be very insistent about you checking for auto updates, registering a Passport, using Windows Messenger and so on. After a while, the nagging goes away, but if you feel you might slip the bonds of sanity before that point, run Regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/Advanced and create a DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips with a value of 0.
13. You can start up without needing to enter a user name or password. Select Run... from the start menu and type 'control userpasswords2', which will open the user accounts application. On the Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear; enter the user name and password for the account you want to use.
14. Internet Explorer 6 will automatically delete temporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start the browser, select Tools / Internet Options... and Advanced, go down to the Security area and check the box to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.
15. XP comes with a free Network Activity Light, just in case you can't see the LEDs twinkle on your network card. Right click on My Network Places on the desktop, then select Properties. Right click on the description for your LAN or dial-up connection, select Properties, then check the Show icon in notification area when connected box. You'll now see a tiny network icon on the right of your task bar that glimmers nicely during network traffic.
16. The Start Menu can be leisurely when it decides to appear, but you can speed things along by changing the registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop/MenuShowDelay from the default 400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.
17. You can rename loads of files at once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can arrange icons in alphabetised groups by View, Arrange Icon By... Show In Groups.
18. Windows Media Player will display the cover art for albums as it plays the tracks -- if it found the picture on the Internet when you copied the tracks from the CD. If it didn't, or if you have lots of pre-WMP music files, you can put your own copy of the cover art in the same directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg and Windows Media Player will pick it up and display it.
19. Windows key + Break brings up the System Properties dialogue box; Windows key + D brings up the desktop; Windows key + Tab moves through the taskbar buttons.
20. The next release of Windows XP, codenamed Longhorn, is due out late next year or early 2003 and won't be much to write home about. The next big release is codenamed Blackcomb and will be out in 2003/2004.
1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Whereas previous versions of Windows were coy about how long they went between boots, XP is positively proud of its stamina. Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs start button option, and then type 'systeminfo'. The computer will produce a lot of useful info, including the uptime. If you want to keep these, type 'systeminfo > info.txt'. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).
2. You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run... and type 'gpedit.msc'; then select User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care -- some may stop your computer behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).
3. You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation' in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.
4. XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word 'hide' and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.
5. For those skilled in the art of DOS batch files, XP has a number of interesting new commands. These include 'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers' for creating and watching system events, 'typeperf' for monitoring performance of various subsystems, and 'schtasks' for handling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the command name followed by /? will give a list of options -- they're all far too baroque to go into here.
6. XP has IP version 6 support -- the next generation of IP. Unfortunately this is more than your ISP has, so you can only experiment with this on your LAN. Type 'ipv6 install' into Run... (it's OK, it won't ruin your existing network setup) and then 'ipv6 /?' at the command line to find out more. If you don't know what IPv6 is, don't worry and don't bother.
7. You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from the command line by using 'taskkill /pid' and the task number, or just 'tskill' and the process number. Find that out by typing 'tasklist', which will also tell you a lot about what's going on in your system.
8. XP will treat Zip files like folders, which is nice if you've got a fast machine. On slower machines, you can make XP leave zip files well alone by typing 'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll' at the command line. If you change your mind later, you can put things back as they were by typing 'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll'.
9. XP has ClearType -- Microsoft's anti-aliasing font display technology -- but doesn't have it enabled by default. It's well worth trying, especially if you were there for DOS and all those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat. To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select ClearType from the second drop-down menu and enable the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome login screen as well, set the registry entry HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/Control Panel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.
10. You can use Remote Assistance to help a friend who's using network address translation (NAT) on a home network, but not automatically. Get your pal to email you a Remote Assistance invitation and edit the file. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a NAT IP address, like 192.168.1.10. Replace this with your chum's real IP address -- they can find this out by going to www.whatismyip.com -- and get them to make sure that they've got port 3389 open on their firewall and forwarded to the errant computer.
11. You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As... and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.
12. Windows XP can be very insistent about you checking for auto updates, registering a Passport, using Windows Messenger and so on. After a while, the nagging goes away, but if you feel you might slip the bonds of sanity before that point, run Regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/Advanced and create a DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips with a value of 0.
13. You can start up without needing to enter a user name or password. Select Run... from the start menu and type 'control userpasswords2', which will open the user accounts application. On the Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear; enter the user name and password for the account you want to use.
14. Internet Explorer 6 will automatically delete temporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start the browser, select Tools / Internet Options... and Advanced, go down to the Security area and check the box to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.
15. XP comes with a free Network Activity Light, just in case you can't see the LEDs twinkle on your network card. Right click on My Network Places on the desktop, then select Properties. Right click on the description for your LAN or dial-up connection, select Properties, then check the Show icon in notification area when connected box. You'll now see a tiny network icon on the right of your task bar that glimmers nicely during network traffic.
16. The Start Menu can be leisurely when it decides to appear, but you can speed things along by changing the registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop/MenuShowDelay from the default 400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.
17. You can rename loads of files at once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can arrange icons in alphabetised groups by View, Arrange Icon By... Show In Groups.
18. Windows Media Player will display the cover art for albums as it plays the tracks -- if it found the picture on the Internet when you copied the tracks from the CD. If it didn't, or if you have lots of pre-WMP music files, you can put your own copy of the cover art in the same directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg and Windows Media Player will pick it up and display it.
19. Windows key + Break brings up the System Properties dialogue box; Windows key + D brings up the desktop; Windows key + Tab moves through the taskbar buttons.
20. The next release of Windows XP, codenamed Longhorn, is due out late next year or early 2003 and won't be much to write home about. The next big release is codenamed Blackcomb and will be out in 2003/2004.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Resolving the panorama
This post is about image stitching methods used to make a panoramic image. Panoramic images have become important in the digital age. Initially, panoramic images were developed to increase the field of view on the photograph. In the digital age, because one cannot print out pictures with resolutions less than 200 dots per inch (explained here), the method to take print outs for posters is to take a number of photographs with at least 15% overlap and stitch them together later using some software. In order to take the individual pictures that make a panoramic picture, the best technique involves using a tripod so that the camera lens only moves on a sphere eliminating parallax error. In addition, the aperture and shutter speed should not vary between the various pictures. More tips on the techniques of panoramic pictures can be found all over Google or by sending an email to me. This post is more about the science behind stitching the images of a panoramic picture.
The idea of image stitching is to take multiple images and to make a single image from them with an invisible seam and such that the mosaic pictures remains true to the individual images (in other words, does not change the lighting effects too much). This is different from just placing the images side by side because there will be differences in the lighting between the 2 images and that would lead to a prominent seam in the mosaic picture.
This Figure shows 3 photos and the locations of the seams are shown in black boxes on each picture and the final mosaic formed from all three pictures.
The first step is to find points that are equivalent in 2 overlapping pictures [1]. This can be done by taking into consideration a certain amount of pixels in the neighborhood of a pixel from 2 pictures and finding the regions that overlap in colors between the 2 pictures. Then the images are placed or warped on a surface such as a cylinder (because the panoramic picture is a 2-dimensional representation of the overlapping pictures in a cylinder quite often). After this step the curve is found that gives the most amount of overlap between the equivalent pixels on both images. Then the images are stitched together with color correction. I will deal in this post with the various algorithms for color correction.
2. Pyramid Blending: In addition to the pixel representation of images, images can also be stored as pyramids. This is a data compression method in which a the image is stored as a hierarchy or pyramid of low-pass filtered versions of the original image so that successive levels correspond to lower frequencies (dividing the images into different layers that vary over a smaller or larger region of space so that the sum of it gives you the original image). During the blending method described above, the lower frequencies (which vary over a larger distance) are blended over spatially larger distance and the higher frequencies are blended over a spatially lower distance [1] causing a more realistic blended image to be formed. Here during the pyramid forming process, the 2nd derivatives of the images (Laplacian) are taken into consideration while forming the pyramid and the blended pyramid is formed and reintegrated to form the final blended image.
This figure shows the pyramid representation of the pixels in an image and the pyramid blending approach.
3. Gradient Domain Blending: Instead of making a low resolution mapping of the image as above, the gradient domain blending method requires the calculation of the 1st derivative of the images. Hence, the image resolution is not reduced before the blending process, but the idea is the same as above. This method is also developed to find the optimal window size for alpha blending and is adaptive to regions that vary fast or slower.
This figure shows the gradient blend approach.
The idea of image stitching is to take multiple images and to make a single image from them with an invisible seam and such that the mosaic pictures remains true to the individual images (in other words, does not change the lighting effects too much). This is different from just placing the images side by side because there will be differences in the lighting between the 2 images and that would lead to a prominent seam in the mosaic picture.
This Figure shows 3 photos and the locations of the seams are shown in black boxes on each picture and the final mosaic formed from all three pictures.
The first step is to find points that are equivalent in 2 overlapping pictures [1]. This can be done by taking into consideration a certain amount of pixels in the neighborhood of a pixel from 2 pictures and finding the regions that overlap in colors between the 2 pictures. Then the images are placed or warped on a surface such as a cylinder (because the panoramic picture is a 2-dimensional representation of the overlapping pictures in a cylinder quite often). After this step the curve is found that gives the most amount of overlap between the equivalent pixels on both images. Then the images are stitched together with color correction. I will deal in this post with the various algorithms for color correction.
2. Pyramid Blending: In addition to the pixel representation of images, images can also be stored as pyramids. This is a data compression method in which a the image is stored as a hierarchy or pyramid of low-pass filtered versions of the original image so that successive levels correspond to lower frequencies (dividing the images into different layers that vary over a smaller or larger region of space so that the sum of it gives you the original image). During the blending method described above, the lower frequencies (which vary over a larger distance) are blended over spatially larger distance and the higher frequencies are blended over a spatially lower distance [1] causing a more realistic blended image to be formed. Here during the pyramid forming process, the 2nd derivatives of the images (Laplacian) are taken into consideration while forming the pyramid and the blended pyramid is formed and reintegrated to form the final blended image.
This figure shows the pyramid representation of the pixels in an image and the pyramid blending approach.
3. Gradient Domain Blending: Instead of making a low resolution mapping of the image as above, the gradient domain blending method requires the calculation of the 1st derivative of the images. Hence, the image resolution is not reduced before the blending process, but the idea is the same as above. This method is also developed to find the optimal window size for alpha blending and is adaptive to regions that vary fast or slower.
This figure shows the gradient blend approach.
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