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<channel>
	<title>Melanie Voerman</title>
	<link>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za</link>
	<description>My umbilical cord to the media world</description>
	<pubDate>Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:51:21 +0000</pubDate>
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			<item>
		<title>Guess what I got</title>
		<link>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=21</link>
		<comments>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=21#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:50:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Melanie</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Mac]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=21</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
&#8220;Congratulations, you and your MacBook Pro
were made for each other.&#8221;
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?attachment_id=20" rel="attachment wp-att-20" title="Guess what I got"><img src="http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/guesswhatigot.jpg" alt="Guess what I got" /></a></p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Congratulations, you and your MacBook Pro<br />
were made for each other.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?feed=rss2&amp;p=21</wfw:commentRss>
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		<title>Leopard Showcase</title>
		<link>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=19</link>
		<comments>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=19#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Oct 2007 13:15:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Melanie</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Mac]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Leopard]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=19</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For all, who are interested in the new OS for Mac which will be in the shops tomorrow: There is a showcase at Digicape!
And even if you know all about the new features already - tomorrow you&#8217;ll finally get the chance to testdrive it yourself&#8230;
Venue: Digicape
Address: 1 Roeland Square, cnr Roeland &#038; Canterbury Streets
Date &#038; [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For all, who are interested in the new OS for Mac which will be in the shops tomorrow: There is a <a href="http://www.digicape.co.za/mailers/leopard/leopard.html" title="Leopard Showcase">showcase at Digicape</a>!</p>
<p>And even if you know all about the new features already - tomorrow you&#8217;ll finally get the chance to testdrive it yourself&#8230;</p>
<p>Venue: Digicape<br />
Address: 1 Roeland Square, cnr Roeland &#038; Canterbury Streets<br />
Date &#038; time: Fri 26 Oct, 6pm</p>
<p>And for those who don&#8217;t know anything about the new features yet Digicape is giving away 100 free Leopard tutorial discs!</p>
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			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?feed=rss2&amp;p=19</wfw:commentRss>
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		<title>Small things to make a difference</title>
		<link>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=18</link>
		<comments>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=18#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Oct 2007 19:09:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Melanie</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[blog action day]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[environment]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[save energy]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[save money]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=18</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I grew up in Germany and was thought some habits to save energy and be environmentally friendly. As I came to SA I found that lots of these things are not in everybody&#8217;s head here. So here is my list of things I automatically do:

 switch off appliances when I leave a room (TV, Radio, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I grew up in Germany and was thought some habits to save energy and be environmentally friendly. As I came to SA I found that lots of these things are not in everybody&#8217;s head here. So here is my list of things I automatically do:</p>
<ul>
<li> switch off appliances when I leave a room (TV, Radio, Lights), also don&#8217;t leave the TV on standby</li>
<li>switch the car off, when I stop - sometimes even on robots with long red-phases</li>
<li>use paper on both sides. I use the back of old printing paper as scribbling paper for shopping lists and phone notes</li>
<li>turn the tap off when I&#8217;m brushing my teeth or washing my hair in the shower</li>
<li>avoid tins and tetra packs and prefer glass bottles (very difficult here in SA!)</li>
<li>Use my own shopping bags and avoid plastic bags</li>
<li>Use lunch boxes instead of clear wrap and tin foil (for lunch sandwiches as well as cheese or left over food in the fridge)</li>
<li>Keep rubbish on me till I see a dust bin (too often I see kinds dropping the plastic of their chocolate or chips)</li>
<li>If I ever have a garden, I&#8217;ll have a compost heap</li>
</ul>
<p>Most of these things are not just good for the environment but save money as well.</p>
<p>In Germany every household has 4 bins: Plastic, Paper, Bio and residual waste. So I&#8217;m used to separate my waste and it actually hurts a but to through it all in one bin. I&#8217;ve heard there is a place to drop glass and paper of somewhere in town. If someone knows more about that, please let me know!</p>
<p>What really concerns me is the disposal of old batteries - in Germany we have a collection point for them and one is not allowed to through them into the normal bin - how is that here in SA?!</p>
<p>This was my contribution to the <a href="http://www.blogactionday.com/" title="Blog Action Day - Environment" target="_blank">blog action day</a>.</p>
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			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?feed=rss2&amp;p=18</wfw:commentRss>
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		<title>Blog Action Day</title>
		<link>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=17</link>
		<comments>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=17#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Oct 2007 09:44:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Melanie</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=17</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On October 15th, bloggers around the world will write on one topic: the environment. As far I could see only 3 South African Blogs are listed yet - and I think it&#8217;s time to change that!
So - get involved!
  
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>On October 15th, bloggers around the world will write on one topic: the environment. As far I could see only 3 South African Blogs are listed yet - and I think it&#8217;s time to change that!</p>
<p>So - get involved!</p>
<p><a href="http://blogactionday.org"> <img src="http://blogactionday.org/images/action_468x60.jpg" alt="Bloggers Unite - Blog Action Day" /> </a></p>
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			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?feed=rss2&amp;p=17</wfw:commentRss>
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		<title>Open Source Party - the report</title>
		<link>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=16</link>
		<comments>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=16#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Sep 2007 10:48:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Melanie</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=16</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Saturday, half past five: I am sitting at the bar at the Deer Park Cafe and look around: There are some Microphones and a Guitar in the front, a guy with a camera and some people sitting in groups around tables. I order a fresh fruit juice and watch the scene&#8230;
7 o&#8217;clock: The Cafe is [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Saturday, half past five: I am sitting at the bar at the Deer Park Cafe and look around: There are some Microphones and a Guitar in the front, a guy with a camera and some people sitting in groups around tables. I order a fresh fruit juice and watch the scene&#8230;</p>
<p>7 o&#8217;clock: The Cafe is now quite full and Heather and Jimmy step to the front to open the event. The atmosphere is open and inspirational. I don&#8217;t know one person in the room but had already some interesting conversations. I feel part of the mixed crowd and enjoy all the Geek T-shirts. I would say, this party is a success : )</p>
<p>Wine and snacks were for free, two singers and a few talks made it personal and everyone was open to meet and connect. I spoke to many people about things like <a href="http://www.wikipedia.org/" title="Wikipedia" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>, <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/" title="Open Street Maps" target="_blank">Open Street Maps</a>, the <a href="http://laptop.org/en/index.shtml" title="One Laptop per Cild" target="_blank">One Laptop per Child Project</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/" title="Facebook" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and the <a href="http://wiki.clug.org.za/wiki/Main_Page" title="Cape Linux User Group" target="_blank">Cape Linux User Group</a> and got lots of new thoughts and ideas.</p>
<p>Thanks for this great event!</p>
<p>Now I&#8217;m looking forward to the <a href="http://wiki.geekdinner.org.za/wiki/Main_Page" title="Geek Dinner Cape Town" target="_blank">GeekDinner </a>to meet some of the people again!</p>
<p><a href="http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?attachment_id=15" rel="attachment wp-att-15" title="Heather and Jimmy"><img src="http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/opensourceparty.jpg" alt="Heather and Jimmy" /></a></p>
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		<title>Open Source Party, 15th September</title>
		<link>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=14</link>
		<comments>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=14#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:16:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Melanie</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=14</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia) and Heather Ford (from iCommons) started the &#8220;50 great parties club&#8220;. They call the open source communities around the world to organize a party. 
The Cape Town Party with Heather and Jimmy happens to be just around the corner from where I stay.
Via: GeekDinner, Dave Duarte
I&#8217;ll report back!
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales" title="Jimmy Wales">Jimmy Wales</a> (founder of Wikipedia) and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Ford" title="Heather Ford on Wikipedia">Heather Ford</a> (from <a href="http://www.icommons.org/" title="iCommons">iCommons</a>) started the <span class="txt24 cinza2">&#8220;<a href="http://www.icommons.org/node_detail/heather-and-jimmys-50-great-parties-club" title="Heather Ford and Jimmy Wales: 50 great parties club" target="_blank">50 great parties club</a>&#8220;. They call the open source communities around the world to organize a party. </span></p>
<p>The <a href="http://50parties.wikia.com/wiki/1_of_50%2C_Cape_Town" title="Wikia Party Cape Town" target="_blank">Cape Town Party</a> with Heather and Jimmy happens to be just around the corner from where I stay.</p>
<p>Via: <a href="http://www.geekdinner.org.za/" title="GeekDinner" target="_blank">GeekDinner</a>, <a href="http://daveduarte.co.za/" title="Dave Duarte" target="_blank">Dave Duarte</a></p>
<p>I&#8217;ll report back!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>GeekDinner - I&#8217;m coming!</title>
		<link>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=13</link>
		<comments>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=13#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Sep 2007 17:35:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Melanie</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=13</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[From Germany I know BarCamps. Well, I never got the chance to attend to one but always found it very interesting. Unfortunately the Cape Town BarCamp seems to be dead. I assumed there was very little community behind it. Only slowly I found some Sites and Blogs from people in Cape Town who actually do [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>From Germany I know <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BarCamp" title="BarCamp" target="_blank">BarCamps</a>. Well, I never got the chance to attend to one but always found it very interesting. Unfortunately the <a href="http://barcamp.org/BarCampCapeTown" title="Cape Town BarCamp" target="_blank">Cape Town BarCamp</a> seems to be dead. I assumed there was very little community behind it. Only slowly I found some Sites and Blogs from people in Cape Town who actually do what I do. Now I found out, that I was just searching for the wrong expression: Here the geeks meet for a <a href="http://planet.geekdinner.org.za/" title="Planet GeekDinner" target="_blank">GeekDinner</a> - it seems to have a similar concept than the BarCamp; just shrunk to one evening. Two days after checking out the <a href="http://wiki.geekdinner.org.za/wiki/Main_Page" title="Cape Town Geek Dinner" target="_blank">Cape Town GeekDinner</a> Scene an email arrived with the message:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;The fourth in the new series of Cape Town GeekDinners will be held on Thursday, September the 27th, at Summerville in Camps Bay, at 19:00 for 19:30.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>I&#8217;ve put my name on the list and hope the little one knows his due-date&#8230;</p>
<p>How exciting!</p>
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			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?feed=rss2&amp;p=13</wfw:commentRss>
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		<item>
		<title>Excursion Logo Design</title>
		<link>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=12</link>
		<comments>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=12#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 Sep 2007 13:34:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Melanie</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=12</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At University logo design was always known as one of the hardest disciplines in Design.
I would not call myself a Designer and I would not dare to offer logo design.
But I must say: it is fun to get creative with a name. And I was amazed how quickly you get to a whole selection of [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>At University logo design was always known as one of the hardest disciplines in Design.</p>
<p>I would not call myself a Designer and I would not dare to offer logo design.</p>
<p>But I must say: it is fun to get creative with a name. And I was amazed how quickly you get to a whole selection of &#8216;Logos&#8217;&#8230;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?attachment_id=11" rel="attachment wp-att-11" title="Logo Design"><img src="http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/logodesign.jpg" alt="Logo Design" /></a></p>
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		<title>I am closing a chapterâ€¦</title>
		<link>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=10</link>
		<comments>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=10#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 01 Sep 2007 16:44:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Melanie</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=10</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It all started in 2004:  I worked six month for Flatspin as Web Developer during my â€˜practical semesterâ€™. More about my internship on the website I created at that time and in my report.
As I returned to Cape Town last year I worked as a freelancer and Flatspin became my first â€˜clientsâ€™ - till [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span lang="EN-ZA">It all started in 2004: <span> </span>I worked six month for <a href="http://www.flatspin.net" title="Flatspin Web Solutions" target="_blank">Flatspin </a>as Web Developer during my â€˜practical semesterâ€™. More about my internship on the <a href="http://www.bps.vonmel.de" title="Website of my practical training semester" target="_blank">website </a>I created at that time and in my <a href="http://www.vonmel.de/bps/Report.pdf" title="report of practical training semester" target="_blank">report</a>.<o:p></o:p></span><span lang="EN-ZA"></span></p>
<p><span lang="EN-ZA">As I returned to Cape Town last year I worked as a freelancer and Flatspin became my first â€˜clientsâ€™ - till they offered me to step in for Richard, one of the partners of the company who was going on a one year sabbatical. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-ZA">In December I started as Project Manager and took over, what Richard had done in the past years: Client Relationship Management, internal and external project management and the occasional website update and code fix.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-ZA">I enjoyed meetings with clients, the conceptual work on websites and the responsibility for quotes, clients and projects. Now it is all over - sooner than expected: Yesterday was my last day at Flatspin â€“ I am now officially on maternity leave. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-ZA">I donâ€™t have too many plans yet on what to do next â€“ Iâ€™ll keep that open till I know how well I will cope with the inevitable ; )<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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		<title>Content-Aware Image Resizing</title>
		<link>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=8</link>
		<comments>http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=8#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 27 Aug 2007 04:46:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Melanie</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?p=8</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The idea is so simple that we all could have thought of it: if you want to make an image smaller just delete those lines of pixels that contain the least information. Ariel Shamir calles it  &#8216;least energy&#8217; (least contrast/change in detail).
It also works the other way around: if you want to increase the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p align="left">The idea is so simple that we all could have thought of it: if you want to make an image smaller just delete those lines of pixels that contain the least information. Ariel Shamir calles it  &#8216;least energy&#8217; (least contrast/change in detail).<a href="http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/?attachment_id=9" rel="attachment wp-att-9" title="SIGGRAPH 2007: Image Slicing &amp; Stretching, Aseem Agarwala"><img src="http://www.melanie.voerman.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/imageresize.jpg" title="SIGGRAPH 2007: Image Slicing &amp; Stretching, Aseem Agarwala" alt="SIGGRAPH 2007: Image Slicing &amp; Stretching, Aseem Agarwala" align="right" hspace="5" /></a></p>
<p align="left">It also works the other way around: if you want to increase the size of an image simply add information there where it is the least noticeable. And if you&#8217;d like a certain part of the image to be eliminated just select it and the resize algorithm will take care of it first.</p>
<p>You can&#8217;t follow what I am talking about?</p>
<p>Watch this:<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIFCV2spKtg">YouTube - Image resize</a></p>
<p>Sources:<br />
<a href="http://www.faculty.idc.ac.il/arik/" target="_blank">Ariel Shamir</a><br />
<a href="http://www.siggraph.org/s2007/main.php?f=attendees&amp;p=papers&amp;s=3" target="_blank">Siggraph 2007</a><br />
<a href="http://www.dpreview.com/news/0708/07082201seamcarvingimageresizing.asp" target="_blank">Digital Photography Review</a><br />
<a href="http://www.macwelt.de/morgenmagazin/348426/index.html">Macwelt</a> (german)</p>
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