Flickr has taken a lot of heat this past week, and I will be less polite than Michael, my co-blogger. He asks if "Flickr Messed Up?" Michael attributes this to flickr trying to compete with Pinterest, here. Michael may well be correct. But, I have another view or two, having followed this for the past week. That said, we may both be correct in some measure First, some background. Users who woke up to discover the "new and improved" site wondered if it had been beta tested. Apparently it had, in a manner of speaking, starting two weeks previously. Users had been chosen at random to participate in a "bucket test", and as far as I can tell, agreed. Wow, they apparently did not know what they were in for, and were seriously unhappy. Virtually every complaint I've read from those who woke up to the "new and improved" site was mentioned by those involved in the "bucket test". You can read all comments here and here. C...

Sorry for the language (now deleted on reflection ;)) but Flickr's response to Pinterest displacing it as the number one photo website was to change the site and as far as I am concerned it is a failure. Flickr did not have to make radical changes to the presentation of their site. It was very efficient the way it was. Now it is more difficult to navigate and more importantly in runs more slowly because the thumbnails are much larger. It runs too slowly and feels cramped. It took me about 10 minutes of fiddling around to work out how to delete an image. I wanted to change the header but had to upload an image to my photostream and use that and then delete the image from my photostream. It worked but...what a palaver. Perhaps there is an easier way but it wasn't obvious. Then when I right click on an image the menu comes up and disappears. This must be a coding problem. My computer is top of the range and everything is up to date. OK. Flickr, please don't panic and...

Pinterest is a modern image based phenomenon that is founded upon copyright violations while Flickr is proper and decent and far better. Therefore Google should place Flickr above Pinterest. This is yet to happen but it will eventually as people come to learn that Pinterest is deeply flawed. If I am being brutally honest, I feel that Google has failed in its search facility in respect of Pinterest as Google is indirectly supporting copyright violations while failing to properly support a website that is more respectful of intellectual property rights: Flickr. Pinterest allows people to upload any picture - literally anything from any website irrespective of whether it is copyright protected or a creative commons image allowing unlimited publication or whether it is in the public domain. The problem is people don't understand the difference and Pinterest knows that. Flickr is far more controlled and employs extensive protection for images while at the same time allow...

Japanese street cats- want to see the best photos ever? By a totally dedicated Japanese photographer? Warning: for whatever reason the links aren't clickable in post, unless you click on title to open full post. Aack. Blogger.... This is toru umeda, from his flickr profile, here . http://www.flickr.com/people/toruumeda/ He says: ~~Hello! I take the photograph of the street cats with iPhone 3GS every day. Towns where I often visit are Shibuya, Kabukicho, Ginza, Roppongi, Nakano.It usually is early morning.~~ Go check out his photo stream at flickr, here . http://www.flickr.com/photos/toruumeda/ To the left is one of his latest photos. But all are wonderful. Brilliant, in fact. toru has a gift for photography, plus technology, as he uses iPhone and not some fancy camera. Update July 2014: he appears to have upgraded to a Canon EOS 6D. Here are two more larger pictures:

How to measure the size of a Maine coon? How should I measure my polydactyl Maine coon Tootsie? Is it weight or length? How to measure these "Gentle giants" of the cat world? As far as can tell, one measure is from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail- that would be length. Still, this seems to leave room for error, because it does not specify the posture of the cat. It's the measure from nose to body that has me wondering. Depending on what a Maine coon is up to, seems like this can vary. Plus, how do you get a Maine coon to sit still to be measured? I used a photo of Tootsie in action to approximate her length. I measured the bricks as reference. It's pretty clear that her body is roughly 12" long, and her tail is certainly (from other measures also) 12" long. >continued below. But, the body to nose part- well see the two different measures, in different colors. Either somewhere around 6", or 9". So, 32" to 35", nos...

What are the cat crazies? Tootsie, a beautiful polydactyl Maine Coon , does them and a lot of cat caretakers attest to them. They are real! But have you seem 'em?! What does it mean? Cat crazies (CCs) describes a cat that suddenly, for no apparent reason, goes a bit berserk as we understand the word. The cat might chase around, charging at things, jumping onto some cat furniture and doing lots more in quick fire action. This looks odd as most cats sleep and are passive most of the time. Well, I haven't given it a thought until now. My cats don't do it...LOL...sorry. I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing. My immediate thought is that the cat crazies is a sudden desire for activity by the cat, which may stem from being too inactive, which in turn may originate in being a trifle bored. That is not a criticism of anyone. I would be shocked to discover the wildcats doing the cat crazies! If I am correct in that ascertain it would support the idea that the domestic...

The title of the world's tallest cat has been transferred from the magical MAGIC to the tallest TROUBLE! Magic is an F1 Savannah cat. She is world famous as she is also the world's largest domestic cat . Now the accolade of the tallest domestic cat has been awarded to another Savannah cat aptly named Trouble. Although I doubt whether Trouble really is troublesome. Magic measured 17.1 inches to the shoulder. Trouble was measured at 19 inches to the shoulder. He is owned by Debby Maraspini (USA) and was measured at the Silver Cats Cat Show, Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada, USA, on 30 October 2011. The title is confirmed on the Guinness World Records™ website . Trouble was born and raised at Savannah Island Cattery and after a brief spell with new owners from 3 months of age is now back at the cattery. He is special and it is probably fair to say that he requires special care. Look at his size: Photos copyright Jeff from Aadnesen Savannahs Cattery I think he shoul...