Minsk & beyond

I've been having great fun lately scanning random images and manipulating them in Photoshop Elements 9 (PSE 9). Using a kaleidoscope filter, you can take any image, such as this old advertising poster

 and turn it into the following, or any of a thousand other images.

This works best if the original image has interesting colors and lines in it. If you start off with a boring picture, you'll end up with a boring kaleidoscope image. I don't know that doing this accomplishes anything useful, but it sure is fun! Just call me the Digital Manipulator. (wicked laugh.......)

Now off to Belarus! Minsk, to be precise.

This is the main building of the Minsk railway station, built in 2000. The previous railway station was built in 1945-1946 to replace the previous railway station that was destroyed in World War II that had replaced the previous.... well, you get the picture, all the way back to 1873. Prior to that, if you wanted to go anywhere you either got over it and stayed home or you went out and hitched up the buggy.

I'll bet you can't guess where this next card is from!

Whoever said "Albuquerque", go back to sleep.

The card above contained the following message: "My name is Janek and I am a little boy from Poland. My mum is writing this card because I can't yet." Start them out young, I always say!

This card from South Australia definitely gets the prize for the most words written on the back. I counted them and there were even more than I suspected. 133! Now that's some compact writing! In high school I used to make notes for speeches by writing like this on index cards, but now my arms would have to be 10 feet long in order for me to read them.

According to graphologists (people who study and analyze handwriting), the size of your writing tells quite a bit about your ability to concentrate.

• If your handwriting is small, you have a high concentration level and great attention to detail. You work best when given one task at a time and are left alone to finish it.

• If the size of your handwriting is average, you can concentrate enough to get the job done but you don't get caught up in small details.

•  If your handwriting is large, you have a fast moving mind and have trouble focusing on one thing for too long. You prefer a variety of responsibilities and tasks.

I'd write more, but I have to dash off and do something different now.