Category: How To

How to… do stuff

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How To Resize Your Digital Photos So They Are Easier To Email

Are you aware that many of you are emailing digital photos off to friends and family incorrectly? The most common mistake is not resizing them before you send them off. Failing to do this means that peoples email box gets full and the images take a long time to download for those with slow internet connections.

The photos straight off your digital camera are about 1Mb (1000Kb) each. They are so large because they have a lot of detail enabling you to enlarge them (right up to 15″ x11″) and get them printed at a photo developers.

On the internet however we don’t need or want to see them this big. It is easy to downsize them to fit on a computer monitor (about 6″ x 4.5″) size and bring the file size down to 40Kb (50 times smaller).

Your options:

  1. Download and install a free photo album software called Picasa from picasa.com. Among other things, this amazing piece of software offers you one-click emailing which resizes your photos for you when emailing them. Click here to read more.
  2. Use a web based resizing service. There are a few websites that offer this such as resize2mail.com. You upload your photo to them, choose the size you want back, and then save the resulting image back to your computer. Unfortunately you are uploading a big photo which takes ages, and the whole process is rather time consuming. But it may be all you’ve got if you’re in an internet cafe.
  3. Get everyone you know to open a Gmail.com account. This free email service created by Google gives you 2GB of storage (and counting). Thats enough room for 1000 unoptimised photos or 50,000 optimised photos. It automatically creates thumbnails for quick loading too, to download the full size photo just click.
  4. Finally Windows XP has an “Email this file” option under “File and Folder Tasks”. Using this option will ask you if you want to resize the photo before emailing it. I don’t use Outlook so this doesn’t work for me. To find out more, read “method 2” on a tutorial I found, click here.
  5. Finally, you probably got software with your digital camera. It is likely the software includes a function that will resize photos for emailing. Learn how to use it!
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How To Wash The Dishes Correctly

Warning: You are probably washing your dishes incorrectly!

I have prepared the following step by step guide to help you to practice a more effective technique.

Important notice to all those who have a dish washer: Piss off.

For everyone else, the Step by Step guide:

  1. Rinse everything thoroughly – I’m talking clean enough to put in your cupboard as is!
  2. Fill the sink only a third up with very hot water and put all the cutlery and drinking glasses in first. You will find you need less detergent this way.
  3. Wash the glasses first and then all the cutlery. Now load some plates into the sink. Then put away all the glasses which will be dry by now, and then the cutlery.
  4. Next wash all the plates and bowls. At this point the temperature of the water can fall to critical levels. It may pay to top up with boiling water from a kettle. If the tray gets full, take a break, dab the items that have been there the longest – these will be practically dry. Don’t heap dishes right up because the water drips onto the dishes underneath!
  5. Soak the pots while you clear the dish rack. Wash the pots, clear the bench and by then the pots are dry.

The test of proper rinsing is to take a glass of your dish water and hold it up. It is clear enough for drinking you’ve rinsed well, congrats. If not, try harder next time.

Trouble Shooter:

“My tea towel is very wet”
A: Wait longer before drying the items, improve your timing, make sure the water is hot.

“There is still some crust on the washed dishes”
A: Be more thorough in the rinsing phase. And remember, tea towels are for dabing excess moisture, they are not scrub sponges for getting crust off plates.

“Your method took me 2 hours”
A: Cancel social events and other things you are involved in to make more time for proper dish washing technique.

Testimonials:

“Thanks so much sheltron! Your process transformed our lives. We are grateful.
– P. Sherman

“Sheltron, you’re the man! Thanks for your help. My dishes are so clean! Just like you said, I can now drink the water after washing up! We save $50 a week!
– J. Herbert