My brother Jim is a classically trained pianist.

Here’s a small clip of Jim giving a concert in his yard during his family’s Fourth of July party.

The piece is Linus and Lucy (aka the Peanuts theme song). That’s Tim McMahon on the drums.

Using The Gimp, I was able to take several individual fireworks snapshots and composite them thus creating this single, dynamic photo.

I love fireworks!  I absolutely love seeing a fireworks display during Independence Day celebrations!  And I saw some awesome displays this past Fourth of July.

During the fireworks displays, I snapped some photos.

Since  my camera phone really isn’t the best or most sophisticated, it was a bit of a challenge capturing some of the star-bursts.  However, after I got home with the half dozen or so snapshots, I was able to composite some of the better pics in Gimp.

If you don’t already know, Gimp is the free, open source alternative to high-priced commercial graphics editing applications like Photoshop.

Although, you can download and install Gimp for Windows and Mac, it comes free with Linux.  and, in my opinion, it works best on the Linux platform.

The photo at left is of several separate fireworks snapshots which I then composted in Gimp.

And, using the Gimp, it was easy to accomplish.

I opened several snapshots, copied and pasted the images as new layers onto a master snapshot, and then set the layers to Lighten only.  With this setting, the black background areas drop out leaving only the star-bursts.

These star-bursts with transparent backgrounds can then be moved around and positioned so as to create the effect that all were captured in one photo.

So, if Photoshop (or other commercial photo editing apps) prove to be a bit too expensive, give the Gimp a look. it’s powerful and free!

By the way, like I said in yesterday’s George comic strip, I love fireworks. Here’s a couple of videos featuring Fourth of July fireworks displays.

I was surfing the web the other day and I came across this Youtube video. I’m told it’s in the public domain and can be viewed on archive .org, as well.  So I’m posting the clip on my blog.  Now, take a moment to watch the entire clip.   It’s from The Dinah Shore Show. The year is 1952.

Did you watch the entire clip? Now, if you could sum up this clip using only one word, what would it be? I’m interested to know. What kinds of feelings does this ad evoke?  How do you feel?  Boil it down to just one word and post it in the comments area below. Feel free to give your reasons why you chose that one specific word.  I’ll follow up next week with a response as soon as we collect some reader feedback.

Just the other day, I received an email detailing an ATM card scam. As with any email, I double checked to make sure the information was legitimate.

Sure enough, a quick check on Snopes.com proved that the information I received was, in fact, accurate.

Even though it was a little dated, it still serves as a reminder to always be vigilant when using your ATM/Debit card.

The  scan is a variation on the “Lebanese Loop.”

You can read all about this scam here. There is a very good explanation detailing the scam as well as surveillance photos illustrating exactly how thieves pull off the theft.

So be aware and alert when using your ATM/Debit card.  Shield your pin number from prying eyes. If someone appears to be standing too close to you and the ATM, leave the area and use another machine elsewhere.  And lastly, never give out your pin number.

Steve Jobs recently revealed the plans for Apple’s new headquarters.

It’s just an amazing structure. And, I do have one suggestion which might help.

Mr. Jobs mentioned that, once the building becomes a reality, architectural students from all over will come to Cupertino, California to study it. On the other end of the discussion, the city council would like to get just a little bit more from Apple. The city council would like to see an Apple store in Cupertino. Mr. Jobs feels that an Apple store in Cupertino may not be successful due to the lack of traffic.

Well, the new headquarters is going to house 12,000 employees. And according to Mr. Jobs, students (and tourists, perhaps – my words) will come from all over to see and study this building. That’s a lot of traffic right there. So, why not put an Apple store in the new headquarters building?

Maybe it’s just the Linux geek in me, but I’d love to someday take a tour of this building and then stop by the Apple store to buy a souvenir.