After my move to United States, I have been searching for a photography assistant or photo journalism opportunity in Chicago which seems to be very hard to find. I have been searching on the web, registering at freelance job websites, emailing most of the photo studios inquiring for a photography opportunity.

Even though I couldn't find anything yet, I have been getting some responses to the emails and applications I sent. Therefore, I decided to update my photography portfolio page with some of my latest photography work to showcase my photography and photo editing skills

Since the competition is very high in this field, I know, it won't be an easy task for me to find a job as a photographer in Chicago.  Anyway, I believe this will give me a strong base for my job search.

Chathura Jayasinghe Photography

PowerPoint 2007 Chart Templates

I have been working in data visualization for over 8 years and one of my biggest problems has been with report generation, where a lot of tasks needed to be repeated/duplicated—like creating charts in Ms PowerPoint. The worst was re-creating the same type of chart and format exactly the same way again and again to match documentation standards.

My life changed, after I figured out how to create customized chart templates in PowerPoint. Things were so much easier when it came to creating charts, that I could spend the time saved on something else—like checking my Facebook page ;)

Here, I would like to share with you how to create, use and install a custom chart template.

1. Creating and Saving Templates

• In PowerPoint, go to "Insert" ribbon and click on "Chart" button under "Illustrations" group.
• Select preferred chart type an d click "OK." I have used a clustered column chart for this illustration.


• You will get a chart like this with the default colors of your current template. Apply the formatting that you prefer. Below is my sample chart after formatting:



• Now that you're done with formatting the chart, it's time to save the chart as a template. To do so you need to:
  
  
  • Click on the chart, go to "Design" ribbon under "Chart Tools," click on "Save As Template" button in the "Type" group.
  • In the "Save Chart Template" dialog box, choose a name and click "Save." Make sure to keep the ".crtx." file extension. The chart template will be saved in:
    
    • Windows Vista/7:
      "C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\Charts\"
    • Windows XP:
      "C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\Charts\"
    
    You will need to replace "username" with your username.

2. Using Chart Templates

• To insert a chart from the template that you just created, go to "Insert" ribbon and click on "Chart" button under "Illustrations" group.
• Then click on the "Templates" menu item from the left panel.




• Here you can see the chart template that you created appears on the write panel. Double-click on the template icon to insert the chart.

3. Installing Custom Chart Templates on a Different Computer

• To install chart templates onto another PC, go to the following folder in your computer, depending on your operating system:
  
  • Windows Vista/7:
    "C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\"
  • Windows XP:
    "C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\"
  You will need to replace "username" with your username.


• Copy the "Charts" folder that you find into a portable drive (E.g., USB thumb drive).
• On the other computer, go to the same folder path mentioned above depending on your operating system and paste the "Charts" folder there.
• To insert a custom chart template in PowerPoint, follow step 2.

You can use templates like this across the MS Office suite to make professional looking documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc., without wasting a lot of time repeating tedious formatting and style tasks.
If you have any question or recommendation, please leave a comment.

What is SOPA?

There were a lot of status updates on Facebook and tweets going on regarding SOPA Blackout. Even, I shared the Wikipedia SOPA Blackout page. Even though I shared that link, I didn't know what the SOPA was. ;)
To figure out that, I Googled and found this interesting article. I'm sharing this for knowledge of everyone who follows my blog.

What is SOPA?

SOPA stands for the Stop Online Piracy Act. It is one of two bills being considered by congress today. The other is the Protect-IP Act.

They are well-intentioned. They want to prevent piracy and copyright infringement. But they do so in an overly-aggressive, innovation-endangering way. They allow the entertainment industry to censor sites they feel "engage in, enable or facilitate" infringement.

The issues with SOPA:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation describes SOPA as the "blacklist bill" because it would "allow the U.S. government and private corporations to create a blacklist of censored websites, and cut many more off from their ad networks and payment providers."

That means the Attorney General would have the power to cut off select websites from search engines like Google. It could also cut off advertisers and payment processors like Visa from the sites. The Attorney General could essentially kill all of a site's traffic and revenue in a matter of days.

SOPA only allows targeted sites five days to submit an appeal. That doesn't leave much time for them to defend themselves before losing their site and their revenue altogether.

What tech companies and innovators are saying about SOPA:

The heavy regulation SOPA implies isn't sitting well with many of tech's best and brightest. People from AOL, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, Zynga, and Facebook have all signed a letter to congress that opposes SOPA. The letter states:

"Since their enactment in 1998, the DMCA’s safe harbor provisions for online service providers have been a cornerstone of the U.S. Internet and technology industry’s growth and success. While we work together to find additional ways to target foreign 'rogue sites,' we should not jeopardize a foundational structure that has worked for content owners and Internet companies alike and provides certainty to innovators with new ideas for how people create, find, discuss and share information lawfully online.”

What is American Censorship Day?

The reason you're reading about SOPA so much is because congress is reviewing both acts today. As such, EFF, Public Knowledge, Free Software Foundation and Demand Progress have named today American Censorship Day. They're encouraging people all over the web to fight for "Internet freedom."

Source: "This Is SOPA, The Crazy Bill Everyone In Tech Is Worried About," businessinsider.com, January 18, 2011.

"Nai Doova"—Bolgoda Lake

"Nai Doova" is a small island located in the Bolgoda Lake in Piliyandala, Sri Lanka. Nai Doova is one of the 8 islands in the lake. Other famous islands are Ruskin Island, San Michelle Island, and Picnic Island. This island is called as "Nai Doova"—Cobra Island in English—due to a historical reason.

"People lived around the area used to dump all the reptiles caught in their backyards into to this island, that's why they call it as Nai Doova" Mr. Nimal (who's managing a small restaurant) told me.

Bolgoda Lake is a tributary of Kalu Ganga which starts from Adams Peak. It is presumed to be the largest natural lake in Sri Lanka, covers almost two thirds of the Kalutara district, extending from Anguruwatota to Piliyandala. It is also the largest fresh water lake in Sri Lanka. The lake's depth is said to be in the range of 20–50 feet.

There are number of restaurants and hotels established around the area. They provide facilities for activities such as half day or full day Eco Tours for sight seeing and Bird watching, Sun Bathing, Pedal Boats, Motor Boats, Rowing, Sailing, Trawling, Angling, Jet Skiing etc.,

One can get to this place by traveling on Colombo–Horana road. After traveling about 0.5km from the Piliyandala town, there is a road on to the right-hand side—called "Madapatha Road." Drive about 2km–3km on the Madapatha road and come to the Madapatha junction. From the junction, drive straight about 1km to get to this place.

Read more: http://chaletbolgoda.com/bolgodaLake.html

Well done LIONS! I am still proud to be a Sri Lankan!

I was planning to write something on my blog today with a winning mind ... It is interesting, even after seeing our boys get defeated by Indians in the Worldcup final 2011, still I can write something with a winning mind set.

I saw on the facebook, some Sri Lankans are criticizing our players who had been their champions and heros until they scored 275 by batting first in the final. Isn't it unfair?

Our players played really well throughout the tournament and provided fantastic cricket entertainment to Sri Lankan cricket lovers. Check out the following records:

• Dilshan is the No. 1 run scorer in this worldcup (500 runs in 9 matches, with an average of 62.5, and with a strike rate of 90.74)
• Sangakkara and Tharanga holding 3rd and 5th position in that list scoring 465 and 395 respectively.
• Do not forget, Mahela has scored more than 300 runs—304 to be exact—with the stunning inning he played in the final by scoring unbeaten 103.
• Highest batting average of 93.00 hold by Sangakkara beating the "Man of the Series"—Yuvraj Signh.
• Mehela, Dilshan, and Tharanga scored 2 centuries each while Sanga and Dilshan scoring 4 half centuries (50s) each during this tournament.
• Dilshan scored the 3rd highest score (144), while Tharanga scoring the 5th highest score (133) in the tournament.
• The legend Murali is in the 5th position by taking 15 wickets in the bowlers list. Do not forget the great commitment he showed even with having an injury.
• Malinga holds the 2nd place of best bowling figures list by taking 6 wickets for 38 runs including a hat-trick.
  
• The best wicket keeper in the tournament is Sangakkara. He has contributed in 14 dismissals by taking 10 catches and 4 stumping chances.
• Most number of catches in the tournament has been taken by Mahela (9 catches).
• Highest partnership of the tournament is 282 runs by Dilshan and Tharanga against Zimbabwe. Well, not only that, they even hold the 2nd place by scoring 231 against England with 2 unbeaten centuries.

I have a question for the guys who criticize the team in facebook. After reading all these records, are you guys still criticizing our players?

One would ask, don't you have a criticism against anyone? My answer is, "Yes I have ..."

That is against poor Chamara Silva. He played as a specialist batsman in the worldcup team. Following is his performance:

• Against Canada - dnb; Pakistan - 57 runs 78 balls (SL lost); Kenya - dnb; Australia - dnb; Zimbabwe - 4 runs 2 balls; New Zealand - 3 runs 5 balls; Quarter Final - dnb; Semi final - 13 runs 25 balls
  8 matches, 77 runs, 110 balls
  Average 19.25 (4 innings)
  Sangakkara took time until the final match to realize that there's no point of keeping him in the team anymore.
  

Other than that, it has been a wonderful overall performance by the Sri Lankan team.

I changed my status in facebook to "5 runs to loose the worldcup 2011 ... CONGRATULATIONS going out to India ... and for the LIONS of my country ... well played guys!!! Runners up!!!" when I realized that we're definitely going to loose the match today.

Right after loosing the match, I changed it to "Finally, Sanga's luck, Mahela's courage, Slingas of Maliga, and Dushra's from the legend Murali were not enough to bring the cup home ... but ... many congratulations to my team ... still I am proud to be a Sri Lankan :)."

Yes, I am still proud to be a Sri Lankan! Many CONGRATULATIONS to our Sri Lankan team and thank you guys for the great entertainment provided.

Regards,
CJ

China Passes U.S. As World's Top Car Market

BEIJING—Automobile sales in China last year raced past the U.S. market for the first time to take the top spot, as Chinese government incentives helped sales surge 46% from a year earlier to 13.6 million vehicles amid a broader global slowdown.

December auto sales in China nearly doubled, increasing 92% from a year earlier to 1.41 million vehicles, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said Monday.

Record sales in China last year coincided with the lowest sales total in the U.S. since 1982, as the credit crisis and the resulting slowdown in the economy prompted U.S. consumers to scale down ...

Source: http://online.wsj.com/

One of the Best Cricket Catches Ever