Tarique's Travails

Last month @ SANIsoft blog September 1, 2010

tariquesani — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:05:43 +0000

[CakePHP] How to re-size images at run-time This is a helper + controller combo for CakePHP which I often use. It helps to re-size images at run-time and also aid display them. Oh yes! once the image is resized it also caches them. First let’s look at helper method. PLAIN TEXT PHP: class MyHelper extends [...]

The boy who harnessed the wind – A Review

tariquesani — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 05:36:08 +0000

A thought that struck my mind as I was finishing this book was – How would the story of Wright brothers and their One day at Kitty Hawk be if they lived in an era with internet? I read the Wright brothers story when I was in school and at that time all I was [...]

Last month @ SANIsoft blog August 1, 2010

tariquesani — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 07:09:44 +0000

[Zend Framework] Slug filter While studying for my Zend Framework certification, I tried to build a small application to test my knowledge. One of the tasks in that project was to try and build a slug filter which converts a particular string to slug, for example, ‘My Test String’ to ‘my-test-string’. It also checks for [...]

African Big Five

tariquesani — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 07:18:50 +0000

With so many pictures from our Tanzania trip I wanted to something different than my usual wildlife photography style. I have tried to compile a series of five pictures which I call “Animal Portraits”. Each of these animals are from a group referred to as the African Big Five. The term Big Five was coined [...]

Lion lessons!

tariquesani — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 07:05:47 +0000

On the morning of our departure from Kirawira, western Serengeti it was cloudy and we had almost given up all hopes of seeing anything but then as it can happen with any jungle safari our luck changed. Just 20 meter form the road was sitting a part of a lion pride three lioness with two [...]

My top 10 iPad gripes

tariquesani — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 08:19:22 +0000

It is heavy and does not lend itself well to being held in a single hand due to the smooth metal back – I remedied this by ordering a silicon rubber sleeve. Safari for iPad does not offer search within a page. This can also be remedied by following the instructions here Screen should have [...]

Vulture on stilts!!

tariquesani — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 07:10:10 +0000

As we drove towards the Central Serengeti plains a head bobbed up from behind a rising – I immediately exclaimed – Vulture!! But as the bird continued to come towards us it became apparent that the bird was taller than any vulture I know of, as the legs came into view they were more like [...]

Lake Manyara: GPS trails, Geotagged photos and more….

tariquesani — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 07:15:04 +0000

Lake Manyara was our first game drive destination on our 9 day travails through Tanzania. After landing at Nairobi we traveled for nearly 7 hours before we could reach here. Even though we were very tired the abundance of birdlife and wildlife made up for everything. Lake Manyara Park facts Located in northern Tanzania the [...]

My top 10 tips for photographers traveling to Tanzania

tariquesani — Thu, 27 May 2010 05:54:26 +0000

Carry a good bean bag, Even with a small lens your wrists can get tired pretty soon and tripods are not very useful inside a vehicle. Do not overlook taking wide angle shots – carry a good wide lens – a 10-20mm Sigma is a nice starter lens. A 400mm lens is mostly reach enough, [...]

It’s a Hammerkop

tariquesani — Tue, 25 May 2010 09:05:34 +0000

So you have been waiting for the first image from my trip to East Africa. I could have put in many other dramatic things like the Lion, Rhino, Cheetah or the Hippo but I felt that those mammals are rather cliched. So I decided to put a common but unique bird Hammerkop, Scopus umbretta is [...]