It shows that the human brain understands, whereas a computer only observes.

Pete, you do like living on the edge. If she reads that, you'll be Doubly Doomed!

Well, you're doomed it seems. Doomed to a lifetime of buying lenses. Still, there are worse things!

A couple of quick edits to remove real names where the member does not wish them to be used.

The bright light from the windows has persuaded the camera meter that the area as a whole is brighter than it is, so it has cut down the exposure accordingly. Hence the under-exposure of the foreground.

I suspect the inside was your subject, not what was outside the windows, so to render it correctly you could either recompose to ensure that window light was not a major influenece on the metering, or you could apply +1 or even +2 stops of exposure compensation, which will adjust the meter reading.

The image as you have it might have enough detail in the dark areas to retrieve using Photoshop, but quality may suffer.

The possibility of adding a bit of flash exposure has already been mentioned.

Be very careful with cans of compressed air, as some non-photographic ones contain other things apart from air that can coat surfaces. You need the proper products to be safe.

Drinking water out of a tap is still available, but it was never free and certainly isn't now! It was originally paid for by a part of the local Rates, but was taken out of the rates and charged separately. After all, it was only a few pounds...

As I understand it, because some websites are optimised for IE6 or IE7 and will not necessarily show up correctly in IE8. The price we pay for the advantages of IE8 - greater security and faster browsing.

You can use any browser, for example, you might decide to download Firefox. When you do this you will have an option of selecting it as your default browser or not. You can also change that later as well if you change your mind.

There are other browsers such as Safari.

The link for Firefox will be at www.mozilla.com

They aren't if your browser is reading the forum correctly. I would try another bowser and compare.

They look fine to me in IE7, IE8 and Firefox.

A problem can occur if a file is linked to that is larger than 800 pixels wide.

Microwaves are actually very damaging. They excite water molecules, which is how in higher doses they cook food.

Frankly, so many things are found to be dangerous years after they are introduced, I would treat all the reassurances with a pinch of salt. If it goes wrong, when an individual is suffering, the government will be nowhere to be seen. No apologies, no compensation, no help.

Examples are Radium (in everything from toothpaste to medicinal salts to begin with), the machines that showed an X-Ray picture of children's feet in shoe shops, thalidomide, valium.....