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FastStone Image Viewer is an image browser, viewer, converter and editor with an easy to use interface and a nice array of features that include resizing, renaming, cropping, color adjustments, watermarks and more. It also includes an intuitive full-screen mode that provides quick access to EXIF information and thumbnail browser via hidden toolbars that emerge when you touch the edge of your screen with the mouse. Other features include a high quality magnifier and built-in slideshow with 60+ transitional effects, as well as lossless JPEG transitions, drop shadow effects, image frames, scanner support, histogram and much more. It supports all major graphic formats including BMP, JPEG, JPEG 2000, GIF, PNG, PCX, TIFF, WMF, ICO and TGA.
- Now the Batch Rename tool supports all kinds of files if you select "All Files (*.*)" in the file filter list
- Now you can press +/- keys to zoom in/out animated gif files
- Fixed a bug causing the program to lose track of the current folder when it exits from full screen mode
Reviewing 5.0 (Mar 3, 2014)
I totally agree with uberfly.
Reviewing 5.0 (Mar 3, 2014)
Insanely great, especially for free. Glad it's still being improved.
Reviewing 4.9 (Nov 14, 2013)
I rather like FastStone Image Viewer, it progressively gets better every time I come to review it. It has many useful features such as histograms, an excellent tree / file view with images, thumbnails or details mode and such which are quite on par with XnView.
Furthermore, it has basic image editing which is fine for quick touch-ups. It even has a scaled-down version of my very favorite Photoshop adjustment tool: Shadow/Highlight but unfortunately which doesn't stretch to having tonal width, radius and midtone contrast adjustments a la PS.
However, unfortunately, I don't use FastStone Image Viewer for one very simple reason, that being the clumsy awkward way it scales images to view, essentially you cannot select a portion of an image to view as an enlargement.
The 'Rolls Royce' viewer in that regard was always Hamrick's now-defunct VuePrint Pro*. With the mouse, you'd just map out/make a square of the section of the image you want enlarged then release the mouse key and voilà that area would fill the screen--a most invaluable feature for highly detailed/hi-res images.
The next in line for the throne is IrfanView, its difference from VuePrint is that after you map out the square you have to click on the square for it to enlarge/fill the screen--essentially it's an extra step, albeit a small one.
Why FastStone doesn't have this feature is truly perplexing. Instead, when one clicks on the image it simply fills the screen but without providing some way of zooming into a section of special interest. Frankly, it's most annoying.
When one sees an obviously good program but with such a glaring defect as FastStone Image Viewer has, the first question that comes to mind is how does the author/programmer use the program. Does he use it in a heavy-duty extensive way or does he just tinker with it. One can't help that FastStone's programmer just tinkers.
Pity really, this limitation kills FastStone Image Viewer for many, (and it's a key reason why IrfanView is so very popular).
* Since I started writing this I thought I'd check to see if VuePrint was still available and it is, what's more Hamrick (of VueScan fame) has made it free (although he not updating it):
Note: this isn't a replacement for FastStone or IrfanView, it is however about the fastest viewer out there, complete with the best viewer feature available.
Reviewing 4.9 (Nov 13, 2013)
This is a wonderful windows app with great continued development that should be included with every windows computer. Comes with loads and loads of features that will not disappoint. Wish that would be developed for Mac. I have emailed the developer and he has not replied. It there a Mac application that can do these types tasks? I love the skin changer, very nice
Reviewing 4.8 (Apr 6, 2013)
This continues to be the best freeware picture viewer available. IrfanView is very capable, but the interface of FastStone is much better, easier to navigate with a mouse only, and more intuitive.
With each update, more small annoyances of what I wished the program would do are removed, as the author[s] seems to have my thoughts in mind with the changes.
I have used several paid applications [for viewing alone], and none worked any better.
Multiple Instances: From my time as a windows-programming professional it was quite easy to allow multiple instances, does anyone know why FS is without support for multiple instances ?
Or did it get really complicated with the modern Windows-Versions?
I definitely hope to see this feature to start more than one instance.


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NAS vs. DAS
NAS expert Randy Kerns offers advice to a SearchStorage.com reader who is considering whether to use NAS or DAS.
One is with a standard server operating as a file server and the other is a NAS device with the Windows Storage Server (WSS) software installed on it. The WSS based NAS device is the better choice for administration, reliability and potentially better performance. Performance depends on what you're doing, so you may or may not see a benefit. WSS has an optimized NFS implementation now.
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subset: commoncrawl


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GRAND RAPIDS (WKZO) -- A Grand Rapids company which makes circuit boards for shifters in cars is hiring. Firstronic LLC is planning to hire 110 people as part of a nearly 2.5-million dollar expansion.
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation has approved a 300-thousand dollar grant to pay to expand the building, which is currently 35-thousand square feet. The jobs will be added over the next 18 months.


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The Origins of Irish Surnames
Although up to the tenth century, surnames in Ireland were
not hereditary, the influence of the church, dating from this
period, can still be seen in many common modren Irish sur-
names, in particular those beginning with " Gil - " or " Kil - ", an anglicised version
of the Irish Giolla, meaning follower or devotee. Thus Gilmartin, in Irish Mac Giolla Mhairtin, means "son of a follower
of (St.) Martin". Similarly, the church is the origin of all of those names starting with " Mul -", a version of the
Irish Maol, meaning bald, and applied to the monks because of their distinctive tonsure. Thus Mulrennan (O' Maoilbhreanainn)
means "descedent of a follower of St. Brendan".
While many of the names appearing in accounts of this time appear similar in form
to modern Irish names, incorp-
orating in particular the pre fix " Mac " (meaning "son of"),
in fact they were not hereditary, lasting only one generation. Thus Turlough mac
Airt, was Turlough, son of Art; his own son would be Conor mac Turlough, Conor son of Turlough.
Nonetheless, Ireland was one of the first European countries in which a system
of fixed hereditary surnames developed. The earliest names appear to be those incorporating
" O " or its earlier form Ua, meaning "grandson". According to Fr. Woulfe, an early authority on Irish surnames, the
first recorded fixed surname is O'Clery (O' Cleirigh), as noted by the Annals, which record the death of Tigherneach Ua Cleirigh,
lord of Aidhne in Co. Galway in the year 916. It seems likely that this is the oldest surname recorded anywhere in Europe.
By the eleventh century many families had acquired true surnames as we would know
them today. All of these surnames incorporate the same two basic elements, " O " or " Mac ",
together with the personal name of the ancestor from whom descent is indicated. In many cases this ancestor can be quite
accurately identified, and the origin of the name dated percisely. Thus, at the start of the eleventh century, Brian
Boru possessed no surname, being simply "Brian, high-King of the Irish", his grandson Teigue called himself Ua Briain in memory
of his illustrious grandfather, and the name became hereditary thereafter. Similarly, the O'Neills
derive their name from Niall mac Aoiodh, who died in 917.
Due to linguistic changes, the origins of many of the personal names such as Niall
or Brian which form the stem of the surname remain obscure, but two broad categories can be distinguished, descriptive and
occupational. In the first category, we can guess that the progenitor of the Traceys (O' Tressaigh) was a formidable
character, treasach meaning "war-like", while the ancestor of the Duff's must have been dark-featured, since dubh, the root
of the name, means black or dark. Among the occupations recorded in names are the churchmen dealt with above, clerks
(Clery, O' Cleirigh, from cleieach), bards (Ward, Mac an Bhaird, from bard), spokesmen (MacCloran, Mac Labhrain, from the
Irish labhraidh), and smiths (McGowan, Mac Gabhainn, from gabhann). One category of name, common in English, which is
extremely rare among Irish names is the toponymic, deriving from the name of a locality. It seems likely that this reflects
the fact that, for the Gaels, who you were related to was much more important than where you came from.
Although the immediate reason for the early adoption of hereitary
names in Ireland may have been a rapidly expanding population, it can also be sen as logocal outcome of a process at work
from the times of the earliest tribal names. Originally, these indicated identification with a common God, often connected
with an animal valued by the tribe, in the case of the Osraige, or "deer-people", for example. Next came identification
with a divine ancestor, the Boandrige, for instance, claiming descent from the goddess Boand, the divinised river Boyne.
Later the ancestor was merely legendary, as for the Eoghanachta, while later still the tribe claimed direct descent from a
historical ancestor, as in the case of the Ui Neill. This slow emergence of kin-relationships out of religion and myth
into the realm of history would seem to reach its logical conclusion with the adoption of hereditary
surnames, permanent proof of a verifiable ties of blood. On a more mundane level, of course, such proof was a valuable
political asset, since it demonstrated membership of a powerful kin-group. Even today, the fact that Gaelic names, without
exception, begin with O' or Mac is undeniable and continuing proof of the significance of family
and kin for the Irish.
Although it began early, the process of the creation or surnames was slow, and
continued for over six hundred years. As the populatuion grew and new families were formed, they sought to consolidate
their identidy by adopting hereditary surnames of their own, usually by simply adding MAC
to the first name of the founding ancestor. In the course of this process, then, many surnames were created which are
in fact offshoots of more common names. Thus, for example, the MacMahons and the McConsidines are descended from the
O'Brien family, the former from Mahon, who died in 1129, the latter from Constatine O'Brien, who died 1193. The continuing
division and sub-division of the most powerful Gaelic families like this is almost certainly the reason for the great proliferation
of Gaelic surnames.
Variants and all - Ireland totals
Longford - Leitrim - Sligo. Ir. Mac Giolla
Bhrighde, (servant of St. Brigid). Also as
MacBride and Kilbride , q.v.
numerous: Laois - Carlow - Wicklow etc.
Kilbride Ir. Mac Giolla
Bhride (devotee of St. Brigid).
It is regarded a Connacht form of the name
which also appears as MacBride.
Mac Bride, Kilbride : lionmhar : Cu'ige Uladh
agus sa Oir - dheiscceart & ri. Sloinne Albanach
e', chomh maith. Leis an meas mo'r a bhi ag
Mac Giolla
Gaeil ar Bhrid N. ni fola'ir gur e'irigh an
sloinne seo in a'teanna e'agsu'la.
numerous : Belfast, Derry, Donegal &
Ulster generally, also South East etc. Ir.
Mac Giolla Bhrighde, devotee of St. Brigid.
Mac Bride An ecclesciastical family of
Donegal and the
name is current in Scotland whence some
least of the Ulster Mac Brides.


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Tag Archives: Springbank
TWE Tasting – The Magnificent Seven
If there's one thing TWE's whisky guru Duncan Ross loves as much as whisky, it's westerns. So when he got the chance to talk about both at our latest tasting at Vinopolis, it's fair to say he jumped at the … Continue reading
Springbank Distillery – a family affair
It's hard to think that Campbeltown was once the whisky capital of the world. With just three distilleries in operation in the area now, you wonder what happened to the other 27 that were there in the 1800s. Campbeltown isn't … Continue reading
The Whisky Exchange Shop's 8th Birthday
Before we get on to tooting our own trumpets about our recent Whisky Show, we've got something else to celebrate that's been pushed to the side because of that very same show. Back at the end of September The Whisky … Continue reading
TWE Karuizawa Whisky Trip Pt.8: Japanese Whisky Bars
[Welcome to the penultimate episode of TWE's epic Karuizawa trip, in which we visit some amazing Japanese whisky bars. The previous posts can be found here, here, here, here, here, here and here.] Our friends from France and Taiwan had departed, but it was time for the … Continue reading
Whisky Live London 2012 – The Report
There was a strong TWE presence this year at London's Whisky Live show, held in the formidable surroundings of the Honorable Artillery Company just a stone's throw from Shoreditch High Street, home to the majority of the city's most tragic tryhards … Continue reading
World Whisky Awards 2012
Last night was Whisky Magazine's 6th World Whiskies Awards, the opening event of Whisky Live (which opens today – pop by and say hello if you're around, we're the official retailer) and the last of the year's opening round of … Continue reading
More Awards… Whisky Advocate
The BAFTAs and Oscars are behind us, the Drinks Retail Awards have come and gone (ahem), and we've even given out our own tranche of virtual statuettes – now is the season of the gong. The most recent awards to … Continue reading
Single Malts of Scotland Springbank 1999
A quick post today about a new bottling that we've just got in from our sister company, Speciality Drinks Ltd, as part of the Single Malts of Scotland range – an 11 year old Springbank. It was matured in a … Continue reading
40 Year-Old Whiskies: A Guide
Ok, we're doing something a bit different today on The Whisky Exchange Blog – a collaborative post! Yes, this particular blog on forty year-old whisky has been written by myself AND Sukhinder: he's supplied the history and the cold hard … Continue reading


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Together, the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation and Fraser Health invite you to help make a much-needed major expansion to our maternity unit a reality. This unit is truly for the entire family – and our entire community – not just for moms and babies.
Our goal is to increase the number of Single Room Maternity Care beds from 13 to 20 and to build a permanent, expanded home for our renowned Maternity Clinic within the Maternity Unit itself, plus several other additions and improvements. Our vision is a hospital where every family is welcomed and well-cared for, where no one is turned away because of lack of space. And this is only the beginning – we are working to bring even more developments to Langley Memorial Hospital in the future. But we're starting this multi-phase campaign where we all start – at the very beginning.