Voila, we've reached the 35.000 visits... Oh, talking about that : you'll get the traditionnal pin-up every 5.000 hits only from now, unless there will soon be more pin-ups than real content on this bloody site!

The previous version of this site was available both in French and in English, and as ShamWerks has a lot of visits from english-speaking people...

It was more than important that ShamWerks becomes accessible in English again!

So, in order to celebrate those 35.000 hits, and using the little flags in the left column, you can switch the language for all of the articles on this site! (Well, actually, if you're reading that, you already know!)
The articles in the Photo section are not yet all translated, but it's a matter of hours... By the way, my English is not that perfect, do not hesitate to drop me a line if some translations are too bad...

The RSS feed, as well, is from now on available in French and in English!

There were fewer updates those last days : I've spent a lot of time translating the site, and at least as much time at my workbench preparing the future articles!

Many thanks for your fidelity : statistics show that more than one third of the visitors are regular ones... See you back soon!

Here it is, one more year is over... I wish a very Happy New year to all of you!

On my side, I'm pretty happy this year is over, a lot of bad things happened... But that's over!
Let's use this brand new year as a new start, making sure we keep otimistic!

The picture above is a photograph taken on September 15th by the Cassini-uygens probe... Actually, this is a mosaic of 165 pictures, taken over a 3 hours period, while the probe was in Saturn's shadow. So we can see, for the very first time, the ringed giant in back-light! (click the picture to see it full res... And to learn more, follow this link.)

Why such a picture to celebrate the beginning of the new year?
Have an accurate look on the left, near the first blurry ring, there's a bright spot... This is the Earth, as seen more than a billion kilometers away, which the probe left 9 years ago.

In one hand, it gives a giddiness feeling... In the other hand, it's a tremendous help relativizing our poor, small everyday concerns, isn't it?
Everything's relative would say Albert... Enjoy this new year, don't let small issues demoralize you...

Once more, Happy New Year 2007 to all of you...

31.000 visitors got lost down here!

Well, OK, obviously 31.000 visitors over a 8 years period (since the beginning of this site), this is far from a great performance...

However, since the site moved on ShamWerks.com, the number of visitors keeps growing... 1.000 visits in just a little bit more than a month! Many thanks to all of you for your interest!

For those who missed it, ShamWerks has an RSS feed, for a few days!

Stay tuned, many surprises will come within the next weeks...

PS: Many thanks Oliv' for your postcard which I scanned this pin-up from... Very sixtes, and coming directly from Moorea!

Welcome !

The last real update of my site was made in late 2003... Since then, no real update happened on Da Sham's Webpage. Due to personal and professional issues, other priorities... And some laziness, I must admit!
But that's over, and the site changes its name!
Let's do some online archeology :

• My first steps on the Web occur in '96 with a site named "Good Morning Net'naaaaam", hosted by Geocities... Which disappeared a long time ago, which is all but a big loss, believe me. (Edit 2016-05-23 : Actually, there's still a trace of it at Archive.org!)
• October 1998, I give birth to "Da Sham's Webpage", the v1.0 being hosted at Citeweb, until late 1999.
• January 1^st 2001 appears the v2.0, on a new hosting site ; Free (God bless the freebox). The V.3.0 will appear on June 2003...
  
• 2006, 10 years after my first appearance online (er... I'm getting old!), here is the v4.0, and to celebrate this event, it even has it's own domain name : welcome on ShamWerks.com!

Gosh... 10 years online, sounds scary no??
This new version is made to be more dynamic, interactive... The ADSL having killed the RTC (56K R.I.P...), I can afford some heavier graphic content, nicer pictures ; 800x600 screens being rare today, I leave the old 760px wide design for 977px : sorry for the webdesign's purists, it was way to tight!

Technically, the site has been developed in PHP over a MySQL database... No typepad, no WordPress, no DotClear, everything has been done by hand! It may look like a strange choice, but it gives me more control and flexibility on what I'm doing, playing with some technologies (URL rewriting, GD, RSS, etc.)... Yes, being software developer helps a lot.

There's many more to come soon : stay tuned!

30.000 visitors got lost on this site since 1998...

Ok, gotta admit that this is not a fantastic score over a 8 years period, compared to some "trendy" blogs... But thank you anyway for your visits, and as required by the "online tradition", here is a pin-up to celebrate the event...

This is Betty Jo Boals, Miss August 1949 of Hot Rod Magazine, presenting a magneto.... She was 19 years old by then, so she is... 76 today!

Thanks again for your visits!