Weblog: Jun 2007

photoren 0.1 and Python

I just released photoren:

photoren is a small command-line program for rename and organize my digital photograph files based on the time they were taken. It also renames any corresponding GQview metadata files, and can generate a shell script to reproduce the renaming and sorting on a backup copy of the files.

I also must now admit that I've started to learn Python. Think of it as a Lisp that has been dumbed-down and made orders of magnitude more popular.

I recall when GvR was first talking about Python on Usenet (back when one could read much of the Usenet traffic daily). If I recall correctly, Python was intended as an easy-to-use scripting language. It's pretty good for that purpose, and it's acquired some features that make it passable for some kinds of application development. Linguistically, it still can't touch Scheme or Common Lisp. Perhaps because Python is a language for the masses, not the elite.

Quack 0.30

Quack version 0.30 has an Emacs 22 compatibility change from Charles Comstock.

Move to New Server Complete

The occasion was simultaneously solemn and joyful early this Sunday morning, as I did the server switchover from christy to keira.

christy (Turlington) started as a 500MHz Pentium III in an Inwin A500 case, found in the curbside trash, to which I added parts from at least a dozen other computers, as well as new drives. She was placed into service abruptly about three years ago, when her predecessor, winona (Ryder), had a hardware failure. christy performed admirably up through this morning's planned retirement.

keira (Knightly) is an IBM eServer xSeries 306 with dual Seagate Barracuda ES 400GB SATA drives, running Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 with software RAID-1 mirroring. She will reign from a secure colocation facility.

liv (Tyler) is keira's twin, and is intended as an organ donor. She's already shared her (rackmount) ears, her "EZ-Swap" bracket, and some of her memory.

Repurposing Photo Gear

At the same time as countless photographers are commandeering Gatorade bottles, Frosted Flakes boxes, and styrofoam coolers, a fellow Cantabrigian has found a good non-photo use for an old tripod.

Fixing Over-Brightness and Diagonal Lines in Dell UltraScan P991

Today I inherited a Dell UltraScan P991, which is a 19-inch flat Trinitron monitor.

The display was overly bright, diagonal scan lines were visible, and the image when no signal was present was nowhere near rectangular.

I first connected a computer, since the firmware menu does not work when there is no signal.

Then I waited half an hour for the monitor to warm up, and then used the Color Return feature from the Option menu (as suggested by photo.net thread 00FGC9). After that automatic calibration ran, monitor was fine.

Had that not worked, I would've tried replacing a resistor per Eric Hutzelman's Sony CRT Brightness Modification page. (Caution: Don't open up your monitor as suggested by those instructions unless you understand how even an unplugged monitor can toast you in an instant.)

Now to find someone who wants to trade an LCD monitor for three large CRT ones.

Do Not Put the Velcro On Your Speedlight Backwards

On 2007-06-05 I showed a photo Velcro mounting for wireless triggers on my Nikon SB-28 speedlights. Turns out that, although having the hook side of Velcro on the speedlight looks neater than having the loop side there, the hook side prevents use of the Nikon carry cases.

In the future, I shall use on the loop side of Velcro on my speedlights.

(I'm toying with some ideas for speedlight gel holders and snoot/honeycomb mounts that don't involve Velcro.)

Fourteen Characteristics of Fascism

"Fourteen Characteristics of Fascism." The parallels to the US are obvious, of course. In that way, the piece is more persuasive than intellectually rigorous, but it might get the attention of some of the people who don't yet believe the US is hurtling down a terrible road.

IBM eServer x306 and Seagate Barracuda ES

I'm moving to a couple 1U servers: used IBM eServer xSeries 306 models, and adding new Seagate Barracuda ES SATA hard disk drives (though I won't be getting 3.0GB/s out of them with the 306's SATA controller). I've been buying IDE Barracuda drives exclusively the last few years, and they haven't failed me, which was why I quickly went with Seagate this time. (The first hard disk drive I bought was also a Seagate -- the venerable 20MB ST225. But after getting an ST251-1, I got distracted with owning Sun and Apollo workstations, which led to dalliances with numerous other hard disk drive manufacturers.) I'll be using Linux software RAID mirroring.

I'll be using laptops exclusively as workstations for now. I'll be getting rid of the 5 or 6 Linux tower workstations and servers currently around the house...

In anticipation of the new servers, I spent the last few days of vacation consolidating my data. This included recovering and converting various chunks of a certain kind of data going back to 1991. It was grueling, and not advancing my research (nor my bank balance), but it needed to be done. The last times I did something like that were when I consolidated from old floppies and mag tapes going back to the 1980s, and when I moved to replicating much of my data across machines via CVS.

DynaFlex Pro Gyro Review & Invention & Names Are Important

Today, I picked up a DynaFlex Pro Gyro hand and arm exerciser, at City Sports in Downtown Crossing (Boston) for $20.

I couldn't get the gyro started until I viewed the MPEG-2 file that's on the mini-CD included in the package. Once the gyro does kick in, it's fun and apparently a good workout of some muscles.

Now I'm craving the more expensive version, which has lights that increase in intensity with RPMs.

The gyro makes clear that I have better control of my right hand than my left. If I keep playing with the gyro, I might get a second one, for practicing synchronized motion between the two hands. A complex motion with my left is easier to do if I mirror a simultaneous motion of my right.

I have just emailed them the vague (and surely not novel) product idea of a gyro exerciser that also recharges one's mobile phone battery.

I'm not certain what the company name is. At first, Google found an orthodontics company. Once I found the correct site, in the first 30 seconds of viewing, I saw the gyro company's name spelled four different ways: Dyna-Flex, Dyna Flex, DynaFlex, and Dynaflex.

Mounting Cactus PT-04 Wireless Flash Trigger on Nikon SB-28

As promised 2007-05-15, here's some notes on how I mounted the Cactus PT-04 wireless flash trigger on the Nikon SB-28 speedlight.

First, I obtained a Nikon SB-28 (via CraigsList, and another via eBay), a Cactus PT-04 receiver (from GadgetInfinity.com), 12-inch PC sync cable (via eBay), Velcro 90199 strips (from Home Depot), and gaffer's tape (B&H).

Then I mounted the velcro on the SB-28 and receiver as shown in the photo. I cut the strips to size using a razor blade. The velcro holds adequately.

To remove the bolt for the receiver's mounting bracket, I first had to use a small wire cutter to shorten one of the leads of the slide switch, where it protruded unnecessarily far from the printed circuit board.

Finally, I covered up the receiver's hotshoe and bolt hole with gaffer's tape.

Using this simple rigging, together with shoe light stand brackets (from B&H), I made two inexpensive wireless-triggered studio strobe heads.

Note that I'm not yet 100% satisfied with the reliability and flexibility of these triggers. I'll post a review once I have more experience with them.

IKEA KLIPPAN Four-Seater

I've decided I really do want a full-size version, since even short friend can't stretch out on KLIPPAN, as she demonstrates in upper-left photo.

—2007-03-12

IKEA now has a four-seater version of the KLIPPAN, for $499 to $529.

I might add one to my living room later this year, for more comfortable reclining and for guest crash space. First, I'd want to test the structural soundness of it. I might also wait for the price to come down a bit, since $499-$529 seems a little high for something branded KLIPPAN, and is twice the $249 price of the loveseat.

More info on KLIPPAN, see this article:

But after endless testing of materials and fabrics, Klippan was born in 1980. More than two decades later, the $249 love seat with its clean lines, bright colors, simple legs, and compact size remains one of Ikea's best-sellers with 1.5 million sold since 1998.

—"What A Sweetheart Of A Love Seat," BusinessWeek, 2005-11-14

Peggy Noonan on the George W. Bush White House

What political conservatives and on-the-ground Republicans must understand at this point is that they are not breaking with the White House on immigration. They are not resisting, fighting and thereby setting down a historical marker-- [...] What President Bush is doing, and has been doing for some time, is sundering a great political coalition. This is sad, and it holds implications not only for one political party but for the American future.

The White House doesn't need its traditional supporters anymore, because its problems are way beyond being solved by the base. And the people in the administration don't even much like the base. Desperate straits have left them liberated, and they are acting out their disdain. Leading Democrats often think their base is slightly mad but at least their heart is in the right place. This White House thinks its base is stupid and that its heart is in the wrong place.

—Peggy Noonan, "Too Bad," OpinionJournal.com, 2007-06-01

bbdb2tbird.el 1.1

There is a new version of bbdb2tbird.el, which I mentioned on 2007-05-24.