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Sunday, January 27, 2002Defending The Reputation of Jpeg Compression@ 02 am | PermaLinkThere's been a lot of discussion regarding the horrors of the JPEG Compression Monster. However I think it's important to remember that JPEG is not an inherently lossy format. JPEG uses a formula for encoding the color data that uses 'wavelets', so to speak. [1] Imagine the top of each wave as being a point of color in the image. In fact when you set the compression settings for saving a JPEG, you're setting the minimum size of those waves. By setting a low quality compression (a 2 or 3 setting), the waves are made larger and fewer waves are used to express the image, and the smaller the file size that results. In the same way, setting a high quality compression (the 10 or 100 setting) uses more and smaller waves, waves that can produce more detail in the images. Look closely at a more recent version of Photoshop and you'll see something interesting. "Now the dials here go to... 11?" [2] Once the waves are smaller than a pixel (usually the '10' or '100' setting in most export dialog boxes), then you have a lossless compression scheme! Setting your compression to 11 or 12 will make sure all the detail in an image is captured in the waves. JPEG: The Compression Chameleon. [1] I cannot speak to the mathematics myself. However I do comprehend the basics of the idea. http://www.wpdfd.com/editorial/wpd0199.htm#comment [2] See "This is Spinal Tap", the movie. The DVD version includes a voice over by the band which is not to be missed. Previously, that same day...I'm with Ben@ 01 am | PermaLinkhttp://www.io.com/persist1/logs/1011904114.html I'm with Ben on this one. The whole "Googlewhacking" thing is pretty silly. Particularly because the more popular it is, the more difficult it becomes. Eventually someone will put up a page that has a set of generated pages that includes a pair of each of the words in the English dictionary and end the game once and for all. The game has always been much easier to play with the Mac-oriented version of http://www.google.com/mac. Previously, that same day...Proper Tax Forms@ 12 am | PermaLinkMake sure you have the proper tax form ready to go. http://www.thoughtpolice.com/bayboyz/1040.html.
Thursday, January 24, 2002Two Towers@ 11 pm | PermaLinkI'm really excited about seeing Two Towers next year. Amy found some great stuff about it: "Just wait until the 2nd movie, The Two Towers, comes out. Seems people are already complaining about the title, saying it ought to be changed to something less reminiscent of 9/11. Oy. "I was reading in a forum where Tolkien fans were discussing the suggestion that the The Two Towers title be changed, and they came up with some funny alternate titles: Orcs! Orcs! Orcs!
Tuesday, January 22, 2002Online Media and Streaming@ 11 am | PermaLinkI just had a chat with a friend who was looking into QuickTime Streaming and I did a bit of research and pulled up some intereting links. They center around Mac-oriented solutions of course...
Those last two links are of very interesting content.
Sunday, January 20, 2002Mail Check@ 07 pm | PermaLinkI haven't thoughtfully checked my e-mail in days. I've been toally wrapped up in trying to put together 4 VCDs worth of Depeche Mode video clips, as I've downloaded them from depechemode.com. The encoding process to convert the QuickTime files to MPEG-1 files takes about 10 minutes for each 1 minute of video. So it's taken a while. Worse, I haven't found a way to encode a folder full of files, so I'm reduced to baby-sitting the 80-odd files, getting each encoded one by one. However, I'm making headway. Disc 1 (1981-1989) and Disc 2 (1990 - 1999) are done. I've got the VCD version burned and the individual MPEG encoded video streams burned onto a Mac/PC hybrid disc. It looks like there will be a 2000-2001 Disc A and Disc B, as I've got enough material for more than 1 hour of playback. I'm thinking of trading these VCDs with other Mode fans. I might be able to get some good quality captures of the early Mode music videos. But what I'd really like to do is get a cheap LaserDisc player ($60 at Stuff) and get my Devotional LD burned to VCD, along with Strange Too. As well I need to rent a good quality VHS player that I can hook up to my Mac to capture Strange which has yet to come out in a digital format. All of this will take time of course, but I'll get to it at some point. I'm been going through blank CD-Rs like a madman. I really need to get another CaseLogic CD Booklet. I really like these 48 pocket versions. So far I've got one for Music and one for everything else. I think I need another one to hold the VCDs and other media 'projects'. "Such as?" Such as a set of Nick Cave concert recordings that I have on CD-R that I need to cut into tracks and get some cover art designed for. The Goodson list (which I haven't posted to in years) recently had a thread regarding delinquent projects, and this was one of them. Not that I've read my mail lately.
Saturday, January 12, 2002Closed Captions and QuickTime@ 04 pm | PermaLinkThis morning I've been working on a couple of things, but getting Closed Captions into a QuickTime movie is my biggest goal of the morning. I took a video from dm.com, a clip of Jeopardy, the game show, where "What is Depeche Mode?" was the correct response. Through some trial and error, a couple of online tutorials, I figured it out and actually got the video to come out pretty well. If you're interested you can see it at: http://http://homepage.mac.com/rosso/JEOPARDY320-CC.MOV I added that captioning by hand, with a lot of tweaking and messing around to get it just right. After I finished that I started looking for some tools to do it right and came across a few good pages: QTTT - QuickTime Text Tool written in Hypercard, no less. Not that great of an interface, but I did do a version of the video clip that had the captioning scolling across the video like those news tickers on the cable news channels. I'm trying to see if I can get a closed captioned QuickTime burned as a Video CD. It's a small thing, but I'm trying. I really see this as a area for self-education that I can play with now that I have QuickTime Pro and Toast, a whole bundle of new tech is open to me to learn about.
Tuesday, January 8, 2002HighSpeed@ 10 pm | PermaLinkWell that was interesting. I got home knowing that the DSL service should have been activated. I went into my TCP/IP control panel and put in the ISP's settings. I quickly unwrapped a few cords and the DSL Modem (a Cisco Router). Each time I plugged a cord in, I was rewarded with a new green light. Power cord: Green light. RJ-11 phone cord from the wall: Green light after 20 seconds. Ethernet cable to my Mac: Green light. I opened a browser window and boom. It worked. It simply worked. I followed through step 4 of 7 and it worked. So I plug my Mac back into the ethernet hub, and switch back my G3's TCP/IP settings. I plug the Cisco Router into the hub as well. I open up the Airport Admin Tool. I give it the same settings I just gave my Mac. I turn the router off and on, save the Aiport's settings. I open a browser window. It worked. I open a browser window on Amy's G4 Titanium... It worked. It just worked. It just fucking worked.
Monday, January 7, 2002An Entry in Time@ 08 pm | PermaLinkThe recent situation with my Mac refusing to allow Internet Explorer to run has disrupted a number of my web habits. Chiefly, Greymatter's entry page seem 'further' away, and I have been having to adjust to this in order to get these entries written. I've even taken the drastic step of adding additional links on my personal home page html file. (Huh?) I've got this HTML file on my Mac that has links to various sites and tools that are online. Because it's local, it loads *really* fast, and gives me quick access to Google. The only thing it's really missing is a text entry box that feeds directly into GreyMatter. I'm trying to see if I can do this with this very entry. Hopefully having the Entry system at such close of hand will cause me to post on a more regular basis. Slave Labor of the 21st Century: Having to click Again, but this time on the other side of the screen!
Sunday, January 6, 2002Verdana and the Web@ 11 pm | PermaLinkVerdana is a great san-serif screen font that I encourage the use of. It was funded by Microsoft, but released for free and in fact has been part of Windows and Mac OS releases for some years now. In summary: Verdana came with Win98/IE 4, Since 1997 Verdana came with Mac OS 8.5/IE 5, Since 1998 The MS documentation came from here: http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/default.asp The original Knowledge Base article from Apple is in the Read More section.
Saturday, January 5, 2002Islamic Chain Letters@ 07 pm | PermaLinkResearching a bit on 3 March 1924, I came across a yahoo groups mailing list. One of the posts is an Islamic Chain letter! I've gotten a good thousand of these from well meaning friends and relatives, but they've always been Christian in bent. I've never thought of Islamic chain letters... (I've included the full text in the Read More section.) Previously, that same day...Al Qaeda Training Manual@ 07 pm | PermaLinkYour very own copy of the Al Qaeda Training Manual is available in PDF format. http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/trainingmanual.htm This is the manual that was found in a mosque in London. It's been cut down to eliminate the parts that are supposed to be truly dangerous. I'm not sure why the Dept. of Justice decided to post this. It seems more inflammatory than anything. However, there is one section that's really worth reading. Starting on Page 8 of the first section: After the fall of our orthodox caliphates on March 3,1924 and after expelling the colonialists, our Islamic nation was afflicted with apostate rulers who took over in the Moslem nation. These rulers turned out to be more infidel and criminal than the colonialists themselves. Moslems have endured all kinds of harm, oppression, and torture at their hands. It goes on for quite a bit longer providing the reason why these men have taken it upon themselves to cause such carnage, pain and death. I would like to identify which people are the colonizers, which are the "apostate rulers". I'm sure they must be referring to mostly NATO countries, the US and their own puppet governments. However what I truly find interesting is the the use of the "Islamic nation" as a phrase. I can almost see a single country stretching from Morocco to Pakistan, interrupted by a single patch of Judaism. But this isn't how things have worked out in the real world. No 'nation' would allow an outside military to take down one of it's own states. (Although if someone wanted California...) Yet the Islamic nations stood by while the US swooped in a took down Afghanistan's government in less than 2 weeks. I'm wondering if the author of the manual is disconnected from the world, or simply wishing hopefully. I wonder if having separate nations is better or if it would be better if they did become one nation (or community like the EU). I've included some more excerpts from the manual in the Read More section.
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January 2002
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