Stuff

ImageZ

When I get a spare time and a bit of inspiration I hack bits and pieces and work on making this usable for what I need it for. I'm using it now for screenshots - i really like the save requesters and simplicity of the interface. I added a 'resize image' function which works fine, but I was having trouble with getting the scrolled pane to recognise it's content had changed size. I have something that mostly works but I got sick of fighting with it so left it for the moment.

I also thought about the tool mechanics - the affine tool doesn't really work as a per-application tool, and i'm thinking of making it, and all of the tools per-window instead. I don't have a good feel as to whether this is a good, bad, or insignificant move. At the least it might help me clean up some messy input routing - although there's a few hours of menial work getting that sorted out.

VideoZ

Not much progress here, still thinking of what to do. I setup a webcam input using V4L4J - although i'm not terribly happy with the way it passes data around (it takes 3 copies to get it onto the graphics card). I also started looking into some OpenGL 3.x stuff (no fixed function pipeline) but my heart wasn't really in it and I didn't get very far - although for the most part it looks pretty straightforward. Thinking I will just try to get a couple of video input streams going and work on some simple cross fading and swipe functions to start with and that will let me play with ideas such as timebase correction and chroma keying and the like.

But I just haven't gone anywhere near sound - if sound on linux is fucked, it's even more fucked in java. That will be a hassle.

Leaks

Well good to see at last Rudd stating the obvious - the leaks are the ultimately the yanks fault for not being able to handle security properly. Although I really just think he's playing the astute politician here - partly blow back against the US diplomats for being a bit blunt about him. And also I would suggest to play up to the local feel and to contrast with the totally nonsense statements from the PM and the AG. But she deserves all she gets in that regard, what an utter idiot. Still, his statements are the only clear ones by a member of the ruling party that they might have another purpose of being in power other than serving the interests of the USA.

Booze n Fat

Well the experiment continues, although i'm drinking in moderation again (work bbq today aside!), and eating in moderation too. I was surprised at how quickly I got used to eating basically half or less of what I was eating before - and feeling less hungry than I had been. My scales are a bit crap and it varies so much depending on when one weighs oneself but i'm shedding in the order of a kilogramme a week. Mood has been all over the shop though - and when I do drink a bit it gets pretty low - which is another reason to slow it down. And sleep hasn't been great either. Although I think in general although i'm getting less sleep i'm normally a bit more refreshed - but that's so subjective it's almost impossible to tell.

Yard

I have a good batch of leave coming up so i'm starting to think about the yard. I should be doing the shed but i'm putting that off ... but in the meantime I have some garden beds, lawn, and paving to work out. The more I think about it the more vegetable growing areas I want - they are just so much more useful than grass or flowers. Although I'm also aiming to get another citrus in - a tart lime like an african lime would be my choice. I have one decent spot left for that but i'm growing a tomato there at the moment ;-)

I had a good think about it yesterday and think i've settled on a plan - need to move a few tons of dirt and a pile of metal out the way to lay the wall foundations though (which is why I ended up hacking yesterday rather than going further). My chilli plants are going pretty well (already 10cm fruit on the cayenne pepper plants), tomatoes are looking good, i'm using the mints daily in dinner and last years basil has started growing again. I also pruned most of the roses right back since they have finished flowering for now and had too many long stems which were falling over. Citrus is also sprouting like crazy - maybe i'll finally get some fruit again this year. I also planted a few seeds in pots for a bit more variety - although it's a bit late in the year to start with seeds so i'm not expecting a lot. If the rain keeps up this year though it should be a great growing season.