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Michael Still
mikal@stillhq.com

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Sat, 31 Dec 2005


Python DNS modules

    My first python script involves doing some DNS lookups (for TXT records if that matters), and I am currently working through using the pydns module for this. Is this really the best DNS module to use for python though? For a start, it was last released in May 2002, and the documentation is somewhat sparse...

    Tags for this post: python(S)

posted at: 11:07 | path: /python | permanent link to this entry
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Talk about a support life cycle...

    "People who wish to run MaraDNS 1.0 unsupported after 2010/12/21 need to keep in mind that MaraDNS 1.0 is not Y2038 compliant, and will have problems starting in 2036 or so."


    Wow.

    Tags for this post: blog(S)

posted at: 11:04 | path: /diary | permanent link to this entry
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Tue, 27 Dec 2005


Figures from chapter 1 of ImageMagick, the definitive guide

    Here are the thumbnails for the figures from chapter 1 of ImageMagick, the Definitive Guide:


    Figure 1-1
    Figure 1-2
    Figure 1-3
    Figure 1-4
    Figure 1-5

    Figure 1-6
    Figure 1-7
    Figure 1-8
    Figure 1-9
    Figure 1-10

    Figure 1-11
    Figure 1-12
    Figure 1-13
    Figure 1-14
    Figure 1-15

    Figure 1-16
    Figure 1-17
    Figure 1-18
    Figure 1-19


    Tags for this post: imagemagick(S) book(S) figures(S)

posted at: 05:00 | path: /imagemagick/book/figures | permanent link to this entry
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Figures from chapter 2 of ImageMagick, the definitive guide

    Here are the thumbnails for the figures from chapter 2 of ImageMagick, the Definitive Guide:


    Figure 2-1
    Figure 2-2
    Figure 2-3
    Figure 2-4
    Figure 2-5

    Figure 2-6
    Figure 2-7
    Figure 2-8
    Figure 2-9
    Figure 2-10

    Figure 2-11
    Figure 2-12
    Figure 2-13
    Figure 2-14
    Figure 2-15

    Figure 2-16


    Tags for this post: imagemagick(S) book(S) figures(S)

posted at: 04:00 | path: /imagemagick/book/figures | permanent link to this entry
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Figures from chapter 3 of ImageMagick, the definitive guide

    Here are the thumbnails for the figures from chapter 3 of ImageMagick, the Definitive Guide:


    Figure 3-1
    Figure 3-2
    Figure 3-3
    Figure 3-4
    Figure 3-5

    Figure 3-6
    Figure 3-7
    Figure 3-8
    Figure 3-9
    Figure 3-10

    Figure 3-11
    Figure 3-12
    Figure 3-13
    Figure 3-14


    Tags for this post: imagemagick(S) book(S) figures(S)

posted at: 03:00 | path: /imagemagick/book/figures | permanent link to this entry
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Figures from chapter 4 of ImageMagick, the definitive guide

    Here are the thumbnails for the figures from chapter 4 of ImageMagick, the Definitive Guide:


    Figure 4-1
    Figure 4-2
    Figure 4-3
    Figure 4-4
    Figure 4-5

    Figure 4-6
    Figure 4-7
    Figure 4-8
    Figure 4-9
    Figure 4-10

    Figure 4-11
    Figure 4-12
    Figure 4-13
    Figure 4-14
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 4-15

    Figure 4-16
    Figure 4-17
    Figure 4-18
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 4-19
    Figure 4-20

    Figure 4-21
    Figure 4-22
    Figure 4-23
    Figure 4-24
    Figure 4-25

    Figure 4-26
    Figure 4-27
    Figure 4-28
    Figure 4-29
    Figure 4-30

    Figure 4-31
    Figure 4-32
    Figure 4-33
    Figure 4-34
    Figure 4-35

    Figure 4-36
    Figure 4-37
    Figure 4-38
    Figure 4-39
    Figure 4-40

    Figure 4-41
    Figure 4-42


    Tags for this post: imagemagick(S) book(S) figures(S)

posted at: 02:00 | path: /imagemagick/book/figures | permanent link to this entry
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Figures from chapter 5 of ImageMagick, the definitive guide

    Here are the thumbnails for the figures from chapter 5 of ImageMagick, the Definitive Guide:


    Figure 5-1
    Figure 5-2
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-3
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-4
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-5
    (Click to see all the images)

    Figure 5-6
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-7
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-8
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-9
    Figure 5-10
    (Click to see all the images)

    Figure 5-11
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-12
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-13
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-14
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-15
    (Click to see all the images)

    Figure 5-16
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-17
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-18
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-19
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-20
    (Click to see all the images)

    Figure 5-21
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-22
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-23
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-24
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-25
    (Click to see all the images)

    Figure 5-26
    (Click to see all the images)
    Figure 5-27
    Figure 5-28
    (Click to see all the images)


    Tags for this post: imagemagick(S) book(S) figures(S)

posted at: 01:00 | path: /imagemagick/book/figures | permanent link to this entry
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Figures from chapter 6 of ImageMagick, the definitive guide

    Here are the thumbnails for the figures from chapter 6 of ImageMagick, the Definitive Guide:


    Figure 6-1
    Figure 6-2
    Figure 6-3
    Figure 6-4
    Figure 6-5

    Figure 6-6
    Figure 6-7
    Figure 6-8
    Figure 6-9
    Figure 6-10

    Figure 6-11
    Figure 6-12
    Figure 6-13
    Figure 6-14
    Figure 6-15

    Figure 6-16
    Figure 6-17
    Figure 6-18
    Figure 6-19
    Figure 6-20

    Figure 6-21
    Figure 6-22
    Figure 6-23
    Figure 6-24
    Figure 6-25

    Figure 6-26
    Figure 6-27
    Figure 6-28
    Figure 6-29
    Figure 6-30

    Figure 6-31
    Figure 6-32
    Figure 6-33
    Figure 6-34
    Figure 6-35

    Figure 6-36
    Figure 6-37
    Figure 6-38
    Figure 6-39
    Figure 6-40

    Figure 6-41
    Figure 6-42
    Figure 6-43
    Figure 6-44
    Figure 6-45


    Tags for this post: imagemagick(S) book(S) figures(S)

posted at: 00:00 | path: /imagemagick/book/figures | permanent link to this entry
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Mon, 26 Dec 2005


Figures from chapter 7 of ImageMagick, the definitive guide

    Here are the thumbnails for the figures from chapter 7 of ImageMagick, the Definitive Guide:


    Figure 7-1
    Figure 7-2
    Figure 7-3
    Figure 7-4
    Figure 7-5

    Figure 7-6
    Figure 7-7
    Figure 7-8
    Figure 7-9
    Figure 7-10

    Figure 7-11
    Figure 7-12
    Figure 7-13
    Figure 7-14
    Figure 7-15

    Figure 7-16
    Figure 7-17
    Figure 7-18
    Figure 7-19
    Figure 7-20

    Figure 7-21
    Figure 7-22
    Figure 7-23
    Figure 7-24
    Figure 7-25

    Figure 7-26
    Figure 7-27
    Figure 7-28
    Figure 7-29
    Figure 7-30

    Figure 7-31
    Figure 7-32
    Figure 7-33
    Figure 7-34
    Figure 7-35

    Figure 7-36
    Figure 7-37
    Figure 7-38
    Figure 7-39
    Figure 7-40

    Figure 7-41
    Figure 7-42
    Figure 7-43
    Figure 7-44
    Figure 7-45

    Figure 7-46
    Figure 7-47
    Figure 7-48
    Figure 7-49
    Figure 7-50

    Figure 7-51
    Figure 7-52
    Figure 7-53
    Figure 7-54
    Figure 7-55

    Figure 7-56
    Figure 7-57
    Figure 7-58
    Figure 7-59
    Figure 7-60

    Figure 7-61
    Figure 7-62
    Figure 7-63
    Figure 7-64
    Figure 7-65

    Figure 7-66
    Figure 7-67
    Figure 7-68
    Figure 7-69
    Figure 7-70

    Figure 7-71
    Figure 7-72
    Figure 7-73
    Figure 7-74
    Figure 7-75

    Figure 7-76
    Figure 7-77
    Figure 7-78
    Figure 7-79
    Figure 7-80

    Figure 7-81
    Figure 7-82
    Figure 7-83
    Figure 7-84
    Figure 7-85

    Figure 7-86
    Figure 7-87
    Figure 7-88
    Figure 7-89
    Figure 7-90

    Figure 7-91
    Figure 7-92
    Figure 7-93
    Figure 7-94
    Figure 7-95

    Figure 7-96


    Tags for this post: imagemagick(S) book(S) figures(S)

posted at: 23:00 | path: /imagemagick/book/figures | permanent link to this entry
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Figures from chapter 8 of ImageMagick, the definitive guide

    Here are the thumbnails for the figures from chapter 8 of ImageMagick, the Definitive Guide:


    Figure 8-1


    Tags for this post: imagemagick(S) book(S) figures(S)

posted at: 22:00 | path: /imagemagick/book/figures | permanent link to this entry
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Figures from chapter 9 of ImageMagick, the definitive guide

    Here are the thumbnails for the figures from chapter 9 of ImageMagick, the Definitive Guide:


    Figure 9-1
    Figure 9-2


    Tags for this post: imagemagick(S) book(S) figures(S)

posted at: 21:00 | path: /imagemagick/book/figures | permanent link to this entry
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Figures from chapter 10 of ImageMagick, the definitive guide

    Here are the thumbnails for the figures from chapter 10 of ImageMagick, the Definitive Guide:


    Figure 10-1
    Figure 10-2
    Figure 10-3
    Figure 10-4


    Tags for this post: imagemagick(S) book(S) figures(S)

posted at: 20:00 | path: /imagemagick/book/figures | permanent link to this entry
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Figures from chapter 11 of ImageMagick, the definitive guide

    Here are the thumbnails for the figures from chapter 11 of ImageMagick, the Definitive Guide:


    Figure 11-1
    Figure 11-2
    Figure 11-3
    Figure 11-4
    Figure 11-5

    Figure 11-6


    Tags for this post: imagemagick(S) book(S) figures(S)

posted at: 19:00 | path: /imagemagick/book/figures | permanent link to this entry
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How come I don't blog any more?

    It's not intentional, I think it's more that I haven't had anything interesting to say since I moved to the US -- all of my time has been devoted to training at work, moving into houses (two now, no more of that please), and sustaining the other two activities by going shopping. I promise now that most of that is done that I will be 100% excitement from now on.

    In fact, I'll take my camera to Andrew and Sarah's Christmas lunch, and then post some pictures online... Promise.

    Tags for this post: blog(S)

posted at: 04:13 | path: /diary | permanent link to this entry
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Wed, 21 Dec 2005


First commute to work

    This morning was my first bike commute to work ever. Not just to my new American job, but ever (I've always lived too far from work until now -- being a bike ride away from work was one of the criteria for the apartment in the US). The ride was rather pleasant, and involved very little on the road stuff (just getting onto the bike path near the apartment) -- 27 minutes, 7.7km, maximum speed of 33 km per hour.

    There is a lot of room for improvement here -- we didn't go the most efficient way, I am relatively unfit at the moment not having ridden for a month, and Andrew is learning how to use cleats which made for a bit of laughter.

    A nice ride though, and I'm pretty happy with how it went. I'll be riding more in the future.

    Tags for this post: bike(S)

posted at: 03:21 | path: /bike | permanent link to this entry
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Tue, 20 Dec 2005


Back on the road again, nearly

    Andrew and Sarah's air freight arrived on Saturday, and thanks to their kindness that means my bike arrived too. I reassembled it on Sunday, and went for a short test ride, which was a mistake as it reminded me how much fun riding is. Now I need to find time to ride here, despite the fact that it appears to want to rain all of this week.

    I'm considering bike commuting and just getting wet.

    Tags for this post: bike(S)

posted at: 07:11 | path: /bike | permanent link to this entry
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Sat, 17 Dec 2005


About to resize my LVM

    When I created my USB2 mirrored LVMed disk array I go asked a few questions about performance of the disks, how long it took to setup, and stuff like that.

    At the time it was too late to get that data as I already had things I cared about on the disk array. Now it's time to grow the array so I've picked up two more disks. I've collected some data, so I now have data on the setup process for a new LVM from two USB 2 disks, and bonnie results for the filesystem on those disks. I don't have the date with me though, so I will write it up in the next few days.

    Is there anything else people would like to know before I put these disks into action?

    Oh, and yes this does mean that there is now a terrabyte of disk in that array. That brings the total amount of storage I have online at my house to 1.2 terrabytes. That doesn't include the old disk array still running in Australia either. Fun fun fun.

    Tags for this post: linux(S)

posted at: 03:28 | path: /linux | permanent link to this entry
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The environmental friendliness of shrimp trawling?

    I've been setting up MythTV, and my test show was an episode of "Dirty Jobs" which I am watching now. The process for shrimp trawling is the current victim, and it seems to involve grabbing everything from the bottom of the ocean, and then throwing the vast majority of it back while looking for the relatively small number of shrimp in the catch.

    So, does this suck environmentally or not?

    Tags for this post: blog(S)

posted at: 03:22 | path: /diary | permanent link to this entry
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Mon, 12 Dec 2005


Update on the Dell

    A previous entry discusses the Ubuntu installer stalling on my new Dell Dimension e310. In that post I decided that it was the USB controller causing pain, but the plot has thickened...

    Knoppix: has no problems booting on the machine.

    Debian's Stable: the installer boots fine, but DHCP doesn't work and it cant find the SATA disk.

    The current Debian Testing: the installer freezes just like the Ubuntu one.

    So, perhaps it's time for a chroot install of Debian from Knoppix? Although qtparted doesn't work on Knoppix properly, so I might have to do the filesystem resizing by hand.

    Tags for this post: blog(S) toys(S) dell(S) e310(S)

posted at: 08:21 | path: /diary/toys/dell/e310 | permanent link to this entry
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I like Christmas

    I spent some time this morning wrapping the presets for the kids. They get two Christmases you see -- the one in Australian, and then another smaller one when they get to the US. Now, it might be the nostalgia speaking, or the fact that I haven't seen my family in nearly a month, but it occurred to me that I really like Christmas.

    Or to be more precise -- I really like giving my kids stuff. Although, it turns out that I am crap at wrapping. There is something really cute about the kids being excited to be moving to the US -- because daddy said there were presents waiting for them. That's cool.

    Oh, and next time I'm only going to buy rectangular presents so I stand a chance of being able to wrap them. Ever tried to wrap a stuffed toy?

    Tags for this post: christmas(S)

posted at: 04:06 | path: /christmas | permanent link to this entry
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Sat, 10 Dec 2005


Installing Linux on a Dell Dimension e310

    I got a very good price on a Dell e310, so I have been trying to install Linux on it for about an hour now without much joy. It turns out (or at least this is my current theory) that the USB chipset in the machine isn't supported by the Ubuntu 5.10 installer, and that causes the kernel to crash on boot. There certainly seem to be other people experiencing this as well.

    Unfortunately, I really need USB on this machine, as there are no legacy ports and I really like keyboards. Specifically, the Ubuntu install CD needs me to enter a boot line before it boots the installer kernel, and I can't do that with my spare USB controller installed and the on board one disabled, as the BIOS wont allow me.

    I'll keep you posted when I come up with a solution.

    Tags for this post: blog(S) toys(S) dell(S) e310(S)

posted at: 16:06 | path: /diary/toys/dell/e310 | permanent link to this entry
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Errata from the book

    The Definitive Guide to ImageMagick arrives in bookstores 26 December 2005, but Apress has already started sending out PDF versions of the book to some reviewers (let me know if you're interested in doing a review and I will see what I can do), and there is a sample chapter available for download from the Apress site.

    We worked hard to make the book as good as we could, including having a technical review team, several layers of editors, and me reading all of the chapters more than I would like to admit. That doesn't mean that it's impossible that errata slipped through though, so if you see something like that then please send either me an email, or even better send an email to the address reserved for such things.

    Each error found, if I agree with it, will result in a thank you email, the error being corrected in any future editions, the error being listed online (I don't know where yet though), and a credit in future versions of the book.

    Tags for this post: imagemagick(S) book(S)

posted at: 01:38 | path: /imagemagick/book | permanent link to this entry
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Sat, 03 Dec 2005


Building a stack of images from thumbnails

    I have a directory full of thumbnails of the rental tour I went on the other day while looking for a new apartment, and I want to put them online. Instead of putting each photo online, which I thought might be boring, I wanted to build a stack on images on a background.

    I'm not really describing the effect well, so here's the output so you know what I mean:



    This was remarkably easy to create with a simple script that uses ImageMagick. Here's the code: 

      
#!/bin/bash

# Setup the random number stuff
LOBOUND=1
HIBOUND=600
RANDMAX=32767

# Create a white image to start with
convert -size $HIBOUND"x"$HIBOUND xc:lightgray output.png

for img in img*jpg
do
  echo "Processing $img"

  # Rotate the image if needed
  rotate=""
  if [ `exif $img | grep Orientation | grep bottom | wc -l | tr -d " "` -gt 0 ]
  then
    convert -rotate -90 $img img.png
  else
    convert $img img.png
  fi

  imgwidth=`identify -ping img.png | cut -f 3 -d " " | cut -f 1 -d "x"`
  imgheight=`identify -ping img.png | cut -f 3 -d " " | cut -f 2 -d "x"`

  # For more information on bounded numbers with bash, see
  # http://www.stillhq.com/bashrand/
  x=$(( $LOBOUND + (($HIBOUND - $imgwidth) * $RANDOM) / ($RANDMAX + 1) ))
  y=$(( $LOBOUND + (($HIBOUND - $imgheight) * $RANDOM) / ($RANDMAX + 1) ))

  # Put the image on top of the accumulative image
  mv output.png input.png
  convert -draw "image atop $x,$y $imgwidth,$imgheight img.png" input.png output.png
  rm img.png
done


First the script creates an empty image to place the thumbnails over. Then for each image it checks if the image needs to be rotated, and what size it is. I use the size of the image to determine what the maximum value for the two random values I need are (the random values from the coordinates of the top left of the thumbnail image, and I don't want any images falling off the edge of the new image). The the image is placed on top of the accumulating image.

It's just a little ImageMagick hack I thought I would share.

Tags for this post: imagemagick(S)

posted at: 11:25 | path: /imagemagick | permanent link to this entry
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Tue, 29 Nov 2005


Sin City

    I'm in a temporary apartment at the moment, and the nice previous occupant appears to have DVR'ed Sin City for me from Comcast pay per view, so Andrew and I sat down and watched it last night. I must say that I liked it, in a Pulp Fiction kind of way.

    Put it this way -- I wont be able to take Rory in the Gilmore Girls the same way any more.

    Yeah, I liked the movie a lot. Now I need to decide if I will recommend my wife see it...

    Tags for this post: blog(S) movies(S)

posted at: 05:40 | path: /diary/movies | permanent link to this entry
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Example 2.1 from Dive Into Python

    I've just started working through Dive Into Python, so I don't really have an opinion of the book yet. I did notice that Example 2.1 produces different output on my machine than from the example...

    The example says I should get: 

      server=mpilgrim;uid=sa;database=master;pwd=secret


    I get: 

      pwd=secret;database=master;uid=sa;server=mpilgrim


    It's interesting that this is exactly the reverse of what the book says I should get. I have no idea why, as I can't read Python yet, but there you go.

    Tags for this post: python(S) diveintopython(S)

posted at: 05:16 | path: /python/diveintopython | permanent link to this entry
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Fri, 25 Nov 2005


Adventures in Ubuntu Breezy Dovecot

    I mentioned the other day that I am having problems with Dovecot on Ubuntu Breezy. Now's the time to debug it, and here are my notes...

    No inetd.conf 

      sed: can't read /etc/inetd.conf: No such file or directory


    This first error is because of this poorly implemented test: 

      # The init script should do nothing if dovecot is being run from inetd
for p in `sed -r "s/^ *(([^:]+|\[[^]]+]|\*):)?(pop3s?|imaps?)[ \t].*/\3/;t;d" \
  /etc/inetd.conf`
do
  for q in `sed -r "s/^ *protocols[ \t]*=[ \t]*(([^\"]*)|\"(.*)\")/\2\3/;t;d" \
    /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf`
  do
    if [ $p = $q ]; then
      exit 0
    fi
  done
done


    You can see from the comment that the intention is that the init script doesn't do anything if dovecot is running from inetd. The error message is kinda bogus though, in that the code keeps executing after that failed line with the sed call in it. If you find the error annoying, then make it go away: 

      touch /etc/inetd.conf


    In a perfect world, you'd hope that the packager would change the script to do something more like this: 

      for p in `sed -r "s/^ *(([^:]+|\[[^]]+]|\*):)?(pop3s?|imaps?)[ \t].*/\3/;t;d" \
  /etc/inetd.conf 2> /dev/null`


    Moving right along...

    It doesn't start the service

    I had enabled the imap_listen variable in the dovecot.conf file, but not put it in the protocols variable. The init script checks this, and bugged out without an error message. I would think an error message would be nicer.

    And now it works.

    Tags for this post: linux(S) ubuntu(S)

posted at: 14:40 | path: /linux/ubuntu | permanent link to this entry
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Stuffit expander for linux, but open source

    I've been working with publishing people recently, and they're all Macintosh users. There is a trial version of Stuffit expander for linux, but they really want me to give them money after 15 days... I've googled for an open source alternative, but can't find one. Is that because one doesn't exist?

    Tags for this post: linux(S)

posted at: 08:30 | path: /linux | permanent link to this entry
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On home sound systems

    My temporary apartment in Santa Clara came with a $500 US Bose alarm clock, which is of interest firstly because it's an amazing amount of money to spend on something as trivial as an alarm clock, and secondly because it sounds fantastic. It has an impossibly large amount of bass for something so small.

    I initially thought I would buy one, but at $500 US, there is little chance of that happening. I also need some way of spreading the musical joy around the entire house before I go crazy, so I suspect that I might just end up with a bunch of Squeezeboxes or equivalent around the house.

    More details when I've finished surfing and deciding what I want to implement.

    Tags for this post: blog(S) toys(S)

posted at: 07:25 | path: /diary/toys | permanent link to this entry
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Mikal, the massive domain squatter

    I picked up a couple of new domain names during the week. stillbert.com, points to stillhq.com and is a reference to my old nickname at TOWER.

    More interestingly, imagemagickbook.com points to the ImageMagick book pages here. It was a suggestion from Andrew Pollock which just made too much sense to say no to.

    Tags for this post: blog(S)

posted at: 06:51 | path: /diary | permanent link to this entry
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What do you do on days as a bachelor in a strange country?

    Well, for me it was a cooked breakfast before getting the house work done. Instead of writing an exciting b