Nullam

Last.fm Scrobbling with Banshee

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:15:00 +1000

For AGES now my music player has refused to scrobble tracks to last.fm.

I checked it out today and found I was getting the error in `/home/d47/.config/banshee-1/log`:

[Error] "Not all request variables are set - Invalid Timestamp"

This made me think maybe my computers time was set wrong somehow. After a casual check it turned out to be fine.

I tracked down the last.fm cache to `/home/d47/.cache/banshee-1/extensions/lastfm/audioscrobbler-queue.xml` and found in the first entry a negative timestamp! (among thousands of stuck tracks behind it) Obviously this was the problem.

So I closed banshee, removed that entry and reopened it.

Then came the flood of the scrobbles! :D

Sleep Paralysis

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 21:17:00 +1000

I don't think I've never had a real lucid dream but I once experienced sleep paralysis.

I was sleeping in a house that wasn't my own and for some reason I was sleeping on my back, which I never do. While I was asleep (I might have been dreaming, I don't know) I heard a really loud noise like someone had dropped a saucepan or something and my eyes opened instantly and I was a little shocked.

Then I saw what I thought was an alien casually walk past my door outside my room, right where I was looking. As it walked it froze mid step right in my doorway staring at me as if it wasn't supposed to have been seen. It looked just like those typical grey aliens with large black eyes only taller and it's head was a normal size. It also wasn't wearing any clothes. Beyond my door it was dark and poorly lit so anything I thought I saw was very vague and I was constantly trying to focus and make out a better image. Anyway I was scared like crazy and we both just stayed in the same position and stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity until I couldn't see it any more.

After some time there were blotches in my vision and blurry spots of ambiguity that normally see when you try to see in the dark. I knew I hadn't really seen an alien so once I got over it I just rolled over and went back to sleep.

It was very strange and scary to experience but I think it was exiting and quite fun.

A++++ would do again.

Edit: it wasn't some naked person making a noise outside my room lol, I checked.

Also of note, a while ago I started keeping a 'dream journal' where I would write down my dreams as soon as I woke up and while I could remember them. I recommend it! You dream of some wacky shit that you wouldn't believe.

Polarising Filter

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:37:00 +1000

Recently I acquired a polarising filter for my camera. I'd never used one before and I didn't really know what they were actually for, something to do with reflections I guessed.

After playing with it for a while and reading a lot of things on-line I think I get the basic idea, there is so much science involved in the technical details that it seems impossible to implement it all into a single piece of glass.

A polarising filter allows you to cut varying amounts of sunlight reflected off of non-metallic objects depending on the conditions of the shot.

The biggest factor that effects how your photo will look with a polarising filter is the rotation angle of it on your lens. At different rotations the filter will only allow light oriented in that direction. How light can be oriented in a particular direction is a hard one to imagine. If you think of light as a wave with an amplitude and wavelength then imagine the filter as a group of slits that only let the wave pass if it fits through the slit. For example, a wave that is oscillating up and down vertically will not fit through a flat horizontal slit.

Anyway you don't need to be a physicist to be able to use a polarising filter. The end effect of rotating the filter is that you can selectively accept only certain groups of light through to the camera. If you watch through your viewfinder you can see what effect it is having and take the photo when it looks the best.

The goal of course is get the picture you want and the best way to make use of a polarising filter is to know what kinds of effects it can achieve.

Another factor that determines how the polarising filter will affect your photo is the angle of the reflected light. I've read somewhere that you need to be at 50 degrees for it to be completely eliminated. I don't know why this is nor do I know where to go to find out but it does have an effect.

If you look through your filter at an LCD screen you can get a feel for what angles and rotations give the best results. LCD screens produce polarised light and so they can be blocked using a polarising filter.

The following images demonstrate how a polarising filter can be used to remove reflections from your shot. (Click to expand)

No photoshoping or other manipulating was performed on these images (except for resizing). The photos were taken with the same camera settings within seconds of each other. They represent the actual difference when using a polarising filter.

Anyway I love the effect of these filters and I will definitely use it regularly.

Close Bird

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:16:00 +1000

Have you ever wondered about sharing everything you know and all of your memories with someone? I think it would be something amazing to be able to package your entire memory and share it with someone. I would be keenly interested to know what other people had to say after receiving my memories. And vice-versa too of course.

I would be totally willing to do this if it was possible. I dream of being able to do it and a far out fantasy of mine is to live long enough for technology like this to develop. Perhaps I would like to help develop it myself. If I could.

Photography!

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:45:00 +1000

When I was in Japan I awkwardly bought a nice camera from the friendly non-English speaking staff.

At the time I had no idea about anything to do with photography really. So I just got the latest version of the same camera my friend had, the D3100. I was overflowing with cash at the time so I opted for the twin lens kit.

The lenses I got with the camera were these:
18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR AF-S (http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/18-55mm-vr.htm)
55-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR AF-S (http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/55-300mm.htm)

Now I have exactly zero experience with any other lenses or brands so I can't comment on their relative quality. But based on these alone I am once again awed by human ingenuity and technical ability. These things are just so incredibly advanced, it's amazing what a low income earner can buy with their emergency flood relief money.

My camera went mostly unused for many months after I returned. I simply didn't have any drive to take pictures of things so close to home, they just didn't seem worthy of capturing, just too mundane. However recently I was just curious and started reading up on what all the different settings do and what effects they have on the photos, also the particulars of my lenses and other lenses.

It got me very very interested in my camera and I started bringing it with me on my daily travels. For the most part things in Brisbane are indeed completely mundane and I really can't wait for my upcoming trip to Japan and South Korea (not just so I can take photos of course :).

Caught up in my own hype I bought a new lens and a GPS atachment. One thing I noticed when I was buying these is that you can really only buy them online, anywhere local is nearly double the price for some reason.

The lens I've ordered is a 35mm f/1.8 Nikon prime lens (http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/35mm-f18.htm). I've read good things about it , it's in my price range (very low) and it has the benefit of being rather compact and capable in low-light conditions (I don't like the way my flash photos look).

The GPS attachment I got was the official Nikon GP-1, It is $500 anywhere in Australia as far as I could find. So I got it at ebay from a Japanese seller for $265! (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160476160525)

I intend to keep learning as much as I can about photography just as a hobby. I put it at number 3 in my life-time list of desirable skills after programming and Japanese.

Japan Again!

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 20:42:00 +1000

I'll be visiting Japan again in January (again, brrrr..).

This time it'll only be for two weeks and we will just be staying in Tokyo.
I think I did most of the things I most wanted to do in Tokyo the first time, but I did miss alot that I really want to do!

I'm going to compile a list of things to do in this post and in the comments.
Please suggest anything!

I want to visit a pachinko parlor.
I want to visit the parasitological museum.
I want to spend alot more time in Akihabara!
I want to buy alot more things to bring home, I should make more room in my bag.
I want to go to Harajuku on the weekend and stay for longer!
I want to have alot more pictures with me in them.
And I want to go to a hot spring :P

Boredom

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 21:18:00 +1000

When she was 22, sorta wonder why, washington DC its paradise to me, i once had no fears - none at all, Sharp as teeth and stars, yea no we met we kissed, I will not sing your ugly song, i was feeling sad and lonely, from the top of the flight, i've tried so hard.

When you take the first few words from the start of each song in a random playlist and put them together it shows that you really are very bored.

Ouroboros

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:51:00 +1000

I wish I was more creative.

I made this blog 3 years ago as some kind of creative outlet and it totally didn't work.

I wish I could live multiple lifetimes so that I can try different things each time. I would like to be an artist, a musician, a lazy dole bludger, a doctor, a psychotic.. but these things take a lifetimes dedication (except psychotic perhaps.)

If I had one wish it would be to live strong until I wanted to die. I could witness the rise and fall of humanity and I could accomplish whatever I desired with no worry for time lost, I could appreciate the lifes work of others to their just deserve and play with things I could never in this life.

In this state my apathy is limited only by my willingness to hide it.
If I could live forever I would be very comfortable indeed.

Hello Louis.

As yet unamed game in prolonged development

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:04:00 +1000

For a long while now, during free time, me and Ry have been developing an ambitious game for the android platform.

I have been doing the programming/logic and Ry has been proving the textures/sprites/direction for the game.

If you like what you see, even if you have stumbled upon our site by accident after playing partypoker, please leave a comment! We collectively have no free time so it is rather slow progressing. But it has been that way for most of the year and it still manages to make progress :).

Here are some screenshots of the current state of things:

Japan!

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 03:54:00 +1000

So,

My trip to Japan has ended and I'm sitting back at home with only the memories.
I know I said that I was going to post updates while I was in Japan as a kind of travel journal, but I didn't.

Japan is an amazing place. Things are so similar yet so different in ways that can't really be put accurately into words.

What I did do is take allot of pictures. I will make efforts to create an image gallery type thing when I have time/feel like it.

Aside from the culture of Japan, the temperature there was around 10 degrees (c) in Tokyo and as low as -5 (c) or so in Sapporo. After the first week I came to consider it to be somewhat preferable to the relative heat that I'm used to. Perhaps that's just a side effect of my ridiculously warm jacket.

The people there are certainly very polite but they don't really seem to say anything that isn't ritualised in some way. Naturally the only people we had the chance to talk to where people behind a counter which is a shame. I was looking forward to trying out my Japanese and learning more as I went.

The only time that I got to interact with anyone more naturally was when a small school kid noticed me while I was trying to ice skate and proceeded to try-out the few lines of English he must have learnt at school. "Hello", he said. I responded with "Hi", which in Japanese sounds like their word for yes. After recovering from his confusion he told me his name and asked me how I was, all in English. The whole conversation had an air of condescension and mockery directed at me and my being a foreigner (even if it doesn't sound like it from my description), but of course I can dismiss this as a kid just having fun and in fact I enjoyed it.

While I was over there I had (and still have) rather long blond hair past my shoulders. This certainly attracted allot of looks and made me stand out a bit too.

The experience was definitely a very memorable one and I look forward to visiting again and many more times.