What is GIMP’s equivalent of Photoshop’s Median filter?

August 12, 2007 by 15 Comments

In my attempts to wean myself off as many commercial applications as possible, I decided to give The GIMP another try. I grabbed the Win32 installer for GIMP 2.2.17, which made installation a breeze. It certainly starts up much faster than Photoshop CS2, which is another big plus. It is amazing how featureful it is for a free software application.

But … there’s still a functionality gap between it and Photoshop and that’ll make it hard to switch completely. Specifically, where is GIMP’s equivalent of Photoshop’s “Median” filter? Not sure what I’m talking about? I’m referring to this:

Photoshop's Noise-Median filter

It’s a really useful filter and I can’t seem to find the equivalent in GIMP. It’s good for smoothing sharp edges into curves, like this:

Jagged area After applying median filter
(Before and after)

Getting this effect is as easy as this in Photoshop:

Apply median filter

But, how do you do it in GIMP? I’ve searched and the best I’ve found is people suggesting that GIMP’s “Filters > Enhance > Despeckle” has a “Median” filter, but it’s not even close to the same effect.

So, if there’s a GIMP wizard out there who knows GIMP inside and out, what’s the magic incantation to reproduce this effect that’s easily done in Photoshop, in GIMP?

Update: I found

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Sent in my registration for MySQL Camp II

August 11, 2007 by Leave a Comment

I just found out that MySQL Camp II is being held in Brooklyn, NY, later this month, on August 23-24, at Polytechnic University. Hopefully there are still slots available and I’ll be there.

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The latest in Internet stalkerware

August 9, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Nick Gonzales over at TechCrunch points out that Spock publically launched yesterday. The notion of aggregating information about people by crawling the open web isn’t new–ZoomInfo.com, as well as other companies, have been doing it successfully for a while now.

Given the recent attention associated with the launch, Spock got hit with a bunch of traffic today. According to their about page, “Spock is the online leader in personal search, helping users find and discover people.” However, given the number of error pages that were being returned throughout the day, Spock is the online leader in “Uh Oh. Looks like we’re having problems right now” errors. (“Web 2.0: It’s like Web 1.0, without the uptime.”) It’s always amazing to see how people build these services, always deferring the scalability issues “until later” and when “later” comes, they’re wholly unprepared and get trounced.

After all that, I do have to say that one aspect of Spock’s result page for my name really made me smile:

Spock really knows that Dossy likes blondes ...

Spock actually knows that I like blondes! Now that’s an intelligent search index. Of course, this same feature knows who likes analingus, so maybe it’s not such a great idea, after all. :-)

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Husky 8-in-1 Torx screwdriver including T5 tip

August 9, 2007 by Leave a Comment

The other day while I was grocery shopping, I dropped my Treo 650 and bricked it. It would power up and the touch-screen was responsive, but the keyboard wasn’t. Sad, but not defeated, I decided to try and fix it myself since it was bricked anyway. But, it’s secured with Torx T5 screws and I haven’t found a good source for smaller Torx bits. I already have drivers as small as T6, but where could I get a T5 bit?

Husky 8-in-1 precision screwdriver with Torx bitsOf course there’s bound to be plenty of online shopping sites where I could order one, but I wanted immediate gratification–plus, I needed to see if my phone was truly unusable, in which case I’d need to go and get a replacement right away. Luckily, I discovered that Home Depot carries the Husky 8-in-1 Precision Screwdriver, which has 4 double-sided bits ranging of sizes T4, T5, T6, T7, T8, T9, T10 and T15, all for $5.97! I drove down to my local Home Depot and picked one up, got home and took my Treo apart.

It turns out that the lower-right pad under the right-hand shift button on the keyboard PCB was permanently depressed. I’d carefully lifted it with a pair of precision tweezers and popped it back up, exercised it a few times and closed the Treo back up. The keyboard was working once again and I had a usable phone! However, if I weren’t so lucky, apparently Cellular Nationwide Network, a company based out of Hong Kong, is selling a Treo 650 replacement keyboard PCB for $9.99. I have no idea what the shipping costs from HK to the US are, though.

If you’re going to take a stab at fixing your own Treo, this video walkthrough shows you how to take it apart:

I’m just glad I was able to get my Treo working again! I really didn’t want to have to spend money to replace it right now.

If this helped you out with your own Treo repair, I’m glad. Feel free to let me know in the comments below–or, ask any questions you have and I might be able to answer and help you out.

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Evolution vs. Creationism, again

August 9, 2007 by Leave a Comment

elfs (yes, that Elf) wrote in his LJ today about Ashley Evans’s rant and it helped me clarify some thoughts I’ve had for a while but couldn’t express in words.

As much as I tend to believe that some theory of evolution is more likely to be correct than some formulation of a creationist myth, I think it is fair to say that there’s a non-empty “gap” in The Theory of Evolution. I can explain why with one question: Which theory of evolution is The Theory of Evolution? The fact that I can ask that question demonstrates the flaw.

Is it Darwinian natural selection? Punctuated equilibrium? Something else entirely?

Ironically, while I said I tend to believe some form of evolutionary theory is correct as opposed to some creationist myth, I have a hard time accepting that any of the currently expressed theories of evolution to be the actually correct one, either.

But, I trust, through good science and rigorous discipline, we’ll continue to iterate towards the correct one.

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August 6, 2007 by Leave a Comment

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Not the “Baby on Board” sign you were expecting

August 2, 2007 by 10 Comments

I’m sure you’re sick of seeing those 45-degree rotated square “Baby On Board” signs by now. You know the one’s I’m talking about:

Baby On Board

Yeah, that’s the kind. All of the stupid variants that have sprung forth from this incredible farce of a “safety device” … it’s a meme that should never have taken off, but did. Every time you glance at a car with a little yellow and black square in the window, it doesn’t even matter what it says, the “baby on board” pops into my head.

Oh, but thanks to AtlantaHoopla, I no longer grimace at the stupid things. No, instead, I smile and recall this image:

Baby On Board

Oh yes, someone went there. To whoever it was, I salute you.

Update: Just found another great version of this classic sign:

Baby on Board, hanging in the window

That is just made of win–I need to get one for my car. Anyone know where they can be bought?

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Dethcat can has a gift

July 31, 2007 by 3 Comments

On the Intertubes, news travels fast. It didn’t take long for news of a cat living in a nursing home to get mashed up with the recent LOLcat meme. I mean, who could resist Oscar, the dethcat, the kittah of deth? But, what surprises me is the fact that the connection to the old “all your base” meme hasn’t been made, yet–that I could find, anyway. So, Interwebs, I give you this:

All your base are belong to Oscar, the dethcat

For great justice!

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On vacation at the Hilton Suites Ocean City Oceanfront in Maryland

July 30, 2007 by Leave a Comment

I’m on vacation with the family this week and we’re back in Ocean City, MD. We were here in September 2005 at the Club Ocean Villas II, at which time the Hilton Suites Ocean City Oceanfront was still being built. We all really liked Ocean City, so we wanted to check it out. I’m a bit wary of trying out a brand new resort so I said we should try to get in for 2007, this way you avoid all the early growing pains.

Like last time, we came down the Garden State Parkway to the end and took the Cape May/Lewes Ferry across. The traffic was very kind to us and we made the drive in great time. The Hilton is situated between 32nd and 33rd Street. Checking in at the hotel was pleasant and uneventful, and our room was ready and waiting for us.

Ocean City, MD, July-August 2007

Here’s the view from our suite, #614. The view is fantastic, looking out over the ocean and the two outdoor pools.

Of course, while this is a vacation for the family, in the evenings I’m busy getting work done. Fortunately, there’s fully wired Ethernet in the suite and wireless networks set up in the lobby area. Out of curiousity, I decided to try a quick speed test to see what kind of bandwidth they’re offering:

My outbound connections are coming from 74-95-78-21-delmarva.hfc.comcastbusiness.net (74.95.78.21). It appears that I’m getting 512 Kbps down, 128 Kbps up–not amazing bandwidth, but totally adequate for teleworking.

It’s still early in the vacation, but unless something goes radically wrong, this is definitely a place I hope to be able to come back to again. It’s definitely a plush, five-star resort and a great way to enjoy the Ocean City beach.

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July 30, 2007 by Leave a Comment

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