Archive for July, 2009

Convert NEF to JPG – VSO Image Resizer

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

My post about resizing and converting NEF images has become my most popular post, which doesn’t say much as this blog is pretty small and neglected ;) but I thought I would follow up as I found a great Windows utility to convert and resize NEFs so those that visit seeking a Windows option have something to see now.

The solution is VSO Image Resizer. There are a few other options out there but the reason I think this is the best solution is that you have a massive amount of control over your image conversion including setting resolution, quality, watermark, destination format, destination naming convention and on top of all that, you can do bulk conversions right from your Windows context menu. (select all that you want to convert, right click and select VSO Image Resize> )

Depending on the size of your initial NEF image (usually quite large) and how many images you convert, the conversion can take some time but the program will actually warn you when it thinks the conversion will take an exceptional amount of time so you will at least be warned.

This works really well for those who aren’t geeky enough to have a Linux install ;)

You can download VSO Image Resizer here: http://www.vso-software.fr/products/image_resizer/

Death and Taxes

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

I was driving for work today, and all the work vehicles were being used so I had to take my own car. I was a bit sour about it only because I was out of gas and had to fill up to take the somewhat long trip. If I wasnt going on that day trip, I could have made that nearly empty tank at least last through the weekend.

As I was driving, I saw a guy standing on the side of the road watching traffic. He had an orange vest on, and his Incident Response vehicle was parked a few yards away on the shoulder but I didnt quite realize what he was doing and when I did, I was pretty scared for the guy.

He was watching traffic so he could find a gap in the cars and run out to get a piece of tire that was in the road. I watched him in my rear view mirror gauge traffic, then sprint across two lanes of traffic, grab the tire and sprint back. He made it look pretty easy, but I was sweatin’ for the guy.

Then I realized how much I love my line of work, desoured and went on my way. I dont have to worry about death on a daily basis. Can you imagine of that man had tripped, or didnt gauge the traffic properly? That orange vest wouldnt have saved him…

I salute you, traffic workers

Hacker Manifesto

Monday, July 13th, 2009

I stumbled upon this site with the hacker manifesto by “The Mentor”. “The Mentor” was a hacker by the name of Loyd Blankenship, arrested back in 1986 for hacking. I really liked this piece and was disappointed/surprised in myself for never having read it before ;)

by
+++The Mentor+++
Written January 8, 1986

Another one got caught today, it’s all over the papers. “Teenager Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal”, “Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering”…

Damn kids. They’re all alike.

But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1950′s technobrain, ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker? Did you ever wonder what made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him?

I am a hacker, enter my world…

Mine is a world that begins with school… I’m smarter than most of the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me…

Damn underachiever. They’re all alike.

I’m in junior high or high school. I’ve listened to teachers explain for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it. “No, Ms. Smith, I didn’t show my work. I did it in my head…”

Damn kid. Probably copied it. They’re all alike.

I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it’s because I screwed it up. Not because it doesn’t like me… Or feels threatened by me.. Or thinks I’m a smart ass.. Or doesn’t like teaching and shouldn’t be here…

Damn kid. All he does is play games. They’re all alike.

And then it happened… a door opened to a world… rushing through the phone line like heroin through an addict’s veins, an electronic pulse is sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought… a board is found. “This is it… this is where I belong…” I know everyone here… even if I’ve never met them, never talked to them, may never hear from them again… I know you all…

Damn kid. Tying up the phone line again. They’re all alike…

You bet your ass we’re all alike… we’ve been spoon-fed baby food at school when we hungered for steak… the bits of meat that you did let slip through were pre-chewed and tasteless. We’ve been dominated by sadists, or ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us willing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert.

This is our world now… the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn’t run by profiteering gluttons, and you call us criminals. We explore… and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge… and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias… and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it’s for our own good, yet we’re the criminals.

Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for.

I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual, but you can’t stop us all… after all, we’re all alike.