Misadventures at 720nm

This time I’m going in for a fisheye-chic of Ironforge and Stormwind:

Ungimping the Gimp, Part 1
Ungimping the Gimp, Part 2
Ungimping the Gimp, Part 3

Well welcome to part four of this one-part series on The Gimp, one of the jewels of the open-source community and maybe the finest FOSS raster editor. Here is how I save a single-layer .JPG file in Adobe Photoshop after I open it, say to sharpen it:

1. Go to File->Save, or optionally use the handy keyboard shortcut Ctrl+s.

Here is how I save a single-layer .JPG file in Gimp 2.7.1 after I open it, say to sharpen it:

1. Go to File->Save, or optionally use the handy keyboard shortcut Ctrl+s.
2. Why is is asking to save the file in .XCF format?
3. “You can use this dialog to save to the GIMP XCF format. Use File→Export to export to other file formats.” Excuse me?
4. Go to File->Export, or optionally use the handy keyboard shortcut Ctrl+e.

This behavior comes right back to my rant of mid-week: I rate my software by the amount of annoyances it has. Save/Save-as should simply save the file. Gimp subverts this standard completely by making simply saving the file a complicated multi-step process.

Sigh.

So just like every other warm-bodied Apple user I updated my iPod to iOS4. But being a geek I did it a couple of days before the formal release thanks to the magic power of Community.

After three days on the new version I have to say that I am not terribly impressed. Bluetooth doesn’t work for shit, the unified inbox only displays the actual main inbox of an account instead of collating all unread email, Apple saw fit to arbitrarily disable selective features on older devices (really, guys, would it kill you to let me have wallpaper on my 2G device?) and I really, really fucking hate the bevelled dock. To me it has always stuck out like a ridiculous sore thumb in OS X. The only real “woo!” feature are app folders, which jailbroken devices have had for a year. Their implementation wasn’t as slick, but they’ve had it.

Next step? Jailbreak my iOS4 device and enable multitasking and desktop wallpapers.

I have quit Facebook. My entire take on the whole privacy débâcle is this: Facebook lied. Facebook promised us a certain level of discretion in both how we could control the information about us that was available and in how they would use our information; time has shown that they have down an abrupt about face on both of these. I personally could care less (within reason) as to what information is available about me on the Internet; I deal with much more sensitive and personal topics here on my site on a daily basis. If I do not wish a certain topic to become a matter for the attention of the Internet I simply do not discuss it electronically. I believe it is nothing less than prudence to assume that your every electronic conversation can and will be subject to interception, analysis and unwanted sharing. These nefarious agents can be anyone; advertisers who want to know my tastes in order to better sell their project; the (freaking) CIA and other intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, who comb for sensitive keywords; relatives and coworkers about whom (hypothetically) I might have some less than positive comments.

In short: assume there is an attacker, always. Partition, self-censor and continually be alert for the potential consequences of what you may say. This is something that I have learned – the hard way.

• Partition: Decide what you want to say and where you want to say it. Think about who might see it whether at the front (user) end or back (server/Internet side).
• Self-censor: Obfuscate, diffuse, ignore, feign indifference, be opaque, be vague, omit, subtract and outright lie.
• Consider consequences: Bad-mouthing your employer and coworkers is always dumb.

So far as companies like Google, Microsoft (Bing) and Twitter operate, I have little to complain about. I believe that just like Facebook they genuinely wish to provide a better experience and make a money in the process. It is the way of the times. It is the way of the future. I can’t see an end to it until somebody cracks A.I. and creates a Turing-compatible Mark on a computer somewhere. The very first question asked of Mark² will be “What do you think of our product range?”

Anyway. These other companies haven’t gone and made such bare-faced lies about their intentions that I’ve gotten likewise incensed. So: Goodbye Facebook. It has been easier to quit than I imagined because I really do not use my Facebook account for much of anything. I chat to Caira’s grandparents once in a blue moon? I’ve pulled the profile link down from yonder sidebar. I’m looking into my alt-Facebook options that I can push my friends and family onto.

What are your opinions on this? Weigh in below! :)

In typical Mark fashion I tried to give the keyboard on my Netbook a thorough cleaning and wound up breaking it somehow – I am not going to speculate on any cause beyond my typical carelessness and proclivity toward dramatically mundane events. Regardless, a replacement keyboard has been ordered for my Netbook (

After 19 years I still have this fucking advertisement stuck in my head. I’ll worship Nintendo’s marketing as advertising gods for creating a meme that is still lodged in my hippocampus two decades after the fact, but I still want to be…unpleasant…to all of you, all the same.

So holy non-existent childhood memories, Batman. The Grealish family never owned a SNES. I remember when it first came out in Ireland, when I first laid eyes on its aesthetically-pleasing goodness, the console cost

I’ve tried to take a few panoramas within Northrend…in World of Warcraft, but the going has been very slow due to some very real technical hurdles – low (1024×600) screen resolution, and a processor that simply wasn’t intended for intensive graphics and photo post-processing needed to create them. Wrestling with 5 FPS and waiting for more than hour for the images to compile is tedious tedious tedious.

Tweaking after stitching is minimal – I boost saturation, contrast and brightness slightly, otherwise the images will tend to look a little dull on screen.

Send your donations for a Mac Pro to…

Gun’drak

From WoWWiki:

This is the Drakkari capital, the only large city in Zul