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Saturday, March 10, 2018

Random Picture Making/Blending Script, Random Stuff, and More

- had to go some graphics work recently. Since this isn't my general area of expertise I decided to script what would happen if I applied random filters and see what would happen during random picture blending. Download the script here:
- description is as follows:
# Sometimes, organisations don't have the resources to be able to hire someone
# fulltime to be able to deal with graphic design issues. Hence, you need to
# make the best of what you already have. 
# 
# That's the purpose of this script/program. Basically, it runs it through 
# ImageMagick's convert utility with multiple parameters and also attempts to
# blend your input picture with those placed in the 'blending' folder. At the 
# end, just pick a picture that you may like for your current marketing 
# campaign effort.
#
# This is clearly much quicker then using Photoshop or GIMP. I prefer to
# use it in unison with it though. In a few minutes you can have something
# 'fresh' for anything you might want to post out.
#
# See the following website for examples of similar scripts (though the terms
# of these particular scripts are somewhat onerous):
# http://www.fmwconcepts.com/imagemagick/index.php
#
# I've done my best to find genuinely free (of royalty, cost, etc...) 
# 'sample pictures' for you to blend pictures with but they've
# become increasingly difficult to find. Sample output was obtained by
# running following command:
# ./make_pictures.sh 48555_XXX_v2.jpg
#
# As this is the very first version of the program it may be VERY buggy. 
# Please test prior to deployment in a production environment.
- obviously, I've looked at other options but there haven't been too many that were worthy of note and those that were often required payment or had onerous usage terms
http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/
http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/compose/
github mashup image python
https://github.com/hieuha/
picture effects github
https://github.com/bennettfeely/image-effects
https://github.com/topics/image-effects
https://github.com/QuinnSong/JPG-Tools
https://github.com/markdaws/go-effects
python image effects github
https://github.com/philgyford/python-halftone
mashup image python code
https://github.com/sup/exposure
https://github.com/flrs/blend_modes
https://github.com/ageitgey/face_recognition
https://www.devmashup.com/converting-python-applications-into-docker-images/
mashup image online
https://mashable.com/2009/08/22/image-generators/#YeSVBJRGSgqP
https://3dthis.com/morph.htm
https://www.mashuppictures.com/
https://www140.lunapic.com/editor/?action=blend

Random Stuff:
- as usual thanks to all of the individuals and groups who purchase and use my goods and services
- latest in science and technology
youtube comment bot site:github.com
email harvesting program free
python to adobe flash site:github.com
android online emulator
- latest in finance and politics
- latest in defense and intelligence
- latest in animal news
- latest in music and entertainment

Random Quotes:
- The attraction of the Flanker family among Asia’s air forces lies in its capabilities in relation to acquisition costs, which are just a fraction of contemporary Western fighter designs. The lack of political strings attached to arms sales, as well as a willingness to accept commodities as partial payment, have also been cited as selling points for Russian weapons.

Figures released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute show Russia is currently the world’s second-largest arms exporter after the United States, with $35.4 billion worth of arms exports in the period between 2012 and 2016, representing 23 percent of global arms exports.
- Long-time Google engineer Steve Yegge, who gained prominence when he wrote a rant about Google+ back in 2011, has quit the company, accusing it of no longer being able to innovate.
Yegge, who detailed his reasons for leaving in a blog post, said Google was not focused on its competitors and seemed to have forgotten about its users altogether.

He said one of the reasons contributing to the lack of innovation was because Google had become a conservative company.

"They are so focused on protecting what they’ve got, that they fear risk-taking and real innovation. Gatekeeping and risk aversion at Google are the norm rather the exception," Yegge wrote.

"You can look at Google’s entire portfolio of launches over the past decade, and trace nearly all of them to copying a competitor: Google+ (Facebook), Google Cloud (AWS), Google Home (Amazon Echo), Allo (WhatsApp), Android Instant Apps (Facebook, WeChat), Google Assistant (Apple/Siri), and on and on and on.
"They are stuck in me-too mode and have been for years. They simply don’t have innovation in their DNA any more. And it’s because their eyes are fixed on their competitors, not their customers."

He said the company had become mired in politics; this was inevitable given its size. However, it tended to slow down processes and led to problems in execution.
- Elsewhere in his remarks in Davos, Trump said, “America is open for business and we are competitive once again.”

“As president of the United States I will always put America first,” he said. “But America first does not mean America alone. When the United States grows, so does the world.”

“America is open for business and we are competitive once again,” he also said.

Trump, however, criticized China for its alleged theft of intellectual property and practice of forcing American companies to turn over their intellectual property to do business there. 

"We cannot have free and open trade if some countries exploit the system at the expense of others,” he said. “We support free trade, but it needs to be fair and it needs to be reciprocal.”
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/01/26/550265/Trump-accuses-Iran-of-seeking-nuclear-weapons
Rabbi Samuel: "If there is no afterlife, then we’ll never know the difference."
- Why? Because international law recognises all territories acquired through invasion and annexation by force, prior to World War II, as lawful conquests.

This 'Right of Conquest' doctrine was first conceived by the International Law Commission of the United Nations and later adopted as UN General Assembly Resolution 3314.

Provided that all citizens of a lawfully conquered territory are granted equal rights by the local law, international law doesn't consider the descendants of the conqueror and the conquered as two separate peoples.

This in turn invalidates any claims to separate land rights under the same jurisdiction.

As one of the 193 member states of the United Nations, Australia is not exempt from this doctrine.

Yet we do recognise separate land rights because the historic Mabo Decision in 1992 rested on the correct presumption that Australia was settled, not invaded.
- It all looks innocent enough. But $30 million is enough to corrupt even something as pure as a camel pageant.  

In recent years, some owners have gone to great lengths to enhance the beauty of their stock, including by use of a method beloved by Hollywood celebrities: Botox.

“We have a medical committee for this because it is prohibited to cheat,” Madi said. “This committee used special equipment to verify whether a camel has been injected with Botox or any similar suspicious material.”

Owners who are caught cheating are banned for five years and have to pay a fine. This year, 12 camels were disqualified for having their appearance altered.

But Botox isn’t the only problem. Cheaters are getting creative.

“This year some of the camel’s lips were tied down to make them dangle, so they were tied down for days before the competition and we managed to find that out and they also had injected their lips with anesthetic to also have them dangled down more,” he said.

“Also, some camels’ ears were covered with oil to make them drop down more because when the ears of the camel are downwards it’s also considered a sign of beauty.”
- Only some 50% of the fighter jets are ready to be used in the battlefield, and this figure has not significantly improved since October 2014, despite the fact that the number of F-35 aircraft produced has increased.

New versions of the plane's complex software have been modified 31 times, however, some key shortcomings still remain in place, the report says, adding that they can seriously impact the effectiveness of the aircraft's combat use.

Moreover, some jets cannot be refueled in the air, while other technical defects concern the launch of AIM-120 air-to-air missiles and the release of air-ground munitions.

The new tests, that are considered "the most credible means to predict combat performance," are likely to be delayed for a year and won't be completed until December 2019, according to the testing office.

Back in November, Danish authorities already voiced their criticism of the new F-35 fighter jets, which they had purchased from the US. They, in particular, stated that the aircraft yields a much more modest performance than it was initially expected.
- A little-noticed section of the legislation requires not-for-profit "political campaigner" groups to obtain a statutory declaration from donors who give more than $250 a year, confirming they are an "allowable donor".

That means that mum and dad donors who give as little as $4.80 a week will be required to have a Justice of the Peace or a police officer witness their paperwork – an onerous obligation likely to dissuade many potential donors from following through. Charities are excluded from the requirement.
- “The Islamic Republic is not black and white. It shows a myriad of contradictions and its internet policy I think is one of the great examples of those contradictions,” said Sanam Vakil, an associate fellow at Chatham House who studies Iran. “The government has taken the internet and effectively used it for its own purposes and also has realized the dangers of it as well.”
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Saving Money (without Sacrificing), Random Stuff, and More

- use price matching when you can to get an extra discount. Note, a lot of companies advertise low prices just to get you through the door. ...