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<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' ?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"> <channel><title>Greg's diary</title><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary.php</link><atom:link href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary.xml.php"rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /><description>Greg Lehey's online diary</description><dc:creator /><dc:date>2025-06-30T15:52:51+10:00</dc:date> <dc:rights>Copyright 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Greg Lehey</dc:rights><!-- for Emacs, this is a -*- mode: fundamental; coding: utf-8 -*- document --><!-- temporary file, entries for last 7 days of previous month, used for RSS version --> <!-- topic kHo not selected <p> I seem to be spending half my time in the kitchen lately, though <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> did nearly all the cooking this weekend. But I had lots of things to cook and freeze, including <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/frijoles.php"><i>frijoles de la olla</i></a> and <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/salsa-pomodori.php"><i>salsa di pomodori</i></a>, and also some chicken thighs to cook for breakfast. </p> <p> I cooked the chicken thighs in an old pot, which chose today to lose the grip for the lid: </p> <div align="left"> </div> <p> Not to worry. It has served me well, and we can pick up something similar for almost nothing at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Op_shop">op shop</a>. But then I wondered. How long have I had it. Yvonne agreed that I probably already had it when we met <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jul1982.php?topics=c#25">43 years ago</a>. Did I buy it round the same time as this chopping board? </p> <p> I have guessed that I bought that when I got my first flat in Germany, <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may1973.php?topics=c#15">52 years ago</a>. Did I get the pot at the same time? The only photo I have that could give a clue is this, which I must have taken in early 1978: </p> <p> In passing, admire the vignetting and the distortion at the edges. This must have been taken with my 18 mm Sigma ultra-wide-angle lens. But it's no wider than my <a href="https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympus-9-18-4-5p6-o20">Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm</a> lens, which is much sharper at the edges. </p> <p> Yes, the chopping board is there, but the pot isn't, only another one that I still have, currently also in use: </p> <p> Still, I suspect that I have had the other one longer. </p> <p> And then, of course, the question: how do I lift the lid of the pot when it's hot? An even older item of “kitchenware” to the rescue: </p> <p> My guess is that I got them in 1962. </p> End deselected topic kHo (Another day in the kitchen) --> <!-- topic klo not selected <p> I've tried a different kind of fish ball—I thought. </p> <p> When I bit into them, there was a black content, possibly roe. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Translate">Google Translate</a> to the rescue? Yes: they're crocodile balls. </p> <p> Really? No, just guessing. It tried again and came up with “eel balls”, which matches the content list on the back of the packaging: </p> <p> Google Translate would be much more useful if it didn't try to guess. </p> End deselected topic klo (What are those balls?) --> <!-- topic kGo not selected <p> More potato slices for dinner today—the only contribution I had made. After my fun with the new <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandoline">mandolin</a> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2025.php?subtitle=How%20not%20to%20slice%20potatoes&article=D-20250331-000434#D-20250331-000434">in March</a>, held a particularly reticent potato with a pot holder. </p> <p> Also not a good idea: </p> <p> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> was particularly upset, since it's one of her favourites (hint: has a horse on it). </p> End deselected topic kGo (Another mandolin injury) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php#D-20250527-025133</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php?topics=c#D-20250527-025133</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Still more web server overload</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Somehow the web server problems haven't gone away, at least not for long. I've been planning to find ways to identify the culprits and limit their access. </p> <p> Various suggestions on IRC. Jamie Fraser came up with the issue of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.htaccess">.htaccess</a>. Not an issue: I don't use it. </p> <p> Oh: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@lax (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/var/log/www</font> <font color="blue">50</font> -> <b><tt>find ~grog/www.lemis.com -name ".htaccess"</tt></b></code><br />/home/grog/www.lemis.com/grog/Day/20211118/.htaccess<br />/home/grog/www.lemis.com/grog/Documentation/PUS/.htaccess<br />/home/grog/www.lemis.com/grog/Photos/19730801/.htaccess<br />/home/grog/www.lemis.com/grog/Photos/20080325/.htaccess<br />/home/grog/www.lemis.com/grog/webserver/.htaccess<br />/home/grog/www.lemis.com/grog/AUUG-copy/exec/.htaccess<br />/home/grog/www.lemis.com/myth/data/.htaccess<br />/home/grog/www.lemis.com/myth/.htaccess<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> What's all that stuff? Some of them were 18 years old. Clearly not needed, so I removed them all. But that's not enough, it seems: the web server still needs to check for its presence, all the way up to the top of the tree. So change this: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>--- /usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/www.lemis.com.conf 2025/05/24 02:00:35 1.10<br />+++ /usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/www.lemis.com.conf 2025/05/26 03:52:16<br />@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@<br /> <Directory /home/grog/www.lemis.com><br /> Options All MultiViews<br />- AllowOverride All<br />+ AllowOverride None<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> And how about that, the server load went down, from 15 to 7. But it didn't stay that way: soon after it went up to 195. While the idea is good, any performance improvement is a drop in the ocean compared to the overloading I'm seeing. </p> <p> Then Daniel O'Connor came up with a whole lot of rewrites: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>--- /usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/www.lemis.com.conf 2025/05/26 03:53:00 1.12<br />+++ /usr/local/etc/apache24/Includes/www.lemis.com.conf 2025/05/26 05:08:33<br />@@ -24,12 +24,1424 @@<br />+ Satisfy Any<br />+ Allow from all<br /> Options -Indexes<br /># Ichido AI Bot Blocker.<br />+ RewriteEngine on<br />+ RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*007ac9\ Crawler.*$<br />+ RewriteRule . - [R=403,L]<br />+ RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*008.*$<br />... </tt></div></blockquote> <p> All in all, it increased the file size from 55 to 1451 lines. Somehow that seems too repetitive. More to the point, though, it doesn't seem to do much. From my dozens of hits per second it only rejected about 10 a minute. So I'm still left with this periodic overload. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-05-27T02:51:33+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic ho not selected <p> While walking the dogs, a car came up and asked about the location. It seems that he (Brad) was considering moving from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverleigh,_Victoria">Inverleigh</a> to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dereel">Dereel</a>. </p> <p> Why? I had always thought Inverleigh to be a nice place to live. Yes, but it's expensive. He could sell his house in Inverleigh, move here and be debt free. The place he is looking at is in Rozenstein Road, 500 m due west of our property. It's covered in trees, and they're asking $175,000 to $190,000 for it. We paid $85,000 for ours <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-nov2013.php?subtitle=More%20land%20stuff&article=D-20131129-233549#D-20131129-233549">11½ years ago</a>, and it was clear for the most part. How the prices have gone up! </p> End deselected topic ho (Moving to Dereel) --> <!-- topic go not selected <p> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> has had the idea of planting trees in the “north paddock”, the part of our property to the north-west of the garden. Not a bad idea, but she wanted to transplant established native trees, preferably an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allocasuarina">Allocasuarina</a>. </p> <p> That doesn't sound optimal. They don't grow very fast, they want a bit of shade, and they probably wouldn't survive transplantation. How about an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia_melanoxylon">Acacia melanoxylon</a> (“blackwood”), which grow like fury. Here a volunteer that grew too close to the house and which we had to remove. The photos were taken on <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jul2018.php?topics=c#14">14 July 2018</a> and <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-apr2024.php?topics=c#13">13 April 2024</a>, less than 6 years apart: </p> <p> We were walking the dogs at the time, so we considered the saplings growing along the side of the road. Acacia melanoxylon, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia_myrtifolia">Acacia myrtifolia</a>—and this one, that I can't identify: </p> <p> It's clearly an Acacia, but what kind? I recall some particularly fragrant one that I had seen a while back. How big do they get? </p> End deselected topic go (What's that acacia?) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php#D-20250528-022358</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php?topics=c#D-20250528-022358</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>More web server investigations</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_(web_server)">Apache (web server)</a> rules that Daniel O'Connor gave me included the comment “# Ichido AI Bot Blocker”. That sounded like something to look up, and I ended up at <a href="https://datadome.co/">https://datadome.co/</a> (note that missing <b>g</b>). I had to sign up, so I tried that. Got the usual “please verify your email address” message. Click. “Can't resolve <a href="https://cf-app.datadome.co">cf-app.datadome.co</a>. </p> <p> I've never seen that before on a serious web site. Maybe I haven't now. It stayed like that for several hours, and then I got: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>You have been blocked.<br />Why this blocking? Something about the behaviour of the browser has caught our attention.<br /><br />There are various possible explanations for this:<br /><br /> - you are browsing and clicking at a speed much faster than expected of a human being<br /> - something is preventing Javascript from working on your computer<br /> - there is a robot on the same network (IP 121.200.11.253) as you<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> OK, DataDome, you've shown your ability. Goodbye. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-05-28T02:23:58+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic th not selected <p> We're gradually moving our finances to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Australia">Bank Australia</a>, a bank with the interesting property that it's really just the function (Bank) and country (Australia). I don't know many like that. </p> <p> But then this evening we watched <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0621625">an episode</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_Rex">Köter Rex</a>. A bank robbery? Here? </p> <p> That was first broadcast on 19 April 2000. Did it maybe give Bank Australia the idea of the name? </p> End deselected topic th (Bank Austria?) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php#D-20250529-021130</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php?topics=c#D-20250529-021130</link><category>technology</category><category>general</category><category>opinion</category><title>New weather station</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> The <a href="https://www.bigw.com.au/product/tesa-ws1081-solar-powered-touch-panel-weather-center-with-pc-interface/p/9900026687">Tesa WS1081 Solar Powered Touch Panel Weather Center with PC interface</a> that I ordered <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php?topics=c&subtitle=A%20new%20weather%20station?&article=D-20250519-020936#D-20250519-020936">last week</a> as a replacement for my flaky <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/programs/WH1080.php">Fine Offset WH-1081</a> has arrived, not a moment too soon: last night I had lost communication between the inside and outside units for 14 hours. </p> <p> It was back now, but before assembling the whole thing, it would be interesting to see if the inside unit is compatible, both with the computer and with the outside unit. The first inspection looked less than good. Here the rear of both inside units, the old one on the left: </p> <a id="Photo-0" name="Photo-0" href="diary-may2025.php?dirdate=20250529&imagesizes=2&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-0"> <img alt="This should be WS1081-Weather-station-rear-2-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_0" title="Photo WS1081-Weather-station-rear-2-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250529/small/WS1081-Weather-station-rear-2-detail.jpeg" width="408" height="166" /></a> <a id="Photo-1" name="Photo-1" href="diary-may2025.php?dirdate=20250529&imagesizes=12&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-1"> <img alt="This should be WS1081-Weather-station-rear-1-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_1" title="Photo WS1081-Weather-station-rear-1-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250529/small/WS1081-Weather-station-rear-1-detail.jpeg" width="402" height="168" /></a> <p> Different frequencies! Still, it's worth seeing if the new unit can communicate with my software. Yes. And how about that, it can communicate with the outside unit as well, despite the 900 kHz difference in frequency. Clearly it's just too polite to go into excessive detail about the frequency. </p> <p> And of course there's another detail that I hadn't noticed: the model number is the same, WS1081. I had assumed that my old one was a WH-1081, and I hadn't noticed that the number is the same. OK, let's leave it like that for the while to see whether the fault with the old unit is with the inside unit (in which case the outside unit would still communicate with the new inside unit) or with the outside unit (in which case both inside units would fail). </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-05-29T02:11:30+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php#D-20250530-013002</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php?topics=c#D-20250530-013002</link><category>technology</category><category>general</category><category>opinion</category><title>Renewed weather station pain</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Overnight the weather station(s) had a communication dropout again. Both were affected, so it must have been the outside station. </p> <p> That's not important: it's slated for removal anyway. Now to install the new one. </p> <p> It wasn't easy. In fact, I gave up: </p> <ul> <li class="fullwidth"> <p class="listitemwidth"> The new station came without a mounting pole. OK, use the existing one. Sorry, no can do: the mounting brackets are too big, and they can't be adjusted to the existing pole. So to mount it at all I first need to buy a new pole. </p> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <p class="listitemwidth"> The other end of the mount makes no sense to me. The mounting bracket has no holes to mount on the station, and the moulding on the underside doesn't match anything: </p> <a id="Photo-2" name="Photo-2" href="diary-may2025.php?dirdate=20250530&imagesizes=112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-2"> <img alt="This should be WS1081-weather-station-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_2" title="Photo WS1081-weather-station-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250530/small/WS1081-weather-station-1.jpeg" width="304" height="221" /></a> <p class="listitemwidth"> My best guess is that the moulding is irrelevant, and that the bracket is a clamp fit to the underside, roughly as shown here: </p> <a id="Photo-3" name="Photo-3" href="diary-may2025.php?dirdate=20250530&imagesizes=1112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-3"> <img alt="This should be WS1081-weather-station-4.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_3" title="Photo WS1081-weather-station-4.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250530/small/WS1081-weather-station-4.jpeg" width="363" height="186" /></a> <p class="listitemwidth"> So if the bracket isn't tightened with enough, a strong wind can blow the whole thing away. If it's tightened too much, it will damage the underside of the unit beyond repair. </p> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <p class="listitemwidth"> According to the instructions, and contrary to a video I have seen, the unit does not recharge batteries. It doesn't even accept rechargeable batteries. That's a strong regression from the last unit, which does have rechargeable batteries and recharges them. It's not clear if the instructions are correct; the unit <i>does</i> have a solar panel, presumably at least also to measure <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insolation">insolation</a>, so it would be able to recharge the batteries. </p> <p class="listitemwidth"> To make up for this deficiency, they have made it very difficult to change the batteries. They're mounted under a screw-in cover on the underside of the unit: </p> <a id="Photo-4" name="Photo-4" href="diary-may2025.php?dirdate=20250530&imagesizes=11112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-4"> <img alt="This should be Weather-station-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_4" title="Photo Weather-station-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250530/small/Weather-station-1.jpeg" width="311" height="217" /></a> <a id="Photo-5" name="Photo-5" href="diary-may2025.php?dirdate=20250530&imagesizes=111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-5"> <img alt="This should be WS1081-weather-station-3-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_5" title="Photo WS1081-weather-station-3-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250530/small/WS1081-weather-station-3-detail.jpeg" width="240" height="280" /></a> <p class="listitemwidth"> To be clear: this shows the unit upside-down, which will not be the case when the unit has been mounted and just needs the batteries changed. You need to climb up on a ladder with a screwdriver and hope that they don't fall out. </p> <p class="listitemwidth"> By coincidence, this also shows the mounting brackets and confirms my guess about the way the unit is attached. </p> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <p class="listitemwidth"> The instructions also clarify the lie about the range of the unit. The <a href="https://www.lacrossetechnology.au/products/ws1081-ver3-tesa-solar-powered-touch-panel-weather-center-with-pc-interface">specifications</a> state “Transmission range up to 100m”. But that's the best case, of course. The instructions are too polite to use international measurements, but state that the absolute best case is 300 ft (90 m). “Typically you will get 100 feet <i>[30 m]</i> maximum”. They also state that the device is particularly sensitive to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_interference">EMI</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Radio-frequency_interference">RFI</a>, which they consider to be two different things. </p> </li> </ul> <p> That's a large number of issues and regressions, but ultimately it was this last point that is the issue. I put the batteries in the unit (the old one was conveniently non-communicative), and the inside units recognized the signal immediately. They were showing too high a temperature, since the outside unit was still inside. So I put it outside on the verandah table: </p> <a id="Photo-6" name="Photo-6" href="diary-may2025.php?dirdate=20250530&imagesizes=1111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-6"> <img alt="This should be WS1081-weather-station-5.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_6" title="Photo WS1081-weather-station-5.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250530/small/WS1081-weather-station-5.jpeg" width="319" height="211" /></a>a <p> That's about 10 m away, line of sight through the window. And it took something like 20 minutes for the unit to register the change in temperature. </p> <p> My guess is that the firmware in the inside station is tuned to this unreliability and will only give up on a temperature display if a considerable period (30 minutes?) elapses with no update. But that's not good enough. Back it goes. </p> <p> So what do I do? How about a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi">Wi-Fi</a> unit? Out to measure the Wi-Fi strength outside. Not good, but present, and my phone managed to connect to the Internet. So it looks like that's what I should get. </p> <p> But which one? That's a whole new can of worms. The only reason I bought the WS1081 was in the (fulfilled) hope that it would work with my existing software along with the (unfulfilled) hope that they would have become more reliable in the last 15 years. A Wi-Fi unit will at the very least require adaptation of the link level. How hard can it be? </p> <p> Another question for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Gemini">Google Gemini</a>, bringing <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/weather/notes.php">a lot of information</a> that I still need to digest. One of the most interesting things was: </p> <ul> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> Local API Access (for advanced users): While not for everyone, some stations (like WeatherFlow Tempest or Davis WeatherLink Live) offer local APIs that allow direct access to real-time data on your local network, offering maximum flexibility for tech-savvy users. </div> </li> </ul> <p> That sounds interesting. Looking further, I found <a href="https://weatherlink.github.io/weatherlink-live-local-api/">this page</a> showing that I can access at least the Davis units with normal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP">HTTP</a>. But what do the things cost? I can see myself paying double what I have done. And there's a lot of investigation as well. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-05-30T01:30:02+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php#D-20250531-040201</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php?topics=c#D-20250531-040201</link><category>technology</category><category>general</category><category>opinion</category><title>Still more weather station pain</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> I had pretty much given up on the new weather station, but it's good to sleep over these things. With the new station just outside the lounge room door, there were no more noticeable outages, though theoretically I should have checked how many retries I needed to get a reading. What I did see, with both indoor units, was lots of: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>May 30 04:53:11 tiwi wh1080[55533]: Can't read device: Input/output error or Unknown error (5)<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> I'm not sure that that's the fault of the devices; I've had them for years, and it could be a program bug, either in my program or in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB">USB</a> stack. </p> <p> What I did do was to take each of the indoor device in turn into my office. Neither could communicate with the outdoor unit only 15 m away. So I need a new weather station. Dammit, I can afford something more expensive, just as long as it does what I want. </p> <p> Off looking, and came up with an amazing number of contradictions and lack of information. A Google search for <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=best%2bdomestic%2bweather%2bstation%2baustralia">best domestic weather station australia</a> came up with <a href="https://www.thespruce.com/best-home-weather-stations-5497436">After Testing 18 Home Weather Stations, Here Are The Best We Recommend</a>. The “Best Overall” was the “WeatherFlow Tempest Weather System at Amazon | $349”. Yes, that's how they describe it. And that's one of the two makes that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Gemini">Google Gemini</a> had flagged for good software interface. OK, Amazon, <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Tempest-Weather-Accurate-Forecasts-Wireless/dp/B0868WY7NY">more details please</a>. $814.73! That's a funny way to write $349. Ah, you want to pay in <i>Australian</i> dollars, and clearly the exchange rate is $0.428 (in fact, it's currently $0.643). But not to worry: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> <span style="color:red"> Sorry, your selected delivery location is beyond seller's shipping coverage for this item. Please choose a different delivery location or purchase from another seller </span> </div> </blockquote> <p> In fact, it seems that WeatherFlow isn't represented at all in Australia. Given the pain I've had, I think that's a reason to avoid them. </p> <p> Then there's <a href="https://www.techgearlab.com/topics/electronics/best-weather-station">The 6 Best Weather Stations of 2025</a> from <a href="https://www.techgearlab.com/">Techgear</a>. It looked good: the editor's choice was two from <a href="https://www.ambientweather.com/">Ambient weather</a>, the other maker recommended by Gemini: </p> <a id="Photo-7" name="Photo-7" href="diary-may2025.php?dirdate=20250530&imagesizes=11111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-7"> <img alt="This should be Weather-stations-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_7" title="Photo Weather-stations-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250530/small/Weather-stations-2.jpeg" width="216" height="311" /></a> <p> Those prices look much better than what I had feared. Ha ha, only joking: they're US prices, and with the ridiculous shipping costs, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_(company)">Amazon</a> wants $355. Still, that looks better. Where's the catch? </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> No way to export data </div> </blockquote> <p> That looks like a knock-out criterion. But can it be right? If it has <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi">Wi-Fi</a> connectivity, it should be possible to get the data out. Quite possibly they mean something else altogether. </p> <p> What looks more dangerous is the “transmission range”: 101 m (330 ft). That's what my current unit claims, and it's not enough for the 15 m in the Real World. Possibly this unit is closer to the specs, but who knows? </p> <p> But it's “Wi-Fi”. Doesn't that make a difference? No, it seems. The “Wi-Fi” refers to some other interface, possibly replacing the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB">USB</a> interface on my current units. As far as I can tell, all units communicate with plain <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Frequency">RF</a>. </p> <p> So round about here I need to step back and decide what I really want: </p> <ul> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> Computer interface with open formats. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> Easy mounting. Does it have a mounting pole? Yes, I can buy one from <a href="https://www.instrumentchoice.com.au/">Instrument Choice</a>, who seem to be the leading supplier in Australia. I recall seeing one for round $180, significantly more than I paid for the old unit that included to pole. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> Rechargeable battery. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> Adequate range for my situation. After some comparison, it seems that 100 m is a fairly typical range. Do other units do better, or do I have a particularly noisy environment? </div> </li> </ul> <p> And somehow the pricing from some suppliers suggest that they're trying to pull a fast one. <a href="https://ambientweather.com/ws-2000-smart-weather-station">Ambient Weather</a> offers mounts from $115.36 to $197.78, ultimately just poles. And a different power adapter (in other words, different plug) costs an <i>additional</i> $32.95. </p> <p> As long as these criteria are met, I can probably work around any other strangenesses. But it's so difficult to find useful data. <a href="https://ambientweather.com/ws-2000-smart-weather-station">Ambient Weather</a> has a comparison table that compares these two units and also a cheaper and more expensive unit. But so much of the comparison is nonsense. The WS-2000 can detect sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset, while the cheaper WS-2009 can't. You don't need a weather station for that: the data is available in many places. And it confirms that the WS-2000 is “Internet connected”, so it's not clear what the <a href="https://www.techgearlab.com/topics/electronics/best-weather-station">Techgearlab</a> review is talking about. </p> <p> But then there's another unit that I saw and then lost again, which offers all sorts of additional sensors. Do I need them? Can I afford them? </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-05-31T04:02:01+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php#D-20250531-231938</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php?topics=c#D-20250531-231938</link><category>language</category><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>The return of the Umlaut</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-apr2025.php?subtitle=I%20don%27t%20want%20a%20review&article=D-20250426-015842#D-20250426-015842">Last month</a> I got worked up about the fact that my cousin Sandy doesn't want to spell things correctly in her documentation. She deliberately removed all <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umlaut_(diacritic)">umlaut</a> indications from German texts, giving rise to names like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konigsberg">Konigsberg</a> and Sohl (relatives called Söhl). I find it painful. </p> <p> But today I saw not one, but two cases where the umlaut marking was unexpectedly present. First, spam: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt> 27 N + 31-05-2025 To groggly@FreeBSD Arnault Bernard ( 0) N + Mr. Bernärd häs dönäted 3.5,000,000USD tö yöu för the purpöse öf chärity project. Kindly respond to bernardarnault318@gmail.com för möre införmätion. </tt></div></blockquote> <p> Interestingly, there's no <b>ü</b> in there. Presumably the intention was to evade spam checkers. But then in the evening, while watching TV, we saw: </p> <a id="Photo-8" name="Photo-8" href="diary-may2025.php?dirdate=20250531&imagesizes=111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-8"> <img alt="This should be Noething.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_8" title="Photo Noething.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250531/small/Noething.jpeg" width="346" height="195" /></a> <a id="Photo-9" name="Photo-9" href="diary-may2025.php?dirdate=20250531&imagesizes=1111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-9"> <img alt="This should be Noething-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_9" title="Photo Noething-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250531/small/Noething-detail.jpeg" width="436" height="155" /></a> <p> That's in <a href="https://www.fernsehserien.de/die-rettungsflieger/folgen/7x04-schmerzhafte-erfahrung-136400">„Schmerzhafte Erfahrung“</a>, an episode of <a href="https://www.fernsehserien.de/die-rettungsflieger/">„Die Rettungsflieger“</a>, clearly in German. Why is the woman called Mrs Nöthing? It's a plausible German name, but I can't help thinking that the script writer was thinking of nothing useful. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-05-31T23:19:38+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic HGo not selected <p> Today was our daughter <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yana/">Yana's</a> 40th birthday, and we exchanged email. She asked about our family history, specifically the Irish side of the family, so once again one of <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/People/The-Leheys-from-Goldengarden.pdf">Sandy's documents</a> came in handy, this time without obvious misspellings. </p> <p> It seems that I have never read the entire document. I know that I am the last in a long line of G. F. Leheys (though the others were all called George Francis), but I came across an interesting detail: my great-grandfather George Lehey (son of my great-great-grandfather George Lehey and father of my grandfather George Lehey) died in 1921 of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pernicious_anaemia">pernicious anaemia</a>. That rings a bell. I suffer (if that's the word) from elevated <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_Corpuscular_Volume">Mean Corpuscular Volume</a> (MCV) levels, and that's <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jan2020.php?subtitle=Doctor%20again&article=D-20200201-012256#D-20200201-012256">somehow related to pernicious anaemia</a>. There's also a question of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9118603/">benign familial macrocytosis</a>, a hereditary complaint which I don't seem to have mentioned in this diary. I had asked my two closest living relatives, my sister Bev and Yana, to compare their blood test results. My sister lives in England, and thus, despite her age (74) does not have regular checkups. Yana had recently sent me her blood test results, which didn't show anything of interest. But I have an appointment with Dr Paul Smith on Monday, so I'll discuss it all with him then. </p> End deselected topic HGo (Hereditary illnesses?) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php#D-20250601-020022</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php?topics=c#D-20250601-020022</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>fra: connectivity problems?</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> My external web servers have had no overload for a while, but I have an instance of <i>top</i> running on the external servers to keep up. Over the course of the day, <i>fra.lemis.com</i> showed other problems: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>client_loop: send disconnect: Broken pipe<br />Disconnected at Fri 30 May 2025 08:47:22 AEST<br />ssh: connect to host fra.lemis.com port 22: Operation timed out<br />Disconnected at Fri 30 May 2025 08:48:42 AEST<br />Fssh_kex_exchange_identification: read: Connection reset by peer<br />Connection reset by 192.248.184.<br />Disconnected at Fri 30 May 2025 08:53:44 AEST<br />client_loop: send disconnect: Broken pipe<br />Disconnected at Sat 31 May 2025 03:57:33 AEST<br />Connection closed by 192.248.184.42 port 22<br />rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (0 bytes received so far) [sender]<br />rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(231) [sender=3.3.0]<br />Fri 30 May 2025 12:38:16 AEST<br />Connection closed by 192.248.184.42 port 22<br />rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (0 bytes received so far) [sender]<br />rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(231) [sender=3.3.0]<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> That's at least 5 disconnections, at least 2 of them while trying to reestablish connection. All the signs of network issues in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt">Frankfurt</a>, especially since other servers were not affected. Why didn't <a href="https://www.vultr.com/">Vultr</a> report anything? </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-01T02:00:22+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250602-004654</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250602-004654</link><category>technology</category><category>music</category><title>Web server load</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> The load on my web servers has been quite tolerable over the last week or so, with load averages mainly below 1. That doesn't correspond directly to the number of hits. Today <i>lax</i> had: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>On 30 May 2025 you had a total of 702441 hits.<br />...<br />193130 /grog/photos/Photos.php?dirdate=19980703 </tt></div></blockquote> <p> That's much less than the 14 million or so that I had a while back, but it's still 5%, while the server load has dropped by over 99%. And why is this URL top of the list? It's of <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/photos/Photos.php?dirdate=19980703">my musical instruments</a>, 27 years ago. I should investigate these things more </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-02T00:46:54+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250602-004854</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250602-004854</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Destroying Frankfurt</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> My server <i>ffm.lemis.com</i> has been up for nearly 20 months: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== grog@ffm (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">~</font> <font color="blue">14</font> -> <b><tt>date; uptime</tt></b></code><br />Sun Jun 1 03:17:01 UTC 2025<br /> 3:17AM up 605 days, 16:20, 1 user, load averages: 0.25, 0.29, 0.33<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> That's not its longest uptime. <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-oct2023.php?subtitle=System%20down!&article=D-20231006-002525#D-20231006-002525">1½ years ago</a> it reached an uptime of 2067 days (5 years, 8 months) before it went down due to some failure with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DigitalOcean">DigitalOcean</a>. </p> <p> But now I have two servers in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt_am_Main">Frankfurt am Main</a>, and all <i>ffm</i> is doing is running <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squid_(software)"><i>squid</i></a>. <i>fra.lemis.com</i> can do that too. So shut down: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@ffm (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/home/grog</font> <font color="blue">2</font> -> <b><tt></tt></b></code><br />*** FINAL System shutdown message from grog@ffm.lemis.com ***<br /><br />System going down IMMEDIATELY<br /><br />System shutdown time has arrived<br />Connection to ffm.lemis.com closed by remote host.<br />Connection to ffm.lemis.com closed.<br />Disconnected at Sun 1 Jun 2025 13:18:29 AEST<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> Did <a href="https://www.vultr.com/">Vultr</a> register that? No. For that, I need to <i>destroy</i> it, removing all trace of it, and in particular the IP address. </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== grog@eureka (/dev/pts/9)</font> <font color="red">~</font> <font color="blue">128</font> -> <b><tt>host ffm</tt></b></code><br />ffm.lemis.com has address 45.63.116.55<br /><code><font color="blue">=== grog@eureka (/dev/pts/9)</font> <font color="red">~</font> <font color="blue">129</font> -> <b><tt>host 45.63.116.55</tt></b></code><br />55.116.63.45.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer 45.63.116.55.vultrusercontent.com.<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> I still have a snapshot of <i>ffm</i>, taken at 2025-05-23 02:14:56 (presumably <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTC">UTC</a>). It's 9.1 GB in size, but for billing purposes they tell me it's 25GB, the uncompressed size. I wonder if I can download it somewhere and restore it later. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-02T00:48:54+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250602-010853</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250602-010853</link><category>technology</category><category>general</category><category>opinion</category><title>Weather stations reconsidered</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> So what new weather station do I buy? All are more expensive than the one I have (I think), and all will require me to adapt my software. </p> <p> And then I saw the title of the instruction manual for my current WS1081: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> TOUCH SCREEN WEATHER STATION WITH SOLAR POWERED </div> </blockquote> <p> Yes, that's what they wrote. But inside it states (top of page 7): </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> Rechargeable batteries have lower voltages and should never be used. </div> </blockquote> <p> But then, who writes accurate instruction manuals nowadays? In fact, this one looks relatively good in comparison to the nonsense I've seen elsewhere. </p> <p> So: back to my list of issues: </p> <ol> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> <i>Doesn't handle rechargeable batteries:</i> Ha ha, only joking, we advertise the thing with rechargeable batteries. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> <i>Range:</i> I have only tried it on the verandah table. Put it up in the air where it belongs and it may do better. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> <i>No pole:</i> This seems to be modern. I'd need to get a pole for a replacement too. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> <i>Mounting seems flimsy:</i> I could find a way to stop it blowing away if it comes dislodged. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> <i>Unreliable software:</i> This could be my fault. </div> </li> </ol> <p> So what do I do? Put in some rechargeable batteries and put the thing in the position where it belongs and see what happens. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-02T01:08:53+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic g not selected <p> I've been making cuttings of my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus_rosa-sinensis">Hibiscus rosa-sinensis</a> “Uncle Max” for years, and it works well. I've never heard of growing them from seeds. But these are clearly seed pods: </p> <p> I suppose I should plant them and see what happens. </p> End deselected topic g (Hibiscus seeds) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250602-013141</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250602-013141</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Reddit confusion</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> I signed up for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddit">Reddit</a> years ago, and I almost never used it. But there are some interesting links on weather stations (<tt><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/myweatherstation">r/myweatherstation</a></tt>), so I tried to sign in. “User name or password invalid”, their way of saying “we have forgotten about you”. OK, sign up again with a different name. Sorry, Groogle taken. Groogled taken. Groogledddd taken. Sorry, Reddittttt, you're lying. </p> <p> Finally found a way around its broken user name recognition and signed up. Wait for confirmation message. Message doesn't show. </p> <p> Try again. Same thing. Try again. Same thing. “We're having problems”. But then I found a way to register without an email address (why?). And that worked. Some time later, round 5 minutes, the confirmation messages came in, but they knew my new user name and had associated it with the email address I gave them. What's their problem? </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-02T01:31:41+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250603-020627</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250603-020627</link><category>technology</category><category>general</category><title>More weather station investigations</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Can my new WS1081 weather station run on and charge <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel-cadmium_battery">Nickel-Cadmium batteries</a>? The first is easy to check: put in some charged batteries and see what happens. It works! So at least part of the instructions are wrong. </p> <p> And charging them? That will take a while to confirm. What does <a href="https://gemini.google.com/">Google Gemini</a> say? </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> The WS1081 weather station itself does not recharge batteries directly. </div> <div class="listitemwidth"> Outdoor Sensor (Multi-sensor): Often uses 2 x AA rechargeable batteries, and in some versions, it's solar-powered, which can help prolong the life of the rechargeable batteries. </div> </blockquote> <p> Oh. Can I believe it? So far it looks at least as plausible as anything in the documentation. So—I think—back it goes. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-03T02:06:27+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic GHo not selected <p> Into town for a six-monthly doctor's appointment and also a couple of vaccinations, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza">influenza</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19">COVID-19</a>. The nurse who had been intended to perform the vaccinations had been held up, so Paul did it himself, showing in the process that his supplies for this sort of thing are a little unusual: </p> <p> The blood test results were nothing unusual, but today I had <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yana/">Yana's</a> results there as well. Her <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_Corpuscular_Volume">Mean Corpuscular Volume</a> (MCV) was normal, but there were some issues with low <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B12">Vitamin B₁₂</a>, something that I have had to do with <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-dec2014.php?subtitle=To%20the%20doctor%20again&article=D-20141218-234258#D-20141218-234258">in the past</a>. I tried to tell Paul when it was, but it seems he already had the information: he had found the issue interesting enough to include all my old medical notes from the time before <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-sep2016.php?subtitle=Doctor%20again&article=D-20160923-042010#D-20160923-042010">I switched to him as my GP</a>. And it seems that in all that time my MCV has been round the 103 fl mark, the value I had today. </p> <p> But then there's the issue of my great-grandfather, George Francis Lehey (1859-1921), who died of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pernicious_anaemia">pernicious anaemia</a>. That, too, is related to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B12">Vitamin B₁₂</a>. But my B₁₂ levels have been fine for the last 10 years, and there have been no issues with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrinsic_factor">intrinsic factor</a> and Anti-<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parietal_cell">parietal cell</a> Antibodies. As he put it, the MCV is consistently elevated, but there's nothing pointing to why. Still, Yana's B₁₂ issues and George's (1959-1921) cause of death suggest that we should look more carefully. My pathology request for November includes active B₁₂/folate, intrinsic factor antibodies and anti-parietal cell autoantibodies. </p> <p> And then there were other issues. How much <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B6">Vitamin B₆</a> is too much? My magnesium tablets contain 60 mg per tablet, and it seems that <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jan2025.php?subtitle=Vitamin%20B%E2%82%86%20overdose?&article=D-20250130-225447#D-20250130-225447">that's far too much</a>. Paul came up with some test that showed people taking multiple grams of B₆ daily over several years with no ill effects, but then the directive that all medications with more than 10 mg B₆ per dose should carry a warning label. So he recommends finding an alternative with less B₆. </p> <p> And then he finally had the results of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEXA">DEXA</a> scan. Values between -2.3 for the femoral neck and -1.1 for the lumbar spine, both in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopenia">osteopenia</a> range. That's not significantly different from <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-nov2022.php?subtitle=Osteopenia!&article=D-20221126-011600#D-20221126-011600">2½ years ago</a>. </p> End deselected topic GHo (Medical checkup) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250603-042909</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250603-042909</link><category>technology</category><category>history</category><title>Web site activity over the years</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> My web server loads seem to be subsiding again, though there's evidence of load averages above 10: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>last pid: 63326; load averages: 0.51, 0.39, 0.348 </tt></div></blockquote> <p> That third place after the decimal at the end of the line is the result of one of the three being above 10, shifting the text one line to the right. When it goes down again, the last digit doesn't get erased. </p> <p> But by chance I found <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jan2004.php?topics=c#31">this</a>: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>On 30 January 2004 you had a total of 2875 HTML hits.<br />Top 30 hits:<br /> 228 /grog/cats.php<br /> 136 /grog/diary.php<br /> 68 /grog/<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> How times have changed! </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-03T04:29:09+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic ko not selected <p> Another attempt at <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/pad-see-ew.php">pad see ew</a> today. As planned <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php?subtitle=Pad%20see%20ew%20with%20wide%20rice%20noodles&article=D-20250523-022330#D-20250523-022330">last time</a>, I made more sauce. I also fried the noodles by themselves in hope of finding the elusive <a href="https://mammafong.com/blogs/mammas-cooking-diary/wok-hei-capturing-the-essence-of-fire-in-your-cooking">“Wok hei”</a> that is part of the charm of the dish. The result was darker (here 2 weeks ago and today) </p> <p> It didn't taste bad, but I'm left wondering if I understand what “wok hei” (“the breath of the wok”) really tastes like. People talk of a “smoky” flavour, but that too is subject to interpretation. </p> End deselected topic ko (Wok hei? What hey?) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250604-014321</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250604-014321</link><category>technology</category><category>general</category><category>opinion</category><title>More storage!</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> My computer storage requirements continue to increase, mainly because of multimedia. I now have 18 TB of videos: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>Filesystem 1048576-blocks Used Avail Capacity Mounted on<br />/dev/ada0p4 7,567,870 7,380,176 112,015 99% /spool<br />/dev/da0p1 5,722,572 4,592,114 1,073,232 81% /VB2<br />hydra:/Video 3,815,019 3,340,961 435,907 88% /Video<br />total 17,105,462 15,313,427 1,620,980 90% </tt></div></blockquote> <p> And though my photo storage is just below the 8 TB limit of my backup disks, it won't stay that way for long. Time for some larger backup disks, and by chance found a couple of 16 TB external backup disks on <a href="https://www.ebay.com.au/">eBay</a> for $560 each. That seemed reasonable. I can use the old backup disks for something else. </p> <p> But wait, there's more! Use (this code) and get 10% off. Yes, I can do that. </p> <p> Or can I? To get the discount, I need to use this horrible <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterpay">Afterpay</a>. I really hate everything that Afterpay stands for, but $100 are $100 (well, in this case $112). So sign in. Oh: </p> <a id="Photo-10" name="Photo-10" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250603&imagesizes=11111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-10"> <img alt="This should be afterpay-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_10" title="Photo afterpay-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250603/small/afterpay-2.jpeg" width="332" height="204" /></a> <p> That's not my real email address, of course, but I entered it to see if it made any difference. It didn't: the message was the same as with my valid address. OK, try with the phone number: </p> <a id="Photo-11" name="Photo-11" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250603&imagesizes=111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-11"> <img alt="This should be afterpay-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_11" title="Photo afterpay-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250603/small/afterpay-1.jpeg" width="326" height="207" /></a> <p> That has one difference from what it wanted: +61 0490 494 001. Again, no difference, either with its invalid number or my corrected one. </p> <p> Damn it, afterpay, I'll sign up again. Or at least I tried. I couldn't find a way to sign up! All it wanted was to breach security on my mobile phone with its app. OK, if that's the way it wants it. I can always remove the app when I'm done. And that worked, but I couldn't find a way to associate it with my eBay account. </p> <p> OK, try another tack. Try the whole thing with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium_%28web_browser%29">Chromium</a> instead of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox"><i>firefox</i></a>. Yes! So this was just afterpay's way of saying “I don't want to talk to your <i>firefox</i>”. </p> <p> afterpay, <i>how</i> I hate you! </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-04T01:43:21+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic g not selected <p> Winter started a couple of days ago, a time where autumn meets spring. On the one hand the first bulbs are starting to flower: </p> <div align="left"> </div> <p> And on the other hand, we still have roses and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus_rosa-sinensis">hibiscus</a>: </p> <p> The hibiscus in particular is interesting because it is flowering about as well as it has done all summer. </p> End deselected topic g (Garden flowers in winter) --> <!-- topic Jho not selected <p> Up round 6:00 this morning and turned the heat on, as every morning. But when I got up two hours later, the temperature in the lounge room had still not come up to the set 21°. Instead I heard several de-icing cycles from the air conditioner: the outside temperature was pretty much 0°, and even with the second air conditioner, we were still round 19.4°. It took until 11:12 before the lounge room temperature hit the set 21°. Time to keep the main unit running overnight. </p> End deselected topic Jho (Winter arrives) --> <!-- topic ko not selected <p> One of the issues I have with my <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/Laugengebaeck.php">Laugengebäck</a> is that it needs food-grade <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_hydroxide">sodium hydroxide</a>. Where do you get that? My searches online gave me one result, costing over $100 per kilogram. </p> <p> Once again, <a href="https://gemini.google.com/">Google Gemini</a> to the rescue, pointing me inter alia at <a href="https://www.risenflour.com.au/store/Lye-NaOH-Caustic-Soda-Pearls-p521680481">Risenflour.com</a>, who offer food grade pearls for $23.95 per kilogram. That's only roughly double to cost of commercial sodium hydroxide. </p> <p> But we're not done. After some searching, the web site divulged that they're in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth,_WA">Perth</a>, and the postage is expensive because of the danger of the material. Gemini also gave me other links, including <a href="https://www.melbournefooddepot.com/buy/sodium-hydroxide-granules-food-grade-lye-800g/PS0099">the people</a> who want $100.25 for 800 g. I'll have to go through the whole list to find who makes it easy to buy the stuff. Time to start a <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/NaOH-suppliers.php">list</a>. </p> End deselected topic ko (Finding sodium hydroxide) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250605-024132</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250605-024132</link><category>general</category><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>The devil you know</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> So what new weather station do I buy? <i>Do</i> I buy a new weather station? Yes, the current WS1091 is really unreliable, but it's not clear that others are any better. It <i>is</i> clear that I would have to do considerable work to interface a new one to my system. So: I can live with changing the batteries occasionally. Will the thing talk to the base station when it's mounted in the correct place? Put it up there provisionally: </p> <a id="Photo-12" name="Photo-12" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250605&imagesizes=1111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-12"> <img alt="This should be Weather-stations.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_12" title="Photo Weather-stations.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250605/small/Weather-stations.jpeg" width="300" height="225" /></a> <p> Yes, there are no wind measurements (the vanes haven't been fitted, and they wouldn't turn anyway), but that's no worse than what I've had for the last year or two. So I'll keep my eye on it. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-05T02:41:32+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250606-020408</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250606-020408</link><category>technology</category><title>Can't contact fra</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> While trying to sync to my web servers today, received a connection error message from <i>fra.lemis.com</i>. Trying again with <i>ssh</i> gave me: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== grog@hydra (/dev/pts/18)</font> <font color="red">~/Photos/20250603</font> <font color="blue">289</font> -> <b><tt>ssh fra</tt></b></code><br />ssh: connect to host fra.lemis.com port 22: Connection refused<br />Disconnected at Thu 5 Jun 2025 12:08:26 AEST<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> What's that? It proved that <i>sshd</i> wasn't running, at least not the one I wanted to connect to. Fortunately I had a couple of connections open, so I was able to restart it with little trouble. But what if I hadn't? I'd have had to brave this <a href="https://www.vultr.com/">Vultr</a> “console” access that has given me so much pain in the past. </p> <p> Anything in the logs? The closest clue might be this: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>Jun 4 00:15:52 fra kernel: pid 73110 (sort), jid 0, uid 1004, was killed: failed to reclaim memory<br />Jun 4 00:17:42 fra kernel: pid 73316 (sshd), jid 0, uid 0: exited on signal 11 (no core dump - bad address)<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> The times here are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTC">UTC</a>, 10 hours behind my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Australia">local time</a> (AEST, UTC+10). The <tt>SIGSEGV</tt>s happen far too often, and they seem not to be overly serious, though it does suggest a bug in <i>sshd</i>. But the <i>sort</i> error suggests that maybe I should put in some swap after all. Still, that doesn't seem to be the issue. </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>Jun 4 02:03:33 fra sshd[74499]: error: PAM: Authentication error for smmsp from 80.250.155.76<br />Jun 4 02:03:36 fra sshd[74502]: error: PAM: Authentication error for illegal user Admin from ip-d9bc.d-net.kiev.ua<br />Jun 4 02:09:22 fra sshd[74554]: error: PAM: Authentication error for illegal user postgres from p1368118-ipxg05201yosida.nagano.ocn.ne.jp<br />Jun 4 02:10:33 fra sshd[74571]: error: PAM: Authentication error for illegal user Default from 124.105.216.239<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> My connection error above happened at 02:08:26, while <i>sshd</i> was merrily rejecting illegal connection requests. So why did it not even respond to mine? Head-scratching needed. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-06T02:04:08+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic ko not selected <p> Sent a message to <a href="https://www.risenflour.com.au/">Risenflour</a> about shipping costs for <a href="https://www.risenflour.com.au/store/Lye-NaOH-Caustic-Soda-Pearls-p521680481">sodium hydroxide</a>. The response came quickly and painfully: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>The estimated postage to your suburb of Parkville is $42.00, in addition to<br />the cost of the products you wish to order. To the other address you gave<br />me Dereel the postage is $95.00 😱 </tt></div></blockquote> <p> Ouch! That might explain the high prices some other sources charge. But it occurs to me: maybe local baking supplies have it. It's worth checking, anyway. </p> End deselected topic ko (Sodium hydroxide transport prices) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250606-024047</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250606-024047</link><category>general</category><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Speicherstadt transformation</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> The German TV series <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0940902">„Notruf Hafenkante“</a> is set in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speicherstadt">Speicherstadt</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg">Hamburg</a>. It's a fascinating place. Here a photo from the German Wikipedia: </p> <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/The_Wasserschloss_at_sunset.jpg/500px-The_Wasserschloss_at_sunset.jpg"> <img alt="" title=". Click to see in original size." src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/The_Wasserschloss_at_sunset.jpg/500px-The_Wasserschloss_at_sunset.jpg" width="300" /></a> <p> While watching an episode of „Notruf Hafenkante“ tonight, I suspected—correctly—a transposition of a view out of the window. OK, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Maps">Google Maps</a>, show me some “street views”. This one certainly stood out: </p> <a id="Photo-13" name="Photo-13" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250605&imagesizes=11111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-13"> <img alt="This should be Speicherstadt.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_13" title="Photo Speicherstadt.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250605/small/Speicherstadt.jpeg" width="346" height="195" /></a> <p> That's not Hamburg! It's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/München">München</a>! Well, it's about as plausible as this image, courtesy of <a href="https://www.natgeotv.com/">National Geographic</a>, which I discovered <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-nov2015.php?subtitle=Geographic%20Society:%20not%20international&article=D-20151119-233141#D-20151119-233141">10 years ago</a>: </p> <a id="Photo-14" name="Photo-14" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20151119&imagesizes=111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-14"> <img alt="This should be Muenzig.png. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_14" title="Photo Muenzig.png. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20151119/small/Muenzig.png" width="343" height="197" /></a> <p> That view (of the centre of München) is a real condemnation of National Geographic. And clearly the image in Google Maps is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_San_Marco">Piazza San Marco</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice">Venice</a>, here an image from the Wikipedia page: </p> <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Venice_Untitled_%28262712813%29.jpeg/960px-Venice_Untitled_%28262712813%29.jpeg"> <img alt="" title=". Click to see in original size." src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Venice_Untitled_%28262712813%29.jpeg/960px-Venice_Untitled_%28262712813%29.jpeg" width="300" /></a> <p> But on closer examination, it seems that this is a model, possibly located in the Speicherstadt. What a misleading image! </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-06T02:40:47+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250607-005228</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250607-005228</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Storage woes</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> I'm running out of storage space on <i>tiwi:/spool</i>, one of the disks on which I store videos. And I'm downloading more. In the middle of the night I ran out of space, terminating a number of video loads. </p> <p> Most of the storage space is for series: I keep the episodes after looking at them, and some individual series take up over 500 GB of storage. </p> <p> What should I do? I have a choice: delete something or add more storage. A combination would also work. I don't want to delete them, so more storage is the answer, and I have it, currently: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== grog@tiwi (/dev/pts/1)</font> <font color="red">~</font> <font color="blue">352</font> -> <b><tt>df -c /spool/ /VB2/ /Video/</tt></b></code><br />Filesystem 1048576-blocks Used Avail Capacity Mounted on<br />/dev/ada0p4 7.567.870 7.422.409 69.782 99% /spool<br />/dev/da0p1 5.722.572 4.830.152 835.195 85% /VB2<br />hydra:/Video 3.815.019 3.341.579 435.289 88% /Video<br />total 17.105.462 15.594.141 1.340.266 92%<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> Oh for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinum_volume_manager">Vinum</a>! Yes, I could probably do it with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS">ZFS</a>, but I'm scared. So more analysis: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@tiwi (/dev/pts/4)</font> <font color="red">/VB2/spool/Already/Series</font> <font color="blue">108</font> -> <b><tt>du -sc /spool/*</tt></b></code><br />6766451 /spool/Already<br /> 648727 /spool/Series<br />...<br />7421146 total<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> There are a couple of other directories, but all relatively small. The directory <i>Already</i>, with all videos, seen and unseen, is over 10 times the size of <i>Series</i>, which contains the active episodes. Time to move some of it elsewhere, for example to <i>/VB2</i>. Started that today: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== grog@tiwi (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/spool/Already/Series</font> <font color="blue">117</font> -> <b><tt>du -sc Um-Himmels-Willen/ WaPo-Bodensee/</tt></b></code><br />408298 Um-Himmels-Willen/<br />16453 WaPo-Bodensee/<br />424750 total<br /><code><font color="blue">=== grog@tiwi (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/spool/Already/Series</font> <font color="blue">118</font> -> <b><tt>mv Um-Himmels-Willen/ WaPo-Bodensee/ /VB2/spool/Already/Series/</tt></b></code> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> It's not fast: <i>/VB2</i> is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB">USB</a> 2.0 disk running at a maximum of 25 MB/s (why?), and it ran all day. </p> <p> In the evening, it hit the magic 400 GB mark. And continued merrily on, past 480 GB. What's going on? A comparison of the contents of the directories showed that I had—for reasons long forgotten—a subdirectory <i>11a</i>. Normally the subdirectories represent the season, in this case <i>01</i> to <i>20</i>. But <i>11a</i> contained links to some of the files in other directories. And <i>mv</i> merrily copied them as new files: it doesn't understand links in this context! Is this a bug or a misfeature? All the <a href="https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=mv">man page</a> has to say is: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt> As the rename(2) call does not work across file systems, mv uses cp(1)<br /> and rm(1) to accomplish the move. The effect is equivalent to:<br /><br /> rm -f destination_path && \<br /> cp -pRP source_file destination && \<br /> rm -rf source_file<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> Removed <i>11a</i> and let it continue, but it still took its time. Somehow this all takes far too long. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-07T00:52:28+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250607-020524</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250607-020524</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>More storage issues</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Videos aren't the only thing where storage is running out. I had replace the 8 TB disk for my photos with a 16 TB disk <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-sep2024.php?subtitle=Disk%20copy%20pain&article=D-20240913-023625#D-20240913-023625">9 months ago</a>, but the backup disks are still only 8 TB, so <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c&subtitle=More%20storage!&article=D-20250604-014321#D-20250604-014321">on Tuesday</a> I ordered 2 16 TB backup disks. Today they arrived, so to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleons,_Victoria">Napoleons</a> to pick them up, also looking in to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastopol,_Victoria">Sebastopol</a> to pick up some fruit and vegetables that <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> forgot on Wednesday. </p> <a name="IBM-3330" id="IBM-3330"></a> <p> 32 TB in a small box! That's the equivalent of 20,000 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_3330">IBM 3330</a> disk drive systems, the benchmark of my youth, each of which required an estimated 10 to 20 m² of floor space, not including power and cooling. So at a conservative estimate, I have saved round 30 ha of floor space. But I went through all this <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-sep2024.php?subtitle=IBM%203330%20space%20requirements&article=D-20240920-021318#D-20240920-021318">last time</a>, when I thought that the minimum footprint of repeating 3330s would be 11.1 m². </p> <p> I think I'll decide that the area per unit could be 16.4 m². Then the three disks together could replace more area than that of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_City">Vatican City</a>. </p> <p> By comparison with the video issues, installing the new backup drives (one first, just to be safe) was a breeze. The only issue was the number of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inode">inodes</a>. The first invocation was: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@eureka (/dev/pts/1)</font> <font color="red">~</font> <font color="blue">58</font> -> <b><tt><del>newfs -L Photobackup12 -O 2 -U -a 4 -b 32768 -d 32768 -e 4096 -f 4096 -g 3145728 -h 64 -i 7405568 -j -k 1152 -m 1 -o space /dev/da2p1</del></tt></b></code> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> And that only gave me 2,160,428 inodes. The <i>/Photos</i> disk is half full and uses 1,791,168 inodes already, so clearly that's not enough: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@eureka (/dev/pts/1)</font> <font color="red">~</font> <font color="blue">61</font> -> <b><tt>df -i /Photos /pb1</tt></b></code><br />Filesystem 1048576-blocks Used Avail Capacity iused ifree %iused Mounted on<br />/dev/ada1p1 15,257,008 7,488,512 7,615,925 50% 1,791,168 4,694,974 28% /Photos<br />/dev/da2p1 15,258,065 6,813 15,098,671 0% 338 2,160,428 0% /pb1<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> So try again: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@eureka (/dev/pts/1)</font> <font color="red">~</font> <font color="blue">62</font> -> <b><tt>newfs -L Photobackup12 -O 2 -U -a 4 -b 32768 -d 32768 -e 4096 -f 4096 -g 3145728 -h 64 -i 2469888 -j -k 1152 -m 1 -o space /dev/da2p1</tt></b></code><br /><i>(ridiculous number of cylinder groups)</i><br /><code><font color="blue">=== root@eureka (/dev/pts/1)</font> <font color="red">~</font> <font color="blue">63</font> -> <b><tt>mount /dev/da2p1 /pb1</tt></b></code><br /><code><font color="blue">=== root@eureka (/dev/pts/1)</font> <font color="red">~</font> <font color="blue">64</font> -> <b><tt>df -i /Photos /pb1</tt></b></code><br />Filesystem 1048576-blocks Used Avail Capacity iused ifree %iused Mounted on<br />/dev/ada1p1 15,257,008 7,488,512 7,615,925 50% 1,791,168 4,694,974 28% /Photos<br />/dev/da2p1 15,258,065 6,813 15,098,671 0% 338 2,160,428 0% /pb1<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> In passing, it's interesting to note that silly things like model numbers are uninteresting in this day and age. The boxes with the disks had no indication of the model number, just the storage capacity. </p> <a id="Photo-15" name="Photo-15" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250608&imagesizes=1111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-15"> <img alt="This should be Backup-disk-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_15" title="Photo Backup-disk-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250608/small/Backup-disk-1.jpeg" width="256" height="263" /></a> <p> Oh, no, it's there in tiny print on the bottom of the box: </p> <a id="Photo-16" name="Photo-16" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250608&imagesizes=11111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-16"> <img alt="This should be Backup-disk-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_16" title="Photo Backup-disk-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250608/small/Backup-disk-2.jpeg" width="432" height="156" /></a> <a id="Photo-17" name="Photo-17" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250608&imagesizes=111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-17"> <img alt="This should be Backup-disk-2-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_17" title="Photo Backup-disk-2-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250608/small/Backup-disk-2-detail.jpeg" width="480" height="140" /></a> <p> But it's <i>wrong</i>! The probes tell me </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>Jun 4 15:03:39 eureka kernel: da2 at umass-sim2 bus 2 scbus6 target 0 lun 0<br />Jun 4 15:03:39 eureka kernel: da2: <Seagate Backup+ Desk 040B> Fixed Direct Access SPC-4 SCSI device<br />Jun 4 15:03:39 eureka kernel: da2: Serial Number NA7HFKNF<br />Jun 4 15:03:39 eureka kernel: da2: 400.000MB/s transfers<br />Jun 4 15:03:39 eureka kernel: da2: 7630885MB (15628053167 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 972801C)<br />Jun 4 15:03:39 eureka kernel: da2: quirks=0x2<NO_6_BYTE><br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> No mention of “Seagate STKP16000400” there, just (presumably) <tt>Seagate Backup+ Desk 040B</tt>. And the serial number is different too. In that connection, it's interesting to note that the storage specification mentioned on the visible part of the box is a sticker. Have they changed the details? Has the seller changed the details? The disk seems to work well, but it's surprising. I'll look more carefully at the second disk. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-07T02:05:24+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250607-031216</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250607-031216</link><category>multimedia</category><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Transcode fail</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> I download my videos with <a href="https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp"><i>yt-dlp</i></a>. During the night not one, but all concurrent downloads failed due to lack of disk space. </p> <p> OK, <i>yt-dlp</i> is good at restarting partial transfers. Try that and get: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>[Merger] Merging formats into "Result.mp4"<br />ERROR: Postprocessing: Conversion failed!<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> What's that? <i>Yet Another</i> bug or incompatibility to chase! </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-07T03:12:16+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250607-052833</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250607-052833</link><category>technology</category><category>general</category><category>opinion</category><title>Still more weather station pain</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> In mid-evening discovered that the weather station hadn't been logging since shortly before midday. Dammit, what's <i>wrong</i> with this system? I found an endless sequence of </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>Jun 6 19:49:28 tiwi wh1080[23992]: Can't read device: Input/output error or Unknown error (5)<br />Jun 6 19:49:28 tiwi wh1080[23993]: Can't read device: Device busy or Unknown error (16)<br />Jun 6 19:49:31 tiwi wh1080[23997]: Can't read device: Device busy or Unknown error (16)<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> Damn this unreliable system! Tried things that have helped in the past, like disconnecting and reconnecting the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB">USB</a> cable and power cycling the indoor station. Now I have two stations, so I tried the other. All in vain. </p> <p> It took me some time to discover that I had two <i>wh1080</i> processes running, and they were treading on their toes. Stop everything and start again and things started stumbling on. But that doesn't explain the loss of information for the whole afternoon. </p> <p> So for once it was my fault. Should I bother to put in some more tests? </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-07T05:28:33+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250607-060446</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250607-060446</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>tiwi disk problems?</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> While looking at <i>tiwi</i>'s log files, saw this: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>Jun 6 12:15:16 tiwi kernel: swap_pager: indefinite wait buffer: bufobj: 0, blkno: 358465, size: 65536<br />Jun 6 12:15:16 tiwi kernel: swap_pager: indefinite wait buffer: bufobj: 0, blkno: 290150, size: 4096<br />Jun 6 12:18:32 tiwi kernel: swap_pager: indefinite wait buffer: bufobj: 0, blkno: 279446, size: 4096<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> That doesn't look good. That's normally an indication of a dying disk, but normally that would be indicated by other error messages as well. That's all I need. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-07T06:04:46+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250608-020950</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250608-020950</link><category>technology</category><category>general</category><category>opinion</category><title>More weather station woes</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Why do <i>both</i> weather stations fail to communicate at particular times? I had assumed that the old one was gradually dying, but the new one does it too, roughly at the same time as the old one. Surely it can't be the location. Here's an example: </p> <a id="Photo-18" name="Photo-18" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250608&imagesizes=1111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-18"> <img alt="This should be Weather-station-7.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_18" title="Photo Weather-station-7.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250608/small/Weather-station-7.jpeg" width="225" height="300" /></a> <a id="Photo-19" name="Photo-19" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250608&imagesizes=11111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-19"> <img alt="This should be Weather-station-6-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_19" title="Photo Weather-station-6-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250608/small/Weather-station-6-detail.jpeg" width="264" height="256" /></a> <p> The weather station is clearly visible about 12 m away. And the unit is supposed to have a range of 100 m. </p> <p> What's wrong? One clue is that it seems to happen to both stations at the same time. Could it be that there is severe <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RFI">RFI</a> from time to time? It can't be anything obvious like our computers, since it is intermittent but long-lasting. I can't make up my mind what it could be. Potentially it would make a difference if I moved the unit to the other side of the house. </p> <p> But there are more issues. The two outside units are next to each other, and one indoor unit is connected to each. Before the communication failed, they displayed markedly different temperatures and pressures: </p> <a id="Photo-20" name="Photo-20" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250607&imagesizes=111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-20"> <img alt="This should be Weather-station-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_20" title="Photo Weather-station-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250607/small/Weather-station-2.jpeg" width="297" height="227" /></a> <a id="Photo-21" name="Photo-21" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250607&imagesizes=1111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-21"> <img alt="This should be Weather-station-4.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_21" title="Photo Weather-station-4.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250607/small/Weather-station-4.jpeg" width="299" height="225" /></a> <p> The first unit is connected to the new station. The outside temperature is in the second line at the left (9.8°, 75% humidity, or 8.6° and 82% humidity). The barometric prssure is on the right of the third line (961.3 mbar or 958.2 mbar). These photos were taken 10 seconds apart. How can I rely on something like that? </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-08T02:09:50+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250608-021003</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250608-021003</link><category>technology</category><category>photography</category><title>Photo backup finished</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> My 8 TB photo backup ran smoothly and completed in almost exactly 24 hours: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>sent 7,824,233,002,625 bytes received 39,695,113 bytes 91,034,429.89 bytes/sec<br />total size is 8,657,590,230,554 speedup is 1.11<br />Filesystem 1048576-blocks Used Avail Capacity iused ifree %iused Mounted on<br />/dev/da2p1 15,257,008 7,498,588 7,605,849 50% 1,814,798 4,671,344 28% /pb1<br />Fri 6 Jun 2025 16:29:59 AEST Photo backup started<br />Sat 7 Jun 2025 16:29:19 AEST Photo backup ended<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> And <i>once again</i> the size of the disks isn't the same: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@eureka (/dev/pts/1)</font> <font color="red">/videobackup</font> <font color="blue">96</font> -> <b><tt>df -i /Photos /pb1/</tt></b></code><br />Filesystem 1048576-blocks Used Avail Capacity iused ifree %iused Mounted on<br />/dev/ada1p1 15,257,008 7,507,545 7,596,893 50% 1,791,574 4,694,568 28% /Photos<br />/dev/da2p1 15,257,008 7,498,588 7,605,849 50% 1,814,798 4,671,344 28% /pb1<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> I see that so often. What's causing it? The <i>newfs</i> parameters were identical. I suppose I should check more carefully with the second disk. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-08T02:10:03+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic po not selected <p> There's a <a href="https://www.venuslens.net/product/laowa-8-15mm-f-2-8-ff-zoom-fisheye-2/">new fisheye zoom lens</a> on the market. It's for “full frame” cameras, so nothing that I would buy, but a statement caught my eye: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> It delivers a dual fisheye effect... </div> </blockquote> <p> Reviewers expanded on this and suggested two different projections. <a href="https://www.dpreview.com/news/3643955286/fast-and-wide-laowa-unveils-an-8-15mm-f-2p8-zoom-fisheye-lens">DPreview</a> writes </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> Laowa's latest lens offers two types of fisheye perspective with a fast and constant F2.8 aperture. </div> </blockquote> <p> That would be interesting, since most fisheye makers don't even bother to say what projection they're using. And I was wondering how they change the projection. But no, they're just stating the obvious, that the sensor coverage changes from circular at 8 mm to full-frame at 15 mm. Wow! And of course the perspective remains identical. Crop an 8 mm image and you'll get exactly the same perspective as an image taken at 15 mm. </p> <p> But the claim of circular fisheye is not completely correct. My field of view program tells me that the vertical field of view at 8 mm is 171.9°, not quite the 180° that you'd expect. And then there's: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> It allows for a shallow depth of field, </div> </blockquote> <p> This is an f/2.8 lens. At 15 mm and full aperture, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperfocal_distance">hyperfocal distance</a> is 10 m. At 1 m the depth of field is 20 cm. Shallow depth of field indeed! </p> End deselected topic po (Variable projection fisheye) --> <!-- topic kpo not selected <p> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/tagine-abricots-amandes.php">Tagine d'agneau aux abricots et amandes</a> for dinner tonight, a chance to take some more photos. </p> <p> The recipe calls for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ras-el-hanout">ras-el-hanout</a>. And we don't have any. What do I do? Ask <a href="https://gemini.google.com/">Google Gemini</a>, which suggested a number of things, including cloves and cardamom. That seemed reasonable. </p> <p> We also didn't have enough almonds, so we made up for it with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistachio">pistachio</a> kernels. </p> <p> And then there were the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_pea">chick peas</a>. I didn't note anything in the recipe. Shouldn't they be cooked for a long time? Yes, like beans. Boiled them for 5 minutes, during which they doubled in size, and then put them in at the beginning. They were edible but still quite firm. Next time I should cook them for an hour or two first. </p> <p> How did it taste? Alright, but it's still missing something. Quantities: 393 g for me, 173 for <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a>, a total of 566 g. We'll eat it again on Tuesday, and then we should have weights for freezer portions. </p> End deselected topic kpo (Tagine) --> <!-- topic h not selected <p> It has been an extremely dry autumn, but that changed today. Overnight we had 15 mm rain, and it rained the whole day. By evening one of the rain gauges had gone off the scale (which means at least another 30 mm). The usual rain into the house entrance: </p> <p> And a test of the relocation of our house water pump: </p> <p> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> was concerned, but I think it's high enough for water to overflow first. </p> End deselected topic h (The drought breaks) --> <!-- topic po not selected <p> My weather station woes continue, so yesterday I took a photo to show how close the inside and outside units are to each other. </p> <p> Oh: </p> <p> The indoor units are at the extreme right and in front of the glass cabinet. But where are the outside units? I had chosen this view to show them, but there were other issues. First, the angle of view, which required a very wide angle. And then the difference in brightness between inside and outside, and also the difference in distance, which required both <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-dynamic-range_imaging">HDR</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_stacking">focus stacking</a>. So I put the camera on a tripod and took a number of photos. What do I process it with? <a href="http://www.hdrsoft.com/">Photomatix</a> creates HDR images, <a href="https://zerenesystems.com">Zerene</a> does focus stacking. But in this case it's relatively clear: the images were 4.3 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_value">EV</a> apart, so there wasn't much choice in focus. And sure enough, it came out sharp enough, though not as needle sharp as I had expected from the originals. </p> <p> But I had made the mistake of not raising the tripod to my eye height, so the weather stations disappeared behind the palisade. Don't do that, then. </p> <p> Try again today. In the meantime, the inside units had failed completely. Due to the rain? I haven't seen any connection before. So I put one up against the window, where the distance was even less, and the angle of view as well: </p> <p> And this time I cheated by using the indoor flash, which worked up to a point. There were reflections in the window, and the indoor unit was still underexposed: </p> <p> So yes, HDR seems to be the way to go, but I've expended enough on the matter. </p> <p> I didn't notice this detail until after processing the images: </p> <p> That's <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Bruno.php">Bruno</a>, who was polite enough to remain effectively still during the 70 seconds between my composite images. </p> <p> And the weather station? I've repositioned the new one on the table on the verandah, where it works. But why are things so bad? Can it be the metal plant frame between the units? That shouldn't make any difference, but I can check by moving the indoor unit. Somehow it seems as if there's some environmental issue, so just replacing the unit won't help. </p> End deselected topic po (How to take a photo) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250609-030409</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250609-030409</link><category>photography</category><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>OM-1 firmware bug</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> While planning the photos of the weather stations, tried taking a photo with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OM_System_OM-1_Mark_II">OM System OM-1 Mark II</a> and the <a href="https://www.panasonic.com/au/consumer/lumix-cameras-video-cameras/lumix-camera-lenses/lumix-g-lenses/h-x015gc9-k.html">Leica DG Summilux 15 mm f/1.7 <b>ASPH.</b></a>. I couldn't autofocus! Much examination showed that there's some compatibility issue between camera and lens. The lens works fine on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_OM-D_E-M5_Mark_III">Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_OM-D_E-M1_Mark_II">Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II</a> and the <a href="https://www.dpreview.com/products/olympus/slrs/oly_epm2/review">Olympus E-PM2</a>, and it works with the OM-1 Mark III as long as it's not set on C-AF autofocus. </p> <p> Why? The Summilux is unique amongst my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Four_Thirds_system">Micro Four Thirds system</a> lenses because it has an aperture ring. It also has an AF/MF switch, but others have that too. And all works as expected on Olympus/OM System cameras. But somehow the OM-1 Mark II (and presumably Mark I as well) has an issue. </p> <p> How do I report firmware bugs to OM System? </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-09T03:04:09+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic ho not selected <p> It's been intolerably dry for months now, and we've been waiting for rain. Finally it has come: 15 mm yesterday, 63 mm today. 78 mm in a little over 24 hours, coming close to the 24 hour value of 69 mm that we had <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2008.php#6">17 years ago</a>. </p> <p> Interestingly, the rainfall in <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_089002_All.shtml">Ballarat</a>, only 30 km away, was considerably less, only 35.4 mm. It seems that the highest daily June rainfall there was only 46.2 mm, on <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2023.php?topics=c#8">8 June 2023</a>, a day where we only had 28 mm. Still, <i>finally</i> it seems that the drought has broken. </p> <p> Or, as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC">ABC</a> reported this morning (as of 8:27), </p> <p> There's nothing like up-to-date news. Yes, that's nothing like up-to-date news. </p> End deselected topic ho (Rain!) --> <!-- topic ah not selected <p> Deirdre MacIntosh along today with husband Don, son Jake and a gift: <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Morena.php">AuSome Morena</a>, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paso_Fino">Paso Fino</a>/<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paso_peruano">Paso peruano</a> mare bred by Jorge de Moya. </p> <p> They didn't stay long: they had come from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowerdale,_Victoria">Flowerdale</a>, an <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/warstories/police.php">important place</a> in my mother's past, and they wanted to get back. </p> End deselected topic ah (Ausome! Morena!) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250609-232007</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250609-232007</link><category>technology</category><category>photography</category><title>Testing JPEG integrity</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> So I have migrated one of my backup disks to the new 16 TB drive. The old 8 TB is free for other purposes, and I have it earmarked for videos. </p> <p> But what if some of the images on the new disk are corrupt, and they're good on the old disk. That could happen, since many of the files on the old disk have been there for years, and it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that they could have been damaged on the main disk. How do I check them? <a href="https://gemini.google.com/">Google Gemini</a> to my aid. It came up with some interesting stuff: <a href="https://github.com/tjko/jpeginfo"><i>jpeginfo</i></a>, of which I had never heard, and also information that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ImageMagick">ImageMagick</a>'s <i>identify</i> command will provide information with the <tt>-verbose</tt> flag, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exiftool"><i>exiftool</i></a> has a <tt>-validate</tt> option. </p> <p> Installed <i>jpeginfo</i>, which is in the <a href="https://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</a> Ports Collection, and it seems to do what I want. Now I just need to run it against my hundreds of thousands of files. And it still doesn't address the issue of corrupt raw files, which, I suspect, is a lost cause. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-09T23:20:07+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250609-234329</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250609-234329</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Favourite Unix artefacts</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> “segaloco”, one of the more active participants on the <a href="https://www.tuhs.org/">Unix Heritage Society</a> <a href="https://www.tuhs.org/pipermail/tuhs/">mailing list</a>, came up with a question: <a href="https://www.tuhs.org/pipermail/tuhs/2025-June/032020.html">“Your Most Prized UNIX Artifacts?”</a>. </p> <p> Interesting question. Unix is software. What can you keep? Source trees? The freely available ones are on <a href="https://www.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl">the TUHS site</a>. People won't admit to keeping clandestine copies of copyrighted material. And of course none of the replies referred to source trees. The single most mentioned artefact was the UNIX “Live free or die” registration plate. </p> <p> And for me? From my reply, with additions: </p> <ul> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> UNIX registration plate. Yes, one of the very last, with COMPAQ written on it. I picked it up at the USENIX ATC in Boston, 2001. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> Lions Commentary. Yes, I got a copy of it some time round 1990, and sadly lost it again. But then Warren Toomey posted the TeX sources of a scanned version on <tt>alt.foklore.computers</tt> in May 1994, and I formatted them put them up on the web at <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Documentation/Lions/">http://www.lemis.com/grog/Documentation/Lions/</a>, where they're still accessible. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> Lots of other books. Where do I start? I have two bookshelves full of books, but none that I'd consider "most prized". I have two copies of "The Magic Garden Explained" by Berny Goodheart (who didn't sign his copy) and James Cox (who did). This book is interesting because it grew out of the environment in which I had worked at Tandem Computers. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> What I <i>do</i> have and "prize" is mainly hardware. To the right of my desktop I have, in increasing order of rarity, a microVAX that I think runs some version of Unix, a Control Data Cyber 910 that ran Irix 5.2 and a Tandem LXN (based on a Motorola 68020) that ran System V.2. I think the LXN might be the only one that still exists. Its name was <i>solo</i> (only 1 CPU) in contrast with our "real" Unix box, a <a href="https://www.techmonitor.ai/technology/tandem_promises_unix_system_v4_on_new_integrity_s2_machine_as_soon_as_it_is_stable">Tandem Integrity S2</a> which had 3 lock-step processors and was thus called trio. The Magic Garden contains a reference *somewhere* to a machine called quattro, for reason that evade me, but were clearly intended to fit into this naming scheme. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> The T-shirt with the deflated AT&T death star on the points of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD">BSD</a> daemon trident, the one that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Ritchie">dmr</a> got so upset about at the start of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_wars">Unix wars</a>. I got it from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_McKusick">Kirk McKusick</a> on <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-sep1993.php?topics=c#27">27 September 1993</a>. </div> </li> </ul> <p> One of the more unexpected <a href="https://www.tuhs.org/pipermail/tuhs/2025-June/032027.html">replies</a> was from Pete Wright: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> A print of a draft of The Complete FreeBSD 4th ed. signed by Greg Lehey. Still sitting in its original manila envelope by my desk. </div> <p class="listitemwidth"> A friend (thanks .ike!) got it and gifted it to me when I ended up in the hospital the night before I was supposed to attend BSDCan '05 and couldn't attend. Lots of sentimental value for me in that one for me. </p> </blockquote> <p> What an honour. I was one of the very few living people mentioned by name. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-09T23:43:29+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250610-024920</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250610-024920</link><category>technology</category><category>photography</category><category>opinion</category><title>eBay lies, or, where's my lens?</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Exchanged email with <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yana/">Yana</a> this morning. How's the new lens that I bought for her <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php?subtitle=Another%20new%20Summilux?&article=D-20250528-023530#D-20250528-023530">nearly 2 weeks ago</a>? Send me some sample images. I hadn't told her about the purchase, but she picked it up from the post office last Wednesday, and for some reason didn't comment. </p> <p> She sent me some sample images—from the <a href="https://www.panasonic.com/au/consumer/lumix-cameras-video-cameras/lumix-camera-lenses/lumix-g-lenses/h-x015gc9-k.html">Leica DG Summilux 15 mm f/1.7 <b>ASPH.</b></a> that I bought for her <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php?subtitle=eBay%20payment%20pain&article=D-20250503-015000#D-20250503-015000">over a month ago</a>. And the new lens? What new lens? </p> <p> This one: </p> <a id="Photo-22" name="Photo-22" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250604&imagesizes=11111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-22"> <img alt="This should be eBay-2-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_22" title="Photo eBay-2-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250604/small/eBay-2-detail.jpeg" width="298" height="227" /></a> <p> Ha ha, only joking. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Post">Australia Post</a> couldn't deliver it, so they took it to the post office for pickup, and didn't bother leaving a notification. So it's still there! </p> <p> I've had issues with tracking and delivery with eBay and Auspost, but this really takes the cake. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-10T02:49:20+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic h not selected <p> Somehow the last few days have been particularly busy. Finally I had time to catch up today and address most of the mail that has been waiting for me. I still didn't make it all. </p> End deselected topic h (Catching up) --> <!-- topic a not selected <p> Seen in the paddock to the south of Grassy Gully Road: </p> <p> Clearly John has arrived behind the hill to feed them. </p> End deselected topic a (Feeding time) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250612-023507</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250612-023507</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Google Maps and Android: what a pair!</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Into town today. Apart from a haircut and a visit to the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Fruits.shack.Wendouree/">Fruit Shack</a>, <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> wanted to look at a carpet for sale in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Clear">Mount Clear</a>. We were to meet there. OK, get the directions from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Maps">Google Maps</a> and send them to my phone. See that the notification arrived, head off. Enable the route. It's gone! For no obvious reason, the notification had disappeared. And the only way to get the information, including the all-important address, would have been to go back inside to a Real Computer and send it again. </p> <p> No time for that. But Yvonne had told me: down to the roundabout, first left, first left. So I tried that. It wasn't nearly as obvious as it sounded, and I found myself driving around for a while. But Yvonne was there: find her on the map and go to her. And how about that, I found her in <del>Cartilage</del> Cartledge Avenue. I recognized that name: the house is there. But she went straight across the road and back the way I had come from. OK, follow her. After a while she stopped, leaving me blocking an intersection, and told me that her phone had claimed she had arrived when she was 500 m from the destination. Fortunately, round that time, the people we want to visit called and gave us the exact address. </p> <p> The carpet itself was a disappointment, but I discovered that there was a much easier way back to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastopol,_Victoria">Sebastopol</a>: just head up west on Cartledge Avenue, turn left onto Tinworth Avenue and we'd hit Whitehorse Road, the road to Sebastopol. In Tinworth Avenue I asked Google Maps to take me to <a href="https://www.arabellahairdesign.au/">Arabella</a>. But instead of giving me a route, it held a lecture about where it might be. When I finally got it to shut up, it disagreed with my route. Turn back and go down Cartledge Avenue, 1.1 km further. Ignored that and headed onwards, where there were no issues beyond traffic on Whitehorse Road. </p> <p> Done? Not at all. Driving on to the Fruit Shack, it lost its mind, or at least its vision: </p> <a id="Photo-23" name="Photo-23" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250611&imagesizes=111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-23"> <img alt="This should be Google-Maps-fail-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_23" title="Photo Google-Maps-fail-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250611/small/Google-Maps-fail-2.jpeg" width="387" height="174" /></a> <a id="Photo-24" name="Photo-24" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250611&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-24"> <img alt="This should be Google-Maps-fail-3.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_24" title="Photo Google-Maps-fail-3.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250611/small/Google-Maps-fail-3.jpeg" width="387" height="174" /></a> <p> OK, maybe the app has got confused. Stop, restart. </p> <a id="Photo-25" name="Photo-25" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250611&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-25"> <img alt="This should be Google-Maps-fail-5.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_25" title="Photo Google-Maps-fail-5.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250611/small/Google-Maps-fail-5.jpeg" width="387" height="174" /></a> <p> Still no map, but it had decided that I should go by foot! How do I change that? It took me 5 minutes to find that it had hidden the choice of transport down some unlikely menu at bottom left. Finally I briefly emerged from the darkness: </p> <a id="Photo-26" name="Photo-26" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250611&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-26"> <img alt="This should be Google-Maps-fail-7.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_26" title="Photo Google-Maps-fail-7.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250611/small/Google-Maps-fail-7.jpeg" width="387" height="174" /></a> <p> But that went away again, and it was still like that after I finished my shopping. OK, reboot the phone. Then things worked. </p> <p> Google, what a pair you have created! </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-12T02:35:07+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250612-031546</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250612-031546</link><category>technology</category><category>photography</category><category>opinion</category><title>Photo backups: the other shoe</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Backups to my first new disk went well. Today's the day for the weekly swap, so put in the second disk. First, connect to <i>distress</i> to save the disk contents (one Microsoft <i>Start_Here_Win.exe</i> and a whole slew of programs in <i>Start_Here_Mac.app</i>). That was a pain: to be on the safe side, I was running the <i>CMD.EXE</i> as administrator, with the unexpected result that it didn't see any of my “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_share">network shares</a>”, and it took me a while to work out what was wrong this time. </p> <p> Preparing the disk for <a href="https://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</a> was easier, but not as easy as it should have been: I wrote down the steps <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?subtitle=More%20storage%20issues&article=D-20250607-020524#D-20250607-020524">last week</a>, but I got them wrong (now corrected). Here what I did today: </p> <p> Get the <i>newfs</i> parameters from <i>/Photos</i> and use them to create the new file system: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@eureka (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/videobackup/spool</font> <font color="blue">102</font> -> <b><tt>dumpfs -m /Photos/</tt></b></code><br /># newfs command for /Photos/ (/dev/ada1p1)<br />newfs -L Photos -O 2 -U -a 4 -b 32768 -d 32768 -e 4096 -f 4096 -g 3145728 -h 64 -i 2469888 -j -k 1152 -m 1 -o space -s 31251759024 /dev/ada1p1<br /><code><font color="blue">=== root@eureka (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/videobackup/spool</font> <font color="blue">102</font> -> <b><tt>newfs -L Photobackup13 -O 2 -U -a 4 -b 32768 -d 32768 -e 4096 -f 4096 -g 3145728 -h 64 -i 2469888 -j -k 1152 -m 1 -o space /dev/da2p1</tt></b></code><br /><code><font color="blue">=== root@eureka (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/videobackup/spool</font> <font color="blue">103</font> -> <b><tt>mount /dev/da2p1 /pb1</tt></b></code> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> Create the file <i>Iam</i> in the root directory. <i>syncphotos</i> uses this to identify the drive. Then run the backup: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@eureka (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/videobackup/spool</font> <font color="blue">112</font> -> <b><tt>cat > /pb1/Iam</tt></b></code><br />Greg's photo backup 13<br /><code><font color="blue">=== root@eureka (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/videobackup/spool</font> <font color="blue">113</font> -> <b><tt>mailme syncphotos /pb1</tt></b></code><br />Wed 11 Jun 2025 11:33:58 AEST Greg's photo backup 13<br />-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 23 11 Jun 11:33:53 2025 /pb1/Iam<br />Filesystem 1048576-blocks Used Avail Capacity iused ifree %iused Mounted on<br />/dev/da2p1 15,257,008 32 15,104,406 0% 4 6,486,138 0% /pb1<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> And that ran fine. The only interesting thing was when I wanted to process a photo with <a href="https://www.dxo.com/dxo-photolab/">DxO PhotoLab</a>: </p> <a id="Photo-27" name="Photo-27" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250611&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-27"> <img alt="This should be DxO.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_27" title="Photo DxO.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250611/small/DxO.jpeg" width="371" height="182" /></a> <p> Instead of the normal 10 seconds, it took DxO 25 <i>minutes</i> to process the image! My guess is that it was performing lots of little transfers, each of which got held up by the disk load of the backup. </p> <p> Interestingly, this disk identified itself differently. <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?subtitle=More%20storage%20issues&article=D-20250607-020524#D-20250607-020524">Last week</a> there was no relationship between the serial number on the package and the serial number of the disk. Today the package stated a serial number <tt>NT17MDRZ</tt>, which the device expanded to <tt>00000000NT17MDRZ</tt>, and the name was also different: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>Jun 11 11:21:09 eureka kernel: da2 at umass-sim2 bus 2 scbus6 target 0 lun 0<br />Jun 11 11:21:09 eureka kernel: da2: <Seagate Expansion HDD 1802> Fixed Direct Access SPC-4 SCSI device<br />Jun 11 11:21:09 eureka kernel: da2: Serial Number 00000000NT17MDRZ<br />Jun 11 11:21:09 eureka kernel: da2: 400.000MB/s transfers<br />Jun 11 11:21:09 eureka kernel: da2: 15259647MB (31251759103 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 1945332C)<br />Jun 11 11:21:09 eureka kernel: da2: quirks=0x2<NO_6_BYTE><br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> Is that important? If so, it's documented here. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-12T03:15:46+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic ko not selected <p> Shopping at the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Fruits.shack.Wendouree/">Fruit Shack</a> is always frustrating. They have lots of good things, some of the time. Today I found even less of the items on my shopping list than normal. To make the point, I found more of them at the nearby Ballarat Asian Grocery, where I normally don't find much. </p> <p> As if that wasn't enough, I had had problems with an item I bought <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2025.php?subtitle=Fruit%20Shack%20again&article=D-20250516-024832#D-20250516-024832">last time</a>: </p> <p> I had noted it at the time because it had no identifying label, though clearly it was dòufu puffs. And when I got round to using them about 10 days ago, they had gone mouldy! The use-by date is clear: 11 September. So I asked the cashier for a refund. “But they haven't expired yet”. Tried to make it clear that they were mouldy, but I'm not sure she understood. “Why didn't you bring them earlier?”. “Look, you can call this number” (on the receipt). Neither would have helped if they hadn't been mouldy at the time. Call the manager, please. Sorry, no manager here. Finally, as a gesture of good will, she accepted it, not before I got seriously angry. And the query about the cost of some pork balls went nowhere, since they were out of stock and I couldn't show them what I bought. She just said “That was a Chinese cashier”, something obvious here where nearly everybody is Chinese. Only she is Indian or similar. Somehow the cashier name on the receipt seems appropriate: “Simple”. </p> <p> What do I do? The Fruit Shack is getting more and more on my nerves, but they're a valuable resource, and I don't want them to get into trouble. </p> End deselected topic ko (Fruit Shack pain) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250613-031649</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250613-031649</link><category>animals</category><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Dead bird</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Somebody left a present in our driveway: </p> <div align="left"> <a id="Photo-28" name="Photo-28" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250612&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-28"> <img alt="This should be Bird-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_28" title="Photo Bird-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250612/small/Bird-1.jpeg" width="300" height="225" /></a> <a id="Photo-29" name="Photo-29" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250612&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-29"> <img alt="This should be Bird-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_29" title="Photo Bird-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250612/small/Bird-2.jpeg" width="300" height="225" /></a> <a id="Photo-30" name="Photo-30" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250612&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-30"> <img alt="This should be Bird-4.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_30" title="Photo Bird-4.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250612/small/Bird-4.jpeg" width="225" height="300" /></a> <a id="Photo-31" name="Photo-31" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250612&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-31"> <img alt="This should be Bird-6.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_31" title="Photo Bird-6.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250612/small/Bird-6.jpeg" width="225" height="300" /></a> </div> <p> What is it? <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> thought that it was a <a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_(Art)">Star</a>, or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starling">starling</a>, and that seems likely. But the German name „Star“ is somehow appropriate: it's a homonym of „starr“, meaning stiff, and so it was. </p> <p> How did it die? Yvonne thought that it might have flown against a windscreen and broken its neck, but the neck seemed unaffected. About the only thing obvious was that one foot was held higher than the other. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-13T03:16:49+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250613-032140</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250613-032140</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>named for fra</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> <i>ffm.lemis.com</i> in its old incarnation is gone. <i>fra.lemis.com</i> has taken over the net proxy, but it only occurred to me today that <i>ffm</i> was also a name server. OK, migrate the name servers, in the process changing IP addresses so that <i>ffm</i> is now a name for <i>fra</i>, <tt>192.248.184.42</tt>. Simple: take the configuration from <i>lax.lemis.com</i> (in its incarnation as <i>ns1.lemis.com</i>), frob slightly and start on <i>fra</i>: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@fra (/dev/pts/2)</font> <font color="red">/usr/local/etc</font> <font color="blue">17</font> -> <b><tt>service named start</tt></b></code><br />/usr/local/etc/namedb/named.conf:7: unix control '/var/run/ndc': not supported<br />/usr/local/etc/rc.d/named: ERROR: named-checkconf for /usr/local/etc/namedb/named.conf failed<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> Huh? What does “not supported” mean? But I've always had trouble with <i>rndc</i>, and I find it easier to restart <i>named</i> with a <i>kill -1</i>. OK, comment out the reference to <i>/var/run/ndc</i>, which proves to be a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_socket">socket</a>. Try again. </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>Jun 12 05:57:25 fra named[10112]: the limit on open files is already at the maximum allowed value: 116964<br />Jun 12 05:57:25 fra named[10112]: isc_stdio_open '/var/log/named/named-2.log' failed: file not found<br />Jun 12 05:57:25 fra named[10112]: configuring logging: file not found<br />Jun 12 05:57:25 fra named[10112]: loading configuration: file not found<br />Jun 12 05:57:25 fra named[10112]: exiting (due to fatal error)<br />Jun 12 05:57:25 fra grog[10116]: /usr/local/etc/rc.d/named: WARNING: failed to start named<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> What does that mean? Ah, no <i>/var/log/named/</i>? Create that and try again: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>Jun 12 05:58:41 fra named[10134]: isc_stdio_open '/var/log/named/named-2.log' failed: permission denied<br />Jun 12 05:58:41 fra named[10134]: configuring logging: permission denied<br />Jun 12 05:58:41 fra named[10134]: loading configuration: permission denied<br />Jun 12 05:58:41 fra named[10134]: exiting (due to fatal error)<br />Jun 12 05:58:41 fra grog[10138]: /usr/local/etc/rc.d/named: WARNING: failed to start named<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> Oh. <i>/var/log/named</i> belonged to <tt>root</tt>, but <i>named</i> runs as <tt>bind</tt>. Once again: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@fra (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/var/log</font> <font color="blue">69</font> -> <b><tt>l -d named</tt></b></code><br />drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 12 Jun 05:58 named<br /><code><font color="blue">=== root@fra (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/var/log</font> <font color="blue">70</font> -> <b><tt>chown bind:bind named</tt></b></code><br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> And then it ran. Only one message puzzled me: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>Jun 12 06:00:53 fra named[10174]: the limit on open files is already at the maximum allowed value: 116964 </tt></div></blockquote> <p> What does that mean? </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-13T03:21:40+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic po not selected <p> Sample photo from <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yana/">Yana</a> taken with her new <a href="https://www.panasonic.com/au/support/product-archives/lumix-cameras-video-cameras/lumix-g-lenses/h-x025e.html">Leica Summilux 25 mm f/1.4</a> lens. Not good. I have exactly the same model, so it was relatively easy to compare (and confirm that photos of text are a good way to test lenses). Here her photo and mine, both taken at f/1.4: </p> <p> The brightness isn't important. It's difficult to get good exposure of a display screen, and normally I would correct it. But the image quality seems much worse than mine. Here top left, centre and bottom right, first Yana's lens, then mine: </p> <p> Centre: </p> <p> Bottom right: </p> <p> On the one hand, both lenses are acceptable. In the Good Old Days you wouldn't expect anything like that good a result. But clearly the new lens isn't nearly as good as the old one? Should I return it? That would be a pity. </p> End deselected topic po (Is that lens good enough?) --> <!-- topic a not selected <p> This evening <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Bruno.php">Bruno</a> came in via the lounge room window, as is his wont recently. He had something small in his mouth—a moth, I thought. But it proved to be a mouse. That's certainly a great improvement over <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_wren">fairy wrens</a>. I put them in the laundry for Bruno to complete his action. And of course he lost it, far too quickly for him to have eaten it. </p> <p> Before going to bed, <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Mona.php">Mona</a> showed great interest in the sideboard in the dining room. Left the light on overnight to make it for her to catch it. </p> End deselected topic a (A mouse!) --> <!-- topic a not selected <p> First thing this morning found a dead mouse in the hallway: </p> <p> Was that yesterday evening's mouse? I thought it was much smaller. And how did it die? It seems that it was a single bite to the throat: </p> <p> In the evening, to make his point, Bruno came back with another mouse. This time I didn't let him in; instead Mona went out with him. When they came back, there was no mouse. </p> <a name="Invisible-Mona" id="Invisible-Mona"></a> <p> In passing, it's interesting to note a big difference between Bruno and Mona. Bruno is immediately apparent when he sits on the windowsill in the dark. Mona is almost invisible. This evening I saw Bruno and a disembodied eye, something like a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheshire_cat">Cheshire cat</a>. </p> End deselected topic a (Another death) --> <!-- topic po not selected <p> So how good or bad is <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yana/">Yana's</a> new <a href="https://www.panasonic.com/au/support/product-archives/lumix-cameras-video-cameras/lumix-g-lenses/h-x025e.html">Leica Summilux 25 mm f/1.4</a>? Time for some comparisons. </p> <p> First, fill the screen with numbers. Start an <i>xterm</i>, make it full screen, and enter: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== grog@hydra (/dev/pts/35)</font> <font color="red">~</font> <font color="blue">2</font> -> <b><tt>echo `jot 10000 10000`</tt></b></code> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> Then the photos. No fewer than 12 lenses: </p> <ul> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> <a href="https://www.panasonic.com/au/consumer/lumix-cameras-video-cameras/lumix-camera-lenses/lumix-g-lenses/h-x015gc9-k.html">Leica DG Summilux 15 mm f/1.7 <b>ASPH.</b></a> </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> <a href="http://www.panasonic.com/au/consumer/lumix-cameras-video-cameras/lumix-g-lenses/h-h020ae.html">Panasonic Lumix G 20 mm f/1.7</a> </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> <a href="https://www.voigtlaender.de/lenses/mft/25-mm-10-95-nokton-ii/">Voigtländer Nokton 25 mm f/0.95</a> </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> <a href="https://www.panasonic.com/au/support/product-archives/lumix-cameras-video-cameras/lumix-g-lenses/h-x025e.html">Leica Summilux 25 mm f/1.4</a> </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> <a href="https://www.dpreview.com/products/olympus/lenses/olympus_m_45_1p8">M.Zuiko Digital 45 mm f/1.8</a> </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> <a href="http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/SMC-S-M-C-Super-Takumar-50mm-F1.4.html">Super-Takumar 50 mm f/1.4</a> </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> <a href="http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Steinheil">Steinheil</a> Cassar 50 mm f/2.8 </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> 50 mm f/2.8 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessar">Tessar</a> </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> 50 mm f/3.5 FED lens (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmar_(lens)">Elmar</a> copy) </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> <a href="http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/ai5014e.jpg">Nikkor 50 mm f/1.4</a> </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> <a href="https://www.dpreview.com/products/olympus/lenses/olympus_m_75_1p8">M.Zuiko Digital ED 75 mm f/1.8</a> </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> <a href="http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/ais8514.html">Nikkor 85 mm f/1.4</a> </div> </li> </ul> <p> And with the exception of the Nokton (f/0.95, f/1.4, f/2.8 and f/4), up to three apertures: f/1.4 or f/1.7 for the lenses that can do it, f/2.8 and f/4. </p> <p> The results: almost useless. I did them hand-held in the assumption that it would make no difference, but it did, very much so. Firstly, the monitor I chose (a 1920x1080 Acer) is sensitive to viewing angle, and though it wasn't obvious to the naked eye, it made a real mess of the images: </p> <p> Then the fact that the images didn't line up, even for a single lens, meant that I couldn't really compare the results at different apertures. And finally, they all seemed to perform better than I had expected. Here the Super-Takumar at f/1.4, top left and bottom right (on the left, with the 25 mm Summicron on the right): </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> The difference in image size is due to the difference in focal length. But that's a far cry from what I experienced <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-oct2016.php?subtitle=Old%20lenses:%20oldies%20but%20goodies?&article=D-20161027-221903#D-20161027-221903">eight years ago</a>, where the same lens comparison gave me (top left, here at f/1.4 and f/8): </p> <p> </p> <p> In particular, the Super-Takumar actually appears better than the Summilux at bottom right, something that I didn't try on the previous occasion. Even the lenses that I expected to be bottom of the list didn't compare that badly. Here the Cassar (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooke_triplet">Cooke triplet</a>) at f/2.8, FED at f/4, the Summilux at f/1.4 and the Summilux at f/2.8: </p> <div align="left"> </div> <p> </p> <div align="left"> </div> <p> </p> <div align="left"> </div> <p> Yes, the Summilux is better at f/2.8, but I was expecting more of a difference. And of course the Super-Takumar, the Cassar and the FED are all “full frame” lenses, so I'm just sampling the inner, better part of their field of view. </p> <p> So what do I do? Clearly I need better continuity, but maybe my idea of using text as a comparison wasn't so good after all. </p> End deselected topic po (More lens comparisons) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250614-020348</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250614-020348</link><category>photography</category><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Cropping with ImageMagick</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Part of today's investigations was to generate cropped images, as above. Not an issue: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ImageMagick">ImageMagick</a> does that. But somehow I keep forgetting how, and the man pages don't help (I can't find a description of “geometry” anywhere). OK, dig in my scripts: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>/Photos/Tools/jpegcompare-detail: ensureconvert $COMPPHOTO $TMPDIR/after-$i-bottom-right.jpeg -crop 300x225+0+0 -gravity south-east </tt></div></blockquote> <p> OK, I can do that. But it doesn't work! After some searching I discovered that <i>convert</i> is (now) sensitive to the order of arguments, and it seems that an obvious geometry like <tt>300x225-0-0</tt> doesn't work. In the end I ended up writing a new script with the payload </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>for i in $*; do<br /> IMAGE=`basename $i .jpeg`<br /> convert $i -gravity north-west -crop 600x450+0+0 $IMAGE-topleft.jpeg<br /> convert $i -gravity center -crop 600x450-0-0 $IMAGE-centre.jpeg<br /> convert $i -gravity south-east -crop 600x450-0-0 $IMAGE-bottomright.jpeg<br /> touch -r $i $IMAGE-topleft.jpeg $IMAGE-centre.jpeg $IMAGE-bottomright.jpeg<br />done<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> But I should check <i>jpegcompare-detail</i>. It seems to be intended to do the same thing. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-14T02:03:48+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250614-021733</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250614-021733</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Another bind</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Mail from Stephen Rothwell today. Error messages from his name server (<i>ns1.ozlabs.org</i>, one of my name servers): </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>2025-06-13T10:54:04.461783+10:00 gandalf named[32356]: zone lemis.com/IN: refresh: retry limit for primary 45.63.116.55#53 exceeded (source 150.107.74.76#0)<br />2025-06-13T10:54:34.471975+10:00 gandalf named[32356]: transfer of 'lemis.com/IN' from 45.63.116.55#53: failed to connect: timed out<br />2025-06-13T10:54:34.472173+10:00 gandalf named[32356]: transfer of 'lemis.com/IN' from 45.63.116.55#53: Transfer status: timed out </tt></div></blockquote> <p> Oh. Yes, of course, it's not enough to update the zone. I also have to update my <i>named.conf</i>, which was still pointing to the old address for <i>ffm.lemis.com</i>. Now I have: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>// ns1 ns3 ns6.gandi.net ns0.krpservers.com ns.ozlabs.org<br /> allow-transfer {45.32.70.18; 192.248.184.42; 217.70.177.42; 62.13.128.200; 150.107.74.76; };<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> While I was at it, also added <i>ns3.lemis.com</i> (<i>fra</i>/<i>ffm</i>) to the list at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandi">Gandi</a>, not without pain. I must remember that name servers in the same zone require <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glue_record">glue records</a>. The error message I got doesn't really help: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>ns3.lemis.com has no IP address but is a glue record </tt></div></blockquote> <p> Of course <i>ns3.lemis.com</i> has an IP address: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== grog@freefall (/dev/pts/24)</font> <font color="red">~</font> <font color="blue">3</font> -> <b><tt>host ns3.lemis.com</tt></b></code><br />ns3.lemis.com has address 192.248.184.42<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> What it wanted was for me to create a glue record elsewhere in the menu tree. It could have done so too and asked for confirmation, but why make things easy? </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-14T02:17:33+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250615-014509</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250615-014509</link><category>photography</category><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Optimize your mobile phone camera</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Saw an article today on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Photography_Review">DPreview</a>: <a href="https://www.dpreview.com/learn/2896139411/six-essential-camera-settings-to-improve-your-phone-photos">Six essential camera settings to improve your phone photos</a>. Never mind that “improve” and “essential” are not compatible, nor that I don't really use my phone for photos if I can possibly avoid it: it might be interesting reading. </p> <p> And of course <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)">Android</a> made it impossible. There was almost nothing on <i>albo</i>, my <a href="https://m.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_redmi_note_13-12776.php">Xiaomi Redmi Note 13</a>, that matched anything in the article. About the only thing that I found was the suggestion to set the image format to the match the sensor format. But while searching through the maze of twisty little menus, found this: </p> <a id="Photo-32" name="Photo-32" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250614&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-32"> <img alt="This should be Xiaomi-camera-settings.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_32" title="Photo Xiaomi-camera-settings.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250614/small/Xiaomi-camera-settings.jpeg" width="174" height="387" /></a> <p> What is it? A series of icons. And a typical mobile phone explanation: </p> <a id="Photo-33" name="Photo-33" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250614&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-33"> <img alt="This should be Xiaomi-camera-settings-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_33" title="Photo Xiaomi-camera-settings-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250614/small/Xiaomi-camera-settings-detail.jpeg" width="373" height="181" /></a> <p> I couldn't get it to expand the text, though there's plenty of space. It should never have been truncated in the first place, but I suppose that's <i>modern</i>. Pressing on the icons does nothing. As far as I can tell, the whole purpose of the page is to change the order in which these icons are displayed <i>somewhere</i>. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-15T01:45:09+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic go not selected <p> Jesse Walsh along today. I had wanted him to look at some stuff in the garden, but first <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> wanted him to plant some self-seeding trees in the paddock to the north-west of the house. After 3 hours we had: </p> <div align="left"> </div> <p> Two <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia_melanoxylon">Acacia melanoxylon</a> planted in the same hole. Two <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalypt">eucalypts</a> also planted together about 2 m away. Each of these trees can grow to 20 m, like the ones in the paddock to the west: </p> <p> We don't need to worry about the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casuarina">casuarina</a> to the right: it prefers shade, and will probably die. </p> <p> After some discussion, we agreed to plant the eucalypts in the south-west corner of the paddock and the second blackwood in the hole left behind: </p> <p> I'll keep an eye on that. </p> End deselected topic go (Planting trees) --> <!-- topic g not selected <p> While taking the photos in the paddock, noted a number of other things. We're in the second week of winter, but the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus_rosa-sinensis">Hibiscus rosa-sinensis</a> “Uncle Max” still has buds and a flower that hasn't completely dried up: </p> <p> I wonder if any of the buds will make it. </p> <p> There are a number of mushrooms in the north-west paddock: </p> <p> The first spring flowers are showing: </p> <p> And Jesse managed to put a bigger fence around the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grevillea_robusta">Grevillea robusta</a>, which, after <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2019.php#robusta">6 years</a> finally looks like it is growing: </p> <p> </p> End deselected topic g (Random garden views) --> <!-- topic po not selected <p> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?subtitle=More%20lens%20comparisons&article=D-20250614-020248#D-20250614-020248">Yesterday's efforts</a> made it clear that my idea of testing lenses with photos of text on screen are probably not as good as I had hoped. But I've been there (many times) before. <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2014.php?subtitle=More%20lens%20quality%20investigation&article=D-20140512-020804#D-20140512-020804">Eleven years ago</a> I used a <a href="https://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~westin/misc/res-chart.html">ISO 12233 lens test chart</a> to establish that a lens I had bought was defective. How about doing that again? The <a href="https://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~westin/misc/ISO_12233-reschart.pdf">chart</a> is still available. Display on the TV (to avoid focus issues with being too close to the screen). </p> <p> And that will be a whole lot more work, to be done in the evening when there are fewer reflections. Went to test. And <i>once again</i> I have issues with colour banding: </p> <div align="left"> </div> <p> What causes that? It's clearly related to the TV, but it's not repeatable. In some cases it shows up in the viewfinder but not in the final image. Maybe I should give up on the TV. Much of this would be easier, except that I want to give <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yana/">Yana</a> an easy and reliable way of measuring her lenses. </p> End deselected topic po (More lens test thoughts) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250615-030511</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250615-030511</link><category>technology</category><title>Ports Collection overreach</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Time to roll over the log files on <i>fra.lemis.com</i>, which involves restarting the web server. <a href="https://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</a> offers this functionality—I think—with the <i>service</i> program, but it's straightforward enough with the <i>apachectl</i> program: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@fra (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/var/log/www</font> <font color="blue">86</font> -> <b><tt>apachectl graceful</tt></b></code><br />Cannot 'graceful' apache24. Set apache24_enable to YES in /etc/rc.conf or use 'onegraceful' instead of 'graceful'.<br /><code><font color="blue">=== root@fra (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/var/log/www</font> <font color="blue">87</font> -> <b><tt>apachectl onegraceful</tt></b></code><br />Usage: /usr/local/sbin/httpd [-D name] [-d directory] [-f file]<br />... </tt></div></blockquote> <p> Oh. Something has half changed <i>apachectl</i> to require intervention in the FreeBSD configuration system. But <tt>onerestart</tt> (a command that doesn't exist in <i>apachectl</i>) hasn't been catered for. Nothing for it: I <i>must</i> put this in <i>/etc/rc.conf</i>: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>apache24_enable=YES </tt></div></blockquote> <p> The instructions say that I should write <tt>apache24_enable="YES"</tt>, but that's silly. <i>rc.conf</i> is (part of) a shell script, so the quotes are not necessary. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-15T03:05:11+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic G not selected <p> Mail from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BUPA">BUPA</a>, my health insurer, today: <a href="https://www.blua.bupa.com.au/">book an online appointment with a doctor</a> at any time. We needed that a few months back, but they were only available some of the time. </p> <p> But on searching I discover that we had already tried them, but <a href="https://url7072.marketingmsg.bupa.com.au/">couldn't get through</a>. That was clearly an incorrect URL. The one I have now leads to a registration form which presumably works. </p> End deselected topic G (Online doctor) --> <!-- topic ap not selected <p> At some point I want to get <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Mona.php">Mona</a> sitting on the window ledge in her <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheshire_cat">Cheshire cat</a> persona. It wasn't tonight—Mona didn't go outside—but I did get <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Bruno.php">Bruno</a>: </p> <p> I'm surprised how strong the reflections are. </p> End deselected topic ap (Bruno) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250616-013256</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250616-013256</link><category>history</category><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>25 years SMPng</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2000.php?topics=c#15">Twenty-five years ago today</a> a number of us gathered at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!">Yahoo!'s</a> main facility in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunnyvale">Sunnyvale</a> to discuss the future of the <a href="https://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</a> kernel. The background was a <a href="http://www.mindcraft.com/whitepapers/first-nts4rhlinux.html">benchmark</a> from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindcraft">Mindcraft</a> that showed that Microsoft <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Rant/windows.php">“Windows”</a> NT greatly outperformed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux">Linux</a>. </p> <p> The reason was the multiprocessor support in each system. And far from getting up on our hind legs and saying “couldn't happen to FreeBSD”, we acknowledged that it could, in fact, happen. In fact, <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jan2004.php#SMPng">over 3 years later</a>, on the only occasion when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds">Linus Torvalds</a> visited us, I demonstrated a FreeBSD system which had such problems where Linux didn't. </p> <p> So on today's anniversary we came together to discuss how to improve the situation. I went into <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Daemons-advocate/Year-of-BSD.php#SMPng">more detail</a> at the time in a <a href="https://www.daemonnews.org/dadvocate.php">Daemon News</a> article. </p> <p> How time flies! I wonder how we compare now. I have the feeling that if it doesn't worry <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix">Netflix</a>, it's not a problem. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-16T01:32:56+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic pHo not selected <p> By coincidence, discovered that I had spent considerable time <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2024.php?subtitle=Comparing%20lenses&article=D-20240616-003545#D-20240616-003545">a year ago today</a>. There I was more interested in my “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leica_camera">Leica</a>” lenses, the <a href="https://wiki.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/index.php/Hektor_f%3D_13.5_cm_1:4.5">Hektor 13.5 cm f/4.5</a> and the <a href="https://camerapedia.fandom.com/wiki/FED_(Original)_(_FED_NKVD,_FED-S,_FED-1)">50 mm f/3.5 FED 1</a>. There, too, I came to the conclusion that the Hektor was not as bad as I feared, though the FED seems to have performed worse than <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?subtitle=More%20lens%20comparisons&article=D-20250614-020248#D-20250614-020248">on Friday</a>. </p> <p> I really must find a better way to compare them. </p> End deselected topic pHo (Lens comparisons: a year after) --> <!-- topic ko not selected <p> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_alla_puttanesca">Spaghetti alla puttanesca</a> is a well-known Neapolitan dish, and I have probably made it before. But it's a lot of work for a pasta course. Recently I saw <a href="https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1026743-spicy-shrimp-puttanesca">this recipe</a> in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times">New York Times</a>. It turns it into a main course by adding “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrimp">shrimp</a>” (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prawns">prawns</a>). </p> <p> OK, how hard can it be? Horrible! These bizarre old units completely confuse me, and I had already put it off once, and I spent some time today to come up with these quantities, which still aren't good enough: </p> <h2>Ingredients</h2> <p> For 1.5 servings. </p> <table summary="Ingredients"> <tr> <td align="right"><b>quantity</b></td> <td> </td> <td><b>ingredient</b> </td> <td> </td> <td><b>step</b> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">215 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">(cooked) spaghetti</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">1</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">12 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">olive oil</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">2</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">15 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">garlic</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">2</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right"><del>12 g</del></td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">anchovy fillets</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">2</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right"><del>30 g</del></td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">black olives</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">3</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right"><del>20 g</del></td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">capers</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">3</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">3 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">paprika, „edelsüß“</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">3</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">55 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">tomatoes</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">4</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">20 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">tomato paste</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">4</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">82 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">water</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">5</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">120 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">prawns, 10 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">5</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right"></td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">parsley</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">7</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">0 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">oregano</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">8</td> </tr> </table> <h2> Preparation </h2> <ol> <li class="fullwidth"> <p class="listitemwidth"> Cook the spaghetti. </p> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <p class="listitemwidth"> Cut the anchovies into small pieces and fry in the oil with the garlic. The base recipes claim that the anchovies will “dissolve”, but mine are made of sterner stuff. </p> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <p class="listitemwidth"> Cut the olives into 3 or 4 pieces. Add olives, capers and paprika and mix well. </p> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <p class="listitemwidth"> Add tomato and tomato paste and heat until about to dry out. </p> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <p class="listitemwidth"> Add prawns and water. Heat until prawns are barely cooked. </p> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <p class="listitemwidth"> Add the spaghetti and transfer to a serving dish. </p> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <p class="listitemwidth"> Garnish with much parsley. </p> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <p class="listitemwidth"> Add oregano. Oops, forgot the oregano. </p> </li> </ol> <p> And the result? Not bad, but not well balanced. </p> <p> There were enough noodles and prawn, but the flavour ingredients were a little underrepresented. <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/Puttanesca.php">Next time</a> I'll use more. </p> <p> And it wasn't until I wrote this up that I discovered that I already had a recipe for <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/puttanesca.php">puttanesca</a>. It confirms my quantities. Why didn't I check first? </p> End deselected topic ko (Spaghetti alla puttanesca) --> <!-- topic a not selected <p> This morning before dawn a transporter came and picked up Carlotta and Dana. Carlotta is going back to Jane Ashhurst again, and Dana is going to Shelly Cooper. To make up for that, Chris Bahlo picked up her mare Pinta, leaving only <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Samba.php">Samba</a> and <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Morena.php">Morena</a> here. Samba was not amused: Pinta had become her friend, and Morena was the intruder. She spent all day complaining and avoiding Morena. </p> End deselected topic a (Changing horses again) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250617-004955</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250617-004955</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>disdain again</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> It has been <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2025.php?subtitle=disdain%20for%20Microsoft&article=D-20250220-015919#D-20250220-015919">several months</a> since I bought <i>disdain.lemis.com</i>, my first Microsoft <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Rant/windows.php">“Windows”</a> machine. I did some basic configuration, and then left it. </p> <p> Why? I hate Microsoft at the best of times, and they have gone and changed the appearance Yet Again. And I was terrified of the pain I would have to go through to set up “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_sharing">file sharing</a>”. But it has to happen, and today I finally got round to it, in the process updating my <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/HOWTO/microsoft-setup.php">living with Microsoft</a> page. </p> <p> On the whole things weren't that bad. I've found that it's easier to search for specific terms than try to guess where in the menu tree Microsoft might have hidden specific configuration functions. But they don't want to know about “map network drive”: </p> <a id="Photo-34" name="Photo-34" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250616&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-34"> <img alt="This should be Microsoft-4.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_34" title="Photo Microsoft-4.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250616/small/Microsoft-4.jpeg" width="463" height="146" /></a> <p> Never mind, there's a second search. But that took me to an <a href="https://www.solveyourtech.com/windows-11-how-to-map-a-network-drive-a-step-by-step-guide/">external web page</a> that starts by telling me </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>First, open File Explorer from your taskbar.<br /><br />This is the same tool you use to browse your files and folders. Look for the folder icon, usually pinned to your taskbar. If it’s not there, you can find it by searching “File Explorer” in the Start menu.<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> On <i>disdain</i> the two paragraphs are separated by a whole screen's worth of advertisements. I don't “browse” my files and <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Rant/bad-language.php#folder">folders</a>. But yes, it's the tab symbol that I know from other versions of Microsoft. For some reason they haven't changed it (yet). That takes me to something that I recall: </p> <a id="Photo-35" name="Photo-35" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250616&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-35"> <img alt="This should be Microsoft-6.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_35" title="Photo Microsoft-6.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250616/small/Microsoft-6.jpeg" width="346" height="195" /></a> <p> And then it goes on: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>In the top toolbar, click on the ‘Map network drive’ option. </tt></div></blockquote> <p> But there's no ‘Map network drive’ option in that half-full “top toolbar”. </p> <a id="Photo-36" name="Photo-36" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250616&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-36"> <img alt="This should be Microsoft-6-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_36" title="Photo Microsoft-6-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250616/small/Microsoft-6-detail.jpeg" width="534" height="127" /></a> <p> <b>Fool!</b> You need to click on the <b>...</b> in the middle of the toolbar (the last item) and select: </p> <a id="Photo-37" name="Photo-37" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250616&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-37"> <img alt="This should be Microsoft-7.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_37" title="Photo Microsoft-7.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250616/small/Microsoft-7.jpeg" width="339" height="199" /></a> <p> Still, modulo obfuscatory menus, it just worked. I was quite surprised. Next step is to install <a href="https://www.dxo.com/dxo-photolab/">DxO PhotoLab</a> on it, complicated by the fact that DxO never forgets a computer and claimed that I was now trying to breach the license. Mail to DxO support, no response today. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-17T00:49:55+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic a not selected <p> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?subtitle=Changing%20horses%20again&article=D-20250617-004636#D-20250617-004636">Yesterday</a> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Samba.php">Samba</a> was <i>really</i> unhappy being left alone with <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Morena.php">Morena</a>, and she spent all day complaining about it. That's over, fortunately: </p> <p> That's Samba on the left and Morena on the right. </p> End deselected topic a (Samba cools down) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250618-015049</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250618-015049</link><category>technology</category><category>photography</category><category>opinion</category><title>DxO for disdain</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Mail from <a href="https://www.dxo.com/">DxO</a> support today: I'm already running DxO on three machines. Please tell us which they are <i>and what operating systems they are running</i>. </p> <p> Well, sorry, can't do that. I'm running on <i>distress</i> and I had been running it on <i>despise</i>, but currently it's not functional. Both running Microsoft. </p> <p> More responses, showing that their license database goes by system name and exact operating system: "<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Rant/windows.php">Windows</a>” isn't enough. 10? 11? “Home”? “<b>Pro</b>”? Gave them that information (“Windows” 10 <b>Pro</b> in each case) and they were happy, allowing me to activate on <i>disdain</i>. </p> <p> Next, copy my configuration. DxO offer no help whatsoever here, and though I have written down how to do it in various places, there was no document to help. Started a <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/HOWTO/DxO-config.php">HOWTO</a> page today. That, including the configuration, took all afternoon. </p> <p> Following up later, it's possible that the files in the <i>Workspaces</i> subdirectory contain the missing information. I'll try that next time. </p> <p> Finally I was able to run it. Things were still not right, and I don't know what I have missed. In particular, the “palettes” were not set the same way as on <i>distress</i>. The Preset Editor was enabled, and a whole lot were not: metadata, light, color, detail, Geometry, Viewpoint, Local adjustments. <a href="https://www.dxo.com/dxo-viewpoint/">Viewpoint</a> is understandable: it wasn't installed. But even after I enabled them, the view on the side panels was different. </p> <p> Gave that up for the time being and did some performance testing. <i>disdain</i> processed 13 images in an average of 100 seconds (101, 99, 100). As expected, <i>distress</i> took longer, but not nearly as much longer as I had expected: an average of 110 seconds (111, 109, 110). For that it's not worth it. I should use the new machine for something else. OK, remove the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSD">SSD</a>, buy a new one and make it the new <i>lagoon</i>. </p> <p> Somehow this is too much stress. I had stomach ache all afternoon. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-18T01:50:49+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250619-030538</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250619-030538</link><category>photography</category><category>technology</category><title>Checking photo integrity</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> How do I check whether the photos I have on my backup disks are not corrupted? There are <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?subtitle=Testing%20JPEG%20integrity&article=D-20250609-232007#D-20250609-232007">various check programs</a> for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPEG">JPEG</a> images, but do they check for everything? I'm sure they recognize structural problems, but would they recognize a zeroed-out data block in the middle of the image? And of course they only check JPEG, arguably the least interesting of my photo files. </p> <p> Take a step back. If I have corruption somewhere, there are two possibilities: either all copies are corrupt, or there's a version that isn't corrupt. So before I potentially delete the last correct version of a file from my myriad backup disks, I should compare them. How? <a href="https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sha1"><i>sha1</i></a> seems the obvious choice. Yes, it's not as secure as more modern versions like <a href="https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sha512"><i>sha512</i></a>, but it's faster, and the chances that the corrupt version will have the same fingerprint as the good version are vanishingly small. </p> <p> So: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@eureka (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/photobackup/Photos/grog</font> <font color="blue">152</font> -> <b><tt>find [12]* -print0|xargs -0 sha1 > /Photos/grog/sha1-12 2>/Photos/grog/sha1-12-err</tt></b></code> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> We'll see what that looks like tomorrow, or maybe the day after. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-19T03:05:38+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250619-030931</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250619-030931</link><category>technology</category><category>photography</category><title>DxO: the last configuration option</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> What was missing from <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?subtitle=DxO%20for%20disdain&article=D-20250618-015049#D-20250618-015049">yesterday's</a> copying of <a href="https://www.dxo.com/dxo-photolab/">DxO PhotoLab</a> configuration information? Was it really the subdirectory <i>Workspaces</i>? Braved stomachache and tried copying the files in that directory: <i>Myspace.xml</i>, <i>__$$Customize.xml</i> and <i>__$$PhotoLibrary.xml</i>. Restart DxO. Yes! My guess is that it's <i>Myspace.xml</i>. The other two were there on installation, though their content differed. So I have the (hopefully) final piece in my <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/HOWTO/DxO-config.php">HOWTO</a>, at least until I install a new version. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-19T03:09:31+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250619-030933</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250619-030933</link><category>technology</category><category>general</category><category>opinion</category><title>Bloody Android!</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Looked at <i>albo</i>, my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)">Android</a> phone for some reason today. Two missed calls from <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a>. Dammit, it has been in my pocket all day. And calls aren't muted. And when I tried to call her, I got no response from the phone, not even a ring tone. </p> <p> What's wrong with this bloody thing? Rebooted it, after which it worked normally. But why are these things so <i>horribly</i> unreliable? </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-19T03:09:33+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic kh not selected <p> Ran the dishwasher this morning, as always. But the dishes didn't get clean, and the detergent was still in the now-open dispenser. Dispenser obstructed? Filter blocked? Spray arms obstructed? That's easy with things like spatulas that can hang through the basket. Checked carefully and ran it again. No problem. </p> <p> Then a second load. Problem. The cycle ran normally, but once again the detergent remained in the dispenser. On further investigation discovered that the water in the sump was completely clear. Pump blockage? Pump failure? Did some basic checks, including checking the filter, and removing the upper basket and checking the waterways, but came up with nothing. So until proof of the contrary it's the recirculating pump. A good thing that we decided to keep the old dishwasher <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2018.php?subtitle=How%20to%20waste%20a%20day&article=D-20180508-065717#Failsafe-dishwasher">when we installed this one</a>. But it's Yet Another repair to schedule. </p> End deselected topic kh (Dishwasher fail) --> <!-- topic a not selected <p> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?subtitle=Another%20death&article=D-20250614-013936#Invisible-Mona">Last week</a> I noted that <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Mona.php">Mona</a> is almost invisible when she sits on the outside windoill at night. Here's the proof: </p> <p> Bruno is on the right, but where is Mona? Towards the right side of the left window: </p> <p> You really need to look. But then, Bruno's face is not much more visible. </p> End deselected topic a (Hiding Mona) --> <!-- topic a not selected <p> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> had a shopping spree today, and one of the things she bought was two new beds for the dogs: </p> <p> </p> End deselected topic a (New beds for the dogs) --> <!-- topic ko not selected <p> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/pad-see-ew.php">Pad see ew</a> for breakfast again today. It's a dark dish, but unlike <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/KL-Hokkien-Mee.php">KL Hokkien mee</a> it doesn't look attractive. Here pad see ew on the left, KL Hokkien mee on the right: </p> <p> Part of that comes from frying the meat over high heat right at the start. So: do the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gai_lan">Gai lan</a> first. The result didn't look different enough to take a photo, but it did seem better. </p> <p> And the wok hei? I'm still not there. Put some more oil into the wok to prevent the noodles sticking to it, with only limited success. </p> <p> About the only real insight was the composition of the sauce. More fish sauce, more vinegar, less soya sauce. </p> End deselected topic ko (Refining pad see ew) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250621-020457</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250621-020457</link><category>technology</category><category>photography</category><category>opinion</category><title>Checking photo integrity: first results</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Mail from Michael Hughes this morning. He does something similar to check the integrity of his photos, but he stores the results in a database. Is that worth it? </p> <p> Shortly after my <a href="https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sha1"><i>sha1</i></a> run completed. Compare the results: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@eureka (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/Photos/grog</font> <font color="blue">199</font> -> <b><tt>diff -wu sha1 sha1-9|less</tt></b></code><br />--- sha1 2025-06-20 01:59:10.503960000 +1000<br />+++ sha1-9 2025-06-20 09:50:41.603228000 +1000<br />@@ -1,22 +1,22 @@<br />-SHA1 (19100101) = 4fe15d494fda7d9d31ada156b9dc7c9fd9a9fb45<br />-SHA1 (19100101/orig) = 0144154c165dc86f5c13fe432672afee680e9eb3<br />+SHA1 (19100101) = 842f2fac8d4907930e8ee206929c367cce6469d2<br />+SHA1 (19100101/orig) = 7bd17748fe639f257dad3a26aac111faa8211040<br />-SHA1 (19100101/_Ashampoo_Photo_Optimizer_Backup) = 68b6ef4090869108ebecda125669a4a4f6681022<br />+SHA1 (19100101/_Ashampoo_Photo_Optimizer_Backup) = 384eec54619f4115ba1d29ced9ce6b6953aca985<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> Oh. Those are directories. Yes, of course they can be different. Repeat the runs looking at only files? First, let's see what the rest looks like, removing some directories: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>-SHA1 (19550801/Besut.jpeg) = 8ce614340bc6efa4fdb3a4fa72057696ca9a23d0<br /> SHA1 (19550801/Pulau-Perhentian-1.jpeg) = e20bd23ecb64b110a17032181aca2b35e3eada0d<br />-SHA1 (19550801/Pulau-Perhentian-2.jpeg) = 2a292d311c54587f7236fbfe33fe1868583f7234<br />-SHA1 (19550801/Pulau-Perhentian-3.jpeg) = 5ae1cb214b8be9155a4a265baeb419117b173c1b<br /> SHA1 (19550801/Pulau-Perhentian-4.jpeg) = c198dd795691599aeda639bf5d16ffba268d0748<br />+SHA1 (19550801/Pulau-Perhentian-3.jpeg) = 5ae1cb214b8be9155a4a265baeb419117b173c1b<br />+SHA1 (19550801/Besut.jpeg) = 8ce614340bc6efa4fdb3a4fa72057696ca9a23d0<br />+SHA1 (19550801/Pulau-Perhentian-2.jpeg) = 2a292d311c54587f7236fbfe33fe1868583f7234<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> Despite appearances, there's nothing wrong there. Only the entries aren't in the same sequence. </p> <p> Would a database help? I have a large number of entries: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@eureka (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/Photos/grog</font> <font color="blue">202</font> -> <b><tt>l sha1 sha1-9</tt></b></code><br />-rw-r--r-- 1 root lemis 83,838,489 20 Jun 01:59 sha1<br />-rw-r--r-- 1 root lemis 83,670,593 20 Jun 09:50 sha1-9<br /><code><font color="blue">=== root@eureka (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/Photos/grog</font> <font color="blue">203</font> -> <b><tt>wc -l sha1 sha1-9</tt></b></code><br /> 1019151 sha1<br /> 1017046 sha1-9<br /> 2036197 total<br /><code><font color="blue">=== root@eureka (/dev/pts/0)</font> <font color="red">/Photos/grog</font> <font color="blue">204</font> -> <b><tt>diff -wu sha1 sha1-9 | wc -l</tt></b></code><br /> 408294<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> More stuff to think about. About the only thing that I won't need is on of Michael's suggestions: write it a in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_(programming_language)">C</a>. The search is I/O bound, so I wouldn't gain anything there. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-21T02:04:57+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic k not selected <p> I had some cabbage leaves left over. What do I do with them? Fry them and eat them with noodles. How about a <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/mee-goreng-mamak.php">mee goreng mamak</a>? It doesn't have cabbage, but why not? </p> <p> Oh. An issue that I continually have is that it wants 60 g of cooked potato. I don't very often have cooked potato on hand, and it seems silly to cook 60 g of it. OK, that's what the cabbage replaces. </p> <p> And since it's such a mix of cultures, why use Hokkien mee? For the fun of it, used <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirali">spirali</a>: </p> <p> And how about that, it wasn't bad. </p> End deselected topic k (Spirali mamak) --> <!-- topic g not selected <p> Jesse Walsh along today to tidy up the garden. I thought we might keep him busy for 2 hours, but in fact he did a good 5 hours and didn't quite get finished. </p> <p> One thing of interest was the incredible dying <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abutilon">Abutilon</a> by the laundry door: Here photos from last month: </p> <p> There were multiple branches spread around the bush, but to my surprise they all came from one place: </p> <p> And there he found some mould, and the wood was rotting away. There's nothing obvious about the mould: </p> <div align="left"> </div> <p> Did the mould cause the rot, or did the rot attract the mould? Hopefully it's done now. </p> End deselected topic g (Tidying up the garden) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250621-021053</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250621-021053</link><category>general</category><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Anatomy of a parcel delivery</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> I was expecting a parcel delivery today, so round 11:50 checked <a href="https://auspost.com.au/mypost/track/search">Australia Post tracking</a>. It told me that it spent the night in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delacombe">Delacombe</a>, a new location for their tracking reports. And at 8:32 it was “Unable to deliver - Item carded and transferred to post office for collection”. </p> <p> I know that. Though it told me that “It's on its way”, it's really ready for collection. </p> <p> OK, what does <a href="https://www.ebay.com.au/">eBay</a> say? </p> <a id="Photo-38" name="Photo-38" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250620&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-38"> <img alt="This should be eBay-tracking.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_38" title="Photo eBay-tracking.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250620/small/eBay-tracking.jpeg" width="200" height="339" /></a> <a id="Photo-39" name="Photo-39" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250620&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-39"> <img alt="This should be eBay-tracking-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_39" title="Photo eBay-tracking-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250620/small/eBay-tracking-detail.jpeg" width="357" height="189" /></a> <p> So it might arrive yesterday? And now they say that it's at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucas,_Victoria">Lucas</a>. Why? </p> <p> Round 14:00 off to pick up the item without any problems. Back home and checked the tracking information. Ah, it had been transferred to Lucas at 9:26 and had been waiting for me in “NAPOLEON CPA”, Australia Post's inimitable way of spelling “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleons,_Victoria">Napoleons</a>” since 11:08, nearly an hour before I checked the tracking the first time. Clearly Australia Post has problems keeping up to date. </p> <p> But better late than never: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>From: Australia Post <noreply@notifications.auspost.com.au><br />Subject: Your parcel from Returns is ready to collect<br />Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2025 01:51:21 -0600<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> And they still live somewhere in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountains">Rocky Mountains</a>. Why? Converting that to local time gives me 17:51:21, 4 hours after I picked it up. By the evening I had no email confirmation that it had been collected, though I did get this one an hour later referring to another package that I had picked up at the same time: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>From: Australia Post <noreply@notifications.auspost.com.au><br />Subject: Your parcel from McLaren Vale Cellars has been collected<br />Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2025 02:57:21 -0600<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> We've been living on the Internet for over quarter of a century now. When are companies going to finally catch up with it? </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-21T02:10:53+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic ko not selected <p> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?subtitle=Anatomy%20of%20a%20parcel%20delivery&article=D-20250621-021053#D-20250621-021053">Yesterday's</a> parcel delivery was a set of three cast iron frying pans. </p> <p> Why? Don't I have enough already? Yes, indeed: about 12 non-stick frying pans, 4 steel pans, 3 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paellera">paelleras</a>, 3 cast iron grill pans and a couple of others, which somehow add up to 26. So why any more? </p> <p> Part of it goes back to my great disappointment with the ceramic pans that I bought <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2021.php?subtitle=New%20frying%20pan&article=D-20210220-050258#D-20210220-050258">starting 4 years ago</a>. At the time I was amazed by how good they were. But it didn't take long to be amazed by how quickly they deteriorated. And <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> uses an old-fashioned non-stick pan with a black surface: </p> <p> That's only about a year old, and it takes forever to get the non-stuck food rests off. So I've been using steel pans for some time now, and basically I'm happy with them. Only they're bigger than I need for some things. The smallest has a diameter of 24 cm, and I wanted things with 20 cm and 16 cm. And that's (almost) what I got: 3 pans with diameters of 15.5 (“16”), 20 and 25 (“26”) cm for a reasonable price: $41.40 and $4 postage. Why did I buy them? Another seller on <a href="https://www.ebay.com.au/">eBay</a> offers the identical set for $39 and free postage. But this one came with a 20% price reduction, to be applied at checkout, so I only paid $36.75. That's irritating in a sense: it shows that you can't rely on the indicated price to get the best deal. </p> <p> So, non-stick, are they? </p> <p> That the 15.5 cm pan, and it looks particularly rough. Will things really not stick? I'll see when I try to fry an egg in it. </p> <p> Today I used the 25 cm one to prepare breakfast, <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/KL-Hokkien-Mee.php">KL Hokkien Mee</a>. Two things became apparent: the completely flat bottom, something that I haven't really seen in frying pans, and that the handle became too hot to touch after frying the pork skin for some time. I particularly appreciate the flat bottom. And at the end yes, <i>nothing</i> had stuck, which is even better than with the steel pans. But that was with (aqueous) liquid. We'll see how it goes with straight frying. </p> <p> Another thing that I found to be an advantage was that they should go into the dishwasher. In principle the steel ones would too, but the handles are too long. Yes, the pan got clean in the dishwasher, but it also showed signs of rust, which I didn't expect. I'll have to see whether I can address that by drying them as soon as the dishwasher is finished. </p> End deselected topic ko (New frying pans) --> <!-- topic g not selected <p> Today was the June solstice, time for my monthly <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/garden/Flowers.php">garden flower photos</a>. The garden continues to decline, and winter isn't the best of times anyway. Jesse Walsh came on the 20th and tidied some stuff up, but about the only thing of interest was the discovery of why some branches of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abutilon">Abutilon</a> in front of the laundry door died off. It seems that a part of the root died, possibly as the result of a fungus. Here the stump: </p> <p> Our <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grevillea">Grevilleas</a> have never done well, but at the moment two of them are looking better: </p> <p> And I'm gradually coming to the conclusion that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solstice">solstice</a> is a good time for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus_rosa-sinensis">Hibiscus rosa-sinensis</a>: </p> <div align="left"> </div> <p> The first one was grown from a cutting that I made <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jan2025.php?subtitle=Little%20garden%20work&article=D-20250127-014406#D-20250127-014406">only 5 months ago</a>. </p> <p> A thing that we have only just noticed now is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callistemon">Callistemon</a> that our neighbour Diane had planted on the property boundary: </p> <p> It's strange that it should have any flowers at all right now, but it looks as if it has flowered multiple times without us noticing. </p> End deselected topic g (Garden flowers in mid-winter) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250621-235639</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250621-235639</link><category>technology</category><title>Preparing new lagoon</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Somehow I have a horror of doing work on computers lately. I'm continually running into unexpected issues. But it has to be done. I've ordered a new <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2">M.2</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSD">SSD</a> for what is currently <i>disdain.lemis.com</i>. After <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c&subtitle=DxO%20for%20disdain&article=D-20250618-015049#D-20250618-015049">discovering</a> that it was barely faster than <i>distress.lemis.com</i>, I decided to turn it into a new machine for <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a>. </p> <p> OK, but how do I get the old SSD out? I had had issues with the SSD <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2025.php?subtitle=disdain&article=D-20250221-012141#D-20250221-012141">when I got the box</a>: the retaining screw for the SSD couldn't be tightened or loosened. How do I change it? </p> <p> More investigation showed that the SSD is mounted on a removable plastic frame: </p> <div align="left"> <a id="Photo-40" name="Photo-40" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250622&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-40"> <img alt="This should be SSD-mounting-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_40" title="Photo SSD-mounting-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250622/small/SSD-mounting-1.jpeg" width="225" height="300" /></a> <a id="Photo-41" name="Photo-41" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250622&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-41"> <img alt="This should be SSD-mounting-4.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_41" title="Photo SSD-mounting-4.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250622/small/SSD-mounting-4.jpeg" width="225" height="300" /></a> <a id="Photo-42" name="Photo-42" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250622&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-42"> <img alt="This should be SSD-mounting-9.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_42" title="Photo SSD-mounting-9.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250622/small/SSD-mounting-9.jpeg" width="300" height="225" /></a> </div> <p> And as I suspected, there's a loose nut on the other side: </p> <a id="Photo-43" name="Photo-43" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250622&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-43"> <img alt="This should be SSD-mounting-5.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_43" title="Photo SSD-mounting-5.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250622/small/SSD-mounting-5.jpeg" width="302" height="223" /></a> <p> How can that work? Did the seller do a quick fix? But then I saw the small hole next to the screw hole: </p> <a id="Photo-44" name="Photo-44" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250622&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-44"> <img alt="This should be SSD-mounting-4-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_44" title="Photo SSD-mounting-4-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250622/small/SSD-mounting-4-detail.jpeg" width="289" height="233" /></a> <p> Is that intended to stop the nut turning? Yes! </p> <a id="Photo-45" name="Photo-45" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250622&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-45"> <img alt="This should be SSD-mounting-6.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_45" title="Photo SSD-mounting-6.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250622/small/SSD-mounting-6.jpeg" width="300" height="225" /></a> <a id="Photo-46" name="Photo-46" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250622&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-46"> <img alt="This should be SSD-mounting-7.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_46" title="Photo SSD-mounting-7.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250622/small/SSD-mounting-7.jpeg" width="300" height="225" /></a> <p> So I <i>can</i> mount a new SSD with no problems. </p> <p> In passing, it seems that the frame, but not the motherboard, is designed for two SSDs. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-21T23:56:39+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic ko not selected <p> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/steak-and-kidney.php">Steak and kidney pie</a> tonight. <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2025.php?subtitle=Steak%20and%20kidney%20again&article=D-20250210-001337#D-20250210-001337">Last time</a> were were quite happy with the results, and this was made from the same batch. But I had forgotten to write down the quantities that we wanted to reduce. I think 120 g for me and 60 g for <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> would be enough. </p> <p> But we both didn't like it! Last time I had thought that the chuck steak was good enough. This time it was almost unpleasant. Are our steak and kidney days over? </p> End deselected topic ko (Steak and kidney revisited) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250623-020020</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250623-020020</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Travelling the world with Google Maps</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Maps">Google Maps</a> is quite useful for a number of things, but Google seems to have a “there can only be one” mentality. What I do in one place (office computers, phone, TV) gets relayed to the others, even to the point of changing vehicle or map view. And it produces nonsense like this: </p> <a id="Photo-47" name="Photo-47" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250622&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-47"> <img alt="This should be Google-Maps-nonsense-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_47" title="Photo Google-Maps-nonsense-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250622/small/Google-Maps-nonsense-detail.jpeg" width="358" height="189" /></a> <p> That's in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg">Hamburg</a> (and coincidentally the title of an <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036882/">ancient film</a>). Surely Google Maps, of all apps, should know that I haven't been within 10,000 km of that location. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-23T02:00:20+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic ko not selected <p> To my surprise, <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> had never heard of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilau">pilau</a>. OK, make one. Last week I picked up this mixture: </p> <p> The usual issues with the instructions, including two different implicit definition of <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/measures.php#cups">cups</a>: 175 ml and 200 ml, neither of which come close to the US “cup” (between 236 and 240 ml) or the Australian “cup” (250 ml). What I made of (half of it) was: </p> <h3>Ingredients</h3> <table summary="Ingredients"> <tr> <td align="right"><b>quantity</b></td> <td> </td> <td><b>ingredient</b> </td> <td> </td> <td><b>step</b> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">400 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">basmati rice</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">1</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">450 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">cooked lamb shoulder</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">2</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">25 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">ghee</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">2</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">25 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">garlic paste</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">2</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">15 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">ginger paste</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">2</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">25 g (½ packet)</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">Shan pilau biryani spice mix</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">2</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">100 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">yoghurt</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">3</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">700 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">broth</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">4</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">25 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">almonds, blanched</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">5</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">20 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">pistachio kernels</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">5</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="right">50 g</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="left">onion</td> <td> </td> <td valign="top" align="right">6</td> </tr> </table> <h3> Preparation </h3> <ol> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> Wash the rice and leave in water to soak during the other actions. Heat the oven to 200° and place a pan of water at the bottom. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces and fry with the garlic, ginger and spices in the ghee until hot. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> Add yoghurt and reserve. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> Drain the rice, add broth and cook. When the rice is cooked, put half in a serving dish, add the meat and spice mix, and put the rest on top. Place in the oven to steam for about 10 minutes. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> Fry the nuts in the ghee. Remove and reserve. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> Cut the onion into strips and fry in the remaining ghee. Place nuts and onion on top of the rice. Serve after a few minutes. </div> </li> </ol> <p> It didn't taste bad, though the meat was a little tough. <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/lamb-pilau-biriani.php">Next time</a> I'll do it as intended with raw meat. </p> End deselected topic ko (Pilau) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250623-020056</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250623-020056</link><category>language</category><category>technology</category><category>photography</category><category>opinion</category><title>Pilau instructions</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> The instructions for the <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?subtitle=Pilau&article=D-20250623-020023#D-20250623-020023">pilau</a> were interesting for a number of reasons. Apart from their confusion about the size of cups, I had: </p> <a id="Photo-48" name="Photo-48" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250617&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-48"> <img alt="This should be Pilau-biriani-2-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_48" title="Photo Pilau-biriani-2-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250617/small/Pilau-biriani-2-detail.jpeg" width="258" height="261" /></a> <blockquote class="fullwidth"> <p class="listitemwidth"> Heat 1 cup (175ml) of cooking oil and fry 1 (75g) small, finely liced onion until golden. </p> <p class="listitemwidth"> Use long grain old basmati rice. Beginners must use parboiled/Sayla rice. </p> </blockquote> <p> Do they really want to (deep) fry 75 g of onion in a 175 ml cup of oil? Or is this a mistake? I would have thought oil is a mistake: it should be (much less) ghee. But the fact that they mention both “cups” and millilitres suggests that they really mean it. I'm puzzled. </p> <p> To quote these gems, it seemed reasonable to look for a text version of the image. A bit of searching brought me to <a href="https://www.newocr.com/">Free Online OCR</a>, which amazed me with its inaccuracy. Here the complete text, errors highlighted in <font color="red">red</font>: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt>STEPS OF COOKING<br /><br />1. Take 1kg (2.2lbs) meat with bones, cut into small portions<br />(<font color="red">ChickenyGoat</font>/<font color="red">Beet</font>/Lamb), 1-2 tbsp Shan Garlic Paste, 1-2 tbsp<br /><font color="red">shan</font> Ginger Paste and 1 packet Shan Pilau Biryani Mix. Add to<br />water (Beef/Goat/Lamb 2 cups; Chicken 1 cup). Cover and cook<br />on low heat until meat is tender (about 1 cup of stock should<br />remain in the pot).<br /><br />2. Stir in 1 cup <font color="red">7009</font> of plain, whipped yogurt and keep aside.<br /><br />3. Separately: Wash <font color="red">3%</font> cups (750g) of Shan Basmati Rice <font color="red">ancHet</font> it<br />soak.<br /><br />Boil 15 cups (3 litres) of water and stir in 2 <font color="red">tosp</font> of Shan Salt and<br />the soaked rice. Boil the rice until <font color="red">%th</font> cooked. Remove and drain<br />thoroughly.<br /><br />4. Spread half the rice in a pot and pour the meat curry over it. Top<br />with <font color="red">ine</font> remaining rice. Sprinkle <font color="red">%</font> tsp yellow food colour if<br /><br /><font color="red">esired.</font><br /><br />9. Heat 1 cup (175ml) of cooking oil and fry 1 (75g) small, finely<br />liced onion until golden. Pour <font color="red">eventy</font> over the <font color="red">nce</font>. Cover and<br />cook on low heat until the rice is tender (5-10 mins). Mix before<br />serving.<br /><br />Cooking <font color="red">Tips</font> Use long grain old basmati rice. Beginners must use<br /><font color="red">par iled</font>/Sayla rice.<br /><br /><font color="red">or</font> best results, use meat cuts from the breast and shoulder. </tt></div></blockquote> <p> Yes, the photo isn't as sharp as I would have liked (something that I should investigate), but it can't excuse these errors. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-23T02:00:56+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic PHo not selected <p> It's been <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2003.php#Iraq">22 years</a> since the USA, sadly with Australian assistance, started a war against <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq">Iraq</a>, or maybe against the government of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein">Saddam Hussein</a>. They had <i>weapons of mass destruction</i>! Or at least, that's what the aggressors claimed, despite no evidence whatsoever. So they waged a war that destroyed the country and brought no useful results, so after 8 years they left again, leaving behind a country in ruins. History has not been kind to them. </p> <p> But that was over 20 years ago! And <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran">Iran</a> has weapons of mass destruction! Oh, no, that's an old, worn-out magic word. Iran has nukes! Oh, maybe not, but they can make them. At least, that's what they say. In contrast to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel">Israel</a>, Iran denies any such thing. And in contrast to Iraq, Iran has allowed inspectors from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Atomic_Energy_Agency">International Atomic Energy Agency</a> to inspect their facilities, and they found nothing pointing in that direction. </p> <p> So: bomb Israel to get them to stop their nuclear program? No, Israel is a <i>friend</i>. Bomb Iran! Israel is only too happy to help. </p> <p> What's wrong with this picture? It's easier to ask what's right: nothing. I read an <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-23/trump-us-iran-war-economy-china/105446938">interesting opinion piece</a> by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Kohler">Alan Kohler</a> contrasting the Chinese and the US American approach. It makes some interesting points: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"> <p class="listitemwidth"> Iran's regime is now being brought undone by its insistence on enriching uranium for nuclear weapons of war and refusing to give up. </p> <p class="listitemwidth"> China's leaders still work on the old-fashioned idea that economic policy is for improving the prosperity of citizens and strengthening the country, not for conducting ideological culture wars, and that diplomacy is about winning friends and influencing people. </p> <p class="listitemwidth"> Israel's moral foundations and international standing are being destroyed by its levelling of Gaza and refusal to accept a Palestinian state. </p> <p class="listitemwidth"> Wars based on lies (Iraq) or that too long (Vietnam and Afghanistan) or go too far (Gaza) come with a crippling cost, sap morale, divide the country and erode global support. </p> </blockquote> <p> These are so obvious that I'm surprised I haven't seen them before. One thing he didn't mention is that the USA has left the moral high ground that allowed it to condemn Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. And what's the situation with the current Iranian government? It has been a thorn in the collective eye of the West since its inception. But, like with Saddam Hussein, what's the alternative? More and more I wonder if these people are capable of seeing the Big Picture. </p> End deselected topic PHo (Here we go again) --> <!-- topic po not selected <p> I spent some time <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=p&subtitle=More%20lens%20test%20thoughts&article=D-20250615-022258#D-20250615-022258">last week</a> checking the sharpness of <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yana/">Yana's</a> new <a href="https://www.panasonic.com/au/support/product-archives/lumix-cameras-video-cameras/lumix-g-lenses/h-x025e.html">Leica Summilux 25 mm f/1.4</a>. I've put that on ice for the time being until I can find a better way to compare lenses. </p> <p> But I wasn't expecting to find problems with my own lenses, like this photo that I discussed <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?subtitle=Pilau%20instructions&article=D-20250623-020056#D-20250623-020056">yesterday</a>: </p> <p> That's a crop from the bottom right of the photo. But why is it so unsharp? It was taken (with flash) at 1/250 s and f/5.6, so it should be razor sharp. Is it the lens ( <a href="https://www.dpreview.com/products/olympus/lenses/olympus_12-100_4p0_is_pro">M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100 mm f/4.0 IS <b>PRO</b></a>)? That's one of my best lenses. </p> <p> Today I tried the same photo with three different lenses: the 12-100, the <a href="https://www.dpreview.com/products/olympus/lenses/oly_30_3p5_macro">M.Zuiko Digital ED 30 mm f/3.5 Macro</a> and the <a href="https://www.dpreview.com/products/olympus/lenses/olympus_12-200_3p5-6p3">M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-200 mm f/3.5-6.3</a>, all at 1/250 s and f/5.6. The results in that order: </p> <p> Clearly the macro is the best. And the other two? Hard to say, though the results look better than last week. Maybe that's all you can expect of a zoom lens. </p> End deselected topic po (Lens sharpness) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250624-030707</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250624-030707</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>New M.2 SSD</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> My new 1 TB <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2">M.2</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSD">SSD</a> arrived today. It looks slightly different from the one in ex-<i>disdain</i> (bottom): </p> <a id="Photo-49" name="Photo-49" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250624&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-49"> <img alt="This should be M.2-SSDs-3.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_49" title="Photo M.2-SSDs-3.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250624/small/M.2-SSDs-3.jpeg" width="324" height="208" /></a> <p> What's that? Reading <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2">the Wikipedia page</a> explained some of it: the gaps are for keys, B and M. M gives 4 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express">PCI Express</a> lanes, B only 2. That's OK with me. </p> <p> But it doesn't work! Why? I can see three possibilities: </p> <ul> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> B and M devices don't work on motherboards designed for M only. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> B and M devices don't work on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkCentre">ThinkCentre</a> V520S. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> The device is defective. </div> </li> </ul> <p> Which is it? Ultimately it doesn't make that much difference, only the cost of the postage: I can return it without any reason. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-24T03:07:07+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic ko not selected <p> Fried my first egg in the middle one of the cast iron pans I got <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=k&subtitle=New%20frying%20pans&article=D-20250621-235620#D-20250621-235620">on Friday</a>. Not a success. The pans retain much more heat, so my normal method of heating to 160° didn't work well: </p> <p> And the egg <i>did</i> stick to the pan, as I had half expected: </p> <p> Would it work better if I hadn't made the pan so hot? I'll have to experiment, but it looks as if this is one area where a conventional non-stick pan would work better. </p> End deselected topic ko (Non-stick cast iron pans) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250624-234346</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250624-234346</link><category>technology</category><category>photography</category><category>opinion</category><title>I hate the Ports Collection</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> Somehow I've been fighting the <a href="https://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</a> Ports Collection for decades. The idea is good: a unified method for installing and maintaining all ports and their dependencies. The reality looks different. I want to update <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExifTool">exiftool</a>. Where is it? You'd expect it in <i>/usr/ports/graphics/exiftool</i>. But no, it's a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl">Perl</a> program, so they have obfuscated the name. But how? </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@hydra (/dev/pts/11)</font> <font color="red">~</font> <font color="blue">82</font> -> <b><tt>pkg search exiftool</tt></b></code><br />pkg: repository FreeBSD contains packages for wrong OS version: FreeBSD:13:amd64<br /><code><font color="blue">=== root@hydra (/dev/pts/11)</font> <font color="red">~</font> <font color="blue">83</font> -> <b><tt>uname -a</tt></b></code><br />FreeBSD hydra.lemis.com 13.4-PRERELEASE FreeBSD 13.4-PRERELEASE #1 stable/13-n258139-35bde8969eb6-dirty: Sun Jul 28 08:42:07 AEST 2024 grog@hydra.lemis.com:/home/obj/home/src/FreeBSD/git/stable/13/amd64.amd64/sys/GENERIC amd64<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> So what's that about? Finally I found the name: it's <i>/usr/ports/graphics/p5-Image-ExifTool</i>. But how do I update it? I rely on <i>exiftool</i> for so much, and I don't want to lose it. OK, try it on <i>tiwi.lemis.com</i>, where it's not installed. Same thing: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@tiwi (/dev/pts/4)</font> <font color="red">/var/tmp</font> <font color="blue">166</font> -> <b><tt>pkg search exiftool</tt></b></code><br />pkg: repository FreeBSD contains packages for wrong OS version: FreeBSD:13:amd64<br />You have mail in /var/mail/grog<br /><code><font color="blue">=== root@tiwi (/dev/pts/4)</font> <font color="red">/var/tmp</font> <font color="blue">167</font> -> <b><tt>uname -a</tt></b></code><br />FreeBSD tiwi.lemis.com 13.1-STABLE FreeBSD 13.1-STABLE #1 stable/13-n251977-519b3b5b542d: Fri Jul 29 15:27:13 AEST 2022 grog@tiwi.lemis.com:/eureka/home/src/FreeBSD/obj/stable-13/eureka/home/src/FreeBSD/git/stable-13/amd64.amd64/sys/GENERIC amd64<br /> </tt></div></blockquote> <p> This seems to be a new bug in <i>pkg</i>. OK, install from the source directory. Wrong Perl version! No, sorry, I'm not going to blow away who knows how many dependencies for a test installation. </p> <p> No matter: I can ignore the Ports Collection and download and install it directly, (almost) following <a href="https://exiftool.org/install.html">these instructions</a>. But they're designed for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux">Linux</a> and are rather more complicated than needed. </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@tiwi (/dev/pts/4)</font> <font color="red">/var/tmp</font> <font color="blue">155</font> -> <b><tt>fetch https://exiftool.org/Image-ExifTool-13.31.tar.gz</tt></b></code><br /><code><font color="blue">=== root@tiwi (/dev/pts/4)</font> <font color="red">/var/tmp</font> <font color="blue">156</font> -> <b><tt>tar xvf Image-ExifTool-13.31.tar.gz</tt></b></code><br />x Image-ExifTool-13.31/: Cannot restore extended attributes: com.apple.provenance com.apple.provenance: No such file or directory<br />x Image-ExifTool-13.31/exiftool: Cannot restore extended attributes: com.apple.provenance com.apple.provenance: No such file or directory<br />x Image-ExifTool-13.31/fmt_files/: Cannot restore extended attributes: com.apple.provenance com.apple.provenance: No such file or directory<br />... </tt></div></blockquote> <p> What's that? Clearly some Apple-related stuff that shouldn't be there. Still, they're just warnings. Moving on, </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"><div style="text-align:left"> <tt><code><font color="blue">=== root@tiwi (/dev/pts/4)</font> <font color="red">/var/tmp</font> <font color="blue">157</font> -> <b><tt>cd Image-ExifTool-13.31</tt></b></code><br /><code><font color="blue">=== root@tiwi (/dev/pts/4)</font> <font color="red">/var/tmp/Image-ExifTool-13.31</font> <font color="blue">158</font> -> <b><tt>perl Makefile.PL</tt></b></code><br />Checking if your kit is complete...<br />Looks good<br />Generating a Unix-style Makefile<br />Writing Makefile for Image::ExifTool<br />Writing MYMETA.yml and MYMETA.json<br /><code><font color="blue">=== root@tiwi (/dev/pts/4)</font> <font color="red">/var/tmp/Image-ExifTool-13.31</font> <font color="blue">159</font> -> <b><tt>make test</tt></b></code><br />...<br />t/ZISRAW.t ......... ok<br />All tests successful.<br />Files=111, Tests=595, 43 wallclock secs ( 0.27 usr 0.15 sys + 39.59 cusr 2.37 csys = 42.38 CPU)<br />Result: PASS<br /><code><font color="blue">=== root@tiwi (/dev/pts/4)</font> <font color="red">/var/tmp/Image-ExifTool-13.31</font> <font color="blue">161</font> -> <b><tt>make install</tt></b></code><br />Manifying 1 pod document<br />Manifying 203 pod documents<br />Installing /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/Image/ExifTool.pm<br />Installing /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/Image/ExifTool.pod<br />... </tt></div></blockquote> <p> And that Just Worked, modulo the strange messages. Somehow the Ports Collection has become too fragile. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-24T23:43:46+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250624-235934</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250624-235934</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>M.2 SSD woes</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> More investigation of my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSD">SSD</a> problems today. Jamie Fraser came up with <a href="https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/Lenovo_Desktops/Lenovo_V520S_SFF/Lenovo_V520S_SFF_Spec.PDF">this (PDF) summary</a> of the Lenovo V520S configuration. The important part is </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD)/PCIe NVMe,PCIe 3.0 x 4,32 Gb/s </div> </blockquote> <p> A <a href="https://gemini.google.com/app/af71518d0e44960e">check</a> with <a href="https://gemini.google.com/">Google Gemini</a> confirms: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> Protocols/Interfaces: This is the crucial part. The keying only dictates the physical shape. The actual communication protocol is what matters for functionality: <ul> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="list2width"> M-key slots are typically designed for PCIe x4 (NVMe) SSDs, offering the highest speeds. They can sometimes also support SATA, but this depends on the motherboard. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="list2width"> B-key slots are typically designed for SATA SSDs or PCIe x2 SSDs. </div> </li> <li class="fullwidth"> <div class="list2width"> B+M keyed SSDs can use either the SATA protocol or the PCIe x2 protocol. </div> </li> </ul> </div> </blockquote> <p> Both <b>B</b> and <b>M</b> can support <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA">SATA</a>, but the V520S doesn't. That makes sense: PCIe x 4 is much faster. But the new SSD is specifically marked <b>SATA</b>. So they're not compatible. </p> <p> I had hoped that this kind of incompatibility would be a thing of the past. What other dangers are lurking? </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-24T23:59:34+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic GPho not selected <p> I've been keeping up with international news in some detail for years now, but the news is getting worse all the time. It's having its effect: today I had a stress stomach ache for much of the afternoon. I can't change what's going on; I should try not to follow it in as much detail. About the only good news today was that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump">Donald Trump</a> swore at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Netanyahu">Bibi</a> for his aggressive behaviour. Could this be the start of a change in heart? </p> End deselected topic GPho (News: bad for health) --> <!-- topic G not selected <p> I had some back pain a few days ago in an area that seemed like the same as I had with my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slipped_disk">slipped disk</a> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2023.php?subtitle=Pain!&article=D-20230609-025722#D-20230609-025722">two years ago</a>. I'm in no pain now, but I want it to stay that way, so into town this morning to see Heather Dalman again, the first time in <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-sep2023.php#D-20230907-020259">nearly two years</a>. She has <a href="https://www.chhn.com.au/">changed employers</a> since then. </p> <p> Yes, good that I came, and I had some particularly hard knots in the muscles in that area. She gave me some new “isometric” exercises to do, mercifully less obnoxious than the old ones. She also reminded me to stop crossing my legs, something that <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2023.php?subtitle=Next%20back%20pain%20procedure&article=D-20230621-030929#D-20230621-030929">she had mentioned before</a>, but which seems to be generally a bad idea. Hopefully that will be the end of it. </p> End deselected topic G (More physiotherapy) --> <!-- topic ho not selected <p> Is it worth repairing our dishwasher? It's <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2018.php?subtitle=Dish%20washer,%20day%202&article=D-20180509-014944#D-20180509-014944">7 years old</a>, and the repair will probably cost at least $200. We paid $398 for it at the time, and as it happens we're coming to the end of the financial year, where there are lots of specials at <a href="https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/">The Good Guys</a>, including dishwashers from $369, and offering discounts of $40 to $60. Should we maybe replace the old one? While in town dropped in to take a look at what they had. </p> <p> No. I've found various issues with dishwashers over the years, and none of the three models I saw came close to addressing them. In fact, I was left with the feeling that I would have the same issues with a $1000 dishwasher. So we'll repair the old one. </p> End deselected topic ho (A new dishwasher?) --> <!-- topic Go not selected <p> While at the <a href="https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/">The Good Guys</a>, discovered that I had left my glasses behind at the physiotherapists. Not a big deal: I had to go back and get them. But that would never have happened before my cataract surgery. </p> End deselected topic Go (The downside of cataract surgery) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250626-005143</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250626-005143</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Bloody Android!</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> More fun with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android">Android</a> devices today. I've noticed that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Maps">Google Maps</a> speed display on my phone briefly drops out from time to time. Why? Problems with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS">GPS</a> receiver? With the phone? With the app? Who can tell? </p> <p> When I got home, checked where <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> was. Somewhere in town, but “she” had stopped sharing her location with me. That wasn't her choice, I'm sure. Google Maps had decided it for some reason. </p> <p> When she got home, she had a tale of woe to tell, not just with her phone. She had tried to call me, but the call didn't go through: it was just dead. And she couldn't enable mobile data: </p> <a id="Photo-50" name="Photo-50" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250625&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-50"> <img alt="This should be Android-fail-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_50" title="Photo Android-fail-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250625/small/Android-fail-detail.jpeg" width="490" height="138" /></a> <p> That remained, and I spent something like 20 minutes trying to localize the fault. Defective <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM">SIM</a>? Defective phone? Tried it in <i>enzian.lemis.com</i>, which seems much slower than ever before, but no, no problems with mobile data, though making a call was an issue. </p> <p> What else can it be? Put the SIM back in <i>fossil</i> and spent a lot of time trying to find my way through the greyed-out configuration entries. Still can't make a call. Still can't enable mobile data. Reboot <i>again</i>, maybe? </p> <p> And then I saw a fleeting message on boot: “Airplane <i>[sic] mode enabled</i>. And yes, the symbol in the settings page was relatively clear: </p> <a id="Photo-51" name="Photo-51" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250625&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-51"> <img alt="This should be Android-fail-detail-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_51" title="Photo Android-fail-detail-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250625/small/Android-fail-detail-2.jpeg" width="263" height="256" /></a> <p> Turn that off and all was well. Well, it worked, and location sharing came up automatically. </p> <p> And what did it disable? Mobile data, clearly, also Wi-Fi (though I was able to turn that back on again), apparently phones (and the app was too polite to complain and went through the motions anyway), Google Maps location sharing. What else? </p> <p> But how much pain does airplane mode cause? Wouldn't a simple change of text help? Instead of “Not available”, “Not available in airplane mode”? And why can't the phone app report problems instead of going through the motions? </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-26T00:51:43+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic h not selected <p> We've finally had some rain, 14 mm of it in the 24 hours to 9:00 today, and more came today. And hail, the first I recall seeing since we moved to Stones Road <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2015.php?subtitle=Moving%20house,%20day%202&article=D-20150509-082924#D-20150509-082924">10 years ago</a>: </p> <div align="left"> </div> <p> What we really need is much more rain. </p> End deselected topic h (Hail!) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250627-002452</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250627-002452</link><category>photography</category><category>technology</category><title>Revisiting old photos</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2010.php?subtitle=Who%20are%20automatic%20settings%20good%20for?&article=D26-2#D26-2">Fifteen years ago</a> we took some photos of <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Nemo.php">Nemo</a> during puppy training. The results weren't good. We were using my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_E-30">E-30</a>, and for <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> I set it to the <b>AUTO</b> exposure method, and for some reason (probably inappropriate metering including the sky), all the images came out underexposed. </p> <p> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2017.php#D-20170306-230316">A few years later</a> I did some comparisons between the various processing methods that I was using at that time. But that, too, was 8 years ago. What do things look like now? In particular, how much do my modified <a href="https://www.dxo.com/dxo-photolab/">DxO PhotoLab</a> settings and <a href="https://eyeq.photos/perfectlyclear">“Perfectly Clear“</a> improve things? Today I tried a five-way comparison: original, processed with <a href="http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/">UFRaw</a> (a package that hasn't been updated in 10 years), my DxO processing of 7 years ago, the same image optimized with Perfectly Clear, and finally my current processing: </p> <div align="left"> <a id="Photo-52" name="Photo-52" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20100626&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-52"> <img alt="This should be dog-training-66-orig.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_52" title="Photo dog-training-66-orig.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20100626/small/dog-training-66-orig.jpeg" width="300" height="225" /></a> <a id="Photo-53" name="Photo-53" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20100626&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-53"> <img alt="This should be dog-training-66-ufraw.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_53" title="Photo dog-training-66-ufraw.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20100626/small/dog-training-66-ufraw.jpeg" width="300" height="226" /></a> <a id="Photo-54" name="Photo-54" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20100626&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-54"> <img alt="This should be dog-training-66-DxO-orig.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_54" title="Photo dog-training-66-DxO-orig.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20100626/small/dog-training-66-DxO-orig.jpeg" width="300" height="225" /></a> <a id="Photo-55" name="Photo-55" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20100626&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-55"> <img alt="This should be dog-training-66-DxO.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_55" title="Photo dog-training-66-DxO.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20100626/small/dog-training-66-DxO.jpeg" width="300" height="225" /></a> <a id="Photo-56" name="Photo-56" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20100626&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-56"> <img alt="This should be dog-training-66.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_56" title="Photo dog-training-66.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20100626/small/dog-training-66.jpeg" width="300" height="225" /></a> </div> <p> The strange thing is the colour of my current processing. On the whole the results of 7 years ago look better. But once again I'm puzzled by the underexposure of the <b>AUTO</b> setting (which the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exif">Exif</a> data report as “ESP Creative (Slow Speed)”). It's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_value">EV</a> 14.3, fully 2 stops less than the <b>P</b> (“Center-weighted average Program AE”) setting that I was using. It may be no coincidence that later models dropped the <b>AUTO</b> setting altogether. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-27T00:24:52+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic ho not selected <p> After <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?subtitle=A%20new%20dishwasher?&article=D-20250626-001813#D-20250626-001813">yesterday's</a> investigations, it was clear that we will keep our current dishwasher and have it repaired. Called up Brett Younger of Vic Country Appliance Repair (phone +61 419 980 987), whom somebody had recommended to <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a>, and discussed the matter. Sent him the details of the dishwasher, and he called back to say that the pump would cost over $400, more than we paid for the dishwasher—<i>if</i> we could find one. And of course there's labour on top of that. </p> <p> OK, that's a whole different situation. We'll need a new dishwasher, then, just not one of the el-cheapo ones that I was looking at yesterday (and which Brett, not knowing what I had been looking at, mentioned by name as ones to avoid). He recommends <a href="https://www.lg.com/au/dishwashers/">LG</a> or <a href="https://www.bosch-home.com.au/en/mkt-category/dishwashing">Bosch</a>, and yes, he can deliver and install one next Friday. </p> <p> Damn! Not so much for the cost as for the research needed to decide which to buy. The Bosch models I looked at look pretty much like the one we have. And it's <i>noisy</i>. Have things improved? Brett guesses “yes”, but it's just a guess. The LG specs mention noise (44 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dB(A)">dB(A)</a>), but Bosch doesn't. For good reason? However, <a href="https://gemini.google.com/">Google Gemini</a> tells me that the noise from Bosch dishwashers (no model stated) ranges from 42 to 46 dB(A), so there seems not to be much difference from LG. </p> End deselected topic ho (Dishwasher: no? yes?) --> <!-- topic ho not selected <p> So which dishwasher do I buy? <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> had suggested <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miele">Míele</a>, and admittedly our longest-lasting dishwasher was a Míele, which we bought shop-soiled in 1991 and which lasted until <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2011.php?subtitle=Dead%20dishwasher&article=D-20110523-005411#D-20110523-005411">2011</a>, also with pump problems. But that was a commercial model, and all subsequent machines have been normal domestic ones. And Míele is far more expensive than the others. </p> <p> So: what's the difference between the Bosch and LG dishwashers? The only thing that stands out is the noise that our current Bosch machine makes. <a href="https://gemini.google.com/">Google Gemini</a> to the rescue, with a lot of detail, but a summary: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"> <p class="listitemwidth"> Choose Bosch Series 4 if: You prioritize extremely quiet operation, classic German engineering and reliability, efficient condensation drying, and a solid range of core washing programs with some smart features. </p> <p class="listitemwidth"> Choose LG if: You value advanced cleaning technologies like QuadWash and TrueSteam, superior drying performance (especially for plastics), extensive smart features and app connectivity, and a modern design aesthetic. </p> </blockquote> <p> “Choose Bosch if you believe that German is better”. These machines are made in Turkey. “Choose LG if you value buzzwords”. But superior drying performance sounds good. But superior drying can't be wrong, and they're also over $100 cheaper, so it'll probably be an LG. But what a lot of time it takes to research this stuff! </p> End deselected topic ho (A day spent buying a dishwasher) --> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250628-032655</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250628-032655</link><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Saving Google Gemini output</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> How do I save my <a href="https://gemini.google.com/">Google Gemini</a> answers? So far I have been copying and pasting, but there must be a better way. OK, Gemini, How do I save Google Gemini answers? </p> <p> Oh, you just want to save it? No, this is a modern program. You can export to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Docs">Google Docs</a>, send them as a draft in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gmail">Gmail</a>, export to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Sheets">Google Sheets</a>, or “For code snippets, you might have options to "Export to Colab" (Google Colaboratory) or "Export to Replit."”. </p> <p> Why does this have to be so complicated? </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-28T03:26:55+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250629-014025</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250629-014025</link><category>general</category><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Good Guys? Bad Guys!</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> So I've finally decided on a new dishwasher: the LG XD5B14PS. The <a href="https://thegoodguys.com.au/">Good Guys</a> offer it for $799, but if you look carefully and click in the right place, it's only $733. OK, fill out the web form and pay for it. But they have me on record, only not online. OK, sign up. </p> <p> Their web programmers don't seem to be the best: </p> <a id="Photo-57" name="Photo-57" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250628&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-57"> <img alt="This should be Bad-Guys-2-detail-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_57" title="Photo Bad-Guys-2-detail-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250628/small/Bad-Guys-2-detail-2.jpeg" width="400" height="418.89763779528" /></a> <p> But the next thing I ran into was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA">CAPTCHA</a> requiring understanding of US American terms: </p> <a id="Photo-58" name="Photo-58" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250628&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-58"> <img alt="This should be Bad-Guys-2-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_58" title="Photo Bad-Guys-2-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250628/small/Bad-Guys-2-detail.jpeg" width="234" height="288" /></a> <p> Damn you, “Good” Guys! Do you want to sell merchandise or annoy potential customers? A good thing that I don't need to submit to this insult to purchase the item. Back to the other tab, finished the order, and received an immediate confirmation from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal">PayPal</a>. </p> <p> And nothing from the “Good” Guys. More searching on their web site produced this FAQ: </p> <a id="Photo-59" name="Photo-59" href="diary-jun2025.php?dirdate=20250628&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112&topics=c&edit=0#Photo-59"> <img alt="This should be Bad-Guys-3-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_59" title="Photo Bad-Guys-3-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image." src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20250628/small/Bad-Guys-3-detail.jpeg" width="500" height="194.71153846154" /></a> <blockquote class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> You <i>should</i> receive an Online Order Confirmation email within 24hrs <i>[sic]</i> of placing your order. </div> </blockquote> <p> Now doesn't that fill you with confidence, especially since they had claimed I could pick it up within an hour? Something's seriously wrong with their web site. And I didn't hear from you by the end of the day. </p> <p> I've been working on this for three days! Why is it all such a pain? </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-29T01:40:25+00:00</dc:date></item> <item><guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php#D-20250630-042830</guid><link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2025.php?topics=c#D-20250630-042830</link><category>general</category><category>technology</category><category>opinion</category><title>Where's my dishwasher?</title> <description> <![CDATA[ <div align="justify"> <p> So I have waited the astoundingly long time (24 hours) for <a href="https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/">The Good Guys</a> to confirm the purchase of my dishwasher. No confirmation. Problems sending email to me? No, nothing in the server logs. </p> <p> OK, contact customer support, a “chat” with Sabrina. PayPal transaction number, please? Gave that, then: </p> <blockquote class="fullwidth"> <div class="listitemwidth"> <b>Sabrina:</b> We have located your payment from Paypal. We will need to send this to our IT team to have manually push through to our system, this can take a few hours. You will receive an email confirmation once this have been done. </div> <div class="listitemwidth"> <b>Me:</b> Thank you. Can I expect this today? And what went wrong? </div> <div class="listitemwidth"> <b>Sabrina:</b> There might be a technical glitch, sometimes it happens with Paypal payments. </div> <div class="listitemwidth"> <b>Me:</b> But it must be on your side, right? </div> <div class="listitemwidth"> <b>Sabrina:</b> Yes, we should be able to push it into the system today. </div> </blockquote> <p> And try as I might, I couldn't get her to address the underlying problem. I got the impression that they just don't care. And of course I didn't get any email today. </p> </div> ]]> </description> <dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator> <dc:date>2025-06-30T04:28:30+00:00</dc:date></item> <!-- topic k not selected <p> A new recipe for dinner today: <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/Falscher-Hase.php">„Falscher Hase“</a> (“false hare”), a kind of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat_loaf">meat loaf</a>: </p> <div align="left"> </div> <p> I've never eaten it before, but it tasted surprisingly good. We should experiment with other similar dishes. </p> End deselected topic k (False hare) --> </channel></rss> If you would like to create a banner that links to this page (i.e. this validation result), do the following:
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