Firefighters deal with not just the fire...

From oddee.

Motion Portraits

I found this amazing tool that lets you convert a picture into a moving portrait!

I'm sure this thing has been around for a while, its just funny how it can process most pictures you throw at it. I picked this one up from a random google search for mugshots. I'm quite impressed with the results!

The tool lets you control eye movement with the mouse, as you'll see in the video below. Reminds me of how ground-breaking the HL2 facial movement engine was when they released the first G-man videos (see here).

Try Motion Portrait here.

Jon Brion's Songbird artist bio

..is not really very accurate now is it? Mashtape needs editing?

Cars ‘06 - ‘08

Thanks to my workplace, I had been driving rental cars for almost 2.5 years between July’06 and December’08. Sometimes, a rental would stay with me for several months before I felt a need f0r change. Sometimes, I’d hate the car within the first day and switch it out for something better.

Recently, I was going through all invoices I’ve filed for expenses since the time I started renting and took the opportunity to compile this list of cars I’ve driven / rented / borrowed or just simply taken for a spin in these 2 and a half years.

I went ahead and plugged the list into an image search and here’s what the results look like (hover your mouse over the image to get the car’s name). Again, this is not a list of what I would like to drive, just what I’ve had an opportunity to drive here.

There were the ones that I hate:

There were a big bunch of no-names, cars I don’t particularly remember anything to write home about!

            

Then there were a bunch I liked because of their size (!) :

And the one’s I loved because of their drivability, comfort or speed (from good to better, in order):

  

 

But the best ones were the ones I fell in love with, and that’s what this post is really about!

The Chrysler 300: I absolutely love the grille! I think this car looks great! Yes, it’s got its flaws while driving, but it looks & feels great.. 

The Dodge Charger: Love the shape, and it truely lives up to it’s muscle-car image!

 

And ofcourse, the C-class!

  

 

In the end, I think I’ve driven over 30 different types of cars , for a distance of well over a 100k miles (wow.. calculate the carbon footprint of that!) -a small feat, given that public transport is pathetic in Atlanta & its suburbs.

In any case, driving has always been fun and I only have the company I work for to thank for this great experience! I finally chose the BMW 328i earlier this year – the best I can possibly afford right now (don’t know for how long though! :p )

 

 

(All pictures are copyrighted with their original owners- none of these are mine!)

Atlanta is flooded! :-/

http://picfog.com/search/%23atlflood

SoundAnalyzer

A very cool visualizer composed entirely of flash:



Love the trippy music (Brazil by Deadmaus) too! :)

soundanalyzer_06

Gmail notifier: service temporarily unavailable message

I do not use google talk and was having trouble using Gmail Notifier. From http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=9429:

If you've enabled the 'Always use https' setting in Gmail, you'll need to install a patch for the Notifier to work with this setting:

1. Download the patch (.zip).
2. Open the folder.
3. Double-click the notifier_https.reg file.
4. Click yes when you're asked to confirm if you want to add the information to the registry.
5. Restart the Notifier.

If you decide you no longer want to use the https setting, you'll need to install the other file included in the download to reset the Notifier. Use the same method as above, except with 'notifier_https_undo.reg.'

ODE TAE A FART

Oh whit a sleekit horrible beastie
Lurks in yer belly efter the feastie
Jist as ye sit doon among yer kin
There sterts tae stir an enormous win'
The neeps 'n' tatties 'n' mushy peas
Stert workin' like a gentle breeze
But soon the puddin' wi' the sauncie face
Will hae ye blawin' a' ower the place
Nae maiter whit the hell ye dae
A'bodys gonnae hiv tae pay
Even if ye try tae stifle
It's like a bullet oot a rifle
Hawd yer bum ticht tae the chair
Tae try an' stop the leakin' air
Shify yersel fae cheek tae cheek
Prae tae God it disnae reek
But aw yer efforts go assunder
Oot it comes like a clap o' thunder
Ricochets aroon the room
Michty me a sonic boom
God almichty it fairly reeks
Hope a huvnae sh*t ma breeks
Tae the bog a better scurry
Aw whit the hell, it's no ma worry
A'body roon aboot me chokin
Wan or twa are nearly bokin
A'll feel better for a while
Cannae help but raise a smile
Wis him! A shout wi' accusin glower
Alas too late, he's jist keeled ower
Ye dirty bugger they shout and stare
A dinnae feel welcome ony mair
Where e'er ye be let yer wind gang free
Sounds like jist the job fur me
Whit a fuss at Rabbie's party
Ower the sake o' wan wee farty!

-from several versions found online

DMA PIO Problem - registry changes

I recently ran into the same DMA /PIO problem with a friends computer.

The registry hack that'll prevent your hard drive from going into PIO mode is below. What's funny is that I don't remember if this was before or after my changes to the registry. :p

In any case, atleast this'll point me to the right place the next time I see this happening on someone else's computer.


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0001]
"EnumPropPages32"="storprop.dll,IdePropPageProvider"
"InfPath"="mshdc.inf"
"InfSection"="atapi_Inst_primary"
"ProviderName"="Microsoft"
"DriverDateData"=hex:00,80,62,c5,c0,01,c1,01
"DriverDate"="7-1-2001"
"DriverVersion"="5.1.2600.2180"
"MatchingDeviceId"="primary_ide_channel"
"DriverDesc"="Primary IDE Channel"
"MasterDeviceType"=dword:00000001
"SlaveDeviceType"=dword:00000002
"MasterDeviceTimingMode"=dword:00010010
"MasterDeviceTimingModeAllowed"=dword:ffffffff
"SlaveDeviceTimingMode"=dword:00002010
"SlaveDeviceTimingModeAllowed"=dword:ffffffff