Marsden was Here

Picasa face matching

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:17:29 GMT

I upgraded Picasa to 3.6 this morning and it promptly started trying to index all the faces in my photos. Some hours later it thinks it's 20% done. Good thing it only has access to the last couple of years of photos or we'd be here forever.

It's doing a pretty bloody good job of correctly identifying people with/without hair/makeup/silly expressions I have to say.

It's very dedicated about finding faces, although it doesn't seem to go one image at a time, either that or it's missing a -lot- of much clearer faces than may it's picking up. The wedding dinner photos are particularly hard going.

Of course my particular brand of OCD means I can't pass up this opportunity to add more information. Facebook is proving helpful for finding full names, but I have many ?s . Sams have the lead with 6 individual 'Sam ?'s in the system at present. I'm also discovering who has -un-friended me on FaceBook within certain parameters :-/

Reliably backing up this data is going to be an interesting exercise, as Picasa doesn't store the information in the image itself but in a combination of .ini files and it's own contacts database so next system reinstall I risk losing the lot.

Photos: Flatmate warming

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:52:07 GMT

Slosh's warming @ Mr Yarbles

Those dreams where you're running to catch a bus, but your legs won't work

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:49:07 GMT

Yeah, I had one this morning. I missed a plane, but with cthulhu_dream's help my suitcase got on a later flight which was about to leave, then I had to run to catch the shuttle ... guess my baggage was going to get at least to Germany (which was only a stopover) without me. If only other types of baggage were so easy to get rid of.

So I'm lying awake at 5am having woken from this and considering it's a pretty good representation of my life at the moment. Slowly progressing towards whatever the end goal is but constantly missing connections no matter how hard I try. And I know there are others feeling the same right now.

I then failed to get out of bed and go for a run in the dawn chorus to prove my legs would actually do what I told them to in meatspace, and eventually drifted into another dream about getting up in the morning which fell apart when I remembered that Racky should not be in the kitchen with me demanding breakfast :(

Eventual rising came with a great sense of - I dunno - apathy? Ennui? Stuff not mattering. I think I've dropped below the level of emotional exhaustion again. I can be very productive in this state because the reasons not to do things don't matter either, and I've really been struggling with that this week. But it's really not a good thing.

Changing banks - or not

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:02:05 GMT

Some recent research* indicates that people typically consider changing banks to be a much more difficult process than it really is.

*The title of this article is "Survey shows why customers change banks" - the article then focuses only on why they don't change banks. #fail NZ Herald.

"Interestingly, people's perceptions were that the financial cost of switching banks was high when in fact it is not, because the new bank often waives fees or contributes to legal costs to get new customers," she said.

People also had an "ingrained" perception that there was considerable hassle involved in changing banks.

Despite my ever-growing contempt for ANZ Bank's institutional incompetence I remain with them for two reasons

- I don't want to have to deal with the legal required to transfer the mortgage. Once more, when I close it off will be sufficient thank you. The end is on the horizon. Also being self-employed I probably won't be able to replicate the current nifty arrangement, made when I was on a reliable salary.

- I have an irrational and perverse attachment to my savings account number, which is an old Post Office Savings Bank number I've had most of my life (my parents opened the original account). There can't be that many of them left and I'm sure it grates on the ANZ systems to have to cope with it. For this reason I'm probably actually going to hold on this account for my EFTPOS/cash needs as long as I possibly can even after moving my heavy-duty banking elsewhere :->

The researcher actually suggests

Among her recommendations for banks to consider was the possibility of account number portability, as was now required for cellphone service providers.

I don't think this is a bad idea, just a bloody impractical one unless you're rebuilding the banking sector from the ground up. Ask anyone for Telecom/Vodaphone/et. al. who has had to deal with the integration of number-portability into those systems, and the chaos ensuing from not being able to tell if someone is your customer just by looking at their number.

LJ notification system in the poo

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:31:16 GMT

For those who don't follow lj_maintenance, notifications have been down since some time yesterday (or earlier). Since my notifications from yesterday still haven't arrived I presume it is still down or they're still working through the backlog.

http://community.livejournal.com/lj_maintenance/126582.html

ANZ robbery updated with security camera pics

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:08:27 GMT

Updated with security camera photos at http://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/21763.html

Fox hunting in deep snow

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:56:37 GMT

Via the Friday Spoing!

UCSA ANZ was robbed yesterday

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:06:11 GMT

Edit: Updated with security photos at http://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/21763.html

http://www.police.govt.nz/news/updates/21750.html

ANZ University Christchurch

22:25 07-12-2009
PRESS RELEASE

At approximately 2.45pm on Monday 7 December 2009 the University Branch of the ANZ Bank was robbed.

This branch is located in the University of Canterbury Student Association building at 90 Ilam Road.

A male carrying a green and black back pack has enterted the bank and demanded cash from the two female tellers. He told them that he had a firearm. No firearm was seen or presented at the tellers.

After taking a sum of money the male has left on foot towards the carpark and possibly left in a red Toyota sports style hatchback vehicle.

The male is described as male Maori or Polynesian wearing a black baseball cap, dark coloured hooded top and dark jeans.

It is hoped a security photograph of the offender will be released to the media in the next few days.

Anyone who saw this male or vehicle at the University is asked to contact the Christchurch South Police.

Mark Keane
Detective Sergeant
Christchurch South Police
Ph 363 2591

PAS book launch

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:04:04 GMT

Hauled myself out of my shell and off to the Christchurch launch of a couple of Public Address books. Knew maybe half the people there, managed to meet some of the others :)

I can now say that I have purchased a copy of Emma Hart's breasts ... I mean book.

Photos of course

~~~
Aside - my internets seem to be making pretty heavy going of it tonight. Never mind, it's bedtime.

We now resume regular transmission

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 02:37:48 GMT

Over the past two days I have done 2-3 weeks overdue chores

- moved the furniture required to carpet-shampoo the computer room
- done so without losing complete access to the internet, yay wireless + laptop
- vacumned the rest of the house
- washed the dishes
- taken down the hangings (although I haven't found space to store them yet)
- played more CivII than I ought've

- filled the green bin with weeds
- mowed the lawns
- cleaned the shower etc
- moved everything -back- into the computer room
- sorted a couple of piles of paperwork

Kinda fried. Going to take a nap &/or play more CivII

~~~
I've changed keyboard to a Microsoft ergonomic thing in the process. Typing is coming surprisingly easily given I've never really used one of these things before. Still a bit slow/error prone.

A more direct return on investment

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:18:58 GMT

As part of my struggle with 'how can anyone's time be worth so much?!' I've come the conclusion that taking a transparent per/unit payment on top of a modest base salary is a better option. Especially once you start automating production - effectively the return on your original product starts to scale. Potentially you can even sell up the business side of things and retain the royalty.

I've also thought that would be a good way to get my money back over time as an investor in a business, without having to worry about annual interest rates and %s of profit (or loss). It also simplifies things for the investee, as the return on investment becomes a fixed cost of the product.

Turns out the esteemed Seth Godin has had similar thoughts

It works like this: you have an idea, a fledgling business or a new market to enter. You find an amateur investor (a wealthy dentist, a retired executive) and raise the money to bring it to market. And in return? The investor gets $xx for every unit you sell. From the first one until forever.

No fancy bookkeeping, no board meetings, no worrying about the accounting. Instead, you pay a royalty on income. The rest is up to you.

Of course, this is exactly how the math of book publishing works. The publisher puts up money and keeps 80 or 90 percent of the income. You get the rest.

It could even run on a sliding scale, with early royalties to the investor being lower, or with a buyout once a certain amount was earned back...

I can see that a portfolio of this sort of investment could add up to quite a tidy income stream after a couple of decades.

I can see one problem - IRD would rip large chunks of it since it's probably not eligible for the 'tax already paid' in the same way the way as a more traditional dividend.

(This is also how I'd like Intellectual Property to work - but people always seem to get greedy. Topic for another post.)

~~~
As an aside, no matter what my feed reader is set to Seth's feed only seems to burp out an update about every fortnight (containing every post in the interval). It's weird.

~~~
Edit some hours later - finally noticed the link was broken. Fixed.

From an ex-ex-pat

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:28:12 GMT

Nine reasons why New Zealand is not Australia
This is a substantial essay, not a list of laugh points
(via the Public Address System)

Excellence, not perfection

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 08:13:11 GMT

Over at The Art of Non-Conformity, Chris Guillebeau brings the concept of excellence into focus

By the way, making something good is usually about getting a few big things right, but excellence is about refining all of the little things.
...
QUESTION: What are you striving for excellence? What are you happy to leave with just being good?

Well, I strive for excellence in anything I am doing for other people. Things I am doing for myself can stay at being good.

I've just had the pleasant (and paid) opportunity to upgrade an earlier bit of work from 'basic but good' to 'better with touches of excellence'. (Which was sufficient motivation that I did it this evening rather than putting it off until tomorrow).

Of course Chris also notes that

To go from good to excellent is not always necessary. You can do very well in many areas of life just by being good. In fact, I think that the pursuit of perfection can sometimes serve as a form of life avoidance.

which may also be a relevant point for some of us :-/

Here's a quick way to make a big step towards catching up with wages in Australia

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:18:41 GMT

Kill the Cult of overwork.

Go to a 32 hour working week but keep gross/net annual wages the same.

Expect productivity not to decrease significantly, in fact it might even increase.

(see also the rules of productivity presentation)

Bonus - as more people get hired to cover the hours that everyone else is no longer working in our 24hour world unemployment will take a dive as well (and national productivity will increase).

Does TelstraClear have a residential VOIP offfering in the works?

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:47:23 GMT

Buried in a NZ Herald article about TelstraClear testing their own PVR and IPTV service to compete with MySky (no surprises there) is this little gem:

Telstra is touting the T-Hub, a touchscreen device offering regular phone features and internet access, the ability to play music, look at videos and photos and run a household diary.

A residential VOIP offering? Please let it be so. Please let it be soon. Please let it be cheaper than a landline!

Wedding report

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:52:18 GMT

The weather at our parents' place did not co-operate much but everyone fitted in the marquee and the ceremony was only 15-20 minutes long (plus some stuffing around releasing butterflies at the end, which would have gone much smoother had they not been all secret squirrel about it).

The dinner at Riccarton Park was very nice and everyone ate a little too much. I may have eaten a little too much, twice. I bailed about 9:30pm but it went on to 1:30am.

This morning's breakfast at the Racecourse Hotel was excellent value for money.

Now I just have to select 6ish photos for mother to show off at garden club on Tuesday from the 260-odd I took.

~~~
I haven't slept well the past two nights (for reasons unrelated to the wedding), or really for the last week. Today is the first opportunity I've had in ages to catch up - a nap is definitely in order this afternoon.

Not ideal weather

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:29:42 GMT

for a garden wedding. Hopefully it's a bit drier in by the hills, and the precipitation has stopped by 2pm.

I think I have everything I'm supposed to take out with me ... now have I done everything I need to do before I go out?

Opposites is not the word I am looking for.

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:21:07 GMT

Creative Space was very quiet tonight - a handful of people.

Creative Space was very loud tonight - a live band was practising in an adjoining room.

RIP Racky 1989 - 2009; Venerable cat

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:00:00 GMT

May you ever hunt rabbits among tussock and rolling hills.

He might have had another week or two in him, but despite hunger he hasn't been taking solid food and the weight has been dropping off. Yesterday I made the decision, and called the vet this morning.

There have been good days and bad days - yesterday was a bad day, ironically today was a good day as he got up, scoffed some solid food for the first time in a couple of weeks and took a wander outside shortly before we were due to leave. I think it's better that way.

He is buried behind the hedge, in his favourite spot to doze away the summer days / watch the world go by / wait for the human to get home.

This was taken in 2002, at the same time as the LJ icon, when he was still pretty much in his prime.

~~~
Thank you very much to littlel for chauffeuring :)

~~~
There is a significant amount of Royal Canin Renal (kidney diet) catfood - biscuits and sachets - looking for a good home if anyone else has a cat eating that. Also 3 single serve tins of Woolworths/Select catfood (various fishy flavours) and half a 15L bag of kitty litter.

~~~
I'm coping better at this moment than I thought I might be, but I got a lot out of my system yesterday leading up to the point of no return. OTOH I'm running out of planned actions. Gaming has unfortunately been cancelled this evening - I'm open to other distractions.

Photos: Gothic Vampire sequel

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:17:46 GMT

A drinkies & silly movies while the house was still dressed up.

This is why you don't stop at the Arthur's Pass lookouts for lunch

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:13:21 GMT

more kea photos

~~~
Prius stats:
Christchurch to Greymouth (empty) - 4.5L/100km
Back to Chch 2 passengers, luggage - lifted to 4.6L/100km
Less than 1/2 a tank of fuel used according to the guess gauge.

I <3 my car.

~~~
If no other solutions arise I may be doing the trip again next Sunday. It's much quicker with company, there will still be a spare seat there & back :)

Unplanned trip

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:53:35 GMT

I seem to be making an unplanned trip to Greymouth and back tomorrow. One seat (because I am returning with passengers) - anyone want to come along for the ride? (I reserve the right to pick and choose if there are multiple interested parties :D )

Photos: Thorrington BBQ

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:47:53 GMT

A handful of photos from the BBQ

~~~
- have not had much sleep
- have moved furniture & shampooed more carpet
- need to run errands now
- nap later

Armexis Journal: very brief

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:42:39 GMT

Looks like I forgot to make the last entry of last year. Here goes.... (we're back tonight)

The very start || This Chapter

<< Prev || Next >>

Returning to the caverns proved fruitless. The giants had removed the bodies of their fallen and fled, carrying what they could. Some young white dragons had been released into the caves to delay us, but these were quickly dealt with. Other finds were some human captives in the kitchens who while grateful to be freed could tell us little, and a giantess of yet another type (Storm?) held captive as some form of hostage or intended concubine for the frost giant king. This last was able to tell us a little about the giants near the volcano, apparently their leader is a cruel despot. In gratitude for her freedom she agreed to escort the humans back to their settlement, as we could not transport them all.

Divinations proving inconclusive the only remaining option is to pull the lever. Our trackers say the frost giants left through the exit beyond it, one may have used it and vanished (teleported). With some reason to expect the environment and denizens on the other side to be hot rather than cold we have again returned to the castle to re-equip.

Moriana has chosen to leave us at this point, embarking on a quest to return dwarven remains found in the giants' trophy chamber to their rightful home.

Expected call from Meredian Energy

marsden.marsden@gmail.com — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:20:36 GMT

Admittedly I didn't expect it to be at 7:10pm.

They opened with the assumption that I was making the switch to PowerShop because of the 20% discounted weekend electricity, a notion of which I quickly disabused them. Their counter offer was interesting though - a 20% prompt payment discount (through to April) instead of the usual 10% (effectively a 20% discount on -all- my electricity use + their daily + the levy).

It was enough to make me pause, but not enough to make me change my mind. Better data > extra $5-$15 a month.