Friday, September 30, 2011

Wart Zapper: Other Uses


One of my more "celebrated" electronic designs was the so-called Wart Zapper. Several companies put this concept into production, and many people reported results -- nearly all of them affirmative. Today I received an interesting question from Mehdi: "Is it better to research on another useful effects of your device on curing other diseases ..." This is good thinking. The answer is yes, the device has other uses. Generally, it seems to hold potential for anything that is both local and alien to the human body. A number of companies have established that it treats herpes (for example, DermaSeptic). I know also that it helps local bacterial infections and local rheumatic inflammation. The photo sequence shows the removal of a small facial wart (click on it to enlarge).

Sunday, September 25, 2011

iBooks And iTunes


I discovered today that I have four electronics books on iBooks and iTunes -- "available on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iBooks and on your computer with iTunes". I missed that -- they've been there for months. Goodness knows how they are selling. I hope everybody rushes out and buys them. Actually, all it requires is a few mouse-clicks.

Chinese Mail


I receive large amounts of mail in Chinese (see the image). It happened like this. I did electronic design for a number of magazines, in English. Some enterprising Chinese swiped the articles, and re-published in Chinese -- together with my e-mail address. Publishers would have been none the wiser (they don't read Chinese) if it had not been for an informant in Burma.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Room Recorder


I have been editing Mirjam's research. She needed to do a lot of interviews, with missionaries who had returned from the field. Before she got started, we tested the recording equipment. This needed to be portable, technically up to the task, quickly deployed -- and something that interviewees felt entirely comfortable with. Eventually I designed an omnidirectional microphone with preamplifier (pictured) which plugged into a recorder, and picked up every whisper in a room. One placed it on some surface, and it was "out of mind" for the duration of the interview. The only time it got trounced was during an outdoor interview where an aeroplane flew overhead. OBSERVATION: Note that this design, although it is pretty standard, is copyright. I have permission from the publisher to display it. Similar devices are available commercially, yet without the preamplifier -- e.g. the Sony AECMF8 or the Audio-Technica ATR-4697.

Cloud Computing


Cloud computing is old news by now. However, there are many who do not have Cloud computing -- or may not even know what it is. Cloud computing is integrated with my current operating system Xubuntu (Xfce-Ubuntu). The image shows that I just saved a file named Called to Mission, and that it was simultaneously synchronised with the Cloud. I'm not sure what the "2 other files" are -- perhaps automatic backups. That is, Called to Mission was sent to some place on the planet where it is now duplicated. So if I should boot up another Xubuntu computer with my name on it -- say in Fiji or India or Argentina -- Called to Mission would be there, just where I left off. And if the computer I am now using should be indisposed, Called to Mission would still be close to hand. The file could be accessed, too, through other operating systems e.g. Windows, although that would be just a little awkward.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

DRC Kareedouw


I took this photo in the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC, or NGK) Kareedouw, about 600km / 375mi east of Cape Town, where a past apartheid president, John Vorster, is buried on the grounds. The dominee said: "Stand against traditions! Laws! Teachings! You must do it! Don't ignore them. But love life-purity! Not letter-purity!" (in Afrikaans: leef-suiwerheid / leer-suiwerheid). OBSERVATION: I thought I took this acrobatic photo unobserved -- but look up at the balcony (you may click on the photo for VGA).

Monday, September 12, 2011

Special For Life

I conducted a service in another suburb. A woman came up to me and held onto my arm and spoke to me as though she'd known me all my life. Many years ago, I counselled her after a suicide attempt. There are relationships like this, where a minister meets people at the deepest level, and even if there is no more contact, they will remain special for life.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Photo Stitching

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Here are two examples of photo stitching, using free Linux tools -- Hugin on the left, and Fotoxx on the right. Both (here) stitch two photos vertically at the centre, and both are easy to use. You may click on the images to enlarge to 350k. There are some obvious differences. Hugin does a much better job fixing radial distortion, while Fotoxx does a much better job stitching. Fotoxx would shine where one has narrow-angle shots. The Church is St. Andrew's Church of England in Pinelands, Cape Town.