Seam carving for content aware image resizing, a video demo of an interesting method of repurposing images for different display sizes. Neat stuff, though I’m guessing many art photographers and photojournalists may find some of its altering aspects a little dubious. Via Virbana on Jaiku.

Yritysten ip-osoitteista tulleita Wikipedia-muutoksia koskevassa jutussa on kaksi oivallista löytöä:

“Tietoenatorin osalta paljastui yksittäinen ip-osoite, jolla on tehty 130 lähes pelkästään jääkiekkoilijoita koskevaa muutosta.

Huhtikuussa 2005 ex-kansanedustajan Jari Vilenin suomenkielisestä henkilödokumentista poistettiin gradun plagiointia koskeva osuus. Wikipedian ylläpito huomasi muokkaajan ip-osoitteen kuuluvan eduskunnalle ja palautti artikkelin alkuperäiseen muotoon.”

True to Slashdot, the discussion on the new Firehose service wildly spins off into a debate on the origin of the idiom “to drink from a firehose”. Some recognized it from the cult movie UHF, while others testily retorted that it’s been common parlance at MIT since way back when.

I got a kick out of this comment by Gulthek. Here’s the last paragraph:

“To bite the bullet is 1700s military slang, from old medical custom of having the patient bite a bullet during an operation to divert attention from pain and reduce screaming. To bite (one’s) tongue “refrain from speaking” is 1593. To bite the dust “die” is 1750. To bite off more than one can chew (c.1880) is U.S. slang, from plug tobacco.”

Oh yes, I’m back from Norway. The trip went well. I saw old friends, I made new friends. If you speak Finnish, listen to a report on the trip by an old friend.