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plantteacher @mander.xyz
Posts 8
Comments 24
How to obtain the density (DPI / PPI) of a PGM file -- anyone know? ImageMagick does not cut it.
  • That was my intuition but then consider this bug in unpaper:

    https://github.com/unpaper/unpaper/issues/230

    I have a script that runs unpaper on PGM files. When the DPI is 600, that bug in unpaper is triggered, but no problem if the source is 300dpi. So it means there is a difference. Although I suppose it’s possible that it’s not really DPI that causes unpaper to produce a truncated image; it could come down to sheer number of pixels. Guess I could work that out by testing further with smaller source scans.

    The reason for my question is that I’d like to write my script to work around that bug. If a source file has more than 300 dpi, I would use ImageMagick instead of unpaper to do the bileveling.

    (update)
    I cropped a 600dpi image in half using GIMP. Then fed that into unpaper. The bug was not triggered and the full canvas was processed correctly. So I think you are right.. DPI is not a concept on PGM files. Which implies unpaper’s bug is simply a limitation on the number of pixels it can handle. It’s apparently incidental that scanning a full size page at 600 dpi results in more pixels than unpaper can handle.

  • Paperless office; document/image processing @sopuli.xyz plantteacher @mander.xyz

    How to obtain the density (DPI / PPI) of a PGM file -- anyone know? ImageMagick does not cut it.

    Running this gives the geometry but not the density: $ identify -verbose myfile.pgm | grep -iE 'geometry|pixel|dens|size|dimen|inch|unit' There is also a “Pixels per second” attribute which means nothing to me. No density and not even a canvas/page dimension (which would make it possible to compute the density). The “Units” attribute on my source images are “undefined”.

    Suggestions?

    4
    For Baby Guiness, are all coffee liquors acceptable? All creme liquors as well?
  • I’ve not heard of Conker. I think it’s not in my area. Looks interesting though particularly because they have a decaf version. Although the color makes it look weak:

    https://www.conkerspirit.co.uk/coffee-liqueur/

    The cocktail on that website involves just adding water and shaking. I think I would sooner brew coffee and add gin, than to dilute the shot.

  • Saffron: The Story of the World’s Most Expensive Spice - JSTOR Daily
  • For centuries, saffron has been a prized dye

    Bizarre that such a costly substance would be used as a dye for clothing. Why pay what’s likely the equivalent of HP ink when you can just get a box of Rit yellow dye at the supermarket?

    Surely the price will drop when someone figures out that drones can fly around and harvest the saffron.

  • Mixology - a place to share and discuss cocktail recipes @lemmy.federate.cc plantteacher @mander.xyz

    For Baby Guiness, are all coffee liquors acceptable? All creme liquors as well?

    Just wondering if anyone has made a Baby Guiness that turned out bad, or if any combinations should be avoided.

    Presumably all the rum and brandy based coffee liquors would be versatile with all creme liquors. But then I wonder if some likely to have a strong character might clash, for example:

    • Chouffe Coffee - brandy-enriched but also has McChouffe beer.
    • Sambuca (caffe zanin and Molinari Cafe) - IIUC both zanin and molinari have a black liquorish/anise taste, which seems like an unlikely mix with coffee in itself but then putting something like a crème brûlée flavored liquor or salted caramel Baileys sounds risky.
    • Patron XO Cafe - tequila-enriched coffee. I’m surprised to hear this is a popular variation of Baby Guiness but does tequila necessarily go with all the various creme liquors that would be coffee compatible?

    The cream liquors that would seem to deviate from neutrality:

    • Baileys salted caramel (says on the bottle not to mix with citric or acidic drinks.. hmm.. isn’t coffee acidic? I will try this on the Chouffe coffee as caramel and dark beer seem compatible)
    • Baileys tiramasu (though seems quite safe with coffee liquors)
    • Baileys? crème brûlée
    • Amarula -- marula spirit often described as a citrus-y orange creamsicle; recommended to consume <6 months after opening.. so shelf-stability not so great, thus likely dairy milk is involved but note that Baileys has a <2 yr guarantee, which implies whiskey might be a better stabilizer than marula despite both Baileys and Amarula having 17% alc.
    • vegan creme liquors tend to go in the coconut direction.. wonder if that’s dicey

    I guess my main question is about the two Sambuca coffees because I’m not sure whether to buy it. I’ll be experimenting with Chouffe Coffee anyway since I already have some of that.

    I’ve never had Amarula before. I’d like to know if it goes well on a baby guiness before buying. If not I might play it safer and go with the Baileys tiramasu. Amarula website says it’s good in tiramasu, which kind of implies it would do well on a baby guiness.

    2

    What kind of liquor is in Borgetti Di Vero Caffe Espresso?

    The website of the producer of this coffee liquor is useless for getting info about this product. Some digging around on 3rd party sites reveals that it’s made of 70% Arabica from South America and 30% Robusto from Africa, and that 3 different coffees are made in a giant moka machine (thus unfiltered) and blended. One source says it’s “steeped in grain alcohol, blended and sweetened with sugar. No coffee aromas, chocolate, extracts or distilled additives are added.”

    I cannot find any direct info as to what spirit is used. Coffee liquors are all over the map (rum, jenever, tequila, brandy, vodka, whisky, etc). If the source claiming use of grain alcohol is correct, I suppose that rules out rum, tequila, & brandy. Whiskey and jenever have a clear character. So I’m tempted to assume vodka is in play. Can anyone confirm or deny?

    1
    posts blackholed on the onion instance
  • As a test, I enabled js on the onion site and tried again to post from the onion connection. Again my message was simply blackholed. So noscript’s default disabling of JS is not the issue.

    (edit) then I posted from the clearnet site mader.xyz.. no issue. This problem is onion-specific.

  • posts blackholed on the onion instance

    I just got burnt. Wrote up a relatively high-effort post in:

    http://mandermybrewn3sll4kptj2ubeyuiujz6felbaanzj3ympcrlykfs2id.onion/c/water

    clicked sumbit, and it simply ate my msg. Redrew a blank form.. no way to recover the info loss. This is my 1st use of the onion, so I did not think to enable 1st party j/s (which is strangely off be default in noScript on Tor Browser despite clearnet sites having 1st party js enabled by default). It’s unclear if it’s a JS problem or if it’s because the onion version uses a quite old/classic reddit-like theme. In any case, it sucks.. it’s a defect for sure.

    1
    African elephants call each other by unique names, new study shows
  • I would assume the extent of the uniqueness is probably unknown at this point. The researchers probably meant uniqueness within a group. Though I suppose the population is small enough that the names could be unique globally.

  • Animal behavior @mander.xyz plantteacher @mander.xyz
    www.ctvnews.ca African elephants call each other by unique names, new study shows

    African elephants call each other and respond to individual names — something that few wild animals do, according to new research published Monday.

    African elephants call each other by unique names, new study shows
    3
    (US) the unnecessary-IV (swindle?) [update: price corrected to $600]
  • That would make sense. In Europe I got an IV just for blood samples. They could have been anticipating the possibility that I would need pain killers later, but seemed like it would have made more sense to use a normal needle and only do the IV if it came to the point of needing meds.

  • Loss of cooking skills has hurt our ability to adapt to rising food prices, experts say
  • .. or farmers trying to sell obscure things like celery root!

    seriously though, the article seems reasonable and balanced to me. E.g:

    • “Of course no amount of cooking prowess will help if you can't afford a basket of groceries”
    • “It's important to note, however, that cooking skills alone cannot solve the affordability problem”.
  • (US) the unnecessary-IV (swindle?)

    Hospitals will often give patients an IV as an automatic procedure and then use it for just one blood draw or injection, or even not use it at all. Then charge ≥$60 600¹ for it (in the US)!

    I went to the ER in Europe and got an automatic IV. They only used it to take blood and nothing else. So I took notes and prepared for a dispute. When the invoice finally came, I found no charge for the IV. But had to probe because I’m the type that will fight over a nickel on principle. I asked for details on some of the doctor’s fees, since it was not itemized separately. After my investigation, it turns out the IV was bundled in but only €6. LOL. So insignificant indeed.

    Not sure if it’s fair to call it a swindle in the US. Is it typically a deliberate money-grab when the IV is not really needed? Staff are (generally rightfully) unaware of pricing and just focused on giving the best care for the patient independent of cost. And for insured people that’s ideal. But I often steer the staff, saying I’m an uninsured cash payer and need price quotes and to asses the degree of need on various things. It’s a burden on them but it’s important to me. I have gotten discharged a day early on a couple occasions (which generally saves me ~$/€ 1k each day I avoid).

    Funny side story: a doc who I steered well toward budget treatment pulls out his smartphone with a gadget that does an echo. He said this is free but unofficial… maybe we can get out of the pricey proper echo imaging. And indeed the pics were good enough.

    Anyway - to the question:

    Whether to give an IV involves guesswork on whether more things will need to be injected. Do docs have any criteria to follow when ordering an IV, or is it their full discretion and they just order it for convenience without much thought?

    1. $60 was the price ~15-20 years ago.. probably even more today. CORRECTION: the ER nurse in my family apparently tells patients who possibly don’t need an IV that the cost on the bill will be $600 (as a good samaritan warning). I don’t have direct contact with this family member.. heard it through someone else. Can any other ER nurses in the US confirm whether that’s accurate? I am really struggling to believe this price and wonder if someone’s memory failed. I think if I were quoted that price I would surely say for that price I do not need it.. feel free to stick me 10-20 times if needed. (update 2: seems realistic)
    3
    Dishwasher guide: salt will harm the stainless steel lining. What about salt water in stainless steel pots?
  • If you read the whole thread, I would not have to spell this out. These are preservatives (source):

    • honey
    • salt
    • garlic
    • sugar
    • ginger
    • sage
    • rosemary
    • sage
    • mustard
    • mustard seed
    • cumin
    • black pepper
    • turmeric
    • cinnamon
    • cardamom
    • cloves
    • vinegar
    • citric acid
    • lemon/lime juice

    They generally work by killing/repelling/deterring microbes that to a notable extent happen to be of the unwanted variety. Before yesterday, I thought salt worked similarly to the others on that list. Yesterday I learnt that salt is uniquely functions as a preservative due to a different mechanism (a drying effect).

    Your logic is nonsense. To claim that because substance X does not kill /everything/, it cannot serve as a preservative -- this is broken logic that you brought to the thread. Nothing on that list of food preservatives kills or deters every microbe - not even every harmful microbe. Of course they selectively mitigate /some of/ “the bad bacteria” (but note it’s a bit straw mannish for you to use the article “the” in your phrasing imply /all/ unwanted microbes). Most preservatives mitigate enough unwanted microbes without unacceptable overkill to beneficial microbes to justify use as a preservative. They are selected as preservatives for this reason. Foods that fail to significantly select against unwanted microbes (i.e. most foods) don’t get tagged as a preservative. How are you not grasping this?

    You also have noteworthy bad assumption: that evolution does not happen outside of the ocean. The claim that because life started in the ocean, the ocean is therefore suitable for everything -- this is bogus. Try putting a freshwater fish in the ocean. If a complex organism can evolve to become intolerant to the environment of its ancestors, why wouldn’t microbes also evolve to develop intolerances?

  • Dishwasher guide: salt will harm the stainless steel lining. What about salt water in stainless steel pots?
  • Actually that logic is broken IMO. A food preservative need not make life impossible for all organisms. E.g. hops (and consequential acidity) preserves beer to some extent by making life hard for some unwanted organisms. But hops do not kill everything (of course, because you intend to drink the beer). Beer can still spoil despite the hops.

    But as I said in my correction, salt works as a preservative through a drying effect, which I did not previously realize (TIL).

  • Dishwasher guide: salt will harm the stainless steel lining. What about salt water in stainless steel pots?
  • Well it’s not actually clear to me whether the soft water is to protect the dishwasher, or to make cleaning more effective. Soft water dissolves soap better which makes it more effective in cleaning. It also means I can use powdered detergent (which is cheaper than liquid detergent, but in hard water powder doesn’t perform as well). Soft water has the down side that it’s actually /more prone/ to corrosion than hard water (at least according to youtube plumbers). So I’m tempted to conclude the built-in water softener is just for cleaning effectiveness.

  • Dishwasher guide: salt will harm the stainless steel lining. What about salt water in stainless steel pots?
  • Starchy water sitting around is a breading ground for bacteria. Don’t do that.

    That water is brine, if you do it right. Salt is a good preservative. I’ve tested it with up to 2 reuses.

    Also, dishwashers don’t clean with salt water. They use the salt to reset their internal water softener.

    Not sure why you thought I thought dishwashers clean with salt water. The manual’s advice was to mitigate salt grains that did not get into the salt reservoir that would sit on the stainless steel potentially for days.

  • Dishwasher guide: salt will harm the stainless steel lining. What about salt water in stainless steel pots?
  • Ah, I wondered if I needed to explain that, since dishwashers in N.America do not take salt. European dishwashers tend to have built-in water softeners (because it’s somewhat uncommon to have whole house water softeners). So we periodically have to fill a salt reservoir in the dishwasher to feed the water softener.

  • Dishwasher guide: salt will harm the stainless steel lining. What about salt water in stainless steel pots?

    The manual for my dishwasher says to refill salt just before running a wash cycle, because if any grains of salt spill onto the stainless steel interior it will corrode. If it runs right away, no issue because the salt is quickly dissolved, diluted, and flushed.

    So then I realized when I cook pasta I heavily salt the water (following the advice that pasta water should taste as salty as the ocean). But what happens when I leave that highly salty brine in a pot, sometimes for a couple days to reuse it? Does that risk corroding the pots?

    18

    Should universities be self-sufficient and independent? Or dependent on Google/MS?

    In the 90s campus to me was like a small city that was self-sufficient in a lot of ways. The school provided its own services in-house. A prof also told me he would teach us what industry is doing wrong so we can correct it -- that academia was ahead of industry. The school chose the best tools and languages for teaching, not following whatever industry was using.

    These concepts seem to be getting lost. These are some universities who have lost the capability of administrating their own email service:

    • mit.edu → mit-edu.mail.protection.outlook.com
    • unm.edu → unm-edu.mail.protection.outlook.com
    • ucsc.edu → aspmx.l.google.com
    • ucsb.edu → aspmx.l.google.com
    • cmu.edu → aspmx.l.google.com
    • princeton.edu → princeton-edu.mail.protection.outlook.com

    I have to say it’s a bit embarrassing that these schools have made themselves dependent on surveillance capitalists for something as simple as email. It’s an educational opportunity lost. Students should be maintaining servers.

    These lazy schools have inadvertently introduced exclusivity. That is, if a student is unwilling to pawn themselves to privacy-abusing corps who help oil¹ companies find oil to dig for, they are excluded from the above schools if required to have the school’s email account.

    Schools pay for MATlab licenses because that’s what’s used in industry. But how is that good for teaching? It’s closed-source, so students are blocked from looking at the code. It contradicts education both because the cost continuously eats away budget and also the protectionist non-disclosure. A school that leads rather than follows would use GNU Octave.

    Have any universities rejected outsourcing, needless non-free software, and made independence part of the purpose?

    1. Google and Microsoft both use AI to help oil companies decide where to drill.
    8