"I'm a changed man". I often think about this quote from the movie Shawshank redemption, wherein a prisoner (Morgan Freeman) quotes this every time he gets interviewed by the parole board.

But I do feel a changed man - 2 weeks ago I had a gallstone attack and ended up in hospital for a week. Couldn't eat anything, couldn't even have water the first 4 days, just suck ice cubes. Tell you what, it does clear out your system - and when I finally got out I found I possessed the ideal weight for my height. Now I'm too scared to eat anything fatty until they will remove the bladder sometime in January. So ironically, this attack may be a blessing in disguise - forcing me to go on a good diet thereby sparing me of worse diseases later in life.

Being the first time in hospital for a length of time, I would have been pleasantly surprised hadn't I felt so sick. Being a public hospital, things were very 'socialistic'. Sickness brings everyone down to the same level, leading to some interesting social interactions - I made some good friends with sufferers of Alzheimer's, gallstones and cancer of the liver. But the greatest experience of all were the nurses - I developed a huge respect for these 'angels' that are prepared to put up with the heart wrenching noises and pungent stenches, day in day out. They seem to cope with it by endlessly chattering between each other and using humour. As far as I'm concerned, our body is the most precious thing we possess, and nurses look after theses bodies - so nursing must be the noblest profession of all. Especially since they get paid peanuts in Australia.

Talking about peanuts, that's what sparked on my attack, a mixture of peanuts and white chocolate. Both fatty foods which as we shall see is not a good thing.

The gallbladder is a reservoir that stores the bile that is produced by the liver. The bile is a mixture of water, salts, and cholesterol. When there's too much cholesterol, then stones can be produced. Gallstones are also known to be hereditary.

When eating fatty foods, the liver supplies bile directly into the small intestine to help dissolve it (like detergent). But when there's lots of fatty foods then the gallbladder gets squeezed a bit to supply some extra bile to aid digestion.

Of course, when the gallbladder gets squeezed, and there's a big stone in there, that's when you get the pains (gallbladder attack). If the stones are broken up, or small, then the stones may travel through the 'tubes' causing a more piercing pain (which comes and goes). Mine didn't do that - the pain just started like a mild indigestion which became stronger and stronger until it becomes so unbearable that you know this isn't merely an indigestion and you call the hospital. Gallstone attacks, by the way, always seem to come on at night (around 2 o'clock).

Having the gallbladder out is no big drama - as I said, the liver still supplies bile to the small intestines. The drawback of not having a galbladder is an uncomfortable burping after eating excessive fatty foods, and some people get frequent diarrhea-like bowel movements.

Gallstone attacks are more frequent than apendicitis, statistically one in evey four women and one in every five men get it. One last thing, beware of the so-called alternative remedies - the 'stones' they claim to flush out into the feaces are not the gallstones but a crystalisation of the very substances they use to flush (typically blue in colour).

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It's been a while since I read a decent novel - always getting sidetracked by non-fiction stuff. So when I read Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-5" while holidaying in Melbourne (Australia), I was reminded of what it was like to be 'in someone's head' and the effect that crafty use of language has on you. Here are some great lines from this little book (the novel's main character, Billy Pilgrim, experiences life totally out of synch):

There was a crippled man down there, as spastic in space as Billy Pilgrim was in time.

Everybody turned into a baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposed.

All this responsibility at such an early age made her a bitchy flibbertigibbet.

He didn't look like a soldier at all. He looked like a filthy flamingo.

She celebrated frustration by clapping her hands.

A guard knocked on a door. The door was flung open from the inside. Light leaped out through the door, escaped from prison at 186,000 miles per second.

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Julian Beever, world-famous street chalk artist draws these works on the pavement using perspective to achieve a 3D effect. It's hard to believe that this drawing is flat on the pavement. Also amazing that it's all done in chalk - so by the next rain it will be gone. There's lots of him on the web, such as this website. You can also see him producing one of these works in a time-lapsed video on this youtube video. Originally from Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, he used to be a Punch and Judy showman, before discovering his talent as a street artist in the 1980s. He is now based in Belgium.

Another famous chalk artist is Kurt Wenner.

The technique applied here is called anamorphosis. Though generally thought of as an invention from the Renaissance, anamorphoscopes were invented in China and brought to Italy in the 16th century, about the time Renaissance artists like Leonardo da Vinci were mastering 3D and discovering slant anamorphosis. The earliest record we have is Leonardo Da Vinci's eye - a simple sketch which is greatly elongated, but looks normal when viewed from a particular angle.
The Renaissance painter, Holbein (a friend of Erasmus) included an anamorphic skull to his famous painting, The Ambassadors - the skull is located at the lower-center of the painting. If the painting is hung on the wall of a staircase, the skull becomes visible when approached from above or below. The painting symbolizes that despite all the great inventions and innovations, death remains the master.

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This is an article I started writing last year and somehow never got to finish until now. I don't edit video all that often so it's good to have a record on how to go about it for next time. The editing software I use here requires some scripting, but nothing too difficult. Probably the most intriguing section is the one on editing a movie from DVD and burning it back to DVD. You can read all about it here.

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The Piano Groove Tutor mentioned below can be tried out now. A separate page has been devoted to this here. It has a Web Start link, meaning you just need to click a button and the program should start up on your computer - that is, if everything goes to plan. The page also discusses some of the problems you may encounter and has a comments forum for you to give your findings. Even though this is only a small program, once you start deploying applications over the Internet there are many things that can go wrong due to the variety of computers, operating systems, etc out there - hence the comments box for feedback. If you've got a minute, try it out and let me know how you went.

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If internet communication is your thing then Ajax (Asynchronous Javascript And XML) is one of these topics that is bound to fascinate you. The term Asynchronous in the acronym points to the fact that data exchange between client and server can happen on the fly, meaning you don't need to download a whole page each time you click a form for example. Ajax allows you to fetch just the info required and display it. All of this can happen in the background whithout you noticing. Ajax has the capability of greatly improving data transfer over the web as well as make web surfing more user-friendly. I'm currently writing about this topic - sort of illustrating this technique using examples. The article mainly centers around programming but if that's not your thing you still may want to try out the examples on that page. If you have warmed, aim here.

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What originally started off as a mild interest in the Java.sound API flourished into a little brainstorm during these last weeks, the result of which is this little application. The GUI design feels natural and contains all the features I wanted. Sure there are many midi applications out there but I've seen none that aim specifically at piano groove practicing. I wrote an article about it, mainly so I wouldn't forget the implementation issues I encountered. These issues are not only relevant to the Java Midi engine but also discusses more general topics such as interacting with GUIs created with Java's Matisse engine and substiting Java's lack of support for dynamic variables with HashMaps. All in all, the program's use of midi files and well-formatted music scores are all one needs to create a very good practicing environment. You can read my article on this application here.

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An unrelated feature in the article mentioned above is the cool code formatting using syntaxHighlighter. It is written entirely using Javascript. You can find it on their website.
The article mentioned above illustrates the java formatting, while this one shows how it formats C code. I particularly like the print feature, although you need to close a popup window before you can do that.

Also been investigating a special branch of Javascript, called Ajax, or Asynchronous Javascript. This is particularly powerful in combination with something like PHP. I'm hoping to implement a 'Comments' functionality on this site using these tools in the near future. Though I've only just started work on this article, you can have a peak at it here. As always, I welcome any feedback on the forum.

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Just finished imnplementing an Order Form on Ajak's website - to sell her CDs on-line. You can view it here (and err ... buy some CDs while you're there). All shopping particulars, such as prices, quantities and postage are calculated using Javascript, which is executed locally on the client's computer. This has the advantage of being very quick. After clicking checkout, the order information is sent to a secure banking server. The shopping system is also adaptable to any banking service you choose to use.
Why not implement your own banking service you ask, well for starters that would mean I need a static IP which allows me to use the secure http protocol https. It would also make me liable for any lawsuits ... ohlala - (:(

I chose to use Paypal for my banking service because they're possible the most widely used system - I have been using it for quite a while and never have had hassles with it. Mind you, they're not there for altruistic reasons - slicing about 2.4 percent off your earnings - which amounts to about $1 for a $30 CD.

Next stage is to implement a server-side checking system. Paypal uses a service called IPN - in which they send the buyer's data (minus the banking details) to your server in order for you to do some verification. Paypal also offers you a sandbox in which you can try out your shopping transactions virtually.

This Order form, by the way, is quite adaptable to suit other purposes - if anyone is interested ... Like it wouldn't take much to add photos, links, etc ...

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I recently acquired this synth when in desparate need for a lightweight keyboard. Korg in my view uses the best system of synthesis. It uses real samples as its oscilators. So it's a great combination of analog samples with digital synthesis. Mine is in the cheap range (X5D) - but has great acoustic bass, accordion, and piano sounds. To prove the point, here's a little salsa ditty demonstrating how the Korg would sound like in a live performance: left hand playing acoustic bass, and right hand piano. The percussion loop is using sampler sounds - all this is directed from the Korg synth:
Download (right click) or listen to (left click) Korg Salsa sample

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'Bell's Theorem' has been described as the 'most profound discovery of science' (not just physics) and many people seem to agree. This theory basically proves that reality is non-local and thus validates Schrodinger's notion of 'entanglement' (great word), i.e. when 2 quantum systems meet and then separate, they still remain connected somehow, even when they are lightyears apart.
A good starting point is Gary Felder's article Spooky Action at a Distance.
A more detailed description can be found at this link.

• Each radio-active decay has a total spin of zero: if one electron is spin up, its companion is spin down.
• Measuring the spin of one electron changes its state by forcing it to be aligned along the direction we meausure in.
• Measurement of one electron changes the state of the other one.

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To keep your computer secure from the web it needs a good firewall. The famous Polish hacker's magazine, Hakin9 in its 2/2007 edition did some firewall leak tests. Each firewall application underwent 24 different leak tests. Windows Firewall XP /SP 2 passed NONE of them. Zonealarm Pro passed 22 of them. That should speak for itself.

I've used the free version of Zonealarm for a long time now and love the way it notifies you each time an application wants to access the internet, you can then tell it to always allow this application to use the internet, or only once, or never. This way a database is build up that's adapted to your needs. In contrast, we have Windows firewall at work, and I NEVER get notified of anything at all - though arguably you probably can set that option somewhere, but then, I shouldn't have to.

Next you need good anti-virus software. AVG Free hits the mark. Same story, had it for a long time, and never any hassles. It updates its database every day and runs smoothly in the background. Now and then a warning will spring up, often because of a Trojan Horse virus which was hiding within a dubious application downloaded from the net.

There is something to be said for low-cost applications. I like WEBROOT. They have 2 low cost applications, around the 20 dollar mark. There is Spy Sweeper which gets rid of annoying spyware which hijack your browser, sends info over the internet, sets cookies, etc. It proved to be the only spy sweeper that could get rid of an annoying browser hijacker I once had. That was some 3 years ago, since then I have had none.

The other Webroot application is Window Washer. Window Washer gets rid of files which compromise your security such as the log files that keep track of all your visits to the internet (including the more spicy ones you've accessed ... accidentally of course). But it does much more than that - it lists all the applications that keep logs and allows you to empty them. It also sports a Shredder and bleacher which shreds your sensitive files. As we all know, deleted files are easy to recover. A shredder overwrites each byte of these sensitive data with random characters (several times) so no trace is left of the original (though I wonder what that does to your hard drive...). My first time use of Window Cleaner wiped out 5 GB of log files on my computer!

And we shouldn't have to repeat ourselves but here goes again, don't use Internet Explorer - get firefox it's much more secure and versatile.

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Last Saturday, we played at a benefit concert, named Love Africa Spring Ball. The concert took place at the Albert Hall in Launceston, Tasmania. This was organised by the doctors without borders. People turned out in droves, which amazed us since the tickets were $110 each. For that they had the pleasure of listening to our music, have some African food prepared by Africans, and have a dance afterwards.

I took this photo at the hotel we were staying at. From left to right, we have reggae-man Maxwell, the percussionist - guitarist Eshak from Sudan who can play these fast Congolese guitar riffs as heard in the Soukous style - and a long-time friend of mine, Ajak, the lead singer, also from Sudan. It was Ajak who organised the concert and whose songs we performed. I played keyboards and percussion.

After the concert, back in our hotel room we had a great discussion about the situation in Africa - all three of them have a vast knowledge of African politics. It was a great privilege to play with these well-seasoned musicians. I like the way they hear the little nuances in rhythm - nuances of which they sometimes have to remind me in no uncertain terms.

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In my entry on the minidisc, I was contemplating building a stereo electret microphone amplifier. This is the result - and though I haven't done any thorough testing yet, I'm very happy with the quality of the sound. The original idea of including a bargraph was dispensed with for the very reason that the minidisc already has this functionality (its input line level can be adjusted). The idea of using one dual opamp NE5532 was replaced with using 2 individual opamps NE5534 which account for lower noise and better stereo separation. I intent to write a separate article on this, including all the design considerations and circuit diagrams. For now, here are its major features:

• In-built quality electret microphones (2) and connector for external stereo microphone (plugging in an external microphone disconnects the in-built ones).
• Circuit design ensures great 'overhead', meaning it can accurately record very loud as well as very soft sounds, i.e. it records over a wide dynamic range.
• Big long-lasting 9v battery with diode protection.
• 2 Level settings, 20 dB for recording high volumes of music such as band performances or 'close-up' recording (to avoid background noise) and 40 dB for general use.
• Sturdy housing - all aluminium box which provides total shielding from noisy EM environment (such as stage lights and the like).
• Cool blue led!

This is quite a powerful recording system even though it may not look like much. Remember that the minidisc is capabale of pcm recording (CD quality) and that this microphone preamp is studio quality. The characteristics of this mic preamp far exceeds those of most minidiscs who have microphone input. These suffer from clipping of the dynamic range due to a lack of available voltage to feed the electrets.

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Helmut Walcha - the infamous German organist, born in 1907 - made a whole series of recordings of J.S. Bach's organworks - all 165 of them in fact (give or take a few). He made 2 series of these recordings - this one was recorded between 1947 and 1952. Amazingly, he was blind and played all these works from memory. It is mind-boggling to me how the brain can remember and execute more than 10 hours of very complex interwoven music. This series of 10 CDs, featuring all of Bach's organ works, is available on ebay for the price of 1 CD. (As a friend so insightfully remarked, I've become an ebay whore.) What I like most about these CDs is that you can actually distinguish the individual voices - they don't get lost in a jumble of echoes, as is so often the case with organ recordings, not in the least due to his use of Baroque organs and the excellent recording technique applied - as I repeatedly observe, we all have beautiful technology, but few of us know how to use it. Add to this the excellent playing technique, the soul, and the outstanding sound quality (considering it's been recorded some 60 years ago), and we're having quite a masterpiece here... Follow this link for more on Helmut Walcha.

From an early age I have been drawn towards Bach's organ works - I vividly remember my uncle, Frans Stout (the ever gentle man we used to call nonkel Sus), taking me several times to visit his brother's home, followed up with a trip to one of his organ concerts. His name was Alfons Stout, and I was so full of admiration I didn't dare speaking to him. On a more personal level I remember both him and his wife displaying warm affection towards each other - not the custom in those days! He also had a very deep voice - I distinctly remember the furniture vibrating when he spoke!

At these organ concerts, I had the privilege of being allowed to stand behind him, watching him perform - Even though I couldn't comprehend much of this music, I knew I was witnessing something great and didn't dare miss a beat. At one of these concerts, his wife accidentally skipped a page when turning the sheet music - his head became bright red while this music just kept on flowing - eventually the mistake was rectified, and no one ever new that this little catastrophe ever took place. That, I thought, was quite cool.

If anyone knows more about this amazing organist that lived in Antwerp, Belgium - please drop me a note.

Addition 06 July 2007

And a note has been dropped - thanks to my father who remembers a little more about him. So here is a translated and slightly adapted version from Flemish.

He (Alfons Stout) was indeed a musician pur sang. He studied at the Lemmens Institute, originally located in Mechelen (roughly halfway between Antwerp and Brussels). The Lemmens institute was the brain-child of Jaak Lemmens, who lived in the Kempen in the Flanders. It was originally a school for organists but soon grew to a more general school of music of high repute. The school eventually moved to Leuven, one of Belgium's greatest university cities.

Alfons, or Fons as people used to call him, was organist in the Kristus-Koningkerk in Antwerp. His income was very modest but this didn't discourage him from living his music - though it may have contributed to the disolution of his marriage to Irma, his first wife who bore him two daughters. He soon lost contact and seldom saw his daughters since.

Some years later he became acquainted with a new lady who became his 'soul-mate'. She bought him a church-organ which they installed in their hired appartment in Antwerp.

[I remember seeing this organ, pipes and all, which looked enourmous in their living room which also sprouted an Ehrard grand piano. They apparently had to knock out a wall so they could move it in to their living room].

I witnessed several of his concerts at the Carolus Borromeuskerk in Antwerp. It was a very beautiful and well-known Jesuit Baroque church, located at the Conscienceplein in Antwerp. It regularly featured masses performed by famous musician artists. Alfons Stout played there with the internationally renowned violonist Versmissen.

Addition 07 October 2008

Yet another addition from my father who found this photo (displayed in the paragraph above) of a youthfull me with Alfons Stout on his Ehrard grand piano.

Addition 24 December 2008

More information kindly provided by Joz Bal from Belgium. Read his elaborations on the have your say forum.

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Just recently, me and a musician-friend were in the market for a high quality, cheap, digital, in-the-field recording system, capabale of recording things like band practices, meetings, etc. The minidisc came to mind and a quick surf to ebay revealed this beauty: the Sony MZ NH600 - it stands apart from many others by virtue of its low cost price - only A$100 (61 Euro). The only drawback being the lack of a low level microphone input, even though it has Line and Optical Line input. But then, it's really no big deal to add a little preamp and a stereo microphone. The microphone is the heart of a good audio system, so it makes sense to put your eggs in that basket. A stereo preamplifier (with or without built-in mic) can also be found on ebay for about A$45 (27 Euro). May ebay be praised and bringeth us many years of blissful joy.

Not really expecting much of this unit when it arrived, I soon realised that this thing is actually quite good, plus you get a whole assortment of accessories: minidisc carry-bag, batteries with battery charger, various leads, a 110 page manual, outlining the many capabilities this minidisc player has, and 5 mini discs.

Given enough time I plan to build a little minidisc 'desk' with bargraph and volume control. This in combination with a good stereo mic should give me exactly what I want. For electronics buffs out there, I would use a NE5532 opamp with 2 LM3915 bargraph chips using LMV324 rectifiers - as adviced to me by our electronics engineer. Schematics are easy to find on the web as are the many stereo microphones (though the mics should have windscreens for outside recording). Hope to give you more on this in a further article.

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Just finished designing our company's web site. Simple but effective I believe. As it goes with web sites, this is only a skeleton of what's to come. Eventually we will have to include a database, general information pages, etc. Also, chances are that everything will eventually be converted to PHP for ease of interaction and general updating capability.

The site features a few interesting things, such as a cgiemail script to send form data to an email address, and restricted access to sensitive pages that require username and password - nothing out of the ordinary really. Even if you have no interest in ophthalmology (what?), visit our website here and let me know what you think.

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I've always loved Bach's music - and through the years I've been working on a small and humble repertoire of some of his favourite keyboard works. Reasoning that it would be nice to have a record of this I produced some video and audio of me playing these works, using a webcam. The whole performance only lasts about half an hour and features 12 of my favourite pieces. The recording itself didn't take long - about one day; the video was recorded using Microsoft's DirectShow AmCap application, and the audio with Cubase. The quality of webcam video is a little ho-hum but it suits the purposes for video over the web.

Finding the right software for editing and pasting the clips was harder - I ended up needing 2 different types of software: one that can edit and mix video and audio, and one that can create a DVD. After trying several packages, I decided on Video Edit Magic for editing purposes and Blaze Media Pro for DVD creation.

After creating the individual video files, I uploaded them to YouTube. This is a great repository for people to post their videos and others to comment on. Better still, it is easy to link those clips to your web page. The big advantage is that you don't need to store these large files on your web server (which costs money), and it doesn't hurt to get feedback from others (bar the nutcases), though you can prevent others from commenting on your videos on YouTube if you wish so. Anyway, the result can be seen on my favourite Bach performances page.

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The picture above shows my recently acquired 5 string banjo which is quite valuable. It is a 1890's P. Matthews fretless 5 string banjo. I bought this on ebay, and later found out that it is worth twice the price. The only problem is that playing the fretless is harder than I thought. So I am considering trading it in for a normal one that has frets ...

Following information on the banjo will eventually get its own page - just writing some notes here for now ...

Most people associate the 5-string banjo with Country and Bluegrass - but that's only part of the story - listening to people like Bela Fleck and the late John Hartford should broaden that view quite a bit. Other people smirk at the mere mention of the word 'banjo' - associating it with this Yankee Doodle image, but that's really showing their ignorance (so from now on there'll be no more smirking) - the banjo, after all, was brought into America by African slaves. There's much information to be found regarding the origin of this instrument. Following is a little snapshot.

Africa boasts many instruments made from gourd (dried shell of a fruit) and animal skin - one of the most famous one being the kora which stems from Mali in West Africa and has 21 strings. Other instruments that are more banjo-like are the Kontingo, the Xhalam, and the Ngoni from Mali, and the Buchundu which is played by the Manjog people in Gambia. But the one instrument that has most in common with the modern banjo is most likely the Akonting, which is played by the Jola people in Gambia. Though it only has three strings, it sports a major feature of the 5 string banjo: the short string on top of the neck - the so-called 5th string. And what makes it even more likely to be the father of today's banjos is the playing style - very much like the old-time clawhammer, technique, also called frailing. This technique is a little too complicated to describe (I can see another project coming on - using video recording).

These last 5 years or so I have been hanging around with some African musicians, and one day I heard someone play a recording of some Sudanese music. It really caught my attention because it sounded so much like banjo, not only the sound but also the manner it was played in. You can hear an excerpt of this recording here.

A reference to the origin of the word banjo can be found in Thomas Jefferson's notes on African American music in Notes on the State of Virginia (1781):

"The instrument proper to them is the banjar, which they brought hither from Africa...."

A great article on the subject of banjo ancestors can be found on shlomo music

A 4-string gourd banjar in one of the oldest known depictions of an early gourd banjo in America. The Old Plantation (detail), anonymous folk painting, circa 1790. Courtesy of The Abbey Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, Williamsburg, VA

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The Vision Instruments team

This is the team currently working on the Portable Retinal Camera (shown naked - upper right). The camera will be released by the end of this year (2007).

What's the use of this retinal camera you ask? Suffice to say that the retina is the only place in the body where blood vessels are visible. The condition of these blood vessels give a good indication as to the general condition of a person's blood circulation - e.g. poor blood circulation points to diabetes. Of course, retinal cameras are chiefly used by opthalmologists to diagnose abnormalities pertaining to the eye. The portability, ease of use, and relative cheap cost of the retinal camera enables health workers to use it in 'less developed' areas.

As an aside, the red-eye problem in photography is due to the fact that the flash is close to the camera and hence the light is reflected from people's retinas. You can even determine the size of their pupils which tend to narrow as they age. To remedy this generally unwanted effect, the flash should be held some distance from the camera.

From left to Right, we have ...

• Ian, who is currently finishing his degree in electronics engineering and does help out in electronics affairs using his youthfull wit, proving the point that people are getting smarter each generation.
• Me, who is in charge of computing, programming and CAD design.
• Electronics engineer Chris - the brain behind the electronics - and then some - can teach me a thing or two about embedded C programming.
• Mechanical engineer and inventor Greg, the CEO of the company - used to work for the department of defence. Also a keen sailor (like Einstein), but foremost a man whose main aim is to do good to the environment. He won first price in the New Inventors competition on ABC tv.

Later additions

Article about our retinal camera that appeared in the Friday Mercury, 18 May 2007

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Computer Rescue

We have been plagued by computer failure these last few weeks, possibly due to a combination of electric storms and general system instability and who knows what else - solar flares? - planet alignments? - It all started with someone accidentally switching off the power at work just as the computer was in the process of downloading from the Internet. Following a restart, 2 problems arose:

1. My USB stick giving the "insert disk" error each time I try to connect it to a computer.
2. The CD player not being able to record (though it still could read).

Regarding the first mishap, I had to resign myself to the fact that the USB drive was beyond repair. The second problem I bypassed by installing free disk management software. This after trying, without success, to follow the advice in MS's article Window's Burning Secrets.

Next, on my home computer, I discovered I couldn't boot up Windows XP; it would start up fine but eventually stall just before the logon screen. I managed to get to the Recovery Console and use the DOS commands to replace the files in \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG with the files from \WINDOWS\REPAIR, following the advice given in MS's How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting. That sort of fixed it, XP would boot up again, however now I couldn't start several of my programs.

I finally decided to reinstall XP and all my favourite programs and packages, some 40 of them, which took me the best part of the weekend. This time making sure to record each program's particulars, such as location and various installation issues.
Reinstalling XP is problematic if you're having an OEM version, i.e. when XP comes bundled with the computer. The only way is to use someone else's full XP version to make the first installation and then use your valid recovery disk (that came with the system) to recover this installation. You will have to input your license number again, and re-register. Though it's a hassle, I have re-registered my XP about 5 times now and never had a hassle even after extensive hardware changes.

Two days later, electric storm, power blackout ... same thing happened, couldn't boot into windows. Worse still, my graphics card finally gave the ghost, having been making strange noises lately. Realising I just wasted a whole weekend, I went out to get myself a 500 VA Uninterrupted Power supply (UPS) which is essentially an emergency power backup that immediately takes over when a power failure occurs. It also filters out any voltage spikes. It is a Powerware 5110, which is sufficient for one decent size computer system. I also got a Vantec external Hard drive that can be connected to a LAN or a USB. This has now become my backup system.

Regarding backups

One thing that people seem to be confused about is that there are essentially 2 types of backup programs: The general Data backup which does just that, and the Hard Drive Image backup. The implementation of these 2 modes are very different so you'll find that you really need 2 backup programs.
To clarify, the Data backup program does what it says, it backs what you would regard as your usual data. the Hard Drive Image backup makes an exact copy of your harddrive. This is not just the usual data you want to back up, but all the system files, registry files, you name it. Once you have this image, you can overwrite the harddrive with this or load it to a new harddrive, and your system will be like it was just before your last backup.

Backup software

As regards software I would recommend the freely downloadable Cobian for the first type of backup. For the imaging software, DriveImage XML works fine at work, but comes up with CRC errors on my system. For this reason I downloaded Acronis True Image and this seems to do the job. So far I haven't come accross free Imaging software that allows you to recover the image to a smaller harddrive. So, this time I don't see a 'freeware solution', I may have to pay the 70 A$. Anyone who knows of free imaging sw, please share this knowledge by using the have Your Say page.

A quick update on TrueImage. Just encoutered a problem regarding booting with its booting disk. The system comes up with an error Kernel Bug at generic.c. Will follow this up.

Java Imaging APIs and Netbeans

Spent the week at work researching Medical Imaging software and writing a requirement document to implement our own software regarding 'Iris Scan manipulation'. So far, I have decided on using Java with the Java Advanced Imaging (JAI) and the ImageIO APIs. A good platform to use seems to be the latest Netbeans.

BartPE

In my search for rescue disks, I came accross BartPE, which is a standalone XP Pre-Installed Bootable CD It allows you to boot up your system with a CD and use the various plugins to do repairs etc. It is extensively supported on the Internet and many big manufacturers provide BartPE plugin versions of their software. Some great BartPE links:

• BartPE Plugins Repository
  
• BartPE nu2 Plugins
  
• Create Network Plugins

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Just returned from a week at Lake St Clair, a wilderness area about 3 car-driving hours from Hobart. The area has much cultural significance since Australian Aborigines (an estimated 600 of them) used to occupy the area. They called the lake Leeawuleena, meaning Sleeping water. (The water wasn't so sleepy on my return trip though, a steady wind coming from the North blew me, kayak and all, back home where it new I belonged). But I guess it is rather sleepy because it's the deepest natural lake in Australia (up to 200 meters) and was formed when several glaciers converged to carve a deep rock basin during the last 2 million years. In December 1982, along with other parts of the Tasmanian Wilderness, the Cradle Mountain - Lake St Clair area was inscribed on the United Nations' World Heritage list.

Filled up the kayak with camping gear and food + some luxuries such as a camera with stand, and paddled across the lake. The paddling trip only takes 3 to 4 hours (depending on how the wind blows). Once there, I set up base camp and started doing day walks and more kayak trips. Since the Cradle Mountain - Lake St Clair Overland Track is well renowned to wilderness lovers there was no shortage of visitors, many of them from overseas. This is especially so in the holiday season.

One thing I experimented with is taking pictures with my - newly acquired - waterproof and shockproof - digital camera . I've become quite adept in using those cheap disposable cameras, so it was somewhat of a disappointment to get only a slight improvement in quality for, like 30 times the cost! But, then the other advantages, such as unlimited photos, creep in; and some features where quite cool - such as the panoramic pictures where you can 'stitch' a number of photos together.

In addition, the camera can also extract the 3D data from those panoramic photos, so you can create your own 3D photos. (more on 3D photography here ).

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To start this personal calendar I thought it apt to say a few words about me as a form of introduction.

I have 2 professions: one as a computer programmer and one as a musician. In music I have classical and contemporary (jazz) training. My main instrument is piano. I like all styles of music, but these days I love playing African, Jazz, Salsa, Funk and Bach in particular. In computing, I get involved in whatever my work and study takes me. My main area of interest is Graphic animations which necessarily involves some dabbling in mathematics and physics. I also have made contributions to the topic of the 'Usenet', a world-wide forum on the Internet, on which I did an honours thesis.

I also love a variety of other things, such as mathematics, geometry, science, electronics, philosophy, wilderness walking, kayaking ... The fact that I am no expert in any of these will no doubt become apparent to the more initiated. I just hope to bring something new here and there.

My personal view on the world involves anything I can manage to understand in the sciences, arts and philosophy. There is one common thread which runs through all this, abstractly defining its totality: mathematics. The sciences are built on mathematics, the arts explore mathematical concepts such as proportion, harmonics and patterns, and philosophy has its very roots firmly planted in the concepts of geometry and number.

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