Now back to this site.  What kinds of posts do you want to see more of?

I don’t use windows, so I will attempt to provide the best instructions that I can for Linux and MAC OSX based systems.

On linux systems, specificly Ubuntu Linux, you can install ImageMagick by issuing the following from the command line:

sudo apt-get install imagemagick

Thats it. Imagemagick is installed. You can skip down to the post-installation steps.

On the Mac, you need to make sure that you have Xcode installed, which will allow your Mac to compile the ImageMagick source code into an executable file that you can call from a script. XCode can be installed from the Leopard or Snow Leopard DVD that came with your Mac.

After XCode has been installed, you will need to download and install “Port“. After Port is successfully installed, you can use it to update ImageMagick:

Update port tree:

sudo port selfupdate

(if you are like me, and you installed MacPorts under 10.5, but didn’t update it when you moved to snow leopard, you can update your installed ports with: sudo port upgrade –force installed ). I had to follow the steps at: http://trac.macports.org/wiki/Migration to get my ports install back on track.

Once you have MacPort sorted out, its time to install ImageMagick:

sudo port install ImageMagick

After ImageMagick is installed, you can use a simple script such as the following to automatically add borders to your images:

put the following text into a text file:

#!/bin/bash

mkdir ./output
for i in $( ls ./*.JPG ); do
convert $i -bordercolor black -border 25×25 output/$i
done

Save the file as addborder.sh and place it in a folder that’s convienient for you. I have a scripts folder under my home, so I can reference the script via: ~/scripts/addborder.sh

In order to run the script, you will need to make it executable, from a terminal issue the following command:

chmod a+x ~/scripts/addborder.sh

The code in the script will create a folder called output where it will put the new files with the boder. The script does not alter the origional files. To use the script, simple open up a terminal window, change to the directory with your images and run:

~/scripts/addborder.sh

Voila, you should now have a folder called output within your image folder containing the modified files.

ImageMagick is a very powerful set of tools for modifying images, and the example above is only scratching the surface. Other uses of ImageMagick could be resizing images for posting to the web, adding  a watermark, or all three combined.

Photo taken almost a year ago today, December 2008 – Toronto. Honest Ed’s is a must see maze of bargains. It was certainly worth the long walk.

Vancouver After Dark

If you havn’t sent a letter to the CRTC yet, please do so, you can use the automated form at: http://www.stopthetvtax.ca/email-the-crtc/ as it only takes a minute to voice your opinion.

As of this writing, there are only six days left to provide your feedback to the CRTC! Say no to a tax payer funded bailout of CTV and Global.

Keep reading after the jump….

Since September 1st. The CRTC has recieved 1000′s of letters from upset Canadians demanding that they not be taxed in order to fund a bailout of the big two Canadian Broadcast networks (CTV and Global). On September 17th, the Heritage Minister asked the CRTC to review their decision and consider the consumer in the debate.

With the above said, the CRTC still needs to hear from you! Please send your MP, the Heritage Minister and the CRTC a letter or email expressing your opinion. CTV and Global are lobbying very hard to try and charge you money for a service that is supposed to be ad-supported. (You are actually doing them a favour by watching on Cable and Satellite as they no longer need to build out terrestial transmitters…. think rabbit ears).

Shaw Cable has a great website with sample letters that you can send to your MP in the mail and via email (remember, postage to an MP or Minister does not require a stamp).

Please speak up!

So as a consumer what are you paying for when you support your local station?  Not much, your going to have to pay to recieve those signals into your home, saving the broadcasters from having to build out more broadcast towers, and since you are paying for it, you will be force fed as many commercials as they feel like giving you.  That means we’ll likely see the typical 90 minute movie cut down to one hour and slotted into a two hour time slot.

Its time for Canadian consumers to stand up and write the CRTC asking them to allow us to pick and choose which stations we want! I don’t want to pay for Global, or CTV if they are going to force me to hit fast-forward on my DVR more than I already do. I’m tempted to dump my cable service entirely! As consumers we are paying more and more every month for less and less service.

Looks promising, hopefully this will be available soon!

Image Copyright Andrew Ferguson

The ad shows a photographer with an SLR taking a picture of a security camera, with the tagline, “Report the suspicious, not the strange”. You can examine the large image here. This will be a huge waste of police resources dealing with lame complaints about photographers.

We have been hearing about this happening in cities such as New York, and London, but now its happening in our own backyard. Translink may not be aware, but the last time that I checked, Photography is Not a Crime! I hope that this is a mistake, and doesn’t become more common because of the up coming Olympic winter games. Unfortunately, I’m expecting to see more of this, with the police trying to extend their powers using the games as an excuse. Its a slippery slope, and we are just getting started with less than a year to go before the games.

If you want to see the advertisement in person, you can see it at waterfront station. Anybody interested in a Skytrain station photowalk to take pictures of security cameras? Leave a comment, SLR’s only, and you need to wear a hoodie, and carry a camera bag.

I was never really happy with the last theme, as I didn’t like reading on a black background, I find the white background for text much more readable.

As always, all feedback is welcome in the comment.

Thanks