Got a notification yesterday of another pass this morning at around 0500. They often come in threes. I wasn't sleeping anyway, so I got up and set up the camera on the tripod.

ISS appeared in the northwest and disappeared east-southeast (from left to right in the frame) and max elevation was 51 degrees. Bright spot in the trees is the crescent moon rising. If you're having trouble seeing it, it's in the bottom half of the frame, and most of it is somewhat obscured by trees.

What's interesting to me about this shot is that the light from the stars appears to be dimming. What's actually happening is the sky is growing brighter as morning twilight approaches, and the exposure for each of the shots is fixed, so the contrast between the dark sky of the initial exposure and the bright stars in each subsequent exposure is less, so they appear to be dimming. Sky is actually growing brighter, but the sky exposure is relatively static as the background against which "new" light is added.

Surprising thing to me is the absence of aircraft trails. Must not be much traffic this time of day.

Well, alrighty then. This seems to work!

I shall declare victory and go home.

This is the happy result of some frustration and study, trial and error. I suspect it's too early to declare victory, but initial indications look promising.

I attend a weekly Zoom meet-up of Tinderbox users, and I enjoy the social aspect as well as maybe learning something now and then. Most of the time, the techniques being demonstrated don't really relate to anything I'm doing with Tinderbox, nevertheless, I'm impressed and entertained by watching them unfold.

In the decade or so that I've been maintaining the marmot, I haven't really taken much advantage of the automation frameworks afforded by Tinderbox, Action Code and Export Code, and now, AppleScript. Mostly I just use a bare minimum of fairly static Export Code, and a little bit of Action Code to call the weather stuff, set the various attributes for the permalinks and export files.

My biggest challenge in automating the marmot was in posting photos. Prior to the change, I basically did everything manually, albeit with a lot of "copy and paste" action. The Photos to Tinderbox AppleScript automates nearly every aspect of that now. The only real manual effort is entering the title and caption info, and then hitting the Sync button in Forklift.

It was a pretty fair amount of effort, because Photos didn't seem to allow export from AppleScript. You could do it with Automator, so I had to create an Automator application to call from the AppleScript, and you can't specify a file path for the export. It always exports to folder in the ~/Pictures directory, and it always appends a ".jpeg" file suffix to the export.

After Automator exports the photo, Hazel comes in an moves the image to the marmot's Tinderbox directory and changes the suffix from .jpeg to .JPG, which matches the file suffix for images from my Olympus cameras. Export Code creates the html necessary to display the image from the photo's filename, which is why I have to change ".jpeg" to ".JPG" or I get a missing image icon.

Anyway, that was a fair amount of work, but it works well and I'm happy with it.

But if I want to post a picture taken with my iPhone, then I have to do some manual intervention. The iPhone stores images in HEIC format with a .HEIC file suffix. I could set the iPhone to store images as jpegs, but HEIC is more space efficient and I like that. So the filename, from which the html is constructed, is the original filename from the camera, with .HEIC as the suffix. Photos exports as JPEG (or TIFF or PNG), so the filenames don't match after export. I can't construct the html from the filename attribute I sent over from Photos. I've had to go manually change the .HEIC in the html to .JPG, which is not a big deal, but it's enough friction to keep me from posting images from the phone very often.

This particular challenge is something I've never tried before, manipulating the value of an attribute and creating a new attribute as a result. I wanted to just extract everything left of the file type suffix and make a new attribute I just call "Photo." Then in the export code, I just put the ^ photo attribute in the html and append the ".JPG" in the html from the prototype.

But how do you manipulate attribute values in an note? Well, you do it with a Rule. Up until today, all the attributes I created with Action Code were part of an OnAdd action, which the monthly archive container applies when a new post is created, to every post. Since a photo post is a post, there's nothing wrong with all that code; but a photo post has attributes that only apply to photos, and it has it's own embedded html in the note's $Text, so it uses a different prototype as a post. So OnAdd wasn't really the appropriate way to go here.

Well, a note's "Rule" is the way you mess with attributes in only that note. Then I had to figure out how to get everything to the left of the file suffix. There are text operators you can use that involve regular expressions, none of which I have ever used before.

Taking a tip from Dave Winer, I asked ChatGPT, "What is the regular expression needed to extract the text of a filename before the file type suffix?"

This is the response:

=========

To extract the text of a filename before the file type suffix using a regular expression, you can use the following pattern:

```regex

^(.+?)(\.[^.]+)?$

```

Explanation:

- `^` asserts the start of the string.

- `(.+?)` captures one or more characters non-greedily (lazy matching) into a group.

- `(\.[^.]+)?` captures a dot followed by one or more non-dot characters into an optional group.

- `$` asserts the end of the string.

In this pattern, the first captured group will contain the filename without the file type suffix.

========

Not being willing to trust ChatGPT, I tested this in an app called RegExRx and it seemed to work. $1 was just the name minus the filetype suffix, which is what I wanted.

Throwing caution to the wind, I created a new Tinderbox file, created the relevant user attributes ($PhotoFilename and $Photo) and entered the following rule in a new note:

$Photo=$PhotoFilename.replace("^(.+?)(\.[^.]+)?$","$1")+".JPG";

(The +.JPG part I added later when things went sideways a bit.)

In the test note, I got just the part of the filename I wanted.

Then I tried it here. (I just noticed another thing I have to fix, but it doesn't interfere with exporting from Tinderbox.)

I originally tried to add the ".JPG" in the photo post's $Note text. That got all wonky and I don't really know why. Then I figured I'd try to do it in the Rule and that worked fine.

Now I have to test this with a regular photo from a "real" camera. There are usually unintended consequences and breakage. We shall see.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 14:57 Wednesday, 12 July 2023

Wasn't a great opportunity because of the light, but it turned out well, I think.

Muggy out there!

Get a text from NASA whenever the International Space Station should be visible overhead, weather permitting. Tonight's pass was at a reasonable hour and I had enough time to prepare. I used my E-M1 Mk3 with the mZuiko 8mm/f1.8 fisheye. Since I wasn't exactly certain where it would appear in the frame (Appeared in the southwest, tracking northeast, max elevation 73°), I basically just pointed the camera straight up with the long axis of the frame along the SW/NE line.

I set everything up in the screened enclosure, because the mosquitos are thick right now, but I still had to do the test exposure to make sure I'd gotten the settings correct. (I hadn't. Needed to bump the ISO.) I was only out there a couple of minutes but I think I got bitten three or four times.

Also visible are at least five satellites (StarLink?) and several aircraft. There are some patches of moving clouds also visible. The small bush was moving in the breeze, which wasn't much of anything to feel!

This also doesn't get old, though the mosquitos do keep me from doing it as often as I might like.

Preceding test was unsat. I have two versions of an Export Photo Automator application, and the script was calling the one I hadn't modified. Let's see if this image is too large.

Test post to check script modifications.

The gator wasn't the first time we had an uninvited guest on the patio. From September 2021. In this instance, I just waited until it moved on. Wouldn't kill a human, but it can kill a small dog or incur several thousand dollars in vet bills.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 10:19 Saturday, 8 July 2023

Another view for size perspective.

Neighbor texted me this morning, "David, there's a gator on your lanai."

Looked out the kitchen window and didn't see anything, so I went out to the screened enclosure and it was up on the step leading to the grill, out of my line of sight from the kitchen window. When my neighbor saw it, it was in her yard making its way to the patio.

Not a huge gator, maybe four feet long? But not something I wanted hanging around the yard.

Mitzi was just getting ready to go mow the lawn, so I had to step back to the garage and give her a heads-up. I put on my Timberland boots and grabbed a push-broom. Figured I'd just encourage it to head back into the swamp.

Well, it wanted to fight the push-broom. Thought about it, then decided to see if maybe water from the garden hose would have the desired effect with less stress on both the gator and me.

Back to the garage to recover the garden hose. Keeping one eye on the gator, who was keeping both eyes on me, I had to untangle the hose and connect it to the bib. Turned the water on and commenced to hosing my uninvited guest. Seemed to do the trick far better than the broom. I worried that it'd find it just a refreshing amenity. Chased it all the way back into the swamp.

Hopefully it stays there, but I don't expect this will be the last time we'll be dealing with gators. The "preserve" behind the house is a swamp, and they were here long before we were. I think if it was anything much bigger, I'd probably call for some professional help.

Good morning gator. 🐊

I feel ya, bird.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 08:44 Monday, 26 June 2023

Shot this yesterday morning. This morning I'm making sure the script still works, and I remember how to do this...

Early indications are that it does, and I do.

This morning’s moon. #Olympus #EM1X #mZuiko100-400 #DTC #Florida #Photography #Moon

Crossed the street to walk on the multi-purpose path since the landscapers were edging the sidewalk. (Noise and smell.) So it was easy to spot this little blue heron.

Crossed the street to walk on the multi-purpose path since the landscapers were edging the sidewalk. (Noise and smell.) So it was easy to spot this little blue heron.

I should probably set this up and do a glamour shot with a "real" camera, but I wanted to do a quick post. This is a Panasonic RF-2200 multi-band radio, as mentioned recently.

Arrived this afternoon. I'm afraid the seller didn't package it very well. It rattled when I removed it from the box with the thin amount of bubble wrap. Three plastic stand-offs had broken off in the cabinet. They don't seem to be essential, I believe they just offer more rigidity to the cabinet. I'll glue them back into place if I have to.

The SW band switch knob is present, it just doesn't remain firmly on the shaft. I believe I can fix that as well. It has to be removable though, to service the radio.

I put four D-cells in it and tried it out in the backyard. Got reception on all bands except SW1, likely because it was nearly noon.

A gent on eBay offers a re-capping service specifically for these radios. Opinions differ on the necessity for re-capping, but I'm persuaded that it would be money well spent on this radio, so I'm going to have it performed.

The good news on this particular radio is that the AM ferrite bar antenna locks into place, and rotates smoothly with a satisfying ticking sound. The whip was photographed as extremely bent in the listing, but I was able to correct most of that. The interior of the cabinet is clean with no evidence of corrosion or battery leakage. Could probably do with having some dust blown out.

I'm excited to have this radio, and look forward to listening to it.

This morning's keeper. Not a great shot, but I hadn't seen a hawk in a while. The OM-1's bird recognition kept the focus off the branches that make this image less than great.

I think I've mostly got the "workflow" figured out. I use Image Capture, which imports the images to an SSD in a folder organized by camera. Each SD card is named for the camera it serves, so the images all end up in the right folders.

Right now, I'm using RAW Power by Gentlemen Coders to do the initial review, and first edits like cropping and basic adjustments. I like the Lighten and Deepen adjustments under the Enhance panel. I may make some specific color adjustments.

People's experiences seem to vary, with many recommending doing noise reduction first. I've found that there always seems to be some modest color shift with Topaz DeNoiseAI, and if you try to do any adjustments after noise reduction, then you get weird posterization artifacts. I'm working with jpegs, which I know are limited to 8-bits in the color and luminance channels (and I've probably used those terms incorrectly). But if I do my adjustments first, it generally comes back looking fine. The same can be said for SharpenAI. RAW Power allows you to send a copy of your image, since the adjustments are baked in on the return trip.

Sue me, I'm not and never will be a "pro."

RAW Power is like Photos and seems to always want to do its own thing with file extension case, exporting ".jpg" despite the original filename being ".JPG". So I export to a folder on the desktop, watched by Hazel, which changes the case of the file extension back to ".JPG," sends it to Photos, then deletes it from the folder. I only mention this because RAW Power will export directly to your Photos library, but then you have to manually change the file extension case, if you remember to, which I seldom did.

If I have to, I can do minor tweaks in Photos, then run the script for posting here, where Hazel once again changes ".jpg" back into ".JPG".

I still need to reconsider the size of the images I want to post here. They really do seem to suffer on export, being reduced to 1000px width.

Anyway, the beat goes on...

Clouds cooperated yesterday evening. Shot this with the 75-300mm zoom on the OM-1. Could've used the 100-400, but I don't think it would have resolved much more, perhaps another moon? ISO 25,600 shot with noise reduction by Topaz DeNoiseAI. I'm not the most skilled user and I'm afraid it shows. Still, kinda cool.

I've undertaken a new project. Along with printing photo books (two completed so far), I'm going to print and mail a card to my mom every day.

Mom's going to be 90 in September. My brother visits twice a week, and she has her meals with fellow residents. My other brothers and I call regularly. I'm usually Sunday at 11:00. But I figure this should give her something else to look forward to, assuming I can keep up the effort.

I bought a bunch of card stock, a few different kinds, from Red River Paper, along with envelopes to mail them. I write a little note about the picture or what's going on here. I mailed the first one on Sunday, so she should have received a couple by now. I'll find out this Sunday.

I also need to look into how images are being exported for this little automation I have going on. I think they should look a bit better than they do.

On a Tinderbox note, the Suggested (links) notes are all image posts, which makes sense.

This morning’s birds. Not necessarily “of a feather.”

Venus and Jupiter nearing their closest appearance in the sky. May not see them tonight, when they'll be reversed and Jupiter will be below Venus, because of clouds.

I don't think this evening's is as dramatic as yesterday's. Shot this with the E-M1X in handheld high resolution mode, just for grins. Really didn't need to. Larger version at Flickr.

Stepped outside yesterday evening to go collect the mail and was greeted by this. Having some appreciation for how quickly the scene changes, I stepped right back inside and grabbed the new E-P7, which had the Lumix 12-32mm/f3.5-5.6 mounted. Not the brightest lens in the box, but it was mounted.

Walked around and struggled to frame it a bit with the street lights. Finally found a spot where I could use a tree to block it. I could have also zoomed in a bit more, as this is a crop of a 17mm (35mm effective focal length) shot. Of course, zooming in means a smaller aperture too.

The E-P7 seems to share the same 5-axis image stabilization as the E-M10 Mk.4. The E-PL series (7 and later) have an improved 3-axis stabilizer, which is good for about 3 stops. Shutter speed on this image, at f4.5 and ISO 3200 is .3s, is about three and a third stops slower than what might be conventionally considered wise for a 35mm focal length. Right about at the edge of what my E-PL10 might have achieved, but easily handled in this case.

Cropped it a bit, did some noise reduction, and I'm pleased with it. Took about 30 frames, imported 2 to Photos.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 13:31 Wednesday, 22 February 2023

The marmot is made with Tinderbox, the tool for notes. It's a remarkable application, very powerful. I've been using it for about 20 years now, and I've only ever really mastered maybe five percent of it's capabilities.

Partly to learn more about Tinderbox, partly to add some social interaction during the time of COVID, (I know, it's still "the time of COVID.") I started attending the virtual Zoom meetups held on alternating Saturdays and Sundays at noon Eastern US time. It's an eclectic group of really smart people, and it's usually hosted by the developer Mark Bernstein and coordinated or stage-managed by a Tinderbox virtuoso, Michael Becker. Always in attendance is Mark Anderson, perhaps the only other person who rivals Mark Bernstein or Michael Becker in his intimate knowledge of the application.

The user community is very helpful, and I always come away having learned something new about Tinderbox. It's not always something I can use, given my application is mainly the marmot, but I can appreciate the power and flexibility the tool affords.

One of the "big fucking deals" about PKM (personal knowledge management) is linking. I get it, mostly. "It's all about the graph, baby." (Insert Always Sunny in Philadelphia meme here.) But I don't do much linking within the marmot. I'll occasionally link to something I posted on the web, if it's still at the top of my mental stack, or not too many registers deep; but mostly if I link, it's to something someplace else on the web and never an interior link within the file.

There's a sophisticated facility for internal linking within Tinderbox, and it gets a fair amount of attention at the meet-ups. I've appreciated watching the demos, but never felt very excited about anything until today.

In the screenshot below is the view one is afforded of a note when you invoke CMD-7, which is listed only as Links in the Window menu. (I think this should go in the Note menu, but what do I know?) I've seen it demo'ed before, but I've never used it until today.

As the meet-up is going on, I'll often be "multi-tasking," doing something else while Becker is demo'ing a feature at Mach 5. He'd asked attendees to make notes in the chat about things they found interesting or useful, to help him when he wrote up the summary that will accompany the video when it's posted. Someone typed CMD-7 in the chat. I didn't know why that was interesting, so I popped over to the Marmot and hit CMD-7. This is the result:

Holy guacamole! I had never seen that before! Or never made the connection, because I never think about internal links. To be clear, I had seen this note view before, but I'd never seen "Suggested" populated with anything that "suggested" it would be relevant to me. Hah! "Little did he know..."

The Marmot, and it's antecedent, Groundhog Day, are basically a stream of consciousness, a "river of views." I seldom revisit a note or a post, with some exceptions. Not because I don't want to, just because what I do here is quick and dirty. Except when it's not, which isn't often. I have an itch to blog something, I scratch it and move on.

“The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,

Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.”

This "Suggested" column is interesting! Amazing! Wonderful! I was actually compelled to click on those posts. They open up in a little window of the notes text. If you click away from them, they disappear. If you move them, they open up in their entirety in their own little window! You can have as many of them open as there are in the list if you have the screen real estate.

This facility was something of a revelation to me, and it's possible I'm making too much of it. But I think it's tremendously useful in suggesting to me that some of the things I've blogged about before may be relevant to this post. And by clicking on those notes, I get a chance to "see what I thought."

The Marmot is just a blog, it's not a journal, not an intimate conversation with myself. Though, if it were, I could see where this feature might be even more useful as one develops a corpus of some size. The Marmot, as of a few paragraphs ago, was this size:

(The "links" are all web links. Nearly all of them outbound.)

377,000 words or thereabouts, it's possible I may have mentioned one or two topics more than once!

Anyway, just surprised and delighted this afternoon. Something that is rather unusual of late, so a happy occasion.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 14:18 Saturday, 18 February 2023