jonlesser.net

Becoming hip to some hot tracks

March 15th, 2010

Let’s be honest here, if I didn’t have Sylvia to bring new music into my life I’d still be listening the Disco Biscuts [Fun Fact: Their sound man is also named Jon Lesser). My Schi filter works like this:

Sylvia finds new music (Or it finds her? I don’t really know how this part works).
Sylvia listens to music on our stereo, infiltrating my personal soundscape.
About every three months I sort the iTunes by play count and copy the top ten or so albums to my computer.

Boom! I’m up to date with what the kids are listening to.

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Peak Productivity

September 18th, 2009

Posted in meta | 2 Comments »

My Future

September 14th, 2009

I’ve narrowed it down to one of these fields. Now I’m hunting for ~~PhD programs~~ opportunities accordingly.

Robotics

Integrating robotics into daily life
Applying computer vision, AI techniques

Medical information systems

Electronic health records
Helping doctors provide better care

Energy information systems

Sensor networks to manage energy consumption
Visualize energy use to affect behavior

Democracy / e Governance

voting, public records, etc.

Brain computer interfaces (BCI)

EEG or EMG computing interfaces

New Media Conceptual Artist

Using all of the above to create art

Posted in goals | 1 Comment »

Jay Leno’s Garage

August 28th, 2009

I came across Jay Leno’s Garage last night. It’s definitely the smartest, most entertaining car show I’ve ever seen. Jay tests amazing new and classic cars (and motorcycles), tells you what he thinks, and does some burnouts. The best part is that it’s not over produced like the nausea inducing MotorWeek on PBS or even the BBC’s TopGear.

Posted in media | 2 Comments »

SNL is Funny

August 28th, 2009

There is a lot of hating on SNL these days, but it’s really worth watching for the three or four gems in each episode. Be aware that it generally takes a few days of reflection to realize what was truly genius. Here are some winners from the last season you probably didn’t watch.

The 35th season starts in a few weeks (September 26th).

Posted in media | 2 Comments »

CPU video performance

June 15th, 2009

I have been trying to get a sense of how much video processing my computer can do. A 2.2Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo can capture 640 x 480 @ 30 fps from a Logitech Vision Pro webcam while simultaneously playing four previously captured clips encoded with H.264 and AAC mono audio. Capturing video while playing more than four videos results in dropped frames.

This plot shows a pretty linear falloff in captured framerate as the number of video files being played during capture is incremented.

Posted in notes, science | No Comments »

LCD panel dimensions

June 14th, 2009

I needed to know the geometry of some common LCD panels for a project I’m working on. I couldn’t find a convenient chart, so I am contributing this one to the Internet. I worked out the X and Y values with some simple trig. An alternative estimation based on resolution multiplied by pixel pitch yields similar results ±0.125”.

H”	X”	Y”	AR	X res	Y res	a°	b°
15	12.0	9.0	4:3 (1.33)	1024	768	53.13	36.87
17	13.27	10.62	5:4 (1.25)	1280	1024	51.34	38.66
19	14.84	11.87	5:4 (1.25)	1280	1024	51.34	38.66
18.5	16.13	9.07	16:9 (1.77)	1366	768	60.65	29.35
15.4	13.06	8.16	8:5 (1.6)	1440	900	57.99	32.01
17	14.42	9.01	8:5 (1.6)	1440	900	57.99	32.01
19	16.11	10.07	8:5 (1.6)	1440	900	57.99	32.01
20.1	16.08	12.06	4:3 (1.33)	1600	1200	53.13	36.87
19	16.11	10.07	8:5 (1.6)	1680	1050	57.99	32.01
20	16.96	10.60	8:5 (1.6)	1680	1050	57.99	32.01
22	18.66	11.66	8:5 (1.6)	1680	1050	57.99	32.01
21.5	18.74	10.54	16:9 (1.77)	1920	1080	60.64	29.36
23	20.05	11.28	16:9 (1.77)	1920	1080	60.64	29.36
24	20.35	12.72	8:5 (1.6)	1920	1200	57.99	32.01
25.5	21.62	13.52	8:5 (1.6)	1920	1200	57.99	32.01
30	25.44	15.90	8:5 (1.6)	2560	1600	57.99	32.01

Posted in notes, science | 3 Comments »

Hue Test Fail

May 28th, 2009

These are our results from an online Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test that Sylvia found on the Internet. The test involves arranging color swatches into a continuous spectrum of hues. The bars indicate which hues we were unable to arrange correctly and I’m not sure what the height of a bar means.

As you can see, we got very different results depending on the display used for the test. A proper FM100 test kit costs about $700 and has to be completed under controlled (D50) lighting conditions. Nonetheless, it’s fun to play with the pretty colors and create some order from the randomized initial state.

Related Links: Color Management Systems Lab at RIT where I was a labbie in 2002; Munsell Color Science Lab at RIT

Tags: color management, fail, farnsworth-munsell, hues
Posted in science | 2 Comments »