‘Liquid rescale’ algorithm for content-aware image resizing

I recently came across (on this blog, through Planet KDE) this rather impressive video, which demonstrates a dynamic image resizing algorithm invented by a couple of researchers at the Efi Arazi School of Computer Science in Israel. It allows images to be rescaled without losing important details (e.g. people) by first removing unimportant parts (e.g. grass in the background), according to an ‘energy’ function. The algorithm is apparently fairly simple, but does give some quite striking results. It also allows to seamlessly remove unwanted parts of an image (e.g. a power pole obstructing a view), by giving it a negative ‘energy’ so that that part will be removed first when the image is shrunk, and then (if wanted) enlarging the image again. I highly recommend watching the video to see how it works, as it is rather difficult to explain otherwise.

There are already a number of free implementations: a standalone Java program with a similar interface to that demonstrated in the video (which is rather slow, but still fun to try), and a GIMP plugin.

Gateway between Google Talk, SIP and others

I recently came across GTalk-to-VoIP, which is a free gateway allowing voice and IM communication between Google Talk, all SIP services, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger and the PSTN. For example, I can use it to call Google Talk users from my SIPphone account, and Google Talk users can use it to call me or (for a reasonable price) phone numbers on the public telephone network. It also has lots of other features, and there is plenty of information on the site. I recommend having a look if you have any interest in voice communication.

Christian perspectives on alcohol

Last night, I went to All Saints Hataitai’s ‘to drink or not to drink — Christian perspectives on alcohol’ debate. I saw it mentioned on a couple of blogs (here and here), so decided to go and see what they had to say.

Personally, I do not drink alcohol, but that is mostly because I do not see the point — why acquire a taste for something that is expensive, when there are plenty of nicer and cheaper things to drink?

Anyway, it was interesting hearing two different perspectives, even if they did both come to pretty much the same conclusion (having a couple of drinks is fine, getting drunk is not). A couple of scripture mentioned were Romans 14 and John 2:1-12.

Ben Johnson-Frow (who does not drink) talked about how he used to drink excessively in his teens before he became a Christian, and so he decided to stop completely when he became a Christian, as he would otherwise be temped to drink too much. He also talked about the New Zealand culture of drinking to excess and binge-drinking, and that not drinking at all was partly a way of protesting against that.

Sam Harvey (who brought a bottle of beer up with him to drink while listening to Ben talk) talked about how excessive drinking has never been an issue for him, and he finds it useful to relate to people. He has written a bit about the topic on his blog.

For more discussion, I highly recommend Paul Windsor’s blog post from last year, including the comments. He asks “What is one single redeeming feature of alcohol consumption?”, and some interesting discussion ensues.

This debate was apparently part of a series All Saints are running on the first Sunday of every month, ‘wrestling with some of the big issues of life and seeing what God might have to say about them’. Next month (Sunday 7th October, 6:00 pm) is ‘Truth, Love, Tolerance’, which sounds interesting. I plan to go if I have time, and I recommend it.