2021-04-08
The appointments for the operations are moving, probably because of the pandemic keeping the hospital overly busy. My dad is looking stable, so i guess he can wait. Thank you for the prayers. Mom got the TVB Best Drama channel recommended on YouTube, and they have a good time watching those old shows in Cantonese. I can see myself enjoying it too, but i'm not doing it now, i hope someday.
I updated my time-lapse setup in early February. I upcycled a Ferrero Rocher Chocolate plastic container by modifying it to accommodate a Raspberry Pi Zero W with Camera Module. I drilled holes for screws to fix the boards to the transparent case. I also drilled a hole for the USB cable. It has been exposed to all weather conditions for almost two months, including snow and rain. The view is more clear now, because the shell is thin, without reflections and dirt from the old window. And i don't need the fan anymore, because there is not much humidity. I like to think that this is me sitting outside and looking at the sky, trying to count stars.
2021-02-13
I have been using Linux uninterrupted since 2017. Although my first contact was more than 20 years ago with SuSE Linux, distributed on several CDs, and packaged in a large box. My dad bought it for me at the department store in Bonn. I already wrote about it here in the past. Linux is really what you make of it. Unlike many things in the world, where proprietary and closed systems want to milk the cow to death and beyond. Depending on which side you are on, you may even like it that way. In this context, i enjoy Linux a lot. Finally for client and server purposes. It took me a while to get there, getting to know many of the edges and corners.
After having used Ubuntu and Raspbian, i ended up with Debian. Because many packages are optional and i like to only install things i need. It makes everything easier to manage. Maybe someday i will try Linux From Scratch, and learn even more. I also prefer creating my own shortcuts by writing scripts to get certain things done. For example, i wrote a simple tool that translates keywords and arguments to long commands, saving me time and brain capacity.
Relying on it for all things computing and connectivity makes my experience with Linux even more intense. And this makes me think of the creators and maintainers of all those packages for Debian, combined they make the operating system work on many different hardware environments. Compared to these people, i'm just an advanced user, being thankful for a place i can escape to. My dad is going to the hospital on Tuesday for an operation. If you believe in god, please include him in your prayers.
2021-01-22
Four days ago, i deleted my AWS instance. It's all running on a local Raspberry Pi now. It feels like forever, so much time has passed. And it no longer makes sense to pay for a web server. Maybe it never made sense, but i had a good time at the beginning. People have become zombies, powered by their smartphones. To be honest, i don't like the internet anymore. It was cool and fresh, or maybe i never got it at all. All those clicks and touches make them more stupid. They are not contributing to anything, and only taking from me.
My dad will not return to work. In all these years, he couldn't drink much during his shift, because he had to take care of the machines. Going to the toilet was not possible for him, so he had to drink mostly at home, not enough to stay healthy. He also had to run around and handle goods in dusty environments. I don't know what materials they were processing to make all those products. But he basically gave away his body in exchange for minimum wage. He will soon be operated on at least twice. Since i don't have a job, we will have less to keep the lights on, and i decided to spend less of their money.
2021-01-14
Interestingly, on paper, my dad worked 18 years for a company in Rheinbach that changed their name several times, but he was physically working for a company in Bonn-Duisdorf that never changed the name. His boss also stayed the same. My guess is that they are using this scheme as a bumper bar to protect their crown jewels: Founded 86 years ago, they became a pioneer in the field of polymer processing, according to their website. When Germans talk about values, keep this in mind.
On another note, at the turn of the year, i switched to Linux, while one of my Seagate backup drives stopped working. They sent me a replacement via warranty, fast and frictionless, after they received my package. Windows became uncontrollable and noisy for me, and i feel confident enough to mainly use Linux. My paper scanner still requires me to keep Microsoft around, since there are no drivers available. Even if the operating system is spying on me now, at least i know they are not doing it for maintaining power, but to improve free and open software.
2021-01-01
I kept my promise, i'm still here and i folded thousand origami cranes in November 2020. I didn't want to waste time, so i finished it within 8 days. I had to adjust my long proven workflow, because i made 50 origami cranes in one go, ending with 20 parts in total. I'm really happy that i have done it again, and seeing them all at once makes me proud. I have them in three large semi-transparent bags in a corner of my room, greeting me every day.
During Christmas, my dad was in the hospital for 5 days, after passing out a second time within a week. He is ok for now, but he can't go back to work again. The toilet and bathroom is a bad place to fall, especially since it is tight and everything is waiting to break you in some way. I almost passed out myself thinking he was about to die. At the same time, i had a fever, probably from hitting myself on the head. But we made it to a new year. My head is tired, and i'm eating smaller portions.
2020-12-18
I have never broke even in my life, because i gave things away for free. Nobody would have paid enough for it, so why bother with all the overhead? Whatever i have done, in the end, i have lost time. But i helped people, and i learned a lot, this is worth something, i guess? If i lived alone, without my parents, i would have already made use of a suicide bag.
This is the most efficient and smooth way i have found to leave. I'm too nice, and i don't like to be taken advantage of. The Germans want us cheap, to kick us around. My parents are too nice too, and they endure it, because they love me, as i love them. In a world like this, it is the only real true thing.
At the kindergarten my mom works, they want her to use Slack to communicate how she has to work now. She is doing it there for more than 15 years, cleaning everything thoroughly, and of course toilets. Germans tend to find solutions for problems that don't exist. Now with one click conveniently more annoying. All the same, rinse and repeat, again and again.
If they paid more, this would be different. But this is just cleaning. Why are they making it more complicated? My parents don't even have an internet connection on their smartphone outside the apartment. My dad does physically demanding work and only receives minimum wage, after almost two decades at the same company. He is 66 years old and passed out at work today. Merry Christmas and a happy new year.
2020-12-08
If you don't count my online vocabulary learning system from many years ago, you could say this is the first real game i made. And it runs on all major platforms, even offline, if browser and keyboard are available. I enjoyed making it and i like playing it too. I wrote the code from scratch without external dependencies or frameworks, but with some help via Stack Overflow to keep up with new web standards. These days, many effects are built into the browser through modern CSS and advanced JavaScript, enabling a reduced size of code. I like it that way, so i can do other things.
In the past months, i made many space themed GIF animations, for my own entertainment and hopefully for others too. Thanks to NASA and the Hubble Space Telescope, i got some visuals to play with. And i thought a browser game would be fun. It took me four hours to get the first version out. Later, i made a few small improvements. And if something gets caught in my eye, i may change things again, like adding an autopilot mode. For now, i can say it took me less than one day to design, develop and publish this browser-based space game in which an astronaut is on a mission to collect rocks, forever.
2020-11-06
Inspired by a Tweet from Elon Musk asking for resumes to include problems and solutions, i list some accomplishments of mine to be proud of myself. It may not look like much, compared to people with more resources, who are able to solve bigger problems with bigger wallets, but from my point of view, i solved the details. And i probably have forgotten things i might remember later, or have already mentioned here before. For example, in 2009, i got my body weight from 110 kg down to 65 kg in less than six months by eating mostly baby food.
In December 2019, i automated the process of making GIF images in Perl, because i don't like seeing GIF animations where objects abruptly stop and restart, like some sort of heart attack. To get all moving parts synced, smooth and repeatable, i had to get back to math to develop formulas for all the numbers needed to produce animations that loop seamlessly. I developed a heartbeat based on sine and cosine, where all objects can move at their own defined speed, but end up synced after all frames are played, so they can restart their paths together. I simplified the instructions by combining calculations to make certain movements into functions. And the combinations can be further combined to make even more complex movements. More moving parts can be added easily, because i designed an efficient interface to these functions, which enables unique combinations of movements, like different rotations, shifts and size changes. I also developed shortcuts for frequently used arrays. To make animations, i just need all objects cut up into image files, for example via GIMP, and then i write all instructions like putting Lego bricks together, by linking them to a chain of functions. Now i can produce a lot of them, fast and have fun too. If you are being cheeky, you could call my tool a leash for ImageMagick. I was not good in math at school, because i was distracted, but i did it.
In April 2020, someone put something into our door lock. Not being able to get into the house is a nightmare. My solution was to attach a servo at the door opening button in the apartment, and drive it with a Raspberry Pi Zero W. But my parents don't have an internet connection on their smartphone, so i had to put another Raspberry Pi as an WiFi extender at the window for them to get connected. I developed the front and back end to chain all parts together. A smartphone can now press the button remotely to open the door, just by using my web interface. I also wrote a watchdog for this to keep the uptime high. It's been online and working for 186 days now. This was relatively easy, because waiting for the cable and servo to arrive via mail took most of the time.
In December 2018, i automated the process of video editing, because i had to go through thousands of them for my origami cranes. Before i did that, i developed different combinations of viewing angles, or how and what people should see at a given time. I've been making YouTube videos since 2008, and before that, i made video presentations at school, so i have my own style of showing things. I like to call my tool a robot, because if i let it know where both video files are synced, it can cut and merge all videos without me needing to do anything, in documentation mode. It's all about developing a heartbeat that all parts need to follow, like dancers moving to music. In custom mode, i decide where to cut and what viewing combination should be used through a text file, basically not needing a GUI for something quite visual. Similar to my animation tool, i simplified the calculations and functions, so i just write the instructions in a row, and let it do all the cutting, speeding, and merging, like a skilled deaf person composing a symphony for the orchestra. So this is my leash for FFmpeg, also written in Perl. I like putting things into context, so being able to combine two viewing angles without breaking into sweat was important for me to keep producing the videos i like without losing too much time. Automation is about breaking things into simpler parts, so they can be repeated often, for something more complex.
Sometime since 2008, i'm developing and running my lightweight embeddable chat widget. It is basically an extremely simplified version of things i have done since 1998. A long time ago, people were making homepages and using things like that to breathe some life into them, but these days not so much. Back then, there were not many regulations limiting what can be done, but i already abandoned the idea to collect personal data, by removing the need for signing up and using cookies, and only get as little data as possible and squeeze that to make it work. Everyone can collect everything, but not everyone can produce more from less. Based on that, i automated the management, like for spam filtering. And if the numbers are not within the limits, messages get rejected or removed, similar to delaying a rocket launch due to a sensor reading. Over the years, i optimized it, made it more reliable, changed things to be more efficient, and learned a lot to keep it online, while having limited resources available to me. I was interested in many things when i was younger, but at some point i ran out of hope, and only kept this last candle burning. I can proudly say that i have been doing this for more than two decades. And there are still things to discover.
Sometime since i was born, i'm upcycling things like MacGyver. When i was a kid, i used a desk lamp to warm up a cold piece of leftover pizza in my room, while my parents were busy running the restaurant. Back then, the lightbulbs were not very efficient and heated up a lot. Throughout my life, i took durable packaging apart to build custom cases for random stuff, so they are protected. There are many YouTube videos of me doing things like that, taking cardboard and making something useful out of it, like an engineer stranded on a desert island.
In winter, the windows get cold and the humidity steams them up. I use regular computer fans to reduce the condensation, so i get a better view for my Raspberry Pi camera. I have been shooting time-lapse videos uninterrupted for over two years now. I also used computer fans as a primitive air filter by adding a mesh and putting a thin piece of cloth on it.
Besides designing interfaces, i enjoy automating workflows, because they need each other to get things done smoothly and efficiently. I can't buy time, so i have to do it myself at the end. I can fold more than 100 origami cranes in a day, with each at a different location, and get it from two points of views on video. I developed a complete workflow for it. Because there are not that many chances in life, as one can see during these times.
There were many moments where i had to build something, because i couldn't buy it, or it just had to be invented by me, like some sort of wheel i didn't know about. Some lids are pretty hard to open, but wrapping a paper towel around it gets it mostly done, or a drying rack is not always easy to come by, but some kind of cord is probably nearby.