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(There's an illustrated copy of this at mcgrew.info)

The GNU Image Manipulation Program is an excellent free and open source graphics program that will do almost anything you want to a bitmap image.

Almost. When text is needed in an image, GIMP is indeed gimpy. Rather than use fonts installed in the computer’s operating system, it has its own, very limited set of fonts, and no way to exactly position your text.

The workaround is easy: don’t use GIMP for text.

Today’s word processors can all write PDF files, both closed source commercial word processors and open source tools. My favorite is Open Office Write. GIMP can import them as images, and it does an excellent job of it.

Say you wanted to use the above image (a 35 mm slide I took in 1974 and digitized with a cheap plastic slide viewer, a phone, a rubber band, and adhesive tape) and add “your move” in the upper left hand corner of the image. First, open your word processor and choose the font you want. Any font installed on your computer will work, and there are literally thousands of fonts you can download from the internet and install in a few seconds. One I’ve downloaded is Callistroke. We’ll use that one for the example, and I’ll explain why shortly.

Once the font is chosen, type in the text and highlight it, center it, and make the font size large enough that it stretches from border to border.

Next, export it as PDF and open GIMP. Once GIMP’s stuff has all loaded, you can open the PDF as an image. I simply put it on the last page of this document rather than making a new document. Before you tell GIMP to import it, raise the resolution to 600 DPI or higher to prevent pixelation. You can make it smaller later.

When it opens, select Tools --> Selection Tools --> Rectangle Select, and outline your text.

Now select Image --> Crop to Selection.

The reason I like the outline fonts in most illustrations and graphics is that I can have white letters outlined in black, which will show up clearly in any image. If your text is going to be in a landscape with a blue sky, a non-outline font in a contrasting color is as good or better. Don’t use red letters on a green background as it will be invisible to some people.

There are a couple of steps to get there. First, select Tools --> Color Picker. Place your cursor over the white and click. Then choose Tools --> Selection Tools --> Select By Color. Now click anywhere white and press “Del” and everything white will be transparent.

Now, select Select --> None.

Transparent parts will show up as a two shades of gray checkerboard. as in the illustration below.

Now choose Tools --> Paint Tools --> Bucket Fill to fill in the white part of your text.

Now open the image you want to put the text in. There will be a ruler at the top of the screen showing how many pixels in a given area. In our image, where we want the text is about 750 pixels wide. In the text image, select Image --> Scale Image. The following dialog opens:

Place the cursor in the “Width” field, then type in the number. We’re changing 1024 to 750. Now press “Tab” once and the “Height” field will change. Now just click “scale”.

When it finishes scaling, press Ctrl+A to select the whole image, than Ctrl+C to copy it. Tab to the image you’re adding text to, make sure the “Rectangle Select” tool is chosen (see earlier in this article) and press Ctrl+V to paste the text in.

Now put the cursor on a letter and hold the primary mouse button and move the text where you want it.

Now merge the two images by pressing Ctrl+M then Enter. Here is the final image:

You can add all sorts of fancy things to your text with different images.

To make the above image, I got a picture of fire from Google, Wrote the word “FIRE” in open office, exported as PDF, selected black (lettering), deleted, and pasted it over the fire.

So finally, GIMP has everything I need. Well, maybe except the ability to make moving PNGs and vector graphics.

A funny article I found on NBF:

Do not "blame" life extension for Rupert Murdoch and Fox News, If Murdoch died Fox would still be right wing

Which is a response to: Bonus Level: The World's Most Powerful Humans are Getting Another 10-15 Years on Earth

A common argument against life extension is that it would allow the elites to live indefinitely, accruing more power, wealth, and influence for themselves. To that I say: If you're so worried about it, stop waiting for them to die, and start killing them.

I like Open Office but needed .doc file to send science fiction to magazines, so I needed Word; I wasn't sure Oo would write the files properly and it turned out it can't export to anything except PDF, so I installed Libre Office. It will write the files, but MS Write can't read them.
        I had an idea for an article about playing cards, so googled for open source playing card images. There should be plenty since playing cards have been around for hundreds of years. However, finding them was really difficult. I managed to find an .eps vector graphics file that Windows didn't know what it was, so more googling.
        The internet said GIMP would open it, but it couldn't; it repeatedly crashed trying to open it. I tried importing it into Open Office, and got a blank screen. The internet said you could import it with Word, so I opened Word... or tried to. It wouldn't open and that I should try again or go to Control Panel to "repair" it. Tried reopening Word, same thing. Booted the computer and tried again, same thing. So I go into control panel and tried to repair, and that stupid fucking thing said I needed an internet connection. IT'S ON THE INTERNET, DAMN IT!!!
        I don't know where Microsoft finds its programmers, skid row? Homeless shelters? Crack houses?
        It's done this before. I had to reinstall the God damned OS to fix that stupid, stupid, program.
        They've always been terrible at networking. DOS and Windows 95 had no native networking at all. When I first got on the internet in 1997 I had to buy a floppy with a network stack and that primitive browser that the U of I came up with. They STILL can't do networking well. I assigned this computer's "documents" folder as the A: drive on the HP. Whenever I try to access it, it says the Acer isn't running, but if I go through "network" it works.
        Look, you idiots running Microsoft, here's a suggestion: the next time you roll out a new OS, how about making sure it actually WORKS?
        I'm in a really bad mood right now.

Alabama ACLU and Newspaper Criticize Police for Arresting Citizen Journalist by Bama Camera

The Alabama police department that had a man arrested on a felony charge of jamming up their emergency lines – even though he did not make a single call – is now taking heat from the local ACLU as well as the local newspaper.

But the Wetumpka Police Department is still sticking to its guns, threatening to arrest anybody else who posts their non-emergency phone number of (334) 567-5321.

They claim that by calling that number, it somehow leads turns into a 911 call, which they claim makes it difficult to respond to actual emergencies.

But all they were doing were exercising their First Amendment right to petition for redress of grievances by complaining about how officers ripped a camera out of Keith Golden’s hands for recording the police department from public property.

First Amendment Audit (Wetumpka PD) "I don't care about your 1st Amendment Rights"

Arrest Update by Bama Camera
**UPDATE**FPS-USMS-BAM CAMERA by News Now Houston

(The version at my web site is illustrated)

I was an amateur photographer in my youth, starting in high school when I bought a Canon 35 mm Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera. I’d been interested in photography since I was about twelve, when I somehow obtained a Three Stooges photo developing kit. That toy hooked me, even if I could only do contact prints until I got a job when I was a teenager and bought a cheap enlarger. Color film went to a commercial developer, as I had neither the knowledge nor equipment to develop color film.

So I have a lot of photographic slides and prints to digitize, since film photography is now obsolete; Kodak put itself out of business when they invented the digital camera which made their cash cow, film, obsolete. Prints are easy to digitize, as scanners are cheap and make good digital photos out of film prints. But what about my slides?

I asked at Walgreen’s photo department if they could digitize slides, cringing at what was sure to be expensive since I’ve dug up half a dozen boxes of them. But they couldn’t, and the lady said there were only two places in the country that could. I looked them up. Both were prohibitively expensive and you don’t get the slide’s frame back, only the film.

Then I had an idea, remembering the slide viewer I used to have and may still have somewhere. All I had to do was put my phone to the viewer’s eyepiece and snap a photo! I looked, and bought one on the internet. It was only six bucks after shipping.

Alas, when the viewer came, there were complications; keeping the camera and viewer lined up still was impossible, making the digitized images awful.

So my next step was holding it together with a rubber band to keep it steady. I didn’t have any, so the final cost was closer to ten bucks; you can’t just buy one rubber band, you have to buy the whole bag.

If you have no computer, it will cost you the price of one, because later you’ll need an image editor.

Here’s what the phone/viewer/rubber band combination looks like:

The next step is to turn the phone’s camera on and line the viewer up.

Next, carefully lay it flat on a table and tape the viewer to the phone. Any kind of adhesive tape will do, just make sure it’s tight before removing the rubber band, which will interfere with the photo if left on.

Of course, you can use any source of illumination. I used a table lamp; a flashlight would do. You can vary the brightness and contrast by moving the contraption closer to or farther from the light.

Here’s what the raw output from the camera looks like, which is why you need an image editor:

I use the Gnu Image Manipulation Program (GIMP). It’s free and open source and has everything you need to manipulate images, although it has a large learning curve. Here the slide is; digitized, cropped, and rotated:

One advantage of digital photography is very evident in this picture of Dover Air Force Base from the stairway to my barracks in 1972. The color has faded almost completely, leaving a pink tinge to the right, and bits don’t fade.

So the final picture is saved as grayscale rather than RGB.

So now my slides, at least the ones I’ve found, are digitized. I’m keeping them, maybe I’ll have a better camera to better digitize some time in the future.

Here’s a slide I digitized of a friend and co-worker when I was a teenager; time was kinder to this almost fifty year old slide, although all the green color is faded; I restored it with GIMP the best I could. It’s obvious that where you had the slides developed matters a lot.

Now I need to buy a scanner...

My favorite radio talk show hosts pointed out some facts this morning. Republican voter turnout reached historical numbers this year. More Republicans voted in the primaries than ever before.

Kinda cool - but more noteworthy than that is, Trump has recieved more votes that any other potential nominee, ever.

Bear in mind that the season opened with 17 potential nominees. Early voting was split 17 ways. Not split equitably, of course, but split. The least favored nominee may have only won 10 votes in the first primary, but those were 10 votes Trump DID NOT get. So, with a 17 way split, Trump has defeated not only the 17 contemporary candidates, but EVERY OTHER CANDIDATE IN HISTORY! Wow.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/05/republican-party-sets-primary-turnout-record-28-million-votes-5-states-left/
Trump has received more than 11 million votes to date in the state elections according to www.thegreenpapers.com. This is 42% of all Republican votes received to date.

The Republican Party has set a party record this year in pre-convention state election turnout with over 28 million votes to date which is 136% of the record high voter turnout in 2008. That’s four million more votes than the Democratic primary race this year.

So - with Republicans voting in record numbers, and clearly stating which of the available candidates they are willing to accept - what about that other party?

http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/04/26/exclusive-data-analysis-democrat-turnout-collapses-4-5-million-nearly-20-percent-2016-versus-2008/
Democrat Turnout Collapses Down More Than 4.5 Million, Nearly 20 Percent In 2016 Versus 2008

Wow. Even with Sanders' almost rabid following, the Democrats couldn't be bothered to turn out to vote. All this time, I thought Sanders was doing a helluva job, getting people out to challenge the DNC's annointed one. But, even with all of that, the Democrats are staying at home in droves.

We have witnessed not one, but two, political revolutions this year. The R's were adamantly opposed to the Trump - but voters over rode the party. The D's were just as adamantly in support of Hillary, the voters very nearly over rode the party, but the D's played two trump cards. Wasserman Schultz is Hillarys BFF, and that BFF has in turn played the super-delegate card. The voters were beaten in the Democratic revolt.

So, the question is, what might all of this mean in November?

Despite a significant number of sour-grapes holdouts who won't endorse Trump - I expect Republicans to turn out again in record numbers, and to mostly vote for Trump.

I expect Democrats to stay home again, in droves. Some disaffected Democrats will vote for Trump, to spite Hillary and Wasserman Schultz.

The swing vote - of which I am a member - is probably going to swing toward Trump. Not all, but a deciding number will go that way.

And, incidentally, a lot of the swing vote is going to vote for Johnson. I've talked to a number of people who are talking about it, anyway. Last evening, a guy told me, "I can't stand either of the choices, so I'll probably "waste" my vote on Johnson." We discussed that "waste". He audibly put that word in quotes to start with. I counseled that "Well, if the Libertarians get that magic percentage of the vote, they'll get federal campaign funds. So, a Libertarian vote IS NOT "wasted"!"

Rumors, grumbling, bitching, complaining - the "outsiders", the "swing vote", the "Independents" aren't happy with the current state of affairs. They are more unhappy with the Democrats, but they are also unhappy with the Republicans.

At this point in time, I think I expect Trump to win, and Johnson to capture enough votes to win federal funding. And, the Democrats are going to be big losers this year.

Of course, it's not to late for the Republicans to go full retard, and hand the election back to the Democrats. Trump is a wild card, after all. He COULD run off at the mouth, and alienate EVERYONE. The Republican Party could go just as crazy. But, I don't really expect that. All the stuffed shirts in the party are going to suck it up, and get behind Trump, or at least, STFU and sit down, so that Hillary doesn't win.

President Donald Trump. What a weird sumbitch - but still a better choice than what the Democrats are offering.

Too spicy for Soylent: Norway teaches migrants about Western women

Should Western relationship norms be taught to migrants? The BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme attended a controversial class in Norway that aims to teach asylum seekers how to interact with women.

"When you move to another country, there will be different cultural codes compared to what you are used to," says instructor Margareth Berg. "And that will be codes that are not written or spoken about. Somebody has got to tell them what is normal behaviour."

In 2009, a spate of rapes by migrant men in Norway prompted the introduction of the controversial classes for refugees. Incidents of mass sexual assault by gangs of men in the German city of Cologne at the new year shone a light on this approach. Now, other European countries are thinking of introducing similar training.

The class in Haugesund, in west Norway, is no longer just about rape prevention. Now, it includes discussions around communicating with the opposite sex, boundaries, domestic violence, and what to do if you witness a sexual assault. Public awareness videos about rape are also shown.

It lasts four hours, and is not compulsory - although many refugees take it as part of a series of courses offered to new arrivals, including language courses and help with finding work. In this class, most are Syrian, but there are also some Iraqis and Afghans.

(NSFW) http://www.vice.com/read/theres-now-a-porn-genre-about-how-broke-millennials-are-456

Vice, keeping a hand on the chest to feel the millennial pulse.

Driving home this morning, listening to Walton & Johnson, I heard that someone is shot in Chicago just about every two hours. The city of Houston was compared to Chicago, because the two cities have a lot in common. Population, and many demographics are similar. Yet, Houston doesn't witness a shooting every two hours. Hmmmmm . . . .

http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/last-72-hours?page=8&sort=asc&order=State

That site tracks gun violence. That page lists gun violence for the past 72 hours.* Wow - in all of Texas, two gun deaths. In Chicago, excluding the rest of the state, six gun deaths. To be fair, we are trying to compare two cities - so the tally is Houston - 0 Chicago - 6. Clearly, Chicago is winning.

But, how can that be? Chicago has common sense gun laws, and Houston does not.

In Houston, we have open carry, concealed carry, hip carry, boot carry, pocket carry, purse carry, butt-crack carry, palm carry, hat carry, crotch carry - uhhhh - vaginal carry? Basically, you can tote a gun any damned way you want to carry a gun.

In Chicago, possession of a gun is a capital offense, execution taking place as soon as an LEO views your weapon - especially if you're a young black male with a weapon.

With a population of 2.7 million, Chicago has a violent crime problem, with their "common sense" gun laws.

With a population of 26.96 million, the entire state of Texas can't kill off as many people as Chicago does.

Common sense. The solution seems pretty obvious. Chicago should pass "Constitutional Carry". The constitution guarantees an American citizen the right to keep and bear arms. No permit, no jumping through hoops, no begging the sheriff for permission, no deviant sex acts committed in the alley behind the court house. Constitutional carry - I'm a citizen, I get a gun if and when I want. Or, when I can afford it, anyway.

http://heyjackass.com/ another site demonstrating how violent Chicago is.

* The page updates periodically, so the totals may look quite different when you look at them.

I've been interviewed on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio twice, the first time in 2004 for The Infinite Mind, the second for Wiretap.

In both cases they found me through Living with Schizoaffective Disorder. (I was also on CNN in 2010 but that one didn't concern my mental illness.)

Of the two, the Wiretap interview is far more interesting. It's archived online somewhere but I think it's in RealPlayer format, at least it was the last time I looked. Someday I'll dig up the link.

The above page concerns my experience of being interviewed.

The Vancouver Diaries concerns my time just before, during and after my time in Vancouver British Columbia - yes I've lived in both. The American Vancouver with the first, but that's off-topic here.

Vancouver BC is an incredibly beautiful, vibrant city but I was very lonely there as I left Bonita behind to finish art school.

Most of The Vancouver Diaries is offline until I adjust the markup to fit the design of its new location, as well as fix broken links.