Richard's Rants

[Mike Buckley]

SIMILAR BUT STILL OFF-TOPIC

I was returning it home to be buried! ..."

My satchel was obviously full and quite heavy. When the airline clerk moved it to the side, she noticed its weight and joked that I must have a dead body in it. I sheepishly explained that, yes, my mother's ashes were in it.

[Colin Southern]

SIMILAR BUT STILL OFF-TOPIC



My satchel was obviously full and quite heavy. When the airline clerk moved it to the side, she noticed its weight and joked that I must have a dead body in it. I sheepishly explained that, yes, my mother's ashes were in it.

Oh dear. What was her reaction to that?

[Mike Buckley]

Oh dear. What was her reaction to that?

I put it in a way to her that ensured that she wouldn't feel bad about having said what she said. We both had a good laugh over it. But leaving that little tidbit out makes a far better story.

[Colin Southern]

I put it in a way to her that ensured that she wouldn't feel bad about having said what she said. We both had a good laugh over it. But leaving that little tidbit out makes a far better story.

Ah well, at least they let you keep it. I keep hearing crazy stories about aviation security. Had one myself a few years ago ... checked in for a flight that didn't require going through security - but due to a gate change - we ended up going through security anyway. They weren't too happy about my swiss army knife on my belt (check it or lose it) ... even though I'd flown in to the airport with it on my belt earlier in the day ... sitting in the cockpit with the flight crew the entire way!

But one always has to remember the two rules of aviation security (1) They're always right, and (2) if you think they're wrong, re-read (1)!

[Mike Buckley]

One reason I told her about the ashes is that I didn't know the rules and suspected that lots of people including the officials didn't know them. (Notice that we're finally back on topic.) That's because this was only a year after 9/11. So, I protected myself to the extent that I could by being upfront about the ashes. It was not a concern, at least not back then.

[Colin Southern]

One reason I told her about the ashes is that I didn't know the rules and suspected that lots of people including the officials didn't know them. (Notice that we're finally back on topic.) That's because this was only a year after 9/11. So, I protected myself to the extent that I could by being upfront about the ashes. It was not a concern, at least not back then.

Even when you think they'd know the rules, we still get stories like this ...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel...bled-girls-mum

Followed by ...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post...ear-bomb-gaffe

[Mike Buckley]

"The officer will not face formal disciplinary action."

Sheesh!

Tell that story to the 6-year-old American boy who had his offense of "sexual harassment" put permanently on his school record for having kissed the hand of a 6-year old classmate. The two consider themselves boyfriend and girlfriend. The school principal was able to talk the school superintendent into changing the offense from "sexual harassment" to "misconduct." Yet the officer at the airport has had no official reprimand.

[Colin Southern]

"The officer will not face formal disciplinary action."

Sheesh!

Mind you, in this crazy world, I can almost read the TAIC report now ...

"Investigators traced the source of the explosion that caused the crash of flight abc123 with the resulting loss of 212 lives to an explosive device placed in fake medical equipment item with forged clearance papers. Aviation security staff under investigation ..."

[Colin Southern]

I'm sure Richard will thank you for responding on his behalf

I thought it was a rhetorical question ...

[ajohnw]

I had a go with the GIMP. I used Gmic filters. Tone map to gain some contrast and then deblur. Then switched to Fotoxx and did a median brightness sharpen and brightened it up. The smoothness slider on deblur is critical - maybe I should have used a touch more. There is also a GIMP refocus plugin which may well do a better job than deblur. I've not found and installed it yet. Perhaps less tone mapping too.



John
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[benm]

You can't make a sow's purse out of a dog's ear (or something like that). Maybe Richard's clients should use a Lytro Light Field camera - no focus required.

[ajohnw]

Depends on how big it starts off at and how much reduction is possible really. Eg but it looks like I brightened it rather badly



This is blind deconvolution. Bit difficult. The other type is where some on looks at an image and decides what steps to take. It's a rather specialised subject. Plus there are a whole host of deconvolution algorithms about,

John
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[Colin Southern]

You can't make a sow's purse out of a dog's ear (or something like that).

Congrats Ben - you're this month's recipient of my "This man gets it" award!

Sometimes ya just gotta look at an image and go "nah - this one just ain't gunna fly"