Random Whispers We Heard

Mac OS-X: Make PDF files smaller using the Finder

Sun, 05 May 2013 16:42:31 +0200

Today I finally got around to use Automator, and make one of the command line scripts I have been running for ages a little easier to use.

The problem I have been trying to solve is the fact that the PDF files that a Mac creates are normally of very high quality and hence large. If you just want to send someone a document for reading on screen, a much smaller PDF file would do. The open source package “ghostscript” has a tool called ps2pdf that can be (ab)used to adjust the size of components for PDF files. I installed this in /opt/local/bin using the “macports” software.

To make it possible to do the PDF-shrinking from the Finder, I started automator, and made a new “Service”. I instructed it to use PDF files, and only in the Finder. In the workflow, I added a “run shell script” step. The system passes the files as arguments to this script.

The contents of the script are:

export PATH=$PATH:/opt/local/bin
for f in "$@"
do
    echo "$f"
    d=`dirname "$f"`
    cd "$d"
    b=`basename "$f"`
    ps2pdf -dPDFSETTINGS=/ebook "$b"
    #      Choose /screen for even smaller PDF, or 
    #      /printer /prepress or /default for successively larger
    if [ -f "$b".pdf ]; then
        mv "$b" "$b".old
        mv "$b".pdf "$b"
    else 
        echo "Apparently conversion failed"
    fi
done

I saved this as the service named “Small PDF”, and Done!

And using it is even easier:

Very odd ratio? "One in ten to the minus x"

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 09:33:35 +0200

I was reading some news when I noticed a mathematical curiosity. The article on a physics result mentioned a chance of “one in ten to the minus 7”. Of course this is a mistake: a small chance is either one in ten to the 7” or “ten to the minus 7”. The combination of “one in” and “minus” is nonsense. Interesting enough, this mistake is really common….

Good experience with tri-lingual education

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 08:52:51 +0100

My native language is Dutch. My wife’s is French. We both speak each other’s language fluently. But we originally met each other in Germany, and have always been speaking English together.

When we got our son, we ignored all warnings around us about confusing a child, and built a tri-lingual household. I still speak English with my wife, but we both speak to our son in our own native tongue. We never used English as a secret language and always explained what we were speaking about whenever he asked.

Growing up, he has had little difficulty making progress in French as well as Dutch. This is a contrast with stories we hear from bi-lingual families where the parents together speak one of the two languages they are teaching their kids (“why do I have to speak French to my mother if my parents together speak Dutch too?”). And as a bonus, our son became fluent in English as well.

Does this mean we have more or less silence recently?

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:01:00 +0100

If books mention “breaking silence” less frequently, does that mean that we have more silence now because it is no longer broken? Or does it mean that we do not have silence any more, so that it can no longer be broken? Is it a coincidence that the phrase seriously decreases in frequency after the invention of the mass produced car?

Finally some nice weather, delivering >3kW of PV power to the...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:43:00 +0100

Finally some nice weather, delivering >3kW of PV power to the net right now.

Can a clock with Poisson counting statistics replace your watch?

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 14:15:00 +0100

Thinking about Poisson statistics I was wondering how much use a clock would be that would count the seconds with counting statistics or Poisson statistics. That is: it has the irregularity of radio-active decay. Some people put their watch a few minutes ahead of the true time to make sure that they are never too late, but the problem is that they can start counting on that after a while. A true random clock might be unreliable enough that you would need to always stay carefully ahead….

Counting statistics make a variance that is equal to the value. Therefore, the standard uncertainty is the square root of the value.

Lets see what that means: our watch, after a minute, has an uncertainty of about 8 seconds. After an hour, a minute. After a day, five minutes. After a month, half an hour. And after a year, the uncertainty would be a little over one and a half hours.

To be 95% sure to be in time for an appointment a day after synchronizing your Poisson watch, you need to arrive 10 minutes ahead of your watch. And there is a 5% chance you will be 20 minutes early…..

No, I’ll stick with just being in time.

Still, I think it would be kind of cool to have a watch that goes “tick tick tick tick tick tick titick tick……”

WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST HUMAN MEMORY?

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 21:22:58 +0100

A boy eating soap at the kindergarten…

Unpleasant weather to cycle. Heavy wind and rain that freezes on...

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:55:00 +0100

Unpleasant weather to cycle. Heavy wind and rain that freezes on impact.

Snow + Wind = Heaps. 35cm in some places. It took me 2 hours to...

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 08:25:00 +0100

Snow + Wind = Heaps. 35cm in some places. It took me 2 hours to dig out the car.

Een lichte asfaltlucht in huis is niet te vermijden….

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 15:30:00 +0100

Een lichte asfaltlucht in huis is niet te vermijden….

Both straight and left are blocked. The trouble you get into...

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 21:28:00 +0200

Both straight and left are blocked. The trouble you get into with 2 independent constructions at the same time.

Maeslantkering is closed for a yearly functional test.

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 17:24:00 +0200

Maeslantkering is closed for a yearly functional test.

Duister Bezuinigingsbeleid van gemeente #Westland?

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 22:36:00 +0200

De Gemeente Westland heeft besloten om in het buitengebied alleen straatverlichting te laten branden waar dit de veiligheid ten goede komt. Ik ben zeer voor bezuinigingen waar dat kan, maar dit levert wel een heel duister beeld op bij ons. Links richting de bebouwde kom, waar nog ruim verlichting brandt. Bij ons is het donker, maar naar rechts toe brandt toch af-en-toe een lamp. Is het verkeer bij ons voor het huis dan veiliger dan daar? Over de hele lengte (en 3m breedte…) maken voetgangers, fietsers en vrachtverkeer gebruik van dezelfde ruimte!

Links… richting de bebouwde kom

Rechts… richting de verte

Makes me wonder about the forces this meter has endured so...

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 14:50:00 +0200

Makes me wonder about the forces this meter has endured so far…..

How many springy and folded iron rods fit in a single container?

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 08:59:00 +0200

How many springy and folded iron rods fit in a single container?

Invertors for the photovoltaics at Rotterdam Central being...

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 12:16:00 +0200

Invertors for the photovoltaics at Rotterdam Central being installed.

Crazy: picture taken in a cave at -100m, sent via wifi….

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 20:19:00 +0200

Crazy: picture taken in a cave at -100m, sent via wifi….

Yes! 2 MWh of photovoltaic power achieved during a dark summer...

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 16:49:00 +0200

Yes! 2 MWh of photovoltaic power achieved during a dark summer thunderstorm.

Clear proof of the societal efficiency of reserved parking...

Wed, 02 May 2012 08:27:00 +0200

Clear proof of the societal efficiency of reserved parking spaces.

Yes! The first 1MWh of our photovoltaics http://bit.ly/pvhooft...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:21:00 +0200

Yes! The first 1MWh of our photovoltaics http://bit.ly/pvhooft .

Time for a little celebration after 82 full days and a few hours of operation.