How do I check whether the photos I have on my backup disks are not corrupted? There are
various check programs for JPEG images, but do they check for everything? I'm sure they recognize structural problems,
but would they recognize a zeroed-out data block in the middle of the image? And of course
they only check JPEG, arguably the least interesting of my photo files.
Take a step back. If I have corruption somewhere, there are two possibilities: either all
copies are corrupt, or there's a version that isn't corrupt. So before I potentially delete
the last correct version of a file from my myriad backup disks, I should compare them. How?
sha1 seems the
obvious choice. Yes, it's not as secure as more modern versions like sha512, but it's faster,
and the chances that the corrupt version will have the same fingerprint as the good version
are vanishingly small.
What was missing from yesterday's copying of DxO
PhotoLab configuration information? Was it really the subdirectory Workspaces?
Braved stomachache and tried copying the files in that directory: Myspace.xml,
__$$Customize.xml and __$$PhotoLibrary.xml. Restart DxO. Yes! My guess is
that it's Myspace.xml. The other two were there on installation, though their
content differed. So I have the (hopefully) final piece in my HOWTO, at least until I install a new version.
Looked at albo, my Android phone for some
reason today. Two missed calls from Yvonne. Dammit, it has
been in my pocket all day. And calls aren't muted. And when I tried to call her, I got no
response from the phone, not even a ring tone.
What's wrong with this bloody thing? Rebooted it, after which it worked normally. But why
are these things so horribly unreliable?
Ran the dishwasher this morning, as always. But the dishes didn't get clean, and the
detergent was still in the now-open dispenser. Dispenser obstructed? Filter blocked?
Spray arms obstructed? That's easy with things like spatulas that can hang through the
basket. Checked carefully and ran it again. No problem.
Then a second load. Problem. The cycle ran normally, but once again the detergent remained
in the dispenser. On further investigation discovered that the water in the sump was
completely clear. Pump blockage? Pump failure? Did some basic checks, including checking
the filter, and removing the upper basket and checking the waterways, but came up with
nothing. So until proof of the contrary it's the recirculating pump. A good thing that we
decided to keep the old dishwasher when we installed this one. But it's Yet Another repair to schedule.
Pad see ew for breakfast again today. It's a
dark dish, but unlike KL Hokkien mee it
doesn't look attractive. Here pad see ew on the left, KL Hokkien mee on the right:
Part of that comes from frying the meat over high heat right at the start. So: do the
Gai lan first. The result
didn't look different enough to take a photo, but it did seem better.
And the wok hei? I'm still not there. Put some more oil into the wok to prevent the
noodles sticking to it, with only limited success.
About the only real insight was the composition of the sauce. More fish sauce, more
vinegar, less soya sauce.
This page contains (roughly) yesterday's and today's entries. I have
a horror of reverse chronological documents, so
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but if I fall behind it may contain more. You can find older entries in
the archive. Note that I often update a diary entry
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