On a whim I decided to update my thumbnail algorithm. In short, the previous iteration would look for areas of sharp contrast from a few preconfigured areas of the image. Intuitively, this had the twofold benefit of finding high contrast areas (sometimes where the important stuff is) and finding sharp areas (as out-of-focus parts won't have sharp contrast). I decided to iterate on this and preserve the sharp contrast element of the equation, but added parameters to try to resolve some of the issues with the original algorithm.


Both new ingredients are based on creating a histogram of brightness values using luminance (greyscale that treats R/G/B as the human eye does).

• Distance from midtones. That is, how far is the most common brightness value from the midpoint. This would de-emphasize areas that are predominantly dark or bright.
• Peak contrast. I started with the distance between the two highest points in the histogram, but revised it to take the largest separation between a handful of the highest values. This would emphasize areas that have contrast across the entire measured surface.

Rather than use preconfigured sample locations, I wrote the interface to let the user define a number of circlular sampling areas spaced evenly across the image. Running the algorithm would give me:



Taking the combined midtone/contrast/sharpness values, I normalized them using them to give the percentage thumbnailability compared to the rest of the image.


It gets a little clearer and more aligned when I draw on the sampling circles.


Generating a thumbnail is fairly trivial from here, but still heuristic. I could take the point of highest interest and expand out if necessary, but that could fall into an adversarial case fairly easily. Rather, iterating over the entire grid is pretty straightforward, and I can take the maximum grouping that meets provided size constraints.


And beyond the thumbnail application, the high/low interest region labeling could be used for cropping or culling datasets for other algorithms.


Video games break the heuristic, but not as easily as the last one. Text provides the sharp contrast that the code likes to hone in on. Creating a center left/right bias would help with this, but then I need to provide manual or automatic recognition that it's a screencap.


Even photos don't always get the intended result.

Finally draft one of the Europe post set is complete. Two problems though:

• April was fairly post-happy
• Viewing the posts normally is backward, since they're ordered newest-to-oldest

This called for a bit of new code on the back end, assembling a custom set of posts in arbitrary order. Voila, post sets.

Who doesn't love a good list?

2023.11.12 Films about money, finance, and scams The Big Short, Smartest Guys in the Room, Madoff... plus some stuff I haven't seen yet in case you want to do a movie night.

2023.09.10 Travel Travel galleries, stories, and information.

2023.04.01 Electronic Entertainment Eulogy Remembering the best, the worst, and the weirdest parts of E3.

2021.04.01 Millennialisms A compilation of things that set gen-y apart (or as they would say, "a part") from others.

2019.12.31 201x decade in review A retrospective on the decade that - well - happened.

2017.12.27 J's top ten video games J's top ten video games of all time (and some honorable mentions).

2019.04.01 My top ten video games My take on the best of the best, and some nostalgia mentions.

2011.05.05 The final speed night A few years back, Connie, Erik, and myself did car/motorcycle movie nights and shared our thoughts on how they measure up to some agreed-upon criteria that only vaguely echoes actual quality. If you're looking for a full-throttle quiet night in the media room, check the top or bottom of our list.

2023.10.31 Costumes A collection of all the best costumes from over the years.

Favorite media

2000.01.10 Favorite photos (2000-2009) My favorite (original) photo content from the aughts.

2010.01.10 Favorite photos (2010-2019) My favorite (original) photo content from the teens.

2020.01.10 Favorite photos (2020-2029) My favorite (original) photo content from the twenties.

2010.02.10 Favorite screens (2010-2019) My favorite screenshots from the teens.

2020.02.10 Favorite screens (2020-2029) My favorite screenshots from the twenties.