Julien's fuzzy blog

Beside my litterature review, I've started to test a bit some silhouette-based modeling algorithms. Nothing really new, but I can show you some preliminary results on background subtraction.

   

Original image (part of), after statistical background removal, after removing noise.

Next stages: shadows subtraction, MPEG-2 artifacts correction (not visible here) and generation of a view-dependent 3D model.

It's not breaking news, as we found it on Thursday. Anyway, we eventually found a flat on Queensway, a merchant street in Bayswater. Single bedroom, double bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom and ... a washing machine !

More info when we'll move in in the middle of August (if everything goes right).

As you know I didn't plan to run a marathon this autumn because of the UTMB at the end of August, but the motivation of Karim finally convinced me Karim was thinking about Berlin which is a very good idea, but unfortunately already sold out. We then though about Amsterdam which was my favourite choice some time ago. It is held on Octber 16th.

It should be quite a nice race:

• very flat and therefore fast and easy (hmmm... we'll see)
• very nice city to visit
• there's also a 10km and a half-marathon (21km)

Overall, it seems pretty well organised, with digital timers and chip times every 5km, proper running T-shirt, etc ...

For those interested to join us, I've started to put online a page with some details (to be updated).

On Sunday we saw Tower Bridge open for a rather small ship, but with a high mast.

As promised ...
   

Pictures by my father, cheers !

Last Thursday I went to my MSc graduation ceremony in Hull. It was nice, with all these people wearing different colourful costumes depending on their level, some of the members of the congregation carrying sceptres. Add the pipe organ, an over-formal speech, constant acknowledgments with the hat and the ceremony looked nearly religious ! At the middle of the ceremony, the Vice-Chancellor started a discourse about the university commitments by a 5-minute speech about the G8 and the global warming. That was nice, but a bit strange at this point. Ceremony was closed by the national anthem
Pictures coming soon (I hope).

I don't say nice things about British railways system very often, but this time I have to, so listen well The Hull Trains are just great ! The seats are huge, with largely enough room for my knees and large headrest with wings on each side, which are necessary to sleep properly. I don't think there's as much room even in the 1st class of the French high-speed train (TGV). Toilets are outrageously large and clean, with a nice female voice reminding you to lock the door if you forgot ...

This morning, there were several explosions in the London tube and buses. The situation is still very confused. Don't worry for me - I'm fine.
BBC
Sky

This was the 100th entry of my blog.

Today the European Parliament firmly rejected the "Computer Implemented Inventions Directive" by 648 votes to 14 ! That will make the great news of the day !

• the BBC article
• the article of Libé (in French)
• more about the concept of free software

My bike has been stolen from Mark's house yesterday... I was about to collect it back.

I tried a method relying on the Space Carving output specificities to generate in a low time a hull of the result. To date, I can say I failed... The hull doesn't cover all the fish at all. But rendering is incredibly faster.

I have decided to use the occasion of the UTMB to raise some funds to fight AIDS in Africa, through a charity called AVERT. There is a serious lack of political and religious commitment to provide enough funds and resources for eduction and medical care. Patents on specific medicine leave millions of people without efficient treatment: 2.3 millions of inhabitants of Subsaharan Africa died because of AIDS in 2004. There is still time to reverse the epidemic that is sweeping across Africa.

It's time to act now !
I've chosen AVERT, a charity contributing to numerous projects around the world, helping with the problem of HIV/AIDS in countries where there is a high or increasing rate of infection such as South Africa or the Russian Federation.

It would be great if you could sponsor me for a fixed amount or make a pledge per kilometre actually run - this will give me some more courage to continue.

Thank you !

Donation options:

• directly to me in cash or cheques (GPB or Euro) - just come and see me !
  • for a simple donation
  • for a pledge per kilometre
• online simple donation through justgiving

For more information:

• AVERT
• UNAIDS
• last UNAIDS report (PDF - 2.8MB)
• e-mail me

See also the static page.

Updated 03/07 (I was quite tired while writing yesterday.)

Last night I went running by night to Lake District in order to test the gear and the beast in rather real conditions. As I got lost (some would say "missed the path" ) several times, I don't know exactly the distance and total ascent I've run, but it should be roughly something like 50km +1700m -1700m (ie. 1/3 UTMB distance - 1/5 UTMB ascent). I started yesterday from Windermere at 10:30pm and finished at Penrith this morning at 7am. The weather was quite good: around 10°C, quite cloudy with a small moon croissant (isn't it nice my frenchism ?).
I could train on various kinds of path: bogs (very nice by night !), grass, bridle ways, road, stones, rock ... Running by night is also a good way to evaluate the navigation skills... I went jogging (7 to 10km/h) on the flat and slighty downhill paths, walking fast on the ascents and steep downhill sections. No more than 5-minute stops. It went quite ok, although I expected to be a bit faster.
I don't think my mind was very clear towards the end. I noticed afterwards that I obviously got lost pretty more often and in easier conditions in the second half of the trail. I'm glad I finished still running and had good feelings. Surprisingly I didn't feel so tired while arriving at Penrith but if I actually did, it would have been disappointing ...

About the gear:

• shoes (Asics Gel Orient) went perfectly ok: not a single blister after 8 hours in the mountains ! very light - the grip was ok even downhill in wet grass
• bag ( Décathlon Diosaz raid 17) with its 2L bottle was rather confortable although I got a bit marked on the hips (belt probably too tight), but I'd prefer more inner pockets because it was a bit messy
• head torch ( Frendo DIODEX) (*) was used only from midnight to 3am - I switched on 1 LED for most of the time, 3 LEDs for the fast downhill sections and the xenon bulb when I was really lost

About the beast:

• my knees were quiet most of the time, but could feel them at the end - I should rely more on my poles
• my stomach was not very very happy, but I could eat anyway - I had some power gels, power bars and the energy powder in salted water, for a total of approx. 2000 Kcal
• my brain was a bit anxious to run alone by night during the first hour, but was great after that

Even though I could have been slighlty faster, I'm satisfied by this training. I'm quite optimistic for the UTMB up to Courmayeur (72km).

(*) page translated by google - original page in French