To combine two images of the same size with ImageMagick, you simply do the following:

The following will overlay overlay.png on top of output.png

mogrify -draw "image SrcOver 0,0 0,0 'overlay.png'" output.png

While this one will overlay overlay.png on top of input.png and save it as output.png

convert input.png -draw "image SrcOver 0,0 0,0 'overlay.png'" output.png

You can download imagemagick from http://www.imagemagick.org/

I’ve been doing some performance tests on WordPress to see how much of a difference the WordPress Super Cache plugin made.

It turns out that the plugin makes a huge difference. (more…)

I’ve taken the plunge, and this time I’m not doing it by halves.

I’m moving from my Windows Server 2003 physical co-located server to a Virtual Private Server (VPS) running Linux.

All of the websites have been transferred across, everything else is still to be moved over.

In the meantime, if you find any problems, or anything 404’s, please flick me an email at b…@john.geek.nz

I’ve recently come across the open source software Xplanet, which will render images of the globe with very realistic results.

I render them in 512×256, 1024×512, 2048×1024 and 4096×2048 resolutions. The clouds information is obtained from weather satellites and is typically around three hours old.

I also use monthly map files so that the snow/ice on the planet is more realistic.

Check out my real time renders at http://www.john.geek.nz/earth/.

It turns out, back in June I was photobombed while having my photo taken with Rob Brydon…

Apollo 12 stories from Newspapers on the 12th November 1969.
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Just like I did with the Apollo 11 landing, I’m tweeting the Apollo 12 landing 40 years late.

I’m using the same account so you can find all the tweets at http://www.twitter.com/apolloecho.

Apollo 12 stories from Newspapers on the 10th November 1969.
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Although I’ve done my bit of Aerial Photography, I’ve always wanted to give Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) a go.

Back in September I started to acquire a few bits. Since the main component was a kite, I decided I’d start with this first. After a lot of research, I decided that a Delta Conyne was the best bet. This particular kite is a hybrid of a standard triangle shaped delta and a box kite. Most KAPpers report that it has the lifting power of a Delta kite with the stability and high flight angle (ie: the string is almost vertical) of a box kite.
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Five year old Noah Biorkman from Michigan, USA is celebrating Christmas this weekend.

The reason santa is coming early this year is that Noah is in the finals stages of cancer that he has been fighting since he was 3 years old.

It seems all Noah wants for his (early) christmas is christmas cards….
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