Over the summer I started working out again. I managed to drop quite a bit of weight, in addition to getting in the probably the best shape I’ve been in for a number of years. As a reward for being so diligent with working out and hitting a personal goal (K’s brother’s wedding), I decided to put in an order to HSV directly in late September. I couldn’t be happier with what I got.

Pictured above we have:

• I (heart) HH hoodie – HH refers to Hauptstadt Hamburg
• 125 Jahre scarf – The team is currently celebrating their 125th anniversary
• Fan kit – Pen, button, key ring, wrist bracelet, mini scarf hanger (which is AWESOME)
• Van der Vaart away jersey – The best jersey I’ve owned

I love hoodies, so I had to get one of those. I didn’t really buy anything HSV related while we were over there, so I needed a scarf as well. The fan kit was included for free after spending so much. The jersey, mein Gott, is the crown jewel of my order. I love HSV’s away jerseys this season, but US retailers don’t carry it for some reason. I figured that if I were going to buy one, I should just spend a little more and get it personalized. Of course if I were going that far, I’d need the Bundesliga patch as well. It’s the best fitting and best looking jersey I’ve owned yet.

After a tight first-half the former Melbourne Victory forward sneaked his third goal of the season in just before the break.

Substitute Stefan Reisinger then secured the three points with a wonderful solo effort with still 26 minutes left on the clock, although Hamburg did have two goals ruled out, one, correctly, the other dubious.

F95 threatened early from out wide with whipped crosses from Tobias Levels and Axel Bellinghausen causing problems, although HSV comfortably dealt with the threat with Michael Mancienne in good early form.

But Fortuna’s passing game was letting them down, giving the ball to the visitors far too often and allowing Hamburg to take control of proceedings.

HSV though were dealt a massive blow just after the half-hour with Dutch International Rafael van der Vaart forced off with a suspected torn hamstring.

Four minutes before the break Fortuna too were forced to make a change because of injury as experienced defender Jens Langeneke came off after receiving a knock.

Mancienne thought he opened the scoring with a tap in from a rebound, but from the initial effort, the former Chelsea defender was correctly ruled to be offside.

Ex-Dusseldorf winger Maximilian Beister almost broke the deadlock just before the break, but the German U21’s strike was deflected inches wide.

Fortuna though from the resulting corner immediately pushed on the counter with Andreas Lambertz who found Kruse down the left.

The Socceroo then via a Mancienne deflected opened the scoring sneaking his effort into the bottom corner past Rene Adler.

HSV looked to have found the much needed urgency after the break and almost found an equaliser through Marcus Berg after Tolgay Arslan’s ball, but the Swede’s attempt was deflected just wide once again.

On 55 minutes Hamburg thought they found their much needed equaliser as Captain Heiko Westermann’s driven free-kick came off Kruse before beating Fabian Giefer.

But the referee ruled another goal out after Lambertz was fouled in the box before the free-kick was struck.

Hamburg kept pushing through Arslan and Beister, but they would pay the price for not converting their chances.

Six minutes after coming on Reisinger beat Westermann and Mancienne far too easily, before emphatically finishing into the top corner past Adler in a truly magical individual effort.

Huntsville police searching for man who entered family’s hotel room, took laptop and fled

By Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
November 10, 2012 at 8:59 AM, updated November 10, 2012 at 10:39 AM

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – A family was asleep in a hotel in the 3000 block of University Drive when a man entered the room at about 3:45 a.m., according to a Huntsville Police report.

Police are searching for a black male after a father stated he burglarized the room. The victim said his wife awoke as a man entered the room. The offender then told the woman he was a hotel manager and that a laptop computer in their room had been reported stolen. He grabbed the computer and fled.

After the victim verified the offender was not a manager he notified authorities.

Police said entry into the room was not forced.

The investigation is ongoing.

blog.al.com/breaking/2012/11/huntsville_police_searching_fo_6.html

—

The Huntsville Times is owned by the same privately-held publishing group Advance Publications/Newhouse News, which also owns the Birmingham News, Mobile Press-Register & New Orleans Times-Picayune… all which are now printed only on Sunday, Wednesday & Friday.

In other words, the “suits” can’t figure out how to make money.

1.) Headline is excessively lengthy

2.) Story is poorly written.
- The second sentence, which reads “Police are searching for a black male after a father stated he burglarized the room,” indicates that the father burgled the room, rather than “a black male,” as specifically stated in the story.
- The name of the hotel/motel is not stated. Why not? Motels/hotels in the 3000 block of University Drive are: a.) Red Carpet Inn; b.) Economy Inn, c.) Quality Inn; d.) La Quinta Inn; e.) Value Place.} http://goo.gl/maps/t2fDC

Y’know… it’s difficult to imagine that folks obtain a university education to write at or below the 5th grade level.

I’ve felt very reluctant to go public about this particular issue, for reasons which you will understand. Many readers may even think that this is just way too private and perhaps I should keep it to myself. But it’s part of my myeloma journey, and I want to be open about the whole experience. I’m also aware that other myeloma patients read this blog and it feels important to share so others can benefit, if only to know that they’re not alone and it’s ok to speak about.

It’s quite simple… my immune system has been suppressed due to the disease itself and even more so following two stem cell transplants. It is now and will continue to be compromised, so I am particularly prone to fungal, bacterial and viral infections. I now fall into the group of people who are entitled to an annual flu jab (which I’ve already had this year). I also have to take prophylactic antibiotics (Penicillin and Pentamidine) and antivirals (Aciclovir). While the antiviral medication will gradually decrease over time, I will be taking antibiotics for the rest of my life. These support mechanisms don’t eliminate my chances of catching an infection; they simply support my immune system and thereby lower the risk.

I became aware of the warts in April and mentioned them to my consultant. She was very keen that I have them treated and ‘get on top of them’ prior to the transplant, as they could readily proliferate and be harder to treat following the transplant, due to the lowered immunity. She referred me to the genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinic, otherwise known as the sexual health clinic. The doctor I saw is married to one of the haematology doctors, so she understands well the process I have gone through and the connection between my disease/treatment and my sexual health.

Initially, the doctor suggested using Warticon, which is a cream I could apply myself. They even provide a wee hand mirror so you can see what you’re doing. I didn’t see much of a response to the cream, so the doctor prescribed Aldara cream, which is used to stimulate the immune cells to manage the virus that causes the warts. That didn’t work either.

I had a gap in treatment while I went through the transplant and in the first few months of recovery from it. But since the end of September, I have been going for weekly treatments of freezing (cryosurgery) by a nurse. They spray liquid nitrogen directly onto the offending areas, using a ‘gun’. It don’t half sting!!! At last, it does seem to be working; they are vanishing. In fact, it’s working so well, that they gave me a week off!

Because freezing kills off all cells it touches, the healthy skin around the warts is also affected, and the nurse was concerned in case the skin broke or became painful, so she gave me some aqueous cream to use as a wash. It’s very greasy. In fact, when she advised me to ensure I washed it off after use, she explained that if I didn’t, I’d feel ready to swim the Channel… like being covered in goose fat!

I’ve asked questions and done a bit of online research too. Here are some of the answers that I wanted:

Many adults are likely to have encountered a range of viruses, but only a small percentage actually develop symptoms. This is the case with Human Papillomavirus (HPV) that causes genital warts. Most people are exposed to the virus during their life, but it has the ability to remain latent within the body over long periods – even years or decades before developing into warts, so it is usually not possible to determine exactly when, or from whom, an individual contracted the virus.

For most individuals the immune response appears to dominate and lesions (warts) never develop, or they develop but are suppressed by an immune response before the person ever realises their presence.

Other viruses that can lay dormant without causing any ill effects are Herpes Simplex (HSV) and Cytomegalovirus (CMV). I mentioned in my post “A walk in the park…” that both my donor and I were screened for CMV prior to transplant, as this can be life-threatening for the immunocompromised, whereas it typically goes unnoticed in healthy people.

I also read that persistent infections of HPV may lead to cervical cancer as a result of cellular transformation. The last thing I need is another cancer, FFS! So, it’s critical that to knock this thing on the head. I’m off for another bout of freezing on Thursday. Ouch!

So, it was 5am and the only thing I could think about was getting caffeine into my system; not if my friend was going to be late, not if it was going to rain in Motegi, not if the pole sitter would win, not if that girl last night actually liked me or was just being polite.  The only thing I cared about was coffee.  So I did what any normal person in Japan would do; walk across the street and buy one.

I ended up getting a warm Emerald Mountain Blend, as I usually do at this, or any, hour.  Well, that’s a lie, most of the time I buy it cold.  Anyway, I took a quick walk around the hood while I enjoyed my coffee and waited for my friend to pick me up to begin our journey to Twin Ring Motegi for the final round of 2012 Super GT.

Next door to my place was a shop that had a couple cats roam around every morning; this was one of them.  They always wandered the near sidewalks and alleys to make sure everything was how they left it the night before.  This guy had just got done eating some cat food the owner had left out.

My friend showed up soon after the cat photo session, and we began our trip to Motegi.  Weaving our way through the expressway, slowly making our way to the outskirts of the big metropolis that is Tokyo.  Just driving around gives you opportunities to find cool cars; like this RX-7 we tailed for a short while.

There is one particular Parking Area off the expressway that we usually stop at.  There is a Starbucks there that has some pretty cool architecture.

The lot also provides a good place to find cool cars.  This ER34 GTR looks great!  Almost as great as the new Taylor Swift album.

As we got closer to Twin Ring, we ran into a little traffic due to some construction that turned the already narrow road into one lane.  The forecast that day called for light rain off and on; I was hoping it wouldn’t at all, but at this point it looked inevitable.  It seems like every Super GT race I go to it rains.  I don’t really mind, because it makes for good photos, but it’s pretty bothersome in every other aspect.

Made it! ~

My buddy and I, who runs JDM Clips, both skipped breakfast that morning, so after parking the first order of business was getting a healthy meal…so we both got takoyaki; probably not the best choice for breakfast, but whatever.  It was delicious, and hot.  Very hot.

After we got done eating our junk food, practice was just getting underway.  Before the Porsche Cup support race, the Super GT cars go out for about an hour long practice session.  We decided to watch the entire practice at the Dunlop Corner, so we made the hike over there.  Along the way we got treated to nice views like this between the trees that surround the track.

The cars carry quite a bit of speed on the straight leading to this corner, so it’s neat to see them get hard on the brakes.  Most cars had a similar breaking point, but you could definitely see a difference between the 300 and 500 cars.  Here is the pole sitter, ZENT SC430, heading into Dunlop.

One of the BMW GT300 teams – this car unfortunately ended up going off in the gravel towards the end of the race and had to be towed off.  It looked great during practice though.

Another Lexus of the WedsSport persuasion.  This car has cool livery.

The D-Station GTR.

Drag race of epicness.  The S Road GTR of course had no problem passing the GT300 Ferrari.  The S Road team had, at the last round, already captured the series championship.

Another shot of the ZENT.  If this car comes up often I apologize, as it is my favorite team; I may be a bit biased.

I’m sure you’re all familiar with this track thanks to Gran Turismo, so you all should know about the tunnel after the Dunlop Corner.  The engines emit an awesome noise as the drivers rocket through the tunnel at full throttle.

Before getting on throttle though, you’ve got to brake. Hard.  The brake rotors burn, and the catalyzer shoots flames in protest as the driver commands the car to slow.  Head over to the wallpaper page to see how hot these brakes can really get on this turn.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink.  Some of the kids were more absorbed in catching pokemon than the screaming cars fighting it out on the track.  I thought this was hilarious.

In the scheme of things, the Audi R8′s do relatively well in this series.  One consistent top 5 finisher is the GT300 Gainer R8.

SC430 dog fight!

The upside of running two classes simultaneously is that, even on the more boring tracks, there is always overtaking.

The CR-Z was pretty healthy sounding all day.  I look forward to see what this car is capable of in the next season.

I was sure to take many pictures of the HSV competitors, as this may be the last year we get to see them competing in Super GT, due to some regulation changes.  These cars were actually already an exception to the rule.

After the quick practice session, we took a stroll over to the Honda Collection Hall where they were having a tribute to 90′s racing, specifically the NSX.  It was a few hours before the beginning of the race, so I also took a stroll through some of the parking lots on the hunt for hidden treasure.  I’ll have more on that later, as well as full coverage of the race.  Stay tuned, and thanks for visiting!

• Alteration of conscious (97%)
• CSF Pleocytosis (97%)
• Fever (90%),
• Personality Change (85%)
• Headache (81%)
• Seizures(67%)
• Vomiting (46%)

In newborns it typically presents 6-12 days after birth with general lethargy, poor feeding, and/or seizures and is HSV-2.

Diagnosis

CSF should be taken immediately when HSE is suspected and sent for a PCR study. This is the gold standard and is sensitive 94-98% and specific 98-100%.

Lab studies are non-specific. Imaging (CT and MRI) and Electroencephalography abnormalities can take days to a week to appear on scans.

• CSF in patient with HSE will have elevated WBC, RBC, elevated protein, and normal glucose level with lymphocytic pleocytosis
• MRI findings if present would demonstrate temporal lobe lesions
• Electroencephalography (EEG) has characteristic periodic high-voltage spike wave activity emanating from the temporal lobes and slow wave complexes are highly suggestive of HSE.

Treatment

IV acyclovir should be started immediately , before PCR results confirm, because its toxicity is rather low and HSE prognosis is poor untreated. In adults 10-15mg/kg q8h x14-21days, 3 months-12years 20mg/kg x10 days, neonates 30mg/kg/day.

In keeping with the theme of turning what basic science we are learning in class into clinical scenarios, Sakib suggested I write up a piece on HSE relating to our Infectious Disease class. Struggling to stay focused through learning tons of boring viral info, bacteria, fungi, etc. I wondered what we’ll ever need to know again, especially in emergency medicine. There are actually quite a lot of emergencies that can arise, and HSE is one.

HSE is the most common cause of sporadic fatal encephalitis in the US (Meyer). HSV is a dsDNA virus in the Herpesviridae family, of which there are 8 types that affect humans. HSV-1 and HSV-2 are spread when an infected person is shedding virus during the primary infection or a secondary infection. The viron fuses with a cell’s plasma membrane where it uncoats and a Viral Host Shutoff protein is expressed. Herpesvirus then replicates using sequential control of protein synthesis expressing mRNA for first alpha, then beta, then gamma proteins. Herpes is well known for its characteristic of viral latency, where it remains dormant in cell bodies of neurons, safe from immune cell destruction.

Primary illness with HSV1&2 is typically the most severe illness, latent ones not as severe. 90% are symptomless, 9% minor illness, 1% have severe illness with gingivostomatitis, the most common symptom. Infections “above the belt” are usually (but not always) HSV-1 and “below” HSV-2.

PCR is used diagnostically to differentiate 1&2 and is the gold standard, because the viruses differ in 50% of their DNA. Immunocytochemistry and Western Blot can be used but are less accurate.

HSE

In regards to diagnosis, the presentation is described above. It has a somewhat non-specific presentation, but needs to be treated immediately. Untreated, death can occur in 7 days, which can vary with severity. The pathogenicity is not known, neither is the mechanism of cell damage leading to encephalopathy.

A short list of differential should include:

• Meningitis
• Infective encephalitis causes
• Abscesses
• Intracranial tumors

CSF analysis is used to diagnose. CT and MRI don’t show abnormalities for several days. On CT changes in temporal or frontal lobe are seen as low density lesions after 3-4 days. In T2 MRI, early involvement of white matter is seen. The inferomedial portion of the temporal lobe is most commonly affected on MRI (Anderson).

62-year-old woman with confusion and herpes encephalitis shows T2 hyperintensity involving right temporal lobe:

source = eMedicine

Acyclovir is used to treat. When HSE is suspected it should be started immediately, however in one study at an academic emergency medicine institution showed only 29% of patients were given acyclovir with presentation of HSE1 (Benson).

What better way to end this post than to get a quick review on serious CNS infections from Scott Weingart at EMCrit podcast

• Podcast on serious CNS infections = http://emcrit.org/podcasts/meningitis/
• http://crashingpatient.com/medical-surgical/cns-infections.htm/

References

Anderson, DO, Wayne. “Herpes Simplex Encephalitis Treatment & Management.” Medscape Reference. 07 2011

Benson PC, Swadron SP. Empiric acyclovir is infrequently initiated in the emergency department to patients ultimately diagnosed with encephalitis. Ann Emerg Med. Jan 2006;47(1):100-5. [Medline].

Meyer Jr., M.H. et al., 1960. CNS Syndroms of “Viral” Etiology. Am. J. Med. 29, 334-247.

Compiled by: Nick Mancuso, M1

Miss anything? Forgot to include something important? Leave a comment and help us improve our knowledge base for medical students!

This past Sunday marked the end of the 2012 Super GT season with the final race at Twin Ring Motegi; and despite the cold, rainy weather, the action was as hot as ever.  While it may not have been the case for the drivers, the 250km race was over before I knew it.  I get so lost in capturing the moment that I forget about the pouring rain, the time, my aching legs, and just about everything else.  Turns out my favorite team, the Zent SC430, ended up taking first place from pole position; resulting in a second place finish in the championship.

Stay tuned because I’ve got some great coverage and articles for you all about Super GT, and the final round of 2012.  I won’t be able to post much in the coming days, but be patient because it’s definitely worth it.

This post adds to the example, by using the mouse wheel to control the Value portion of the color (which ranges from 0.0 to 1.0).

Here’s the updated XAML:

<Window Name="win1" x:Class="WpfApplication1.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        Title="Color from Mouse Position"
        SizeToContent="WidthAndHeight"
        MouseMove="win1_MouseMove_1" MouseWheel="win1_MouseWheel_1">

    <Canvas x:Name="canv1" Width="400" Height="400">
        <Label x:Name="lblInfo" Content="{Binding RGBInfo}" HorizontalAlignment="Center" />
        <Ellipse x:Name="ellipseCenter" Stroke="Black" Width="2" Height="2" Fill="Black" Canvas.Left="199" Canvas.Top="199"/>
    </Canvas>
</Window>

And the updated code-behind:

    public partial class MainWindow : Window, INotifyPropertyChanged
    {
        SolidColorBrush backBrush = new SolidColorBrush();
        double value = 1.0;

        public MainWindow()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            this.DataContext = this;
            win1.Background = backBrush;
        }

        private string rgbInfo;
        public string RGBInfo
        {
            get { return rgbInfo; }
            set
            {
                if (value != rgbInfo)
                {
                    rgbInfo = value;
                    RaisePropertyChanged("RGBInfo");
                }
            }
        }

        private void win1_MouseMove_1(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            RecalcColor(e.GetPosition(canv1));
        }

        private void win1_MouseWheel_1(object sender, MouseWheelEventArgs e)
        {
            if ((e.Delta > 0) && (value < 1.0))
                value += 0.1;
            else if ((e.Delta < 0) && (value > 0.0))
                value -= 0.1;

            RecalcColor(Mouse.GetPosition(canv1));
        }

        private void RecalcColor(Point mousePos)
        {
            double radius = (canv1.ActualWidth / 2);

            double hue;
            double saturation;
            Color c = ColorFromMousePosition(mousePos, radius, out hue, out saturation);
            backBrush.Color = c;
            RGBInfo = string.Format("R={0}, G={1}, B={2}.  H={3:F1}, S={4:F1}, V={5:F1}",
                c.R, c.G, c.B,
                hue, saturation, value);

            if (value < 0.5)
            {
                lblInfo.Foreground = Brushes.White;
                ellipseCenter.Stroke = Brushes.White;
            }
            else
            {
                lblInfo.Foreground = Brushes.Black;
                ellipseCenter.Stroke = Brushes.Black;
            }
        }

        private Color ColorFromMousePosition(Point mousePos, double radius, out double hue, out double saturation)
        {
            // Position relative to center of canvas
            double xRel = mousePos.X - radius;
            double yRel = mousePos.Y - radius;

            // Hue is angle in deg, 0-360
            double angleRadians = Math.Atan2(yRel, xRel);
            hue = angleRadians * (180 / Math.PI);
            if (hue < 0)
                hue = 360 + hue;

            // Saturation is distance from center
            saturation = Math.Min(Math.Sqrt(xRel * xRel + yRel * yRel) / radius, 1.0);

            byte r, g, b;
            ColorUtil.HsvToRgb(hue, saturation, value, out r, out g, out b);
            return Color.FromRgb(r, g, b);
        }

        public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

        private void RaisePropertyChanged(string prop)
        {
            if (PropertyChanged != null)
                PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(prop));
        }
    }

(See the earlier post for the ColorUtil code).
We can now roll the mouse wheel down to reduce the value, making the colors darker.

So we want to map a mouse position against a color wheel like the following:

In WPF, we’ll just create a Canvas, with a Label that will be used to dump out the RGB values.

<Window Name="win1" x:Class="WpfApplication1.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        Title="Color from Mouse Position"
        SizeToContent="WidthAndHeight"
        MouseMove="win1_MouseMove_1">

    <Canvas x:Name="canv1" Width="400" Height="400">
        <Label Content="{Binding RGBInfo}" HorizontalAlignment="Center" />
    </Canvas>
</Window>

In the code-behind, we’ll handle the MouseMove event for the window and re-calculate the color of the window’s background brush, based on the mouse position.

    /// <summary>
    ///
    /// Interaction logic for MainWindow.xaml
    /// </summary>
    public partial class MainWindow : Window, INotifyPropertyChanged
    {
        SolidColorBrush backBrush = new SolidColorBrush();

        public MainWindow()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            this.DataContext = this;
            win1.Background = backBrush;
        }

        private string rgbInfo;
        public string RGBInfo
        {
            get { return rgbInfo; }
            set
            {
                if (value != rgbInfo)
                {
                    rgbInfo = value;
                    RaisePropertyChanged("RGBInfo");
                }
            }
        }

        private void win1_MouseMove_1(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            double radius = (canv1.ActualWidth / 2);

            Color c = ColorFromMousePosition(e.GetPosition(canv1), radius);
            backBrush.Color = c;
            RGBInfo = string.Format("R={0}, G={1}, B={2}", c.R, c.G, c.B);
        }

        Color ColorFromMousePosition(Point mousePos, double radius)
        {
            // Position relative to center of canvas
            double xRel = mousePos.X - radius;
            double yRel = mousePos.Y - radius;

            // Hue is angle in deg, 0-360
            double angleRadians = Math.Atan2(yRel, xRel);
            double hue = angleRadians * (180 / Math.PI);
            if (hue < 0)
                hue = 360 + hue;

            // Saturation is distance from center
            double saturation = Math.Min(Math.Sqrt(xRel * xRel + yRel * yRel) / radius, 1.0);

            byte r, g, b;
            ColorUtil.HsvToRgb(hue, saturation, 1.0, out r, out g, out b);
            return Color.FromRgb(r, g, b);
        }

        public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

        private void RaisePropertyChanged(string prop)
        {
            if (PropertyChanged != null)
                PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(prop));
        }
    }

Notice that we make use of an HSV to RGB conversion function, found at http://www.splinter.com.au/converting-hsv-to-rgb-colour-using-c/. Below is the function as we’re using it.

    public static class ColorUtil
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Convert HSV to RGB
        /// h is from 0-360
        /// s,v values are 0-1
        /// r,g,b values are 0-255
        /// Based upon http://ilab.usc.edu/wiki/index.php/HSV_And_H2SV_Color_Space#HSV_Transformation_C_.2F_C.2B.2B_Code_2
        /// </summary>
        public static void HsvToRgb(double h, double S, double V, out byte r, out byte g, out byte b)
        {
            // ######################################################################
            // T. Nathan Mundhenk
            // mundhenk@usc.edu
            // C/C++ Macro HSV to RGB

            double H = h;
            while (H < 0) { H += 360; };
            while (H >= 360) { H -= 360; };
            double R, G, B;
            if (V <= 0)
            { R = G = B = 0; }
            else if (S <= 0)
            {
                R = G = B = V;
            }
            else
            {
                double hf = H / 60.0;
                int i = (int)Math.Floor(hf);
                double f = hf - i;
                double pv = V * (1 - S);
                double qv = V * (1 - S * f);
                double tv = V * (1 - S * (1 - f));
                switch (i)
                {

                    // Red is the dominant color

                    case 0:
                        R = V;
                        G = tv;
                        B = pv;
                        break;

                    // Green is the dominant color

                    case 1:
                        R = qv;
                        G = V;
                        B = pv;
                        break;
                    case 2:
                        R = pv;
                        G = V;
                        B = tv;
                        break;

                    // Blue is the dominant color

                    case 3:
                        R = pv;
                        G = qv;
                        B = V;
                        break;
                    case 4:
                        R = tv;
                        G = pv;
                        B = V;
                        break;

                    // Red is the dominant color

                    case 5:
                        R = V;
                        G = pv;
                        B = qv;
                        break;

                    // Just in case we overshoot on our math by a little, we put these here. Since its a switch it won't slow us down at all to put these here.

                    case 6:
                        R = V;
                        G = tv;
                        B = pv;
                        break;
                    case -1:
                        R = V;
                        G = pv;
                        B = qv;
                        break;

                    // The color is not defined, we should throw an error.

                    default:
                        //LFATAL("i Value error in Pixel conversion, Value is %d", i);
                        R = G = B = V; // Just pretend its black/white
                        break;
                }
            }
            r = Clamp((byte)(R * 255.0));
            g = Clamp((byte)(G * 255.0));
            b = Clamp((byte)(B * 255.0));
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Clamp a value to 0-255
        /// </summary>
        private static byte Clamp(byte i)
        {
            if (i < 0) return 0;
            if (i > 255) return 255;
            return i;
        }
    }

The final result is a window whose background color changes as we move the mouse around.

How do we do that?

Is it fan ownership ? or a mixture of fan ownership and wealthy investors?

Its something we should be thinking about, no longer should one man call the shots and have the potential to get us into the sort of mess we have just witnessed.

Iv been researching some models of fan ownership for the last few days, I will try and give an honest and unbiased account of these and will then give my own thoughts on fan ownership and the way I believe we should move forward. My opinion might not be correct however its a subject which no one knows how the end outcome will be until we grab the bull by the horns.

PORTUGESE MODEL

The Portugese fan ownership model is one which sees fans join the clubs as members paying a yearly fee for having an input into the running of the club and also discounted match tickets and merchandising. Benfica have a yearly membership fee of £137 while Porto have it at £95 and Sporting Lisbon at £130 per year. Membership numbers vary and in essence so does the financial input of the fans, For example Benfica’s 20,672 members (as of 2012) invest per year approx £2.8 million. That is extra income ontop of season ticket sales.

This model gives fans ‘votes’ on club matters, such as electing a club chairman. Like a goverment election a usually wealthy person will stand for chairmanship and promise to invest money into the club for signings or promise to try and sign specific players or management or both. The voting structure is ;

•  1-5 years membership history = 1 Vote
• 5-10 years membership history =5 votes
• 10-25 years membership = 20 votes
• 25+ years membership = 50 votes

The second model I looked at was much more hands on, our friends across in Germany.

HAMBURG MODEL

This model as I said above is much more hands on in the running of the club and the supporters in general. The Supporters Club model is one which has over 50,000 members so far. Members benefits include ;

• • Complete voting and the right to have a say
• • Club magazine HSVLive delivered free to your doors
• • Personal membership card
• • For the games of the Bundesliga team:
• • Season tickets at member prices
• • First option on top home and away games
• • Cheaper away day travel to competitive, friendly and international games

Hamburg have a group of boards so to speak, Board of Directors, Supervisory Board and Seniors Board. The director for club members is elected in a meeting of members with all other directors appointed by the supervisory board. The meeting of members is the highest decision making body within the club and to vote you have to have been a member for 6 months or more and be 18 or older. The Supervisory Board consists of 12 members, 8 elected by the members, each member is elected for either 2 or 4 years and decides who is on the board of directors and who perhaps to go. The board approves the budgets and are in charge of how the directors run the club.

The HSV model is also perhaps naturally very supporter orientated. They control Merchandising and have their own merchandising range. They also have a ‘supporters assembly’ whereby a very recognisable van is situated at away matches for fans if they need help. HSV were also instrumental in keeping terracing within the stadium and a ‘cheaper’ seating area.

My Own View

I was never a fan of fan ownership as such until recently. Our club has been battered, bruised and raped from majority shareholders who owned all the aces. Despite us as fans putting in far more money than these individuals they were the ones calling the shots, they were the ones putting the club and us on our knees and yet we were paying for the privelidge. Something has to give.

Mr Green and his investors are hopefully doing the job of getting the club back on its feet and being self sustainable, and if they can they deserve the respect and profits than come with that, however we as fans now need to look ahead and plan for the future.

My own view would be a mixture of both the models I have looked into, we the fans own 51% of the club with individual supporters or other investors owning the remaining 49% with a membership base of fans being the ones that own the 51%. Im pretty sure at a conservative estimate we could get members at  a number of 40,000. Membership prices would bring in a good yearly income stream for the club, at say £100 brngs in £4million. Obviously benefits similar to both models would be in play and similar to the Portugese model the longer you have been a member the more votes you would gain.

Similar to the HSV model we would need seperate boards and our fans would need for once  to come together and unite, perhaps 1 or 2 members from all the bodies elected from within their own groups sitting on a similar ‘supervisory board’ together with a second ‘corporate board’ of Rangers minded businessman who either own part of the 49% of shares or are members of the membership scheme who would own 51%.

The added bonus to all of this is that we are in charge of ourselves, we can look after the fans as well as make sure the club is run in the proper manner and in a democratic manner.

There are parts of both models which simply would not work withing Scottish Football of course such as The HSV way of arranging travel to away games for all supporters and the HSV ‘Train’ with disco and bar taking fans on their travels, I could imagine Salmonds panic and rage at that suggestion! Similarly the Portugese model of a ‘wealthy Chairman’ wouldn’t work in my opinion, we only need to see how far the wealthy Rangers men were willing to go to try and help save the old company and the lack of purchase in the new company.

My overriding is view is that ;

• Fans own at least 51% as part of a members group
• We have seperate boards Similar to HSV with supporters widely represented
• A 2nd Corporate board of businessmen who own either individual or membership group shares.
• All members have voting rights depending on length of membership

Now my view is a simple one, one which doesn’t go into alot of detail and one which may not actually be workable, However the actual fan ownership is something that is workable and something that we need to look at, We cannot have the club at the mercy of majority shareholders.

Not one supporters group, not one individual, it should be all of us in it together. Of course there will be disagreements and differing opinions, this is healthy, however the structure should be one that the majority of views are the ones acted upon, an equal representation of groups and individuals.

Its something I never thought id see myself saying, nevermind passionatly being in favour of, but if we can do it right, and do it together then it will be for the longterm benefit of this great institution.

The gallant pioneers gave birth to the club, its time for this generations to take it back.

The course started two weeks ago and I already have plenty of work. New subjects seem interesting for the moment and not quite difficult for now. We’ll see later. From the first day we had to hand some exercises again (I miss summer so much!).

In Image Processing we started learning about color and soon arrived the first Lab with two exercises. We had to solve them only in a color-thinking way.

1. Apply a sepia tone to a color image to make it look like ancient.

I solved the exercise in two different ways. I’ll try to explain both.

• The first way I thought was using the HSV representation of colors. HSV means Hue, Saturation and Value. Hue is the tonality of the color. Saturation is the intensity of a given hue. Value is the brightness or lightness. The given image is in RGB system, but fortunately we have a MatLab® function to change this (rgb2hsv). It also exists the inverse function (hsv2rgb). We’ll use both in this exercise. When we have the image in HSV system, we need to change the hue to apply a sepia tone. At this time, every pixel in H have a certain value (blue at blue zones, red at red zones, purple at purple zones…). We want all pixels to have the same tonality or color in order to achieve our goal. So we put all pixels in H to the same value (this is our parameter). The choice of this parameter will change our result. I tried with 21º = 0.0583 radians. We can also reduce the saturation to improve the ancient effect. Now its time to go back to a RGB system and we have our sepia toned photo ready.

%% HSV METHOD:

lena_color=im2double(imread('lena_color.png')); %Read the image.

lena_hsv=rgb2hsv(lena_color); %Transform the image from RGB to HSV.

lena_hsv(:,:,1)=0.0583; %Assign H (Hue) a sepia tone.
lena_hsv(:,:,2)=lena_hsv(:,:,2)*0.5; %Reduce a bit the saruration.

lena_sepia_rgb=hsv2rgb(lena_hsv); %Transform the image back to RGB.

subplot(1,2,1)
imagesc(uint8(lena_color*255)); %Plot the original image.
axis off;
axis image;
subplot(1,2,2)
imagesc(uint8(lena_sepia_rgb*255)); %Plot the sepia tone image.
axis off;
axis image;

• Another way to solve the problem is using a transformation to black and white and then apply a yellow sepia tone to it. There are several ways to get the luminance of an image (the luminance is the same that a black and white picture). Actually the V of HSV system saw before is the luminance of the image. We won’t use HSV transformations this time, so to get the luminance (Y) we are going to use  a law:

Y = (R+G+B)/3.

That’s correct form a mathematical point of view, but there is another balanced average that is perpetually more correct:

Y = (0.299 · R) + (0.587 · G) + (0.114 · B)

Once we have the luminance calculated, we only have to creat a new 3-channel image (like a RGB image) with the Y and a combination that gives us the yellow:

R = Y + (2 · sepia)

G= Y + (1 · sepia)

B = Y – (1 · sepia)

Sepia is the parameter that will increase or decrease the sepia tone in the black and white image. If sepia is too low, the image will seem only black and whit, but if it’s too high, the picture will be a simple color in all pixels. I used a value of sepia = 30.

%% RGB METHOD:

sepia_tone=30; %Paràmetre de la tonalitat de sepia.

R=lena_color(:,:,1); %Separo les tres capes (R,G,b) de la imatge original.
G=lena_color(:,:,2); %
B=lena_color(:,:,3); %

luminance_Y=R*0.299+G*0.587+B*0.114; %Calculo la lluminància.

lena_sepia(:,:,1)=luminance_Y+((2*sepia_tone)/255); %Creo la imatge nova.
lena_sepia(:,:,2)=luminance_Y+((1*sepia_tone)/255); %
lena_sepia(:,:,3)=luminance_Y-((1*sepia_tone)/255); %

figure;
imagesc(uint8(lena_sepia*255)); %Dibuixo la nova imatge en sepia
axis off;
axis image;

2. Given a color image, create a new image with pixels corresponding only to human skin.

• It’s a difficult problem if you try to solve it using neighbour pixels and topics like that. But as we are studying color at this point of the course, it seems easier to solve it in a color domain way. The idea is to transform the picture to HSV as I explained before, and keep only certain values of hue (H). Then we assign a luminance (V) = 0 to the pixels out of this range. The only discussion here is which angles of hue should we take. Human skin is around the yellows (although The Simpsons aren’t in the picture), oranges and browns (whit different levels of saturation and luminance). These colors are more or less between 10º and 50º. I tried with two different photographs and with different cutoff angles, but that will depend on your picture.

%% DNI

dni=im2double(imread('dni.jpg'));

dni_hsv=rgb2hsv(dni);

for x=1:size(dni,1)
for y=1:size(dni,2)
if (dni_hsv(x,y,1)>0.125)
dni_hsv(x,y,3)=0;
end
end
end

dni_skin=hsv2rgb(dni_hsv);

figure;

subplot(1,2,1)
imagesc(uint8(dni*255));
axis off;
axis image;

subplot(1,2,2)
imagesc(uint8(dni_skin*255));
axis off;
axis image;

%% ----------------------------------------------------------------
%% BASKET

basket=im2double(imread('basket.jpg'));

basket_hsv=rgb2hsv(basket);

for x=1:size(basket,1)
for y=1:size(basket,2)
if ((basket_hsv(x,y,1)>0.18) || (basket_hsv(x,y,1)<0.05))
basket_hsv(x,y,3)=0;
end
end
end

basket_skin=hsv2rgb(basket_hsv);

figure;

subplot(1,2,1)
imagesc(uint8(basket*255));
axis off;
axis image;
subplot(1,2,2)
imagesc(uint8(basket_skin*255));
axis off;
axis image;

Back in Sydney for work again however, I’ve planned it so I have a few days spare to run a muck with my friends.

Dinner that night is an obvious choice. Kebab related puns make me so happy.

Saturday 15th September, 2012

Pete is a champion and lends me his car on Saturday. I do what anyone given the keys to an NB shoud do and head out for a drive!

Thanks to Aytac for this photo.

Wisemans ferry takes us across to the other side for more fun roads!

Sunday 16th September, 2012

On to the business side of things, I’m here for an event I’ve never been to before which is the Street Commodores Cruise for Charity. Feeling a little out of my element, I did my best to blend in by rocking up in a bright blue mini with a latte in my hand. Oh dear!

I’ve always felt that stickers say a lot about the person driving the car.

Same theory applies to number plates too!

Holden grill on a scooter? Might as well start them young.

No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. That’s a Clubsport limousine. I wonder if it rips mad classy skids?

I’ve seen these rims before, but they actually get more offensive the more times I see them!

Holden Lion White Tiger.

The cruise then starts and moves from Olympic Park to St Ives showgrounds. This is where I found out that there are still cars with scissor doors going around!

Super clean engine bays worth more than everything I own.

I get annoyed when a leaf gets stuck to my wiper blade as I’m driving so I’m not sure how I’d feel about driving with half an engine blocking my field of vision. I’m pretty sure the power would quickly make up for the slight inconvenience of not being able to see.

Para-choo-choo-chute.

Monday 17th September, 2012

With all of the work stuff out of the way and Monday off, Marty and I head to MX5 Mania.

I asked them if they had a eunos badge to replace the one I lost at Phillip Island.

The guy pulled out a random box from under the counter and fished around. No front badges but he did have this horn which was a suspiciously identical match!

After prying the badge off, a nice suprise is revealed. It seems someone just stuck a Eunos front badge on to this MOMO horn button at some stage. SCORE!

We then went off to Ichiban to visit Benny and the crew but I forgot to take photos.

Next stop, Eastern Creek for Go Karts!

And then I gate crashed the RS Liberty Club dinner that night.

Always mad fun catching up with the Sydney crew. Thanks for the hospitality boys!

A few weeks ago Super GT held the final official test day for the 2012 season.  The venue; Twin Ring Motegi.  While the majority of the teams set out to gather data for the upcoming 2013 season, there were a handful of championship contenders who were out testing with weight handicaps to simulate conditions of the final two races; Autopolis and Motegi.  JDM Clips was on hand to get some coverage of the first of two test days.  During the last race in Kyushu, the S-Road Mola team has clenched the 2012 GT500 team championship in an impressive last lap victory.

Epson HVS-010 rounding the lightly banked course.

The Hankook Porsche leaving the pits.  This team currently sits in first place in the GT300 class, but just 7 points ahead of the A Speed team.

Despite the rain during the first half of the session, it ended up being a great day for racing.

Raybrig HSV; I love the livery on this car.

While we’re on the subject, I may as well post the 3rd HSV in GT500 – the Weider team.

The #61 BRZ of the R&D Sport team – drivers Tetsuya Yamano and Kouta Sasaki currently sit 13th in the driver championship.  I’m guessing this team was focusing on their upcoming 2013 season during testing.

The JLOC Lambo piloted by Orido heading to the track.  I’m convinced that these guys are among the coolest people ever.

Another European car among the GT300 field; the GAINER Audi R8.  The team is currently in 4th place, although they are 16 points behind the 3rd place team.

Pit work on the Aguri teams ride.  I like the seating driver position on this car.

My favorite GT500 team; Lexus Team Zent Cerumo, still has a good chance of snagging the 2nd place crown for 2012.

Back in the garage area…

The Team Mugen GT300 CR-Z racked up an impressive 24 points in it’s shortened season.  I look forward to seeing what this car and team is capable of in 2013.

Autech GTR rear section.

Taniguchi was on hand to impress all the ladies.

HSV enemies.

Boxer on life support.

The 4th GT500 team that utilizes the HSV – Autobacs Aguri.  To say that this team struggled in 2012 would be an understatement.  All the best to them in 2013.  Looking forward to the final race and standings for 2012.  Thanks again to JDM Clips for the great shots.