Just working with integrating some google earth inspired controls into an application I'm working on. fltk::Group ended up causing me some confusion and grief.
- handling layout of the controls.
- handling delegation of things like "mouse wheel" to the controls.
Looking at fltk::Group, the implementation seems pretty heavy. In the simplest case a "group" should just be a bunch of widgets. Unfortunately the base class has lots of policy coded into it. As I tried to work around these policies this thought came to me:
"method overriding should either implement behavior or further explain behavior, it should never change or disable behavior."
If you find yourself in the case of overriding functions ot change or disable behavior that should be a pretty clear indication that the hierarchy is poorly designed.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Shower heads ... aqua helix !
The master shower was nasty, the tile grout was cracked. So we tore out the tile and put in a new base and walls.
In the mid 90's I'd bought an alson's "the incredible head" shower head @2.5gpm. I really liked the pressure so when I married and moved we got a "Europa" head that's essentially the same thing.
I decided to do some research and saw this "aqua helix" head advertising .5 gpm with high pressure. I figure, it's made in the US, promises a lot, lets try it.
I called them up, talked to Steve who shipped one out. The call was late weds, the head arrived sat morning.
The head came in a simple white box with a small slip describibg the pressure the head likes. The head itself....solid aluminum, gold with a black sleeve. The black sleeve has some really tacky logo printed on it...makes it look cheap. Inside the head is a small black silicone hose.
All right...the master shower isn't done, so I put the head into the girls' bathroom (tub). Turn it on to take a shower. The head starts to work. It looks like the little hose works similar to a fire hose out of control, it shakes and sprays a thin stream of water chaotically everywhere. The black sleeve is used to control the spread. I pull it all the way out to keep it narrow. I also have a handy plastic bag from the water department. I start collecting water, count to 5 then pull the bag. Measures just under .8gpm. I take a shower and notice the head sputters occasinally and sometimes the hose stops shaking. Turning the water volume down makes the head run smoother. With the pressure down recheck the water use... just over .5gpm.
Next day I went to home depot and bought button flow limiter for $5 and put that in before the head.
Taking a shower isn't bad atall with this head. I don't notice any temperature drop in the water. The good thing about this head is that its still able to wash soap out of hair and off the body. The little hose keeps the water concentrated enough to even wash soap off the legs. I really like to stand with my back close to the head. It's a nice message effect.
The girl's bathroom has a microfiber shower curtain. After a few days of taking showers I notice a lot of water on the bathroom floor. This little high pressure head is blowing water around the shower curtain. Put the 2.5gpm Europa back, no more water on the floor.
We finished the master shower. The head is in there. Unfortunately the shower doors are lower than I would have liked...probably 65" or so (read the box next time and prefit first, right?). The new head does blow some water droplets over the top. I really wish I had some 72" doors.
I do like this head. I use it every day. It is extremely low flow which results in the following:
- time to warm up is incredibly long. I use a bucket in the girls' bathtub to flush all the cold water first.
- less water. you're colder for a longer period of time in the morning since there's no deluge of hot water. It's flat amazing how little water runs in the bathtub or shower floor.
How this probably compares to other low flow shower heads:
- hot water stays hot. No air is injected, I use the same faucet settings as with my 2.5gpm heads.
- high pressure stream from hose keeps water together to be able to wash your legs still.
Negatives:
- head looks like a "piece of junk" with the decal graphics.
- head itself comes with no pressure control which is required for the head to function properly...a problem for suburbs.
- high pressure hose blows water everywhere, especially around shower curtains.
My take?
This is an awesome head with a $5 flow fix. This is awesome at .5gpm. With this head you'll use little water, won't need much extra time, and you won't ever run out of hot water, even with a large family.
In the mid 90's I'd bought an alson's "the incredible head" shower head @2.5gpm. I really liked the pressure so when I married and moved we got a "Europa" head that's essentially the same thing.
I decided to do some research and saw this "aqua helix" head advertising .5 gpm with high pressure. I figure, it's made in the US, promises a lot, lets try it.
I called them up, talked to Steve who shipped one out. The call was late weds, the head arrived sat morning.
The head came in a simple white box with a small slip describibg the pressure the head likes. The head itself....solid aluminum, gold with a black sleeve. The black sleeve has some really tacky logo printed on it...makes it look cheap. Inside the head is a small black silicone hose.
All right...the master shower isn't done, so I put the head into the girls' bathroom (tub). Turn it on to take a shower. The head starts to work. It looks like the little hose works similar to a fire hose out of control, it shakes and sprays a thin stream of water chaotically everywhere. The black sleeve is used to control the spread. I pull it all the way out to keep it narrow. I also have a handy plastic bag from the water department. I start collecting water, count to 5 then pull the bag. Measures just under .8gpm. I take a shower and notice the head sputters occasinally and sometimes the hose stops shaking. Turning the water volume down makes the head run smoother. With the pressure down recheck the water use... just over .5gpm.
Next day I went to home depot and bought button flow limiter for $5 and put that in before the head.
Taking a shower isn't bad atall with this head. I don't notice any temperature drop in the water. The good thing about this head is that its still able to wash soap out of hair and off the body. The little hose keeps the water concentrated enough to even wash soap off the legs. I really like to stand with my back close to the head. It's a nice message effect.
The girl's bathroom has a microfiber shower curtain. After a few days of taking showers I notice a lot of water on the bathroom floor. This little high pressure head is blowing water around the shower curtain. Put the 2.5gpm Europa back, no more water on the floor.
We finished the master shower. The head is in there. Unfortunately the shower doors are lower than I would have liked...probably 65" or so (read the box next time and prefit first, right?). The new head does blow some water droplets over the top. I really wish I had some 72" doors.
I do like this head. I use it every day. It is extremely low flow which results in the following:
- time to warm up is incredibly long. I use a bucket in the girls' bathtub to flush all the cold water first.
- less water. you're colder for a longer period of time in the morning since there's no deluge of hot water. It's flat amazing how little water runs in the bathtub or shower floor.
How this probably compares to other low flow shower heads:
- hot water stays hot. No air is injected, I use the same faucet settings as with my 2.5gpm heads.
- high pressure stream from hose keeps water together to be able to wash your legs still.
Negatives:
- head looks like a "piece of junk" with the decal graphics.
- head itself comes with no pressure control which is required for the head to function properly...a problem for suburbs.
- high pressure hose blows water everywhere, especially around shower curtains.
My take?
This is an awesome head with a $5 flow fix. This is awesome at .5gpm. With this head you'll use little water, won't need much extra time, and you won't ever run out of hot water, even with a large family.
video encoding
I've been playing with encoding.
Partly because of the html5 video tag fight, partly because I bought a set of leapfrog dvd's for my 2.5 yro that require you to watch 5+ mins of ads before you can view the paid for content...
So I started with dvd::rip. I made some traditional xvid/mp3 encoded stuff. The I took the vobs into avidemux. I ended up encoding using x264/faac/mkv encoding.
Then I started playing with all my old mpeg4/avi stuff.
I ended up using avidemux for generating the h264/aac/mkv content and handbrake for trying theora/vorbis/mkv content.
I had ben-hur encoded xvid/ac3/avi to files adding up to almost 3GB. I decided to re encode over to a single 800MB mkv. I used avidemux with h264 and aac @96 kb/s for testing and decided an 800MB encode looked most reasonable (no resize).
I then used handbrake svn on linux to encode to theora/vorbis (1.1).
Most obvious vorbis problem: "block lag"
- initial change of scene may have visible blocks before sharpening up. I noticed this for about the first 5s or so of the overture screen.
- dark areas have this "block lag". The beginning scene with the bright star in the sky moving over bethlehem to shine on the inn...the sky is blocky, the star shows block lag, the initial light shining on the inn is blocked.
time to encode is bad...currently single threaded. x264 works all 8 cores to 80% on my system.
Partly because of the html5 video tag fight, partly because I bought a set of leapfrog dvd's for my 2.5 yro that require you to watch 5+ mins of ads before you can view the paid for content...
So I started with dvd::rip. I made some traditional xvid/mp3 encoded stuff. The I took the vobs into avidemux. I ended up encoding using x264/faac/mkv encoding.
Then I started playing with all my old mpeg4/avi stuff.
I ended up using avidemux for generating the h264/aac/mkv content and handbrake for trying theora/vorbis/mkv content.
I had ben-hur encoded xvid/ac3/avi to files adding up to almost 3GB. I decided to re encode over to a single 800MB mkv. I used avidemux with h264 and aac @96 kb/s for testing and decided an 800MB encode looked most reasonable (no resize).
I then used handbrake svn on linux to encode to theora/vorbis (1.1).
Most obvious vorbis problem: "block lag"
- initial change of scene may have visible blocks before sharpening up. I noticed this for about the first 5s or so of the overture screen.
- dark areas have this "block lag". The beginning scene with the bright star in the sky moving over bethlehem to shine on the inn...the sky is blocky, the star shows block lag, the initial light shining on the inn is blocked.
time to encode is bad...currently single threaded. x264 works all 8 cores to 80% on my system.
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