Image in Images Out - Google's New Reverse Image Search

I noticed today Google was offering me the ability to do an image search,  not by using words, but actually putting the image into the search window. (Did this start a while ago and I just missed it? See more below on this.)

click to make it clearer

I tried it. First I dragged in a picture I'd recently put up on my blog and it found it. It wasn't instant, but maybe 15 or 20 seconds. (A 2.7 MB image took over 4 minutes)

Then I tried an image of a painting of a lotus I'd taken, but not posted.. It found nothing, but gave me what it called "visually similar images."

You can judge for yourselves how 'similar' these are. I need some visual artists to tell me why Google found these others similar.  To me, color is clearly important.  Then the shape - Google seems to see two circles, and how space is taken up in the image.


There are a lot of potential consequences of this ability - whether they are positive or negative depends on whether you are the beneficiary or victim.

1.  You see someone on the street and you take their picture.  Then you could look them up on the web.

Well, this is still in the future.  They don't seem to be doing face recognition yet as you can see below.

It's basically faces that are approximately the same size and have a similar color background.  The original has a full head of hair and a beard, but the pictures include smooth shaven and bald folks and even two women and a baby.   The baby might have been chosen because the background is so similar. 


2.   If someone wanted to see if others were using his copyrighted image, this might help find it.
At this point, this seems like a good use.  It appears the closer the picture is to the original the more likely it is to show up.  Of course if they only used a part of the picture, it probably won't show up because it would change the shape/form and basic colors.  [See more below.]

3.  If you wanted to identify a bird or a flower, this could be a good tool, but so far it isn't.  When I tried a close up of a  round pink flower, it gave me other round pinkish flower closeups, but it clearly wasn't paying any more attention to the flower details than it was paying attention to the facial details above.  They were totally different flowers - again, it was all about the color and shape in relation to the size of the image.

I'm sure this will be refined, and as it is, it will start to change the conditions of privacy even further than Facebook and other internet applications already have.

When you click on "Learn More" you get a page which tells you which browsers are compatible with this:

• Chrome
• Firefox 3.0+
• Internet Explorer 8+
• Safari 5.0+

It also says that the pictures you put into search then become part of their library.  I think I'll be sparing about what I put in.

• Preview image: see a small version of the image that you searched with. (Note that if you return to that results page after a certain time, you may not see this image anymore.)
• Best guess: if our system can find a text description for your image, you'll see it appear as a link to further search results. You might also see a few top web results for that text query. To change your search, edit or add to the best guess by typing in the search bar.
• Visually similar images: see a set of images that are close matches to the image that you searched with. Click the link to see additional images that are similar.
• Pages that include matching images: see web pages that show your image on their site
• Other searches related to this image: if our system finds more than one "best guess" description, you'll see them as links at the bottom of the page. Click one to see full search results for that query.

"Google's use of user-submitted images and URLs

When you use Search by Image, any images that you upload and any URLs that you submit will be stored by Google and treated in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Google uses those images and URLs solely to provide and improve our products and services."

This is below, where the more is.

I decided I better google to see if it's been there a while and I just missed it.  First I found this (notice 2009) and I couldn't believe I'd been so unaware - until I read it all.

Similar Images graduates from Google Labs

10/27/2009 03:34:00 PM

Today, we're happy to announce that Similar Images is graduating from Google Labs and becoming a permanent feature in Google Images. You can try it out by clicking on "Find similar images" below the most popular images in our search results. For example, if you search for jaguar, you can use the "Find similar images" link to find more pictures of the car or the animal.

Same words - ' similar images' - but for text searches.  So that's totally different.

It appears the video they use to promote this when you click learn more, was on  Youtube June 13, so I am a bit behind here.

Searchnewz has a June 15 report saying this feature, which was originally available on something called TinEye and called 'reverse image search' was appreciated by photographers looking for copyright infringement.  It was available on Chrome then, so that might be why I hadn't seen it earlier.  [I've added 'reverse' to my title now.]

Pundit Kitchen did a search like my face search above on June 15 and found Google couldn't distinguish between Obama and Bush.

A July 15 article at addons suggest this was only available on Firefox as an addon, so perhaps it's just recently become a standard Firefox feature.

Technicallydigital has a post touting it as an addon for Mozilla-Firefox on September 19.  I'm feeling better about just noticing it on Firefox today, but I'm guessing it's been up a few days.

La Casa de las Conchas - Manhattan Shorts in Salamanca

Tomás sent me this picture of "the house of the shells" in Salamanca, Spain where he's going to see the Manhattan Short Film Festival Wednesday.  He's a  serious film buff as well as a wickedly good artist/cartoonist.  His blog is listed on the right - Waldo Walkiria.  He's also put up a new website. 

This an idea of a world wide film festival, where everyone sees the same ten films at the same time around the world, along with internet technology, means that Tomás and I will be able to discuss these films even though I live in Alaska and he lives in Spain. I'm interested in finding out which film he votes for as the best and what he thinks about them all.

If anyone else has a photo of your local Manhattan Short Film Festival venue - send it in and let me know which films you liked.

The website doesn't show the different cities well.  When you find the country - or state - the cities are listed on the top.  The brochure we got shows some Alaska locations and dates.  The website shows venues but not dates.  So here are the Alaska ones:

• Matsu folks - it says Strange Bird (venue) online and in the brochure in Palmer on  October 1 and 2 
• Petersburg  is on the brochure for September 29 and online  at the Arts Council at 12 Nordic Drive at 7pm.
• Juneau isn't in the brochure, but online it says it's at the Gold Town Theater Sept. 29, Oct. 1 and 2. 
• Talkeetna and Anchorage - it's already over in these places.  

Then let's chat here about which films you liked and why.

Meet Mildred, Anchorage's Newest Street

Well, probably newest street sign might be more accurate.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't up this morning.  Mildred Place is named after Mildred Nash who came to Anchorage with her husband RD.  They'd grown up in Texarkana picking cotton.  Got married and then moved to California.  And then drove up to Anchorage.

We moved in across the street from the Nashes in the late 70s.  They'd been here since the 50's when our side of the street was all woods and they would tell us of seeing bears now and then.  We learned a lot about the history of Anchorage from them.  My basic bread recipe is also from Mrs. Nash.  It's still on our refrigerator door in her handwriting, just so I don't leave an ingredient out. 

 Mr. Nash died in 1989 or 90 - while my family was with me on sabbatical to Hong Kong.  This picture was taken by my daughter when Mrs. Nash was in her 80s.  There's an audio tape too which I'll try to put up in a future post. 


Mrs. Nash was the best neighbor you could ever want.  We laughed a lot together.  When she was 87 her cancer returned and this time she couldn't fight it off.  Friends from church were organized and a different person stayed with her each day and her son and her dog Ebony were always nearby.  Ebony, a tiny little dog, slept on her bed with her.  My job was to sneak in her favorite foods and to make her laugh.  It wasn't long before she was giggling whenever she saw my face.  What a great pleasure it was to be able to put a smile on the face of my dying friend. 






Nash Place is just a block long, starting along Mrs. Nash's property where her son still lives today.

The alley's been there forever.  But as I understand it, a new duplex was built with its 'streetside' facing the alley, and they petitioned to have the alley made into a street.  Here's the only address on Mildred Place.  






This is one 'new' street that I totally approve of.  It actually has been around for at least 40 years, it was left unpaved just as it's been, and it was given a name that honors a woman who lived next door and made the lives of all the people in the neighborhood sunnier.

What a great way to remember a great member of the Anchorage community.

Great Story Behind Incredible Lace

click to enlarge

As I looked into the gallery at OutNorth

my eye was drawn immediately to the lace. 

It was incredible.  I'm not a connoisseur, but when something is this good, even I notice.   My camera slipped itself out of my pocket and into my hand and started trying to  capture the exquisitely detailed beauty of this lace.  My camera and I were only moderately successful.  Between the light, the detail, the reflections, and how high up on the wall some of the lace was, and no tripod, this is the best we could do. (I saved the top photo in higher resolution than normal, so click on it for details, but I didn't want to make this page too slow to open, so the others are lower res.)  If you're in the Anchorage area, you can go see these masterpieces yourself.

Nothing was up about the exhibit except the labels with the name Beverly Bronner and descriptions like "Bobbin Lace (Belgian Binche), 140 cotton."  What did that mean?  I found Ryan who gave me the email of curator, Keren Lowell.  And she promptly sent me this reply:

"The lace was made by Beverly Bronner. She lives in Anchorage, and is an incredible person. She's older, and she got it into her head to learn how to make bobbin lace, which in its simplest form involves tracking the interlacings of dozens of little tapered spools of thread.

"The beginnings of the lace are pinned to a special pillow, which keeps the order of the threads in place while it is being made. Coarse lace is difficult to make even for someone used to the complex patterns of weaving, knitting and crochet.

"Beverly took a workshop in basic Belgian lacemaking techniques, and then taught herself how to make the work you saw in the gallery. It is made with the finest (thinnest) cotton thread made (140 count).  [For an interesting history on thread count, see Anichini.]  The piece that had a border of swans intertwined with lace took her three years to make. It was all done by hand, and as far as I can tell, is indistinguishable from lace made by masters.

"After she made the lace, she had to locate the cloth for the center. A place in Belgium sells the antique fabric, but would not sell it to her until they saw the lace in person, so she flew to Belgium to gain their approval.

             This piece was about 4 inches across

"After she bought the fabric, she had to find a lacemaker who knew how to stitch the lace to the fabric, and she found a woman in her 90s who agreed to do the work (for no pay). The rest of the pieces in the gallery have equally interesting stories, and Beverly would be glad to relay them. She is amazing. She just took up weaving and her first woven piece was something a weaver with several years of experience would be proud of.

So, there you have it.  Lucky folks in Anchorage can see this incredible work for themselves.  OutNorth is on Primrose and DeBarr (3800) - kittycorner from Costco DeBarr.  Their website gives their hours:

Gallery Hours
12-6pm Tues-Fri
and during events

 Thanks Beverly for sharing your passion, and to Keren for putting this show together and taking the extra time to give me that background. 

Some people might wonder about my breathless posts, but we have such talented folks in Anchorage who do such amazing things, that there's lots to be breathless about.  And I'm convinced that Scott Schofield, the artistic director, somehow manages to pull a lot of them into OutNorth.  And I tend not to write about things I didn't like.  There's enough good stuff to keep me busy.

By the way, the other fabric work in the exhibit was also worth looking at.  Here's a scarf by Clydene Fitch. 

And a yarn basket offered by Sherri Rogers.

Ten Films - Two Hours - One Week - Around the World - Manhattan Short Film Festival

The films have been narrowed down to ten.  From Peru, Canada, Hungary, Scotland, Australia, USA (2), Egypt, Sweden, and Switzerland.  The shortest one was 8 minutes, the longest 18, but most were right around 10 or 11 minutes.

We were at this Festival in 2008.  My blog post shows that tickets then were $10.  They were only $7.50 this time.   At the first one I was madly writing notes in the dark on a piece of paper so I could remember all I'd seen.  This time there was a fancy program and each film had a whole page. 

The audience gets a card with all the films listed and you can only select one.  They are all tallied and the winner will be announced October 2 on the Film Festival website. 
Each was a story.  These were pretty straightforward story telling.  They were all very good as stories.

They are played around the world in a one week period.  Actually, it looks like a little longer.  From the list in the program, it appears tonight was the first night in any venue. 

Tomás, they are playing in Salamanca Oct. 1 and 2 at Auditorio de la Hospederia del Colegio Fonseca!

Jay and Gene, they'll be in London.

Ropi, even though there's a Hungarian film among the ten finalists, there are no showings in Hungary.  I'm guessing the closest place to see them is in Vienna or Krakow.

Anchorage folks, they're at Out North Saturday at 7pm and Sunday at 4pm.
Palmer folks, you get them next weekend, October 1 and 2.
I just noticed Talkeetna (Sept. 24) and Petersburg (Sept. 29) have showings.

The rest of you can check locations around the world where you can watch these ten films and help chose the winner.  There are lots of venues in Russia and even one in Beijing.

These were good films.  Selecting one as the best is both hard and probably unfair.  The finalists were all good stories.  No artsy stuff in this festival - all very straightforward narratives.

The festival founder, Nicholas Mason introduced, on screen, the show.  Each director also introduced his or her film.  It was unfortunate that they had a beer commercial at the beginning and before the intermission.  I understand the funding isn't easy.  I hope they gave a lot of money to be able to add their own commercial. 

Dogs played significant roles in I Love Luci and in David and Goliath, both of which I liked a lot.  The relationship between Marjory and Tommy is truly sweet.   Perhaps David was so powerful for me is because I know people like David - the real David at the end of the movie.  I didn't see how the title of David and Goliath fit - in the original, they don't become friends in the end.

I found the first film, Incident by a Bank, compelling film making - the film makers recreated a bank robbery they originally witnessed and filmed with a cell phone.  DIK was easily the most fun yet it had a good lesson about communication and assumptions.  And Sexting was a tour de force for Julia Styles - talking pretty much the whole ten minutes full face into the camera. 

There were only two that I were easy to eliminate from consideration when picking 'the best.'   Mak and A Doctor's Job both were in the competition for my vote too.

These are good films.  Different from run-of-the-mill Hollywood stuff.  They show 10 films selected from over 500 submitted from 48 countries. 

There was also a spectacular fabric show at Out North.  I'm going to find out more - but the lace was incredible.  Here's a preview from Beverly Bronner.  The card said Bobbin Lace (Binche Belgium) 120 Cotton.

This isn't normally something I'm into, but when you see anything that is really high quality, it's worth paying attention to.  All the lace was exquisite as were the other fabric creations - scarves, jackets, and other items.  If you are interested in this sort of thing, it is well worth a stop at Out North kittycorner from Costco on Debarr.

Copper River Delta Brown Bear Learning To Fish

As we drove out to Child's Glacier last July, a car was stopped on bridge.  We stopped to see what they were looking at.  A young brown bear was in the creek trying to catch fish.  The half hour we were there he didn't have much luck.  But then the glacial silt made it hard to see what was in the water.

But it was a beautiful spot and a magnificent young animal.

Termination Dust On The Chugach

Summer's is ending when there's termination dust on the mountains.  When the clouds lifted Tuesday we saw white.

September 16 marked the day that studded tires are again legal. The Department of Transportation website  gives details:

It is unlawful to operate a motor vehicle with studded tires on a paved highway or road from May 1st through September 15th, inclusive, north of 60 North Latitude and from April 15th through September 30th, inclusive, south of 60 North a motor vehicle with studded tires from May 1st through September 15th, inclusive.

 The leaves are changing colors and some are already on the ground.

US Soldier Documents Call To Dad In Alabama After Don't Ask Don't Tell Ends

The words are abstract: Don't Ask Don't Tell Ends. But this video makes it concrete and very personal. You can read more at the San Francisco Chronicle.




It also talks to the power of identity - how we see ourselves, how others see us, and what it takes to change that identity, especially in an environment that is hostile to the new identity.

2011 Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend = $1,174

The Governor announced the value of this year's Permanent Fund Dividend a few minutes ago.

From Gov's Website video

I've posted on the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend in the past, so I won't repeat all that, but you can look here for some background.


The value of the fund as of yesterday was:

unaudited, as of Sep 19, 2011
US Bonds	$5,950,200,000
US Stocks	$5,620,700,000
Non US Stocks	$7,003,400,000
Global Stocks	$4,418,800,000
Non US Bonds	$1,369,200,000
Real Estate	$4,115,100,000
Cash	$638,300,000
Alternatives	$5,758,900,000
Real Return/External CIO	$3,041,300,000
TOTAL	$37,915,900,000

That's down over $2 billion since June when it was $40 billion.

Here's a history of the payments from the Permanaent Fund Corporation website.

1982	$1,000.00		1990	$952.63		2000	$1,963.86		2010	$1,281.00
1983	$386.15		1991	$931.34		2001	$1,850.28		2011	$1,174.00
1984	$331.29		1992	$915.84		2002	$1,540.76
1985	$404.00		1993	$949.46		2003	$1,107.56
1986	$556.26		1994	$983.90		2004	$919.84
1987	$708.19		1995	$990.30		2005	$845.76
1988	$826.93		1996	$1,130.68		2006	$1,106.96
1989	$873.16		1997	$1,296.54		2007	$1,654.00
			1998	$1,540.88		2008	$2,069.00
			1999	$1,769.84		2009	$1,305.00

[2008 = highest amount (Corrected, thanks Harpboy);  2011 dividend added]


Norway's oil based Fund, which began in 1998, is about $530 billion.

BTW, when did the Alaska Permanent Fund become a Sean Parnell initiative?  On the Governor's webiste, we see this spin:

Tomatillo

Getting fruits and vegies through Full Circle Farm means we get foods that we wouldn't normally buy.

Last week we got tomatillos.



From rain.org 

The tomatillo is of Mexican origin and is related to the husk tomato. It is an annual low growing, sprawling plant usually not more than 2 feet high. The tomatillo has small, sticky, tomato-like fruits enclosed in papery husks. They are 1 to 3 inches in diameter and green or purplish in color. . .

The tomatillo is an important vegetable crop in Mexico (11,000 ha) and is grown in small plantings in the warmer areas of California. Commercial cropping has been successful along the central and south coasts, as well as in the low deserts and the central valley. . .

Use. Tomatillo is widely used as a principal ingredient in green salsa, but also in soups and stews. It should be harvested in a developed but unripe stage. Quality criteria include the intensity of green color of the fruits and the freshness of the husk. Fruit which begins to yellow is of low culinary value.
Nutrition. The tomatillo is similar to the tomato in vitamin A, and second only to mushrooms in niacin. It also provides fair amounts of vitamin C. The fruits are high in ascorbic acid (36 mg/1,000 grams).

 J got a recipe out of her old 'the vegetarian epicure book two' by anna thomas:  enchiladas salsa verde.  The salsa part includes:

"Peel the dry skins off the tomatillos, wash them, and boil them in lightly salted water for 7 to 10 minutes, or until they are just soft.  Drain, purée them in a blender, and put them in a saucepan with the minced jalapeño peppers, 4 tablespoons of the chopped cilantro, the salt and 1/2 cup of the chopped onions.  Simmer the sauce gently for about 40 minutes."

It was really good.  There was a wonderful new taste.  

J modified the enchilada recipe.  You can see some of the green sauce on the tortilla.