Americans fighting over what it means to be patriotic.
Millionaires talking about sacrifice.
Fat people blaming food.
Alcoholics blaming beer.
Dumb people blaming television.
People who vote blaming people who don’t vote.
People who don’t vote blaming people who vote.
People who mistake the Administration for the country.
People who back their beliefs with violence.
People who are willing to kill but not to die.
Christians who blame God.
Buddhists who blame God.
Atheists who blame religion.
Politicians who take credit for anything.
Politicians who consider themselves to be leaders.
Politicians who call other politicians dishonest.
People who believe that The Right exists.
People who believe that The Left exists.
People who put themselves in categories.
People who believe in precedents.
People who believe in presidents.
People who believe presidents.
Embedded Flash
I :heart: My New Camera, part n+1
This one was about a quarter-inch long. Photographed on the wall in my bathroom.
This one was about an inch long. Photographed on a flowerbed at my parents’ house.
Still fine-tuning the focus and depth-of-field at that range. I am pretty happy with things thus far, with the whole summer ahead of me.
Re-BOOT!!!1!
Weeellll I thought es.o was looking a little dusty. Originally I planned to get the new look up on May 1 to coincide with the ReBoot , but for various reasons that just didn’t happen.
The background photo is from a few months ago , and the colors used in the design are taken from the photo. Mr. Bock offered much design advice after seeing my original concept, which would have hurt your eyes and killed your computer. If you are looking at this page on a PC, and you are using any flavor of Internet Explorer, Shame On You! Go download Mozilla or FireFox and you will see the beauty which is translucent backgrounds.
So where have I been? A brief recap: The Kendall class ended at the end of April. All of my students passed, there were more As than Ds. Several of the projects completely blew me away. For the next few months my time is my own, then in September I go back to teaching. Same Bat Time, Same Bat Class.
Much time and emotional energy went to assisting Cliff and those around him, through what was absolutely a trying, scary few weeks.
Any free time in addition to all of this was taken up by work, or recovering from work. This past Friday a major project launched; one in which I had to wield mojo as I have never before wielded mojo: Discovering Design . Normally I don’t post Day Job projects here, but this is one I of which I am quite proud. The posts I made about The Brain a few weeks back? What I learned there went in here.
Last and MOST IMPORTANT, I have been training hard in Master Lee’s class . We have a tournament in a couple of weeks, and the Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts show a week after that. This year the show will take place on my birthday. My 35th birthday. I can think of no better gift.
As miscellaneous addendum, the news of the world around us has kept me rather depressed. I made the grievous tactical error of watching The Video last week. The non-Hollywood-ized violence, the everyday banality of the decapitation, as if it were no more important to the participants than the butchering of a pig, gave me nightmares. I grew up near a slaughterhouse, and what was on The Video could have happened, with a slight cast change, therein.
What next? Sleep. Sleep and maybe playing around a little with game development. Bock is working on one, and it kind of whetted my appetite for that kind of thing.
More as time and energy allow.
Spam III: Liberal Education
People who sent me spam this week:
Mementos C. Aspires
Population B. Infanticides
Preciousness A. Bidirectional
Shyer L. Refugee
Mischievousness H. Guadalquivir [1]
Archivist E. Wrestling
Distentions C. Fishbowls
Neonates S. Carriageway
Reddest C. Impairment
Buzzard U. Coloratura [2]
Media H. Goldenest
Chic S. Newscast
Relives V. Etruscans [3]
Telemachus F. Neutralizers [4]
Unbend L. Unveil
Upholstery K. Burgeon
Lubumbashi H. Actress [5]
Tackled G. Transliterations
Knitter H. Klingon
[1] Guadalquivir – one of the major rivers of Spain, passes through Cordoba and Seville, ends in the Atlantic Ocean.
[2] Coloratura – The ornamentation of music written for the voice with florid passages, especially trills and runs.
[3] Etruscan – Of or relating to ancient Etruria or its people, language, or culture.
[4] Telemachus – The son of Odysseus and Penelope, who helped his father kill Penelope’s suitors.
[5] Lubumbashi – capital of Katanga province, SE Congo (Kinshasa)
njil9uects
Sick. Ear infection. Will post more later. Argh.
Flash Stuff Here. Move Along…
In the middle of a cool project which is right on the cusp of being designered into oblivion, I discovered a nifty way to make things “snap to” a grid. Copy-and-paste into Flash MX/MX2004.
var gridSize = 20; // size of grid
var nodeSize = 20; // size of individual nodes
var nodes = 50; // number of nodes
var radius = Stage.height/3; // radius of drawn circle
var centerX = Stage.width/2; // center horizontally
var centerY = Stage.height/2; // center vertically
var steps = (Math.PI*2) / nodes; // math stuff
var i=0;
this.onEnterFrame = function() {
if(i < nodes) {
var m = _root.createEmptyMovieClip("node"+i,i);
m.lineStyle(0,0x000000,100);
m.beginFill(0x000000,10);
m.moveTo(0,0);
m.lineTo(nodeSize,0);
m.lineTo(nodeSize,nodeSize);
m.lineTo(0,nodeSize); m.lineTo(0,0);
m.endFill();
var mx = centerX + radius*Math.cos(steps*i); // horizontal snap
if(mx%gridSize != 0) mx += (Math.floor(gridSize/2) - (mx%gridSize));
var my = centerY + radius*Math.sin(steps*i); // vetical snap
if(my%gridSize != 0) my += (Math.floor(gridSize/2) - (my%gridSize));
m._x = mx;
m._y = my;
i++;
radius += .1;
} else {
this.onEnterFrame = null;
}
}
It’s the modulus (mx % gridSize) which makes it cool. The Math.floor() which follows could also easily be Math.round() or Math.ceil(), depending on the constraints of the project.
People Who Spammed Me This Week
Banged A. Outmaneuvered
Stockades U. Khufu
Bridegrooms O. Serviles
Conjugates B. Pulleys
Posh G. Brooches
Horne P. Tatar
Bogies R. Jarred
Inhabit B. Haynes
Conclave B. Frenzied
Flexibility J. Carries
Piranhas I. Canned
Hyperbolae P. Unsnarling
Aristocrat L. Banality
Blast From the Past
Today while researching The Brain I stumbled across the first website I ever visited on a regular basis: Justin’s Links from the Underground . It was through his site that I discovered all of the weirdness the web had to offer, circa 1996. I am quite happy that his site (which by now must be one of the oldest in the world) is still up and running. W00T for Justin!
Profiting from Spam II
People who have recently sent me spam:
Cohesion Q. Stepped
Mathematician H. Melva
Pastimes E. Yea
Northeastern M. Temporizes
Armaments B. Bodyguards
Disposable O. Craftsmanship
Despairingly L. Hooky
Way I see it, putting these names in my blog will bring search engines to me, particularly those seekers of Mathematician Bodyguards and Northeastern Hooky. A win-win situation, if ever there was one!