Re-BOOT!!!1!

John Winkelman

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

John Winkelman

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)

Flash Stuff Here. Move Along…

John Winkelman

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.

Profiting from Spam II

John Winkelman

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!

Extruding Into Meatspace

John Winkelman

I spend a lot of time at Mathworld looking at some of the amazing interactive geometry examples therein , and wishing I had the time to learn to do similar things. So when I come across someone who has built real-world versions , it makes me want to hang up my programming spurs and find work in the food service industry.

Nah, not really. But BOY would it be cool to have one of those.

(link found at Transphormetic )