2011 February❮❮prevnext❯❯

So even though SREDAVNI didn't show my team's artist's at their most technical, it had some enjoyable art, some of which didn't get used in the final cut of the game.

Here was the original crew of aliens:
Later though, in lieu of a credit screen, we decided to retool the invaders so they lined up with members of the team:
(I'm the one with the glasses, natch.)

Right now they're marching in lockstep, but if you put the mouse over one group, they will be very happy, and the other group will be sad. (We didn't end up using the Happy/Sad states in the actual game.)

I think the invaders were mostly done by Kelly Atwood though Yue Li (who pitched the original idea) might have done work on them as well.

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Everybody is trapped, more or less. The best you can hope for is to understand your trap and make terms with it, tooth by tooth.

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http://is.gd/Sbk61Q - what's the right always kvetching about? "Activist judges"? Jeez.

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Snow Biking is crazy fun. Accent on the crazy. And the fun.

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http://waxy.org/2011/02/metagames_games_about_games/ I enjoyed reading about and trying some games that think about their box. Click to see:
sredavnicity source - built with processing

One final miniproject based on sredavni -- we came up with a cute little city generator, and this applet just scrolls it forever.

This applet has a secret though - each piece also has a destroyed version, so if you press the mouse, you see the alternate-reality, post-apocalyptic view of the city.

Again, I think the city pieces are mostly the work of Kelly Atwood.

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Really, sex and laughter do go very well together and I wondered-- and I still do-- which is more important.

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http://tinyurl.com/yf73ff9 Norman Rockwell, The Photographer

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http://strn.gr/1459327 http://bit.ly/hyOJVn -- Michael Jackson's Stuff. Not as appealing as the old shots of his arcade, but still.

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Cracked pointed me to info on Octave Chanute - besides being an information sharing aviation pioneer, he has a totally awesome name.

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http://www.lettersofnote.com/2011/02/mickey-mantles-outstanding-experience.html - it's fellatio.

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Snow moval is a much more accurate term than snow removal. #justpushingitaround #SnOMG

--by E Dubya at b3ta

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Reading on Zen, thinking about the toys that clutter my workspace. To clear them out, give up their somethingness for nothingness; are nothings distinct, or just Nothing?

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via. I like how you can see the cold front drawing moisture from the gulf like a spigot to make clouds.

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Seriously though, if your politics can be safely described as "ultra" ANYTHING, you're doing it wrong. And I hate you. You are the problem.

via

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It is never a sound policy to harbour a grudge or even to resent an injury, except when inspired by sheer malice.

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Intermission at the Buckminster Fuller show at the A.R.T- cool stuff. Plus I dig that you can have a beer and take it into the show

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Whoa Lightning Thunder and Heavy Rain over the snow and slush!

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I love big game airforce flyovers over domed stadiums. Do they at least hear it in there?

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Black Eyed Peas sound like bad karaoke versions of themselves. Almost as bad as the Fox promos.

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Now I'd like to see Axl's impression of Fergie...
--via

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Packers really are a special team. Their unique community ownership gives us insights into the NFL's depths as well.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BPFODsob1I - decent enough spot for the Xoom, but wow, the eyes on that gal... More fun with jQuery! Click on the panels to make one swing around to the front.

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Breastfeeding in public is frowned upon, but I'm allowed to eat BBQ ribs in a family restaurant? It's a twisted world.

--from If we don't, remember me., a rather brilliant tumblr full of these finely crafted, high-def, minimalist animated GIFs, each sculpted from a still or scene of some great cult classic film, and each accompanied by a well-chosen quote from the same film. (via my buddy johnksawers)

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The explanation for beer as treasure, woman-are-obstacle theme of beer ads? It's really aimed at 16 year old boys sneaking brewskis and dodging mom...

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Man. The new Gizmodo/Gaker(?) UI is so bad. It might make some kind of sense on an iPad, but for anything with a scroll bar, it stinks.

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You know, that great + kind of important Chrysler/Detroit Eminem ad had its legs chopped by that oh-so-meta-and-ironic iced tea puppet spot.

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Sea-Monkeys mail-clerk appreciate odor-free letters because they waste less time shooing the bees and process the mail faster.

-- annoying that the Sea-Monkeys ordering is still 60s-era...

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http://www.sea-monkey.com/pop_images/smfarm/smfarm.html - I really wish I knew why "the first story ever about the Sea-Monkeys Farm" book is called "The Reluctant Raccoon"- not sure if it's worth $18 to find out...

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4:20! Time to make a joke about marijuana.
Moved to a Processing.js version
boxcloud - source - built with processing

Another work-in-progress prototype for work; in this case it's trying to make an interesting "tag cloud" like display for careers kids might want to consider. Press space to do up another random batch.

I need to find out if text can be reliably rotated via CSS, and in general I might need to scale my font so everything fits, but I'm pleased I got the basic effect I was looking for after a few dead-ends, algorithm wise. (this kind of stacking/tiling ain't as easy as it looks!)

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Nice- "signal problems" AND "disabled trains". Some day maybe Park Street green line platform won't be packed. Time to walk! Again.

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Looking out at the Hancock building, for a brief instant I think I see a Zeppelin. Must've been a glitch from a different, better time line.

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"Sit on a potato pan, Otis" is like my favorite palindrome which makes every elevator ride at work a bit of a treat. Though "Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas" is pretty good too.
Bill the Splut told a sad story about a kitty's final hours, and mentioned

He was meowing, which cats only do to humans, so he wanted human help.

I checked out the Wikipedia page on Cat Communication -- Bill slightly overstated the case, but not by too much. (and the noises they make during fighting are meows anyway, which is where I got confused.)

Anyway, the page embedded this photo ("A cat hissing and arching its back to make itself appear larger to ward off a threat.") -- the fullsize original is even better... I've just never quite seen those tactics look so effective before!

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Weird. "Omelette" is not recognized by chrome's spellcheck, but "Omelette's" is. Computers, they never fail to surprise and delight.

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Hearing about the Nokia/Microsoft thing. In retrospect, getting the axe from Nokia in 2009 probably wasn't such a bad thing for me.

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My new coffee flavor idea: "French Toast Roast": very rich, with just a hint of real maple sweetness.

one day soon at noon
i'll drink chamomile to prove
how well that shit works

a window pops up!
could it be you, on iChat?
fuck you, McAffee.

ambien you say?
thanks but i'll skip showing up
nude at my super's.

tapes of whale noises
great way to feel dumb for your
tapes of whale noises.

sleep eating, my ass
cigarette butts in mayo
are plain delicious.

try melatonin?
you would be "tried" as a witch
in 1602.

finally sleepy
just drifting off ... PHONE VIBRATES!
oh cool, a groupon.

She's also the best Twitterer ever.

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Cold Pad Thai = Asian Kugel. SO GOOD.

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Wha...? "Murder" ???? I was trying to dial "N" for "Nachos!"

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Bob Slate Stationaryis closing. Damn it Cambridge, why can't we have nice things?

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valentine's blender of love!
--I also like that they used my lucky number's worth of shirts

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http://www.boingboing.net/2011/02/13/waltham-mass-becomes.html My family's stomping grounds to become "Steampunkville" - What hath God wrought

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I hope kitty enjoys me repeatedly throwing his toy mouse to go fetch and isn't just like "DUDE I PUT THAT MOUSE *HERE*. GOD DAMN."
via

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Don't not eat crumbs off your shirt on my account, buddy.

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So yesterday Amber and I kind of played hookie and headed toward that Mecca of Winter Romance, Swampscott..

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http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/newsgraphics/2011/0119-budget/index.html - pretty awesome infographic on the Obama budget.

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via

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Cracked on what has come from Donald Duck. No wonder there's so much love for Carl Barks, especially in Europe...

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The Face of Watson the Jeopardy-playing computer... nice use of color and space.

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I don't need no tv, I don't need no news. All I need is a bumpin' beat to bump away my blu-u-ues

(Do Your Thing To The Music by Lenlow is the most amazing version with that lyric)

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If you're at IKEA around Christmastime and they have gingerbread toffees for sale, BUY THEM. We got some for a quarter a pack on clearance-GREAT
--from here -- love, love, love the Plato quote and dig the presentation.

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Impressed w/ the engineering of the Dunkin Donuts iced coffee lid- easily supports the weight of a full cup- safe to carry in a coat pocket!

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The old Salvation Army Mass HQ to become this big triangular building... supposedly in 2 years! The old building was kinda cool though...

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Such mixed feeling for a coder when you fix a misdesign you had a day or two ago and suddenly all the code slides together w/ much less gunk.

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Watson has lots in common with a top-ranked human Jeopardy! player: It's very smart, very fast, speaks in an uneven monotone, and has never known the touch of a woman.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/opinion/30friedman.html?_r=1 Great piece on Singapore. It's a bit strict, but I dig the pragmatism.

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Self-checkout at CVS gave me a 10 and 2 ones, not 3 ones. But stealing would be stealing, roboclerk and faceless corporation and all.

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Word is the Borders in my work building is closing down. Bummer, though allegedly the Copley Sq. rent was $1mil/month so not so surprising--

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http://www.scoutingny.com/?p=3570 - man maybe I should work up that trip to see NYC buddies sooner rather than later...

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A computer that can kick butt at Jeopardy is a great achievement. A program that could compose good Jeopardy clues would be even better.

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Growing up in upstate NY, there was an anti-arson ad- the gruff fireman said "for example, we knew this was arson just by the way it spread"- jeez, I thought, who is this Arson guy? Why don't they arrest him? (Mork from Ork always ending his show "Mork calling Orson, come in Orson" probably abetted the confusion.)

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from this Gizmodo piece on the Genius Bar. (What if they were actually, you know, Geniuses? I liked the explanation of adolescence and the traditional "I hate my parents!" shtick.) Today I let myself get entangled in the comments of this Slate piece hatin' on the iPad. click to play

snakedrive - source - built with processing


My entry for Klik of the Month Klub #44. I was inspired by that "snake" game cellphones sometimes had, but I wanted a curvier, less blocky motion for it. Once I got going, I remembered this one C=64 game that had the snakes eating moving mice, which I thought might be more fun than static apples.

Moderately pleased with the results. Might try a 2-player sequel.
Detail from a charmingly vandalized poster of John Singleton Copley's Paul Revere portrait at the MFA... the poster was at Park Street:

Man, would Sam Adams Brewery have been so quick to co-opt this image if they knew about his hidden life? (I hope so, it's pretty glam!)

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Dream: our black cat Rex could transform himself into white rollerskates- but both he and skates were present? Hitting skates made eyes flash red. Amber told me to stop that.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12503686 -- the UK on OK, one of my favorite bits of speech.
--Dan Lance does a lot of these "high school summaries -- like a slower-paced version of Zero Puncuation for all those books you had to read in high school.

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Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.

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http://fourfour.typepad.com/fourfour/2011/02/judge-judy-gifs.html - many Judge Judy Gifs

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Mamihlapinatapai
via

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My Todo app is blocked with some dumb old tasks I really need to get around to. I call this condition "procrastipation".

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/feb/22/information-overload-probabilistic - sensible advice - if it's great, it'll show up again

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Seeing Democrats scattering to avoid forming quorums makes me wish the US Senate treated filibusters the same way - FLEE, REPUBLICANS, RUN!

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I see I have 2020 songs on my iPhone. (Get it? SEE? Har har!)
via

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-lakoff/what-conservatives-really_b_825504.html - a view of the real Conservative "Daddy" model.

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Watched scifi classic "Silent Running". Drama: good, if hammy. Robot buddies: cute. Scifi premise: strained. Joan Baez songs: awful.

Maybe the best part was the skilled botanist's huge reveleation: TREES NEED SUNLIGHT!

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteen_puzzle The way a "15" sliding tile puzzle can BE in a tough-to-detect, unsolvable state is why I prefer creativity/mechanic/play in games to "challenge". RATE YOUR MIND PLA

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The one function TV news performs very well is that when there is no news we give it to you with the same emphasis as if there were.

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I love how Drudgereport's #1 headline is a YEAR OLD story where Gadaffi said nice things about Obama-Way to cherrypick and fake relevancy.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKfKtXYLG78 - beautifully geeky movie about computer language Erlang - all the phone picking up is oddly amusing. Today on my own version of "Hey, Remember the 80s?" it's -- Kronoform watches! Man were these things awesome. They were Transformer-ish, but not offically Autobot or Decepticon or anything... they were just a cool way to bring a toy into school, since hey, you can have a watch, right? (Sigh. Kids these days. They'll barely know what a watch was, we've evolved from pocketwatches to wristwatches back to big pocketwatches that can also radio call anyone in the world and watch tv and play all your records and stuff. Not a bad trade-off, actually.

I think this is the one I had, "Scorpia" (according to this list of different types. I think it was so evocative for me because it seemed "real" in a sci-fi way; I mean, people-ish robots aren't watch-sized, but a robot scorpion totally would be -- and it wouldn't have to have a full AI, you could just give it the equivalent of a robot's brain and have it do some spy work or something... or maybe just frighten the bejeebers out of your teachers.
via

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Little Caesars was the semi-official after church pizza of my high school years- found one in Stoughton. Still dig it- tasty and cheap. Not square, though, alas.

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"[holds up zen garden] Hey. Whose dirt box is this?"
"That's our zen garden."
"What do you grow in here, bullcrap? [angrily throws in trash]"

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Take Care of the People, and God Almighty Will Take Care of Himself.

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We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane.

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Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile.

via

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The only thing better than going to bed is going BACK to bed.

2011 February❮❮prevnext❯❯