Author: Tony

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Code Sharing

This is another one those posts that will probably only be interesting to about 1% of the visitors to the site. But, I wanted to mention this anyway since I think it’s a really good idea. So, unless you’re interested in programming, scroll on down to a cute picture of Matthew in his Star Wars outfit…

Still here, OK. O’Reilly, the people who publish some of the best technical books in the world, have just set up a new website for sharing Java code. It’s called CodeZoo. They describe it as “getting you past the repetitive parts of coding, and onto the rest and the best of your projects.” They have quite a collection of software in a variety of categories.

Another similar site that I’ve just discovered is called Code Snippets. This site has sample code in a variety of languages including Ruby, Python, Javascript, PHP, Perl, and Java. These tend to be shorter examples often demonstrating one part of a program, but they can sometimes be just what you need. The other intersting thing about this site is the use of tags. It’s easy to filter the snippets and find just what you’re looking for.

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Some Kind of Monster

VH1 showed the Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster last night commercial free. So, being a pretty big Metallica fan, I watched it.

I’ve gotta say I was a little surprised by this movie. It was a lot more real than anything you’ll ever see on “Reality TV”. I think the main reason I like it is because I’ve followed the band for so long and I really felt like I knew the characters.

Seeing what really goes on in the lives of people like James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich was interesting. On the one hand I feel like these guys have more money than they’ll ever need, and they should just get over themselves. But, at the same time I can see what they’re arguing about. It’s the same kind of stuff that lots of us go through. Everyone wants to be in control, and no one is willing to compromise.

It was commercial free on VH1, but unfortunately it wasn’t uncut. This led to what was in my opinion one of the best scenes from the movie. Everyone in the band was really frustrated, but still trying to work. The dialogue went something like this…

Bob Rock: OK Lars, as soon as the drums kick in I want you to scream *beep* as loud as you can.

The music starts and Lars gets ready to scream.

Lars Ulrich: *beeeeeeep* (for about a minute straight)

I’m sure it was very therapeutic at the time, but on VH1 it reminded me of the test of the emergency broadcast system.

I just hope this post doesn’t draw out the raving, all-caps typing lunatics like my last mention of Metallica. Also, if you’re that guy and you’re reading this: My opinion of St. Anger is still pretty much the same. I actually want to listen to it every once in a while, but it will never be as good as Master of Puppets or …And Justice for All.

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Drivey

Here’s a very impressive demo of a new graphics engine being developed by a guy named Mark Pursey. It’s called Drivey. It has a really nice old-school look to it. The picture below really doesn’t do it justice. You’ve got to see it moving to really get it.

Drivey

Download the demo at http://drivey.com/. There’s no installation required, just double-click the file to run it. Once you get it going, hold down F1 on the keyboard to see all of the controls.

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Who’s Your Daddy?

I’ve been meaning to post this picture for a while now. It’s almost two months old. I figure since I made fun of Ben for wearing a “Dukes of Hazard” shirt around their baby the other day, I should show what we’re doing to Matthew.

Who's Your Daddy?

For those of you who aren’t Star Wars fans, like Paula – that’s Darth Vader on the shirt and it says “Who’s Your Daddy?”. That’s funny because Darth Vader is really Luke’s father… Sorry if I just ruined the Empire Strikes Back for anyone.

Blame Geoff for this outfit, he bought it for Matthew.

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Tetris 1D

Is regular Tetris a little too hard for you? Maybe you should try Tetris 1D. That’s right, One-Dimensional Tetris.

I’m playing it even as I type this post. As a matter of fact, my score just passed 40,000. I think I’m really getting good.

On second thought, maybe not. I just looked at the High Scores. The top score is 943,718,400. It looks like I’ll be up all night playing…

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Twins?

I saw some pictures like this the other day on Flickr and I couldn’t wait to try it out myself. Luckily, Paige is usually a willing subject. Here she is relaxing in the chair and watching the baby:

Two Paiges?

This time she’s sitting on the couch and standing up and smiling:

Two Paiges?

These are actually pretty easy to do with a digital camera and a few minutes of editing. First, take two pictures of your subject without moving the camera (a tripod really helps here). Then layer one image on top of the other in something like PhotoShop or The GIMP. Finally, erase the area in the top layer so that the image of your subject shows through from the bottom.

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I Can See My House From Here

The other day I was raving about how cool Google Maps is. It seems they’ve gone and made it even better.

Now you can get Satellite imagery at the same time. Just click the Satellite link in the top right corner to see switch. For example, here’s our house. Unfortunately, it’s pretty low resolution. It’s pretty easy to see the airport and the highway, but that’s really about all it’s good for.

The resolution is a little better around the major cities. Here’s Preston Rd. at 121 in Frisco. It’s neat that you can see cars in the parking lot at the mall. But, that picture is obviously pretty old, since I don’t think there are any vacant lots in that area anymore.

Oh well, I’m sure they’ll have have high resolution, real-time images before long. Then you’ll be able to watch me mow the yard…

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11 Days

In case you forgot, Paige’s birthday is April 15th. She’ll be… ehh… one year younger than me. Obviously, she deserves lots of gifts for being an all around great wife and mother. I told her yesterday I was going to buy everything on her wishlist. Of course, she refused. Since I don’t want to get on her bad side, I’m trying a different approach.

I’ve already done my part to make sure she has a happy birthday. If you want to help out, here’s a link to Paige’s Amazon Wishlist. If you ignore the ottomans, there’s really not much left to buy. Just some kitchen gadgets and a few books. I think 11 days should be plenty of time to empty that list.

So, whether you’re a friend or just visiting the site to read the tutorials, help me out by picking up an item or two…