Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Both bloglines and gmail were messed up this morning when I came into work. For once, I spent the first couple of hours of the day actually working!
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
no hurricane news here
Apparently my childhood house in Bayou La Batre is still standing, and flood waters did not reach it.
My family actually fled to Philadelphia, Mississippi of all places. I happened to be on the phone with my father last night when the actual eye passed over them. I have not heard from them today.
Don't know when they'll be able to go home. The website of one of their local TV stations reports:
That's the main street of Bayou La Batre, and I don't think there are any alternatives routes for it.
My dad works in Pascagoula. I'm not at all sure Pascagoula still exists.
My family actually fled to Philadelphia, Mississippi of all places. I happened to be on the phone with my father last night when the actual eye passed over them. I have not heard from them today.
Don't know when they'll be able to go home. The website of one of their local TV stations reports:
AL 188 Closed Mobile PADGET SWITCH ROAD TO ALABAMA PORT WATER AND DEBRIS OVER THE ROAD.
That's the main street of Bayou La Batre, and I don't think there are any alternatives routes for it.
My dad works in Pascagoula. I'm not at all sure Pascagoula still exists.
done, for now
It doesn't look like I will be able to fool around with the Nintendo music for a while. My parents gave me a banjo for my birthday, and I want to spend time learning how to play it.
Because of this, I am declaring Flvxxvm Florvm is an 8-bit Whore to be a complete "album". There may be a sequel in the future. Right now there is only a little housekeeping to be done.
Towards that end ofI have re-named the MP3 files so that a normal directory listing puts them into the order in which they should be listened. This just happens to be the order in which I came up with them, punctuated by repeated occurrances of the Zelda death theme.
So you can now find the official, complete set of songs here:
http://www.cba.ua.edu/~matt2/flvxx/8bit/
Also provided for you convenience, this playlist streams all the songs directly off the server to your player with no delay to download the songs themselves. Although if you've been reading all along you probably already did that.
Because of this, I am declaring Flvxxvm Florvm is an 8-bit Whore to be a complete "album". There may be a sequel in the future. Right now there is only a little housekeeping to be done.
Towards that end ofI have re-named the MP3 files so that a normal directory listing puts them into the order in which they should be listened. This just happens to be the order in which I came up with them, punctuated by repeated occurrances of the Zelda death theme.
So you can now find the official, complete set of songs here:
http://www.cba.ua.edu/~matt2/flvxx/8bit/
Also provided for you convenience, this playlist streams all the songs directly off the server to your player with no delay to download the songs themselves. Although if you've been reading all along you probably already did that.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
The Chosen Beers
Schmalz brewery, home of two "HE'BREW" Kosher beers.
Geograph British Isles - photograph every grid square!
The Geograph British Isles project aims to collect a geographically representative photograph for every square kilometre of the British Isles and you can be part of it.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
one good thing about my job
You can use Space Invaders graphics in a presentation, and it strengthens rather than weakens your credibility.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Tom Ball's Blog: Finally, a Good Use for Finalizers
Look familiar, Scott?
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
The Non-Expert: IKEA, by Matthew Baldwin
Now you are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. A skeleton, probably the remains of a luckless consumer, lies here. Beside the skeleton is a rusty SKARPT high-quality steel knife with hard plastic handle and a shopping cart. Search the body. Take the IKEA GIFT CARD (still has $43 on it). Take and eat the SWEDISH FISH for sustenance. Now go:
S, E, D, D, E, SW, W, SW, D, W, U, S.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
eclectech
The British-est flash animations ever.
Monday, August 15, 2005
I owe David Chandler a coke
For some reason I thought CreateObject was added to CFML in CFMX. Nope:
http://livedocs.macromedia.com/coldfusion/5.0/CFML_Reference/Functions47.htm#1102324
http://livedocs.macromedia.com/coldfusion/5.0/CFML_Reference/Functions47.htm#1102324
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Seanbaby.com - EGM's Crapstravaganza: The 20 Worst Games of All Time
I'm sure I blogged this a long time ago, or saw it on somebody else's blog, or on Slashdot, or something. Anyway, tell yer mom I said "Custer's Revenge".
Sing Loud Sweet Stereo
I know I promised to get out the slide and get nasty, but instead I decided to stick with last time's Zelda music and deliver a full-blown power ballad.
http://www.cba.ua.edu/~matt2/flvxx/8bit/sing_loud_sweet_stereo.mp3
Consider yourselves lucky to have gotten by with just a power balled. I had originally planned to write a genuine Gospel song, and attempt to sing 4-part harmony through the magic of overdubs, for the section starting at 3:22.
These lyrics were written when I was in high school, about a real girl, who shall remain nameless here. They were originally written to a different tune, but I think Koji Kondo's music fits them better than mine did.
The title the song comes from a Reader's Digest article I read back in the 1980's, a tear-jerker about your kids going away to college. It also had lines about "the hanging gardens of Disco" and "whenever you come to visit, there will always be a fatted calf in the freezer".
The "love and light" was inspired by a line in 1987 horror flick "The Gate". Go rent it.
http://www.cba.ua.edu/~matt2/flvxx/8bit/sing_loud_sweet_stereo.mp3
Consider yourselves lucky to have gotten by with just a power balled. I had originally planned to write a genuine Gospel song, and attempt to sing 4-part harmony through the magic of overdubs, for the section starting at 3:22.
it must be fate but it should be a crime
my heart is yours but yours is not mine
i lost my mind and i'd give my soul
for a chance to have you once to hold
i know you love another man
and you are going to take his hand
sing loud sweet stereo
i need a little music to get me through the sad times
sing loud sweet stereo
i need a little music to get me through the bad times
hold me close just for one time
i want this memory to last lifetime
you can't understand what i feel for you
but that's ok you don't need to
i can live with separateness
as long as you find happiness
sing loud sweet stereo
i need a little music to get me through the sad times
sing loud sweet stereo
just a little music to get me through the bad times
and let the music that you play
help me fill the lonely days
with a little bit of love and light
a little bit of love and light
These lyrics were written when I was in high school, about a real girl, who shall remain nameless here. They were originally written to a different tune, but I think Koji Kondo's music fits them better than mine did.
The title the song comes from a Reader's Digest article I read back in the 1980's, a tear-jerker about your kids going away to college. It also had lines about "the hanging gardens of Disco" and "whenever you come to visit, there will always be a fatted calf in the freezer".
The "love and light" was inspired by a line in 1987 horror flick "The Gate". Go rent it.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Using the XMLHttpRequest Object and AJAX to Spy On You
Work related. Read later.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
a brief interruption
This is not a Flvxxvm Florvm song at all, it is a mere 15 or seconds of music taken directly from (emulated) Legend of Zelda, modified only by having it fade out smoothly and delaying the right channel ever so slightly to make it sound more 'stereo'.
In the game, this is the music that you hear after you die, before you choose from one of your saved games or start over again. It provides a momentary pause in the action, time to go the bathroom or get a drink or hand the controller over to someone else. And that is also it's purpose here.
http://www.cba.ua.edu/~matt2/flvxx/8bit/brief_interruption.mp3
When this "album" is finished, the final track order will insert this same 15 seconds of music between every couple of songs.
Why more than one song from the same game? Because Zelda is the best music of the 8-bit era. It stands up alongside "real" music, both popular and classical. That's my freaking opinion, and my opinion is the only one that counts here. You will hear more from Zelda before I'm done.
In the game, this is the music that you hear after you die, before you choose from one of your saved games or start over again. It provides a momentary pause in the action, time to go the bathroom or get a drink or hand the controller over to someone else. And that is also it's purpose here.
http://www.cba.ua.edu/~matt2/flvxx/8bit/brief_interruption.mp3
When this "album" is finished, the final track order will insert this same 15 seconds of music between every couple of songs.
Why more than one song from the same game? Because Zelda is the best music of the 8-bit era. It stands up alongside "real" music, both popular and classical. That's my freaking opinion, and my opinion is the only one that counts here. You will hear more from Zelda before I'm done.
A Hero in Every Aisle Seat - New York Times
Registration (or BugMeNot) required.
If our leaders are really planning for panic, in the technical sense, then they are at best wasting resources on a future that is unlikely to happen. At worst, they may be doing our enemies' work for them - while people are amazing under pressure, it cannot help to have predictions of panic drummed into them by supposed experts.
Monday, August 08, 2005
ColdFusion MX 7 -- Validating form data using hidden fields -- Version 7
ColdFusion MX 7 -- Validating form data using hidden fields -- Version 7
Quite possibly the single most stupidest thing in any programming language, ever.
Quite possibly the single most stupidest thing in any programming language, ever.
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Lookin' for Chicks
I wanted to use slide guitar on this song, but my daughter had taken my slide and hidden it somewhere, and I didn't find it until just now.
Not much to say about the lyrics, they are about as tastless as I'm willing to get without my slide. Next time, you're really gonna get it.
http://www.cba.ua.edu/~matt2/flvxx/8bit/lookin_for_chicks.mp3
Oh, yeah, almost forgot the game. You knew it was Donkey Kong. But I will point out that this is the NES Donkey Kong, not the Arcade. Can you hear the difference in the tembre of the opening "duh-duh-duh-duh doooooo-doooooo"?
Not much to say about the lyrics, they are about as tastless as I'm willing to get without my slide. Next time, you're really gonna get it.
http://www.cba.ua.edu/~matt2/flvxx/8bit/lookin_for_chicks.mp3
Oh, yeah, almost forgot the game. You knew it was Donkey Kong. But I will point out that this is the NES Donkey Kong, not the Arcade. Can you hear the difference in the tembre of the opening "duh-duh-duh-duh doooooo-doooooo"?
Lookin' for chicks at Home Depot.
Lookin' for chicks among the boat people.
(Lookin' for Chicks!)
(Lookin' for Chicks!)
Lookin' for chicks in the elevator.
Lookin' for chicks in Decatur.
(Lookin' for Chicks!)
(Lookin' for Chicks!)
Lookin' for chicks who give second chances.
Lookin' for chicks who give lap dances.
(Lookin' for Chicks!)
(Lookin' for Chicks!)
java.net: Building Web Components Without a Component Framework
CategoryWorkRelated
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Last time, I promise
One more change to Annie's Alibi. Through the magic of Audacity's "change tempo" function, I have kicked it back up to roughly the actual speed of the music in the game. I had previously slowed the whole thing down which not only dropped the key but also the tempo. In other words, I am now officially guilty of using digital processing to make it seem like I can play guitar 25% faster than I actually can.
Monday, August 01, 2005
decodeunicode.org
A Wiki with entries about individual Unicode characters. How geek is that? It appears to mostly be in German, though.
The Fixedsys font has no Euro glyph
And therefore if you are viewing this in IE or Firefox, instead of a big fat Euro, you'll will see a big fat square.
Opera, however does the right thing and displays the Euro symbol from a different font. Which font? How does it find it? I don't know, but it does it.
€
Opera, however does the right thing and displays the Euro symbol from a different font. Which font? How does it find it? I don't know, but it does it.
ŦĦ£ ώëñð¥ Ħõů$€
The most interesting thing about this blog is the title. It appears to be a modern Unicode-enabled version of the old DOS BBS practice I described here.
I don't know if this blogger has BBS connections, or if this kind of mis-use of international characters is just an obvious enough idea that people tend to invent it independently.
I don't know if this blogger has BBS connections, or if this kind of mis-use of international characters is just an obvious enough idea that people tend to invent it independently.
