Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Story

I finally finished my Python Project 2.

I wrote the thing and still laughed hysterical. The project was solely text and mine is a story with the details filled in by the user.  There was a few versions of the project, but "Story" worked out the best and left room for squeals. I will post this online when I learn how to display Python scripts.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Speak

"Paradoxically, the Tongues Untied (1989) censorship hysteria has helped re-kindle an essential public debate: who is to have access to so-called "public" media, and on what terms? Who should represent and define "minority" perspectives and experience? Above all, who has the authority to draw the thin line between innocuous 'diversity' and unacceptable 'deviance?'"

--- Marlon Riggs (Director)

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Exploding Info

I can almost not explain the elation of finishing coding assignment, running it, and the program working. I got up and danced, one of those goofy, whoo-whoo dances -- yeah really. I have been struggling in MySQL/PHP where programs almost work, but not quite. The current assignment was to extract info from a file, create 2 MySQL tables from this info and then display the info in a web table. I also added a delete button (not part of the assignment) which would erase the info from the table, but not the table itself, and reset the auto_increment of the table id back to 1 each time, i.e. so the file could be updated and display the updated info. I could not find the correct code for the reset, so I had to ask. I was so close, and after applying the code to my program, it works as I had wanted it to.

One more program to finish writing, but in a different language -- Python.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Regular Friends

As the sun goes down the birds and Chippers arrive for the final fill up for the day. There is a constant flow of traffic coming in from all directions. If I were outside, there would be an almost deafening sound of insects from the woods near the pond. The cats love all the activity. Rocky is almost flat to the ground, as flat as a fat cat can be. Heck with Animal Planet or The Nature Channel, we have "Live from the Backyard, It's Friday Night".

Thursday, March 26, 2009

dance

scampering across the yard
dodging rain drops
tree to tree
they dance

the dirt of changing seasons
washed from budding branches
awaiting the warmth
of a Spring day

Monday, March 23, 2009

S-p-e-l-l-i-n-g

I really wish I could spell better.
b-e-t-t-e-r
Seriously.
I have know idea how I can program at all with the atrocious spelling flowing from these fingers. I only have spell check for the computer, not my pen or pencil.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

So many projects

I really despise multiple majour projects due at roughly the same time.  I really want to work on my programming homework but I still have to finish writing my Film History Mid-Term.  I still have another huge programming assignment in Python to work on and a smaller image (Python) program.

Hopefully I will be able to get some sleep tonight. The one good thing is I have a less stressful day tomorrow.  Back to writing.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Fall Registration: Part 2

So far:

DMS 105 - Basic Documentary 4 cr.
"The fundamental theoretical, creative, and technical concerns of documentary and video production."
*

DMS 225 - Digital Literature Survey 4 cr.
"Intensive survey of the field of digital literature through a focus on the screening of digital texts. Primary emphasis is on 'reading' the digital texts presented. Course also covers the relationship of innovative poetry to digital media, the phenomenon of the Internet and its relation to 'the I', meaning-making through the context, design, and writerly qualities of Web pages, traditions of hypertext, the materiality of code, the history of e-poetry, and digital media poetry in the academy. Special attention will be given to understanding a broad range of innovative works in the medium including hypertext, digital and kinetic literature, interactive texts, and works in networked and programmable media, and to examining, interpreting, and interrogating the key theoretical texts of the most significant practitioners in the field. Includes foundational early theory, writings from formative scholarly hypertext theorists, and work by more recent cutting-edge independent digital theorists. Examines the role of programming as a social, literary, and language-related act. The cultural impact of films related to programming/cyberculture is discussed, with film screenings as appropriate. Discussion of key cyberculture and media theory authors as relevant."
*

MFC 307 - Interm Local Area Network 3 cr.
"Focuses on the products, problems, and trends involved in designing, implementing, and maintaining PC-based local area networks (LANs) for distributed application processing. Students learn concepts and techniques that enable them to become qualified participants in LAN projects."
*

I still have to add two more courses but the department has not change my status when I was accepted, so I cannot yet register for "majour only courses". Hopefully Monday I can get this all straightened out.

* source of course descriptions from UB Undergraduate Academic Schedule: Fall 2009

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Cat Fight

What a rude awakening this morning -- cats screeching outside my bedroom window. I had to get up anyway, but to listen to that was not what I had in mind. I went out back before leaving for campus and found some evidence of the fight, but no wounded kitties in sight. Hopefully both are ok and will not fight again. I first thought it was one of the rabbits as there is the start of a nest below my window, but the bits of fur was cat.

=>.<=

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Summer Registration: Part 1

I was able to register for a Summer course, Documentary Animation, but just one as the school cancelled the other three I was planning on taking. I know I will also be doing a lot of Classical Tibetan work, so I suppose this is ok. I also know I have a lot of outside of school work to get done and maybe this year I will actually be able to accomplish this great task.

I register for Fall courses on Saturday.

________
Edit:
DMS 218 - Documentary Animation 4 cr.
"The goals of this course will be to instruct students in the history and practice of documentary animation. This emerging, experimental subgenre will provide students with the means to explore a non-conventional and expressive approach to non-fiction storytelling. This class will cover basic experimental animation techniques, documentary field recording methods (including interviewing skills), and the use of found footage (including fair-use or the issue of copyright). This is a studio class in which the instructors will work closely with students as they explore their personal style in '…the creative treatment of actuality.' No experience with video or art is required. Course can be applied toward Beginning or Intermediate (Non-*) Production or elective requirement. " *

* source of course descriptions from
DMS Summer 2009 Undergraduate Course Descriptions

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

PIL

I learned how to import images into PIL today. Good think I know quite a bit about Photoshop as this graphics wrapper works just like it. I am way too tired to continue playing with this code tonight, but I should get a chance tomorrow.

I still have to figure out how to create a blank canvas to start from -- I only remember half the code.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Appropriate

Today's Fortune Cookie:

"First think of what you want to do
then do what you have to do."

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Star Struck

DIscovery launched tonight. I still watch it utter amazement as though this was the first time I have seen a launch. I usually look up all the details of the mission ahead of time, but I have been too busy to have done this ahead of time. I only know the shuttle is bringing up a piece, perhaps the final one, to complete the solar panel. Imagine, the I.S.S. will have solar panels to run it, also allowing two more people to live there, but here on Earth we seem to have not figure out that this is a good enough idea to implement the installation of such panels on our structures on a large scale.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

π Day

My math stinks, but I can still enjoy π day because it is one of a few mathematical "things" I know. I also prefer odd numbers, yet fibonacci numbers are exciting. My favourite is the δωδεκάεδρον.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Evening out

Spring Break is basically over. The routine returns to "normal". A change in plans creates new opportunities and perhaps some chaos. I am almost immune to chaos or at least I should be. I can say for some certainty, it will be better and an added bonus -- the winter is ending and spring is approaching.

I spent the day cleaning up from the beginning of the semester -- books, papers everywhere.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

A little off

We have a toaster that does not shut off,
a knob that barely turns,
a light that does not light,
two cats who do not meow,
a coffee grinder that keeps grinding,
imperfections,
some easy fixes,
others never change.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Some Wind

Today came and went almost uneventfully. I had to pick up my stepfather from the car repair shop, he dropped off his car, and I made the owner really laugh. It was one of those laughs that was right from the gut and lasted longer than a HA-HA. I only said, while shaking my head no, "Not me, not me." You see, my car has been there so many times, towed in, because of the poor design of the car and the wires under the car corrode and break.

Other than that, blah. I could not have the bird feeder outside due to wind, but I spread seed and cracked corn for anyone who might stop by. Now I think it is even too cold, even for the bunnies.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

It's Alive!!!


About a hundred lines of code later, 
the Python graphics wrapper drew, 
Frankensmiley.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Friends and Children

I went to a local farm supply store to get some cracked corn for our outside friends and found a new Hummingbird feeder as well. The old ones had many issues and were not working well. I will have to wait a while longer to see how this one works out. Now armed with 50lbs. of cracked corn (only comes in 50 or 10lbs. and 50 is cheaper) we are well stocked.

Oh, and they had store kitties. The female is 16 and the male looks 6 or 7 years old. As cats should be, they are spoiled. One sleeps on the counter and the other has his own bed on a couple of bags of seed. There is a basket of handmade cat toys on the counter (how they do not play with them I will never know) and we bought 2 for our children. This is the same place where the other 2 toys for Valentine's Day came from; today's purchase was St. Patrick's Day themed.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Work Load

I finished the last bit of homework due during break, yet I have a few projects to work on:

1. Project 2 in MySQL/PHP
2. Project 2 in Python
3. Film History Mid-Term {essay}
4. Second In-Class Assignment - Python (take home if not finish in class)
5. Rough Draft of Japanese Presentation {in Japanese, of course}
6. Classical Tibetan Text/Vocabulary
7. Questions for next film
8. Daily Japanese homework

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Python Graphics

I had an introduction to Python graphics this morning. I am amazed, even though I should not be, that only 7 people out of 15+ people showed up today. I know tomorrow is the last day before Spring Break, but come on. We were getting an intro to something new and we were told this on Tuesday. I am looking forward to working with the graphics library over break. Yeah, I am a big o' nerd.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Only Today

I am so tired
projects piling up now
Sabres won the game!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

3 * 3 = 9

Due to my math deficiencies, I did not realize today was Square Root Day -- where the day and the month are both the square root of the last two digits in the current year. Yeah really. There are 9 days which fit the category in the 2000s with the remaining 3 in the 2100s.
 
It is safe to assume I will not see all the square root days in this rotation.

Monday, March 2, 2009

New U2

I am a U2 fan.

I am not one of those that knows everything about the band and I cannot even remember all the songs or any of that, but I plan to stay up each night to watch them on Letterman as well as buy one version of their album tomorrow. I would also buy another expensive ticket to see them live as they were one of the best bands I have ever seen live.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Byrdee™



Byrdee is a new character I drew yesterday in my iPod.
I had to email him to retrieve him from my iPod.
In the near future, Byrdee will have friends to play with.