my personal DNA

"benevolent inventor" LOL

and check it out - - I'm 50% masculine, but 60% feminine. The honorary girl strikes again!!!

link

Your Very First Flash Movie

For his birthday, I sent my nephew Matthew a copy of Flash 8. I've been meaning for some time to write up a tutorial on how to write some simple programs using this. So here goes, from the ground up.

Matthew, I'm using a Macintosh computer, but I'm certain that the Windows version I got for you works the same way. But that might be why the screenshots look a little different for you.

First Install Flash.

Next, run Flash 8. You should get this window, in which you should click on new "Flash Document"



This part is a tiny bit tricky: Click on the very first rectangle in the timeline near the top. It is right below the number "1" and to the right of "Layer 1":



Now choose "Actions" from the "Window" menu.



This will reveal the actions palette. Click inside this window and type this:

#include "myScript.as"

Now save the flash movie. Choose "Save" from the "File" menu -- or just press Control-S. Create a new directory called "experiment1" and save the file there, with a name "experiment1.fla".






Next, we'll create a new Actionscript File. Choose "New" from the "File" menu, to show this dialog:



Now save this file (File -> New, or Control-S).



Click inside the myScript.as window and type this code:

var clip1:MovieClip = _root.createEmptyMovieClip( "clip1", 1 )
clip1.lineStyle( 3, 0xff0000 )
clip1.moveTo( 10, 10 )
clip1.lineTo( 100, 10 )
clip1.lineTo( 100, 100 )
clip1.lineTo( 10, 100 )
clip1.lineTo( 10, 10 )

clip1.lineStyle( 3, 0x00ff00 )

clip1.moveTo( 30, 30 )
clip1.lineTo( 80, 30 )
clip1.lineTo( 80, 80 )
clip1.lineTo( 30, 80 )
clip1.lineTo( 30, 30 )




After typing in the code, click the tab to show "experiment1.fla". Then choose "Test Movie" from the "Control" Menu:



This is what you should see:



Once you get this far you can close the test window and start playing around the the computer program. Click the tab to go back to myScript.as and try some experiments. After each try, remember click the "experiment1.fla" tab and choose "Test Movie" again.

1. What happens if you change 0xff0000 in line 2 to 0x00ff00 ? or to 0x0000ff? or 0x123456?
   
2. What happens if you change one of the 100 s to a 200?
   
3. Instead of drawing squares, can you figure out how to draw a triangle? A shape with 5 sides? A zig-zag line?
   

Here is what I did with my drawing. I used a "for" loop -- something I hope I'll have time to tell you about later!

flash based catan online?

http://solito.free.fr/catane/index.php looks promising.

Shibori Dye and Freezer Paper Stencil

Becka had some leftover dyes from a recent class at the Textile Center, so we had fun in the backyard with T-shirts. We folded the fabric in patterns -- in this example, I accordian folded the shirt. This is a Japanese dye technique called Shibori. Then today, I cut out a stencil using freezer paper, ironed it to the fabric, and painted using navy blue fabric paint. I let it dry, then "set" it with an iron.





(The image is a silhouette of a paddlefish, which has become sort of iconic of me, ever since my masters thesis in which I studied them.)

Democratic Debate

I'm catching up on last nights debate by looking for clips on youtube.com. They certainly had a large panel: Senator Joseph Biden, Jr. (D-De); Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.); Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.); Former Senator John Edwards (D-S.C.); Former Senator Mike Gravel (D-AK); Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH); Senator Barack Obama (D-IL); and Governor Bill Richardson (D-NM). Of these, only three (Edwards, Obama, Clinton) rank above 2% in recent polls. Al Gore still rakes in 14%, by the way. With such clear front-runners, why were these others included in the debate? I can see the point in getting a broader perspective, but this crap from Mike Gravel is counter productive:


GRAVEL: We're not united. I'm not united on many of their views. And I want to take on Barack Obama for a minute, who said he doesn't take money from lobbyists. Well, he has 134 bundlers. Now, what does he think that is?

And, besides that, he has received money from a Robert Wolf, the head of the USB (sic) bank in the United States, who raised $195,000 -- from this bank -- wait a second -- who has lobbyists in Washington...

COOPER: Your time is up.

GRAVEL: ... and it's a foreign-owned bank.

This is in response to the second question Gravel was asked, and he wastes his 30 seconds to pick on Obama. The Dems will get plenty of negative crap from the Republicans. The "second tier" / "dark horse" candidates in these debates should speak to the issues.

Funny D&D song

Using Garage Band, and five tracks of myself singing, I've created a barbershop quartet. I rewrote the lyrics to Lida Rose....

http://homepage.mac.com/arahn/savingthrows.m4a

.. to be about Dungeons and Dragons game. If you try to make a serious song then lack of singing ability becomes a liability. But if you're making a joke song, then lack of ability actually is an asset....

Becka says my diction isn't very good, so here are the lyrics.

Saving Throws, I'm rolling those throws,
To cut the damage down by half,
If I fail, well you know how it goes,
I'll die and you'll have the last laugh

D and D
Rolling dice and drinking caffeine
D and D
When I blow my whistle,
cast Magic Missile!

Saving Throws, you're rolling those throws,
Without a Ring of Protection
Saving Throws, how everyone knows,
The DC will need perfection

So here is the dungeon,
With undead to turn
Saving throws, oh won't you be,
Mine, Saving throws, oh Saving throws,
Oh Saving Throws....

Counter:
Versus Spell
Versus Wand
Save versus poison
Or Breath Weapon

What's the DC?
Oh it's not easy
And I'll bravely tell you
A natural twenty you must throw

High and low
Saving throw
How sweet that mem'ry
When you were whole
Forever
Oh yes, forever
Or cast restoration?
Oh no.

Find me on MySpace and be my friend!

Geek Song (in progress)

ubunto : Linux distribution. Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'Humanity to others', or 'I am what I am because of who we all are'.

-- EOM --

Soundbooth CS3 and Haut Bois rambling

I decided tonight to practice my English Horn. But I have a concert on Saturday that is principally Oboe. So I played through the oboe music for the concert on the English Horn anyhow. The fingerings are the same, although it sounds a fourth too low.

Then I got out my "music minus one" Albinoni concerto for Oboe. I opened the accompaniment track in Adobe Soundbooth CS3, and selected "Change Pitch and Timing" and entered '-7' for one fourth lower. (A fourth is seven half steps.) The fact that the UI is in half-steps but musicians say "a fourth" is evidence of the gap between computer scientists and musicians. At least it wasn't in octaves or frequency, in which case I would have had to dust of my base-two logarithms.

After thinking for about five minutes, I had my accompaniment for English Horn. Fun!

Soundbooth can also slow them down. So that devilishly difficult movement (Allegro) -- I could ease it up a bit. Nobody would know.

(Actually, I think maybe the dog was offended by the transposed accompaniment. I found her hiding in the bathroom when I was finished playing. Lucy used to get excited when I got the double reeds out, because it meant the quintet was probably coming over. But I haven't had a quintet for some time now, so now she leaves the room when I get them out. Hiding in the bathroom is a nice touch. {sigh}. Being a dog is a rough life.)

Also, an aside.

I have invented to rubrics for remembering the serial numbers on my instruments. The oboe is NH-12. The English horn is HS-44.

For NH-12, I think of the TV show "The West Wing" and the main character: Jed Bartlet. He is from New Hampshire. New Hampshire has 12 letters. NH-12.

For the English Horn it's even simpler. HS-44. Oboe in French is Haut-bois. Haut-bois starts with an H and ends with an S. And Haut and bois are both four letters. HS-44.

(English Horn is "cor anglais" in French. Actually, the English horn might be a misnomer. It was probably originally called "Angled horn" due to the bent bocal it uses. But a Frenchman probably heard the English word "angled" and thought of the French word "Anglais" (which means English), and thus the angled horn became the English horn. Actually, wikipedia disputes this as a myth, but they're just a bunch of humbugs, it's more fun if it's true.)

It occurred to me, a better way to remember the serial numbers would be to write them down. That's what this post is. Now Google has them, so they're probably safe forever...

Andy and Scott on YouTube

Scott and Andy reach for internet fame with the launch of our two stop-motion films on YouTube!





Ok, yes, I'm just recycling work I did years ago, but I was curious how the youtube thing works.

Water Lily

The lily pond in the side yard is in bloom! I tweaked this shot a little in Lightroom -- version 1.1 (just released) has new sharpening controls which help you get the most out of your shots!