retro programming
I have started using the chalkboard. It forces them to type. I can't believe how so many students just copy and paste chunks of code without understanding them. It's in the typing that the learning happens.
The rest of the day
The rest of the day I was at UB working on stuff with Josephine. I really like her. Although she said she is not very social I find her fun to be around. I think the VR site is finished. Now I need to just punch it through the VPN. We also began plans on the Buffalo Memory Engine which will be my next major project. Don't worry (e:strip) I will never leave you behind.
Here are some pics of @matthew from yesterday at the park.
Here are some pics of @matthew from yesterday at the park.
My Latest Project
You may ask yourself where is @paul and all the new stuff that usually happens every two weeks. Well, he got roped into a million and half other things. Soon I will be back and there will be a bizillion updates I'm sure.
In the mean time I have been hired to work on stuff for the Virtual Reality Department at UB. My first task was redoing their web site which used to look like this.
Now it looks like this. The white is supposed to be the profile of one of the characters I created for one of Josephine's VR projects and the yellow shooting out the eyes is the beam from the projector that make sthe VR happen. The grommets are just my usual grommets from Cinema 4D. I wonder how (e:strip) made it so far without them. I put the beta version here
The biggest changes however are in the way it is coded. Now it is XHTML compliant with js separated from HTML and style separated from content. It can also be updated by the professors there without work on my part. Hopefully, that works out.
I like this logo even if gears are cliche.
I love how the spell check always wants to change Josephine's VR project to Josephine's VCR project!
On a side note while I was checking the new page for XHTML compliance I tested out the media studies site at UB and wow what a totally not standard piece of crap code job it is. It doesn't even have a doctype not that it would be valid for any doctype. The css and javascript are all included in the main doc instead of included as external files so that they could be cached. It is basically lame code side, although it at least looks nice.
It just proves the fact that I wasted so much time and money at the crappy school. The guy who taught the web classes sucked so bad. I heard that he was paid like $7000 to make that site and then paid students to do it for like $500.
In the mean time I have been hired to work on stuff for the Virtual Reality Department at UB. My first task was redoing their web site which used to look like this.
Now it looks like this. The white is supposed to be the profile of one of the characters I created for one of Josephine's VR projects and the yellow shooting out the eyes is the beam from the projector that make sthe VR happen. The grommets are just my usual grommets from Cinema 4D. I wonder how (e:strip) made it so far without them. I put the beta version here
The biggest changes however are in the way it is coded. Now it is XHTML compliant with js separated from HTML and style separated from content. It can also be updated by the professors there without work on my part. Hopefully, that works out.
I like this logo even if gears are cliche.
I love how the spell check always wants to change Josephine's VR project to Josephine's VCR project!
On a side note while I was checking the new page for XHTML compliance I tested out the media studies site at UB
and wow what a totally not standard piece of crap code job it is. It doesn't even have a doctype not that it would be valid for any doctype. The css and javascript are all included in the main doc instead of included as external files so that they could be cached. It is basically lame code side, although it at least looks nice.It just proves the fact that I wasted so much time and money at the crappy school. The guy who taught the web classes sucked so bad. I heard that he was paid like $7000 to make that site and then paid students to do it for like $500.
student credit card deals
So I headed out to UB North Campus today to take care of some business. While we were there, we decided to eat the Korean place at The Commons. Outside of Subway there was a "credit dealer" giving away a free subway sub if you signed up for a credit card.
There was a non-stop flock of students signing up for these cards to get the free sub. While I ate my Kim Bob about 20 students sign up for a crad. Afterwards, I asked the guy what the APR was and he said it was "22% but that there is no annual fee!!!" He said the annual fee part with the biggest smile and acted like it made it such an amazing deal, I wouldn't be able to refuse. I think that is what happend to so many of the young students who didn't know better. They probably just didn't understand the concept of APR and thought not having an annual fee was some amazing perk.
All those poor kids that are getting their first credit card for free stuff at school have no idea how badly they are being ripped off. Maybe campuses should prevent such extortion but in reality I bet they gets plenty of kick backs for letting it happen. 22% is outrageous!
There was a non-stop flock of students signing up for these cards to get the free sub. While I ate my Kim Bob about 20 students sign up for a crad. Afterwards, I asked the guy what the APR was and he said it was "22% but that there is no annual fee!!!" He said the annual fee part with the biggest smile and acted like it made it such an amazing deal, I wouldn't be able to refuse. I think that is what happend to so many of the young students who didn't know better. They probably just didn't understand the concept of APR and thought not having an annual fee was some amazing perk.
All those poor kids that are getting their first credit card for free stuff at school have no idea how badly they are being ripped off. Maybe campuses should prevent such extortion but in reality I bet they gets plenty of kick backs for letting it happen. 22% is outrageous!
Student Loans
I got my official student loan bill. It's 72,000 but with interest it's like $87,000 as long as I pay $709.00 per month till 2016! That is so much money considering the top pay I could get as a non-tenured professor would be about $45,000 and there is about a 0.04% chance of that happening in Buffalo seeing as UB would never hire me as a I am a former student and Canisius didn't work out.
I guess it's time to start forgetting about everything I learned and begin something new. Or maybe it is time I make like @southernyankee, @ajay, @haikuster, @hodown, @codypomeray or the other who I am forgetting that have moved away and found good jobs.
Considering I make $27,000 per year working two jobs, it might not work out so well to stay here. I really want some stability before I turn 30. Like health insurance and a job with longterm upwards mobility. I knew I should have stuck with biology or that I should have never gotten that MFA. That was the worst suggestion I ever followed. I really should have thought about the city more and what possible applications that type of training could offer me.
I don't want to work out at a bank! They seem to be the only people that consistently contact me about jobs. For christ's sake I worked at HSBC when I was much younger and I hated being in that corporate environment, that is why I went to college, so I wouldn't have to be there. At least I have this house to rent out.
I really should have gone to ECC for some sort of technical training instead of the useless liberal arts education I ended up with. For some reason I never even saw that as an option. I remember until I was in Germany studying Germanic Language and Literature, I had no concept of studying a trade. There I met lots of people that made that choice at around 6th grade. I wish it was at least presented to me as an option. Somehow, my teachers along the way always made it seem like that was failing, which now I see it is not. I guess it's not too late to switch but now I owe like $90,000.
Then I could just be a professional handy man and rent out houses. If you are 18 and reading this please learn from my error and think long and hard before you go in the direction of liberal arts.
I guess it's time to start forgetting about everything I learned and begin something new. Or maybe it is time I make like @southernyankee, @ajay, @haikuster, @hodown, @codypomeray or the other who I am forgetting that have moved away and found good jobs.
Considering I make $27,000 per year working two jobs, it might not work out so well to stay here. I really want some stability before I turn 30. Like health insurance and a job with longterm upwards mobility. I knew I should have stuck with biology or that I should have never gotten that MFA. That was the worst suggestion I ever followed. I really should have thought about the city more and what possible applications that type of training could offer me.
I don't want to work out at a bank! They seem to be the only people that consistently contact me about jobs. For christ's sake I worked at HSBC when I was much younger and I hated being in that corporate environment, that is why I went to college, so I wouldn't have to be there. At least I have this house to rent out.
I really should have gone to ECC for some sort of technical training instead of the useless liberal arts education I ended up with. For some reason I never even saw that as an option. I remember until I was in Germany studying Germanic Language and Literature, I had no concept of studying a trade. There I met lots of people that made that choice at around 6th grade. I wish it was at least presented to me as an option. Somehow, my teachers along the way always made it seem like that was failing, which now I see it is not. I guess it's not too late to switch but now I owe like $90,000.
Then I could just be a professional handy man and rent out houses. If you are 18 and reading this please learn from my error and think long and hard before you go in the direction of liberal arts.
Battle Bots
@terry and I picked up @shawnr and we went to go see the UB battle bots competition in the student Union at UB. Adam, this guy in my elecy tonics class won the competition with a bot that had a propeller which could chop the other battlebots up.
Then we ate at the student union, which is a serious ripoff. Terry and I each had popcorn chicken and fries, shared one drink and one salad and it came to $14.00. That is so insane.
Then we ate at the student union, which is a serious ripoff. Terry and I each had popcorn chicken and fries, shared one drink and one salad and it came to $14.00. That is so insane.
My Thesis Abstract - under construction
Elmwoodstrip.org is a community dataspace based in the elmwood strip community of Buffalo, NY. This digital public space brings local residents together by allowing them to digitally share and embed their local experience within the data structures of the site.
Elmwoodstrip. org recreates a public sphere in a place where public meeting places have been largely commodified (e.g. Spot Coffee), by providing a cost free place to exchange ideas. By using open source software in the programming and design of the site, I have been able to keep the cost at such a minimum as to provide this service free of charge to the public within this community. There are currently there are about 200 users and hundreds of local readers with a daily data consumption of about 200-500MB shared between around 200 unique visitors/day.
Users can embed text, sound, animation, and video without any previous web programming experience and without the use of any expensive proprietary or commercial software. After a user finishes click-publishing their media, the embedded data becomes immediately available to the public via the elmwoodstrip.com interface.
By lowering the learning curve for publication to the web, and tying the publication process in with a dedicated local readership, elmwoodstrip.org opens up this digital documentation process to a segment of the population that typically does not produce their own media or record their own historical experience. As with swatches in a quilt, the embedded media files are "sewn" together using MySQL, an open source database software package, and delivered to the public with PHP, another open source scripting language, to form a digital quilt of the elmwood experience from 2003-2005.
Elmwoodstrip. org is intended to counteract the negative effects on local community that have resulted from globalized communication on the internet by creating an immersive local web experience. Time spent at the site focuses the residents on communicating with each other and revitalizes the sense of local community. As the project site continues to grow, a people's history of this community begins to emerge and the interpretation of the local experience becomes more colorful and accurate.
Elmwoodstrip.org is based on open standards technologies such as HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, MySQL, RSS, and XML. User to user communication is handled via journals, cell phone SMS messages, site posts, integrated AOL AIM, integrated yahoo YIM, and email. Users can view the site from computer web browsers and even read the site, post and receive reader feedback from their mobile phones.
Although all users are essentially writing public journals, reader initiated comments are allowed only on the readers journals, as to promote a sense of responsibility when interacting with other users. By creating a method for inlinking between the writers and the readers journals, other readers can follow along the logical path of a discussion while avoiding the problem of spam that plagues many other online forums and journaling sites.
In the written segment of my thesis I will be exploring necessary technical and developmental decisions in the construction of such a data intensive and highly interactive web site, as well as, addressing issues of privacy, security, and public image in relation to elmwoodstrip.org and its users. Furthermore, I will be investigating and contrasting elmwoodstrip.org to other online communities that focus on the interaction of local residents such as the famous WELL online community in San Francisco, Craig's List, and others.
Elmwoodstrip. org recreates a public sphere in a place where public meeting places have been largely commodified (e.g. Spot Coffee), by providing a cost free place to exchange ideas. By using open source software in the programming and design of the site, I have been able to keep the cost at such a minimum as to provide this service free of charge to the public within this community. There are currently there are about 200 users and hundreds of local readers with a daily data consumption of about 200-500MB shared between around 200 unique visitors/day.
Users can embed text, sound, animation, and video without any previous web programming experience and without the use of any expensive proprietary or commercial software. After a user finishes click-publishing their media, the embedded data becomes immediately available to the public via the elmwoodstrip.com interface.
By lowering the learning curve for publication to the web, and tying the publication process in with a dedicated local readership, elmwoodstrip.org opens up this digital documentation process to a segment of the population that typically does not produce their own media or record their own historical experience. As with swatches in a quilt, the embedded media files are "sewn" together using MySQL, an open source database software package, and delivered to the public with PHP, another open source scripting language, to form a digital quilt of the elmwood experience from 2003-2005.
Elmwoodstrip. org is intended to counteract the negative effects on local community that have resulted from globalized communication on the internet by creating an immersive local web experience. Time spent at the site focuses the residents on communicating with each other and revitalizes the sense of local community. As the project site continues to grow, a people's history of this community begins to emerge and the interpretation of the local experience becomes more colorful and accurate.
Elmwoodstrip.org is based on open standards technologies such as HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, MySQL, RSS, and XML. User to user communication is handled via journals, cell phone SMS messages, site posts, integrated AOL AIM, integrated yahoo YIM, and email. Users can view the site from computer web browsers and even read the site, post and receive reader feedback from their mobile phones.
Although all users are essentially writing public journals, reader initiated comments are allowed only on the readers journals, as to promote a sense of responsibility when interacting with other users. By creating a method for inlinking between the writers and the readers journals, other readers can follow along the logical path of a discussion while avoiding the problem of spam that plagues many other online forums and journaling sites.
In the written segment of my thesis I will be exploring necessary technical and developmental decisions in the construction of such a data intensive and highly interactive web site, as well as, addressing issues of privacy, security, and public image in relation to elmwoodstrip.org and its users. Furthermore, I will be investigating and contrasting elmwoodstrip.org to other online communities that focus on the interaction of local residents such as the famous WELL online community in San Francisco, Craig's List, and others.
More Paperwork
Just when I am ready to never see another form again, I find more forms to fill out and more signatures to chase after.
In Paul's class today I finally learned how to make the machine I promised to make for @matthew . Now I just need some transistors and a relay, a motor, etc. I am sure he will be pleased. But that is on hold until I get all this stuff worked out.
I also met with arzu? today and the project seemed pretty interesting. She had a GPS for me to test with, so we will see how that goes. When talking with her she informed me that in Fine Arts they don't need to write a thesis, they only have to have a final project. I have worked on my project for 2 years probably about 30 hours a week, so it is really annoying to now have to write a 60 page thesis on top of that only to get the same degree they get. I feel like I should get a higher degree with the added written thesis requirement.
I made such a mistake choosing media studies at UB. I guess its almost done now, and it wasn't hard really. Just a big waste of time and really costly. I wish I could say that it really taught me anything but in actuality it just set me back like a year in the devlopment of my projects. I guess I will have the paper to prove I can jump through hoops. To bad it cost me like $20,000.
In Paul's class today I finally learned how to make the machine I promised to make for @matthew . Now I just need some transistors and a relay, a motor, etc. I am sure he will be pleased. But that is on hold until I get all this stuff worked out.
I also met with arzu? today and the project seemed pretty interesting. She had a GPS for me to test with, so we will see how that goes. When talking with her she informed me that in Fine Arts they don't need to write a thesis, they only have to have a final project. I have worked on my project for 2 years probably about 30 hours a week, so it is really annoying to now have to write a 60 page thesis on top of that only to get the same degree they get. I feel like I should get a higher degree with the added written thesis requirement.
I made such a mistake choosing media studies at UB. I guess its almost done now, and it wasn't hard really. Just a big waste of time and really costly. I wish I could say that it really taught me anything but in actuality it just set me back like a year in the devlopment of my projects. I guess I will have the paper to prove I can jump through hoops. To bad it cost me like $20,000.
Paul Vanouse Studio Visit
Today we went to go see Paul Vanouse in his studio downtown. I followed the instructions wrong and ended up going way far the wrong way down sycamore. By the time I almost got to the galeria, I decided this can't be right because he would have said to just take the 90 instead of the 33 to get there.
He is building this giant button response platform using basic stamps and max/msp . It repsonds with information taken from a an enormouse world wide census taken in 2004. Sometimes I really want to get into this type of installation artwork, but another part of me says to stick to communication programming.
This one is a sonar sensing bra that alerts the wearer when someone approaches by flashing the nipples and making noises and was commisioned for an art show about the bra.
I kind of wish I had a giant studio space, although, I would not like to live in one. I am not saying I don't love my new home office that I share with tortoises, just that it would be great if me and @matthew could share some larger space for making larger stuff and keeping stuff all over the place.
The carriage house at our mansion is perfect and for rent but we really can't afford to pay another $750 per month. Maybe next year :)
He is building this giant button response platform using basic stamps and max/msp . It repsonds with information taken from a an enormouse world wide census taken in 2004. Sometimes I really want to get into this type of installation artwork, but another part of me says to stick to communication programming.
This one is a sonar sensing bra that alerts the wearer when someone approaches by flashing the nipples and making noises and was commisioned for an art show about the bra.
I kind of wish I had a giant studio space, although, I would not like to live in one. I am not saying I don't love my new home office that I share with tortoises, just that it would be great if me and @matthew could share some larger space for making larger stuff and keeping stuff all over the place.
The carriage house at our mansion is perfect and for rent but we really can't afford to pay another $750 per month. Maybe next year :)
Wasting Money
I just spent like $50.00 on printer ink for these stupid forms. I'll just add it to my $80,000 in student loans. Eventually, I am just going to have a nervous breakdown.
I wonder if I will ever be not in debt. As soon as I am done with these forms and fixing the test server I am going to make a debt calculator for the site so we can get a general tabulation for people willing to input their total debt. I am so curious to see how much it could be, a million dollars or five million dollars?
I wonder if I will ever be not in debt. As soon as I am done with these forms and fixing the test server I am going to make a debt calculator for the site so we can get a general tabulation for people willing to input their total debt. I am so curious to see how much it could be, a million dollars or five million dollars?