Simian Design

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Archive for 2004

Things I have learned from watching “Return of the Jedi”

Posted in Laughing on December 31st, 2004 by Tony – Be the first to comment

Being frozen in carbonite will make you blind.

A Green Lightsaber means you are good. A Red one means you are evil.

Getting really pissed at your father is enough to overcome his power, and bring him to the point of destruction.

Evil makes your face really age badly, and you end up looking like a tired lizard.

Even though your father has cut off your hand, and has encouraged you to go evil (“To the Dark Side”), you can still count on him in the end.

All you need to blow up the Death Star is 5 ships. Tiny ships. Single pilot ships.

If you’re in one of those tiny ships, you can tell instantly what is the outcome of every dogfight around you.

Ewoks might look light tiny Wookies, but they really just suck.

You can take down a huge Super Star Destroyer with a well-placed, single-ship crash.

You can drag a limp Darth Vader all through the Death Star with nobody bothering you.

Vader without his mask looks like a pudgy, pale Uncle Fester. An Uncle Fester that has some serious skin problems.

Leia looks really hot in slave attire.

Now in Color!

Posted in Photos on December 28th, 2004 by Tony – Be the first to comment

[Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii][aURL1] was a photographer to the Tsar during the turn of the Century.

Using a black and white camera, he devised a way to take [pictures in color[rURL1], using a red, blue and green filter. [The photos][rURL2] would be [fantastic][rURL3] if there were in black & white, but in color they’re [simply stunning][rURL4].

I can’t go on enough about the amazing stuff that can be found here. Even on how he put together the [camera to make the color photos][rURL1] is ingenious. Go and enjoy. This site is pure pleasure. (link via [MetaFilter][via])

[aURL1]: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/gorskii.html
[rURL1]: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/making.html
[rURL2]: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/images/p87-8086.jpg
[rURL3]: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/images/p87-8052.jpg
[rURL4]: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/images/p87-6040.jpg
[via]: http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/38166

The Web As A Platform.

Posted in Big Ideas, CSS, Coding, HTML, Javascript on December 27th, 2004 by Tony – Be the first to comment

This is an excellent article on [how the web as a platorm][wURL1], and how moving to a de-centralized working environment is a good thing.

Lots of good, deep thoughts in here.

When it comes to simple, ubiquitous, usable user interfaces, Dynamic HTML is one ring to bing them all.

[wURL1]: http://ifindkarma.typepad.com/relax/2004/12/weblications.html

This would be most welcome in my home.

Posted in Art on December 27th, 2004 by Tony – Be the first to comment

Jared Tarbell has some [incredible pieces of art][aURL1] that I want. [Jared][aURL2], who describes himself as “one part Magical Mystery Tour (Lennon/McCartney), one part Brandenburg Concerto (J.S. Bach), and one part Somnium (Robert Rich).” has done just some amazing work.

You’re probably already familiar with some of his [Flash work][aURL3].

Just go check out his [aURL4] (talked about earlier in regards to his Buddhabrot), as well as his [catalog of art you can buy me][aURL1].

[aURL1]: http://www.complexification.net/catalog/index.php
[aURL2]: http://www.complexification.net/programmer.html
[aURL3]: http://www.levitated.net/
[aURL4]: http://www.complexification.net/gallery/

Kottke’s Year in Review

Posted in Fun on December 23rd, 2004 by Tony – Be the first to comment

Kottke has two great posts you should go check out. I don’t even know why I’m posting this, as everyone reads Kottke. It’s like saying to go check out this great new site, Slashdot.

Anyways, his posts on his [favorite blogs of 2004][kURL2] and [favorite links/memes of 2004][kURL1] have some real gems in there. You should go check out his year in review.

[kURL1]: http://www.kottke.org/04/12/best-links-2004
[kURL2]: http://www.kottke.org/04/12/favorite-weblogs-2004

Falling or Flying?

Posted in Cool on December 16th, 2004 by Tony – Be the first to comment

Wow. What a wonderful home movie on base jumping. I really think I’d really like to do this.

Moved to Del.icio.us

Posted in Misc on December 15th, 2004 by Tony – Be the first to comment

I’ve moved Link-Fu to Del.icio.us. There is a new RSS Feed for Link Fu now. Thanks.

There’s no such thing as an associative array in ECMAScript/Javascript.

Posted in Javascript on December 15th, 2004 by Tony – Be the first to comment

This [thread on Javascript Arrays][jURL1] is quite good. And incredibly informative. It might be one of the best walkthroughs of Objects in Javascript that I’ve read. I highly recommend going and reading through it. At least cover the first page fairly well.

>Just to dispel any misconceptions, there’s no such thing as an associative
array in ECMAScript/Javascript. What you are actually using is a feature
of objects – their ability to have properties added at run-time.
>>`> var users = new array();`
>>`> users["joe"] = “Joe Blow”;`
>>`> users["john"] = “John Doe”;`
>>`> users["jane"] = “Jane Doe”;`
>Using an actual array is a waste. You aren’t using it to store values by
ordinal number, you’re just using the fact that it’s an object.

Just some really interesting stuff. Well worth your time. And for more Javascript goodness, I’ll toss out the [JavaScript FAQ][jURL2], the [comp.lang.javascript group][jURL3].

[jURL1]: http://www.forum4designers.com/message145043.html
[jURL2]: http://jibbering.com/faq/
[jURL3]: http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.lang.javascript

CSS podGuide

Posted in CSS on December 15th, 2004 by Tony – Be the first to comment

WestCiv has a nifty little guide for your iPod. They’ve published their [complete CSS Guide in an iPod-ready format.][cURL1] Nice. It’s a handy overview of CSS concepts and every selector and property of CSS 2.1.

[cURL1]: http://www.westciv.com/news/podguide.html

The Best Products

Posted in Design on December 13th, 2004 by Tony – Be the first to comment

The [Best Designed Products of 2004][URL1] as stated by Fortune Magazine. From the [cute and silly][URL2] to the [fun][URL4] to the [well-thought out][URL3] designs, Fortune has collected a nice ensemble of products for you to desire.

[URL1]: http://www.fortune.com/fortune/photoessay/0,18467,785784-1,00.html
[URL2]: http://www.fortune.com/fortune/photoessay/0,18467,785784-5,00.html
[URL3]: http://www.fortune.com/fortune/photoessay/0,18467,785784-6,00.html
[URL4]: http://www.fortune.com/fortune/photoessay/0,18467,785784-10,00.html