JChris's Presentation on CouchDB

Posted: September 27th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: couchdb | No Comments »

I've been using CouchDB for close to a year now, but I took some notes for those not familiar with it.

Link to the slides: http://www.slideshare.net/jchrisa/couchdb-local-web-platform

Some Notes:

  1. CouchDB is a Local Web Platform - run the application close to the user achieved through replication.
  2. Offline By Default
  3. http://jacobian.org/writing/of-the-web/

Amazing Avalanche Video

Posted: September 27th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Avalanche Skier POV Helmet Cam Burial & Rescue in Haines, Alaska from Chappy on Vimeo.

There is an excellent writeup in the description section of the video: http://vimeo.com/6581009

Even though I knew the ending due to the video's title I still found this video to be extremely suspenseful and intense.


Lego WeDo & Scratch

Posted: September 24th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »

So as part of MAS.714 we were tasked with building a project using the Lego WeDo and Scratch.  Overall the class projects were pretty great.  There were alot of interesting uses of the sensors to create new controls (input devices) that were usted tell interactive stories, integrating the physical and the digital.  One group built a little lego segway which was pretty cool.

Our project -- Team Awesome, Marie No & Danny Gagne, used Lego's to physically represent the game's state.  I use the term game loosely as you cannot lose.  In this piece of interactive fiction King Duck must defend his crown against you, the Fatman Protagonist (No relation to Hiro Protagonist).  It starts off innocently enough as king duck is chilling on a rock contemplating his awesomeness and declaring his title to all who will listen.  When all of a sudden, Fatman Protagonist challenges King Duck's rule and they're off to the scales to see who can rule the kingdom.  Luckily, Fatman has a stash of bananas that he can weigh down King Duck,   and by clicking on the bananas the user can feed the Duck.  Once Fatman wins the scale-off, he becomes the true and rightful ruler of the land.

King Duck vs. Fatman Protagonist from danny on Vimeo.

The scratch project can be found here: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/madhaxor/687936

Script

Characters: King Duck (KD), Fatman Protaganist (FP)

KD: I am the KING!!!
FP: No, I am the king.
FP: I'm the greatest character in the game.
KD: No way!!!
KD: You're too fat to rule this kingdom!
FP: TO THE SCALES!

Scene Change -- TO THE MOON!

Interactive:

FP: <throws banana> hits KD
KD: No!!! You want to make me fat now?

FP: <throws banana> hits KD
KD: TOO DELICIOUS!!!

FP: <throws banana> hits KD
KD: YOU BASTARD!

FP: <throws banana> hits KD
KD: You haven't seen the last of me, fat man!

FP: The Day is MINE!!

Team Awesome!

<object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6759476&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6759476&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/6759476">Untitled</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user2348152">danny</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Lars von Trier Short: Occupations

Posted: September 17th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Pretty kickass little film, can't wait for Washington...

Occupations - short film by Lars von Trier