Category Archives: technology

fun with colors

Here, have a couple of Python scripts. Each creates an image file, 2^12 pixels square, each pixel of a different color. colorshuffle.py puts the coordinates of each pixel in Gray code, assigns each bit to one of the color channels, … Continue reading

Posted in eye-candy, neep-neep | 3 Comments

hilarious title

On a private mailing list, a novelist asks for suggestions: what technological hobbies might a bright teenager have, in Oakland circa 1975? Chemistry sets were mentioned, among other things. I may have had a chemistry set at age 8 or … Continue reading

Posted in bitterness, technology | 4 Comments

I’ve seen such changes

How old do you need to be to understand this gag from 1978?

Posted in cartoons, technology | Leave a comment

ringy-dingy

My new telephone has dozens of ringtones and I hate them all: Newagey lo-fi orchestral crap, mostly laden with snare drums for some reason. My last phone played the sound of an old-fashioned mechanical bell; the one before that, a … Continue reading

Posted in music+verse, technology | 1 Comment

Mavwrecks

I’ve noticed some changes in jumping from MacOS 10.6.x to 10.9: The keystroke Command Option Eject no longer puts the computer to sleep. On the Dock, the active app indicator is much less visible. (later improved) Scroll bars no longer … Continue reading

Posted in neep-neep | Leave a comment

naming is hard

I often have trouble giving meaningful concise names to variables in the programs I write, perhaps because, until I reach for the keyboard, my thinking is largely nonverbal. I suspect that it would be less of a problem for someone … Continue reading

Posted in curve-fitting, neep-neep | 4 Comments

FCC cube generator

I could have used this a week ago. def fccstack(): newlimit = 0 while True: oldlimit = newlimit newlimit += 1 # extend z for x in xrange(oldlimit): for y in xrange((x+oldlimit)&1, oldlimit, 2): yield (x,y,oldlimit) # extend y for … Continue reading

Posted in mathematics, neep-neep | Leave a comment