Gary Duke :: Da Blog

This rules!

A live reenactment of Mario Land!
http://www.break.com/index/livemario29.html

Proofing with speech synthesis

I really enjoy listening to a speech-synthesised playback of a newly-written work while I scan the text for errors.

Even though the synthesised voice sounds artificial, it won't tire or read what it expects to see (e.g. "the" instead of "the the").

I happen to use the free version of a Windows application called "ReadPlease". Scanning text as it is read aloud by this software is a more effective way for me to catch mistakes than proofing in silence or muttering the words to myself as I read.

Do unto animals...

Why force herbivores into cannibalism? Shouldn't only bad things (like "Mad Cow" disease) happen when you take a group of grass-eating vegetarians and force them to eat meat?

If anything makes me glad that I swore off red meat in the fall of 2003, it is contemplating meat-fed calves and cattle. Sheesh.

I hope we humans can learn to persist without fois-gras, produced by force-feeding geese using a tube inserted into the esophagus.

And veal! Most veal calves are forced to live for all their days in tiny crates that restrict them from even stretching their legs to rest. They are fed a diet intentionally lacking in iron to keep their meat a "desirable" pink colour.

Shame on us humans.

My dog, Pretzel, is as aware and acute as a young human. He sighs, he gets happy, he cries when he's lost his toy. He burps, he farts, he sneezes. He needs affection and lots of play time. He is like a little child.

It's too bad that said geese and cattle, who surely deserve to live some semblance of a normal life, should be treated in a deplorable manner while selected domestic animals enjoy an elevated status in terrestrial society.

After visiting a veal-related Web page, http://www.britishmeat.com/veal.html, I feel every bit as bad as I would reading about any child being severely battered and abused.

Hokery Pokery

Last night's episode of the BBC's new Doctor Who series was satisfying. The new Doctor and his sexy southern cohort make as good a pair as any from the previous series. Best yet, the oddball humour remains and the show has many moments where poignancy and topical humour collide.

I like the show's unique nod to the persistence of mundanity. On no other series (besides Red Dwarf) would I have ever expected to come across an alien plumber!

Some of the clichéd trappings of modern sci-fi series are present, and the beginning of the show put me off with its cheesy CG spacecraft scenes and obligatory robotic spiderbots.

Can't wait for next week's episode! See http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho.

Dual Monitors, Part II: An Unusual Configuration

I am currently evaluating the merits of what I feel is a rather unusual and unexpectedly effective dual-monitor setup: I have turned my left monitor 90 degrees counterclockwise while leaving my right monitor in its original state. Here is a screenshot of the unique arrangement in action.

In this screenshot, the portrait-oriented monitor on the left displays a maximised help screen. The landscape-oriented monitor on the right displays the maximised application (Macromedia Freehand MX) for which I am reading the help screen's tutorial content.

The black area in the screenshot does not represent an unused portion of my combined display-- there is no display area there. It does speak to the fact that its strange having a "chunk" missing from under the right monitor when compared to the tall screen space of the rotated left monitor.

I did try rotating both monitors 90 degrees, but I found portrait mode uncomfortable for applications such as Flash and 3DS MAX.

In conclusion, using one monitor in portrait mode (primarily for documentation viewing and editing) while reserving the other for the more application-savvy landscape mode has proven very effective.

Dual Monitors

To borrow a phrase, "YEAH, BABY!" I finally have the workspace I've been pining for these last few years-- dual 19", Samsung 910T LCD monitors. Driven by the best nVidia Quadro card my motherboard's 1.5v AGP slot will accept-- the 700XGL-- dual-screen, OpenGL-antialiased wireframe view in 3DS MAX is simply breathtaking.

WOW.

2560x1024 is much more manageable than "ordinary" desktop resolutions of today.

The amount of screen real estate on my monitors is finally proportionate to that of a modest wooden work desk. There is now plenty room for documentation, application windows and toolbars.

Well, that's it for now... My next workstation is going to support 3 monitors ;)

Flash's identity crisis

Flash has becoming alarmingly popular. I say alarmingly because it seems to have an identity crisis.

It is a graphics tool, but doesn't yet support such essential functionality as ink/alpha transfer types like screen, multiply, and invert.

It is a programming tool, but doesn't cater to programmers by having a proper IDE.

Is is a video tool... here Flash MX Professional 2004 does score big points.

Macromedia's other multimedia content creation tool, Director, builds shockwave files in an environment catering more to programmers, those who need an extensible application, and includes proper support for screen, multiply and invert filters. Director 8.5 also supports real 3D environments.

It will be interesting to see what Macromedia does with Director in the coming years... Because of Directors extensibility via Xtras and the ability to write ones one plug-ins it isn't likely that it will be absorbed into Flash. Funny enough, Flash functionality is a subset of Director in that Director can import and communicate with embedded Flash movies!

Director's programming language, Lingo, is also quite different to ActionScript and, in my opinion, much easier to work with.

Director is more extensible but less widespread. Flash is more limited but is ubiquitous.

Both require use of a plug in to embed themselves into a web page. And both solutions usually require a fixed-height area in which to embed themselves. However, it is possible to build a movie in Flash that can fill the entire height of the browser window with as much content as there is room for (not simply scaling graphics, but intelligently making a text area larger). I wonder why most designers don't do this.

Currently, both Flash and Director can't provide content to small-screen, low-bandwidth devices like the cell phone, PDA or Blackberry. This is where a Web-standard approach still wins out.

Current listening...

My head is spinning as I am working hard to cement associations with great people who can help me with what I will refer to here in my Blog as "Little X". If you wish to accomplish great things, you need to surround yourself with people whose brain lights are on and steadily lit. You'll also need careful plans, patience, and good sense.

Devin Townsend

I've been listening to Devin's last Strapping Young Lad release (self-titled, 2003). The album is perfectly produced and louder than a sonic boom. This is the only anti-war album I have ever heard that actually pounds the listener with cataclysmic force. The production, as expected from Devin, is impeccable and Gene Hogland's double bass drumming and blast beats are insane and unrelenting-- fittingly machine-gun like. The album's serene closer, "Bring on the Young" provides a haunting epitaph for this an album. I can't wait to see SYL perform at the Opera House here in toronto. See http://www.inertia-entertainment.com/main.html for show details.

Chasing clients

Being one's own accountant is the bane of many consultants. As a consultant myself, I can't stand hounding clients to pay months-overdue invoices.

Strangely, the clients who don't settle invoices until the paper starts to yellow are the ones that expect my work to begin the minute they call.

Vocalists

Music is such a great source of inspiration to me. I am compelled to write, make and perform music. Yet a great pleasure for me is listen to and appreciate the progressive works of others.

The voices of two singers have seized my mind lately... Sharon den Adel (of orchestral/gothic rock band Within Temptation), and Lenny Wolf (of melodic rock band, Kingdom Come fame).

I love the Kingdom Come album, Hands of Time (1991). The track "Should I" is incredible. And "What Love Can Be", from their breakthrough self-titled album (1988) is surely one of the best sung melodic rock ballads.

Kingdom Come's new album, Perpetual, is a break from their usual sound. It's kind of cool too, with an ultra-saturated fuzz that makes it sound cranked even at low volumes. The only thing I don't like about this new album is that Lenny's trademark fluttering vibrato is missing from most of his vocal phrasing. Not sure if this is intentional...

As for Sharon, I'm blown away by Within Temptation's latest release, "The Silent Force". The songwriting is a little more accessible to the masses than their previous, more gothic efforts, but that's OK because the production values are incredible. The choir and wonderful orchestration mix wonderfully with the crisp guitars, drums and percussion. This is definitely a 'headphone album'.

Sharon den Adel's crystalline voice changes slightly to suit each song, and the lyrical content on "The Silent Force" is also nicely varied. I love the song, "Forsaken" for its haunting storyline, and Sharon sings about her heart's lost paradise in the song, "Angels" with supernatural beauty and clarity.

Finally, I have to mention in small tribute, the amazing Eddy Grant, whose songs, "Don't Talk To Strangers", "I Don't Wanna Dance", and many others are forever stuck in my head and as always are imbued with a great love for life and music. He is in my mind a consummate rock and roll singer/songwriter with that wonderful pinch of calypso he adds to his vocal phrasing and composition. He is also a cool guitar player, making every sparsely phrased note count. Thanks Eddy!

Cells

You are a cell within the Body.

I am a cell as well.

The Body will outlive us, yet is no more conscious of its destiny--

Than us.

Hello There

Here is my first blog entry. Groan. Oh. Everybody... Look at me. I am writing oh-so-important blah-blah-blahg stuff every day. Sometimes twice a day. Everyone look at me. Love me. Read me every day. More than once a day! Check back obsessively for updates. I am your hero.