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July 31, 2005

Free textures

Here are some textures that I made that I'm giving away as public domain

Do with them as you please. I made these to be used in someone else's work, and I feel sad that they are being unused. Every creation should have its full potential realized.

Posted by binhqx at 3:19 PM | Comments (1)

July 30, 2005

Not so lazy summer afternoon

Spent most of the day cleaning up around the house today. Washing the floors and walls and all that stuff. We has prospective buyers coming in early tomorrow morning, so the place must be in sellable condition by tonight. Then I need to get to sleep because I need to be out of the house before they arrive.

So its pizza tonight, I don't want to be doing any more dishes.

(update: 2005-07-31)
I few months ago, I probably would not me doing this. I would have sat around all day in a childish attempt to passively sabotage the selling of the house. Sense then I have come to terms with the own idea of changing my living arrangements. It is just tough to change something that I have grow accustom to for 16 years. Now I see this is a great adventure that will test my character and resourcefulness. I can not wait to get started.

Posted by binhqx at 4:31 PM | Comments (4)

July 29, 2005

One year of blogging

Today marks the one year anniversary of this web site. See the first entry in the old section at the top of the page.

".. and they said it wouldn't last..."

In other news, google has finally indexed my entire site. Yeah!
Check it out!

Posted by binhqx at 6:36 PM | Comments (0)

July 28, 2005

Growing up and Grownup.

The result of Other people's happy news

I came to a realization of how growing up and grownup differ. When you are growing up, you prepare for what it is you really want. When you are grownup, you do the actions required to achieve that which you desire.

People who are growing up do not have true desire. They have the desires of other people, their parents, media advertisements, and their peers forced upon them. And they take them willingly believing those desires are there own.

But at some point you must decide what it is that you want. Not your family, not your friends, not your boss, and defiantly not any commercial entity; but a desire that comes from you and you alone. For some it is family, for other it is fame, and others want power. Every day is in one way or another part of that pursuit. When the day comes, you will find your desire and you will become grownup.


Hmmm... That came off a little more pretentiously then I wanted.

So am I grownup? No, not yet... but I can feel it getting closer...

Posted by binhqx at 1:12 AM | Comments (1)

July 27, 2005

Brown bagging it

So there I was, in a dark ally off the main streets on Montreal. My clothes and breath stank of alcohol and in my hand I held a open bottle of hard liquor wrapped in a brown paper bag. I thought to myself, "How did I get into this situation?"

As like many experiences in my life, this started out as a research project. I had very little experience with alcohol intoxication. I found the subject to be enticing. Alcohol consumption can be found to be a root problem in many negative aspects of our society but it is also a activity the most of the adult population participates in. How could a behavior be so widely conducted when the dangers of its consequents are so well known? That is the question I set out to answer.

I understand the physiological aspect of alcohol consumption and theorized that because alcohol produces a similar chemical effect of having fun/pleasure, a intoxicated subject would believe that alcohol is fun/pleasurable to consume.
So now for the study. The location was the streets of Montreal Canada. It was elected for its generally friendly and innocuous population as well as its high volume alcohol related activities. The urban environment also allows for conveyance between venues by walking or public transportation. The time from was from July 9th at 18:00 to July 10th at 1:00. The budget was $60.00 Canadian (about $50.00 USD). The test subjects were myself and five close colleagues with previous experience in alcohol consumption.

Even from it's initial stages, there where serious budgetary concerns. Purchasing drinks at establishments such as bars or restaurants is expensive when you discover how little ethyl alcohol each drink contains. Add to that the Canadian Goods and Services tax plus a 15% gratuity, and things start to become very uneconomical. So becoming intoxicated using only drinks purchased at drinking establishments would not be cost-effective. To compensate, we use a method affectionally known as "pre-gaming." This involves the previous procurement of slightly more cost-effective bottled alcohol from the liquor store. Just before departing for a drinking establishment, one drinks just enough alcohol to feel "slightly buzzed." Any alcohol consumed beyond that will incur full intoxication. Depending on the strength of the pre-gaming alcohol, one or two bottles can be shared across several people further reducing the cost.

The evening began at the hotel just after dinner. The pre-gaming drink of the night was Kahlua. We has a couple of toasts to each others heath and set off into the late afternoon. We travailed several blocks on foot to a street that was having a major outdoor party sponsored by some alcoholic beverage producer I had never heard about and run by all the local establishments on the street. It had just stopped raining and the street was mostly devoid of people. The sky was completely overcast but the sun was still high enough to give everything a dreary defused light. The entire street had been blocked from traffic and each restaurant and bar had setup outdoor ares where the patrons could enjoy the festive out door atmosphere. Unfortunately, the air was anything but festive. Staff members bustled around wiping the rain water from table and chairs. Other people where frantically trying to get audio equipment, that had be covered in soaked plastic bags, to play music to attract the arriving customers. The party was going to be big that night but we had arrived annoyingly early.

We chose a pub at random and where seated in there damp outdoor venue. Much to our dismay this particular pub, like many other the other on the street where only serving the drinks that the sponsors had given them. So the first drink of the evening was a easy choice.

While waiting for the drinks to arrive, I was fortunate enough to be treated to a live lesson in marketing in a highly competitive environment. With so many business competing for a small number of customers, each one must find a method to distinguish its self from its neighbors. I just happen to see one example of great initiative shown by such a establishment. Their audio system had been the last one to start working and they where having difficulty attracting any customers. Then unexpectedly two of their attractive waitresses suddenly started dancing together. This caught the attention of passersby but still did not attract any customers. A few minutes later the waitresses decided to step it up a notch and started to become very affectionate to each other. That was the tipping point, customers started flowing in at a unbelievable rate. People where taking pictures of the two of them and the restaurant started to fill. The power of this marketing was best seen when one of my associates declared "If those two start kissing, I'm going over there." Thirty second later, he jumped from the table and started making a beeline toward the spectacle. Before he could go, we remind him that we should finish our drinks here before moving to another location. He sat down again, disappointedly.

The drinks that we where eventually served were not very good. Sure they where fruity and cold, but had the alcohol content of cough syrup. The bar started playing music very loudly and very badly and a quick look around the table showed that no-one was having much fun. The table we where stat at was rickety and the drink kept spilling over in their cheap plastic cups. This gave us a moment to reflect on our current situation and discover the error in our ways. Through the use of dialectics, we decided we had made the following mistakes.

If we where to accomplish our goals tonight, a plan was needed. If we where to continue on our current course, we knew the outcome would be nothing more then a table of board friends with no money left in our pockets. My associate, Jack, had a idea. Not to far from where we where standing, there is a liquor store. If a alcohol of necessary strength could be found there, the night might still be saved. Night was creeping in now as people started to fill the streets. Jack entered the liquor store and returned a few minutes later with a paper -bag in hand.

Now you have to remember that this is Canada and it is illegal to drink alcoholic beverages in public. So if we where to consume this latest purchase, it would have to be in a place where we would not be overseen by local law enforcement officials. There are many dark streets between major avenues of Montreal. One of them became the place I found myself thinking "How did I get into this situation?" then I remembered "This is being done in the name of personal understanding!" By the time we pushed our way into the next crowded street, the bottle contained within the paper-bag was empty and the group was in highest spirits. We found a nearby tavern and spent the rest of the night filling the air with mirth and merriment.

By the end of the night, I had found experiences I has sought out to discover. I found alcohol could provide only temporary escapism and could be fun in moderation.

More events occurred that night that I had rather not talk about. Some good decision where made that night and some bad ones, but we all got home safe and sound.

Posted by binhqx at 9:58 PM | Comments (0)

July 26, 2005

Other people's happy news

My good friend vthornheart announced that he met someone special and its got me thinking...

Thinking, thinking, thinking...

Cryptic? Yes, but it is all I want to say right now.

Posted by binhqx at 12:56 PM | Comments (1)

July 24, 2005

Damn hackers

I security hole was brought to my attention recently when one of the sites that I host suddenly had directories vanish. I hunted around the logs and found that quite a few hackers where taking advantage of a hole in PHP-Nuke.

They left little messages and attempted shell accesses, but no serious damage was incurred. I really do not mind hackers that much, they provide incentive to keep applications and software up to date. Like predators the pick off the weakest animals of the pack, the hacker insure only the strongest software survives. It keeps the internet evolving forward, bettering itself, becoming more robust and reliable.

But being part of this process can be a annoyance. Especially when a users does not keep their software up to date, and then ask me what is wrong when hackers waltzes in and makes a mess of the place.

Posted by binhqx at 2:59 AM | Comments (0)

July 22, 2005

What if you had a discussion group and no one came?

Wednesday saw the first manga discussion group at the Barnes & Noble in Manchester NH. The manga chosen to discus was Ragnarok. In attendance was Yomiko, myself... and no one else. But it only takes two people to have a discussion, so we discussed our hearts out and kept it up for nearly the entire hour.

The discussion group was official Barnes & Noble event with a cool sign and everything. Being a sanctioned discussion, I felt no need to quell my volume and at some points people overheard us and came over to make there own interested interjections. But still, no one would come sit at the table.
Sigh.

Yomiko felt pretty beat, the discussion group was her idea. I told her to not give up and later her supervisor came over and said it usually takes three meetings before anything gets going. We are going to make two more attempts.

Next time, we will pick the Cowboy Bebop, a story any anime watcher would be familiar with. We will also position the discussion table within eye and earshot of the manga shelves. Perhaps that way we can pick up customers who are passing by to pick up a manga.

So if you are interested in manga and live anywhere near Manchester New Hampshire, please come by. We are very friendly and need people for the group. The meeting are every third Wednesday of the month in the Barnes & Noble in Manchester NH.

Posted by binhqx at 2:19 AM | Comments (1)

July 20, 2005

Worst Driving Ever!

If anyone ever asks you to drive to or through Boston, Do not not do it! I think I just had the most traumatic driving experience of my life. I was asked to pick up my brother from Logon airport. Luckily I was there a hour early because I was in the wrong lane at the wrong time and ended up on the other side of the city with no idea how to get back. To compound matters I was flat broke and forced to go through two tollbooths without paying (I'm sorry Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority). Once I found a place to get off the highway, I was completely lost.

There was no way to get back on, and no signs pointing me to a familiar highway or landmark. Evenly I panicked and stopped at a convenience store to buy a map and ask for directions (and get currency incase I encounter any more tolls). Some friendly people pointed me back to a highway I knew would eventually lead me back to the airport. But by that time it was the middle of the afternoon rush-hour. It was then a fight all the way back.

In total, I drove an extra hour and a half, cut off ten people, was cut off by ten people, drove the wrong way through three intersections, and nearly killed myself as well as three pedestrians.

and that was a considered a good traffic day by the locals!

But I did pickup my brother on time.

Posted by binhqx at 2:10 AM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2005

Where are your updates!

"It has been, like, a week sense your last updated you blog. What is going on?"

Well three things have been keeping me busy.

1. Work: There is no end to testing and integrating new SIP hardware and software into the network. Everyday I have a new piece of equipment to integrate or a incompatibility with a old one to fix. These keep my work days busy and long.

2. Car: I've taken the initiative to get my car fixed. Unfortunately, the only time I have available to take it into the shop is first ting in the morning. Getting up at "normal people's" hours is a rough adjustment. It makes it difficult to write those late-night blog entries.

3. Friends: With Pappel around, there is always fun things to do. Watch movies, play video games, and other stuff I rather be doing besides updating my blog. I do not mind, but not much else gets done here.

Oh, man I have a lot of anime to catch up with. I've been downloading all the episodes I want to watch, but never have the time to actually watch them. Now I have hours of the stuff. I will need to set aside a few hours a day to catch up.

Sunday was tons-o-fun. Pappel had his birthday. I think it was the longest birthday party i have ever attended. It started at breakfast, covered most of southern New Hampshire and Maine and finally wrapped up after dinner. By the end of the day, I was exhausted. The only damage was a re-twisted ankle from a 7 foot DDR song, and a upset stomach from eating too much food.

My tummy still does not feel so good. I hope it teaches me a lesson. I still have a few hours before work starts, so I think I will take a nap.

Posted by binhqx at 9:28 AM | Comments (1)

July 11, 2005

Back from Canada

Well I just got back from my trip to Montreal. But I do not really feel like typing out a long boring monologue detailing the chronological events that took place. But if you do want to read those, check here, here and here. They are all fairly accurate and detailed.

Instead, I will be doing a series of pieces that detail the important things I have leaned from the trip. When I find the time that is, right now I am still recovering.
(-_-#)

Posted by binhqx at 12:41 AM | Comments (0)

July 6, 2005

Taking Photos of Artwork

An update for That Old Film Smell

Got the slides back today and got a chance to look them over on a light table. I must say they they came out great. The Pentax light sensor was absolutely correct for each exposure. Now I wish i had taken a chance a photographed more works. The back-trunk-photostudio worked better then I had hoped. All you really need to take great pictures of art is a accurate camera and a really bright light-source.

Perhaps I will do it again some time.

Posted by binhqx at 12:27 AM | Comments (0)

July 5, 2005

Visited by the Google Fairies

The site was finally indexed by google. The Google Fairies, or Gairies as I like to call them, work in mysterious ways. They came in the middle of the night and without a sound, indexed all the content of my site.

Now this site shows up as number six on the list when searching for 'binhqx.' I am contented.

Posted by binhqx at 10:36 PM | Comments (2)

That Old Film Smell

Some time ago, I promised Yomikof that I would help her submit some art to a art competition. She was worried about being able to make slides of the work for the submission process. I know the theory behind photographing 2D artwork, but had never actually done it before. I did some readings on the internet about the subject and found very little information about photographing artwork that I did not already know or had devised as common sense.

The theory is simple; place one or more very bright and defused light-sources at a angle to the 2D surface with the artwork. Then photograph the surface with the camera angled absolutely parallel to the artwork and at a distance that would allow the artwork to fill the field of view as much as posable.

I have a nice 35mm Pentax camera, but I do not have thousands of dollars worth of lighting equipment. So I chose the brightest and most accessible light source I could find; the sun. The sun is bright, perhaps a little too bright. I am putting a lot of faith in the Pentax's light meter for calculating the exposures speed. But I am also bracketing the exposures that are important, but there are only 24 exposures so I have to be picky to decide which ones to waste film on.

So I spent this morning with Yomiko taking pictures of her art work. I had forgotten the smell photography film has. It's chemical potentness gives the impression that you are holding a transient medium and if you hold it too long the magic will leak out. Like sand at the beach where the tide will obliterate any sandcastle no mater how grand you build it. Film smells of anticipatable potential, as if mastery will spring from it if only it was in the hands of a master photographer. If you use a digital camera too long, you stat to forget this. But the smell gives some people head aches, so I recommend not sniffing it all day.

We chose the parking lot behind the UNHM building because there is plenty of sun and plenty of space to wok in. I set up a backdrop using a 4x5 piece of foam-board. I did not what to photograph against white because it could easily mess-with the cameras exposure calculations. I use the only pice of black cloth that I own that is big enough to cover the board, my graduation gowned. IT would have been perfect if the material did not have a sheen to it. I am hoping that the shiny black cloth will not adversely effect the exposures. I clipped the gowned to the board and set it up on the back of my car. I parked at a angle that would allow me to shoot with out casting a shadow on the subject.

We ended up shooting six works all together, some oil pants, some charcoal. I must say that I was impressed at how-much Yomiko's work improved over the last semester. She can paint and draw much better then I can. Although her work has a analytical-ness to it, I wonder if she has ever thought about becoming a architect or graphic designer.

After shooting was completed, we packed up. Yomiko had work at 11:00 so we parted. I went north to find the Concord Camera Store. It was right on Main Street where the website said it was. If you remember what I said about the smell of film, multiply that by 100 and that is what this camera store feels like; a factory room floor of dreams in the making. They will have the film done in a few hours, but I have work, so I will be bringing Yomiko there tomorrow to pick up the slides. Then I will find out if the application of my theories works or is a complete failure.

Posted by binhqx at 3:02 PM | Comments (0)

July 4, 2005

Weekend update 6/4

This has been quite a weekend.

Spent most of Saturday with Yomiko. We did some shopping for slide film to photograph her work. Found out, Walmart does not cary any and had to go to the camera shop in the mall. We picked up some E-6 100 speed film. The guy at the store said that it would take a week and a half to process slides. That got us real nervous because we would need to step up the time table to get the work done for submission. Later that day, I called around and found Concord Camera Store that could process the film in house in two hours. After the mall, Yomiko and i did a little shopping. I picked up a new belt and wallet. The belt was needed because the old one had become to big on me. The wallet replaced my 10 year old nylon one that had become thread worn. Yomiko had work at 3:00 so we parted ways. I went home and had a nice meal with my family. I enjoy these times because my schedule prevents me from having much social time with them.

The rest of Saturday and most of Sunday was spent refactoring my javascript disclosure triangle project. I have yet to do a good write-up about it, but the code is heavily commented and anyone who really wanted to could probably figure it out. The code is available here and a test page is available here. I attempted to use as mush Object Oriented style as I could, but JS is simply not a OO language. I will at some point do the write-up, detailing my strategy and use of the code.

Sunday night ended abruptly when I stepped off the edge of my DDR pad. My foot landed half off the edge causing it to role over and I ended up applying my full weight to my ankle against a hard concrete floor. I collapsed and, when I recoverd, literally crawled to bed. I didn't think I hurt it too bad until Monday morning when I found I could not walk. Yomiko called and asked when I would be in manchester that day. I informed her that I could not walk, let-alone drive. I replied that perhaps we should postpone till tomorrow. At that point I figured it might be serious so, with the help of my father, i went down to the hospital to get it looked at. They took some X-Rays and could immediately conclude that I didn't break anything. They gave me a air brace to immobilize my foot and so crutches to walk with and sent me home.

So now I have my first DDR related injury. I plan on wearing it as a badge of honer.

Posted by binhqx at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)

July 2, 2005

Show me your code!

I have setup the 'pre' html tag for code display. Now I can do code tutorials with the greatest of ease.

Here is some sample code:

Code (code, code) {
	Code = code(code[code()], code);
	return code;
};
Nice.

Posted by binhqx at 10:33 PM | Comments (0)

July 1, 2005

This site can not be found on Google.

One thing I have, never, never been able to go is get this sight show up on google for anything. Even if you look up the name 'binhqx', binhqx.com shows up on the second page with no text. How Annoying.

I think I will try the new site map feature. Perhaps it will finally index.

Update: (July 3, 2005)
I added the site map to my site. After a few hours this appeared in my access log:

GET /robots.txt HTTP/1.1" 404 6242 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1;
GET /sitemap.xml.gz HTTP/1.1" 200 11716 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1;
GET /sitemap.xml.gz HTTP/1.1" 200 11716 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1;

So Google is getting the site map, but not actually indexing the site. Strange..

Posted by binhqx at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)