|
Sporadically · Updated
Bronwyn's thoughts, rants, and cool stuff
 |
|
While I am at it, I am also applying for a passport. Is anyone willing to be a guarantor or a reference? Both kinds have to have known me for at least 2 years, but a guarantor also has to have a current or just-expired passport, and sign the forms and photos. No big deal, but I am trying to get it done soon in hopes of trip-taking. :) |
|
|
I post in hopes that someone will volunteer to rub my back this weekend ((after 7pm on Friday, or just about anytime Saturday or Sunday), on the scale of "cannot get up afterwards because I am too pleasantly limp." I know people were rubbing it recently, but seeing as I'm about a week behind in the term's big project, and on time at best on the other ones, it kind of undoes when I start thinking about school. Especially when I discovered yesterday that I had to give up a few thousand square feet of space and replan multiple floors accordingly...the day after replanning one of them to take advantage of all that space. So it's feeling like it might seize up in my sleep sometime soon -- it's done that a few times already this school year.
We will make or take you to dinner, but please let us know if you wish to eat something involving reservations, groceries, or marination. Most of you know what cuisines are down the street. :)
And if we are really smart, we will start out with a soak in the hot tub at the Plant Bath! To save on the broken fingers.
Please? |
|
|
So, it's been the week from hell (missed 3 nights' sleep so far) and so I bloody well deserve something nice after I make deadline Friday afternoon for the sadistic incompetent asshole teaching 3D modeling. It's also my birthday soon.
Yousra and Savannah (classmates) owe me and Jason sushi for doing their proofreading, and they insist they will not be bored or scared off by my friends. So who wants to go for sushi (place they know on Elgin; I think it was Green Sushi) and then I hope go out dancing at the ID fundraising club party? Tickets are $5 and if you buy them in advance from me instead of at the door, it's pure airfare-to-Barcelona subsidy for my class.
Come along and give us a reason to dress up and show off! (And Jagash, if Eve is interested, tell her that I'll bring shoes that don't hurt my feet.)
According to its website, Mansion usually plays Top 40, RnB, and House. Given the party name "Ole," I suspect some Latin will make it in. Here's the details about the club party:
Start Time: Friday, January 15, 2010 at 10:00pm
End Time: Saturday, January 16, 2010 at 2:00am
Location: MANSION NIGHTCLUB
Street: 400A Dalhousie
City/Town: Ottawa, ON
The Design Students of Algonquin 2011 are fundraising to implement an ethics and environmental study abroad course which will allow students to experience and understand other cultures, study environmental practices on a global level and have the opportunity to share Canadian perspectives with international counterparts.
Come & Join us for a wild night of Partying on January 15th .
Tickets available now!
5 $ at Algonquin College, J building third floor, (contact person : Maryam/ agha0009@algonquincollege.com)
More tickets available at door.
Doors open at 10pm
19+ (ID Required)
WWW.MANSIONNIGHTCLUB.CA |
|
|
If anyone knows German, or knows someone who does, I need a little bit of translation done. This semester's nightclub/restaurant project is in Berlin, so I'd like to know what the German version of its name is. The long version is "the Tesla Aetheric Transference Company, Brandenburg Station." The short version is "the Tesla." Online translators can't cope because the name is too steampunk. The venue is a kind of interuniversal railway station, but instead of riding trains we're teleporting matter around through the ether. Clarification of sense: - Tesla is a proper name, the founder of the company. (Yes, Nikola Tesla -- who else?)
- Aetheric Transference is the process, and this is what seems to be giving the translators fits.
- Station in the sense of railway station.
Anyone able to help? |
|
|
So, I have a portfolio piece which is a little tricky. Some of you have probably seen it -- the group project from this spring where we were designing the new building for our program. I had the library. The trouble is, that the rest of the group's work really sucked. The rendering was bad, the planning was bad, and every page not under my direct control had a spelling mistake. Some had more. Lots more. They misspelled my name on the front cover, for example. And put what the teachers had told us at least 3 times was the wrong title. So I'm trying to figure out: how can I show my work, while still having the project make sense, and without bashing my teammates, even though they deserve it? So far ideas are: - print a copy that only contains my part of the project
- print the entire project but only show my work until requested otherwise
- show the entire thing but explain which parts are mine, in the hope that they will see how much better my work is than the others on the team. The hazard is, what if they don't remember which parts are which, and think that *I* would have submitted a drawing so bad that the walls wobbled?
- fix minor errors (e.g. spelling, formatting) in the rest of the book.
The only way to be proud of the project as a whole would be to redo it ALL myself, but I don't have the time and energy for that. What should I do? |
|
|
When the Slacktivist's latest linked to "complementarian bukkake" I just had to go look. And I found this and this linked from its front page. And now I just must boil down its argument. The writer is a pastor in Iowa, so he is trying to explain why it is wrong for Iowa to legalize homosexual marriage, and what good Christians should do about this. I present the stripped-down version of his argument: Why it is wrong to legalize homosexual marriage
- Gay sex is ungodly because it has the wrong numbers of penises and vaginas involved.
- You must be gay if you approve of gay marriage, and God will punish you with increased gay sexual desire.
- God will smite you and you'll deserve it.
What good Christians should do about this
- Crack down on all ungodly sexual behaviour, not just on gays. He says, "Marriage is attacked when church members go undisciplined for fornication and adultery. Marriage is dishonored through abusive husbands and disrespectful wives, through the use of internet pornography and the reading of smutty novels." I will give him a thumbs-up for abusive husbands being counted here.
- Cracking down on all ungodly sex instead of just gays will convince others that Christians are telling the truth about gay marriage being wrong. The writer has noticed that the rest of the world thinks that the anti-gay marriage Christians are a bunch of homophobic hypocrites who scream about the evils of gay sex while indulging in heterosexual fornication. Therefore, living by the rest of their sexual mores will give them a leg to stand on publicly about the evils of gay sex. What the writer does not address is how them being more virtuous actually convinces everyone else that gay marriage is wrong. It probably involves God somehow, instead of rational arguments.
- Go out and evangelize to gays so that God will convert them into good straight people. The "logic" here is that gayness is a sin, and sin comes from hating God, so gays must hate God. Therefore, if you convert a gay, causing him or her to love God, God will respond by removing the icky gayness.
Has this man really thought through what his argument looks like from the outside, and in particular what it must look like to a gay person, especially a Christian one? And how is God increasing your gay sexual desire going to be a punishment for any gay person who isn't repressed? Wouldn't that be more of a reward? He could have written this as "gays are icky and God tells me so" without reducing the content terribly much. |
|
|
Lovely people, I have need of you. I am researching how to design government office space that doesn't suck. Our school project for the Ministry of Technology has a floor full of programming teams, and a floor full of executives. Would those of you who work in offices, especially in IT or government or hopefully both, help me out with these questions? Comment, send a message or an email. - What kind of work do you do, and in what kind of organization? (Kind of work: e.g. is it thinking/concentration work, meeting-heavy, or interruption-based, like reception?)
- What is your office in general like, in terms of its design, furniture, and environment?
- What is your personal workspace like, in terms of its design, furniture, and environment? Which of your furnishings and equipment do you use, or not use? Are there ones you need and don't have?
- What do you like and dislike about the space? (both personal and common)
- What would make the programmers' floor in my Ministry of Technology project look unstodgy? Like a cool and pleasant place to work?
- What would make the executives' floor in my Ministry of Technology project look impressive while keeping theme with the programmers' floor below? I would like to keep the programmers from gagging on the smell of money and pomposity, but it still has to impress VIP visitors.
|
|
|
- Wallacks, Omar de Serres, Amazon or Algonquin bookstore gift certificates
- USB hub
- teas: peach honeybush, cherry/berry herbal, pomegranate rooibos
- filleting knife for fish
- travel mug with that's approximately a normal cup size
- drawing or watercolours books or lessons
- a cushy footstool or two -- one for living room (golds, reds, and browns), one for tv room (black/espresso, brick red, cream, or navy)
- peppermint essential oil to use in cosmetics making
- rip our CD collection to MP3s for me
- replace part or all of our tape collection with MP3s however you see fit
- one of those teeny whisks
- a double boiler
- silicone muffin pans
- pyrex casseroles with matching lids (we have unmatched ones)
- rectangular pyrex casserole sized for 2-4 person batches of lasagna
- chauffeur a shopping trip for computer backup hardware
- chauffeur a window shopping trip for a new office chair
- help install the ceiling fan that's sitting in a closet
- something to hold triangles and stencils on the side of my drafting board but which doesn't interfere with the parallel rule clip
|
|
|
As you may have already seen Tchang mention, if OC Transpo strikes on Wednesday (likely) I cannot get to my last few classes this week before my Christmas break starts. (Who knows about after; I'll worry about those later.) Wednesday morning's class is an in-class assignment worth 10% of my term mark. I have at most 15 classmates, most of whom also take the bus and the one that I know drives lives in Kanata, not downtown. I do not know anyone well enough to ask to sleep over, or even to know if they live in walking distance of campus. Ottawaridematch.com did not turn up any workable matches -- all at least 6 blocks away on both ends with at best 30% schedule match. All the residence rooms are full and cannot be rented. I would either have to pay for cabs or a hotel room, if there's one nearby. I have classes:
8am - 11am Wednesday
9am - 2pm Thursday
8am - 11am Friday
Is there anyone who could help out with getting me to or from class this week, especially for Wednesday?
|
|
|
Come visit to keep me from going insane from door details and so that I can show off my refugee housing. I'm usually home by 5pm, but call and let me know if you're coming and whether we should let Jason feed you. |
|
|
Okay, I'm going to be putting in an order to the natural soap and skincare ingredients place at http://www.handmadesoap.ca/. Some items would be more economical to buy in bulk and split. Does anybody else want to add something to my order, and when you pay me back we'll split the shipping charge? The store is in Ontario and the maximum shipping is $12 for up to 40lb of stuff. My order was already at $10 for shipping, and there's at least 10lb worth of space left. I'm getting - 1lb Natramulse (emulsifying wax) (could be split)
- 1-2lb pure pressed golden cocoa butter ($10/lb in 1lb lumps, but $9/lb in the 5lb size)
- 1-2lb Ghana ivory unrefined shea butter ($11/lb in 1lb lumps, but $10/lb in the 5lb size)
- 1oz Optiphen (preservative)
- 4oz sodium lactate (humectant)
- 50ml each of these essential oils: 10x folded orange, european lavender, patchouli, and maybe balsam peru (could be split)
Please let me know within a week if you are interested. I'm looking at you, Allison. The cocoa and shea butters are great for your skin as they are or mixed into other things; the emulsifying wax is for making lotions and creams that mix oil and water. |
|
|
I'm taking an hour or so of break right now, but after that I have to get to work. Thursday again, I should be home and doing homework by 5pm. So, come entertain me and catch up on life while I draft plans and door details like a maniac. |
|
|
Since Apple has finally announced their fresh new laptops, I have finally ordered the computer I've needed since May and could pay for since August. I'm getting the 2.53GHz Macbook Pro unless I chicken out before it ships. The reason that I might chicken out is that the whole kit is going to cost $2900 after tax even with my education discount. My inner accountant is screaming in horror, since I very rarely buy things this expensive, and I had not factored in $300+ of tax when I was weighing numbers in my mind. The reasons to get the 2.4GHz Macbook (which just got a stellar upgrade today) would be that it's smaller, lighter, has longer battery life, and costs $960 (after tax) less. The reasons to get the 2.53GHz Macbook Pro over the 2.4GHz Macbook are: - twice the RAM,
- better hard drive,
- bigger screen -- important, since I am a big-screen junkie who works with graphics a lot.
- better CPU (twice the L2 cache of the other, which makes it faster than just the raw GHz does),
- separate graphics card with 512mb of memory instead of integrated graphics with 256mb of shared memory, PLUS the integrated graphics. Translation: more capable graphics card plus more memory available for my programs to use, and the less-powerful card to save battery power when I'm not flogging the RAM.
The screen, CPU, and graphics cannot be upgraded later, so I either have to buy it now or do without, or sell the laptop and buy a new one if/when I discover I didn't buy enough power. This thing is going to be my workhorse machine for the next several years, and I am an impatient power user who has to run three or four programs at once -- such as AutoCAD, Photoshop, webbrowser with ten tabs open and a word processor -- for my schoolwork pretty often. And, I just realized the secret weapon hiding in the better graphics card on the Pro: Snow Leopard. That's the next version of Mac OS, which is going to offload extra processing onto the graphics card when it's not busy. The Pro laptop has two graphics cards, both of Nvidia's newest and shiniest lineup, one of them with as much RAM as my entire computer had for the last 7 years. So when Snow Leopard comes out, the Pro is going to get lots faster than the plain Macbook will. Since I can afford it, I think I have just firmly talked myself into spending the extra $1000 for the almost-maxed-out Pro. (I'd have to spend another $300 on the 2.8GHz CPU to really max it out.) I want my shiny new hotness to arrive soon, please. |
|
|
I have a huge pile of drafting to hand in by Friday noon, and it'd be nice to have company during some of it. I also might be looking for essay topic ideas. So somebody please come visit...I should get home around 4pm or so. |
|
|
Go see the supercool light art thing in the back room at Candela. It sends the light from red and green lasers through a set of rotating prisms and crushed dichroic filter crystals to make a constantly changing play of light over the wall. I think it's called Psiklone. Whatever its name and spelling, this thing is hypnotic and nightclubs should be begging the artist for it. And yes, do look at the rest of the exhibit while you're there. My other favourite piece is Cairn Cunnane's iron and glass creation which looks a bit like a city crossed with a floor lamp. Candela is at: Cube Gallery
7 Hamilton Ave. N (near the Parkdale Market and Tunney's Pasture station)
Saturday and Sunday only, 10am - 5pm. |
|
|
Or at least I can be. I have some refugee research to do to, and a huge pile of reading. So if you want to come by, call and let me know so I can arrange homework appropriately. |
|
|
EDITED: I messed up which day of the week it was when I first wrote this. So I updated the entry. Tonight and tomorrow night (Wed and Thur) I am once again chained to the drafting board til the wee hours of the morning, so come by and console me in my misery. I also need to do some research on transitional housing for refugees, which is not as company-friendly, but I mean to put a nice big dent in the drafting first. After all, if I haven't done the research by studio time tomorrow, the prof will likely let me go do some in the CAD lab, but drafting is due Friday morning, no exemptions. Friday evening I hope to take off and go enjoy open mike night at the Umi Cafe. |
|
|
I'm trying to revive an old Victorian custom: the At Home. Basically, when I have an evening full of drafting or other less thinking-full homework where I would like to have company to chat with, I'll try to let people know, and hopefully some of you will swing by and see me. If you can, please call first, just in case we have to run out for an errand or get lazy and go for pho instead of cooking dinner. Tonight is the first At Home. I have a site plan and stuff to do, and would like not to be bored silly the entire time. I also might end up installing a printer if I get done fast enough. I am home as of now, and would love to see people while I'm metaphorically chained to the drafting board. |
|
|
Yes, I actually did a meme.
Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test...
English GeniusYou scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 93% Advanced, and 87% Expert!
You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!
Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it!
For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.
I quibble with the answer key for:
30. The salad is tasty__ however, the soup tastes even __________.
a. : / best
b. : / better
c. ; / best
d. ; / better
The correct answer is ; / better.
With the "however" in there as a conjunction, what we really need here is a comma, not a semicolon. "The salad is tasty; the soup is even better" would be a better use of the semicolon. After checking the answer key, I got two questions half-wrong according to it, out of 40, including the quibble above. |
|
|
Since I have been finishing the client booklet for the loft, I've been making digital sample boards. Since my page background is dark, it looks much better if I remove the plain background from behind the product images -- except for the usually-white halo left behind, and the commands under Layer > Matting don't always work so well. I have figured out a trick to lessen the manual labour in removing the background. - Just in case, duplicate the layer your product is on.
- Make a new layer and fill it with a colour approximating your page background, using the Paint Bucket.
- Switch back to your duplicated layer.
- Select the background, probably via the Magic Wand, such that your selection is mostly correct.
- Now hit Q to go into Quick Mask mode, and use the Brush and Eraser tools to touch up the selection. This is way easier than repeated magic-wanding.
- Now that the selection is touched up, fuzz its edge with Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur at approximately 1px. This will reduce the opacity of, and thereby soften the edge of the resulting product shot-on-transparent-background, which looks way better than the hard edge, because you can never get the edge perfect.
- Delete the background. You might have to inverse the selection first.
- Touch up as necessary with soft Eraser or commands from Layer > Matting.
- Delete unnecessary layers, e.g. your original layer and your dark test background.
- Save as something with transparency support, probably PNG format.
There are also some useful tutorials at http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/l/blremovebackg.htm |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
arndis's journal