Simplenote is awesome

Go check out simplenoteapp.com and check it out. I carry notebooks with me at all times, but they are specialized: One notebook for sketch comedy ideas, another notebook for general all-capture. The general all-capture one is good for remembering songs i want to listen too, writing down phone numbers, ideas i have had. But it is not good for planning things. I can't write out an idea for a webapp on paper, because it is a computer-related idea. Simplenote stores my todo list, my projects list, and detailed information about specific projects. (as well as TV to watch, and date ideas, it is primary a reference point for projects (which could be webapp, a book, an article, redesign of the hdyar.com website, etc) My notebook is fore ideas and notes, and capture when I am away from keyboard or away from phone.

In other words, I have fallen in love with simplenote and i urge you to check it out. Creating a list of all of my projects is the greatest idea I have had all summer.

http://www.simplenoteapp.com

Its a plan

Reggie Watts by Friends - Thingiverse

The first thing I will print with 3D printer.

Dibs!

I called dibs on the legs of chicken from KFC. IT was brought up, 'what does that word mean, anyway?'. I did some serious internet searching (wikipedia, mostly), and found out there is no one source of the word. Humanity has a disagreement. Read more here:

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2005/12/no_one_seems_to.html

5 things you could be doing instead of reading this

5 things you could be doing instead of reading this

• Rolling a hula hoop then jumping through it
• Learning how to juggle
• Eating a really good Grilled Cheese, with bacon and tomato.
• Doing some pushup's or jumping jacks or something
• Hanging out with people of the opposite sex (Or of the same sex. you know, whatever)

Things I will name that book I will eventually write

Kinda working on two books right now. One the humor one, the other a secret project. That got me thinking

Possible Book Titles:

• "The next great american novel" Yeah mom. I wrote that.


• "Guilty" Judged by its cover


• "If I see you reading this book I will give you a high five"


• "Hunter Dyar" by "book title". Wait I messed that up.


• "Magniloquent The Book." It stops at the title


• "Who The F*** Wrote This?" By Hunter Dyar. Oh hey, there's the author name right below the title.


• "Look out behind you! No, Seriously!"


• "This book can not be used as a flotation device"


• "Please Don't Steal This" Also my album name


• "Go Read This In Public"


• "Give whoever is reading this a high five"


• "This Book will make you a better person. No seriously, I swear"


• "READ THIS OR DONT" Taking a stand here.

Practice is easy

Really easy. And it's crazy how much time people spend practicing wrong. Not all practice is made the same. For acquiring skills, the goal is to do what you can't. Because drop the juggling ball enough, and eventually you wont. But if I keep juggling the same pattern, will I get that down? I'll get it down solid! and I will be a master of that pattern, but it will take me much longer, I will be wasting my time!

Practice is doing what you can't do.

Anti-aliasing

What does it mean?

Well, first off I am referring to anti-aliasing as it pertains to image rendering on computers, particularly with fonts and video games. If you want more information on aliasing in general, this link should suffice.

So what is Anti-Aliasing anyway? Its easier to explain with images than in text. Aliasing happens when converting from analog to digital signals. "What?" you say. Don't worry, I am going somewhere. An analog source is of perfect quality. The file does not have a format, it is merely the same as the source. It is analogous to the source. For example, when recording audio, the variances in electrical signal would be the same as variances in air pressure from the sound itself. Digital files can not do this. There is currently no such thing as a vector (math) audio file. (There should be!). It is easier to think of digital files with video. It is not continuous, but rather sequential frames. The same for audio, an audio file is not collections of waves, but rather point samples of the wave. Just as videos are cut up into frames, audio is cut up into frames. Well, not 'frames'. I believe we (techies) call them samples. The more of these samples one takes per second, the higher quality audio file (well, one aspect of audio files). Aliasing is what happens when not enough of these samples are being taken, and the analog wave can not be constructed. It is a type of distortion in audio files.

(image source)

Look into more: Nyquist rate, Digital Audio Files, Vector Graphics (all Wikipedia links)

When we switch from talking about audio to talking about actual pixels, or images, the problem we see is pixelation. It doesn't necessarily occur from not enough sampling, but rather from the fact that pixels are big and are square. Big? Yeah big. Scientists, computer geeks, and image professionals are making them as small as possible, because of one reason: You cant draw a circle with a square. Or rather, with a bunch of squares. Go draw a circle (or any curved line) in MSPaint. Now zoom in a lot. You see pixels!

(image source)

This is aliasing distortion in images. But as you can see above, there is a solution. The solution is called (you guessed it) anti-aliasing. It works by tricking our eyes. The human eye does not see as precisely as you think. What our mind does a lot of filtering, editing, and converting of what are two eyes send us to what it thinks it is seeing. Most optical illusions work by messing with out sense of perception of distance. (Creating a false perspective that changes the sizes of things in our mind: Closer thing is bigger thing. But I am not here to talk about optical illusions). Anti-aliasing blurs the curve (jagged edge) by coloring in the image a bit. That bit is generally who much of the curve would cut through the pixel. (if the line would go through 40% of the pixel, it will become 40% darker (40% more the color of the curve)). Generally. Different Anti-aliasing algorithms work in different ways, but that is the technique used. Shade nearby pixels (creating a blur) that our mind puts together as a sharp, clean, curve. Some Anti-Aliasing algorithms, such as Microsoft's ClearType (which is making this text look better right now! Probably!) actually adds color into the b/w mix. The reason that works is more complicated. A tad too complicated for me to get into or bother researching to a level of understanding high enough that I could present it succinctly.

Anti-aliasing is the process of making pixelated and jagged images look smooth and crisp.

Generally, digital designers like anti-aliasing because it makes images look better, and un-jagged, while print designers don't because nobody wants to print a blurry image.

If you stumbled onto this article because you are curious about your video game settings, just remember that the lower the resolution, the higher the need for anti-aliasing. And pixelation/aliasing is not the game developers fault, it's the way computers work.

Here is my research, it's worth reading into more, in my opinion.