Digital Snow

Above is another creation from Barbara Hullett her original artwork is on the right with my vectorization on the left.

This drawing was inspired by the recent weather events and modern times. The recent weather events are also known as the biggest let down in weather this century. Several counties around the triad called off school in anticipation of Snowmageddon and nothing showed up until well into the evening. Facebook and Twitter were both on fire with scowls of angry parents telling the school board and the weathermen that they had waisted their precious PTO.

I myself even got caught up in the hype staying home Monday and working remotely.

Hope all you stay warm and enjoy the imagery.
David Bates

Birds Falling

A quick note about the artwork
A co-worker of mine Barbara Hullett draws a picture on her dry erase board every couple of weeks for our teams amusement (you may have seen some of her other drawings on my twitpic feed). Sometimes its whimsical, sometimes a play on words or the latest news, but almost always involves a cat. We have all come to appreciate her artwork here. The photo you see above is a vector re-creation of her most recent board “Birds Falling” done by myself.

I was recently shocked when I went through my news-feed to find that thousands of birds were falling out of the sky and thousands of fish near the same town were floating up on-shore. I couldn’t believe that they didn’t immediately issue a warning for the area asking people to stay indoors, or even a “Don’t touch the birds” broadcast. The clean up crews that entered the town wore total protective suits including air filters but left the regular townsfolk to fend for themselves. Almost like a scene directly from “The Crazies” where the whole town become infected because action wasn’t taken to separate the towns people and test them.

The conclusion that the birds died from stress due to fireworks is completely ridiculous. Especially given that fish died as well. I just am baffled how casual this whole situation was dealt with and thought I should jot it down.

Thanks for reading
David Bates

Wikileaks, my two cent

#wikileaks I see this as two independent problems.

1. The guy who posted classified information on the web should be tried for treason. What they did is no different than stealing the documents and selling them to china.

2. The government should have the right through a due process to take down a site hosting classified information. If it is an international site it is still their IP. However I do not agree with the ability to ban a domain or site after the offending material has been collected. Again with due process.

The main point is aside from IP (classified gov. Documents) the government should not be able to influence the Internet.
If a site post about how to build a bomb they should be able to. I am not saying that I would ever read it but I should have the right to be able to view it if I choose to do so.

I made this speech to a couple different groups today and the question came up about child pornography. “Surely you are not saying if it is ok to post about a bomb it is also ok to post child pornography?”

My response is no it is not ok but for a different reason. Consent. A child cannot consent to having their nude picture displayed. By describing how to build a bomb you are committing no felony. A person that builds that bomb later is committing a felony. The difference is that the act of posting a pornographic picture of a child is a crime in itself.

My 2 cents
David Bates

Google’s Halloween Image is Slide-A-Riffic

Today Google’s choose to do a Scooby Doo Ghost-Busting theme for this halloween but I am not here to talk about the theme but rather the mechanics behind it.
I have heard the control they choose to implement be called many things such as slider, carousel, gallery, ad-rotater, and best of all multiple image thingy-majig. However I don’t know exactly what to call it. But the principle is very simple. You line up a set of images in div’s or unordered list set the width of the first div to the size of the picture and then tell it not to overflow that div hiding the rest of the images. You then move the images based on the navigational queues to the furthest left. Kinda like shuffling cards.

I have seen this control used on several hundred websites and even this one. It is a great way to get multiple ideas across in an unobtrusive and pleasing way.
However a few questions arise as there are so many librarys and methods to do this.
What kind of library do you use to accomplish this effect, do you use a library?
Do you prefer the slide or fade transitions?
What should we call this control?

Leave answers below or tweet them to @davidbates

Thanks
David Bates

Similac Recall No Help

Update: According to CafeMom.com The Formula that comes in a tub is for sure recalled… you have to keep trying their number to find out about the cans.

Abbott the company responsible for the Similac brand of baby formula (which my baby is on) has issued a massive recall today. The recall is because they somehow ground up insect parts in with the formula. How gross. But that is not all they issued a website in the statement where parents could check to see if their formula is contaminated: Check your formula but as I am writing this the website is down. Don’t try calling the number either (800) 986-8850. as it is busy. I hope it all clears up soon so that you can check your lot numbers.

Just two years ago Abbott along with several other companies where in the headlines for having melamine in the formula and several babies died from it. Now I know that Abbott is one of the largest manufacturers of baby formula but c’mon. This is our babies.

Please continue to try and get through to either the link above or the phone number and until you do do not use the formula.

Related Links:
http://thestir.cafemom.com/baby/109903/similac_formula_recall_7_things
http://thestir.cafemom.com/baby/109926/similac_recall_what_lot_numbers