What is it? Well it’s an “air mouse” or “space mouse” or one of the many other monikers this new class of devices goes by. What it boils down to is that this mouse uses accelerometers instead of a mouse ball, CCDs or lasers. I bet you can think of another device that works this way. That’s right it works just like the motion sensitivity in your Nintendo Wii or your iPhone. The best part is that I can tell you with complete honesty that the Wiimote and your iPhone are awful at it. This mouse shows them how it’s done.

I bet you can tell by now that I’m going to sing the praises of this expensive mouse. At $120, it’s certainly not your bargain bin purchase even if it is from an odd brand. At least I didn’t pay for it.

Don’t let the unknown brand fool you, however. This mouse is wonderful. I wasn’t convinced at first. I was fairly sceptical, but after a little use this mouse becomes perfectly natural to use and it provides a level of accuracy I’ve not seen in any product since the Logitech Optical Trackball.

Flick your wrist quickly one way and you’ve spun 180 degrees in Left 4 Dead. Move your thumb over the right mouse button and give that zombie the butt of your rifle to the head. Now dart your thumb left and take him out. He won’t be bothering you from behind any more. I find the acceleration on this unit to be superb. You can instantly spin right around, or make the most minute of adjustments in any direction depending on the speed with which you move your wrist. Using small movements allows you to aim perfectly. You have to hold a button down on the bottom of the device and let it go when you want to “pick up” the cursor and put it back down again, but if you master the acceleration then you don’t need to use the bottom button much at all.

If you get tired, and you might, you can always put it down on a flat surface and a laser mouse is included on the bottom of the device. This might come in useful as by the end of a Left 4 Dead campaign or two I was starting to feel what has been described as “Wii elbow” by some. I didn’t notice while I was playing but afterwards when I tried to use my arm it hurt a little. Essentially I held my arm out for about an hour on end without stop. It’s probably good to take breaks.

Anime North was even bigger this year than last if you can believe it. There were people from all over there and because I wore a Trent U t-shirt I met a few fellow Trent students there as well. I was also able to run into a few of the artists I’d seen on deviantArt in person.

I only went one day this year but that doesn’t mean I have fewer photos to share with you; in fact I have more. This can probably be attributed to the fact that I’ve moved into the world of digital SLR cameras with the Nikon D60. A “pro-sumer” camera, the Nikon D60 combines many of the features which make the D80 great with a light and easy to use package which I’m quite enjoying so far. Of course, the price is right too.

Anime North 2008 Cosplay Photo Gallery

Well in those days computers were apparently 1-4Mhz on the server end of things. Doing wireframe perspective matrix transformations quick enough to rotate things in real time was a big deal. I mean… I wasn’t born yet – but the literature clearly indicates there were parties in the streets. LOL

Is this kind-of like a Rickroll?

For me this is a somber day as I fondly remember reading about chaos theory in my school library – discovering this theory for the first time.

Edward Lorenz was apparently a humble, kind man who stayed active up until he died of cancer. Ninety years is nothing to sneeze at, either. Living for that long is probably due in part to his lifestyle. I hope I get to live that long in good health, even if that thought is far off for now.

In 1972 he wrote the study, “Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?” His work had impact in all areas of science. It was this theory and it’s implications which drew connections between the various disciplines and shed light on the interactions between these complex systems.

<?php

	function toalphanum( $string ) {
		$newstring = "";
		for( $i = 0; $i < strlen( $string ); $i++ ) {
			if( ( ( $string[$i] >= "A" ) && ( $string[$i] < = "z" ) ) || ( ( $string[$i] >= "0" ) && ( $string[$i] < = "9" ) ) ) {
				$newstring[$i] = $string[$i];
			} else {
				$newstring[$i] = "_";
			} // end if
		} // end for
		return implode( "", $newstring );
	} // end toalphanum

	function toalpha( $string ) {
		$newstring = "";
		for( $i = 0; $i < strlen( $string ); $i++ ) {
			if( ( $string[$i] >= "A" ) && ( $string[$i] < = "z" ) ) {
				$newstring[$i] = $string[$i];
			} else {
				$newstring[$i] = "_";
			} // end if
		} // end for
		return implode( "", $newstring );
	} // end toalpha

?>

Nothing brilliant but I find it useful all over the place. ]]> http://www.eanbowman.com/blog/2008/04/11/php-toalpha-and-toalphanum/feed/ 0 http://www.eanbowman.com/blog/2007/11/28/what-we-still-dont-know-documentary/ http://www.eanbowman.com/blog/2007/11/28/what-we-still-dont-know-documentary/#comments Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:11:36 +0000 Ean http://www.eanbowman.com/blog/?p=212

This is a really interesting video so I thought I’d share it with you. I’ve actually coded the game of life stuff when I first heard about it. It’s fun stuff to play with and change the rules to see what happens.

Bad Science claims about the Multiverse

Mostly I’m interested in the cell game and fun automata experiments like it, but if you have anything to add please comment on this article.

I hadn’t heard of this until I saw a digg video about the Deluxe Version.

Crayon Physics is a game with a simple concept. You draw on the screen with your mouse, stylus or other pointing device and attempt to get your red circle to the stars.

I find most of the fun is in drawing in crayon on a screen and making boxes fly all over the place and explode in interesting ways.

With enough levels and interesting puzzles I think this might make a great Nintendo DS game – especially if they found out some way of taking advantage of the second screen.

The soundtrack is extremely fitting and it’s available under creative commons licence.

Download:

• Lullaby by Ghost [Full Version with Vocals] [Music Only]
• Crayon Physics [Game] [Website]

Does it make you sad when it becomes 12:35?

How about when it becomes 12:51? (Symmetrical Time)

…

Ugh, that first video is dead. Here’s an active one of somebody using the robot:

kampai!