Friday, December 9, 2011

1976 Jaguar XJ-12 with Chevy 350 For Sale!

Hello, all my friends on the internet reading this.

My friends and I are in a bit of a rough spot. We're sort of short on the rent, this month. Y'see, we're about 45 days into bootstrapping a little film business here in california, trying to run things in a 'stack-all-the-added-value' sort of way. We've got some fancy camera gear (Epic X & 5D Mk2, KesslerCrane 12' Jib, Zoom H4N & Mics), but it ain't all ours yet. We rented a fancy location to shoot and live in, but it ain't all ours yet. We're still linking up with people and pitching for jobs.

Here's some of the awesomeness we've thrown together in the last few weeks:



As part of our awesome film gear, we had to have an awesome car to film. She shows up in the first clip.



It's Nate North's Silver Jaguar XJ-12.



She's had her Jaguar V-12 engine replaced about 10000 miles ago with a reliable Chevy V-8 350, since the Jaguar has a relatively standard GM-compatible driveline. There are two gas tanks with a dashboard console button to switch between them.



I believe it also has a T700-R4 transmission with a 30% overdrive, so for a V8, it does pretty well on the road.
She's all mechanical, so if you're looking to increase milage, HHO Kits Direct has some pretty awesome holiday deals right now.
Plenty of room under her hood, Power windows, Heater, Working AC, Viper car alarm controlling power locks, spiffy clean red interior.



Anyway, I'll get to the point.  Sadly, we're going to have to let her go. But I'd like her to find a good home.
She'd make a wonderful holiday gift for a car tinkerer. That's where you come in, internet.




To make sure my friends have a cheerful holiday, I'm willing to pack her on a U-Haul car-hauler off the back of a 10' U-Haul truck,
and drive her to any destination out to as far as, maybe Texas, maybe further.
I'm willing to show up at your place, christmas evening or morning to unload her, then take a Greyhound back home to Los Banos.



Right now, we're asking $7000, or taking the best offer we get.

I'm sorta hoping there's someone out there with some holiday spirit willing to keep us burning into January with a little more to eat with; but we are humble folk, and will continue on our diet of homemade bisquick pan-pizzas and spaghetti with various sauces. Inexpensive, yet delicious!

Alternatively... If you don't want the car, We're for hire doing all sorts of things... :)


Pass this around your G+ Circles, give us a holler here in the comments, send me an email at Kamilion@gmail.com, a voicemail* at (408) 890-7463, or track down one of my housemates on the internet, we'd love to hear from you!

* My apologies, I have run out of money to pay T-Mobile this month, but Google Voice will still be happy to transcribe your message and email it to me!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

"Asking questions is important, because that's when intuition gets converted into inspiration."


So I changed my email signature recently and trimmed out some of the quotes in it.
I got an email from a friend of mine who noticed, and happened to ask about who the author of the quotes were.

The answer is: Me!

"Asking questions is important, because that's when intuition gets converted into inspiration."

Let me give you an example, I call it:


"How to learn CSS in 40 minutes."

Many thanks to wraith of Lytedev.com for his assistance!



[15:20:46] [Kamilion] cause you scrolled my CSS question off the screen when wraith came back
[15:20:56] [wraith] sorry
[15:21:02] [wraith] little brother has a play - about to leave
[15:21:09] [Kamilion] wraith: ah, no worries then
[15:21:09] [wraith] what's the Q, Kami?
[15:21:16] [wraith] I got ~20 mins
[15:21:16] [Kamilion] oh okay
[15:21:32] [Kamilion] I have a "CSS" field here in drupal
[15:21:43] [Kamilion] and I'm trying to figure out what to stuff in it
[15:22:11] [wraith] pic/
[15:22:13] [wraith] ?
[15:22:20] [wraith] I need a context...
[15:22:38] [wraith] it's probably the class that it's identified as by the CSS
[15:22:45] [wraith] but I dunno
[15:23:29] [Kamilion] Styles for regions
[15:23:29] [Kamilion]  
[15:23:29] [Kamilion] Configure styles which you can add to regions on the "manage display" screens. Add multiple styles line per line.
[15:23:29] [Kamilion] If you want to have a friendly name, separate class and friendly name by |, but this is not required. eg:
[15:23:29] [Kamilion] class_name_1
[15:23:29] [Kamilion] class_name_2|Friendly name
[15:23:29] [Kamilion] class_name_3
[15:23:54] [Kamilion] so it's asking for a CSS class
[15:24:10] [wraith] yeah - classes basically say how an element can be referenced or get'd
[15:24:14] [Kamilion] http://files.sllabs.com/files/theme/style.css
[15:24:19] [Kamilion] there's the existing classes
[15:24:31] [Kamilion] and I'm trying to figure out how to call one, ANY of them
[15:24:32] [wraith] well you give it classes based on what styles you want it to inherit
[15:25:08] [Kamilion] I got that part
[15:25:12] [Kamilion] but like
[15:25:16] [wraith] so if there are styles for the ".green-button" class that you want your element to inherit, you would give it the "green-button" class
[15:25:36] [Kamilion] ah after the dot is the class?
[15:25:41] [wraith] yep
[15:25:43] [Kamilion] what's the #thisthingcalled
[15:25:46] [wraith] . identifies classes
[15:25:49] [wraith] # identifies ids
[15:25:53] [Kamilion] ids
[15:25:55] [Kamilion] okay
[15:26:00] [Kamilion] so that's a CSS ID
[15:26:03] [wraith] and no symbol prefix means an html element
[15:26:06] [Kamilion] and the . below is the classes
[15:26:10] [Kamilion] yeah
[15:26:13] [Kamilion] I saw those at the top
[15:26:21] [wraith] yep - they're generally declared first
[15:26:26] [Kamilion] figured that was 'do this for any html element you see by default'
[15:26:32] [wraith] yup
[15:26:37] [Kamilion] then clearfix
[15:26:40] [Kamilion] which i read up on
[15:26:51] [Kamilion] fixes z order for things like colorboxes
[15:27:12] [wraith] and helps re-heighten blocks which contain floated elements
[15:27:13] [wraith] yep
[15:27:14] [Kamilion] cause it's definied at the top after the html elements
[15:27:25] [wraith] yeah - it's an important helper class to have 
[15:27:36] [Kamilion] but then I'm kinda lost
[15:27:42] [Kamilion] it starts defining IDs
[15:27:50] [wraith] yeah - stylesheets get pretty big pretty fast
[15:27:57] [wraith] so what you wanna do is this:
[15:28:02] [wraith] find other elements on the page
[15:28:12] [wraith] that have the style you want for your new element
[15:28:15] [wraith] see which classes it's got
[15:28:21] [wraith] and give your element the same classes
[15:28:28] [wraith] it will therefore inherit the same styles
[15:28:39] [wraith] and if everything is done right, you will have successfully imitated the element
[15:28:45] [wraith] if you're wanting to make something new
[15:29:02] [wraith] you'll have to find different elements that seem to have bits and pieces of the styles you want to inherit
[15:29:03] [Kamilion] .footer-gallery-block { width: 260px; } 
[15:29:03] [Kamilion] .footer-gallery-block img { background-color: #191F2F; border: 1px solid #252C3E; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 9px; padding: 5px; }
[15:29:03] [Kamilion] #footer ul.twitter { -moz-border-radius: 10px; -webkit-border-radius: 10px; border-radius: 10px; background: url("images/tweetbg.png") repeat scroll 0 0 transparent;
[15:29:03] [Kamilion] list-style-type: none; padding: 10px; width: 280px; margin-left:0; }
[15:29:24] [Kamilion] that appears in the middle of a bunch of #footer stuff above it
[15:29:32] [Kamilion] but the gallery block doesn't have the ID defined
[15:29:42] [wraith] Kamilion: is this still lensipedia?
[15:29:43] [Kamilion] and then they pick up with the same ID after the gallery block
[15:29:44] [Kamilion] yeah
[15:29:54] [Kamilion] bout halfway down that style.css
[15:30:02] [Kamilion] http://files.sllabs.com/files/theme/style.css
[15:30:26] [wraith] got it
[15:30:35] [Kamilion] I think I want to be dealing in the node area, which is just below that
[15:30:46] [Kamilion] since that's where most of my 'content' is displayed
[15:30:52] [Kamilion] but there's no id there
[15:30:57] [wraith] so what kind of elements are you trying to create here?
[15:31:04] [wraith] what's it supposed to do and be?
[15:31:19] [Kamilion] Well, I've got a couple things I want to do
[15:31:34] [Kamilion] first, I want to define a non-repeating background image for some of these articles
[15:31:43] [Kamilion] but only on some *types* of articles
[15:31:52] [wraith] gotcha
[15:31:52] [Kamilion] eg, canon_lenses but not nikon_lenses, for now
[15:32:03] [wraith] so then you want to make a class
[15:32:10] [Kamilion] so I need to figure out what both of those have in common
[15:32:37] [wraith] yep
[15:32:39] [Kamilion] and then choose a specific image based on, eg, the article's content type
[15:32:40] [wraith] node-canon-lens
[15:32:43] [wraith] that's the class
[15:32:54] [Kamilion] it's making some?
[15:32:57] [wraith] yeah
[15:33:05] [Kamilion] and there's just nothing attached to that in the css
[15:33:17] [wraith] so then you need to put in what you want
[15:33:23] [wraith] that is, a non-repeating background-image
[15:33:42] [Kamilion] okay, second task;
[15:34:04] [Kamilion] http://lensapedia.com/tags/canon-lens?page=6
[15:34:06] [Bottien] Title: Canon Lens | lensapedia.com (at lensapedia.com)
[15:34:13] [Kamilion] this is a 3-column layout
[15:34:20] [Kamilion] I can add a css class to each column
[15:34:33] [Kamilion] i want to add this to the 'right' column
[15:34:51] [Kamilion] where the retail price and stuff is
[15:34:56] [Kamilion] then style those elements
[15:35:14] [wraith] that's class "group-right"
[15:35:14] [Kamilion] what is my workflow for finding these elements and styling them?
[15:35:18] [wraith] so in the stylesheet
[15:35:21] [wraith] you'll wanna reference
[15:35:35] [wraith] .ds-3col-stacked .group right { /* CSS */ }
[15:35:48] [wraith] you using chrome?
[15:35:50] [Kamilion] yeah
[15:35:52] [Kamilion] chromium 17
[15:36:04] [wraith] right click the element, inspect element
[15:36:09] [wraith] be sure it's really your element
[15:36:18] [Kamilion] k, I think I see it
[15:36:22] [Kamilion] yeah
[15:36:24] [wraith] if not, hover around until you find the box that encompasses your element
[15:36:24] [Kamilion] class grou-right
[15:36:24] [wraith] then
[15:36:29] [wraith] just look at the classes
[15:36:29] [Kamilion] then a bunch of fields
[15:36:31] [Kamilion] okay
[15:36:32] [wraith] space-separated
[15:36:48] [Kamilion] right, so field effects them all, field-name-field-msrp
[15:36:56] [wraith] right
[15:37:11] [Kamilion] that will tag only that field
[15:37:11] [wraith] elements can have multiple classes
[15:37:13] [wraith] any of which
[15:37:18] [wraith] can select that element
[15:37:20] [wraith] right
[15:37:21] [wraith] you got it
[15:37:44] [Kamilion] so this is #group-right .field-name-field { do-it-here:stuff }
[15:37:44] [wraith] it's kinda like OOP
[15:37:50] [wraith] nope
[15:37:55] [wraith] .group-right
[15:37:58] [wraith] not #group-right
[15:38:03] [wraith] since it's a class
[15:38:05] [wraith] not an id
[15:38:19] [wraith] 'class="group-right"' not 'id="group-right"'
[15:38:27] [Kamilion] okay so if I wanted to dick with field-name-field-msrp
[15:38:37] [Kamilion] which is under group-right
[15:38:39] [Kamilion] in the html
[15:38:50] [wraith] .group-right .field-name-field-msrp { /* CSS */ }
[15:38:56] [Kamilion] AH.
[15:39:00] [wraith] . selects classes, # selects ids
[15:39:06] [wraith] so you'll generally use .
[15:39:15] [Kamilion] Oh I see, so I'm doing the selectors inside the CSS itself
[15:39:20] [wraith] yep
[15:39:29] [Kamilion] see, this is why I needed a people
[15:39:37] [wraith] I understand =D
[15:39:41] [Kamilion] all the books and all the kings blog posts couldn't put humpty dumpty together
[15:39:50] [Kamilion] rightyo
[15:40:04] [Kamilion] so lemme syntax this one
[15:40:40] [Kamilion] .group-right .field-name-field-msrp { background: url("images/tweetbg.png") repeat scroll 0 0 transparent; }
[15:41:03] [Kamilion] that would ONLY affect MSRP if it was in that right handed box
[15:41:04] [wraith] sounds good
[15:41:08] [wraith] yep
[15:41:12] [Kamilion] if I moved the field to the left handed box
[15:41:15] [wraith] or in AN right-handed box
[15:41:18] [wraith] ANY*
[15:41:18] [Kamilion] say inside the actual clicky article
[15:41:27] [Kamilion] then I could style it totally differently
[15:41:29] [wraith] then it won't style it that specific way, right
[15:41:31] [wraith] yep
[15:41:40] [wraith] it has to meet all the selectors in the html and in that order
[15:41:50] [Kamilion] ... All of them?
[15:41:55] [wraith] yep
[15:42:55] [Kamilion] so if field-type-number-float is never defined [15:43:03] [Kamilion] then it's just ignored in the html until I go and define it [15:43:18] [wraith] right [15:43:26] [wraith] because the CSS will never go look for it [15:43:45] [Kamilion] okay, so where in this style.css would I put that? [15:43:49] [wraith] anywhere [15:43:50] [wraith] but, keep it organized, so [15:44:02] [wraith] preferrably with similar selections [15:44:08] [Kamilion] .group-right .field-name-field-msrp { background: url("images/tweetbg.png") repeat scroll 0 0 transparent; } [15:44:16] [Kamilion] should I put that under the node comment? [15:44:29] [Kamilion] since that's where in my mind, I'm wanting it applied? [15:44:51] [wraith] yep [15:44:54] [Kamilion] then go into defining links and search blocks under there [15:44:54] [wraith] however it works in your mind [15:45:02] [wraith] my personal way, is to go from top to bottom [15:45:10] Kamilion nods [15:45:12] [wraith] so I start with the body, (and any other html elements) [15:45:14] [wraith] then move down [15:45:15] [wraith] header, [15:45:16] [wraith] content [15:45:18] [wraith] sidebar [15:45:21] [wraith] footer [15:45:30] [wraith] and put everything kind of in order that way [15:45:32] [wraith] however [15:45:39] [wraith] that's not how most people do it, but do it how you see fit [15:45:48] [Kamilion] well, under the searchblock they define specific behavior for, the front page image slideshow, and some other minor html 'extras' [15:45:59] [Kamilion] tr.even and tr.odd [15:46:06] [wraith] yeah [15:46:17] [wraith] what you could also do [15:46:22] [Kamilion] when the credits were referenced, they were also at the bottom of the page [15:46:25] [wraith] is just keep user-defines stuff at the VERY bottom [15:46:25] [Kamilion] but [15:46:29] [Kamilion] Ahh [15:46:30] [Kamilion] okay [15:46:36] [Kamilion] there's already a few of those [15:46:45] [wraith] well there ya go - that'll work just fine too [15:46:47] [Kamilion] but like [15:46:56] [Kamilion] just above the credits section is the 'top social network icons' [15:46:56] [wraith] that way if you every change templates, you know which stuff is yours [15:47:03] [Kamilion] meaning the social network icons in the top bar of the site [15:47:06] [Kamilion] above even the header [15:47:10] [Kamilion] where the search box is [15:47:16] [wraith] yeah, like I said, most people don't do it the way I do [15:47:20] Kamilion nods [15:47:24] [Kamilion] anyway [15:47:31] [Kamilion] thanks for the help man, go support your little brother [15:47:37] [wraith] np - cya later =) [15:47:39] [Kamilion] Much appreciated. [15:47:43] Kamilion save-logs [15:47:46] [wraith] absolutely [15:48:09] Kamilion holds CSS over his head [15:48:11] [wraith] lol [15:48:12] [wraith] ok [15:48:14] [Kamilion] Da na na NAAA [15:48:15] [wraith] bbl [15:48:18] Kamilion waves

Thursday, March 24, 2011

OOPs, time to catch up to the rest of the internet...

"Object-oriented programming is eliminated entirely from the introductory curriculum, because it is both anti-modular and anti-parallel by its very nature, and hence unsuitable for a modern CS curriculum.  A proposed new course on object-oriented design methodology will be offered at the sophomore level for those students who wish to study this topic."


https://existentialtype.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/teaching-fp-to-freshmen/
http://lwn.net/Articles/434745/

Finally. Advocating Object-Oriented Programming is like advocating Pants-Oriented Clothing.