Author: lemsy

John LeMasney (lemsy) is an artist, graphic designer, and technology creative. He is located in beautiful Nelson County, VA, but works remotely with ease. Contact him at: lemasney@gmail.com to discuss your next creative project.

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affiliations brand classes and presentations consulting curriculum vitae Illustration Inkscape insights instructional technology libraries open source photography portfolio professional activities professional experience publications references research interests teaching teaching experience technology workshops

What I love about Inkscape cc-by lemasney (1/52)

What I love about inkscape thumbnail and title
What I love about inkscape thumbnail and title

What I love about Inkscape

What do I love about Inkscape? Why am I sharing it? I am committing myself to making one new video a week as part of a series. Each one will explore a different topic that I love, and hopefully effectively convey what I love about it. If you like them, please give them a thumbs-up on YouTube! If you like the series, go ahead and subscribe to the playlist on YouTube for more!

“Learn how to design your own original waveform tattoo with Inkscape, Audacity, and Linux! In this, the first of 52 planned videos for 2016, John LeMasney starts off the “What I love about…” series with a true love of his: Inkscape, the open source vector illustration application. Think Illustrator, but free as in freedom. In order to show his love, he’s going to share how to make your voice into a tattoo using free software like Ubuntu, Inkscape, and Audacity. It’s a fun time, and it would not be the same without you.    Music: Chorale Prelude ‘Machs mit mir, Gott, nach deiner Güt’, BWV 957 (Bach, 1880)” found in What I love about… Inkscape! – YouTube at

About LeMasney Consulting

I want to help people. I typically do this in regards to technology, productivity, or living, but I like talking with people about just about anything. If you think I might be able to help you, please contact me at lemasney@gmail.com or 609 553 9498. I’d love to either help you directly, or help you to get the help that you need – lemasney@gmail.com. Try me!

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brand consulting curriculum vitae Illustration insights open source portfolio professional activities research interests technology

Why Google should make Self-Driving Balls cc-by lemasney

Why Google should make self driving balls cc-by lemasney
Why Google should make self driving balls cc-by lemasney

 

Why Google should make self driving balls cc-by lemasney
Why Google should make self driving balls cc-by lemasney

I’m really excited about the coming fleets of self-driving cars. I dislike driving with an intensity, am prone to road rage, and in general would rather be sleeping than driving. With that in mind, you can see why I want everyone to jump on board with self-driving cars — accidents would disappear. Insurance rates would plummet. No one would get lost unless they wanted to. I only have one issue. The shape of these cars are just like other cars.

What if the direction (front, back, top, bottom, side) of the car, so important up until now, was removed? What if all directions were possible, because roads changed to meet the new abilities of cars that drive themselves? Road work would be done by drones, and could probably be done in a matter of years.

If you’ve not seen BB-8, the new droid from Star Wars, the Force Awakens, you have not seen the Sphero, the ball-shaped, remote-controlled toy. There’s little reason why we could not have cars that were essentially scaled up versions of the Sphero. Our compartment would keep us entertained as we rode, and we could even see the environment outside, if we wished. But the most efficient way to do this is to seal us inside a resilient rubberized material, maybe in a web-like form that one could peek through. AT any rate, I think with the problem of self-driving resolved, we can move on to redesigning the driving experience itself to one that is safety, navigation, and conservation minded.

These balls would protect the driver in an impact better than any other design, because the extreme maneuverability and agility of the design allows for the quickest moves out of danger to safe places, and bouncing two together would be like bumper cars, or pinball.

They would be the greatest all-terrain vehicle.

If we could accept this idea, we might also consider how it might change flight. We have normalized drones and remote flight in our homes. There is no reason that the Google Car could not be prop-shielded, so that it could fly too.

This is an opportunity. We should consider the social, design, and other aspects of this advent for self-driving.

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brand consulting Illustration insights open source photography portfolio teaching

My God is the Sun: 10 illustrated explanations of the idea cc-by lemasney

pacific coast sunset joy nature light portland cc-by lemasney
pacific coast sunset joy nature light portland cc-by lemasney

I have had the most obvious revelation made clear to me. This is the truest thing I know, at the moment, if truths have ranks.

My God is the Sun.

Maybe you knew? I decided to lay out 10 themes that helped me. With illustrations, many from my Instagram at http://instagram.com/lemasney and please join me there too!

  1. Everything you know, everything you ever ate, everything you will ever know, requires the sun.

    chanticleer point portland women forum cc-by lemasney
    chanticleer point Portland women’s forum cc-by lemasney

  2. Even artificial light, every light you ever saw, is due to the Sun. Without it, we are nothing.

    Princeton Parklet Maple Seeds cc-by lemasney
    Princeton Parklet Maple Seeds cc-by lemasney

  3. The meaning of life: Help the best evolve to the next level.

    The universe in my rear view mirror cc-by lemasney
    The universe in my rear view mirror cc-by lemasney

  4. To grow and to extend ourselves to our own best selves.

    Jedediah Higgins house, Kingston, NJ, Trees, cc-by lemasney
    Jedediah Higgins house, Kingston, NJ, Trees, cc-by lemasney

  5. Beyond our own limitations, we stretch through generations to overcome.

    Jack and Daddy working on a robot
    Jack and Daddy working on a robot

  6. Religion is analogical. Rebirth and regeneration and cycles are all a part of the Solar natural process.

    unidentified found object a toy helix made of plastic exalted in late day quick approaching sunset cc-by lemasney
    unidentified found object a toy helix made of plastic exalted in late day quick approaching sunset cc-by lemasney

  7. Advents are, historically, more about agricultural or personal success than ethereal presence.

    Jedediah Higgins House, Princeton, NJ, Interior, Buddha and lotus wall piece, cc-by lemasney
    Jedediah Higgins House, Princeton, NJ, Interior, Buddha and lotus wall piece, cc-by lemasney

  8. The correlation between Biblical Figures and Constellations. Zeitgeist. The Christ is an analogy for our Sun, and His Father, our Father, is the Universe.

    Religion is an analogy for nature, where the Sun is Christ. cc-by lemasney
    Religion is an analogy for nature, where the Sun is Christ. cc-by lemasney

  9. We are made of it.

    Nature and bricks and sunlight square by lemasney
    Nature and bricks and sunlight square by lemasney

  10. Life and Death. We are reminded everyday. Never forget.

    pacific coast sunset joy nature light portland cc-by lemasney
    pacific coast sunset joy nature light Portland cc-by lemasney

 

 

 

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consulting

The Linguistic Tricks of YouTube Stars

Ya heard Bullhorn voice cc-by lemasney
Ya heard Bullhorn voice cc-by lemasney
Barracuda Studio / Shutterstock / Kara Gordon / The Atlantic
Barracuda Studio / Shutterstock / Kara Gordon / The Atlantic

Regarding the linguistic tricks of YouTube stars: I’ve always noticed that the YouTube stars all have the same kind of enthusiastic, bouncy pitch. A linguist was asked about it. Here’s the story!

“Naomi Baron is a professor of linguistics at American University who studies electronically mediated communication. She watched some videos that I sent her, and was very patient with my continued pleas of, “No, but I feel like something is going on here.” And so here, thanks to Baron, are the linguistic components of YouTube voice:” from The Linguistic Tricks of YouTube Stars – The Atlantic via https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/12/the-linguistics-of-youtube-voice/418962/

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insights

The Chi of a Middle Finger

I made an interesting connection, and I thought I’d share it. It has to do with hand gestures and Chi, defined as:

“In feng shui, as in Chinese medicine, CHI is the term for the universal energy, or the energy that permeates everything around us. This feng shui term applies to the energy inside your body, as well to the energy inside and outside of buildings.” found in What Is Chi, or Universal Energy in Feng Shui at

Enter the Qi Master

I once saw a video on a Chi master, where an old man sent people flying without touching him. I was skeptical, because the treatment was comical. The idea, though, is that the master of Qi or Chi can move people as they wish. I don’t believe it, myself, at least, not like this.

However, I recently thought about the effect of raising a middle finger at someone, or the long list of Italian hand gestures that can inflame a viewer.

What is the connection?

My insight was that I have seen personally the power and control invoked by the use of a well placed middle finger. I once saw someone drive their car off the road after being flipped off. It’s kind of amazing, what happens when an idea is created, encoded, and sent in a gesture. What’s even more amazing is the sometimes physical effects of the gesture-based message received. Wireless energy, in a way. Certainly some small evidence of Chi.

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Illustration: A portal to another dimension cc-by lemasney

Illustration: A portal to another dimension cc-by lemasney
Illustration: A portal to another dimension cc-by lemasney

Illustration: A portal to another dimension cc-by lemasney
Illustration: A portal to another dimension cc-by lemasney

While in Philadelophia for First Friday, I caught a few moments that were interestingly lit. In this case I took some of the harsh alley lights and tweaked them into a portal opening. Enjoy!