There are only a few key rules that I keep in my nutritional set. This is one of the most important: Eat real food. This covers a lot of other rules, such as avoiding processed, advertised, labeled, shrink-wrapped foods. It means shopping at farmer’s markets. It means avoiding foods with ingredient lists. It means cooking from scratch. It means everything, from a nutritional standpoint.
When I was 12 years old, my mom saw that computers might be something I’d be interested in and that it might be an important skill in my future. She got me a couple of computers that worked in Basic, namely the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A and the Timex Sinclair 2000. The Sinclair with its 16k memory module addon was especially frustrating because it had this graphics mode that you could hold down a modifier key to add symbols to the screen, but it would take forever to refresh, would suddenly crash after a half hour of work, and had no easy way to save. The TI-99/4A at least had the ability to save to cassette tape. It was a simpler time for technology, but definitely not better. I think my favorite program I made on the TI was an ATM machine simulation that asked your password, denied access without the right one, asked if you wanted your bills in large denominations or small ones, and thanked you for your business.
So A McDonald’s Angus Cheddar Bacon Onion (CBO) is 790 calories. It has loads of saturated fat, and for me, it’s over half of my daily calories in a single sandwich, and most of my fat allowance. I thought I might illustrate this using Inkscape. I imported a picture of the beast, typed 790 using the text tool, and using the space-bar-painting function, I used the 790 to paint the burger’s lines and shadows, then used the calligraphy and eyedropper tools to bring the color of the sandwich in. It looks like it’s very tasty, but I’m sure that it’s too much food for one person in one sitting, and it would surely make me ill.
I saw an image of two rings recently that used waveforms of the wearers saying the words “I do” as cutouts on the rings, and it inspired me to do a sketch of a waveform of me saying the word “open” which I have thought about as a tattoo. To make this sketch, I started by recording the word in Audacity, doing a screen cap of the user interface with the waveform, bringing it into Inkscape, doing a trace on the image, and adding some skin and ink tones, with a slight burn vignette.
If you like it, please share it. If you use it, please attribute me, and thanks! (cc-by lemasney)
lemasney, design, open source, creative commons, cc-by, typography, poster, Inkscape, GIMP, primary, color, experiment, study
“Google strikes again! Pin what!? Just when you thought you had it down. Gmail, Maps, Google search, iGoogle home page, gadgets, even games and utilities. Then Google comes up with Google + (plus) and it gets even more involved. Hangouts, Photos, a news feed, Circles! What can we make of all this? Pinterest has been appearing more and more as something to consider if you like graphics and sharing your likes online with others. Ever notice the tiny little “P” shaped logo on websites and wonder why and if you would ever “pin” something? Even though I’ve been “pinning” for a while, I am curious how much more I can do and how I can personalize this to make it more interesting. We at BCUG are certainly curious about its usefulness and how much fun it can be. So the question for October’s speaker is – What do I make of these web-based services, and how and why would I use them? Where do I start to integrate these into my online experience? Enter John LeMasney, our featured speaker. At our general meeting this month, John will update us on two new services that have emerged and that are free and, yes, somewhat useful. We have all heard him talk on various interesting topics including his year-long creative 365 project as well as enjoyed his expertise in applications like Sketchup, Gimp, Inkscape. In addition, John has been a regular and exciting speaker at our Graphics Workshop, where he has instructed and introduced us to programs that work with video, graphics, and online freebies. This writer can attribute many explorations into artwork and free games and apps to John, who is overly generous with his time and talent. He is supportive of BCUG and we are grateful for his participation in our programs through the year. He’sthe Manager of Educational Technology Training and Outreach at Princeton University where he is responsible for training and presenting to faculty and students about the effective use of technology for communication, work, teaching and learning. John has a BFA with honors from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He is extremely creative and always has good ideas to convey. He also holds a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership (communication) with honors from Rider University. Let’s make a date to be at our general meeting on October 19 to greet John and learn about two new useful web-based activities – Google Plus and the new popular Pinterest. You will come away with a clearer idea and new knowledge about Google + and Pinterest and how they can be used. Not only will we be ready to join Circles and participate in a hangout, we will honestly be able to say Happy Pinning!” (http://www.bcug.com/speakers/2012-10-spkr.html)
DATE/TIME: Oct 23 2012 – 7:00pm – 9:00pm
LOCATION: Community Room, Princeton Public Library
Technologists John LeMasney and Khürt Williams will debate the merits of Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS mobile device operating systems, respectively. Trying to decide between a Droid-powered phone/tablet or an iPhone/iPad running iOS5? After what promises to be a spirited discussion between these two experts, the pros and cons of each operating system should be clearer. Community Room
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John LeMasney to defend Android vs. iOS tonight at Princeton Public Library
John LeMasney to defend Android vs. iOS tonight at Princeton Public Library
