Astroturf: Live the legend.
This weeks Coffee recipe is as follows:
I found this listed as a frap. recipe somewhere. In my opinion, it’s too strong and not sweet enough to be a frap., but it does make for a good cup of coffee. I use Dunkin Donuts ground coffee too. (My absolute favourite ground blend!)
Ben Lawson, Spencer Mayott, and I are all planning on going to FUGE this year. It’s been a tradition of going every summer for 4-5 years now. Of course it’s always with my close friends too! This year, we’ve decided to plan ahead since none of us can shut up about going. Here’s our list thus far:
I’ve seemed find myself in a fix lately. I’ve had many script ideas based on colours. When it comes to colours and colour schemes, I always end up with Kuler and Colourlovers because of their vast variety of schemes and most importantly: their implementations of colour rules In their scheme designers. I’ve been needing a script that can send back a bunch of colours based on one inputted. The choices really come down to use an API, or implement my own algorithms. When it’s all said and done, Kulers and Colourlovers APIs suck. They’re both too slow for real time (synchronous) usage. It now comes down to custom implmented algorithms. That’s cool, you think, but it’s not. I have not a clue how things relate in all but one rule in Kuler – the shades one. Even then, I only have static rules there, Kuler uses dynamic ones for all I know. Sigh, I really want a colour libary, and it’s been tough thus far. Stack Overflow isn’t too much help yet, and I will be playing with this one for a good while.
A few weeks ago, I took my first steps in a WordPress theme framework, to save myself the troubles of coding up all that PHP all over again. I had started on two WordPress themes before, and never finished them because they ended up terrible. I eventually came to Thematic, the “go-to” framework for WordPress themes. Thematic was good. It throws in every feature a person like me could use. I eventually felt limited in it, however, because I felt like my theme was clearly and obviously derived due to the structure of things. Changing how the meta information was displayed involved diving into the source code of Thematic, and coping that code over into functions.php. It even began to feel like it was redundant and bloated. I just left it to be as it was, though, it was working okay for me.
Then the other day, I stumbled upon K2. K2 isn’t as much of a framework as Thematic. It’s actually a complete theme (Thematic was as well – but not an attractive one) and comes with an impressive jQuery powered feature set. Thus far, I have created a child theme and all the features translate well into it. It includes AJAX powered search and commenting, “rolling archives,” text trimming, header customization (I wish this would translate better, actually. Like include an override function that could redefine the dimensions of it) and dynamic sidebars. I like what I see so far in my child theme, and for the small amount I’ve edited, porting a theme from Thematic is relatively easy. It appears as if the 1.1 version of K2 will support a more “standard” class notation to make things even easier. I can’t say if K2 is right for you as a theme framework, as it’s certainly not the best to start with, but if Thematic is feeling bloated and not right for you, K2 loves you!
I’m not going to lie, that’s a great question bud.
I’ve seem to come down with a minor sickness thus major complaints. Sickness meaning I’m too lazy to pull out my laptop and make something. I sure do love coding, but I think breathing out my nostrils is also important, so I’ve been sidetracked trying to find a way to accomplish this. I’ve done everything from the freezer, to the using the hair dryer, to opening my car window, to my neti-pot, to cold medicine, to Tiger Balm, and everything in between. So far, without success. Oh, I also had Red Box (My schools Improv. group – how nifty!) In between all this homework my lousy teachers decided to suddenly pile up, I might get Last.wp pushed, but no promises because it has barely been tested in other themes yet. Tomorrow I also have drama club and musical! Then next week will be full of things like Open Mic Night, field trip, more drama club, etc! Oh wow, I make it look I have a life now don’t I? 
There’s this song “Music sounds better with you” by Stardust. From what Last.FM says, they might not be around anymore, but it’s catchy so I’ll post it anyways. I’m not responsible for what’s in the video too! =O
Disney Channel recently leaked this document with all the requirements of their actresses:
1. Said actress must be attractive. But to the extent of “cute.” We don’t want anyone beautiful. The actress will then be taken to the makeup and hairstyle lab where the stylists will see what fits. Note that wigs are acceptable hairstyles.
2. Said actress then must have scandal photographs taken. These photos will be released 3-5 years after her premiere. These photographs attract more adolescent – middle aged men, expanding our viewer base. These photographs will also assist in bringing the actress to the mainstream news and into most peoples conversation, which in turn further expand our user base.
3. Said actress will first appear on an ordinary terrible show. After she does something overdramatic and tests the latest funnies from the joke lab, she will then be promoted to her own show. This show must consist of: The actress talking in a high-pitched, nasally voice; friends from all known ethnic groups, a jock (commonly known as the jerk), popular girls, losers, and family members who will crack 99% of the “jokes”; a 3 minute segment of the show dedicated to the actress and her friends describing the moral lesson learned the most obvious way possible; the actress dressing modestly in every scene, including be fully dressed at a beach; and finally, a “crush” on another character she has no chance with according to society.
4. Said actress is required to sing the theme song for her own show. She doesn’t need an instrument, lyrics, or even talent for that matter. The studio cast will then add Disney Magic™ to the song. The song will then be played 13 times a day for the next 3 weeks, making sure that the song is stuck in every girls head. The actress will then continue to record the rest of the songs the Disney Magic™ cast has written with subjects including love, fame, school, and being a normal person. The actress will release about 3-6 albums in her contract with Disney.
5. Said actress will then star in her own film, consisting of the same elements as her show, except the film must not be shot in a studio, and the movie must consist of the actress getting the “guy of their dreams” in the most irrational of ways, and 15-2000 kiss scenes that mean absolutely nothing to the plot. Then the movie must portray dating as the meaning to life, and convince all 4 year olds that they need a girlfriend.
6. Said actress must date one of the jonas brothers, an actor from their movie, or a obscene model. This is essential in generating press even further expanding our fan base.
7. Said actress will then be photographed wearing Wal*Mart clothes, afterwards we sell all photos to the store, and when the next actress takes the scene, this actress will be discarded by Disney, and bought by Sony where they will continue to sing for the rest of their career.
I have been watching these “fan pages” lately, to find a new general trend. Actual advertisement. People make these groups and fan pages and seriously play on peoples ignorance to spamming techniques. Here’s some shots of the latest problems I’ve caught (Click to enlarge):
An entrance page = spam now.
Tempting users to "fan + spread" page.
An example of a newer spamming method.
I think it’s annoying and ridiculous that people get away not only with the hundreds of thousands of spammy groups && pages, but can use them to gain revenue for their own cause. I had a good friend inform me that this does make more money for Facebook, because of the extended pageviews = more adviews = more bills paid. I think it’s sad how many great things are lost to people lowering their standards and believing all that they see.
Lately I’ve ignored my website again. Oops, it happens. I’ve been busy with… *cough* important *cough* things. Just kidding, I’m really just exhausted from attending school only to arrive and do nothing too significant. I am slowing trying to get into creating a cool new jQuery plugin – but it requires finding Kuler’s algorithms. Which so far, is going unsuccessful altogether (I only have the algorithm for shades, which actually may be wrong). So hopefully, I’ll get something accomplished with some of my code soon!
I have had getting a self-hosted email application together in my mind for a while now. I’m not exactly sure how this will all work, considering so far nobody really supports my ideas and I only have one friend who can code either way. Here are the features I would like to put on the list, to start:
I don’t enjoy dreaming of the undo-able too much. This would need to be a very good application before I’d even put my name on it.