The Ink Spot

Yeah I don't think I've ever been to Wilkes-Barre. Although I suppose I was relatively close a couple of weeks ago...went to fabulous Wyalusing PA for a family reunion

JohnB

Wilkes-Barre is extremely boring I wouldn't advise ever going there

(no offense to Scott's family, I am sure they are great)

Scott

I've been there maybe 10 times in my life... I'd tend to agree :)

Brendan

Do you know where Morgantown is? it's between Reading and Philly on the 'pike... that's where my wife is from

JohnB

yup

Brendan

we drive out there quite a bit. Still really only been to Philly twice though...once was for a design award thing in college and the other was just to pass through to NYC

JohnB

2:32 AM

I was out there a couple weekends ago, went to this absurd place called Shady Maple

Brendan

SHADY MAPLE!!!

JohnB

been there?

Scott

I hate untrustworthy trees

Brendan

Never doubt the power of the Mennonites

We've done Christmas with one side of the wife's family there for two years now...been there a couple of other times

that place is incredible

JohnB

(for everyone else, it's an absurdly large restaurant/buffet)

Brendan

2:34 AM

(run by Mennonites and featuring such delicacies as "shoo-fly pie" and "whoopie pies")

(and like, steak and stuff)

Yisela

sounds interesting!

Scott

shoo-fly pie is great!

JohnB

Yisela

that does look huge indeed

JohnB

they were out of chocolate milk, my breakfast was ruined

Brendan

2:37 AM

:(

So I just resurrected ye olde Pentium 4...good times

JohnB

what for?

Brendan

to run fontforge on linux, among other things

fontforge on the mac was kind of harrowing

JohnB

heh, good old fontforge :P

Yisela

there were two quakes 3 mins ago

JohnB

:O

how big??

Yisela

2:38 AM

6.6

Brendan

whoa really?

Yisela

really big

close to Wellington

Scott

FontForge on the Mac frankly sucks

Yisela

some people felt it in the office

Scott

Glyph is better

oh quakes?

Yikes!

Yisela

2:39 AM

I hope nobody got hurt

JohnB

did you feel anything?

Yisela

nope

I was listening to loud music xD

@Brendan what distro of linux do you use?

Brendan

@Scott Glyphs looks really nice, but it's pretty expensive, no? $400 or so?

@Yisela just installed lubuntu 13.04

It's really responsive

Scott

THere's a trial. $300 though

JohnB

hm, does lubuntu use unity?

Yisela

2:41 AM

you can remove it

Brendan

it uses LXDE

Yisela

I couldn't get used to it

Brendan

loads up really fast

JohnB

I switched to Mint after they started with the unity crap, couldn't stand it

never gave lubuntu a shot, might have to though. I just want something snappy, not something fancy :P

Yisela

I use Gnome 3

Brendan

2:44 AM

this is definitely not fancy, but pretty snappy

JohnB

sounds perfect

@Yisela on Ubuntu?

Yisela

yep, on 12.04

Brendan

I've never used Linux Mint. Does it do anything special?

JohnB

Nope, all I know is it's based on Ubuntu and meant to be more lightweight

I mostly just use it for vim and lampp

Brendan

I tried vim once. Then I quit.

That thing is ridiculous! :P

JohnB

2:50 AM

the commitment is enormous but the payoff is ...sizeable

I've been using it for years and still learning ;P

Brendan

sublime text is good enough for me for now

JohnB

they have vim for windows, which is what I usually run. But it's just not the same, so I run Mint in a vbox for development

Brendan

how is it different?

JohnB

it's probably not all that different, I just didn't give it a fair shot

but trying to do terminal-based development in a non-terminal-based OS, things get sticky

with much configuring I could probably get things running smoothly in Windows, but I'm lazy so a vbox works for me :P

Brendan

yeah. I ultimately want to see how well I do without using my Mac

I'm contemplating a breakup with Adobe

JohnB

2:58 AM

uh oh

not a fan of CC?

Brendan

nah.

I just don't think Scribus is gonna cut it though

JohnB

I've been trying to get comfortable with Inkscape and GIMP, answering questions on GD related to them if I can

but they're just so different, bleh

Brendan

yeah.

JohnB

possible conspiracy: Adobe controls the development of Inkscape and purposefully makes it lousy to promote Illustrator

2

we can't rule out the possibility!

Brendan

I like this conspiracy theory!

JohnB

3:04 AM

what else have you tried out/plan to try out besides Scribus?

Brendan

not much, really. I think this system might be too slow for some of the heavier stuff anyways.

Brendan

3:15 AM

Part of this experiment too is to see if I can handle a desktop instead of a laptop. I'm not sure what my next purchase will be

There's a part of me that wants to save towards a nice Mac and continue the status quo, but there's a side of me that wants to build my own system and live the open source lifestyle

(and no I don't want to do the Hackintosh thing :P)

Yisela

why does it have to be a mac?

Brendan

just because I'm invested in the ecosystem.

and I like macs :D

Yisela

haha valid enough

JohnB

"Invested in the Ecosystem"...sounds like an album name

stealing that if I start a band

Brendan

haha :P

Has anyone used Processing?

Yisela

3:23 AM

no

Brendan

I started digging in this week a bit

Yisela

does it look nice?

is it this one? processing.org

Brendan

yup that.

I just got an upgraded rig at work and wanted to push it a bit.

seems like Processing is waaaaay better than Illustrator scripting

ever since I dug into this question, I've been interested in generative art

Yisela

that answer is great

Brendan

Well last year around that time I figured out how to do some of the Delaunay stuff in Illustrator, but it had some quirks and limitations

so this week I rebuilt my script in Processing and it's showing a lot more promise

I kinda had to relearn geometry :P

Yisela

3:28 AM

haha

I'm trying to find a simple online draing tool that I think you might like

Brendan

My ultimate goal is to figure out how to recreate some of the effects you see here

Yisela

ah! here: mrdoob.com/projects/harmony

oh nice

(unrelated, the quake)

Brendan

oh wow! So is that bad? :P I'm not really in an area that gets earthquakes

Yisela

there were like 15 aftershocks already, from 4 to 5

we felt it from 500km

JohnB

we had one in Philly a couple years ago, which is ultra rare

Brendan

3:34 AM

yeah that was great...we felt it too.

JohnB

wow, didn't know it made it all the way out there!

originated in like, DCish right?

Brendan

yeah.

Yisela

I've only felt a 4.2 one, which is quite small, but at first you don't what caused it... and the newspaper was saying someone had seen smoke in the closest volcano (which is VERY close), so it was quite scary (until they said it was just a normal quake)

Brendan

here was some of the damage

JohnB

dozens of dollars worth of the damage!

Yisela

3:36 AM

hahaha

JohnB

hahahaha

Brendan

yeah volcanoes are pretty scary

Yisela

but apparently they give you some time

they are supposedly easier to 'follow' for days before they erupt

JohnB

we must have looked like such idiots to everyone in California...everyone freaking out over a common occurrence for them :P

Brendan

yeah well. they don't handle snow all that well from what I gather :P

JohnB

3:38 AM

haha true

Brendan

my sister lives in Seattle and loves to mock the locals.

BESW

1993, lasted for about a minute, reported as 8.2, later downgraded to 7.9. We had no casualties.

Only two buildings had to be demolished, and they'd been built in violation of code.

Yisela

no casualties for a 7.9 is a miracle

tsunamis must be scarier over there, after a quake

the first thing they report here is after-shock tsunamis

BESW

...Maybe it was a 7.8. But yeah, we've got some SERIOUS building codes. Strictest in all the US.

JohnB

I can't begin to imagine the amount of force it takes to wobble a whole tectonic plate...and sometimes I struggle to push a cabinet around :S

Brendan

3:40 AM

I'm sure you'd have to. Man.

Madara

are we talking about tsunamis ?

BESW

Common wisdom is that we're tsunami-proof because of our reefs. Which is rubbish, but they have to come at us at particular angles in order to be major threats.

Yisela

yeah, same here but with the volcano:

but if you actually see the footage of the last tsunami in japan, you realize you might not get the big wave, but you'll still have all the water

Brendan

that's why I'm happy with where I live. No real earthquakes, no volcanoes, I'm high enough off the river that flooding isn't a problem, and tornadoes are pretty rare. Snowstorms are the only real problems, and I kinda like those :P

BESW

We've got a volcano or two up north of us; the whole island chain is volcanic, but only the northernmost bit is still active.

The last major eruption of the island volcano was nearly 30 years ago, but every now and then the underwater volcano sticks its head up and showers us with ash.

Brendan

3:46 AM

That's nuts. Probably good for the soil at least though

BESW

And the sunsets.

Yisela

I read that apparently it's only the first 1000mts around a volcano that are most dangerous

so you might be able to run

of course running on water is trickier in your case, BESW

BESW

Luckily we're talking about almost 1,500 miles between me and the active volcano, but the northern islands aren't so well off.

Yisela

the one in the pic above is only 600 years old... and it's active

BESW

Ours that's actually an island instead of an underwater summit seems to blow violently about once every couple generations--just frequently enough that there are still living survivors of the last one to tell the new generations which underwater cave to hide in when it blows again.

Yisela

3:50 AM

wow!

BESW

Last eruption was shortly before I was born.

Yisela

why do you get tornadoes over there, John, Brendan? what are the conditions for them to exist?

BESW

Tornadogenesis

Tornadogenesis is the process by which a tornado forms. There are many types of tornadoes, and each type of tornado can have several different methods of formation. Scientific study is ongoing, as some aspects of tornado formation remain a mystery. Supercellular tornadoes Classical tornadoes are supercellular tornadoes, which have a recognizable pattern of formation. The cycle begins when a strong thunderstorm develops a rotating mesocyclone a few miles up in the atmosphere. As rainfall in the storm increases, it drags with it an area of quickly descending air known as the rear flank ...

Brendan

It's more of a midwest thing...they're not too common in our state. I think it just has to do with how the wind blows and the plains.

JohnB

night folks!

Yisela

3:56 AM

night!

BESW

@Brendan Ooooaklahoma, where the wind spins shrieking on the plains!

Brendan

I think we have a more volatile environment at times, which can help make some nice thunderstorms or tornadoes

Yisela

interesting

BESW

We get mini-tornadoes inside our typhoons.

Yisela

volcanoes I understand, but tornadoes are so... freaky

Brendan

3:58 AM

I happened to be driving through Missouri a few weeks after the Joplin tornado hit in 2011..crazy to see. they leave these tight paths of destruction.

BESW

They're always in the exact same places: certain valleys and city streets funnel the wind just right, and turn into a miniature tornado alley.

Brendan

if you drive through its path, it's devastation for miles. If you drive perpendicular, it's in and out

BESW

There's a spot where the road across the bottom of a little vale gets ripped up nearly every storm.

Brendan

that's interesting! is Guam hilly in general?

BESW

Guam's kinda funky.

We're two separate volcanoes.

One came up and then subsided until it was nearly all underwater again, and a coral reef grew up around it.

Coral reefs are wide and flat, with very steep edges.

So when the second volcano came up to the south of the first some time later and shoved the coral reef up out of the water, the northern end of the island became very flat with steep seaside cliffs and no bodies of water: all the rain washes down through the limestone and becomes an aquifer pooled up on the basalt beneath.

Yisela

4:02 AM

niiice

BESW

Meanwhile, the second volcano formed the southern half of the island in a more typical volcanic way, so that end is hilly, with basalt and clay mountains and lots of fertile volcanic soil.

The rain in the south turns into rivers that wash along the exposed basalt.

Yisela

has your family always lived there or you moved recently?

BESW

I was born and raised here. My mother's lived here since she was nine, and my dad settled permanently after being stationed here in the military. They met as students at the local university.

bbl

Brendan

oh! it's friday now.

time to go to bed :P

Yisela

see you Brendan!

Anuj Kaithwas

4:07 AM

wake up Brendan, it's saturday :)

GNTCSD

Brendan

Have a good day/night/whatever :D

Yisela

haha

only the pacific (and Indian ocean) people will remain :P

Anuj Kaithwas

haha, i was gonna write that

Yisela

hehe just edited it

Anuj Kaithwas

4:35 AM

hey let's be pen pals :D

Yisela

I miss having penpals!!

Anuj Kaithwas

i never had one!

Yisela

but I'll be moving for months, I never stay in a place long enough :)

with real letters right?

Anuj Kaithwas

email kinda pen pals.

with everyone in this room.

Yisela

emails make it very difficult, I tried and did not succeed

Anuj Kaithwas

4:37 AM

ok

Yisela

I miss the real paper letters, they were cool

and I loved the stamps

but hey, if you want to write I will always read!

(I just can't guarantee the me writing because I am not particularly disciplined with emails)

Anuj Kaithwas

who is, but hey, I love reading the job offers i get in spam. people are so generous that they want to share half of teir miliion dollar wealth with me

Yisela

hahaha

do you have many Nigerian princes as friends?

Anuj Kaithwas

nope, some widowers, a lt. colonel, a few HSBC bank managers(in spambox ofc) :D

Yisela

haha

did you add anything else to your site?

Anuj Kaithwas

4:43 AM

nope. I m figuring out the back end part now. Enough UI!

"6.8 magnitude Earthquake shakes central New Zealand; no casualties reported" - you feel shaky shaky?

Yisela

some people in the office felt it, but I didn't (I was listening to loud music and moving a lot)

Anuj Kaithwas

is flat icons and design the future of web designing?

Yisela

I hope not!

Anuj Kaithwas

hope? I think they are pretty cool. why do you feel so?

Yisela

I really like it too, but it's not getting too simple, some designs are too similar... I can't imagine something crowded now, but I kind of miss the depth :P

BESW

4:55 AM

I'm not sure "the future of web designing" has much meaning beyond the next... six months, tops.

Anuj Kaithwas

Yeah, i think you're right on that.

BESW

All it needs is one or two things with different-looking iconography to get a lot of attention, and it'll swing that way.

Remember, there was a time not so terribly long ago that JK Rowling's website was a Flash interface mimicking her desk with gum wrappers and piles of paper and a bug wandering by.

Anuj Kaithwas

okay, got it.

brb.

Yisela

It's 5pm here so.. freedoooom! see you later!

Madara

6:01 AM

1130am here L:P

Anuj Kaithwas

6:33 AM

hi

BESW

9:57 AM

Good Show, Sir is in rare form today.

Quite aside from four different fonts in four different colors, the city appears to be both on fire and overseen by a giant onyx Sphynx cat.

Matt_2.0

12:05 PM

morning

JohnB

12:38 PM

suuup

Matt_2.0

Friday wat wat

so I figured what happens when I am not designing at night and I go to bed... I wake up at 5am O_O

JohnB

1:12 PM

haha

Matt_2.0

email goal today?

JohnB

well

under 10 would be phenomenal, but that was my goal yesterday, and I ended up at 30

aggressively: under 10

realistically: under 20

Fridays and Mondays seem to be my heaviest days, though. Everyone likes to get stuff off their desk by the end of friday and push it onto mine :P

Matt_2.0

1:28 PM

you should have a contest for a PA

JohnB

most of what I need to do is auditing, but who wants to do that

Matt_2.0

1:46 PM

an intern for college credit

MORNING

sup @eric

heyo

WE NEED MORE QUESTIONS ON THIS SITE

whoops, caps

Matt_2.0

ya.. I tried coming up with questions but then that got old plus I think it annoyed people

Eric

1:54 PM

It's hard for me to come up with questions that I care about, which aren't subjective/better for a discussion than a right/wrong Q&A

and how to do X in Y application bores me to death, unless it's something I can answer quickly

but 4/5 times it's something where you basically need to write a three page step by step tutorial on, and you're going into it having little gauge on how well the person asking knows the program

I'd like to see a lot of questions about the business side, since that's something I don't think I know as well as a lot of people who've made livings freelancing for extended periods of time

JohnB

not to discourage you from asking questions here, but there's a freelancing site if you didn't know: