the open content library now has a new look skin for it’s mainpage (which is a mediawiki :P)
so check it out!
Category Archives: geek/nerd.net
freedesktop.org is down (means openclipart.org is down too)
Edit: 3rd June 2007:
the wiki is now up again at the openclipart.org domain. hopefully the full website will be up very soon…
we are working on it…
Edit: 20th May 2007:
Yes, Open clipart.org is still down… There were issues with freedesktop.org (who hosts the site) and the library is not up as yet. Hopefully it should be back in the next couple of days…
Just a quick note:
freedesktop.org’s servers have gone down . this means that openclipart.org is down also. the following is the topic for the freedesktop.org IRC channel #freedesktop on freenode.net -
“{www,lists,mostwebsites}.freedesktop.org is gone, needs local admin attention”
im not sure where it has gone, but i hope it comes back soon…
inkscape: pattern to path examples (coconut tree trunk and chain)
i was playing around with the pattern along path effect in inkscape (effects>generate from path>pattern along path) and here are a couple of simple examples of the workflow and results that i got from using this versatile little inkscape effect.
Example 1 – Simple Chain – (note the negative value for space between copies…)
Example 2 – Coconut Tree Trunk
inkscape: how the clip function works (mini-tutorial)
Recently, Lensman posted a comment on my simple orb bubble tutorial. He was asking a question about how the clipping works in inkscape. I understand his pain, because when i started with inkscape, i was not sure how it worked either, until bulia posted his ropes and tubes tutorial.
So i decided to post this little mini-tutorial thingo to help anyone out there who wants to know.
Basically, what clipping in inkscape does, is takes the top path in a selection and clips all the paths below it (in the selection) to the shape of the top path. Confused? Let me walk you through a simple example:
- Draw some simple shapes.
- Now draw your clipping path. (mine is a pink star). And make sure this path is on top of all the other objects/paths (don’t worry about colour, after the clip this path will not be visible)
- Select all the paths now, and go to Object > Clip > Set. You can see the result below.
So how does this tie in to the orb tutorial i did before? I have done a simple example of the workflow again. (this time only the clipping part of the tutorial…)
and thats about it. Please tell me if this has helped you, and i try to answer any comments & questions as soon as possible.
Inkscape: awesome swirls tutorial
i stumble across this little gem of a tutorial today for doing swirls in inkscape. (curvy things, vines, whatever you wanna call them, they are all the rage at the moment)
i have been looking for a simple technique to do this sort of thing, and now i have found it!
in the past, i was creating my curves in the GIMP and then vectorising them in inkscape…
it is so much easier doing it MrTentacleguy’s way in inkscape…
Dr Karl’s book “launch”
Listening to triple j this morning, jay and the doctor had Dr Karl Kruszelnicki (Australia’s favourite crazy scientist, who famously won an igNobel award for his research on the topic “Why is bellybutton lint always blue?“)
Anyway, if you listen to triple j, you would know that Dr Karl has a show on every thursday, where he fields all sorts of crazy science questions from listeners. (they podcast it if you want to listen…) Other than this radio show, and a myriad of other things that he does, Dr karl writes books, and that is why he was on the radio this morning, plugging his new book.
And he was on the radio talking about his book launch tomorry (or whenever it is 
) when he announced that he will be literally launching the book. Some guy from some university has rolled up a copy of his new book, built it into a rocket and they intend to launch it at Bondi beach. He was talking of how he needed to get clearance from CASA to do it and everything.
Im not too sure on some of the details of this, and i cant find any information about it, but i thought it was pretty funny.
trojan installs anti-virus software
this new trojan that is skulking around the internet at the moment actually installs a pirated version of anti-virus software on your PC, scans for and removes any other viruses/trojans/blah blah blah that are already on your system.
When i first read about this, i was under the impression that this trojan actually is good, but reading into it further, i found that the reason that the trojan does this is to keep your system clean from the other viruses, so it can use the maximum amount of your system for it’s purposes.
This trojan, which some call SpamThru actually uses your and other effected systems to create it’s own little network of bots, used for spamming.
Apparently it is a very soficticated piece of malware, but i just thought it was pretty funny that an trojan installed anti-virus on your system.
If you want to read the article i read: http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?newsid=7175&pagtype=samechan
2006 igNobel Awards
The other day, the 2006 igNobel awards were announced. “The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology.” – http://improbable.com/ig/
As i was flipping though the list of awardees just before, i came across a few winners that made me laugh.
1. Ivan R Schwab asks the question “Why dont woodpeckers get headaches“, which i must be truthful and say that i had never contemplated before. Read here
2. “Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage.” – i really dont need to say any more…
3. And finally – Ultrasonic Velocity in Cheddar Cheese as Affected by Temperature which i chose because it is random and i like cheese
If you want to have a read of all the winners, the website is: http://improbable.com/ig-pastwinners.html#ig2006
i heart the open clip art library
i really like the open clip art library, (i know im reiterating the title but i dont care.)
for those who dont know what it is, it is a collection of all public domain SVG clipart. That means that there are no strings attached to these images, you can use them anywhere, and dont have to worry about being sued. its great. And also for someone that has no artistic talent whatsoever, its great to get images from the open clip art library, and hack them together using inkscape and make some pretty nice piccies to use for like whatever. anyway, thats my pile of nothing for now.