Learn something new all the time - Variegated and Chimeras
I was looking up growing Ivy last night and ran across the word “Variegated” in the context of describing types of Ivy. I initially assumed this was a typo of “variated” as in “colors may vary”. But, my inquisitive mind decided it was worth googling. Wow, neato.
Wikipedia says:
Variegation is the appearance of differently coloured zones in the leaves, and sometimes the stems, of plants. This may be due to a number of causes. Some variegation is attractive and ornamental, and gardeners tend to preserve these.
One cause for this are “chimeras”
Chimeras (or “chimaeras”) in botany are usually single organisms composed of two genetically different types of tissue. They occur in plants, on the same general basis as with animal chimeras. However, unlike animal chimeras, both types of tissues may have originated from the same zygote, and the difference is often due to mutation during ordinary cell division.
I just found this interesting. Especially, considering invasive species. If you look at the Liger (yes a real animal of lion/tiger mix), the male of one species and the female of the other has genetic size limits imposed. However, when you breed the others the limits do not get passed on and the resulting offspring can grow larger than either of the parents. I’m sure this practice has been in use for a long time, but it is hard to imagine the new invasive creations that exist. I suppose this is just part of evolution too. Think of all the new bacteria and viruses that are discovered all the time. Strain 121
is pretty interesting as well, even though it isn’t a chimera.
How does the Canine Squad work?
A bit of humor…
I went to the gas station earlier this evening and parked next to a police squad car. When I got out, I heard a series of loud barks from the car and a dark figure jumping about in the back seat. I figure it was a dog part of the canine squad, but I didn’t see the “K-9 Unit” plates. I didn’t bother taking a closer look to investigate since I didn’t want the cop to walk out and wonder why I was staring into his car… that might look bad.
I went in and saw the cop buying a soda. I gave him a friendly nod, since it is good to see polic in our neighborhood with all the break-ins, murder, and general schmuckery over the last 4 year.
When I walked out, I heard a bunch of different barks. The dog in the squad was barking at a guy walking his dog and another random dog was barking like crazy in the back of someone’s van at the pumps.
So… my question. If a civilian dog is barking angrily at a police dog, can the civilian dog be arrested for resisting arrest? What if the dogs star fighting? Can the civilian dog be arrested for attacking a police officer? hehe. Well, it was a funny thought at the time anyway.
Have you heard of REX84 concentration camp plan??
I have never heard of this before so it was a shock to read this. I know Roosevelt detained Japanese Americans during WWII and that Bush was praised for not doing this following 9/11.
Eek. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_84
Programming Math101 : Modular Arithmetic
The below is a article I wrote for TCPHP mailing list in 2005. I thought of it today and decided to re-post it.
——————-
Hi,
This is the first part in a small series of requested math articles as it pertains
to programming. Please critique the article and give me feed back offlist. Let me
know if this is too mathy, too overview, etc etc. This article starts off with
some easy programming-wise stuff. It might get boring, i’ll try to make the others
a bit more interesting.
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1. Intro The topic of this article is modular arithmetic. It is not a very hard
concept, but falls under the cataegory of "number theory" and thus is not really
taught until upper college maths for engineers and scientists.
Think of modular arithmatic like a hours and minutes on a clock. Every top of the
hour, your minute hand is at 0, regardless of what hour it is. At every quarter of
an hour, the minute hand is at 15. Every bottom of the hour, 30. etc Again, this
happens regardless of the hour.
Another analogy is a binary one. If you have 2 people and an odd number of apples,
there will be one left over if both get equal numbers of apples. If there are an
even number of apples, then there will be none left over.
Not overly complicated stuff… the wording there is probably more akward than the
math involved. 
————————————
2. Onto the Math
The modulus of 2 numbers is related to the division of the two numbers and
"returns" the remainder of the division. If one number divides another evenly, then
there is no remainder. Otherwise, there will be a remainder. In the apples example
above, lets say we have 10 apples, 2 evenly divides 10 and thus we have no
remainder. 2 does not evenly divide 11. In number theory, there is an algorithm
called the "reduction algorithm" which allows you to do division with remainders
via an algorithm nicely as well as covert numbers between bases (base 10 to base 2
for example) in a generic algorithm. This is a handly little algrorithm.
Let N, q, m, r be intergers with interger q and 0 <= r <= |m|
then N = q * m + r
Non negative m is the modulus, r is the remainder.
This essentially says our original number (N) is something * the modulus (m) + some
left over stuff. We are interested in the left over stuff, which is the remainder.
If you feel up to it, you can rearrage this equation to get the standard division
syntax.
Binary examples : 0 mod 2 = 0 since 0 = 2 * (0) + 0
1 mod 2 = 1 since 1 = 2 * (0) + 1
2 mod 2 = 0 since 2 = 2 * (1) + 0
3 mod 2 = 1 since 3 = 2 * (1) + 1
4 mod 2 = 0 since 4 = 2 * (2) + 0
…
Notice that for every even number, the remainder is 0.
To somewhat illustrate the Clock example, let’s use 4 for quarter hours instead of
60 mins to keep it short.
0 mod 4 = 0 since 0 = 4 * (0) + 0 //12:00 noon
1 mod 4 = 1 since 1 = 4 * (0) + 1 //12:15
2 mod 4 = 2 since 2 = 4 * (0) + 2 //12:30
3 mod 4 = 3 since 3 = 4 * (0) + 3 //12:45
4 mod 4 = 0 since 4 = 4 * (1) + 0 //1:00 PM
5 mod 4 = 1 since 5 = 4 * (1) + 1 //1:15
6 mod 4 = 2 since 6 = 4 * (1) + 2 //1:30
7 mod 4 = 3 since 7 = 4 * (1) + 3 //1:45
8 mod 4 = 0 since 8 = 4 * (2) + 0 //2:00PM
…
Things to notice. Numbers that are m away from eachother have congruent remainders
(i.e. every quarter hour is always 15 mins). Likewise, any number modulus that
number is 0. The remainder is always less than the m.
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3. For use in programming…
I use this in a variety of areas, but the most common is in alternating row colors.
In most programming langs, x mod y is represented as x % y.
Lets make some alternating rows….
$array_of_names = array(…);
foreach ($array_of_names as $index => $name) {
//calculate row color
$remainder = 2 % $index;
if ($remainder = 0) { //output a tr with black bg } else {
//output a tr with a red bg }
}
So all that explaining for alternating rows. You may have known how to do this
before, but now you know what it works.
As a exercise, you should make a checkerboard. Hint, it requres a mod 2 check to
alternate row color a mod 5 check to create a new row. It also takes a little trick
to make the columns not have have the same color.
As an even more advanced exercies, try to do this in a recursive only language such
as XSL. It still uses modulus, but you have to rethink where you are outputting
your opening and closing row tags to keep the XSL wellformed. It is an interesting
little problem. Hint : requires a template for tr, td, and some xsl:for calls.
—————————————-
4. Closing notes
As we have seen something simple like alternating row color actually has some nifty
math behind it. We take for granted a lot of what PHP and other langs give to us.
Yet, to really be able to weild a programming language like a sword, you need to
understand even little details such as this.
—————————————–
5. Links with more info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_%28mathematics%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_arithmetic
Blaine
http://blainegarrett.com
More Housework Bits
Toni comes back in 6 days. There is a lot of stuff i want to try to get done yet before she gets back. I assume that I will be trying to soak her up for a week or two trying to make up for lost time, hehe.
Anywho, during lunch today I pulled out another plaster cast and poured another. I expect to have enough casts made by the end of Thursday to be suffiently confident in the shape to call this experiment a preliminary success. After that, I will make another mold from one of the plaster casts and hopefully next week start cranking out bricks. My tentative goal is to get the side yard walkway done by Halloween. Wee.
On break, I scoped out the basement quickly. I decided I want to stain the floor before we move a bunch of furniture down there. A quick measuring job shows the main hall in the basement is 12′ by 39′ = 468 square feet. If I remember right, a gallon of stain covers 500 quare feet. So, if I want to hit the side rooms too, I should get two gallons. I also think I might buy some stripper and try to get the pain slops off the floor before I stain. Also, I am debating doing a floor mural in permanent marker on the floor and then put the translucent stain on top. I think that would kick major ass. Maybe, I will try to do another anamorphic drawing.
Anyway, after work I swept the basement and moved all of my artwork into the side studio. I then took to chopping up more swamp elm roots. After a bunch of raking and clearing of brush, I discovered a bunch more root systems I should probably tear up. This might end up being a nightmare… and after today’s session, I have a blister on my left thumb. Stupid swamp elms.
I then went out to eat at VIA with my brother, his wife, and my cousin Joe. We had a great old time. Joe is quite a character. We did a lot of catching up on family bits after the Garrett reunion this passed weekend. Good times. Now it is time for bed. Tomorrow is going to be another busy day. Must sleep…
Hurray for Housework …
Today during lunch at work, I went out and poured another plaster cast of the lizard paver mold. Then I delimbed this little swamp elm growing in the back yard.
Afterwork, I started hacking up the roots of the big swamp elm I cut down in late June. This proved to be a huge feat and I gave up after a bit. In the process I did hack down all the little suckers that were growing and pull up a few smaller root systems. I moved from this to one more swamp elm root that was growing from underneath my sidewalk. This was a big pain in the butt. However, I managed to pull it all up.
After that, I raked up all the leaves on the side of the house and cleaned up a pile of leaves I raked up when I moved in. All of this I put in my compst pile and then I soaked it down.
After that, I started planning the walk way on the side of the house that I just raked. I started shoveling up either side where I will plant something or other - probably the raspberry bushes that Toni’s parents are going to give me shortly.
Next, I pulled the previously poured lizard cast out and poured another one.
I then started estimating how many bricks I will need. I used a stake to guestimate. The stake was approximatly 2 bricks long. The side yard was 18 stakes long and probably needs 3 bricks wide. Thus, the side yard needs 3 * 18 * 2 = 108 bricks. I then used the same measuring system to guestimate the driveway area. This was around 11 by 11 stakes long. Thus, 11 * 11 * 4 = 484 bricks.
Assuming I can get 3 bricks per bag of concrete and the bags are around $4, the side pathway will cost $108 and the driveway will cost $645. Given the cost of the concrete, and the $114 I spent on gravel so far, this project is still more nearly $2000 less than if I were to pour a slab and have someone else do the grading work. SCORE. This is the first time, I really got a handle on the money situation for this. Granted there is around $300 in costs of supplies to make the mold thus far, but that was more fun than anything.
Anywho. All that took me until aroun 9, when my buddy Eric called to go out for a drink. It was a nice break from doing house stuff. When I got home around 11, I talked to Toni for a bit and then caulked the tub in the other bathroom. Wee.
Anywho, it was a good day. Time to hit the hay.
Model for DIM Media at The Shelter In September
Joe, Charles, and I (of DIM Media) have an opportunity to do some live art at The Shelter above BarFly downtown in Sept. We decided we want to do some live painting and thought it would be cool to do something more engaging.
We were thinking of making canvas dresses and getting some models and painting the dresses over the course of the night. We need some models and some help designing the canvas dress.
After this is all said and done, we will probably do an exhibition of the final dresses. Interested?
We don’t have an exact date yet for the gig, but it is sometime in september. We’d like to have a game plan shortly, so if you think you are interested, please let me know asap.
~B
Operation Driveway pt. 3 - Plaster Cast Proof of Concepts
I bought a couple bags of plaster of paris and mixed a water to plaster ratio of 1:1.5. Due to the thickness and perhaps just lack of strength in the plaster, the limbs broke off when I pulled them out of the mold. This actually worked to my advantage a bit since I was able to test how well the pieces interlocked - albeit with broken pieces.
Throughout this process, I had been dumping bags of gravel on the yard. I finally hit the point where I had enough gravel down to drive my truck into the garage. That was a pretty exciting moment actually.
Anywho, I have to take off for the weekend for a family reunion, so I will let the next brick harden longer. Now I just need about 10 more. God I hope the concrete hardens faster than the plaster…
Operation Driveway Part 2 - Designing the MC Escher Lizard Pavers
Pavers are neat. They have the strength and durability of concrete, but are more resilient to cracking when settling occurs. This is a bonus in my case since I have no idea if our grading job is going to hold up with Minnesota frosts and general settling due to rain and weight from driving on them. If the ground settles, I can just pull them up and throw some more gravel underneath. If one paver cracks, I can replace one rather than an entire slab. With that said, these are more “do it yourself friendly” but are a lot more work to do. Oh well.
My main issue against pavers is that they are pretty dull. They only come in a couple varieties and really are not all that sexy. The artist in me wants something more cool. While researching pavers, the word “tessellation” was used - which immediately gave me a crazy idea - do a driveway of an MC Escher work!
My first attempt at designing this was a failure. I was working off one of his fish tessellations. It was very angular and the math to figure it out was making my brain hurt. After lots of cut up paper and head scratching, I turned to google to see if anyone had already attempted this. This is when I found John August’s Gecko Stone. I ordered one. Sadly, the creator was recovering from surgery and it would be a month to get my order filled plus shipping. One month later (last weekend), I found out it would probably be another month. I feel bad for John, but I need to get this driveway done. I canceled my order and decided to try to do it myself.
First, I found a vectorized drawing of the lizard that I threw into photoshop and made sure worked perfectly. Next, I blew it up to around 14 inches in either direction and printed it out to span multiple sheets and taped them together and cut out the shape. I then trimmed off about a quarter inch around the edge to allow for the blocks to shift a bit. Next I traced this onto cardboard and cut out a bunch to do a interlocking proof of concept.
Once I knew the shape would tessellate still , it was time to make a clay version of the 3dimensional brick. I picked up a 20lb block of self hardening clay and went to town. 6 hours of munging clay later, I had a pretty slick looking version of the brick. I made it around 3 inches think to be substantial enough for the narrow appendages of the figure to break off. I let this harden over night.
The next step was to make a mold. This is where things started to turn into a clusterfuck. I bought a 2gallon Por - a - Mold brand poly urethane mold making kit from Dick Blick (the only place I could find this stuff). After recording the podcast on Sunday (and a few beers), I thought would be a great idea to make the mold. I also thought it would be a good idea to not wear gloves and do this in my kitchen…
After a long ordeal that I won’t go in to, the worst thing that happened was that a small portion of my mold didn’t fully cure because of the mold release pooling at the bottom of my container. Yarg. However, I think the mold is still usable, even if only to make a plaster cast that I can clean up a bit and make a 2nd mold from.
Boom. I am hoping next week I will have a 2nd mold made and be cranking bricks out. I’ll catch you then.
Operation Driveway - Pt 1 - Moving Some Dirt
When the flipper guy was remodeling the house he built a garage at the edge of the property, but no driveway leading to it from the paved easement leading into the property. I priced out some options and it wasn’t looking good. One estimate quoted me around $800 just to grade the portion of the yard where the driveway would be. This didn’t include additional fill if needed. This was merely labor. Once graded, it would cost around $2000 for a concrete slab or $1500 for blacktop or $900 for crushed limestone - none of which included labor. Yarg.
So I had to make some decisions. Firstly, I decided on using pavers for the driveway. In the long run they will not be as costly to replace like a concrete slab if they were to crack - I could just buy some more pavers. Secondly, I decided to have my dad bring his skid steer down and do the grading. I also decided to buy a mold and make my own paver bricks. The whole process will be pretty time consuming, but I think doing it myself will be more rewarding. Besides, I need the exercise and experience. I’ll probably eat my words at some point in the process.
However, step one began last week. Last Thursday, Jon did some digging about in the yard to get ride of the broken slate rocks strewn about. We also dug up some concreted chunks left over from the pouring of the foundation of the garage. After determining the ground was soft enough to move it around with the skidsteer, I had my dad come down on Sunday. With the the help of Jon, Adam, Toni, my Mom, and my Dad, we were able to get the driveway mostly graded within three hours and lots of Old Milwaukee. We had to bust out the tiller in some spots to tear up the hardened dirt, but most everything else was pretty easy to move around after that. Yay.
Next Step: Buy and lay some gravel.
Pictures below ( thanks to Jon and his Iphone )
