Blog Updates

Why is it that no matter how many new tests we come up with - no matter how many new teaching methods we devise - the kids seem to do worse and worse?

Albert Einstein's school performance problems have probably been exaggerated to make his life appear more dramatic, but he did clash with the authorities of the the Luitpold Gymnasium and he did fail the entrance exam to the Eidgenössische Polytechnische Schule in Zürich. There was clearly a problem with the system's ability to test his intelligence.

Then, as now, scientists, statisticians and the general public were very optimistic about the measurability of seemingly-elusive aspects of life: character, intellect, disposition. Darwin had published...

I've wanted to draw comics and cartoons for a while. For the last six months or so I've been trying to draw for about an hour every day, and once-elusive aspects of the human figure are now tenuously in my grasp. One of the things that still bothers me is the face. I've been doing portraits on a regular basis for over ten years now, but drawing cartoon faces - far from the cakewalk I expected - is demanding and subtle beyond my imagination. So I've been drawing faces. Lots of them. Every day. I'll develop a style sooner or later.

The actual process of inking was also more difficult than I expected. I learned that I should probably use a non-aliased brush for the linework (and probably a thicker brush at that), as coloring with...

Permit me a little self-indulgence.

I've basically inhaled Burne Hogarth's entire series of instruction books. They have vastly improved my artistic skill. I am deeply indebted to them. But I did not think I would find in Hogarth a kindred spirit with respect to one of my favorite...

One note before I start: If you're ever trying to make a DOM document with Python and then hand it off to another parser, make sure you explicitly convert it to UTF-8 beforehand.

Indy and I can get into pretty vigorous discussions on XML. He hates it. And I can understand why. Misguided programmers have made all sorts of crazy stuff built on XML, including:

1. MXML, a UI markup language for Adobe Flex;
2. XUL, a UI markup language for Mozilla Firefox;
3. Config files the world over;
4. Data interchange formats galore;
5. XSLT, a template processor/programming language built exclusively for handling XML.

UI Markup

I was a little bit unconvinced at first, but when I...