Random Dinosaur Comic Generator

So, I just got finished downloading every dinosaur comic and vaguely remembered something about a random Garfield generator (and looking for that I refound this, which is pure hilarity), and some idea about applying that to dinosaur comics. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized how feasible it was: you'd just have to cut up every one using ImageMagick and randomly put them together.

This is a modified version of the script I used (without the for loops and my directories):

qj@ubuntu:~$ cat cutup
#!/bin/bash
comicnumber=$1
convert -crop 244x243+0+0 "http://www.qwantz.com/comics/comic2-"$comicnumber".png" $comicnumber"_1.png"
convert -crop 130x243+244+0 "http://www.qwantz.com/comics/comic2-"$comicnumber".png" $comicnumber"_2.png"
convert -crop 361x243+374+0 "http://www.qwantz.com/comics/comic2-"$comicnumber".png" $comicnumber"_3.png"
convert -crop 195x257+0+243 "http://www.qwantz.com/comics/comic2-"$comicnumber".png" $comicnumber"_4.png"
convert -crop 298x257+195+243 "http://www.qwantz.com/comics/comic2-"$comicnumber".png" $comicnumber"_5.png"
convert -crop 242x257+493+243 "http://www.qwantz.com/comics/comic2-"$comicnumber".png" $comicnumber"_6.png"

You can then cut up any dinosaur comic by running ./cutup, with the first argument being the comic number, like 02, or 1290.

Then I made a simple, but long script to select 1 frame from 6 random comics, and generate an html page with all the frames together and linking back to their original comics. Example (Ugly-ly shrunken) below:


And a better screenshot for good measure:


Then, as the final step to all of this, I checked to see if anyone had done this before. :)
-QJ

Update: hdh has informed me of a three frame randomizer, and I must admit: I like it. Here's an great one that I got on my first try.

Latin is useful!

So, I finally reinstalled Google Toolbar after it stopped working with Firefox 3, and decided to check the version. So, I went to the about page (Settings>Help>About Google Toolbar) and guess what I found...
Latin! Now, after taking 3 years of latin, I occasionally run into it in everyday life, but usually it's either been completely swallowed up by English (subpoena, et cetera, id est, exempli gratia, etc.) or pretty bland and uninteresting. Not with Google, though! I immediatly started translating, resiting the urge to just google it:
De parvis grandis acervus erit
Okay, erit: future of to be, [he/she/it] will
De: down from, from, concerning
parvis: ablative of parvus, small
De parvis: From the small
grandis: Grand, big, large, powerful, great
acervus: pile, mound, mass, treasure
grandis acervus: large pile/grand treasure/powerful mass
The great mass will be made from the small [things]!

Good to know I can still remember some latin, and use it for something.


Also happening today: Instant Message spam! For the first time ever for me, I have gotten spam on an IM account. What's up with that, world?

-QJ

Community

So, for a while now I've been thinking about a very interesting project idea:
Create a site (or even some other entity, but I will continue using "site" (maybe "community" would be better)) in which all (including content, design, style... everything) changes to the site are voted upon. While this doesn't seem like that novel an idea, the catch is that even the voting system is left up to voting.
There is no (though one could be created) hierarchical ruling body deciding changes, or even anyone owning the physical servers other than the site itself, which would earn money through donations, advertising, merchandising... whatever is decided. Of course, at first it would have to be payed for by donations by the creators, but after a while I see it coming to support itself.
The main problem deals with setting up the site in the first place. This includes programming it to be able to have its own programming manipulated by only the voting system. This naturally leads to the problem of what kind of voting voting system to using in the first place, any slightly unbalanced or otherwise flawed initial state could send the whole thing spiraling far off into disaster.
I see the building the site in the first place as being done by a community of interested developers working on the site, and possibly using a preliminary version of the site (i.e.: mass voting system on code and even the voting system, giving insight onto the project itself through its development, maybe once the code progresses far enough, even using it) to do so, reaching a final project that can be placed on its own (as in owned by it) server.
I may be overly optimistic, but I see such a site, once it is developed and on its feet with changes in it code able to be submitted, voted upon, and automatically enacted as being a very powerful entity. I'd like to see it create an open community for its own development, and even extending further into the real world with people donating money to be truly democratically used for what is collectively decided as good in the world.
Anyway, off my idealistic speculating, any suggestions on how to get such a development project started, any similar projects/ideas, or even tweaking of the main ideas would be greatly appreciated.
-QJ

Happy Christmas

<3 John Lennon, Merry Christmas everyone.
-QJ

SAGE

So, today I finally SAGE downloaded and have been playing with it.
It's pretty fun to use, and helpful if I don't want to pull out my calculator, or need something a little powerful. It's not the easiest thing to use, though, and can be quite annoying. I intend to use it, and a lot of index cards, on some of the new USAMTS problems over winter break.
-QJ

Success

In response to my earlier post, Networking Troubles, I did finally get it working. I've got Linux up and runnning, able to do more than I could on Windows. <3.

Senator Ted Stevens Downloads the Entire Internet and Complains It's Slow!

This is a bit hilarious, and a bit scary. Hilights include complaining that the internet took a few days to get to him. Saying the internet can be filled up, and comparing streaming 10-12 movies to downloading a book.

read more | digg story

Networking Troubles

A few days ago, I finally decided to buckle down and install Linux. I grabbed Xubuntu (because my computer is old, and slow) and installed it. And here's where the fun part begins, my wireless card doesn't like linux. It would show up on the lists of PCI and Networking devices, but, I couldn't do anything with it. It wouldn't even light up. I strugled trying to get it to do anything for hours, nothing. Then I installed Ndiswrapper, to try and get it to do something. I got what I believe are the right drivers, and installed them. It found the hardware, didn't produce any errors, went off without a hitch. But, still I couldn't do anything with the card. I messed with more settings for a while, trying to get it to load on startup and such, but still, nothing. I finally gave up, at least for then. I'm not sure what to do next, but for now, I have 7 gigs of dead space sitting on my computer, and and annoying peice of hardware hanging out the back.
(If anyone wants to help, I have a Broadcom BCM94306 802.11g Card, Broadcom 94306 chipset, and a pciid of 14e4:4320 (rev 02))