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Thursday, September 30, 2010

Dia da Secretária





Para pegar a imagem "Copie o Código"acima e cole na caixa de mensagens de seus amigos!





Para pegar a imagem "Copie o Código"acima e cole na caixa de mensagens de seus amigos!





Para pegar a imagem "Copie o Código"acima e cole na caixa de mensagens de seus amigos!





Para pegar a imagem "Copie o Código"acima e cole na caixa de mensagens de seus amigos!





Para pegar a imagem "Copie o Código"acima e cole na caixa de mensagens de seus amigos!





Para pegar a imagem "Copie o Código"acima e cole na caixa de mensagens de seus amigos!





Para pegar a imagem "Copie o Código"acima e cole na caixa de mensagens de seus amigos!





Para pegar a imagem "Copie o Código"acima e cole na caixa de mensagens de seus amigos!





Para pegar a imagem "Copie o Código"acima e cole na caixa de mensagens de seus amigos!





Para pegar a imagem "Copie o Código"acima e cole na caixa de mensagens de seus amigos!





Para pegar a imagem "Copie o Código"acima e cole na caixa de mensagens de seus amigos!





Para pegar a imagem "Copie o Código"acima e cole na caixa de mensagens de seus amigos!





Para pegar a imagem "Copie o Código"acima e cole na caixa de mensagens de seus amigos!

Газета к Дню учителя - 2010

Газета к Дню учителя, выполненная Дилярой и Таней. Присоединяйтесь!!!

Поздравляю!!!

Всех с I местом в соревнованиях в рамках дня здоровья! Наша команда - супер! А Володя - самый лучший командир всех времен и народов. Небось пироги-то были вкусные?

Octane Render preparing to smite the competition with its MLT equivalent


Octane Render, the ultra-fast unbiased GPU renderer (made in Belgium just like me :-)) is soon going to introduce a new MLT-(Metropolis light transport)-like algorithm, which will make the rendering of certain difficult scenes with small light sources much more efficient: the scene will converge much faster, with less noise and will kill fireflies (bright pixels as a consequence of long paths from reflective caustics).

MLT is the base rendering algorithm used by unbiased CPU renderers like LuxRender, Maxwell Render, Fryrender, Indigo Renderer and Kerkythea.

Making Metropolis light transport (or an equivalent) work on current GPUs was thought by many to be impossible and it was one of the main criticisms from GPU rendering skeptics such as Luxology (Modo) and Next Limit (Maxwell Render), who believe that GPUs can only do dumb, inefficient path tracing and nothing more. Luckily there's Octane Render to prove them wrong. The fact that it has taken the developer such a long time to make it work shows that it's quite tricky to develop. Octane Render is currently also the only renderer (to my knowledge) that will utilise a more sophisticated rendering algorithm.

On a sidenote, ERPT (energy redistribution path tracing) is also possible on the GPU, as described in one of my previous posts. It combines the advantages of Monte Carlo path tracing and Metropolis light transport to allow faster convergence with less noise and can achieve fantastic results, which look indistinguishable from the path traced reference (see http://raytracey.blogspot.com/2010/09/small-update-on-brigade-real-time-path.html) Timo Aila, a graphics researcher at Nvidia and GPU ray tracing genius, is also working on real-time Metropolis light transport (http://research.nvidia.com/users/timo-aila).

Octane's MLT-like algorithm has been hinted at by its developer since the unveiling of the software in January 2010, and it should be here very soon (within a couple of weeks, post will be updated when that happens). I'm very curious to see the first results.

Future GPU architectures, like Kepler and Maxwell, should make the implementation of MLT-like algorithms on the GPU much easier, but it's nice to see at least one developer trying to squeeze the maximum out of current GPUs, bending their compute capability until it breaks.

L4D: High Point [v0.91]

Updated version of my L4D Map is out!


Alright! New version of my L4D: High Point map has just been released today. You can get it at the all new Downloads section in the blog!







Here's the changelog.
v0.91
- Fixed Boomer's Unlimited Horde
- Fixed Pill's Magical Heal bug.
- Added "/blood (on/off)" for Infected bloody death.
- Added "/noisymusic" to turn off the damn horde music. Use ONLY WHEN you face this problem where the music won't stop.



Love,
Nicholas.

Christmas is coming!!

So have made a start on my cards,  This one is using the Thomas Kinkade CD from Joanna Sheen.  Stunning cd with some brilliant images.  For these cards I have printed the image onto acetate and then backed with glitter card.





Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Результаты контрольной работы для Кати и Ани

Кате - 5, молодец!!!
Ане - 4. Неправильно решена третья задача. А две - правильно. Молодец!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Мечу икру

Муж повез Машу в садик.
Сижу - мечу икру. Ничего делать не могу.
Пошла нафотала салфетку. Отвлеклась немного.
Вот похвастаю. До 12 надо продержаться, потом заберу ее, обниму и до утра тискать буду :)




Из остаточков нашила прихваток и подставок под горячее.
Попробовала стежку на свободном ходу. Ужасть! Нужно тренироваться лет 200.



Шила по любимой классической американской схеме:

В общем, программу "ну сделай хоть что-то прежде, чем заказывать еще ткани" считаю выполненой :)

Chris Tomlin singing Our GOD!!!

I just wanted to share this amazing song with you. It has lifted my spirits so much today.

Не сдержалась

Дала чеснапионерское, что займусь недоделками, которые по всему столу валяются. И... увидела у Лены Коган ее принцессу и не сдержалась. А тут что-то дел навалилось, мне в одном месте зудит принцессу поделать, а все ни как не получается. В конце концов кроила в ванной, пока Машка купалась.


Оригинальную версию этих красоток смотрите здесь.


Ростиком 19 см с подушками и короной. Хочу сделать побольше, а то совсем Дюймовочка вышла.
Материал хлопок, жемчужина, волосы из какой-то шерсти, что Оксанка подарила :) Названия не знаю.
С короной немного помучилась. Опять таки из-за размеров трудно было сделать аккуратно. Нашла наиболее приемлемый для себя вариант.
С круглыми кончиками у меня получилось грубовато, поэтому сделала чуть чуть по-другому.
Использовала пластику фимо золотого цвета.
Раскатываем ее до нужной толщины.
Из клетчатой бумаги делаем шаблон.


Вырезаем. Если нет специального катера для пластика, то вполне можно обойтись бритвой.


Дальше накручиваем аккуратненько на что-то круглое и затираем пальчиком стык.
Отгинаем края.


Снимаем с палочки, переворачиваем и легонько прижимаем, чтобы зубцы были на одном уровне.
Дальше переворачиваем и запекаем в духовке. Удобно это делать на керамической плитке. Я пеку полчасика про 120 градусах.


Если блеску недостаточно, то можно еще покрыть лаком, смешанным с золотой пудрой.
Если вообще не хотите заморачиваться на пластик, то вполне можно просто купить чашечки для бусин.
Фото процесса не очень. Делала набегу. Маня начала ходить в садик, мне в пору пить валериану. Сегодня отдирали ее от меня...В саду я вроде спокойная была, а пришла домой - поревела.
Вопчим, я под впечатлением, живу с чувством, что я кукуева мамаша.

[Notice] - Sick

Yeah...no updates because I'm sick!


I have been sick for the past few days...and I'm still stick now. Having a flu, sorethroat and cough. It's really annoying!


So I would like to apologize for not updating WNx Homestay's strip last Sunday, but will do when I get better. Let's talk about something instead of just putting up boring notices like I used to do.



Today
Today, I saw my friends' (Jason & Queenie) blog...and it was a couple blog thing that this blog is supposed to be as well. So I saw their blogposts, their activities...which was pretty sweet and all that.

Well, this blog was supposed to be that way as well...but of course I've talked about it before, and it's kinda hard to blog about our daily activities because my girlfriend and I can't meet each other at all! Besides, the things me and my girlfriend talk are a bit...weird and personal. So let's not get into that... ;D




Future
Well, I've completed my L4D Map Project, and there will be a new project soon called the Dungeon of Burnt Map Project. Burnt is a name, so it's not a typo. Apart from my map project, I might experiment more on Linux and post more of it here.




Blog Expectations?
I'm sure by now, readers who actually keep track of this blog will actually think that this blog isn't really good. It's so random, that it becomes messed up. Oh well, I might as well begin to stick to one topic at a time over a period of time. That's just one of my plans.




Love,
Nicholas.

УрА-УрА! Награды от Виктории (Germezida)

Замечательная девушка Виктория (Germezida) к моей великой радости за пост о нашей "любимой почте" наградила меня аж 3-мя наградами! Хочу отметить, что Вика всегда одной из первых комментирует мои сообщения! Она мой самый внимательный ночной читатель! Спасибо тебе, Вика, за это! А вот эту награду - первую с замком - рисовала я, по-моему еще весной, и вот сейчас, благодаря Вике, она ко мне вернулась!






Не буду изменять традиции! Нарисовала новую награду, которая, надеюсь, будет еще какое-то время радовать блоггеров!


Все 4 награды я передаю дальше следующим красавицам-рукодельницам:
1. Lizaveta и ее блог Scrap от Лизаветы (потрясающе красивая осенняя страничка)
2. Евгения и ее блог Украшения от Юкки (очень красивые самодельные кулоны)
3. Ирина и ее блог IruhaScrap (бесподобная коробочка на 2 диска + море другой красотищи)
4. Марина и ее блог Все, что я люблю (красивые конвертики)
5. Наталья и ее блог Минуты вдохновения (простые и очень красивые новогодние открыточки)
6. Vena и ее блог Рукодельная папочка (ПОТРЯСАЮЩАЯ И БЕСПОДОБНАЯ МЯГКАЯ КНИЖКА ДЛЯ РЕБЕНКА)
7. Лиана и ее блог Скраповые заметки (красивая книга для свадебных пожеланий и очень красивая ручка)
8. Елена и ее блог Скрап и не только (красивая адресная книга)
9. Елена и ее блог langra's scrap art (замечательная восточная открытка)
10. Олька и ее блог Лелькин куточек (потрясающая вышитая бабочка в шкатулке)

А вот что надо делать дальше с наградами!

Monday, September 27, 2010

The Frightening Case of the Dead Computer

How do writers write? The question usually evokes ideas of style, attitude, or voice. Sometimes, the concept of when and where the writing is performed comes up, but far less often do people inquire about exactly how the writing is done. Pen and paper, typewriter, computer, what?

I know several writers who insist on writing long hand. Some believe that it slows them down and forces them to think harder. They transfer what they wrote to computer and this transference process works as a second drafting, allowing them to clean their prose. I only wrote one book in longhand, well it was actually a novelette, and technically I only wrote half in longhand. I simply think too fast and write too slow. I end up losing too much in the process.

I’m old enough to remember typewriters. The first eight novels I wrote were on typewriters. I preferred electric. At the end I had a real nice Olivetti Praxis, one of the first typewriters to offer the ability to make corrections without using the little strip of Wite-Out chalk paper. (The idea was to backspace over the unwanted character, slide the correction paper under the carriage—chalk side down—then hit the same character to imprint the chalk over the offending text.)



The Olivetti had the correction built right into the ink ribbon. We’re talking state-of-the-art back in the early eighties. As you can see, the sleek, black space age design was the envy of all my friends…then the personal computer arrived. To this day I still don’t know what happened to that Olivetti.

I’ve always worked on a PC (except for the year I worked as a graphic designer, when I had a nice desktop Mac.) My first computer I got back in the spring of 1984 and was a Compaq Desktop Pro with an 8086 processor and a whopping 20 MB of HD space.



In the early days all PCs had were WordPerfect and Word for DOS, both of which were a nightmare because computers didn't have mice. (well the Xerox did, but it wasn't until the Apple Macintosh, which came out that same spring, that the first commercially successful computer mouse appeared.) Without a mouse, just navigating the screen of a word processor was an act in frustration. I had to check the manual just to determine how to move my cursor to the correct position to insert a word. I actually rejected both programs in favor of an obscure word processor called SAMNA that acted much more like a typewriter. Despite all the hassles, and the awful quality of the dot-matrix printer, it was still light-years better than the Olivetti. Being able to backspace was wonderful.

Back then there was a huge controversy about writing a novel on a computer due to the fear of losing it in an electronic second. The controversy continues, but I no longer know anyone who still uses a typewriter. The lack of a solid stack of pages that couldn’t just vanish if you pressed the wrong button, scared many. While I rarely ever lost anything due to accidental deletion, as I kept back-ups and regularly sent copies to others, I did lose a few novels to technology. My old Compac took the huge, literally floppy, 5.25” disks. These were soon replaced by the smaller hard plastic disks, then the double-sided, double-density disks and now CD and DVD drives.



The result is that several of my early books are locked on old technology I no longer have the key to open. Of course, my very first works, those on paper, were lost as well, the victims of moves and dusty attics. So who’s to say which is better.

These days I use MS Word. Nothing fancy, just the basic program, although I do also use WordWeb that functions with all programs as a dictionary and thesaurus. And while I keep my books up to date now on the current media, I still have problems.

Just recently I had finished the final review/edits for Wintertide. The book was ready to trot off to the printer for the first proofs. Being a little paranoid—even to this day—I sent a copy to my wife Robin, just in case.

The next morning I noticed my machine was making a rattling sound. It’s an old IBM ThinkPad that I inherited during a time I could not afford to buy a new computer. I had been thinking about getting a new machine, but hoped the old black box would survive to see the release of Wintertide. I rebooted only the machine refused, instead displaying an error declaring my fan was being lazy and not reporting to work. I was so thankful that I had taken the precaution of sending the file to Robin, only when I asked she said..."What file?" She never got it, and now the book was done, but trapped on my dead little corpse of a computer, which looked so sad with all its LED lights, dark.

The machine did not warrant a repair bill, but I was faced with taking the computer to a repair shop and letting it—and my book—sit for days, perhaps weeks until it could be fixed. My release deadline was barreling at me like a train and I was tied to the tracks. I was not in a good mood.

Now if it had been a typewriter, I could just pull the last page out of the carriage and ship the book off. Of course I would still be editing the thing, too. The book has been such an ordeal to get out, I just wanted it to be done, to be finished and out the door.

Robin suggested I try fixing it myself. Being the computer geek that I'm not, I tried anyway. Replacing the fan looked beyond my talents, but pulling the hard drive and slipping it into my son's machine looked a whole lot easier. One screw later I was done. I could access my files, I got the book—it was still there safe and sound—the end of the world, averted. At long last the book was done…

...then Robin found a few more errors...

The struggle goes on.
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