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Splitting a big, single-page pdf into print-size pages
Context: I’m currently putting together a grant application. This means I need to get together documentation and press for what I’ve done. I need to submit this all on printed physical paper. URLs or pdf files by themselves are not enough. I’m on macOS. Normally, you can just print a webpage to pdf from the […]
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Git LFS Sucks the Least: Prototyping and Version Control with Large Binary Assets
Here’s a story of my struggles with version control at Raktor as I push it to the limit for a variety projects in the Unity engine. Pour a drink and commiserate with me. I love git. My background is in handling large, complex codebases that go all the way down to the metal, so distributed […]
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State of Virtual Reality Venues in Toronto
For the last few years, I’ve been a “VR tech professional”, which means I have, on my desk, various pieces of Virtual/Augmented/Mixed Reality equipment. These will get cheaper, but at the moment are dubious buys for the average person. Despite companies’ best efforts, set-up is still a confusing pain. VR still has so many goddamn […]
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Proposing the (Bill) Paxton Number
The Erdős Number measures how far you are from mathematician Paul Erdős via coauthoring academic papers*. The Bacon Number measures how far you are from actor Kevin Bacon via costarring in films. In honour of the late Bill Paxton, I now propose The Paxton Number. Bill Paxton has the totally-not-dubious honour of being killed, on […]
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“What’s the most insane technical thing you did that actually worked?”
Or, How I Fixed A Real-Time Image Transmission Protocol For A Live Event By Making A Numbers Station The evening before the GDC round table panel on Location-Based Stories, I was with most of them in a pub. I ended up here because I’m one-half of Playlines with Rob Morgan, who was on the panel. […]
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Questions to Ask after an Underwhelming Art Experience
Is this at 90% of being amazing and needs to be pushed/polished just a little or is it actually at 20% and there’s a ton more work? If it’s a long way from being good, is the path to success clear or unclear? If the extra work to make it good could be put in, […]
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NYC Immersive Theatre Review
I finally set aside time over New Year’s to see all the immersive theatre in New York City that people have been bugging me to see. Here’s a terse listing of them all. NOTE: all of those shows are great and worth seeing. With my comments, I’m not trying to convince people to think about […]
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Books Read 2016
The best part about books this year was discovering Octavia Butler. But the most important book I read was definitely Hillbilly Elegy. ________ Aurora – Kim Stanley Robinson – Jan 2, 2016 Dawn – Octavia E. Butler – Jan 26, 2016 Her Smoke Rose Up Forever – James Tiptree, Jr. – Mar 20, 2016 Matter […]
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IRL Deviations from Snow Crash and The Diamond Age
ADDED POST-US-ELECTION UPDATE AT BOTTOM I first read Neal Stephenson’s duology of future cyber/* punk novels Snow Crash and The Diamond Age a decade ago. As my personal aspirations increasingly resemble some of the elements in the novel, I’ve given them a re-read. I especially want to look how the future in the novels resembles […]
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Game Mechanic Compression Ratio
After attending a conference on roguelikes over the weekend, I was talking with friend Randy Lubin about how players move from learning rules to playing a game. We discovered/invented this really cool concept: Game Mechanics Compression Ratio: the ratio between the initial instructions for a game once understood cognitively, and the complexity that they create […]