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Today in Programming: Python and Scratch
Scratch Once again I worked on some Scratch projects with the kids. This time it involved a sports theme. I let the kids choose which games they wanted to create and Sam chose to create the game where Scratch the Cat goes Skiing. Having done this for a few weeks now, it wasn’t too much…
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Today’s Programming: Scratch and Python
Scratch Starting off with this code from the Raspberry Pi foundation, Sam made his first ever video game. I then modified it so the shark would close his mouth when he eats the fish and added a sound at the end when a score of 5 was reached. Here’s a video of Sam playing his…
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Disney continues to increase representation on TV with Mira, Royal Detective
Being a male, who’s racially white, I never had any trouble with finding representation on TV. This hasn’t always been the case for everyone, although it’s only recently (last 5ish years or so) that folks have begun to speak out on how important representation is. When you rarely see yourself in media, I’ve been told,…
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EL Donation Tracker (v4.1.1)
It’s been 5 months since I last wrote about ELDonation Tracker, my software for tracking Extra Life donations for use during a livestream or VOD. I’ve been quite busy since then! First, I used Github pages to make a site for the software to make it a little easier for those who are just users…
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What I want in #CircuitPython2020
Over on Adafruit they asked the community, “What do you want from CircuitPython in 2020?” What’s CircuitPython? It’s a subset of Python that’s meant to run on embedded processors. Essentially I could use it (on compatible boards) in place of Arduino’s subset of C++ or TinyGo. As you know if you read my 2019 in…
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Sam’s Drawing
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Review: Mr. Spaceship
Mr. Spaceship by Philip K. Dick My rating: 3 of 5 stars Another Philip K Dick story from the 1950s. This one falls squarely in the pop SciFi of the magaines of the times. The science is so bad it’s hilarious. What was a lot more fun was all the anachronisms from that time. Yes,…
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What Version Control looked like before I knew about VCS
Boy am I glad I know about svn and git now. It was such a mess before to keep track versions of files to be able to go back in the case of an error.
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Saw this in Boston
You know, the audacity made me want to try it. I just didn’t have a chance to because of the convention schedule.
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Update of Experience of CentOS 7 on Acer Aspire One D255E
CentOS continues to impress me with its performance on my netbook. It had never been able to properly suspend to RAM and wakeup. But while I was at Red Hat Summit, I could close the lid for it to suspend and then go to the next session and open it up and just tap any…
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Podcasts I’m Listening to in 2019
I’ve both added and dropped some podcasts since last time around. Where I’m listing the same podcast as last year I may use the same description as in the past with slight (or no) variation. Public Radio Radiolab – Heard about them because sometimes their stories are used on This American Life. Radiolab is a…
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Reviews: The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon – The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World; Food Processor Perfection: 75 Amazing Ways to Use the Most Powerful Tool in Your Kitchen; Planet Barbecue!: 309 Recipes, 60 Countries; Prepare to Meet Thy Doom: And More True Gaming Stories; Abaddon’s Gate; Damnation Alley ; The Improbable Rise of Singularity Girl; The Perfect Cookie: Your Ultimate Guide to Foolproof Cookies, Brownies, and Bars; Words of Radiance
The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon – The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World by Steven L. Kent My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a very comprehensive look at the history of video games going way, way back. I’m familiar with a lot…
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Milk Street’s BBQ Rub #2
Tried Milk Street’s BBQ Rub #2 for the first time today on some chicken cutlets. Just pan fried for a quick meal. The taste ended up being very similar to chicken satay and I definitely found myself wishing I had some peanut sauce to eat with the chicken. The rub’s also recommended for fish and…
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Review: Mad Tinker’s Daughter
Mad Tinker’s Daughter by J.S. Morin My rating: 4 of 5 stars Another book I got via a bundle (either Humble Bundle or, more likely Story Bundle), not because I’m a pre-existing fan of Mr. Morin. This book continues in a universe Mr. Morin created, but starts a new series that that does not seem…
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Weber goes from boring to epic packaging