Published June 4th, 2007
in geospatial.
My previous post mentions CAD files. Not everyone has a couple of thousand spare dollars to pick up industry standard CAD applications. Not everybody needs expensive software, either.
Cumulate Draw is probably more of a Visio replacement than a CAD replacement. It’s certainly not as powerful as, say, Autodesk Architectural Desktop. But if you don’t need dimensions accurate to an eighth of an inch and just want to sketch a quick floor plan, Cumulate Draw might suit your needs. It is free and available online. Your work can be exported to several different formats, including JPEG, PNG, and SVG.
Here is a quick office layout I created in Cumulate Draw. Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized image.
Popularity: 62% [?]
Published March 17th, 2007
in meta.
Although I have yet to begin publicizing this blog, a couple of spam comments have already popped up. Thankfully, WordPress (the engine which powers my blog) held these comments in moderation. In future posts I’ll get into why I chose a self-hosted WordPress solution.
If spam comments are already rearing their ugly head, I chose to implement a stronger spam control feature now instead of later. Akismet is a highly recommended plugin. It is installed automatically for WordPress versions 2.0 or later, but if for some reason it isn’t you can download the official plugin. If you use WordPress and haven’t activated Akismet yet, then take a couple of minutes to activate it now.
If your WordPress blog is the freely hosted version hosted by WordPress.com you are already using Akismet and don’t need to do anything else to protect yourself from spam comments.
If, like me, you host your own blog, you need to do a few more steps to activate Akismet. Essentially, although you have a WordPress blog already you need to establish an account with WordPress.com and use the API key which comes with this account. In response to user requests, now one can open an account without creating a separate, to-be-unused blog.
- Sign up for an account with WordPress.com (you can opt for a sans-blog account)
- Activate your WordPress.com account
- Ensure that Akismet is installed and listed in your blog’s Plugins
- Find your WordPress.com API Key - you can get either from your welcome email or from your My Profile page
- Activate Akismet in your blog
- Enter the API Key when prompted
- That’s it! Now spam comments will be filtered!
Personally, I will join the ranks of those who would prefer not having to create an account with WP.com just to use its API key. I would love to one day see a way of creating one’s own API key. Until then, this is the method to follow. But for an effective but free solution for controlling spam, I won’t be picky!
Popularity: 35% [?]
Published March 1st, 2007
in events.
Visiting Artist, Nathalie Pham, will be giving a lecture about her work on Monday, March 5 at 5 p.m. at New Jersey City University’s Visual Arts Building auditorium. Her work can be viewed at her website, www.npham.com.
Recent Artist-in-Residence at the Newark Museum (NJ), Nathalie Pham received her MFA in sculpture from Parsons School of Design and her BFA from University of Missouri-Columbia (MU). After her undergraduate coursework, she worked as Dimitri Hadzi’s apprentice at Harvard University. Her sculptures have stood in many galleries and shows in the Tri-State area, including at the A.I.R. Gallery and alongside Leslie Dill in “Sacred Waterways” (both in New York
City). She is also principal of the Newark-based web-design firm, NPCreate, Inc.
Nathalie infuses her work with a freedom to choose materials and juxtapose them in unconventional ways—such as adding red wax stalactites, a drain, and a piece of casted meat into the drawers of an Asian lacquer bento box. These chimeras reflect a return to childlike wondering at objects, foods, colors, fashion, and architecture from our own mainstream commercialization and globalization and from various cultural traditions.
Popularity: 33% [?]
Published February 28th, 2007
in events.
There will be a free concert on Monday 3/5/07 at 7:30pm at New Jersey City University’s Margaret Williams Theatre honoring legendary arranger/composer Bill Finegan on his 90th birthday.
Mr. Finegan is best remembered for creating the sounds of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and The Sauter-Finegan Orchestra. The concert will be performed by the Gotham Wind Symphony conducted by NJCU faculty member Mike Christianson and features music by Bill Finegan (including a new work that he’s writing for this occassion), Sauter-Finegan, Finegan’s students James Chirillo and Julie Cavadini, as well as Finegan’s teacher, Darius Milhaud. NJCU Faculty members Dr. Edward Joffe, Ron Janelli, Dan Willis, Pete McGuinness, and Joe Reardon will be performing as part of this Tribute.
Popularity: 41% [?]
Published January 22nd, 2007
in technology.
Are you still using Firefox 1.*? Even worse, are you still using Internet Explorer? Firefox 2.0 has been available for some time now. If you haven’t yet downloaded the free browser which is taking the Internet by storm, do so now. There are many reasons why I’ve made the switch. The Firefox main page already does a great job of running down the features.
One new feature I love about this release which already came in handy while writing this post is the inline spell checker. As you type, if you misspell something you notice it immediately because Firefox will underline the word in red. Very nifty feature for bloggers indeed!
Popularity: 29% [?]
My previous post mentions CAD files. Not everyone has a couple of thousand spare dollars to pick up industry standard CAD applications. Not everybody needs expensive software, either.