http://tinylittlelife.org really big dreams Sun, 29 Aug 2010 02:04:17 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This mantis is a beauty. I found it under a street light, where it regarded me with a noticeable lack of fear while I snapped pictures. It was about the length of my middle finger. It was still enough that I could take pictures with the necessary 1.3″ shutter ... http://tinylittlelife.org/?p=253 Today, this Prionyx wasp made a halfhearted attempt at burying this grasshopper. Read on for many, many pictures. You might have noticed that this grasshopper’s antenna seem a bit shorter than usual. Also, it seems to be far from any grass and in no hurry to go anywhere. ... http://tinylittlelife.org/?p=252 My lens doesn’t quite capture the majesty of these green fangs. Technically, “chelicerae”. These are apparently called Phidippus Audax. It looks like a Phiddip. http://tinylittlelife.org/?p=251 This field cricket was reclining on my backpack. http://tinylittlelife.org/?p=250 This is the Lua code to properly curry (according to the definition I learned, which is supported by Wikipedia) a function in Lua. Mine is a fairly efficient implementation that allows functions to be curried, regardless of how many arguments they would individually take. My rant on incorrect ... http://tinylittlelife.org/?p=249 This jumping spider was finishing up its meal when I saw it. It could fit comfortably on a dime. If I had to guess, I’d say this is a sac spider with its young. But I’m not completely sure. http://tinylittlelife.org/?p=248 The Panasonic Lumix’s CCD just can’t match Canon’s. Of course, the prices reflect that in reverse. More sweet shots of greenbottle flies and bumblebees after the break. Lily with bumblebee. Bumblebee in lily. I judge the quality of a camera by how well it can pick up the details of greenbottle flies. Note the ... http://tinylittlelife.org/?p=247 My GNU software called FontClustr has been updated to run on Ubuntu Lucid Lynx. I’ve also corrected an omission of the 3 files that make the output webpages work properly. Sorry! You need these files: fontclustr.py tree.py style.css tabber.css tabber.js You’ll need to apt-get these Ubuntu packages (and possibly others):python-pythonmagick python-pygame python-gd python-opencv fonttools Run it by making fontclustr.py executable and executing ... http://tinylittlelife.org/?p=246 I had wanted to do this paper shredder hack for a while. So, when my paper shredder started acting up, I angrily tore it apart… then I discovered that it was my own fault it wasn’t working (it has a safety switch that engages when you properly place it ... http://tinylittlelife.org/?p=245 This is probably the first thing I ever built by myself: a blower fan, made out of some parts from an old microwave and scrap wood. 13 years later, it still works very well. Back in those days, my best friend and I used to dumpster dive for electronics. ... http://tinylittlelife.org/?p=244