08 Feb 2011
by Nikkiin school Tags: killing the environment, open letter, paper mail, paper mail about email, u of r, university of regina, wasting money
Dear University of Regina,
Recently, I received a letter from the President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Regina, Dr Vianne Timmons, and I would like to inquire as to the reasoning behind mailing it to my house. To refresh you memory as to the contents of this letter, I have included a copy of the letter with the relevant section highlighted.
What I wish to know is why so much time, paper and money – the money I spend every semester on tuition – was spent on sending this letter to me, and presumably all 12 000 plus students currently enrolled at the U of R, informing us that we are going to receive an email. Forgive me if I am mistaken, but is not the purpose of email to eliminate paper mail, as paper mail is an inferior method of communication? Not only does it take days to arrive, instead of near instantaneously, but the the damage done to the environment is not insubstantial when mailing out such a large amount of letters. As for the monetary costs, the charge per user for a standard Novell Groupwise license is approximately $1.40 – over $18 000 a year. While I am aware that, as an academic institution, the University of Regina undoubtedly receives a reasonably large discount, the amount spent per year on email accounts is staggering. So why, pray tell, are we paying twice for the same message?
This is not the first time I have received paper communications informing me that I will be receiving electronic messages from this institution, but I do hope that it will be the last.
Sincerely,
Nikki L. Wirtz
Fifth Year Chemistry and Computer Science student
06 Feb 2011
by Nikkiin programming Tags: database design, image gallery, ms visio, planning
I really need to come up with a name for this project.
Anyway, if you follow me on twitter (and, to the best of my knowledge, everyone who reads this does), you probably already know that I spent the day working on the database design for this project (and watching V). Yeah, I know, I spent way too long on it, but I had issues trying to wrap my brain around many-to-many relationships. It’s a simple concept, I know, but for some reason it wouldn’t click in my brain until tonight. But I’m quite excited that I finally got past that mental roadblock, largely thanks to @IJustRealized, who told me exactly what I had to do and then I over thought it.
So, in the interests of records keeping (and soliciting advice), here’s what I’ve got. Why, yes, I did have fun playing around in MS Visio. Gotta use that MSDNAA license for something.
So, what did I do terribly wrong?
05 Feb 2011
by Nikkiin programming Tags: features, image gallery, php, planning
I’ve been ‘working’ on this for awhile now and I think I’ve exhausted all possible ideas I can come up with for features for a self hosted image gallery. There are a lot out there already, I know, but none of them seem to have all of the features that I would want in an image gallery. So I was wondering – does anyone have anything to add to my list of features? All features would be entirely optional – for one, I absolutely abhor rating systems and would never apply it to my own site, but I know that some people absolutely love them.
Features
- multiple users
- hierarchy - user, mod, admin
- albums
- private
- passworded
- open submission albums – all users may post
- limited submission albums – only allowed users may post
- exclusive albums – only one user can post
- subalbums
- tags
- SEO friendly URL structure
- metadata – both extracted from the image itself (y’know, camera model, ISO settings, etc), and user specified, such as media, time taken, dimensions, etc.
- artist’s comments
- comment system – third party like disqus, though, cuz I can’t be arsed to program an inferior comment system and ensure that it won’t be used to break the site
- keyboard navigation – arrows, primarily
- rating system – stars, thumbs up/down
- FTP bulk upload – including a text file in which all the metadata can be written in and automatically added to the database
- image resizing
- static pages
- lightbox integration
- WordPress/CMS integration
- quick share/copy boxes
- plugin api – clearly defined
- semantic markup (duh)
- easy to theme
- theme/plugin distribution gallery – a good one, dammit
- well organised admin interface
- comic browsing
- image order in albums
- import from other album software – dA even?
- related tags suggestions
So, yeah, what else should I include?
31 Jan 2011
by Nikkiin writing Tags: drabble, fanfic, megamind, megamind/roxanne, romance, roxanne ritchi
Fandom: Megamind
Characters/pairing: Roxanne, Megamind, Megamind/Roxanne
Genre: Romance, fluff, drabble
Word Count: 100
Summary: Roxanne is surprised to learn that a certain song by The Police isn’t in Megamind’s extensive collection.
A/N: Exactly 100 words jsyk. Title thanks to ObsidianJade and the inspiration to actually write (and post) a drabble instead of letting it sit in my mind is probably from jackwabbit. Thanks guys – you’re both awesome.
“You’re missing a song,” Roxanne said, a small frown on her face as she pursued her boyfriend’s iPod.
“Hmm?”
“The Police – you’re missing one of their songs.”
“Oh, you mean Roxanne? I had to delete it – I couldn’t bear having a song about a prostitute that shares your name on my iPod.” Megamind shrugged and turned back to his schematics.
“Megamind?” Roxanne carefully crawled her way across the organised chaos he had spread across the couch between them.
“Hmm?” Megamind murmured, distracted. Roxanne brushed a light kiss on his cheek and he glanced up, green eyes wide.
“I love you.”
14 Jan 2011
by Nikkiin life Tags: comics, lame, new years resolutions, weight loss
So, yeah, despite being fourteen days into 2011, I have decided that I’m going to make some New Years resolutions and post them to my blog in an attempt to shame myself into following them. Such a cliche, I know. However, the bigger cliche is what one of my resolutions is – lose ten pounds.
I’m not sure if it is even possible to have a more cliche resolution. I am so ashamed.
Anyway, I am 5’5 1/2 and ~132 lbs, which makes my BMI to be ~21.6, so I am still in the normal weight range (and apparently less fat than most Americans, which I doubt is something to be proud of). However, I am fine boned and should really be a lot closer to the underweight side of the scale. I mean, Christ, I can wrap my hand around my wrist so that my thumb overlaps my pinkie finger – past the fingernail even. I shouldn’t be anywhere near 130 lbs, especially since I have no muscle mass.
It also turns out that open swim at the U of R starts 10-15 minutes after all of my (non-night) classes end. Such auspicious timing! I absolutely loathe appearing (and being) ignorant in public, so that means that gyms are totally out of the question, and it is way too cold to take up running.
My other resolutions are the same ones I had for years – write a novel, start (and continue) a comic, etc, etc. Essentially, stop being such a media consumer and start fucking creating.
I wonder how much tv I have to cut back to accomplish this. I’m currently only watching about five hours a week of live tv, so I guess all I’d have to do is cut back on my marathoning of unwatched tv.
Well, after I finish Misfits. What? It’s British tv – two series and only thirteen episodes overall.
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