Episode 18
This week Chris and Russ remember the life and accomplishments of Les Paul.
Les Paul, who passed away on August 13, 2009 was one of those amazing individuals who got more done in one sitting than most people accomplished in a lifetime. Les Paul was an easy innovator in electrically amplified guitars and anyone interested in popular music will know the Gibson Les Paul guitar, which was designed by Ted McCarty in collaboration with guitarist Mr. Paul. The Les Paul is still one of the most popular guitars made today.
Les Paul started out as Jazz musician, was an early television personality and did pioneering work in multi-track recording. You can find more about Les Paul at the Official Les Paul site. If you want to read about the guitars, have a look at the official Gibson page
Les, we're gonna miss you!
Russ & Chris
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
AG17: So You Wanna Do Some HTML?
Download Episode 17
This week Chris and Russ look at the basics of HTML: What is is? How do you write it? And just what does your browser do with it?
HTML was invented by Tim Berners-Lee along with Robert Cailliau.
HTML is a language for describing the layout of text and graphics, the kind of thing that a person will read; In fact you are reading a rendered HTML document right now. The main problem that HTML tries to solve is: How do you describe a complicated page of text and graphics using only what you can type into a simple text editor and some image files. The solution is tags: A tag is just a word that is wrapped in less-than and greater-than signs, like this:
<body>
The idea is that any ordinary text in an HTML document just ends up as ordinary text on the screen, but things that look like tags tell the browser how to display the other stuff. In short, tags are like the stage directions that a director might whisper to actors on the stage.
Every HTML document should start with a magic incantation that announces to the world that it is, indeed, an HTML document. There are some variations on this, but they all look more or less like this one from Google:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
Once you get past this special but, you get to the actual HTML. Every HTML document should be wrapped in start and end HTML tags:
<html>
... GUTS OF THE HTML DOCUMENT ...
</html>
The example above shows an important aspect of HTML: The start of the html document is marked with <html> while the end of the document is marked with </html> . Note the / in the end tag. In HTML <something> is the start of something while </something> is the end of something.
Inside of the html tags, you have the two things: The head part of the document and the body:
<html>
<head>
... INFO ABOUT THE DOCUMENT ...
</head>
<body>
... THE DOCUMENT ITSELF ...
</body>
</html>
The most common thing that you find in the head part is the title:
<head>
<title> This is an example HTML document </title>
</head>
The title part of the HTML tells your browser what to put in the window title (way up there at the very top of your window) when it displays the page.
The body tag holds the actual document contents:
<body>
<p>This is my document.</p>
<p>This is <b>my</b> document.</p>
</body>
You can control how your text display by putting in tags like <p> for paragraph and <b> for bold.
Finally Russ was mistaken about the image tags: your specify the source of the image like this:
<img src="picture.gif"/>
You can learn a lot more about HTML from W3 Schools. If you want to know all the really gory details, have a look at the specification.
This week Chris and Russ look at the basics of HTML: What is is? How do you write it? And just what does your browser do with it?
HTML was invented by Tim Berners-Lee along with Robert Cailliau.
HTML is a language for describing the layout of text and graphics, the kind of thing that a person will read; In fact you are reading a rendered HTML document right now. The main problem that HTML tries to solve is: How do you describe a complicated page of text and graphics using only what you can type into a simple text editor and some image files. The solution is tags: A tag is just a word that is wrapped in less-than and greater-than signs, like this:
<body>
The idea is that any ordinary text in an HTML document just ends up as ordinary text on the screen, but things that look like tags tell the browser how to display the other stuff. In short, tags are like the stage directions that a director might whisper to actors on the stage.
Every HTML document should start with a magic incantation that announces to the world that it is, indeed, an HTML document. There are some variations on this, but they all look more or less like this one from Google:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
Once you get past this special but, you get to the actual HTML. Every HTML document should be wrapped in start and end HTML tags:
<html>
... GUTS OF THE HTML DOCUMENT ...
</html>
The example above shows an important aspect of HTML: The start of the html document is marked with <html> while the end of the document is marked with </html> . Note the / in the end tag. In HTML <something> is the start of something while </something> is the end of something.
Inside of the html tags, you have the two things: The head part of the document and the body:
<html>
<head>
... INFO ABOUT THE DOCUMENT ...
</head>
<body>
... THE DOCUMENT ITSELF ...
</body>
</html>
The most common thing that you find in the head part is the title:
<head>
<title> This is an example HTML document </title>
</head>
The title part of the HTML tells your browser what to put in the window title (way up there at the very top of your window) when it displays the page.
The body tag holds the actual document contents:
<body>
<p>This is my document.</p>
<p>This is <b>my</b> document.</p>
</body>
You can control how your text display by putting in tags like <p> for paragraph and <b> for bold.
Finally Russ was mistaken about the image tags: your specify the source of the image like this:
<img src="picture.gif"/>
You can learn a lot more about HTML from W3 Schools. If you want to know all the really gory details, have a look at the specification.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
AG16: The Why And How Of Blogs
Download Episode 16
This week Chris and Russ do a basic introduction to blogging. What is a blog? Why would you write one? How do you get started? How do you make your blog popular?
The most popular free blogging services are blogger, which is a google thing and the very popular typepad. There are a whole bunch more; you can find a list here.
One of the more popular (lefty leaning, political) blogging sites is the Huffington Post.
The Blog On Blog has a good list of ways to make your blog popular.
There are a number of articles about making duct tape laptop bags: For example this one.
You can find lots of off the wall how to's on the Make Magazine Blog.
Chris & Russ
This week Chris and Russ do a basic introduction to blogging. What is a blog? Why would you write one? How do you get started? How do you make your blog popular?
The most popular free blogging services are blogger, which is a google thing and the very popular typepad. There are a whole bunch more; you can find a list here.
One of the more popular (lefty leaning, political) blogging sites is the Huffington Post.
The Blog On Blog has a good list of ways to make your blog popular.
There are a number of articles about making duct tape laptop bags: For example this one.
You can find lots of off the wall how to's on the Make Magazine Blog.
Chris & Russ
Saturday, July 18, 2009
AG15: To iPhone Or To Kindle?
Download Episode 15
This week Chris is all excited about his new iPhone 3Gs. Apples uber popular phone is either $99 or $199.It seems that Chris went along to the Apple store with his wife, just to keep her company while she bought a new phone. But it seems that they were handing the kool-aid at the door and Chris ended up with a phone of his very own.
Not to be outdone, at about the same time Russ acquired an Amazon Kindle DX, the ultimate in ebook readers. The Kindle DX is not cheap: $489, but there is a smaller, but perfectly usable model that goes for $299. The real cool thing about the Kindle is that you can buy and download books wirelessly right from Amazon all without a computer. If you do plug your Kindle into a computer (USB), you can download all kinds of free books (mostly classics) and load them onto your Kindle.
This episode also marks the introduction of Bailey's Law:
Never Let Your Mom Use Your Computer
Chris and Russ
This week Chris is all excited about his new iPhone 3Gs. Apples uber popular phone is either $99 or $199.It seems that Chris went along to the Apple store with his wife, just to keep her company while she bought a new phone. But it seems that they were handing the kool-aid at the door and Chris ended up with a phone of his very own.
Not to be outdone, at about the same time Russ acquired an Amazon Kindle DX, the ultimate in ebook readers. The Kindle DX is not cheap: $489, but there is a smaller, but perfectly usable model that goes for $299. The real cool thing about the Kindle is that you can buy and download books wirelessly right from Amazon all without a computer. If you do plug your Kindle into a computer (USB), you can download all kinds of free books (mostly classics) and load them onto your Kindle.
This episode also marks the introduction of Bailey's Law:
Never Let Your Mom Use Your Computer
Chris and Russ
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
AG14: How Many Cabs In The Universe?
Download Episode 14
In this episode Chris and Russ explore 'Fermi problems', the kind of problems that scientist Enrico Fermi used to pose to his students. A Fermi problem is a question that involves estimating quantities that seem completely out of reach, but aren't. Usually the rule is that you work out a Fermi problem just with your general knowledge and your wits.
Some sample Fermi problems are: How many dogs live in your city? How much does your local grocery store or 7-11 gross in a day? How many hot dogs do Americans eat in a year? How thick is a piece of paper? In fact, making up the questions is almost as much fun as solving them.
A good biography of Enrico Fermi, the originator of the Fermi problem is Enrico Fermi, Physicist You can find a collection of Fermi questions or problems
here.
According to wikipedia number of cabs in New York is actually 13,087: God knows where Russ got the 18,000 number but close enough for a Fermi problem!
The SETI Institute has a good explanation of the Drake equation. You can also find a video of Carl Sagan explaining it on youtube.
In this episode Chris and Russ explore 'Fermi problems', the kind of problems that scientist Enrico Fermi used to pose to his students. A Fermi problem is a question that involves estimating quantities that seem completely out of reach, but aren't. Usually the rule is that you work out a Fermi problem just with your general knowledge and your wits.
Some sample Fermi problems are: How many dogs live in your city? How much does your local grocery store or 7-11 gross in a day? How many hot dogs do Americans eat in a year? How thick is a piece of paper? In fact, making up the questions is almost as much fun as solving them.
A good biography of Enrico Fermi, the originator of the Fermi problem is Enrico Fermi, Physicist You can find a collection of Fermi questions or problems
here.
According to wikipedia number of cabs in New York is actually 13,087: God knows where Russ got the 18,000 number but close enough for a Fermi problem!
The SETI Institute has a good explanation of the Drake equation. You can also find a video of Carl Sagan explaining it on youtube.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
AG13: Which Culture Are You A Part Of?
Download Episode 13
This week Chris and Russ look back on C. P. Snow's book The Two Cultures. The Two Cultures was one of the first books (actually it started out as a lecture) which pointed out that the techies were not talking to the literary and artistic types and vise versa. You can find The Two Cultures on Amazon.
You can find the early modem article here on boing boing.
How Stuff Works has a good article about how modems work. If you read the article, you will find that Russ is mistaken about exactly how DSL works: DSL actually just expands the range of frequencies available to the modem.
This week Chris and Russ look back on C. P. Snow's book The Two Cultures. The Two Cultures was one of the first books (actually it started out as a lecture) which pointed out that the techies were not talking to the literary and artistic types and vise versa. You can find The Two Cultures on Amazon.
You can find the early modem article here on boing boing.
How Stuff Works has a good article about how modems work. If you read the article, you will find that Russ is mistaken about exactly how DSL works: DSL actually just expands the range of frequencies available to the modem.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
AG12: How Do You Build A PodCast? Part II
Download Episode 12
Happy PodCasting!
Chris and Russ
The second part of our salute to the tricks and techniques of podcasting.
In this episode we talk about our experiences podcasting with a special eye on the hardware that we tried and on what worked and
didn’t work.
Like many neophyte podcasters, we started out by simply using our computer; in our case a MacBook laptop. The first, very experimental and thankfully never published episode of Art/Geek was kicked off by simply hitting the record button in GarageBand .
Since we weren’t happy with that built-in mic, we decided to take a step up in quality – a very small step. So we went out and bought a couple of Logitech Playstation 2 USB microphones These are very inexpensive: About $30 US, but for the money they produce pretty decent results. These microphones are made for use with Playstation Karaoke games, but they are really just plain old USB based microphones which will work fine in any computer. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money and you want to do a one microphone podcast. Perhaps its just you, or its you and someone with whom you don’t mind sharing a microphone, then one of these $30 microphones is not a bad bet.
Whatever microphone you pick, you are going to need something to hold it in place. While more expensive mics have special fittings for purpose built stands, our cheap Karaoke came with neither stand nor fittings. The solution was surprisingly simple: It turns out that you can bend a wire coat hanger into a perfectly good microphone stand in less time than it takes to ask for extra starch at the dry cleaners.
Another, somewhat more expensive alternative that solves the microphone and stand problem in one visit to the BuyMore would be a headset, which combines the microphone with headphones in a very ‘air traffic controller’ setup. Russ played around with using his Logitech Premium Notebook Headset (can you tell that someone likes Logitech equipment?) but he was never very impressed with the results. To Russ the headset mic always sounded a thin and flat.
Of course we aren’t doing a single mic podcast – there are two of us and while we are friends, we do draw the line at sitting close enough to use the same microphone for hours on end. What we did was run those two Logitech Karaoke mics into Chris’ computer and mix or combine the sound coming from the two mics using some software trickery.
It turns out that buried fairly deeply inside of Mac OSX there is a little utility to create an ‘aggregate microphone’, a sort of imaginary, software microphone that combines the input of two or more real microphones. You can configure an aggregate microphone by launching Audio MIDI Setup program, which you will find in the /Applications/Utilities folder. Click on Open Aggregate Device Editor you are well on your way to a two microphone podcast.
Except that the aggregate microphone setup never really worked that well. Chris’ voice is quite a bit softer than Russ’ and left untouched, resulted a recording that sounded a bit like a shouted conversation with a neighbor on the other side of the fence. To balance things out a bit, we tried upping the volume of Chris’ voice inside of GarageBand. The trouble with this is that the amplification also amplified the various background noises from Chris’ side of the room, along with the unavoidable electronic hiss that you get from inexpensive microphones. Even worse, sometimes Chris’ mic would pick up Russ’ voice, which the amplification turned into a sort of ‘voice of the gods’ reverb. Still more horrible, sometimes, for reasons unknown, Russ’ mic and Chris’ mic would get out of sync with each other, resulting in a really horrible
mess.
Which brings us to the set up that we are using today. For microphones, Russ is using an audio-technica AT2020 , (about $75) with an XLR microphone cable something like this one (about $10). You will also need a stand for you microphone, for example something like this The mixer is a Behringer 1202 (about $90) although the smaller 802 model (about $50) would work just fine. To hook the mixer to our computer we are using Behringer U-Control (about $30). You will need some RCA cables to finish things off, some thing this which you can buy online or from your local Home Depot or RadioShack.
Happy PodCasting!
Chris and Russ
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