Yesterday I was looking for some JavaScript function, or somethin', and came across the Incredible JavaScript Raytracer! For those of you who aren't in the know, a raytracer is a dab of computer software that renders 3D scenes by tracing rays of light from the camera outward, until it hits something, and then creates that 'speck' in the image, based on Is this a solid object? Is it transparent? Is there a shadow? Blah blah. Here's a preset I rendered last night, it took about 40 minutes:



Right now my computer at work is rendering a real doozy, should take all night. So the amazing thing is that it's built in JavaScript! That means it's all done on your computer, through your web browser, via a language that's usually used for creating popup menus and making advertisements fly around the screen. Incredible. Blows me away. A complete 10 out of 10 on the computer geek chart.

So my roommate was gone for five days, or something like that... much too long for me to be trusted with her various pets. She has five tiny dwarf frogs, and on my watch, two of them died. It wasn't my fault! The water got dirty by itself! Serves them right for excreting into their own habitat. I feel really bad, oy, but at least it was just two (Banana and Mayonnaise). Onion, Hammock, and Parrot are still doing great, especially now that she cleaned the water. I fed them every day, per my instructions... I was just following orders, cap'n.

Today I met Jason's good pal Kim. First Ann, now Kim - what new Jason friend will I meet next week?

Last night I watched Life is Beautiful, and that was one of the most touching films I've seen in a long time. I cried, I said it, I cried at the end, and I cried hard, like I haven't cried since All Dogs Go To Heaven when I was 8 or something. Not to really compare the two, but wow, that Roberto Benigni can sure push my emotions around. I'm not sure if I've seen a film that's ever had such a powerful effect on me.

On a related note, I think I've become an addict, and Scarecrow Video is my rock of choice. Has anybody seen Staplerfahrer Klaus? I hear it's great - Garhan, go download it onto one of your RAID-5 250GB drives for me.

I did indeed order two blue Hokey Spokes for Spokey - should be here next week. I'm stoked for the spokes. Spokey-stoked.

So Andrea and James are planning a bike trip to the Red Hook Brewery in Woodinville. I'm totally down, but as I've been discovering lately, when Spokey's out of juice it absolutely can't climb hills - it's like trying to pedal with a giant alpaca riding behind you. I don't know what the deal is - level ground is fine, just like any other bike. I think I need to interrogate Eric from here and see if he can help me out... since 32 miles is a bit past Spokey's range, by something like 14 miles or so.

This is a fun game for throwing a cheerleader around. And, this is an amazing site, brought to you by a holy communion of Flash and, language of the day, JavaScript!