Filled with absolute dread as I must spend my days at home without doing anything this week. I can't stand just sitting around, I am used to doing something, had something planned for absolutely every single evening this week. At least yesterday a mate visited me, gonna hope someone else is gonna come by aswell.

It's been a while since I've been here.

Wisdom teeth out yesterday and happy for being relatively healthy. No real pain just discomfort and some nice swelling.

 

I've been tossing around the format for a creative work in my head for a few weeks now. Haven't even begun to write it because I'd like to take a more modern approach to presenting digital, text-based media. I've scoured the internet for an innovative way of structuring the work, even going as far to ask on in this very thread, but the best I found was having to master the arcane inner-machinations of some TeX distribution, even even then, it may not be suitable.

 

So tonight I had a brilliant thought. Why not make my own? I don't need the sheer power (and complexity) provided by TeX. All I'd need is a good PDF output library, and what do you know, there's such a thing: libHaru. I'll roll some simple template engine in Lua, write some bindings for libHaru using LuaJIT'S FFI, and then I'll be able to pull together a useful tool to organize and format MyIdealLiteraryWork.

 

Perhaps I'll be able to use this as a sort of therapy. There's a very personal story, even if the end result is fiction, I want to tell, even if it's just my future self.

 

Well I didn't want to patronize you, but are you just meaning to be able to type text in a predefined shape? As much as I don't particularly like Microsoft, it seems to be doable in Word (see a tutorial here). It's easier in Photoshop - more or less draw a shape and then type inside it. Those would take up a lot of space though...I'm not sure how long a story/how many pages you are planning on writing.

 

 

Word is not even near ideal (and I don't understand who would use PhotoShop as a word processor). It's decent for general text processing, but nothing more complex. I need to organize and structure many different text formats, from IRC chat logs to source code to text messages to forum posts, and then there's the usual prose. Writing them in a TeX-style (i.e., plain-text file with structuring commands) would be exceedingly easy. TeX doesn't make it quite that easy, because customizing the output is... hard.

 

I've been tossing around the format for a creative work in my head for a few weeks now. Haven't even begun to write it because I'd like to take a more modern approach to presenting digital, text-based media. I've scoured the internet for an innovative way of structuring the work, even going as far to ask on in this very thread, but the best I found was having to master the arcane inner-machinations of some TeX distribution, even even then, it may not be suitable.

 

So tonight I had a brilliant thought. Why not make my own? I don't need the sheer power (and complexity) provided by TeX. All I'd need is a good PDF output library, and what do you know, there's such a thing: libHaru. I'll roll some simple template engine in Lua, write some bindings for libHaru using LuaJIT'S FFI, and then I'll be able to pull together a useful tool to organize and format MyIdealLiteraryWork.

 

Perhaps I'll be able to use this as a sort of therapy. There's a very personal story, even if the end result is fiction, I want to tell, even if it's just my future self.

Have fun with that lol

 

libHaru doesn't look that complex (see the text_demo examples). LuaJIT and FFI make binding native C APIs in Lua exceedingly easy. I've also written a decent template processor in Lua before for a code generation tool. In essence, I'm just putting a bunch of crap I've already done together.

Photoshop as a word processor would be foolish but used in conjunction with Microsoft Word I feel would still achieve a desirable result, though a bit more rudimentary. But then my full comprehension of either program has been outdated since ~2011

Yeah, office 2007+ should be manageable for a project like that as you can insert text boxes into the page for custom formatting.

Nah you have a good plan Vieva. It's just a lot of work but it sounds like you know what you gotta do

Woo! After a surprisingly tough 25/30 minute interview with a couple grad students, I got a position as an undergrad research assistant for a really interesting psych lab that deals with the idea of people disclosing vulnerable information as a means of generating interpersonal closeness. Not sure exactly what I'll be doing, but I've been told I'll be running subjects and coding video and stuff. It sounds like it'll be a challenge, but I think it'll be really rewarding.

I've been tossing around the format for a creative work in my head for a few weeks now. Haven't even begun to write it because I'd like to take a more modern approach to presenting digital, text-based media. I've scoured the internet for an innovative way of structuring the work, even going as far to ask on in this very thread, but the best I found was having to master the arcane inner-machinations of some TeX distribution, even even then, it may not be suitable.

 

So tonight I had a brilliant thought. Why not make my own? I don't need the sheer power (and complexity) provided by TeX. All I'd need is a good PDF output library, and what do you know, there's such a thing: libHaru. I'll roll some simple template engine in Lua, write some bindings for libHaru using LuaJIT'S FFI, and then I'll be able to pull together a useful tool to organize and format MyIdealLiteraryWork.

 

Perhaps I'll be able to use this as a sort of therapy. There's a very personal story, even if the end result is fiction, I want to tell, even if it's just my future self.

I assume you considered it, but why wouldn't HTML work? Particularly considering that would allow you to put it out there in a form more usable to the average reader than pdfs.

 

You can do a lot with HTML. I'm thinking like Homestuck, which plays a lot with its format over the course of the webcomic, and which is all done via HTML with a splattering of flash.

 

I've been tossing around the format for a creative work in my head for a few weeks now. Haven't even begun to write it because I'd like to take a more modern approach to presenting digital, text-based media. I've scoured the internet for an innovative way of structuring the work, even going as far to ask on in this very thread, but the best I found was having to master the arcane inner-machinations of some TeX distribution, even even then, it may not be suitable.

 

So tonight I had a brilliant thought. Why not make my own? I don't need the sheer power (and complexity) provided by TeX. All I'd need is a good PDF output library, and what do you know, there's such a thing: libHaru. I'll roll some simple template engine in Lua, write some bindings for libHaru using LuaJIT'S FFI, and then I'll be able to pull together a useful tool to organize and format MyIdealLiteraryWork.

 

Perhaps I'll be able to use this as a sort of therapy. There's a very personal story, even if the end result is fiction, I want to tell, even if it's just my future self.

I assume you considered it, but why wouldn't HTML work? Particularly considering that would allow you to put it out there in a form more usable to the average reader than pdfs.

 

You can do a lot with HTML. I'm thinking like Homestuck, which plays a lot with its format over the course of the webcomic, and which is all done via HTML with a splattering of flash.

 

No. HTML isn't for print, it's for screens. Doesn't matter what format I initially choose, anyway; in the end, I could have the script output HTML...

 

And I don't know why it matters how Word/Photoshop/mspaint can place text and stuff. That's not my point. It's structuring a large amount of different textual media. Presentation isn't important, it's simply structuring (i.e., organizing and layout them out). Even Word makes "restructuring" too difficult...

 

To be blunt, what I'm attempting is nothing like some random web comic. Instead, I'm trying a modern approach to Dos Passos's U.S.A. Trilogy. Much like Dos Passos used newspaper clippings, headlines, songs, and historical excerpts (aka News Reel sections) to help build the work alongside personal, stream-of-consciousness perspectives (aka Camera Eye sections) and personal character stories to tell a story about the United States during the turn of the 20th century, I'd like to use modern digital text-based media to tell a story about present-day America...

Gonna have my first ever real job interview on Monday.

The post is for a Tech Support in an IT firm.

I am pretty [bleep]ing nervous, cause it is a well-paying job with lots of perks but with a quite inflexible schedule.

Fair enough. I just assumed it would be easier to work in an already existing format than to create your own text editing software. If that's not enough, then fair.

Saw a photo on Facebook today of a guy chilling with his falcon at Mcdonalds. Just sitting there, on the side of the table.

Saw a photo on Facebook today of a guy chilling with his falcon at Mcdonalds. Just sitting there, on the side of the table.

That is a life goal if I've ever seen one.

Saw a photo on Facebook today of a guy chilling with his falcon at Mcdonalds. Just sitting there, on the side of the table.

Right, and did he have a cape too? :P

 

Saw a photo on Facebook today of a guy chilling with his falcon at Mcdonalds. Just sitting there, on the side of the table.

Right, and did he have a cape too? :P

 

Well i guess a thobe can kind of be a cape?

Just got an email saying I am loaded onto a certification for firefighting. Now just to ensure I have all 134 skills from rolling salvage tarps, to getting onto a fire truck, and actually fighting fires down. Also nice small 100 question exam before that, but its multiple choice.

Just got an email saying I am loaded onto a certification for firefighting. Now just to ensure I have all 134 skills from rolling salvage tarps, to getting onto a fire truck, and actually fighting fires down. Also nice small 100 question exam before that, but its multiple choice.

 

 Congrats, when did you decide to go into firefighting?

 

Just got an email saying I am loaded onto a certification for firefighting. Now just to ensure I have all 134 skills from rolling salvage tarps, to getting onto a fire truck, and actually fighting fires down. Also nice small 100 question exam before that, but its multiple choice.

 

 Congrats, when did you decide to go into firefighting?

 

Just kind of joined the department when I became old enough, 14 here to join as a junior, and kind of fell in love along the way. Probably decided in the last year or so to actually pursue it as a career. This cert is nice because I get it free from dept, presuming I pass. 

 

 

Just got an email saying I am loaded onto a certification for firefighting. Now just to ensure I have all 134 skills from rolling salvage tarps, to getting onto a fire truck, and actually fighting fires down. Also nice small 100 question exam before that, but its multiple choice.

 

 Congrats, when did you decide to go into firefighting?

 

Just kind of joined the department when I became old enough, 14 here to join as a junior, and kind of fell in love along the way. Probably decided in the last year or so to actually pursue it as a career. This cert is nice because I get it free from dept, presuming I pass.

 

Is it wildland or city stuff? I would love to do volunteer firefighting but I don't have 20/20 vision so I can't.

Fair enough. I just assumed it would be easier to work in an already existing format than to create your own text editing software. If that's not enough, then fair.

 

I'm writing a script that will transform a plain text file with some markup into a different format, like TeX, not a text editing software. Well, I assume by text editing software, you mean something with a user interface...

 

This is TeX:

 

 

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

If I might be as \textbf{bold} to say, the \textit{Leaning Tower of Pisa} was the
\underline{underlining} reason I went to Italy.

\end{document}

 

You run it through some TeX processor, it spits out a nice PDF. However, customizing the end result is pretty gnarly.

 

I'm going to do something similar, like this (complete pseudo-syntax):

 

 

\begin_template(irc)

\chan_op(Morpheus, 12:07:06) i imagine u feel liek alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole
\chan_voice(Neo, 12:07:54) u could say that
\chan_op(Morpheus, 12:08:01) i see it in ur eyes
\chan_op(Morpheus, 12:08:08) oh crap dads home gotta run bbl
\quit(Morpheus, 12:08:12) red pill or death!!!!
\chan_voice(Neo, 12:08:56) wtf
\chan_voice(Neo, 12:09:41) noob

\end_template

 

A special template processor, written in Lua, will provide the commands in the template scopes. Each excerpt will be its own file. Extra formatting and niceties aren't too important as long as the output is reasonable. In any case, I can later organize chapters/sections/whatever in their own files, which reference these excerpts. All together, easy. I write the work in some text editor like Sublime Text, invoke my processor on the command line, and then have a nicely formatted output I can marvel at.

 

Saw a photo on Facebook today of a guy chilling with his falcon at Mcdonalds. Just sitting there, on the side of the table.

That is a life goal if I've ever seen one.

 

When I worked at Taco Bell a truck came through the drive-thru and in the passenger seat there was a guy with a hawk sitting on his arm like it was the most casual thing in the world.

 

 

 

Just got an email saying I am loaded onto a certification for firefighting. Now just to ensure I have all 134 skills from rolling salvage tarps, to getting onto a fire truck, and actually fighting fires down. Also nice small 100 question exam before that, but its multiple choice.

 

 Congrats, when did you decide to go into firefighting?

 

Just kind of joined the department when I became old enough, 14 here to join as a junior, and kind of fell in love along the way. Probably decided in the last year or so to actually pursue it as a career. This cert is nice because I get it free from dept, presuming I pass.

 

Is it wildland or city stuff? I would love to do volunteer firefighting but I don't have 20/20 vision so I can't.

 

City stuff. Although you shouldn't have an issue with getting on, especially volunteer, unless there is a really large pool. I have nowhere near 20/20 vision.

 

Regardless by NFPA 1582 which states medical requirements, and NFPA is more or less universal, you only need 20/40 far visual acuity corrected vision to be a firefighter with like 20/100 far visual acuity uncorrected being accepted. Although many places may have their own standards. Along with that you can actually get glasses inserts for the masks.

City stuff. Although you shouldn't have an issue with getting on, especially volunteer, unless there is a really large pool. I have nowhere near 20/20 vision.

 

Regardless by NFPA 1582 which states medical requirements, and NFPA is more or less universal, you only need 20/40 far visual acuity corrected vision to be a firefighter with like 20/100 far visual acuity uncorrected being accepted. Although many places may have their own standards. Along with that you can actually get glasses inserts for the masks.

That's interesting. A friend of mine did the examination for a local department (semi-rural) here in Ontario and passed with flying colours except the vision test. Failing that alone was enough to disqualify him. I guess that department must have had separate standards...

 

City stuff. Although you shouldn't have an issue with getting on, especially volunteer, unless there is a really large pool. I have nowhere near 20/20 vision.

 

Regardless by NFPA 1582 which states medical requirements, and NFPA is more or less universal, you only need 20/40 far visual acuity corrected vision to be a firefighter with like 20/100 far visual acuity uncorrected being accepted. Although many places may have their own standards. Along with that you can actually get glasses inserts for the masks.

That's interesting. A friend of mine did the examination for a local department (semi-rural) here in Ontario and passed with flying colours except the vision test. Failing that alone was enough to disqualify him. I guess that department must have had separate standards...

 

Was he going for a paid position?

 

Regardless Ontario is its own little crap fest when it comes to this stuff from my knowledge, such as the unregulated training which almost caused a lawsuit earlier in the year when a guy died in the academy.

 

NFPA does sit as a minimum standard, so in a place like Ontario where I'm imagining lots of applicants they may have set the standard higher because they can.