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Introducing Unicons

Brad — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:40:40 -0800

Unicons is a little project I put together today, making it easier to insert some of those little Unicode symbols (like ☃ or ☺ or ✌) into web text fields. You know, the text fields you see on comment forms or Twitter.

The project is hosted at Github and feedback is welcome!

I hope Arwen is always this sincere.

Georgia — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 08:17:13 -0800

My mother no longer had a use for the matching canisters that she used when I was growing up. So I claimed them! In shipping them last week, she nested them together in the box, with their lids, as they're different sizes. Before everyone came home from school, I took them out as I'd found them and left them sitting on the table.

Later, while I was at my desk, I heard Arwen at the table. She picked up the biggest lid and said, "Huh?" Picked up lid #2 and said, "Huh?" Picked up lid number #3 and said, "Huh?" After the 4th, she put them back together and walked away satisfied.

~~~

The children's bathroom has a troublesome toilet, that is, Seth stores his movements and only lets them out every other day. It seems to work ok for Seth's system, but not the plumbing!

Arwen on the other hand poops like a rabbit. Well, she used to. When it got stopped up three days ago, Arwen was the last one who'd gone, but when I suggested this, she became agitated, "No! It wasn't me!" I said again that she was the last one who'd gone. I was not angry about it. She was not in trouble. It's not her fault she's growing and eating and the pipes aren't big enough! But she wouldn't have it. Refused to concede. I could tell, the clean and proper lady in her was insulted! The Peanut stopping up the toilet was unthinkable! If I had pressed the issue, she may have denied ever having pooped in her life.

To me, sincerity means letting people see your flaws, your confusion, even ineptitude. And somehow, it means stopping up the toilet, and you still refuse to admit such a crime against ladyhood, even though your mother can see right through you.

The cast is off.

Georgia — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:24:50 -0800

Seth only had his cast for 4 weeks. It felt like longer. After the cast was cut off this morning, the first thing he said about his arm was, "It feels really smushed." And you can tell his right arm is slightly smaller than his left. He touched things, saying everything feels different (one hand compared to the other).

He still favors the left hand and holds his right as if the cast is still on. He says he wants to keep writing with his left. And I tell him not to worry about it; just see what happens naturally.

I'm afraid he needs another bath or two before the old shoe smell goes away.

His pithy nuggets

Georgia — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:26:21 -0800

At supper tonight: "The wise-less say stupider things than the wise."

And just before Spongebob time: "A E I O and U are boys. And Y is sooooo busy!"

Go Seth!

Georgia — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:44:47 -0800

Today at flag salute, Seth will find out that he's been chosen to have Pizza With the Principle. He got a "character counts" from his teacher about a week ago. He'd helped pick up some papers that flew around on a windy day, and no one asked hiim! I told Daddy, at least he does that at school! We had a chuckle.

He has been a good sport lately. Three weeks ago, he fell off the monkey bars and broke his arm. I had just signed him up for karate the day before! (They're extending the contract time while he heals.) He had also started in the running club. For every mile they run, they earn a little plastic foot to go round a necklace. For Seth, we're now calling it the "walking club" because getting tripped up in all those little feet might be bad for a broken arm. So imagine a seven-year-old, competitive little boy getting left behind, and then passed on the following laps, by all of his little competitive peers. He finally cried about it yesterday 'cause he wants to run with everyone else. I reminded him that his arm is getting better, at that very moment and that it wouldn't last forever.

Interesting consequence of breaking his right arm, he is surprisingly ambidextrous now. See an awesome example here!

Apple and their Magic Mouse

Brad — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:47:11 -0800

via apple.com

I picked up an Apple Magic Mouse at the local Apple store Thursday night. It’s pretty nice! It’s amazing to me how Apple brought the mouse to the mass market (well, Dvorak didn’t like it) but have done a poor job in the design, until now.

What I like:

the slim design
even with batteries, this thing is light, but not too light
fewer moving parts, and no scroll wheel to keep clean
most of the top surface area is touch-sensitive
no more red light for the optical sensor!

What I don’t like:

it was a little pricey, but I remember paying $100 for the first Microsoft optic mouse

My other area of complaint can’t be summed up in a bullet. Basically, it’s the gestures. Apple has brought three slightly different sets of multi-touch gestures to the market in three different products: iPhone, the multi-touch trackpad and now the Magic Mouse. I’m going to look at five of these gestures in particular:

clicking (or tapping for iPhone)
content scrolling
content magnification
content rotation
content navigation

iPhone (and iPod touch of course) multi-touch gestures are really, really natural to me, but maybe because I’ve been using them longer than these other devices. Gestures on iPhone for these five interactions are:

clicking: single finger tap
content scrolling: single OR two-finger slide up/down
content magnification: two-finger pinch/spread
content rotation: two-finger rotate
content navigation: single finger slide left/right (as used for photo navigation)

It is interesting that iPhone recognizes both single and two-finger slides for content scrolling. I believe this is done with an eye towards what I am looking for and will elaborate on — a universal set of gestures.

Apple added multi-touch to their trackpads and some gestures to go with them. They differ from those on iPhone, namely because you aren’t interacting directly with a screen, but with an area that is controlling an on-screen cursor. This is a very different model from a multi-touch display which has no cursor to speak of. So, the multi-touch trackpad gestures are:

clicking: single finger click and/or tap (MacBook trackpads can be configured to accept a tap as a click action but they are no configured this way as a factory default)
content scrolling: two-finger slide; omnidirectional
content magnification: two-finger pinch/spread
content rotation: two-finger rotate
content navigation: three-finger swipe left/right (as used to navigate backward/forward in a browser or navigating a photo album in iPhoto)

Now those are mostly the same, with the exception of the content navigation gesture.

So how about this Magic Mouse? Gestures are:

clicking: single finger click (a tap on the surface does nothing)
content scrolling: single OR two-finger slide; omnidirectional
content magnification: none
content rotation: none
content navigation: two-finger swipe left/right (as used to navigate backward/forward in a browser or navigating a photo album in iPhoto)

The Magic Mouse may not support tap-to-click because it has a serviceable button, and having two ways to click would be kind of weird. But the multi-touch trackpads that also have a tactile click for the trackpad itself (including all the new MacBooks, save the MacBook Air which still has a separate button) and can be configured to support a tap to click as well. I personally prefer this configuration since there is less effort to do something that you do all the time.

As for gesture two… well, obviously, a single finger slide on the trackpad is the mouse equivalent of moving the mouse around. So we can’t expect Apple to change the trackpad’s single finger slide gesture to scroll content (unless they add an optical sensor to bottom of their laptops, but who wants to move their laptop around to move the cursor?). The other option is to use two-finger sliding to scroll on the Magic Mouse. Well… actually, that works too — you can use either a one or two-finger slide for scrolling.

What about the gestures for content magnification and rotation? The Magic Mouse is missing these for some reason unknown to me. The hardware should be capable of recognizing such gestures as recognized on iPhone/iPod touch and trackpads.

Content navigation gestures differ in number of fingers across all three: iPhone only needs one finger (granted, the use there is for full-screen pages, like on the Springboard and photo albums; this same gesture can’t be used for navigating forward and backward in Mobile Safari), the Magic Mouse uses two fingers and the trackpad uses three! The trackpad cannot use two fingers because two finger scrolling can scroll horizontally as well as vertically. And while you could conceivably use three fingers on the Magic Mouse (there may be a hardware limitation, but I doubt it), it’s kind of awkward to do so.

All in all, it’s a mixed bag. I can understand the decisions made around making these gestures differ from one context to another, but at the same time, it’s frustrating that they are different. This feels like an area where a real standard should emerge, one that can be used across these devices so consumers don’t have to re-train themselves when they shift from one device to another.

If I had my druthers, I would recommend the following as universal gestures:

clicking: single finger tap and (Mac only) right-click: two-finger tap
content scrolling: two-finger slide (single finger use for iPhone/Magic Mouse)
content magnification: two-finger pinch/spread
content rotation: two-finger rotate
content navigation: three-finger slides

This affects all three multi-touch devices in subtle ways: for the Magic Mouse, Apple would have to support tapping the surface to behave as a click and support both two and three-finger slides for content navigation. They would also have to implement gestures for content magnification and rotation (I suspect they plan to eventually). For iPhone, recognizing three finger slides to navigate content in Safari would be great, as it doesn’t support any gesture for that interaction today. A three-finger slide could also be treated as page turns for other contexts where a single finger slide work now. For multi-touch trackpads, Apple would need to make tap to click a default configuration, so this behavior is supported without having to reconfigure your trackpad to use it.

With these minor adjustments, a single set of gestures can work across all these devices. Optimized versions of these gestures can still be supported — you should still be able to scroll on iPhone and the Magic Mouse with one finger, but the universal gesture would be two fingers.

It’s kind of strange to me that Apple has shifted from a position where they insisted on grounds of usability that a single-button mouse was “The Way” for so long to where we are today: a variety of input devices with rich and complex interaction features that also have varying control schemes. Hopefully some standard will emerge… I’m sure someone at Apple is thinking about this too.

Having said all that, I really do recommend the Magic Mouse, particularly for desktops and for the Mac mini which is where I use mine.

Finally, one last wish of mine: I’d love to see an alternate Magic Mouse driver written that makes this device function just like a multi-touch trackpad. I’d like to just leave this mouse stationary and simply use my finger on the surface as I would a trackpad. So single finger sliding would move the cursor, instead of moving the mouse itself. And if that were possible, I’d also prefer to use the mouse in a sideways orientation, since screens are generally wider than tall. Apple could do this as an alternate configuration for their mouse, but this feels like a third-party thing and one I would gladly pay for.

Arwen's big year

Georgia — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 19:04:29 -0800

Well, the big event of Arwen's sixth year is that she started kindergarten. Three and a half hours every day and a sea of scampering 5 year old playmates to choose from. Class time is no longer about mud play, kitchen toys, and dress up. And the outcome? She's exhausted. I've never seen her this tired.

She had an easy summer; the hardest day any of us had was walking to and from the drive-through dairy for ice cream.

Her first two days of kindergarten were fine. After that, she's come home with tears, near tears, talking about tears she had in class, or quite grumpy about not getting ice cream or a play date.

She won't hold my hand at the mall, saying in a shrill voice, "I'm not little! I'm not little!" She tried to pull out of my hand on the sidewalk too, until a big Harley revved his engine, and she jumped like a cat.

In another week, she'll fall into her routine. She'll go to bed early, like she's supposed to. She'll learn a couple names at school and get some homework behind her to be proud of herself. Obviously they can't understand it completely, but I think a part of a child's mind must sense, "I'm in this for the long haul."

FIDM

Georgia — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:12:21 -0800

When Amie (pronounced Ah-mee, meaning grandma) visited this summer, she and Savannah made a skirt for Arwen. Using some fabric that never quite became curtains in our house in Connecticut, they sewed a piece of elastic in by hand, and the bottom hem of the curtain became the bottom hem of the skirt.

Savannah wants to be a fashion designer. One of her babysitters told her about a school in San Francisco, and she wants to go. You can't hold 9 year olds to their dreams, (I wanted to be a detective when I was little. Of course, Savannah says, "Maybe you still can.") but I encouraged it, saying, "Yay! I could come into the City, and we could go shopping together." which is probably the best encouragement a girl could hear.

She just needs a sewing machine. Mine died several years ago in Connecticut. Savannah sits in the floor, like I did at 16. She lays out hand-me-down fabric from me. By hand, she sews clothes for her American Girl dolls.

Mr. Luke Skywalker and his mommy

Georgia — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:28:31 -0800

Yes. Seth still says "Mommy" sometimes. Strange to type it, but it sounds natural for him to say it, although I can tell he's trying to use it in the right context.

Today after school he held my hand to the car and said sadly, "Whenever I think about the first Star Wars, I wanna cry."

Assuming he meant the so-far-forbidden-episode with the lava, I said, "You'll get older though, and be able to see them all."

He said, "No, I mean when Luke Skywalker.... Mister Luke Skywalker had to say goodbye to his mommy, never to see her again, and went into outer space."

Today was his second and obviously tiring day of (all-day) first grade.

Arwen is 5.

Georgia — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:15:56 -0800

Arwen is 5. She never misses a meal, first one to the table, last one to leave. This is endearing to me because she is adventurous when it comes to food (and making friends).

Her temper is as big as her appetite, but we know all the right privileges to withhold to get her best behavior out of her. She's a foot stomper, shutting her door but crying loudly enough for the sound to carry through on our behalf.

Getting herself ready these summer mornings means three ponytails (from her big sister), a bracelet on one wrist, a watch on the other, a flashy necklace, and one of my hand-me-down bags to complete the look.

She doesn't understand the newness of going off to kindergarten. She's eager to tell everyone she'll start kindergarten, but I know she can't understand the bigness of the school or the student body. We tell her that she'll see Seth in passing through the kindergarten fence. He'll wave and tell his friends, "That's my baby sister." She'll wave and say, "That's my big brother." This is the only year that all three of them will be on the same school ground.

"Baking" some fried eggs

Georgia — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:09:46 -0800

We didn't bake them, but it was one of a few lessons Seth got today at lunch. I said if y'all want ice cream, you'll either have an egg or nuts first. (They already ate a day's worth of fruit.)

On his own initiative he put the kiddie chef coat on, and cracked his first egg into a little pan of butter. He read, yes he's reading a LOT now, the egg carton said "organic free range". He learned what a range is, where animals can run and play. He learned the song "Home on the Range" which I got stuck in my head while we were cooking. He learned that even though the butter is salted, I like to add a bit more to our eggs.

He ate it and returned to the kitchen to fry Savannah's egg also. Funny that he cracked her egg yolk but not his own. He was not intimidated by the heat, which means I had to add a little fear to the recipe.

The memory of it cancels out their squabbling in the backyard later.

I know what my Power is.

Georgia — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:37:49 -0800

I was kickin' back, digesting after supper tonight when Seth said to me, "I know what my Power is."

This sounded like superhero mythology to me, so I perked up. I could hear the capital "P" in what he said and asked him to explain.

"My Power is Strength." He loves making muscles with both arms. He's very lean. Even his tushy has about the smallest amount of fat on it that a six year old boy's tushy can have and still be a tushy. So he's all muscle, but there's no bulk in his biceps. Very cute.

He continued, "I've been getting a lot of boo boos." He showed me his latest boo boo, a scratch created by sliding on the tanbark at recess today. He reminded me that I'd once said the more boo boos he gets the stronger he'll be.

I remembered then the conversation we'd had a few weeks ago. With so much repetition, trying to get through their selective hearing, (almost always with orders) I never know how much children actually hear, my guess is, more than most parents realize. I believe they especially hear concepts, the little sponges. They can make the same request 3 and 4 times in the hope that I'll finally give them the answer they want. Then when I explain an abstract, albeit unsolicited, thought, they can grab on with their minds in the right phase of development to completely understand, and even make the practical application to themselves.

But tonight I had to correct him about our old conversation. The boo boos will make you tougher. He made his muscles. He told me that I could be tough too. I said, "Oh, no. I don't wanna be too tough. I'm a mama." He walked out of the room with arms flexed saying, "I wanna be TOUGH."

What led to Savannah's first piano lesson and the things that naturally followed

Georgia — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:06:26 -0800

Savannah had her first piano lesson a week ago tomorrow. So I'm prepping for her second lesson. I'm not really a piano teacher, but it all falls into place, especially since she's had some music in school and played the recorder, just like I did when I was young.

I'd been waiting for a full size piano. We have a nice keyboard, one that works through Garage Band, full-sized keys, but only 4 octaves. My friend Lucy and I are exchanging Spanish lessons (para mi) for help with her English pronunciations and obscure words. (Her English is very good.) She is learning piano from her husband. She is motivated and ambitious, and I'm grateful for those qualities' rubbing off on me. She was my impetus for finally sitting down to Savannah's first lesson.

And wouldn't you know it, I now have the option to choose between two different pianos which need homes, for free. I've yet to get contact numbers, and they could have very well found new homes already. But it's lovely how these things seem to work out.

On a related topic, I spent some time singing a week ago. I cleaned the kitchen with Emmylou Harris on, and when I finished cleaning, I had to just sit down and sing. She demanded it. I noticed a long time ago that my voice is much better with a strong dose of confidence. Last Monday, I sung with more confidence than I've ever felt. It was so uplifting that it made my stomach hurt. And I've actually avoided doing it in again in the last week. I'm hoping for singing lessons, but I have more pressing projects right now.

But as a result of the singing, I did pick up my guitar; it had been a year. Then when I tried to tune the thing, the second string broke. The strings were old anyway. This brought me yesterday to our music shop on Main street which I've thought of going into for the last 3 years. I got the strings and a guitar stand to keep it out and easy to pick up again, for anyone in the family who wants to play.

Something to teach your Mama

Georgia — Tue, 12 May 2009 22:06:44 -0800

My nine year old approached me this afternoon while I was reading and told me, "In 5th grade, we get to dissect a squid and owl pellets."

"Owl pellets?" I asked. I assumed she meant owl poop.

"You don't know what owl pellets are?" she asked suddenly. And there it is, I could see it. She loves to find something she knows that I don't.

She explained that they will dissect the indigestible parts of the mouse from the owl's stomach, bones, hair and such... I looked at her in disbelief and asked, "What?" a couple of times.

This is disgusting to me. Really glad she's getting a great education but glad for once that mine was apparently not as good as it could've been. All we ever dissected were frogs. I googled owl pellets. She's right, of course. I was taken to a site that marketed the pellets for sale in bulk to classrooms, along with a book called Owl Vomit.

Arwen's thoughtfulness

Georgia — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:23:38 -0800

Yesterday she dug for worms in The Pit in our backyard. She designated their family roles based on size. Holding earthworms in her palm she pointed, "This is the mama, and this is the baby."

In our brotherless hour today we had a date at Starbucks. Arwen got the vanilla milk and little vanilla scone. She also picked up a chocolate milk for Seth. (I hadn't even thought to take him anything! Trying to be frugal.) So she nibbled her scone and drank her vanilla milk and said in her 4 year old accent, "Did you take a bite of that and then drink your coffee? It's really good together." My scone was maple; I took a bite and drank my coffee. I agreed. It's very good together.