Diary of a Network Geek

This is actually cooler than it sounds.

No, seriously, it really is.
As a curious and creative person, I have often found myself wondering just how big certain things are. When I wrote more, I was especially interested in the standard size of things like rooms and apartments, not to mention cars and houses and so on. I mean, sure, it was probably a little silly on my part and just a distraction from actually writing, but it was concievable that a plot could hinge on the size of a standard shower in a regular apartment verses a luxury bath in a lavish mansion. You know, theoretically. If I wrote stories that took place in apartments or mansions. But, I digress. Again.
Well, now, I can have all those questions answered, and so can you, thanks to a website called Dimensions.Guide, which was created by the architecture practice called Fantasic Offense. They’ve created drawings of an incredible array of everyday, and not-so-everyday, things people may need to know the dimensions for. They’ve got IKEA bookshelves, swimming pools, parking garages, bathrooms, bedrooms, living rooms and more. And, some of that “more” includes things like the dimensions of a Golden Retriever, a velociraptor, Iron Man, C-3PO, and the Iron Throne. Not to mention a vast array of other useful, and fun, things to know the dimensions of.
Oh, and they’re adding more via a webform request page, so the database will continue to grow.
The files are downloadable in DWG, for CAD drawing software, SVG and JPG, too. As of this writing, all for free for you to use in your own projects.
Kooky fun from architects. What will they think of next?

This post originally appeared on Use Your Words!

No, not a cad program by the flat-pack king.

Rather cad files of 21 of IKEA’s designs.  Yep, now you can suck those ubiquitous IKEA designs right into your high-end architect’s cad program and use them to design your house.  ‘Cause, you know, after paying for an architect in this economy, how much money are you going to have left over for fancy furniture?

No, seriously, I just thought it was fun that someone had made cad drawings of IKEA stuff in 3D so you can use it to lay out your house or apartment.  The files are actually in Google Sketchup format, for guys like me who are always trying to do more with less, especially less expensive software!

Ah, the age old question!

So, I’ve been working on a blog in secret. No, dear readers, I haven’t been two-timing you like a cad, I promise. What I have been doing is working on a more professional blog that’s more focused than this one. And, therein lies the rub. I have a topic in mind and I originally had a goal of writing 52 posts before launching. That’d be one post a week already on the shelf just waiting for me to roll it live as the mood struck me. One whole year of weekly posts about this one, particular topic.

Now, I meant that as a base, a starting point. I was going at it like starting a business and gathering more than enough assets together before going live so as not to disappoint later. But, now, I’m thinking it may be too much.
You see, dear readers, I’m having bit of trouble writing all 52 of these little devils. It doesn’t seem like much of a task, at first, writing 52 short essays on a single, rather broad, topic. But, with a full-time gig and another blog and all that Lost to watch on DVD, well, it’s gotten far more difficult that I could have imagined. Also, I’m starting to think I may have been a little too ambitious. For example, I stumbled across Scott Berkun’s site, which has an Essay section, and he has 60 essays spread out over about ten years. Ten years! Holy Flying Spaghetti Monster! That’s far, far less than I thought I should have.

So, I put the question to you, faithful readers, how many and how often should a focused blog post long, brilliant, insightful essays on topic? Is once a week too often? Not often enough? Just right? Or, perhaps, is once every two weeks more reasonable, with smaller bits in between?
Vote in the poll and let me know! (Also, feel free to comment!)

IronManStub

Originally uploaded by Network Geek

I saw Iron Man Friday night.

I love comic books and used to read lots of them on a regular basis. Iron Man wasn’t one of those I followed, but he was such a big part of the Marvel Universe that he was more than a “blip” on the radar of comic fans. The movie was great.

First of all, what’s not to love about a millionaire-playboy who’s also an engineering geek? An early scene shows him blowing off an engineering awards ceremony to play craps in Vegas while flirting with hot chicks. Oh, and did I mention he’s a bit of an alcoholic? They don’t play this up much in the movie, but there’s enough of it there from the comic book to add an extra dimension to
Robert Downey, Jr.’s Tony Stark and makes him an interesting character. Also, it doesn’t hurt that Downey is a recovering addict himself.
And, as someone else pointed out in one of the many, many reviews of this movie, they actually show Stark doing engineering design work! How cool is that? I’m betting there were some geeks in the audience that would have really liked to have his customized CAD environment. True 3D? Voice activated with interactive, touch-based controls? It made me want to design something.

But, don’t forget, this was an action movie! Boy howdy was it! It starts off with Stark getting captured by terrorists in the desert, jumps to a flashback to show us how he got there, then switches back to the terrorists who are forcing him to build a missile for them, like he designed for the U.S. military. Instead, he builds the Iron Man v1.0 suit from scraps. Naturally, he uses it to break out of his desert cave prison and return to the “civilization” of the West Coast Hollywood military industrial complex. And, of course, he’s a changed man. He vows to stop building weapons and promises to use his amazing engineering powers for good, not evil. Sadly, his partner in the business has other ideas. So, while Tony is falling in love with his gorgeous assistant, Pepper Potts, played by the “ow-it’s-so-bright-it-hurts-my-eyes” beautiful Gwyneth Paltrow, Obidiah Stane, his erstwhile partner, played by Jeff Bridges, goes into the desert to recover the abandoned Iron Man v1.0 armor.
Naturally, an epic battle ensues, but I’ll leave the rest for you to see in the movie.

Let me add, though, that the special effects were fabulous. The technology was spot on and absolutely believable. Robert Downey, Jr. was a totally believable Tony Stark and, frankly, was the perfect choice for this film. He was brilliant. Rumor has it that there’s already talks of an Iron Man 2. I hope so!
Also, if you haven’t seen the movie yet, stay all the way through the credits. There’s a cameo at the end which sets up both Iron Man 2 and the long rumored Avengers movie. I think it happens to be a crossover from the latest Hulk movie, too, though I’m not positive about that. Yet.
Oh, and look for a very funny cameo by Stan Lee playing a Hugh Hefner-like character! Go Stan! Excelsior!

In short, if you’re a comic book fan or a science-fiction fan, you absolutely need to see this movie!