the ideal height

too old to be on this webbed site. trans, she/her pronouns. this pretended to be a serious blog at some point.

[ilikespoons]

Evolution of a small random walker

Hi everyone! Long time no post :) Recently, I've started going through my copy of Nature of Code again, and working through, well, not everything, but some bits. One of the first things the book talks about is random walkers and random walkers controlled by probabilities. So, I dove into p5.js, trying to relearn javascript while doing something hopefully interesting.

(the structure of this post: I will write up stuff, link to a bl.ocks javascript animation and post screenshots. There is a github link at the end of the post where all the code will live. All the js links are completely randomized and might require a few refreshes to get pleasing color combinations)

So, what about a line-based random walker - something with a grid-like background maybe, with lines of fixed width, that will always create squares if it loops in on itself. My first attempt went well, but I made one crucial mistake in calculating the lengths of diagonals. Still, the results were pretty cool:

random walker with errors in calculations/click for animation

Screenshots:

Well, at least that error was easily found and fixed. Despite really liking the results, I went ahead towards what I was actually aiming to make. The "grid based" random walker ended up being interesting but... not enough:

"grid-based" random walker

Screenshots:

Maybe making multiple walkers and giving them highly-saturated, mostly-transparent colors will make for an interesting result? As it turns out, yes, yes it will. The end result of this was something that reminded me of city metro line maps and Mini-Metro.

Metro lines

Screenshots:

Aaaaand... I thought I was done. I was done, right? Start with a simple idea, pursue it a bit and whee pretty results. I had something that was nice to look at, produced pretty images, and seemed... done. At least, I thought so. marienna, however, disagreed.

- "Why can't you make the area fill up, as the lines start forming triangles?" - "well, um, it's not what I had in mind when I started this" - "You're wrong. You should make it with triangles that fill with color"

I did not really intend to go back to it, but she was right, there was more to do with this - the grid was inelegant and required stupid, unnecessary calculations, and if I switched to actually having a proper grid that stored colors of lines that passed through, it would make filling the area much easier.

So, what was wrong with the previous versions? If you look at the first example, the problem is obvious there - instead of actually having a proper grid, I only had line lengths and was "randomly" (ish) selecting angles, using polar transformations to calculate where the next line segment will end.

To make this better, I instead opted to have a grid, an actual 2-dimensional array that stored colors for each grid point. Calculating the new endpoint of the line segment is then as simple as rounding the cos() and sin() of the selected angle, which gives an integer in the [-1, 1] range, then adding those to the current grid position, only multiplying by the side of the grid square after that.

This... might have gotten confusing. To make this obvious to myself and to make completely sure that all calculations were correct, I made a few intermediary versions. The first one was to make sure everything works well with the grid:

Visible grid

Screenshot:

Afterwards, I needed to make sure that the colors were stored correctly inside the grid. The "bubble train" effect was pretty nice:

Bubbles!

Screenshot:

Ok. DONE. All the prep was there, it was time to fill out the triangles. Again, marienna and I did not completely agree. She wanted the fully-opaque, hypnotic, chaotic, version:

Triangles! Chaos!

Screenshots:

The hypnotic chaos that causes my eyes to unfocus and start seeing the triangles in 3d was nice, but if you know anything about me, you know I'm all about the soft pastels. Going back to something like 20% opacity for the colors produced something that made me extremely happy:

Pastel joy

Screenshots:

And, while I was sure I was done after the mini-metro-like, now I am pretty certain that there's a lot more work to do here. Some of the things I am thinking about/planning:

- instead of just randomly(ish) selecting an angle, actually apply random forces to the walkers, then normalize and snap to grid. This will allow me to later maybe calculate line density at points in the grid, and make points with high densities act as repulsors, or somesuch

- find a good set/several good sets of colors that work well together instead of randomizing them every time.

- make it possible to add arbitrary border lines that will force the walkers back. Make the walkers "push through" these borders for short periods of time, in order to create a more central structure, with more elaborate branching on the outside.

Finally, if this was interesting and you want to see the code, you can find it on github.

[insomniacstumblings]

I made a thing. A seascape thing in processing

[ilikespoons]

I haven't really been here in a long while - a lack of time and energy to actually do any angry cooking has been chronic in the last period. But expect more from me here nowadays. Food, processing, a whole load of things for your eyes. Here's a thing I made this weekend, waves in processing. I'll write up more about it here, soon. Promise. For sure.

[ilikespoons]

Leftover veggies risotto

So, you've been cooking, right. Food is awesome. You've been wallowing in self-pity about not having a date for valentine's and you're probably a bloated, fat monstrosity. I'm going to eat healthy! I will buy VEGETABLES! So let's make a fucking risotto with vegetables. Here's what you'll need (these are very precise measurements. Follow them to the letter or it will be ruined): Olive oil, some Butter, because food needs taste. Seriously, if you're cooking without butter, that's, like, um, yeah. Fuck that shit. Half a big onion. Some shallots. Same as with butter. Chicken breast, one. or two, maybe you're really hungry. Rice, enough for you, since you're eating all alone A bit of corn Two handfulls of peas. Unless you have, like, bigfoot hands, then maybe just one. Half a green and half a red bell pepper. Some vegetable or chicken stock. Whatever else you have left over in the fridge. You also want some garlic, but, hey, don't buy any. You surely have some in the fridge. I mean, it's not like garlic can go bad, right? Idiot. Ok, once you're done bitching about the garlic situation, chop your shit up. Like, into cubes or squares or triangles or stars. Whatever floats your boat. Remember that you also bought some mushrooms, so chop them up too. Like, 5-6 small ones. Also, cook your rice a bit and put it into the photo. Because preparation. Undercooking it is ok since you will need to add it to the pan later on. Ok. Stuff: READY. Take your large sautee pan or wok thing and pour some olive oil into it. Heat it up and add the butter. However much you want. Leave at medium heat until the butter melts. While that's happening, slightly season your chicken breast - salt and pepper only. The butter has melted so toss the onions and shallots into the pan and heat until they start turning transparent. Afterwards, add in the chicken stir until lightly cooked and evenly white. Add in the shrooms and lightly salt. Stir. Realize it looks horrible. Start doubting yourself. Start hating yourself. This blog is dumb. Why the fuck am I even doing this? I don't even really like risotto. Well, maybe I do. Whatever. LOOK I MADE A PICTURE. ART! Ok, seriously, though, this looks like shit. Add in some colorful veggies to make it less horrible. Nope. That isn't enough. Add in more! Ok. That looks better. SHIT. Realize you've put in too many things. You can't eat this yourself. Maybe invite someone over? Realize you need to make friends. Add some stock. Just a bit. Well, that's not enough for this monstrous amount of food. Fudge it and add some water and, like, a chicken stock cube. Ewwww. Whatever. This is ok. Bring to boil and then turn the heat down to low. Keep simmering. Oh fuck. This also needs rice. Now it's definitely too much food. Pretend that you're going to eat the leftovers tomorrow, even though you know it will go bad in your fridge. Still, it doesn't totally look like dog turds. Maybe this will be edible. Look around and realize how much you've fucked up your kitchen. "I'll totally clean this up later." "Maybe tomorrow." "By friday the latest!" Pour yourself a plate and bitterly enjoy the food. Alone. It is totally not a replacement for anything in your life. You don't miss hanging out with people. Intimacy is totally for losers.

[ilikespoons]

Tom Ka Gai

The Japanese place across the street mocks me. They mock me with their insane Tom Yum Kung soup that is necessary to my existence and well-being. I enter and they look at me, smile and wink to each other - "oh. it's the Tom Yum guy. Better get him his fix..." Their control over my life ends today As I wasn't in the mood for prawns, I've decided to go with a much more straightforward chicken. For this thing, you will need: About 1l of chicken stock 1-2 chicken breasts A bunch of lemongrass 3-4 kaffir limes leaves (fresh or frozen) or, if unavailable, 3tbsp of dried leaves 1 cup shiitake mushrooms 1 thumb-size piece galangal or ginger 1-3 fresh red chilies (or substitute 1/2 to 3/4 tsp. dried crushed chili). I used a mix of tiny, insanely hot chilies and larger, milder red chilies. 1/2 to 1 can good-quality, fatty coconut milk A small, red bell pepper A handful of cherry tomatoes 2-2 Tbsp. lime juice (I used about 3 limes, total) 2+ Tbsp. fish sauce 1 Tbsp. soy sauce handful fresh basil leaves optional: other vegetables, like broccoli or baby corn. Let's get started. First off, put your stock into a large soup pot and bring it to boil. If you have any leftover chicken bones, add them into the stock now. While that is heating up, slice your lemongrass, slice the chicken into small, rough stripes, cut up your shiitake shrooms Cut up your chilies and do that thing you do to garlic. you know. mince it? whatever. Just make it squished. Well, that was easy. By now, your stock should be all nice and boil-ey. Take all of this, add in the lime leaves and drop it into the boiling stock. Let it boil on a medium-high heat for 5-10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Now, while this all boiling and cooking, let's prepare the softer veggies that don't need to cook that long: Slice the ginger into thin slices. They should be longer than mine, but about that thickness Baby corn is awesome. Wash it really, really well so that it doesn't taste like it's been taken out of a can and chop up into bite-sized chunks. The red bell pepper will add awesome smells and tastes. Make nice, thin slices If you like things that are good, you like tomatoes. Tomatoes ROCK. Halve or quarter a bunch of cherry tomatoes. You can't go overboard with them. YAY that was easy. By now, your chicken is cooked inside the soup. If it's not, go watch something on youtube. I can wait. Once it's done, turn the heat down to medium-low, and plop all the veggies into the soup. Add the coconut milk, fish sauce and soy sauce. Stir and simmer for a few minutes. While this is simmering, squeeze out the limes. Their day has come. Turn the heat to low, add in the lime juice and stir. Now comes the taste test. Try the soup and add in more fish sauce if it lacks saltiness or flavor, a bit of sugar if it's too wild or sour, or more lime juice if it's not sour enough. Finally, if it's too hot or you want it creamier, add more coconut milk, and if it's not hot enough, go overboard on the chilies. It's cool. You can do it. Finally, serve to yourself because you have no fucking friends. Or invite some friends over. Whatever.

[ilikespoons]

Spicy garlic and lime bean enchiladas

(enchilada, gotta lot of that 'preme and i'm paying nada) Starting today, we are going to cook. Cook the fuck out of foods! On the menu today: Enchiladas. Spicy vegetarian bean enchiladas with garlic and lime and cumin oh my! I didn't really take any prep photos this time, mostly because it was kinda boring and pretty fast. Here's what we'll need (I totally stole and modified the recipe off of http://www.canyoustayfordinner.com/ - Just sayin'): some olive oil a bit of butter 1 medium-sized red onion, thinly sliced 1 medium-sized red bell pepper, thinly sliced 3+ cloves garlic, minced 1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained juice of 1-2 limes 2 tablespoons cumin 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper, more or less depending on spice preference a bit of minced fresh cilantro pinch of salt pinch of sugar 1 can of black or red kidney beans, drained and rinsed 1 cup cooked brown rice 4 whole grain tortillas (or however many fit into your baking dish) red enchilada sauce or something similar. 1 cup freshly grated cheese Start by heating up a large wok or saute pan over a medium fire. Add olive oil and butter and wait until the butter melts. Drop in the onion and pepper and stir until soft. Add the garlic and stir until you begin smelling the awesome that is garlic. Then quickly pour in the tomatoes, lime juice, cumin, cayene pepper, cilantro sugar and salt. Stir and leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes over the same mediumish fire (low heat is much better than high for this dish.) After leaving the mixture to simmer (and tasting occasionally), add in the beans and the brown rice. Remove from heat and stir. While this cools off a bit, take your deep baking dish and grease it up with some butter. get your fingers all up in there. Cover the bottom with a bit of enchilada sauce and then bust out the tortillas! Plop some of the bean mixture onto a tortilla, wrap it up and place, gently, into the dish, seam-down. After placing all your tortillas, spread some more enchilada sauce on top and cover with grated cheese. Pre-heat your oven to ~180C (~350F), tent the dish loosely with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and let the cheese bubble and brown for 5 additional minutes before removing from the oven to cool. Enjoy your delicious, delicious enchiladas!