Sep 29, 2005

Three Droplets

Watering my plants at work left three perfect droplets on the waxy leaf of this baby cherry tree. I was insanely busy, but sometimes you just have to stop, take a moment, and appreciate the beauty around you.

nature, macro, cherry, art, hires, stock photography, CC-BY-SA nature, macro, cherry, art, hires, stock photography, 
CC-BY-SA nature, macro, cherry, art, hires, stock photography, 
CC-BY-SA nature, macro, cherry, art, hires, stock photography, 
CC-BY-SA

This little trio sat atop the leaf until they evaporated, being perfect photography subjects as I snapped away. I was even able to get the Empire State building in the background of the last shot.

Creative Commons License
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The Image to ASCII Converter

As a user of BBSes back in the pre-internet days, I have a special appreciation for ASCII art. Back then, image files were a download you needed to wait hours for (uncompressed bitmaps being prevalent) and then open in a viewer program, either in dos or windows 3.1 if you were lucky.

Instead, images were cleverly crafted from letters, numbers and symbols, squeezing some semblance of UI and page design out of the text only format of most BBSes.

Now, most ASCII art is relegated to .nfo files provided by warez distribution groups. Amazingly, the artform continues to advance - I've seen some of the most impossibly intricate designs weaved around text in those files, despite the crude nature of using other text as images.

A few days ago I added the Image To ASCII HTML Converter to my del.icio.us bookmarks (which you can subscribe to a feed of if so inclined). Today I finally got a chance to run an image through it that's well suited to the artform. Without further ado, I give you the "ASCII snakey worm thing!"

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...........................            ...............
.......................  :C@@@@@@@@@@@O:   ...........
....................  c8@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@C  .........
..................  c@@@@@@@8o:..c8@@@@@@@@@O. .......
.................  O@@@@@@O :8. C@:o@@@@@@@@@8. ......
................ .8@@@@@@8 c@O  .@o:@@@@@@@@@@O  .....
...............  C@@@@@@@8 .@O  .8.c@@@@@@@@@@@. .....
..............  :@@@@@@@@@O  o:   :@@@@@@@@@@@@: .....
..............  o@@@@@@@@@@@8o::o8@@@@@@@@@@@@@. .....
..............  O@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@C ......
..............  8@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@8O8@@@@@@@O  ......
..............  O@@@@@O8@@@@@@@@@@o8@8@@@@@@o  .......
..............  O@@@@:    o@@@@@@@@@@@@@@8c  .........
..............  C@@@@8C.     ::cccoocc.   ............
.............   C@@@@@@@@8O:         .................
............   c@@@@@@@@@@@8  ........................
........    .C@@@@@@@@@@@@@@o ........................
.......  C@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@c ........................
......  O@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@8  ........................
.....  c@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@. .........................
.....  O@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@O   .........................
.....  8@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@c   ..........................
....  :@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@:   ...........................
..... :@@@@@@@@@@@@@@8.              .................
..... .@@@@@@@@@@@@@c     ......        ..............
..... .8@@@@@@@@@@c  :O@@@@@@@@@@@@@Oc    ............
.....  O@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@O   ...........
.....  :@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@8  ...........
......  o@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@.  ..........
.......  :@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@c  ...........
.........  :O@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@8c    ...........
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