SVG Experiment

SVG Experimentation

Yes I know the image above is off-centered and I know it is not detailed or anything. It is the result of a couple of hours of experimenting, learning, and playing. I am tired and decided to just show off rather than redraw it again.

I spent a couple of hours today playing with an SVG file. For those of you who do not know, svg files are images that can be edited in a text editor. SVG files are crisp and clean at any scale. The file above was created in a text editor and in the original iteration was somewhere between 50 and 75 lines of code.

Originally, everything was plotted out by starting a line at a point and ending it at another point. Long, boring, tedious and mind numbing was that procedure. If I had to draft cabinet plans that way all the time I might have to quit my job or take up heavy drinking.

A few months ago when I started learning about SVG, or at least the syntax of it, I discovered the <path> element. I also discovered that MDN is about as clear as mud on some things. While I did played around with <path> a few months ago I did not really understand much of what I was doing.

I looked at my 60-odd lines of code today and said there simply has to be a better way to do this. So to Google I ventured and after a couple of other fruitless pages I found this wonderful page by Chris Coyier. About a 1/4 of the way down the page is a table that clearly explains in about 100 words what MDN couldn't explain in a few hundred words on their site.

I experimented with <path> for a little while using the above site as a reference. Low and behold one can use relative distances! I no longer need to go from point x to point y on every stinking line in the drawing. I can draw a whole plan relative to the point I started at. That'll cut my math down to NOTHING!

At the end of it all today I probably can cut the time it takes to draw a cabinet in a text editor in half and my 60-odd lines of code was reduced to 24 lines AND 8 of those lines are comment lines and 2 more lines (the circles) are wholly unecessary. So, for what is in this picture there are only 14 lines of code and that can be reduced as well.

For those curious here is the code:
<svg viewBox="0 0 232 232" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<rect x="100" y="0" width="132" height="139 " fill="white" stroke="black" stroke-width="1" />
<g stroke="black" fill="white" stroke-width="0.5">
<!-- upper unit top -->
<path d="M 222 10 h -96 L 116.9 19.1 h 96 z" />
<!-- backsplash -->
<path d="M 126 76 h 96 v -30 h -96 v 30" />
<!-- upper unit front -->
<path d="M 116.9 19.1 v 36 h 96 v -36" />
<!-- upper unit left side -->
<path d="M 222 10 v 36 l -9.1 9.1 v -36 l 9.1 -9.1" />
<path d="M 126 76 v 0 36 h 0 96 v 0 -36 z" />
<!-- backsplash -->
<circle cx="222" cy="46" r="1" fill="red" />
<circle cx="126" cy="76" r="1" fill="green" />
<!-- 3 edges of counter top -->
<path d="M 126 76 l -16.97 16.97 h 96 l 16.97 -16.97" />
<!-- front of cabinet -->
<path d="M 109.03 92.97 v 36 h 96 v -36 " />
<!-- right side of cabinet -->
<path d="M 222 76 v 36 L 205.03 128.97 v -36 z" />
</g>
</svg>


Escaping the Algorithm

 Among the various New Year's Resolutions this author has this year a couple that will not be fully resolved in a year or even a lifetime. One is escaping the matrix. This is a life change wherein one challenges everything in one's life and figures out who one really is and what one really believes. The other is escaping the algorithm. Escaping the algorithm is where one tries to limit other's influence in life.

The best examples of escaping the matrix involve discussing issues like politics, religion, philosophy, etc. which are taboo subjects on this blog. Discussing anything like those things opens up a whole hornet's nest of controversy and we're not going there until this author can figure out how to discuss it with a reasonable degree of neutrality.

However, escaping the algorithm is less controversial. It is a form of digital minimalism and doesn't really involve any discussion of taboo subjects. It actually involves choosing what you view online (and even in real life too) and ignoring the rest of it.  We will continue this post with a discussion of the online aspect and leave the offline world for you to cipher out.

Back late last year I signed up for Facebook/Instagram/Threads accounts. The sole purpose for this resignation to the evil empire was to get on Facebook Marketplace to find old tools and to sell my wares. Well, of course, this turned into a "thing" and I started following a few people and groups. Then one day I noticed that I was on Facebook and I didn't see any post by any person that I followed. This continued on for the next few visits too. One day I noticed that in the "people you may know" category not only did I not know any of those people neither did any of the friends that I followed on Facebook. One day I got on Facebook and actually timed how long I scrolled my timeline before I saw a post from a person or group that I actually followed. It was 15 minutes!

I spent 15 minutes of my life filling my head with what Facebook wanted me to see and not what I wanted to see. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the algorithm in action. Science has repeatedly warned up that what we fill our heads with influences our lives and mental states. Remember COVID lockdowns? We all bought into some crazy stuff back then.

It was/is time to change.

Social Media

Most of my parasocial media platforms have been eliminated or have fallen into disuse.

The Facebook account is retained mostly for business purposes as was stated above but the apps were removed from my devices and I hardly ever look at my timeline there. If I post anything there it will be a link back to this blog. Similarly, my Instagram and my Threads are on waivers as well. Truth is I haven't looked at Instagram and Threads in months aside from looking them up just now to get the links for this post.

I do not have an account on Twitter, or Bluesky, or Reddit or just about any other of the hip and trendy social media sites. I do have an account on the Mastodon platform but haven't used it in years. I'd have to figure out the password before I could even find the link for you.

News

Given the current climate that we are in, this recovering news junkie slipped and started following a few news type things online. I figured out that I was going down some rabbit trails that I neither needed nor wanted to go down. So gone are news apps like Google News or NPR or BBC or anything other danged app that gives me news. They are all algorithmic anyway.

Somewhere along the way in my recent news relapse I decided to follow news outlets directly opposite of mainstream stuff. In about a week I figured out that left or right, progressive or alt-right, Dem or Rep, they were all full of poop and that their beloved news was probably written by some AI bot and that I have no way confirm whether or not any of the news had any basis in truth.

I no longer see the news and if something newsy pops up I figure out a way to keep it from popping up again.

Email is King

People can bellyache about email all they want but the fact of the matter is that over half of the world has an email account. It is the simplest and easiest (and probably cheapest) way to get in touch with anyone anywhere anytime.

In addition to it being a fabulous communication tool between people, many websites offer email newsletters. I have subscribed to a few related to woodworking and computer geekery and have found them to be a delight. I don't have to hunt down the website. The newsletter comes to me. They are according to my interest and by my choosing. 

RSS, nearly the King

Most of the rest of my escaping the algorithm plan involves the old skool cybertech called RSS. I won't go into great detail about what RSS is and how to use it but, simply stated you find a website, blog, podcast, vlog, or whatever that you like. You can find the "feed" for that site and you can plug that feed into a feedreader and whenever the site updates your feedreader will fetch the feed for you and all you have to do to read the site is open your feed reader and read the update.

The beauty of RSS is that YOU choose what you read and when you read it. No algorithm. No personal information sucking accounts. No giving your email out online. No giving of credit card info.

For beginners in RSS I recommend Feedly. It is fairly easy to use but it is an online thing. If you prefer to not have another online account there is a myriad of feedreaders out there with a range of features. Find one you like, plug in a feed or two and have fun.

Less Screentime

In addition to the absence of all the doom and gloom, one of the greatest benefits of this new lifestyle is that my screentime has shrunk. It doesn't take all that long to read online stuff that really matters to me. Everything that matters comes to me via text or email or rss. It is super simple, clean and it is not a timesink.

No Mouse for the Computer

 Last Updated: 9:05 AM 6/9/2024

NOTE: This is a work-in-progress. This page will be updated as I learn how to do this.

Many people are impressed by folks who can print a page[^1] or that they can copy/paste,[^2]: or just about anything without the use of a mouse. For people who use the computer for hours everyday using a mouse seems less efficient than just typing in a couple of key commands and being done with it. For some, like yours truly, just trying to find the cursor in all this visual real estate can be a chore sometimes. So I have decided to find out if using the keyboard for what I do on a computer is any easier for me. I doubt it will speed me up in any substantive manner as I don't know very many of the commands and will have to use reference materials repeatedly throughout this experiment.

Windows

Also of note, this experiment will be done using the Windows side of this computer and not the Linux. From the little bit that I know the commands are probably the same in Mac and Linux but I can not guarantee this to be true.

Emacs users, I am afraid you are on your own.

Stock apps

Also note that I want to use just the stock apps that came with Windows. So rather than apps that the cool kids would use, like VSCode and the Brave browser I will be using things like:

• Microsoft Edge, web browser
• Notepad, text editor
• Windows Media Player
• the on-board File Explorer
• the on-board utilities, like calculator

As I look at this list I realize that I am in for an education. I am not very familiar with the Media Player or Edge. I haven't been a Windows user since 2006 so this may be a fun project just in that regard.

Mouse Pointer

As a pro-tip take a look at How to control the mouse pointer in Windows 10 and follow it. Sometimes you may need a mouse pointer.

The page says Windows 10 but it works on my Windows 11 box as well.

Let's get started

Opening an app

In order for me to learn what to do I need to learn while doing it. I already have my computer booted up and Notepad is open. I am typing this out on Notepad already. Because this is one of my first times to do this sort of thing I need to open up a cheat sheet or three so that I can navigate around the computer in general and the app in particular. So I guess it might be a good idea to open Edge.

Simple enough- press the Windows key and when it opens up type in Edge, the press Enter. Et voila! Edge opens up.

Putting the window where you want it

You can move the window wherever you want it in your visual real estate by pressing the Windows key and using the arrow keys. This is easy enough. Easy enough on my setup with two monitors too. Just cycle through until you find the setup you like.

Ok Edge is up, now what?

If you already have something open on your computer, like I have Notepad up and running you can use Alt+Tab to select which window you want to work in. I used this and selected my newly opened Edge window.

Once there, I discovered that Edge doesn't open automagically with the search bar active so I typed Alt+d to activate the search bar. I typed in “windows keyboard commands” and hit enter. Edge took me to Bing (of course) and the very first item in the search results was “Help from Microsoft.” Let me scroll down using the tab key and see if I can select that one.

Ok, the tab button worked, but I couldn't see where I was on the screen and it was just doing stuff so I am going to try scrolling down with the arrow keys and select my link that way...

And we easily found and clicked our page. Keyboard shortcuts in Windows. I got that link by going back to Edge using Alt+Tab and when I got there I used Alt+d to get in the address bar and then hit Ctrl+c to copy the link. Upon returning to Notepad I simply pasted the link address into the link above.

Need a new tab in Edge

For this part of the experiment I want to have three tabs open in Edge all the time. One for Windows keyboard shortcuts, another for Edge shortcuts, and yet another for a page last night that lists keyboard shortcuts for several different Microsoft apps.

Now I am unfamiliar with Edge, but I do know that Edge is based on Google Chrome. In Chrome Ctrl+t will open a new tab. Let's see if that works. Ok, that worked and I managed to get Keyboard shortcuts for Edge and Keyboard Shortcuts in apps opened so that I have my reference material open while I do stuff here for fun.

Notepad

Odlly enough, in this world of fancified text editors, when I just need a text editor and not all the bull@#$% attached to a beast like VSCode I like to find the dumbest text editor that I can. I am talking about stuff like Nano, Gedit, Leafpad, and Notepad. One can get all twisted off and running down rabbit trails messing with all of that fluff. Sometimes, most of the time?, all that I need is a typewriter on a screen not a mini-os that can control satellites.

Keyboard shortcuts in Notepad

Ctrl+c, Ctrl+x, Ctrl+v, Ctrl+f, all work as expected in Notepad.

Ctrl+left-arrow and Ctrl+right-arrow move the cursor forward or backward by word.

Ctrl+home moves the cursor to the begining of the line. Ctrl+end moves it to the end of the line.

Once you move the cursor to the beginning of a word you can use the Ctrl+Shift+right-arrow or Ctrl+Shift+left-arrow to select the text you want to copy. Ctrl+c copies, Ctrl+x cuts, Ctrl+v pastes the selection where the cursor is.

Notepad has a feature that let's one add a time stamp to the text file. Just press F5 and you have a timestamp. I am nowhwere near done with this right now but the time is 9:00 AM 6/9/2024

[^1]: This would be CTRL + p. [^2]: CTRL + c to copy, CTRL + x to cut, CTRL + v to paste.