HollyKing's Journal

Years ago when I was first learning C, Windows and programming I wrote a lot of little toy programs. They didn’t do anything earth shattering but I enjoyed them. I’ve posted about one of them, The Demons of Cyclic Space, before. Not long ago I found a backup disk with the source for some of the toys. So I’ve started to rewrite them using C# and the .NET Framework.

The first one I’ve finished is called “Hot Iron Viewer.” (Don’t ask my why, you can view more than just the “Hot Iron” color map.) It creates a 512x512 image of various color maps. The interesting one is the “Rainbow” map as it simulates the colors of the rainbow. You can see a screen shot below the cut. Later today I’ll post the source and an executable for anyone that wants to play around with it.

The next step is to add the ability to change some of the parameters used to generate the various color maps. Then off to the next toy. ;)

Update: I've posted the source on my Google Code page. You can download a zip file of the source code, check out the source from Subversion or just browse it on the web. Enjoy.

( Screen shot behind the cut... )

Radar magazine has posted a list of the 10 most dangerous toys of all time. I remember a few of these and while I was never lucky enough to have a U-238 Atomic Energy lab I did have a few chemistry sets that made some very toxic concoctions. Here's a bit from the article to whet your appetite.

In the last year alone, some eight million units of toys were recalled in the U.S., according to W.A.T.C.H., a toy-safety advocacy group. But Kool Toys and Polly Pockets are kids' stuff compared to the hazardous baubles of yesteryear. In the spirit of the holidays, Radar presents the most dangerous toys of all time, those treasured playthings that drew blood, chewed digits, took out eyes, and, in one case, actually irradiated. To keep things interesting, we excluded BB guns, slingshots, throwing stars, and anything else actually intended to inflict harm. Below, our toy box from hell.

hollyqueen is being a good Hausfrau and cleaning our "library" so that it can become cheesentoast's bedroom. I called her earlier and she told me that I couldn't buy anything with cables anymore. It seems I have collected a few boxes of cables and power supplies. Great! Now to run out and buy a whole bunch of wireless gear! New bluetooth keyboard & mouse... Wireless stereo speakers... :D