September 28, 2007

In addition to being Rusty Scupperton's Web Guru and Bible Studier's Digest's Head Theologian, I also have found employment at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, teaching, among other things, some computer programming.

One of the software packages that I have used is Flash, a product that was developed by Macromedia but then was bought by Adobe last year. The scripting language that I learned reasonably well was called Actionscript 2.0. Adobe saw fit to TOTALLY revamp this in its version, called Actionscript 3.0.

Because neither Rusty nor the fine folks at BSD can afford to pay me much, the bulk of my income comes from the Art Institute. Sadly, that means that I have to spend some time actually preparing myself to carry out my duties as an Art Institute Instructor.

So what exactly am I trying to say here? Well, I have not been devoting as much time in the last couple days to jrtart.com, and the reason is that I have been desperately trying to translate what I have taught from Actionscript 2.0 to Actionscript 3.0.

Here is an example showing the relative complexity of the 2 languages. In both cases a picture is put onto the screen and then centered horizontally. You don't have to know anything about programming to see clearly how much more gobbledygook is required in Actionscript 3.0 as compared to Actionscript 2.0. As you can see, there is good cause for my dereliction of my duties as the web designer behind jrtart.com. I hope to be able to resume normal operations soon. Especially if I can get my colleagues Rupa Misra and Tom Basmajian to do much of the heavy lifting of AS3 for me! What do you say guys????

September 17, 2007

I am quite privileged to be able to live in an extremely beautiful place: the Jersey Shore. One of the greatest joys in my life is bird-watching. In the past few months I have observed a number of interesting species including an indigo bunting, a northern harrier and a belted kingfisher. Yesterday, I was swimming in the ocean after a jog, and an osprey flew directly overhead, showing me a fish he had just caught. When the world is beautiful and the birds are on display, my cup runneth over. The sadness of our lives becomes more bearable.

September 6, 2007

The raves keep on coming... There are several billion people in the world, and already 3 of them have either looked at or thought about one day maybe looking at my site! At this rate, I expect dozens of hits in the coming decades!!!! Here is a sampling:

fun site. but your blog? that's not a blog - that's a website dressed as a blog for Halloween. love georgia
NOTE: Georgia is the unbelievable talent behind iambossy.com

John - You need to get away from Ocean City once in a while. But not too near my kids. Scott
NOTE: Scott is a brilliant lawyer who has sued the bejesus out of several evil corporations!!!

hey john, good to hear from you. life is packed right now, but when i get some breathing room i'll take a look & am sure i will enjoy it. hope all's well with you & nancy annette
NOTE: Annette is one of the GREATEST artists and graphic designers I know!

September 4, 2007

I have been trying to get this site ready for most browsers and have learned that Internet Explorer is a son of a b**** to do web design on. The problem is that most of the world's computers still use IE6. Oh well, hopefully I got some if not all of the IE6 bugs out without screwing up the other browsers too badly...

I will be spending much of my blogging time working with Mayor Scupperton to edit his blog for him. Rusty is the REAL THING, and I have a strong feeling that he is going to go all the way in his Presidential bid! So please check out Rusty's site and read his blog, where the issues of the day will be thoughtfully dissected.

August 31, 2007

The big news today is the launching of the Rusty Scupperton for President website!!! If you love America and want REAL LEADERSHIP, you must check out Rusty. Not since Robert Kennedy has a candidate come along who is so clearly what America needs! The longtime Mayor of Scupperton Falls, Mr. Scupperton knows what needs to be done to get America back on track. And he is VERY PREPARED to get the job done for all of us.

In the weeks and months to come, Rusty will flesh out his positions on his site, with a lively blog as well as illustrated position papers. Make sure you visiit Rusty's site, 2, 3, 4, or 10 times a day!

August 30, 2007

Welcome to the jrtart.com blog!!! I hope to be able to occasionally put down a thought or two in this space. Here are a few of my Likes and Dislikes.

Likes:

Art, Mathematics, Rusty Scupperton, Vikram Seth's "A Suitable Boy", Jimmy Carter, my wonderful family, birds, body surfing, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Lingo Programming, Epictetus, kindness, courage, jogging, the art of Pierre Bonnard

Dislikes:

Religious Fundamentalism, Republican rule, homophobia, Humvees, cruelty, corrupt property tax valuations

Well of course there are other things I like and dislike, but it is time to go jogging...