DAY 1. Remaking NYU shuttle bus timetable (link)

I always enjoyed taking shuttle buses to go to school but often find the schedule map frustrating, so in day one I decided to make a really simple new interface just to query for the next bus, without having to go through all different schedules and look into ten thousand lines just to find my bus info.

The original timetable is in PDF format, meaning that I have to extract the data semi-manually with a little help of some scripts and a big help from excel. I realized later that it’s still too ambitious to finish all the data extracting in one day so I omitted the late night safe ride schedule.

Also I chose to create a web site with ruby on rails since I just wanna play with it somehow. I don’t know ruby well so more than like 3 hours of time I was digging in the documents and manuals.

So here is how it works. Just a tiny little help to tell you when the next bus comes!

Of course this is not a fully functional application yet but I already have all the schedule data converted into a mysql database. One day’s time doesn’t allow me to complete all verification of the data I input, and I don’t have time to put it online yet. So time permitted, I’ll definitely finish it and publish as a public tool.

The mysql dump file could be downloaded via this link.

I’ll turn away from coding for day 2. Maybe do some drawings?

DAY 2. Tutorial of making wonton (link)

I created a tutorial of making wonton for day 2. Just to turn away from programming a little bit.

click image for larger view.

DAY 3. Grayscale sudoku game (link)

So the initial plan for today was to write a short script that parses chat logs and make a website for people to share. It’s kinda like a QDB thing and I’ve been thinking of doing that for long time. However when I was talking to Matt (who’s kind enough to help me out with some room construction) he just mentioned “probably it’d be easier to find patterns for sudoku solutions when there’s just gradient colors instead of the numbers”. I used to play sudoku a lot but I cannot do it really quick, often needed half an hour with spatial note-taking area on the paper. So I was really curious so I just made this in the afternoon.

I cannot say it help much to *solve* the game. The problem I see is that human eyes (at least my eyes) are not that efficient in telling slight difference in grayscale. To me it’s like an advanced mode for sudokumanias. Maybe I’ll love it after playing for a while…

I didn’t develop my own algorithm to generate a sudoku, the game is downloaded on the fly from a website called websudoku that I used to visit a lot. Anyway I still added the label mode so that it’s still reasonable for me.

And a check mode that tells how messed up you are.

If you still wanna give a try. Download the applet via this link. It somehow doesn’t work in the browser now. PLEASE please do let me know if the gradient does help pattern the game. Synesthetic people, anyone?

Controls:

• array keys to navigate
• space bar to switch color (number)
• “s” to start over
• “c” to toggle check mode
• “l(el)” to toggle label display
• “r” to load a new game

BTW does anyone have a hosting service that can do ruby on rails that I can borrow so that I can publish my shuttle bus tool?

DAY 4. Paperbeast (link)

I want to make a strandbeest-like structure today and understand how it works. I know it’s too ambitious to make the whole the kinetic structure that moves gracefully, so it’s just like a research on the strandbeest, made out of paper. Or at least I shall be able to make something that *looks* like it.

(Click to view TED talk on strandbeest by creator Theo Jansen)

legs:

It cannot do the walking yet since I need to develop more legs to keep the balance and steadiness in the move, and I haven’t fully figured out how to coordinate the leg movements yet. So no videos, just pictures.