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Words I have invented

Barry van Oudtshoorn — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:23:06 +0000

Here are just two of the words that I have invented to fill gaps in the English language. Adopt, disseminate, and promulgate them!

Spanxiety cf. spangst, spanxious

The fear of being punished; trepidation at the thought of retribution for past transgressions.

Little Jimmy, having been seen stealing the cookies, was now feeling quite spanxious.
I suffered a bout of spanxiety at the thought of what she would do to me.

Illigiterate cf. illigiteracy

Children born out of wedlock who lack basic reading and writing skills.

With the advent of widely-available contraceptives and education, illigiteracy has fallen in Australia.

The amazing Regret Index

Barry van Oudtshoorn — Fri, 01 May 2009 04:17:39 +0000

Ryan North, of Dinosaur Comics fame, has crafted an awesome little webapp: The Regret Index. Essentially, you vote on whether or not you regret certain things. You can even add your own regrets or search for regrets.

Most of them aren’t particularly serious, and a lot of them are kinda fun. It’s worth having a browse through the archive of regrets, looking at the votes, and reading the comments people have left. Some of my favourite ‘regrets’ on the site include

Eating a kitten just to prove you’re evil
Supergluing your foot to the bathroom floor
Constantly fearing regret
Starting to think all these questions are addressing you specifically

Check it out — it’s well worth a look.

Heart and soul

Barry van Oudtshoorn — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 21:57:16 +0000

Composed: Saturday, July 5, 2008 (Download)

I decided to take a break from my more serious musical projects (and my studies) and write a piece based around the very first duet I learnt on the piano. I wanted to make something fairly cheesy, but still fun to listen to. It kinda morphs from cheesy chip into cheesy fifties jazz.

Mobile phone drum machine

Barry van Oudtshoorn — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 21:50:32 +0000

This is my first project using Mobile Processing. It’s essentially a MIDI drum machine, with five preset drums: kick, snare, open/closed hihat, and cowbell. Each row represents a ‘tick’, and when you press play, each tick is played in turn. It has been tested on a Sony Ericsson K800i.

Note that at the moment, you can’t change the tempo, can’t load or save patterns, can’t have more than one pattern, and can’t choose which drums to use. I might include those features in a later release. For the moment, though, it’s a fun way to waste a few minutes.

View the applet in your browser (and source)

Download the applet for your phone