Blood Type and Personality

Blood type and personality might seems like an odd couple but it is popularly believed in Japan that a person’s blood type is predictive of their personality, character, and compatibility with others.  People with type A blood tend to be conservative, reserved, patient, punctual and a perfectionist.  They are also introverted, obsessive, stubborn, self conscious, and uptight.  People with type B blood tend to be creative, passionate, optimistic and flexible.  They are also forgetful, irresponsible and a individualist.  People with type AB blood tend to be cool, controlled, rational, sociable, popular and empathic.  They are also aloof, critical, indecisive and unforgiving.  Pople with type O blood tend to be ambitious, athletic, robust, self confident and natural leaders.  They are also arrogant, vain, insensitive and ruthless.

I have recently made my first blood donation through the Canadian Blood Services and they have sent me a donor card with my blood type on it.  My blood type is B Rh Positive.  Am I possionate and optimistic?  I am not quite sure about that but I know that I am definitely forgetful!

For the readers of this blog, make donating blood part of your everday life!  In the hour that it takes to donate blood, you could make a lifetime of difference for someone in need.  For more information visit the Canadian Blood Services website.

Presentation Slides

I have participated in two presentations today!  One on C# and the other one on the presentations at the FITC.  If you are interested in the presentations, you can download the slides:

Introduction to C#

FITC Presentations

Convergence: TV, Broadband & Flash

Robert Reinhardt from Schematic presented how cable channels are leveraging Flash technology with Windows XP Media Center Edition to further extend their brands into the living room.  He emphasized that in the near future, people will be using their computer to surf the net since majority of North Americans’ favorite entertainment is still watching television.  He suggested that regular people would not be using a computer to watch television since it is too cumbersome.  You will need to use several external peripherals just to get to the channels that you watch.  Therefore, it would make the most sense to make televisions in such a way that people can watch shows as well as to surf the net.  Unfortunately, I don’t think I agree with his logic.  Maybe it is because I am the minority of people who watch television on their computer.  I must say tv turner for computers is the best thing since sliced bread.  The thing is if I can only buy a computer or a television, I will definitely have to pick the latter since even if a television can surf the net, I still need all those other applications that allow me to read email, create documents, chat with friends, do crazy things with Flash, etc.  A television just won’t do.

Continue reading Convergence: TV, Broadband & Flash…

New Works by Joshua Davis

Joshua Davis is one of the most prominent artists in the Flash community.  He is famous for creating graphic designs with the use of ActionScript.  I was at his presentation two years ago at the FITC and was totally amazed by the complex designs that can be generated by a combining simple graphics and ActionScript.  While most people view design and programming as two separate entities, he views them as an inseparable couple.  One cannot live without the other.  This concept is especially true in web development.  A website without good design would not attract any visitors; while a website without good functionalities and interesting content cannot keep any visitors.

Continue reading New Works by Joshua Davis…

Flash and the Adobe Engagement Platform

In this keynote, representatives from Adobe shared their vision for the future direction of Flash and the pivotal role it plays in the Adobe Engagement Platform.

Continue reading Flash and the Adobe Engagement Platform…

Playing With Yourself (For Fun and Profit)

Grant Skinner talked about how experimentations can help to advance yourself and your career options.  There are three reasons why he does experiments:  enjoyment, education, and exposure.  He believed that experimentation helps to develop passion in what you are doing.  “Love what you do, even when you don’t.”  Moreover, focued experimentation is one of the best (and cheapest) methods for learning new techniques.  It is also a great way to get noticed so that you can get more interesting clients.  He further emphasized that experiments do not have to pretty.  They are exercises that push yourself out of your comfort zone and force yourself to apply best practices.

Continue reading Playing With Yourself (For Fun and Profit)…

Creating a Visual Language with A.S.

Brandon J Hall from Automata Studios talked about the new ActionScript 3.  He began the presentation by going through a little bit about the history of Flash.  Flash begins as a simple application that allows desginers and developers to create funky animation.  As time goes by, ActionScript is added to Flash and it allows people to experiment with different kinds of effects.  The time has come where Flash matures.  ActionScript has became a more complex scripting language that allows developers to create Rich Internet Applications (RIA).  ActionScript 2.0 has added the concepts of classes to the language.  The new version of the language, ActionScript 3, is going to further clean up the language such that the code will run faster.  There will be an impovement in the XML engine, and it is going to be java based, so that the code will run anywhere.  There will also be improvements on classes, and it will make developing portable good code a lot easier.

Continue reading Creating a Visual Language with A.S….

Magic, Deception & The Data Experience

Dan LaCivita from firstborn multimedia talked about strategies that we can use to extend the reach of our data.  In real life, we are overloaded with information.  How do we grab people’s attention if the information is so dry and unattractive?  Dan suggested since graphics is a universal language, if we can transform the data into a visually meaningful experience, then the data will have more global power.

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FITC Toronto 2006

 

FITC Toronto 2006 is just around the corner.  This event is now entering its fifth year.  It is the only Canadian Festival of its kind that combines cutting edge technical speakers with inspirational creative speakers from around the world.  For more information on the speakers and their presentations, visit the FITC website.

Continue reading FITC Toronto 2006…

A Day at the Metro Toronto Zoo

This Easter long weekend has been blessed with sunshine and warm temperature. It would be a shame to stay indoor, so I went to the Metro Toronto Zoo with Melodie and Berna. The zoo was supposed to be having the Annual Easter “Egg Stravaganza” during the Easter weekend; however, the Easter bunny was nowhere to be found. So, we continued our journey without the rabbit. Continue reading A Day at the Metro Toronto Zoo…