YouTube – Mark LaDoux

Spring is finally here

2014.03.29 Mark LaDoux

I had a rough winter, broke my leg, but the snow is melting and spring is in the air. I’m learning Python, had to take a break from it to get my ZF2 boiler plate set up for a couple projects that I got on my task list, but I’ll be coming back to it before the end of the week. Got a job offer with Staples, I get final details on April 2, determining how that’s going to pan out. I’ll still be on crutches, but those should be gone on the 12th. I’ll find out for sure after I go in for X-Rays. My leg is feeling a lot better though, so I have high hopes.

I’ve been feeling very confident about this only year. I think this is the year where I finally dig myself out of the trenches and start really moving toward my rise. The studio is underway, new video encoding computer is ready to go, got my microphones, and the new server is sitting in the closet waiting on hard drives. All in all, I feel like we’ve made real progress here.

I got contacted by the Walla Walla County Court, and they’re sending me a authorization to collect a DNA test to determine parentage. They’ll charge me child support if I pass. That’s okay, I’m more than happy to help out, so I really need this job to work out so that I can start sending money. I was going to send money anyway, the means by which it’s collected really isn’t important to me, so long as the money gets where it’s supposed to be. Apparently they found me through my blog, but more likely they got my number off a resume. I just hope they don’t drain me for more than I can afford, I need money left over to live. Right now I have no money, but yeah, fingers crossed.

I already had a deal worked out with Michelle to make sure I got her some money, but I wasn’t fast enough and she ended up needing to get TANF. I just needed maybe one more month to start making money. You read about the computers and stuff, and what I don’t say is I got them all for dirt cheap on craigslist, and I’m not the one who paid for them. I have my roomate to thank for that, we share them because we work together. If I get this job, I can finally get some of the more expensive peices, and take care of my daughter, so it’s a win-win.

I’ve also been working on a deal with a friend back home that has the potential to make me very rich, but it’s still to soon to say. We’re doing our research now, no use spending any money till we know what we’re getting ourselves into. Don’t ask what it is, I’m not going to tell. It’s perfectly legal, but if I talk about it too much, I might jinx myself.

All in all, things are going well. I keep getting calls from family and friends who worry, wanting to know what’s going on. People worry too much, and I appreciate it. You’re all in my heart, and I hope to make everyone proud! I don’t really have much to say right now, so I’m going to cut it off right here. Thanks for reading, and please do check in again, I’ll try to have something more interesting to say next time.

Life, OTM

New Studio Computer

2014.01.28 Mark LaDoux

Well, we finally got a new computer for the studio! I’ve got it dual booting Arch Linux and Windows 7, since I’m not the only person using it. I’ve got several shows to set it up for. I should have everything ready to start filming On The Mark again sometime next week.

Specs

AMD FX 3.5 GHz 8-Core CPU
8 GB RAM ( will upgrade later, but my funds were limited )
ATI Radeon 7770 GHz Edition GPU
120 GB Samsung SSD ( boot drive )

I left out my storage drives as I’ve got several to still install. It came with a default of 500 GB, but yeah, that’s going to get replaced with several 3 TB drives. I know 4 TB drives are out now, but their cost does not yet reflect their value. On the Windows side, it gets a performance score of 7.3 of a possible 7.9. The lowest performing part is the SSD, hence the 7.3. The graphics come in next at 7.5, the CPU comes in at 7.8, and the RAM comes in at 7.9 ( high speed! ). That’s the only benchmark I’ve run on it thus far.

I’ve got it mostly set up, I’m just waiting on the rest of our sound and video equipment. Once all that get’s here, you’ll notice a improvement in production quality. My first couple of episodes produced on this machine won’t have all the new equipment, and for that I apologize. I’ll do the best with what I have right now, but expect things to only get better!

The show will have a new format, there will still be tutorials, but they’ll pretty much be their own thing. I’m working on more news type material for the show. There might be more that I’m not mentioning here, but then you’ll just have to watch it when it comes out. Don’t worry, I’ll make a post to let you know when it’s all ready.

Software

Embed YouTube

2011.08.012012.06.18 Mark LaDoux

A simple YouTube URL parser and embed code output script:

<?php
function embed_youtube ($url) 
{

    // split up string
    $parts  = array_merge(array(), array_filter(explode('/', $url)));

    // clean parts
    if(stripos($parts['1'], 'www') !== false)
    {
        $parts['1'] = substr($parts['1'], 4);
    }

    // parse link
    switch($parts[1])
    {
        case 'youtu.be':
            $video  = $parts[2];
            break;
        case 'youtube.com':
            $raw    = array_merge(array(), array_filter(explode('?', $parts[2])));
            $qs     = array_merge(array(), array_filter(explode('&', $raw[1])));

            $qp = array();

            foreach($qs as $value) {
                $qi = array_merge(array(), array_filter(explode('=', $value)));
                $qp[$qi[0]] = $qi[1];
            }

            $video  = $qp['v'];
            break;
        default:
            $video = FALSE;
    }

    // build embed string
    ?>
    http://www.youtube.com/embed/
    <?php

}
?>

Wrote this function as a favor to a friend. Now I’m releasing it to the world as public domain.