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this is about all things me: photographs; opinions; projects; etcetera.

hi, my name is anthony and this is my site, nerpter77.  this site is all about me and as such, you can learn about me, who i am and what i do, see/watch some of the photographs/videos i've taken of stuff, read my "colorful commentary" via my digital soapbox (blog), learn about things i'm making as well as sample some of the things i've made, y mucho, mucho más! i launched this site in early 2003 (i bought the domain 'nerpter77.com' in early 2004 ) and ever since then it has served as my vehicle of shameless self-promotion.  enjoy!

the why

not just as an american but as a person, a human being, i don't like to have the expression of my ideas screened, filtered, and diluted.  this is why i administer my own website.  the thoughts shared here are mine and mine only even though they may coincidentally (and both very likely and obviously) coincide with those of others.  be it as it may i simply do not care.  you can take this however you like but this isn't a site about you, they, or them... it's a site about me.

those who can, do.  i created this site to share with the rest of the internet me, on my terms.  i find social networking to be too restrictive and stifling of creativity, the typical course of action to achieve this aim.  i could never do what i've done here on any social networking platform that i'm aware of.  here, i can make things and share them how i wish freely, without worry that some arbitrary set of rules might preclude me from doing so and result in my point of view being scrubbed outright, an experience all too familiar to me.

i'm not "down" on social networking, necessarily, it's just not for me.  perhaps i just don't get it? but, what i do get is freedom and with my own site i'm free to voice my mind and its thoughts, no matter how popular (very unlikely) or unpopular (highly likely) they may be.

in this age of robust server-side scripting/programming languages (like php, python, and ruby) and content management systems (like wordpress and joomla) and javascript libraries (like jquery), it's challenging, satisfying, rewarding, and most of all, fun, to do things the "hard way".  it's nostalgic, taking me back to my early webdev days.  i'm in no way some webdev purist who thinks these newer technologies to aid and assist in the creation and publishing of web content scary and/or evil.

the how

nerpter77 versions 1.0 and 2.0 were both hosted on the now defunct geocities.  my first draft of nerpter77 version 1.0 is light years from where this site is now (and how)... and it's also... umm... rather "bad", to use a single word.  this is nerpter77 version 3.0 (since 2012) and to use a single word, it's rad! it was hosted by my wisconsinite pal, underlost .  it's now hosted by hostgator .  absent from this version are the pipes and animated "televisions" of past versions as well as splash screens to load images .  the late 1990s called and asked for their image loading splash screens back.  so, i obliged (reluctantly).

new to nerpter77 are randomized backgrounds featuring photographs of... me! and there are stars... lots and lots of anti-aliased stars.  speaking of aliasing, none of the logos are anti-aliased.  speaking of logos, they've been slightly redesigned.  and save for some other various imagery and half of the randomized backgrounds, everything is black, white, or something between the aforementioned.

to make this site i employed a few unconventional methods.  for starters, i wrote all of the code myself save for the xml of which i only wrote half of (as well as a few lines of xhtml and javascript).  the remaining half of the xml i didn't write (as well as the few lines of xhtml and javascript) was generated by batch scripts ("helper scripts") of which i did write.  both the updates rss feed and the blog updates rss feed , the blog index, the sitemaps (i.e. the sitemap, the image sitemap, and the video sitemap), the tables of contents, and the majority of the code used to randomize background images were all generated using batch scripts that i wrote.

all of the code i wrote was done so without the aid of a specialized editor.  (while i had previously been using frontpage 2003, solely for its one-touch publishing capability, i've since switched to winscp to publish via sftp/scp.)  to edit images i'm using jasc paint shop pro 4, corel photo-paint 9, gamani gif movie gear 2.6, and i had been using microsoft word 2003 but am now using microsoft word 2016 (really).  to edit videos i'm using microsoft windows movie maker 2012 and vlc.

while this site utilizes a "good deal" of javascript it amazingly isn't necessary for the proper function of this site.  you're welcome.

since this site was originally hosted on geocities, the ability to utilize server-side scripting and automation was non-existent.  it's a theme i've decided to keep consistent.  though, there's one aspect of this site that is dynamic from the server, error pages.  error pages are dynamically rendered utilizing server side includes.  the lo-tech approach and unconventional methods used to create this site are intentional.

frequently asked questions

q: why "nerpter77"? a: well, the answer to is twofold.  i was in an "altered state of mind" on the day of my 23rd birthday.  the "nerpter" comes from me just yelling it out from seemingly nowhere at random while at a friend's apartment.  mind you, this was while i was attempting to return to a state of "normalcy".  the "77" comes from me buying a fortran77 book (for $5 usd) from (what was at the time) the oldest coffee house/cafe in denver, colorado (paris on the platte) from another friend, all the while still at the pinnacle of my altered state.  said friend had "assisted" me in this timeless endeavor. q: why are none of the nerpter77 logos anti-aliased? a: none of the nerpter77 logos are anti-aliased because they simply aren't.  i've my reasons for not wanting or needing to anti-alias the logos.  with randomizing backgrounds (which have their contrast reduced by 50%), finding a one-size-fits-all aliasing scheme isn't exactly easy... or even possible (to my knowledge). q: what is with all the stars? a: the stars are both to accent and to help breakup the negative space.  besides, i think stars are cool :-D though, not literally cool since they're just glowing spheres of nuclear fusion held together only by gravity (in space no less) which can be as "cool" as a few thousand kelvins.  (e.g. 1,000 kelvins = 726.85 °c = 1,340.33 °f.)  to quote the french city hotel (paris hilton), "that's hot".  then again, the stars i'm using are of the 5-point variety which are nothing like their celestial object counterparts. q: why are you using "helper scripts"? a: my "helper scripts" could very easily be replaced with a much faster, more efficient, and totally automated solution written in a more robust scripting/programming language such as php or perl.  but, they aren't.  this site is intentionally as lo-tech as it is. q: why do you have advertising? a: i have advertising to make money.  this site, believe it (or... believe it), doesn't pay for itself.  if you happen to not like seeing the advertisements, disable javascript.  advertising was an afterthought in consideration of the design of the layout for this site.  things will continue to appear just fine... perhaps... even better! q: have you made any money from advertising? a: i've yet to make any money from advertising.  do you think people actually visit this site (other than yourself), and at that, click on the advertisements or even see them (for use of ad blocking browser add-ons/plug-ins)? year 2011* 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 ad revenue (usd) $20.51 $6.51 $6.07 $13.18 $4.43 $6.98 $18.77 $0.98 $2.85 $0.04 $0.05 *february 9th through december 31st.

did my frequently asked questions not sufficiently quench your thirst for knowledge? i'm sorry, i wasn't aware that this was an open bar.  you get what you pay for.  though, if you've a question (or more) for me about me or my site, feel free to e-mail me and ask.  i'm just like radio shack up in this bitch.  you got questions? i got answers!