Outdoor Photography is a Great COVID-19 Pastime

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If you are looking for something fun and challenging to do during the COVID-19 sheltering orders, try your hand at some outdoor photography. Every yard, neighborhood, or residential area has plenty of subjects to model for your camera. Songbirds, small animals like rabbits and squirrels, and even bigger game such as white-tailed deer can be caught on digital images throughout the country.

It doesn’t necessarily take professional camera equipment to catch images of wildlife. Close-ups can be captured around the house with a little time and patience. All you need is a decent digital 35mm camera ideally with some telephoto capabilities. This would be a great way to get started.

Scan your yard by spying out windows to see where birds and animals seem to gather. A great way to congregate birds is to set up a feeder or a couple of them in different places. Proximity to trees, shrubs, or such will give birds an extra sense of safety. It’s the same with small game if there are high grass areas, heavy shrubbery or bushes to hide in. Watch these areas for animal activity.

If you have a back porch, patio, or outdoor yard sitting area, post yourself a good seat for an observation post. Have a set of good binoculars to help you spot lofty birds or animals lurking around the yard. You have to remain quiet and develop a strong sense of patience to collect some good photo shots.

Don’t be disappointed if all of your shots do not turn out every time. Often birds move so fast or flutter around that wing motion or normal movement causes blurring. If your camera has an automatic focus setting, try that to see the quality of shots you get. Once you advance in your skills, you can try manual settings. If you are a total novice to photography get a basic book on the subject or look up related topics on the net. Soon you’ll be capturing some neat shots of all your subjects.

When reviewing your photo results, look at them with a critical eye. If you like the photo, forget the critics. This is a fun hobby for yourself or to share photos with family and friends. Look at the photo backgrounds. Did you catch a neighbor photo-bombing you or some other clutter in the background that is out of place? Next time, be aware of what’s beyond your subject.

These are the skills that you can practice over time. Remember, outdoor photography is meant to be fun during otherwise trying times.

The post Outdoor Photography is a Great COVID-19 Pastime appeared first on AllOutdoor.com.

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May 13, 2020 at 09:23AM

Eloquent Double Entry Accounting with a focus on IFRS Compliant Reporting

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Eloquent Double Entry Accounting with a focus on IFRS Compliant Reporting

Eloquent IFRS is a package by Edward Mungai that provides “double-entry accounting with a focus on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) compliant reporting.”

According to the documentation’s introduction, this package can help you generate compliant reports:

The Eloquent IFRS package gives any Laravel application or Lumen API the ability to generate a comprehensive set of financial reports by providing an embedded double-entry bookkeeping system.

The Accounting objects are created with a consistent and fluent interface, allowing seamless integration with the Business objects of the parent application.

Here’s a high-level example from the readme, which demonstrates some of the models:

use IFRS\Models\Account; use IFRS\models\LineItem; $bankAccount = new Account([ 'name' => "Sales Account", 'account_type' => Account::BANK, ])->save(); // Intermediate save does not record the transaction in the Ledger $cashSale = new CashSale([ 'account_id' => $bankAccount->id, 'date' => Carbon::now(), 'narration' => "Example Cash Sale", ])->save(); // This posts the Transaction to the Ledger $cashSaleLineItem = new LineItem([ 'vat_id' => $outputVat->id, 'account_id' => $revenueAccount->id, 'vat_account_id' => $salesVatAccount->id, 'description' => "Example Cash Sale Line Item", 'quantity' => 1, 'amount' => 100, ])->save(); $cashSale->addLineItem($cashSaleLineItem); $cashSale->post(); 

Here’s an example of an income report (profit and loss):

use IFRS\Reports\IncomeStatement; $incomeStatement = new IncomeStatement( "2020-01-01", // Report start date "2020-12-31", // Report end date )->getSections();// Fetch balances from the ledger and store them internally /** * this function is only for demonstration and * debugging use and should never be called in production */ dd($incomeStatement->toString()); Example Company Income Statement For the Period: Jan 01 2020 to Dec 31 2020 Operating Revenues Operating Revenue 200 (100 cash sales + 100 credit sales) Operating Expenses Operating Expense 100 (cash purchase) --------------- Operations Gross Profit 100 Non Operating Revenues Non Operating Revenue 0 --------------- Total Revenue 100 Non Operating Expenses Direct Expense 0 Overhead Expense 0 Other Expense 0 --------------- Total Expenses 0 --------------- Net Profit 100 =============== 

All of the above examples come from the project readme, and is only a sample of what the package provides. The details of the package (and IFRS reporting) are quite intricate, and you should consult the full documentation.

I find this package unique because it’s created by a “finance guy turned developer.” It’s fantastic to see professionals in other industries turn to Laravel to develop ideas.

You can learn more about this package, get full installation instructions, and view the source code on GitHub at ekmungai/eloquent-ifrs.

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May 13, 2020 at 09:31AM

Automatic Code refactor and error detection with laravel-microscope

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composer require imanghafoori/laravel-microscope --dev

php artisan check:early_returns

forearch ($products as $product) {  if ($someCond) {  // A lot of code 1  // A lot of code 1  // A lot of code 1  // A lot of code 1  // A lot of code 1  if ($someOtherCond) {  // A lot more code 2  // A lot more code 2  // A lot more code 2  // A lot more code 2   // A lot more code 2  //  } // <--- closes second if  } // <--- closes first if } 

forearch ($products as $product) {  if (! $someCond) {  continue;  }    // A lot of code 1  // A lot of code 1  // A lot of code 1  // A lot of code 1  // A lot of code 1   if (! $someOtherCond) {  continue;  }    // A lot more code 2  // A lot more code 2  // A lot more code 2  // A lot more code 2   // A lot more code 2 } 

if ($var1) {  if ($var2 > 2) {  echo 'Hey Man';  } }  // will be converted into: if ($var1 && $var2 > 2) {  echo 'Hey Man'; } 

if ($var1):  if ($var2 > 2):  echo 'Hey Man';  endif; endif;

Event::listen(MyEvent::class, '\App\Listeners\MyListener@myMethod');

public function myMethod(OtherEvent $e) // <---- notice type-hint here {  // }

Gate::policy(User::class, 'UserPolicy@someMethod'); Gate::define('someAbility', 'UserGate@someMethod');

php artisan check:imports

php artisan check:compact

local.INFO: Laravel Microscope: The view file: welcome.index-1 at App\Http\Controllers\HomeController@index has some unused variables passed to it: local.INFO: array ('$var1' , '$var2'); 

A man will never fail, unless he stops trying. Albert einstein 

Eloquent Double Entry Accounting

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composer require "ekmungai/eloquent-ifrs" composer install --no-dev

git clone git@github.com/ekmungai/eloquent-ifrs eloquent-ifrs cd eloquent-ifrs composer update

cd eloquent-ifrs vendor/bin/phpunit

php artisan vendor:publish

use IFRS\Models\Entity; use IFRS\Models\Currency;  //Entities require a reporting currency $currency = new Currency([  "name" => "Euro",  "currency_code" => "EUR" )->save();  $entity = new Entity([  "name" => "Example Company",  "currency_id" => $currency ])->save(); 

use IFRS\Models\Vat;  $outputVat = new Vat([  'name' => "Standard Output Vat",  'code' => "O",  'rate' => 20, ])->save();  $outputVat = new Vat([  'name' => "Standard Input Vat",  'code' => "I",  'rate' => 10, ])->save();  $outputVat = new Vat([  'name' => "Zero Vat",  'code' => "Z",  'rate' => 0, ])->save();

use IFRS\Models\Account;  $bankAccount = new Account([  'name' => "Sales Account",  'account_type' => Account::BANK, ])->save();  $revenueAccount = new Account([  'name' => "Bank Account",  'account_type' => Account::OPERATING_REVENUE, ])->save();  $clientAccount = new Account([  'name' => "Example Client Account",  'account_type' => Account::RECEIVABLE, ])->save();  $supplierAccount = new Account([  'name' => "Example Supplier Account",  'account_type' => Account::PAYABLE, ])->save();  $opexAccount = new Account([  'name' => "Operations Expense Account",  'account_type' => Account::OPERATING_EXPENSE, ])->save();  $assetAccount = new Account([  'name' => "Office Equipment Account",  'account_type' => Account::NON_CURRENT_ASSET, ])->save();  $salesVatAccount = new Account([  'name' => "Sales VAT Account",  'account_type' => Account::CONTROL_ACCOUNT, ])->save();  $purchasesVatAccount = new Account([  'name' => "Input VAT Account",  'account_type' => Account::CONTROL_ACCOUNT, ])->save();

use IFRS\Transactions\CashSale;  $cashSale = new CashSale([  'account_id' => $bankAccount->id,  'date' => Carbon::now(),  'narration' => "Example Cash Sale", ])->save(); // Intermediate save does not record the transaction in the Ledger

use IFRS\models\LineItem;  $cashSaleLineItem = new LineItem([  'vat_id' => $outputVat->id,  'account_id' => $revenueAccount->id,  'vat_account_id' => $salesVatAccount->id,  'description' => "Example Cash Sale Line Item",  'quantity' => 1,  'amount' => 100, ])->save();  $cashSale->addLineItem($cashSaleLineItem); $cashSale->post(); // This posts the Transaction to the Ledger 

use IFRS\Transactions\ClientInvoice;  $clientInvoice = new ClientInvoice([  'account_id' => $clientAccount->id,  'date' => Carbon::now(),  'narration' => "Example Credit Sale", ])->save();  $clientInvoiceLineItem = new LineItem([  'vat_id' => $outputVat->id,  'account_id' => $revenueAccount->id,  'vat_account_id' => $salesVatAccount->id,  'description' => "Example Credit Sale Line Item",  'quantity' => 2,  'amount' => 50, ])->save();  $clientInvoice->addLineItem($clientInvoiceLineItem);  //Transaction save may be skipped as post() saves the Transaction automatically $clientInvoice->post();  use IFRS\Transactions\CashPurchase;  $cashPurchase = new CashPurchase([  'account_id' => $clientAccount->id,  'date' => Carbon::now(),  'narration' => "Example Cash Purchase", ])->save();  $cashPurchaseLineItem = new LineItem([  'vat_id' => $inputVat->id,  'account_id' => $opexAccount->id,  'vat_account_id' => $purchaseVatAccount->id,  'description' => "Example Cash Purchase Line Item",  'quantity' => 4,  'amount' => 25, ])->save();  $cashPurchase->addLineItem($cashPurchaseLineItem)->post();  use IFRS\Transactions\SupplierBill;  $supplierBill = new SupplierBill([  'account_id' => $supplierAccount->id,  'date' => Carbon::now(),  'narration' => "Example Credit Purchase", ])->save();  $supplierBillLineItem = new LineItem([  'vat_id' => $inputVat->id,  'account_id' => $assetAccount->id,  'vat_account_id' => $purchaseVatAccount->id,  'description' => "Example Credit Purchase Line Item",  'quantity' => 4,  'amount' => 25, ])->save();  $supplierBill->addLineItem($supplierBillLineItem)->post();  use IFRS\Transactions\ClientReceipt;  $clientReceipt = new ClientReceipt([  'account_id' => $clientAccount->id,  'date' => Carbon::now(),  'narration' => "Example Client Payment", ])->save();  $clientReceiptLineItem = new LineItem([  'vat_id' => $zeroVat->id,  'account_id' => $bankAccount->id,  'vat_account_id' => $purchaseVatAccount->id,  'description' => "Part payment for Client Invoice",  'quantity' => 1,  'amount' => 50, ])->save();  $clientReceipt->addLineItem($clientReceiptLineItem)->post();

use IFRS\Models\Assignment;  echo $clientInvoice->clearedAmount(); //0: Currently the Invoice has not been cleared at all echo $clientReceipt->balance(); //50: The Receipt has not been assigned to clear any transaction  $assignment = new Assignment([  'transaction_id' => $clientReceipt->id,  'cleared_id' => $clientInvoice->id,  'cleared_type'=> $clientInvoice->getClearedType(),  'amount' => 50, ])->save();  echo $clientInvoice->clearedAmount(); //50 echo $clientReceipt->balance(); //0: The Receipt has been assigned fully to the Invoice 

use IFRS\Models\ReportingPeriod;  $period = new ReportingPeriod([  'period_count' => 1,  'year' => 2020, ])->save(); 

use IFRS\Reports\IncomeStatement;  $incomeStatement = new IncomeStatement(  "2020-01-01", // Report start date  "2020-12-31", // Report end date )->getSections();// Fetch balances from the ledger and store them internally  /** * this function is only for demonstration and * debugging use and should never be called in production */ dd($incomeStatement->toString());  Example Company Income Statement For the Period: Jan 01 2020 to Dec 31 2020  Operating Revenues  Operating Revenue 200 (100 cash sales + 100 credit sales)  Operating Expenses  Operating Expense 100 (cash purchase)  --------------- Operations Gross Profit 100  Non Operating Revenues  Non Operating Revenue 0  --------------- Total Revenue 100  Non Operating Expenses  Direct Expense 0  Overhead Expense 0  Other Expense 0  --------------- Total Expenses 0  --------------- Net Profit 100  =============== 

use IFRS\Reports\BalanceSheet;  $balanceSheet = new BalanceSheet(  "2020-12-31" // Report end date )->getSections();  /** * again to emphasize, this function is only for demonstration and * debugging use and should never be called in production */ dd($balanceSheet->toString());  Example Company Balance Sheet As at: Dec 31 2020  Assets  Non Current Asset 120 (asset purchase)  Receivables 70 (100 credit sale + 20 VAT - 50 client receipt)  Bank 50 (120 cash sale - 120 cash purchase + 50 client receipt)  --------------- Total Assets 240  Liabilities  Control Account 20 (VAT: 20 cash sale + 20 credit sale - 10 cash purchase - 10 credit purchase)  Payable 120 (100 credit purchase + 20 VAT)  --------------- Total Liabilities 140   --------------- Net Assets 100  ===============  Equity  Income Statement 100  --------------- Total Equity 100  =============== 

use IFRS\Reports\AccountStatement; use IFRS\Reports\AccountSchedule;  $statement = new AccountStatement($clientAccount)->getTransactions();  dd($statement->transactions);  array:2[  ["transaction" => ClientInvoice, "debit" => 120, "credit" => 0, "balance" => 120],  ["transaction" => ClientReceipt, "debit" => 0, "credit" => 50, "balance" => 70] ]  $schedule = new AccountSchedule($clientAccount, $currency)->getTransactions();  dd($schedule->transactions);  array:1[  ["transaction" => ClientInvoice, "amount" => 120, "cleared" => 50, "balance" => 70], ] 

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May 12, 2020 at 09:45PM

Air Force Museum Drone Tour

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Link

If you’re going to take a tour of Ohio’s National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, it might as well be from the air, right? Well thanks to NURK FPV, we can take a first-person drone flight through the museum’s awesome collection of aviation marvels without having to leave our homes.

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May 12, 2020 at 07:15PM

How to Turn Your Handwriting Into a Font

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Add a personal touch to your digital projects by turning your handwriting into a custom font. It’s a lot easier than you might think thanks to a web app called Calligraphr. And there are plenty of creative uses for you to explore.

In this article, we’ll show you how to make your handwriting a font with Calligraphr for free. You can add letter variants for a natural style, adjust the alignment and spacing, and even export the end product as a standard font format. And it only takes ten minutes.

What Is Calligraphr

Formerly MyScriptFont, Calligraphr is a free web app that lets you scan your handwriting to create a custom font. It’s easy to use and offers loads of features that help you get your font just right.

Export your custom font as TTF or OTF formats to use it with Windows or macOS computers. You might want to use your custom font to add a personal touch to invitations, design calligraphic artwork, or to write a webcomic.

Calligraphr offers the following features to help perfect your font:

• Choose the exact character sets you want to include in your font, including accented letters, symbols, and numbers.
• Upload variants for each letter to create a random authenticity to your handwriting.
• Edit individual characters after uploading to darken the lines, adjust the size, and tweak the alignment.
• Save fonts in the browser so you can return to keep editing them over multiple sessions.

Calligraphr Pro Subscription

You can use Calligraphr to create and export a custom handwriting font for free. But a Pro subscription unlocks extra features to help you make your handwriting into the best font possible.

Calligraphr Pro costs $8/month, although you can get a 50 percent discount if you pay for six months at once. With a Pro subscription, Calligraphr lets you work on more than one font at a time, up to a maximum of 12. It also lets you add up to 480 characters to each font.

You can also add more than two variants for each character, up to a maximum of 15. A variant is an alternate version of a particular letter or number. The finished font uses different variants at random to make your font look more natural.

Another major upgrade that comes with a Pro subscription is the ability to add ligatures to your font. In case you aren’t familiar with common typography terms, a ligature is a line that connects two letters in joined handwriting.

Do I Need Calligraphr Pro to Make a Custom Font?

Calligraphr Pro offers great benefits to font creation, but you can turn your handwriting into a perfectly good font without paying for anything.

The main downside to using Calligraphr for free is that your font is limited to 75 characters. That’s enough space for upper and lower case letters, every number, and common punctuation marks, but not much else.

You’re also limited to two variants per character. However, this still adds enough randomization to your font to make it more natural than most.

Finally, you can’t add ligatures with Calligraphr Free. But if you don’t join your handwriting up anyway, it won’t make a difference.

How to Use Calligraphr to Turn Your Handwriting Into a Font

To get started, head to the Calligraphr website and click the Get Started For Free button to create an account. There’s no need to upgrade to a Pro account unless you want more than two variants or ligatures.

After signing up and logging in, click the Start App button to load the Calligraphr web app. Then follow the steps below to turn your handwriting into a font.

Step 1. Create a Font Template

First you need to create a template for your custom font. This is essentially a grid of boxes with one box for each character you want to include in your font. After creating the template and printing it out you need to handwrite each letter into the boxes. Then scan it back into your computer to create the font.

Calligraphr gives you a huge amount of control over the template, letting you choose exactly which characters you do and don’t want to include in your font. With a free account, you can have up to 75 characters in a single font.

Click the Templates button in the top-left corner to create a new template, then choose the characters you want from the sidebar. We suggest you add Minimal English and Minimal Numbers, which brings you up to 70 characters.

Click a character you don’t want to and Delete it from the template. Then add more character sets from the sidebar. If you signed up for a Pro account and want to include ligatures, select it from the Miscellaneous section.

Step 2. Print and Complete Your Template

After adding all the characters you want in your font, click the Download Template button. Choose a file name and format for the template.

Adjust the slider to change the size of the template cells. These are the boxes you need to write your letters in. If you have particularly large or small handwriting, you might want to adjust the size accordingly. You also might want to make the boxes bigger if you plan to create a calligraphic font. Otherwise, leave it as the default.

Finally, choose if you want helplines and background characters. We recommend adding helplines to make sure you write each letter in the same place at the same size. However, it might mean you need to erase them manually after scanning your template. We don’t recommend background characters because they make it harder to create a unique style.

When you’re happy, click Download to save your template, then print it out.

Now use a black pen to fill out the template, drawing a single character into each box. A felt tip pen is better than a ballpoint, but either should be fine so long as you make sure each line is clearly drawn.

Step 3. Upload and Edit Your Handwriten Font

After completing the font template, scan it or take a clear photo, then save that file to your computer. In the Calligraphr web app, click My Fonts followed by Upload Template. Select the picture of your font template, then wait for Calligraphr to process it.

After the processing is complete, Calligraphr shows an overview of each character in your custom font. You can delete characters from this page, but we suggest you see if you can fix mistakes from the edit page rather than deleting anything.

Choose to Add Characters to Your Font to finish the upload.

Click a character and select Edit Character to make adjustments. You can draw new lines using various brush shapes and sizes or click the Erase button to clean up the scan. Make sure you edit each of your characters for the best custom font.

You should also use the Adjust Baseline/Size menu to ensure each character is the same height and size as all the others. This screen shows your selected character in a row with the rest of the font. Use the arrows to adjust the baseline or size for better consistency.

Step 4. Build and Export Your Custom Font

After editing each of your characters, click the Back button and choose to Build Font to turn your handwriting into a font.

If you chose to add variants—which you can do by uploading multiple font templates one after another—enable the option to Randomize Characters. That way your font doesn’t use the same variants too often.

Click Build and wait for Calligraphr to finish turning your handwriting into a font. When it’s complete, make sure it looks good in the preview, then download the TTF or OTF file.

Open the font file on your computer and follow the prompts to Install it. After this, it should be available in all your apps. You can also install fonts on your iPhone or iPad.

Get More Free Fonts to Add to Your Collection

Now you know how to make your handwriting a custom font. Use it to personalize everything from wedding invitations to business cards. But don’t feel you need to use it for everything.

Calligraphr lets you create as many custom fonts as you like, so you could repeat the steps above for multiple different handwriting styles. If you don’t have that much creativity in you, take a look at the best free font websites to use other people’s fonts instead.

Read the full article: How to Turn Your Handwriting Into a Font

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May 12, 2020 at 04:16PM

iFixit takes a look inside Apple’s Magic Keyboard

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Apple’s Magic Keyboard works so well that it blurs the line between iPads and full-blown Macs. Now, iFixit has taken a closer look at what’s inside its keys as well as its sturdy, elegant trackpad, which we called one of Magic Keyboard’s biggest selling points in our review. Apparently, the trackpad uses a lever system with just one button at the center. That means you’re clicking that one button wherever you press on the trackpad, whether it’s the corners, the edges or the center of the structure.

We’ve updated our Magic Keyboard X-ray view with some Teardown-Lite trackpad disassembly. It’s even more neat than we thought! https://t.co/GDi00cXr0e pic.twitter.com/VHbVthcJSj

— iFixit (@iFixit) May 11, 2020

Unfortunately, iFixit has yet to dismantle the whole keyboard due to social distancing rules — the trackpad was the only part of the device its team could take apart easily. They used X-ray to scan the inside of the keyboard, though, and found scissor (instead of butterfly) switches. It also has large metal plates where your palms typically rest likely to prevent bending and serve as weights to stabilize the device when attached to an iPad.

The Magic Keyboard will set you back $299 (11-inch) or $349 (12.9-inch) and comes as a case that attaches to an iPad Pro. It’s definitely going to cost you, so getting a look at what’s inside could help you decide whether it’s worth it.

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May 12, 2020 at 12:00AM

Database schema for Laravel Spark

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Visualize Laravel Spark (SaaS boilerplate) database entity relationships as a neat diagram.

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May 11, 2020 at 09:09PM

How Cranes Build Themselves

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Link

Art of Engineering explains how the tall construction cranes used to build skyscrapers are able to increase their own height. The process, known as “climbing” a tower crane requires precision and patience, and can be incredibly dangerous if not done properly.

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May 11, 2020 at 04:15PM

Comic for May 10, 2020

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May 10, 2020 at 02:23AM