Forsake Reality, and I'll Show you a Wonder

An Announcement that will Shake the Very Foundations of Reality

2012-05-09T19:20:00.000-07:00

I woke up to some fabulous news today. I have been hinting for about a year that my publisher was finallymaking moves into the digital frontier and it was possible that my novel would be appearing in the Kindle marketplace. I'm happy to say to my loyal followers that the wait is FINALLY over. Kindle readers can now download The Fallen to their Kindles at a fraction of the price for the paperback edition. There is also a whisper from the powers that be that it will be available on the Nook sometime later on in the Summer. Now you may be saying, "But John, I don't own a Kindle or a Nook" :(<~~~~~Sad face

But wait! You can download the Kindle reader here. It's free! So for those of you that have been pining me for a Kindle version, click below to absorb yourself into the 294 pages of goodness that is The Fallen. Click the image below to purchase. Enjoy!

Reality is what our mind makes of it - and our minds can lie to us. "The Fallen" is a science fiction thriller following Striker Carleson as he faces off against an alien intelligence only known as "The Fallen". He must overcome the strange mind tricks and falsehoods in front of him to find the truth - and only then will he be able to stand up to the alien invasion. "The Fallen" is a philosophical yet entertaining and humorous science fiction novel, sure to please any Sci-Fi reader and a few who wouldn't traditionally read the genre.

-Midwest Book Review-

MITx-Final Thoughts

2012-05-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

Now that the semester is finally at its end, I can finally turn my attentions to my own personal projects that I've been meaning to work on. Among these is my continued pursuit of open courseware developments. This past semester I had the pleasure of tinkering with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's MITx open learning platform. MITx piloted its revolutionary system through its Circuits and Electronics class. The class itself isn't for the faint of heart. It is taught by Professor Anant Agarwal, who is the director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), and much of the content was way over my head at this time. But I wasn't taking the class to necessarily learn about EE. Rather I wanted to have the opportunity to delve into the inner workings of MITx.

The system is elegant in a way that only MIT can deliver. The courseware itself is laid out so that things are easy to find. The lectures are made available via embedded Youtube videos and those videos are transcripted such that you can click on a section of the transcript and actually jump to that section in the video on the fly. This is a useful feature because it makes it much easier to backtrack through a lecture to find some nugget of information that the student might have missed or needs to review further. Finally, labs, assignments, and quizzes are embedded directly into the UI which gives that truly structured and linear feel a classroom should have. I'm currently studying for my certification in Health IT Process Workflow and Redesign and one of the most frustrating things about the classes isn't the content, but the tragedy that is Sakai's poorly designed UI.

There is a great deal more I could say that is positive about MITx, but I have one fundamental criticism. The lab spaces are clunky which is unusual since the sandbox feature is so elegant. I think MITx should implement a trashcan feature to delete components off the lab space, and also make it so that when you click on the lab space, the lab space takes the focus and the mouse then dwells in the lab space. As it stands, the mouse can roam freely around the page which may seem inconsequential, but it gets annoying from time to time. All the same, the ability to sandbox circuit diagrams proves invaluable as students complete coursework.

And it is on this note of improvements to MITx that I turn to the latest and most exciting announcement. I've said that 2012 shall be The Year of Open Courseware, and the world of academia seems to agree. With the advent of MITx, MIT's number one rival school has joined the initiative. Harvard University isn't particularly well known for it's ocw framework, but it does over a few courses under its open courseware platform. Harvard has sought to take its initiative a step further by teaming up with MITx to form a revoluttionary joint partnership known as edX. edX will offer both Harvard and MITx courses. It will use the MITx platform, and invites any and all institutions to pick up the platform and use it to supplement that institution's courses. Below I've embedded the press conference that was held recently. Check it out. These are exciting times we are living in.

Video streaming by Ustream

The Real Socialists of DC

2012-04-29T23:55:00.001-07:00

You'll recall that back in February I posted about SOPA/PIPA and the dangers they posed to your privacy on the Internet. You'll also recall that in that post I explained how while SOPA/PIPA had been postponed, they were far from dead. I hate it when I'm right. Enter the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act or CISPA for short. For those of you that haven't been keeping up on the goings on of our "esteemed" politicians, CISPA has transformed into something far worse than we could have ever imagined. It gives broad powers and total immunity and indemnity to the government and military agencies to use and abuse your private information without your knowledge or consent. If CISPA is signed into law, a government agency can procure your confidential information from private entities (Google, Facebook, etc.) without needing a search warrant. This includes your search history, purchases, and pretty much anything you've ever done on the Internet. It is treason of the highest order, and shakes the very foundations of this great nation to its core, affecting every single man, woman, and child. Think I'm over reacting? READ THE BILL for yourself. In spite of a direct Veto threat from the White House who supposedly in no way shape or form supports this bill or any of its incarnations ( *cough* election year *cough**cough*) the House of Representatives passed the bill on a 248/168 vote on April 26, 2012 at 6:31 PM.

Enough is enough. To those who follow my facebook, you know that I started posting the names and DC phone numbers of all the representatives who had the audacity to vote yes on this bill. This has proven horribly inefficient so instead I'm going to post the info as a table on here. We can't continue to allow our government dictate our lives. This is Marxist thinking at its core. It is the realization of the most fundamental Orwellian fears. Democrat, Republican, Liberal, Conservative, these words are meaningless. The only thing that should have meaning to you is doing right by others. The House has become an entity that has forgotten this ideal. The House has given in to the whims of a corporate overseer that wants nothing more than to control you; to keep you weak so that it may know that it is strong.

This should hopefully raise many questions in your mind. The first of which being, Where were you when the last freedom was stripped from your being? Were you going to a dead-end job that you hate, just to make enough money to get by? Were you standing idly by hoping others would hear the call and rise up in one voice to say, NO MORE? Or did you rise with the multitude and march against your oppressors, stripping them of the power that YOU gave them? Here's the list. These are the people that are supposed to be representing you. These are the people that are supposed to be speaking with YOUR ideals in mind. And if you feel they are, then by all means, go about your business. But if you see past the veil and you see just how close we are to a coming destruction, then pick up your phone and dial each of your representatives and tell them that when November 6th comes, you will see to it personally that they WILL NOT see another term. You will strike them down with all your might and remind them just who the hell they work for; worked for. And when you are done with that, you will jump on your Twitters, and your Facebooks, and your Tumblrs, and you will register your outrage to the multitudes and spread the word. You'll see to it that the list becomes more than just a list of names, but will become the example to anybody who dares to attempt to revive CISPA or any of its incarnations. Good evening, and God Bless America.

Name	State	Phone (Area Code: 202)
Bonner, Jo	Alabama	225-4931
Roby, Martha	Alabama	225-2901
Rogers, Mike	Alabama	225-3261
Aderholt, Robert B.	Alabama	225-4876
Bachus, Spencer	Alabama	225-4921
Young, Don	Alaska	225-5765
Flake, Jeff	Arizona	225-2635
Franks, Trent	Arizona	225-4576
Quayle, Benjamin	Arizona	225-3361
Crawford, Eric A. "Rick	Arkansas	225-4076
Griffin, Tim	Arkansas	225-2506
Ross, Mike	Arkansas	225-3772
Womack, Steve	Arkansas	225-4301
Bono Mack, Mary	California	225-5330
Calvert, Ken	California	225-1986
Campbell, John	California	225-5611
Cardoza, Dennis A.	California	225-6131
Costa, Jim	California	225-3341
Denham, Jeff	California	225-4540
Dreier, David	California	225-2305
Gallegly, Elton	California	225-5811
Garamendi, John	California	225-1880
Herger, Wally	California	225-3076
Hunter, Duncan	California	225-5672
Issa, Darrell E.	California	225-3906
Lewis, Jerry	California	225-5861
Lungren, Daniel E.	California	225-5716
McCarthy, Kevin	California	225-2915
McKeon, Howard P. "Buck"	California	225-1956
Miller, Gary G.	California	225-3201
Nunes, Devin	California	225-2523
Royce, Edward R.	California	225-4111
Thompson, Mike	California	225-3311
Bilbray, Brian P.	California	225-0508
Coffman, Mike	Colorado	225-7882
Gardner, Cory	Colorado	225-4676
Lamborn, Doug	Colorado	225-4422
Tipton, Scott R.	Colorado	225-4761
Carney, John C., Jr.	Delaware	225-4165
Buchanan, Vern	Florida	225-5015
Castor, Kathy	Florida	225-3376
Crenshaw, Ander	Florida	225-2501
Diaz-Balart, Mario	Florida	225-4211
Mica, John L.	Florida	225-4035
Miller, Jeff	Florida	225-4136
Nugent, Richard B.	Florida	225-1002
Rivera, David	Florida	225-2778
Rooney, Thomas J.	Florida	225-5792
Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana	Florida	225-3931
Ross, Dennis A.	Florida	225-1252
Southerland, Steve, II	Florida	225-5235
Stearns, Cliff	Florida	225-5744
Webster, Daniel	Florida	225-2176
West, Allen B.	Florida	225-3026
Young, C. W. Bill	Florida	225-5961
Adams, Sandy	Florida	225-2706
Bilirakis, Gus M.	Florida	225-5755
Broun, Paul C.	Georgia	225-4101
Gingrey, Phil	Georgia	225-2931
Graves, Tom	Georgia	225-5211
Kingston, Jack	Georgia	225-5831
Price, Tom	Georgia	225-4501
Scott, Austin	Georgia	225-6531
Scott, David	Georgia	225-2939
Westmoreland, Lynn A.	Georgia	225-5901
Woodall, Rob	Georgia	225-4272
Barrow, John	Georgia	225-2823
Bishop, Sanford D., Jr.	Georgia	225-3631
Hanabusa, Colleen W.	Hawaii	225-2726
Labrador, Ra�l R.	Idaho	225-6611
Dold, Robert J.	Illinois	225-4835
Hultgren, Randy	Illinois	225-2976
Kinzinger, Adam	Illinois	225-3635
Lipinski, Daniel	Illinois	225-5701
Manzullo, Donald A.	Illinois	225-5676
Roskam, Peter J.	Illinois	225-4561
Schilling, Robert T.	Illinois	225-5905
Schock, Aaron	Illinois	225-6201
Shimkus, John	Illinois	225-5271
Biggert, Judy	Illinois	225-3515
Burton, Dan	Indiana	225-2276
Donnelly, Joe	Indiana	225-3915
Rokita, Todd	Indiana	225-5037
Stutzman, Marlin A.	Indiana	225-4436
Young, Todd C.	Indiana	225-5315
Boswell, Leonard L.	Iowa	225-3806
King, Steve	Iowa	225-4426
Latham, Tom	Iowa	225-5476
Huelskamp, Tim	Kansas	225-2715
Jenkins, Lynn	Kansas	225-6601
Pompeo, Mike	Kansas	225-6216
Yoder, Kevin	Kansas	225-2865
Chandler, Ben	Kentucky	225-4706
Guthrie, Brett	Kentucky	225-3501
Rogers, Harold	Kentucky	225-4601
Whitfield, Ed	Kentucky	225-3115
Boustany, Charles W., Jr.	Louisiana	225-2031
Cassidy, Bill	Louisiana	225-3901
Scalise, Steve	Louisiana	225-3015
Alexander, Rodney	Louisiana	225-8490
Harris, Andy	Maryland	225-5311
Ruppersberger, C. A. Dutch	Maryland	225-3061
Bartlett, Roscoe G.	Maryland	225-2721
Camp, Dave	Michigan	225-3561
Huizenga, Bill	Michigan	225-4401
Miller, Candice S.	Michigan	225-2106
Rogers, Mike	Michigan	225-4872
Upton, Fred	Michigan	225-3761
Walberg, Tim	Michigan	225-6276
Benishek, Dan	Michigan	225-4735
Cravaack, Chip	Minnesota	225-6211
Kline, John	Minnesota	225-2271
Paulsen, Erik	Minnesota	225-2871
Peterson, Collin C.	Minnesota	225-2165
Bachmann, Michele	Minnesota	225-2331
Harper, Gregg	Mississippi	225-5031
Nunnelee, Alan	Mississippi	225-4306
Palazzo, Steven M.	Mississippi	225-5772
Graves, Sam	Missouri	225-7041
Hartzler, Vicky	Missouri	225-2876
Long, Billy	Missouri	225-6536
Luetkemeyer, Blaine	Missouri	225-2956
Fortenberry, Jeff	Nebraska	225-4806
Smith, Adrian	Nebraska	225-6435
Terry, Lee	Nebraska	225-4155
Heck, Joseph J.	Nevada	225-3252
Amodei, Mark E.	Nevada	225-6155
Guinta, Frank C.	New Hampshire	225-5456
Bass, Charles F.	New Hampshire	225-5206
Frelinghuysen, Rodney P.	New Jersey	225-5034
Garrett, Scott	New Jersey	225-4465
Lance, Leonard	New Jersey	225-5361
LoBiondo, Frank A.	New Jersey	225-6572
Runyan, Jon	New Jersey	225-4765
Smith, Christopher H.	New Jersey	225-3765
Buerkle, Ann Marie	New York	225-3701
Clarke, Yvette D.	New York	225-6231
Grimm, Michael G.	New York	225-3371
Hanna, Richard L.	New York	225-3665
Hayworth, Nan A. S.	New York	225-5441
Hochul, Kathleen C.	New York	225-5265
Israel, Steve	New York	225-3335
King, Peter T.	New York	225-7896
McCarthy, Carolyn	New York	225-5516
Owens, William L.	New York	225-4611
Reed, Tom	New York	225-3161
Towns, Edolphus	New York	225-5936
Turner, Robert L.	New York	225-6616
Bishop, Timothy H.	New York	225-3826
Butterfield, G. K.	North Carolina	225-3101
Coble, Howard	North Carolina	225-3065
Ellmers, Renee L.	North Carolina	225-4531
Foxx, Virginia	North Carolina	225-2071
Kissell, Larry	North Carolina	225-3715
McIntyre, Mike	North Carolina	225-2731
Myrick, Sue Wilkins	North Carolina	225-1976
Shuler, Heath	North Carolina	225-6401
Berg, Rick	North Dakota	225-2611
Boehner, John A.	Ohio	225-6205
Chabot, Steve	Ohio	225-2216
Gibbs, Bob	Ohio	225-6265
Johnson, Bill	Ohio	225-5705
Jordan, Jim	Ohio	225-2676
LaTourette, Steven C.	Ohio	225-5731
Latta, Robert E.	Ohio	225-6405
Renacci, James B.	Ohio	225-3876
Schmidt, Jean	Ohio	225-3164
Stivers, Steve	Ohio	225-2015
Tiberi, Patrick J.	Ohio	225-5355
Turner, Michael R.	Ohio	225-6465
Austria, Steve	Ohio	225-4324
Boren, Dan	Oklahoma	225-2701
Cole, Tom	Oklahoma	225-6165
Lankford, James	Oklahoma	225-2132
Lucas, Frank D.	Oklahoma	225-5565
Sullivan, John	Oklahoma	225-2211
Schrader, Kurt	Oregon	225-5711
Walden, Greg	Oregon	225-6730
Critz, Mark S.	Pennsylvania	225-2065
Dent, Charles W.	Pennsylvania	225-6411
Fitzpatrick, Michael G.	Pennsylvania	225-4276
Gerlach, Jim	Pennsylvania	225-4315
Kelly, Mike	Pennsylvania	225-5406
Meehan, Patrick	Pennsylvania	225-2011
Murphy, Tim	Pennsylvania	225-2301
Pitts, Joseph R.	Pennsylvania	225-2411
Platts, Todd Russell	Pennsylvania	225-5836
Shuster, Bill	Pennsylvania	225-2431
Thompson, Glenn	Pennsylvania	225-5121
Altmire, Jason	Pennsylvania	225-2565
Barletta, Lou	Pennsylvania	225-6511
Langevin, James R.	Rhode Island	225-2735
Clyburn, James E.	South Carolina	225-3315
Duncan, Jeff	South Carolina	225-5301
Gowdy, Trey	South Carolina	225-6030
Mulvaney, Mick	South Carolina	225-5501
Scott, Tim	South Carolina	225-3176
Wilson, Joe	South Carolina	225-2452
Noem, Kristi L.	South Dakota	225-2801
Blackburn, Marsha	Tennessee	225-2811
Cooper, Jim	Tennessee	225-4311
DesJarlais, Scott	Tennessee	225-6831
Duncan, John J., Jr.	Tennessee	225-5435
Fincher, Stephen Lee	Tennessee	225-4714
Fleischmann, Charles J. "Chuck"	Tennessee	225-3271
Roe, David P.	Tennessee	225-6356
Black, Diane	Tennessee	225-4231
Brady, Kevin	Texas	225-4901
Burgess, Michael C.	Texas	225-7772
Carter, John R.	Texas	225-3864
Conaway, K. Michael	Texas	225-3605
Cuellar, Henry	Texas	225-1640
Culberson, John Abney	Texas	225-2571
Flores, Bill	Texas	225-6105
Gonzalez, Charles A.	Texas	225-3236
Granger, Kay	Texas	225-5071
Hensarling, Jeb	Texas	225-3484
Johnson, Sam	Texas	225-4201
McCaul, Michael T.	Texas	225-2401
Neugebauer, Randy	Texas	225-4005
Olson, Pete	Texas	225-5951
Poe, Ted	Texas	225-6565
Sessions, Pete	Texas	225-2231
Smith, Lamar	Texas	225-4236
Thornberry, Mac	Texas	225-3706
Chaffetz, Jason	Utah	225-7751
Matheson, Jim	Utah	225-3011
Cantor, Eric	Virginia	225-2815
Connolly, Gerald E.	Virginia	225-1492
Forbes, J. Randy	Virginia	225-6365
Goodlatte, Bob	Virginia	225-5431
Griffith, H. Morgan	Virginia	225-3861
Hurt, Robert	Virginia	225-4711
Moran, James P.	Virginia	225-4376
Wittman, Robert J.	Virginia	225-4261
Wolf, Frank R.	Virginia	225-5136
Dicks, Norman D.	Washington	225-5916
Hastings, Doc	Washington	225-5816
Herrera Beutler, Jaime	Washington	225-3536
Larsen, Rick	Washington	225-2605
McMorris Rodgers, Cathy	Washington	225-2006
Reichert, David G.	Washington	225-7761
Smith, Adam	Washington	225-8901
Capito, Shelley Moore	West Virginia	225-2711
McKinley, David B.	West Virginia	225-4172
Duffy, Sean P.	Wisconsin	225-3365
Petri, Thomas E.	Wisconsin	225-2476
Ribble, Reid J.	Wisconsin	225-5665
Ryan, Paul	Wisconsin	225-3031
Lummis, Cynthia M.	Wyoming	225-2311

source: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll192.xml#Y

Useful Time Waster

2012-04-29T14:53:00.000-07:00

I was traversing the Internet the other day, and I found the most amusing, yet useful time waster I think I've ever come across. Musical theorists will definitely appreciate this one. Click the link below and when the website loads, click the boxes. Be sure you don't have your speakers muted and listen to the magic unfold.

Enjoy!

http://www.sembeo.com/media/Matrix.swf

Simple Solutions to Complex Problems

2012-04-21T16:24:00.003-07:00

Felt it was time for another update. I've been busy with my own studies and a side project on Tumblr these past few weeks, so forgive me for going silent. Anyway, I've been cruising through the vast collections of educational resources on the Internet looking for something that I could use to further my own collective knowledge in the world of science and technology, and I came across something very interesting on the Google Educators website that I think could help the masses better understand that black art we call mathematics. There is a section called Computational Thinking, which is something that we computer scientists and software engineers use to write programs (more on this later).

Now, to most of us, MATH is the most feared, and most frowned upon four letter word. I personally respect math, but many do not. We are taught from a very young age that math is something that we need to get through life; and this is true. But then why is it that the way by which we learn math relies on an archaic learning style where we see "ideal" examples that we can easily solve by hand if we know the trick of that one type of problem? This is an idea that has confounded me since I began my struggle with mastering math. And then it dawned upon me in my first year of college that the reason I struggled so much in the past, is because I realized that ideal examples completely break down when they are exposed to complexity of the real world. It was on that day that I realized that I spent eighteen years of my life learning how to do math completely backwards.

What do I mean by this? Let's consider the pattern by which we learn how to do computational mathematics. We start our mathematical journey by learning to count things. And this is how we should begin. Counting works in the real world. And our brain can grasp this and acknowledge this implicitly. We start out by using counting agents like fingers and toes to keep count. Eventually we move to computing agents, but before we do that, we move to paper calculations. I think that this is the start of the problem.

Many math teachers will probably crucify me when I say this, but we don't need to learn how to do paper calculations anymore. We have computing agents to do these calculations for us. Now before you ready your pitchforks, hear me out for a second. If we already have the tools in place (ie counting agents, and computing agents), then why are we wasting so much time on fixed interval calculations, and not immediately graduating the learner into real world calculations? I am of course talking about Calculus, that dreaded math that the layman can never hope to understand. Or can he? This brings me back to concept of Computational Thinking.

There are many techniques our brain uses to process CT, but the ones that are outlined by Google's section are as follows:

Decomposition: This is probably the most fundamental form of CT. We use it all the time without even realizing it (which is key). Our brain is designed to output the information it takes in as complete objects, but it can also break those objects apart into their individual pieces. For example, you sit down to dinner, and you take that first bite of a pizza or what have you, and the first thing you taste is something that we associate with how pizza should taste. But what about after that? Suddenly, hints of basil and tomato begin to permeate your pallet, the spice of the pepperoni, the sweetness of the cheese, the earthiness of the yeast risen dough. It all breaks down into something that makes you eager to take another bite, and another. We can do the same thing in math. In other words, we can break a number into its individual pieces. Take for example, the number 20. There's several approaches to this, but let's say we want to just take little bites of the number 20 in breaking it apart. We know that 20 can be expressed as 5*4, or 10*2. So if we take just one more bite, we see that 20 can be expressed as 2*2*5. In algebra, we'd call these the "prime factors" of 20, but how much algebra did I actually use? None. My brain implicitly decomposed 20 into its prime factors.
Pattern Recognition: The brain loves to find trends in natures. Pattern recognition is simply the ability to note common similarities and differences. Once again, the human brain can do this implicitly. For example, when you were a child, you might've had the unfortunate experience of touching the stove when it was hot. And what was the result? Other than the searing pain, your brain quickly made the connection that fire is hot, and we don't touch fire because it will burn us. Continuing with the example, we see that you likely shrieked in pain, and your parents came running. What's the pattern here? If I hurt myself, and I cry, then mommy and daddy will come running to my aid. Now let's apply this to math. Why is the product of two negative numbers a positive number? This is something that I had the hardest time with in school. I eventually accepted it as law without fully understanding it. But let's examine this phenomenon. We know that:

(-4)(4)=-16
(-4)(2)=-8
(-4)(1)=-4
(-4)(0)=0
(-4)(-1)=4

Do you see the pattern? Of course you do. And that is because your brain is designed to see patterns. It isn't designed to necessarily understand the principle that two negative numbers when multiplied together is a positive number, but it will immediately grasp the fact that a pattern emerges when you keep a constant, and decrement be until b is less than 0.

There are two more principles of CT that Google goes over, but for the sake of the length of this post, I'll let you research those for yourself. My point is that our brain is a marvelous computing agent that is designed in such a way that is counter to the current way mathematics is taught in the public sector. I believe that if we instead teach students to decompose complex, real world mathematical problems, to identify patterns, abstract the critical steps, and then write the algorithm to solve the problem, the student will then have a full and comprehensive understanding of math, and maybe even come to love its subtle intricacies, and infinite puzzles. And how do we do this? We teach them how to write programs. Instead of teaching the student how to use a calculator, we teach them how to BUILD the calculator. We live in a modern world, and there is no place for archaic methodologies in a modern world. We sit on the forefront, the very pinnacle of a movement that could potentially change this world into a place worth living in. If we continue to use archaic methods of instruction, and (worse yet), continue to dumb down the material that students NEED to understand to inherit this world. We'll miss the boat on this movement, and the consequences will be dire.

I'll close with an amazing presentation by Conrad Wolfram who addresses this very problem, as well as possible solutions in great detail.

Enjoy!

The Art of Shameless Self Promotion (par deux)

2012-04-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

For your reading pleasure, I have decided to post a sample chapter from my novel, The Fallen. If you like what you read, then you can pick yourself up a copy by clicking the link at the bottom of this entry.

Enjoy! :)

“The suns are finally setting,” I said, relieved. I grabbed my uniform and put it on, strapping on my Psi-Blaster when I was finished. I walked down the hall to join the rest of the army outside.

“Gentlemen, we’ve survived the fi rst day. Now, let’s spill the blood of every alien scum that walks this dust bowl!” the general boomed. We yelled in acknowledgment and charged out of the base. The five of us (Spekter, Mafisto, Chronos, Hawkeye, and I) just sauntered along, unconcerned.

“Ready?” Mafisto asked us.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Chronos replied.

“What about you, Mafi sto. Are you ready?” I asked.

“I was born ready,” he replied, grinning. “And you?”

“Ready and able,” I said. Spekter was silent.

“What about you, Spekter?” I asked. He was still silent. “Spekter, answer me,”
I said, looking slightly irritated.

“The better question is, are you prepared to accept the fact that quite possibly
we won’t be talking together again?” he asked with worry on his face.

“We’ll survive, Spekter. You’ll see,” Mafisto said.

“Always the pessimist,” I said. He growled.

“A pessimist is an optimist with experience!”

“Whatever,” he growled again. Suddenly, we heard a single shot ring out in the
distance.

“Talk later. Time to fight,” Mafisto said, drawing the War Hammer. I readied my
Blaster, and Spekter placed his Chakram on his arm launcher. Chronos synthesized a
gun, and Hawkeye drew his axe. We charged over the hill only to find a few hundred
HELL Demons and a strange looking man riding one of them. The man was only about three feet tall. He had silver hair and red eyes. He was definitely alien, as he had massive pincers instead of hands. He wore a triangular crown. Our men were firing volley after volley at the Demons, only to be shredded to bits by the approaching mass. The only thing that could stop them was a Thermite grenade to the face.
If you’re wondering what Thermite is, it is a substance that burns so hot it ignites
the hydrogen in the air. It only took twenty of these to take out the Demons, including
the one that the alien being was riding. He got up, brushed himself off, and then
grinned. He began to glow and then float! Finally, he spoke, and in English, at that.

“You don’t get it, do you? You can’t stop us. No one can! You will be crushed
and thrown into the wind just like so many other civilizations. All your knowledge
and technology will be used to benefit the Syndicate.”

“Not if we take you down first!” a man among the soldiers yelled, firing at the
alien. The alien merely looked at the energy he discharged, and it stopped in its
tracks. Everyone’s jaw dropped.

“Tisk tisk. Such weak weaponry. I don’t even know why the Syndicate sees
your species as a highly evolved race. Oh well, I just take orders. Now then, would
you like your death to be slow and painful, or quick and clean?” the being asked,
grinning. The army replied by opening fire. It proved to be in vain. The beams
stopped no more than a centimeter from the being. Everyone stopped firing, looking
on in horror.

“No, no. Sorry, this simply won’t do. Allow me to return the gesture,” he said.
His glowing body began to increase in intensity until it looked as though a brilliant
blue flame surrounded him. Then, with a wave of his hand, the beams of energy
diverted back to those who opened fire, killing them instantly. He lowered his hand
and simply said, “Too bad. Now then, who’s next?” Everyone looked at each other
and began to move back. “Now, now. Playtime isn’t over yet.” He took up a running position. Then, in
the blink of an eye, he decapitated 200,000 of the soldiers with his pincers, their
bodies dropping to the ground as he landed behind them. We weren’t going to stand
by and watch this massacre anymore. We lunged at him in unison, only to be blown
off with the immense energy that surrounded him. “Well, looky here; more playmates. Do you want to join the game as well?” the being asked, turning his head and grinning. His grin quickly subsided when
Hawkeye’s axe dug into his leg.

“How do ya like that?!” Hawkeye pridefully said. The alien merely grabbed
hold of the blade and wrenched it out. Hawkeye couldn’t believe his eyes when the
wound quickly healed. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his own leg.

“I should like to ask you the same question,” the being replied. Hawkeye cried out in pain, trying desperately to wrench the axe from his femur. With Hawkeye taken out of the fight, it was now Chronos’s turn to fight the unstoppable menace. He took aim with his rifle and fired shot after shot. The only place the energy didn’t pierce was his head. He looked down at the holes that ravaged his body and laughed. Chronos fired more shots. This time, however, the energy stopped in front of the alien. The holes in his body grew smaller and became fully healed. The rifle evaporated, leaving Chronos defenseless. “Ouch,” he said, that same sadistic grin on his face. “Just because you put on such a glorious light show, I think I’ll let you live to see the rest of them die.” The beams careened back towards Chronos, piercing him in the arms and legs.

“Enough of this! You face me now!” I yelled, taking up stance.

“Wait, Striker. Not just yet,” I heard Mafisto say. “He’s mine.”

“Oh, all right. Just don’t get yourself killed.” Mafisto nodded and revealed the Bone Snap. He took up stance, his cape fanned out by a small breeze.

The alien just crossed his arms and said, “Oh, really?”

Mafisto lunged at him and swung the Bone Snap at the alien’s head. The alien
just stood there. Then, to everyone’s surprise, the Bone Snap passed right through
the alien’s head without even damaging him. Again Mafisto swung, and again it
passed through him.

“H... His… m… movements! They’re so fast that Mafisto can’t hit him!” Spekter said. His jaw dropped while he pointed at the being as Mafisto continued to attack.

“Okay, I tried playing fair. Now it’s time for you to taste pain,” Mafisto said as
I sensed his psionic emanations skyrocket. His eyes glowed, and a massive force
collided into the being.

“Hmm… feels a bit drafty. Hey, laughing boy, give me your cape,” the being
said, infuriating Mafisto.

“Why you! I’ll crush you!” Mafisto said as he dropped the force onto the being’s
head. The being just stood there.

“I crush you! I destroy you! You sound like one of those cheesy comic book
heroes you humans read about to entertain yourselves. And like those worthless
drawings, you can’t back it up,” the being said. Mafisto dropped his weapon and removed his armor. He again lunged at the being, throwing punch after punch, each time missing the creature. Then, with little
effort, the being quickly tapped Mafisto in the gut with his knee and sent him careening
our way. He landed against the dune we were standing on, spitting up blood.
“Next victim,” the being said mischievously. Spekter stepped forward. Then,
without a word, he raised his hand to his temple, firing his particle beam. He quickly
fired the Chakram. The beam hit him in the chest, and the Chakram cut clean through
his right arm. He simply picked it up and tossed it to Spekter.
“Complementary backscratcher,” he said as another arm burst out of his shoulder.
He raised his clawed hand into the air and dropped it back to his side.
“Now, feel my wrath! The wrath of the all powerful Tierano!” the being said, revealing
his identity. A loud whistling sound was heard overhead. As Spekter looked
up, he saw twenty large lights, which then slammed into his body, making him bleed
profusely. Seeing that all my friends were lying on the ground desperately crying in
pain, I began to get angry.

“You want to try your luck, too?” Tierano asked.

“Allow me to answer that by kicking your teeth down your throat!” I replied. I could tell I angered him. He frowned and took up a stance I had never seen before. His right claw was pointed at me, but his left claw was crossed over his abdomen. I took up my own stance and stared him down. We lunged at each other, and the fight was on.

His speed was incredible. Even with my skill, I was unable to touch him. But
on the other hand, he was unable to touch me. Unable to hit each other, we jumped
back into ready positions.

“It appears we are evenly matched, Tierano,” I said, out of breath.

“Don’t kid yourself,” he replied. The energy around him dissipated, and he took
up the same stance he took just before he killed all of those soldiers.

“It’s true that you’re fast, Tierano, but I’m faster,” I said, ejecting my tiger
claw.

“You’ve got to be joking. What chance do you have against me with those metal
toothpicks of yours?”

I replied to this by lunging at him. He did the same to me. We then were caught
in a twisted sword fight. Unlike me however, he cheated by blasting energy at me
from someplace as concealed as his knee or even his eye. I staggered. He began
to stab me multiple times in the arms and torso, causing me to cry out in pain. He
would try to slash at my neck, which I would block with my robotic arm. I retaliated
by slashing at his head. This process repeated about twelve more times, each
more violent than the last. More blood from us was spilt each time. Unlike Tierano,
however, I couldn’t regenerate after every slash.

“Feeling tired, are we?” Tierano asked as he slashed me in the side. It was true.
Even with my superior skill, I was simply loosing too much blood to stay awake.

“Tierano, I have a way we can end this,” I said.

“Oh? Do tell.”

“We charge each other with all the speed we can muster. Then, we try to cut
each other’s head off.”

“I like,” he replied. He took up the stance that he had assumed before
his killing spree. I took up my own stance. It was the stance I assumed just before
using the Eraser technique. First we stared each other down. Then we began to
walk, then trot. Before we knew it, we were jogging, running, and sprinting towards
each other. I was a blur, my blood drenched blades glowing transparent blue. He was
also a blur to the normal eye, his energy erupting from all around him. I jumped up
into the air and lunged for his neck. He floated higher, matching my height. As you
already know, my aim is not the best with the Eraser. Instead of hitting his neck, the
middle blade struck and cut the crown he was wearing clean in two. The two pieces
fell to the ground, as did he.

“W, What happened?” Tierano asked.

“Are you playing dumb?”

“I don’t think so,” he said. “Who are you?”

“My name is Striker, a name you will remember well, tyrant!” I raised my claws
into the air to strike the final blow.

“Please, I know not what I have done, and I assure you that it was not of my
own accord,” he said as he cowered.

“You honestly have no recollection as to what you have done?”

“The last thing I remember is being on one of those forsaken command ships
and having something they called a controller crown placed on my head.”

“I see.”

That is the last thing I remember of that instance. Could that be the reason for
me lying here? No. I recall waking up and being informed that I had collapsed from
blood loss. I must delve deeper into my mind in order to discover my reason for
lying here...

MITx- At Last it Begins

2012-03-02T17:42:00.001-08:00

A few turns back I blogged about the concept of Open Courseware and how it plans to usher in an era of social learning. As a reminder, I'm pleased to announce that in just three short days MITx will launch its first class; Circuits and Electronics. This class serves as the prototype for the MITx courseware framework that is to be rolled out in the Fall and as such, will allow students to take the final exam outside of an approved testing center. Moreover, students who pass the class will receive a certificate verifying their mastery of the topics learned in the class. Best of all, in keeping with MIT's Open Courseware philosophy, MITx offers these "extended" classes at no charge to the students who enroll.

Despite my already busy schedule, I have taken it upon myself to enroll in this pilot course and encourage anybody who reads this and has a sincere interest in Electrical Engineering and/or Computer Science to do the same. Remember, the pursuit of knowledge is not about going to class just so you can walk away with an A. No, the pursuit of knowledge is far more fundamental than such a perverse concept. Instead, embrace the Open Courseware framework, and pursue what it has to offer for the sake of expanding your own personal knowledge. With that said, click the image below to be directed to the MITx main page!

Stand for Something, Even if it means you Stand Alone

2012-02-19T22:21:00.000-08:00

Been a hot minute since my last update, but that is to be expected when you must endure the rigors of a Computer Science program. In my last post, I nostalgically talked about my first major project. That project is long since completed, the grade recorded, and the next project issued. I will say that project two isn't nearly as fun as project one. Matter of factly, it's quite annoying. It's due Thursday, and I still have a considerable ways to go before the deadline. Yet this post isn't about that. No, this post encompasses something that's been rolling around in my brain for the past month, and as such I find it necessary for us to sit ourselves down and have a little chat.

By now, everybody should know, or at least have heard of what SOPA/PIPA are. Two bills, both seemingly generated by two different yet equally inferior schools of thought. If for some reason you've been living under a rock for the past year, watch the video below to educate yourself on these two proposals and form your own opinions:

For those of you that have kept abreast of SOPA and PIPA, you are aware that Congress has postponed a vote on both of these votes indefinitely after widespread protest. The key word here is postponed. Many people have disillusioned themselves into thinking that this means SOPA and PIPA have died. Make no mistake, they have not. Which brings me to the point of this post. There is a movement that I am taking part in next month. Whether you choose to or not is entirely up to you, and I won't think any less of you if you decide against it, but hear me out for just a brief moment of your time and then I will trouble you no further.

Who sponsored SOPA and PIPA? Your first instinct may be to blame the "liberals", or the "conservatives", depending on where you sit along the political spectrum. This is how the media has trained you, so it is only natural to cast blame on the puppets rather than the puppeteers. Yet there is a more sinister force at work behind the current, yet at the same time directly in plane sight. Every time you purchase a movie ticket, a cd, a dvd, or a video game you are helping to fund this master of deception. They call themselves the producers of the video, music, and gaming industries, but what they really are are nothing more than corporations attempting to carry out the corporate function. You see, corporations are not greedy, and/or sinister. People are greedy, and/or sinister. And corporations are NOT people, much as the corporate shareholders would like them to be. No, corporations are but a safety net to defer liability upon so that the corporate masters don't lost their asses on a bad business deal. A corporation's function is to maximize profits at all costs. The benefits to society of this function are debatable, but that debate will have to wait for another post.

Now that you know the true masterminds behind these two bills, it is time for me to unveil what is to be done about it. In 1773, America was still ruled by the British crown, and that crown functioned much like a corporation. It maximized its profits on the backs of society, stripping away the rights of the people who supported it. The difference between now and then, is that the people responded in kind. I am referring to the Boston Tea Party. And where today's society sits by complacently and does nothing as their corporate masters tick one freedom at a time from their backs with the crack of its legal whip, I choose not to. I choose to respond in kind. Not through violence, or through subversive tactics, but instead through the only power the corporate overseer understands; the power of my wallet.

March shall mark our Boston Tea Party, our stand against the corporate oppressor for those of us who believe enough is enough. If successful, March shall be a time when music cd's and dvd's shall remain on the shelves of retailers, and movie theaters shall be made to endure as seats go unfilled. Our expansive libraries of books and magazines shall cease their perpetual growth, and for thirty-one days corporations shall weep as their first quarter earnings dwindle into record losses. It is my hope that this actions will effectively kill SOPA, PIPA, and any potential future incarnation of such bills, and remind corporation and government alike that there is a people that exists beneath the rich. And we are very, VERY pissed off. Join me in this cause. Race matters not. Creed matters not. The corporate poison is far reaching, blanketing every corner of the globe. If you believe as I believe. If you feel as I feel. Then break free of the political shackles that have controlled you for so long, and make March a month that shall never, ever be forgot.

Adventure

2012-01-18T00:18:00.000-08:00

Colossal Cave Adventure is a text based adventure game developed back in the 1970's by William Crowther. To the best of my knowledge, the game was originally written in FORTRAN in 1975, and then later ported to other languages due to its wild popularity. The basic idea behind Colossal Cave Adventure is that you key in specific commands that the console understands to navigate the caves. For example, if I wanted to go south, then I would type "SOUTH" into the console and I would arrive at a different location on the map (provided South is a valid direction from that specific part of the map). The interesting thing about Crowther was one of the founders of the ARPANET, one of the corner stones of today's global Internet. The idea for Adventure was spawned from Crowther's passion for cave exploration, and in fact, Colossal Cave Adventure's map emulates parts of the maps Crowther created of Mammoth Cave for the Cave Research Foundation.

Colossal Cave Adventure was then picked up a year later by a man by the name of Don Woods, who expanded on the Crowther's work after first receiving his approval. Woods's version was still written in FORTRAN, but it wasn't until Jim Gillogly of the Rand Corporation (another co-developer of the global Internet we use today), that Collossal Cave Adventure was ported to C. It is this release that became the official release of "Adventure", and was included with the first IBM PC's. At the time, this was the single most advanced implementation of game logic, and spawned several other text based adventure games including ZORK, and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

So why all the history? I bring up the subject of Adventure Game because it is now my turn to write my own text based adventure game for my Computer Science class. The game that so changed the text based adventure genre, has now been relegated to a rudimentary assignment in an Intro to Computer Science class. I am neither saddened by this, nor am I overjoyed by the prospect. I simply find the rich history that is involved in the development of the technology we know and love today amazing. Here we have a story within a story. On one hand, we have a tale of a technology (the Internet) being developed that will change the way mankind communicates forever. On the other, just beneath the surface in fact, we have a tale of a man who was at the forefront of developing this technology, yet on the side he develops something that would captivate the mind of his users for decades to come. And why did Crowther develop such a masterpiece of its day? Was it for money? Recognition? Boredom? Try love; the love for his two daughters whom he wanted to feel more connected to. Who could have guessed that his daughters would love their father's work so much, that they would proceed to pass it around amongst their friends and in doing so, establish a whole new genre of entertainment?

And that is my point of this post. No matter what you do. No matter what your industry of expertise may be. Be sure that all that you do is out of the love and passion, and the will to right by others. A simple act of kindness can, and often does, change the world. I shall leave you now with the original Colossal Cave Adventure. Click the image above and the console will open in a new window. As this is a Java version of the game, you will need to be sure Java is enabled in your browser to play. There is a walkthrough, but try to play the game first without it, and then use the walkthrough to fill in the gaps. Half the fun of Adventure is figuring out the puzzles for yourself. Enjoy :)

Crafting the Perfect Villian

2012-01-07T23:28:00.001-08:00

***Public Disclosure***

The opinions expressed herein are just that, opinion. I encourage everybody who reads this to comment and share your thoughts on the subject matter. You are equally encouraged to subscribe to this blog and make your readership known. Suggestions on blogging topics are always welcome, as is the open sharing of resources. That being said, regardless of whether or not you choose to share your input, I humbly thank you for reading my work and hope you will continue to do so in the future.

Mahalo for your support :)

**********************************************************************************

Last night I finally had the opportunity to watch Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. I had the pleasure of watching the brilliant Sherlock Holmes and the brilliantly mad Professor James Moriarty do battle on the silver screen in a fashion that I haven't seen captured in a very long time. It was akin to that of two Roman gladiators matching whits in the Coliseum. Not a game of cat and mouse. Not a crucible where there must be one winner and one loser. No, this was something else entirely. The battle between Holmes and Moriarty is and has always been one of equals. It is the perfect dichotomy between protagonist and antagonist, and meets its end as only a relationship of this caliber can.

Putting all this aside; however, Holmes and Moriarty's relationship got the cogs in the inner recesses of my mind turning. And so I pose the question, what makes the "perfect" villain? Is it how he or she carries him or herself? Is it the way he or she speaks? Is it the villain's malevolent acts towards the protagonist's of the story? Is it the way he or she dresses? I would argue that it is none of these things, and that the reason why many villains come off as flat and predictable is due to the fact that the villain's character was designed with these attributes in mind.

On the contrary, it seems to me that what makes the perfect villain perfect is the relationship he or she has with the hero or heroes of the story. The perfect villain antagonizes the hero because that is what a villain is designed to do. And how does a villain go about this antagonism? But by studying its subject carefully, intimately. I speak of the character as if he or she were real, and therein lies the key. The villain, in order to be effective, must be somebody that the reader or viewer can relate to. Too often emphasis is put on the reader being able to relate to the hero, but it is the villain that should embody every dark thought and desire the reader has. The villain is the personification of every time the reader wanted to throw their boss through the sixth story window, and every time he or she felt jilted by a former lover. For every time they were ever wronged, hurt, or oppressed, the villain represents the manifestation of those feelings.

And what of the hero? How does the hero fit into the equation of the villain? The hero in turn represents the reader's desire to make atonement for these feelings. The hero represents normalcy. Few heroes that I have had the pleasure of creating were the most upstanding citizens; and they didn't need to be. Doing right by the world is not a prerequisite of the written hero. Matter of factly, the idea of a "do-gooder" rarely appeals to our human sensibilities. Sherlock Holmes is a fine example of this. He drinks. He smokes. He does drugs. He makes mistakes. Yet his defining characteristic that makes him a hero is in fact his relationship with the villain. Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty are the same in every respect, except for one key difference. While Holmes seeks to bring balance to the chaotic world that ensues when a puzzle presents itself, Moriarty seeks to unbalance the world.

How does all this create the vision of the perfect villain? Quite simply, if there is no conflict, then there is no hero. And if there is no hero, then there cannot be a villain, or at least a villain that is effective in the eyes of the reader. The two are co-dependent upon each other. They feed on the strengths and weaknesses of the other, thus creating depth, emotion, a soul. And so we come full circle and see that the perfect villain is one who reveals the imperfections of the hero.

To all the aspiring writers out there, consider this the next time you attempt to craft your antagonist. Look past his or her demeanor, attire, and actions, and instead examine the relationship he or she shares with the hero. Build your antagonist from there. Then, and only then, will your villain truly be worthy of the hero's remorse. Then, and only then, will your villain truly be "perfect".

End of the World or World Without End???

2012-01-03T00:49:00.000-08:00

As we begin this new year, a number of questions stir in people's minds. Most are relatively benign: What does the year hold in store for me? How can I make this year different from the last? And on, and on.

But this year is already different, isn't it? This year is special. This year has been the subject of speculation for time beyond mind. 2012 has been called the year that marks the end of the world, but it has also been called the year that marks the end of the age. So which is it? Without calling bias into the nature of this article, I would like to attempt to outline some of the eschatological theories associated with the end of the Long Count Calendar.

The Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar is a 5,125 year long calendar of unknown origin. Most scholars agree that the calendar is originally Olmec in design; however, a similar calendar was discovered in Egypt that predates the Olmecs settling Mesoamerica by about 650 years. Interestingly enough, both calendars are celestial in design and both calendars terminate in 2012. Both calendars consist of 360 day years, and both calendars are linear in design.This is counter to the popular depiction of a circular 365 day calendar that Mayanists portray, and assists in supporting the argument that the calendar does indeed have a finite termination date.

But what happens when this date is reached? Maybe nothing, and most experts would support this. Yet there is a disturbing commonality among ancient civilizations that used the stars to keep track of time; all of these calendars seem to terminate this year, and appear to be marked by some cataclysmic event that brings about the end of the world as we know it. I could stop there, but then I would fall into the trap that sensationalizes the whole concept of a 2012 Apocalypse. There is a key piece that many supporters of the 2012 phenomenon seem to omit, and that is the concept that as one world ends, a new world begins. As a matter of fact, according to the mythologies of many Native American tribes, there were three worlds prior to the one we live in now. If these legends are correct, then 2012 marks the end of the fourth world, and the beginning of the fifth. How this is brought about is anybody's guess, but many believe that this year shall be marked by a time of increased solar activity that triggers a series of natural disasters. Others speculate that an asteroid or comet will strike the Earth causing widespread damage. Perhaps most bizarre, is that some theorists speculate that the Earth will collide with an ancient celestial object (some identify this object as a planet) known as Nibiru. This is all theory, with very little evidence to back the claims. Of the two theories, the first seems slightly more realistic, as the sun is expected to reach a period of high solar activity sometime this year. Yet, civilizations far older than our own and spanning the entire world indicate 2012 with some exactitude. Here are just a few examples of what these civilizations have hailed 2012 as:

Hopi-25year period of purification, followed by End of Fourth World and beginning of the Fifth.
Mayan-The end of Days
Maori-Merging of the spiritual and physical worlds
Zulu-The entire world will be flipped upside down
Hindu-The end of time of man, and the coming of the "Enlightened Ones"
Inca-The age of meeting ourselves again
Aztec-A new race is born
Pueblo-Emergence into the Fifth World
Tibetan-The coming of the "Golden Age"

With so many similarities between predictions, it is possible that all of these cultures are correct to some degree. It is equally possible that none of these cultures are correct and 2012 will come and go just like any other year. There will be war, and pain, and destruction. But there will also be tenderness, hope, and perhaps even a little bit of joy. If these year is to mark our uprooting, then so be it, but let it not unhinge us. Let it not deliver us into the arms of despair. Let it instead unite us, and bring us closer to realizing what this world has seemed to have lost in the midst of all the uncertainty; its humanity. Happy New Year everybody. May it bring you blessings and prosperity beyond your wildest dreams.

The Art of Shameless Self Promotion

2011-12-30T00:08:00.000-08:00

The ability to read and write regardless of race, creed, or level of education is paramount in today's society. Literacy has long since replaced oracy as the acceptable societal norm in modern civilized peoples and as such a large portion of our media (including the blog you see here) requires you to be literate to take full advantage of what the Internet has to offer. That being said, the concept of being able to store entire libraries of literature on a single handheld device has had an appeal since the days of HG Wells, and Ray Bradbury. It is an exciting time that we live in where we get to see such fantasies becoming reality. Moreover, the advent of these "eReaders" as they are called, has opened new doors for break through writers in the industry of self publishing.

I am one such hobbyist, and while it would be a simple task for me to turn this blog into a "buy now" plug for my work, I would first like to take the time to plug a couple other people's works that I find compelling. The first student of the craft I would like to introduce you to, has been a friend of mine for many years and has only recently begun her journey as a professional writer. She is the author of the blog United By Books which caters to writers in the romance genre. I have had the pleasure of editing a number of her posts, and have personally bore witness to her transforming into a brilliant writer who I hope will one day expand her craft beyond the blogging community, and compose a novel of her very own. Check out her latest post where she hosts award winning author, Terry Spear. You can read her post by clicking the banner below.

***Warning Strong Sexual Content***

Another of my favorite hobbyists goes by the name "Vain Ziler". Vain is the site director, and project manager for the nerd culture site, finalsmash.com. While Vain's primary role within the site is that of a manager, he still finds time to write out some truly amazing reviews and podcasts covering the latest games, movies, manga, board games, music, and whatever else seems to be a good idea at the time. Essentially, if its nerdy or obscure, Vain probably has something to say about it. He is a truly amazing writer who has a bright future ahead of him in the industry. Check out his review of Battlefield 3: Back to Karkland for the PS3 and leave some comments HERE.

And finally, I present to you a small sampling of my work:

RJ and his friends loved to dabble in the dark arts, but when they discover that the long sought after Book of the Dead is hidden in their Sleepy Town of Star Grove, they quickly learn that some books are best left unread. After opening a gate to Hell, it is up to RJ to reverse the book's dark magic and regain his place in the world of men, lest the world be consumed by an everlasting and impenetrable darkness.

Nothing is what it seems. Scout often heard these words, but never paid them any heed, until the day they landed on Earth and destroyed everything he held sacred. John Evans in his new book, The Fallen, details the life of Scout "Striker" Carleson and his struggles against the sinister alien intelligence known as the "Fallen". However, he soon discovers that the old adage is true; nothing is as it seems. Now he must confront a far greater evil, and accept a destiny that could spell the end of not just the universe, but the infinite number of realities that surround it. The Fallen is filled with good humor, brilliant imagery, and a philosophical/religious approach that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

When Samuel, a young Psychology major at UCLA has a horrific nightmare the night before the most important test of his life, it looks like his day is going to go from bad to worse. But when he discovers that his two best friends have been plagued by similar dreams, Samuel begins to suspect something strange in the works. That, coupled with a barrage of waking dreams, prompts Samuel and his friends to go on an adventure that will find them facing evil itself.

Reviews make the writer; be they positive or negative. If you do happen to purchase any of my works, I would appreciate you posting your honest opinion to Amazon. Your feedback helps me to improve my craft, and in doing so, allows me to continue weaving works of art throughout the pages you treasure.

2012- The Year of Open Courseware

2011-12-26T21:45:00.000-08:00

As we near the end of 2011, I reflect on the fact that many high school students will soon be embarking on their journey to college. They have painstakingly worked their way through twelve years of public school for the sole purpose of receiving a piece of paper that demonstrates that they can successfully regurgitate "facts" to their school district's satisfaction. From there, many of them will choose to pursue a four year degree, and perhaps even graduate school after. Others may choose to crawl their way up from the bottom rung of the societal ladder, working minimum wage jobs until their department overseer decides that he or she has proven him or herself worthy enough to join the ranks of the corporate elite. Still others may rise above the system, and redefine it by their own terms, perpetuating their name into immortality. There are those that may embark on a path of self destruction, and those who may embark on a path of self sacrifice. Regardless of the instrument of one's path through life, one truth remains abundantly clear; scientia est potentia.

Confused? Don't be. The phrase above is a Latin phrase that simply means "knowledge is power". It is something that those that I've looked up to have always emphasized. But it begs to question: Just what is the cost of the pursuit of knowledge? The world of academia would have you pay thousands of dollars, and plunge yourself into debt and despair in the name of the pursuit of knowledge; however, we all know that knowledge and the pursuit thereof is, and always has been, free to those who seek it. Thanks to the advent of the social network, learning can be achieved in ways that our parents and grandparents could only begin to imagine.

Enter the world of the Open Courseware Consortium, a massive conglomeration of educational institutions with a single goal in mind, feeding the pursuit of knowledge free of charge. Thanks to OCWC there are now entire degree programs available from some of the most prestigious universities in the world to audit free of charge. The following is a sample list of courses that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers through OCWC:

I chose MIT because of their prestige, but also because of the fact they have helped to spearhead this new era of open courseware. The Internet has exploded with open courseware resources, and now MIT has chosen to take this to the next logical level with its announcement of MITx which will allow users to earn certificates opposed to just auditing courses. You can read more about MITx HERE

In addition to the institutional movement towards open courseware, there is also a massive social movement towards the open learning environment. A prime example of this is "Khan Academy", a website whose video library boasts more than 2,700 videos covering a broad variety of subjects that you can watch completely for free. Moreover, Khan Academy offers practice exercises, and even awards badges and achievements to registered users and yes, registration is also COMPLETELY free. Here's a sample lesson from Khan Academy explaining diffusion and osmosis:

Thanks to social networking we now spend more than six hours of our day online. Perhaps social learning will encourage us to spend at least half of that time in the pursuit of that most valuable commodity, knowledge.

And so the Game Begins

2011-12-25T22:15:00.000-08:00

Good Evening/Morning/Afternoon everybody. If you're reading this, then it means that you've temporarily abandoned the realm of rational thought, and stumbled (either willfully, or under duress) onto my blog. Who am I? I am a pursuer of knowledge, a purveyor of intellectual resources, and a pontificator of wisdom. I live in Hawaii, but I'm an import from the mainland. I've wandered this Earth for 26 long years, and in doing so I have had the opportunity to accumulate knowledge and wisdom that far surpasses a typical 26 year old. I am a published author, an accomplished Information Technology Specialist, a teacher, consultant, critic, student, friend, lover, fighter, hunter, conqueror, and king. I am all this, and so much more. Simply put, I am John. Accept NO imitation.

So what's this all about? Given that this is my first post, I'm not entirely certain. Writing, by its very nature, is a fluid and organic practice. As the breath of life is breathed into one's work, their work takes on a soul and mind of its own. It grows and changes, becoming something both beautiful and terrifying. I do know that whatever I post shall be relevant and useful in some way. It shall serve to benefit mankind, and encourage you to abandon the ideologies of mainstream media. To turn your attentions away from the drama in your life, and instead turn your attention to the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. In short, to forsake reality, even if it is but for a fleeting moment.

Regardless of what becomes of this blog, I thank you all in advanced for reading, subscribing, and providing your feedback. Mahalo! And while I'm at it...