http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy Sun, 01 Dec 2019 22:41:50 -0600 Aeonity Blog v2 http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/systems-thinking-systems-acting What's in a name? I've always been about the subject in the past, hardly about the concept until the last group of months. The nearing expedition into the further-polished environment of learning is drawing to a fantastic beginning, and I have vowed to myself to establish routines, systems, values, habits, philosophies, and motives in order to succeed at my goals in the future. My established routines include a weekly schedule of events, organized into forks depending on the possible events of the day, and these include work days, extra-housework-duty weekends, shop care days (planned in advance), etc. Systems involve a fashion of systems-thinking-applied learning with five notebooks per subject. A Pulpbook, which serves to take notes on lectures, labs, etc; a Brainbook, which is an improved, systemic version of the Pulpbook that is also based on the chapters of books in resource; there is the Docbook, which contains documentation of examples from each subject/concept; the Viewbook contains the status, name, and details of each assignment; finally, a Workbook, which contains the assignment and its answers in themselves. Another system is the housework, which will be updated as I see need to. Some systems will have to be established in detail in the future. Values include transparency, communicativeness, clarity, voluntarity, defensive and anti-bystanderistic pacifism, currentism, consistency, politeness, minimalism, etc. Habits involve laundry duties, planning-tendencies, time management, etc. Philosophies are a little numerous and rather good topics for future blogs, so I'll describe them over the following years. With these tools in hand, I have more than enough confidence that each and every goal I have in the future is addressed. Good topics that could come up involve how I address each. I guess this isn't just a coding/morals blog anymore. It's about how I keep laying out my future plans. http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/systems-thinking-systems-acting http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/blog/87035 Sun, 02 May 2010 21:15:45 -0500 http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/heaven I didn't wake up 91, today; I woke up a young adult once more. Instantaneously, there was relief in the rush of thoughts that ran. I had finally kicked the bucket, or so it feels. This was already the most elaborate dream I ever had. There was wind between my fingers. I could stop breathing without suffering apnea. I could feel my hair without oils and dust. There were no wrinkles or blemishes on my skin. My tongue could click and I could feel the saliva jumping in my mouth. Everything is so real, here. If my conscience cannot comprehend its reality, how can it be the work of my subconscience? Ah, yes, the thoughts now flood in. Am I really dead? I've always been aware of the power of the subconscience that reigns in my dreams, but it has never expressed this kind of love letter to me; The grass is a dark grey, but healthy in shape and texture, as if it naturally grows that way. The sky is this golden yellow, the shade I love, and the clouds are of black vapors, raining lemonade. How strange and exciting. Birds of numerous exciting colors flocked hither and thither, but only a simple brown goldfinch sat on my shoulder. It was then that I came across it; the lake. The lake looked so strange to me from a distance, as if it were covered in an ice patterned with parallel strips of saturations of yellow. Indeed, as I approached it, the strips were actually liquid. I recognized the contents immediately to contain both lemonade and honey. I never thirsted, or grew full, or went hungry. I felt satisfied when I decided I would suddenly feel satisfied. I worried if I would soon lose interest in drinking and eating in the midst of my paradise, or if all of this leisure I would take for granted. What would I do? To see my world grow old to me is nothing short of hell. I decided that paradise was too frail for my prolonged love. Knowledge and effort was traded off for the most temporary of pleasures, and I had no representation. My extensive expertise wasted on a lake filled with lemonade and honey, neither of which that I loved. The computers were the best that I wanted, and I could create anything I wanted, but I always did it best with willpower; I couldn't make it complicated, or an effort, to produce. Achievements were taken from me, too. Now I was a prisoner. http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/heaven http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/blog/83064 Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:49:01 -0600 http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/gamers-righteousness It's a surprise at how much gamers value not only doing things the way they were instructed, but the way that justifies a reward. Take my friend for example; A couple of his "friends" were talking about a game he recently wiped the floor with their entrails in. The story, from my friend, sounded exciting and glorious. However, it was heard that the "way" in which he played was cheap; they were moves that were considered too highly abused to be used further. My mother and I were talking about cheating in single-player games while she played MyZoo on Facebook. She visited map after map, showing the same grass with the same cute kiosks and animals along with the same types of trees that were shaken to obtain coins from. As she proceeded through the tedious task, she told me that cheating at a game would ruin the experience, even if the effects were reversible, and they hurted very little about the game. I've never been a fan of using illegal actions like hacking to upgrade yourself far beyond the capabilities of other players, but who is to think you worse for using cheats in a single-player game? You're not supposed to use them at first, but for only one reason that I think is legitamate: Every time I applied such a cheat, I found regret in not playing the correct way, first. Gamers seem to have an intuition about achieving goals with effort. Core gamers have a simple ideal: accomplish a goal through a single, difficult task. Casual gamers have some of the harder lives with them; they don't put in effort toward an action, but effort to a series of actions. Should gamers be rewarded with how much time they spent, how many times they pressed a button rather than vanquished a single monster? Whose fault is it, truly, for a map to have a dominatable spot? Whose fault is it that someone obtained more kills than the other person? The people make the spot, the numbers, and the arguments. A developer probably was rushed in his development and left the place untested. Someone's connection could have lagged and caused some collision boxes to fall behind. The only person who could be upset would be the loser, predictably, but who should he or she blame? How right, although true and completely obvious, would it be to rest more blame on the individual than the hardware? Some gamers may have realized this and noticed a movement in a gaming social movement. A friend of mine had a brother who taught him that true gamers never speak of the other player, no matter how good or bad said player is. While it keeps arguments down, how social would this ideal be? Of what could it accomplish in terms of friendships? Perhaps it would be time for a much better movement that could consider a lighter playing atmosphere, despite the fact that such probably requires a better-atmosphered game. Perhaps people do not need to consider social guidelines the absolute rules, whether you cheat at a single-player game or you use "dangerously" advantageous points in a map. Take it a little easier, people; Games are supposed to relieve you. http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/gamers-righteousness http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/blog/83063 Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:43:04 -0600 http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/coded-overperformed The way that you know that your coding is something to be proud of is when it functions too well. I'm recoding a platformer engine (think Mario games, okay?) And here's a little example of a slightly amusing thing that happened: I've coded the character so that you can't jump if something is above you (as in, if the ceiling is touching your head, then the jump key does nothing). After a few hours, I had it so that the character could "stick" to the ceiling when he jumps up there for a little while before coming down. I also had a little double-jump thing going on, so you'd expect that while you were sticking to the ceiling, you could jump again to stick for a while longer. Mostly because of the confusions surrounding programming, I expected that I'd be able to do that, but instead, the jump isn't executed, the number of jumps I have left doesn't reduce, and my character starts falling as if I never used the button. It reminds me of a partner of a couple holding the door for the other, politely taking turns as the execution is made. I think it's a little weird, but amusing to think of my coding like this. It's easy to simply fix this problem, but I've become really relieved at how easy it has become to fix my coding since its seventh rewrite. Up until now, bugs that I've experienced have taken days and weeks to figure out, and every rewrite has made things easier and harder. At this point, I'm coding in a style I call "interchangeable features," where you can swap out separated and labelled blocks of code for better blocks that others have written. To be precise, the result is an open-source platformer engine designed to be the best it can be and get better. I speak rather appraisingly for the little project, but coding has become so easy and tidy for me, recently. I even get a little annoyed at having multiple closing curly braces, making if/else statements kind of messy. If I could color-code pairs of curly braces, I would. http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/coded-overperformed http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/blog/83062 Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:41:47 -0600 http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/love-me There are things that bring tears to my eyes. These days, I cry out of joy more than out of sorrow, far more out of joy, and that is how I realize how successful I am at this very moment. I have come to realize what a beautiful person I am, how much I love myself, and how much I do for the sake of enjoying what I'm doing. There are many people who wish to accomplish something for the sake of acceptance or some primary goal. I only know one other individual, a year older than me, sharing the same birthday as I do, who dares to learn for the sake of learning. We want to apply the knowledge, of course, but we both want to learn for the sake of accomplishment. How colorful my world must be to take joy in discovering its principles! How beautiful my eyes must be after giving it so many gifts, word after word, phrase after phrase, beholding a new concept after another. How delicate must the grace of my mind be for its openness, its tendency to think independently, its enjoyment of philosophy, its love for the challenge for its own sake. How beautiful my body is for its health to not be based on how much better it can be than another, how beautiful I must be to detract from competing with people and instead exercizing for my own love of it! How excellent must the grooves of my tongue be for the love of learning languages, the speaking of an endless range of words, for the desire to create its own! Oh how I love! How do I center it! How do I make nothing else my priority! How have I realized the greatest truth of all, that nothing, not money, not power, not even fame, means anything to me! How I have realized that all means nothing, for I shall die with none of it taken with me, but the only thing I can die taken with me is happiness! I think people are good. They're right before my eyes, constantly, laughing, and I love to tell people that they are good. Sometimes I kid of how much it seems like a childish naïvity. If I can make you feel better about yourself through such a trait, does it matter what it's like? Today, I'm going to make myself as happy as possible. I believe that every effort should be made. http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/love-me http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/blog/83061 Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:39:54 -0600 http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/after-hard-work-more-work If anybody has heard of the old Black Triangle anecdote, the very same one that every good programmer inspires him or herself with, I am afraid that the triangle I attempted to overcome has challenged me to make yet another such triangle, ever so much that I fear that the constraints of life must allow me to turn it down in favour of progressing to the action I feel not ready for. Currently, I am skilled in the field of mathematics in a place ahead of my students, but unfortunately, what I have overcome has not put me above, only ahead, and in this sense I feel that I have not climbed anything, but caught wind and caught up to a dream that was before fully impossible, only to find the dream mostly improbable. To be brief, I talk of arriving at Calculus' front door. I don't know how many students don't make it this far, I'm the only senior who is in Pre-Cal (the "Pre-AP" version), and requests to advance to Calculus have probably left me rather shunned and ignored. "They usually say no," my counsellor says. I wonder how many students dare climb the ladder like me. From Basic Math to Trigonometry, a complete recap of every mathematical concept ever conceived, a trek that only the insane survive. But recently, I have been picked up as a programmer by an amateur team, and I feel that I owe it to that team to make the promises I made, obviously. So should I leave them that Game Maker engine and let them hire a graphics-man while they piece the game together whilst I adventure into the mathematics required to be a great programmer, or do I gain the experience of working within a company environment, since I will most likely be employed after graduation? (Of course, we are making an Xbox game, but I have left him a GM alternative in case things go sour). Completing Trigonometry was a feat in itself and I feel that Pre-Cal will be able to teach me things when we get to Chapter 10 or so, and even then, it isn't covering anything Pre-Cal-like, more of the uncovered concepts that other books failed to grab. Limits should be of some fun, maybe. As for now, I'll take a break to keep my options open by getting into C. I should at the least grasp the basic concepts of this language at some point, anyway. http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/after-hard-work-more-work http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/blog/81460 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:09:18 -0600 http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/what-i-have-done-right One of the most difficult procedures that some of us undergo involve thinking about the things we have done for ourselves that were designed to last. The biggest reason for this is that we pass up opportunities and offers that can not only alter the course of our lives but double as the sail that guides us through the swells of the waves. I developed a love for learning a tad late, I did not realize the emotional impact that learning how to do something truly had on me. I like to accomplish things and use new skills to my advantage. A month or two ago I began reteaching myself everything involved with mathematics. I am still quite far from completion, but I have kept a concept notebook that is only 20 pages filled with everything from basic mathematics to the ends of Algebra 2. I have quickly become an expert in my Pre-Calculus class with these notes alone. They are the blade on the hilt of my pencil. Without these notes, and my head, and my love for knowledge, I am not a student, but a figure in the presence of growing minds. However, with these three things, I have become a second or third teacher to these minds. How in the world do we end up in the middle? It is unfortunate that Computer Science isn't as straightforward and well-explained as mathematics is. I don't know where to begin with it, but if I find a subject-based road I must transverse for it, Mathematics will soon be a subject I've conquered, and CS my prey. I already know the schematics language and hope that I can do a much better job with a significantly better book. I have also established a both Universal and Personal Affection Agreement, which allows people to redistribute content a creator produces in any fashion. If someone were to place my notes and ideas in a book I made into a book they wrote to sell, I'm not helping an economy. I'm helping two economies. I'm spreading knowledge twice as fast. Chances are, however, that I will be distributing my notes freely. I hope to pursue knowledge much faster with my new laptop. I have also been working on a language that is also designed to be universal, but it's still under serious works. I hope to write up an alphabet and number system soon, but this isn't my biggest priority. http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/what-i-have-done-right http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/blog/78808 Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:10:24 -0600 http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/learning I really like j_godley's blog. It's funny and actually talks about things that are interesting. I hardly care about choosing an eye doctor (although the advice could come in handy) or how God is like a father to us (I mean, that's pretty much the first lesson that you learn about God. Why blog about that?) My first task is to learn Javascript. The basics take forever to get through, about forty minutes, page by page, but you realize that you're pretty much blasting through it, even the objects section, with ease. It makes me confident enough to actually go back and learn all of the functions and little details before I get cracking on the Advanced section. After that, it's PHP, then MySQL. I promised somebody I would get through the whole thing in a matter of days. I'm starting to believe that I can actually meet that promise. You can learn C++ in a week. You can learn most of the social morales in a matter of minutes, etc. The craziest thing about schools is that they take what you could learn in a tiny amount of time, and they stretch the lessons out so that you learn a simple little thing a day. I know a little Java, but in those months, I'd imagine that I'd be able to get through it on my own and cover a ridiculous amount of other languages. Within a year, I could have so much knowledge that I could do something amazing with simply that. It's crazy to see so many people with years of experience in just one language. Why is expertise measured in time, and not expertise? At this point, I know more about programming than a vast majority of America, but I'm one person in a tiny grey area between a know-nothing and an expert. I've wasted countless hours on forums when the best solution is to study on the language rather than find some help for a particular occurrence. Who is to say that the person can easily explain your situation and actually give you the solution, to boot? Do you learn or get an answer? What else do you learn? It's just so easy to pick a language up. People think that they have no talent with computers in areas that don't take a large amount of talent to begin with (although, experts have devised such clever uses of programming that it's a talent to them). You set a ridiculously tiny timeframe and you focus on your goal. That's how you get things done fastest. One step at a time. It's difficult to balance one lesson with another. The more that I observe schools, the more ridiculous they look to me. I might just drop out. http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/learning http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/blog/73091 Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:05:45 -0500 http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/future I remember this one part of a summer I had where I just laid on a couch and walked around for three days; there was nothing for me to do. The videogames were all played through (nothing I had was indie), the computer was moved downstairs and being wiped (goodbye Game Maker!) so I had that few hobbies. Perhaps that's just pathetic? It was. I can't imagine my fantasy-self in a company, in the future, nor can I imagine myself imagining myself there, too. I think that I'd like to work on a laptop outside, on a nice pine porch (were you expecting yellowwood? so was I) and with a scenic mountain feel. A place cool and laid-back, far from this hot and deranged place. You go inside and WOW! the walls are well-decorated and painted over, with great entertainment technology and some amazing computer. Life on my own is wonderful, and maybe I'd have some friends over, on occasion, to have a party (or a mountain-bike club, kind of like the Holowkas and their friends). This isn't the only fantasy that I had. The dreams ranged from incredibly great to tragically terrible. I find it hard to realistically see myself in a home unless I wrote a real hit winner. I waste our time with this entry. http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/future http://www.aeonity.com/yellowboy/blog/72836 Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:08:22 -0500