A rare album where I absolutely loved everything!
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
When you think the time isnt right
But the time is never right.
So. How to tell the difference between really difficult and impossible?
Know yourself and know ur problem.
Monday, November 24, 2014
Sunday, October 26, 2014
To Be or Not to Be - #Occupy Style (v1)
To be or not to be,
that is the question.
1
To go up against almost insurmountable odds,
Or back down and submit.
2
To be a virtuous being in pursuit of happiness,
Or a coward driven by fear.
3
To wield the sword of truth,
and cut down all unreason,
(Or to throw it into lake,
and hope someone finds it later.)
4
To stand for non-initiation of force,
Or to condone it with silent consent.
5
To live a life without real human connection and empathy,
Or to live in small, silent, subconscious fear of others.
6
To hold reason, evidence and truth above people,
Or to give up reason to be with the unreasonable.
7
To live up to one's ideals,
Or to back down and fall short of one's potential.
8
To realize that your time is limited,
Or to live a life of delusion.
9
There is no question really,
Just words and excuses to let you not see reality.
10
That your life is yours to live;
It can be awesome and all you want it to be;
But time is slipping away...
Rise up and live it!
that is the question.
1
To go up against almost insurmountable odds,
Or back down and submit.
2
To be a virtuous being in pursuit of happiness,
Or a coward driven by fear.
3
To wield the sword of truth,
and cut down all unreason,
(Or to throw it into lake,
and hope someone finds it later.)
4
To stand for non-initiation of force,
Or to condone it with silent consent.
5
To live a life without real human connection and empathy,
Or to live in small, silent, subconscious fear of others.
6
To hold reason, evidence and truth above people,
Or to give up reason to be with the unreasonable.
7
To live up to one's ideals,
Or to back down and fall short of one's potential.
8
To realize that your time is limited,
Or to live a life of delusion.
9
There is no question really,
Just words and excuses to let you not see reality.
10
That your life is yours to live;
It can be awesome and all you want it to be;
But time is slipping away...
Rise up and live it!
Monday, August 18, 2014
If you want time to last longer, seek NOVELTY.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f21ERcDBGeU
Absolutely.
As for what one considers NOVEL, it's a feeling one recognizes when one sees it.
Absolutely.
As for what one considers NOVEL, it's a feeling one recognizes when one sees it.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Clearwater Bay Hike Diary
It was an odd beginning.
We got off the bus at the starting point. We see two police vans. Two officers were talking to a bunch of hikers.
"What is this?" I wonder.
We orientate ourselves and an officer walks over.
The officer starts talking about illegal immigrants sightings and robberies, and that we should hike as a group. Then, the officer asks us for IDs. While he's working on it, I record his badge number.
The other hikers walk over, adjusting their hiking sticks. One asks where we're going. We tell them, and we form an entourage.
"We should stay apart. That way, someone can get away and get help" the leader of the other group says, while still fiddling with his hiking stick. I decided an umbrella would be more useful, so I open it up. This turns out to be a skin-saver as the sun got stronger.
Seeing this, a constable says "If you see anything suspicious, run away and call 999. Don't try to fight them."
I thought I'd join in, "We are a huge group. It's very unlikely anything exciting will happen. We are better making lots of noise, remaining calm, sticking together, reporting in and standing our ground. Running is what the suspects should do." A few nod their heads.
An inspector comes along. Between gulping water and wiping his forehead, he tells the constable to register our IDs. Seeing everyone else pull out their IDs, I figured it was hard not to. But I had to ask exactly why. The answer was "For your safety. So we know who's gone hiking here."
Under the increasingly hot sun, we begin the hike. After 10 minutes, we find that the 6 policemen and 1 policewoman have joined us for the hike. The constable at the front and end has collapsible batons fully extended. I briefly considered if they were far bigger threat than any Illegal Immigrants.
As we pant our way onto the first hill and take our break, the police catch up. We offer them to go first. They decline, and we start to joke about being the "bait".
Later, we overhear the police having a little discussion over privacy issues. I resisted the urge to join in, as it was edging towards politics.
(officers staring at the forest floor while walking)
Constable A: "Why don't we have CCTVs everywhere? That would prevent a lot of crimes!"
Constable B: "But that would be against privacy!"
Inspector C: "Yes, it would mean less privacy. But it's worth it in many cases."
Constable B: "Well, fair enough. But privacy is a fundemental right that makes HK different. Without it, HK is no different from any of the other nations."
Wow, my words exactly!
The other cops, falling silent, decide to change the topic.
I got the sense that most were trying to just hang low and do their jobs professionally, without having to deal with the uncomfortable but increasingly relevant moral/ethical issues. Or maybe the day was just too hot to have a debate.
...
Before we know it, we are at the end of the flat trail. We wave the friendly police off and start climbing the hills.
We slowly clamber up High Junk Peak and stay for lunch. The temperature must be at least 34 degrees by now and my friends are developing bright red sun-burns beneath thick beads of sweat. The umbrella is paying off.
Getting off the Peak is harder than getting up. By the time we get off, everybody is gone, as expected. Otherwise, they'd properly begin to develop heat stroke.
Walking off the hills towards civilization, we faced a new kind of intense heat. You could feel the heat radiating off the rocky path and surrounding hills, like you are in a frying pan.
We ended up consuming 4L of drinks each. Standing at the top of the peak in the intense heat partly explains the great water consumption. Running out of water in the middle would definitely mean heat stroke.
We got off the bus at the starting point. We see two police vans. Two officers were talking to a bunch of hikers.
"What is this?" I wonder.
We orientate ourselves and an officer walks over.
The officer starts talking about illegal immigrants sightings and robberies, and that we should hike as a group. Then, the officer asks us for IDs. While he's working on it, I record his badge number.
The other hikers walk over, adjusting their hiking sticks. One asks where we're going. We tell them, and we form an entourage.
"We should stay apart. That way, someone can get away and get help" the leader of the other group says, while still fiddling with his hiking stick. I decided an umbrella would be more useful, so I open it up. This turns out to be a skin-saver as the sun got stronger.
Seeing this, a constable says "If you see anything suspicious, run away and call 999. Don't try to fight them."
I thought I'd join in, "We are a huge group. It's very unlikely anything exciting will happen. We are better making lots of noise, remaining calm, sticking together, reporting in and standing our ground. Running is what the suspects should do." A few nod their heads.
An inspector comes along. Between gulping water and wiping his forehead, he tells the constable to register our IDs. Seeing everyone else pull out their IDs, I figured it was hard not to. But I had to ask exactly why. The answer was "For your safety. So we know who's gone hiking here."
Under the increasingly hot sun, we begin the hike. After 10 minutes, we find that the 6 policemen and 1 policewoman have joined us for the hike. The constable at the front and end has collapsible batons fully extended. I briefly considered if they were far bigger threat than any Illegal Immigrants.
As we pant our way onto the first hill and take our break, the police catch up. We offer them to go first. They decline, and we start to joke about being the "bait".
Later, we overhear the police having a little discussion over privacy issues. I resisted the urge to join in, as it was edging towards politics.
(officers staring at the forest floor while walking)
Constable A: "Why don't we have CCTVs everywhere? That would prevent a lot of crimes!"
Constable B: "But that would be against privacy!"
Inspector C: "Yes, it would mean less privacy. But it's worth it in many cases."
Constable B: "Well, fair enough. But privacy is a fundemental right that makes HK different. Without it, HK is no different from any of the other nations."
Wow, my words exactly!
The other cops, falling silent, decide to change the topic.
I got the sense that most were trying to just hang low and do their jobs professionally, without having to deal with the uncomfortable but increasingly relevant moral/ethical issues. Or maybe the day was just too hot to have a debate.
...
Before we know it, we are at the end of the flat trail. We wave the friendly police off and start climbing the hills.
We slowly clamber up High Junk Peak and stay for lunch. The temperature must be at least 34 degrees by now and my friends are developing bright red sun-burns beneath thick beads of sweat. The umbrella is paying off.
Getting off the Peak is harder than getting up. By the time we get off, everybody is gone, as expected. Otherwise, they'd properly begin to develop heat stroke.
Walking off the hills towards civilization, we faced a new kind of intense heat. You could feel the heat radiating off the rocky path and surrounding hills, like you are in a frying pan.
We ended up consuming 4L of drinks each. Standing at the top of the peak in the intense heat partly explains the great water consumption. Running out of water in the middle would definitely mean heat stroke.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Eugene's Complete Reading List of 2014 (Ongoing Post!)
* In Chronological Order
* <No. of Hours>H
*<Reading/Comprehension/Understanding Difficulty Rating out of 5>/5D
Orange is a New Black, Piper Kerman, Q1
5H
3/5D
Prison is a terrible place to be, which has lost much of its purpose. It is an unfair system easily abused, it doesn't help the inmates and the guards do not care. The author was lucky to be well-off and hence able to reduce her time there, but most others are not so lucky.
But even in such a place, fun and relationships are what keeps the inmates sane and alive.
Lord of the Flies, Q2
* <No. of Hours>H
*<Reading/Comprehension/Understanding Difficulty Rating out of 5>/5D
Orange is a New Black, Piper Kerman, Q1
5H
3/5D
Prison is a terrible place to be, which has lost much of its purpose. It is an unfair system easily abused, it doesn't help the inmates and the guards do not care. The author was lucky to be well-off and hence able to reduce her time there, but most others are not so lucky.
But even in such a place, fun and relationships are what keeps the inmates sane and alive.
Lord of the Flies, Q2
6H
4/5D
It has taken me almost 7 years to finally get around to reading this classic novel (2014). I found the central premise of the novel, that is "Man has an inherent evil, and order can only be established by authoritarian means as the Royal Navy or the English school system" partially flawed. On one hand, public school kids left to their own devices could well end up like as a "Lord of the Flies" situation. Bullies, hierarchies do exist. On the other hand, authoritarian, hierarchical institutions help create these evils. And so we discover a vicious cycle of bullies creating authoritarian regimes, which spawn more bullies and punishes the meek and rational.
The natural rise of leaders should not be confused with the above issue. Some people take initiative for leadership in certain situations more than others.
Leaders draw power from the focus of their followers. Demanding your followers make sacrifices to a god you made up, creating a common fear are all nice and twisted ideas to gain power.
The regime on the island could only exist in isolation, like North Korea. It disappeared as soon as outsiders appeared.
American Gods, Neil Gaiman, Q2
5H
3/5D
Gods and Ghosts have power because people believe in them.
American Gods, Neil Gaiman, Q2
5H
3/5D
Gods and Ghosts have power because people believe in them.
It's better to be a Man than a God in Today's World, because of rapid trend change. The Gods of yesterday are fearful of being forgotten. The Gods of today believe there is no room for the past anymore. They share the same fear as Yesterday's Gods.
And so they fight each other. Every death of another God, every battle dedicated gives a God more power.
But man wants peace. So he takes initiative and gets the Gods to make peace.
Without Gods who draw their power from people, the new man now needs to find his own way in life.
And so they fight each other. Every death of another God, every battle dedicated gives a God more power.
But man wants peace. So he takes initiative and gets the Gods to make peace.
Without Gods who draw their power from people, the new man now needs to find his own way in life.
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card, Q2
4H
3/5D
4H
3/5D
Life is unfair, get over it or you're dead. Let the Enders do their best, for our good.
Geniuses have hard personal problems.
Non-communication leads to wars.
Global democratic autocracies will take children and raise them to be soldiers for government ends.
Always fight with uncertainty and surprise on your side.
With forceful governments comes weak parents and mean children, leads to a world of bullies.
Cut the Knot!
>Speed of light travel!
How Babies Talk, Q2
7H
4/5D
7H
4/5D
Humans are ready to learn any language AND become social since birth. Communication is a skill developed from the time we become fetuses to when we die. Nature AND Nuture. Empathy is developed as a result of many age-critical factors. Don't miss them!
Basic: Learn by Imitation.
An_Occurrence_at_Owl_Creek_Bridge (Short Story), Ambrose Bierce, Q2
<1H
5/5D
A man is tricked into revealing his allegiance to the Confederacy and plotting sabotage on the union railroad.
Time is bendable for a short while, but eventually reality sets in. The beautiful twists in the story where he dreams of daring escape, as he falls from the bridge to the moment of death.
The Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce, Q2
2H
4/5D
OK, I didn't actually read this. But I do like looking it up once in a while.
The Devil's Dictionary is an essential volume for any serious cynic or people interested in truth.
Try this!
“LAWYER, n. One skilled in circumvention of the law.”
Why we suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud and Stupid, Q2
3H
3/5D
Nothing is more ironic than a satirist ending up advocating the material he is making satire out of, eh? Well, here he is, making fun of fat people, drug-taking celebrities, violent radical islamists, politicians, stupid people...and all of a sudden, he says "drug your kids" and "You have to hit kids. You have a responsibility to do so. Just to show them who’s in charge and to remind them that there are boundaries that need to be respected."
Uggh.. couldn't read on.
US Combat Bible, Chinese, Q2
<1H
2/5D
Awesome black and white line-drawn picture book. Probably aimed at boys.
Very well explained. I think you can pass as an expert armchair military expert with it. It even got a test at the last few pages, which I got 90/100. Whooo!
How to Beat Up Anybody, Judah Friedlander, Q2
<1H
2/5D
It was a dark and rainy day when I found this book. When I finished, the sky was clear and beautiful.
Hilarious Page-Turner with rough, ridiculously exaggerated, lowly American humor!
Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman, Q2
5H
3/5D
More light-hearted than the previous Neil Gaiman book American Gods, this has all the similar themes and traits. Gods, dead people, journeys, traumatic events, light romance are all part of Fat Charlie's life described in Anansi Boys.
Good lightweight life-journey-style, down-to-earth fiction without much of a moral message.
Quantum Sociology, Q2
2H
4/5D
Lots of Discussion activities for realizing the "Quantum nature of reality", like
"Try to Describe everything about yourself."
Some Quotes:
"There is no one reality" "There are multiple universes" "Nothing can be perfectly described." "The map is not the territory" "E and E-Prime (language)"
PeopleWare (2nd Edition), Q2
4H, Ongoing!
4/5D
Office Environment, importance of privacy, isolation, quiet, management theory, productivity.
No estimate is the best estimate (for developer productivity)
Manager, if you go out of your way to make Developer happy, s/he will make you happy 100x more.
Companies can learn effectively only when key employees have their connections
The most successful companies in the long run (eg. for decades) know how to retain trained employees. There are strong community bonds that make the company just right.
Time, Eva Hoffman, Q2
6H
3.5/5D
Time perception is built from early on.
"The mother kept disappearing for too long; or on the contrary, never left the child at all, not allowing it to develop a tolerance for aloneness.) Suppose that such anxiety persists later in life, in subliminal and transformed forms, even though the person subject to it may not fully understand its source. Such a person might well develop a distorted sense of time - or evade the awareness of time altogether."
Time and Culture
Different unconnected cultures used to live in different time spheres. Event-driven time (eg. following Farming calendars, natural cycles of day/night, seasons) vs setting up timetables.
Biological time is very much event-driven. A stage is triggered by the previous and triggers the next. A broken, interrupted stage leads to problems.
Time in our Time
Real-time connectedness has allowed us to live on the same time-zone. Also increases stress when it clashes with biological time.
// Discontinued, now using label "reading2014"
An_Occurrence_at_Owl_Creek_Bridge (Short Story), Ambrose Bierce, Q2
<1H
5/5D
A man is tricked into revealing his allegiance to the Confederacy and plotting sabotage on the union railroad.
Time is bendable for a short while, but eventually reality sets in. The beautiful twists in the story where he dreams of daring escape, as he falls from the bridge to the moment of death.
The Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce, Q2
2H
4/5D
OK, I didn't actually read this. But I do like looking it up once in a while.
The Devil's Dictionary is an essential volume for any serious cynic or people interested in truth.
Try this!
“LAWYER, n. One skilled in circumvention of the law.”
Why we suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud and Stupid, Q2
3H
3/5D
Nothing is more ironic than a satirist ending up advocating the material he is making satire out of, eh? Well, here he is, making fun of fat people, drug-taking celebrities, violent radical islamists, politicians, stupid people...and all of a sudden, he says "drug your kids" and "You have to hit kids. You have a responsibility to do so. Just to show them who’s in charge and to remind them that there are boundaries that need to be respected."
Uggh.. couldn't read on.
US Combat Bible, Chinese, Q2
<1H
2/5D
Awesome black and white line-drawn picture book. Probably aimed at boys.
Very well explained. I think you can pass as an expert armchair military expert with it. It even got a test at the last few pages, which I got 90/100. Whooo!
How to Beat Up Anybody, Judah Friedlander, Q2
<1H
2/5D
It was a dark and rainy day when I found this book. When I finished, the sky was clear and beautiful.
Hilarious Page-Turner with rough, ridiculously exaggerated, lowly American humor!
Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman, Q2
5H
3/5D
More light-hearted than the previous Neil Gaiman book American Gods, this has all the similar themes and traits. Gods, dead people, journeys, traumatic events, light romance are all part of Fat Charlie's life described in Anansi Boys.
Good lightweight life-journey-style, down-to-earth fiction without much of a moral message.
Quantum Sociology, Q2
2H
4/5D
Lots of Discussion activities for realizing the "Quantum nature of reality", like
"Try to Describe everything about yourself."
Some Quotes:
"There is no one reality" "There are multiple universes" "Nothing can be perfectly described." "The map is not the territory" "E and E-Prime (language)"
PeopleWare (2nd Edition), Q2
4H, Ongoing!
4/5D
Office Environment, importance of privacy, isolation, quiet, management theory, productivity.
No estimate is the best estimate (for developer productivity)
Manager, if you go out of your way to make Developer happy, s/he will make you happy 100x more.
Companies can learn effectively only when key employees have their connections
The most successful companies in the long run (eg. for decades) know how to retain trained employees. There are strong community bonds that make the company just right.
Time, Eva Hoffman, Q2
6H
3.5/5D
Time perception is built from early on.
"The mother kept disappearing for too long; or on the contrary, never left the child at all, not allowing it to develop a tolerance for aloneness.) Suppose that such anxiety persists later in life, in subliminal and transformed forms, even though the person subject to it may not fully understand its source. Such a person might well develop a distorted sense of time - or evade the awareness of time altogether."
Time and Culture
Different unconnected cultures used to live in different time spheres. Event-driven time (eg. following Farming calendars, natural cycles of day/night, seasons) vs setting up timetables.
Biological time is very much event-driven. A stage is triggered by the previous and triggers the next. A broken, interrupted stage leads to problems.
Time in our Time
Real-time connectedness has allowed us to live on the same time-zone. Also increases stress when it clashes with biological time.
// Discontinued, now using label "reading2014"
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
A Revelation
People are changing jobs more often in today's world, that means less training and belonging than before.
And the only way to keep people and maximize the impact of competence is to promote them quickly.
People are spending more time than ever being managers. This means a sharper hierarchy, as opposed to a flat one. It also means most things are created by young workers in their twenties.
So why shouldn't the young all go start-up?
And the only way to keep people and maximize the impact of competence is to promote them quickly.
People are spending more time than ever being managers. This means a sharper hierarchy, as opposed to a flat one. It also means most things are created by young workers in their twenties.
So why shouldn't the young all go start-up?
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Godzilla: A Review
Before I went to see Godzilla, I thought Godzilla was the evil monster. I had absolutely no idea what Godzilla was about.
Rating
6/10
As far as today's movies go, it was ok. The action was fairly satisfying, not cheesy, but the plot was shallow. Depending on the cinema, the sound of tsunami and monster roars will literally rip up your ear-drums and rock your pants.
Action
If you like action movies, this one has everything you want. Suspense, Shooting, explosions, fire, massive Godzilla-scale destruction with a shallow but well-constructed family plot to top off. Be sure to watch in 3D (remember to bring your own 3D glasses).
Agenda
Government.
Like virtually all movies involving the military and government today, they are depicted as competent, highly efficient and responsive. The Navy is swift and professional in tracking the monsters, taking the opportunity to show off their newest toys. The Emergency Management Agency is well-organized and people find lost relatives quickly. The hospitals are clean and spotless despite casualties more than conventional war could cause. All civilians are helpless gawking onlookers and do not have any weapons of any sort. The only realism in the movie is hard-headedness - how soldiers insist on shooting at the monsters despite it being useless and usually their cause of death. Or bureaucratic - like
Guy: "Where can I get medical attention?"
Bureaucrat: "Um, please fill in this registration form. We'll be with you in a minute."
Nuclear.
Nuclear weapons are depicted as puny and useless. The nuclear tests are trivially explained as attempts to destroy Godzilla. The one working nuclear missile is far more dangerous to people than all the monsters combined as the authorities plan to detonate it near multiple populated areas. The nuclear waste facilities in Nevada are a foodsource for hungry radio-tropic monsters.
Talk about a novel way to nuclear disarmament!
Nuclear Power.
You will leave the cinema partially/wanting to believing that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was a coverup for some other activity. One wonders if it was somehow meant to downplay the disaster.
Puny Humans.
Humans are absolutely puny. The most destructive, advanced weapons ever devised do no damage. Even the technology fails miserably. Multiple EMPs emitted by nuclear-missile-eating monsters knock out everything electronic.
Rating
6/10
As far as today's movies go, it was ok. The action was fairly satisfying, not cheesy, but the plot was shallow. Depending on the cinema, the sound of tsunami and monster roars will literally rip up your ear-drums and rock your pants.
Action
If you like action movies, this one has everything you want. Suspense, Shooting, explosions, fire, massive Godzilla-scale destruction with a shallow but well-constructed family plot to top off. Be sure to watch in 3D (remember to bring your own 3D glasses).
Agenda
Government.
Like virtually all movies involving the military and government today, they are depicted as competent, highly efficient and responsive. The Navy is swift and professional in tracking the monsters, taking the opportunity to show off their newest toys. The Emergency Management Agency is well-organized and people find lost relatives quickly. The hospitals are clean and spotless despite casualties more than conventional war could cause. All civilians are helpless gawking onlookers and do not have any weapons of any sort. The only realism in the movie is hard-headedness - how soldiers insist on shooting at the monsters despite it being useless and usually their cause of death. Or bureaucratic - like
Guy: "Where can I get medical attention?"
Bureaucrat: "Um, please fill in this registration form. We'll be with you in a minute."
Nuclear.
Nuclear weapons are depicted as puny and useless. The nuclear tests are trivially explained as attempts to destroy Godzilla. The one working nuclear missile is far more dangerous to people than all the monsters combined as the authorities plan to detonate it near multiple populated areas. The nuclear waste facilities in Nevada are a foodsource for hungry radio-tropic monsters.
Talk about a novel way to nuclear disarmament!
Nuclear Power.
You will leave the cinema partially/wanting to believing that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was a coverup for some other activity. One wonders if it was somehow meant to downplay the disaster.
Puny Humans.
Humans are absolutely puny. The most destructive, advanced weapons ever devised do no damage. Even the technology fails miserably. Multiple EMPs emitted by nuclear-missile-eating monsters knock out everything electronic.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
How to stopped being tired and learned to love my sleep! (Part 2)
The journey continues.
These two nights, forces of sleep and wakefulness once again compete....
The wakeful side wanted to keep questing on TorilMud...Read...Take Longer Baths.
It fought sleep at every decision point.
The sleepy side wanted simply to sleep.
Sleep eventually won an hour after midnight, when I started to doze off at the keyboard.
Good night.
These two nights, forces of sleep and wakefulness once again compete....
The wakeful side wanted to keep questing on TorilMud...Read...Take Longer Baths.
It fought sleep at every decision point.
The sleepy side wanted simply to sleep.
Sleep eventually won an hour after midnight, when I started to doze off at the keyboard.
Good night.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
My Adventures in TorilMud
At first, I found the world to be pretty daunting. All the commands, controls, jargon, short-hands...
In the day, I'd go to work, then play, then read and whatever. Then I'd play at night.
It's amazing there are people still here!
Life
People do the strangest things, have the strangest habits. Who knew, even in a world of high-tech 3D games, that 0D text adventures/Multi-User-Dungeons still exist!
TorilMud
Exploration, fun and cool stuff are the aims of the game. Levels, HP, XP, AC, DB... these are only the means to an end. You don't have to be Level 50 to enjoy the game.
Life
Enjoy the game. Just enjoy it. Enjoy being happy, enjoy being sad (that a bunch of orcs beat you brutally), enjoy getting better equipment. Realize that honors do not actually matter as much as their recognition appears to warrant them.
TorilMud
There is a market for everything, even text games in an era of beautiful graphics.
You know why? At some point, people get nostalgic and want to go back. There are players who haven't played for a decade and now back online. Wow!
Life
When you know what you want, you'll go and do it, regardless of what the trendy thing is.
That's why young people follow trends. The older people follow their own beats.
I realized I had worldly ambitions that could not be satisfied in this world easily.
TorilMud
You can't kill every Mob. Mobs are computer generated, and hence essentially infinite. Pick the ones that you will gain the most experience from.
Life
You can't learn everything. Nobody can. Learn what is important to you (or your role).
TorilMud
Mobs WILL run into you and fight you when you least expect them to.
Keep your HP high!
Life
Keep your health high. You never know when you will be pushed to your limits by the environment.
TorilMud
Know where you came from, so you can get back your stuff if you die.
Life
Know who you are, where you came from, so you can retrace your steps if you fail.
TorilMud
Life is too short for level grinding. Automate the level grinding!
Life
Automate/outsource what you don't like to do, so you can do what you love. Quests. Intellectual pursuits.
TorilMud
Automatons are great as long as they are not abused.
Most MUDs do not allow bots. This means only humans should be controlling characters. But as fewer people play them, people have become less sensitive to them.
Life
We like robots and electronics and computers, as long as they work for us, not against us!
TorilMud
Know when to flee. A dead warrior cannot fight/help others.
Life
Know when to "give up". Giving up is a bad thing in our society, because those who give up do not make good slaves/serfs/workers/employees/salary-people. Giving up on lost causes undermines those who champion them.
TorilMud
Know your limits. Fight only when you can win, don't fight to see if you can win.
Life
Pick on problems your size (or less).
TorilMud
Know your tools completely. Preferably, so well that you don't ever need to think before executing your desired move.
Life
Know your tools. If you are a developer, know your programming languages through and through. If you are working on a system, know your system.
Yes, it's generally much harder in real life.
TorilMud
It takes years to master the game, know the geography, gather the best tools and lead teams effectively. Many players on have been there for more than a few years.
Life
It takes years of practice for most to become masters.
More to Come afterwards...
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
How to stopped being tired and learned to love my sleep!
Boy this is an epic one.
Eugene arrived at the office after an almost full night of Torilmud. He has black drooping eye-shadows and vows, for the first time, not to play TorilMud tonight.
Eugene stopped working at 8pm. His teammates decide to check out my progress so Eugene show them around the code for about 30 minutes. It took that long because they started talking about remote control helicopters, quadrocopters, ferraris and submarines. (I can't make this up, it's true!)
The discussion brought us out of work mode and they decided to finish off tomorrow. (So much for Agile Development!)
So, we head our separate ways. Eugene walks into a food court at a shopping mall and eat spicy Shanghai food for a half hour. He stumbles out when he realizes the shutters were banging down all around him. He sleepily makes a mental note to get more sleep tonight. And not play TorilMud!
On the bus, he splits the time between head-jerking mini-naps, checking communications, racing and trying to read Peopleware. Once, he feels his head bump into the seat in front. He swears for the 3rd time, to sleep early and not play Torilmud tonight.
Back home, he checks the clock.
It is now 10:20pm. He decides he needs to walk and work out the indigestion and burning sensation in the guts. So he walks, burps and passes gases, for a half hour...
Eugene arrived at the office after an almost full night of Torilmud. He has black drooping eye-shadows and vows, for the first time, not to play TorilMud tonight.
Eugene stopped working at 8pm. His teammates decide to check out my progress so Eugene show them around the code for about 30 minutes. It took that long because they started talking about remote control helicopters, quadrocopters, ferraris and submarines. (I can't make this up, it's true!)
The discussion brought us out of work mode and they decided to finish off tomorrow. (So much for Agile Development!)
So, we head our separate ways. Eugene walks into a food court at a shopping mall and eat spicy Shanghai food for a half hour. He stumbles out when he realizes the shutters were banging down all around him. He sleepily makes a mental note to get more sleep tonight. And not play TorilMud!
On the bus, he splits the time between head-jerking mini-naps, checking communications, racing and trying to read Peopleware. Once, he feels his head bump into the seat in front. He swears for the 3rd time, to sleep early and not play Torilmud tonight.
Back home, he checks the clock.
It is now 10:20pm. He decides he needs to walk and work out the indigestion and burning sensation in the guts. So he walks, burps and passes gases, for a half hour...
Then he showers and getting out, sees his laptop on. His mind decides to writes his night life story down, all the while his brain tries to shut itself down.
You know what I learnt?
It's that a single decision, when executed, is really many many small decisions. If you get hanged up on even one of the very many decisions, you are derailed have failed to execute.
That is why willpower is difficult, but ultimately the most essential, despite what most self-help/pop psychology books may have you believe.
That is all. Good Night!
You know what I learnt?
It's that a single decision, when executed, is really many many small decisions. If you get hanged up on even one of the very many decisions, you are derailed have failed to execute.
That is why willpower is difficult, but ultimately the most essential, despite what most self-help/pop psychology books may have you believe.
That is all. Good Night!
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Dream Diaries #1
~
We went along, slowly reading passages. The passage was about love and something that vaguely made sense. I knew zero Chinese.
~
The next dream was me swimming in a pool with lots of people. There is a lifeguard with a whistle wearing sunglasses sitting on a tall chair. My mind believes in it is again in Singapore.
~
The final related dream has me departing for a flight. I leave from home, eat breakfast at the airport, run through security to catch an already boarding flight and arrive later. I then have a dream of a dream of myself arriving and checking in to everything.
~
The dreams conclude with my increasingly conscious mind debunking all of these dreams. I never swam while in Singapore, I didn't learn Chinese there and I already graduated, so I couldn't go on exchange.My subconscious replies "well there's always masters!".
~
Thursday, May 8, 2014
The Perfect Snowflake
Shamelessly Copied from http://stilldrinking.org/ on 08MAY14
"Every programmer occasionally, when nobody's home, turns off the lights, pours a glass of scotch, puts on some light German electronica, and opens up a file on their computer. It's a different file for every programmer. Sometimes they wrote it, sometimes they found it and knew they had to save it. They read over the lines, and weep at their beauty, then the tears turn bitter as they remember the rest of the files and the inevitable collapse of all that is good and true in the world.
This file is Good Code. It has sensible and consistent names for functions and variables. It's concise. It doesn't do anything obviously stupid. It has never had to live in the wild, or answer to a sales team. It does exactly one, mundane, specific thing, and it does it well. It was written by a single person, and never touched by another. It reads like poetry written by someone over thirty.
Every programmer starts out writing some perfect little snowflake like this. Then they're told on Friday they need to have six hundred snowflakes written by Tuesday, so they cheat a bit here and there and maybe copy a few snowflakes and try to stick them together or they have to ask a coworker to work on one who melts it and then all the programmers' snowflakes get dumped together in some inscrutable shape and somebody leans a Picasso on it because nobody wants to see the cat urine soaking into all your broken snowflakes melting in the light of day. Next week, everybody shovels more snow on it to keep the Picasso from falling over.
There's a theory that you can cure this by following standards, except there are more "standards" than there are things computers can actually do, and these standards are all variously improved and maligned by the personal preferences of the people coding them, so no collection of code has ever made it into the real world without doing a few dozen identical things a few dozen not even remotely similar ways. The first few weeks of any job are just figuring out how a program works even if you're familiar with every single language, framework, and standard that's involved, because standards are unicorns."
Thanks to Niko @ TorilMud for sharing this.
You made me cry!
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Obvious #1: Government is a FOR PROFIT organization
https://www.princeton.edu/~mgilens/Gilens%20homepage%20materials/Gilens%20and%20Page/Gilens%20and%20Page%202014-Testing%20Theories%203-7-14.pdf
What?? This is news to people?
How many times do we have to listen to convincing evidence/reasons to start doing something about it?
I'm genuinely curious.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Artificial Blood! (Link)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10765132/Artificial-blood-will-be-manufactured-in-factories.html
Wow, then vampires will be happy, humans won't bleed to death, people won't have to donate blood, dialysis would be easy and you can get a blood change whenever you want one!
Wow, then vampires will be happy, humans won't bleed to death, people won't have to donate blood, dialysis would be easy and you can get a blood change whenever you want one!
Monday, April 14, 2014
Office Night 1: Worst Fear
This is a hard one to write.
Sometimes, one's worst fears come true. You know what my worst fear in the field of computing is? It's having no choice but to solve blocking bugs under tight schedules, which disrupt all the other schedules I've got going in my life.
Which, by the way, doesn't sound that bad once you're in it.
It's not a fear in the conventional sense. It makes me angry at everybody who's gone home and hasn't stayed. It makes me angry at the API developers who made my life difficult. It makes me fear when I would finish.
Until the smart a** next door solves it within the hour and I'm left wondering why I didn't get it, or didn't ask them to help immediately. By then, the anger has become a calm resignation as if the rock pinning me to the keyboard has been lifted.
It's time to go home.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Fear: A Poem
Fear is a good thing.
It shows you care.
If I ever enter another degree program,
I would care far less.
I believe,
There's nothing you should do,
nothing you shouldn't do.
All are only choices.
Even the most whole, loving person
has to have their fears.
Being completely fearless
is probably a mental disorder.
Fear is what makes things fun.
If I wasn't afraid of falling off horses,
or being trampled by hooves,
I wouldn't feel the thrill of riding on one.
Nor would I love it nearly as much.
I once did a ropecourse.
It was a tightrope between two big treetrunks,
20 meters high, 20 meters long.
I did a meter the first time gripping upside down.
3 meters the second on top,
10 meters upside down
and all the way on the fourth time.
I'm happy with my fears,
thank you very much,
just don't beat me over the head about it.
It shows you care.
If I ever enter another degree program,
I would care far less.
I believe,
There's nothing you should do,
nothing you shouldn't do.
All are only choices.
Even the most whole, loving person
has to have their fears.
Being completely fearless
is probably a mental disorder.
Fear is what makes things fun.
If I wasn't afraid of falling off horses,
or being trampled by hooves,
I wouldn't feel the thrill of riding on one.
Nor would I love it nearly as much.
I once did a ropecourse.
It was a tightrope between two big treetrunks,
20 meters high, 20 meters long.
I did a meter the first time gripping upside down.
3 meters the second on top,
10 meters upside down
and all the way on the fourth time.
I'm happy with my fears,
thank you very much,
just don't beat me over the head about it.
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