Today marks the end of my employment at the O’Colly. I know I’ve slacked off for the past week of posts (I blame tests). Next semester, I might take up the job again, but for the summer I have other plans (my list from my last post has nearly doubled in size). I hope that those who read any of my posts at least enjoyed them a tiny bit. I’ll probably be starting another blog documenting my summer projects, pretty much what I had hoped this to be. Stay tuned for future postings about the address of this new blog, if I can avoid being lazy. It’s been fun.
Last summer I accomplished very little. I spent most days playing Age of Empires II and building a tree house, which never got finished because the heat chased us inside; it now suffers from sever water damage. My hope for this summer, is to do a lot more projects. Here is my current list.
Recreate this:
My actual plan is to make a bigger version, possibly with spheres inside of each other.
Put up siding on a hot tub. In the winter, the hot tub at my house is hard to get to heat up. I’m hoping that by adding insulation and siding, the situation will be rectified.
Make a solar charger for my phone. I have the basic circuit design I plan to use as well as access to solar panels (you can harvest them from outdoor lights sold at Wal-Mart for $3). I just need to make some sort of jack and put it all together.
Make a wooden case for my laptop. My laptops plastic case is broken, again. This time around, I’m just going to make a solid case for it and probably hang it on the wall in my room to be used as some sort of controller.
Design an 8-bit processor and make it from vacuum tubes. If I have enough money, I think that I could find this project to be quite entertaining, though I can imagine it will be very time-consuming.
Make a Peltier Cooler. Pretty much a quite, electric cooler that can be used to cool electric parts or a house.
This is my list thus far. If you have any ideas for other projects, leave them in the comments.
I recently obtained a phone with Android. I’ve been looking forward to this moment for quite a while as I often feel the need to access the Internet while away from a computer. I also want to design my own applications. We’ll see when I get around to that. I though today, though, that I would share a couple of thoughts about the system.
I am currently running Android 1.6, so my review does not reflect 2.1. Overall, I am satisfied with the phone. I have downloaded several applications and find myself using them quite often (especially Pokedroid). The browser is very good and I have been surprised at the number of sites I am able to visit, especially with the html inconsistencies that run rampant on the Internet today. I don’t really use my phone for music, but the Pandora application is excellent and the sound quality (HTC Hero) is good. It has a nice selection of games and has integrated itself well with my Google account, which I use for a lot of my life (can you guess my 20+ character alphanumericsymbolic password?).
There is a bad side. The fact of the matter is that Android is a phone OS. It can sometimes take a solid 10 seconds to begin a call. This is my main complaint. Also, it used to delete my text messages, but hasn’t done so recently. Speed dial is also not well implemented. On my last phone, I was able to use two numbers (02-99) to set speed dial numbers. On this phone I have only 9. Trust me, I had well over 30 speed dial numbers and I knew them all.
All in all, though, I am satisfied with my phone. I have high hopes for 2.1, which I should be getting an update for here in the coming days. Here’s to open source.
I follow 141 blogs. At least that’s what my Google reader account says. The truth is, I read every one of my blogs that follow online comics (15), I read every secretgeek and Coding Horror post (15+2=17) and every so often I will dabble in my fun folder (generally focusing on the Cracked feed) and read some Slashdot posts (17+2=19). Ignoring my ratio of blogs read to blogs followed (about 1%*), today’s post is about the magical wonders of Slashdot.
Slashdot is like CNN for nerd: 24 hours a day, covering the most important topics of the day. Stories are submitted by users across the world (even you can be a donor). The comments range from insightful to humorous with the general “trolls” of the Internet gone as the site is policed by its users. The best part is that it is run by nerds.
Generally, major sites of the Internet are accessed by everyone. There is a small subsection that is targets nerds, and this is where the gold of the Internet is, the part that hopefully aliens consider before wiping humanity off the face of the planet. These sections (though not perfect) are what the earliest users of the Internet dreamed for the future, a place to share and discuss information. One day when I’m old, I’ll probably be telling youngin’s to get off my Internet and then tell them of my fond memories of Slashdot.
*In my defense, there are periods of time where I do my best to read most of all the blogs I follow.
In my free time, I read a fair number of web comics that I felt like sharing today. Most are nerd based, so I have included a short description of their contents.
Ctrl+Alt+Del- Another comic pertaining to the video game industry, although unlike the above, there is an underlying plot for about half of the comics.
Erfworld- An interesting comic about a kid thrust into a turn-based strategy RPG world. Has humorous references to the real world.
Gone with the Blastwave- A comic that characterizes the ideas of multi-player shooters in the real world. Always good for a laugh, except for when the creator decides to take a break (which can stretch forever).
Penny Arcade- A comic pertaining to the video game industry. One of the most popular.
A Softer World- An interesting comic that splits up an image and captions it across the panels. Also has hover text.
SUPER EFFECTIVE- A comic about Pokemon. Follows a trainer’s journey from Pallet Town. Doesn’t update regularly but is always funny.
TGSA- Another video game comic. I wish it would update more often.
xkcd- An engineer’s comic is probably the best way to describe it, though most will be able to derive humor from it. (Be sure to read the captions that appear from hovering your mouse over the images).
Those are the main ones I read. Just something to get you started on your own collection of homework distractions (or at least an addition to the one you already have).
Posted in Programming on April 21, 2010 by jmholla
I read an article today about a test that was supposed to be made to divide programmers from non-programmers before they ever saw a programming language. The belief is that people are inherently able to program (or not). And so the idea boils down into a sociology.psychology conversation.
The idea is nature versus nurture. Those that cling to the idea of nature (i.e. everything we know is due to our birth) will find that evolution, at least mentally (and therefore most importantly), is nonexistent. A sole belief in nurture denies the possibility of common links among different groups of species that grew up in locations apart (or the whole twins split up at birth thing). So of course the consensus in the sane community has taken middle ground where instinct is nature and learning is nurture.
This paper seems to say that only nature affects a person’s ability to learn how to program. Studies in psychology and sociology have proven this very idea flawed (and while I do have my own problems with both of those sciences, I do stand by them on this). Some might say that the ability to program is not a trait that should be expected from evolution. I disagree. In fact I disagree wholeheartedly. The present (i.e. what evolution is molding us toward) is completely dependent on technology. As a result, the ability to program is a very marketable thing, the market also being what lives depend on in the modern world. So my argument boils down to the idea that the issue with students inability to learn to program is not their inherent inability, but the inability for their teachers to teach and themselves to put forth the effort to learn. Besides, the test may very well discourage the students who struggle with it initially, thus affecting the population, which itself is an issue in statistics.
Without a doubt, Youtube revolutionized the way in which the web was used. Not many people remember the days when Youtube wasn’t around; they’ve repressed the memories. Well, I am here to remind you of that time.
Imagine a gloomy, abysmal day of work that seemed like you had been working for four hours just to realize only half an hour had ticked away. You arrive home throwing your jacket on the couch and collapsing in the chair next to your computer. You check your personal email and find a link to a funny video from a friend. You click it and our web browser is unable to load the video. Three hours later you finally can watch it. You don’t laugh.
Fast forward to 200x. Of course work doesn’t change. After a 112-hour workday you get home check your email and click a link from your friend. Oh rickrolling…
So what was the point in that anecdote? To point out the benefits of standardization. Little do most people realize, but computing is littered with standards, too many standards. Te issue with them is that most are redundant. There are so many different formats for things outside of joke transmission across the Internet that being able to cater to all users is a near impossibility. It is my belief that everything should be standardized, or at least standardized within subsections of computing (general, business, science, etc.).
Of course, so much standardization does make innovation tough.
Two months ago, anytime I entered Wal-Mart or Food Pyramid, my first instinct was to locate some ramen, and if I was feeling adventurous, sandwich supplies. This all changed on Valentine’s Day.
I wanted to make dinner for my girlfriend. Usually, she makes dinner for me and so I wanted to give her a break. Not being too experienced in cooking, I decided that paninis would be easy to make. She thoroughly enjoyed them (or so she claims). She ended up buying me a paninis cookbook for my birthday.
I’ve made several paninis from the cookbook since then. Now when I’m in Wal-Mart and Food Pyramid, I look at the meats, cheeses and vegetables not with a courageous heart, but with a curious mind. Maybe one day I’ll open a panini shop…Geeky Paninis. That cutesy rhyme makes me want to puke.
So, if you’re like myself, you worry about the zombie apocalypse at least once a week. At least. For those of you who don’t, start. In this post, I plan not to tell you my plan, but give a couple of general guidelines on what are necessary.
There is some good news: you need not plan right away. Chances are, you will hear rumors of the dead walking and the you will know it is time to prepare. Do not fear, the general population will ignore these rumors, but you who are empowered by belief can set out to ensure your future.
This first post, in an infinite length series, will outline what I believe to be essentials in the survivor’s travel pack (preferably a hiking backpack). Let it be known that travel is extremely dangerous and should be avoided, but undoubtedly it will become necessary at some point.
The list:
5 pairs of socks
5 sets of undergarments
1 bandanna
1 watch
1 raincoat/poncho
1 pair of sunglasses
3 days worth of non-perishable food
1 bottle of sunscreen
1 flashlight and extra batteries (if not hand crank)
1 radio and extra batteries (if not hand crank)
100′ rope/cord
1 sleeping bag
1 canteen
1 knife
1 mosquito net
1 pocketknife (in addition to above knife)
1 pistol and 3 extra cartridges (if available)
1 tarp
1 first aid kit
1 mess kit
1 pair of binoculars
1 book (no need to die from boredom)
1 set of two-way radios
1 bicycle (not in pack)
Some may find that they want more in their packs, but this covers the essentials while being light. In our next installment: actually travelling.
I have a ton of gift cards. I have so many gift cards, I have to carry them separately from my wallet because they were starting to stretch out the pockets. There are 13 of them and they total over $400. Its not that I don’t shop at the places they are for; I have cards for GameStop, Blockbuster and some restaurants. The problem of the matter is that I am a college student and don’t have time to go to those places, much less reap the benefits of say a video game purchase. I could however reap the benefits of a new netbook to replace this laptop made from substandard parts that recently broke another hinge and the plastic molding for the screen crack. (I call it responsible since I really do not submit it to any abuse beyond that of normal use.) Its not that I don’t want the cards; without a doubt I will one day spend them all, I just wish I had money for the more immediate future.
