viernes, 10 de septiembre de 2010

Sacrifice, Weapon, Recovery

Today, in The Great Pawn Hunter's web page, I was reading Decoy: Chess with Style, and then all the Knights section in the Lessons page. I re-re-leaned the forgotten sacrifice-weapon-recovery principle I learned in 2002. I was re-dazzled again about how nice and beautiful some sacrifices can become... and also, in how similar they are to some aspects of life.

You must notice that whatever you sacrifice is not in vain. A plain sacrifice, because it has meaning, it has a purpose.

In Naruto Manga, Asuma explains what is his duty in the village (a sacrificial piece) and who is the most valuable piece in his game of life. Shikamaru got it wrong until Asuma finally explained his thoughts.

These children of the atom are making great philosophical stories since Tetsuwan Atomu (Mighty Atom). Mighty Atom was renamed to Astro Boy in United States. What do you think could be the reason behind that name change?

And still those powerful robots can't imagine a world without money and wars, because they want to be heads and managers of Earth by keeping poverty... As Maquiavelli said, "It is better to be feared than loved", right? I wouldn't like to be respected by fear, or to be so powerful that I fear of being alone, without enough reliable people near me.

There's no enough imagination. We humans are so crippled that we can only imagine that this is the only one way to live our lives. Respect, tolerance, acceptance and communication.
Now, each one have needs, and exchanges or sacrifices to make.

Understanding between everybody is better than any kind of money. if I could communicate with all animals and bugs, I probably would not need to kill them. But they can't imagine a new civilization. (a song about this line?)

I know the risk of losing all good things I have achieved and kept. It's just like when I don't want to lose rating on Free Internet Chess Server (FICS), but if I don't risk, I won't improve.

I know that we need to push people to work and do things, and that is not easy to change from one way to another. But also, Creativity doesn't light up too well under anxiety or pressure. Each idea should be stored and pondered from time to time when they appear on our heads.

I think I wrote about "storing all ideas of the world, even crazy ones" some time ago, but I can't remember when It was. And I'm not talking about "Web of Ideas", but something else.

miércoles, 8 de septiembre de 2010

Happy -vs- Sad

#6: yes, randomness, e+motion, sell, task, That's our task. That's what we get paid for. We do it, change it, and tweak it as you like, and receive the blame for it if it doesn't work as expected. And still we need to be happy. But how convenient that Einstein said that "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." Thank your for the miracle of working that way...

Do you think we should simply ignore that bad side? Why don't we celebrate when somebody dies? or when diseased? or crippled? Or better: don't think about it at all! Show indifference to your friends' suffering, because it's bad and we should be in good mood forever, right? No! because they will reduce their estimation towards you. Challenges, Families, Relationship, Friends, ... the silly "That's another thing" answer. I hate it. I believe in Universal Law. Law should be applied to every[thing|one|where]. Then, What would my penalty be?

If you believe in God, then you believe in supernatural powers. If not, well, Malcolm X said that "a man who believes in nothing will fall for anything."

martes, 24 de agosto de 2010

Autist Cowgirl

I saw Temple Grandin. It's a comedy movie, right?

She knows that humans care about cows because they are food, and so they will be killed. Nevertheless, she also thought that cows deserve some kind of respect. She also said that if she were to die, she would like it to be in the best and most peaceful way possible...

Have you read the previous paragraph? Many of you could think "Cows are not human. Why should we treat them as humans?" Well, I don't know what you could think about random citizens, workers and soldiers, but they also are/will be "killed" (citizens will be taxed, workers won't have enough freetime, and soldiers will go to wars), but that doesn't matter, because they are not cows, but sheeps of some big shepherds.

My favourite phrases from the movie:
  • People. I don't understand people ...
  • She thinks in pictures.
  • They mess with the perspective!
  • Think of it as a door ...
  • It's almost time for The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
  • Nature is cruel, but we don't have to be.
  • I touched the first cow as it was being stunned ...
  • I don't want my thoughts to die with me.

jueves, 19 de agosto de 2010

Pulpy Enough

I saw Pulp Fiction. I think this movie was made with several kind of people in mind, because part I didn't like much, I'm sure those same parts will be lovable for women, delinquents or polices.

Each one of these phrases are very related to parts I like. There are many phrases, so I only stated those memorable ones for me of the whole section:
  • Royale with Cheese.
  • Eenie, meenie, minie, mo.
  • "Please" would be nice.
  • All right, now, Yolanda!
  • ... shepherd. (I avoided the temptation of putting that complete "ending" phrase)
As dreamy and delightful as Kill Bill 1 & 2 were.

miércoles, 18 de agosto de 2010

Function's Name, Code and Usage Relationship

To show how important the relation between a function's name, code and usage is, let me show you this silly example using Python:

#Look this valid function definition:
def are_different(a,b):
return a==b

#This line looks nice. They are different:

if are_different(1,2):
print "1 & 2 are different!"
else:
print "Houston: we have a problem!"
#Huh? Where is the mistake?

raw_input
("Press [ENTER] key...")

(You can download previous code in this link. Double-click to run it.)

What can you see? It's fun to see how function name says one thing, and its implementation says another.

Conventions are important. It should be clear by reading any part of the code.

In validation functions, there are two possible values. True and False. Although you can choose to return the one you like the most, when you want to say that a validation has_failed or has_passed, it "should" be clear what value to use, shouldn't it? ...

Actions (or processes) should be according with names. Names should be chosen according to actions. "What you say should be backed-up with what you do." "Things you do speak louder than things you name."

Comparing this with Positivism, I like how inspiring messages are written, although they don't promote planning.

#300-private

martes, 17 de agosto de 2010

What Programming Languages contribute

Each programming language should contribute something new to the programming world, like some kind of new element to the structure of a program, to name a example. An inconvenient I have is that I still see sequential solutions easier to find than a structured ones.

My programming rabbit hole started when I was 14, with slight touches toMS-DOS command prompt. Then I lightly met FoxPro, then COBOL, until I hit Turbo Basic.

I learned that Assembly Language existed, the one I consider the genesis of imperative programming language style. When you notice that Assembler is essentially data movement and comparison, it's hard to imagine something like Warcraft coded in this language. Some time ago I learned that programs are based in a theoretical Turing Machine.

When I saw function and sub statements in QBASIC and the list of commands of the Help, I knew that something different was comming. Something called procedural or structured programming. In college, I saw DBASE III Plus (which I compared with FoxPro), Turbo Pascal and Borland C. I saw in the last two some resemblances to QBASIC, but declaring variables and importing libraries where something new to me.

In the university I learned what was the real importance of C and Pascal, why GOTO is evil, complex typedef struct, and recursion, that by itself was something too abstract for me, not to mention the fact that it's needed for some sorting algorithms (also abstract) like Quick Sort. I wish I had met SmallTalk and LISP at this time... I feel power and flexibility in LISP, but I still neither understand it, nor its macros.

In 1995, the first language I saw after QBASIC was HTML, but I didn't see some statements (no conditions, no loops, no variables). So HTML was not programming language for me, and I rejected it until I learned about JavaScript. Something interesting that I learned with JavaScript is that you can "store" function definitions in variables, but later I learned that what gets stored is a reference, and that C allowed this kind of assigment. About JavaScript events, I heard of the event concept with Visual Basic (QBASIC successor) and Delphi (Pascal's).

OOP... What a headache!! I was doing a lot of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP, before I learned about OOP and Java. I saw C++ before, but I never saw something about Object-Oriented Programming on it. I learned that SmallTalk was an older OOP language than Java. Inheritance, abstraction, polymorphism, encapsulation, imports (I took them like includes, but later I learned that they are namespaces!), collections, threads, bytecodes, and patterns: all of these were part of the tsunami that Java was for me. Some interesting things that I tested with Java for Eclipse were Test-Driven Development and Source Navigation (like navigation in Internet)

If something was difficult after starting to learn Java, it was to learn CakePHP and the concept of MVC Frameworks. It's nice to jail a group of developers into conventions, but the problem is when the framework doesn't provide what you need in a way that is easy, accesible and well documented.

A problem I get with JavaScript is when I want to access some local variable, inside a function called from another function. In C# there is something called closures, designed to avoid this kind of problems.

I wanted to experiment something new, so I looked into Ruby, and then Python. I choose Python because of how it does things and it tends toward procedural and imperative styles easier. Not to mention Python IDLE. What I discovered is that code blocks are delimited by tabs or spaces, but the flexibility of its dynamic typing was a good pay-off for me. I later knew that FORTRAN was also space-delimited for code blocks. Python use import for namespaces, but here, they are are real plus!

The first time I heard the term lambda was when I learned what is the Haskell language. This is a concept vaguely experimented by me, but it's a pending one.

ASSEMBLY speed never will be 100% matched by compiled languages, but his drawback is his bad programming productivity.

FORTRAN was the most used language for Math.
LISP seems so flexible and so abstract that it looks boring.
C focus on Implementations to increase Portability.
SmallTalk was the first famous OOP language.

Now we have Haskell, Scripting Languages, C++ and Java. It seems like including several new libraries and constraints, and also change the semantics of old languages. But how could you use the power of LISP without never ever using parenthesis? or fixed-width? or brackets? or tabs? or begin/end blocks? If you can solve the problem of Hierarchy of Operators without using any of these block delimiters, please show me that novell discovery! But not bring another one.

Now, I think that the next step would be a language that could abstract or force segregation of the many individual areas of a program in a meaningful way. MVC Frameworks are a great example, but not wide and crystal-clear enough. I think that OOP is for Programming the same that Calculus is for Math.

There are things like SSH and HTTPS that are standard and globally "accepted". So, why can't some essential authentication structures come by default in some languages, just the same objects like System, String, Math, Thread, etc. exist?

lunes, 16 de agosto de 2010

Luffy Laughters

ALERT: Some One Piece Spoilers!!!

Many thanks to YouTube and those people who cut some of these clips. These really made me laugh!! But more importantly, many thanks to Eiichiro Oda and Toei Animation for making this lovely One Piece to happen!!

Meeting Crocus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPDCu0IBVak

Ero-Camel
(Chapter 97, 20:29)

That Camel gets beaten
(Chapter 103, 15:58)

Zoro and Sanji wake-up 'kiss'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnldPHfOT78&feature=related

Zoro's Tarzan Call
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGL2-9pcPfk

Nami hits a wolf
(Chapter 166, 15:38)

Luffy's Baka Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQG0V2yHlEI

173: 13:58 "Funny Vehicle Horn"
195: 10:17 "Going Merry scared"
195: 15:41 "Zoro woke up"
200: 7:48 "Condoriano"
205: 2:14 "Sanji hugs Nami"
213: 4:22 Luffy eating a "cucumber"-like kiwi
242: 5:50 Iceburg Testament
258: 8:44 Nami dress-up on Rocket Man
285: 16:49 Nya Nya Song
290: 5:43 Sogeking's Shakeen!!
302: 9:20 Calling Usopp
303: 9:06 Luffy's Sakura Song
304: 10:05 Carring Usopp + Kabuto
307: 10:03 Sanji's Nyngou
357: 4:40 Ussopp's Best Fight
359: 8:50 Sanji's Spoiled Dream
408: 19:43 Luffy's Seta
409: 8:53 Luffy's Kintama
416: 7:50 Luffy's Binks' Sake
418: 18:10 Franky's Right & Left (after his sneeze)

No laughs, but worth mention:
24: Mihawk Vs. Zoro
26: Zeff & Sanji's Story
28: 19:34 Luffy's Best Gomu Gomu No Pisutoru
30: 16:19...19:08 Red Leg's Farewell to Sanji
37: 18:16 Nami begs a favour from Luffy
348: 20:46 Yoho hohó, Yoho hóho
414: 20:04 Sonia's Back is burning
419: 16:24 Coincidence?

Idea of a Web of Ideas

I was contemplating my sms_list, while I got the idea of a web of ideas. In this web, ideas can be compared and analyzed using synonyms and similar words, to make it easier either acceptance or rejection by applying the rule of the majority.

While I was thinking about that web, I took an example of somebody promoting the idea of 100% Perfect. but instead, I promote 99.99%. I imagined a situation on which a person says that my 99.99% idea is wrong, and that person let me try to explain it, and I choose an example of a wake.

I was trying to continue that story in that previous linear form, but I decided to transform it into a dialog. And so, I did this:

- Your idea is wrong. I can get the 100% of my plan.
- No plan is 100% Perfect.
- Ok. Explain it better.
- I will put an example. Imagine that you are in a wake. Take the opportunity to say some words in that wake and say 'I love God'
- I won't do it because you say it. I'm not your pawn.
- O.K., don't do it. Don't say that you love God. Even in that moment, you will hide your love for Him.
- Why don't you tell it instead?
- Because I don't feel it nice. Also, I'm no the one promoting the 100%
- What does it have to do with 100%?
- Somebody will give you a suggestion which is in concordance with the plan, but because it was exactly that person (me in this case) you will show, bring or find any kinds of blockade, errors and mistakes. You will dismiss the possibility that person shows, and so, that 0.01%.
- Well, to say 'I Love God' in that moment is not completely necessary.
- And there goes that 0.01% away... Also, while you execute your plan, alternatives appear...

It was a nice thought, but this sequence in my head impressed me so much, that I decided to plaster it here.

viernes, 13 de agosto de 2010

FUD

Ogg versus the world: don't fall for open-source FUD

I believe in Communties. The previous link could be the result of scrapping some FSF press releases, but if some things it shows are true, then they prove an Universal Law: that even Entities against some Forces will use any mean to get noticed, including means used exaclty by their Opposition or Enemies.

What to do if both bands have partners in both sides, partners that keep their rivalry ignited? In warfare, this is called Department of Intelligence.

What to do if every idea or action can be misinterpreted? This is because every good act have a bad point of view.

What to do if you try to achieve fame by every possible mean? Will you do a wrong action because your point of view is the right one?

The only True Truth in this Universe are those Needs we will always have.

Manga War

Best Manga Review: Pluto
http://bestmangareview.blogspot.com/2007/12/pluto.html

I have read Pluto manga. The previous URL inspired me to re-read it again, so I went to OneManga... What a big surprise! They don't offer the manga anymore!

Many other online-reading manga websites have been blocked, and are prohibited to show mangas.

This is my anger.

This is the kind of action that characterize Japanese. This kind of mentality have earned my atomic bombs. :-@

It is like the battle between Open Source and Paid Software (Copyright vs. Community). My solace is that Black Market will always exists. I thought they would improve lessons from Linux, instead of going totally backwards.

Pluto and Robots, equals money.

We users can show our gratitude and pay a fee, but is not acceptable for me to buy the physical manga version, and to wait for those "big robots" to translate our beloved mangas.

Could it be a pressure from U.S.A.? Or an egoist Japanese Nationalism? Or are they zealous because they couldn't see the idea of a big community of international manga evangelists coming through?

Instead of giving merit to those websites that helped them to spread fame, they try to remove or ban a possible right or opportunity.

Unless, of course, that you, "big robots", want to centralize online manga and scanlation.

Next match will be: Anime War.