Pem’s Tech Blog

Fun magnet shapes on my office cube

Top is Ball of Whacks: 1 piece, 2 piece, 3 piece, then two 5 piece (the star and the bow tie)

Bottom is X-Ball: 1 piece, 2 piece, 3 piece, 4 piece

Pem (Admin) :: 2010/01/10 (Sunday, January 10, 2010) :: Personal :: No Comments »

Quote: You know, it’s such a peculiar thing – our idea of mankind in general. We all have a sort of vague, glowing picture when we say that, something solemn, big and important. But actually all we know of it is the people we meet in our lifetime. Look at them. Do you know any you’d feel big and solemn about? There’s nothing but housewives haggling at pushcarts, drooling brats who write dirty words on the sidewalks, and drunken debutantes. Or their spiritual equivalent. As a matter of fact, one can feel some respect for people when they suffer. They have a certain dignity. But have you ever looked at them when they’re enjoying themselves? That’s when you see the truth. Look at those who spend the money they’ve slaved for – at amusement parks and side shows. Look at those who’re rich and have the whole world open to them. Observe what they pick out for enjoyment. Watch them in the smarter speak-easies. That’s your mankind in general. I don’t want to touch it. — Dominique Francon, the Fountainhead, Page 143

Disclaimer: I’d say the same thing here as I would about Christ’s Sermon on the Mount.  If you get caught up in some unimportant detail.  Like asking “are Ayn Rand’s political philosophy ideas too extreme?”, or “is theism and biblical dogma rationally defensible?”.  Like asking “is there something inherently low-class about an amusement park or a housewife?”, or “is it inherently bad to have a sexual fantasy outside of a legal marriage agreement?”.  Or even “isn’t this just negativity based on non-realistic overly idealistic expectations?”.  Then I think you’d be missing the point, or at least getting side-tracked on what I might argue is a bunch of almost-unrelated tangents.  With that in mind, I’d encourage you to read the quote again.

Disclaimer #2: I’m not against people having “well-balanced lives” or multiple interests, or enjoying more than one type of thing.  Maybe a person can be genuine and still enjoy both things that are “solemn, big and important” and things that are (shallow or inane or fleeting or comic relief or just senseless fun), or even a mix (such as a bad joke that tries to encourage thought about an underlying message or topic).  But I love the quote, and I think it can encourage a person to evaluate topics like: how you live your life, what you really care about, what things you focus on, how you spend your time and resources, what is genuine…  How rare is true passion? (What do people really enjoy and value?)

Pem (Admin) :: 2009/10/23 (Friday, October 23, 2009) :: Personal, Philosophy / Opinions :: No Comments »

*** text from the magazine print ad, 1982:

Can a Computer Make You Cry?

Right now, no one knows. This is partly because many would consider the very idea frivolous. But it’s also because whoever successfully answers this question must first have answered several others.

Why do we cry? Why do we laugh, or love, or smile? What are the touchstones of our emotions?

Until now, the people who asked such questions tended not to be the same people who ran software companies. Instead, they were writers, filmmakers, painters, musicians. They were, in the traditional sense, artists.

We’re about to change that tradition. The name of our company is Electronic Arts.

Software worthy of the minds that use it.

We are a new association of electronic artists united by a common goal—to fulfill the enormous potential of the personal computer.

In the short term, this means transcending its present use as a facilitator of unimaginative tasks and a medium for blasting aliens. In the long term, however, we can expect a great deal more.

These are wondrous machines we have created, and in them can be seen a bit of their makers. It is as if we had invested them with the image of our minds. And through them, we are learning more and more about ourselves.

We learn, for instance, that we are more entertained by the involvement of our imaginations than by passive viewing and listening. We learn that we are better taught by experiences than by memorization. And we learn that the traditional distinctions—the ones that are made between art and entertainment and education—don’t always apply.

Towards a language of dreams.

In short, we are finding that the computer can be more than just a processor of data.

It is a communications medium: an interactive tool that can bring people’s thoughts and feelings closer together, perhaps closer than ever before. And while fifty years from now, its creation may seem no more important than the advent of motion pictures or television, there is a chance it will mean something more.

Something along the lines of a universal language of ideas and emotions. Something like a smile.

The first publications of Electronic Arts are now available. We suspect you’ll be hearing a lot about them. Some of them are games like you’ve never seen before, that get more out of your computer than other games ever have. Others are harder to categorize—and we like that.

Watch us.

We’re providing a special environment for talented, independent software artists. It’s a supportive environment, in which big ideas are given room to grow. And some of America’s most respected software artists are beginning to take notice.

We think our current work reflects this very special commitment. And though we are few in number today and apart from the mainstream of the mass software marketplace, we are confident that both time and vision are on our side.

Join us. We see farther.

…

*** text from the picture caption:

Software artists?

"I’m not so sure there are any software artists yet," says Bill Budge. "We’ve got to earn that title." Pictured here are a few people who have come as close to earning it as anyone we know.

That’s Mr. Budge himself, creator of Pinball Construction Set, at the upper right. To his left are Anne Westfall and Jon Freeman who, along with their colleagues at Free Fall Associates, created Archon and Murder on the Zinderneuf.

Left of them is Dan Bunten of Ozark Softscape, the firm that wrote M.U.L.E. To Dan’s left are Mike Abbot (top) and Matt Alexander (bottom), authors of Hard Hat Mack. In the center is John Field, creator of Axis Assassin and The Last Gladiator. David Maynard, lower right, is the man responsible for Worms?

When you see what they’ve accomplished, we think you’ll agree with us that they can call themselves whatever they want.

…

*** Notes:

In 1982, the newly formed company EA (Electronic Arts) released this magazine print ad.  This was referenced in the movie “Into the Night with Jason Rohrer and Chris Crawford”.

I copied it from here ( http://chrishecker.com/Can_a_Computer_Make_You_Cry%3F )

Pem (Admin) :: 2009/10/12 (Monday, October 12, 2009) :: Personal, Philosophy / Opinions :: No Comments »

This new category could apply to some offline things, but it’s probably not going to be anything about family or social life or twitter-style-what-I-had-for-lunch-today.

The new category is basically an admission that this blog has gone from it’s original intent to give specific concise useful category-specific computer info / tips / tricks (“useful tech notes (info, tips, how to, ask me) (computers, software, hardware, blogging, mobile, devices, phones, Windows)”)…  To becoming more like, just me writing about whatever I feel like; though generally this is a strong computer/technology focus (or at least from that sort of angle).

I may still start up a separate / second blog that is dedicated to game development, such as for a specific project.

In theory, I might be crazy enough to put up personal stuff, or even mundane things like “today I drank a Mt Dew”.  Many other people do it, but that has issues like, do friends or family or roommates or coworkers or neighbors etc want you putting stuff up on the totally public internet about them.

In some cases, you might even risk giving someone info to encourage them to pick you (or someone you reference) as a criminal target, such as identity theft or stalker or theft etc.  Though I don’t want to sound too paranoid.

In theory, I might also put one up about day job, but that has other issues like, what if I said something as a rant, or what if coworkers didn’t like it, or what if it was against some company policy or accidentally gave out too much info, etc.

Whether either of these could be (a bad idea) or (a good idea) or (harmless yet also pointless), probably depends on the details of a particular situation.

Pem (Admin) :: 2009/06/05 (Friday, June 5, 2009) :: Blogging, Personal :: No Comments »