Stuff I've read lately

Jarhead (Anthony Swofford)(audio) - I wouldn't normally talk about an audio book, since I don't really count them. Going in, I was thinking, "How serious was the first Gulf War, really?" (for Americans) But, I forget, that at the time, it was deadly serious. In the end, it wasn't very serious (Swofford was in all of two "battles", and never fired his weapon), but it still affected the men involved. It was, of course, deadly serious to the Iraqis killed.


The Vor Game (Lois Bujold) - Another quality Vorkosigan book.


The Faded Sun: Kesrith (C. J. Cherryh) - Ahh, Cherryh. This book is classic Cherryh. 'The People' start the book with having been decimated from millions to maybe thousands. By the end, there are two...


Stanger in a Strange Land (Robert Heinlein) - Coming from a UNIX background, I already knew 'grok'. So I wasn't sure what effect it was supposed to have on me. Otherwise, this book is supposed to be one of Heinlein's best. But I didn't see anything special.

Infinite Improbability

Hello all! Not sure how many readers I have left (after chasing off most in the comments section...)

The Way of the Master radio is particularly vocal on proving the existence of God. I've dealt enough with atheists that I am skeptical.

Let me try to do their argument, and you can counter in the comments.

Thanks!

God is infinite. (definition)

The universe had a beginning (entropy, background radiation, expansion, etc.)

The creation event requires an infinite - one or more of:
infinite regression (turtles all the way)
multi-verse (infinite probabilistic universes)
infinite, uncreated, creator God

Thanks again!

Fixing Star Wars - Episode 6

So, a co-worker and I got to talking, and we decided to fix Star Wars. I mean, everyone likes Star Wars, but with just a little fixing, it could be great!

We started with Episode 6 (Return of the Jedi). An episode with a lot of good stuff, but showing the beginnings of Lucas' mad ego trip. A trip ending in the horror that is the prequel trilogy...

Ok, what problem(s) are we solving?

1. Two death stars (episodes 4 and 6) are just silly and irritating


2. The whole Luke-Leia brother-sister thing is kinda icky


3. How dangerous is this whole rebellion thing, if no major characters die?


4. Ewoks should of been wookies

The solution set is like this:
For #1, Episode 4 should probably keep its climactic ending. So, something big needs to blow up. Might as well leave it the Death Star, as originally filmed. The Empire should realize one, big capital ship is less useful than many (the whole "systems slipping through the fingers" statement). The project in Episode 6 should be a fleet of super star destroyers (probably best to remove the SSD from Ep 5). Or you could keep the Death Star in 6, and have Luke help to knock out a Star Destroyer using the force.

For #2, simply remove it. There are ways of resolving a love triangle beside declaring one leg illegal. More in point 3.

#3, kill Han. Probably at some point in the shield generator mission. This doesn't mean that Luke and Leia have to be together. It's ok for Leia to feel some grief and not be with anyone...

#4, 'nuff said.


That is on top of a lot of minor fixes. All the characters need de-cardboarding. The construction site makes no sense (a no-tech world in the middle of nowhere - should be a ship yard some where). We are not concerned with fixing, or remaining consistent with the books (most of which were terrible). You can keep Leia's encounter with the cute ewok as a young wookie.

New Stars Status

I've fixed the economics page. The last page of the race wizard is also done:



I still need to connect the "All expensive tech start at level 3" button to C++ (there was an engine change needed). And to add the drop down for "Spend extra points".

I've started adding the GUI elements for cargo load and unload:




I need to take changes in these elements back into C++, and add the ability to create these orders from scratch.

Musical Interlude

Everything you know is wrong!
Black is white, up is down, and short is long.
And everything you thought was just so important
doesn't really matter at all.

...

Just as the floating, disembodied head of colonel Sanders
starting yelling,
"Everything you know is wrong!"

New Stars Status

I fixed the oddity in the ship designer.

Here are the next pages of the race wizard:






Still need to connect some of the economic spinners to the C++ code. Then I can finish page 6, and the race wizard will be done!

New Stars Status

Here is the current status of the race wizard:




Steps 1 and 4 are done. The point calculation code is done. I need to fill in the other pages.

New Stars Status

Woohoo! Ship designer is mostly done...



Moving from slot to slot does not work (you have to discard, and re-add). There are also some oddities in the interface after finishing a design off a blank hull.

I will try to fix the oddity before polishing off the race wizard.

New Stars Status

Made some more progress on the ship designer today. The component button brings up the list of components, and the available hull types button brings up the list of hulls. This uncovered a bug in the engine; there is no function to determine if a particular player can build a given hull. This is currently stubbed to always true. I haven't looked into the enemy hull code yet...




Next step is to enable the copy button.

Shocking Interview

I was poking around on the Way of the Master Radio website, and I found this clip. Make sure to watch it all the way to the end, or skip to the end if you've had enough...

New Stars Status

Here is the next screen shot:



We can see: the planetary environment display under the ship designer, the planetary build queue, a packet in the space display, and the ship designer dialog.

The ship designer dialog still needs a lot of work. It will currently display existing designs, but it cannot separate ships and starbases. It will not display enemy designs.

I have the drag and drop code for doing new designs, and I need to plug it into the "Copy Existing Design" and "Edit Selected Design" buttons. I also need to transmit the drag and drop commands back to C++ so that the new design can be saved.

That brings us up to date on the New Stars GUI. I will hopefully make some progress now :)

Stuff I've read lately

Perelandra (C.S. Lewis) - These middle of Lewis' space trilogy. I like Perelandra. It presents a very interesting view of the early fictional view of the solar system (with habitable Mars and Venus). Mars represents the old way, with angels directly guiding people. The intended system on Earth is fuzzier, due to its lead angel rebelling against God. Earth then becomes the place where God is made flesh (in Jesus), for the salvation of all. Venus is the newest creation. The Adam and Eve of that planet are free to choose, but two representatives from Earth are sent to fight over them.

That Hideous Strength (C.S. Lewis) - The last of the space trilogy. I didn't like the ending so much. It did kind of remind me of Stross' "Atrocity Archives" some.

Have Space Suit - Will Travel (Robert Heinlein) - A fun book. I think he could of taken a more serious turn to it, but it is targeted at a younger audience.

New Stars Status

The first few screen shots will come quickly, as I catch up to the current status. Here is a turn file with a fleet in space, and a minefield selected. Note I need the little yellow pointer under the current selection, a minefield graphic, and better ship graphics... I also need to write the orbitting code. Our files have some issues with consistancy. The fleet really does have 0 fuel.

New Stars Progress

To help motivate me to make more progress, I will post updates on the current status of New Stars GUI. Here is the first shot:

Call Me Back, Ishmael

"Ishmael" (Daniel Quinn) is an update on the idea of the noble savage. The author presents a choice between two lifestyles - "Takers" and "Leavers". The Takers take their lives into their own hands. They plant more food than the can eat, and grow without limits. The Leavers leave their fates to the gods (growing and shrinking population as the environment shifts). He stops short of saying technology is evil.

Unfortunately, I do not think this jives with actual history. I believe "Guns, Germs, and Steel" (Jared Diamond) presents a much better view of pre-history and anthropology. The peoples who retained stone age technology throughout the technology revolution in the West did so because they lacked the opportunity to do so (not out of some conscience choice). New data is showing massive die-offs of local bird and animal populations in pre-Columbian America. It was only the plagues introduced in the 1600's by the Spanish allowed the animal populations to be restored in time for the American settlers of the 1800's to find an "unspoiled wilderness" and come in and kill them off again...

We do not know why early American agricultural societies disappeared. It may of been disease, a long drought, or invasion by neighbors. It's possible that without animal power (see GGS) they simple said "it's not worth it" and returned to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

More Drugs

Let me start by saying some people need (or appear to need) less drugs. These are people you look at and say, "He needs less drugs". Some people need more drugs. "Are you SAD (social anxiety disorder)? Then you need more drugs." TV commercials are always telling people they need more drugs.

Well, I officially need more drugs (I couldn't use any less than my current 0). So newDrugs / oldDrugs == infinite. That's an infinite (percent) increase in drugs! Don't worry, it's not like I have some horrible disease or anything. Thanks for your concern.

So, if any new posts are particularly good (or bad); it's not me, it's the drugs.

Enjoy!

Now it begins

Space Ghost (SG): Now it begins! Who all here is evil?
Zorak (Z): I'm evil!
Brak (B): I'm evil!
Z: Oh, you are not!
B: I am too!
Z: You're as harmless as a babies butt!
SG: Zorak!
Z: Well he is.
B: I am not a babies butt.
SG: Sorry Brak, I'm going to have to go with Zorak on this one. You simply lack the mental capacity to be evil.
B: I don't get it.
SG: You have to, oh say; come up with plots against the universe, hatch evil plans to conquer planets, and just be plain mean most of the time.
Z: You're just too nice.
B: I forget how to be mean. That radiation half lobotomized me.
SG: Say, I've got an idea. Why doesn't Zorak teach you how to be mean?
Z: Oh man, do I haf'ta?
SG: Yes you haf'ta!
Z: Alright Brak, repeat after me: "Space Ghost, I will destroy you!"
B: Space Ghost, I will destroy you, if you don't mind.
Z: I WILL destroy YOU!
B: I will destroy you?
Z: I WILL DESTROY YOU!!
B: Alright! I will destroy you!
Z: You, and your little dog too.
B: You, and... Hey! I like his dog, Francine is a good puppy.
Z: No, that was just a threat.
B: You want to hurt Francine. You're a big, bad, green, thingy, guy...
SG: Bug?
B: Bug. Space Ghost, shoot that thingy-thing on your arm.
SG: Destructo-ray?
B: Destructo-ray, so he doesn't hurt Francine.
SG: Gladly, Brak, my dear old chum. {BLAST}
Z: Hey! What did you do that for!
SG: That was for Francine! Hey wait, I don't have a dog.
Z: Yea, tell me about it.

Mook?

Seeing Krull with the Mudge A209 crew was a defining moment for the word "mook". Modern culture has started to use the word to mean "an ineffectual, foolish, or contemptible person" (Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume II). But to us, the word has a much more specific meaning:

"A mook is a character in the story who serves no purpose, other than to absorb damage" (Mighty, Mighty Death Machine).

Every (good) action movie has mooks. You need them for the action. If nobody dies, the action can't really be that dangerous, can it? If your main character dies, the movie is over. This is different than a major-minor character (one who actually has a name, and people care if he dies).

Mooks come in two main flavors:

1. Hapless Mook - the hapless mook is movable scenery. His death serves little purpose, perhaps warning a hero of imminent danger. They rarely have a name ("I lost, a man, down there!", or "There goes what's his name!?"

2. Warrior Mook - the warrior mook is the main stay of war movies. They appear in tens or hundreds (or thousands), often on both sides. They die by tens or hundreds (or thousands), too.

The characters (besides the mains) in Krull were all hapless mooks. Several had names, but no one remembered them. Their presence did nothing to aid the hero in the completion of his quest, their deaths were quick and unmourned. One even received a "that's cool!" look from the mook captain for his spectacular plunging death.

Popular theory holds that mooks are dispensed from a "tree of mooks". It is imporatant that you pick your mooks fresh, in the proper season.

Movie Review

"Krull"! (1983) starring a bunch of people you have never heard of, and will never see again (except IMDB lists Liam Neeson, who I don't remember being in the movie...).

I haven't seen Krull recently, but this is the sort of movie one never forgets. Krull is a classic. Krull is the kind of classic most people have never heard of. Krull is such a classic, most people would deny its classicity.

Maybe the proper word is "cult classic". But that is what people who don't think it is a classic call it...

Krull has a typical "epic" outline:

1. Evil guys kill hero's family, kidnap hero's girlfriend, leave hero for dead
2. Old, smart guy nurses hero back to health, shows hero how to get even
3. Hero gives evil guys what's coming

Krull is an unusual mix of science fiction and fantasy elements. The evil guys are alien invaders from outer space. They use a form of high tech musket, which has a single energy blast, and then can be used in melee to deliver devasting energy pokes. The hero's band includes a magician, cyclops, and a bunch of mooks with axes and swords.

In giving the evil guy his what's coming, Krull gave birth to the term "flaming marital death". It includes the direct (hilarious) quote, "We're your family now!"

More Laughing

Ok, today is a good day for me...

I am listening to the Way of the Master radio show. For those not familiar with the Way of the Master, it is a program for educating Christians on how to share their faith according to the Bible. Part of the show consists of the cast putting their teaching into practice on actual unbelievers.

The show is an old one from September 19. About 6 minutes in, the announcer (Todd "Freakishly Tall" Friel) makes a parallel between the Gospel message, and Oprah. He says, "If Oprah told you, 'Unless you listen to my show five days a week, you are going to Pittsburgh!', that has an impact on you."

This is funny for several reasons. The main one being that Pittsburgh is paralleled to Hell. This is funny because I spent four years in Pittsburgh, most of the time comparing it to Hell.

ROFL

Do you need a laugh? Do you use Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Exploder? If you use Exploder, download Firefox now!

Ok, now go here in Firefox. Wow! Hope they don't fix it too soon, I may need another laugh...

I found this at the Daily WTF. I recommend it if you are a programmer (and need a laugh, but if you are a programmer, you need a laugh).

Another new member!

Hello all,
I'd like to welcome Corey to Mudge A209. While not a proper citizen, he is certainly a permanent alien. Corey is most famous for the "Discontinuously Probable Wooden Appendage", and demonstating the behavior of a Stars! mass packet exceeding MAX_WORD (32768 kilotons) in an actual game setting.

Who is Biff?

I'd like to welcome again Biff Splifford to Mudge A209. Some may wonder who Biff is. I'll let Biff speak for himself. But there is a story to Biff.

When I first started playing Magic the Gathering, I was in an ante tournament. That's a story in itself, but in the end, I had my first Force of Nature. I liked my Force of Nature. I made a whole deck just for him. He had a name, Biff. He pummelled a lot of annoying blue mages for me.

Soon I had more Forces (from packs, not purchased). The second was Boff. The third was Buff. I once put all three in a deck, but that was kind of crazy. Most decks only had one after that.

New Name, New Member

Not that we have a huge audience, but Ned's Niche has a new name and look. Going forward it will be Mudge A209. We should also have a new member shortly, so look forward to some new posts!

Banned Books

Slashdot (http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/06/09/13/1532230.shtml) has a post on Google's list of banned books. Looking at the list, I am reminded of some books I had to read for school.

"A Separate Peace" - Was it just me? Or was this book terrible? I remember it as terribly depressing, and the ending made no sense. I can think of a lot of better stories than this (how about "Flowers for Algernon"?)

"Heart of Darkness" - Some good quotes here, "Need more rivets", and "Mista Kurtz, he dead". But besides that, not very good.

"The Great Gatsby" - Terrible. Why anyone would bother to ban it is a mystery.

There are some shocking books on this list. Not that they should be banned just because they are shocking...

"Brave New World" - This has lost a lot of its shock value, but only because it has come true...

"1984" - Nuff said.

"The Lord of the Flies" - see above.

"Slaughterhouse Five" - a classic.

"The Call of the Wild" - This is a really good book.

Some books I didn't like didn't make it to this list (not that I think they should be banned). Maybe they weren't shocking enough.

"The Illustrated Man" - We read one science fiction book in 13 years of school, and it had to be this one. If I read another story about a rocket ship blowing up in space, it will be too soon...

Anything by Jane Austin, or the Bronte sisters - ugh.

"The Return of the Native" - 30 pages describing the heath, double ugh.

Movie Review

"City of Angels" (1998) starring Cage-olas Nick, and Meg Ryan
On the face of it this is a story about how great love is. But it is (probably unintentionally), a story about the making of a demon.
Nick is well cast as an emotionless angel (Seth). During the course of the movie, Seth becomes obsessed with Meg Ryan's character. By the end, he decides to "take the fall", to give up his role in eternity to spend a lifetime with Meg.

This is a refreshing take on evil. Evil is so often portrayed as a guy in a black hat, a laughing monster who delights in evil. Rarely do we see the true definition of evil: seeking what would be considered good - in the wrong way.

Genesis 6:2
Matthew 22:30
Revelation 12:4

Fun with sed

I've applied random sed 's/.*/pants/g' to some famous movie quotes. See if you can identify the quotes!

> O-B-Pants never told you what happenened to your pants.
>> He told me enough, he told me you took them!
> No, I AM YOUR PANTS!
>> NOOOOO!

> If only you knew the power of the dark side of my pants.

> The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant, next to the power in my pants.

> I find your lack of pants, disturbing.

Books I'll Never Forget

"Two Hawks from Earth" by the Philip "the outlaw" Jose Farmer
I read this book during a particularly difficult time in my life. Let's just say, I was in high school, and there was this girl... Two Hawks (who was an American bomber pilot, shot down during the fire bombing of Dresden and transported to an alternate earth) was also betrayed by the girl he liked (with the evil Nazi fighter pilot also from our Earth). It led to my statement, "all of time and space is crashing down about my ears".

I'll never forget the line from the book, "And Two Hawks buried himself in his work."

As men, when things are going bad, it is very tempting and somewhat comforting to bury ourselves in work. But it's not a real solution...

Stuff I've read lately

Accelerando (by Charles Stross) - All I can say is "Russian doll, Dyson sphere, computronium!"
Hmm, let me also say Stross presents an interesting solution to the Fermi Paradox, but one that is ultimately insufficient.

Mere Christianity (by C.S. Lewis) - Well thought out, but shows its age. I am working on an updated version. If you have any comments, leave them here!

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus (by John Gray) - A good, humorous description of the differences between men and women. Offers some excercises to help men and women communicate.

Iron Sunrise (by Charles Stross) - A fun adventure set in the "Singularity Sky" universe.

Out of the Silent Planet (by C.S. Lewis) - I'm glad I've read this after "Mere Christianity". I know Lewis denies allegory in this case, but otherwise I would of likely filed it with Edgar Rice Burroughs ("Pirates of Venus").

Opening Post

Hello world!

puts "Hello world!"; # TCL

printf("Hello world!\n"); // C,C++

str DB "Hello world\n"
100 mov DX, str
mov AH, 9
int 21h