Networking Sucks

I'm currently working on a game project with networking. What should have a simple P2P topology has evolved into something so arcane, I can't make out what half out code is doing.

Stupid networking...

Rice Students are Sharks

I live on-campus at Hanszen College at Rice University. Hanszen shares the South Servery with Weiss college, which is one of the three main, larger serveries on campus. Each college which is not attached to one of the big three has their own, but the three large ones are open on days when the smaller ones would be closed, and they generally have better food to boot.

Tonight, one of the things available was a smoked roast beef, carved to order by one of the chefs, and accompanied by 'homemade' barbecue sauce and horseradish cream sauce. This is a story of the events surrounding the roast.

Now, the servery opens for dinner at 5:30pm. I arrived at about 5:40pm, and saw some slices of the roast leaving on someone else's plate. I knew what I wanted for dinner immediately. Of course, as a special dish, there was a line to get any. It wasn't exceptionally long, though, so I was ready to wait. When I reached the front of the line, I ended up asking for a few more slices, since the first few I was given were from the tail end of the previous slab, and were 50% solid fat. I wanted meat.

With my plate filled with delicious roast and some sides, I sat with some friends and chatted as I ate. This was approximately 5:50pm. During our conversation, I realized that it was Thursday, and there ought to be cinnamon rolls available for dessert. I bused my part of the table and hurried back into the servery to see if my assumption was true. Unfortunately, there was no sign of extra deliciousness. This was approximately 6:05pm

What I did see, however, was the carving station. Or rather, what used to be the carving station. The location was devoid of even the scent of the smoked roast. Did I dream it? No, surely not: many others were still eating their roast in the commons. The roast was real. The students had simply consumed all of it that had been prepared. The servery is used by approximately 300 students over the course of a meal, between Hanszen and Weiss and the individual students from other colleges who visit for a meal. In under half an hour, the delectable meat prepared for them had vanished.

Rice students, it seems, are ravenous sharks.

My Art Professor Sucks

This post is likely to get emotional, empassioned, and have strong language. You have been warned: here be dragons.

So, Rice university requires a certain number of credit hours in three distributions: D1 (literature, languages, art, etc.), D2 (philosophy, sociology, psychology, etc.), and D3 (math, science, engineering, etc.). This semester, I'm finishing my D1 requirements by taking an American Literature class, and a Drawing class.

I am not an artist. This has been painfully clear to me since elementary school.

However, "Drawing I" should be a gimme class; an easy B, if not an easy A. Right?

Well, it would be right, if my professor didn't suck. To be PC, I shouldn't speak ill of her: she's got Parkinson's disease, so I should be nice. Right? But she still sucks.

For our final project, we're supposed to pick a subject that interests us. There are several steps to the project, so far we've needed to submit a clip file (clippings from various sources which interest us or appear similar to our interests), and a few preliminary sketches. My chosen subject in the general case was Exalted. I had lots of sources to pull from. Hell, I've got over 100 artists which have worked directly on the book themselves! No problem making a clip file. Right

When I submitted it for feedback, she says I need wider diversity of sources. Of course, every picture in my clip file comes from a different artist! Some of my pictures weren't even directly part of the Exalted series, they just fit the theme.

The next part was a preliminary sketch. I selected a very dramatic picture of the Ebon Dragon flying over an area of Malfeas, blocking out Ligier the Green Sun as inspiration for my sketch. When I submitted my sketch for review, she told me that the image was too literal. When she asked me to describe the image, I mentioned that I didn't invent the character — an obvious mistake. Because I didn't invent the character, because I drew the character from a game, my sketch wasn't worthwhile. Worse, she then told me to use Greek and Christian dragon myths to make my drawing.

So, using a dragon that I could write a small book about is not sufficient... but using dragons that I could only write an essay about if I filled the essay with BS is a good idea? Who fucking cares if source A was written 9 years ago and source B was written 900 years ago, if source A is richer and more developed?

"Here be dragons," huh? This fucking dragon is larger, more deadly, and has a personality along with a rich and full backstory. He's not some fucking vauge threat looming in the shadows of the world. He's a very real and present threat to Creation.

The Ebon Dragon was trapped for eternity in hell. But he's patient, and he lives longer than eternity.

(Oh, and let's not forget his upcoming wedding, plus the "Return of the Scarlet Empress" book that's coming out this summer)

The Five Maidens Sutra

Some time ago, I promised that I'd post up the final versions of the work I did for my Creative Writing class; now I'm finally getting around to doing it. Here's one of the three poems I wrote, and my personal favorite.

The Five Maidens Sutra

Mercury, Maiden of Journeys

Once, there was a saffron maiden...
...who was given providence over going, doing, travel, and the results from it.
Many Men wanted her for their own.
One by one, they approached her,
And she fled by the quickest route she found.
She says: "You still have a long way to go. I would keep moving."
Men cannot help who drives them.

Venus, Maiden of Serenity

Once, there was a sapphire maiden...
...who was given providence over all things which make life worth living.
Some Men say she cares most about the world,
Some Men say she cares most about Heaven,
Some Men say she cares most about herself.
She says: "Someone as pretty as you will always be wanted."
Love is smiling at your troubles.

Mars, Maiden of Battles

Once, there was a crimson maiden...
...who was given providence over war, strife, conflict, fighting, and struggle.
She struck an iron wall, and it shattered her hand.
She slew the thing she feared the most, and conquered the land that feared her.
Fate depends on how you face your battles, not whether you win or lose.
She says: "The stars hold only one more battle for you. This is not that battle."
Survival is control.

Jupiter, Maiden of Secrets

Once, there was an emerald maiden...
...who was given providence over everything known, and everything unknown.
Truths... Hopes... Prayers... Fears… Each brings an answer.
Each answer is part of a larger puzzle. The puzzle holds another question.
Men set aside their petty squabbles in her name.
She says: "Should I live or die? Am I living or dead?"
To know the world is to choose it.

Saturn, Maiden of Endings

Once, there was a violet maiden...
...who was tasked to cut each thread of Fate at Jupiter's direction.
Her death is a merciful one, giving way to new life:
An apple falling from the tree. A boy becoming a man. A beast, slain by fearful villagers.
Each ending allows for a new beginning.
She says: "No being can escape my duty."
There’s always an ending.

This poem was inspired by the Five Maidens in Exalted. The Five Maidens are together one of the Celestial Incarnae, the most powerful of gods. The Sidereal Exalted are the Chosen of the five Maidens, divided into castes under each of the Maidens. The sub-titles in this poem are the actual names/titles of each of the Maidens in the game, and the color in the first line of each stanza is the color associated with that Maiden.

This poem began by using the sutras found throughout the Charms chapter of Manual of Exalted Power: Sidereals, and the Sidereal Martial Arts chapter of Scrolls of Esoteric Wisdom, vol. I: Scroll of the Monk. I separated each sutra into which Maiden it might be applicable to, and then combined lines from several sutras to form the initial version of each stanza (generally, 3-4 sutras from the book contributed to one stanza). Once that was done, I modified the lines to make them flow better, give them extra structure, and modify the meaning of the stanza to give it the weight I wanted it to have. While there are still echoes of the original sutras in my work, I like to think that I've made it my own.

I think my favorite part of this poem is the ending, and several people in the class commented on it: ending the poem with the "Maiden of Endings" verse is particularly noticeable, as is the final line of the final verse: There is always an ending.

ASCII Math is sweet!

In my work redesigning the lab webpages for the Comp 160 class I was TA for last semester, I ran across a really cool JavaScript for displaying math on webpages: ASCIIMathML. This makes all those equations super easy to read on the webpage (may take some time to render):

Code	Output
\`x^2+y_1+z_12^34\`	`x^2+y_1+z_12^34`
\`sin^-1(x)\`	`sin^-1(x)`
\`\frac{d}{dx}f(x)=\lim_{h\to 0}\frac{f(x+h)-f(x)}{h}\`	`\frac{d}{dx}f(x)=\lim_{h\to 0}\frac{f(x+h)-f(x)}{h}`
\`f(x)=\sum_{n=0}^\infty\frac{f^{(n)}(a)}{n!}(x-a)^n\`	`f(x)=\sum_{n=0}^\infty\frac{f^{(n)}(a)}{n!}(x-a)^n`
\`\int_0^1{f(x)\,dx}\`	`\int_0^1{f(x)\,dx}`

Audition Passed!

As you might have figured out from my Journal Entry 01.13.09 post, I passed the audition for the creative writing class, and will remain in it, submitting journal entries here. As for the rest of the class aside from the journal, I've got a nonfiction workshop on January 27 (and I need to have it finished on the 20th), a fiction workshop February 17 (and it needs to be finished on the 10th), and a poetry collection workshop March 31 (again, finished a week earlier on the 24th). I'll be posting the results here, as well. Possibly with markups, possibly not. We'll see.

The Gambler

It was the big day.
The race.
Tort was a fool
to think he could beat Jack.
Jack is the fastest around.

Even so, it was a
race nonetheless.
The broker gave me 10-to-1.
Gambling is in my blood,
but I refused to put
money on Tort.

Tort was a fool’s bet.
Wait, the race is starting.
And Tort is left in
Jack’s dust.
I’ll make money,
for sure.

I wait at the finish
to confirm my victory.
Tort appears on the horizon.
Where is Jack?
He is sleeping.
Overconfidence is the true fool.

Part of my creative writing class this semester requires that I write a journal. I figured I'd like to post my journal entries up here, though I don't know if my professor will accept them in this format. No matter.

This poem was part of my "audition" for the class - 15 minutes to write a poem, 20 minutes to write a short piece of fiction, and a submission of previous work to the professor by Thursday, along with reason for wanting to be in the class. Here's to hping that I get to stay in. The prompt for this poem was to re-imagine a well-known story. For those who haven't yet figured it out, this is the story of the tortoise ("Tort") and the hare ("Jack" Rabbit), as told from the perspective of a gambler betting that the hare will win.

PCMOS

This little article caught my eye today, and reminded me of a lecture on parallel computing I recently attended here at Rice. It was given by Dr. Keith Cooper, a good friend of my father's. It was a rather interesting lecture, talking about upcoming problems with parallel computing, such as "what the hell are we gonna do with all this processing power?"

With a wandering mind like mine, of course, that reminded me of another interesting bit of news to come out of rice - a new type of computer chip called PCMOS, which stands for Probabilistic Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor. Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) is already used by chipmakers today. Krishna Palem took that concept, and cut power use to the lower bits being processed by the chip. Net result: Significant decrease in the chip's need for power, and lower, less important information (such as pixels in the corner of the screen in a movie, or the cents in your $10,000+ bank summary) may become incorrect.

It really is a new way to look at computers. We're used to computers, when programmed correctly, giving us the correct answers. But in reality, most people don't care to have the exactly correct answer, just a mostly correct answer. You'll see it all the time when one person asks another for the time - 7:33 is "Seven thirty", 5:10 is "Five o'clock", and 8:41 is "Quarter to nine". That's the amount of "wrong" I think you should expect from these new chips, and if it doubles my laptop's battery life, I'm all for it.

Full Article on PCMOS

Blogging, it's the new thing

Who doesn't blog? I mean it seems everybody has one. Makes me feel weird when people say things like "Hey, I blogged to my blog last night. It was blogging awesome. You should blog on over there and blog it out. I blog you'll blog it."

Ok, maybe only blogging Smurfs talk like that. But I figured "why not?!" I'm a computer scientist, it's time I got with the times. Even if I prefer Veranda.

So, here's my attempt at a serious blog. It's actually my second attempt at a blog, the first being with my Shaiya account. Ha, that game's a flop, at least in my eyes. It doesn't really even make much sense to attach blog software to a game account.

Anyways, for anyone reading this blog, expect complaints about my Computer Science courses, my take on things happening in the game industry (probably with comparisons to City of Heroes/Villains, my current gaming crush), and more. A place to release my thoughts onto the web, and unlike some people, not freak out when people actually *gasp* read it.
(And yes; the school in question was my High School, the leader of those cheerleaders was in my Algebra 2 class, and Condoms To Go now has a "No Cameras" policy)

Also, I'm a programmer, not an artist. I don't have the best eye for things that are visually pleasing. I'd appreciate others' take on the formatting and colors of the blog.