The Thoughts of Jesse J

K-12 Can't be Trusted

2012-01-18T14:30:00.001-07:00

My mom has been unjustly dealt with. As wonderful as she is, she doesn't often stand up for herself, so I'm going to make her voice heard for her. On a blog...that no one reads....

So let's start off with the beginning. Around the time my two younger sisters were entering Jr. High, they went from public school to online school through K-12. Why? Because no one in my family has had a good experience with Jr. High. The kids at that age (in general) tend to be jerks.

K-12 worked out well for a while. For a while the system was good. But at some point, my mom said that "things changed," and the system didn't work as well. I don't know all the details, given that I don't live with my family, but I know the end results. K-12's records were getting messed up. They reported my oldest sister as being older than she really was, and thus in a higher grade. They sent her books for a grade she wasn't in. My youngest sister took a test, but was later told that she never took it. She took it again, and again told she never took it. My mom sat down with her to take the test, now for a third time, and ensured that everything was done properly. K-12 once again said she never took it. At the end of that semester, K-12 reported that my youngest sister hardly did any work, something like only 5%.

Deciding they had enough, my mom went through the process of getting the girls out of K-12 and back into public school. Because K-12 reported such low attendance, and thus truant, my mom had to go through "a lovely meeting," where several people from the public school tried cracking down on my mom and youngest sister. They want to say she's a terrible mom? Fine, who cares about your opinion. You want to explain how it's important to attend school? Fine, even though we're already very well aware how important an education is. But what I can't stand for is that they gave her an ultimatum: my youngest sister has to attend school every day, or my mom goes to court. Given the humble nature of my mom, she accepted the terms.

But come on! One day? One small day and my mom goes to court? My mom has driven me and my three brothers to school, and she's driven my two sisters to school when they were in public school. You think she won't do it again?

The thing that makes this even more difficult is that my youngest sister has trouble sleeping. There are days where she will go through the whole night without sleeping. It's not that she chooses to stay up, it's that she physically can't fall asleep. I don't know if she has insomnia, or if it has something to do with her ADHD, or if it's a mental thing, but she simply has trouble getting to sleep. This means that if she finally falls to sleep only an hour before school, my mom will have no choice but to drag my sleeping sister to school and drop her off, only partially awake. "Do you give her a bedtime?" one of the people from school asked. My mom said that their comments showed that they simply do not understand her situation, despite her explanations. Yes, there are drugs out there that might help her sleep, but it's also highly possible to become dependent on them, and that's not something my mom wants to do to her.

My mom is a wonderful person who, in my opinion, has done as good a job as anyone could in raising us. Better than most people, in fact. She doesn't deserve this kind of treatment, or threat of legal consequences. I'm not here to only defend my mom, but also to raise a warning and complaint against K-12. Something, whether personnel, technology, or communication, have incorrectly recorded and handled information. And because of it has gotten my family into trouble. If anyone else has had this same problem I would love to hear from you.

Don't use K-12. They might report your kids truant.

Clean DBZ Abridged

2012-01-07T19:58:00.001-07:00

I like Dragon Ball Z. I like DBZA. I don't like foul language or crude jokes. I've remedied this issue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_hZdqEBZ1U&list=PLAA008EEFB73FA9A8&feature=mh_lolz

I Published an Android App!

2011-12-21T20:46:00.002-07:00

I've made my first published Android! It's called Watch Paint Dry, and...well, that's pretty much it. You choose a color and watch it dry. Yes, it's a silly little thing, and in now way a serious app. But hey, it's still cool! It's free and small, so if you have access to the Android market then go and download it!

For those interested, I'm working on a much more-serious-of-an-attempt-and-far-better-quality-game which will be coming (hopefully) soon.

UPDATE: Here's a promotional video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCLminnkUU0

ASU Food Adventure: Slices

2011-11-11T19:48:00.001-07:00

Slices is also right next to classes, and they have a lot of different kinds of pizza you can order by the slice. I tried the Pesto Chicken pizza, and for $3 it's not bad. Had some nice pesto flavor but I would have liked more in it.

Was it good? Yeah.
Will I go there again? They did have a Barbeque Chicken pizza....

UPDATE: Later that day my class group got a pizza to eat. It was the strangest pizza I ever ate: Chicken Caesar Salad pizza. It tasted pretty much like it sounds. It's good, but the texture of lettuce and pizza crust doesn't go well together.

ASU Food Adventure: Grilled Ave - Teriyaki House

2011-11-11T19:43:00.001-07:00

Grilled Ave - Teriyaki House is a small restaurant that opened up, which is also on my route to class. They have egg rolls on the menu, and I really like egg rolls so I gave them a try. Turned out it was a lie; they're actually spring rolls. Sure, it's more authentic, but I still prefer egg rolls. They were all right though.

Was it good? For spring rolls, yeah.
Will I go there again? They did have some nice looking tariyaki bowls....

ASU Food Adventure: Five Guys

2011-11-04T00:21:00.002-06:00

So yeah, I know, Five Guys is hardly unique to the area, but I've never been there before, and that's what my posts are about.

I had heard some people say that Five Guys is similar to In-N-Out, and even though I knew it couldn't beat In-N-Out I wanted to give it a try anyways. As a tangent, my family and I REALLY like In-N-Out, perhaps because we were born and raised in California but have since moved away. I mean, when my family brought me down here from Colorado, three of my siblings came with me just so they could get In-N-Out.

Okay, so back to Five Guys. Yeah, tasting like In-N-Out is a bunch of baloney. In fact it's quite the opposite; that hamburger was so boring I'm never going there again. It was just...so plain. On the other hand, that was probably the first time where I got more fries than hamburger. I thought spending more than $2 was expensive, but not when I found out how much they gave me! I didn't even eat it all in one sitting. Finally someone who sales fries at a fair price (I'm looking at YOU, Doghouse!).

ASU Food Adventure: Return to Phoenician Cafe

2011-11-04T00:08:00.002-06:00

So the Phoenician Cafe has this big sign outside that says "Student special: hamburger and fries $3.99." Sounds like a good deal, and I see that sign every time I go to class, so I gave it a try. The hamburger had a lot of different spices in it, though I still don't know what they are. It was definitely different from what you usually find, and it was pretty good. The fries were boring though, so I'm glad they provided some ketchup. The amount of food you get isn't a whole lot, but surprisingly I came away full.

Was it good? Yes.
Will I go there again? Perhaps so.

ASU Food Adventure: The Herb Box

2011-10-07T17:43:00.002-06:00

Huzzah! I've finally found something good! A friend took me down to Scottsdale, and we ate at The Herb Box. I ordered the rosemary steak ciabatta, and it was good. The sandwich had steak with caramelized onions, watercress, and some sort of dressing that was really good! It came with sweet potato chips, which, for someone who doesn't like sweet potatoes, was pretty good.
There are some drawbacks though, that being that it was a restaurant and came with a restaurant price. Also it's in Scottsdale, so without a car I won't be going back anytime soon.

Was it good? Yes!
Will I go there again? Perhaps if I'm in the area.

ASU Food Adventure: Dave's Doghouse

2011-09-14T17:36:00.001-06:00

Today I went to Dave's Doghouse on campus. I ordered the Boston dog and fries. When I looked at the menu I thought to myself, "3.25 for a hot dog? BYU's hot dogs were cheaper. And 2.25 for fries? Well, maybe they give you a lot of fries." I was wrong. The hot dog wasn't big and there was only about one potato worth of fries in there. And why are french fries in general so expensive anyways? Last I checked, you can get a bag full of potatoes from the store for just a few bucks, making one potato only costing a few cents. Why charge so much? Is the salt imported? Like, from Mars? Anyways, I digress. On to the positives.

The decoration for the place was neat. There were several different frames of stuff with quotes written on them. My favorite was "If everything is coming your way, then you're in the wrong lane." The hot dog bun was very different: A grilled sliced of bread. It's kinda weird, but it was good. The hot dog itself was good as well.

Was it good? Yes.
Will I got there again? Not for that price.

*Sigh* I'm getting really tired of food that's either "okay" or "not worth the price."

ASU Food Adventure: Phoenician Market

2011-09-13T18:59:00.000-06:00

Tried something different today. Went to the Phoenician Market (Or was it the Phoenician Cafe?) I ordered...you know, I don't even remember what it was called. It was lamb and...something with lettuce and...some kinda sauce in a pita. It was good, even though I'm not quite sure what I even ate. So um...yeah....

ASU Food Adventure: Port of Subs

2011-09-09T16:18:00.000-06:00

Today I went to Port of Subs. I went there because they have pastrami subs, and I've been craving pastrami for a while. They slice their meats and cheese to order, which is really nice. Added some lettuce, tomato and onions. It was good, but with the other veggies and wheat bread I didn't taste the pastrami a whole lot. I'm starting to tire of only finding "okay" food around here. Oddly enough, this place is just across the street from Subway.

Was it good? Sure.
Will I go there again? If I'm in the mood for a sub sandwich, and not in the mood for Subway.

ASU Food Adventure: Chuckbox

2011-09-03T18:32:00.000-06:00

So today I went to Chuckbox, getting "The Big One" and "Chuckbox Potatoes" for $6.50. Can't say I'm impressed. The hamburger was a decent size, though I wouldn't call it "The Big One." It was cooked right over burning charcoal which was nice. The meat may have been seasoned with a little salt or something, but otherwise tasted like plain beef. The toppings were at a topping bar that you can arrange yourself which was nice, but they were simple toppings you'd find anywhere.

Overall it was good, but nothing special. It was basically the burger I'd eat if I had made my own burger, which would have been cheaper. And if I had made my own fries as well they would have been better, since I put Lawry's seasoning salt on mine. Honestly, how come I've never seen a burger joint that uses seasoning salt on their fries? It's way better than plain old salt, I mean...wait, I'm getting sidetracked here. Moving on!

The aesthetic was nice though. The place looks like something you'd find in an old Western. The door handle was a loose bar of wood, the grill was hung over a charcoal pit like at parks, and even the chairs were just wooden crates. The guy doing the burger flipping has skill too. He can flip a hamburger bun sitting face-down on the grill right onto your plate face-up!

Was it good? Yes.
Will I go there again? For that price, definitely not.

Differeing Expectations

2011-08-27T21:42:00.000-06:00

Occasionally when I tell people that my major is Computer Science they think I can help them with some problem on their computer. Just because I know how to make software doesn't mean I know how to operate arbitrary programs.

This is a conversation I recently had with someone that inspired this comic:
Girl: "Oh, so would you be able to fix my computer?"
Me: "Likely not."
Girl: "Well, can you hack?"
Me: "No."
Girl: "Then you're useless to me."

Jesse J Does Comics?

2011-08-27T21:20:00.000-06:00

I've occasionally had an idea for some comics, so I thought I'd go ahead and make them.

Note: I'm a horrible artist.

Note: I'm not a Bill Gates hater, I just found it funny.

ASU Food Adventure: Smashburger

2011-08-22T19:10:00.002-06:00

I've seen Smashburger a few times before. It raised my attention because it's logo reminded me of Gamestop, as shown below.

I ordered the Smashburger, which came with cheese, ketchup, onion, pickles, and their smash sauce. I also got their smashfries which was tossed with olive oil, rosemary and garlic. A lot about it strangely reminded me of the burgers at the BYU Creamery: The loosely-pressed patty, the red onions, the lettuce that wasn't iceberg, and the egg bun. Plus the fact that they had specialty-seasoned fries. All this together costs a hefty $7, plus the crazy %10 sales tax here.

It tasted good. The meat was nicely seasoned and the other toppings went well with it. I have no idea what was in the smash sauce but I barely tasted it. The fries were really good too. If the fries were by themselves then there would be nothing special about them. In the rosemary and garlic, however, they were uniquely very tasty.

Was it good? Yes.
Will I go there again? For the price, no.

ASU Food Adventure: Vegetable Salad Sandwhich

2011-08-22T18:49:00.001-06:00

I try to make my own food as much as I can to save money, and take what I can to campus. At BYU there were microwaves in nearly every building, so I often took leftover dinners and reheated them there. At ASU, however, the only microwave I've been able to find is in the GPSA building, which is not very convenient. So what I'm trying now is to come up with meals I can make that don't require cooling or heating. The only thing I can think of at the moment are sandwiches, and only the boring kind like turkey slices on white bread.

My first experiment is basically a vegetable salad in a sandwich. I chopped up some green bell pepper, carrots, green onions, lettuce, added some grapes I had at the time, and tossed in some Italian dressing. I put it in a bag to keep it separate from the bread so it's not soggy by the time I eat it. I used Oroweat whole wheat bread.

The end result was...marginally more exciting than turkey on white bread. It was messy, the taste of the vegetables blended together into boring, and the grapes added a nice sweet taste. And I was still hungry.

Was it good? Sa'll right.
Will I make it again? Yes, but only if I tweak it.

ASU Food Adventure: Whataburger

2011-08-22T18:18:00.001-06:00

I'm now attending ASU to get my Masters, and it's been a lot of adjustment; new school, new state, new climate, new home...all of these things have been tough, but one of the exciting things is new food. I figured that I'll make blog entries of my new food experiences, though it's probably pointless considering the traffic this blog gets.

Anyways, the first new thing I tried was Whataburger, which is conveniently close. When trying new hamburger places I get their basic meal, which was their classic Whataburger and fries. It comes with mustard instead of ketchup, which I ordered without because I hate mustard with a passion. Other than that it's the basic lettuce, tomato, pickles and onions. The bun was also slightly grilled which I really like.

It's been a few days since I went there, actually, so I can't recall any descriptions about the taste other than that it was okay, and I don't remember the price either, but I remember it not being bad.

Was it good? Yes.
Will I go there again? For the price and distance, occasionally.

Not How Competition Should Work

2011-07-14T01:40:00.000-06:00

I believe that competition is a good thing in general. It pushes companies to improve their products and services, making things cheaper and more efficient. Yes, it means that those who can't compete end up being left behind. No one wants to loose money, or worse, their job. But for the future of everyone, it's a good thing.

That's why cable and television companies are bugging me lately. Some companies like Comcast have started data caps on their internet service, which means hefty fees or termination of service. Also, sites like Hulu don't get the rights to show certain shows or episodes, or can't show them until thirty days after airing. All of this because cable companies and others don't want to loose money from TV viewers in competition of the web.

This isn't the strive for improved services to beat the competition, this is more like underhanded schemes to hold on to their profits against competition. I wish something could be done, but I don't know what I could do about it.

A Theory for Pirates of the Caribbean 4

2011-05-20T13:06:00.000-06:00

Just watched Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and there's a part that wasn't explained. I'm going to give my theory on what happened, which means, spoilers alert.

So, there's the part where that guy asks the mermaid for forgiveness, and she then kisses him and brings him under the water. What then happened? Here's a nice little theory: She brought him to some magic-thingy that turned him into a merman. Since he was once human, and doesn't want to kill people, he teaches the other mermaids not to kill people. They later make him their king. He changes his name to Triton, and has a daughter named Ariel.

I Made a Video Game!

2011-03-25T14:16:00.000-06:00

I made my first video game! When I was young, I decided I was going to be a video game developer. That has since changed to general program designing, but it's kind of an accomplishment of sorts to have actually done something that I dreamed of when I was younger.

The game I created was for a school project, and it's nothing shnazzy: horribly simple, blocky, few colors, and only about five minutes worth of gameplay. But hey, it's still a game! I called it Randzle, and it's a puzzle game with Tetris-like pieces. Randzle is a contraction, with rand coming from random colors, and the zle comes from puzzle. When I was able to add sound to the game though it was a lot better. I used VIRTUALVIBE's AmberTrance from OverClocked ReMix, and sound effects from Gemcraft and SimCopter.

Video Games Used to Bring Women into Computer Science

2011-02-10T17:25:00.000-07:00

A recent study gives a solution to a problem I talked about once before.

Keep Walking

2010-12-09T13:25:00.000-07:00

I think a good metaphor for life is walking to somewhere. Sometimes, perhaps more so than others, it's freezing outside. You're cold, tired, and don't want to go on anymore, and to make things worse, you don't even know where you're going or how much longer you have to walk.

It's not fun, maybe even miserable, and yet you keep walking. You're tired and you have no idea how much longer you have to walk, and yet you keep walking. Why? Because you know that eventually, somewhere, there's an end to this journey, where you'll be able to sit down someplace warm and comfy and be able to rest.

As you tiredly walk in this cold journey, you see others walk by. There are some who are as cold and tired as you, but there are also some happily jogging, and you wonder to yourself how they could possibly be enjoying themselves when it's freezing outside.

I don't have an answer on how to enjoy the journey, because honestly, I'm still trying to figure it out myself. But what I do know is that you can't stop, you have to keep walking. No matter how tired, cold, and miserable you might be, you have to keep going, because somewhere, somehow, there's a warm place to rest at the end of the journey. And if you stop, you'll never make it, so just keep walking.

Managing Software by Managing People (CS 428)

2010-12-08T19:53:00.003-07:00

There are many things to take into consideration when managing the development of software, such as the development process, the budget, and the schedule. The most important element of managing software, however, is the people. It’s the people that will create the software, determine when the software gets finished, and determine the quality of the finished product. The major hurdles that face the manager will depend not so much on the complexities of the software as it does on how people will build it. Understanding this could mean the difference between success and failure.

The quality of a program is dependent on the quality of the people who build it. If there are lousy designers, the result could be a design that’s impossible to implement or software that doesn’t do what it’s supposed to. If the coders and testers are lousy, the result could be a product riddled with bugs that took too long to build. Quality people can create quality software, so the people working on the project should be chosen well.

The software will still be hampered, however, if they’re poorly managed. Not everyone works the same way, so what’s needed for a person to perform optimally isn’t the same for everyone. For instance, if all the team members are young, single adults that can be fueled simply by pizza, fifty hour work weeks could be possible. If a team of older, married adults with kids were to have fifty hour work weeks they would likely be burned out and their work would suffer as a result. People also do well when they’re excited about what they’re working on, so what part of the project a person would be more excited about should be taken into consideration. How people are managed greatly affects the quality of the software, so when a problem arises, the problem can often be traced back to people.

When problems arise, and they always do, it’s usually a people problem. For example, if a project runs late, it could be because the manager didn’t schedule enough time for testing. If the software fails to meet the user’s needs, it could be because the designers didn’t adequately gather the requirements. Sometimes even honest attempts to improve performance can backfire. For example, if success is measured by how fast a software project is released, the result could be a project that’s released on time but at the cost of missing features or buggy code. By understanding that problems are really people problems, the issue can be tackled at its source.

The best way to manage software is to manage people. Do whatever that’s needed for the team work effectively, even if it means spending extra money on something like food. If people are happy and can work effectively then a successful software project is likely. Poorly managing people working on the project is a great way to ruin it. Cut their pay in half, have them work sixty hour weeks for several months, fire your testing team, and you’ll end up with a barely-working program that doesn’t meet the user’s needs. The people working on the software project are the most important aspect of management, and understanding this can mean the difference between success and failure.

I Like Being Weird

2010-12-03T16:13:00.001-07:00

A lot of people try to be "normal" or to "fit in." I, however, dive head first in the opposite direction. Yesterday as I went to the kitchen, I heard some familiar music coming from the living room. My roommate was in there on his laptop, and he said to me,

"Jesse."
"Yeah?"
"Did you know that others can see your iTunes library?"
"Yeah."
"You've got some weird music."
"I know."

If you want to see an example of my weird taste in music, you can check out this playlist I made on Youtube.

Not exactly sure why I like being weird. Perhaps it's that I don't want to be like other people, or maybe it's because I like standing out or I'm actually trying to seek attention. I don't know the reason, really, and frankly I don't care.

Old Games

2010-12-03T15:55:00.002-07:00

Since I'm a poor college student I don't buy many new games. Actually, I think it's been over five years since I bought a game when it first came out. I do, however, still enjoy many old games, and even occasionally buy games for older systems like the PS2 when they're less than $20.

When I went home for Thanksgiving break I took back with me some old PC games, namely Jazz Jackrabbit CD and SimCity 2000 Ultimate Edition. Thanks to DosBox, I've been able to play Jazz just fine (I can't play it in full screen, but hey, not a big deal) on my Windows 7, but SimCity 2000, however, has been a problem. It will run, and you can build a city just fine, but you can't save or load a file. This is a big problem because, while building a city is fun, it's almost pointless if I can't save it.
Interestingly, most of the game speeds in SimCity have a set timing, but I believe the fastest speed is set to run at however fast the processor can run, because once I select the fastest speed, it becomes impossible to change it before the end-of-the-year finances window pops up.

Having old games is great because they're still fun and they're free, it just sucks when they don't work like they used to.

Aquaria: A Beautiful Game

2010-08-24T19:49:00.001-06:00

I just beat the Indie game Aquaria, and I'm very impressed with the game. I got it through the Humble Indie Bundle not long ago, and that was my first time hearing about it. Of all the games I played from the bundle, Aquaria was the best experience, more so than World of Goo (Though World of Goo was quite good as well).

I rarely use the word beautiful to describe a game, but that's the word I would use. The artistic style given to the game, along with the scenery of the underwater world that Bit Blot created is wonderful. What added to the beauty as well was the story and voice overs. The story isn't as deep as something like Lunar 2, but it's good, and the voice for Naija was done very well. After playing the game for a while I became very interested in the characters, and hoped for a good ending (Which it did). The gameplay started out slow, but as you gain more powers along the way, things really picked up.

For an Indie game, this was very well done, and for whatever it's worth, I give my recommendation.

Search2mzIdentML: A Simple Ruby mzIdentML Converter

2010-08-11T12:07:00.000-06:00

I've been working on building software to aid research in proteomics. With the suggestion of my professor, I created a Ruby implementation of a pepXML to mzIdentML converter. Proteowizard already created one, but through the power of Ruby and Nokogiri, Search2mzIdentML is simple, clean, and easy to expand. There were some challenges that came along while creating this, but I believe that Search2mzIdentML is now a releasable program.

I know that my blog only has about two readers, but just in case there's someone out there who searches for an mzIdentML converter that happens to come across this, I hope they'll find it useful. What's more, if that person could give some input about any problems or concerns, that would be even better.

Carl's Jr.'s Mockery

2010-07-05T10:58:00.001-06:00

Back where I grew up in California there's a restaurant called Green Burrito. The food is really good, and I consider it to be my favorite Mexican food (Americanized Mexican food to be technical, but I actually prefer it over authentic Mexican food). Depending on where you've been, you may have noticed that Carl's Jr. has a "Green Burrito" menu. Since coming to BYU, Green Burrito is something I've missed, so I decided to go to Carl's Jr. and try out their "Green Burrito" nachos.

Now, keep in mind, that I went into this place expecting to be disappointed, because I was sure that Carl's Jr. wasn't going to deliver the same thing that the original restaurant could. What I got, however, went even lower than what I was expecting. Green Burrito's nachos have just about everything you would want on it, refried beans, cheese, steak, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole. And for about $5, you got a lot.
Carl's Jr.'s "Green Burrito" nachos, however, can only be considered a disgrace to the name of Green Burrito. The chips weren't as good, and all it had was refried beans, lamesauce (Nacho cheese sauce, as opposed to real, grated cheese), some beef in some lame sauce, and some guacamole. They were pitiful. They were worse than Taco Bell's nachos. And to add it insult, it was about half the size as Green Burrito's nachos for almost the same price! Augh! I was thoroughly disappointed.

As my closing remarks, I just want to say, this is truly a disgrace to my favorite Mexican restaurant! What Carl's Jr. exec had the gall to call this "Green Burrito?" And for any of you that have only experienced Carl's Jr.'s version, please, know that Green Burrito is far better than this!

Another GT Feature

2010-06-30T18:28:00.000-06:00

Wow, my second Starfox Vs. became a featured video on GT, just like the first one. While I come up with a lot of ideas for videos, I don't find them to be anything grand. It's not original, either. But then again, no one else has done it before, and I suppose that's the same case for everything that gets attention.

One person's comment said to the effect: "While this is cool, what would posses someone to actually come up with this?" All I can say to that is "I'm a weird guy."

My Current Job

2010-05-27T22:08:00.001-06:00

I currently have a job as a research student working at Prince Labs at BYU, and so far it's been good. The funny thing is, though, that it's a Proteomics lab, and I know very little about that stuff; I've never even taken a chemistry class! But that's okay, because what I do is write Ruby programs to accommodate the Mass Spectrometry stuff. Aside from learning a lot more about Ruby and Linux, I've been able to see more how a CS degree can allow me to work in just about any field. I really don't need to know a whole lot about what the program is for, just how to get it to fulfill the required tasks.

What I'm currently working on is a Mass Spectrometry pipeline, which will allow users to execute a single command, and raw MS data will be transformed into identified proteins. My work can be viewed at Github.

I'm also working on an mzIdentML converter. My mentor (Is that a proper term for him?) thinks that if I make this converter then it will be something used by lots of people and maybe even get me mentioned in a paper. I have trouble believing such high claims, but I can at least say that no one is making a Ruby implementation, and with the power of Nokogiri, it's a clean and fast implementation. It would be cool though to create a program that would be useful to others.

My Recipe Book

2010-05-25T19:45:00.003-06:00

Last Christmas I made a recipe book program for my Mom as a present, and I've found it useful. If anyone wants to use it as well, you can get it here. Below is a picture of the program in action, as seen in Windows 7.

Clean Music

2010-05-19T23:46:00.000-06:00

I don't like profanity, so it bothers me when music I like uses it. To fix this problem I edit the songs, and now I'm uploading some of them to Youtube in case anyone else is interested.

Drop the Dodongo

Oil Ocean (WT-40 Mix)

Standing by One's Principles (CS 404)

2010-04-07T13:21:00.004-06:00

Some companies will do anything to make money, but not everyone. Some, like Google, will stand by their principles even if it means losing some profit. Having principles, though, is more than just feeling good about yourself: it can be good for business. If, for example, you're a small research group that focuses on green technology, are you going to find support from a company that is determined to help the environment, or a company that will turn its back on you if it's not profitable enough? When a company consistently stands by its principles, it gains trust, and when a company can be trusted, it not only gains more customers, but it creates loyal ones.

US Government Long Overdue for Some Pruning

2010-03-25T22:07:00.001-06:00

I don't know a whole lot about politics, but I've been rather concerned about how things have been going lately. For one thing, our government has gotten way too big and far too much in debt. Taking control of health care doesn't help either. In a simplistic view (Or, in other words, I'm too ignorant to the details), the reason we're in debt is because we're spending more money than we earn. A simplistic answer to this simplistic view is to:

1) Stop spending money on unnecessary things, and,
2) Cut out any programs that cost more than they earn.

Like a tree, the government has grown out of control and producing less-than-optimal fruit. The removing of limbs may be painful to the tree, and after pruning it way back it will take a while for it to start bearing fruit again. With a debt of several trillion dollars, the day it bears fruit may not be in any of our lifetimes. Slow, yes, but the government certainly hasn't fixed the problem by spending more money.

On a separate note, I believe this health care bill will make things even worse. The principles of economics say that when you greatly increase demand and decrease supply, costs go way up. I don't believe the government is exempt from economics.

Again, I'm not very versed when it comes to these things, so if I'm wrong, I'll readily admit that I am. But if I'm right, I fear that it might even be too late to change the direction we're headed.

Can't I Get a Little Respect? (CS 404)

2010-03-25T11:08:00.003-06:00

Duality of Technology (CS 404)

2010-03-22T23:54:00.001-06:00

Both God and Satan try to influence people to do good or to do evil. While the effects are obvious in people, their workings can also be seen in technology. For example, television, radio, and the World Wide Web provide truth and uplifting messages, but they also provide lies and vulgar media. As in times past, God inspires men to bring about good, but Satan comes along and inspires others to pervert what is good. But are we going to let that stop us from creating new technology? No! If we work to harness technology's power to spread the work of God, then we can strengthen ourselves in the battle between good and evil. Technology we can't even imagine is just over the horizon, and we need to be ready use it for the good of the world.

Whacking the World with a Tenderizer (CS 404)

2010-03-16T10:48:00.001-06:00

The World is Flat, the book I wasn't able to read, talks about the different forces that have flattened our world, bringing the world closer together. The process of this flattening makes me think of a tenderizer. Of all the the kitchen utensils, I find the it to be the most curious one: a spiked mallet used to whack the heck out of meat. This flattening is like a giant tenderizer being let loose upon the world, flattening it with every stroke.

Whoever is swinging that tenderizer right now is in a frenzy. Technology in the past few decades have not only greatly flatten the world but it's done it rapidly. Twenty years ago I didn't know what the Internet was, and yet today I can't meet someone who hasn't. The Internet alone has brought people closer together than anything else in the past, literally giving people access to the whole world without leaving their home. The accessibility itself drives people towards contributing to the Web, letting more and more people to share their ideas and works.

The flattening hasn't been smooth though, as with each swing of the spiked mallet parts of the world get roughed up, leaving us with new challenges and questions to ask. How can we protect ourselves from hackers? How can we prevent pirating? Should the Internet be censored? Can technology go too far? Questions like these aren't easy to answer, and even if we can answer them, they'll just come back once things get roughed up again.

It's an exciting time with all this rapid change, but we'll have to work at smoothing out the bumps as we go along. In this flattening world, only one thing can be certain: the tenderizer will strike again.

A New Form of Tyranny (CS 404)

2010-03-03T22:42:00.001-07:00

So after reading some articles about copyright laws I was thinking about something: why are the big companies making the laws? Big movie studios and record companies get upset about something that might cut their profits, so they start sueing people, which then lead to copyright laws being made. Who do these laws help? The big companies. Who do they hurt? Everyone else. Is it just me, or does this sound like tyranny? Wasn't the constitution set up to prevent something like this from happening? These copyright laws can, strangely enough, even hurt the authors themselves. Take Earthbound for example: it was a big hit when it was released, but I sadly never played it. Due to new copyright laws, Earthbound will never make a reappearence in the U.S, which means Nintendo can't sell it on the Wii's virtual console. And what about me? I'm a poor college student, so I'm defintely not going to fork over a hundred dollars, and the only other choice is a legally questionable ROM for ZSNES. Something doesn't seem right here, but as long as the big buisnesses stay in power, nothing will change.

Should We Let Computers Learn For Us?

2010-03-01T23:54:00.000-07:00

I'm currently taking a machine learning class where I learn different algorithms to get a program to learn a task. I find it fascinating how you can give a program some data, and after training itself on that data, it would then be able to correctly determine the answer on an instance it hasn't seen before. But things like machine learning sometimes bring up the question, "Will we become dumber by having computers do everything?" In some of the small examples I've gone through in class, you can find the answer by hand faster than setting up a computer to do it. Computers aren't needed for small problems, but what about the big ones? An article about predicting threats in cybersecurity talks about Lockheed Martin "processing 1 million 'incidents' a day" to find high-risk activities in cybersecurity. The article doesn't say, but chances are they're using software that's similar to what I'm learning in class to find their answers. When it comes to looking at millions of data, machine learning software is indispensable, especially when the answers can help protect us. Yes, using a calculator to tell you the answer to 2 + 2 could make you dumber, but using technology to tell you the answer to something that would take weeks or months or to do by hand can only help us.

Universal Controllers Don't Work (CS 404)

2010-02-22T16:21:00.000-07:00

So it turns out that Sony filed a patent application for a universal gaming controller back in 2008. I can see why such a controller would be appealing: why keep around ten different controllers when you can just have one? Sure, it sounds good in theory, but universal controllers just don't work in practice. Just take laptops for example: to have both a keyboard and a mouse, most laptops have a keyboard and a touchpad. I hate the touchpad! Running your finger across the pad just isn't the same as holding a mouse in your hand. The same problem goes for Sony's universal controller. If all the buttons and controls are done through a touchscreen, how can you know whether or not you actually have your finger on the A button? And how would it incorporate the Nintendo 64 controller with its Z button on the back and the port for connecting a memory card? How would the controller actually connect to the system? The only way they could is by also having a universal connector that has an end to plug into each and every system's controller port. That sounds rather clunky. Perhaps these problems are the reason why there's no word of Sony actually building the universal controller.

My Strange Taste in Music

2010-02-18T17:32:00.002-07:00

My brother once asked me, "So, have you, like, started listening to normal music yet?" My answer was, and still is, no. When he asked this question he was referring to my playlist that's composed mostly of music from OverClocked Remix (You can visit the sight from my list of links on the right). While this music may not be considered normal by many people, I see it as wonderful, well created music. My strangeness doesn't stop there, however, oh no. Throughout the day I've had a song stuck in my head that most people would probably find strange, annoying, or maybe even down right scary. The song I'm referring to is the following:

The Tiger-Patterned Ronald

For some reason I really like music that is made from non-musical sounds, like creating a beat from machine guns, producing a melody from windows sound effects, or the sound of Mario's voice played to Kriby's theme song. Sure, occasionally I'll buy a song that's made by a professional artist, but those songs are old, like U Can't Touch This old. I guess the popular and mainsteam music these days just don't interest me much. At least I can say I'm unique!

Note: If per chance you like this stuff too, you can see more on my favorites list on my Youtube profile.

Hacking is Lame (CS 404)

2010-02-18T08:47:00.000-07:00

After reading The Cuckoo's Egg, I gained some insights into what hacking is like, and I've come to a conclusion: hacking is lame. Why is it lame, you ask? Because it doesn't take a genius and superior technology, just a few facts and dull persistence. For instance, some users choose simple passwords, like "12345," "password," or their username. If a hacker can find a list of users, he could just go through that list and enter a common password until he gets in. It's not much different than someone walking down a street to see who left their homes unlocked. Where's the glory in that?

Unless someone is hacking to gain something of value, like money or company secrets, hacking doesn't even provide a meaningful reward. For example, some of my roommates and their friends got into a "Facebook War" not long ago. Dude A would leave a computer while still logged on to Facebook, so dude B would edit A's Facebook account, like changing their picture to something lame, give a lame status update, and join groups that dude A would never join. Once dude A sees that his Facebook account was hacked, he would find the opportunity to take the same advantage of dude B. And what's to gain from this? To be able to say, "Ha ha, I made you like gay!" Oh, yeah, real mature.

But what if a hacker tries to do something worse, like steal money from my bank account or give my computer a virus? While it's problems like these that give serious concerns about hackers, password protection isn't difficult. As long as you don't choose a password that's a word in the dictionary, don't write down the password, and don't pick something simple, the chances of being hacked are greatly diminished. There are, however, other ways for hackers to get into things, and this often comes from bugs in a program. Sadly, the current model of software programming isn't perfect, and bugs are inevitable. Bugs can be fixed though, preventing the same problem from happening again.

Hackers will probably disagree with me, but I find no glory in taking advantage of people. It's just lame.

The Spirit of Elijah (CS 404)

2010-02-03T13:43:00.001-07:00

There were no dedicated organizations of genealogy before 1836, but only a year after Elijah's return, England and Wales began mandatory recording of births, deaths, and marriages of their citizens. Since then, more and more people have made efforts in identifying their ancestors. Before computers, searching for ancestors was difficult, and sometimes involved a lot of traveling. With computers and the Internet, however, there are many resources for genealogy, such as Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, and now the NewFamilySearch.org. With databases holding billions of names and climbing, it's doubtless that more people will become interested in genealogy, and more technology will be developed to aid this great task. All of this is a testimony to me of the truthfulness of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Technorati is Slow

2010-01-29T17:22:00.002-07:00

If Technorati has a lot of backlog then I can understand why it's taking more than three weeks to review my blog and add it to their listing. If not, then Technorati is just slow. Is there only one person there working at it? Are they lazy? Do they not care? I think it's obvious that my blog is of little consequence to the world, so just go ahead and give it the lowest rating possible and be done with it. Sheesh.

Nuclear is the Way to Go (CS 404)

2010-01-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

I was rather surprised to hear Obama talk about building new nuclear power plants. "Green tech" is becoming increasingly popular, but wind and solar power doesn't cut it. Much like in SimCity 2000, you have to build 125 wind mills to equal the power of one nuclear power plant. While numbers might not play out exactly in real life, you get the idea. Many people keep trying to find clean energy, not realizing that nuclear power, when properly constructed and maintained, is very clean. The number of jobs it would create would also be a plus. Yes, there are concerns that come with it, but current technology and high standards can greatly lessen those concerns. If people want to invest in "green tech," then nuclear power is the way to go.

Wanted: Women in Computer Science (CS 404)

2010-01-26T08:17:00.002-07:00

I've taken a number of CS courses at my university now, and while I've met many other people there, I can count on one hand the number of them that were females. While I don't have an answer as to why there are so few women in computer science, I believe there is a need for women. A woman's mind works differently than a man's, and computer programming is about logic: the way your mind thinks has a large impact on the outcome of a program. Programs have been mostly influenced by men for years, so if there are more woman majoring in computer science, we could possibly see a paradigm shift. Technology is changing our lives in unprecedented ways, and there are still many problems to work out. So come on girls, come help us shape the future!

You Choose to be Happy

2010-01-22T21:01:00.001-07:00

The first two weeks of this semester were pretty good. With two easy classes in my schedule (One so easy I don't bother going to class), I was finally finding some spare time amidst school life, something that was very rare for me. But then I started the labs in my harder classes, and now things aren't so nice.

For the two years I've been going to school, I've haven't really done anything other than schoolwork. And because it's the prominent thing in my life, my happiness is directly correlated to my success in school. If things are going well, I'm happy; if I have a bug in my program and I can't figure out how to fix it and the deadline is near, then everything in life just sucks. I've been told that happiness is a choice, but obviously I haven't learned how to do that yet.

And then you finally fix that bug, and suddenly life is good again.

High Tensions Between China and America (CS 404)

2010-01-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

China's heavy use of censorship on the Internet has rubbed Americans the wrong way, but the recent cyberattack against a Stanford student and Google has only made things worse. So then what will become of this mess? I highly doubt that China will take down the "Great Firewall," so if action is taken, it will likely be from America. If tensions continue to rise, perhaps other companies like Google will threaten to leave China, or more politicians will condone China's actions. Chances are that the problem will go on for quite some time, but if there is a final outcome, I can think of three possible ones: China ends its censorship, Americans give up and lets them be, or America ends its relations with China.

Technology and Its Consequences: Worth Considering? (CS 404)

2010-01-14T23:03:00.000-07:00

Should we consider the consequences of new technology? After reading "From Movable Type to Data Deluge" and "Five things we need to Know About Technological Change," I started thinking about the hurried rate of new technologies and the changes it brings to our lives. Computers and the Internet have, without a doubt, changed the world, for both good and bad. We can see the effects in retrospect, but can we accurately foresee its outcome? When the ENIAC was built, could the inventors have known that it would lead to a world with thousands of affordable, personal, hand-held computers? When the ARPANET was created, could they have known it would lead to a massive increase in pornography? So if we can't truly know what new technology will bring, is it worth considering? Of course it is. If we don't consider the negative consequences, then how else will we have stories like The Matrix?

GT Feature

2010-01-07T18:20:00.000-07:00

I was pretty excited last Monday to find out that my Starfox Vs. FFXIII video was featured on GT! It's not an easy thing to get considering how many people upload videos to that site. What's even more exciting is that everyone who commented on it said they liked it. Yay!

The video