Tuesday Jun 10, 2008

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Sometimes, there are frustrations in the Month of Study. Like, say, for instance, when you write a great long blog entry, only to lose it before it gets posted.

Lesser men might sob, and cry like little babies. But no, I am made of sterner stuff. And I shall not fail my readers! This is the Month of Study where the stern, stern steel of a true programmer/blogger is forged in the fires of adversity! Do we flinch from those fires? No! We welcome them! And then we put them out with lots of water, laughing at their vulnerability to something that covers 75% of the surface of the earth! HAHAHA silly little loser flames of adversity! YOU SUCK!

...and then we have another cup of tea, pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and start all over again. This is already looking totally different than what I wrote before. Heh. Funny, how one small chance event causes larger unintended consequences.

Essentially, and rather ironically, I was declaring that my bane for this week was careless errors. That point was driven home when a careless error (and I'm not sure exactly what it was) cost me about 30 minutes worth of journal entry writing. *sigh*

So, Grayness, slow down, relax, take your time... and be careful.
Turn down the volume of that little screamy voice saying "hurryhurryhurryhurryhurryhurryhurryhurryhurryhurryhurry!" This voice is not your friend. It's not necessarily your enemy, and not something you can necessarily ignore for too long- but you have to be the boss of it, not it, you. Especially when taking tests.

See? Sometimes these little events just give you something more to write about.

Ok, geek alert. I want to show you something kind of cool, but you may not think it's as cool as I do...

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

Imagine a list

List One
-Item One
-Item Two

Imagine that the items, where they contain parts, may be expanded:
List One
-Item One
-Sub-item One
-Sub-item Two
-Item Two
-Sub-item One
-Sub-item Two

Now imagine three lists,List One,List Two, and List Three. They are lists of lists.

List One lists List Two and List Three. List Two lists List One and List Three. List Three lists List One and List Two. In other words, the lists list all other lists besides themselves.

So:

List One
-List Two
-List Three

List Two
-List One
-List Three

List Three
-List One
-List Two


Lets take a close look at List One- really, it's

List One
-List Two
--List One
--List Three
-List Three
--List One
--List Two

or wait, is it really...
List One
-List Two
--List One
---List Two
---List Three
--List Three
---List One
---List Two
-List Three
--List One
---List Two
---List Three
--List Two
---List One
---List Three

or wait, maybe...
List One
-List Two
--List One
----List Two
--------List One
--------List Three
----List Three
--------List One
--------List Two
--List Three
----List One
--------List Two
--------List Three
----List Two
--------List One
--------List Three
-List Three
--List One
----List Two
--------List One
--------List Three
----List Three
--------List One
--------List Two
--List Two
----List One
--------List Two
--------List Three
----List Three
--------List One
--------List Two


I could keep this up all day (and we haven't even touched List Two and List Three), but... that might bore you. But look what we made- something that's bigger on the outside than on the inside. And it's interesting to let one of these babies loose on the inside of a computer. wink

Now, deep bonus question: does List One equal List Two and List Three, and vice versa?



Question from last time... my handwriting? It's an odd cross of cursive and printing, more on the printing side. I can have fun with it, and it has its moments, but its not as pretty as it is functional, sadly. I get handwriting envy very easily. And I also get handwriting lust occasionally... wink

My handwriting is also, very obviously the cross of my mother's and father's style.


The questions of the Month of Study to this point:

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

If you could instantly be granted one talent or skill, what would it be? One realistic and one complete fantasy answer cheerfully accepted!

and

If you had to be haunted by a ghost, tell me about the ghost by which you would be haunted.

and

What cartoon character would you like you are most like, and why?

and

A plain box, two feet long, one foot wide, one foot high, arrives in your mail. There's no return address, but it's definitely addressed to you. It gives you no reason for alarm, so you decide to open it. What's inside?

and

Pick a figure from history. Pick one major event in their story. Tell how you would do things differently, and what the result would be.

and

What's the one greatest bit of wisdom you can offer me?

and

What do you think is a good reason to get married, and why? If there is no good reason, why?

and

What's your handwriting like?




Question for this time: What's something of which you are afraid? Doesn't have to be your greatest fear, just something that scares you.
catdad:
That seems terribly inefficient. Is there a practical application for that? To me it looks like it might only come in handy in data back-up or some sort of torrent environment, where the same information can be retrieved from multiple locations.

This ended up being rather long, so spoilerized:

SPOILERS! (Click to view)
Afraid... hmmm... The thing with fear is that it's wrapped up in anticipation. I try not to think about things that bother me. That being said, It isn't uncommon for me to think about finding one of the kids dead in the street as I go around the last corner before my house. I feel fortunate that, although my kids do roam within a couple houses in every direction from my house, no one has ever been hit by a car or significantly hurt. But, I still think about how I'd react if I was faced with that from time to time. I'd be unhappy, but knowing how much they enjoy the freedom they have, I really wouldn't want to take it away from them. I'll deal with it when I have to, which could very well be never. With the current issues of food, energy, and politics in the world, it wouldn't surprise me if the best has already happened and we are on a steady rate of decline from here on out, at least within my lifetime. It wouldn't surprise me if some sort of cataclysm, manmade or otherwise, were to happen. Might we someday be living in the society shown in Soylent Green, or those shows from the 80's that tried to dramatize the effects of nuclear war and the resulting nuclear winter? I see lots of awareness coming to the forefront and efforts to make positive changes, but all it takes is one asshole in power (or something akin to it) to fuck things up for millions or billions (as we've seen). I am not an optimist when it comes to humankind. I look for good, but they never cease to disappoint me. So, again, I can picture lots of really bad things happening. But I'm not really afraid of them. I guess on the other side of that is that I don't put myself in positions where I have to face things that would cause fear. Ooh, but that reminds me - my employer does force me to fly once in a while. That is probably the one thing that is real and that I've had to face head-on. But ultimately, I know it's sort of silly considering how much flying people do. But yeah, after all the more philosophical crap, I can say that flying is the one real fear I know I have.

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