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Podcasts I’m Listening to in 2022
This time around I’ve written a Python script to take the OPML file from Podcast Republic and generate the list along with URLs and official descriptions for all the podcasts. If I have additional thoughts I’ll add them after the official description. The World Around Us 99% Invisible – Official Description: Design is everywhere in…
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Programming Update: January/February 2022
I started off the year not expecting to do much programming. Compared to some months in 2021, I barely programmed, but I did end up programming much more than I expected. Let’s take a look at what I worked on in the first sixth of the year. Python Programs End of Year Video Games Helper…
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My Programming Projects and Progress in 2021
As I did last year, I’d like to take a look at how well my predictions matched up to what ended up happening: Working on my Extra Life Donation Tracker: Yes! I made a bunch of releases last year to fix various bugs for my users. I also finally broke out the Donor Drive Code…
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Review: Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VI by Sebastian Deken My rating: 3 of 5 stars I was a kickstarter backer on the campaign for this book I’ve been waiting for this book for a while. This game, along with Chrono Trigger, was very formative in my early gaming years. The book decides to focus on one of the…
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Sam’s Thought Processes
As I’ve mentioned on this blog before, I always find it fascinating how the kids interpret the world. Here are a couple examples of how Sam is seeing things at this point. LEGO Ban Last weekend I was sitting at the computer, working on some code when my wife came into the room. “Did you…
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Mozilla’s Legacy
A few days ago I read this article over at Tech Republic about how, Mozilla’s greatest achievement is not Firefox, but the Rust programming language. They point to Firefox’s declining numbers in the face of Chrome and Chromium-based browsers and I’m inclined to agree with the author. There is, of course, a kind of poetry…
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Looking back at a Year of COVID-19
It seems that it’s time to look back at a year of COVID-19. Scalzi did it. Ars Technica did it. I’m not usually a huge bandwagon jumper, but I thought, “why not?” This has been a huge, disruptive event. It might be therapeutic to write about it. It was 11 March (I believe) when the…
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Programming Jan/Feb 2021
I was pretty busy programming at the start of 2021 across a few different languages. Let’s jump right in! C# I’m nearing the end of the GameDev.tv online RTS course, and it’s been a lot of fun. Since last time we added player colors to the units, a minimap that can be used to move…
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How Desktop Environment Tweaking Helps Me Be More Productive
A few months ago, someone asked about whether the rices*/modifications/tweaks people displayed on reddit.com/r/unixporn (where people show off their desktops, not human pornography) were actually useful. Someone commented they’d like to see a post on how someone uses their mods. So I decided to write this up. *I know the term ricing could be considered…
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My Programming Projects and Progress in 2020
Back in 2019, when I did my programming retrospective I made a few predictions. How did those go? Work on my Extra Life Donation Tracker? Yup! See below! Write more C++ thanks to Arduino? Not so much. C# thanks to Unity? Yes, but not in the way I thought. I only did minor work on…
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2020 in Books
This year continued last year’s trend of Sequels, Sanderson, and Science Fiction Magazines. Every series I mentioned last year was a series I continued reading this year – The Expanse, The Asylum Tales, Red Rising, The Dresden Files, The Mogoliad, Wild Cards, and the Illumination Paradox. (The only exception was Red Rising – I’m done…
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Review: Little Women
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott My rating: 3 of 5 stars Reading this book was very interesting. I don’t know what edition I happened to pick here, but the edition I read was a Barnes and Noble giveaway from years ago when I first got my Nook. As such, it had a nice, long…
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Review: Don’t Stand Too Close to a Naked Man
Don’t Stand Too Close to a Naked Man by Tim Allen My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is my second time reading this book. I first read this book in middle school because I really liked Home Improvement. Kind of reminds me of the joke Eddie Murphy tells in Delirious when he sees a…
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Last Few Days in Programming: Lots of Python
Been quite busy with Python, keeping me away from other pursuits, like video games. (Although the kids have been requesting Spelunky 2 whenever it’s time to hang out with them) Extra Life Donation Tracker (eldonationtracker) For my Extra Life Donation Tracker I pushed out a new release, v5.2.2. A user of my program (man, I…
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Review: A Man On the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts
A Man On the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin My rating: 4 of 5 stars The book that was used by Ron Howard, et al to make the Apollo 13 movie! I got this book as part of a space-themed Humble Audiobook Bundle. As I was choosing the next audiobook…