Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

Today I have to work on copyright clearances for the BME movie soundtrack… Because it's a low-budget project (although still probably about triple Clerks) I have to convince labels and artists to allow me to use their work for as close to free as possible. I'll mostly be working with indie labels so I hope they appreciate the project and want to be involved…

Other than that I'm going to start encoding the experience engine software. If you've ever wondered how an idiot savant programs (or just want to know what's in the new software), here are my notes for it:

They say that Tesla designed his experiments in his head, and then ran a “simulation” of them. After a week, he'd examine the virtual devices for wear and tear and refine the design. Eventually he'd build them “for real”… I'm not suggesting I'm actually running code in my head, but I do try do that as much as possible. I think that's pretty normal for programmers that were self-evolved or apprenticed rather than, say, going to school (where one is taught more formal testing and proofing techniques).

What's interesting is that (if I'm to believe what I read online) there's a schism between the two schools of thought on software design — one is characterized by the idea that programming is an artform (ie. Bill Joy's concept that code is a form of poetry), and the other characterized by the idea that programming is engineering… What I found additionally interesting is that people who program full time (ie. where it's life-defining rather than “just a job”) tend to be plagued with the same memory disorders that I have — which leads me to wonder if a long period of thinking about code actually alters the structure of the human brain. Logically it should, when you think about how the brain works.

Lew Rockwell of the libertarian Ludwig von Mises Institute writes of Rumsfeld's recently leaked “what have we gotten ourselves into” memo,

There you have it: a typical government program. Hundreds of billions down the drain, and nothing to show for it but confusion. Imagine a private business admitting that it doesn't know if it is making profits or losses. Imagine blowing through a trillion dollars and not knowing whether you actually accomplished anything at all. That private firm would be doomed, but the warfare state just keeps chugging along.

Click here to read The National Defense Myth. If you're looking for something a little lighter, I found this article about a driver being convicted on the basis of the “black box” in his car (which almost all new cars have). Good reason to gut the computer out of your car, or buy an older car that doesn't have one.