Journal Jmz

Coming early this year

2009-12-17T18:42:36Z

I looked back at last year's New Year's resolutions, and I'm pleased to say I accomplished more than half of them. But I've realized something missing from my life that contributes to the other missing things. So for this New Year's, I have only one resolution, which should help bring everything else that I want, which is all the typical stuff: babeage, houseage, dollazage.

1) Plan, like with a schedule and writing things down (always in the same place, which I do not lose), everything in my life that should be planned. Improve my technique with practice.

I've relied too heavily in the past on my ability to think on my feet and pull rabbits out of hats ten minutes before the deadline. I am an expert at surviving, and I'm sure I could handle things most people wouldn't have a chance with, but obviously I want more than I've achieved so far. It reminds me of:

Jmz: Hey, are you gonna be down for SoFLeX?
Lsa: Not likely. I probably won't be down until April at least.
Jmz: I don't think I can manage that long.
Lsa: You'll survive.
Jmz: There's a difference between surviving and living.

So yeah, that's the difference I want ~~for~~ beginning this year, to really live instead of just survive. And I think planning is the missing link. Mundane, I know. That's why I've avoided it in the past.

Hilariously bitter

2009-12-16T08:10:29Z

Goat

Einstein says...

2009-12-04T18:57:50Z

Obviously I don't see myself on Einstein's level - I still don't feel I properly understand Special Relativity, and I've never even tried General - but I really love the way he wrote, and I have to say that on philosophical, nonphysics matters, I have never seen anyone write so many things with which I wholeheartedly agree or can empathize. Here's my new favorite. I've often looked for answers to problems (programming, math, etc.) and found that no one had solved them before, or at least not published the results. I had to take them on myself, with varying degrees of success. Einstein says:

Zur Strafe für meine Autoritätsverachtung hat mich das Schicksal selbst zu einer Autorität gemacht.

Auf Englisch, "As punishment for my contempt of authority, fate has made me into an authority myself."

Noise

2009-12-03T06:23:15Z

In the immortal words of the Ron, "How 'bout shut the fuck up?" I can't stand these dumb fuckaz who get drunk or high and then go out into the parking lot and have a shouting match, or tonight, a horn-blowing match. Seriously, multiple cars were blowing their horns in the parking lot of this place. Curse.

More war

2009-12-02T09:13:40Z

I'm tired of the wars. Enough already with the wars. I still like Obama, though. I figured, before his speech, that I could still support him with a straight face if his proposed 30-40k troop increase was for less than two years. He gives us a year and eight months. I don't like the plan, but I think he understands the world better than anyone I've seen before. I'm still voting to re-elect. BTW, a job would be nice.

In other news, I finished a document spec for a dude in England. The project was budgeted for six days, and I started four hours before the deadline, finishing 20 minutes before. Damn I'm smooth.

Brutal

2009-11-29T15:48:36Z

A lot of things have worn smooth lately. I had really been looking forward to game night last night, but we couldn't even muster the energy to finish Cranium, and the sign game and Apples to Apples weren't nearly as funny as they were in the past. Perhaps the low point was when I drew "Miserable" as the judge for Apples to Apples, and out of eight or ten cards, I was given "my body," "my love life," and "my mind." I can't blame them for that, since the point is to submit a card with which you think the judge will identify. Any single person is likely to pick "my love life." I was leaning toward "my mind," but Lisette lauded the greatness of my mind so earnestly that I went with "screeching" instead. I hates me some screeching. Had anyone picked leaf blowers, there'd have been no contest. Because leaf blowers, real and metaphorical, are what makes my mind miserable.

The women were mostly not as hot. Fewer and fewer of the group are single, and I think last night it was all dudes. I hope that at the coming blues party those things are all different.

In five weeks, we slam the door on this decade. I've made a lot of good friends in the last ten years. I've changed radically; at least it feels that way. I've mostly beaten shyness and I'm winning the war on being overweight. I feel like I have a strong professional history, though evidently not strong enough to get a job just now. I did too much dealing with broken cars, too much circular introspection, and not enough travel or dating, considering how immensely I've enjoyed both when I made them happen.

But that's what happened to me (and, to some extent, what I did). The world at large has been through hell, as Time's cover story accurately describes. What they don't do, out of cowardice or blindness, is put a name to it. But the name is obvious to me. It's been ten long years of disasters, excess, greed, poor judgment, and more than anything else, willful ignorance.

Goodbye, Decade of George W. Bush. From hell's heart, I stab at thee.

Oh yeah. Oh YEAH!

2009-11-23T17:09:54Z

I stayed up all night to get my 5-day project done with 70 minutes to spare. It didn't even take much caffeine, but now I'm insanely wired. I've got the reflexes of a cat with legs made out of cobras. However, I feel a little like I might die of adrenaline shock, like history's rhinoceros. So no exercising. Duh nuh nuh nuh!

Crazy

2009-11-23T16:35:18Z

You gotta know when you're crazy. Cognizant schizophrenia is really one of the best things going.

Comedy

2009-11-20T07:43:19Z

Dancy McDance tonight had some amusemanship. Heather was sitting in a chair and Milton came and started rubbing her shoulders, but then immediately stopped for some reason.

Htr: Tease! (gets up and walks away)

Milton then began rubbing my shoulders, which was funny, but he kept on doing it, past the point of it becoming awkward. However, I live in an Aristocrats world, so I didn't say anything. Eventually Frank noticed:

Frk: What the hell?
Mlt: I'm giving James a man-ssage.
Jmz: Before you said that, it was only a little gay.

Speaking of The Aristocrats, Heather got some strong guffaws from me when Rob and I were discussing how people don't put the tape back on the packing tape dispenser properly.

Rob: Why do people always mess this thing up?
Jmz: It's a very complicated machine. It has zero moving parts. It's just a handle and a blade, like a machete.
Rob: Or an axe. But we learned that axes have how many parts? 28?
Jmz: I think it was 36. That's a hell of an axe.
Htr: What do you call it?

Best FaceBook status update EVAR

2009-11-10T21:43:54Z

If there's one thing you should do after showing up to work stoned, it's get all self-righteous and lament how unappreciated you are. If there's another thing you should do, it's act confused about what they mean by "high."

On a peripherally related topic, I applied for what looks like a dream job. iPhone development, Fort Lauderdale, crazy pay, and they want what I've got. Wish me suerte, amigos!

Splish splash, I was on a train

2009-11-10T07:48:25Z

We all know the underground railroad, but what about the underwater railroad?

Just got on the subject because I'm working on an iPhone app using maps.

Rejection never makes sense

2009-11-09T17:48:33Z

I've learned one of the most effective ways to waste time is to try to understand someone else's motivations. When their actions don't make sense right away, usually I'll never figure it out. Even knowing this, it's hard not to try. I put in a bid at RentACoder. My bid included a screenshot and a movie of the app that the guy wanted. It was already written! Then he chose another bidder, who offered to do the job for twice as much. Possible motivations are too many to count. It's as bad as dating! But just like dating, I'd like to experience some success in the future, so what could have gone wrong?

1. The other bidder wrote a more appealing bid
2. He liked the other bidder's profile better
3. He liked the other bidder's reputation (23 completed jobs) better than mine (new to RentACoder).
4. The other bidder appeared to offer an Expert Guarantee (this seems to appear on all finished bids though).
5. He started corresponding with the other bidder and made the decision before I made my bid.
6. Buyer was a flakazoid.

Here's the winning bidder's profile and here's mine.

I don't think it could be 2 (the other guy speaks some serious Engrish) or 3 (he also turned down a bidder with an even better reputation). It's unlikely to be 6, because the buyer has a good rating on the site, but I suppose it's still possible. That leaves us with 1 or 4. I have a tough time believing either one, considering I wrote the entire app, included a demo, and my bid was written in fluent English, and we're talking about such a small amount of money that the Expert Guarantee couldn't amount to much. I guess I'm left with 5, which is the business equivalent of "she's not available." Guess I need to bid faster.

Here's the process from my end. Maybe I did something obviously wrong and horrific?

I need an application for the iPhone 3Gs with the following functionalities:

1. Every 0.5 second the actual GPS coordinates and the actual compass direction should be send to a webserver.

2. With every information update to the server (every 0.5 seconds) the server sends back some text informations. This informations should be viewable on the iPhone display.

3. To make some tests the application should be runable on the iPhone and not only in the SDK simulator.

That's it. There is no need for nice visual appearance or feature buttons. First I need this prototype application to make some tests. Later I will offer the full application as a new project.

Thank you!
Marc

A bid in the amount of $100.00 (USD) was posted by jmzwebb (the coder).
Hello Marc, I'm an iPhone developer in South Florida (USA). I was intrigued by your project description, so I have basically written the entire project.

I've included a screenshot from the app, as well as an mov file of the app in action. The mov was taken while driving, so it will make more sense if you look at the screenshot first.

The top portion of the screen shows the latitude, longitude, and heading. At each interval, the app sends these values to my web server, which sends back the information on the bottom portion of the screenshot. This consists of adding 1 to the latitude, subtracting 1 from the longitude, and indicating the opposite direction from the current heading.

In its current form, the app uses an interval of .75 seconds rather than .5 seconds. I can make it operate at any interval, but I will need to know what you want the app to do when the server responds too slowly.

I am new to Rent A Coder, so I apologize if I have provided too much information or not enough. I would appreciate feedback even if you choose to go with someone else's bid.

Thank you,
James Webb

Thanks for bidding (or commenting on) on this bid request.
Bid Request Id:1286629
Bid Request Title:iPhone 3GS App (GPS, Compass) as Prototype
http://www.RentACoder.com/RentACoder/misc/BidRequests/ShowBidRequest.asp?lngBidRequestId=1286629

Unfortunately, the buyer decided to choose a different coder's bid (HuayinSoft for $199.00). However it's important to remember that it takes many bids to land a job. Putting the effort in to make those many bids is what separates the top coders from everyone else.

Committee

2009-11-05T23:37:04Z

I went with a list of things I wanted to clarify, change, accomplish or prevent at tonight's Green Energy & Environment Committee meeting. I won every round. It feels good.

The comedy

2009-11-05T14:50:40Z

My rate is good. People probably laugh at nine jokes out of ten, and I send them out with some swiftness. But I still hate it when I make jokes that I'm really fond of, and they fail to bring down the house. It's like how Bein Stein was never as worried about losing his whole $5000 as he was about looking ignorant. The power was out for two hours this morning, and my Facebook updates concerning running low on ammo, the immediate presence of zombies, and being forced to eat the neighbor's dog fell flat. Maybe no one appreciates a disaster joke. Gilbert Gottfried had that experience.

Job search

2009-11-03T23:57:28Z

I found a job that looks like a great fit, but you have to know webservices, that is, SOAP and/or REST. These are really not complex at all, but I've barely used them. Kind of reminds me of XML (of which they are a subset), which kept me out of programming jobs for quite a while, because I thought I must not get it. It seemed so simple, yet there were lengthy books on it, and the jobs wanted "experts." Guess what? Those books were crimes against nature (trees), because XML is as complex as bookends (which is basically what it is). I won't be intimidated this time, but I need to know what to say about these silly simple "technologies."

Reminiscing

2009-11-03T07:47:08Z

I had a rule in the car business: Nelson is always right. I learned this too late to save my dealership, but what can you do? I don't miss hundred hour weeks, 200 mile days, auction tans, greasy hands, (legally) floating $8000 checks, scams, the scum of the earth, or the fact that every used car seemed to have a unique smell, and only a small number of those smells were good. I do miss having an office, though. That was fun.

Another thing I don't miss is the racism. Nelson advised me very early on (advice I never took) to put a picture of myself on my web site so people who saw it would know they were dealing with a white guy. I didn't like that advice, not that I was mad at Nelson for it or anything, but it made me a bit disgusted. But I think he was right, because he always is. And being Hispanic and black, he no doubt has more experience with racism than I do.

So now I'm applying for jobs, and I am aware of ethnic profiling on resumes. I'm also aware that my name (at least my last name) sounds black. And so I'm very seriously considering putting a picture of myself on my resume. Thoughts on that? I've just done it on my rentacoder profile. It's a new profile, though, so there's no test to be made. I guess I could be grasping at straws, too, blaming hypothetical racism when I'm really just bad at writing cover letters.

Exercise

2009-10-26T05:25:29Z

40 pushups and 100 stomach crunches tonight. I will try to go spinning tomorrow. Apologies if typos; my contacts are out and I'm wicked blind.

I remember a tabloid headline from like 15 years ago that said the fattest man in the world ate 14 chickens and 80 beers every day for breakfast. First off, beer for breakfast? Then, wouldn't that be expensive? I guess being the fattest man in the world pays well.

Green Grass and High Tides

2009-10-22T20:01:55Z

That's my new white whale on Rock Band. Never heard it before, but it's my kind of music and it's incredibly difficult. I got 80% on the first try.

Uh huh.

2009-10-19T18:06:16Z

From a CNN article:

20. Computer software engineers, applications
Do this: Build computer applications software and code; ensure that all software projects adhere to a company's technology and business standards.
Get paid: $87,900

I think either they're out of touch or I am. Some of the iPhone jobs I see in NYC and California are like that, but generally no.

Assumptions

2009-10-17T20:59:57Z

Learning is fun. This week I learned Karatsuba's algorithm, which is a faster way to multiply multi-digit numbers (on a computer, giant numbers in the form of arrays of numbers) than the conventional method. Here a-d are placeholders for digits, and putting them next to each other does not mean they are being multiplied, e.g. ad = (10 × a) + d ≠ a × d.

Conventional


   ab
×  cd
---------
10  × (a × d) + (b × d)
100 × (a × c) + 10 × (b × c)

So ab × cd = 100 × (c × a) + 
              10 × (a × d + c × b) +
                   (b × d)

Karatsuba


ab × cd = 100 × (a × c) + 
           10 × ((a + b) × (c + d) - (b × d) - (a × c)) + 
                (b × d)

This works because (a + b) × (c + d) = a × c + a × d + b × c + b × d. So to get the same ten-term as the conventional method, we have only to subtract the two values from this ten-term that we don't want, which we coincidentally have to calculate anyway for the one-term and the 100-term.

Thus, on a two-digit number, the Karatsuba method takes you from four (n²) multiplications to three (3^log₂n = n^log₂3) - the 10 and 100 ones don't count since those are digit shifts and are trivial. Obviously, the difference gets better with larger numbers. On gigantic numbers, this is really helpful. For instance, multiplying two 16384-digit numbers (arrays with that many elements) will only take about 43 million multiplications with Karatsuba, instead of 268 million with the conventional method. Better yet, there's the Schönhage-Strassen algorithm, which would allegedly only take just over a million, but I don't know how to do that one yet.

Using (I think; the source for BigInteger is complicated) the conventional method, my Java program found another gargantuan prime number, 3 × 2²⁰⁹⁰⁹ + 1, which is 5167739258035797640388074925381472735448989781050991919939931315017415186636399147727393137658890285666144151593548970767253456061110597064782222093346519468514724457328492279456470027301251375581954243747681402720977944954762022667806541967253073697802156235744658938676956301732084803276443595837584824852264677208741036964697463693762578549935622846956012028070025400585142048162250262307305201556065108680812029640470507672175937262813706059242323105304062454787160681599997249393113425351258429495610893953516760849465422736606473336280979567082255878462897104668031833934425654807927051559828040833163185358054894852879844487838078895970733131146288473474632306780076389717878942157609255930544693846143572485529870475531604536516658371292871121060297940480945637004271604436088339828579663713423573116899425138291742870842590023294882534140778736279245020497046739988704774175035315051705901516606993113595288119044467851044396194123795466295617574374683644518666827693959086475584173552623968667744796335147394236585203201317860631015530611292907932070705316873965061423234274337156296504292872505716864133642193444737579954031095295812378829214154974599733879597785645594529927524667549601365398122294354114548782361553898268270942364889684316420754992574751887936056701741495164686955934931955970714277420311441824464078126820562912995805676058885759420554145003464204206273738954391676209453014535434344827610838766986381394445663789165485990160574211749828776977203153631495038136252013643585046384054456987186320085789739271836371666043360597541311275931171795493387950380842402367423195286321558570370104387587534321381819186095672606752375146179212445561169013665007576122990692127317937520867268128648353808016331678543462563513031668698498350229116008078553015046804680111017496376296726171939309029406820248541112485321343746385281148477604701800772291832350752451131817440046001736524030762285717979241554475919172862542238916676462243602015852568383784827809913094273438506071281595850926359650848553565045713682142061479648689919300787299014582636334579986116463722722614343451190667154215300301134836256556787596134075171679996067784547415762129408594090803670977933412597513826024346951576510983723695980176467929688418695549560548275483161613427818009820519465380776531931186378072858382834728759110583122342991235274626640097871799370897700109853573920506126618639118661194726938742715624309272963684444422387751429628664332389174080549422052677713859922787486472803789913493466944886892377287198763651516672449021270985901109212228417957913550553169388068563964306071784999422911885779700348619611000380181123134962954632702679445519083641186084314350892647219192430293937276981655203684644120149951501257040812948898963901731431656343107056766336004920624717817245420671115350319911268525414662028983766874160739183067097929613486460171105837283989578539570006644784332898877800406839175151690951699584011938018479803956933993900255756758658746355313054386642303597798714936923369886322892313051092585756967469156343120155592687907430280017302229046212111835557666433911199731549115080771021716609812295504134112972407581833629100823664964627955169864552737771481760886304135540306402035873533054728707790230706206429108228531426057639393978787712080917154633594154940953216034357100629035232904509752915624759229642611419977633033155868627804889112498599973035087573491162547056026221200726972649368769927771391385598348649005246981766711258829377629608135618469007080831361070789203367968303210403263376140852293874708204470938415326780270714048461471148253575171204689028449117385027803701811072049860776861970782384635279242288276107703751627154397506726972106718414820087861454732518351802116022888931215373136761415473708414813977823347991693176492785304697484811354827346793008435152762290022273567408383208609689343996685165635987787730291905983073246646994844318265798019419709259737773757187408151166676951511722035357913358656068478588699485039983570441765674103119545496360325349365306041073537597087341391624964836943965516265119599261276101551181979847887203498098547592829074312187991898293726787484079495881873943652029213796272934485149089144790064201599060444517817000507101562324797345434337492812333306174000093900207036292138611291916771152714539107812992616788841397258972540696796742072137495028759049785049764815198304221403039774376175807874314926186222637212297725932389259823994567475177903445060666018182385034769897739267607195822183989040745089881523272313636920080174105203275581752464466005365112683049221956216491174470059822814297380664165515471143284697516332881915143207123335502211919421100543819327016795803908690065220613202542432977772742362023691408788012608519980205495541833102122293795795417340949320468621178650119577757568599604905327158553375057006173258352092490298727991226165685993684687466043029379749581895639237588647885141043058500043553931107084352902633180039609564737401106404490883305048833518108273640884803705077171415271790110760316180663430509150196800972728863730836089335126492002727912043294499509925180305799308855319770240768243019444975516207053535959802360840598431373851630766789549831172578054216761422442135161262939635538817032046244406624964451074919496648321373077480129500305104385934724301832233794502957755685737219803092495192164387345129960753233373437646936437092923757033172972149692157347121470837090339849885276090944656981371749962633012024368747398677499739297838467225962619161725732220487855537100382678556559790034014540549169404269801523430602943152694441130620128358152516570218417261762588239163192271907881664712515953208454377660776003787083377949559554339061240897030132326060618104803012880035880186385546551280567631478164147172873144163724442600136694301059978286240048904411472140929280367602175476907098812301549122909034724233298221410477646758610908950718815787128767291688428480104740689424186478646324971089964419664655010840869603040611762281593236409599174572278775949215640609831140395388397242790633331849335286434701463786897951595786091567237644541361723886075986031895176477498713190031056458383678054168489716557902260810624335139072947931115853080257370237251568696512456414625750191120256411924533550342300344199884883451808672290487243538842972938305537.

The test for that number took 896 seconds, around 15 minutes, on my Macbook Air. Considering the primality test I'm using, assuming it's currently using the conventional method, that represents about 35.7 billion multiplies. So the Karatsuba version would take 11.1 billion and run in 279 seconds (4:39), and the Schönhage-Strassen version would use 1.2 billion, and run in 30 seconds. Gotta try that out.

The long-term goal, a number on the order of 2^{4,000,000,000}, would seem to take, all assumptions being correct, 67,601 years to test. Too long. Must go faster.

Allow me to beat you verbally, good sir

2009-10-14T04:23:25Z

I threw a funny comment onto a friend's FaceBook post. This got me subscribed to the reply comments to the original post, which became ideological to the point of self-contradiction. Eventually I made the mistake of not being able to let that go anymore, even though I mostly agreed with the ideology at hand. So now I'm locked in a comment match with a poorly informed, deeply uncharismatic true believer. I can't use either of the standard internet tricks, flaming or ignoring, because I know the guy in real life, though he's part of the scene rather than someone I ever hang out with or normally speak more than five words to. Of course, this is probably the first time in recent memory anyone has had much to say to him, so I imagine he'll milk it for all it's worth. Bother.

Heh heh heh. Whilst arguing minutiae, he accidentally conceded the larger point, so I don't have to talk to him anymore. Shweeet.

Burn it into your forehead

2009-10-06T07:07:58Z

Have this 666-digit prime number, equal to 3(2²²⁰⁸) + 1:

141694071860561302568150267782788646685958349951984298414186036781942748596295579140231104356741371780743856723023662125819001424520984882414188483071705875887708275306889295062630025022952661720895385762427015323038415941269391819065465776094579478168682173573460111062256298902362388236366364521257046716570759439948201910918398315889887002694045096213499843728485479242141098275348972126364763059714902963774446743785725195920698922415072974097713801537471441328567623208542401097376341505151066896365589870792984775242447059533614566960215089867448404116033597749622976342044860407220413197878187408149054066170558931511745299886445747105400040271777922986016769

You see what happens instead of sleep? BTW, there's nothing special about the number; I'm testing numbers in that format, and that's the last one to come through in the last several minutes. Testing between 3(2²⁴⁰⁰) + 1 and 3(2²⁵⁰⁰) + 1, for instance, turned up no primes, but took 189 seconds not to do so.

The first step is admitting you have a problem

2009-09-26T03:56:44Z

iBum got published today. Heather noticed problems in publishing your own sign, so I set about correcting the issue (apostrophes) immediately. I am at Disney World right now. That's how you know when you're a workaholic. No computer, just an iPhone, at Disney World, and I manage to edit the php on the site so the app works. Obviously I can't let it go down in flames on its first weekend, though. Hopefully no more work until Monday night.

Why yes. Yes I am.

2009-09-25T06:05:55Z

The ulcer is back with a vengeance. Before 4 tomorrow, I'm meant to write two apps from scratch, fix one, submit one, pack, get ulcer medication, and take a plant and its caterpillars out west. And I'm currently exhaustifried.

So after the dance, ulcer hurting, I suggested to Rob that we go to Primante Bros. for pizza. Also suggested this to Nicole, who brought along some UM kids she had driven up with. Perhaps it's relevant that Kyle (sp?) is a girl. A cute one, too.

Kim: So what do you do?
Jmz: I don't really know. I guess I'm an iPhone developer.
Kyl: Cool. What have you written?
Rob: Show her the level.
(I show them)
Kyl: So, you're a genius, then.

Growth

2009-09-24T05:41:11Z

This monarch caterpillar is, I think, about a week old (a week out of the eggshell). The growth rate of these things is astounding. He's about the length of my little finger. He should become a chrysalis pretty soon. Check out how small they start:

This one hatched 5-10 minutes before I took this picture (I found the egg and realized it was ready to hatch). He's currently engaged in eating his eggshell, which they like to do. They also eat their molted exoskeletons (aka skin). For a sense of scale, consider that his body is about as wide as the distance between the ridges of my fingerprint, visible in the bottom of the picture. Pretty sweet, huh?