wanted: software apprentice
November 23rd, 2006 Filed Under projects
Experienced software developer seeks a motivated apprentice to mentor
We will develop an open-source medium-size 6-month project together, discussing issues of design, debugging, efficiency, code style, and the development process.
You will be the project’s primary volition, contributor, and manager. I will give you advice and direction, and help when necessary. We will interact primarily via email and chat, sometimes in person if you live in Seattle. You can expect sharp code reviews and keen advice from a battle-scarred veteran.
You should be fluent with the gnu toolset in a unix/linux environment, and want to develop a program in C/C++ [possibly python targeted for the web]. You should have already developed a small program that you are prepared to submit for inspection and review.
Preference given to candidates with interest in:
- software development organization and process
- computer languages
- educational games (especially science/biology/chemistry)
- multi-user networked servers
This is not a paid position, but if you demonstrate professional skills, you will have a great professional reference and many job opportunities.
[If you know how to use screen or vi or emacs, you know enough unix. If you've ever written a non-trivial program of your own volition and gotten it to work, you're probably a good enough programmer. If you seriously want to take your software fu to the next level, one email could begin the relationship of a lifetime.]
saul
saulpwanson@gmail.com
Stumble it!on ‘hurt’
November 22nd, 2006 Filed Under saulism
Our culture confuses and blends together the distinct elements of ‘hurt’: harm, pain, and suffering.
“He hurt Janet” can have several different meanings:
“He harmed Janet.”
‘Harm’ means damage, whether physical or psychological. Janet may not be able to function normally until the damage is healed.
“He caused Janet pain.”
‘Pain’ is simply a sensation, like hot or wet. Pain often means that harm is close to follow, or has already passed; but also often, pain is a side effect of [positive] change, like growth. Janet might even seek pain for [sexual] pleasure.
“He caused Janet much suffering.”
‘Suffering’ is the result of cognitive distress or dissonance. Suffering comes from attachment, which is inevitable, and in a civilized society is almost always the sufferer’s own. Janet may have manufactured a million little desires which repeatedly went unfulfilled, or maybe she was born with two opposing attachments that she pursued with equal fervor.
Janet unfortunately may not be able to avoid harm; she may even desire pain. But she should know that her suffering comes from within herself alone. She should not struggle to avoid suffering, but to cultivate an awareness of its inevitability and a comfort in its validation of her existence.
“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.” — Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
Paul: A Very Short Introduction
November 22nd, 2006 Filed Under books, unfinished
RFAC: box of wisdom
November 20th, 2006 Filed Under ideas
RFAC: Request for Artistic Collaboration. What follows is a discrete concept I have for an art project. Read and enjoy. If are you interested in helping me take this project another 10% (or more), please contact me with a proposal for next action.
The Box of Wisdom is a small, elegant wooden box, maybe 12 inches wide, 6 inches deep, and 4 inches tall. On the widest faces, the chinese [or japanese] kanji for ‘box’ and ‘wisdom’ are painted in exquisite calligraphy. A lock with keyhole supposedly prevents the top from opening, but in reality pushing on the lock will allow the top to be slid open slightly, to reveal a tiny slit, wide enough to receive a folded piece of paper, narrower than a finger.
With the top fully closed or open, the box is otherwise immobile. But in a position somewhere between [and with the box setting on its side so that the door is facing up], an otherwise hidden door opens easily. Human eyes can barely see to the bottom of the box, but a human hand can reach in to retrieve its contents.
This box contains small pieces of delicate rice paper, each with an elegant design and a nugget of unattributed wisdom printed in a simple font.
reincarnation of Paul
November 9th, 2006 Filed Under fun
A psychic named Jane Roberts predicted many years ago (she died in 1984), through a channeled personality called “Seth”, that (among other things):
* Paul/Saul will reincarnate in the 21st century to correct mistakes that he made that set Christianity on the wrong course, and that a new period of spiritual awareness will ensue. Paul/Saul will not identify himself as Christ, and some will view him as the anti-Christ since his appearance will hasten the end of Christianity. The Seth personality said that Paul/Saul will be known as a psychic, that he will strive “to straighten out Christianity, which will be in shambles at the time of His arrival”, and that he will form “a new system of thought when the world is sorely in need of one”. All these events will be completed by the year 2075.
I suppose that means that I won’t live to be 100.
