The Dark Man's Journal

Teaser

2008-07-24T01:43:00.003-04:00

In case you haven't seen it yet, I have teaser art for my next album up on my website:

---TDM

Exclusive Song through iLike!

2008-07-04T21:40:00.002-04:00

I've just released a new song through iLike, called "Research & Development". It's available for you to listen and download! For free! No DRM or anything! All you have to do is click this button to add me to your artists, and you can listen to my songs, send them to your friends on facebook, etc!

---TDM

Sad Face

2008-06-15T17:42:00.003-04:00

I seem to have lost the acid project files for Abandoned Prison and Rise of the Phoenix when I had to reinstall Windows. I mean, I had a backup for my files, but it looks like these files weren't among the backups. Damn it Maxtor, why did you omit some of my files?

Until next time, remember: Sometimes it's best to make manual backups.

---TDM

UPDATE: So I may not have ever actually had those files on this computer. Turns out they were still on my old computer, so I was able to retrieve them. Yay!

I Like.

2008-01-04T18:04:00.000-05:00

The Dark Man is on iLike! Check it out: http://www.ilike.com/artist/The+Dark+Man/

I also, as a result, have an iLike page through the facebook application: http://apps.facebook.com/ilike/artist/The+Dark+Man

You should be sure to add me to the list of artists you like, as I will soon be releasing some songs exclusively through iLike!

---TDM

Greetings from TDM

2007-12-17T15:28:00.000-05:00

Hello out there!

It's been awhile, hasn't it? I've been busy.

I may be updating the web page in the near future with some songs I created a while ago that I never put up for one reason or another. I'll let you know on here, but it may be awhile.

Until next time, remember: Procrastinate only when you have something you should be doing.

---TDM

"Harry Potter" Overhyped

2007-07-19T21:21:00.000-04:00

Picture this: a series of popular fantasy novels, announced by the author to be a seven-part series, with the fourth and seventh novels being potentially the fattest. Throughout the series, a dark threat looms on the horizon, one which the protagonist has faced before, and only he (and his friends, of course) can stop it. After the fourth novel, however, work on the series is delayed for a number of years, until the fifth is finally published in 2003, much to many people's delight.

Can you guess what it is? Did you say "Harry Potter?"

If you did (and I understand why), you're wrong. Here's another hint: the first novel was originally published in 1982. (Oh, that's definitely not Harry Potter.)

I'm talking about Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels, a seven-part mega-masterpiece. King spent time on these books, with each installment coming 4-6 years after the previous, until his accident in 1999. At that point, Harry Potter strode onto the scene and...shall I say...accio'ed all the attention. In 2003, both Rowling and King published the fifth novels of their respective cycles, but King's sixth and seventh both followed a year later.

Did you know that?

So where was the hype?

The Dark Tower, undoubtedly, is the better piece of work. Granted, Rowling's series does a good job of teaching kids about racism and slavery without actually teaching them. But where's the post-apocalyptic world? Where're the alternate universes? Where's the character who is actually supposed to be the author? Hell, King even has Harry Potter references! (Wolves of the Calla (book 5) includes a futuristic heat-seeking flying bomb called a "Sneetch" contained in boxes labeled "Harry Potter model" and the slogan "Don't mess with the 449th! We'll kick the Slytherin out of you!")

The Dark Tower has its evil magician bent on destroying the universe, mysterious artifacts and doors, friends who fall in love with each other, the supernatural (werewolves, vampires), tales of prejudice and war, battles between good and evil, and King manages to pull these off without using trite names (such as Umbridge, a pun on the word umbrage, or the Mirror of Erised—you can figure that one out) or deux ex machina. (Dumbledore to the rescue!)

In fact, probably the only thing King doesn't have (besides an English accent) that Harry Potter does is a child audience. Sure, I read the first one back in seventh grade, when I found it in my teacher's lending library. It was my first Stephen King novel, and I devoured it (meaning I read it and immensely enjoyed it, not meaning I ate it). And that was more or less the time when Harry Potter IV came out.

What else does King's series have? Vampires. Evil cybernetic corporations. Fictional characters from other books, reading the books where they are characters. Characters interacting with the author who thinks he's writing them.

There was even a suicidal pink monorail! Who loved to tell riddles! But I doubt Eddie's dead baby jokes would have been the only reason why Rowling ended up with a more popular series.

And we can't forget the killer ending to the final of the Dark Tower novels—it was such a great ending, such a fitting finale, that no other ending could do the series justice. And if that had been spoiled for me...well, I'd be less upset if someone blurts out the ending to Deathly Hallows before I finish it. (Heck, the ending to HP6 was spoiled for me—and I really didn't care, though it put a hole in my hypothesis that Dumbledore would kill Harry in the seventh book).

With each book, King impressed me with several new things, and didn't always quite stay the same, with Roland's great journey to the Dark Tower spanning different universes and times. Rowling's installments do further the back story, but the only progress forward I could really see was Voldemort's gradual return to power while Harry was working towards graduation.

But we have to thank Rowling for making reading fun for those millions of people who thought watching television was a better use of their time and mind. Maybe reading's gone out of fashion recently with all the ghostwritten autobiographies (plagiarism and lying included) and whatever other crap has diluted the market. At least we can see a couple million people still have a taste for fiction.

I'm not ashamed to say I'll be reading it, too. They are good books. But The Dark Tower series will remain my favorite. Right next to Dune, of course. (Hey! The last Dune book is coming out in August. Isn't everybody excited?!)

But if you haven't yet read The Dark Tower, I suggest you go pick up The Gunslinger (the first book) as soon as possible (meaning, of course, after you finish HP7). Then read the second. And then just try to stop yourself from reading all the rest. If you loved Harry Potter...The Dark Tower is where you go when you've graduated from Hogwarts.

Until next time, here's to the line that started it all, in King's head, circa 1970: "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."

---TDM

The End?

2007-07-10T17:11:00.000-04:00

Internet radio as we know it is about to die. A few months ago, the Copyright Royalty Board decided Internet radio broadcasters should pay more money than satellite or broadcast radio (the latter are the guys on your FM/AM dial): per song streamed to a person rather than a percentage of income. And this rate will apply retroactively from Jan 2006!

In all but a few cases this amount of money is more than the income a broadcaster makes from advertising, etc. On July 15th, when SoundExchange (frontman for the RIAA) demands this tribute, most internet radio stations will go bankrupt and die (and those who broadcast simultaneously on the net will decide it's not worth it). (See http://www.kurthanson.com/archive/news/030207/index.shtml for more details and some math.)

Why am I upset about this? As a musician, I'm not concerned, since my music doesn't air (though it would have been a possibility if Internet radio stays). I'm upset because only last August (not even a whole year!) did I discover 1.FM (channel X), what is now my favorite radio station. In my area, they systematically removed any good modern rock/alternative stations, so I was ecstatic when I actually heard songs I liked on this station--without as much rap as on the stations near me.

This is simply an act by the RIAA to limit the prevalence of good music heard on radio stations, to prevent new artists from achieving success without the help of a major label, and to maintain their stranglehold (read: monopoly) on the music industry.

Go to http://www.savenetradio.org to try to help preserve our freedom from the RIAA, by calling your senators and representatives and telling them to support the Internet Radio Equality Act (which nullifies the CRB's death sentence and puts internet royalty rates in line with other forms of radio). (H.R. 2060, S. 1353)

---TDM

Thanks

2007-06-07T18:28:00.000-04:00

I want to thank everyone who supported me in the gochongo project by voting for me...all 1 of you.

---TDM

War!

2007-05-30T11:27:00.000-04:00

My latest project, a dark classical piece titled "A War of One," has been posted at gochongo.com as part of a project. Go here to vote for me! (Ironically, since gochongo is only in public beta, I'm the only submission! But go vote for me anyway!)

Update: Okay, so the project is reopen for submissions, since I was the only one to submit something. Check back in a week.

Update 2: There was a problem with another member's upload, which is the reason for the delay. But now you can go vote for me! The link is still up there (click the word "here").

---TDM

It is Dark tonight...

2007-04-30T20:19:00.000-04:00

And now I've finally completed something new for you to listen to! Another dark piano solo has been uploaded to my website, with the title "My Darker Half". Enjoy!

Until next time, remember: Embrace your darker half, and learn to enjoy the gifts darkness brings.

---TDM

If Anybody Knows...

2007-03-10T09:39:00.000-05:00

I recently got into reading certain webcomics and I bookmarked 4 of them so I could read them: Questionable Content, xkcd, Wondermark, and indexed. I found a couple other interesting ones that I read, such as Copper and PvP. But there was one that I really liked, and I can't remember the name nor can I find it anymore. The story is set far in the future, humans are extinct, and all that's left are the robots we built. Two construction robots build their replacements on Mercury, and leave to travel. They have some sort of illegal modification that makes them more human philosophically. At some point, one of them floats in space for many years. If you know what I'm talking about, please tell me! I want to continue reading this comic!

Until next time, remember: Sometimes helping another is a simple thing to do.

---TDM

The Mirror is Here

2007-01-14T16:58:00.000-05:00

"I looked into the mirror and I saw myself staring back!"

After several months of neglect in favor of other projects, I've finally finished my piano song "My Reflection". It's similar to my earlier songs "My Ghost" and "My Shadow" in that it makes repeated use of the damper pedal, but it's different in that the mood is more calm and less intense than the others. You might even say it's a complete mirror image.

If you've noticed the similarities in the titles of the three songs, it's no coincidence. I picked them so that they would be that way.

"My Reflection" can be downloaded for free from my website. The link is above, and in my profile.

Until next time, remember: How you see yourself in the mirror is not how others see you.

---TDM

Update

2006-10-03T09:07:00.000-04:00

I know it's been awhile since my site's been updated. Relax. An update is coming soon. I've been working on it, but I haven't had much time since the summer ended.

Until next time, remember: Change is in your hands.

---TDM

Nine Minus One Is Eight

2006-09-11T20:14:00.000-04:00

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/08/24/pluto.ap/index.html

Looks like Holst was right after all.

---TDM

Right vs. Left

2006-08-31T14:10:00.000-04:00

Here's something to think about:

Democrats believe that the opposite of the right is the left.
Republicans believe that the opposite of the right is the wrong.

---TDM

Clock Tower released

2006-06-20T15:39:00.000-04:00

My newest song called "Clock Tower" was released this past Friday on my homepage. Go check it out!

Until next time, remember: Time ticks ever tockward.

---TDM

A Double Standard?

2006-06-10T15:04:00.000-04:00

The United States is building a fence on the US-Mexican border to prevent illegal immigration. But wasn't the US (still under GW Bush) among the voices condemning Israel for planning to build a fence on the border of the West Bank to prevent the immigration of Palestinian suicide bombers? I don't think the Mexicans want to kill themselves once they get here. Is it better to build a wall to prevent people from living in your country, or to build a wall to prevent people from killing people who live in your country? Why does the US have a double standard with regard to itself?

Recently, Iraqi terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed by American forces. He was a terrorist, so what did he do for a living? Planted bombs to kill people. How did he die? He was bombed. An atrocity such as bombing one would think is something a terrorist would do, right? Then why did we do it? To kill al-Zarqawi? And look at us now. al-Zarqawi is dead, and many Americans are rejoicing (just look at some of the media news), calling his killers heroes, just as the terrorists would if one of their bombs took out our president. Why is it okay to bomb them in order to kill them, but not okay for them to bomb us to kill us? Why does the US have a double standard with regard to itself?

Iran should not be permitted to have nuclear weapons, but the US can keep their nuclear weapons.

China is horrible for hiding its history from its people, but it's alright for the US to hide facts about Iraq from the people.

Why does the US have a double standard with regard to itself?

Until next time, remember: On every side of every war stands God...or so that side claims.

---TDM

Video made using TDM's "My Ghost"

2006-05-21T10:52:00.000-04:00

So today I got a long email from a person I didn't recognize. At first I thought it was spam, and gmail didn't catch it, but the topic wasn't like normal spam so I opened it. I wasn't certain it wasn't spam until I saw he said that he had used "My Ghost" in a video he posted online! I was stunned! "Wow!" I mean, who would imagine that someone would take such an interest in my music that they would use it somewhere?

But then I watched the video. It was cool at first to hear my song, but overall the video was deeply disturbing. I was disturbed more at the content of the conspiracy video than at what it was saying was going on in politics today.

But I did like that my music is getting out there. So, as any major company would do, I posted a disclaimer to protect my reputation (I don't want people thinking that I made the song in conjunction with the video, that I believe what they say in it). I'm not going to post a link to it, but if you find it, you find it.

If my music is featured in a video I like, then that would be even better. I'm excited to see where else my music will appear.

I'm going to go back to work on "Clock Tower" for now.

Until next time, remember: Don't judge others based on yourself.

---TDM

A Shade

2006-04-20T14:21:00.000-04:00

I've finally finished the song entitled, "My Shadow". It's a piano piece similar to "My Ghost", as in it uses the pedal. You might be able to find other similarities, but the song is very different in some other respects. Enjoy!

Click the link at the top to get to my home page and download the song.

Until next time, remember: You can always count on your shadow to stand beside you.

---TDM

Tick Tock

2006-04-14T10:30:00.000-04:00

I've just recently gotten a great idea for a piece that sounds like a clock. I started work on it a couple of days ago, and it really works! It'll sound great when it's finished! I'm going to call it "Clock Tower".

I'm still lapsing in programming, for the most part, but my writing is moving along. Pretty much it doesn't seem like I've had enough time to do everything. Mostly music and writing, and schoolwork. Perhaps during the summer I'll have more time to finish up all these loose ends. I have a piano piece (not Clock Tower) that I might work on and finish first, since I started it who knows how long ago.

If you're going to the Dissension prerelease on Sunday April 23rd, you may see me there playing Two-Headed Giant with one of my friends. I won't tell you where, though, for anonymity purposes.

That's all for now. See ya round.

Until next time, remember: Tie down your loose ends.

---TDM

Run, Death, Run!

2006-02-28T15:41:00.000-05:00

My newest song, a melancholy piece by the name of "Chasing Death", is now available at my homepage. Link is at the top! Check it out!

Until next time, remember: Is Death chasing us, or are we chasing Death?

---TDM

Evolution, Shmevolution

2006-01-10T23:09:00.000-05:00

All over the Southern states, parents are protesting science textbooks that give evolution as the origin of man.

�God created Earth and man in his image,� said Patricia Fuller. �Leave this garbage out of the textbooks. I don�t want anybody taking care of me in a nursing home some day to think I came from a monkey.� (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 29, 2002)

They are going to put notes in the textbooks that caution students that "evolution is only a theory."

That made me laugh.

Now, if I'm not mistaken, the definition of scientific theory is something first hypothesized, then over several hundred years, verified experimentally and never disproved. When it is generally accepted as "true", it becomes theory, which is essentially fact in the science community.

How about this explanation of "theory": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory#Further_explanation_of_a_scientific_theory or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory#Characteristics

Yep. All I can say to those people is this: You're right. You didn't evolve from monkeys; you still are monkeys. You're that primitive. You're that stupid. Congratulations.

Until next time, remember: It's not their fault they're stupid. It's your fault that you're smarter than they are.

---TDM

Now appearing...

2005-12-11T12:25:00.000-05:00

Hey all! The Dark Man is now on myspace!! Check it out. http://www.myspace.com/thedarkmanpiano

My favorite 4 piano songs are there. The rest are still available at my site. The link is at the top of this page.

Until next time, remember: Every answer has a question.

---TDM

The Phoenix Has Risen

2005-12-02T15:55:00.000-05:00

After long hours and days of searching for the right phrase, I found it. It occurred to me last night, and just a few hours ago I put it in the song (the violins start that melody towards the end). And now it's finally finished!

Therefore may I now present to you..."Rise of the Phoenix"! Go ahead, click above to get to my site, then listen to it! I'd like to know what you think.

The piece includes violins, violas, cellos, a doublebass, and timpani. There are a few good solos throughout the work, and in the end, the phoenix rises.

I hope you enjoy it.

Until next time, remember: Amidst the destruction, the phoenix shall rise.

---TDM

The Phoenix

2005-11-28T16:50:00.000-05:00

A big song is coming. Entitled "Rise of the Phoenix", it's already well underway. I could actually leave it where it is right now, but I think it needs a really big, stirring solo to emphasize the phoenix rising.

I hope you'll like it when I finish it.

Stay tuned for more updates about anything.

Until next time, remember: Those of us who dream can find the way to accomplish our greatest goals.

---TDM

Anger

2005-11-10T16:55:00.000-05:00

I've finished another piano song, called "Rage", after I lost my temper (again), sadly. But the song does convey such a change in emotion.

Unfortunately, it may be the last song I put on my site for a while, since I'm just now having problems with converting to mp3 (I originally recorded the songs as WAVs, then converted them so they would fit online). I have to figure this thing out before you get to hear any more songs. (Doesn't mean I won't stop writing, though. :) )

Nothing new on any other front.

Until next time, remember: The future was not made specifically for you. So make it yours.

---TDM

Stormwind

2005-10-31T18:02:00.000-05:00

I've finally finished that orchestra piece, now entitled "The Inner Storm". After listening to it several times, I settled on that name, as it accurately describes my inner turmoil while writing it. I don't actually have time right now to describe what was going on, but suffice it to say that my life hasn't been all that great recently.

The song should be on the site soon.

Until next time, remember: Don't feel bad if you fail. Rather, look at it as another chance to succeed.

---TDM

Inspiration

2005-10-22T17:05:00.000-04:00

If you noticed my last post has no option for comments...it's because several people chose to use the comment space as spam receptacles! I can't believe it! That was weird.

Anyway, for those of you paying attention, I've recently finished another piano song, called "My Ghost". It's uploaded on my site if you wanna listen. Currently I'm working on a string piece. No title yet.

No programming has been done. Many things have been sacrificed in my mad rush to apply for colleges. I'm applying early to Harvard. All that I have left is the common app's essay. We'll see how that turns out...

I have found time to continue writing my main novel. I'm actually making more progress than I have for many months. I've found it actually harder to sit at a computer and write the story, since I have so many handwritten notes, and on paper I write whatever is in my mind, but on the computer it's sorta organized (in order), and I'm often at a loss as to what should happen next, or if I have enough for this chapter.

There's plenty of other stuff I need to do this year. I guess my work will never end.

Until next time, remember: Be like the machine, unrelenting and without remorse, as you complete your task.

---TDM

Intolerant of Intolerance

2005-10-16T10:36:00.000-04:00

This makes me sad: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1220284
I know that there are people in this country that hate anyone who's not like them, but it still makes me sad to see intolerance like this (I mean the marchers, the ones who call themselves the American Nazi Party). The protesters do have a right to want to keep these kind of people out of their community, but there is a part of the Constitution that allows peaceable assembly.

Violence is not the way to keep these people out of our towns. Ignore them, show them how to make peace with those who are different. They're like bullies; if you don't give them the response they're looking for, they'll move on and find someone else to harass. Eventually they'll find a home in one of the Republican states.

Until next time, remember: Keep peace in one piece.

---TDM

The Final Thought

2005-09-20T16:47:00.000-04:00

A true cause for celebration! (maybe)

So I just finished my notebook. There's no more room in it. Every page has been filled with some of the most random things ever. Some things are secret, pertaining to the books that I'm writing, some things have to do with music, and some are just random thoughts. Like this one: I looked in the mirror and I saw myself!

And here's something that I would probably say (but may or may not have actually done so): "I have been pushed to the edge of sanity, and I...will...not...return!"

There are some really good quotes in this...too bad I can't share them all with you. Perhaps someday in the future I will publish them...

Until next time, remember: Don't think; act! Opportunities are fleeting.

---TDM

No Looking Back

2005-08-27T22:38:00.000-04:00

Until next time, remember: What doesn't kill you makes me try harder.

---TDM

The Lies They Tell Us

2005-08-25T23:02:00.000-04:00

I realize now the future may not be what we hope it to be. The past is so alluring, yet so deadly if we dawdle, pausing too long to reflect. The present, of course, has never been worse, and possibly may not get better. Thus we have only our imaginations left to hold onto, for only in other worlds may we find peace.

But if you really think about it, if you could actually live in one of those other universes, would it really be better? We always long for different circumstances, in the false belief that they would somehow be better than our own. But they're not. Just be happy with what you have. You won't be getting anything else.

---TDM

Notebook.random()

2005-08-25T22:51:00.000-04:00

Random Tidbit from my Notebook:

No matter what you say I will not let you go.

No matter what you say I will not turn from you.

No matter what you say my love for you won't fade.

No matter what you say my love is no charade.

---TDM

The Sounds of Life

2005-08-21T14:47:00.000-04:00

I finished another piece of music, and it's ready to be heard by those people who care! It's another piano piece, entitled "Dead Men's March", and it's shorter than "Tears". Click away to my website to download it. The link is at the top, as always.

Until next time, remember: If you don't listen, then you won't hear.

---TDM

Back Online

2005-08-19T16:19:00.000-04:00

It seems Evil-Dog has his site back up, but under a new name. You can see his work at http://www.evil-dog.com

Until next time, remember: You can influence people you don't know just as easily as those you do.

---TDM

Stuffing

2005-08-17T13:24:00.000-04:00

Since school doesn't start for a few weeks, I'm just hanging out at home doing random things. I managed to finish one piece of music, and I posted it and a previous song I hadn't posted before on my website. The link (to my site) is at the top if you want to hear them.

Nothing else to add today.

Until next time, remember: Boredom is simply life's way of telling you that you need to get a life.

---TDM

A Good Feeling

2005-08-15T09:51:00.000-04:00

So I have returned from my "vacation" (actually a six-week summer program), and now that I've had time to sort my thoughts, I can post here again.

My life is filled with regret and unhappiness. I was alone for a large part of it, and I believed that I would always be alone, that I was fated to be this way. I never considered change really possible, and I used the phrase "Nothing ever changes" quite often.

But change occurred just a few weeks ago. I found someone with whom I find I don't feel sad. She gives me reason to be happy. I never thought I could feel happy like this. But what a feeling it is!

I've shown this girl a large part of myself that I'm not proud of. And she hasn't abandoned me for it. She hasn't condemned me for it. No, she sticks by me, and I feel happy. I would not trade that feeling for anything.

We had to part when the program ended, and of course I already miss her.

My notes in the notebook I carry around with me have noticeably changed. Fewer and fewer are melancholy, and many now deal with better things. Here's one saying that I must now live by:

Live each day as if you would see her tomorrow.

Live your life as though you never had to leave.

Until next time, remember: Never doubt the impossible.

---TDM

The End is Closer

2005-08-05T19:10:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been just about five weeks so far here, and so there's one left. It feels like I've been here forever, yet no time at all.

I'm busy most of the time, so that's why I've only been able to post once here. But it's a lot of fun, still.

I brought my some of my writing, programming, and music here, though I haven't been able to work on the programming at all. I did a little bit on the writing, but since I don't have all my notes, I felt kinda lost when I tried to continue. I made one change in the music, though I still haven't been able to play it, though I really want to.

But I'm happy here. I've made friends, whom I'm going to miss (but still keep in touch, of course). And, of course, leaving here means going back to school. Which means I have to do my homework.

But at home, I can certainly continue my work much better. Maybe I'll even finish. Who knows? It remains to be seen.

Until next time, remember: Progress cannot be made without an attempt to find a solution.

---TDM

2005-07-13T08:20:00.000-04:00

So I have access to a computer here. That's good. That means that I can still
update here, though there's not really much to talk about. Since I'm away from
my computer, I can't do any programming, but I do have some of my writing, and I
can always scribble notes down on paper.

But it's unlikely that I'll do very much. I'm very busy here. You're lucky that
I even get to post this.

The shuttle launches later today. I hope to see it (on TV. I'm not there!). And
there's nothing else even worth mentioning.

Until next time, remember: Your work can never be finished.

---TDM

Boring Stuff

2005-06-23T13:03:00.000-04:00

So, summer vacation has officially started (I wonder who makes it official...). I'm just hanging around, playing video games, computer games, trying to figure out how to use these weird music writing programs, and such. I know I should really be writing my books, but I'm just...lazy.

And just so you know in advance, between July 3 and August 13, I will be far away (on my vacation). I might be able to access a computer occasionally, but don't expect me to update here. I will be back after then, so don't worry too much.

My AI language API project isn't moving along very well. I sorta don't know what I'm doing. There is a lot involved, with getting the computer to understand a sentence, and having the computer generate a response. [Memory is a whole 'nother deal.]

I'm gonna go be unproductive for the rest of the day.

Until next time, remember: All play and no work and you might not earn decent wages.

---TDM

A New Tune

2005-06-08T15:40:00.000-04:00

First piece of news today: my site has moved (once again) to http://www.sitesled.com/members/thedarkman/index.html. Go ahead and check it out. It has some of my songs and magic cards, and perhaps I'll put other stuff up there.

Furthermore, one song that I added is new: "Echoes of Civilization", a new dual song created with Punk-o-Matic.

And in programming: Nothing. I haven't done anything halfway decent since last time. I should get on that right now. (Nah...)

I am working on some non-POM songs, but none of them are ready yet for posting. I'll let you know.
So that's all for now...

Until next time, remember: If you put your mind to it, anything is possible.

---TDM

Work is Play...

2005-05-22T12:06:00.000-04:00

...and play is work. I really want to finish my AI language API, but I keep thinking up new problems that I need to solve regarding the computer's interpretation of an entered sentence, and I haven't actually done any work on the computer itself.

I've decided to start taking private viola lessons again. Hopefully it'll be good.

I'm still writing music, though I still need a better program. I'm going to put up the one I've already done on my website, once I get a better site. I'm trying to get a site on sitesled.com, but I keep encountering problems when I sign up.

I signed up again for AIM, so now I can chat with people who want to chat with me...but no one knows it yet...

Nothing else...

Until next time, remember: A villain cannot exist without a hero. A hero cannot exist without a villain. The forces of good and evil are always in balance.

---TDM

The Hassle

2005-05-15T15:10:00.000-04:00

I know it's been a while since I last posted...I kinda hoped this problem would have been solved by now...but I guess not. (I figured out what was the problem with my computer...turns out it's the place on Blogger where I write my post.) Right now I'm typing this up in Notepad so I can do it quickly.

I haven't done much work on any programming...maybe I'll get to work on that later. What I've been doing is composing music. The only thing is...I don't have a very good program for it. One program allows me to print it, but with shorter notes (like 16th notes), I get one measure per line and 4 lines on a page. It also gives me a hassle when I try to make notes of odd lengths (like a dotted whole note). My other program tends not to play the song back correctly, and though I can fit the whole song on 3 pages (and not 7 with the other), it repeatedly obscures parts of the song with the message that it's a sample printout from an unregistered version of the program.

There haven't been any important world events recently for me to harp upon...that I pay attention to, anyway.

Saviors prerelease this Saturday...I hope I do better than before. 4-0 would be nice...nicer than 3-1.

Until next time, remember: The problem contains the solution.

---TDM

The Age of Unsatisfaction

2005-05-01T08:49:00.000-04:00

We live today in the Age of Unsatisfaction. People are not happy with themselves as they are, and so they seek to change themselves, to hide behind an illusion. Whether it's their eye or hair color that they're changing, or they wish to remove part of their body through liposuction or surgery, they believe that these changes are good. But what we are really doing is destroying ourselves, choosing to wear masks instead of showing the faces we believe are horribly disfigured. We think so low of our current state that we are always thinking of ways to improve ourselves, often at the cost of others. But there's beauty in nature, and as we have learned to appreciate that beauty, so must we learn to appreciate our own beauty, without resorting to artificial means to inducing change in our bodies.

It is now time to remove our masks and proudly display our individuality instead of conforming to the accepted social norm.

Until next time, remember: What we are and what we are not are the exact same thing.

---TDM

A New Way

2005-04-26T15:19:00.000-04:00

So, Evil-Dog has finally released a new song! Join me in celebrating by listening to it. It's available at http://www.evildog.type-cast.com, and it's called "A Darker Soul". It's sweet!

I've been working on my own music for a while now, but I don't think I'll be finished very soon. Besides, the program I'm using is a 35-day trial, and I don't really want to pay the money to register it too soon, before I really know what I want to do (there are some areas of the program that I wish could be improved).

This Ad-Watch program on my computer is really sapping my speed (like an adware program would do...hmm...). Just here, though, so I'll have to check my settings.

Until next time, remember: Just keep your cool, and you won't have to adjust the thermostat too often.

---TDM

News for Nothing

2005-04-22T17:20:00.000-04:00

Hello again, random people who read this publication regularly (yes, both of you).

It has been a long time since I've done any actual work on any of my projects, but recently I got a program that allows me to write music, so I'll be doing some of that. Other than that, there really isn't anything new on this end.

If I ever get something good done, maybe I'll put it on my other site (at the top). Check it out occasionally. There's some music there already.

There seems to be something wrong with my computer, so I'll have to end here.

Until next time, remember: The future becomes what you will it.

---TDM

Further Along

2005-04-08T16:49:00.000-04:00

I've ceased work on the cards API, primarily because I finished it. I did a version of Solitaire called Klondike as a card game, but I didn't program in how to display it and play it (the GUI is what I left out). I didn't feel like doing that just yet...

So instead I've been working on a language API, for a future artificial intelligence. My goal is to have the computer string together words to form sentences, in response to things I say to it. Right now I'm just doing the basis of languages, the parts of speech. More later if anything develops.

There really isn't anything else to report quite yet on my front...

And the Pope is dead! I can understand why so many people are sad, distraught, and considering who to elect as the next Pope, but he's a religious figure! Why is every flag I see at public institutions lowered to half-mast, signaling that the state (meaning: government) is mourning? Whatever happened to the separation of church and state? If the president is shot (like JFK), then sure, by all means, lower the flag. If planes are hijacked and crash into the World Trade Center, killing lots of people, then yes, you may lower the flag. But the Pope is not affiliated with the USA, so the flag should not be lowered as such.

And why the heck does the president want to attend his funeral?

This is why people were afraid of electing a Catholic president: they thought America would become an instrument of the Church. Well, good ol' George Dubya Bush has made that all possible now. After all, all elections are based primarily on religious morals, and the attempt to interfere with Terri Schiavo proves it. Now, Bush is making decisions based on his religion, which is clearly against our Constitution. He has cut stem cell research, and is attempting to outlaw abortion and take away the rights of homo/bisexual human beings, because his religion forbids such practices, while all Christians believe in the saying:

"Love thy neighbor as thyself."

Isn't it interesting how Americans interpret this as "Love thy neighbor, who is like thyself, as thyself"? You exclude other human beings, saying that they are not human, or less than human. You discriminate against any not like yourself. This is why there were so many Civil Rights movements that still are around, because you still deny people rights. And you seek to deny even more rights to people who are not like you?! This is all I have to say to you:

You are the root of social injustice.

Until next time, remember: "All animals are equal, though some are more equal than others."--George Orwell, Animal Farm

---TDM

Nothing Really

2005-03-29T10:41:00.000-05:00

Almost finished with Solitaire. Just gotta make the GUI.

I read in Wired magazine the other day a strange definition: narcipost - "a shamelessy egocentric blog post that's of little interest to anyone besides the person who posted it".

When I read that, I immediately knew that they were talking about me. So perhaps I should start writing more relevant material to the world. Like Terri Schiavo, the political stepstool. Or the tsunami from last December which...was in last December.

Or should I talk about government corruption, how church isn't really separated from state, the ever-ridiculable G.W. Bush, or how reality shows are all rigged? Like American Idol, how last week they took a revote because the results didn't match well enough with the one they wanted.
To me, though, all these topics are dead. They're not really relevant to my life, because they don't affect me as much as they affect the people who love to argue their larynx out over it. I suppose the only things in this vein I could take an interest in are television show depicting smart people. To name a few: The Pretender, John Doe, and NUMB3RS.

The Pretender used to be on NBC, as a living show (as in they made new episodes). A few years ago it moved to HBO and since I didn't have cable then, I couldn't watch it anymore. Then it got canceled. John Doe was on FOX two years ago. It ran one whole season, and the last episode (dubbed the "season finale") was a major cliffhanger. But it didn't come back for another season. (NUMB3RS is still running, but probably because it's primarily a crime investigation show, and adds the mathematical genius as a side order.)

These canceled smart people shows and the fresh crop of dumb reality shows and half-baked, short-lived attempts at sitcoms (FOX has a few new ones which sound really stupid) just go to show that syndicates believe that "smart" shows don't attract viewers, but "stupid" shows are quite popular. I say that's prejudice! If stupid people want to watch other stupid people, then so be it! But smart people want to see other smart people! We don't want to feel alone, like everyone else on the planet is stupid beyond reason (although most people are). Why must you segregate intelligence as if it implies inferiority? (although the opposite is more true)

The problem, as I see it, is that kids are taught from a young age that each person is different. Then we say to them: "Treat everybody equally." (There really is a lot of hypocrisy in the education system.) It's self-perpetuating, because if one person does it, then he/she would probably teach his/her kids to do it, too (whether intentionally or subconsciously). There doesn't seem to be a way to eliminate prejudice completely.

As a society, we need to advance greatly. The problem is that people don't like change. (That's why everybody pays using bills. Ka-ching!) Take Bush for example. He's against stem-cell research, which could very well provide great advances in medicine and science. This kind of research is a harbinger of change. If we ever find what we're looking for in stem-cell research, you can bet your ass that there'll be some changes. (Donate a kidney without having surgery.)

Then there's me. Yes, in some way, I, too, oppose change. Procrastination is a great sign of resistance to change. But that's not all. I'm not good at starting conversations. I can end them rather quickly, since I don't elaborate on my responses. I find myself unable to ask girls out, afraid of what that would entail. I can't even say anything regarding relationships to them. I'm afraid of the future, unsure that I'm heading in the right direction with my life, afraid to try new things. Many times I decide to change my character, my outlook, and yet I find myself regressing into the same patterns, the same routine. But change is necessary, and so I know I must press on, or I shall remain nothing. Perhaps one day I will be able to garner the courage to change something, but for now, I can do nothing.

---TDM

Thought for the Day

2005-03-22T16:03:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about 4-dimensional volume recently, mostly: What units would we use? My best guess is m⁴, like Volume is m³ and Area is m².

But I can't keep referring to it as 4-d volume, so I'll call it Occupation (on the basis that the four dimensions are length, depth, height, and duration), with a symbol of j (those truly keen will understand why). So:

j = l * d * h * t

But duration is measured in seconds, normally, so the equation above would get me units of m³-s (meter cubed-seconds). I certainly can't leave it like that! If I wanted to know the surface area of a table that was 20 inches long and .5 meters wide, I certainly wouldn't say that the area was 10 meter-inches. I would convert either the 20 in to meters, or the .5 m to inches. So I should change the units of j so that it is simply m⁴, and that leads to this question:

How many meters are in a second?

If the answer to this question was known, then one could find the Occupation of an object, when one knows its volume and duration.

Some people might say that the velocity of the object answers the question. But velocity is variable; the answer to the question should be a constant, like how many meters are in a mile (approx. 1619 meters in a mile).

Until next time, remember: Think on tangents--you'll go farther than those who stay with the curve.

---TDM

Mr Fascinating

2005-03-16T15:49:00.000-05:00

I haven't actually been programming my maze stuff yet, sorry to disappoint you. I have been working on the Cards API, though, but I think eventually I should try to start the maze thing.

Only problem is...in order to fully convey my vision of these mazes, I would need the java 3-d API, which isn't finished yet (plus I would need to understand it). I think I would need to take more classes...maybe an animation course sometime in the future would help.

If I could use Flash...but I don't know how...

Well...I've been writing, too, but I have very little to show for that.

...yeah...

Nothing further.

Until next time, remember: The future may be promising, but if you don't keep your promises, neither will the future.

---TDM

Yes, again

2005-03-11T16:31:00.000-05:00

I'm so proud of myself. Today I was inspired. I came up with a new joke. All on my own.

And it's funny, too. (sorta) (at least it's better than the other ones I've tried to pass off as funny.)

Here goes:

The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) is just one of many groups of people that oppose capital punishment. (You know, the death penalty.) They organize protests at various places, like the White House or maybe even actual judicial courts, saying things like "No More Capital Punishment".

Anyway, one day the central organization of the ACLU fires the chairperson of a local chapter. Of course, the people in that chapter are upset, because they really liked the guy. They decide to peacefully protest his dismission, and argue to reinstate him. They even go to the headquarters of the ACLU and protest waving signs about. What do the signs say?

"Bring Back The Chair"!

Well, that's all I have for today. Join me next week, when I do something I haven't done since...I last posted...(here's a hint: nah I don't feel like giving you a hint)

Until next time, remember: Never say "always"--Always say "never".

---TDM

More of the Same

2005-03-07T16:07:00.000-05:00

So I've been working on the Cards API for awhile now, but it's kinda difficult to see what I really should do...I feel like abandoning this project and working on a game for my mazes. (They're really strange mazes.)

That brings my total of Java projects to 4: 4 total, and 0 finished.

Wow, I'm lazy. But that's life. Maybe later.

Until next time, remember: Humanity naturally resists change, but not just us; Sir Isaac Newton discovered that all particles in the universe have inertia (the noun meaning "resists change").

---TDM

Ideal Ideas

2005-02-28T12:41:00.000-05:00

Well, I still haven't done much work on Chess, only a bit on Cards.

I got this great idea for a real AI: make speech objects (like Word, Verb, Adjective, Sentence, DirectObject, IndirectObject, Preposition, etc.) I could program the rules for building a sentence into the AI, and teach the computer how to speak English! This could be a lot more work than I've ever done, but if it works, it'll certainly pay off! (Maybe I could an open-source project on java.net!)

I'm getting excited by one of my ideas again, so now I have to go work.

Until next time, remember: An ideal idea is something every thinker strives for. It is an idea that can be imagined and realized independently of the time period in which it is thought up.

---TDM

Cubed

2005-02-23T15:57:00.000-05:00

I'm busy trying to solve Rubik's cube. I'm so close...

Anyway, a while ago I saw one of my friends had a "Rubik's pyramid"--I'm not sure of the actual name. If anyone knows where I can get one, be sure to let me know via a comment. (I might google it later, too.)

Haven't done any work worth mentioning here. So I will sign off here.

Until next time, remember: Less, though it may be worth more, tends to cost more.

---TDM

What a Day[s]

2005-02-21T16:00:00.000-05:00

It says I haven't posted since last week...I thought I did...

Anyway, no progress on Chess since last time. I have instead been working on the card project I was telling about before (and is mentioned on my home site, which I'm sure none of you have seen yet (click the link at the top (What? You're lazy? Fine. Here's another link. ))).

I finished my Italian skit, and just in time; it's due tomorrow. My topic? (Did I already tell you this?) Well, I was having such a hard time coming up with an idea that I did a skit on that. In my skit, I'm an Italian student who can't come up with an idea for his Italian skit, until he gets an idea to do a skit based on an Italian student who can't come up with an idea for his Italian skit, until he gets an idea to do a skit based on an Italian student who can't come up with an idea for his Italian skit, until he gets an idea to do a skit based on an Italian student....etc....infinitely...

Sounds like fun, huh? The best part is: I only have to film each scene once! and I just record it multiple times on the VHS tape I have to submit it on.

And I've finally arrived at a decision to not attend SIG this year as I have done for the past 4 years. For those of you who knew me at SIG and somehow found this site and figured out who I am, sorry I won't see you again this summer. :P

Nothing else happening.

Until next time, remember: If you wait until the last minute on a big project, you'd better hope it's a looooooooooooonnnnnnnng minute.

---TDM

Much Clamor About Nothing

2005-02-14T17:09:00.000-05:00

What are Mondays for, huh?

Anyways, I have done absolutely nothing as far as programming or writing for some time now. i suppose I really should, but I just can't seem to find the time, energy, or impetus to do any work.

Yeah, get this: instead of that, I'm composing music. Composing music?! I just had a new idea (er, inspiration) for a piano song (as most of them are, even though I play the viola). So now I'm up to...[counts on his fingers]...at least 18 different projects that are not finished (and might never be finished, at the rate I'm completing them): 5 fiction projects (one comprised of seven novels), about 10 pieces of music (which I could ostensibly merge into one viola/piano piece (which I might actually do), and 2 programming projects, not to mention all the other ideas I have floating around in my head on or the quadrillions of pieces of paper I've written on and kept somewhere around here.

I'm just so tired all the time...I guess being depressed is exhausting.

Until next time, remember: Expand your horizons, but don't spread yourself too thinly.

---TDM

Excess Information

2005-02-11T15:35:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long delay. My net service went down and it was such a difficult task to bring it back up. It finally got fixed on Wednesday, but I was too busy then and yesterday to post.

So, on Chess: I believe I have finished the AI, including the promotion logic (although there seems to be a problem with the AI choosing a new piece). There may not be enough files for all the board states. There tend to be other problems during running, but I can't recall all of them. If I have two AIs face each other, the GUI won't update until the game is over or a break occurs. (And the AI is so stupid that almost all games against itself are stalemates.)

I've got a lot more work to do.

And for my Italian skit, I've finally come up with an idea: in my skit, I have to do a skit for Italian, but I can't come up with any ideas. Eventually I get an idea--this very idea! (and it repeats for infinity...)

Yeah...

That's all I have to say for today.

Until next time, remember: Interruptions will distract you from your work, and distractions will interrupt your progress.

---TDM

Advancements

2005-01-30T16:56:00.000-05:00

Last night I saw The Phantom of the Opera (the movie). It was a great movie--I highly recommend it to anybody. It really made me reflect on myself. The ironic thing is that I never saw Phantom in any form before last night, and yet I knew the story as if I had told it myself. (Well, at least the basic, underlying concepts.) In my imagination, a long time ago, I had created a character (actually several characters) that did many things similar to the Phantom--making grandiose appearances, lurking in the shadows and secret lairs, being very mysterious, threatening, and evil, etc. These character were very similar to the Phantom, except for the mask and costume and general background. The similarities lay in their actions. These characters had many different names. One of them was The Dark Man (more recent than my original villain, who I will not name here).

Well, anyway, I've got an idea for the Chess AI that might work--I'll use one file as a "map"to point out the other files--one of each possible board state. Those files contain the required information for the move (other than the board state).

Um...there's not really anything else to explain...

Just a quick anecdote: as I was leaving the theater last night, I checked to make sure I had everything. My mental checklist sounded somewhat like this: "Wallet--check, notepad and pen--check, left glove--check, right glove--check, hat--check, sanity--(well...checking for that would take much too long...maybe later...besides, if I don't have it now, I probably didn't have it when I came in, anyway)." That's right. Sanity is a sneaky little devil.

Until next time, remember: Be suspicious of all sane people; they are firmly planted in the present, never looking forward, never looking back.

---TDM

Recession

2005-01-27T15:09:00.000-05:00

I've done absolutely nothing for the past few days. No Chess work, no writing (well, not much). I've just been playing games and surfing the web.

I got a book on Ruby (programming language) out of the library. Maybe I'll try to learn that. It'll be better if I know many languages.

I really have nothing more to add. Maybe by the next time I post I'll have done something I can tell you about.

Until next time, remember: Doing nothing accomplishes nothing.

---TDM

Victory is Mine!

2005-01-23T14:53:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm back from the prerelease. I had a great build, with an Oyobi, Iwamuri, Keiga, and Disrupting Shoal. I played green, white, and blue, and did well enough to come away with 5 prize packs of Betrayers. I lost only one match. My deck was powerful enough that getting Oyobi out was practically a victory condition in itself.

I know most of you probably don't have experience with Magic, or know the least bit about what I'm talking about, so I'll just leave it at that.

Well, no major progress on the AI problem yet. I haven't really done any work for awhile, though I did do some work on the original novels I had. I'm going to continue working on that for now.

Nothing else...

Until next time, remember: Never try. Accomplish.

---TDM

To Excesses

2005-01-21T15:45:00.000-05:00

The main problem I'm facing right now is how to make the AI memory file work. Right now I'm using a single RandomAccessFile to hold all the data, but the data may have varying lengths (in reference to the state of the Board before the move, and games won, lost, stalemated using the move) and if I have to update a move, I might overwrite part of another and corrupt the file.

If I use Object Input and Output, the entire file will be rewritten after every game, and that may become extremely time-consuming when the AI gets experienced.

Alternately, I could do separate files: one for each player, or one for each possible state of the Board (which would be a lot of files). But then the same questions arise... Or: I make a different folder for each possible move (of each possible board state), and they contain the numerical data which I don't have to worry about (ints are always 32-bit). What should I do?

Until next time, remember: Answers exist, even to the unanswerable questions.

---TDM

The Solution

2005-01-19T17:38:00.000-05:00

I think I've found the problem with the AI: somehow it thinks that its pieces don't belong to it (or they really don't!). I'm not sure why, but I believe it's because of some places that check for players specifically. Since the AI variable is different from the Players, I need to rewrite some areas to include the AI objects.

...And that's it, really. See ya later.

Until next time, remember: wrong= not right. not right=left. Therefore left=wrong? Therefore you should only make right turns onto streets you don't know.

---TDM

Specially Revised!

2005-01-18T17:01:00.000-05:00

I finished the AI enough for testing. I remember reading somewhere, somebody was looking forward to the day when a human Chess player would make his/her first move, and the computer he was playing against would calculate furiously, and finally print "I resign."

Well, I got that. I move my King's Pawn one space forward, and immediately I get a message that "Black has resigned." Except in this case, the AI is incorrectly judging that all its moves are illegal. (My debugging code set up so far reveals that (2,-1) is "not on Board"). I'm looking into the problem now.

And I relaunched my site onto Angelfire, and now it is possible to download the songs I wrote on Punk-o-Matic. However, each song is about 1.83 megabytes, and I'm only allowed 20 MB of storage, so I can only have 10 songs on there at a time. Eventually, I'll start looking again for another provider so that I can post more. You can reach my site by clicking the link at the top of the page.

And that's all the news for this update!

Until next time, remember: Change is a good thing, except when it's bad.

---TDM

Workmanship

2005-01-17T10:14:00.000-05:00

Well, my Internet service went down on Friday, so I was cut off from the rest of the world for the weekend. Luckily they fixed it so I can surf and post again.

There was one good thing about it, though. I was able to get much work done on Chess, since I didn't have the Net to distract me from my work. I still have more to do, but it's moving along now. I should work on that today, too.

I finished as much as I could on that short story, but I'm still not satisfied with it. It still needs more work to balance it out, and that'll be just the first draft. I'll set it aside and return to something else. I've got more ideas, but I know I should finish one of them first. (I've a running total of 11 ideas/possible novels--and that's not counting the short story!)

And Betrayers prerelease is on Saturday. I think I already told you that.

So until next time, remember: The man who journeys seeks the end, while the man who has found the end seeks the journey.

---TDM

All that Is is Not

2005-01-12T15:50:00.000-05:00

The week passes by so slowly...

I still haven't come up with any good ideas for my skit...

The only thing I'm actually getting done is the writing of my short story. And even that...is a long way from finished.

Chess is not a priority at this point. Perhaps when more time is available, I could work on it.

In other news, Betrayers prerelease is coming up next week. If you happen to be going to the same one as I am (but I won't tell you for security purposes), then I might see you there.

I finished reading Timeline by Michael Crichton a few days ago, and it was really cool. But the ending made me shiver a bit, because it's kinda sad. Nowhere near as sad as Stephen King's short story "The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet" (which can be found in Skeleton Crew), though.

So...

Until next time, remember: The reciprocal of 0 is infinity, and the reciprocal of infinity is 0.

---TDM

Ingenuity?

2005-01-10T17:02:00.000-05:00

Well, nix on the short story thing...my teacher says I can't do that...I have to do something original. I'll just have to figure something else out...

And I have an essay to write for Wednesday (I don't have any time tomorrow to do it), called "How to Procrastinate". Guess I gotta get moving on it.

And the short story itself? I'll get around to that later.

Until next time, remember: Don't do today what you can put off till tomorrow.

---TDM

A New Story

2005-01-09T10:42:00.000-05:00

This morning I woke up with a great idea for a short story, but it was about 6:30, so I wanted to go back to sleep. I was afraid I'd forget the idea, but if I got up to write it I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep.

I lay in bed for a while, thinking about the story, and since I wasn't going to sleep, I sat up (it was about 6:50 at that point), and I began writing it. I finished it at about 9:00.

I've still got some editing to do on it before I can submit it for publication somewhere (maybe I'll have it copyrighted first...), but still...I actually finished something!

I like it so much that maybe I'll translate it to Italian and read it for my skit. The only problem is the names in the story. Some of them are the same as people in my class, and I might feel uncomfortable saying those names. (I'm afraid they might think that I'm talking about them.) I suppose if I don't get a clear answer anytime soon, I'll just have to flip a coin.

I did get some work done on the Chess AI, but it's a long way from finished. At least it's in motion.

Well, that's all for now.

Until next time, May your goals be within reach.

---TDM

Better Left Unsaid

2005-01-07T15:06:00.000-05:00

Hello again! Well, we've made it through another week in mostly one piece. I have to do a skit for Italian (in Italian, obviously), and it seems that I'll be working alone again. I've been racking my brain for ideas, and the few I've come up so far that have a single role don't really pan out well (I can't come up with a good ending).

The only good idea I've had so far--to do the Parrot Sketch from Monty Python in Italian--requires two people, besides the fact that I didn't write it.

I had hoped to do something serious, but I can't think of anything! I may have to go with comedy, but the problem is that I'm the most advanced student in my class (probably my grade, but I don't want to brag that much), and it's likely that most of the humor will be lost on them.

I tried writing out one of my ideas--it turned into an idea for a novel. (I may even be able to work it into the one I'm currently working on...)

I think I should stick to Java and writing novels. One-man skits...not good.

So far I think the writing's going really well. Whenever I start a section, I just write. The ideas come as I write, or before, and it just flows onto the paper.

Sometimes it works here, too.

Have a nice weekend, everybody.

Until next time, remember: What you put into your writing is what the readers will get out of it.

---TDM

Greatness

2005-01-03T16:31:00.000-05:00

Completely bored today.

Maybe I should work more on the Chess AI, but the games call to me...Some other time, then.

...Not really anything else that's new.

Until next time, remember:

---TDM

Break's Almost Over

2004-12-31T11:24:00.000-05:00

...And soon we will have to return to the glorious monotony of daily life.

I suppose then I should do more work on Chess's AI. I guess I will.

I've been making progress on the one novel I talked about earlier...I'm also reading some nonfiction books on writing, to get a better understanding of what I should do. Most of them say it should take me maybe a month or three to finish the first draft of a novel...that it's best to do it quickly before the idea(s) evaporate. Well, get this: One of my books (the first one I decided to write) I started 3 years ago (summer 2001) and I still haven't gotten very far in it! Talk about procrastination!

But now I'm working on my current novel on a completely different subject...and I want to finish this one first.

I'll keep you updated if I can.

Until next time, remember: Imagination is the key to invention.

---TDM

Artificiality

2004-12-27T11:35:00.000-05:00

I've been working a little on the AI and I think it's going pretty well. There's still plenty of work to be done, but it's getting done (albeit slowly).

And when I finish Chess, I begin work on card games. There's only one problem with the card games, and that's how to play them so the other players don't see your cards (like over a LAN or internet connection). I'll have to figure that out, but later.

No more news for now.

Until next time, remember: Problems are just manifestations of solutions in a particular plane of thinking. Switch to another plane of thinking to see the solution.

---TDM

ANGER

2004-12-22T16:14:00.000-05:00

Well, the holiday is coming. It's reflected in every person I see in school. Plus the "last ___ of the year" crap people were saying every 5 minutes today. Well guess what people?

It doesn't f***ing matter!

Here's the way I see it: The period of time between Dec. 31 @ 11:59 PM and Jan. 1 @ 12:00 AM is the same amount of time between July 3 @ 10:27 AM and July 3 @ 10:28 AM. But you don't see people celebrating the new year on July 3 at 10:28 in the morning, do you?

The new year is not a significant event! There is no difference between the change in 12/31 and 1/1 except the year number, which is primarily for recording purposes! One person I told that I don't believe in New Year's today said, "Would you celebrate birthdays, then?"

Birthdays are significant events because that was the time however many years ago that you were born. However, the Earth was not born on January 1. The human god you Christians bow down to was also not born on January 1. (so why don't you celebrate the new year on Dec 25, huh?) [Now, for someone born on Jan. 1, fine, celebrate, but unless I know you, I don't give a rat's ass.]

And if we actually wanted to place New Year's on an important date, why not at the beginning of spring? And why does the school year start in September? (Ironically, that's when the Jewish New Year begins).

We have too many new years, for one. Jewish New Year, Chinese New Year, secular new year, new school year, tax season, baseball season, football season, and so many more my head might explode if I try thinking of any more!

My view: As a whole, humanity cannot progress if we continue like this. There are too many languages, too many religions, too many governments, too many beliefs, too many ideals, too many borders, too many stupid people who believe that change means death! Well, hear this: Monotony can kill!

If we just wait around, avoiding change as much as possible, we will die out. We will become extinct, and it will have been because of boredom! Remember that next time you retreat into the safety of your routine.

Until we can unite as a species under a single government and language and without the prejudices of religion, we cannot move forward.

Remember that.

---TDM

I Don't Know Why

2004-12-20T16:40:00.000-05:00

This is very strange. Very strange indeed. After fooling around with my calculator that allows me to do .5!, I discovered:

.5! = .5 * (-.5)!

and (this is the kicker)

(-.5)! = square root of PI.

Yep. (-.5)!(-.5)! = 3.14159265358979...

I wish I could explain why this is true, but I can't. Perhaps this man can.

The Gamma Function

I hope that clears some things up. I'm still partially confused.

Anyway...gonna work on AI.

Until next time, remember: May the sqrt(PI) be with you.

---TDM

Time Lag

2004-12-19T13:20:00.000-05:00

I beat Myst IV: Revelation on Friday. Great game. Loved the ending. You should try it, but if you haven't played the first 3 (not Uru, that comes after Revelation, technically), you should do so first.

Now I'm playing Uru: The Path of the Shell. Had to start over from the beginning because of a computer crash much earlier this year. Ended up erasing the entire hard drive. I hadn't backed up my progress beforehand (stupid!) so I lost it all. It's alright to do it again.

I don't remember anything else that I intended to say on Friday. I just got a router and installed it, but for some reason I couldn't access the Net that day. Obviously, the problem has been solved.

Over the break, I have to do a book report on any book I've read so far this year. I think I'll do Richard Bachman's The Long Walk. (Bachman is Stephen King's old penname).

Sooner or later, I'm going to begin working on my Chess AI. My novel's on the back burner.

But I did read King's On Writing not so long ago. It told me to set writing goals for myself. So for a short while, I began writing one hour a day, before I slept. I got a little bit done on a novel I had not originally planned on doing. But I haven't done that for a little while. Maybe I'll start it up again.

Hell, maybe I'll do a blog novel. I've seen little remarks about that all over Blogger, but I've always said that I'd rather it (my novel) remain a complete secret until publication. (That way, it's more a surprise for the reader.
(Ironically, writing the above paragraph just convinced me not to do it. Oh well.)

Last night, I was thinking about factorials. For some reason, my calculator (TI 83 Plus) allows me to do (1/2)! (one-half factorial), which it tells me is equal to .8862269255... Since 0! and 1! both equal 1, I thought, "Well, maybe you can graph factorials as a quadratic function." So I went through the rigors of finding that equation.

I know: y = a(x-h)(x-h) + k
I assume: y = x!
Vertex is (.5, .886226). Other points are (0,1), (1,1), (2,2), and (3,6)

The equation is y = a(x-.5)(x-.5) + .886226
When I use the point (1,1), I get
a = 4(1-.886226) = 4*.11377 = .45509
When I use the point (0,1), I get the same value for a.
But when I use (2,2) to verify, a becomes:
a = (2-.886226)/2.25 = 1.11377/2.25 = .49501
Using (3,6):
a = (6-.886226)/6.25 = 5.11377/6.25 = .8522955

I continue to try to solve by saying "the a's should be equal in all cases", therefore:
4(1-.5!) = (2-.5!)/2.25
If I said .5! was a variable f, then I find that:
4(1-f) = (2-f)/2.25
4-4f = 4.5-2.25f
-.5 = 1.75f
f = -1/7
which is clearly not .5!
So I just proved that factorials cannot be graphed using a quadratic function.

Sorry to have wasted your time.

Until next time, remember: Uselessness = Usefulness = .5!

---TDM

To paradox or to single-dox

2004-12-15T15:27:00.000-05:00

It's time for a really random post.

Take a look at this sentence: This sentence is a paradox.

Now think about it. The sentence says that it's a paradox, meaning it contradicts itself. However, there is no contradiction in that sentence. Therefore, it's not a paradox.

But it says it is, so it's contadicting itself, so it is a paradox.

Now check this: This sentence has sofa six words.

Yes, there is a random word inside the sentence that shouldn't be there, but without it, the statement is false.

The following statement is true.
The previous statement is false.

This is a classic. If the first is true, then the second is true, but then the first is false, making the second false, in which case the first is true...

How about this? This sentence is false.

If true, it's false, so it's true, therefore it's false...

"The man said he always lied, but it turned out he was lying."

...And other Math.random() instances of random logic confusions.

Until next time, remember: Don't remember what isn't forgotten.

---TDM

Just some Strange Thoughts

2004-12-13T16:28:00.000-05:00

I sneezed today, and it got me thinking on allergies. I said to myself, "What would happen if a person were allergic to sneezes?"

I believe the answer is that they would sneeze repeatedly, until they go unconscious or their heart stops.

Secondly, I was reading a book called Hyperspace, by Michio Kaku, and I was thinking about a tesseract (a regular polygon of 4 dimensions). I thought about a cube, the regular 3-d polygon, and wondered how to find the area of a tesseract. (That was easy; it's w*x*y*z). Then I wondered how one could find the [I don't know what to call it] of a 4-d spherical object. I'm still trying to figure out why the volume of a sphere is 4/3 (Pi) r*r, and not something like 2.

Anyway, I know this much: a Cube, 3-d. On each side is a square, 2-d. On each side of that square is a line, 1-d. At each point on that line is a point, 0-d.
Therefore: a tesseract, 4-d. On each side of the tesseract is a cube, 3-d. And so on...

That's all for today. I welcome your comments

Until next time, remember: Fun has infinite dimensions.

---TDM

Yesterday, after Tomorrow

2004-12-10T15:12:00.000-05:00

I must say, it's a very interesting feeling to have multiple look at you like you're insane. I said "HI" to a few people today, except not in English. In binary.

"01001000 01001001!"

Yeah, I guess I'm crazy. But then again, I have nothing better to say here right now today.

I hope you all enjoy your week-end more than I will. I still have work left to be done on Chess, but that'll be awhile before I'm willing to break from the new computer games I have to work on it.

And for my novel...I just finished reading Stephen King's book On Writing, and it provided some good pointers for writing, so I'll be working just a little bit everyday on various stories (not necessarily the novels, though).

And that's all for today.

"01000010 01011001 01000101!" ("BYE")

Until next time, remember: It's a helluva lot easier to speak in hexadecimal than binary, believe me.

---TDM

Not Unwise

2004-12-09T15:34:00.000-05:00

Someone said to me today, "You have too much time on your hands." This was in response to the following thing I did with my free time recently: I wrote "HAPPY HANUKKAH" in binary (yes, it's all caps). Check it out (I included spaces to ease your eyes):

01001000 01000001 01010000 01010000 01011001 00100000 01001000 01000001 01001110 01010101 01001011 01001011 01000001 01001000

That is quite a mouthful, however, so I shortened it to hexadecimal. Now it reads:

48415050592048414E554B4B4148

So, as you can see, that person had a very good reason for what he/she/it/they said.

...And the Adventures of The Dark Man continued!

Check this: When you have a velocity of 0, it means you're not going anywhere, or going nowhere. When your velocity increases by factors of large numbers, it means you're going fast. Therefore, if my velocity is 207x (where x is some number), I'm going fast in relation to something travelling at a velocity of 1x. But if x is 0, then my velocity is 207 times 0, and I am going nowhere fast.

So until next time, remember: All's well that ends with some crazy, irrelevant quote.

---TDM

Something Something Nothing

2004-12-08T16:51:00.000-05:00

Okay, I signed up for the Java web community at java.net, but I haven't really had time to get started on anything, and it seems unlikely that I'll be doing a lot on the 3D project, because it requires Linux to test the thing, which, of course, I don't have. (figures!)

Not working on Chess today. Not working on my novel today. Today I play Myst IV: Revelation! I got it last night for Hanukkah! I love the Myst series, especially Myst III: Exile, which is one great game! If you have not tried any of the Myst series, I suggest you do. Get an anniversary edition or something, and start with Myst, then Riven...Exile, Revelation, and maybe somewhere get Uru...

But enough of me advertising (sorry about that)! I...um...have nothing else to say.

So until next time, remember: Life is that period of time between intervals of video game-playing.

---TDM

Happy Hanukkah!

2004-12-07T16:46:00.000-05:00

First of all, let me wish all of you a Happy Hanukkah! (Or Chanukah, or however you want to spell it...) It starts at sunset tonight, so all of us Jews get to receive our presents wayyy in advance of Christmas, and over a period of 8 days (so all the gifts don't go to our heads)!

Moreover, Hanukkah doesn't have annoying music that's played everywhere you go from October 31st to December 30th.

But anyway, Happy Holidays to all those who aren't lucky enough to have been born Jewish or sane enough to convert later (and my apologies to any I've offended).

If I ever can get downloading from my site to work, I'll put up the current form of my Chess program so you can take a good and see how great it is. (Really, though, it's not that great, it's just Chess, for cryin' out loud!) Sooner or later I'll work on the AI, but very likely it won't be for a while.

One last thing: You know how all the Operating Systems (you know, Windows, Mac OS _, UNIX, Linux, etc.) are all the same? They're all flat planes with 2-D windows. But that's boring. How about something in 3-D? Check out Project Looking Glass on the Java main site to see a preview of the first 3-D operating system. (I think it's really cool, and since it's open-source, I think I'll see if I could help out in any way)

Until next time, remember: You shouldn't be afraid to try new things. It should be the new things that are afraid of you.

---TDM

Creativity!

2004-12-06T17:39:00.000-05:00

I think I finally did it. I think I finally finished Chess. Except, of course, for the AI, so I'm not really finished, but the gameplay works, and the save/load function works, the pawns don't move backwards, and the Kings can't move next to each other.

It feels so good to finally be almost finished again. (um...)

Okay, never mind.

Moving on, I haven't really done very much on the novels, except for that general timeline I made on Thursday. I suppose I'll do some more work on it maybe on Wednesday.

That said, I think I'll go do something that might actually be semi-useful.

Until next time, remember: Those of us who know good and avoid it are bad. Those of use who know bad and do it anyway are worse. Those of us who don't know anything are, of course, unencumbered by the bounds of sanity.

---TDM

Restart

2004-12-05T09:51:00.000-05:00

I saw my brother in a play last night. He did very well. And just like any other play or movie, it got my imagination going again. Therefore, I have decided to dedicate today to working on my private projects Chess and the first novel.

As you've seen in my earlier posts, from time to time, I start getting lazy and unwilling to work too hard on my projects. Occasionally I will need to see a good movie or play to juice up my impetus and get me going again. Combined with my recent epiphanies about my life, I think it's a good idea. This is all I really have.

So I'll be working on Chess for a while here on this computer, and later I will move to the other computer (the one not connected to the Internet) and work on my novel.

I hope to finish Chess by June, but the novel may take a few more years. Plus, I don't plan to publish it immediately, either. I'm going to let it sit (while, of course, I write the rest) and then later I will reopen it and read it and make any last-minute changes before I submit it for review.

(This does seem like an awful lot of planning ahead for someone who so advocates procrastination, doesn't it?)

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got work to do.

Until next time, remember: Always write down ideas the moment you dream them up, even if you're not a writer, because a good idea will reward you for your moment of inspiration, if you wrote it down.

---TDM

Simple Complexities

2004-12-03T14:26:00.000-05:00

Once again, we have passed another week and reached another Friday. I don't plan to do anything at all over the weekend, but I'll probably do a few things. Maybe I'll even work on Chess.

But for now, I'm going to try again to see if I can get downloads to work on my site.

And, of course, I'll be playing lots of games. I still recommend the Punk-o-Matic.

Until next time, remember: Simple complexies render complex simplicities rather confusing. Like this.

---TDM

The Greatness of Nothing

2004-12-01T16:41:00.000-05:00

There are many reasons why I don't seem to be sane. It may have something to do with how quickly I can change the subject.

Progress made on Chess since yesterday: 0. Progress made on anything since yesterday: 0.

Ahhh, procrastinating. Such a great way to not get things done. But I'll tell you more about that later.

Actually, I don't have anything else for you right now.

Riddle of the day: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if I paid it $5,000? $10,000? A quarter?

Answer: None. But you'd have to question my sanity if I offered money to an animal.

Until next time, remember: Don't do today what you could put off till tomorrow.

---TDM

Bored Dumb

2004-11-30T17:36:00.000-05:00

Nothing new! I'm not going to work on Chess today. Probably not tomorrow either.

Actually, I do have something new. I came up with a killer idea for another novel. And I also came up with a way to tie it in with all my other novels. But I'm not going to give it out here...someone might steal it!

Maybe sometime later I might work on it, but I'm still trying to get the first one done.

Well, not really doing anything else.

So...until next time, remember: All great ideas come from other good ideas, not-so-good ideas, and even-worse-than-purple-ketchup ideas.

---TDM

Monday Slumday

2004-11-29T16:09:00.000-05:00

Well, it seems I made it through another Monday alive.

One thing, though: I was in Italian class today, and there's one word that I keep forgetting, so I have to look it up every time I see it. The word is sperare and it means "to hope". So I can quite literally say that "hope" is not in my vocabulary.

Chess, however, is another story. I've made significant progress on the loading section of the game, but it's still not fully functional yet. I suppose I could work on that today, but I might not. I'm not feeling particularly inspired today.

Here's a little word puzzle for you today.

Ph.D. Ph.D. Ph.D.
FREEZING

The answer: 3 degrees above freezing.

So, until next time, remember: Everything we do is a function of t, where t=time, and "do"="procrastinate".

---TDM

Crazy People

2004-11-28T09:53:00.000-05:00

Here's something interesting. Take a look at Artful Looter. As an Unhinged card, it contains several jokes that aren't always quite discernible. Here's what I've found so far:

Its ability is the same as that of Merfolk Looter and it is named "Artful Looter"
The painting it is stealing is the 7th Edition art of Merfolk Looter
The windows are broken but the door is open.
There is glass on the outside of the door, implying that the glass on the door was broken from the inside.

In the flavor text:

The date of the paper is "Thursday April 1". The next time April 1st falls on a Thursday is 2006. The last time was 2000. (The date of the art was '03)
The main headline "Priceless Pic Pilfered: Painting Found Abandoned in Graveyard" has alliteration (I don't know why), and the second line alludes to the discard portion of the ability.
A smaller headline "Merfolk Decry Wizards' Treatment". The "Wizards", as in Wizards of the Coast, decided to remove the Merfolk as the blue race in the Core Set starting with 8th Edition. So the Merfolk are upset.
The other small headline reads "Local Monster Goes AWOL: Police" and the rest is obscured. AWOL is another Unhinged card.

And that's all that I found.

Furthermore, Chess. I finished the "Save" portion of the program. But it's not worth anything if it can't be loaded, so I'm working on that now. Nothing else new.

Well, until next time, remember: Inside jokes are outside logic.

---TDM

Things you should be aware of

2004-11-26T13:27:00.000-05:00

I'm going to open this post by telling you how I'll open this post. There. I did it.

Moving on, the holidays are approaching fast. Well, not really. They're getting closer at a rate of 1 (1 second per second). Never mind.

Anyways, I'm making some more progress on that Chess program. I wrote a few more songs on Punk-o-Matic. And I tried to post some songs on my home page, but that still doesn't work. Grrr.

I really have nothing else to say.

Until next time, remember: Say what you will, but mean what you say.

---TDM

Some More Things

2004-11-25T09:31:00.000-05:00

Time for another riddle: You are a farmer. You have a tame wolf, a chicken, and a bag of feed at one side of your farm. It's starting to rain, so you have to bring them to your barn on the other side of the farm. However, you can only carry two things at a time. If you leave the chicken with the feed, it will eat it. If you leave the chicken with the wolf, the wolf will eat it. What do you do?

Sane answer: Take the chicken across the farm and leave it. Go back, then take the wolf and the feed to the barn.

However, by this time the rain has fallen and your feed is spoiled.

Not so sane (but much quicker) answer: Take the feed halfway across the farm, then turn back and pick up the wolf. Bring them to the barn, reach into the wolf's mouth, and pull the chicken out.

I don't know why I just posted that...kinda bored right now...

Until next time, remember: all great men start out "good".

---TDM

Stuff Done

2004-11-24T15:38:00.000-05:00

And hello again! I've been thinking about working on the save/load portion of my Chess program, but that involves using either the Serializable interface or something I have to come up with myself.

And here's my problem with the Serializable interface: the Board object stores references to its Pieces and each Piece object has a reference to the Board. The Player object stores references to its Pieces, and each Piece object has a reference to its Player.

I think I'll have to come up with my own way of encoding these objects. Using Serializable will probably be too much work.

And the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of making "invitations" to come either here or to my site...hmmm...

I think I should go work on my site right now.

Until next time, remember: All roads lead to mental institutions.

---TDM

Attack of the Killer...Somethings...

2004-11-23T16:52:00.000-05:00

Couldn't post yesterday because of some computer troubles. I believe they've abated, but who knows for sure?

In any case, I've been making some progress on my story, but it's nowhere near finished. And Chess...is on standby. Haven't checked back at my website for awhile, maybe they've fixed the problem by now.

And that Star Command problem...I don't think I can really fix it...but I'm getting to understand the data files! Except the serialization codes... So I'll just have to start over--but I'm keeping those files backed up! And I'll back up my new files frequently, too!

Then...

I don't really have anything else to say...

If you're bored, check this out: goto EvilDog's website and open up Punk-o-Matic. Click 'Load' and paste this into the window at the bottom (be sure to remove any spaces if you've copied them, too):

----3-------3---0---1-1---4--0---80---0---0-4-3---3---3---4-0---0---0---0---1---4-9--0---1---5-5-0--40---410---7--4---10---457-0---2---5-5-5-94--1---0---1---4---9494--c--3--03--03--0353-0-4-7-737-78-a-4-4a--3a4137-6-3--03--03--08-1--4-46-7-737-74843--0a--

Oh, yeah, it seems the post I made on Sunday didn't appear...figures...basically I was talking about how my weekend was horrible...I listed 3 bad things that happened. Maybe later I'll try to recreate it or something.

Until next time, remember: There are 3 types of people in this world: those who divide everything into two categories, those who don't, and dead people.

---TDM

Old Stuff, New Stuff, No Different

2004-11-19T16:16:00.000-05:00

Well, another week of school has gone by, and I'm not much better off.

I don't really feel like working on Chess today, so instead I think I'll work on my novel. After all, I believe that is much more important.

And the Unhinged release event is on Sunday for me. I hope to go have fun (and win, of course).

Not really anything else.

One thing I do want to ask your opinion of, though:

I have an idea to print out little pieces of paper maybe slightly larger than business card size, saying, "You're invited to The Dark Man's Journal at www.thedarkman.blogspot.com" or something similar. Just to increase the traffic on this site (considering only one person I actually know reads this s***).

Until next time, remember: What isn't a lie isn't necessarily true, either.

---TDM

Apathy

2004-11-17T16:43:00.000-05:00

Hey hey! It's Wednesday! That means absolutely nothing!

I may work on Chess later, but I might not.

One thing's for sure--today's a slow day. But I'm sure I can find something to do other than work...like a game...of Chess? Gaah! I keep coming back to that!

And apparently the Unhinged thing is on Sunday...but that's for another day (Sunday)!

Ah, well, if I can't find anything else to do, I'll work on more Punk-o-matic songs. Remember, they're located on EvilDog's web site.

Here's one of my songs as an mp3: Restless Dreams. (I'm just testing the link to see if it works, which it doesn't :P)

Till next time, remember: what doesn't work and never has probably just if missing a semicolon at the end of a line.

---TDM

Monday all over again

2004-11-15T16:59:00.000-05:00

Yep, another Monday. And it's 5:00 now, so I guess I'm not gonna get any work done (rationally).

However, I did finish most of my Chess game. I got the gameplay and the checkmate checking completed! Yay! All that's left:

Save/Load
AI
Icons, so you don't have to look at "WK" and guess whether it's a King or Knight (I should probably change that, too.)
Stalemate checking (though that shouldn't be too difficult, I guess)

Yup.

Till next time, remember: More or less, less is more.

---TDM

Great Ideas

2004-11-14T15:41:00.000-05:00

Some more progress on Chess has been made! Yay! Castling works now! I'm currently working on checking for checkmate.

I finished The Dark Tower late Friday night, and it was a great finish to the Dark Tower cycle. I highly recommend them all.

I suppose I really should say something else, but I got nothing.

Howzabout a riddle?

You have two coins totaling 55 cents. One of them is not a nickel. What are the coins?

Answer: The coin that is not a nickel is a half-dollar. The other is a nickel.

Till next time, remember: logical thinking means being as illogical as possible.

---TDM

Unfortunate Circumstances

2004-11-12T15:36:00.000-05:00

I've lost faith in most of mankind. I just finished reading a few articles on how Kerry and the Democrats are horribly anti-Semitic, and how Bush is good for the Jewish people and Israel. It disheartens me to learn that the party I had placed my hope in is so actively against me.

I will now retract what I said about Bush on Wednesday the 3rd, because it seems that Kerry fits the description more accurately. Now I don't know how to vote in the next presidential election, and I don't know how to decide, but now I'm in a quandary:

Democrats are anti-Semitic. Catholics (who voted mostly for Bush because of moral issues) don't care for the Jews.

(If you haven't guessed by now, I'm Jewish.)

I'm always afraid that something will happen to us--like a Holocaust sponsored by the US government, especially after that glorious anti-Semitic Mel Gibson movie came out (and all the Catholics watched it religiously, even sending their kids to see it through the schools).

*Sigh*....

Despite how many Jew-haters there are, despite the fact that they outnumber the two-hundredths of a percent of Americans that are Jewish, life goes on.

And I must continue with Chess.

Sorry for dragging you all through today's dirt. I'm just feeling particularly down today.

Oh yeah, I just read a great quote from Stephen King's "The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower":

"When I die, I want to go peacefully, in my sleep, like Grandpa Fred. Not screaming, like the passengers in his car."

Till next time, remember: ...ah, forget it.

---TDM

GRRR!!!!!

2004-11-11T17:17:00.000-05:00

I'm so pissed off. I can't get the site to work at all now. Even the link I put under my profile doesn't work.

I'm most likely going to abandon the web site. I can't get it to work as I had wanted. Turns out the web host isn't as great as it seems.

I'm removing the link on the right, but not the one in the post a few days back. I'm lazy that way. You can still visit the site, but it won't amount to much unless I can figure out how to solve all these problems that are occurring.

Till next time, remember: It's healthy to take out your anger on something every now and then (especially if you suffer from stress (Translation: especially if you live)).

---TDM

Piles of Boredom

2004-11-11T16:13:00.000-05:00

Here's a riddle for you:

You're out camping (somewhere). It gets really dark and you enter a cave for the night. You take out your flashlight--your batteries are dead. (Figures, huh?) You rummage through your pack, and you find a candle, a lantern, a road flare, and a log (for a fire?). Unfortunately you only have one match. Which do you light first?

(That's my attempt to recall that riddle from the last time I heard it.)

The answer will appear at the end of this post. Ponder the answer as you read.

Okay, I worked on Chess yesterday, and I worked on the site, (but it still doesn't work!!) and last night I realized that my life was headed absolutely nowhere so I decided I would either work on Chess or my novel instead of lounging all the time working on my site. But I'm such a lazy case that it probably won't really happen...for a while.

I don't have anything else for you at this time....

The answer to the riddle is....

"The match, of course!"

Till next time, remember: People are the leading cause of headaches ages 16-24.

---TDM

Loads of Nothing

2004-11-10T16:55:00.000-05:00

Computer crashed again, just before I logged in to post here. :(

First order of business, my website: I can't figure out how to post my mp3s on the site. If anyone knows the html code to do that, please respond here. I'm trying to fix the problem myself, too, but any other help will be appreciated. (Plus you'll get to hear my songs as I post them on my site.)

Secondly, Chess. Using a JFrame, I can intercept the exit when the user clicks on it through my "File" menu, but when the 'x' in the corner is clicked, I can't stop the closing (even by using a windowClosing listener). Again, help? please?

Third: Chess. It seems like castling is currently illegal ("You're under arrest for castling! You have the right to remain silent...Any piece you touch on your turn must be moved if possible.") and all other bugs I am chasing with a hammer. (Ain't that a pretty picture?)

Those of you who want to reply to this post, you have until I post again tomorrow. That's the deadline. Hopefully by then, someone (or me) will have solved the problems.

I have nothing more to say. I will update my web page as I can, but...I'm lazy! Deal with it!

---TDM

Website up!

2004-11-09T17:27:00.000-05:00

After a long time of fighting with FrontPage to publish my files, I finally give up and just upload the darn htm file.

You can view my web site at http://thedarkman.freelinuxhost.com. Don't forget to bookmark it!
I'll put it somewhere here, too...

And anyway, there's not really anything else to say right now. I'm going to work on my web page some more, but there's no real guarantee that anything will ever get done. (ha ha)

As for Chess, I'll work on that today if I have the time (again, no guarantees. I'm sorry, I know how much you all wanted to see that finished in your lifetimes...)

One last thing before I go: I've enabled any person (fictitious or real) to post comments here. So go ahead, but please don't abuse this. I can turn it off whenever I want to.

Till next time, remember: Program and let program.

---TDM