Monthly Archives: September 2006

Google Reader Gets Facelift

Google Reader, Google’s venture into an online feed aggregator got a facelift.  I kind of liked the old interface, but this one is better organized.  Once I get used to it I should be fine.  I love Google Reader, and if you don’t know what it is or what it does check out a previous blog of mine here.  I logged in a few hours before the change and logged back in to find to find Google Reader in its new state.  Most likely I was one of the first to know about it.  The reason I didn’t blog about it is because I didn’t feel like it.  Well, thought I’d keep you updated.  This is pretty general and shouldn’t be dragged out so see you later.

Cheers,

gamhawk

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Filed under Blogging, General, Google

The Downfall of Conventional Artificial Intelligence

I’ve recently had my interest in artificial intelligence re-sparked.  I also realized the downfall in conventional AI (which is basically now known as machine learning).  The problem with this approach (as opposed to computational intelligence) is that it isn’t very intelligent.  It’s basically a method of querying a database and showing you very nicely formatted set of results.  Or in the case of creative AI is generating random sequences of data based on pre-programmed rules or rules based on previously generated data.  Now I’m not saying the programs produced in these ways are bad, or inefficient, it just isn’t very intelligent.  I myself find it amusing to create a chatbot and give it so-called “emotions”, but this isn’t intelligence.  This is like I said, querying a database for nicely formatted responses.  There’s a huge difference.  I hope to continued my research on the mind and maybe create some true intelligence.  What will I do?  Who knows.  I’m not promising anything either, but this field is definitley of interest to me.

Cheers,

gamehawk

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Filed under Artificial Intelligence

Stickly

Today I made Stickly, it’s a fun little game in my opinion. Check out the new Creations page, it has the link to Stickly in it.

Here’s a screenshot:
Stickly Screenshot 2

That’s the first time I’ve ever used an image in a blog. Anyways, Stickly has a cool interface. It’s awesome. It looks like this:

Stickly Screenshot 1

Sweet isn’t it? Anyways, the game is a little aracade one with tiny graphics. You have to collect the coins and dodge bullets. You can roll, bounce, jump, and duck to avoid them. It’s addicting. I hope you enjoy the game, it’s well polished even though it took only a few hours to make. Check out the Creations page and you should be able to find a download. A new idea of mine is to create a gadget creation program that uses the same sort of interface as Stickly. Stay tuned on that one folks.

Cheers,

gamehawk

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Filed under Coding, Creations, Freeware, Game Programming, Games, Ideas, Links, My Creations, My Games

Gas, Get It While It’s Hot!

People are going crazy over gas prices, talking about how low it can go.  I’m wondering about how low it can go.  Sure it’s looking great right now, but you have to wonde how long those of folks at OPEC will let it keep dropping.  The reason I would suggest this is because of the great hugs and kisses the U.S. gave out to Venezuela and Iran at the General Assembly.  Chavez didn’t sound too happy when he called Bush “the Devil”, and I don’t think Iran was too pleased with the talks directed at them over their uranium enrichment program.  These are two of the world’s biggest oil producers, and will they want to keep exporting barells of crude oil for the “cheap” price it is right now?  Probably not.  Of course, you also have the extremist liberals talking about how the falling gas prices are some sort of conspiracy started by our so loved GOP.  It’s an election year and it looks great for them, but are they in on a conspiracy?  Doubt it.  They might have tried to keep the gas cheaper through ethical means of some sort, but that’s a given for any party.  I don’t think they’ll want to keep the oil cheap for long.  There’s one other factor though that I’d like to address.

The second factor is demand, the demand went down so the price went down.  Being Americans we’re all thinking: “Whooe!  Cheap gas, can you spell party!  Let’s go on a big vacation!”

That’s not a good way to think, the main reason it got so cheap in the first place was there wasn’ a lot of demand once summer vacation ended and people stopped taking time off to drive long distances.  If we start going crazy by driving long distances and everyone starts going as many places as they can and going back for more cheap gas, the demand will go up.  You know what that means, higher prices for importing crude oil!

Conclusion, this “cheap gas fad” won’t last for long.  Get it while it’s fresh from the oven, er’ barrel.  Have fun with your new gasoline,  but don’t get crazy with it.   On a side-note, one day I’m ranting about crazy, extremist Republicans, and the next talking about those crazy, extremist Democrats.  My philosophy is that you shouldn’t vote based on the party, but based on the person and how well you think they’d do.  If people really asked themselves that, we could have many better people in office.   I’ll close on that.

Cheers,

gamehawk

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Filed under Election 2006, General, Life, Oil, Politics, Rants

Overboard Campaign Ads

Check out this campaign ad this is way extreme.  One question I have to ask those extremist Republicans who aired this ad:

What the heck were you thinking?

I have a few major problems with this piece of total propaganda.  The first I’ll name here is that what good does it do.  It makes racist, extremist comments about Democrats and it would only be a turn-off to potential voters, both Democrats and Republicans.  Wouldn’t you want to sway the people towards you not downright insult the potential audience.  Secondly, even though Maryland has the highest black population of a non-southern state 71%  of the citizens are white.  I’m sure it’s appealing to these people to be insulted in such a way.  Christians were in the KKK, and they had a lot more to do with it than Democrats and they aren’t blaming Christians.  Thirdly, there’d be public outrage if a group of Caucasian Democrats accused the Republicans of starting a group of African-Americans racist against whites.  Yet, there will be no outcry about this.  It’s the way life is.  Am I being to harsh?  I don’t think so.  I’m not racist, I’m white, I’m Christian, so don’t take offense.  If you consider the facts I think you’ll agree with me on this one.  By the way, I’ll be trying to delve more into politics in my future blogs.

Cheers,

gamehawk

101 Comments

Filed under Election 2006, Life, News, People, Politics, Race, Rants

WordPress Upgrades

Login to your WordPress, for novelty if nothing else. I’m blogging about it. The editor now has an HMTL tab instead of that pop-up window. The HTML tab has more functions than the regular tab and makes HTML editing easier.  If you need to add some more stuff it’s right there.  I do believe some of the things should be on the regular Compose side as well.  Thanks to the guys at WordPress for adding this feature!

Cheers,

gamehawk

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Filed under Blogging, General, WordPress

Will Ideas Run Out?

I was pondering something about programming today, and realized it could apply to all of life.  My thought is this, what if, in the future we run out of original ideas.  I mean someone will always be able to vary something in one way or another, but will we start “running low” on originality.  Honestly folks think about it, a lot of times I have an idea or a name for something and I search the idea to see if it’s been done.  A lot of times, it has.  I’m not saying we will run out of original ideas (although we could), but they might be in short supply at some point in the future.  This is something to consider.  Feel free to disagree with me, this is pretty much just general chatter.  Everybody enjoys writing a little rant every once and a while.

Cheers,

gamehawk

4 Comments

Filed under General, Ideas, Life, Rants, The Future

Major Mistake

Remember my blog entry I made about Google Blog Search well I made a big mistake.  Yes, it came out on September 14th, but in 2005!  Major whoops.  Thought I’d correct myself before someone else did.  Sorry about that.

Cheers,

gamehawk

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Filed under Blogging, General, Mistakes

I’m Getting Popular

It seems this blog is getting pretty popular. I’m averaging over fifteen hits a day, which used to be rare. I have some referrals from other bloggers such as lightcontrast from my last blog. People comment on my stuff. I’m just surprised. For a while I had faith this might get off the ground, but it never really did. Hopefully this phase won’t pass.

Cheers,

gamehawk

3 Comments

Filed under Blogging, General

I’m Glad That Somebody Found Me Mildly Interesting

Thank you to lightcontrast for putting me on her Interesting Pages section of her site. Glad you liked my latest blog. I subscribed to your feed. You don’t have a link for it, which you might want, even buttons to subscripe to feeds (see further down on the page on the right side). This could boost your number of readers. Thanks for the link to my blog.

Cheers,

gamehawk

4 Comments

Filed under Blogging, General

Google Goes Psychic

Wow, that’s what my reaction was. I had been wondering just a few moments ago after posting that blog if there was a Google Blog Search, and it turns out one was revealed today. It isn’t even on the Google Labs page yet. Turns out Google can make products with a snap of the fingers and make what I want. Not really, but I hadn’t noticed the other blogs talking about this. I’m also happy to find out that I’m on it. That’s plenty cool with me. I searched Google Blog Search and found this, then noticed it wasn’t on labs. Thinking no one else had found it I was excited, but found out that I’d had been beat to the punch by quite a few people. I must not have gotten, or have not read
http://blogsearch.google.com/

Cheers,

gamehawk

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Filed under Blogging, Google, Links

DailyLit

This is cool, a chance to read my classic literature little bits at a time!  Neat.  I will have to get some of my Arthur Conan Doyle dosage, and add a feature like this to my secret project.  Anyways here’s the link: DailyLit.

Cheers,

gamehawk

3 Comments

Filed under Books, Cool Stuff, General, Links

New Theme

I clicked this theme hoping for a preview, but instead it changed it. I like the look and I’m going to keep it for a while. The theme is Pressrow if you want to use it in your blog.

Cheers,

gamehawk

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Filed under Blogging, General, WordPress

New Stuff

I thought I’d fill you in on my latest ideas and projects using a quick little list:

  1. Last night I actually did make my comment system using PHP. I think I just showed myself up.
  2. I have an idea for some sweet artificial intelligence. It takes in commands (words, etc.) that the user types in along with what to do when that word is typed and it would simulate a visual, auditory, or sensual action example:Type if the [whatever] hears, sees, or senses something (1,2,3): 1
    Type what the [whatever] hears: Car
    The [whatever] does nothing. Type what you do: Scream

    Now if you repeated the scream enough times the noise of a car would trigger the scream from whatever it is we’re simulating (let’s say a child) and he would scream whenever he hears a car. You could also repeat enough actions for an object to change the habit for that particular sound or visual. This is just a concept maybe I’ll work on it later.

  3. I have an idea for an RPG map interpreter sort of thing, where it runs off my engine but anybody could make an adventure. I actually might pursue this.
  4. I am still working on my secret PHP project (though it isn’t very secret anymore).

That’s all folks! By the way I received forty-one hits yesterday, an all-time high for me. That’s a good thing. Plus I am receiving a lot of comments. I think this blog is gaining popularity.

Cheers,

gamehawk

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Filed under Artificial Intelligence, Blogging, General, General Computers, Ideas, Web Programming

Building a WYSIWYG Editor in HTML

Two posts in one day, wow. I had to show you guys this article. I always thought building a rich textbox would be hard and I’d heard of WYSIWYG editors, but never knew what they were. I linked the two via the WordPress help button which I clicked for no apparent reason. Then I searched Google on how to build a WYSIWYG editor in the HTML/Javascript combo (no I didn’t use those exact words). What I found was this:

Building a WYSIWYG HTML Editor Part 1/2

Cheers,

gamehawk

P.S.: WordPress keeps deleting most this blog when I am trying to save it. Annoying. Glad I have copy and paste on. If you see this it means I got it working.

P. S.S: I had to create a new entry and re-blog this.

P. S.S.S: Whoa, it’s September 28th (2006) and I realizedthe link wasn’t there as a result of it somehow being screwed up (I thought I had inserted it).  Well, I’ve edited it in now.  If you have come across this article then enjoy.

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Filed under Internet, Links, Scripting, Tutorials, Web Programming

Secret Project Revealed, 9/11, Bush Speech

I’ve been doing a lot PHP coding recently, and still have a ton to do.  I need to code a comment system and that could take me a little while.  Besides, I don’t feel up to it.  That means I’m not going to do it today.  My post on 9/11 (see previous entry) had a few comments here and I’m glad people liked it.  Despite what it’s about I am proud of it.  On another site I also received some feedback on that.  Some of those people are less politically driven though.  I’ll reveal my secret project now, it’s a book system.  It’s going to allow people to upload books, write books, allow downloading in different formats, and I have more plans.  As for Bush’s speech, I wasn’t very happy with what I watched of it.  It was driven politically and he used it to make public his points.  He repeated a lot of the same ideas.  Being an independent person (who leans more towards the liberal side of things) I had a little hope for our President’s speech.  He disappointed me by using it to broadcast his views instead of respecting the people who were killed.  Most of the ideas were the same repetitive ones, and there wasn’t a lot of original wording.  Not so well done in my opinion.  That’s all for today.

Cheers,

gamehawk

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Filed under 9/11, America, General, Ideas, Life, People, Politics, September 11th, Terrorism

September 11, 2001- A Day to Remember

Today is the fifth anniversary of an event that shocked the world. An event so horrible that this date will be remembered for the rest of history. Five years ago today nineteen men set out to a destroy a nation, a nation that had allowed them into the borders, allowed them to rent houses, cars, and apartments, and allowed these nineteen men to take courses on driving planes. Many of these nineteen men were known terrorists, but that didn’t make a difference. We taught them the art of war, we taught it in a subtle manner, but in the end it lead to horrible event. Almost 3,000 men, women, and children were killed. These were not drones, these were people. People who had their own lives, loved ones, and friends. The horrible deeds of others put an abrupt end to many lives, lives that left family, friends, and goals uncompleted. Any of those people could have changed the world, but weren’t given a fair chance. The father, the mother, the husband, the wife, the son, the daughter, the uncle, the aunt, the nephew, the neice, the cousin, oh we could go on and on. All fell under the cruel hands of others who we ourselves had taught. Yet in the evil and destruction, we joined hands, lit candles, and sung hymns with others that we’re so different, but tied together by the horrible event.

The firefighters and police officers, the rescuers, and the brave individuals who tried to make a difference. Many of them we’re killed trying to bring others back. In our darkest hour, when the coldest wind was blowing we stood strong. We held our heads high, and waited, waiting for the calls that never came, waiting for the nightmare to be over, waiting for the sun to gleam high in the sky and things to be like they used to. Facts couldn’t be changed, but yet we gripped harder, and showed a love that had been hidden all this time, hidden deep somewhere waiting for a chance to shine. Who had known it would take something so hideous to bring out something so pure and wholesome. Our downfall was our uprising. As the darkness and the wind shook us harder we held our loved ones close, and prayed for the ones we couldn’t. Now we have changed things, worked to improve our government, stopped teaching others to hurt us, improved securities, and learned to love. There is hope for this nation, great hope, but nothing will ever be the same. Some of debris may be clear, but not on our hearts. The pain is as real and as heavy as ever. The pain will never be lifted, the debris on our hearts never swept, but maybe if we strive for peace, maybe we can prevent the rock of pain from shattering on a new generation of hope. So please remember those who have perished on this day, the people who were killed trying to escape, and the ones who died coming back to help the others. Please remember September 11, 2001. Whatever your religion, race, or views, please pray for peace in a world where the fighting just doesn’t seem to stop.

Thank you,

gamehawk

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Filed under 9/11, America, History, In The News, Life, Peace, People, Politics, September 11th, Terrorism, War

RC1 No Show

I’ve decided not to download RC1, I’m not part of the Customer Preview Program and I can’t get a key.  Besides, I really don’t want to download it.  So no updates from me on Vista.  This was a quick update so I listed it under General too.

Cheers,

gamehawk

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Filed under Beta Testing, Downloads, General, Operating Systems, Windows Vista

RC1 Found, Will Travel

Ignore the cheesy title, or don’t.  I thought it was pretty good, anyways, right after this I am going to start downloading the Windows Vista RC1 ISO, and I will install it to a spare computer which I had Linux on.  Unfortunately, I haven’t been using Linux much and it’s a quick install so I’m going to write over it.  I’ve been doing so PHP Programming and have a new idea for a site I have been working on.  I want to work out the basic features first, before adding a pretty original idea to the Internet.  Well, that’s all folks!

Cheers,

gamehawk

P.S.:  I put this under technology, because Release Candidate 1 is a new development.

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Filed under Beta Testing, Coding, Downloads, Ideas, Internet, Microsoft, Operating Systems, Technology/Gadgets, Web Programming, Windows Vista

Artificial Heart Approved By FDA

I was looking at my feeds, when I got something new.  I recieved it from my Discovery News feed.  I’m going to be expressing my views a little, but you can read the full article here.  Anyways, I got this link from my Discovery News feed, which I already mentioned.  I don’t get a ton of feeds from them, and I don’t read too many, but this one sparked my interest.  I suggest you read it, then if you have here are my views.  It’s about an artificial heart device called AbioCor created by Abiomed Inc.  I think this is a great idea, considering that the device is going to give patients who would die in less than a month, a longer lifespan.  One man lived up to seventeen months, other than the one month.  My only two concerns are that some insurance plans might not be able to cover it so some people might not be able to afford it.  My other concern is that the strokes will occur too often.  The third factor that some people are interpreting as a product risk is the number of deaths while inserting the heart.  I don’t take these as a fault of the product, because heart surgeries are risky enough as it is.  I am glad that some people will be able to have a longer lifespan, even if it only is a few months (every second in life counts).  My hope is that this product will not only be successfull, but improve in the years to come.  This is a great strive forward in the health industry.  Today I have a closing message for you:

“Life is very short and there’s no time…”-We Can Work It Out, The Beatles.

Thank you for listening.   Remember that life can take turns all too quickly and you need to enjoy the good times while they last.

Cheers,

gamehawk

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Filed under Health, Life, Links, Quotes, Technology/Gadgets

Five Hundred Hits

My site’s been gaining a little popularity recently, and I’ve been consistently getting at least fifteen hits on blogging days (usually redirection from my 64digits blog though), but still.  Well, I’ve reached over five hundred hits, and that’s an accomplishment (small, but an accomplishment).  So, I thought I’d let you know that this blog is keeping a slight popularity.  That’s all folks!

Cheers,

gamehawk

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Filed under Blogging, General

Warning: New Idea

Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of casual web surfing (giving feedback on my script, watching the forums I go to), and a little gaming.  Not too much else.  I also received a Personal Message (PM) from a guy that thought one of my old adventure games was cool.  You can check that game out here.  Well it sparked my interest, but I didn’t want to continue working on it.  Instead I decided I want to make an adventure game creation program.  That would be cool.  It will be something like Adventure Game Studio (AGS), but a little easier, and probably for now a little more limited.  What I want though, is for the developers I’m primarily showing to (Game Maker users or those at the Game Maker Community), to be able to use GML (Game Maker Language) as a basic syntax for extending the normal possibilities.  This will take the learning curve out of the program for at least some of the people, and add more functionality to the program.  Ideas are brewing, and I will probably get to work soon.  That’s all for now.

Cheers,

gamehawk

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Filed under Coding, Game Programming, Ideas, Software

Read or Download Books in Google Books

Want to read or download books? I recommend Project Gutenberg which has been around for a while and has about 19,000 free ebooks on its site. It also has audio books, and some motion pictures. Well, Google Books is getting in on the game by allowing people to download full books. To do so click the Full view books radio button, enter your search keywords, and click Search Books to find a book. You can download the books as PDF’s (Download PDF Reader), or view them in your browser. My only complaint is that they store all the scanned books pages as images instead of converting them to text using Optical Character Recognition (OCR), meaning bigger loading times and file sizes. Anyways I was thinking about creating my own Web 2.0 site that allowed uploading books, viewing them in a nice page-by-page format like Google, and allowing downloads in multiple formats. That would be cool. Anyways my scripts are finally getting recognized, but you can’t download them now because my host 64digits seems to be down and I don’t feel like uploading a copy right now. Sorry. They should be back up soon. That’s all folks! I categorized this as link, because there are a lot of links!
Cheers,

gamehawk

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Filed under Blogging, Books, Coding, Google, Links, Web 2.0