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I read up on jQuery yesterday and today. I'd like to write a real program, but purely as an exercise. Reading tutorials makes my eyes glaze over.

I contemplated a dead-simple message board, but even that is a little more complex than I want to deal with at first. I'd like to do something about as complex as the pure-JavaScript Conway's Life that I did at http://www.warplife.com/life/mumble/

jQuery looks quite cool, but I trip up on many of the tutorials' practice exercises. I need to write a real program.

Kanye West wants $1 billion from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg

He’s “this generation’s Disney” and technology leaders like Mark Zuckerberg would be doing the world a favor by investing a cool $1 billion in his musical ambitions.

That was the gist of an early Monday tweetstorm by rapper Kanye West, hours after he raised questions about his personal finances with this tweet that hinted he has $53 million worth of debt:

I write this to you my brothers while still 53 million dollars in personal debt... Please pray we overcome... This is my true heart...
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 14, 2016

In a fresh crop of posts, West made direct pleas to Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook Inc., and Larry Page, Alphabet Inc.’s CEO and the co-founder of Google, asking that they funnel some cash into his ideas:

Mark Zuckerberg invest 1 billion dollars into Kanye West ideas
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 14, 2016

Mark Zuckerberg I know it’s your bday but can you please call me by 2mrw…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016

World, please tweet, FaceTime, Facebook, instagram, whatever you gotta do to get Mark to support me…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016

Mark, I am publicly asking you for help…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016

hey Larry Page I’m down for your help too …
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016

West insinuated that Silicon Valley was full of hypocrites — executives who want to look cool listening to rap, yet never did anything to further growth in the music industry:

All you dudes in San Fran play rap music in your homes but never help the real artists…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016

The rapper made a thinly veiled reference to Zuckerberg’s education philanthropy — he is part of an investment group that aims to bring cheap, private education to millions of children across Africa and Asia. Frankly, said West, the money could be better spent helping him with his creative efforts, as he claimed to be the “Jordan and Steph Curry of music, meaning I’m the best of 2 generations”

Today I started learning Javascript. This isn't the first time I've tried but I think I'll do it for real this time. Previously I only learned as much as I needed to plug in someone else's script. I also tried to read O'Reilly's "Learning Javascript" but got bored with it. It's an informative book but the writing isn't compelling.

I met a fellow consultant today who said he'd give my contact info to a friend of his who is getting more work than he can handle. He also said that with my existing experience, I should get into DevOps. I'd had the impression that that was more for junior developers but he asserted it was for senior people like me.

My existing website Portland Software Development and Consulting is quite spartan. I had the idea that the simple "design" would associate me with the experts, but an older, wiser colleague says that I should make it more attractive. I plan to use my Javascript to implement responsive design, that is, to make the same pages work well on mobile devices, desktops and laptops.

Just now I added "DevOps" to my list of services, and "JavaScript" to my list of languages. I also moved Python closer to the head of the list. I don't really know JS or DevOps yet but expect I will by the time they show up in the search engines.

I learn best by doing; today someone recommended I learn just a little bit of JS from the tutorials, then Google for everything else I need to do. To that end I am writing Conway's Game of Life in Javascript. It's not online yet, not until I get it actually doing something, but what little I've done so far has taught me a few things.

The consultant I spoke to today took me very seriously. That felt good, real good - though I didn't tell him I was homeless. I don't really look homeless, I try to keep my appearance professional. I don't always succeed but that's what I aim for.

I'll have "some word" in a day or two about my housing. My mental health clinic has six slots, I'm #1 on the clinic's list, but some entirely different agency is determining whether I qualify.

However I don't even remember how many times I've been in the psych hospital in the last five years. In October 2010 I totalled my beloved Chevy Prizm in a 100 MPH suicide attempt. I'm also not real sure how many times I've been in jail.

Washington is starting to follow Utah's "Housing First" strategy which is predicated on that it is far cheaper to house the homeless than to put us in jail.

If I get housing, my understanding is that it will be in Vancouver's Lincoln Place, which is a brand-new, five million dollar apartment building. Housing just me all by my lonesome has already set the government back $120,000.

Really I would be completely cool to continue living in a tent, were it not that someone slashed up my tent with a knife, then tried to steal my new guitar.

WHILE I WAS SLEEPING IN THE TENT.

I grabbed what I could carry with me then split the scene completely.

I stashed that stuff at a friend's house, and will go back tomorrow in hopes that the other stuff is still there; mostly clothes, also a pair of running shoes. My leather Clark's have a two-inch tear where the upper of my right shoe meets the sole; Dorian's Shoe Repair says they can fix it for fifteen bucks, mom will cover the cost but I'll need some other shoes to wear until I get the Clark's back.

If my other shoes have been ripped off, I have a really nice pair of work boots in my storage locker.

Someone from Social Security called my mother regarding my SSI claim, but wanted to know my phone number. Mom wouldn't give it to them but she emailed me the clerk's number. I'm puzzled they didn't already have it, but maybe they tried to call me a month ago when my phone was out of minutes.

SSI takes "60 to 90 days" to approve; 90 days would be Real Soon Now. If I get it, that would be a little over $700 per month; $210 of it - 30% - would be paid for my housing, but I only have to pay if I actually have income.

As far as I know my consulting contract will still happen, but it's been delayed while their other coders figure out some manner of problem. The client and I have been exchanging occasional emails, as they ask technical questions and I answer them.

They all strike me as good people, but I'm concerned that the problem their other coders face could be insurmountable. In that case not just I but my client would be SOL.

I'm sorry I can't give any details as I am under NDA. I expect I can tell you that I'd be writing a driver that has to do with storage.

Wait, what?

Alex Jones: Banning order for fan who tweeted he loved presenter

A fan who bombarded the BBC's Alex Jones with tweets declaring he was in love with her has been banned from any contact with the Welsh TV presenter.

Shane Goldsmith sent the 38-year-old One Show star a string of messages for 17 months and waited outside the BBC's headquarters to tell her he loved her.

A judge imposed a restraining order which also bars him from the BBC's New Broadcasting House in central London.

Mr Goldsmith, 44, was formally cleared of a single charge of harassment.

In late January, someone got into my tent while I was away for the day
and stole the Bluetooth Headphones that Mom gave me for Christmas,
also my guitar. That really hurt.

I posted about the burglary on Facebook. Adam Kravitz and Ren Autrey,
two formerly homeless people who work to help the homeless, arranged
for some complete stranger to give me a guitar absolutely free. It's
a real nice guitar.

Day before yesterday someone slashed my tent with a knife - the way it
was cut it was clear it was done with a knife. But they didn't get
inside the tent itself.

Yesterday morning when I was asleep, they came back and slashed open
another side of the tent, reached through and grabbed that new guitar.
I woke up and shouted some bad words. They dropped the guitar then
ran away.

I had a bunch of food stolen at my first camp overlooking the
Columbia. I don't feel safe anywhere.

I decided to abandon my tent. I packed what I could in my backpack
then went downtown and emailed my friend Rod Schmidt, to ask if I
could stash some of my stuff at his house. I haven't heard back from
him yet but I expect he'll be OK with it. If he is, I'm going to go
back to what's left of my tent for a second load.

Last night I won the lottery to get a bed at the Portland Rescue
Mission. That was nice, I also got a hot shower and was able to
shave, but I have to enter the lottery every evening - I won't always
get a bed.

If I have to stay up all night on the streets, I can sleep during the
day at Right 2 Dream Too, more commonly known as "The Tent Camp".
It's a homeless shelter operated by the homeless themselves. The city
tried to run them out for illegal camping, R2D2 sued the city - I
don't know just what for - and the city settled on the condition that
R2D2 move to the other side of the Willamette from Oldtown. However,
R2D2 hasn't yet moved.

I'm expecting to get housing at Lincoln Place in Vancouver soon, it
will be a small studio apartment with a private bathroom and a
kitchenette. It's a new building, it is expected to open in a couple
weeks. My mental health clinic told me they have six slots, and that
I am the first in line.

I actually enjoyed living in a tent but I don't feel that there's
anywhere that I could camp that I would be safe.

I'm expecting to get a software consulting contract soon. There has
been a two week delay on its start, which has me very anxious but as
far as I can tell the clients still want me to do the job. Their
other engineers are working to solve some technical problem, I would
use their same solution to this problem so I need to wait until they
fix it.

The contract would pay really well. Not enough that I could live
independently but it would give me the cash I would require to
advertise my consultancy. I'm planning to send direct mail - junk
mail - to software companies around Portland, Vancouver and Seattle.
Each "piece" will include a trifold brochure, a cover letter and a
business card. I already have the list of companies, having compiled
it while I was searching for a job.

It is upsetting to me that the burglar ran me out of my home, but even
so, I am uninjured, and today is a beautiful day here in Portland. I
won't let it get me down.

'Armani Communist' divides China

When Liu Bo attended a regional communist party event as the official ambassador of local students it wasn't his youthful demeanour which made the biggest impression.

Nor was it the remarks which the 14-year-old made to the Shenzhen People's Political Consultative Conference, calling for the greater use of non-exam based assessments in the Chinese education system.
What made people stare, and what rapidly become a major topic of conversation as photos of Liu spread across Chinese social media this week, was what he was wearing.

Around his neck was a red scarf of the type worn by Chairman Mao's Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution and now standard issue wear for the Communist Party Youth League. But Liu had paired that with what was taken to be an Armani suit, because of the lapel badge he was wearing with the distinctive logo of the Italian luxury brand.

In the eyes of many Chinese observers this was not so much a wardrobe malfunction as a clash of ideologies in a single outfit. Some on China's micro blogging platform Weibo dubbed Liu the "Armani Youngster" and attacked his choice of clothing.

PM left red nosed by censorship protest

When Malaysian police warned activist and graphic designer Fahmi Reza that his Twitter account was under surveillance after he posted an image of the prime minister, Najib Razak, as a clown, they probably hoped such behaviour would stop.

But then members of an art collective, Grupa posted even more clownish images of the premier to express their solidarity with him and to champion the ideal of free speech.

The pictures have spread across social media with the hashtag #KitaSemuaPenghasut which translates as "we are all seditious".

Fahmi's mockery of the prime minister was part of a wider reaction to news last week, when the country's attorney-general cleared Mr Najib of any corruption relating to a long-running financial scandal.

too-lazy-to-sub dept.

James Reinders: Parallelism Has Crossed a Threshold

Is the parallel everything era here? What happens when you can assume parallel cores? In the second half of our in-depth interview, Intel’s James Reinders discusses the fading out of single-core machines and the ramifications of the democratization of parallel computing, remarking “we don’t need to worry about single-core processors anymore and that’s pretty significant in the world of programming for this next decade.” Other topics covered include the intentions behind OpenHPC and trends to watch in 2016.

First half: A Conversation with James Reinders

I took a shower this morning. I really needed one - I was getting pretty ripe.

Rather more significant is that I was waiting for the light rail, which was to come in eight minutes. I used that time to practice my guitar, also for a few minutes while waiting to transfer to a bus.

When I got to the homeless day center in Vancouver, a friend said that I was looking really good. I don't think it was just the shower but my entire demeanor. I go there to practice on their upright piano, but the last few times I went there, practicing just seemed like too much trouble. Not today - I practiced and I enjoyed it.

My next step is to wash my clothes and O do my clothes need washing. I'm not so bad now that I've showered but with the right wind conditions I can smell my own clothes. I have the choice to wash in the mornings in return for thirty minutes of "barter points" - typically sweeping the Portland day center floor - or in the afternoon for $1.50. It's my plan to sing on the street tomorrow, to raise the $1.50 for the laundry, also a couple bucks for coffee.

Today I feel - at long last - that my antidepressant is working to full effect.

Sensors, not CPUs, are the tech that swings the smartphone market

Flash back a quarter of a century: I’m sourcing components for a consumer virtual reality system. An accelerometer is an absolute necessity in a head-mounted display, because it senses the motion of the head. Accelerometers exist in silicon, but priced at US$25 apiece, their only customer is the automotive industry - sensors used to trigger deployment of the airbags in a crash.

In the end, I invented my own sensor, because silicon accelerometers cost too much.

A few hundred million smartphones later, accelerometers and gyroscopes have become cheap as chips. Literally. From twenty-five dollars to less than twenty-five cents, the conjunction of Moore’s Law and Steve Jobs made these sensors cheap and abundant.

With many smartphones using high-quality accelerometer/gyroscope sensors, the groundwork had been laid for Google’s Cardboard - really no more than a cheap set of plastic lenses set at the right distance from a smartphone screen. Everything else about the Cardboard experience happened inside the smartphone - because the smartphone suddenly had the right suite of sensors to generate a head-tracking display.

Theoretically, Google’s Cardboard should give you the same smooth virtual reality experience as Samsung’s Gear VR. But it’s like chalk and cheese: Cardboard does the job, but it always feels as though you’re fighting the hardware, where Gear VR feels as comfortable as an old shoe.

The reason for that lies with the sensors built into Gear VR. Oculus CTO John Carmack worked with Samsung to specify an accelerometer/gyroscope sensor suite that could feed Samsung's flagship Galaxy S6 smartmobe with a thousand updates a second. The average sensors, on a typical smartphone - even the very powerful Galaxy S6 - won’t come anywhere near that.

Head tracking can only be as good as the sensors used to track the head. The proof of this is the difference between Galaxy S6 in Cardboard, and Galaxy S6 in Gear VR - try both and see for yourself.

This is one bleeding edge in the smartphone sensor arms race. Within the next eighteen months, every high-end smartphone will specify incredibly sensitive and fast accelerometers and gyroscopes. Smartphones work well both in the palm of your hand and when mounted over your eyes. Every major manufacturer will have their own Gear VR-like plastic case for wearing their latest top-of-the-line handset. Except at the very high end - the province of serious gamers and information designers - smartphones and VR will become entirely interchangeable.

[...] Back during the Cold War, the Soviets were caught out shining laser beams onto the windows at the White House, reading voices out of the reflections. The White House responded by pointing speakers at their windows, playing music just loud enough to drown out any other signal. We may need a new app for our smartphones, one that keeps just enough music piping out its speaker to confound anyone using our newly sensitive accelerometers against us.