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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.

Imam Mohammed writes:

Following are excerpts from Sahin's article, titled "Monkeys Evolved from Humans." [2]

"Chromosomal Anomalies" In Monkeys "Have Never Led To The Birth Of Human Beings Or Of Monkeys Resembling Human Beings"

"Monkeys are animals that look like humans. Humans have 46 chromosomes and monkeys have 48. Since these chromosomes are similar in structure, these species can transfer from one to the other. When we, physicians, examine anomalies in chromosomes, we find that human chromosomal anomalies lead to the birth of humans similar to monkeys, as in cases of microcephaly, in which newborns resemble monkeys in form, intelligence, behavior, and social life. Such [deformed humans] must be kept under strict control. The numbers of such cases is not negligible.

"In monkeys too there are chromosomal anomalies, but these have never led to the birth of human beings or of monkeys resembling human beings. We understand from this that humans are not derived from monkeys, but that monkeys come from humans. There are many factors in the creation of such anomalies, among them divine, environmental, and chemical."

"Those Among You Who Violated The Saturday [Sabbath] Prohibitions... Will Become Miserable Monkeys [Koran 5:60]"

"Our God, the Creator of the universe, has also confirmed these truths. 'You know those among you who violated the Saturday [Sabbath] prohibitions. For them it is said that they will become miserable monkeys [Koran 2:65].'

"Also: 'Whomever Allah has cursed and punished, and those He turned into monkeys, pigs, and Satan worshippers, occupy the worst place [in His eyes], and they are perverts that have deviated from their path [Koran 5:60].'

"'And when they became arrogant and did not change their ways, they were told to become low and contemptible monkeys [Koran 7:166].'

"The [Koranic] verses above show us that monkeys have come from humans. Allah always tells the truth."

The Theory Of Evolution Is "An Opinion" By "A Jew Called Darwin"; "The Gorillas And Chimps Living Today In The Forests Of North Africa Are Cursed Jews"

"The theory of evolution was put forward by a Jew called Darwin. Therefore, it is an opinion. The aim of this theory is to turn the non-Jews away from their religion, to harm their faith, and to make them suspicious about their religion. Darwin, being a Jew, believed, lived, and was buried according to his religion. His real targets were the Muslims. Most likely, Darwin knew about these Koranic verses. In the Holy Koran, Allah responded very well to these perverts.

"Jews, who are well organized in the world's financial and scientific institutions, are so powerful that they terrorize the world of science. Through propaganda and through the reiteration of this nonsense, they have brainwashed and imposed this opinion as a rule, and sold this deception as scientific reality. Even some ignorant theologians have believed the propaganda of this theory...

"I believe that the gorillas and chimps living today in the forests of North Africa are cursed Jews. They are perverted humans that have mutated. This thought is much stronger and scientific than Darwin's theory. But we the Muslims, who believe this, do not have banks, money, or the organization inside the world of science [like the Jews have]. Neither do we have propaganda outlets, in order to scream this truth. But we have our intellect, we have our faith, and we have our Allah. Alhamdullillah [with the grace of Allah]."

http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/9008.htm [memri.org]
http://www.antisemitismwatch.com/tag/seyfi-sahin/ [antisemitismwatch.com]
https://www.rt.com/news/332514-turkey-darwin-jews-monkeys/ [rt.com]
http://www.diken.com.tr/vahdet-yazarindan-tersine-evrim-teorisi-afrikada-yasayan-sempanzeler-lanetlenmis-yahudi/ [diken.com.tr]

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.

The caucuses? There's something wrong there.

Hillary got schlonged in New Hampshire, but she came away with more delegates than Bernie? What's up with that? Did Hillary pay for all those delegates in advance?

Ohhh, so THAT is why she's been getting zillions of dollars for prostituting herself to foreign interests! Makes sense now!

Hey, you really need to look into the corruption at Demcratic headquarters. Find out who got all that money for the delegate sale!

Ya know, this is mildly humorous. So few people understand why Trump is so popular. Prepaid delegates explains a lot of that. People are tired of the elites deciding in advance who is going to be president. We, the people, are quite tired of choosing between a shit sandwich or a shit sandwich. You don't understand it, Shrillary doesn't understand it, the DNC doesn't understand it, nor does the GOP understand.

We are simply tired of the corruption.

Super delegates my ass.

I get his newsletters. I don't know why, I've thought several times about unsubscribing. He whores himself to various corporations, pushing junk that almost nobody needs. Tactical pens? Today, it's a tactical crossbow. Ehhhh -

But, he does make some observations that are spot on the money. Today's email:

  Hillary Lost Because She Lied
By DICK MORRIS
Published on DickMorris.com on February 11, 2016
New Hampshire exit polls in the Democratic Primary indicate that Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton among self-described liberals by 60-39. Okay. But he also beat her among moderates and conservatives by a nearly identical 60-37 margin.

They also show that among the one-third of all voters who said "honesty and trustworthiness" were the most important qualities of a candidate in determining their vote, Sanders beat Clinton by 95-5.

  These data indicate that Sanders' victory was not the result of an ideological vote for a socialist but was due to a personal repudiation of a liar. It was Hillary's dearth of personal ethics and her lack of veracity, not her political ideology or her issue positions, that led to her smashing defeat in New Hampshire.

So when Hillary sought to co-opt and plagiarize Bernie's rhetoric in her concession speech, she did nothing to solve the problem that brought her low. Nor will any shift in her message or beheadings of her staff do much to help her.

It is not her position on the banks, TARP, Glass-Steagall, or campaign finance reform that is dragging her down. It is her email scandal, Benghazi, and her personal speeches for fees that are causing her candidacy to crash.

Hillary can change her issue positions as frequently and as totally as she changes her hair style. She can flip on the Keystone Pipeline and flop on the Trans Pacific Trade Deal. But she cannot go back and delete her lies, evasions, half-truths, and distortions. They live on video tape and in our memories, ready to spring to life as soon as she lies again.

This personal reputation is not something a new consultant can fix. All the king's horses and all the king's men cannot put Hillary back together again.

New Hampshire means Hillary is outed. It's downhill from here.

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.