A collection of semi-related ideas

Today, I thought I'd just set down most of the projects and thoughts that are floating around inside my head, in the hope that it'll help me think more clearly about them. Most of these should be accomplish-able over the summer.

Quadrotor: Parts are on the way. Not much that can be done before they arrive, really. The only real priority is ensuring we can work in the Mills Centre (or failing that, finding a place to work).We do still need to find a good set of 4 blades (and a set of spares too).

Game: I'm getting there. Perhaps too slowly. The aim is to have a completely deterministic client-server system, running at 5-10hz for gameplay (variable depending on latency?), 60hz+ for graphics/rendering/motion. Whilst that's entirely possible, my knowledge currently doesn't cover skeletal animation or some of the newer OpenGL techniqies, and I need to work out a good model for handling gameplay on server, and resources and data on the client. My audio plan is also limited, and requires OpenAL to be installed manually, which is a pain.

DT: Check money for parts - need to go to bank.

3D printer: Ditto.

BlackBerry: Why do I have to boot up an XP VM just to sync or back up my phone? Ridiculous as a solution. RIM, I expected more. I can't really solve this though. Plus, waiting on my network to enable BBM and push email.

Sites: img - not viable? VW - in progress/ Scopegames - waiting on domain.

Fixing crap: iPhone needs doing. iPod Touch is awaiting parts. The DVD drive is being very odd indeed. Laptop is a lost cause?

Anything else I've mentioned on here (plasma balls, vlog) - suspended indefinitely either for practical reasons or apathy. So sue me. Or slap me. But bear in mind that you haven't posted this week...

Tidying up: The less said the better. I know there's a floor around here somewhere....
Lists: the procrastinator's alternative to actually producing something.
Charlie

What's eating your time?

Despite having disassembled my main desktop, I've found that I still have ample distraction even on a Linux laptop - so I decided to present, in list form, the top 5 web-apps I use to distract myself:

5. Webmasters Tools/Analytics/AWS Control Panel
All are just small apps you can use to check the status of a site or sites and how they are performing - useful tools for analysing your sites. Not so useful to check every half-hour though, since the data is updated daily.

4. Whatever tab is to the left of this one
This rule sadly also applies - instead of concentrating on the contents of one tab, if one starts to lose its appeal, the one to its left starts to look all the more tempting. If I happen to be on the left-most tab then.... yeah, right - like I'd ever make it over there. The tabs on the left haven't seen the light of day since the machine was last booted

3. Grooveshark
Finding new music is easy. Concentrating with said music playing is often harder.

2. YouTube:

With awesomeness like that throwing itself at you, what's not to like?

1. Facebook
This one doesn't need any explanation.

(Twitter, Reader, and a few other sites also feature but less prominently)

There's an entry on the XKCD blog that looks at the procrastination response, which is surprisingly interesting. Essentially, in the absence of a clear way forward in solving a problem, the brain will throw out the potential longer-term satisfaction of solving the problem, for the shorter-term reward gained by, for example, opening up a new tab and browsing Facebook. The new action, as long as it has some novelty value, will almost always be more appealing, because it provides an instant and always-available reward. Hence, over time, more challenging things are pushed aside by the short-term rewards of a quickly-changing social site such as Facebook, which never loses its novelty value because of its continually-current nature. Similarly, sites like Twitter and YouTube can also become ingrained responses when faced with the slightest of problems in your intended work.

As for solving the above? If I find a solution in time for my Chemistry exam, it'll both save me from an embarrassing and complete failure, and will be shared on here next time.

Number of times I alt-tabbed to another window whilst writing this: 6
Charlie

Procrastination and Examination

I'm about to sit 9 exams, spread from the 18th of this month to the 23rd of June. Despite that, I still haven't written a blog post, or completed any of the practice papers due in under 8 hours. I've managed to get a load of little tasks done, but nothing significant or important. Ze Frank had an excellent video on procrastination, but I'm sure I've already linked far too many people to it. 


"Psychologists often cite such behavior as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision" [wikipedia]


Interestingly, the above quote fails to mention the anxiety brought on by not completing the tasks required of you, hence discrediting the whole statement and making procrastination entirely acceptable and healthy from a psychological perspective. As if that stopped any of us anyway...

Just one of many ways in which you, too, can successfully procrastinate...

Side note - I'm interested to hear from anyone who's been affected by the PlayStation Network being down over the last couple of weeks. What does it actually stop people from doing? I know if it stopped me playing Portal 2 co-op I'd be pretty annoyed...

Now to bury myself in exam papers. Fun times.
Charlie

The last 604,800 seconds

Give or take a few percent:

• In the last 200, I've probably pissed off 40% of the contents of the house by dropping heavy things great distances at 4AM. I hope they don't repay the favour.
• In the last 2,000, Osama Bin Laden is announced dead. Convenient that the announcement came around re-election time...
• In the last 20,000, I've written a good few hundred lines of code. Not much, but enough to not feel like an utter procrastinator either.
• In the last 200,000, I've watched Thor, but that's already been covered by Benji about ten times better than I ever could over here. I also finished a damn good book (more to follow).

And looking forward:

• In the next 200, I'll probably spend 100 of them staring at the screen proof-reading and feeling desperately inadequate, and guilty for not revising.
• In the next 2,000, I might even get some sleep.
• In the next 200,000 I need to do about 9 maths papers, give or take.
• In the next 2,000,000 we will begin sitting our exams, quite potentially altering our university options and deciding entire career paths.
• For the purposes of not going down a much darker, existential path, I'll gloss over the fact that 3 lines more is a lifespan, maybe 4 at maximum is everything we know of and can care about, and about 1.5 beyond that is the start of recorded history.

On a lighter note, I appear to have officially taken up reading again (having read 5 books in about 2-3 weeks). Yesterday, I read "Will Grayson, Will Grayson", a stunning collaboration between John Green (of whom I'm a massive fan) and David Levithan. 

It's all sparkly and pretty in real life. 

The book is an engaging read from start to finish, featuring a clever plot, genuine characters and relationships who change believably as the plot progresses. I personally loved its pace and twists, and pretty much everything about it. It isn't perfect by any stretch (what book is?), but it's definitely well worth picking up a copy and spending a few hours on, as is any John Green book (he's also a YouTuber, which is how I discovered his books - see here for more information).

Want to pick up a copy? If you know me, I'll lend you my copy, or pick one up from Amazon:

Forfeit vlog (would have been today except for an annoyance with the microphone) and 3D printer progress to follow in due time...

That is the reason why logarithmic scales could be considered depressing...

Charlie