Today's soundtrack is Suffocation: ...Of the Dark Light. Today's activity was supposed to be "30 Minutes of Game Development," but my son has just discovered the joy of playing racing games with my steering wheel on my desktop computer, so I'm relegated to the other side of the desk today. Thus, I'm continuing on to … Continue reading 05.05.2018: One Chapter of Math
05.04.2018: Special Edition – Self-Directed Pro-D Day
Today's soundtrack is Les Discrets: Septembre et Ses Dernières Pensées, and Nevermore: The Obsidian Conspiracy. May the Fourth be with you, and also with you. Today's post will be longer than normal, and it is an especially fun one for me: Today is a self-directed Pro-D day, which means I get to research things that … Continue reading 05.04.2018: Special Edition – Self-Directed Pro-D Day
05.03.2018: One Chapter of Math
Today's soundtrack is Stryper: God Damn Evil. I'm on chapter 18 of Basic Math & Pre-Algebra, "Solving Geometry and Measurement Word Problems." There are two important kind of word problems: "measurement problems and geometry problems" (p. 247). In the former, we convert from one unit to another; in the latter, we use formulas and/or pictures … Continue reading 05.03.2018: One Chapter of Math
05.02.2018: One Chapter of Nonfiction
Today's soundtrack is Decapitated: Carnival is Forever. This evening's reading is the first chapter of Behaviorism: Classic Studies, "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It" (by John B. Watson). Watson says that behaviourists see psychology as a "purely objective experimental branch of natural science" (p. 11). Behaviourists do not rely on introspection or personality tests; their … Continue reading 05.02.2018: One Chapter of Nonfiction
05.01.2018: One Chapter of Math
Today's soundtrack is Gem Club: Breakers. This evening's chapter is the seventeenth of Basic Math & Pre-Algebra For Dummies, "Seeing is Believing: Graphing as a Visual Tool." Graphing lets us present and evaluate information about numbers in a visual way. There are four common kinds of graphs: "The bar graph is best for representing numbers … Continue reading 05.01.2018: One Chapter of Math
04.30.2018: One Chapter of Nonfiction
Today's soundtrack is k.d. lang: Ingénue. This evening's reading is the first chapter of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, a book that I've been excited to read ever since I watched some of his show by the same name and listened to the ''A Glorious Dawn'' song featuring quotes from his work. The chapter is titled "The … Continue reading 04.30.2018: One Chapter of Nonfiction
04.29.2018: One Chapter of Math
Today's soundtrack is Rhye: Blood. This morning, I'm working on chapter 16 of Basic Math & Pre-Algebra for Dummies, "Picture This: Basic Geometry." Geometry, "one of the most useful areas of math" (p. 217), is "the mathematics of figures such as squares, circles, triangles, and lines" (p. 217). I remember from my other readings that … Continue reading 04.29.2018: One Chapter of Math
04.28.2018: 30 Minutes of Songwriting
Today's soundtrack is Barren Cross: Atomic Arena. Today's project is figuring out how to apply effects to only certain part of a track: specifically, I'm trying to figure out the most effective way of adding reverb to just my snare. I figured out that I could create a new track and send just one signal … Continue reading 04.28.2018: 30 Minutes of Songwriting
04.27.2018: One Chapter of Math
Today's soundtrack is Holy Soldier: Last Train. I'm now on chapter 15 of Basic Math & Pre-Algebra for Dummies, "How Much Have You Got? Weights and Measures". This chapter title bothers me; shouldn't it be "How Much Do You Have"? The chapter begins by introducing the concept of units of measurement, which allow us "to … Continue reading 04.27.2018: One Chapter of Math
04.26.2018: One Chapter of Nonfiction
Today's soundtrack is Zae da Blacksmith and Average Joe: The Mosaic Mixtape. This evening, I am reading the first chapter of National Geographic Picture Atlas of Our Universe, by Roy Gallant. The first chapter is "Sun Gods to Gamma Rays: Beginnings." The ancient Egyptians believed that the sun's journey across the sky each day was … Continue reading 04.26.2018: One Chapter of Nonfiction
04.25.2018: One Chapter of Nonfiction
Today's soundtrack is Christcentric: Romans Vol. 1. This afternoon's reading is the second chapter of the first book of Aristotle's Ethics. Aristotle argues that something which we see as an end in itself - something that our other actions are a means of attaining - then that thing must be what we see as the … Continue reading 04.25.2018: One Chapter of Nonfiction
04.24.2018: One Lesson of Python
Today's soundtrack is Cloudscape: Global Drama. I'm not actually going to be doing a lesson today, per se...I'll be trying to synthesize two Python programs . The idea that I have is to combine a Markov Chain with a chatbot. I want to try to get the chatbot to ask the user a question, add … Continue reading 04.24.2018: One Lesson of Python
Steven Mills 