Monday, April 25, 2011

Semi-retarded quote of the day: "Ignorance is bliss"

Not if you're in a (life || death) situation it's not.

I hope you're patient.

IPv6 will run out before divorce, abortion and marijuana are legalized in Malta.

Regretting the past is easy...

...but appreciating the present is not.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Quantum what!?

CineMassacre: Top 10 Star Trek Technobabbles
Tags: CineMassacre: Top 10 Star Trek Technobabbles

Trying to beat procrastination? Use rationale and simple math.

Trying to beat procrastination? Don't read this article then. Seriously, stop reading. If you're really hardcore on Not procrastinating, just stop here and close this page.

If you're just here to kill some minutes, keep on reading...

You know what helps me (attempt to) beat procrastination? Using simple mathematics to justify my (probably incorrect) conclusions and this will be a post about combining patterns to project something meaningful and hopefully, useful.

Here I will assume that you are procrastinating from a project, whatever that may be; but I will refer to the activity you're procrastinating from as the project.

So, since you're already procrastinating (by reading this), let's waste a couple of more minutes, shall we?



Say you have two patterns that you can apply on a sequence of numbers (on a number line) and the goal is to advance, i.e. increasing the value of x-axis (meaning you doing more stuff) to reach a (hopefully) predefined goal, x = 9.  Notice how a project's completeness convergence representation is a variable, not a constant...because we all know that projects never have a fixed dead-line.


Here, let i be the current state (current number on the line) and the following two equations the patterns applied to the sequences for trying to advance to the goal (you finishing the project), by advancing the value of the x-axis (and the only axis there is since we're working in a single dimension).  Also, our step will be a day; so it takes a day to reapply the pattern to move to the next number on the line.

Now say the patterns are these: i = i + 0 and i = i + 1.  In these patterns, i + 0 represents you !working i.e. procrastinating.  On the other hand, i + 1 represents you advancing (i.e. adding value) in your project.

Seq. k: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Seq. l: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Now let's apply both patterns to our sequences, starting with i = 0 (you haven't started on the project yet):
Step 1:

l =>
i = i
i = 0 

k =>
i = i + 1
i = 1

So i of l is still 0 but i of k is now 1. (yay, progress)

Step 2:

l=>
i = i
i = 0

k=>
i = i + 1
i = 2

Now i of k is 2, so there's even more progress.  We're finally moving forward (...to the right, to be exact).  Not surprisingly, i of l is still a whopping 0.
etc... stopping when i = x.

For the mathematically inclined, here's how I applied the patterns on the sequences:



Are you seeing the pattern and where I'm going with this?

Applying the summations, we get k = x and l = 0:
k = 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
k = 9 ∴ k = x.

l = 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0
l = 0.

I did not choose the 1 constant by random. For this example, the 1 constant referred to the work-load you dedicate on a project at a point in time. Also, it's a constant not a variable so I'm assuming that if you do x amount of work today, you will do x amount of work tomorrow. Reason is because you need to get into the routine to get things moving.

Back to the pattern. Let's say that you complete the project when x reaches 9, so x = 9. If your point of convergence for the project is at infinity, you probably need to rewrite your specs so I'm assuming it's not.

As you have noticed, when you do nothing each day, your project will be ready after an infinite number of steps whereas if you add 1 to get the next number in the sequence, the range is much, much, much smaller than the infinity range.

So, if you add 1 every day, at the end of day 1, if x represents our goal and t the number of work activities remaining, t will be t = x - i, and you know that in this case, i is incrementing at each step meaning that t will decrease in each step until it converges with x, t = x and that's when you should open the champagne and celebrate because your project is 'complete'.

Keep in mind that if you choose the l sequence, there will never be any champagne for you. Infinity > x - i (to put it mildly).

My advice is to find an appropriate work-load constant for the task at hand so that you don't do too little (and not get in routine) or too much (get bored from the project again). I used 1 as the constant because I'm assuming you're lazy so you want to do the minimal number of work each day.

I hope this wasn't all meaningless dribble for you...and don't forget, I might be wrong.

Am I Captain Obvious? Sure, I didn't dispute that. Did you just waste 5 mins of your precious time? hopefully not =)

And now I end on an ironic note: I wrote this post because I'm procrastinating from other stuff.


Now, my math notation may not be perfect and it probably isn't even acceptable, but I hope you got the point. Now, close your browser and start working bitch.

Oh and yea, if you notice any mistakes in my logic and math, please inform me (learning is the key).

What, no HTML? Oh come on.

Facebook's Note-writing system does not allow inputting of HTML.

Nice, very mature of you Facebook.

Why you suffer from procrastination.

Your mind's data-structure for handling tasks should act like a Priority Queue, not a Stack.

I'm not sensitive to cAsIng.

Do we really need case-sensitiveness anymore?

Does the word 'free' have a comparative?

Ok, let me amuse myself: 'freeer'.

And it almost looks like something you would shout after your Manager informs you that you will stop working on that VB.NET project you've had for the past 23 years. "I'm freeeeeeeeeee!" (only > superlative)

Required Reading

the little things.

It's amazingly stupid how I even procrastinate with the little things. I always fill and turn on the kettle before washing the ancient (20mins old) coffee from the mug because it's easier.

How many users have JavaScript disabled?

Let's ask Yahoo.

Now I don't mean to undermine your potential when it comes to building your site, but keep in mind that those numbers apply to Yahoo!, NOT to you.

Again, your site probably will be successful and all that, but probably, just probably, not as much as Yahoo!'s.

What line?

The line society draws for us, usually referred to as reality.

The Bible

See tag/label.

And on a related note. Yes, I'm linking to a post I will be writing in the future; deal with it.

Here's how it should have gone in space.

Dave: Hello, HAL. Do you read me, HAL?
HAL: Affirmative, Dave. I read you.
Dave: Fuck you, HAL. *unplug*

Do you need to ask something to your computer?

Well, computer says no.

Recursively Infinite Thought

^^ huh, that's a thought.

Annoyed by your conversation buddy?

Slam this in his face:



Cheers Sandro.

A wet dream come true!

Webber on cello with Colosseum II.

Legalize "Thinking"!

Oh, it's legal already? Shit, then we must inform the people because they probably think it's against the law and most of them are very law-abiding.