Mega Man Eternal: Tune Woman Battle

Mega Man Eternal: Illusion Man Battle

Mega Man Eternal: Primal Man Battle

Answers on common questions about MME delays

Hello everybody!

  It has been a while since I have posted an entry.  I thought I would clarify my new intent for release date of MME.  Now I am sure some have noticed that my original goal was to hit the 25th anniversary date (as it being an original take on a homage of the classic series).  My goal with Mega Man Eternal is to release it next year about this same time (if not, sooner).  

On a brighter note, I finished my software that can be used to retrograde images/sheets/etc...  I will be likely posting a download to such on my website drpage.pagewizardgames.com in the near future.  One note is that the resize feature provides only 256x224 (like MME), and not the conventional 256x240.  It can filter palettes to NES, GB, SMS, TG-16, and SNES.  I use it to verify my palettes (lately), and it does give me the huge idea of releasing another version of MME in GB style after MME.

Question:  Why is more time required? 
Answer: I just need more time or else the game will be of poor quality.  I have not been able to work on MME between September till about a few days ago.  It is not that I was putting it off or anything, I have been dying to get my hands on it and work on it more.  I have learnt from the past even if I touch my other projects I do not get as much done with my graduate school work which consumes most of my time outside of teaching/work.  Need my A's and A+'s to get into a good Ph.D. program after my Masters degree.

What are these promised updates you are going to be providing:
Answer:  This holiday expect to see videos showing:
-The last of the Robot Master battles revealed (Primal Man, Tune Woman, and Illusion Man (improved from his old battle))
-Wily Stronghold Stage 4 (the ultimate homage retro stage) - THE ENTIRE THING (Man this level is long, but epic)
-Jaspervalentine is releasing the final remake track for Wily Stronghold Stage 4.

Question: What do you have left after these updates?
Answer:  What I have left:
-Jolt Man's level (all of it except Jolt Man)
-Clamp Man (enemy placement)
-Primal man's level (half of it)
-Tune Woman's level (I have the design laid out, just need to program enemies, and the level itself)
-Enker's Level
-Wily Stage 1 (got the outline, need to program the level and boss)
-Wily Stage 2 (got the alternate boss, need to program the boss and level)
-Wily Stage 3 (everything)
-Wily Stage 5 (bits of the last parts of the level)
-Ending (passed the cinematic)
-Some engine accommodations (to all of these components of course, but that is not much at all).

Question: Why so many things left, I thought you finished some of these before?
Answer:  I did, but they pretty much need to be redone because of changing the resolution to 256x224 of the view instead of 320x240.  You have to essentially throw out an entire level if such is done because the rooms will not match the camera.  

I hope this answers all of your questions.
Have a beautiful day!


D.R. Page

Done Graduate Projects for the term!

Projects are done for the term.  Expect a blog entry in the near future!

I hope everybody is having a beautiful day!


Daniel

Heads up of possible inactivity for the next month

Good Evening Everybody!

  I just wanted to ensure everybody knows if you do not see any posts from me for the next month, just assume I am occupied with graduate school projects.  On a positive note I figured out another interesting result in constructions using integer compositions and loop-less algorithms.  I normally am good at pacing myself, but you may see a post from me in the near future.

Have a beautiful evening!


D R Page

If I had a Level in a Game

Good Evening!

  I thought I would throw a random blog entry at you for once.  This is one I recommend trying yourself, but it is quite simple:

Image if you were a boss in a video game.  What would be the music to your level?  What would be the boss theme of you?

Now when you imagine this, it doesn't have to be you exactly, but the point here I want you to use your creative caps to ponder about this.  Do not pick very stereotypical choices from popular games, have reasons for them.  Describe what kind of level it would be (if you are not sure, just give it, and proceed without description).  Make your level music suitable for the boss theme, and vice-versa.  Also you cannot be a final boss.

Level theme: Wonder Panorama (Mega Man ZX)

The reason I selected this tune is due to its beautiful but eloquent construction.  It could depict an arctic night time level in a beautifully star-lit sky with a futuristic-like city.

Boss theme:  Diablon (Shadow the Hedgehog)

Everybody have a beautiful day!


D R Page


 

Skinny Bitch book endorsed by PETA attacks Milk consumption (upon more...)

Quite recently I was referred to by one of my subscribers to a book called "Skinny Bitch" where it claims milk is dangerous.  This is a very ridiculous claim.

The first falsehood the book provides is that the chemicals injected into the bovines to increase milk production get passed 'onto you' and can do harm to you.  This is not true at all.  The whole point of the class of hormones they inject into cattle are to not pass onto the people who drink or consume the byproducts of these animals.  The whole point of the type of hormones bovines are given is that they cannot cause any harm upon you.  If people were literally injecting materials such as these hormones directly into your blood stream, yes it would, but these hormones are lost mostly through the pasteurization process, and even then get digested (like if it were nothing).

In my region we have the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) and they openly will call this claim nonsense, and that Milk is just fine to drink.  http://www.wrha.mb.ca/features/nutrition/myth-15.php .

Some people can be incredibly behind on their facts, there was an extensive study done by the FDA on this very subject... in 1993.  As men's health notes on hormones in milk if it is healthy (http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/dairy_products/Do_Hormones_Make_Milk_Unhealthy.php#ixzz29N9ql9IE ) :

Not unless you're injecting the milk. Here's the full story: In 1993 the FDA approved the use of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) in cattle. This practice resulted in greater milk production at less cost to the dairy farmer, a savings that has been passed on to you at your local supermarket. But it has also sparked much controversy, because rBGH boosts milk's concentration of insulin-like growth factor (IGF), a hormone that's been linked to cancer.
Unlike steroid hormones, which can be taken orally, rBGH and IGF must be injected to have any effect. That's because the process of digestion destroys these "protein" hormones. So drinking milk from hormone-treated cows doesn't transfer the active form of these chemicals to your body. However, there is one ethical downside to consider: It's not good for the cows. Canadian researchers discovered that cows given hormones are more likely to contract an udder infection called mastitis.

Just as a point I wanted to point out:
This book is endorsed by the cult that is purely anti-scientific cult PETA.

Reviewer of the book "Skinny Bitch", who has a biology background with a focus on nutrition 
Kelly A. Mchale, notes:

As a person who has a biology degree with a focus on nutrition, an advanced biology teacher, vegetarian, and a marathoner/triathlete, I was interested to read a book that may give me strategies to use myself and to interest my students in eating better. This book started well and then changed courses quickly. The scientific evidence in this book is just WRONG. It is riddled with inconsistencies and hypocrisies including that you shouldn't eat meat because it is rotting flesh and vegetables are living when you eat them. Unless you are eating them off of the plant, vegetables are also dead and decaying (look what happens to fruits and vegetables when they are not eaten in a timely fashion). They also say that you shouldn't eat processed foods, which I totally agree with, but then go on to advocate for veggie/vegan products that taste like meat which are incredibly processed but according to them are still good because they are vegan. With a statement of " A no-nonsense, tough-love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous!" you would have thought it would be all about good things to eat and how to exercise to lose weight. Not so, this is just a manifesto on how bad the meat industry is and how bad the government is. This book actually made me angry because I didn't buy this book to be inundated with these two women's opinions about the government and their dislike of all meat products. This book is not worth the money or time unless you want to read two women's rants about how everyone should be vegan.

With this in mind I cannot recommend this book, since its entire message is "you can't be healthy unless you are vegan".  If you want reliable information, go study some science, or grab your information from a reliable source not some author or cult who you cannot trust.  There are more misinformed facts about how milk is processed out there.  What we must remember about Milk is it is an animal byproduct.  You must expect biological matter to be present from a biological source.  It is pretty ignorant to expect purely synthetic expectations when it comes to products made by animals.  You don't go buying an apple expecting it won't have seeds from being a crop... same here.  It is a fallacy to apply such standards for food products produced in a lab to something farmed.  Do you not think the same can be found in milk produced by our own species?  It is ridiculous.

Have a beautiful day!  Don't forget to enjoy some milk!



D R Page

A discussion against mathematically ignorant Code Monkeys

Hello everybody!

  You can consider the following my take on how people should consider programming, and its relation with Mathematics.  Now a huge pet peeve of mine is when I am relaxing while reading some papers and I see that advertisement come on the television which says "You can make games without programming or maths", or when you hear this from some codemonkey (a term I will commonly use for programmers who come out of technical colleges (say Red River College as an example here in Manitoba) with no formal background in computing who only care about programming and not understanding what they really are doing nor the science behind such).  Now when I elaborate this further, I need to emphasize the importance of mathematics in programming, since programming is merely an application of mathematics.

To understand this, we must understand what a program is, and what programming is.  Programs are often sequences of bits we call "machine code" (if we assume the machine is a binary-base system).  The way we set up the rules of a system is by defining a formal system under some architecture.  The architecture can in most fundamental or advanced systems (such as in parallel computing) make a huge difference in how programs are interpreted.  We write programs in programming languages which in themselves are axiomatic systems defined at times by primitives, classes, objects, and other mathematical constructions.  We use these programming languages to make programs which a compiler (these days) will translate into machine code for that particular type of machine.  One can notice there was a lot of detail there if you were to consider what a compiler does, or say how machine code is used.  A code monkey will often jump over these details and insist that they can just proceed since the compiler will do such for them.  Believe it or not, there is a lot of abstraction in the court to even allow programmers to have such nice systems at their disposal.  Consider fields where compilers unlike GCC (for C programming) don't exist, and the responsibility is on the programmer to understand the architecture.  Even understanding a basic notion of combinatorics and algorithms will help guide somebody to better understand the architecture, or the logical chain of steps at times needed to understand possible engineering tasks the hardware may be considering.  In parallel computing, such is the case, and much of the hottest GPU, or CPU cluster optimization for video, or scientific crunching must be done on such (which makes it quite difficult if you lack the notion of even a digital circuit which comes from logic).

I haven't even hit on any core aspect of programming (as a formal system and a tool) yet, and as you may tell if you are a programmer who takes the naive stance "I don't need mathematics", you may find yourself running out of ideas by the end of this.  Now, let's consider the notion of an algorithm.  If you are an individual I may be addressing, you may say "algorithm" (what?) or if you do know what one is, what it has to do with mathematics.  Algorithms are formal mathematical descriptions that are step-by-step.  Algorithms have input, output, and some purpose.  An algorithm can be thought of a procedure.  To analyze even the most basic sequential algorithm, it requires a basic understanding of combinatorics or calculus.  For instance, if you would like to consider worst case analysis, this is almost necessary if you want to write great programs that don't appeal to inefficient results.  You cannot rely on just the computer to tell you following an execution if it works or not.  Often times if you aren't even sure if the program will run, the algorithm you may be implementing should be checked for correctness.  Proofs are very powerful tools that go unappreciated due mostly to a lack of understanding of how computing works.  Even a basic university CS graduate will grasp proofs are important, but they may not see the relevance, so I hope you will not be these individuals either.  Mathematics is at the heart of computing, and computing is at the heart of mathematics.  In foundations, programs were once seen as automated proofs where if the 'program' were to reach the end, it would be proven.  This is highly related to much of the work that brought on great works like Turing, with the decision problem.  When we consider problems we often affiliate with daily life, these problems likely will appeal to some irregular problem say graph theoretic problems, or even scheduling are some examples.  Just naively implementing a solution using basic algorithms may work in some circumstances, but when instances grow huge, this may not be possible.  So understanding algorithms, and being literate of discrete mathematics are essential.

Another excuse I often find is "there's a library call for that, I don't need to really understand it, or know what it even is to solve the problem".  Though in a naive sense, you could attempt to use such, but really imagine if you didn't have these libraries.  A lot of the time, the hottest topics in problems today will have people producing very recent programs, that will not be found in some library call unless they beat you to the punch. If you don't understand what you are using even, or a basic sense of what is going on, or the strengths or efficiency of that algorithm you may use, why use it?  I believe heavily the boost in speeds of CPUs have caused programmers to become lazy.  I remember the days when people could program entire games in the space some would consider for just loading a lazily drawn sprite in a game.  Efficiency is no less important due to this.  Such things come rather important when we consider popular hardware like GPU, and CPU multi-cores.

I seriously could go on for pages upon pages giving countless examples.  You cannot understand computing without a serious look at Computer Science, and what is this?  A formal science and a metaphorical birth child of mathematics.  Even if you teach yourself, there is a lot one cannot do unless they educate themselves more mathematics.  Even solving problems mathematically can broaden ones ability to abstract and seek better answers, or use logical deduction or induction to consider solutions.  We have too many code monkeys that colleges or simpler paths of some university programs produce, we need more computer scientists, and scientific thinkers in this domain.

The last point I need to make is about making games.  As somebody who has taught himself a ton of mathematics through learning how to make computer games from a very young age, I will tell you that to make your own game is not piggy backing on some library.  You should understand every part of your code if you want to utilize the hardware, and provide an excellent experience for your players.  Basics, you cannot escape matrix operations in graphics if you want to even get near graphics, and you need a basic understanding of logic to even approach providing decision making for complicated games.

Now I say these things not to bash, but to enlighten.  I have only selected a very few set of examples here, I could get into almost every department where the IT or software development industry is littered with mathematically ignorant workers who will keep making software no better than a high school student.  I have literally seen solutions to problems I personally conduct scientific research in where somebody blindly created program which are only feasible for some instances and would crash the entire program in a rare chance (since they didn't even consider the mathematics of the problem, nor the concept of a decidability).  This is not entirely on the programmers though, I would admit the whole software industry is not the same as it used to be where now great thinkers are not admired.  In my personal opinion, only people who can spit out code with a very limited scope of knowledge to how to solve more advanced problems are valued more in industry (with exceptions of major companies since they compete with academia) since the higher up individuals want to keep their jobs by preying on ignorance.

In short:  Whenever Mathematics or even a problem comes your way, take it!

Everybody have a beautiful day!


D R Page

My thoughts on the Wii U pricing

I made a video about this:

Have a beautiful day!


D R Page

My recollections of a lunatic in my past who knows no morality

Good Afternoon everybody!

WARNING:  This is a lecture towards a really bad person, with entirely rational reasons to say such things for this topic on my part.  I normally do not like writing in this style, but I believe somebody is stalking my blog entries, who likes to talk 'shit' about me outside of the internet, so I feel they need a message from somebody 'bigger' than them in terms of intelligence, physical appearance, mental sanity, and caring heart.  You can really just think of this as no different than telling a kid not to walk across the street.  That is the mood I was intending since I believe this person should not be talking in such ways about good hearted people who really did a lot more than they like to claim so that people in her present situation don't isolate or remove her.  With this being the case, this is a personal entry, that intends to keep confidentiality.

  I felt like writing about something a bit more personal this time, as more of a stance against the evils in the world, mainly people who come in fake glasses to our peers, which do have ignorance, intolerance, selfishness, and self-destruction in mind.  In particular this is relating to a comment I have discussed in the past, but I feel I need to emphasize the following, and the value of life.  For the sake of confidentiality and not destroying their entire reputation (I'm a good guy like that), I will not be mentioning names, but only speak the Truth.  As a scientist I value truth over self-delusion, which this person employs to manipulate the people she cares about, even if she doesn't even consciously believe so.

So let me begin:

• Listen, if you wish to post your own delusions, make it clear you aren't talking about real people.  People who you address do infact catch your abusive paths, and I recommend stopping if you wish to continue your career path if you think this is a good tactic.  Helping people doesn't imply manipulation.  It will end up people who go to you will be helped by good people like me, and the good people in this world, which isn't a good incentive for you.  Doesn't matter if it is me, or anybody else, you should respect what people GIVE you generously.  You ever wonder why you have earned a reputation of being a psycho abusive girl who stalks, rapes, and mistreats men?  It's because you don't value the golden rule.  You have been given so much, the last thing you deserve is to assert truth about things you don't even comprehend about relationships.  If he needs references, I can be a good one, and I am certain I can give you a couple of the people she claims are 'stalkers' or 'just friends' that you probably heard a twisted story about.  She's nuts buddy, run for the hills (laughs)!
• Comparing people is bogus if you make things up.  You should tell your boyfriend the facts for example.  He is nothing compared to me for  in the modest of senses example, but I'm sure he's a decent human being who has normal human goals for self progress.  It's not something arrogant to say, I maybe know only a small select people I can tell you are people I can respect as people who do the same caliber of work, charity, and good hearted care as me.  I'm sure he'd love to hear how you cheated on me, and took advantage of me, and abused, stalked, and manipulated me.  Just because you are a girl doesn't mean you aren't capable of these things.  Don't lie, be honest, you should know these things.  The last thing you need to do is abuse another guy because you told them nothing about your past or made up your past to cover your own faults.  These things can come up and bite you hard (big time), which is why you have me personally writing this to you, since you are nothing even compared to me, and my accomplishments OR even as a human being you speck.  Normal people like the people you even see on the streets have the same for themselves.  You are driven by your own motives, not the care of others.  Anything to make yourself look better is how you roll, you don't personally go out to go beyond people such as me to help others.  
• Making sacrifices is a big part of life, and you little missy have a lot to learn about this before you can claim nonsense about me.  
• You should really learn the value of life.  To openly say you would rather see a person die and not care is probably one of the most disgusting things I've ever heard in my life, and it is not even by the fact it is about me.  Read your words, and watch who you talk about.  It can make you look foolish in the public square.
• This is a public space.  Keep your delusions and made up fairy tales to yourself unless you actually label it as such.

This is all I have to say, but I honestly as a person who has taught you a lot, I'm ashamed you did all the terrible things you did to me in the past, but you never seem to comprehend your own faults.  Humans develop, but if you expect others to develop around you, how will you?  You should be ashamed to call yourself a human.  Saying nonsense about people who really do make a difference in society because you have never done anything in your pitiful life?  That is pathetic.  Go do something unique that has never been done, and then you may have the intelligence to talk about people who have positively given you a lot in life correctly.

Have a beautiful day!

FYI Nobody you'll ever see will be ever as good as me as an individual.  Never ever.  Not a single one you idiotic bitch.  It just isn't scientifically possible with a nutball self-destructive sanity, and man-like figure you own.  No wonder why only guys would be with you for less than 2 weeks before me.  You got better at hiding yourself.  Just I recommend not deluding your peers when you are upset you threw away the best guy you could ever have ever obtained since he lowered his expectations to give you a chance.  Why?  Cause he is a good hearted guy, who listens, cares, and cares about truth, which you definitely do not.  

D R Page

Updates, Research, Teaching

Hello everybody!

Research Interests

  It has been a little while since I have posted so I thought I would deliver the exciting news that I will be pursuing a pretty important problem in the fields of Approximation Algorithms, Combinatorial Optimization, and Computational Complexity Theory for my Master's thesis research.  This problem is called Makespan.  I cannot get into too many details at this time since I need to figure out some of the constraints I am considering and the much research and intuition ahead to devise new results in this difficult problem in any variation.

The importance of this problem:

• Over computer systems over a long period, this can boost the speeds of CPU schedulers for systems.
• Allow for quicker and more accurate solutions for job shop scheduling algorithms.
• Offer more options in the literature, since this is a pretty important problem in the problem spans of Approximation Algorithms.
• Complements parallel computing research currently done, and this is very popular right now and will have a huge influence probably in the next 10 years as parallelism is more common to the general public.
• Many... many... many... applications (seriously, tons!)

If I am able to achieve this I will have algorithms in both discrete computation, and continuous computation scientific literature.  My goal is to influence as many branches of theoretical computer science as possible.  With new results in combinatorial generation, works in automata theory I have in the works, and if this is a success, I will be on a pretty good start to reaching this on my journey to attain my doctorate (following the steps of course) when that comes eventually.

Teaching

It seems teaching is going good so far.  Apparently there is some positive buzz about me amongst the sections of the course I am teaching.  I love teaching, and I hope my students are learning new, or interesting concepts in a creative way with lots of energy to help!  

I believe to make a brighter future we don't need band-aids, we need solutions, and a good place to start is by inspiring young minds to solve new problems, and understanding the world around them. 

Everybody have a beautiful evening!

D R Page

Another random 'division' problem using the Obelus

I found this one in particular on Facebook:

Let me make this one clear very fast.  This statement does not contain your conventional division sign in it.  It contains an obelus in it.  Let us do this following the rules of algebra, but not only this, show how this problem works out if you do this the correct way most are not taught, and the way they are interpreting it.  

(1: the proper way if we assume obelus is a binary operator with two arguments, refer to my post about the obelus for more about this):
6-1x0+2(obelus)2, becomes 6-0+2 (obelus) 2, becomes 8 (obelus) 2, which is 4.  

(2: the same method, except doing the proper substitution)
(6-1x0+2)/(2), becomes (8)/(2), which is 4.

(3: the way people do it when they interpret the obelus as the full blown division operator)
6-1x0+2/2, becomes after multiplication 6-0+2/2, becomes after division 6-0+1, becomes 6+1, which is 7.

Enjoy!  Have a beautiful day!


D R Page

Mega Man Eternal Trailer!

Updates

Good Evening Everybody!

  I felt like giving everybody an update:

• Next week I begin teaching again at the University of Manitoba again.  Got a very large hall this term.  I had received very positive reviews from my previous term, so I expect students will learn a lot from me this term for their course.
• I'm in the process of getting my paper on a specialized greibach normal form construction ready for submission.  It is a polynomial construction which can verify any part-wise restriction over an exponentially large set of n-ary numbers covering a weak composition (through second-order restricted weak compositions introduced in 2011 by D R Page).
• I plan to be releasing a trailer for Mega Man Eternal in a little.  I just need a bit more done on more main stages (mainly Tune Woman, Primal Man, and Jolt Man).  
• Wrapping up my educational work with the museum, and will be probably only working there on some weekends following this long weekend.
• Preparing for my graduate study topics.  I have been reading my books on Combinatorial Optimization, and Approximation Algorithms a lot lately since that will be the domain in Theoretical Computer Science where I will be publishing my graduate thesis (most likely).

Everybody have a beautiful day!



D R Page

Bad Science Watch, not in it for public outreach, only nonsense

Good Evening Everybody!

  So the following is an update on my previous blog entry involving Bad Science Watch!  If you missed out on that one here is the link: http://pagewizard.blogspot.ca/2012/08/bad-science-watch-bad-examples-of.html

So I had received a response to this e-mail from the executive director Jamie Williams.  For the sake of not advertising these condescending douche bags, I will not post their response, because it comes off as an advertisement, and I definitely cannot endorse their group now.  Why, I bet you ask?

• Don't think scientists can be multidisciplinary.
• Not interested in any educators getting involved with their group.  That's right, if you're a teacher, professor, or instructor for a university, or school and loves science and wants to help the group.  Beat it, they don't care about your expertise, or what knowledge you can provide to the public or what you could educate to them.
• Don't care about formal science, and primary empirical science.  That's right, if you had issues about computing, mathematics (including economical issues that can be related), physics (seriously), you are out of luck.  They don't care about those policies.  I have on record of them calling me not any use to them just because I call myself a 'theoretical computer scientist', but yet I research multiple fields including empirical fields, and other formal fields.  So if you had any legal issues about the government involving any of these fields, they don't care.
• They are hypocritical in their messages.  They talk about looking out for bad science, and bad government policy, and insist they can do something about it.  They talk about increasing activism, but yet they don't say they are into that.  That's a contradiction.  I encourage you to check the site, check the Executive Director (the one who wrote me) and read the last two sentences of what he wants for their group.  I was just told they don't intend to be a group to outreach about bad policies, or bad science, or to promote science.  Do they not know how the government works?  It is mostly election based by Parliament (or even Senate if you are on that end), it is very difficult to get people behind a policy to push their members of parliament if they don't even know what is going on.  No wonder why they don't care about the most of science, they should call themselves the "Selectively Ignorant Bad Science Watch".  You need to get the public interested to even get a sliver in there unless you want to pull a lot of strings considering Politicians very rarely have a solid expertise in science.

They themselves told me (right from the Executive Director) that they are not a public outreach group promoting good science, to help point out bad policy.  So my predictions were indeed correct.

In conclusion, here is my response to them.  As somebody who wants to see positive changes in policies, promotion of science, and providing a better future for our society when it comes to Science, I felt they needed to hear a nice good hearted person like me give them my blunt two cents:

Sounds bizarre to me.  Such a strange skewed perspective.  I guess you don't know much about Computing then, nor what Theoretical Computer Scientists can be more than qualified to explain to you, and what I could be valued as.  Considering most of my research is applied to Chemistry, and some Molecular Physics in empirical sciences.  Throwing labels on people on your end seems petty.  How do you not know I don't know a lot about all sciences, and law?  All I know your second e-mail is even more insulting than the first one.  Don't be expecting me to post your nonsense as advertisement for a lost cause, nor to my colleagues you dipshit.  Alright then...
Good luck!

All I know, don't let their website fool you.  They are not in it for us, they are in it to only toot their own whistle.  Everybody have a beautiful day!


D R Page 

Public Outreach and Bad Science Watch

Now, as always when people come out to promoting Science, people who encounter me know I take this task very seriously, since Science promotion is a vitally important task in the public circle, since our society relies so much on technology, and what we know in Science.  It always surprises me when I encounter anybody who can't grasp fundamental concepts about our universe, but even then it takes the proper voice and outreach to turn that around, and make that something to boost their interest.  I am also quite passionate about approaching pseudo-science, anti-scientific, or political ideologies which pose against Scientific benefits for our society with the voice of reason, and doing so in a reasonable, well educated, straight forward, and honest matter.  

Now, to what I specifically want to discuss, with this premise.  I recently found a non-profit group called Bad Science Watch.  When I went to their website, it sounded like something that would interest me, and seemed to share a similar message (I really do mean this) as I do, and do so in a more 'do-er' approach, but I am pretty certain I just have stumbled across another 'boys club' for science hobby activists (now when I use this term, I mean the opposite of a 'do-er'), and not serious scientists who are wanting to approach parliament about issues where Science may be poorly represented, or the government may endorse pseudo-scientific solutions.
  Now I could be completely wrong about this, but one thing as somebody who promotes science like it was in my blood, I can tell you it will not get any momentum with this type of model with the public unless they make it more open.  As somebody with a lot of experience running non-profit groups, or leading groups, and educating people for not even a dime, there are several reasons why I say this:

1. It is not an open door policy organization for volunteers:  It requires a complete qualification 'check' as if you were getting a high end job to even step in the door to work with this group.
2. Not one empirical or formal scientist in charge:  You got some MD's, and lots of software developers and that's a stretch.  When I say this, I don't mean any insult to MD's, just this is incredibly different in practice than research scientists, or educators.  I have the humblest respect for doctors since I am quite bad with blood and guts and they can help others, just maybe not the system standard doctors work under since it is not about science and the necessary benefit of the public (these days at least, since the government-physician-financial link between them is quite a mess).  
3. Doesn't seem to benefit the target population:  With a closed door policy for volunteers, it really misses the point of a non-profit group if you can't get the general public involved in your organization.  This is a bad model since if you want to promote positive science, and point out bad science, you need to reach a public, and it is very hard to do this without lots of people, and this really restricts your audience (but, I will get into this later).

Now, I thought with my experience I would put my hand out there to help this group as I love helping promote science, and have educated thousands of children, and people of all ages (just in the past year) about science, and how to think critically about problems, or about how the world works from airplanes, to empirical sciences, to computing, to logic, to even just basic mathematical skills.  So I sent them an optimistic message in the form:

Good Morning Bad Science Watch! I was directed to your site from a colleague of mine. Looks like a positive message, and when I heard what it was about, I felt I needed to shoot you fellows a positive note to keep on it. If you need any educational, or scientific support, feel free to contact me. I love getting involved in trying to increase the positive awareness of science, and standing up for the promotion of science to everyone, no matter how old. I would be more than glad to help. Keep it up, and if you need anything, just let me know. Have a beautiful day! 

Took about a week to get even a response back (most non-profit groups are very prompt, especially if they are just starting out), but here it is.  For the sake of confidentiality, I have blotted out names:

Dear Daniel,
Thank you for your interest in Bad Science Watch and your kind words of encouragement. We are now recruiting volunteers for our first two projects, and would welcome your application!
To process a volunteer application, we require:
1. A current resume or CV describing your educational and/or professional background2. A brief cover letter which should include a description of your interest in the specific project you are applying for and any relevant volunteer experience you may have3. A letter providing full disclosure of any associations, clubs, companies, or organized social groups you are involved in through work, volunteering, or membership
Applicants must also attend an interview which will be conducted over Skype. As Bad Science Watch maintains a virtual office and has a volunteer base distributed across Canada, the vast majority of our communications will be through Skype and email. As such all volunteers must have a Skype account and a headset and microphone. To indicate your availability for a Skype interview, please visit this link, enter your full name, and select the times and dates from the list of options that you will be available for an interview of up to 60 minutes. Please select as many times as possible as we have a large number of volunteers to interview in the coming weeks.
Thanks and regards,
Blank McBlankerson

I felt somewhat insulted, or shrugged my head when I got this message.  A fine example of poor experience.  I know for instance one of my non-profit employers definitely would not do this, and they have a much simpler process (might I include that place wouldn't even be possible without our hard working volunteers).  I would not treat any potential volunteer, nor has any group I have donated, or gotten involved with treat volunteers like if it is a dog race.  This is the kind of process you use to hire people for a high end job, not to recruit volunteers.  Here are some problems with this process:

• Ask for a CV/Resume after you invite them to join, and they have accepted:  You basically just slam the door on volunteers if they put out an open hand to help you if you basically tell them you need to pass a test to join them.  This usually can turn away or discourage people who are coming in as laymens to help with your group.  It is hard enough getting people to fill out a single line, than to expect them to submit to you something you should be doing for them.  Give them reasons to help you out.  Make them interested in your subject.  For instance if you like cookies, you don't expect the newest volunteers to make you cookies, just for you to eat, and not even the public.  My recommendation is just to have them fill out one form, and if you have questions, ask them the questions.
• Throw possibilities out there:  Why would anybody get involved if you diminish their talents.  If somebody sends you a message which sounds like they really have things to offer, make it personal with them.  You cannot be very systematic with people that want to help, you got to show them, that by doing and taking the time to check you out, that you did the same for them.  If you have projects, talk about ones you think they would be interested in.  
• Giving complete personal information:  What stops you from being a fraudulent organization which is stealing personal information?  Now I am not suggesting it is the case, but it can be a possibility since there are not too many reputable sources out there talking about the group at the given time.  Organizations don't ask you for your entire history from beginning to end about things, that's a little creepy.  Even employers for most jobs wouldn't ask for all this, you'd provide maybe a selection that best suits the situation even then.  If volunteers want to tell you things, they will give you that information. For instance, as you noticed in my message, I mentioned a lot about my educating profession, and not one mention about this in their reply.  They are taking the time to support your cause, at least take the time to listen.
• Interviews, and selection processes:  It is always nice to talk to people who want to get involved with your organization, but this group has not been around for as long as large non-profit groups which have planned events all the time which have very specific numbers and resources, but they wouldn't do this for their volunteers as a whole.  When you get people interested, you really show you don't care that much if you say that their not qualified enough to just walk in the door even with their details given to you.  This is not just on my case as being a scientist, but for anybody.  You try to take in as many people, and when you need specific skills, you ask for it, and it is likely those interested will put up their hand, and help.  You're running a non-profit group with volunteers after all.  Even then, you can train volunteers to do tasks if necessary.

There is more I could point out, but those are some of the major problems I had.  It seems like a closed-knit group rather than one that is comprised of serious advocates, which want to promote science, and expose pseudo-science.  With this being said, unless they show they care about people and their cause (since if you want to stop public matters, you got to approach people, not just small knits of society, heck even using the Internet to spread positive science media is more effective), I cannot endorse this group as a scientist, and public educator of science.   I say this in the most modest sense of the word.  Promoting science is not a little club, it is a very important matter.

In conclusion, I sent them this message (with the link to this entry), to assist them in the future:

Good Evening Blank,

  I felt quite discouraged/insulted by your response (considering it ignored completely my message, and what I had to offer). So I thought I would provide some recommendations for your group here:  http://pagewizard.blogspot.ca/2012/08/bad-science-watch-bad-examples-of.html since this group is just starting out.

I felt like this group has a positive message, but it is not being carried out very well, or in an experienced matter when it comes to outreach. 

Hope this is taken as a grain of salt for the organization, and if you wish to have any assistance in the future from myself.

Have a beautiful day!

Daniel Page

Theoretical Computer Scientist, Science Educator, Museum Interpreter

Have a beautiful evening!

D R Page

My "Create An Owl"

I made an owl with the "Create An Owl" by therougecat on deviant art ( http://therougecat.deviantart.com/art/Create-an-Owl-178454903?q=boost%3Apopular+create+owl&qo=0 )

I thought it would be cute for my girlfriend and I to make one each, so here is mine.

It's Owl's a Poppin'! Mwah!

Everybody have a beautiful day!

D R Page

Considering the ÷ (obelus) Sign

Good Morning Everybody!

  I thought I would consider talking about this 'operator' because of its notorious nature of confusing the public.  I hope to convince you of the importance of the obelus sign, and why people should not confuse this sign with the '/' division operator.  In basic words, there is a reason why we don't see this operator beyond elementary school, it is because it doesn't actually represent division as myself, or any scientist would use in an algebraic sense.  This is actually an operator which entails mainly computational use.

 Believe it or not, the oldest account of the use of obelus used in a text I could find in this form is found in a german text from 1659 called Teutsche Algebra by Johann H. Rahn.  Here is a picture below of their algebraic rules:  (look for the one with the obelus)  

There are other examples through texts of this nature.  I personally believe the obelus has lost its meaning over the years, but in itself it does resolve a lot of the Left-Right parsing issues with division in not ambigous forms using it in general.  Let me explain by using an example by denoting two alleged statements which are claimed to be the same:

[1] 6/3(3+1)
[2] 6÷3(3+1)

Now your intuition because you see '÷' you say "DIVISION, let's do it!".  Take a step back and notice these are two statement with two operators.  Now today in convention we just say they are the same thing to ease issues, but it evades the purpose of the ÷ sign.  Here is why upon discussing with a couple peers in education why they continue to use this ONLY at the elementary level.

It is about enforcing the concepts of division, not carrying out actual division.  When you write it with the obelus, it is to separate the numerator and denominator, then carry out the operator.  Meaning the left, and right terms are clustered together in two arguments.  So this operates less like '/' and more like a clear division.  It is strict division it seems.

The obelus is usually only used with numbers, and not algebraic statements since it doesn't really have the meaning we intend for division.  You can think of the obelus as an elementary school tool to hammer in the concept to take one thing and break it into other pieces and count them.

Here is a more accurate way of stating the ÷ sign in modern days:

a÷b = (a)/(b) to be consistent with older texts which used this sign more regularly.

So if we do our two example we yield [1]:

6/3(3+1) which is 2*4 which is 8.

[2] yields:

6÷3(3+1) rewrites as (6)/(3(3+1)), then is 6/12 which is 0.5.

Notice the way we write the two statements in our example makes a big difference in the way they are carried out.  Older models of calculators will employ ÷ over / since it is quicker to implement, since they will assume you are doing the division where you don't have more complicated statements than a over b.

It is fundamental to understand the obelus' main place in teaching is with only simple arithmetic statements where there are only two numbers involved.  In computation the obelus is more common since you can assume we can fiddle around with the two arguments of a division (much like in a programmer's arsenal) since depending on the language you will have to interpret the operator differently.  

This maybe doesn't have as much relevance today since conventions in Mathematics do change over time, but I believe as a scientist that we should not use an operator which is not used properly unless it has a purpose.  In general, use the '/' over the obelus, it is far more clear since it can be intended as different things.  I would definitely treat them as two different types of division (one the algebraic operator, the other a binary operator with a lower precedence).  Obelus is more of a computational form of division than an algebraic one anyways.

Hope this helps!


Have a beautiful day!



D R Page

Wily RUSH Machine Battle

Dr. Wily's RUSH Machine Battle has been finished

This battle is from Wily Underwater Stronghold Stage 4.  This boss is not as difficult as previously thought, but can be quite a challenge still.  After completing this stage, you really would not want to lose to Dr. Wily here.  Using Rush as a database, and source, he projects old robot masters to attack Mega Man.  To defeat, destroy these projections and lunge the energy back at his bot, and fire at the chamber holding Rush.

Everybody have a beautiful day!


D R Page

Playable Beat (2P) in Mega Man Eternal

I officially announced the deadline for Mega Man Eternal has been pushed to Winter.  In turn I promised a new feature which I just finished implementing a couple hours ago.  It allows for the player to control Beat the Bird (or a second player may do this).  Beat has the ability to attack foes, or seek items to grab and bring to Mega Man.  Manual control allows further distance and attacking further away enemies, but it is best played with a second player.  I would recommend using a game pad for Mega Man, and the second player using the AWSD keys on the keyboard!

How to unlock Beat:

Obtain the four letters that spell Beat`s name from four of the robot master stages.

I hope everybody enjoys that!

D R Page

Whole Brain Simulation Quacks

Often times I wonder what eludes people to think such is possible, but before that I need to actually define what this problem is by telling you what it is not.

This problem is not the idea of storing the brain on a computer, which I believe could be possible one day (though I think the ethics of doing so could be not too terribly great).  That is a completely different problem than the concept of simulating a whole brain on a computational model.

Let me use an analogy to set up the problem.  Suppose I were to build a bridge.  This bridge is to extend from Chicago, to Ludington (across Lake Michigan).  The engineers building this must do so with testing the foundation in pieces.  Do you know it will actually work by just building the bridge as a whole?  Not at all.  The composition of a bridge's parts doesn't mean the bridge itself can sustain the capacity.

Often I find this idea is something that excites primarily people who are not exactly computationally literate in theoretical computer science.  If they maybe took up a little looking up of the past in our field, they would know that this concept is a little off the wall silly to carry out with the amounts of funding (millions upon millions) pooled in already.

Since 1936 when we developed the last of the several nails in the limitations of Logic, we learnt that as humans, logic runs on the rules given by the human.  We would say logically that something is true if the premises are true, but automatons don't exactly view things that way.  You cannot give every assumption that brain can handle due to the concept of undecidable problems.  Humans believe it or not deal with these types of problems on a near daily basis.  Computers can't handle paradoxes effectively if given arbitrarily.  There is bound to be a new form it must handle, and such is silly to think we can solve that.  Our brains could definitely be mapped, scanned, stored, but to use a computer to carry this out means we have a lot of problems in computation which cannot be resolved due to undecidable problems.  Such problems are the Halting Problem, the Mortality Problem (especially), and necessarily, infinitely more to deal with (since you can never cure incompleteness).

In conclusion, to assume we can bypass undecidability is without a question a ridiculous idea until we have:

• An algorithm which can indeed do this (which they have not demonstrated, since this brain must be able to do that)
• A proof of correctness for this algorithm

The reason why this is such an issue is because if one did this on a computer, it would contradict Godel's 2nd Incompleteness Theorem which is a fundamental result which limits the mathematics we can prove with theorems.

In basic, you need to show such is even possible with computation before setting out claiming such is possible.  It is a very fine line.

Have a beautiful day!

D R Page

The Holy Man (2 Year Championship Anniversary)

Time to celebrate 8 years of the Holy Man by noting that today two years ago claimed the EWF Undisputed Championship.

EWF Entrance Theme:

Have a beautiful day!



D R Page

Exam Day Today, More Papers, Wily 2 & 3 Tile Prepared

Good Morning!

Exam

I'm quite excited today since this evening I will be conducting my first exam that I wrote myself.  They will have to endure 25 short answer, and 75 multiple choice in 2 hours.  Nicely prepared in LaTeX, I think I did a pretty good job.  I'm going to miss teaching my class from this Summer when it is over.  I enjoyed my students.  I was teaching a one-three hour slot during the Summer of a course of how to use computers, about them, and the Microsoft Office 2010 suite.  

If not, that is okay, I will be teaching the same course again this Fall, so it will be another month.  If I'm lucky I'll get a very large section :)!

Paper

I am in the process of independently publishing more results.  I am right now preparing a result for a context-free grammar which is the most concise description over all possibilities given 3 axioms I defined for restricted weak integer compositions.  I also will be giving a variation which is in Greibach Normal Form, for efficient use in computation.

Wily 2 and 3 Tiles Prepared

I have prepared the Wily Underwater Stronghold Stage 2 & 3 tiles.  I will be placing some recolouring to them probably to ensure they meet a decent bound of the style.  These two stages are going to be quite interesting.  The 2nd stage is mostly a trek through the fortress, and the 3rd stage has a lot of pits, elevators, and more.  Wily Stage 2 has a split 'time-line' event depending on if you defeated all the Mega Man Killers, or not.  If you do, you will face Copy Quint, a duplicate of Quint except with more abilities (but still not hard).  If you fail to even beat one MMK, you will face the Mega Man Killer, a combo of all three which is one big robot which is not a piece of cake, but fortunately Proto Man will be there to assist you.

Everybody have a beautiful day!


D R Page

Generalization Fallacy

The Generalization Fallacy is a logical fallacy that is commonly applied by laymen when making predictions, and is a formal fallacy in Mathematical Logic.  The act of applying a  universal quantifier OVER a term when that term is existential. 

For example:  This car is blue, therefore all cars are blue.
For example:  Some people hate flowers, therefore all people hate flowers.
For example:  Suppose function h maps to z in integers, for z less than 5, h is less than 5, then h is less than 5 everywhere.

Generalization fallacy cannot be applied to terms which are existential. 'Some', 'Particular', 'Almost', 'Probably' are keywords for existential quantifiers.  If one states 'some' and use that as a conclusion over terms, it is invalid to state a fallacy occurred.  The way in that instance to dismiss the case is to show ALL instances cannot be attributed to that conclusion.

The act of generalization is a formal fallacy unless the terms being applied are well defined (means you know everything about the object).  The act of induction is a useful term to properly spread the quantifier through an induction hypothesis, that allows one to conclude things about infinitely many instances over a single case.  This is the effective cure for a statement that holds informally, but must be shown formally.

Have a beautiful day!

D R Page

Cutting the Metaphorical Head of Christine

Through this article I will be referring to the individual in question as  Christine to protect confidentiality.  This is an analysis of a generalization fallacy, crossed with a slippery slope argument, crossed with an appeal to emotion.  Illogical city, so I guess it's my job to clarify Christine's misunderstandings of her past.  As an educator, I would like to use a pawn in my past as an educational example from a personal one.  I'm unorthodox that way, but if anybody would like me to take this down (or if I do so myself), please contact me and I will most certainly.

As any colleague of mine would suggest, I'm a very curious individual, but a very friendly one.  I thought I would enlighten my audience of an individual who just is delusional in the rightest of sense.  A rapist who insists on persisting in lies, to cover her own abusive trails.  As a scientist, I have evaluated her personality as self-destructive, and secondly I felt it would be fair I would place a rebuttal to this idiot, so that she learns her place.  Might I add, here is the passage you may refer to for a source:

he was socially stunted, emotionally delayed, and he refused to take no for an answer, and used manipulation to get his way. He would throw tantrums, threaten to kill himself, and spam my facebook, phone and email until he had me beaten down enough to comply. He refused to pay his own way and constantly had me paying for every dinner, movie, and coffee. He picked fights with my friends until I, out of embarrassment, pulled away from them in order to avoid having him embarrass me over and over again. - Christine

 Well to begin let us dissect this piece of lies:

he was socially stunted, emotionally delayed - Christine

No, that was definitely not how it was.  Last time I checked you were emotionally stunned and socially insecure.  You were afraid to even hug people, or talk to other adults unless you knew them for extended periods of time.  That my friends is a fine example of a socially stunted, emotionally delayed individual. Around that time I was facilitating an entire department's student-department affairs for a student group I ran as the president.  I'm pretty certain she has this backwards.  People with such conditions will do this.

spam my facebook, phone and email until he had me beaten down enough to comply. - Christine

Now, this is actually a pretty interesting form of bias.  An individual claims 'spam' is the equivalent to somebody talking to her.  What a messed up individual.  Last time I checked she couldn't even take responsibility for her own actions.  She would abuse, and hurt me personally emotionally, and totally ignore me and yet she would call that 'spamming'.  Now that my audience is the evidence of a sociopath.  We're talking about the same person who would literally force people to cry because she was too selfish to care about others even other deceased loved ones.  Now here is the funny thing, she insists this, but really it was much on her own part.  If you are going to ignore facts, at least be intellectually honest instead of faking the truth Christine, you must think your current boyfriend is a naive twat, like every previous man you've raped, or abused.  I bet he doesn't even know you did such things (gasp).  Maybe if you thought critically, you'd not engage good hearted people to call you out on your messed up thoughts that slander others.   

He refused to pay his own way and constantly had me paying for every dinner, movie, and coffee. - Christine

This is also a lie.  As a full-time student at the time (might I add, a rather intensive program simultaneously while I ran an organization), and somebody who was unable to work due to taking care of my father.  If you had what us moral individual call a heart, you would not make up such lies, and respect people who helped you become a better person.  A person who insists they must work while in an intensive science program is a complete joke.  A course which contains a large chunk to graduate courses is a job in itself.  You make good people sick.  You don't even know what the concept of 'working hard' is, and you judge hard working people who work probably at least four times more than you do.  For the sake of completeness, I will mention I paid for pretty much everything in that relationship and if not, we paid dutch style (which is reasonable), she is actually being dishonest.

He picked fights with my friends until I, out of embarrassment, pulled away from them in order to avoid having him embarrass me over and over again. - Christine

Not true either.  I actually encouraged this individual to have fun with her friends constantly.  How exactly she is so dumb that she can't grasp that it's kind of hard to be embarrassed about somebody who hands you everything on an emotional platter, and is intellectually and morally superior than any of them, modestly.  A lesson in life kid is that you should think for yourself, and not let your friends put made up garbage in your head.  You class good people as villains, you will become a villain Christine...  You fail.

Next, I have brought in the next chunk I believe deserves a fair whipping on her part:

  It got to the point where I thought to myself, let the idiot kill himself, I don’t even care any more. I was even a little disappointed when, instead of killing himself, or gracefully accepting the break up, he decided to attempt to stalk me over every online account that I’ve had up until this point. -Christine

Do you even read what you type?  As a joke, I should mail this to your future employers, I'm sure they would love to hear how you'd like to treat your future customers (laughs).  I bet they would take me seriously as I am a scientist, and you're just some student who has no respectable reputation yet who works at an Olive Garden because your slacker friend got it for you (I know these things, I know everything in this regard).  I believe people will persist in delusion if you let them, which is why you couldn't even fess up to apologize for your abusive nature.  Last time I checked, you were the one so messed up in the head you threatened to kill yourself and put me in such a poor emotional state that I followed.  You got to make sense, and communicate effectively Christine..  Pseudo-intellects such as yourself really need to learn that if it's in your head, that it is likely untrue.  Use a rational method to verify your statements.  Not to mention you had been cheating on me while still insisting you loved me and told me the very day you left me in the dust that you loved me, dishonesty is a bitch isn't it you idiot?  Do you not remember how you were stalking me till May that year, and it suddenly stopped around the same time I had informed the police about it (maybe you didn't hear about that).  
  Believe it not, your delusions about me stalking you are pretty much in your head.  Believe it or not, I have been always awaiting a mature person to say thank you for what I had given them, apologized for their wrongs, and moved on, but you definitely did not do that.  You should really study more about your own actions, you may learn a lot.  It was actually my subscribers who had heard my story who had pointed out your accounts to me, I only went to look at them, and then maybe see if you had become a moral member of society yet.  Seems that is not the case.  The only time I had intentionally checked you out was when my girlfriend had alerted me you had moved to blogspot, and since I had an account at Blogspot before you got here, I thought it would be a good opportunity to discuss your past actions or see maybe if you had smartened up.  You have a paranoia which causes you to blame others for your own actions, that is not deniable.

All I will say is I'm ashamed that somebody as naive, somebody I gave the time of the world, and attention just wants to pander in her own made up delusions.  You will encounter a time when your demons will reach your own insolent childish ends, like every terrible person who dares abuse, trample, stalk, harass, or damage individuals around you.  I just insist maybe you should look yourself in the mirror, and ask yourself, what is your reality, and compare it against the one everybody else lives in.  People around here like myself care, but if you insist on slandering those around you, your actions will be monitored by peers whether it be my subscribers, or just some random person on the internet.  It's a big part of what makes the internet an interesting place.

Since you're not educated enough or have a rational discourse, you cannot refuse any of this, this is infact what happened.  You can tell as many people whatever you like, but it doesn't change your actions.  It is actions which follow you, not your lies, and I'm sure you may have crushed your future reputation in the caring department with your actions against me, and any man you've abused in the past due to your psychological issues.  Be careful, smarter people are around to comment on your dishonesty.

If you care to provide any response, do it in second-order predicate calculus.  That way I will know you are using valid forms to rationalize abstracted from your petty thoughts about good people I have met in your past, or myself.  Might I add your mockery of the dead is disgusting.

Have a beautiful day!



D R Page