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2023-08-05 I finished re-working chapter four of Ghosts of Glory High (again). :D The end result is the best version I've ever seen (compared to the monstrosity I crafted a couple of years ago). It reads smooth as butter. And, it just tells that same old story I intended (but-- in a more pleasing manner). Honestly, the events are basically unchanged. But, I'd say the language is over ninety-five percent different (including a larger focus on brevity and removal of annoying "repetitive" describing that is characteristic of the book). And, yet-- same story. It *feels* more honest this way. And, the chapter's language is a lot more like what I'm crafting for "The Critical Mass of the Hybridized Rodent". I will carry on by repairing chapter five. And then, I will attempt writing chapter four of the ol' hybrid rodent saga. ;) I haven't implemented a ram-disk using an Atmel at89c2051 microcontroller, yet. But, I *did* find this Wikipedia documentation about interfacing with a USB host. And (apparently), many disrespectful circuit designers disparage USB microcontroller communication by hatefully referring to the process as "bit banging" (and discouraging its practice). Frankly, I find such narrowminded suppression to be completely unfounded. After all, the USB standard is the USB standard (a developer's choices which fulfill basic requirements are better decided by him/her-- not some random stranger contributing little or no work to the project). The fact that I can find online posts that discourage others from developing timing devices with microcontroller software (because a person is simply too lazy to do this him/herself) is appalling. I also settled on using an idt-71256 volatile memory chip (32,768 bytes on a twenty-eight pin I-C) to store the data. 32k might sound a little meager for a USB ram-disk (hell-- why bother?) But for the purposes of the h8r 8-bit registry, the chip is quite perfect. I plan on "flashing" assembled programs from Atmel at28c256 EEPROMs to the system's running memory. And, wouldn't you know it-- it's also a 28-pin device with 32,768 bytes of storage. So, my plan is to implement a four-way swap using idt-71256 chips (that will allow a user to switch between four different loaded programs using a standard keyboard). And, a "main" memory idt-71256 will store an active program (lol). It seems pretty obvious to go ahead and use the same chip to implement the system's "ram-disk" module (which will have a standardized USB interface that allows passing data to more common "desktop" systems). Me and my girlfriend watched that movie Native, recently. And, a lot of ignorant people gave it poor reviews because they didn't like the set designs. And, many reviewers complained that they were bored by the film. Personally, we really enjoyed the experience. And, I felt like sharing my thoughts about film and its purpose (since people are apparently confused about that). And so (regarding the film's "set designs")-- for the most part, the film feels like watching a re-run of The Outer Limits from the nineties. lol. I'll concede-- the feature doesn't present a city sized pan inside of the "Death Star" from that stupid ass Star Wars franchise (which I can't stand). Hmm. But let's see-- it, uh-- it tells a story. And, it gives the feeling of a hive minded (closed off, as it turns out) dystopian civilization. And, that's the point. Sooo-- Additionally, I don't have a lot of advice to offer people who claim to be "bored" by such a thoughtful film (suffice to say-- those viewers are probably not the brightest bulbs in the fixture, lol). To me, Native is a thought provoking film that captures a spectator's attention right away (with originality but also with unaddressed questions and ethical issues). And, the film's plot doesn't bother introducing (or explaining) a lot of the boring details about what is going on or why people are behaving the way they are (which continues to raise questions throughout the production). And (honestly), this is very appealing to me. It's very pretentious to spend the first fifteen minutes of a film having one character explain to another what is going on and why. Really-- *that* is how you bore an audience to tears. There are other ways to present new ideas. I have a preference for allowing a narrator (usually a character in the film) to introduce needed information with voice over types of explanations while film demonstrates what the character is talking about. In my opinion, this is the most concise (and least invasive) method for educating a viewer about some much needed material so that the person can simply-- enjoy a story. But, raw exposure with no explanation is (honestly) more fascinating. And, it should (in theory) engage people watching a film. Unfortunately, you leave room for the really stupid people to complain that they were "bored" (possibly because-- they are so ignorant that it never occurred to them there was a lot going on that they didn't understand-- and they should've (probably) been somewhat concerned by that). Anyway, it's a been a while since I watched a decent film that does more with less (and-- this is definitely one of those films). And if you enjoy sci-fi or fantasy films that introduce new ideas and leave you questioning the future of humanity (mixed with a little drama here and there)-- and don't mind a lot of closed spaces with cheesy props, Native is a decent film that will keep you on the edge of your seat and leave you pondering our world and how we perceive it. And, it's worth more than one viewing (the hallmark of a decent film in *my* opinion). Honestly, there's no way a person *could* catch everything the first time around (because a great deal of understanding is required just to appreciate everything that happens). But, it's also worth multiple viewings simply because-- there are so many unusual behaviors and design choices to enjoy. I suppose I could share my thoughts about a film on IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes. But then, I would be subjecting my thoughtful insights to a hapless algorithm (erroneously referred to as "A-I" by poorly trained software developers who have not taken the time to consider what intelligence is or how it can be simulated) that will simply bury my delicate critique in favor of one that is completely idiotic simply because of the fact that it contains a trigger phrase like "trans-gender" (which was considered to be a hot topic at one time). And so, I think I will restrict my thoughts about the films I watch to Witty News articles from now on. And that way, people are afforded an opportunity to appreciate my carefully crafted insights. ;) I actually managed to share some Insanely Thoughtful Articles last month (lol). We finished the last of our "big" deliveries for the year ahead of schedule (a monumental feat-- considering the fact that a previous manager tried everything in his power to prevent us from doing that). And, we finally got shed of the useless dipshit. This next week, expect to be seeing new Insanely Thoughtful Articles (hopefully on a daily basis). There is no reason for me to be concerned about doing that, anymore. And boy, has it been a wonderful few weeks at work. Pretty much-- we come to work and, well-- we do some work and then go home (and no one really seems to give a shit, sooo--) I look forward to re-working that fifth Ghosts of Glory High chapter and (hopefully) attempting to assemble a working ram-disk in the next 3-4 weeks. We'll see about that. |
| Random Fact: Slackware (a GNU/Linux system maintained under an emphasis of function over form) is the official operating system used to host Insanely Witty Stupidity. Many packages are compiled using various Slackware systems for the purpose of developing the site. And, Insanely Witty Stupidity happily shares those precompiled packages with its users (because-- people may find them useful). |
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