Why students should memorize dates

This post isn't in in line stated subject of this blog, but I'm not about to make another blog just to post this, so there.

Knowledge of dates is, primarily a tool for the organization of facts. While dates are arbitrary in themselves---for a given event might have fallen the day before or after on chance---when assigned to a collection of events they provide the basis for chronology which then allows for notions of logical progression and from there a story – the most persistent structure for human memory storage. Nassim Taleb’s denunciations of the human fixation on story-making aside, if we want students to learn history, they need, as in all other areas of learning, a meaningful framework on which they can seat new ideas. Stories provide such a framework, and dates are instrumental to their formation when the parts of those stories, given piecemeal in books and lectures, must be put back together.

Dynamo Bit 313-A

Really cool film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb6AqhT9quA&feature=player_embedded

Web bugs

Ever wonder why your email client typically blocks images from loading?
Here's a good reason: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_bug

I'M MOVIN' TA CANADA

People who claim they're "moving to Canada" in the face of legislation they oppose (or believe they would oppose if they actually read and understood it) really disgust me. When did the value of your personal freedoms become so cheap that you aren't willing to defend them? That you aren't willing to even face the reality of an ailing nation that you, and others like you, helped to create by consistently blaming others for making mistakes where you might have done worse and in any case wouldn't bother trying?

If you want to forfeit what greater men have fought for all I can do work is harder in your stead. Even so, I implore you, don't shout your cowardice in every forum of your precious Internet -- your time would be better spent packing.

Every time I think of some cool futuristic machine application, I'm reminded of how pointless it would be if we can't link up our consciousness and biology to the machines. So troublesome.

How to make an MMORPG

Stop reading this post. If you came here to find a formula to produce the game of your dreams, then you can quit right here. As a matter of fact, you can quit reading all such articles on how to make game X. They won't get you where you want to go.

Every howto you read was written by someone who did not need a howto. If they had used one, there wouldn't have been a need to write one in the first place. They gained the knowledge they needed to do what they do by other  means and most probably have a deeper knowledge of their subject because of that.

And honestly, we have enough MMOs. Like, way too many.

Solving Substitution Ciphers

For the past couple of days I've been trying to come up with a good method for solving substitution ciphers algorithmically and without a human moderator. The results were pretty terrible. However, while looking for a solution to my problem, I discovered this little gem:

http://25yearsofprogramming.com/fun/ciphers.htm

It's a tool for decoding a simple substitution cipher that allows you to test out substitutions while fixing certain other substitutions that you believe are correct. Essentially, it attacks the problem by asking, "How can I make it easier for a human to get the answer?" So it's really a tool for visualizing or reflecting on the thought process that people typically go through when they attempt to solve these ciphers. The result is, I think, much faster than a purely computational solution could be, and in any case, is much easier to code.