Deep Dreaming

Recently, I've been talking with my dad about a phenomenon called pareidolia, which is the tendency for people to see familiar patterns in random images. This is the how you might see a face in a pile of dust or the virgin marry in a burn pattern on some toast.

I recently found out that Google, ever willing to get creative with the way computers process data, has created a project called DeepDream that attempts to interpret, and then modify, images.

I don't fully understand how it works, but apparently the computer looks at an image and then tries to find familiar patterns in it. It then imposes those familiar shapes back onto the image, resulting in fascinating and often disturbing results.

Fittingly, someone applied this to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, a film about a couple of guys who take a lot of drugs:


A theme that is likely to arise in my next few Friday posts is the robot revolution. We are about to see a profound, sea change in the way human life is lived thanks to robots. They're going to be manufacturing things for us, delivering things for us, even writing news articles for us.

I always thought that there would be certain activities that computers would never excel at, like art, philosophy, science, religion--all the things that are quintessentially human. But could DeepDream be the first step in robotics towards replacing humans in those most human of pursuits? How fantastic does DeepDream get in ten years? In twenty?

For the moment, I'm not worried. Generating messed up images is cool but not really the same as dreaming. Not yet. Not until it starts asking "Why do I dream?"

Time Flies!

Wow... I wasn't paying attention to the time, and now it's been many days since my last update.

The good news is, I've been pleasantly busy. But let's get these check-ins going again.

Body: WIN! (walking, diet, sleep)
Mind: PASS (writing, game design, reading)
Spirit: WIN! (walking in nature, writing, game design, reading, gaming, TV)
Social: WIN! (visiting family, visiting friends)

On Sunday I did the usual noodles run with Shane and Dean, and then travelled north to visit my dad and bring him some farmer's market fruit. I returned on Monday.

Tuesday my friend Jim and his brother Dave were in on a city trip so I visited and played games with them.

Wednesday I put my efforts into writing for the game project, trying to get the narrative to a point where it can give Gerry, our environment artist, some things to work with in his architectural design.

I was able to keep my step-count up during this whole time, even if I only barely crossed the 15,000 step goal some days. Mark has made some threatening noises about resuming his past step-counts in order to pass me, though so far I'm keeping just ahead of him. In any case, I can't let myself slip too far, and in fact I've hit some 20,000 step days (child's play to Mark if he gets serious, but it means he's not totally slackin' if he wants to beat me).

My sleep got a little out of whack again last week, but it's renormalizing. Last night I was in bed before 1:00 am and I had a good long sleep.

Careering and Careening

As I mentioned in my check-in yesterday, I'm feeling some consternation in the job hunt as I yet again consider my options for the future.

In some ways the mission is simple: find a job that pays money so that I can work on the novel and game project.

In other ways, it's gotten complicated. The placement agent I spoke to on Wednesday told me that most offices will want staff in dress pants. This is entirely reasonable and expected. It's also something I can do. But I was surprised by how much I don't want to do it.

The problem is, part-time work isn't really available in office environments, which means such a job would have extended periods of time where I'd be living my life in dress clothes. Dress clothes are poor choices for doing exercise--even just with walking, dress shoes are crap for it. And maintaining a healthy lifestyle, predominantly through walking, has become so important to me that the idea of being cooped up in an office and hobbled by impractical, status-focused clothing doesn't sound appealing.

It also sounds like the work right now isn't all that much better than minimum wage, at least for office temping. Which is fair, since the employers are just hiring someone to cover a hold in their admin staff for a few weeks. But if I'm going to be working for low wages, I'd almost rather work part-time at Staples or something where, yes, I'd be wearing crap clothing, but at least I wouldn't be living in it most of my life.

This is all causing me to realize that if I want to earn decent money, pick my own hours, and/or have other such conveniences, I can't go in half-assed. I need to find a job that is actually career focused and not just a placeholder to make money. While this will make it harder to work on the projects I want to, I would at least be compensated by working at a job that interests me.

The other option is another variety of impractical: finally start leveraging my yoga teaching certificate to earn money. The money would be bad, but the hours few, and the dress code would be mandatorily exercise-friendly. If on top of that I start promoting myself as a script reader/editor/doctor, I could find drips and drabs of interesting set-your-own-hours work.

This post is stream-of-consciousness. I'm figuring out my angle as I type. Thanks for the talk. :)

Check-In: 2015-07-21 (Tuesday) - 2015-07-23 (Thursday)

Body: PASS (walking, diet)
Mind: WIN! (interview, job hunt)
Spirit: PASS (gaming, tv)
Social: WIN! (visiting with friends)

This past week I have been following up on some job leads. I had an interview with a temp agency... agent... and pulled together a list of contacts from my previous job. I learned a lot from them, a lot of which was about me. For example, the agent mentioned that most office job sites will prefer dress pants and a shirt, which made me start to think about dress code. I've now realized that while I'm sure I can handle dressing up like that every day for a while, I actually have a strong preference for the ability to wear exercise clothes simply as a part of having an active lifestyle. It's harder to walk when your shoes are crap because they're dress shoes. It's harder to do stretches when that keep pulling your dress shirt out of your belt line. These aren't big inconveniences, but all the little discouragements do make it trickier to take care of yourself.

So I've been thinking about jobs where the active lifestyle is the whole point. Maybe I should become some sort of exercise instructor. I'm sure the money available in teaching yoga is minimal, but then so are my living expenses.

I should probably turn these thoughts into my Friday post later today.

On Wednesday, because I was chatting to friends from my previous job, I went out to lunch with a bunch of them, for some Social victory points.

I miss not doing any writing or game design. I'll have to get back into that over the weekend.

Check-In: 2015-07-18 (Saturday) - 2015-07-20 (Monday)

Enjoy your trip, Mom. :)

Body: WIN! (walking, diet, sleep)
Mind: PASS (game writing, crash course in anatomy, reading)
Spirit: PASS (walking outside, game writing, good food)
Social: WIN! (bullet farm, party, visiting with friends, corresponding with family)

Saturday was a day of good food. I went to the downtown farmer's market with Amber and Jason, a mission we refer to as "going to the Bullet Farm" thanks to Mad Max. I bought fresh eggs, honey, strawberries, potatoes, onion, and cherries. The fruit was amazing and didn't last the day. The eggs, potato, and onion is being turned into delicious breakfasts (one is cooking as I compose this). Later on Saturday I even went to my friend Ian's place for dinner, drinking, and board games and had an amazing burger he made.

Over the weekend I tried again to watch the Crash Course in Anatomy and Physiology again, and made considerably more headway for some reason. Maybe I was just in the wrong mood last time, or maybe I was hoping it would be super-fun-story-time like the history courses they have (I recommend them as pure entertainment, even though the history is good). To get you hooked, here's the first one:


I worked a little more on the pitch for the story for our video game, mainly getting my characters some names and a little background while gradually working out the protagonist's goals and obstacles. Then I went to noodles with Shane, Dean, and Jim.

All in all, a good weekend.

Check-In: 2015-07-17 (Friday)

Body: WIN! (walking 30k steps, exercise, diet, sleep)
Mind: PASS (job search, reading, blogging)
Spirit: PASS (walking outside, music, TV)
Social: PASS (visiting with friends, corresponding with family)

For some reason I had an epic walking day yesterday. Shortly after breakfast I developed a desire for activity, so I jogged inside my condo for a while, while mixing in core exercises and a couple rounds at the chin-up bar. Later I went for a walk with Jason, and finished the evening with enough pacing to get me my second-ever 30,000 step day.

Earlier in the day I sent off a couple of emails related to the job hunt (one to Serious Labs to see if they're still likely to hire soon, and another one to a temp agent that a friend of mine recommended).

Walking outside is good for the soul, so there's a Spirit pass already, plus I listened to some music and watched a little Community. Add to that the visit with Jason and some texts with my family and that rounds out the Social score for the day.

Anti-bacterial Nope

Once every generation, there comes a time when I finish up a bottle of dish detergent and have to buy a new one. Yesterday was this generation's time.

It's a task I didn't really give much thought to. I added dish detergent to my grocery list on my phone, and when I was at Save On I casually strolled down the isle thinking I could just grab a bottle and go. I spotted one that was citrus flavoured and reached for it, but then realized it was anti-bacterial.

This is actually a bit of a problem. And by "a bit", I mean a serious one. Short version: anti-bacterial soap both damages the environment and yet is completely unnecessary.

The Fiction

The fiction that soap manufactures are catering to is something like this: bacteria can cause illness, so by using anti-bacterial soap you are protecting yourself and loved ones from disease.

The truth is more like this: if you wash the bacteria off your hands, they can't hurt you anyway, plus you're over-sanitizing your environment which can actually reduce the efficiency of your immune system in the long run, making you and your loved ones more vulnerable.

Now, I once saw a George Carlin stand-up where he advocated swimming through sewage to strengthen your immune system, which, as you might guess, isn't a good idea either, as described by Paul Ewald describes in the following TED Talk:



As usual, nature forces us to take a balanced path rather than zealously pursuing one extreme or another. Practice cleanliness, but don't sterilize your environment. Get exposure to germs, but take precautions against deadly diseases.

Reinforcing Misconceptions

Recently, my dad sent me an article on how misinformed people are often very confident in their misinformed belief. I suspect that these mechanisms are at work with anti-bacterial soap. Given how harmful it is, and how popular it is, and how there is virtual no discussion about this problem, we as a culture have managed to become extremely confident in our fiction.

And that's why I have a picture of Palmolive at the top of this blog, focusing on the tagline: "Washes Away Bacteria from Hands". In other words, it's soap. It doesn't have damaging chemical agents that are unnecessary. And their marketing department managed to phrase it in a way that may actually let them sell to a misinformed public.

There are of course exceptions to all this. People with compromised immune systems may need to take extra precautions. But the general buying public should be avoiding the anti-bacterial soap.

So it's a small thing, choosing a soap. But sometimes small things can still be important things.

Check-In: 2015-07-13 (Monday) - 2015-07-16 (Thursday)

Body: WIN! (walking, diet, sleep)
Mind: PASS (chores, errands)
Spirit: PASS (walking in nature, gaming, game design)
Social: WIN! (visiting with friends, corresponding with family, gaming)

This week my sleep patterns are finally getting reasonable again. I'm finding myself tired at midnight generally, and I'm managing to get up in the single-digit hours of the morning while feeling reasonably well rested. Diet has also been good, including greens and fruit and keeping added sugar to a reasonable minimum.

I've been a little light on Mind points again this week, and this weekend I aim to bring the Mind into focus again. I've got some work to do on the narrative for our game project which should be fun, plus I'm planning to dive into Unity to see how some of the technology works. There's also a lot of work to do in the job hunt, which I'll be kicking off today and following up with on Monday.

I've seen a fair bit of friends, including some gaming last night, so the Social category is doing well.

Check-In: 2015-07-10 (Friday) - 2015-07-12 (Sunday)

Body: PASS (walking, diet)
Mind: PASS (rest, errands)
Spirit: PASS (walking in nature, party, gaming)
Social: WIN! (gaming, party, visiting with friends, visiting with family)

Another busy weekend. Friday included errands and table-top gaming. On Saturday I met up with Jim and carpooled to Athabasca for a party thrown by my friend Bruce. Since I don't usually get out to Athabasca often, I made the point of having supper and breakfast with my parents. Sunday we carpooled back again so we could go out to noodles with Dean and Shane.

As an unexpected side-effect to all this activity, I'm exhausted and therefore was able to sleep sensible hours for the last couple of nights. I still have some sleep debt to pay, but it's a really solid start to getting a better routine again.

For the Mind score, I gave myself an easy pass for having run the errands on Friday. I didn't really get a lot of Mind victories, but, like last weekend, I was very busy and social so I feel that it's appropriate to have lower expectations.

Today I'm deliberately shooting for a rest day. I've been out for breakfast and to buy groceries, but otherwise my goal is just to get my steps. Tomorrow I will start to tackle the week again.

Climate Change: The Hilarious and The Informative

John Oliver is rapidly becoming a new hero of mine. He's the guy who did the comedic rant about tobacco that I posted recently.

Here's his take on climate change. Even if you're a skeptic and disagree, it's funny as hell.



And if you are skeptical, the channel Veritasium has a great video where they answer a lot of the the concerns in a polite and informative manner.

Worth a look.

Check-In: 2015-07-07 (Tuesday) - 2015-07-09 (Thursday)

Body: WIN! (lots of walking)
Mind: WIN! (writing, game design, errands/cleaning)
Spirit: WIN! (writing, game design, tv, games, self-confidence)
Social: WIN! (visiting with friends, corresponding with family, launch party)

I need to get the frequency of these back up. I find that one every two days is a good pace. But the reason I've been having trouble keeping the pace up with them lately is that life has been full of good experiences that have been keeping me busy.

On Tuesday I had a good brainstorm about the story for the game. It's too early to get overly detailed, but I think I have some interesting backstory to act as a foundation for the actual story, which we will fill in as we learn more about what the game mechanics need. On Wednesday I did some writing that wasn't part of any project, but just for the hell of it.

I've also gotten some tasks done, like visiting the doctor to get a prescription refill. I've visited with many BioWarian friends on multiple occasions and went to an announcement party for Beamdog's new product, Siege of Dragonspear, which was a blast.

I've been continuing my recent strategy of accepting and contemplating my past, to continued positive results. I am busy and tired, but in a good way. Though I am determined to have a rest day soon, and unfortunately that may not happen until Monday at the earliest. Who knew being unemployed would be so hectic?

On that front, I talked to a fellow ex-BioWarian who gave me the name of a temp agent that he worked with and really liked. I'll be pursuing that lead to generate a bit of income soon.

Fun Construction Videos

More fun videos courtesy of my dad. Returning to the construction theme, these are videos showing time lapse or else describing the processes of large constructions.





https://youtu.be/o4eM0qoUhaE

(This last one is a link because the video uploader has disabled embedding.)

Check-In: 2015-07-03 (Friday) - 2015-07-06 (Monday)

Body: PASS (walking... ish)
Mind: PASS (rest, reading, car maintenance)
Spirit: WIN! (self-discovery, walking in nature, campfire)
Social: WIN! (visiting with friends and family)

This weekend was very social, so while I fell short on steps, waffled a bit on quality of diet (not with actual waffles, alas), and did relatively little mental work, I'm letting those slide as passes since that was appropriate for my circumstances.

On Friday I saw a work friend (Arone), got my car summerized (not summarized), and met with the game development team. On Saturday I drove out to Athabasca, ate supper with my parents, and then went to a party with a bunch of high school and college friends. On Sunday I spent my time with my immediate and extended family, including having a campfire with my parents in the evening. Monday I saw my Athabasca friend Jim and drove back into the city.

To wax melodramatic, my inner journey (the one started by the Limping Angel) continued. I am continuing the process of connecting to my own past, rebuilding my own sense of self, and learning to empathise with the person who lived that life. It's paying huge dividends. Even just comparing myself today and Friday, I'm more confident and comfortable with who I am. I had a long conversation about this with my parents, which helped immensely.

So yeah, while Body and Mind were a bit lax, I think the work I did in other categories was worth the sacrifice.

Pooped! Also, The Slo Mo Guys

So far today I have visited with a friend from work, had my tires switched from winter to summer tires, accrued the majority of my step count for the day, and met with the game development team to have a long, energetic, but tiring conversation about our game.

So I am pooped, and I am going to cop out on today's post.

Luckily, I still have a small trove of fun links that my dad has sent to me recently. In this case, the Slo Mo Guys, exploding CDs, popping bubbles, and popping popcorn in super slow motion.

Enjoy!

Check-In: 2015-06-30 (Tuesday) - 2015-07-02 (Thursday)

Body: WIN! (walking, exercise, diet)
Mind: WIN! (game development, writing)
Spirit: PASS (walking outside, games, TV)
Social: PASS (visiting with friends, corresponding with family)

Work on game and story ideas continues. I recently took several characters with separate stories and am experimenting with putting them together into an ensemble. This should give characters more people to interact with and clash with.

I've been struggling with sleep again lately, as my wake-up time has inched back towards noon, so I'm trying to fix that again. Managed to get up around 10 today. I'll see if I can keep it there for a few days, then maybe shoot for 9. I have some new thoughts on what my morning routine should look like, and getting up a little earlier would help.

My post today will again have to come a bit later. I've got a lot of things booked, including visiting with a former work friend and taking my car in to get it ready for road travel this weekend.