The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke

It's been two years now since I moved to San Francisco.  It's hard to decide whether to move away as the people around will constantly tell you this is the place to be and how awesome it is.  Yet it's harder still to ignore that there's no real scene outside of tech as well as how unsophisticated (read - ghetto) many things are that you'd think would be taken for granted in a big city.

Some of the posts I've found on Quora are pretty spot on with my own experiences, though mine are limited more to the San Francisco side of it.

SF vs Chicago
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Watch out for the sheep in wolf's clothing.

Below is a list of trends, technologies, and other developments that perk my interest and I'm keeping tabs on.  I'm mainly interested in things that are truly novel or cutting edge, not the next big app nonsense.

2021
- Anti-aging through blood contents (geroscience). Example: Alkahest

2019...[More]

Looking for my place in the world but instead only traveling farther and farther from everything I know.

Nothing ever comes by chance.  Everything I've wanted to happen I've always had to make happen.

El Sitiu by Hevia

When my vision deteriorated to the point I could no longer see the stars, I stuck some glow-in-the-darks on the ceiling and made my own.

Found this article here while just browsing web today.  It really hit home for me, since I've been around for quite some time.
The Internet is Opinion Saturated

I personally “grew up” on the internet back in the early 2000s (I was 12 then when I was part of various communities making games and other content together).  It’s funny because I remember people (including myself) would constantly get warned or even banned (at worst) by moderators for things as simple as being rude or lacking manners.  Now all of that pretty goes out the door when you connect online, which is very sad to see.  It’s as if all the effort back then to preserve a bit of dignity online pretty much went to waste.

Sometimes I...[More]

Just read that Hal Finney Passed Away from ALS today.

Very sad news.  His life story is very inspiring.  It always seems like the most amazing people don't live long enough.

Arctic by SleepingAtLast

Moon by SleepingAtLast

You Light Up The Sky by Denny Schneidemesser

A year ago, I wrote of my frustrations in finding others who were hungry or wanting to take over the world.  I couldn't put my finger on why I was stuck in the situation (and still am).  I thought perhaps it was a generational gap, since my social circles mainly consisted of people who were often more than 8 years older than me when I was in middle and high school.  At other times, I thought it was perhaps society degrading overall and becoming more flakey, passive.

I'm starting to wonder if perhaps I just don't belong on the west coast though, or at least in the bay area.  I've been reading more about the east coast (and just other places in general); this article, for example, mentions how ambition is often shunned in the bay and that really hit home for me as that is the treatment I get from most my peers:
http://www.therejectionist.com/2011/09/all-things.html

Likewise the herd mentality to do what's cool or trendy rather than find something...[More]

The Flow of Water by Denny Schneidemesser

Just got my Mycestro this week and have to say it's very impressive.  The first questions I had when I read about it was its comparison to Leap Motion.  They're very different devices.

For Leap Motion, you must remain near the device and there's a learning curve to pointing and "clicking" efficiently.

For Mycestro, you can be anywhere in the room and control the mouse.  There's no pointing needed.  It's actually easier to just rotate your wrist or tilt your hand to move the mouse as opposed to doing any waving.  Clicking is done by just actually pressing the tactile buttons with your thumb.

I'm really...[More]

Pocket drones are finally here.  Bahaha

Unfortunately I missed the pre-order deadline, so I'll have to wait until summer probably to get one.

Most interesting piece to read in a while.  They pretty much ruined Satoshi's life now though, if the article is accurate about how much he values his privacy (and assuming it's actually him).  Absolutely no shame in the media these days.
http://mag.newsweek.com/2014/03/14/bitcoin-satoshi-nakamoto.html

The problem with many people is they're waiting for a train but when some old bus comes along, and they see the train so far away in the distance, they go ahead and take that bus, even when it's going the wrong way.

A short summary of the skills I've accumulated throughout my life, almost all of which are self-taught (school only confused me and made up names for things I was already doing <_< ).  Much thanks for the support from online gaming communities I was active with in 2003-2007 back when the internet was much smaller.  I have been programming and making games since I was 12, creating short films and composing music since I was 14, and trading stocks since I was 18.  My latest projects and activities can be found at my creations page.

Technology and Multimedia
• Programming: HTML/CSS, PHP, (My)SQL, Java(Script), AS3, C++/#, Hadoop, Ruby, Python
• Video/Photo: After Effects, Premiere, Encore, Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator.
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