Money or Calling?

I think there are two reasons you might want to do a job: money or calling. That is, you either want the job because you feel it’s what you should do with your life, like it’s going to make the world a slightly better place, and it’s less like you have to do it and more like you should be doing it. Then, you might want to do a job because you want the money. It could be that you need the money to survive or you want more money to improve your life or to be able to do more. And those two are not mutually exclusive. And they are both ok.


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Payment Structure

I’ve heard and read a lot recently about how companies structure their payments, which employees get what and how much should a CEO be paid. For one thing, I agree with California trying to enforce a maximum difference between a CEO’s salary and lowest paid employee. I don’t think it should be compared to the average salary but the median but it’s a good direction. I know that the community sharing type of structure isn’t for everyone but I like the idea of employees sharing in the benefits of a company like the way pirates divvy up treasure: everyone gets one part. Maybe team leaders get two or three parts. Higher management gets five or six parts. The chief officers might get eight or even ten parts. The point is, after you determine how many parts there are, you divide the revenue. This way, even the lowliest employee benefits when the company is doing better. The top brass earn the most because they do the hardest work, but every employee is invested — and rewarded — in the company being successful.


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Podfasting? It sounds like abstaining from listening

Hi. My name is Eran and I like podcasts and audiobooks. Recently, I found out about the term Podfasting. No, it’s not about abstaining from listening to Podcasts. The average person types at 40 words a minute, speaks at 150 words a minute but thinks at about 400 words a minute. I know I type at 70 words a minute, I probably speak at closer to 200 words a minute, and I think my thinking speed is also higher by a similar percentage (Probably around 450-500). So, I think it makes sense that I like watching TV and listening to podcasts at very high speeds (My current rate is 1.8-2.1x). I even like to speed read, which is how I calculate my thinking speed. Roughly 30,000 hours of content are uploaded to YouTube every hour. More and better content creators are currently creating more and better content. I want to have as much of it as I can. And, as your brain processes information about twice as fast as a person speaks, this problem is a solvable one. Creators can record their content at their own speed and today’s tools can speed it up without losing the pitch so it still sounds human. It’s only logical for someone with a huge backlog. Another thing they say in the article above is that understanding drops as you go up in speed but I think that’s entirely variable and dependent on the individual. I only aim for the speed in which I Continue Reading →


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Is Urbanisation Over?

With the pandemic on going, and large tech companies telling their employees to stay home for, possibly, the next year, and many realising that having an office to work out of is not a necessity, what I’m mostly thinking about is… What are the odds the pandemic will just be ever present? Or, what if it will stick around long enough so that the general urbanisation of the planet over the past few decades will just stop and people will start spreading around so that we end up with small rural communities that are more spread out? Reference: Lake Tahoe real-estate brokers are running out of homes to sell.


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Some Thoughts on Difficulty in Games

Idan Zeierman said this on The Last of Us Part II: אני קצת לא יודע מה להגיד. ביחד עם המשחק הראשון, מדובר כנראה ביצירות שהן מהטובות שיצא לי לחוות. אבל הן מגיעות בצורת משחקי הישרדות/אימה קשוחים שנמשכים 30 שעות ומכילים הרבה זומבים. זה רף לא קל בשביל לחוות אותן כהלכה. — Idan Zeierman (@idan315) July 5, 2020 Translation: I don’t know what to say. Along with the first game, they are probably two of the best works of art I ever experienced. But they come in the form of tough survival horror games that take 30 hours to complete and contain a lot of zombies. It’s not an easy bar for experiencing them properly. I replied: מצד אחד, זאת הסיבה למה הרבה אנשים לעולם לא יחוו כמה מיצירות האומנות הטובות ביותר שנוצרו (כי הן משחקים). ומצד שני, היצירות האלו לא יהיו אותו הדבר אם לא תחווה אותן על בשרך. — Eran Arbel (@SabreRunner) July 6, 2020 Translation: On the one hand, that is the reason why a lot of people will never experience some of the greatest works of art ever made (because they’re games). On the other hand, these works won’t be the same if you don’t experience them for yourself. This got me thinking about difficulty in games. I think the subject of inclusion and exclusion through difficulty has been tread enough but I think it mostly referred to gamer culture. Some Dark Souls fans would like to think that the game won’t be the same unless it was Continue Reading →


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Guides, not Game Masters

Dungeon Master has been used in the #dnd game since inception and is the most known title for the person actually orchestrating the game. It is definitely used in official settings by @Wizards_DND . However, it is quite exclusive, is easily misunderstood in “normie” society, and even an easy source for silly memes. Different games have different unique names for the role — be it Space Master or Master of Ceremonies — but the general term has been shifted, or tried to shift, into Game Master. I still find an issue with this name as Master is a very overbearing title. Even if you lose the connotation of a person completely in charge and in control of the game as opposed to another player whose character is the world, this implies much responsibility that is not necessarily the GM’s purview or singular domain. In Hebrew, there is another word that is coming more and more into use and that is “Mankheh” which is, roughly, translated as “Guide” (Roughly because it’s missing some of the attached cultural nuances). This, I believe, is a better way of describing what that person actually does. They take part in the story in the same way everyone else does, they share the responsibility, but they are the guide. Like the Tour Guide, they know the world, the environments, the dangers, and the inhabitants better than the players but their job is to explain and show, not wrangle and Master. The Guide’s role is to respond when Continue Reading →


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במשחקים Tropes עשרה

אז IGN פרסמו כתבה עם 10 ה-Tropes שצריך כבר להיפטר מהם. אני קצת מסכים ובעיקר לא מסכים. 1. אני לא מסכים שצריך להיפטר מהלוגים והפתקים לגמרי. אבל כן אפשר לשפר את ההגיוניות שלהם. דבר ראשון, אם זה קולי אז צריך להיות אפשר לנגן את זה ולהמשיך לשחק בלי שפס קול אחר יקטע את זה בהמשך. זה משהו ש-Subnautica עושה טוב. אפשר לנגן ולהמשיך. ואם יש עוד פס קול, הוא לרוב יחכה. ואם זה מסמכים אז זה צריך להיות מרוכז ולא מבולגן כאילו מישהו כתב יומן ואז פוצץ אותו לכל חדר אפשרי. 2. אני בכלל נגד cut-scenes שנועלות את השליטה כשאני בבירור הייתי עושה משהו אחר. זה בעיקר הציק לי ב-Rage 2. כשידעתי בדיוק מה איריס הולכת לעשות ורציתי לקטוע אותה באמצע אבל אי אפשר. אני לא מבין מה הבעיה. מעולם לא שיחקתם Half Life? זה יצא ב-98′. ושם, היית יכול להישאר להקשיב או ללכת. והיית יכול גם לירות במדענים. 3. הגרסה של באטמן ל-Detective Vision הייתה מפגרת. אני כמעט ולא זוכר את Arkham Asylum בצבעים נורמלים. וב-Arkham City ו-Knight הם ניסו לגמול אנשים מזה. אבל אין עם זה דבר רע באופן כללי. זה רק צריך להיות דומה ל-Mirror’s Edge, Deus Ex או Rage 2. הדברים לא באמת אדום בולט, צהוב בולט או ורוד בולט, אבל זאת דרך טובה להדגיש משהו שהדמות, או שהמכניקה של המשחק, יודעת ואנחנו לא בהכרח וזה מגשר את הפער יופי. 4. אני דווקא אוהב את הרעיון של המיני-משחקים האלו. אבל הם צריכים להיות רלבנטיים. למען האמת, רוב האלו של Spiderman היו גרועים. המיני-משחק של לפרוץ מכונות ב-Bioshock? Continue Reading →


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Temp Logs into Documentation

Here’s an idea I had while writing a server application I needed to test on a remote computer with limited debugging abilities… I insert debug logs, temporary logs, before and/or after important sections of flow so I could see in the console what is going on and what is failing. But I wouldn’t want them there when the app rolls into production. And then I thought, people hate writing in-line documentation but it’s quite important. And here I have all these debug logs explaining what is going on. So, instead of deleting them, comment them out. Then I have them for later, if I want, and they pretty much function like in-line documentation. Win-Win!


Posted in IT, No Category, Practice, Programming, Thinking Out Loud, Work by with comments disabled.

Human Etiquette (or, The Art of Not Being a Dick)

Driving Etiquette, Lesson #2 When you want to do something different on the road, check yourself. If it’s going to force another driver to change direction, slow down or otherwise change what they’re doing, don’t do it. Except in emergencies.


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Human Etiquette (or, The Art of not Being a Dick)

Driving Etiquette, Lesson #1 If you want to change a lane, here is what you do. Step 1. Signal you wish to turn. But stay in your lane. Step 2. Check your mirrors to be sure you’re not going to make anyone slow down with your crossing and especially, that you won’t crash into anyone. Step 3. Change lane quickly and safely. Step 4. Turn the signal off. Addendum: If you wish to cross several lanes, perform steps 1 to 3 for the first lane and then repeat steps 1 to 3 for every subsequent lane. Important notes: DO NOT cross without signalling. DO NOT perform these steps out of order. DO NOT skip any of these steps. DO NOT use someone else’s sense of self preservation against them.


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