The current free ebook is located at this link:
http://haggishell.com/ridgeproject.pdf

For details about the ebook, click here.

130803. Some thoughts about a reunion.

Last night, there was a reunion of IPTers. People who had worked together decades ago. Over the past few months, I located a number of people. Some of the people that I found helped, in turn, to bring in others.

The results were satisfactory. I was especially pleased to round up three of the original figures; P.J., the Air Force Colonel, and Steve. My goal, and I planned this part from the start, was to see the three of them stand together one last time.

I succeeded in this. It seemed right.

These people were not necessarily friends. In some cases, this would not be close to true. Steve, in particular, took advantage of an autistic Young Coder's fear. Fear of being lost in the world. Lost in Time.

The Young Coder worked seven days a week. Sometimes 365 days a year. Birthdays and holidays. Often until midnight or 4:00am. Someday I'll write of the reward that he received. Steve took advantage of others as well. The Civil Liberal used to say that Steve had had edges that other people possessed worn away by stress and necessity.

Steve's company went bankrupt more than once. This was one of the reasons that he preferred to use initials for the name of the company. After a bankruptcy, the use of initials meant that he could continue to use the name. He'd simply change what the initials stood for. It struck me as a clever approach to the issue.

But Steve was an excellent salesperson. Somebody to be respected for determination and efforts. And the company had memorable and interesting teams and projects.

Decades ago, the Air Force Colonel and I created the machine that the U.S. Government used subsequently to convert its supply of old microfilm to microfiche. We did a good job. The machine was still in use a decade later.

My contribution was about 400 pages of well-commented assembly language code. A complete camera operating system. I think that this was 8085 assembly language. I hadn't written in this particular language before. However, no bugs ever showed up in all of the code.

A decade later, the Colonel went to patch the code. But there were no bugs. It was to adjust the acceleration ramping tables. They'd used the machine so much that the ball bearings had started to wear out.

The Air Force Colonel has fought Parkinson's Disease for a decade. We were pleased to see last night that he was in fine spirits regardless. He leaned on his cane, shaking a bit, and pointed out that his hair was still the same color. It was true to an extent. He did not seem very much older.

Misty Auras and I talked too. She and Dai the Serene, her husband, were two of the people that I went to find in 2008. After I spoke with Twisted Time as he floated in the tank of water in the hospital. 2008 was an odd year. But, then, for me that has been true of every year.

Misty Auras and Dai were both IPTers. They met and fell in love there about two decades ago.

Misty Auras had spent years picking colors for Apple Corporation devices, but she'd moved on recently. In the past, I'd asked her once or twice, “White... Black... White... Black... what is there to decide?” She'd pointed out that there were subtleties involved.

Her husband, Dai, was only 15 years old when he started at the old firm. A few years earlier, I'd brought in my brother Ken Kiraly, a teenager and college dropout. Ken had worked out, so Steve, the head of the company, decided to try more teenagers.

One kid just wanted to ride his skateboard :-) Dai, another kid who was about the same age, was different. He worked out as well as Ken had. But Dai was much more relaxed than Ken. In fact, I pointed out to Dai last night, decades later, that if there was a nuclear holocaust, Dai might simply shrug off the event. Not worth getting upset over.

When Dai was about 17 years old, he realized that the company needed to put some work into one of its products. Or the product was going to die. Steve, the CEO, was a fan of “Don't reinvent the wheel”. This was his mantra. To Steve, the principle meant “Never write original code”. So Steve ordered Dai not to proceed.

But the work was needed. Therefore, Dai shrugged off Steve's warning. He proceeded with my assistance. We worked on the project each night. If I remember correctly, we wrote a Fortran to 'C' translator, used it to convert old code, and wrote new code to fill in gaps.

Steve couldn't fire Dai for disobeying him because the resulting program proved to be the company's most important product.

Last night, most people seemed to recognize me. Initially, Dai did not. He indicated that I'd lost so much weight that I looked very different. We discussed health and aging with another associate. I said, “the Near Death Diet is effective, but it is not recommended.”

F.J. Gumby was at the event. Looked the same as ever. He's a startuper more than twice the age of most. In the end, he'll succeed with some novel ventures. As a note to Ken Kiraly, if you remember F.J. Gumby's parrots, one of the birds is still alive and well after two decades.

For the benefit of others who may wish to imagine Mr. Gumby, he has been known to wear a live parrot, he is one of the people who tries to launch rockets into space based on private enterprise, and it is rumored that decades ago his paperweights were made of spent uranium. Those things were ridiculously heavy.

The Knight set up the event itself. He is a military type. Therefore things were organized and well-run. The food was also quite good.

The Knight had more depth than Steve did. In retrospect, it seems clear that Steve should have given him control of the company. Steve would have been more effective as the head of Sales.

Amundsen was present. He'd flown in from Norway. In fact, the date of the event was based on his schedule.

Amundsen and I spoke at length. I'd thought of him as younger than most of the group. Figured he'd be in his 40s now. I was surprised to learn that he's only a few years younger than me. If he is old, then I must be old too. It's a sobering thought.

P.J., a developer who is about 80 years old, was there. He is another of those I went to find after I woke up. Woke up on the night of March 31, 2008. It's five years ago now. And five minutes.

P.J. was my first manager at the company. I worked with him on software to count votes. It appears that we were responsible for half of the U.S. vote. At the time, I thought that it was only one-third.

When I arrived at the firm more than 30 years ago, P.J. handed me some code in an assembly language that I'd never seen before. Data General, in this case.

I was told that votes were disappearing. This needed to be addressed. The clue was that it was happening every 65,536 votes. I realized immediately that a 16-bit rollover was probably the issue. I checked for Data General instructions that might be vulnerable to problems of this type. Found the culprit code in an hour or two. It was fun.

Many others who the younger coder had known showed up last night. I may write of them over time. I find that it's difficult to put more words down presently. I'm not sure of what it is that I'm experiencing.

As a side note, Ken Kiraly, the inventor of the Amazon Kindle, did not attend last night's event. He was an IPTer though, oddly, he omits the firm from his LinkedIn.

It would have been interesting to have had Ken there. He was similar to a sociopath. No signs of a conscience. The Kiralys seem to be testing out the media sound bite “Ken Kiraly is a meek genius”. I chuckle when I think of it. Ken, meek. Good Lord.

But after I taught Ken Kiraly to code in 'C', he proved to be pretty sharp.

130803. Shiing Shen is fond of math books. This is sensible.

They do not send or receive text
Or ride the onion routes
They do not summon magic ponies
Or wash away the fog of lies
But they are the heart of all of this

<ShiingShen> I just got a math textbook at REDACTED
<ShiingShen> it's pretty good

<OldCoder> I used to get math textbooks that way
<OldCoder> I found one in the early 1970s somewhere in the desert states
<OldCoder> It was during a trip. Lots of fun diagrams demonstrating vectors and geometric shapes.
<OldCoder> I kept it for decades. All my other textbooks as well. But they are all gone now. All taken away.
<OldCoder> If a book teaches you and is fun as well treasure it.

130803. I met with Starlight briefly at 7:00am. We looked at the sky together. It was overcast. There was no way to identify the hour. I thought it was wonderful.

She said that it was odd. The weather has seemed unusual to her this year. I replied that we are not in eternal stasis. Not yet. Things continue to change.

She asked me, “How are you?”. I reminded her that I am different. That the question is different for me. But I added that I am learning. That I trusted the day would be productive.

She said that she'd probably get four hours sleep today. I reminded her that sleep deficits need to be cleared periodically.

She smiled. I walked out and looked at the sky. The sky that had no Time.

130802. I thought I'd take a minute to explain something to a friend. The one who seems to be using Firefox 17 under Microsoft Windows 7. With a 1366x652 display. Of course, this may be incorrect. But it doesn't matter; that's the point.

To address my friend:

Proxies don't necessarily work the way that you seem to think they do. If your goal is to obscure things, For Pete's Sake, at least rotate your user agent :D

Even if the user agent is fake, a failure on your part to rotate allows me to track things. Of course, you could suppress the user agent entirely, but that would stand out even more.

BTW System information can be seen independently of the user agent. It's not difficult to prevent this. Do some basic research. Or drop the games.

130802. Message for Ken Kiraly:

This message is for Ken Kiraly of Amazon Corporation. The Kindle Kid :P

It's probably being sent too late but might as well try. Ken, there's a reunion of IPTers on Saturday night. You remember the firm, of course, though you've omitted it from your LinkedIn. Is there a reason for this?

It was your first job. The one your older brother got for you. During the years you lived with him rent-free. And repaid him by making his life a living hell. But what the heck.

If you happen to receive this, note that Steve and F.J. Gumby will be there.

Steve is the one who hired you. Actually, it was your brother's idea. But Steve is the one who paid the bills. He was looking for a way to cut costs and a college dropout who'd work on the cheap seemed like a good bet. It worked out pretty well for everybody except for your brother.

F.J. Gumby is quite a character. He'd be pleased to see you and I'm sure it's vice versa. The Air Force Colonel may or may not be there as well. He has Parkinson's Disease now but he's able to get around.

About a dozen others are expected. But most of those you knew are gone. Time has swallowed them. We should talk about Time someday.

About what it means to have Time... and what it means to see it gone.

130802. Here are a couple of MySQL-related Linux Bash scripts for those who are learning the technologies involved. To download both scripts in a ZIP file, click here.

#!/bin/sh
# make-sqldb-empty.txt - Bash MySQL utility
# License:  CC BY-NC-SA Unported 3.0
# Author:   Robert Kiraly (OldCoder)
# Revision: 130802

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Overview.

# This Linux Bash script demonstrates how to create  a new (and empty)
# MySQL database under Linux using MySQL commands at the Bash level.

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Program parameters.

# DBNAME specifies a  database name.  This is  not a filename  but the
# MySQL-level name that should be used for the new database. The data-
# base  will  be  created.  If  it already exists,  it will be deleted
# first.

# DBUSER specifies a  database user.  This is not a Linux user account
# name  but the MySQL-level name of a database user. The user does not
# need to exist already.

# It is not uncommon for DBNAME and DBUSER  to  specify the  same name
# but this is not by any means required.

# DBPASS specifies the MySQL-level password for the specified database
# user.

# DBROOTPASS specifies the  MySQL-level password for the MySQL admini-
# strator (i.e., root) user.

DBNAME=broccoli
DBUSER=broccoli
DBPASS=veggiesaregood
DBROOTPASS='rootinallyerservers'

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Start MySQL.

mysql -uroot -p$DBROOTPASS << END

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Create and select database.

drop   database if exists $DBNAME;
create database $DBNAME;
use $DBNAME;

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Set up database user.

grant  usage on *.* to '$DBUSER'@'localhost';
drop   user '$DBUSER'@'localhost';
create user '$DBUSER'@'localhost' identified by '$DBPASS';
grant all on $DBNAME.* TO '$DBUSER'@'localhost';

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# End of script. The following label is required.

END

#!/bin/sh
# make-sqldb-table - Bash MySQL utility  
# License:  CC BY-NC-SA Unported 3.0
# Author:   Robert Kiraly (OldCoder)
# Revision: 130802

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Overview.

# This  Linux Bash script demonstrates how  MySQL commands may be used
# at the Bash level to perform three operations:
#
#     * create a new (and empty) MySQL database
#     * add a table to the database
#     * add data to the table

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Program parameters.

# DBNAME specifies a  database name.  This is  not a filename  but the
# MySQL-level name that should be used for the new database. The data-
# base  will  be  created.  If  it already exists,  it will be deleted
# first.

# DBUSER specifies a  database user.  This is not a Linux user account
# name  but the MySQL-level name of a database user. The user does not
# need to exist already.

# It is not uncommon for DBNAME and DBUSER  to  specify the  same name
# but this is not by any means required.

# DBPASS specifies the MySQL-level password for the specified database
# user.

# DBROOTPASS specifies the  MySQL-level password for the MySQL admini-
# strator (i.e., root) user

# DBTABLE specifies a database table name.  This should be a short and
# unique lower-case word.

# FIRSTID specifies the first ID number used.  This should be an inte-
# ger. If you are in doubt, use: 1

DBNAME=broccoli
DBUSER=broccoli
DBPASS=veggiesaregood
DBROOTPASS='rootinallyerservers'
DBTABLE=products
FIRSTID=1

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Start MySQL.

mysql -uroot -p$DBROOTPASS << END

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Create and select database.

drop   database if exists $DBNAME;
create database $DBNAME;
use $DBNAME;

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Set up database user.

grant  usage on *.* to '$DBUSER'@'localhost';
drop   user '$DBUSER'@'localhost';
create user '$DBUSER'@'localhost' identified by '$DBPASS';
grant all on $DBNAME.* TO '$DBUSER'@'localhost';

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Create a database table.

# The "id" line below is complicated but standard. You can simply copy
# the line in question and  use it as-is in most of your MySQL tables.
# It gives each table entry a unique ID number. The ID number makes it
# easier to manage and/or access individual entries.

create table $DBTABLE (
    id INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, PRIMARY KEY (id),

    name     TEXT    ,          # Product name
    stock    INTEGER ,          # Number of units in stock
    price    REAL               # Price per unit in U.S. dollars
);

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Insert some data.

insert into $DBTABLE (name, stock, price) \
values ('Bacon', 50, 1.00);

insert into $DBTABLE (name, stock, price) \
values ('Raspberry Pi', 5, 75.00);

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Execute a query.

select * from $DBTABLE where price < 10.00;

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# End of script. The following label is required.

END

130802. Shiing Shen plays with pi sums. They are not as delicious as apple pie but they are applicable to a wider range of situations.

<ShiingShen> Skittles's page of the formula for calculating pi/4 gave me the idea to write it out as an infinite sum
<ShiingShen> Heh, wikipedia's sum looks better than mine

<OldCoder> So? Yours belongs to you
<OldCoder> Can you edit in more remarks
<OldCoder> Explaining what you are doing here?
<OldCoder> It is good practice
<OldCoder> You need to learn to explain what is in your head
<OldCoder> That others may find it useful

130802. Mr. Meow has provided two new photos of his cat. The cat is focused today. Perhaps there is a mouse scampering by. Or a little bird has captured his attention. Possibly he is caught up in the complexities of an existential realization.

Here is a related discussion:

<mrmeow> REDACTED
<OldCoder> That seems blunt
<OldCoder> Carve out your own destiny
<OldCoder> Let him have his
<OldCoder> Each of you
<OldCoder> Is on a trajectory
<OldCoder> Who can say where it will end?
* OldCoder imagines people flying here and there

<mrmeow> more cat
<mrmeow> this is my cat, Higgins, taking on his usual cat pose
<OldCoder> Very well
<mrmeow> I'd type more
<OldCoder> But?
<mrmeow> but this keyboard REDACTED

<mrmeow> cats
<OldCoder> meow
<OldCoder> cats on the bed
<OldCoder> cats on the head
<OldCoder> cats above
<OldCoder> cats below
<OldCoder> cats reap and do not sow

130801. Phenek has shared a new Photo. The photo below was taken recently at the Tall Ships Races in Helskinki. For more information about the event, click here.

I asked Phenek if he had any thoughts about the scene. He replied:

they were tall :) and big and old. and there were lots of them.

130731. DSirijus is a multi-talented creative person located in Croatia. He lives in the same city as Brazen.

DSirijus has provided me with a Blues track that is based in personal experience, as most good Blues tracks are. You are invited to listen to the music at the link below. You may also download the piece from the site in question:

B Blues For B by DSirijus

The music is posted with permission. If the preceding link does not work, here is an alternate direct download link for the music in MP3 format:

DSirijus_-_B_Blues_For_B.mp3

The artist offers these remarks regarding the Blues piece:

i like the idea of it living forever. here, do with it what you want :) B Blues for B. it's in B minor and the B is the first initial of my non-reciprocated romance's name. me being on bad end of reciprocation equation, as is obvious.

i don't think music needs words, really. people like the music plus words package, though. but what's the wrapper and what's the gift?

130731. Here's a new illustration for a Father's Day article. The article was posted originally on June 15, 2013. To read the article, click here.

The relevant part of the text is quoted below:

But Jim Kiraly actually believed some of this, didn't he? He was delusional. I've read about this kind of thing, of course, but it was astonishing to see it actually happen. My Father, mentally ill, out of control, and with the funds needed to do real damage.

What really happened, though? Were Jim's delusions due to senescence? Does my Father, senility diapers askew, befoul himself with excrement as he glares at the computer he's accused me of hacking, certain that I must be lurking somewhere in the shadows even now? Is the next step to accuse me of riding broomsticks in the night sky as my copilot Christ and I circle about, cackling with glee as we plan our next move?

130731. Shiing Shen, a promising math and security enthusiast, has come for a visit. He is part of the next generation. The ones who will decide, in the end, what the limits of power are.

Shiing Shen is calm and reflective. Persistent as well. The combination is good for math and security purposes.

In fact, it is good for anybody who wishes to undertake long-term projects.

<ShiingShen> I am not in the hospital currently
<ShiingShen> I calculated 1229 of them, and lots of them hold the same pattern:
<ShiingShen> 2:0.5 3:1 5:2 7:3
<ShiingShen> 11:5 13:6 17:8 19:9
<ShiingShen> 23:11 29:14 31:15

<ShiingShen> it doesn't happen as much further down
<ShiingShen> for example:
<ShiingShen> 9767:4883 9769:4884
<ShiingShen> probably because there is not as much twin primes further down
<ShiingShen> and the pattern holds for perfects

<OldCoder> Is there a long-term medical issue?
<ShiingShen> yes
<ShiingShen> REDACTED
<OldCoder> I know of the 1st REDACTED issue of course
<OldCoder> I did not know that maintenance required visits to the hospital

<OldCoder> So, a 2nd REDACTED issue. Correct or not?
<ShiingShen> yeah
<OldCoder> Specialists are required. Therefore visits to hospital. All right.
<OldCoder> Regarding the primes
<OldCoder> Go on

<ShiingShen> I just found that p - 1 / 2 has this sequence:
<ShiingShen> 1 2 3 5 6 8 9
<ShiingShen> where p is greater than 2
<OldCoder> And p is a prime
<ShiingShen> yes
<ShiingShen> starting with 3

<OldCoder> Most such rules would be known. But see what turns up.
<OldCoder> For added fun, try to prove them :-)
<ShiingShen> well, it just has to do with the gaps between twin primes
<OldCoder> Explain the gaps
<ShiingShen> a twin prime is p + 2
<ShiingShen> and all primes above 2 are odd

<OldCoder> There are people who believe God may have placed a message in the patterns
<ShiingShen> I am doubtful
<ShiingShen> but people are entitled to their beliefs

<OldCoder> Are they? It is an interesting question
<OldCoder> If it comes to math
<OldCoder> To the basic structure of the Universe; to that which defines what is
<OldCoder> Is not what is, what is?
<ShiingShen> hm, didn't think of it that way

130729. Last week I needed to focus. To speak with fewer people, to fast for more than one reason, and to meditate. This proved to be difficult. At least, I needed people.

So I met further IRL with Josef, DNA and his wife, Minnesota Fats and those around him, Gradient, and others.

Minnesota Fats and his wife gave me a jar of Salsa. It is a blend that is high on the perceived temperature scale. They labeled it: The XIth Plague: Let My Peppers Go! :-)

I'll take the Salsa to an upcoming social event.

It is my understand that the event will include Pizza. People, Pizza, and Salsa all have their place somewhere in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. It seems efficient to address all three of the needs at once.

130729. This won't be posted for a few days but I started it at around 3:00am on Sunday, July 28. Slept abruptly from 9:45pm Saturday to 2:45am Sunday. Not quite awake ATM but can't sleep again yet.

And now it's hours later. As I wrote this I was going back and forth between sleep and the waking world. Not drifting tonight. Instead, shoved one way or the other by the breathing shock issue.

Later still now. I am rested and relaxed. But my breathing is accelerated even now.

It's time to take stock. Not of the entire picture at once. Of the physical side as a starting point.

1. The breathing shock issue is tiring.

   Some IRL people who notice the issue assume that it is a food coma. But it happens now whether or not food has been consumed.

   When the issue became serious some years ago, I spent days in literal delirium. I could tell from inside the mental blaze. I always could.

   I have memories of being very ill as a child. On occasion, my thoughts were trapped due to fevers and constrained to run in circles as a rodent runs on his exercise wheel. It was odd to be able to perceive this.

   I received no medical care for the childhood delirium. Or for the more recent instance. For months after the latter incident, my body temperature ranged up and down. Sometimes more than ten degrees in a day. This did not seem usual.

   The issue has taken a turn for the worse recently. Fasting is the only solution that I am aware of. And it does not work.

2. I nearly lost my right hand in Summer 2011. This happened again in Spring 2012 while Jim Kiraly was ramping up his attacks. The hand has improved but only to a point. I can hold a pen again and type but neither is reliable.

   When I type, one finger still bends backwards at times. This seems odd and unpleasant.

   There is no official diagnosis except for the term “necrosis”, which is more descriptive than diagnostic, and which was connected to damage to my legs. It has not been formally established that the leg damage and hand damage are part of the same problem though it seems likely.

   I was told that a hand surgeon could repair some of the damage to my right hand. The Kiralys took that option away. They took my right hand.

3. Stress related to the better part of two years of attacks by the Kiralys is taking a toll.

   The anniversary will be circa Thanksgiving. Two years of being hunted, of attempts to silence me, of being lied about, of watching a lifetime of possessions and assets disappear.

   The mind and the body overlap. There is a physical impact. But it's difficult to assess this part.

4. I'm old now. Physically old. Age is normal but it happened abruptly for me.

   The stress was part of it. But abrupt massive weight loss played a role. The body adapts to change but rapid change is not good.

   The events leading up to the Emergency Room visit in June 2012 were another part. Michael Bonetto of Hoge Fenton most likely hoped that the visit was related specifically to mental issues; the simple existence of which he would have used to create fog until the facts were obscured.

   Regrettably, from the perspective of the Kiralys, the Emergency Room visit was for a physical condition. One that did affect my mental state. Significantly. It is one of a number of interesting stories. But it was a condition that the Kiralys had created, that was physical, that was only about one week old, and that nearly killed me.

   The incident left its mark on me.

   I nearly died again about eight months later. February 2013. As I've said elsewhere, not sure I didn't die.

   I look old now as well as feel old. This part happened as suddenly as the rest. Looking in the mirror, and weighing various factors, I'd guess that the Kiralys aged me 15 years in two years.

5. There are other issues. Some are common. Some are not.

   One difficult issue is related to my legs. I believe the weight loss has done something to them. Something to add to the leg problems I've had for about 12 years.

   The legs get bad at night.

   Sleep is another issue. I don't sleep normally most of the time. I can't tell if this is related to the breathing shock issue or to stress.