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

For details about the ebook, click here.

131116. This is an arc from a recent discussion that I had with Tactician, a true Christ Follower.

The discussion was related to my abuser, Jim Kiraly of Pismo Beach, California, my Mother, Grace Kiraly, and my Brothers Tom Kiraly, Vice President of Sheridan Healthcare and Ken Kiraly, inventor of the Amazon Kindle. It branched out to a broader examination of conscience and Christ's role in the world.

The Pharisee illustration is distributed under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works 3.0. For attribution purposes, the creator and rights holder is Unknowing Cloud.

The illustration of Christ is distributed under the following license: “This work is completely free to use so long as it is not used to belittle, mock, or in anyway offend the church or religion”. For attribution purposes, the creator and rights holder is Craig Larsen.

<Tactician> We do have modern day Pharisees.
* Tactician ponders

<Tactician> My point is that you are not disliked because you are autistic. You are disliked because you are different. You stand out. You stand out because you are not one of them. You are not of this world. We are not of this world.

<Tactician> The world loves its own. It's like Jesus said. They persecuted him without a cause. Likewise, Jesus says that we will also be persecuted. Why? Because we are not like the world. We are not of the world.

<OldCoder> I am no Christ. But He was here in some respects to be of those who are persecuted. In short, if He was here, if He was real, it was for me and not for those who hunt me.

<Tactician> You are not Christ, but you are a child of the Father.
<OldCoder> Christ belongs to me and to those who need Him. Those who acknowledge that they are not perfect.
<Tactician> He manifests himself in us.
<OldCoder> Yes.
<Tactician> The Bible says we were made in his “likeness”. Thus, we are like him.

<OldCoder> Did Christ manifest to justify hatred? Or to help? It is all very well to say that he took on the burdens of sins...

<Tactician> Christ came to bring Salvation. He came to save those that are his. To teach what is right, and holy. What I'm explaining is logical deduction from Jesus's words. What he said, and applying it to our situation. We are not Christ, but Christ does live in us. He is manifested through our actions and good deeds.

<OldCoder> Most people look in the mirror. And decide... They are good; therefore, no matter what they do... Christ would approve.

<Tactician> It seems like twisted logic.
<OldCoder> That is my point.
<Tactician> Yes, I know.
<OldCoder> This is how they perceive the world. It is at the heart of human nature.

<Tactician> Well, the thing about human nature, is that we are “born into sin”.
<OldCoder> Christ is therefore reduced, in this context, to a toy.
<Tactician> The flesh is sin. So by nature, we are sinners.

<OldCoder> I do not believe He would approve.
<Tactician> And our flesh's instincts are to sin. It's why we war against ourselves.
<OldCoder> But we can contest the flesh.
<Tactician> Our flesh vs our spirit.

<OldCoder> If we acknowledge we are not perfect. And do not see the acknowledgment as glory. Then we can rise above our natures. Those who must see a hero in the mirror. No matter what is done. There is little hope for them.

<Tactician> I agree with you on that. When I look in the mirror, I see a sinner saved by grace.

<Tactician> There is very little hope for the world. I think none, actually. The only hope right now is for those that are coming to Jesus, and who are with him. If I saw the world 100 years from now, it would be nothing but ashes.

<Tactician> Jesus said that he came to save those that are his. Not to save the world. That's how I know the world is redacted.

<Tactician> We are the light of the world. God's people. This is what people see. They know we are different, because they can see our light shining.

<Tactician> Have you ever watched the movie “The Matrix” ? What is the Matrix? According to the movie, it's a world that's been pulled over our eyes to blind us from the truth. That's the world we live in. We are born into the Matrix. People are beginning to wake up, though.

<OldCoder> Are they. How so?
<Tactician> They are beginning to see the evil in the world. As time progresses, the Bible fulfills. History is repeating itself.

131116. Last night, Kappelin said:

in some respects i've never been here
in other respects i've been here always

Kosh is back! For people who remember B5, here's a relevant Kosh quote:

I was never away
And you have always been here

Kappelin tells me that he's not familiar with Kosh. And Kappelin is actually closer to Zen than to Kosh. But the “been here always” thing was fun regardless. Here are a few additional Kappelisms:

PAIN IS INEVITABLE. SUFFERING IS A CHOICE.

if everyone is crazy, then nobody is crazy.

most people believe that happiness revolves around success. i argue that success revolves around happiness.

The Kosh-related illustration below is by Undying Nephalim, who released it under a modified public domain license.

131115. This is a screenshot of a Java game that is under development by GNADev. Posted with permission.

The game will be of more interest if GNADev open-sources it. But, for what it's worth, the game is called Xorima, the character shown here is named zRokh, and zRokh is wandering through a single player survival level.

GNADev says:

“This is my first 100% from scratch game, written in Java. When the single player survival mode is finished I will be working on multiplayer mode. I love Java :P In Java I can make a window in a few lines.”

131109. The Kiraly Cases ended work on my Linux distro. Ended pretty much everything.

I'd had some fun with a community project known as Minetest. Minetest was a nice FOSS world framework with positive goals. It started while I was looking for work in IRC.

GhostShell asked me to handle “Old School” games for a venture known as GameBoom. GameBoom had connections to Minetest. One day, I was dragged into a Minetest issue. The project struck me as worthwhile, so I stayed.

Celeron55 and I met. The context was the Chaos and Order issue. For what it's worth, Celeron55 does have a sense of humor. But it's subtle :-)

Eventually, I ended up running about 20 Minetest worlds. I met more people and I even started to see possible business models. Kappelin and I started to talk about that side of things.

But Jim Kiraly, a wealthy abuser who was desperate to force me to sign a gag order related to his past, smashed even this fragile path forward.

As a note to potential attorneys for James Francis Kiraly, the abuser last known to be located in the La Gaviota area of Pismo Beach, California: Before taking Jim Kiraly on as a client, you may wish to ask him if he is prepared to deny under oath that he is an actual abuser. You may also wish to look carefully at the Kiraly Cases. And at the Kiraly Family's involvement in highly prosecutable felonies such as violations of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).

I managed to keep my Minetest worlds going until around the time of the Kiraly Cases Deposition in February 2013. My health hit bottom at about that point.

Jim Kiraly, Vice President of Transamerica Corporation. His son Tom Kiraly, Vice President of Humana Corporation and Sheridan Healthcare. Ken Kiraly, inventor of the Amazon Kindle. They had killed me for the second time in 40 years.

I made it back, sort of. Things didn't come together quickly. Health issues remained. Had to contend with an illegal DDoS attack by Kiraly Family associates. Other complications piled up.

But it turns out that if you proceed step by step, and you know that you're not going to stop, you can go all the way.

The Kiralys lost before they started. I'd like to speak with TV reporters about a planned on-camera demonstration. My Linux distro is back. And the Minetest worlds are rising again.

The return of Zegaton and the addition of a huge new world named Pripyat will be formally announced soon. For today, here is a screenshot of a Minetest test that Teco did recently. This is from one of his worlds as opposed to one of mine.

131108. Twisted Time contacted me recently. For those who have met him or are interested, he persists. He does not move. There is pain. But he does not surrender.

As he does not surrender, I should not do so. But the situations are not parallel. Those I've helped and/or who should be there to help me are there to do harm.

I told Twisted Time I regretted that I have not been useful to him. He said that I *have* been useful. If circumstances permit, we will talk again.

I'd hoped to visit him during one of the hospital stays. I phoned Nancy (Meyer) Grabow about the matter. We'd have invited Kevin Wayne King of Chevron to come along. Kevin would probably have refused as like most of the group he is descended into denial. But the four of us should have talked.

The visit was not practical but the possibility remains.

The illustration below the post is distributed under the following license. For attribution purposes, the creator and rights holder is Avalat:

Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works 3.0

131107. I was asked today for advice related to building a channel. The person who pinged me only had a few minutes to talk. Here's what I said off the top of my head.

The illustration below the post is distributed under the following license. For attribution purposes, the creator and rights holder is tmcgarry:

Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike 3.0

I've met people who start online communities. Forums, channels, and projects of different types. They often wish to get more members. The truth is that most such ventures go nowhere.

People look for magic tricks. They try gimmicks. Merge with other projects is a common one. They go and invite others directly; I sometimes do that myself. But communities fade away because... why are they needed? Why should anybody who is not a personal associate come or stay?

Online is a sandy beach. Places are grains of sand. There is little that is special or unique about any one grain. Good intentions are not enough.

My advice is this: Your community should serve a genuine purpose. Focus on quality as opposed to quantity. Seek organic growth. In time it may come.

131107. Bacon Bits was in a Doge mood recently. The story fragment below is the result of a related discussion. Note: The Doge is a meme.

There once was a small Doge that could talk. However, she could only talk in bits at a time. She often said things like “much food” or “very fond”. The sayings were not wise. However, because they were not wise, they were perceived as wise. The Doge therefore became well known.

One day, the Doge went to a toy store. She said to the clerk, “such toy, much fun”. The clerk directed the Doge to an open space that had a toy train display on the floor. There were toy trains on the display. The trains drove around and around on the tracks.

The Doge was happy. “Very plent!” she said. On the other side of the display there was a noise. It was a Boy who was watching the trains as well.

<OldCoder> Aequus, shall I pause for audio transcription?
<Aequus> I've heard it as it developed. A nice thing about it ;)
<Aequus> The model trains were cool.

“These are fine trains, Doge, are they not?” the Boy inquired.

The Doge replied, “Yes, such fun”. She jumped on the tables to play with the trains. However, she got her tail stuck in the tracks. “Much trubble!” she yelped.

The Boy pressed a switch to turn off the trains before they ran over the Doge's tail. The Doge licked the Boy's hand and said, “Very thank.”

<OldCoder> We now have the makings of a road movie. There ought to be Pizza and Time Travel. Philosophical musings on the nature of the self.

“Very self”
“Much thought”

<Aequus> Did I hear pizza and time travel? :)
<OldCoder> Indeed
<Aequus> I'm in.

(pause)

<BlueDream> http://youtu.be/XE0aAZE0kp4
<BlueDream> its a video that shows the biggest star that we know of i guess if you were flying a plane across it it would take 1100 years to go around it

<OldCoder> BlueDream, that sounds like a large one
<OldCoder> Sights might be interesting
<BlueDream> OldCoder yes its name is VY Canis Majoris its a red hyper giant

<OldCoder> “Big Dog”
<OldCoder> BlueDream, that name means Big Dog in Latin
<OldCoder> Heh
<OldCoder> Woof
* OldCoder smiles

* OldCoder did not remember a big star named Big Dog
<BlueDream> lol OldCoder thats funny

<OldCoder> It is no Doge I am sure
<OldCoder> “Very hot!”
<OldCoder> “Much large!”
<OldCoder> “So bright!”

<OldCoder> The Doge Star. A good concept.
<BlueDream> lol heres its wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VY_Canis_Majoris

<BlueDream> ah it was the largest known star from 2007 to 2012
<BaconBits> I heard Doge
<BaconBits> wof
<OldCoder> wof
<OldCoder> “So abbreviated!”

131107. The first illustration below this post, a Lisp-Perl xkcd comic, is distributed under the following license. For attribution purposes, the creator and rights holder is Randall Munroe.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5

The second illustration below this post is distributed under the following license. For attribution purposes, the creator and rights holder is Melodia04:

Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works 3.0

The doggerel was composed extemporaneously except for minor corrections. Extemporaneous writing, even nonsense, used to be impossible for me. This changed during the Kiraly Cases. I'm still not sure how it's possible. I only know that it has something to do with the near-death stuff that the Kiralys put me through.

<Oryx> openCV takes so long to build
<Oryx> my computer is getting warm
<OldCoder> Good on a cold winter's night
<Oryx> indeed
<Oryx> “it's getting a little chilly in here, honey. Would you mind compiling the linux kernel again?”

<Oryx> oh, you are one of those perl guys
<OldCoder> “Perl Guy” :-)
<Oryx> I've heard about your kind ;D

* OldCoder has done more than Perl
* OldCoder likes Perl, though

Perl is friendly and fierce
Perl all problems shall pierce
Perl is the duct tape
That holds together all things
Of Perl we sings

Added in a follow-up discussion:

Perl is all things beautiful and bright
Perl is a magical sight
Perl each day and each night

Perl is what in the World is right
Perl is far from trite
Perl each day and each night, beautiful and bright, magical sight
I love Perl with all my might

What moves me to tears
Is how many startupers I fears
Have than Perl fewer years
Good Lord, everybody is younger than Perl
Regardless, people should give Perl a whirl

<BeachFeline> Holy crap OldCoder!
<BeachFeline> I didn't think I'd find a PerlMonk here
<OldCoder> I am more of a monkey than a monk
<BeachFeline> lol
<OldCoder> At least I am no skunk

<OldCoder> I love Perl most dears
<OldCoder> To keep it I'd drink beers
<OldCoder> Better stop for tonight
<OldCoder> The Rhymes are a pitiful sight

<OldCoder> You are somebody in transition
<OldCoder> Somebody who may do interesting things
<Rubidiun> In transition from what and to what?
<OldCoder> To creativity and perhaps surprising himself
<OldCoder> With what is possible

<OldCoder> From what is less important
<Rubidiun> There's a profound beautiy in your innocense and simplicity Rob
<OldCoder> As you wish

<Rubidiun> but at the same time, it's frightening
<OldCoder> Frightening?
<Rubidiun> because you strike one as someone who could easily be made use of and discarded
<OldCoder> It has happened

131102. This is a Doge image created by an IT specialist in Ohio. As of November 2013, his site and resume were at this link. The link may have broken since then.

131101. H is a friendly and sensible business letter in Europe. The photo below is a tasty meal that he prepared today.

H says:

Just raw brocolis, coconout and salade. Chilli pepper and a bit of oil with noix. The juice is grenadier plus fraises. Refreshing. I enjoyed the meal a lot.

OldCoder notes: Noix is apparently a reference to nuts or walnuts. Fraises is probably fruit and may mean strawberries in particular.

H continues:

I love healthy food. Healthy drinks. I plant my own stuff. Not 2 much, the essential. You can save money and you get real healthy stuff.

I just used empty bottles of cola. Not glass bottles, but plastic ones. Do It Yourself. You dig in the land. Put the bottles in. But, before, you have to pierce them at the bottom. Then you use the land and hide the bottles (connected with water) in the land.

Wait, my english is REDACTED. I mean, I'm not a farmer. I had to be creative and invent. I took empty bottles of cola. Connected them with water rubber. The bottles were pierced at the bottom and placed after dig in the land.

Micro pierces. You take the bottom of the bottle and with a knife you do micro pierces. But just at the bottom, not the part that has to be left outside the land. Don't pierce all the bottle.

The soil has always the water that it needs. Because I have a timer. But this one has to be set up depending what you planted. I have tomatoes, salade, green tea, a pumpkin. I also love mint. Gotta go, I'll be back later.

131101. This is a piece of commercial artwork that I liked. And a quick look at how corporate videos come together. Posted with permission.

Jacob says:

It's concept art for our new video we're working on. It's not a real company name anyway. That was just them playing a joke on me. Want to get this art right. Since it will dictate the rest of the video.

The guys that put this together are good. They can certainly tweak it to any style. They first had it using more chiseled edges. I have to provide the direction. I think maybe it needs more “set”. “Set” is the scene. Props and such.

131101. Xacti is a college student who is self-centered and tiresome. He seems to have moved on. This is for the best.

Xacti came to visit us online. He suggested that if I did not advise him properly, he would kill himself. This point was repeated for days.

His stories morphed and shifted. It seemed likely that he was a troll. But I couldn't take the chance. In the end, he said that he was all right.

There is a photo of a little toy frog below. The story behind the frog is interesting. If I understand correctly, Xacti printed the frog using a 3D printer that he built himself. Then he painted the frog by hand and added a coat of sealer.

These days, it is possible to print objects. We joked with Xacti that, as he said that he'd like to sell pizza, he should build a Pizza Printer.

I am not fond of Xacti. Xacti, if you see this, you are welcome to return. You are also welcome to stay away. Regardless, we do wish you luck. You will get the engineering degree if you are able to focus.

Xacti took two photos of the frog. This is the first one. He prefers the second photo as the lighting is dramatic and the photo looks professional.

But I prefer the first photo, this one, because it reminds me of a toy frog from over 30 years ago. A frog that was meant to welcome me but was washed away by waves of Kiraly Family hatred. I often think about the original toy frog. It was not allowed to serve its purpose. I don't believe I've told the story here. Another time.

The frog photo was lost for a while. There is a related conversation below.

<OldCoder> Do you have the link for the frog I wanted?
<Xacti> I dont have it
<Xacti> it is lost to the internet
<Xacti> somewhere in a sea of data floats a lost frog

<OldCoder> I will go look for the frog
<Xacti> indeed
<Xacti> bring froggy home

<OldCoder> I do not think I can
<Xacti> NOOOOOOOOOO
<Xacti> darnit
<OldCoder> There was a reason I wanted that one. You are not the only one with difficulties.
<Xacti> I know

<OldCoder> But at least I know that you are real
<Xacti> how do you know?
<OldCoder> You changed your mind about the other photos. You were selfish.
<Xacti> and?
<Xacti> ok
<OldCoder> Used me and tossed any obligations. That is very real.

<Xacti> ah
<OldCoder> Now let me go look for the frog
<Xacti> i see
<OldCoder> Thanks for your time
<Xacti> OK
<Xacti> ...
* OldCoder sighs

<OldCoder> What now?
* Xacti cries
<OldCoder> ?
<Xacti> it rhymed with sighs
<OldCoder> Is there anything else to say? I wish you luck
<OldCoder> May I leave now? Others need help.

<Xacti> I was not keeping you
<Xacti> you PMed me
<OldCoder> No. You reopened PM. Twice. Take responsibility.
<Xacti> be free!!!!!!!!!!
<OldCoder> Drunk again?
<Xacti> I dont drink
<OldCoder> Fine. See you, then.
<Xacti> cya