MentalPolyphonics » Jack

Family Secrets and Weaponized Information

Jack — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:33:24 +0000

My family’s been keeping my older brother secret from me for three decades. I found out just now when I was used in an exchange of weaponized information between my parents.

I Think Google Is Making Me Lazy

Jack — Sat, 12 May 2012 04:24:50 +0000

I just googled “cubernorms gourp” instead of “cybernorms group” because I knew Google would just figure it out… which it does. Nerf design is making me a retarded.

You’re So Vain

Jack — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:57:40 +0000

I would be surprised if Dark Shadows didn’t contain this song off the new Manson album…

… which features Depp on bass. Normally Manson’s covers are better than the originals, to me, but this album is kinda blah. Maybe it’ll grow.

Engine Code

Jack — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:07:24 +0000

Code from our new game engine, for the lulz:

//TODO: powerhack below. will replace with working factory
// http://www.threadbombing.com/data/media/2/50smh.gif

Nerdcore Consciousness: Wakey Wakey

Jack — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:55:56 +0000

Here’s a track from a previous Watkin Tudor Jones — recently of Die Antwoord — project called The Constructus Corporation. It’s about vegetarianism, revolution, and Star Trek:

I dig Waddy’s message big time, especially in his conscious tracks like that one and Love Is from his MaxNormal.TV project (and Constructus, but I like this version more):

Some Kinda Protest

Jack — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:09:17 +0000

Saw this on the way home. You’ll have to invert your device…

Torture Garden Toronto

Jack — Wed, 02 May 2012 01:20:39 +0000

Click through for an intriguing video (including what is almost certainly barely legal cephalopod action):

HOWTO: Exploit Your Human Resources (Position)

Jack — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:43:21 +0000

When I got out of my contract trial period here at the studio I was promoted to Engineering HR Lead. It’s a nothing title — I’m the only person on the Engineering HR team. However, it did come with real power: I am now able to pick my coworkers, I’m working on revising the hiring test, and I’ve started an internal coder training program (which I’m trying to expand to the art department).

And I’ve just now been invited to sit on Humber College’s industry advisory board. When I was a student I thought industry involvement in post-secondary education was pretty evil, because academic institutions really should not be outsourced technical training programs. However, the Computer Science community in Toronto is, frankly, in crisis. Large corporations (no names) have pillaged the “industry advisory” process completely, leaving it almost-impossible for startups and small companies to find people trained in open, or defacto, standards.

The local institutions seem to be teaching XNA/C# and Java almost exclusively now, even U of T. When you sit grads from these programs down with a memory bug they are utterly helpless: “what’s a memory? I forget.”

Anyway, I can’t take credit for pushing open standards, which is the approach I’m going to take. The nature of those systems, combined with Apple’s (and to a lesser extent Google’s, Sony’s, and Nintendo’s) support makes them extremely useful and flexible.

The phrasing we’ve been using around the office is: “if you learn XNA, you might get a job. If you learn C++ you will have a career.”

Blue Scholars – Tommy Chong (feat. Macklemore)

Jack — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:54:15 +0000

Via Billium:

Barricades: Test iPod Render

Jack — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:03:12 +0000

Here’s a test render of my film company’s next drop: