Project Statuses
Taking a cue from Brandon Sanderson I thought I should start doing reports on the status of my projects. He has status bars which just get updated on his site, I'm not doing that (yet?) - I'm doing a post which summarizes the status of various projects underway. My intent is for this to be a monthly check-in.
Coding Projects
Pick'em
Status: Active
Summary: The site is up. There are two major features which I need to work on, one of which is underway. They are: Redoing the Match page & Implementing split-season scoring. The former involves rebuilding the page where users view and pick matches, as well as implementing the pick logic client side so they don't have to try and wait for the server to reject their picks.
Next Steps & Timeline: Finish my work on rebuilding the match page (2 weeks?) and then work on revamping player scoring to implement split-season scoring (finish by end of April)
Glowbug
Status: Active, mostly idle
Summary: My homebrew blogging engine. The work this week was the most I've done in a long time. The system works, it's just about making it better at this point.
Next Steps & Timeline: Nothing major, just coding when it strikes me. No timelines on it.
Clerk
Status: Mostly idle
Summary: Currently my personal weight and exercise tracker, but long term it's meant to be my full personal hub for managing daily life. It's up and I use it daily (need to weigh in today, in fact.) There are some active bugs which need squashing, but they are low priority.
Next Steps & Timeline: Bugs will be squashed when I need a coding distraction from whatever I'm working on.
Fixture Picker
Status: Needs rewrite
Summary: My fixture picker works but it isn't great and it needs a rewrite. This project lost a lot of stream as I thought it might have business viability but some surveys and research led me to abandon it as not overly viable.
Next Steps & Timeline: Unclear. I might abandon this project altogether simply to clear the deck for other things.
Cement
Status: Idea phase
Summary: A homebrew collection management tool. This promises to be a coding project near the size of Pick'em if not larger. I have done a lot of thinking and have a database schema but I haven't begun on this project. I'm earmarking it as a project for the 2nd half of 2022.
Next Steps & Timeline: Want to start work before 2023 and have this be my primary project next year.
Secret Project
Status: Prototyping
Summary: There's a fairly new project I've started toying with in the past few weeks. As I think it might have commercial viability, I'm keeping wraps on it and have only discussed it with a few people.
Next Steps & Timeline: Unclear, doing research and planning.
Writing Projects
Urban Fantasy 1, "Thorn" - My NaNoWriMo book for 2020. It's "complete" and just needs editing and tightening of the plot. Thorn is the working title I started with, I'm not settled on it as the final title.
Urban Fantasy 2, "Untitled" - I started it for NaNoWriMo 2021 but have not finished it. I hit a bit of a wall and am struggling to find the next section of the book.
Sci-Fi 1, "The Stars in the Canopy" - I've had the idea for a science fiction story but have not really started on it yet.
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I have to admit, I'm here for more videos of Ukraining farmers towing Russian artillery with tractors. I didn't think i would be, but here we are.
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I'm listening to "How Did This Get Made," a podcast devoted to bad movies and deconstructing them. The episode I'm listening to is "Kate & Leopold." It starred Hugh Jackman and Meg Ryan.
I have memories of this movie because I went to see a sneak preview showing of it. I left the movie going, "Well... that was fine." But after it came out it got absolutely destroyed.
As it turns out, between the cut I saw and the cut that came out, they just absolutely demolished the film.
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Is America to Blame for Russia's War in Ukraine?
Nations do not have unified, objective interests. The foreign policies that would best serve American power are not necessarily those that would best serve the Pentagon bureaucracy, which are not necessarily those that would best serve an incumbent president's reelection odds, which are not necessarily those that would best flatter the ideological convictions of his National Security Council, which are not necessarily those that would best please his party's top donors. Similarly, the policies that would maximize Russia's national security are not necessarily the same as those that would maximize the Putin regime's political stability. And in any case, the Russian president is not necessarily capable of accurately identifying either. It is bizarre to suggest that Russia's actions in Ukraine were dictated by its objective security interests when, by virtually any measure, Putin's invasion has already undermined those interests.
This last paragraph was what I came to the article due, but the lead up and context was very worthwhile:
Putin's invasion of Ukraine was a free choice. And whatever role U.S. policy played in determining Putin's decision, it did not force his hand. Critics of NATO expansion would be wise to stipulate this point, since doing otherwise only renders their causal analysis easier to stigmatize.
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THE UNIPOLAR MOMENT (1990)
The below article discussing if America is to blame for Russia's invasion of Ukraine referred to 'the uniporal moment' - something I don't recall ever hearing before. So I went looking for a resource on it and this article from 1990 seems to be it.
In short, it refers to the moment that the USSR conceded West Germany and ended the Cold War.
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Volo's New Jacket
I received my cover for Volo (my Duo 2) today. It was needed so I could make use of the Surface thin pen stylus. I immediately put it on the device and have begun using the pen. I won't say yet it is my default input, I'm still figuring out how best to use it. I do like that OneNote can immediately switch to written input when the stylus is near the screen.
I will also note, I wasn't sure how secure the stylus would feel sticking to Volo. I'm not sure it will stay attached when they are both in my pocket, but I have absolutely no concern that it might come loose when I'm just carrying it and walking around.
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