Originally named 'Derpnet' for the *cough* Derpy Hooves images floating

around here and there (Specifically if you moused over the PHPMyAdmin link). I polished it up a bit, because I get a decent bit of Intranet traffic (Lan gamers. They download stuff from the 'server'), and I needed an excuse to play around with CSS, JS and PHP again.

Say it's ugly if you want, but I can show you worse, so shut up :3

The art of music

So, after being confounded by Juju/AG talking about the potential of my Adventure song, I finally caved and got a couple of good books on 'proper' music theory.

So far I'm finding I already knew the Major and Minor Natural scales (Guitar practice. Also know a Blues scale), but I didn't know a thing about Intervals or the Fifths Cycle… until now.

Anyway, I'm also carefully analysing my timing. I'm trying not to mix 4/4 and 3/4, or 2/4 in my music (No odd speed changes unless it divides evenly).

I'm now moving onto Spanish music with my Guitar. My fingers are hating me at the moment =P

One perk involving the book I'm using: It teaches how to read musical notation, something I needed to learn. And I've managed to play several minorly complex pieces in rythm, so I'm very happy there.

Anyway, just you wait for my next composition. Coming 20XX.

And now…

I'm thinking (again) of writing a book. Probably a 'mini' book to practice my writing skill, which appears to be tending towards poorer quality/volume. Maybe I'm imagining it…

Anyway, the book I'm going to write will naturally be programming related, and will probably deal with a topic that causes me great annoyance: Game engine design. Or:

"Why you don't need to create a game engine for asshats."

Specifically though, I want to dispel the confusion surrounding the makeup of a game-engine, and instead focus on the creation of a simple 'core' engine that is extensible and object-orientated.

If I run into yet another programmer who wants to make a damned UDK sized 'game engine' in less than a year, I'm going to… do something regrettable.

I might have to replace my poor keyboard soon. Had it for four years, and it's starting to show signs of wear (Loose keys… my typing rate has something to do with that…)

Got to make sure it's a comfortable keyboard though. I despise a keyboard with these qualities:

> Half width Enter key.

> Backslash key positioned next to the left Shift key.

> Half sized Shift key resulting from aforementioned misplacement.

> Quick Power button too easily pressed (Like under the Delete key).

> Keys that are too 'sticky'.

> Backspace key positioned to the left of the | key.

My current keyboard is a cheap Chinese import that cost me about $8. Lasted longer than my Microsoft Wireless keyboard.

I don't care how much it costs, just so long as it's layout matches my current one (I can use this keyboard in pitch darkness).

Minecraft

I've been messing around with the 1.2 Week 8 development release. You know, you kinda don't realise it at first, but that 256 block limit is huge. Let me put this into perspective:

The height of 'sea level' is 64. This means that the maximum height of a tower above sea level was only 64 blocks.

Now, the height of sea level is still 64, but: There are now 192 blocks of air to play around with. That means that our towers can now be exactly three times higher.

Also, I'm playing Minecraft only in Linux now. With the Windows executables. I'm using the Windows launcher and natives because I've got MagicLauncher, which allows my to configure a list of minecraft folders, allowing me to have several 'versions' to select from.

But my reason for using Linux to play is simple: Windows cannot handle Minecraft anymore. Not the recent versions anyway. It lags like crazy. THE INPUT lags. My music lags, and that is horrible.

I find that Minecraft has to allocate some 40% of my memory in Windows, but only 10% in Linux. And in Linux I get a solid 60 FPS, can play my music in the background and can have the benefits of Far viewing mode. This is using the exact same Minecraft folder, same JARS, same DLL's, and in WINE… Doesn't compute, but I'm happy.

(Actually, it boils down to the way the Linux Kernel handles program execution and slices up the time between processes. Windows is inefficient in this regard, though Windows 7 seems to be a bit 'smarter'. Basically, all my games can get a higher framerate on Linux on higher visual settings).

I've got all of my siblings, even my 7 year old brother, hooked on Minecraft now. They all play using the AMCO mod pack though. Had to laugh, because my one brother went and used the Zeppelin mod to make a flying house. A two-room flying house complete with bed, crafting table, four chests, an enchantment table and a brewing stand. And here I couldn't think of making anything other than blocky airships…

Since I don't have last.fm connectivity…

Here's what I've been listening to:

Da Chip volumes 1 and 2 (Free. GET IT. http://www.dachip.com/download.html)

Megaman X6 and X5 OST (I ripped it in full-quality from XA format).

And thats it. Equals about 160 entries. I keep rearranging my current playlist, saving old ones and generally forgetting about music I used to enjoy. :P

Well, looks like I made a decent blog this time round. Much better than my last attempt. Hmm. 1013 words? That'll do.