Chromecide.com

• CALL OUT: anyone know of any choose your own adventure style stories released under a Creative Commons License? #
• "…may have known his killer as there were no signs of forced entry"…as if another spy would just kick the door down http://bit.ly/adcugi #

• I just completed the Survey for The Facilitator Network… your turn?? http://ow.ly/2taOs #
• @stitchmedia A very good point. atm, app has more attn. I'm not actively trying to promote story. Seems to be doing it on it's own. in reply to stitchmedia #
• With recent interest in Flux Singularity, I thought it was about time I put a contact form onto chromecide.com! #
• via @storytellin : My StoryMaker : Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh: http://bit.ly/dfSFZm ; a great little online app for kids storymaking #
• is LOVING the "who to follow" feature…been getting some KILLER suggestions! #
• @stitchmedia : Stage = Dev. OMLW relies on the app I'm making. The app is a few weeks from beta. OMLW will be the test bed. in reply to stitchmedia #
• @stitchmedia More "One Mans Life work" info: http://bit.ly/cQmIsP | http://bit.ly/baFopY | http://bit.ly/dy75NZ #
• @RFMartin Looking forward to it. I THINK I was a regular uFer when it first came out that there was "an imposter in our midst" #

Epiphany (Noun)  [ih-pif-uh-nee] : A sudden,  intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something,  usually initiated by somesimple,  homely,  or commonplace occurrence or experience.

Yep.  I haz one.  More to the point, I had one. Actually a couple, I think it tends to happen like that.

I got home from work last night, after being in the car for over an hour.  I’m tired.  All I want to do is sit down for a while, relax a bit.  But no such luck.  As soon as I get home it’s on.  Helping my wife with the house stuff, getting some shopping done, helping cook.  I grumbled to myself of course, but as a Father it’s my responsibility to do that sort of stuff.

The epiphany came when I was bathing my daughter.  At the same time, my wife was bathing our son, and I thought to myself, “Yep, we’re getting there. Look, both kids being bathed at the SAME TIME. Gee we’re getting good.”

And that was when I had my first epiphany of the evening.

Until the kids are in bed, my time is not MY time.

Yeah, yeah. I know.  It probably shouldn’t have taken me 14 years as a parent to figure this one out, but even though I consider myself a “new age” kinda guy, with the belief that there are no “Guys jobs” or “Chicks jobs”, I still (until yesterday) believed that “I’ve been at work all day, I deserve a break.”  I’ve never voiced that to my wife, but it’s how I felt.

Now it’s one thing to know that “my time is not my time”, but actually understanding, and accepting it, is a whole different matter.  My usual routine when dealing with bath time for my daughter is:

• Get Bath Ready,
• Put her in the bath,
• Check Tweets and FB etc on my iPhone while she plays,
• Wash her,
• Do some more iPhone checking while she plays,
• Get her out and dressed

I thought I was being so efficient, getting in some Social network time while she was in the bath, which would then free me up later for quality time with the family, or coding if I was so inclined.

How wrong I was.  You see,  my routine was thrown out of whack, because I left my phone in my jacket when I started her bath.  As a parent that is paranoid about things like my kids drowning in an inch of water, I refuse to leave her unattended in the bath, even for a few seconds.

So I’m sitting, bored, watching her play in the bath.  It didn’t take long before I was so bored that I started to play with her in the bath. Playing with the floaty toys turned to singing (ugh!) when we found the little frog.  I loathe singing, primarily because my singing tends to create quite a stir.  The neighborhood dogs start howling along, and I’m almost certain that I can hear people immediately moving away from our suburb.  So of course I’m always extremely self-conscious when I sing.

This one was not a tall order however. Singing the “Mr Frog jumped out of his pond” song.  As soon as I sung the first note, I remembered how bad my singing really is, and I almost stopped.

And then I had my second epiphany:

As parents,  we put our own judgments onto our children.

Again, this seems like a bit of a “duhhh” moment, but what I mean by that is not our beliefs, but our JUDGMENTS.  My 2 year old daughter is not going to say anything about my singing abilities(or lack thereof).  She’s just going to make Mr Frog jump in and out of his pond while I do it.  We ended up having a great time, although we did get a lot more water around the bathroom than we normally do. But that was fun too.

The next epiphany:

We don’t play with our children enough!

I mean REALLY play.  In the wild, lion cubs play together to learn.  The lioness will join in the play, teaching the cubs the basics of hunting.  From what I have seen, and experienced personally, play for humans is nothing more than a way to pass the time.Don’t get me wrong, I “play ball” with my daughter pretty much every day.  But I don’t enjoy it.  The “rules” for playing ball, are changed more often than her nappy.  This gets quite frustrating, especially when I’ve just got home from work and she demands my attention.

But for the moment I’m singing the Mr Frog song while I ponder my new found wisdom.  What is the wrost thing that is going to happen if i sing to my daughter?

“Mum can sing better than you can!”

“Yes, but at least I’m trying.”

That is the moment it all gelled.  See what I did there?  If that situation was to ever come up, I would not stop singing.  I would say exactly what I have there. “Yeah but at least I’m trying.”

Play has turned into a life lesson “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.”

And then it all gelled

Until the kids are in bed, my time is not MY time.  My time belongs to the kids. They need my guidance, and the best way to do that with a two year old is through play.  Accepting that fact improves your quality of life, and time, immeasurably.  All of a sudden, helping out with the kids is not so much of a chore, and yes I’m tired, and I DO deserve a break.  But then so does my wife.  While I’ve been at work, so has she.  Hard at work.  Washing clothes and dishes.  Cooking and feeding.  Juggling all of the stuff she already had to do and then adding a newborn and all the jobs associated with him as well.

So this one is for you guys out there.  Have a good hard think.

Look at how much you REALLY help at home, because she is working as well, just as hard as you are.  If you think you help enough, have another look.  If you have children, chances are, she hasn’t sat down at all by the time you get home.  No lunch breaks, no morning tea.

Look at the way you interact with your kids, and remember, they wont judge you.  If they do, just find a way to turn it into a life lesson.  Both you and your children will be the better for it.

• via @gleonhard, @ZenFilms;Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet http://ht.ly/2kd4s I like:"Consumers Don't Trust Advertising". I agree #
• …and cold toast #
• Learn to appreciate cold coffee #RealParentingAdvice #
• It never rains; It Pours… #

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Wow.  Bloody glad that is over.

While I knew July/August was going to be a high-stress time, I was simply not prepared for everything that came along.

At first things were flowing nicely.  I was getting plenty of time to work on my projects.  Preparing for the arrival of the new baby.  Making sure we had everything.  Life was good.  And then it started, the bloody car blew it’s heater core. Nice.  Over a thousand bucks later and we are starting to get short of dollars the month that the baby is arriving. Nice.

Thinking about it now, it could actually be my own fault, because at about the time I found out how MUCH the car was going to cost to get fixed, I (stupidly) asked “What else is going to go wrong.  Isn’t this sorta stuff supposed to happen in threes?”.

As it turns out, that simple question had the same karmic effect as being in a horror movie and saying “Just going for a drink, Be Right Back”, walking UP the stairs, on the phone, looking in on the kids I’m babysitting, while wearing a skimpy outfit, hearing a noise and running to one room in the house that has only one exit.  Hang on…skimpy what?

Next, just because financial issues aren’t already on the agenda, my wife’s father passes away.  Needless to say that is a stress she did not need, when she was so close to having the baby.  Before he passed there were countless trips to the hospital, which she had to make herself, as I was working.  The raw emotion. Not so nice.  Then afterwards, the added stress of wondering if we were going to be able to make it to the funeral, both from a financial and medical standpoint.

Then we had a break from the uninvited chaos.  The birth of our beautiful boy, Connor.  THIS stress we were prepared for.  Well as prepared as you can be.  We had everything we needed.  Nappies and Clothes. Formula, wipes and all the other paraphernalia you need for cleaning babies.(If you aren’t a parent, you wouldn’t BELIEVE how much you need just to keep a baby clean!).  Everything was great.  They let us go from hospital and we brought him home.

*The_Universe  slaps you in the face with a large fish*

Number 3.  Connor has an infection.  He got it before we even left hospital, but somehow they missed it in his final exam.  So back to hospital we go.  Another few days of hospital trips before he is well enough to come home again.  More stress. No sleep. Noice! Obviously, this also prevents us from making it to the funeral.  We did try, but our little man was just not well enough to be able to make the 4 hour trip.

But it’s OK.  Things are starting to calm down again.  Now that Connor is over the infection, he is coming along just fine.  We’ll get up to the grave in the next few weeks, and we’ll be sure to have “one for the homies”.

This is the part where I should think of something witty to say to the universe.  You know the part in the movies where the underdog defiantly looks into the face of his adversary, spits and says:

*censored*

Sorry, I’m not tempting fate, not this month…

• #AlternateHistory Battle of Actium was really part of a Holy War and the Pantheon was built to ease the war with "Neutral Religious Debate" #
• Fight Software Patents in Australia – Get Informed – We don't want to end up like the USA – http://apps.softwarefreedom.com.au/patents/ #

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As Flux Singularity is approaching a point where I will be able to start beta testing, my mind has turned to the inevitable, “How do I make my money back?”

I would love to be able to simply release it as an open source project, providing it for free to anyone who wants to use it, but let’s be honest here.  I’ve put an uncountable number of hours into the design and development of this system over the last few years.  I’ve sacrificed time with my family.  Don’t get me wrong,  I enjoy working on the system and I really believe in the concept, but without trying being selfish, I want my dues.

Now I’m not a greedy person.  I’m not the sort of person that thinks “Alrighty, hard work done, now to sit back and watch the dollars roll in!”.

I want to find a new way of doing business.  A business model that is fairer. For Everyone.  Where the people involved get paid what they deserve and the end consumer DOES NOT pay for someone’s luxury car.  I’d like to be able to “share the wealth” (and the love) with those that deserve it.

One idea I’ve had was born from the concepts of Crowdfunding and an idea I had for Crowdfunding the production costs for an Independent film, so that by the time the movie is ready for release, everyone who should have been paid, has been, allowing the movie to be released for free. As in creative commons free.

Could the same concept be applied to software, albeit in a slightly modified format?

Let’s say I’m at a point where it’s time for me to start marketing my system:

The old way of doing things:

I would first look at my system, the time it has taken and build a business plan around a standard sales model.  This would allow me to calculate how many copies of the software I would need to sell to break even.  I would then use this information to draw up a business plan taking into account such things as overheads and all of the REALLY interesting stuff.  I would then need to present this plan to an investor (or a bank) to be able to get the money to allow me to market it.  Of course this investor would then want a cut of the profits (assuming I made some).  This way of doing things would force me into the Greedy way of doing business.  I’d be made to charge more for the software than I would feel comfortable with.  I’d quickly begin to lose control over the decision making for the project, as the investors put pressure on me so that THEY can benefit.

Alternatively, I could go down “Software as a Service” route.  Not release the system at all, instead setup a dedicated server, and rent the use of the system.

A new way?

All I want from this is to make back what I’ve put in.  After that point, I don’t see the need to keep charging for it.  Like I said.  I’m not greedy.

Is there such a thing as “reverse” Crowdfunding? Raising the finds for a project after it has been completed?  After the “crowd” can see a working version of what they are supporting?

Would people support a Crowdfunding campaign, whose goal is to free up a developer from the greed of Commercialism?

I REALLY don’t want to go down the standard business paths for Flux Singularity, but I DO want to be paid for what I have done.

If I didn’t need money for outrageous things like rent, utilities and food, I’d just release it for nothing straight up, but unfortunately, the world simply does not work that way…

Thoughts?? Please Comment…

So I’ve been mad at it the last few weeks.  Outside of work, I have been spending any free time I have working on Flux Singularity and it’s really starting to come together.  I should probably give some in depth analysis of everything I’ve completed so far, and what is left, but I’m just going to summarise the updates and get back to getting the system done.

DockUI

The Messaging and request subsystem is finished.  It can handle both single instance requests, as well as poll based requests.  Single instance requests are things like retrieving the details of an object to display on an edit form, while a poll based request is more designed for things like lists of objects, where the information can change over time and needs to be updated.

Flux Singularity

On par with the development of the DockUI widgets, I’ve created the core framework for the Flux Singularity Server API.  This includes methods for sessions and user registration, authentication and data security, as well as object schema and content manipulation functionality.

The Twitter information retrieval has been integrated into the core communications engine, and updated to reflect the new methods for creating and validating objects.  I’ll be beginning testing with this hopefully this week, so keep an eye out for a couple of Twitter accounts that, well…quite frankly…appear totally normal, but that’s the point isn’t it?

Next Steps

In my original coding for the Twitter interaction, I had the sending of Tweets being performed by the event loop.  I want to move this into the Twitter process loop to bring the methods into line with the modularity of the system.  This would then limit the tasks of event loop to those of data modification only.   For example, the event loop would calculate if a Tweet is ready to be sent, and if so update the “NeedsToBeSent” flag in the database.  This tweet would then be picked up and sent upon the next iteratoin of the communications loop.

Updating the way that works would complete the Twitter module of the Communications system.  With that out of the way, I will be moving onto updating the Web Site Renderer to include support for Hierarchical navigation, web forms and web site statistics gathering. (At the moment, it only supports basic, flat structured static web sites.)

Once that is complete, it’s onto the Event Processor, although the work to get that finished would primarily be updating code to bring it in line with the recent modifications to the methods for creating and validating objects, and to expand the capabilities of the script engine.

While this may seem like quite a fair amount of work, I’m still on track for having the system ready for some major testing by the start of August.

The only real outstanding question mark over the timing is the arrival of our New Bubba, because nature has it’s it’s own timeline, and The Better Half is gonna need a well deserved break after 10 months!!

• Buy Part Of Australian Horror Film "The Tunnel" Now – http://bit.ly/cZA9Oy #crowdfunding #
• Hyperakt: Meaningful Design for the Common Good – Making money without losing your morals: http://bigthink.com/ideas/20843 #

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• Help an Indie Web Series get Started – "Resume Life" needs a new logo by the end of July: http://bit.ly/90OwRY #

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