by James | Mar 30, 2012 | Writing
So this month has been a rather busy one. I’ve got started on a lot of things, read a lot of interesting books. Most notably the 4-hour work week. But I have to be somewhat cautious and aware of confirmation bias. It’s obvious that while there is a lot of good advice in Tim Ferriss’ books he is not the oracle. Nor, is everything going to be applicable to all people. But there’s no problem in trying some of his ideas and see what sticks.
Decisions in life have made me realise that I need to get my programming back on track and start to really integrate more into French life. Join clubs, get a French speaking job, earn a sufficient wage to do the things that interest me, get my driving license and a car. I am keeping a journal of ideas and thoughts now in paper format, but since my parents arrived I haven’t been up keeping it as much as normal. It is helping me organize my thoughts remarkably well.
What have I done this month?
- Practised my French much more and made some breakthroughs, a long way to go, but I know now that I can at least understand and conjugate with ease.
- Set up my website development area on my main computer at home; Apache, PHP, MySQL and Zend Framework are all there. I also have started on my UnitTracker plugin.
- More of a plan. I’ve decided on a 3 month plan of things I want to do and I’ve got steps to getting there. I need to start actioning the points more forcefully mind you…
What will I have done by the end of next month?
- Finished the beta of the Unit Tracker plugin for WordPress and written up the evaluation + future roadmap. I hopefully will have started / finished another of my mini projects as well.
- Started a regular running schedule, at least 3 times a week, just to get myself back into exercise gently.
- Finished my C.V. in English and French and a generic covering letter expressing my motivations, objectives and selling points.
- I will have translated and posted at least 4 pages of
“How to play Go – Comment jouer au Go” and purchased the relevant study materials for the French exam I’m going to take.
These all seem reasonable and achievable. There are still more I have to get done and minor things I need to look into i.e. French tax law for paying my Tax this year!
So that’s all for now, I’m going to eat lunch and get ready for another lesson ;).
by James | Mar 13, 2012 | Software development
So I have returned to PHP from a long absence trying to get my head around the Zend Framework via it’s manual. It’s somewhat error prone and doesn’t accurately describe what you always need to do but I got the quickstart project up and running. I think I’ll work through the available chapters till the end and experiment locally until I create a Zend application on this site to show what I can do.
I also have a few books arriving that should give me a step by step process of learning practical Zend programming. I am already impressed by it’s potential but I need to get much more familiar with both the framework and my knowledge of PHP before I feel comfortable with it all again.
On another note I want to start tracking my hours of work on various projects to see my progress so I’m looking at creating a simple WordPress plugin that can store and display hours spent on something. Or more to the point add all the hours I give it together with some nice script. I want to show how many hours of experience and learning I have towards 10,000 hours (the supposed mark of an expert). While I’m a long way off at the moment, It is a noble goal to aim towards.
by James | Feb 24, 2012 | Exploration I
Who is considered a Novice, Advocate, Elected official or Head of department? Firstly there needs to be a founding manifesto or constitution for the community, in this document there will be certain definitions of the methods, processes, time periods and criteria by which members are eligible to be elected to positions of administration. It will also contain the general classifications of hierarchy and structure within the community.
There needs to be special consideration here on abilities within a given discipline, an advanced level computer scientist may well be a novice in the field of biology, ergo each title should be suffixed or prefixed with the relevant field. Perhaps even following the example of the gradient of martial arts where every member has an appropriate level of kyu or dan that gives them a clear indication of where they rest on the scale of their art.
There are other questions relating to this one, the ultimate basis for level of skill will be based on assessment and practical experience, vocation and practical application should be seen as equally if not more important than theory. There should also be some recognition of skills attained prior to joining the community. But these should only allow a fast track out of novice lessons they shouldn’t grant anyone status by default.
Presently my thought was this; all members start as novices considered equals in the community, over the next 6 months they will learn basic chores and depending on their assessments assigned to levels of learning with classes, professors, mentors etc.
They will be assessed on their abilities in all the primary sciences, computer programming, mathematics, fitness and co-ordination, the martial art decided on for the community, creativity, logical reasoning, emotional intelligence and potentially more. The purpose is to find out what the member can do and what their passion is that can help them drive the community.
People will remain a novice until they attain a sufficient comprehension of the basic fields of scientific enquiry, reason, teaching e.t.c. It’s very possible different communities may have different requirements. But once the understanding of all the basic foundations are met they can then choose, with advice and consultation from their peers to become an Advocate of a specific sphere of science [initially I thought the community would be completely focused on the natural sciences and technology however there is merit in thinking that any discipline followed would result in benefits to the community it rests in].
The difference between an Advocate and a Novice then is; Firstly, an Advocate has reached a fundamental understanding of the all the base sciences, basic vocational skills, dialogue techniques, fitness and martial skill. Secondly, the Advocate by his very title has decided what he will dedicate the rest of his time/life in the community towards.
Elected officials and administration come from the pool of people who have passed the assessment phase if deemed sufficiently capable. Although the criteria of who is eligible should depend on the position being voted for. Obviously the head of a physics department should be considered to have a sound, if not advanced, knowledge of the subject of the department he is running.
More details on differing titles within the community should be discussed in later entries.
by James | Feb 23, 2012 | Exploration I
On the matter of health, all community members should be trained in basic first and and long-term members should strive to be paramedics or at least aware of more advanced lifesaving procedures. All members, with the physical ability to do so, should regularly donate blood for the community, society at large, and for fellow members in the case of an emergency.
by James | Feb 22, 2012 | Exploration I
An additional point on ‘security’ and enforcement of rules, if there are to be security members they should be formally trained, qualified in restraint and the civil laws of the country in the best methods to catch and isolate individuals who are both a danger to themselves and others.
