Today I had the chance to get out of New York city and visit a friend in Hoboken. When I got out of the PATH train I saw this:

It’s beautiful, it’s calm, and clean. But everybody that lives there knows that those are all the things Manhattan is not. Yet stepping out of there gives a totally different image and makes you realize what kind of life you are living and what kind of life other’s think you are living in New York.

I get that a lot in the subway of New York. Every few rides, you’ll get a freak, a bum, a religious maniac, or the church choir that will “cheer you up with some gospel singing…” Some of those dudes are proud “representative of the United Homeless Organization” There is no end to stories for burned homes, hungry kids, and sick parents that justify a drop of a quarter.

What is interesting is that nobody ever forgets to wish me “God bless you”. The problem are the underlying assumptions that:
- I do believe in God. Wrong.
- I do like to be blessed by God. Wrong.
- I do believe that blessed by God is what is going to change my life. Wrong.

I just can’t help it but think, “Maybe that same God you believe in is the reason you are here in the subway. God bless YOU”

[NOTE: I am aware that sometimes houses DO burn down, and other unexpected accidents happen in life]

[Reasons I do not believe in God here and here]

Again, brilliant revelations always happen in the shower. This time the following simple but utterly important thought dawned on me:
People generally marry a partner with similar qualities.That is, fat people get together with fat people, models get together with models, stupid ugly people get together with stupid ugly people etc. Excessively big butts rarely go around with perfect boobies [exceptions to everything].

What I had to say about this observation is from the point of view of men, but is equally true from women’s perspective. Namely, it is that if you haven’t chosen for partner that is a close match in physical appearance, smartness, money etc. the relationship will be dysfunctional. The ugly one is always going to be afraid that he will lose the pretty one. The stupid one is always going to be feeling inferior to the smart one, and of course, the poor one in the relationship will always feel less of a person than the rich one [oh please, you know its true].

Usually we don’t have to think about that, simply because it naturally works out. Sometimes however, the balance is off, and those are the cases we have to able to recognize and avoid.

The only thing that you should be constantly considering is that you probably want to improve yourself in any possible way, so that you have a better match to live with. Spending your energy on chasing higher grade people makes no sense, when you can spend it improving yourself and naturally being entitled to more.

just thoughts…

I don’t know how I got this song that I recently discovered. Its awesome. I love Faithless.

Faithless - Why Go rmx w Estelle

…and the Lyrics

I finally decided that i have to have some topic on my blog. One of them is entrepreneurship, to which i actually dedicate a separate blog thus excluding it from here. You can find that blog at entrepreneur2be.com.

It is just launched, so I have to do a lot of settings, design changes but for now it does it.

I have been talking about careers but maybe i should look into something that comes one step earlier - Education.

I am a junior and with all my strength trying to be an entrepreneurship. I tend to often compare the two sources of knowledge, experience, and excitement. Believe it or not, If I had the choice of going to college OR experience real business I would choose the latter. If I could do it all over again, I would not have spent 3 years in school.

Nah, unless it was MY school. And yes, I do have a dream for the distant future - start my own college. What I have learned from the single-digit-price books that I happily ordered on half.com seems times and times more rewarding.

So my next question coming up is, “Why don’t we ditch the old style textbooks and have a curriculum entirely based on books of brilliant minds that give the best perspective on real life?” few to name- Linked, Search, On Intelligence, Wikinomics, Blink, and even the real self-help books like Never Eat Alone or Jump In. Well, yes, maybe you would miss the accounting/management/finance basics, but after all, those can be covered in no more than few days serious work.

That new totally unexplored teaching suits greatly the startup mindset, because we are people that learn on the way, while pushing limits. We run. When we face a problem, we turn around and figure out what we need to learn so we can get past the barrier. Then we go on. School seems to me very self-contained, overrated and totally disconnected from real world. Why is that?

I feel like textbooks are soooo last decade (Alek’s favorite expression). Only, people have not realized it yet. What we really need to succeed these days is other people’s experience and viewpoint. You don’t know what to do with yourself? Find people that have solved successfully the problem. Don’t know how to start a career? Plenty books. Want to have great sex? Read books, read books with pictures…

So go to Barnes and Noble. Look around for book titles, read some flap summaries and pick up a few until i pull off my startup idea and get rich enough to start the “National Entrepreneurship University” where you gonna be all “starting up” something, while reading an admirable choice of non-textbook books :)

It keeps bothering me to see that many people just want to work for someone else. They come up with excuses like, “But i need experience” or “I have no money…”

I just can’t understand this thinking but recently I remembered a conversation with a friend of mine who’s mom is a psychologist. She said to me, “Petar, you are who you are, because of your parents” At the time I started arguing, “But my parents are so different. They are laid back, they never considered star…”, “Shush. you don’t know. Just trust me, i know better.” Only lately i realized HOW TRUE THAT IS.

Basically what i am trying to say is that whether you start a startup or get a job at a large corp, is determined heavily by your parents. For example, I had the chance to live in 2 different families that are totally different. Why I consider startup to be the only option for me, is because i have felt the live in both families and I have compared them bit by bit to extract the best out of the two. I have seen the mistakes in one of them and mistakes in the other one and I have promised myself not to repeat them.

Working for a big company is one of those mistakes. I also had a bad experience with a boss I didn’t like. I will die but I will not get a corporate job.

Something else that struck me - due to those influences that are surrounding people and shaping their perceptions of successful career for many years, it is virtually impossible to change someone’s mind. The only people that would in some way consider advice to start their own business are the ones that are ready to do it, but haven’t realized it. For all others, you (and I) are wasting your time, because they will either NOT CHANGE THEIR MIND, or have done so and know for long everything you are saying.

So i have been looking for a nice tutorial online that describes easy and simple the implementation of the mx.modules functionality of Flex 2.0.1
However i barely found anything helpful enough. I read here and there some pieces of information, but nothing that made me happy and gave me source to the modularized application they are showing. So i decided to create my own. Its very simple, very basic, but quick to get you up with that.

If you know more than that simple example, do leave a comment for features, better practices and other things. I am too relatively new to Flex2, so I won’t mind any updates and pieces of advice.

Hope that helps.

1. Open Flex, create new ‘Flex Project’. Make it Basic. Give it any name, i use ‘ModulesTutorial’. Set the directory to wherever you want.Next.Finish.
2. Right click on the project and choose New->Folder. Give it a name of ‘modules’ and press Finish.
3. Right click on the ‘modules’ and choose New->Component. Put a name of ‘MgpepeLogo’. Base it on the ‘Module’ [hint: you can
start typing ‘mod..’ and then press the down arrow. Flex will find the closest match] put size of W:80 H:80. Click Finish.
4. Open MgpepeLogo.mxml if it is not open yet and in the type in:

CODE

this line would make an image element and would load my logo in there.

5. Now open the Application file, which if you followed my naming should be ‘ModulesTutorial.mxml’.
Add a panel, the URL for my module and the load/unload buttons with the following code so we can save some time:

CODE


<mx:Panel width="550" height="353" title="This is where we are going to load the module." layout="absolute">
<mx:Label text="Upon click of the button, we will attempt to load a module from :" x="10" y="10"/>
<mx:Label id="theUrl" x="53" y="36" width="412" text="modules/MgpepeLogo.swf"/>
<mx:Label x="10" y="38" text="URL:"/>
<mx:Button x="10" y="64" label="Load the Module"/>
<mx:ModuleLoader id="theModuleComesHere" x="10" y="94"/>
<mx:Button label="Unload the module" x="10" y="193"/>
</mx:Panel>

there is no functionality in this code, its just a mere layout of the components.
6. Now we want to create 2 functions. one that loads the component and one that unloads the component. Those we will do in a
separate SCRIPT tag.7
7. Right under Application, stick in a new script. In it, make sure you put this code, which is explained with comments:

import mx.modules.*; // This imports the actual classes needed
private function loadTheModule(whereTheModuleGoes:ModuleLoader, urlForTheModule:String):void
{
// here we create a new function that takes 2 parameters:
// 'whereTheModuleGoes' -> this is the name of the module Loader, which is located right between the two buttons we created
// and the second parameter is 'urlForTheModule' which takes the url.
whereTheModuleGoes.url = urlForTheModule; // this line just passes the .url variable to the ModuleLoader Object
whereTheModuleGoes.loadModule();// this is the line that actually loads the module.
// Since in my module i am loading an external picture, make sure you wait for a second to appear.
}

it is pretty straightforward. Now to use that function, we have to assign it to a button:
9. on the load button, create a click event, in which you will pass the name of the ModuleLoader, and the url you want:
click="loadTheModule(theModuleComesHere, theUrl.text)"
10. Your Application should be ready. We need only one more thing. It is important to know that everytime you make a change to the .mxml files, you have to compile them so that you actually get the .swf file. What we did with the module earlier is we created the .mxml code but never compiled it.
There are two ways to go from here. One is to write command lines like so:
mxmlc MgpepeLogo.mxml in the cmd (go to start->all programs->adobe->flex sdk command prompt)
The second way, which i figured is you can find the mxmlc.exe and drag on it the .mxml file you want to compile. It then does the compilation for you and creates the necessary folders. Here is how to find the file.
Locate the Installation folder (that should be usually c:\Program Files\Flex 2\ or anything of that sort. Then find folder ‘Flex SDK 2′ and inside find the folder ‘bin’. Locate the file ‘mxmlc.exe’ which we will use to compile the mxml of the modules.

What i did, is i created a shortcut in my quicklaunch, so that i have easy access to it. then i just drag the .mxml on the shortcut.

Okay, now that you are setup, do the thing - drag it on top. you should get a black cmd window for a second. After it disappears, if there are no erros, your foler and your swf files should be ready
11. Guess what? time to compile the application too. This one is easy, simply click the RUN button as you usually do, or press CTRL+F11. a new window should open with the working application
12. Now you can also add the unload function in the script:

private function unloadTheModule(whichModule:ModuleLoader):void
{
whichModule.unloadModule();
}

and the click event for the unload button:

click="unloadTheModule(theModuleComesHere)"

13. and you are set. CTRL+F11 again and rejoice!Here is the full code of the app:


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="absolute">
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
import mx.modules.*;

private function loadTheModule(whereTheModuleGoes:ModuleLoader, urlForTheModule:String):void
{
whereTheModuleGoes.url = urlForTheModule;
whereTheModuleGoes.loadModule();
}
private function unloadTheModule(whichModule:ModuleLoader):void
{
whichModule.unloadModule();
}
]]>
</mx:Script>
<mx:Panel width="550" height="353" title="This is where we are going to load the module." layout="absolute">
<mx:Label text="Upon click of the button, we will attempt to load a module from :" x="10" y="10"/>
<mx:Label id="theUrl" x="53" y="36" width="412" text="modules/MgpepeLogo.swf"/>
<mx:Label x="10" y="38" text="URL:"/>
<mx:Button x="10" y="64" label="Load the Module" click="loadTheModule(theModuleComesHere, theUrl.text)"/>
<mx:ModuleLoader id="theModuleComesHere" x="10" y="94"/>
<mx:Button label="Unload the module" x="10" y="193" click="unloadTheModule(theModuleComesHere)"/>
</mx:Panel>
</mx:Application>


Artificial Intelligence has been big, but there’s a new kid on the block – Real Intelligence.

I recently came up with an idea of software that I believe would tremendously change the way people learn language. I shared it with my friend Illian, who happened to have just read an amazing book by Jeff Hawkins that he recommended that in a way confirmed my guess. My idea I will not discuss but I do want to share the thoughts that only the first three chapters of “On Intelligence” brought to me.

You know that different parts of the brain perform different functions. One for visual, one for vocal…etc. It is only natural that if you take that part of the brain that deals with image recognition, the person would be unable to distinguish between objects. Experiments have been done and it turns out true. Nothing new here. One simple fact is brought to the surface however in this book. Mr Hawkins mentions the theory of Vernon Mountcastle which is – the difference in the duties of the different parts of the cortex (I think, if not the whole brain, I have to recheck it) is due not to the difference in the essence of the part itself, but of how everything is connected. In fact, every piece performs the same functions, just the input is different.

So what?

So I will tell you. If indeed this is true, which it is, that means that the brain can perform any kind of function that is completely independent of its current functions. Even if the brain’s evolution is tightly connected to the eyes’ the brain can still very efficiently redirect its sources if the person has no vision. In that case, your neurons will grow differently and develop to be more useful for sound recognition. Or more responsive to touch. Even that has been heard of. However, lets go a step further. The eye is an organ that has a simple function – focus light on the retina, where the photosensitive cells (Rods/Cones) that then convert light to electrical signals and pass them down the neuron chain to the brain. Why do cats see better in dark? They have more Rods (dim light sensitive cells) on the retina. Now imagine a camera that converts the video straight to electrochemical signals. Not difficult. Now imagine that those signals are offered to the brain as a replacement of the eye, thus bypassing the Rods/Cones. If you manage to build a camera whose final output is the equivalent of an eye having significantly more rods and cons, that means you just made vision with a camera better than the regular eye. Ready for one more step? How about you capture IR or UV light and still pass it on as a type of signal to the brain. OU, now you can see IR and UV. How about other frequencies? How about magnetic fields, or molecular-size objects, moisture….anything that technology can measure.

Now the question arises, “Would the brain handle the information, or would the sound cells be used to process the flood of visual (any other type of ) information?” I don’t know. Next question.

There would be people whose survival depends on the quality of the senses (soldiers). Those are people that would choose to have a camera instead of an eye. Those are probably the people that would choose to have a robotic arm, instead of bone and flesh (think I,Robot) or maybe hearing. What’s going to be left is just a brain with a robot. Now that comes closer to real intelligence. But not yet.

A different thought. Why have all those years (around 30) not been fruitful for the AI development. Hundreds of research centers have been trying to come up with a machine that competes with the brain and none has succeeded to an impressive level. I think the problem is exactly that – AI is trying to find a solution that COMPETES with brain, instead of BEING LIKE brain. Deep Blue plays chess at a human level but not in a human way. It has succeeded just because it retains such and incredible amount of information and processes at such an incredible speed. But it doesn’t calculate chances like we do, human factors and so on. It is limited in its own field which is extremely (to uselessness) narrow.

A neuron can fire an electrical charge every 5ms. A computer and its tiny transistors can have up to 1billion operations per second. Huge win for computers. But why then can’t they recognize a dog from a cat for the same time people can? Well many reasons, one of which is the following: brain filters information. When new information (everything comes in patterns) comes, it is filtered in 6 levels, and every level is able to get finer and finer details. The top gets just the concept. The brain thus doesn’t have to process the whole operation but can choose at what level, then spits it back. A computer however does that job in a way more tedious way – analyzes bit per bit the information. Useless and long method. If the brain filters on level one to a degree of 1/1000, by level six, the information will be 1/10^18, in whose eyes, the difference of 200 to 1b is insignificant, should I say – inexistent. So you want to make an efficient intelligent machine? You can either way till processor power reaches that speed (according to Moore, processor power doubles every 1.5 year) or you can start thinking how to filter information like brain. We don’t know how that works so AI work should be in the bio labs, not in the CIS departments, as Jeff Hawkins suggests.

Two last things:
1) We always think of using a computer instead of brain. How about using a brain instead of computer? (sick I know)
2) If brain is really a homogenous mix of neurons that just fire charges, then if you double physically the size, then you must double the capacity…no?

PS. I will write more when I read the next few chapters.

NOTE: I am not a bio major, so I am not in depth with everything I am talking, and it is not meant to help you learn anything. These are only my personal reflections combined with the little knowledge I have and the information I have read in different books including but not limited to Jeff Hawkins’ “On Intelligence”. Please excuse any mistakes in the factual explanations. I will be happy to mark corrections.

This movie can make you throw up. It can change your life, or it could shed light about African reality. But for most people it will be over-dinner discussion topic.

For me, its less than that. I am only going to look at myself and I am see something people do not want to admit - I don’t want to be bothered with atrocities, civil wars, massacres and of the sort. I don’t want to see the truth about diamond mines, about Darfur, or any other sickening inhumane scene of history. The more i hear about it, the more I feel i have to help and I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to have any contact with this hell. All I want is to live my life. Pretty much what everybody is doing. Yes, except those who sacrificed their lives for others. They don’t have to live their lives, they are allowed to live all the lives of the people they save.

For those that have not seen the movie, think Darfur + Diamonds. I am not going to write summary or review but those are some snapshots.
Sierra Leone - civil war
children - chopped off hands
massacre
diamonds minds
business - England
help people or make money?
200,000 children soldiers
plot - 1 big diamond that draws everybody